2015-12-02
Madam Speaker Purick took the Chair at 10 am.
Madam SPEAKER: Honourable members, I advise of the presence in the gallery of two Year 5/6 classes from St Paul’s Catholic Primary School accompanied by Dan Wetherall and Phillipa Pond. Welcome to Parliament House; I hope you enjoy your time here.
Members: Hear, hear!
Bill presented and read a first time.
Mr GILES (Chief Minister): Madam Speaker, I move that the bill be now read a second time.
Since the last general election there has been a number of developments relating to the electoral process. The Northern Territory Electoral Commission prepared a report into issues arising from the 2012 election, the first under the new fixed-term provisions.
This report, which was tabled in May 2014, raises legislative and administrative issues, and makes a number of recommendations in regard to the Electoral Act. Following receipt of that report the government commissioned a separate report into the regulation of political donations in the Northern Territory.
This report, titled the McGuiness report, was tabled in April 2015. In May this year the Electoral Commission issued a further report entitled Compliance review with focus on Political Disclosure Returns in relation to election contributions and annual political party returns. Work to address the issues raised in these reports will take some considerable time. The issues are complex, and considerable research and discussion needs to take place. Much of what is recommended in the reports will not be ready in time for implementation for the scheduled general election in August 2016.
Given this situation, the government proposes to proceed with a limited number of amendments to the act and regulations as set out in the bill before the House. The intention in regard to this bill is to seek comment and suggestions whilst it lies on the Notice Paper until this Assembly reconvenes in the new year.
Any legitimate issues of concern can then be addressed at the committee stage. This process has the advantage that honourable members and the public can see exactly what is being proposed and how the amendments will be implemented.
Before going to the specific amendments proposed, it is useful to take a step back and look at the main challenges the democratic electoral process faces in the Territory. On the basis of the Australian Bureau of Statistics’ population data, there is estimated to be a considerable disparity between the number of people actually on the roll in the Northern Territory and those thought to be eligible to be enrolled. This data suggests that the current roll captures only about 81.6% of the eligible population, a shortfall of some 24 168 people, a significant number in the context of the Territory jurisdiction.
Considerable efforts are being made by both the Australian Electoral Commission and the Northern Territory Electoral Commission to improve the rolls, and the disparity is being reduced. These efforts include direct field operations, public campaigns and direct enrolment measures using other databases.
The trend is up. The figures show that the percentage thought to be captured in the roll has improved from 76% in 2010 to the mentioned figure of 81.6% in 2014. This is encouraging; however, more must be done to boost voter enrolment.
The second big-picture issue is the level of participation by those who are actually on the roll. In the 2012 general election the Electoral Commission’s report notes that of the 123 805 on the roll, only 95 215 voted, a shortfall of 28 590, or a participation rate of 76.9%. This recognises that some of those shown as not participating will be due to errors on the roll.
The Electoral Commission’s data also shows that of the 95 215 voters at the 2012 general election, 3.2% of these were informal. Informal vote rates are the highest in remote and regional parts of the Northern Territory, largely due to the lower levels of numeracy and literacy. For example, the electorate of Stuart experienced the highest informal vote rate of 5.9% in 2012 in the Northern Territory general election, which is 2.7% above the Territory’s average.
This parliament should strive to do the best it can in regard to improving processes, reducing informality and removing restrictions on people’s capacity to vote. We must turn our focus to increasing voter participation, including by providing voters with more flexibility as to how to vote and reducing voting informality.
On that note, I now turn to the first substantive amendment proposed. The amendment to section 21 aims to increase enrolment by inserting a reference to the requirement that, for eligible people, enrolment and changing address details is compulsory. Section 279(1) of the act already provides that a person entitled to vote must vote, but it does not contain an express provision saying enrolment is compulsory.
Enrolment is currently compulsory, but to reach that conclusion you have to refer to the provisions in section 101 of the Commonwealth Electoral Act. This act is applicable because the Northern Territory uses the Commonwealth electoral roll. It is appropriate to have an express reference to the requirement to enrol in the Northern Territory legislation, even though the provision does not change the existing statutory requirements.
The next substantive amendment deals with section 41 of the act, which currently provides that the draw for the order of candidates’ names on the ballot paper is to be made by lot in public at the Electoral Commissioner’s office in the Northern Territory’s capital of Darwin. The proposed amendment will allow the Electoral Commission discretion as to where to hold this public draw. For example, the commission might determine that the draw for Central Australian seats should more appropriately be held in Alice Springs or Tennant Creek.
Improving the public’s access to the democratic process is a worthwhile objective. As honourable members are aware, the voting system for the Legislative Assembly is currently what is known as full preferential. With some limited exceptions, for a person’s vote to be valid it must show a number in every candidate’s box. The proposed amendment to section 50 changes the voting system to optional preferential.
Under the proposed scheme a person may place a one in the candidate’s square to indicate their first preference and then can, but need not, place consecutively increasing whole numbers in the candidate squares for some or all of the other candidates. Hence, a person will be able to vote in exactly the same way they have in the past by giving a preference to each candidate, or only marking some preferences after their first preference, or simply giving a first preference only. These amendments should give voters greater freedom of choice in regard to indicating their preferences, and will likely result in a decline of informal votes.
As a result of this amendment some minor modifications are necessary to the way in which votes are counted if preferences need to be distributed, and to the sections that deal with saving votes from informality. Under the proposed system if a voter does not wish to vote for any particular party or candidate, there is no obligation. It does not require them to make a preference for every single candidate on the ballot paper.
The current section 94 of the act saves certain votes from informality, where a tick or a cross is used to indicate a person’s first preference rather than the number one. The proposed amendments to this section retain the essence of the current savings provisions, but a number of minor adjustments are necessary to accommodate an optional preferential voting system.
In addition to that, new subsections are added which provide that where a voter has placed the same number in two or more candidate squares, those votes and any higher numbers are to be disregarded. If there is a break in a row of whole numbers that the voter has placed in two or more candidate squares, any preference after the break is to be disregarded. These measures have been adopted from the Queensland electoral system, which currently uses an optional preferential scheme.
As a result of the change to optional preferential, some modifications are required to the way in which votes are counted if one candidate does not get more than 50% of the votes on first preferences. Under section 128 in the amended arrangements, if it is necessary to distribute preferences the candidate with the least number of first preference votes is excluded and their next preference, if any, is distributed accordingly until one candidate has received more than 50% of the formal votes remaining in the count.
The regulations contain a form that sets out the format of a ballot paper. The form currently contains a direction to number every box to make the vote count. To provide for optional preferential, an amendment is proposed to amend this form so it will direct the voter to place the number one in the box next to the photograph of their first preference candidate and then place increasing whole numbers in as many other boxes as they wish to indicate their order of preferences for the other candidates.
As mentioned earlier, to increase voter participation there are a number of amendments which can be implemented to allow greater flexibility for how people may wish to vote. To address this there is an amendment which deals with a criteria in the act regarding who may apply for a postal vote. Currently, under section 60, to be eligible to apply for a postal vote a person’s situation must fall within one of the specified circumstances described in subsection 2. For example, during polling hours they will not be within 20 km of a polling place, or because they cannot attend a polling place because of illness or physical disability. The proposed amendments will remove the need to fall within any of the listed criteria and simply provide that any person entitled to a vote may apply for a postal vote.
As mentioned previously, participation levels of enrolled people is one of the major issues for the electoral process in the Northern Territory, and the removal of restrictions should provide considerable assistance in this regard. We should be looking at every possible way of making voting easier, not putting limitations in the way or restricting availability.
This change is also at harmony with local government elections in the Northern Territory. Currently, under sections 96 and 112 of the act, for a postal vote to be included in the count it must be received by the Electoral Commission no later than 6 pm on the Friday following polling day. This is an extremely tight time frame considering the irregularity of mail services in parts of the Northern Territory. Whilst there are good governance reasons to reduce the time the Northern Territory does not have an effective government following an election, this one-week period is considered too short and acts to disenfranchise a number of people. The proposed amendment will allow the receipt of postal votes up to 12 noon on the second Friday following polling day.
On a related matter, the proposed amendment to section 61 will remove the requirement that a postal vote application is to be made within three months before an election is to be held. The new provision will provide that an application can be made at any time in the calendar year in which the polling day occurs. Removal of the three-month restriction should expand the availability of voting choices for the public. Currently, under section 67(7), the only way that postal votes can be returned is through the postal service.
An amendment is proposed to the act that will allow for the development of a system for the electronic lodgement of scanned postal vote certificates and ballot papers. This would be through the existing mechanisms of section 85A that contain safeguards in regard to secrecy, security and the availability of technology. While the Electoral Commissioner has the discretion to accept electronic votes, it is rarely exercised. This government wants to increase voter participation, particularly for those living in areas where mail services are irregular, such as pastoral properties or remote communities and parts of the Northern Territory. However, to cater for an increase in electronic votes the commissioner must be satisfied that there is a system which is capable of sending and receiving electronic votes securely and confidentially. The change is also consistent with the other proposed amendments to extend the availability of voting services and choices. A note is being inserted in section 67 to refer to the possibility of alternative methods of return of postal vote papers, and a specific reference to the matter is being made to section 85A.
The proposed amendment to section 71 is similar to the removal of the criteria for applying for a postal vote. The act currently provides that only those who expect to be unable to attend the polling place on polling day are able to vote at a pre-election voting centre set up by the Electoral Commission. The proposed amendment will remove this requirement and provide that any person entitled to vote may vote at a pre-election voting centre. This means that those who make plans on early election day are not restricted to remain in their electorate to cast a vote. Instead, if you know you are heading out on the water for a fish, attending an event away from home or going out camping for the weekend, you can head to a pre-election polling centre and cast a vote. This government wants to increase voter participation and make it flexible and easier for busy Territorians who make plans on an election day, which falls on a Saturday.
Other parts of the act have been reformatted to make them easier to read. A specific reference to the Government Printer has been removed and replaced with a requirement that a ballot paper, which has to be in the prescribed form, has to be printed by a person or body authorised by the Electoral Commission.
Section 275 of the act currently restricts canvassing-type activities within 10 m of the entrance of a polling place, and there is a similar restriction on the use of loudspeakers and the like, for such purposes, that are audible within these 10 m.
This bill proposes a 500 m exclusion zone. Under the new arrangements Territorians will no longer be faced with the uncomfortable and often confronting prospect of having to run the gauntlet of party officials and spruikers trying to thrust how-to-vote material into their hands. The objective is to have elections conducted in an orderly fashion, free from undue pressure or influence. The amendments put forward in the bill remove restrictions and give voters greater freedom of choice in regard to how they can cast their vote. The objective is to have as many eligible people as possible enrolled and participating in an election.
The proposed changes should assist in the maintenance of a healthy and democratic society. I encourage interested stakeholders to have their say on the changes outlined in the bill before the House. I look forward to receiving submissions and nominations to my office on this bill.
I commend this bill to honourable members and table a copy of the explanatory statement to accompany the bill.
Debate adjourned.
Mr ELFERINK (Leader of Government Business): Madam Speaker, while there is no question before the House, and with the acquiescence of members opposite, I move that Ministerial Statements be called on after Government Business Order of the Day No 1, and Government Business be resumed after Ministerial Statements.
Motion agreed to.
Continued from 17 September 2015.
Mr VOWLES (Johnston): Madam Speaker, as the shadow minister I say straight off the bat that we will support these amendments to the Traffic Act.
I thank the minister’s office for the briefing and the ongoing work we have done to alleviate any issues we had. I thank the minister’s office for being very available for that and for the very thorough briefing and continuing information provided between the office and me. I also express my thanks to the police, in particular, Commander Tony Fuller and Superintendent Bob Rennie, who attended the briefing. The police have recommended this testing, and we have no issues in supporting it. Police, emergency services, firemen, paramedics, nurses and doctors see firsthand the issues related to driving under the influence of alcohol and other drugs. It is a real and growing concern. I thank the government for bringing this on because it is an ongoing and growing issue that we need to deal with.
I have one issue to raise, which is the cost of the testing and if that has been allocated in the budget by the minister. That was raised in the briefing. I had a quick chat to the minister. He might give me a figure or a decision about where that funding has been allocated. I am sure it will be because this needs to be done. We need to clear up any issues on our roads so people driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs are detected. We need to make sure everybody else is doing the right thing and that they are protected and safe on our roads.
As I said, we support this motion. I will not take much time because we need to get this bill sorted out and start testing people who are doing the wrong thing. I want to make sure everybody is safe and has a good Christmas. We will see everybody next year.
Mr ELFERINK (Attorney-General and Justice): Madam Speaker, one of the things you can say about the friendly fisherfolk on the other side is that you could hardly ever accuse the member for Johnston of bloviation when it comes to speaking in this House.
The bill before us today is very important because we have, for a number of years, accepted the difficulty of testing people who drive cars whilst under the influence of drugs. I want to share with the House one reason why this is important. The old DUI offence, which still exists under the Traffic Act, was very difficult to prove because if you pursued a person for DUI of a drug rather than alcohol, you had to confirm that several other offences had been committed in the process.
The legislation in relation to driving under the influence of alcohol or psychotropic substance is that a psychotropic substance has to be present in the system where it creates a driving offence. To test the notion that a person is driving while drug-affected you have to demonstrate that there is some effect of the drug. In a practical sense this means that a person has to commit an offence before they can be picked up for driving under the influence of a drug. Adding complication to this situation is that you also probably have to prosecute them for the drug-related offences in the first place.
By way of practical example, I recall an occasion many years ago as a police officer when my attention was drawn to a driver going through the intersection of McMillans Road and the Stuart Highway at Berrimah. What drew my attention to the driver was when he entered the intersection his car was going sideways in a puff of tyre smoke and, moreover, went through a red light. Needless to say we turned on our flashing blue light and pulled the gentleman over. He had no presence of alcohol whatsoever in his system. However, he admitted to using cannabis, which enabled us to search his vehicle where we found the remnants of some cannabis in the glove box.
Ultimately, to prove the DUI offence we had to prove he had lost effective control of the motor vehicle. That was easy because he drove into the intersection sideways. We also had to prove that he was affected by drugs, so ultimately we had to not only charge him with the DUI, but we had to charge him with drug offences and driving offences to make the whole package come together. That is a cumbersome and difficult way to proceed, which is why DUI for drug-affected drivers is such a rare event.
This, however, changes some of the presumptions built into the legislation, and that is a very important component of this legislative change. The presumption built into the legislation is that, like alcohol, if you are driving whilst you are affected by a drug or psychotropic substance we will assume that it robs you of control of the vehicle at the outset, which means it will be the same as a random breath-testing station testing for the presence of alcohol. Basically 0.05 is still the measure used. That 0.05 measure is merely an arbitrary line we have drawn in the sand. You commit the offence simply by having more alcohol in your system than 500 mg per 100 L of blood, but I am not sure that is the right measurement anymore.
In any instance it is an arbitrary figure. We draw a line in the sand and say if you have that much liquor in your system you will be committing an offence, and too right. Our families, your families and my family, have to share the roads with people who have a tonne or better of metal around them and are driving in circumstances where their ability is impaired, and we place a very low level on that, which is 0.05. It used to be 0.08 but we lowered it even further to meet the national standard. Other countries do not accept the presence of any alcohol in the bloodstream as being acceptable to drive a car.
What exactly is the difference between somebody who is alcohol-affected and somebody who is affected by cannabis, heroin or, for that matter, amphetamines? Whilst amphetamines heighten your sense of self-awareness, here is the truth of it; it also makes you a greater risk-taker. As a consequence, we are saying we expect people to be as sober and straight as they possibly can be when they drive a motorcar. We are prepared to say we will randomly test for drugs, and if we can prove their presence in your system you will find yourself liable for prosecution under the traffic legislation, and so it should be.
I know this exists in a number of other jurisdictions. We are probably a bit on the late side to introduce it in this jurisdiction. In keeping people safe on our roads, understanding that chemicals change the way people perceive the world, and knowing that perception leads to impaired judgment or impaired reaction time, when people are in charge of a bucket of metal which can travel up to 200 km/h, we want to make absolutely sure those people are as straight and sober as they possibly can be. Even if they are obeying the speed limit, a tonne of metal travelling at 60 km/h is still a dangerous weapon. It is something we expect people to be very careful with and take every responsibility in the privilege they have when they hold a driver’s licence.
Beyond that, this legislation is self-explanatory. I am grateful the minister has brought it in to this place and I am happy to support it.
Mr WOOD (Nelson): Madam Speaker, I also support the Traffic Act amendments. I thank the minister for allowing the department to give us a good briefing. It also gave us a handout which explains clearly the differences between the existing act and the new changes to the act, which makes it pretty easy to understand.
I think everybody would welcome making our roads safer; if you can get people who have been using drugs off the road, that makes good common sense. This legislation exists in other parts of Australia, so it is time the Northern Territory caught up with other states in relation to testing people for illegal drugs.
I have a couple of questions which I only thought of this morning; I am not trying to catch the minister on the hop. In relation to the concern government members had about what they said was us blocking the Misuse of Drugs Act, here is a really important one. This went through in normal time. This will reduce lives being lost by taking people off the road. It has gone through in the normal 30 days. We have had time to look at it. It is probably a bit less serious than the Misuse of Drugs Act because it has many other things included. I make that comparison with the way this bill has gone through.
The issue I was going to raise was whether passengers would be tested. My understanding, from a quick conversation with the department, is that would not happen. Is it a danger if people were on a high in the back seat or the passenger seat; if they are on ice could they potentially cause an accident, even if the driver was not under the influence? If it cannot be done through this act, can it be done under the changes to the Misuse of Drugs Act?
The other question is in relation to legal drugs which may have a component of what would be normally an illegal drug, perhaps a morphine derivative. If that was taken by a driver before or while driving, would the driver be subject to a conviction?
I will explain what I am saying. If you pick up medication from the pharmacy, the chemist will sometimes ask whether you will be driving a heavy vehicle or doing something dangerous like dropping out of a plane or using heavy equipment. Then you hop in a vehicle and are tested. If it is a morphine derivative which was legally given to you by a doctor, can you be prosecuted for that, not so much from the point of view of having an illegal drug – it has been given to you legally – but that you are driving a vehicle when you have been told you should not be after taking this drug? It might sound a bit convoluted but it would be interesting to see whether the testing would pick this up and what would happen to someone who was picked up for taking a drug which had been given to them legally. It is a small point which I thought was worth raising today.
Obviously, with the changes, you can have a choice of a blood test and a saliva test. That is a good change. Overall, Madam Speaker, I do not have a problem with the bill at all. If it can make our roads safer, I am sure it will be supported by everyone in the House.
Mr CHANDLER (Transport): Madam Speaker, I thank all those involved, particularly Bob Rennie and Tony Fuller. They have done a tremendous job. If you appreciate what those gentlemen, the rest of our traffic officers and other Police, Fire and Emergency Services staff put up with every day on our roads, you can understand why we want legislation such as this that will strengthen the job they do.
I thank those opposite, the members for Nelson and Johnston, for their contributions and for agreeing that we have to do all we can to strengthen how we use our roads. When we all use them with our families in those vehicles, we want them to be as safe as possible; therefore, we have to give our police officers the tools they need to help reduce not only the death toll, but accidents and getting fools off our roads. Thank you to everyone involved.
Member for Johnston, you asked a question about costs. In association with the proposed bill to enact full random driver testing we will introduce a new testing regime of two saliva screens while retaining blood testing. With the introduction of saliva sampling, sampling can be facilitated in only 10 minutes, a difference of at least 50 minutes compared to taking blood samples. In 2014 the Forensic Science Branch, FSB, received 1022 blood samples under the Traffic Act, potentially representing a minimum saving of over 1700 frontline sworn police officer work hours, or 212 working days. The Forensic Science Branch will require capital works estimated at about $700 000 for additional laboratory and office accommodation, recurrent funding of about $145 000 for two additional staff – that is administration and technical support – and recurrent funding of $31 000 for operational expenses.
In regard to roadside operations it is estimated that the NT Police Force will test approximately 2000 road users annually Territory-wide. Roadside saliva screens at approximately $40 per test equates to around $80 000 annually. An estimated 500 of these will return a positive result requiring second-stage testing and collection action. The second-stage analysis costs approximately $5500, and it is envisaged that the purchase of approximately 15 will suffice, equating to approximately $83 000. Each second-stage test consumable is approximately $45, therefore conducting 500 second-stage tests equates to $23 000. Northern Territory Police, Fire and Emergency Services has submitted a budget initiative in respect to funding. This will require a Cabinet submission for the funding. Annual roadside operational costs are expected to be in the vicinity of $185 000.
It is worth noting that bringing equivalent legislation into Victoria saved an estimated 20 lives per year on that state’s roads.
Member for Nelson, you asked about prescription drugs. My advice is that roadside tests will not detect prescription drugs other than perhaps morphine-based drugs. In that case, the sample is sent back to a laboratory. If morphine is detected at the lab stage, a letter would be sent to the driver asking for an explanation. The driver would then produce their prescription. As long as they were driving in accordance with their prescription, they are not guilty. However, if they were driving at the time when a doctor said they should not be driving, they could be guilty of that offence. There are drugs on the market today where doctors will tell you cannot drive whilst under the influence of them. It may be for two days or the duration of the course. In that case, as long as the driver is driving in full accordance with the prescription, the doctor’s orders if you like, they are not guilty of any offence. But that would not be detected until the laboratory stage.
In regard to your question about passengers affected by drugs and the danger of having people in your vehicle who are under the influence of drugs and could have an impact on the driver. Yes, but the same thing could happen with drunk passengers today. We have a Sober Bob program that encourages people to have a sober driver to take people who have been drinking home. On our roads every night of the week there is the potential to have a sober driver at the helm with a few people in the car who are a little over the limit. It is better that they are in the back seat than behind the wheel. The same could be said for drugs. As long as the person behind the wheel is not affected by drugs, there is not much we could do to prevent, by way of law, somebody in the car interfering with the driver. I would much prefer someone in the back seat if they are under the influence of drugs or alcohol than behind the wheel. We need to focus on the driver at that stage.
Motion agreed to; bill read a second time.
Mr CHANDLER (Transport) (by leave): Madam Speaker, I move that the bill be now read a third time.
Motion agreed to; bill read a third time.
Mrs PRICE (Women’s Policy): Madam Speaker, I am pleased to report on the Northern Territory government’s progress in developing and implementing measures designed to improve the lives of Territorian women.
A confident culture is a proud culture. It is a culture that celebrates the diversity of its people. Women make up more than 47% of the Territory’s population, and as a group they reflect many different cultures, backgrounds and experiences.
Northern Territory women are well represented by the Office of Women’s Policy, which is located within the Department of Local Government and Community Services. The Office of Women’s Policy provides gendered policy advice to government, engages with Northern Territory women and progresses the Northern Territory policy framework for Northern Territory women.
In line with national and international women’s policy agendas, this policy framework has four key focus areas for action: women’s safety; economic security; health and wellbeing; and women’s leadership and participation. There is a focus on practical measures and the contribution women make to the Northern Territory, and where improvements can be made to improve economic, social and cultural equality between Territory men and women.
The Office of Women’s Policy was established in the Northern Territory in 1983 when Australia became one of the first signatories of the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, known as CEDAW. This international agreement upholds the principles of fundamental human rights and equality for women around the world.
I am sure you will agree that there have been major advancements in gender equality in Australia over the last 100 years. However, it is evident that there is still much work to be done when we see the gender pay gap of 17.9% nationally and 18.1% locally, where two women are killed in our country per week as a direct result of violence against them, where women’s superannuation savings at retirement age are 46.6% less than men’s and where women are still not equally represented in leadership and decision-making positions. Some 37% of women in the Northern Territory are under the age of 25 so it is vital that we continue to strive for a Territory that provides a more equal future for them and where all women are able to reach their full potential.
A prosperous economy is one that captures the ideas and energy of its people. Women make up almost 45% of the workforce in the Northern Territory. It is essential that we support women to achieve economic security and pay equity. We also want to increase options that ensure young mothers are supported to continue their education and skills development. The policy framework for Northern Territory women also recognises the issues faced by older women in maintaining sufficient income and accessing employment, and we will be exploring ways to alleviate these issues.
The Office of Women’s Policy supports Northern Territory women and women’s organisations to build leadership capabilities, as well as encouraging equality of representation in decision-making roles and on decision-making bodies. The Office of Women’s Policy administers the Women on Boards website, which matches women who have registered an interest to nominate to government and business sector boards, authorities and committees with vacancies that have been registered on the site. This site is currently being upgraded and will be promoted across the Northern Territory. I encourage all Northern Territory organisations to register their board and committee vacancies on this site.
The office hosts the A Conversation Worth Having seminar series, which presents inspirational and dynamic keynote speakers who share their experiences and facilitate debate about a broad range of issues.
I am also very pleased to announce that I am in the process of establishing the Northern Territory women’s consultative council. This council will provide an avenue of direct community engagement with Northern Territory women from all parts of the Northern Territory to inform across government policy development and initiatives. Members of the council will conduct direct consultation with Northern Territory women to identify local issues and priorities for women, with support and coordination from my Office of Women’s Policy.
As minister for Community Services I was very proud to announce the establishment of the First Circles program, which is aimed at supporting and mentoring upcoming Indigenous leaders. The inaugural members met for the first time in December last year and included 16 men and 14 women of varying ages from communities around the Northern Territory. This engagement program will increase members’ knowledge and understanding of government processes, build confidence and improve the participation of the community in local decision-making.
In partnership with industry groups and member organisations across the Territory, the Office of Women’s Policy supports women to consider working in non-traditional industries and trades. The undervaluing of and less pay for female-dominated industries contributes to the gender pay gap. More women in male-dominated industries increase women’s acceptance, support and critical mass in these industries as well.
Earlier this year the Minister for Education, Hon Peter Chandler MLA, announced that seven Territory high schools will be participating in an engagement program aimed at supporting Indigenous female students to obtain education and training qualifications. Similar to the Clontarf program, it reinforces engagement and attendance, with a focus on educational outcomes, health and wellbeing. The program will operate at Katherine High School, Dripstone Middle School, Sanderson Middle School, Nhulunbuy High School, Yirrkala School, Casuarina Senior College and Tennant Creek High School.
A confident culture supports significant occasions and events. International Women’s Day is celebrated around the world on 8 March each year. The Office of Women’s Policy supports Territorians to celebrate this international celebration of advancements in gender equality, and the contribution of women throughout history and the present day.
The Office of Women’s Policy’s International Women’s Day Grants program provides funding to support individuals and organisations to celebrate International Women’s Day through honouring and empowering women and girls, and encouraging the whole community to get involved in International Women’s Day.
I now turn to a key issue facing women in the Territory: domestic and family violence, and its consequences and effects in our community.
The Northern Territory has among the highest rates of assaults in Australia, and 63% of those victims are female. Also there were 373 sexual assaults in the Northern Territory with 91% of victims being female. Northern Territory crime statistics show that in 2014-15 over 61% of all assault offences were reported as domestic violence-related, and Indigenous women are 48 times more likely to be admitted to hospital for reasons of assault than non-Indigenous women.
The violence has to stop and this government is committed to stopping it. In September 2014 this government launched the Safety is Everyone’s Right strategy and committed $6.1m per year for three years to tackle domestic and family violence. The aim of this strategy is to increase the safety of victims and their children, reduce rates of intergenerational trauma, increase the accountability of perpetrators and establish integrated service delivery systems. One of the main components of the strategy is the Family Safety Framework, which has a focus on protecting high-risk victims and their children from further harm and homicide by coordinating a response across government and non-government agencies.
An amount of $3m has been invested in critical intervention outreach services for Indigenous victims of domestic and family violence in remote and very remote locations. Alice Springs Women’s Shelter, Tennant Creek women’s shelter and Darwin Aboriginal and Islander Women’s Shelter will provide this service in their regions.
In August I was delighted and privileged to host the 2015 Australian of Year, Ms Rosie Batty, for her tour of honour in the Northern Territory. In the Top End, Rosie and I visited Pirlangimpi on the Tiwi Islands and were welcomed by the community. I wanted to demonstrate what domestic violence is to us in the Territory, and Rosie was able to view firsthand our story, the strong and active women’s centre and the support framework in place to deal with serious threats of violence in the home. We also visited women’s shelters in Alice Springs and Darwin.
I am honoured to represent the Northern Territory government on the Council of Australian Governments Advisory Panel on Reducing Violence against Women and their Children. The members of this advisory panel are some of the most highly-regarded domestic violence advocates in Australia and will advise COAG on the issue of domestic violence and make recommendations on how governments can best respond. It is essential that we continue to raise awareness of this issue in the community to support the most vulnerable and create a strong society that values an individual’s right to a safe environment.
The Territory is a signatory to the National Plan to Reduce Violence against Women and their Children 2010-22. The national plan aims to achieve a significant and sustained reduction in the levels of violence against women and their children across Australia. The national plan sets out six national outcomes for all governments to deliver during the next 12 years:
1. communities are safe and free from violence
The national outcomes are delivered through four-year action plans. The Office of Women’s Policy works with senior officials from all jurisdictions to progress this work. The Office of Women’s Policy also has membership of Our Watch, the national Foundation to Prevent Violence against Women and their Children, and Australia’s National Research Organisation for Women’s Safety Ltd, which are also progressing the agenda of the National Plan to Reduce Violence against Women and Their Children 2010-22. This government is also committed to improved health outcomes for all Northern Territory women and that health services provide culturally-appropriate health information and education. The Office of Women's Policy will be working closely with the Women’s Health Strategy Unit in the Department of Health to progress this commitment.
No public policy can be developed without consideration of all the lived experiences of women and men. The Northern Territory government, through the Office of Women’s Policy and the establishment of the Office of Men’s Policy, demonstrates a commitment to this concept.
I close this statement by acknowledging the important achievements of the Northern Territory government in improving women’s safety, increasing women’s opportunities for leadership and participation, and promoting gender equality. We will continue to strive for a prosperous economy that captures the ideas and energy of its people, confident culture that supports significant occasions and events like International Women’s Day, and a strong society that values an individual’s human rights, including the right to a safe environment.
Madam Speaker, I move that the Assembly take note of this statement.
Ms WALKER (Nhulunbuy): Madam Speaker, I thank the Minister for Women’s Policy for bringing this statement before the House. It is a subject very close to her heart, as it is for me.
We should be proud that in this parliament 44% of the elected members are women and that we are indeed women of very diverse backgrounds culturally, linguistically, professionally and by virtue of a range of ages, with me being at the upper end of the age group down to my younger colleagues, the members for Casuarina and Drysdale. We surely have the highest representation of women in any Australian jurisdiction, and by Commonwealth Parliamentary Association benchmarks I suspect we are punching well above our weight.
In preparing to speak to this statement I have been back through the last women’s policy statement brought forward by the member for Namatjira when she was our Women’s Policy minister in February 2013. We welcome having this statement made a couple of years down the track so we can look at where we have been and where we are going.
I have also revisited Labor’s time in government in the women’s policy space when I was a newly-elected member. Building on Our Strengths: A Framework for Action for Women in the Northern Territory 2008-2012 was the policy document launched by the then Minister for Women’s Policy, Marion Scrymgour, who was the member for Arafura. Following the August 2008 election it was Malarndirri McCarthy, our former member for Arnhem, who stepped into that portfolio.
Looking back from then to where we are now there has clearly been a very proud history of Indigenous women from both Labor and the CLP filling the role of Women’s Policy minister and driving the direction of women’s policy.
I have to say, though, that the focus and spotlight on women’s issues seems to have diminished over time and I suspect that to be a result of changes to conservative governments with less drive for a broad reform agenda. Tony Abbott, as the former Prime Minister, struggled to engage women or progress their interests and rights in any really meaningful way. In fact, it was a major issue for him electorally. When he became Prime Minister there was just one woman in his Cabinet. That was Julie Bishop, his deputy, quite a talented politician. He explained that it was a merit-based process and women were knocking on the Cabinet door, to which someone replied, ‘Well, why don’t you open it and let them in?’ Indeed, a good question.
Going back to Building on Our Strengths: A Framework for Action For Women in the Northern Territory, it was a much meatier document than the government’s current policy framework for Northern Territory women 2015-20. I trust members are familiar with it. The Building on Our Strengths Framework for Action, which had a life from 2008 to 2012, delivered two substantial progress reports. There was one in 2010, which is this one, and a second one in 2012. It had a green cover. It is available on the website and was a much bigger document than this one.
Perhaps I am missing something in the chronology, but I am not sure what the policy document was for women’s policy between 2012 and the current one the minister launched this year. What filled that gap between 2012 and 2015?
Madam SPEAKER: Honourable members, I advise of the presence in the gallery of the Year 5/6 class from St Paul’s Catholic Primary School accompanied by Alain van Gurp. On behalf of honourable members, welcome to Parliament House. I hope you enjoy your time here.
Members: Hear, hear!
Ms WALKER: Madam Speaker, perhaps the minister can fill that gap for me as to what the policy document was between 2012 and 2015. Perhaps it exists and I have just missed it along the way.
I am also keen to know why the key focus areas for action have been reduced from five to four over the years. The four areas that currently exist within the policy document and existed in previous versions are women’s safety, women’s health and wellbeing, economic security and leadership and participation. I am wondering why the fifth focus area, life balance, has dropped off the women’s policy agenda. There may be a very logical reason for that but I am unaware of it. That fifth area was about government’s commitment to supporting all women to balance work, lifestyle and family commitments. It promoted things like access to childcare and making childcare affordable through government subsidies to many childcare centres. I believe that is ongoing. The second report, in 2012, which was a Labor policy document, talked about incentivising, by way of scholarships, early childhood educator positions and courses as well as access to family-friendly work practices, which, as we know, saw the Northern Territory public service adopt a work-life balance policy and implementation plan. I am curious to know why that fifth focus area, life balance, is not covered in the 2015-20 policy document.
I appreciate the effort that has gone into the current policy framework for 2015-20, but I ask the minister what sort of reporting we can expect to see in response to the actions detailed in each of the four key focus areas. Will written reports about progress be tabled? Will it be by way of a statement delivered annually in the parliament? When you have a policy document and have set an action plan there are not necessarily targets factored into that framework, but we need to know how we are progressing with the policy and actions the government says it will put in place.
I also appreciate that the resources of the Office of Women’s Policy are limited and there is support for various funded programs, but I query how the Office of Women’s Policy engages with Northern Territory women as per your opening remarks, minister. A look through the webpage of the Office of Women’s Policy indicates the activities the office is involved in, but I am thinking more of women in remote, regional and rural areas and how they engage with the Office of Women’s Policy.
I know there is a series of keynote speakers and there are forums – A Conversation Worth Having – but these do not appear to go outside Darwin and Alice Springs. In Nhulunbuy, in northeast Arnhem Land, we have a strong, resilient network of women who work together and support one another, and by virtue of the tyranny of distance they do not have access to this type of thing. In 2013 four forums were held with guest speakers across Alice Springs and Darwin. In 2014 there were probably six or seven, yet year to date in the Northern Territory there has only been one forum held under the banner of A Conversation Worth Having, and it was in Darwin on 7 August with Colleen Gwynne, the NT Children’s Commissioner. I am sure that would have been an interesting forum to attend.
I understand resources are limited, but I would like to see the contact the Office of Women’s Policy has with women across the Territory to endeavour to reach women in remote and regional areas. Women in my electorate, and I am sure in other remote parts of the Territory, would embrace this opportunity to get together and talk about things important to them and to be led by well-known guest speakers.
The minister is quite right in acknowledging there have been major advancements in gender equality in Australia over the last 100 years. However, as we all know, and as the minister knows only too well, there is still much to be done across so many areas. Let us start with women in the workforce and the Northern Territory public service, which is a very large employer in our jurisdiction.
The Office of the Commissioner for Public Employment’s State of the Service Report for 2013-14 – I could not see the 2014-15 report on the webpage when I was looking last night; it cannot be far away. In the 2013-14 statistics you find the following facts. In the Northern Territory public service, women make up 63% of the workforce and men make up 37%. The number of women in senior management roles has increased over the last 10 years, and that has to be a good thing, from 17% to 44% across roles from SAO2 through to ECO6. However, as we know from estimates this year, when I asked the commissioner how many of the 32 agencies in the Northern Territory public service had female CEOs, the answer was just six. There is some significant disparity when women make up 63% of our public servants but just under 19% of our chief executive officers. We need to find ways to boost participation and opportunities, and support women to step up to those opportunities.
It is critical that we continue to see women equally represented in leadership and decision-making positions, and that opportunities are provided through supported training and leadership development. I also note the growth of women in elected roles within local government, and I have watched in my electorate the growth in confidence and leadership of elected shire councillors, or regional councillors as they have been rebadged.
I urge the minister, who also holds the Local Government portfolio, to ask her colleagues, especially the Chief Minister, to desist from the continued referral to these entities as the ‘toxic shires’. He has no idea how hurtful and disrespectful that term is to elected councillors who are hard-working and very proud of the jobs they do. They are proud of the steps and progress their councils and communities have made since the local government reforms, which have seen a far more democratic process in the way elected councillors have responsibility, and they have seen more women step up and have a voice in those councils.
The same can be said for organisations like the many Aboriginal corporations across the Northern Territory where I see elected board members who welcome governance training to support and strengthen their, more often than not, volunteer role and to have confidence in that role. We want women to be actively engaged; therefore, it is important to provide support for women to organise, and to ensure their voices are heard effectively in decision-making forums by providing training opportunities for women in governance and leadership skills.
Too many women, especially young women, are disempowered by not having the skills and confidence to take part in decision-making forums such as boards and councils. I am mindful of our Indigenous women and women from migrant backgrounds who, by reasons of culture and language, also have limitations placed on their confidence. We need to have support in place for those women to step up, have a voice and be actively involved in their community’s organisations.
I have not heard a great deal about it, but I welcome the minister’s First Circles initiative, which supports and mentors upcoming Indigenous leaders. I know a couple of the First Circles participants and I am pleased they have this opportunity. I am sure it has given the likes of strong Numbulwar woman and respected educator Selena Uibo a chance to step up and nominate to run for Labor at the next election in the seat of Arnhem. Whilst in her own right she possesses inherent leadership skills and talent, I am sure First Circles has helped grow her confidence and skills. We need to be actively supporting and grooming young women for all sorts of leadership roles in society, including those for public and political life, as Madam Speaker knows only too well with the very recent hosting of the Commonwealth Youth Parliament in this parliament.
I note the minister’s reference to being in the process of establishing the Northern Territory women’s consultative committee, and we welcome that. It is listed as an action under the key focus area of leadership and participation, but women have expressed to me their disappointment and frustration that the process has been so slow. I do not know when we will see an announcement or a round of advertising, inviting expressions of interest for whatever the consultative body might take. I think women are frustrated that they are still waiting for their consultative group to take shape while a men’s consultative group was established and up and running some time ago. Notwithstanding the need to address men’s issues, especially in relation to domestic and family violence, women believe they have taken a second place in this arena. It is not a good look and not a positive message to send in addressing gender inequity.
One of the best things we can do to support women - young women in particular - is to ensure they have access to quality education, benefit from what a quality education can do for them and have support mechanisms to assist young women who may experience disadvantage or have complex needs.
I note that whilst the minister did not name it as such, she was referring to the Stars Foundation. It is commencing in a number of Territory schools to support Indigenous girls. I recently met with the Stars Foundation staff at Nhulunbuy High School and Yirrkala School to get an understanding of the work they will do to engage and support female Indigenous students and, importantly, assist them to stay at school by overcoming hurdles and barriers, and support them to complete their schooling and be on a pathway through to further training or study and into work in order to lead independent lives so they can secure their economic future.
While the establishment of the Stars Foundation is good news, it remains a source of disappointment that the government saw fit, as a cost-saving measure, to close down the GEMS program within Education at Sanderson school. I have only recently learned that the Girls at the Centre program, run by the Smith Family at Centralian Middle School, will conclude at the end of this school year after being run with very good success and great outcomes for girls since 2008. The Smith Family, as an NGO, does very good work in our schools in engaging families and kids and assisting them to overcome barriers to success. The good thing about the Smith Family as an NGO is that it costs government very little money because it sources its own funding through fundraising and philanthropic support. At very minimal cost to government the Smith Family delivers great programs in the Northern Territory to assist those who are disadvantaged, girls in particular. I know the girls at Centralian Middle School are disappointed to see that program close.
In relation to education, I note in one of the four key areas for action in the policy framework document under the heading Economic Security the issue of ensuring young mothers have the opportunity to continue their education is mentioned. Specifically,0 on page 16 it states:
I understand those numbers have been much lower in 2015. I have tried to line up a briefing and a visit to the classroom base utilised for this Pregnant and Parenting Program, which I understand operates from a room at the old Nemarluk School, and to make that visit with the member for Wanguri. We have not managed to get there yet, given that I need to be in Darwin on a Tuesday as this is the only day in the week that the program runs.
I doubt that one day a week will provide adequate engagement for young women trying to continue their studies, either pregnant or with a little one. I will be watching the program with interest. Perhaps the minister can explain how the Office of Women’s Policy is, as her policy document says:
I know by representing a remote electorate that this is a very real issue, especially for Indigenous girls at school. I welcome any initiatives and programs the minister and the Education minister are looking at launching. In engaging across government and community organisations, I look forward to a forum of that nature coming out to my electorate and other remote parts of the Territory so people can be actively engaged in talking about the needs of young women at school who find themselves pregnant and a parent, and pulling out all stops to ensure those young women and mothers are able to continue and complete their education. It is obviously as important for them as it is for their children.
As I have moved around the Territory and talked to stakeholders who have a vested interest in women’s policy, I acknowledge some of the great work I have seen happening. This is not an exhaustive list of organisations, but some I have recently met with.
I acknowledge the NT Working Women’s Centre and I confess that I became much more familiar with the work it does as a result of attending the 20th anniversary event you hosted for them, Madam Speaker, in Parliament House last year. On that occasion I enjoyed hearing about the history of the Northern Territory Working Women’s Centre, how the entity was created, how funding works, and how it has battled to retain its funding.
Its vision is front and centre in its annual report. It was only issued last week and there is a great group photograph from the 20th anniversary held last year on the front of the report.
I was in Alice Springs the week before last. It was the Friday after the last sittings week and I visited the Northern Territory Working Women’s Centre and had an opportunity to hear about the work it does and the unique issues working women face in Central Australia. I will be meeting with the staff at the Darwin office on Woods Street this coming Friday morning to talk more about important women’s policy matters.
I am very supportive of its bid to have domestic and family violence recognised by employers as a legitimate reason for leave from a workplace. Domestic and family violence is a very serious issue, which, staggeringly, affects one in three women. We need to break the silence and recognise it exists and it impacts on women’s lives in their workplace. Rosie Batty is an advocate for this. Given the minister’s strong stand on domestic and family violence and the fact she sits on the panel aimed at reducing violence against women, and this panel advises COAG on the issue and provides recommendations, I ask the minister if this is a recommendation she has voiced to COAG? Has she raised the point that domestic and family violence needs to be recognised as a legitimate reason for leave from a workplace and for employers to recognise that?
While I was in Alice Springs I also met with the Central Australian Women’s Legal Service, and I acknowledge the work it does providing representation for women across a raft of issues that affect them, from domestic and family violence to workplace matters and child protection. Often these women were from disadvantaged backgrounds or low socioeconomic status who simply do not have the means to access legal aid other than through a government-funded community legal aid service.
I also acknowledge the work of the Tangentyere Women’s Committee and congratulate it for the Putting Gender on the Agenda Forum that was held in collaboration with the Alice Springs Women’s Shelter in late October. It was in my calendar to attend this two-day forum. I was really looking forward to it. It was a really interesting agenda and I really wanted to be there. Unfortunately I was in Melbourne over those couple of days looking at alternative justice systems in Victoria such as therapeutic justice and Koori Courts, and that was the only time I could be there to do that. I was very grateful that the member for Wanguri represented our Labor opposition at the Putting Gender on the Agenda Forum. On the day it opened I managed to phone Barb Shaw from Tangentyere Council. I wished her every success and congratulated her on putting together this forum. She said they were very excited about the conversation they were about to have.
When I spoke with the member for Wanguri about how those couple of days went, she told me she was incredibly impressed by the turnout of women. I have the newsletter from the Tangentyere Women’s Committee’s Family Safety Project for 2015. It says more than 160 women came from the NT and around Australia, and the vast majority of women attending were Indigenous.
When I asked the member for Wanguri about how it all went she told me what she was really struck by was the preparedness of women to talk frankly about issues that affect them, such as domestic and family violence, and sexual violence, but she said what also struck her was that these women had the answers. They knew what needed to be addressed and how these issues that impact upon them need to be addressed. She said we do not need a government task force to be formed to tell them what we will do for them. They have the answers; they just need the ear of government and the support to implement them. That is a fantastic outcome.
Ms FYLES: A point of order, Madam Speaker! I ask that the member for Nhulunbuy be granted an extension of time pursuant to Standing Order 43.
Motion agreed to.
Ms WALKER: There is a really important lesson here. Grassroots solutions to community issues, family issues and women’s issues are the way to go. I know that from my own electorate where I saw the amazing work which happened in suicide prevention, driven at a grassroots level by the Indigenous women, predominantly, and supported by men at Gunyangara, or Ski Beach. They have a model that works. I know that in addressing alcohol-related issues, historically in Nhulunbuy and Yirrkala the best response has come from a grassroots level.
Last night I e-mailed somebody a copy of a letter to the Licensing Commission to establish our now closed down alcohol rehabilitation centre and to implement a takeaway liquor permit system, which was a forerunner of the successful Banned Drinker Register. That letter was signed by a number of very strong Marika women, sadly a couple of whom are no longer with us. Those women, at a grassroots level, took up the fight and said, ‘This is happening to our community. This is what we want to do. We want to work with government and other stakeholders to resolve this issue.’ This is how it works.
I implore the government to listen to women at the grassroots level and see the outcomes from the Putting Gender on the Agenda conference, and work with those women who know how to address these issues. It is the only way to go; it is not right to have a government which says, ‘We know what’s best for you and this is what we will do for you’.
Domestic and family violence, as the minister quite rightly highlighted, is a key issue. It is probably the biggest issue facing women in the Northern Territory, and we have the highest rates of domestic violence in the country. I appreciate that the Domestic Violence Directorate is relatively new in the Northern Territory and sits in the Department of the Attorney-General and Justice, but details have been thin about how the directorate works and what it delivers since it was announced more than a year ago. That was in tandem with the Safety is Everyone’s Right Strategy 2014-17.
I understand it to be an integrated support model, and I discussed it with the Attorney-General during estimates in June. It was also the subject of much interest when we had a Senate Finance and Public Administration References Committee investigating domestic violence in Australia. That committee convened in Darwin on 10 March this year.
I will go back to those DV statistics. I am reading from the Hansard when I was chatting in estimates with the Attorney-General and I said:
In estimates I went on to say:
I went on to say at estimates:
From there the Attorney-General asked me, ‘Are you suggesting that if you were in government you would be putting more money into opening up new beds in Alice Springs Women’s Shelter?’ I said we do not want to have to open more beds - that is certainly the view of Daryl Wakefield at Alice Springs Women’s Shelter - but we need more money put into preventative work and strategies that address the offending behaviour and the underlying issues that see domestic violence perpetrated.
I know the Domestic Violence Directorate is about having that broader strategy across government with the ultimate goal of eliminating domestic violence. It is not all about just opening up new beds, in fact, far from it.
The Safety is Everyone’s Right strategy was discussed at length in the Senate inquiry. I have the transcript of that. The minister made an opening statement, and I want to place on the record her very frank remarks at the beginning of that:
As the minister said, these statistics are indeed alarming. I was present at that public hearing of the Senate committee investigating domestic violence. The question was raised why it is that this strategy does not mention anywhere the word ‘alcohol’? Several members of the committee said that given that alcohol plays such a large part, why can we not be explicit and open, and say the word ‘alcohol’ must appear here and we must address alcohol-related issues. The minister’s response was disappointing in recognising that we have to be explicit and talk about the role alcohol has to play, front and centre, in domestic violence. One of the recommendations of the committee was to reintroduce the Banned Drinker Register, which the government continues to ignore, as an important tool that reduces alcohol abuse and in turn will reduce incidents of domestic violence.
I am also interested in alternative ways of our justice system dealing with domestic violence. I commend to honourable members an article in The Weekend Australian on 14 November, ‘Treat domestic violence with therapy, saw WA chief justice’. The Western Australian Chief Justice says that if we are really to address domestic violence we need justice systems that are less punitive and more therapeutic in going to the heart of the offending behaviour.
I am also disappointed that FASD has entirely dropped off the agenda. It is such an important subject for women and children.
Madam Speaker, there is much to do in the women’s policy area and I look forward to hearing more from the minister about how she delivers on the actions she talks about.
Mr STYLES (Business): Madam Speaker, I support the Minister for Women’s Policy. Before I get into some of the notes I have made, I will comment on a number of points the member for Nhulunbuy raised.
First, either the member for Nhulunbuy is not aware of what is going on in the community or she is conveniently leaving out some parts of the story. I refer to her comments in relation to what is happening at Alice Springs in relation to the girls’ program and what is happening in Darwin, particularly at Sanderson Middle School with the GEMS program.
For the information of the member for Nhulunbuy and all those listening and following this, the Smith Family was running an operation in the school in Alice Springs and doing a fabulous job. It is a government tender system for the provision of those services and the Smith Family missed out on a tender for the services it provides to young girls in Alice Springs. There is a Territory-based organisation call the Stars Foundation which was successful in obtaining the ability to provide those services to young women and students in Alice Springs.
The Smith Family was providing a good service. The government has offered funding through to 2017 so the Smith Family can complete the training of a particular cohort there so they would not be subject to too much change or disturbance in what they were doing. Unfortunately the Smith Family chose not to take that option to go through to 2017 and will be finishing.
In relation to Sanderson, the GEMS program is a good program, but now we have a Territory-based organisation called the Stars Foundation, which is ably guided by a former Deputy Chief Minister of the Northern Territory parliament in the Labor Party. Marion Scrymgour is part of that organisation and will be doing great things.
Again, for those listening and watching, and for the information of the member for Nhulunbuy, if she cared to read yesterday’s paper and look at the back page, it said, ‘Talented trio tickled pink’. I will quote the back page of yesterday’s paper:
It mentions three students:
On page 46 of yesterday’s paper there is a picture of three fantastic young women at Sanderson Middle School who talk about the program in Sanderson.
The member for Nhulunbuy wanted everyone to know that services had finished; what she failed to mention to everyone is they are being replaced by Territory-based organisations led by some very good people.
Ms Walker: You were not listening to me, Peter. I talked about the Stars Foundation …
Mr STYLES: They do not like hearing the good news. The member for Nhulunbuy continues to interject because she does not like hearing the good part of the story. She just wants to try to create in people’s minds the impression that this government does not care and is pulling programs all over the place. That is not correct, so I correct the record.
The member for Nhulunbuy said we have the highest domestic violence rates in the country. We have an interesting demographic in the Northern Territory. The average age is about 32. We do not have the upper end of the population where this issue does not normally arise. This balances out things. I do acknowledge we have a problem though, and one domestic violence problem is too many.
As a result of many of the policies of the CLP government, like paperless arrests, police officers have more time to chase things. Our police officers are encouraging people to make complaints. We have campaigns we support such as the White Ribbon and No More campaigns. These campaigns are actively in the community, supporting women and encouraging them to report these things. Obviously statistics will go up in some instances. I do not see that as an issue because we want more women to have the confidence to make complaints. When you give more support to people, you end up with more complaints. I hope every woman who suffers at the hands of domestic violence – and it is not just physical violence; there are various aspects of what is considered to be domestic violence – is encouraged to seek the support to report it.
I listen to the community. At the rallies I attend in support of women, people tell me this is a men’s problem. It is not a women’s problem; it is a men’s problem, because most of the domestic violence in our community is perpetrated by men against women. It is about men understanding and not accepting what other men in their community do to their mothers, sisters, aunts, uncles and grandmothers. It is across the board. I am very grateful to those organisations and the volunteers who encourage this to be debated in our community.
The member for Nhulunbuy also spoke about alcohol-related issues. It is broader than that. Alcohol and other drugs are very important to this debate. It is not just alcohol, although alcohol features often in domestic violence issues.
The member for Nhulunbuy also spoke about the Banned Drinker Register. The Banned Drinker Register had enormous problems in how it worked. Again we are required to explain, for the benefit of the member for Nhulunbuy and those opposite, the failings of the Banned Drinker Register. I have spoken in this House before about it. I do not want to go too much into it, but if it has been raised here, then we should address it again. I have heard anecdotal evidence as I have walked and driven around the Top End and the Centre about what happened when the Banned Drinker Register came in.
I had my doubts about it as a former police officer. I worked with people who were addicted to alcohol and other drugs. I had my doubts about whether it would work but I was happy to sit and watch with interest. Some people were walking into shops with 12 drivers’ licences in their pocket, which I heard from someone who was waiting in line. In the licence pictures some had long hair, some short, some had beards, some did not, some had goatees. They would go into shops and say, ‘This is me’. There was a young person at the counter with a scanning machine. We were told the machines would take 183 different forms of identification, but it generally came down to two. At most premises they just wanted a passport or a driver’s licence, otherwise they would say, ‘Go to the back of the line and wait until the line goes’.
We became the laughing stock of international and interstate tourists, who almost needed a licence to buy alcohol. We knew people were getting around it. I can talk about going to camps and seeing them. I was getting information from various people around town and various suburban shopping centres. People would ring and say, ‘Pete, you have a problem here’. I would have a look. Violence inevitably flowed from people being able to get alcohol so easily and not be accountable.
People will argue about Alcohol Protection Orders, and that is probably a debate for a different day, but the sad things is people were still getting alcohol by getting other people to buy it; they were using other people’s driver’s licences or identification. It was a problem. People were selling alcohol to people and, of course, they then moved to other drugs because it was easier to get other drugs than alcohol in some instances.
We were not resolving the problem, just making the entire community pay for the behaviour of a few. Alcohol Protection Orders changed that and put the onus on the person. If people have an Alcohol Protection Order served on them and they want to drink, they run the risk, the same as if they were on the Banned Drinker Register. Mandatory alcohol treatment under the previous government’s Banned Drinker Register was optional. I have challenged people to stand up and say it was not. It was called mandatory alcohol treatment, but if you did not turn up for it you just stayed on the Banned Drinker Register. Where was the mandatory? People were still getting alcohol. You could still go into a hotel bar and drink under that system. If you are on an Alcohol Protection Order you are not allowed to be under the influence of alcohol.
If someone is on an Alcohol Protection Order, in a relationship and found to be under the influence, they are in trouble. However, if they realise they will be in trouble and control themselves, then to a certain extent you have achieved what you were trying to – that people consume alcohol responsibly and those who do not will pay the penalty.
I support my colleague’s statement. She said:
My support for the implementation of women’s policy is based on a number of things. For instance, as a community member and having been a police officer and seen the results of this, and having been involved in educating the community on domestic violence and its prevention as a school-based police officer, I want to see this policy implemented.
Madam SPEAKER: Honourable members, I advise of the presence in the gallery of the NT Junior Track and Field Team, accompanied by Nicole Simmonds. Welcome to Parliament House. I hope you sprinted in here and can now have a rest. Enjoy your time.
Members: Hear, hear!
Mr STYLES: It is great to see the team here.
I am a husband, a father and an elected representative for the Northern Territory electorate of Sanderson. They are some of the reasons I support this. I have three important portfolios in relation to community: Seniors; Youth; and Multicultural Affairs. This policy framework has four focus areas which encompass those three portfolios: women’s safety; economic security; health and wellbeing; and women’s leadership and participation.
The Giles government is committed to women’s safety and reducing the incidence of violence against women in the Northern Territory community, and seeks to increase the safety of all Territory women in their homes, workplaces and communities.
In recorded crime statistics for all assault victims in the Northern Territory during 2013, 64% of victims assaulted were females, and 87% of these victims knew the offender. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander females had a victimisation rate more than three times of that of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander male victims.
The minister, in her statement, said two women are killed in our country per week as a direct result of violence against them. What an appalling state of affairs. Any act of gender-based violence that results, or is likely to result, in physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or private life, is unacceptable.
The Northern Territory Domestic and Family Violence Reduction Strategy, titled Safety is Everyone’s Right, is an important document. Safety is Everyone’s Right is a joint initiative between the Northern Territory government and the Australian government.
This Safety is Everyone’s Right strategy identifies five key issues and five key action areas for change, including prevention, early intervention, protection and safety for victims, rebuilding the lives of victims and survivors, and perpetrators taking responsibility for their actions.
I refer to some points the minister spoke of in relation to the five key action areas for change. The Territory is a signatory to the National Plan to Reduce Violence against Women and their Children 2010-22. This national plan aims to achieve a significant and sustained reduction in the levels of violence against women and their children across Australia.
The national plan sets out six outcomes for all governments to deliver during the next 12 years. The first one is that communities are safe and free from violence. It is really important that we introduce policies that make it easier for police to have the time to follow up on issues. We have heard the opposition, in the last day or two, talk about paperless arrests. We are talking about the things we are doing to free up police time, such as the extra 120 police officers; we have taken police officers from behind desks and put them back on the street, where they can be most effective.
It is about making sure that women’s refuge centres get as much funding as we can give them. It is about making sure there is community involvement in this. I was talking to Amelia Stone from Dawn House last Saturday when I attended a domestic violence forum, instigated by the Indonesian Consul, Andre Siregar. He was looking around the community and we have had some chats about this problem, so he got his community - a substantial number of people from Indonesia who live in the Northern Territory – to run a forum about domestic violence. It was predominantly Muslim women at that forum. We had Melaleuca, Dawn House and people who assist victims of domestic violence enlighten women and men from that community as to what the laws and requirements are in Australia.
I was very interested, because at this workshop they also explained what the laws are in Indonesia. Indonesia brought in a raft of domestic violence laws in 2004. The consul made sure the people presenting from the Indonesian Consulate, including lawyers from the Indonesian Consulate, explained to their community - and there were people from other nationalities - what the rules are. It was a fantastic initiative they took so the women understood what was available in Indonesia under these domestic violence laws and all the things that can occur in and out of marriage, what is permitted and what is not permitted. What they have introduced in Indonesia is very similar to what we have here.
Our laws are not that different. In fact some of the laws in Indonesia in relation to supporting families are quite strong. Those women now understand, through the information given to them, that the police are here to support them and there are places they can go and get help.
I had a very good discussion with a number of service providers at that forum about what we can do in relation to some of these key issues that are national outcomes, like relationships are respectful, Indigenous communities are strengthened, services ...
Madam SPEAKER: Honourable members, I advise of the presence in the gallery of senior students from Palmerston Senior College Special Education Centre, accompanied by Eleonore Simpson, Anna McRae, Elaine Williams and Rokiah Lacey. On behalf of honourable members, welcome to Parliament House. I hope you enjoy your time here.
Members: Hear, hear!
Mr ELFERINK: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Pursuant to Standing Order 43, I move an extension of time for the minister.
Motion agreed to.
Mr STYLES: I thank the member for Port Darwin for the extension.
The fifth key issue on that list is, ‘justice responses are effective’, and number six is, ‘perpetrators stop their violence and are held to account’.
One of the things the Country Liberals government has done is about supporting community. The member for Nhulunbuy raised alcohol-related issues. We have alcohol accords, and I will try to speak about that more in this House. It is about local communities fixing local problems. The Neighbourhood Activity Centre, the pilot program being run at Sanderson Middle School, is just that. It is about community getting involved in resolving community issues. Looking at those six outcomes from the national strategy, we tick all those boxes. We have people coming from all over our community to support other people in the community.
When I am doorknocking I meet many migrant women. Unfortunately they suffer from the fact that they do not have strong English. They have other languages, and in some cases immigrants have two or three other languages and English is their third or fourth language. It concerns me when I knock on the door and they come to the door and do not speak much English so they get their children to interpret what I am saying.
As a former police officer it has always been a concern of mine that women in our community who do not have the best English language skills have to sometimes suffer in silence. For instance, let us talk about physical assault. If they are being physically assaulted at home and do not have family or a support network, or are not familiar with what the support networks are, and they have an eight- or 10-year-old daughter, how do they go to the police station and tell their daughter, ‘Daddy belted the living daylights out of me last night’? That is not right. The daughter has to be exposed to things that perhaps eight- and 10-year-old girls – or even sons – are not supposed to be exposed to.
The worst part about my role as a police officer was I found that there were women who were raped in marriage. If they do not have the English skills, then we have someone who says, ‘What do I do; how do I explain that to my daughter or my son when we go to the police station?’, because they are the only people they trust, as they do not know too many people. Unfortunately, some of these men use the fact that the women cannot speak English well.
The Neighbourhood Activity Centre is where people from Dawn House will be involved. We have a number of people in the community who have time on their hands and can volunteer to assist people. If people want to get a driver’s licence, they need to be able to speak English and understand signs and what is happening on the road. You have to be able to read the examination. Many of these women are stuck in situations they cannot get out of. I am not saying all of them are, but there are people who are.
This is only a small part of the things we will do at the Neighbourhood Activity Centre. It is about getting women to come there when school finishes. There will be activities for their children on the school grounds. It might be playing soccer or football, abseiling, photography or computing. There will be something for everyone, especially young people. We have the school of music there so there will be jam sessions and concerts. I am trying to get support for lighting on the ovals so young people can play into the night. They can have sports and other things to do as opposed to running around the streets in the dark.
These women can come. We have Foodbank, Coles and Woolworths on board. Food will be prepared in the kitchens that are part of the home economics program at Sanderson Middle School. Women will be able to bring their kids and give them a meal. They will not need to cook a meal. While their kids are running around the oval, these women can interact on a one-to-one basis with retired women from our community who have a need to give.
When I was a young person I did not quite understand the empty nest syndrome but now, in my adult life, I do. Women have a nurturing instinct that comes naturally to them. They want to give, to nurture people and make sure everyone in our community is fine. When their children have left home, there is an emptiness. I talk to the older women about that in my community and they say, ‘What is there for me to do?’ The Neighbourhood Activity Centre will match these people and give them something to do where they are seriously needed. The community needs them, so it fulfils a number of things.
We can have a migrant lady sit with a lady who has a lot to give and has some time. They can speak English one-to-one, which is quite often the best way to learn; you sit down and have a conversation. Suddenly this migrant lady is learning English and able to get a driver’s licence, which means she is not dependent on buses when she does not even understand how the ticketing system works because she does not have a command of English. There are many things you can do in that area to make sure those women are supported.
The other point is education. I recall very well when I was a school-based police officer. They are now called youth engagement officers, and, on a personal level, I do not forgive the previous Labor government for changing the roles of school-based police officers. We used to go into classrooms and teach a program called DARE. It was an excellent program; it still is. In 2001 we had the best school-based policing program in the world. It was deemed so not by me but by experts, like Terry O’Connell, who wrote the Real Justice program that is used all over the world these days. Terry came to the Northern Territory and said, ‘You people have the best in the world’.
Sadly we lost it. Just after the 2001 election, the former member for Nhulunbuy, Mr Stirling, wrote to the police. I read the letter and it was astounding. He was the Minister for Education and the minister for Police and he wrote a letter to himself and one to his department saying, ‘You should get rid of this’.
Debate suspended.
The Assembly suspended.
Continued from earlier this day.
Mr STYLES (Business): Madam Speaker, I again congratulate my colleague, the member for Stuart, for bringing this forward.
The government faces a big job with our young population. It is a highly mobile population. To comply with the national outcomes, we need to get into that space. This policy will help us comply with the National Plan to Reduce Violence against Women and their Children 2010-22. I earlier spoke about the six outcomes: communities that are safe and free from violence; relationships that are respectful; Indigenous communities are strengthened; services that meet the needs of women and their children; justice responses that are effective; and perpetrators stop their violence and are held to account.
What we heard in Question Time, even today, and in debate over the last few days, gives people an understanding that the CLP government is taking initiatives and steps to work towards protecting women and children. It is achieving outcomes in each of those six points of the national plan.
It is appalling that in 2015 we are still in this space. This government is working on a range of issues to help protect women; however, it behoves all of us in this Chamber to join together and make sure we are all on the same page and are sending the same message to people in the community, that we work together to make sure whatever we can do – whatever rules, laws or regulations we need to make in this Chamber – has a very clear message in relation to violence against women. All 25 people in this Chamber need to send the message that it is not acceptable, that the community should not tolerate what is going on, and send the message to men that this is a men’s problem, and whilst men walk past these things occurring – if they accept that, it is not tolerable. I was happy to say at the public rally that it is appalling, and men who perpetrate this violence are simply cowards. I am happy to have that argument with anyone anywhere, anytime.
Mrs LAMBLEY (Araluen): Madam Speaker, I commend the Minister for Women’s Policy on her report to parliament, an update on what she has been doing over the last few years in her honoured roll as the Minister for Women’s Policy. There is a lot to this portfolio. I held it briefly when we first came to government and confess I got nowhere. I was snowed under with many other portfolio responsibilities – 15 portfolios in two-and-a-bit years. I really did not touch this one at all, so I am so pleased the member for Stuart has turned her attention completely to this very important portfolio.
I, like all members in this Chamber, feel passionate about this issue. It affects every one of us in the Northern Territory, and particularly in my town of Alice Springs. It was interesting to hear the members who have spoken on this ministerial statement talk about Alice Springs in particular. We have a high, unacceptable level of violence and discrimination against women in Central Australia, in the township of Alice Springs, and we have made some progress in trying to address this almost culturally endemic problem.
There are other aspects of this ministerial statement in which we have made much progress. With all the good intentions, many of these problems obviously do not have an easy solution. It is about cultural change over long periods of time. The most encouraging strategy that can be implemented is focusing on young people, and that is obvious. To change attitudes over long periods you have to work with children within the education system. The member for Nhulunbuy talked about the Girls at the Centre program, which I have had quite a bit to do with over the last five years since I have been a member of parliament. The program has been immensely successful. I have had the enormous privilege of seeing girls and young women go through that program. I have seen changes in those young people, which has been enormously fulfilling for me as an observer, and wonderful for them personally, and their families.
We have to start with young people and change the way we think about women, behaviour, aggression and where it is appropriate to be behave aggressively, perhaps on the sports field. There are spaces where it is socially acceptable to behave aggressively, violently if you like, and there are situations in which violence is completely unacceptable.
We know what those boundaries are. I hope the people in this Chamber know very clearly where those boundaries are, but for people who have come from a violent background or difficult circumstances, it is very difficult to break that cycle. Statements like the one we heard today give us all some hope that we are progressing as part of a national team to address the problem of domestic and family violence in the Territory and throughout the country.
I wondered, like the member for Nhulunbuy mentioned, what the exact progress has been over the last few years. I recall the ministerial statement given by the former Minister for Women’s Policy, the member for Namatjira. I remember when she gave her ministerial statement some years ago - and I glanced at that very quickly today before giving this speech - and there does not appear to be much difference. I think the next phase of any women’s policy has to start measuring how we are travelling. There are some statistics that definitely indicate progress. The improved level of domestic violence reporting in the community is a great achievement and can be directly attributed to mandatory reporting of domestic violence.
The POSIs, which the member for Sanderson was referring to - I like to call them temporary beat locations; it took me 12 months to remember TBLs and now I have to remember POSIs – have been incredibly successful in Alice Springs in reducing alcohol consumption and alcohol-related violence throughout the community. To remove POSIs, or TBLs, would be an enormous backward step in combatting violence against women in our community.
This paper has been written very concisely. It is a brush of what this government has been doing, but I would have liked to have seen a bit more substance in how we are going. I have engaged in a number of women’s events and activities in my community, particularly over the last 12 months as I seem to have a bit more time on my hands to spend in my community. I have had the thrill and delight of being involved in lots of activities and events relating to the progress of addressing issues women experience in our community and combatting inequality and violence against women.
One of the events I went to, which the Attorney-General was at, was the unveiling of the Tangentyere Safe Families Program in a town camp in Alice Springs, Hidden Valley. This was a great milestone for that town camp, and a great celebration of grassroots community development. The Tangentyere Council has been extremely proactive in recent times, empowering local communities and town camps to get on board, train and educate their people, increase awareness and put in place strategies that can combat violence in town camps. That was a really exciting day.
The Minister for Women’s Policy was meant to attend, I was told, but she did not turn up. The Attorney-General was definitely there, being a former member of parliament representing Central Australia. His attendance at that was valued by the people there. It was primarily an occasion for Aboriginal people involved in Tangentyere Council, who live in the town camps, to celebrate their own empowerment and action in fighting family violence.
The other organisation I have had a bit to do with of late is the Pioneer Women’s Hall of Fame in Alice Springs. It is one of two women’s museums in Australia. It is an extremely unique museum that sits in the old prison in the middle of town. It is an incredible facility that locals do not tend to visit. It is quite a popular tourist venue. The exhibits are spectacular.
I have recently become a life member of the Pioneer Women’s Hall of Fame. I went to its AGM recently. After I hang up my political shoes I will be spending a bit more time helping at the Pioneer Women’s Hall of Fame. It provides great interest to me personally. It is about the stories of women in Central Australia from all sorts of backgrounds, and women across the country who have done remarkable and extraordinary things.
One project they are embarking on is to engage local Arrernte women who grew up on pastoral properties, who came from the land. They are trying to collect stories from these Arrernte women about how they worked and survived living, growing up and spending their lives in the bush. That is a big project. They are working with local Aboriginal female identities – Elane Peckham is one of them – to engage these, mainly old, Aboriginal Arrernte ladies, encouraging them to put down their stories and history so it is not lost. That is an exciting program.
I encourage the government to come on board with the Pioneer Women’s Hall of Fame.
Mr Styles: Hear, hear!
Mrs LAMBLEY: I am glad to hear the ‘hear, hear!’ from the minister, because they struggle. Having attended their AGM the other day, I found that they are extremely frugal. Like a lot of non-government organisations they work so hard to survive, and survive they do. Much of their support is in-kind, and they need continuing, if not increased, government support to maintain doing their business as well as they have been. It is a remarkable group of people.
The history of this organisation is worth looking into. Molly Clark from Andado Station – it is a remarkable museum in Alice Springs, representing women. I also encourage the Minister for Women’s Policy, who I know has had considerable contact with the Women’s Hall of Fame, to open herself to giving it more financial assistance in the next financial year.
I have had a reasonable amount to do with the Alice Springs Women’s Shelter. I see Dale Wakefield, the extraordinary Director of the Alice Springs Women’s Shelter, fairly regularly around the traps. I keep abreast of what the shelter is up to. That organisation started off small, as they all do. It has certainly spread its wings over the last couple of years, providing an essential service, a safety house for women across Central Australia. Its work is remarkable. It has extended its services into a range of areas through the assistance of the Northern Territory and the federal governments, and they are extremely appreciative of that.
One point I will make – and I will not labour my contribution to this ministerial statement beyond the fact that I support the good work – is that many women throughout the Northern Territory are victims of domestic violence; there is no doubt. The statistics, which I do not have in front of me – other contributors to this debate have reeled them off – are staggering. We are overrepresented when it comes to domestic and family violence victims. It is beyond dispute that victims are primarily women. I have heard too many times men say, ‘Yes, but men can be victims of domestic violence too’. They can be and they are, but they make up probably less than 5% ...
Mr Wood: Seventeen.
Mrs LAMBLEY: Seventeen? It is very low in comparison to the number of women. That is not to minimise their experience and how that affects them, but we are talking about women’s policy this evening. When you consider that over 80% of victims of domestic and family violence are women, it is important, as a government and a parliament, to focus our resources and attention on that group of people. For women to come together and tell their stories of domestic violence is essential. Beyond that, it is therapeutic; it is good for them and the community to talk about what is happening.
The role of the Minister for Women’s Policy should be less about telling stories and more about action. I say that in a very respectful way. You have your own story, but as ministers of this parliament we have to move beyond telling our own stories. We need to implement action, measure that action and allocate resources to help women who are experiencing these terrible situations.
I move on to another aspect of policy the minister has in her statement, which is the section on women’s leadership and participation. I conclude by reminding the government it has let down the women of the Northern Territory. I remind Territorians that when we first came to government, in August 2012, six of the 16 CLP members of parliament were women. Women made up 40% of the CLP parliamentary wing.
Over the last three-and-a-half years we have seen four women leave. That represents 25% of the Country Liberal Party parliamentary wing. That is no coincidence. Actions speak louder than words. If we are to have a Minister for Women’s Policy, and a government that talks about women’s policy and such things as respecting women, their safety, health, economic safety, economic position in our community and being in leadership roles, you must reflect that within your government. This government is now down to two women; two of the remaining 12 members of the CLP parliamentary wing are women. That means only 17% of the parliamentary wing are women. This is an appalling statistic. Eighty-four per cent of the Independents in this parliament are women and 57% of Labor is made up of women. The government is letting itself down.
I will not labour this point. I have said enough over the last 12 months about this issue. It is very disappointing. The government needs to look within itself to work out what it is doing wrong because actions speak louder than words.
Ms ANDERSON (Namatjira): Madam Speaker, I thank the minister for bringing this statement forward. It is important with statements like this that this House gets to debate them and understand each other’s perspective, because we all have different views; we represent different areas of the Northern Territory but the problem is exactly the same.
Violence is not a black or white issue; it is not a Labor issue, or a CLP or an Independent issue. It is an issue that is across the board and one that we must, as a society, deal with. As families, individuals, women, men and a community, we must work it out. That is the only way we will be able to educate people to say no to the punches or kicks, or having the guns put to their head. It is the only time, through the talking process, that we will give tools to the younger generation to deal with this issue, to make sure they have the right tools to recognise when something is wrong and say no to that wrong.
The minister has been very outspoken in this area, saying to people that ‘no’ is an important word. We should not tolerate violence, and as a community we have to continuously use the word ‘no’ to violence of any form; mental or physical abuse, we must say no to. One of the things I can suggest, minister, is that we start talking to the Education minister to make sure those appropriate tools are given to young adolescents in upper primary schools in remote Aboriginal communities and the northern suburbs so these children are engaging early with the signs through the appropriate tools to recognise when something is wrong. They can have the opportunity to say no and can see it straightaway. They can see it coming and say, ‘I don’t like what I see; I don’t like what I hear. I can see the ugliness coming and I will say no to it.’
Minister, I congratulate you for bringing the statement forward because it gives us an opportunity, as individuals and as politicians representing our constituents, to talk about the appropriate tools and see if we are appropriately funding these organisations. Maybe we can do better things. Maybe we can duplicate programs that are working in other areas, like Tangentyere town camp – the women getting together and talking about issues in town camps.
If that is a good program then we need to make sure it is duplicated, through funds, in other remote Aboriginal communities. It is unreal to look at who the ministers have been in this area. It is amazing that four Indigenous members of parliament have been ministers – Marion Scrymgour, Malarndirri McCarthy, me, the member for Stuart, and we cannot forget the member for Araluen. We have had a staunch Attorney-General overarching this area and supporting it, and I think he will be the second man to support this statement.
It is really important that our men in this parliament contribute to this statement, because we cannot continually say to our Aboriginal men they have to stop doing things, or to anyone in the domestic violence arena, ‘You cannot do this’. Whether you contribute for five minutes, two minutes, 10 minutes or 20 minutes then get an extension, it is a contribution we have as politicians and as mothers, fathers, aunties, grandmothers, grandfathers and members of communities. It is very important, and it is very important that the Chief Minister comes back in and, as a leader of the Northern Territory, contributes to this statement so people can see that the number one in the Northern Territory is contributing to a most important policy affecting the whole of the Northern Territory.
Again, minister, I congratulate you for bringing this statement forward. We have had various statements. It would be nice to talk about these issues and make sure the word is getting out. The Attorney-General will jump up after me and he will take 20 minutes plus an extension because it is a subject he loves. He will talk about these issues to make sure that, as a man, he is supporting the minister’s statement.
I thank you, minister, for bringing this statement forward, and I thank you, Attorney-General, for always having your two bobs’ worth.
Mr WOOD (Nelson): Madam Speaker, I have a couple of things the Attorney-General might be interested in, as well as the Minister for Women’s Policy. I will try to be as positive as I can so I will start on a really positive note. It looks like four out of five elected councillors in Litchfield will be women. I say well done. Congratulations.
A member: Girl power.
Mr WOOD: I heard someone say, ‘Girl power’. I would say it might be electors’ power because they elected them on their merit, not because they were women necessarily. I congratulate them. One of those positions could still be up for grabs, simply because postal votes and preferences have not been counted, but it looks like four out of those five people will be women and the CEO will be a woman as well, so I congratulate them.
The minister spoke about the First Circles program. I wrote in my report when I came back from Canada that in the Northwest Territories they have an elders group that meets in parliament every two years. I think it something like the First Circles program, which I do not know a lot about, except that the minister has announced it in the statement today. This may be a good place to have that program.
I say that because we need to be reminded that 40% of the people in the Northern Territory are Aboriginal. They have a culture that needs to be recognised, and one way to recognise that is to bring this parliament into that kind of thinking. We should allow people, like those in the First Circles program, to come into this parliament to discuss issues which are relevant to Aboriginal people, and to make recommendations to parliament in relation to those discussions.
In some ways, not exactly parallel, having a youth parliament which does something similar – but having an elders or a First Circles program in this parliament would be a good thing. It would recognise the original peoples of the Northern Territory.
I hope the Attorney-General can look at and address - and I might have raised it with him already – that one of the programs the Northern Territory should be seriously looking at is setting up a family responsibilities commission. Family responsibilities commissions operate in Cape York and in Doomadgee, and they are empowering Aboriginal people in a way which is, to some extent, revolutionary, and gives them a sense of ownership of what is happening in their community.
I will read from the Department of Social Services website about the Family Responsibilities Commission:
I will keep going from what is on the website:
People who can be referred to this commission are people who are on welfare payments and live in that area. People referred to the Family Responsibilities Commission are those who are not sending their children to school, but also may be people who are causing problems in the community with their behaviour, including domestic violence and not looking after their children.
I raise this because we have an opportunity to look at this scheme which, from all my discussions with the commissioner and looking at the reviews of this commission, is a worthwhile project that could fit the Northern Territory in certain circumstances.
The other reason I say that is because looking at the statistics for domestic violence in the Northern Territory – and I am reading off the Department of the Attorney-General and Justice’s website – Indigenous females represent 73% of domestic victims in the Northern Territory.
Mr Elferink: I will get you some exact numbers shortly.
Mr WOOD: Thank you. I presume that is 73% of the 82% of domestic violence victims in the Northern Territory. I am interested to hear the figures.
We know that Indigenous females are more likely to be victims of domestic violence, yet we have this option that has been running for a number of years in parts of Queensland, which I ask the government to seriously look at as a positive approach to giving Aboriginal people the power to change things.
I will not go through everything about the Family Responsibilities Commission today. I have this good article; it is a small booklet I have given the member for Arnhem to look at. There is an evaluation of how this program works. The cost of it, from what I have seen, is quite low when compared with the benefits. If I can get some time, I would like to travel to these communities and have a look. I do not want to be a sticky beak, but I am interested in talking to the commissioner. I have already done that, but it would be nice to talk to people on the ground and to the commissioners.
I see this as a way forward that the government should examine seriously, not only in relation to domestic violence, but in getting kids back to school and getting people off the grog. It gives the community an opportunity to control welfare payments, and that is the key to its success.
If you read the CVs of some of these people, you can see you are dealing with genuine people who want to make a difference. This is the CV for Doomadgee local commissioner Isabel Toby:
There is another commissioner, Guy Douglas. It says at the end of his CV:
I am just reading a bit there. There is another one here from commissioner Elaine Cairns:
There are eight commissioners. All are local commissioners working with the coordinator to help the community and be part of the decision-making of the community to get people off welfare, reduce domestic violence, reduce alcohol abuse and get kids back to school. I cannot emphasise this strongly enough; if this is working in Queensland, and I am not saying it will match exactly what happens in the Northern Territory, we should be looking at it as a model for the Northern Territory.
I listened to the member for Araluen talk about how domestic violence is a major problem in the Northern Territory and that it predominantly affects women. The Attorney-General said he might have some stats for me. When I took the stats from the website I presumed that if 83% of victims in the Northern Territory are women, then 17% are men. It is not easy to work from stats; they get abused in this place at times. My understanding from the statistics from the Department of the Attorney-General and Justice for Northern Territory assaults for the September quarter 2015 is that there were 947 domestic violence offences. Half of those involved alcohol. Around 170 of those victims would have been men and the remaining 777 women.
I understand fully that the majority of people affected by domestic violence are women, but the Domestic and Family Violence Reduction Strategy talks about safety as a fundamental human right:
We have to put more emphasis on violence in general. Where does that violence come from before it enters the family? I have been to communities and seen women fight brutally. It is probably caused by jealousy, and men. I have seen kids fight at school. White Ribbon Day should be expanded to say we do not accept violence as a way to solve our problems. We are picking one section, which is a very serious and important part of violence. We do not want women bashed at home but we do not want violence prevention to be limited to just that. I agree with the values and principles the government has put forward; we all have a right to be safe and live in a society that is free from violence. We need to emphasise that. The minister is also the Minister for Men’s Policy, and that applies just as much to women’s policy as men’s policy.
Looking at these stats, I think we still shy away from the reality that half – I will give you the figures in regard to domestic violence. The September 2015 figures state that 190 of those incidents involved alcohol. Some 98 did not and in 44 cases it is not known. It gets to around 45-50% of those figures for the Northern Territory. It varies; it is sometimes higher than that. The March 2015 figures were 202 assaults that included alcohol, against a total of 356.
We have a major problem with alcohol in our society but we tend to shy away from it. It is such a part of our society that we tend to say, ‘No, we are not going to touch it’. We might tinker with it. It was good to see recently that the Western Warriors, the Western Australian cricket team, have a no-alcohol logo on their jerseys. That is refreshing. The reality, though, is that alcohol is big money for the government, and not just this government but governments in general. The alcohol industry is very powerful. When Rosie Batty spoke at the Convention Centre recently I asked if she was at the launch of a website recognising the role alcohol plays. I asked if she believed alcohol, if not the cause, is a conduit to the reason we have so much violence, and she said she did. We have the figures here. This is not broken down into Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people, but I have no doubt that many Aboriginal street bashings involve alcohol. You do not need stats; you just see it. Sometimes the victim is also affected, which makes it just as bad.
I do not believe we can say no more violence if we do not address the proper use of alcohol in our society. I regret that we do not have that old program the government had, the living with alcohol scheme.
Mr Elferink: Unfortunately the High Court …
Mr WOOD: I realise that, but it was money going from the alcohol industry directly into a campaign which was trying to turn things around. That is something the government should seriously look at bringing back.
We do not just have domestic violence. Looking at the figures, there were 235 assaults in the Northern Territory in September 2015 that did not involve domestic violence. That is about 100 fewer than the domestic violence incidents, but it adds up to 567 assaults. If you put those together, in 314 cases alcohol was involved. Does that not show statistically we have a problem in society that is not only about domestic violence? It is about violence in general and the abuse of alcohol and shows that a lot of violence is related to alcohol.
More than 70% of sentenced prisoners in the Northern Territory have one or more convictions for domestic violence-related offences. It is a problem we cannot shy away from, and one that is costing our society lots from an economic point of view. How many people are in prison because of this? How many families have broken up? How much is it costing for carers to look after children because families cannot look after them? These social problems are not easy to fix, but neither should we shy away from the fact that, looking at the stats, violence is a problem in our society full stop, and alcohol abuse is a problem in our society full stop. If we do not work towards trying to turn those things around – not just one section – and say these are issues our society has to take responsibility for, then we are only tinkering.
I thank the minister for her statement. It gives us the opportunity to talk about women’s policy. I have tried to put some good sides to it. I have tried to give some positive ways we can approach this through a family responsibilities commission, and I have also tried to say that violence against women cannot be tolerated. However, we must respect that there are some men – at least 17%, looking at the figures – affected by domestic violence. We must also recognise that violence is not just associated with domestic violence. The figures show it is something in our society that we need to get rid of.
I thank the minister for her statement, and I hope that was a positive contribution to what she had to say.
Mr ELFERINK (Attorney-General and Justice): Madam Speaker, I rise to respond to a number of members. I thank the minister for her statement and for bringing it here today, and I thank the member for Namatjira for her acknowledgement of the efforts made.
One of the greatest things I did when I was studying my first degree was ignore reading a course syllabus and simply take a course on the basis of the course title. Being a good boy, I like military history and those types of things. I was doing a history and political science major in my arts degree, and there was this a wonderful unit called Courtesans, Concubines and Conquests. I thought, ‘You beauty, that sounds like a good military history course. I will do that.’ You can imagine my dismay and horror upon receiving the course material to find that is was actually the study of feminism, particularly during the second wave of feminism in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Being a good boy, I thought, ‘What have I let myself in for?’
The curious thing is that of all the courses I remember doing during my arts degree, this is the one I remember the name of. It provided me with a series of insights that have remained with me to this day. It was a study of feminist philosophy, essentially, of that period, and the three main schools of feminism during that time. It was interesting to note that it was not long before you stopped talking about feminist issues when you read the course material and the conversation very quickly drifted to power relationships, placed in the context of gender but, nevertheless, the power relationships, for the purposes of the course, between men and women.
Noted philosophers were referred to on a number of occasions who were not particularly noted for their feminist philosophy but their philosophy of the nature of the relationships of power between people. Essentially, the three schools broke up as follows: the Marxist feminist school; the radical feminist school; and the liberal feminist school. Each set of arguments has its own merits.
Marxist feminism, to put a sweeping generalisation over it, basically saw feminism through the lens of the division of labour, particularly in the domestic environment, where the labour of the woman was bought cheaply. The Marxist criticism of that division of labour was scathing. You hear that sort of philosophy in observations where people continue to describe what domestic labour is worth, so there is merit to the argument and the notion.
Radical feminism saw the relationship between men and women largely in sexually oppressive terms and, frankly, there was a number of observations made by the feminist writers of that school which also had merit and were worth describing.
Liberal feminism, by its very name, suggests the notion that the liberal feminist school was generally concerned with the acknowledgement that there was a separation, in the same way Marxist and radical feminists made observations, but argued that in terms of solutions, the way forward was to make sure there were economic liberties given which would enable women to stand separately and on their own two feet. This is the school of feminism that generally drove the notion of equal pay, arguments I am old enough to remember, and I suspect maybe one or two other members in this Chamber may remember.
The upshot was, from my world view, the relationship between men and women was never the same after I did that course. I am grateful to this day that the lecturer had, I suspect, deliberately tweaked the title of the course to attract unsuspecting men like me into doing it, because there were many revelations in the journey.
The reason I make any comment in relation to this is that I want to return to the philosophical construct around liberal feminism and how it has influenced my view on how we should deal with certain matters. Let me then wind the clock forward a couple of years to when I was a young police officer on patrol in the Ludmilla area. We were called to a side street not far from the controversial Richardson Park. When we arrived, there was a man and a woman in the middle of the street. The man had the woman by the throat, so it was obviously of concern. Moreover, the woman was naked but for her underwear. He had forced her to her knees and was punching her about the head with blows reminiscent of a rugby field, not of a domestic relationship. He beat her around the head on a number of occasions, and you could imagine the two young police officers seeing this said, ‘Okay, cool. We are going deal with this right now.’ So we did.
I remember jumping out of the police car and placing the gentleman under arrest, putting him in the back of a police car, then taking the lady back to her house. He was erupting with rage in the back of the cage, kicking the cage and doing God knows what else, obviously causing her concern. We wanted to get an assault complaint from her because it was a walk-up start for an assault. Even in those days it was quite possible for a woman to complain of being assaulted by her husband. The notion that there was no such thing as assault or sexual assault in marriage has long been left behind.
Nevertheless, that was the only weapon we had. I will never forget this woman, by virtue of the fact she was such a crushed spirit, so broken in soul that her mind was consumed with one thing and one thing only: do nothing. ‘Never do anything to upset my husband because of the consequences that flow.’ That was so far entrenched in her mind that the very notion of him remaining in the back of the cage was causing her distress, let alone standing up in court and saying, ‘This is what this man did to me’.
We returned to the police station and were left with the quandary of having this man in custody and not being able to do anything about him beyond the summary offence of disorderly behaviour in a public place. If he had been beating her about the head in the bedroom of the house and we had knocked on the door, after separating the two and her refusal to do anything about it, the only option that would have been available to us at the time was to tell both parties to keep the peace. In other words, ‘If you are going to hurt your wife, please do it quietly. You are disturbing the neighbours.’ That is hardly a satisfactory outcome. Because this man was beating his wife about the head in the middle of the street, we at least were able to charge him with disorderly behaviour.
You can well imagine that the explanatory note we had to put on the prcis of events was longer than the prcis of events itself because of the obvious questions the magistrate would ask in assault complaints. But in those days, unless an assault complaint was filed, there was no way to proceed with the matter. The magistrate, thank goodness, saw through the situation and made critical comments about policy at the time. I think he put this man in gaol for a number of months simply to buy some time for his wife. What happened to that couple I do not know. I hope they found peace, either apart or together. That was an incident which occurred close on 30 years ago which is scorched into my memory.
As time passed in my years in the police force, I went to many domestic violence disputes, many of them grossly violent. When I say grossly violent I mean violent in ways that if I was to describe them to the members of this House, it would cause them distress. So I will keep my comments to generalities. But it demonstrated to me that there were problems in relation to how the state responded.
Long before I left the police force, the first of the domestic violence-type of intervention powers came into effect. It was not particularly strong, but it was a vehicle by which, in circumstances similar to the ones I just described, the police were able to arrest and then seek an order preventing the husband or spouse – generally speaking, the husband – going back and beating up on the wife. If he went back and beat up on the wife then he committed the criminal offence of breaching the order.
That, of course, was still unsatisfactory, but it was better than nothing. Essentially, it was a civil order. There was no criminal history that attached itself at all to a domestic order. In fact, there is not one today. It is a civil order; it is not something the criminal courts look at.
Upon entering parliament and becoming the Attorney-General, I wanted to use those experiences to guide my and the government’s thinking in relation to what we should do. There are a number of things that have to be done. The first is that I genuinely believe we must hold the perpetrators of violence responsible for their conduct. Let us stop making excuses for them. Yet I heard the member for Nhulunbuy today do exactly that. ‘It is a therapeutic response that we need.’ I understand what she is saying, but, before you know it, that argument flows into the other argument that these people are not really responsible. It is somehow somebody else’s or society’s fault that this person is beating their wife. I cannot countenance such an argument.
We, as a society, are allowed to say to individuals in the community, ‘You cannot perpetrate violence against another person’. We declare that to be a crime. When a person is found guilty of that crime, they go to gaol. That is why we made violent crimes, especially those that engendered bodily harm, gaolable offences as a matter of mandatory course, unless there was some exceptional circumstance to prevent that person from going to gaol. It is about holding individuals accountable.
I heard the member for Nelson talking about all these people going to gaol. Too bloody right they are. I have no qualms or compunction about putting violent people in gaol, particularly, but not exclusively, if they commit violent acts in the home. I note that the member for Nelson is in the room right now and is listening, so I will give him those numbers I promised in relation to domestic violence.
For 2014-15, Indigenous domestic violence victims were: male, 634; and female, 2971, making a total of 3605 Indigenous victims of domestic violence assault. Of non-Indigenous victims, 147 were male and 331 were female, making a total of 478. The status not recorded figures were 29 male and 80 female, making a total of 109. It is clear that, unfortunately, as usual, Aboriginal people are overrepresented in nearly every negative set of indicators we have in this community.
I hear what the member was saying in relation to alcohol. I will return to that shortly. I will not countenance the argument that just because a perpetrator is an Aboriginal person they should be treated differently under the law, because a person who is a victim, whether they are Aboriginal or not, should also receive similar treatment under the law. It is for this reason that, upon becoming the Attorney-General, I became quite strident in the notion that every report of domestic violence received by police was to be treated as a crime and a criminal prosecution for assault was to be pursued to its logical conclusion. That was because I believe violence is a crime, whether it occurs in the street or the lounge room, to a male or a female, an Aboriginal person or a person of another racial descent. It does not matter.
I genuinely believe that people should be treated equally before the law and victims should equally receive the protections they deserve from the state. If that means pursuing the perpetrators more aggressively, then so be it. That is what we have done. That pushed up the rate of domestic violence-related assaults being reported to police because I said to the police and government, and government concurred, that we needed to find out what the reality of the problem was.
If you think this was not happening prior to the CLP coming to government you are dead wrong. The violence has always been there. The member for Nelson described it. All we have done, working with the member for Stuart, who has endorsed everything we have done, is look, and now we can start to describe the reality of the problem.
The next question is what is the response to that? We must have a response. It is one thing to say, ‘I’m going to lock you up and put you in gaol’, but what do we do for the family? The Safety is Everyone’s Right policy has been rolled out because it gives us an opportunity to tailor-make the response surrounding the victim and the victim’s family, which includes bringing services, where necessary, to the perpetrator. That is being rolled out as a successful policy and has resulted in a 9% reduction in domestic violence in the most recent set of numbers I have – from September last year to September this year.
We have the base right. We now know what the basis was because we dealt with every incident of domestic violence as a crime. That had never been established in the Northern Territory. Having established that we then created a policy called Safety is Everyone’s Right, and we are now starting to see the effect of that.
Whilst 9% represents hundreds of victims, which means there are now hundreds of women who have not had their faces bashed in or their bones broken, which is heartening, it is still only 9%.
What concerns me is if there is a change of government all this will be unbolted and thrown on the scrap heap. We will go back to, ‘Every perpetrator is a victim and the BDR will fix everything’. It does not make for sound policy settings.
I hear what the member for Nelson says in relation to the management of alcohol, but you still cannot have this conversation in its entirety unless you also look at some of the other drivers: unemployment, particularly in remote and regional areas, and passive welfare. I have always been a strident critic of the Land Rights Act and continue to be, not because I am against land rights but because the nature and structure of that act makes development of remote and regional areas extraordinarily difficult, particularly when land councils are becoming increasingly pedestrian in their approach.
I will give you a classic example. I have been working my tail off trying to settle bunch of native title issues. I recently appeared in court in relation to a settlement of a polygon claim only to listen to Justice Mansfield, the native title commissioner, sitting as a judge in the Federal Court, criticising the land council and calling its work ‘disgraceful’ because of the lack of effort in relation to resolving native title issues.
I know that native title is not land rights, but the Land Rights Act creates the land councils which carry native title responsibility. The tardiness we are seeing in the land councils’ response is of such grave concern to me because the longer they spend mucking about with this stuff, the longer it will be before you see jobs, wealth and a future being created which means people have greater control over their lives.
This is the thinking behind the Sentenced to a Job program. I understand the member for Nhulunbuy is saying we must have therapy, and I do not really agree with it because of the way it will become manifest; I get the notion, but the manifestation of it would be flawed. The answer from the Labor Party is get rid of things like Sentenced to a Job, a process which gives people a sense of dignity because they have some worth and a sense of direction in life …
Mrs PRICE: A point of order, Mr Acting Deputy Speaker! I seek an extension of time for the minister, pursuant to Standing Order 43.
Motion agreed to.
Mr ELFERINK: … and what we will end up seeing under a Labor government is the idea that you do not do jobs; you do therapy. ‘We will step away from this idea, roll back Sentenced to a Job and get rid of it because it gives us a point of difference with the Country Liberals government, and introduce therapy so you will be unemployed and in gaol, and we will get a psychiatrist to you.’
A job will do more for a person’s self-esteem than Gestalt therapy ever will. People yelling at an empty chair, or whatever therapy the member for Nhulunbuy is advocating, will not replace work. The members opposite still cling to this unremitting attitude that somehow you can fix other people’s lives for them. That is writ large in their policy settings; it is writ large in their utterances in this House, and it is not a philosophical world view they can effectively abandon because it is not one they have ever tried to reconcile. You cannot fix other people’s lives for them. You can create an environment in which that person may choose to fix their life for themselves. Other than that, what you are advocating for is welfare.
If you want to see the success of welfare in our community in whatever form it takes, whether the government is providing housing, free money, free healthcare or free this or free that, it means the logic or rationale behind it is that we can do this for you.
That is the same condescending thinking which saw history in this country say Aboriginal people had no future. ‘We will just keep them comfortable whilst they die out.’ It never happened. It is the same condescending thinking of the missions, which went into these places and said, ‘We can do things for Aboriginal people and bring them into the 20th century under the Christian model’. At least they said to Aboriginal people on those missions, ‘We still expect you to make a contribution to the life you live’.
We see an extension of this notion now in the policies advocated by the members opposite, that we can do this thing for you and if we do, one day you will get out of bed and do it for yourself. No they will not. You will create reliance and dependence, which is why I bridle at the idea of rolling up Sentenced to a Job and replacing it with a therapeutic model. The moment you start to do that, you have fulfilled the assumption that you know best for other people. Sentenced to a Job does not tell a person to do anything. It says to a person, ‘Go out and get some work and, by the way, if you discover you have to pay rent for your cell and make contributions to victims along the way, you will discover that you make a contribution and you are worth something’.
That is the fundamental difference between the philosophy of members on this side of the House and members on that side of the House, because they are social engineers. They think they can socially engineer their way out of problems, and they will apply that logic to issues, including women’s issues. They are adherents of the Marxist school of feminism and the radical school of feminism. They will not countenance the idea that a woman, through the liberal school of feminism, can stand up on her own two feet and be counted. They will say, ‘I am a strong woman’. I am glad people feel they can identify as strong women, but I would prefer the utterance to be, ‘I am a strong person’, because in a world where we treat people equally, surely we should be advocating for strong people, irrespective of their backgrounds or genders.
The other thing that concerns me is the nebulous way in which the member for Nhulunbuy states these things. She made comments in relation to certain cultures not allowing women the liberties and freedoms she would hope for. Member for Nhulunbuy, identify which cultures you are talking about. Are you talking about Islam? Is Islam offensive to you? If that is the case, describe it and call it out for what it is. Is it some Aboriginal cultures? We all know in this House that Aboriginal culture is not one thing; it is a multiple of different cultures and languages. If that is what you are talking about, say it. Is it Christianity? Is it a Christian sect that you think is culturally inappropriate? Maybe it is a nation; so is it Indians, Pakistanis or Japanese? If you describe these things, start to call them out for what they are, because once you say, ‘I think this or that culture is wrong in relation to the way they treat women’, then you can take the next logical step by saying, ‘I believe the rights of women have greater ascendency then cultural rights’. That is what I believe. I would prefer to live in a society where an individual is measured by their conduct and their capacity to be free so they can become the best they possibly can be. If any cultural mores prevents that from occurring, then I am against it.
If it becomes manifest in Islam, then I would simply say I prefer women be free in our society rather than being limited by any Islamic rules, equally so with any fundamentalist Christian ideology. The philosophy of liberty and freedom must have ascendency over those things that would limit freedom and liberty.
I will not walk on egg shells around it because when I see it, if I see it become manifest in a particular way, such as the way the Taliban practices Islam, then I find what happens to women in that society utterly repugnant, equally with the Islamic state, the caliphate, which sees women as tradeable commodities.
Those are the things we should be railing against as a nation, as a culture in our own right. The member for Nhulunbuy walks on egg shells saying, ‘There might be certain cultural practices that I find objectionable’. Well, stand up and say what they are. Call them out for what they are! Use the strength you claim to have as a woman, that I would ascribe to you as an individual, and say, ‘I do not like what I see’, in whatever culture it is. Do not fudge your way around it. Call out the culture and be critical of it, as I have just done.
That is what leadership and governance is about, because other than that all you are doing is fluffing around the edges and your answer to any issue going forward, be it criminal or whatever, is to have a group hug and consult on it. I did not consult broadly on the legislation which puts violent people in gaol. I will go out on a limb here and believe that most people in this House – certainly the CLP members of this House – believe that violent people belong in gaol. You do not have to consult on that because most punters out there think violent people should be in gaol. The moment you make a decision like that, be prepared to back yourself. Say, ‘I believe this to be right’. There are certain lines you draw in the sand and say, ‘This is what I stand for’.
I hear members opposite say, ‘There are certain cultures that limit women’s rights’. Call them out and tell us which cultures that limit women’s rights you find so offensive! I will probably be inclined to agree with you if you made the argument properly. That is the difference between governing and sitting in the bleachers and criticising.
This minister governs. She makes decisions and tough calls. I know some of the things she says will be confronting to the men in her life, including the men in her family. She does so at her own peril and risk, and the members for Namatjira and Arnhem equally so. There is real risk carried by the member for Stuart when she criticises her own culture. But she has the clarity of vision to simply say that women’s rights, in a liberal democracy – something she fundamentally supports – must take precedence over certain cultural rights. It is a tough call for her to make, considering her background and the environment in which she works. But do you know what? It is what makes a person tough and strong.
Madam Speaker, it is for that reason I completely endorse what the minister had to say here today, and I place on the record my admiration for her ongoing courage to call it as she sees it.
Ms LAWRIE (Karama): Madam Speaker, I contribute to the debate as a proudly strong woman. A lot of nonsense was just spoken by the member for Port Darwin. It is a shame he wants to play pathetic politics and twist the words of members of this House rather than focus on core issues affecting and confronting women across the Northern Territory. But so be it. That is his form. He will continue to do that. He will continue to shout and act in a thuggish and bullying way towards women of this House.
I thank the minister for bringing the statement to the House, given it is an opportunity to talk about issues affecting women of the Northern Territory. My response will go across the age groups and demographics to some extent. One thing that continues to remain a barrier to women fully participating in our economy is the high cost of childcare. Many women have to take time out of the workforce to have babies. Entering the workforce is a matter of making childcare arrangements. That is the real crux of the problem; we cannot have our babies at our workplace with us. Some of us manage to do so for a short period of time when we have jobs such as these where we have the flexibility to have our babies with us and people caring for them while we are in meetings or, for example, in this Chamber.
But the reality for most women in the Territory who have taken on motherhood, which is an incredibly special and beautiful role, is that re-entering the workforce is an economic imperative. They need to contribute to the realities of life by having a wage to put food on the table and pay the rent or mortgage. That may be as a single parent or a family household where they have relied on two incomes and cannot afford to drop that second income for a great period of time. Maternity leave does not cut it for a lengthy period of time. Going down to half salary puts an incredible financial burden on many households. The return to work is inevitable. Many of us put it off for as long as we can, if we can. There are, though, many women who are confronted with the harsh reality that they have to get back to work as quickly as possible.
If you have one, two or, sometimes, three little ones of childcare age, basically you are working to pay childcare. Whilst childcare is seen predominantly as a Commonwealth responsibility, there is much that can be done at state or territory level to assist women to have childcare options. One of the things that concerns me is – and it is something I worked on for quite a while in government – is the hands-off approach taken to assisting and coordinating support for not-for-profit childcare centres. Our community sector, in providing childcare, is incredibly important because it does its utmost to keep childcare prices down and make it more affordable for women.
I urge the government to pick up the ball on the work instigated when I was in government to ensure a coordinated approach to supporting not-for-profit community-based childcare centres. That is not the only answer, though. Often women have family daycare providers, members of their family who step in to support them or private providers. I know many professional women who have now gone down the path of au pairs, for example.
At the end of the day, a focus within women’s policy on what innovation and lobbying can occur to ensure childcare is more affordable would greatly benefit many women. The reality is that we have to go back to work to support our families.
The other issue I raise is the safety of young women. I am speaking as the member for Karama. I am not trying to address issues confronting young women right across the Territory. As the member for Karama, I am aware of many young women who are going to the nightclub district of Darwin. They do that to socialise. It is what they go through from age 18 onwards. The frequency of that starts to ebb once they get settled in a permanent relationship and take on responsibilities. There are, however, young single women frequently going to the nightclub district of Darwin.
Something that concerned me when I was Minister for Alcohol Policy, and continues to concern me, is the lack of safe and reliable transport home when these venues close. The main venues close around the same time, so logistically it is not mission impossible. I am a firm believer, which is why I struck agreements when I was the Transport minister and Minister for Alcohol Policy, in the need for safe and affordable transport home. It is a women’s issue which particularly affects our young women because at 3 am, even though you are in a group of young women, you do not feel particularly safe exiting the nightclub district. You are vying with a lot of other people to get a taxi home. We do not have a sufficient number of taxis on the street when nightclubs are starting to empty to be able to get people home. They spend hours sometimes, at minimum half an hour, searching for a means to get home. That is something we could address with some effort.
The Office of Women’s Policy has the opportunity to work across the silos of government and pull people together into think tanks. The Christmas Express we had, in a collaborative funding arrangement with the Hotels Association, was useful in running subsidised transport to Palmerston and Casuarina, providing, predominantly, young Territorians with a safe and affordable means of getting home. This is a women’s issue, Minister for Women’s Policy. I know it crosses other portfolios, but the beauty of having a Minister for Women’s Policy is it gives you a chance to cut across the silos of government and address real and confronting issues.
These are issues of women’s safety. That is why I am raising it, and I am pretty lucky. The young women I know can rely on a set of parents they call and one of us will step up to the plate when they cannot get transport home. But I know – I see it when I pick up young women to give them a lift home – that plenty of young women do not have that option.
It is an unsafe environment and they need an option for transport home. It is a bit of a task. It can be done, but it takes government will and focus to pull it together. You have an opportunity with the Christmas/New Year period coming up. It is a period of festivities. I would like to hear, minister, whether or not there are plans by the government to reinstate the Christmas/New Year express bus transport system to Casuarina and Palmerston that existed when I was the minister. I look forward to hearing your response on that in the wrap.
Another issue I feel is often too much of a political football is the need for additional funding and support for shelter for women. We had a pretty long rave from the Leader of Government Business about violence. I find it somewhat despicable for him to think there is anyone in this Chamber, regardless of their political ideology, who does not want to see the perpetrators of violence locked up. Putting those slurs aside, the reality is that women, sadly, tragically, are often the victims of violence. Fleeing violent situations is a really difficult situation for many women because they often do not have somewhere to flee to.
Our women’s shelters are full, and are regularly full. You can talk to them about their turn-away statistics. As well as our women’s shelters work – I acknowledge the good work being done on a daily basis by Dawn House and by DAIWS, the Darwin Aboriginal and Islander Women’s Shelter, both of which I have the utmost respect for – the reality is there are just not enough beds for the women needing support and shelter. Often with the women, as we know, come the children. Minister, a fair and frank analysis of the demand in the sector needs to be done again. I would like to see both major parties going into the 2016 election with significant and identified new funding for women’s shelters across the Territory, but I put the plea out on behalf of the women I represent in Karama and Malak to make sure the Darwin shelter crisis burden is eased.
Once you are in a shelter, you are the lucky one and you are getting great support, but then you need to find housing. Much of the work we do as local members, especially in my area, is to provide advocacy on behalf of people trying to find appropriate shelter, often within the public housing system. I have grave concerns – I know you are also the Minister for Housing, which is why I raise this as a women’s issue – about the reduction in the public housing stock and the blowout in the waiting times, particularly waiting times for the most urgent housing. If you are given the status to be on the urgent housing list – and I am probably using the wrong terminology there, my apologies – you wait for years. To get on that list, a person has to be homeless. Often they will have multiple issues in their life, chronic health issues for example, or they are couch surfing, staying with relatives or moving around constantly because you cannot overstay in any one place. They are homeless and on a waiting list for years.
When we have a society which accepts that, I do not think we are doing enough. I would like to see the land that should have been set aside for public housing in the suburbs of Johnston and Zuccoli, with the new suburb of Mitchell that will come on at some stage, when you stop playing politics with land release and get down to the meaty work. I want to see a return to the policy instigated by Labor of a 15% slice of that land set aside for affordable and public housing. You need to go on a public housing build, minister, if you are to provide shelter options to women and their children. This is a crucial issue that confronts many women.
Sadly and tragically, there are women living on the fringes of our suburban areas in and around Darwin who do not have access to shelter. I alert police when I meet with them to areas I see of women and children – numbers are growing in what I call the long grass. We used to work very closely, when we were in government, with the non-government organisations to gather information on women and children and where they were in regard to homelessness situations in and around the urban environments. I do not know if that data gathering still occurs. I do not know if the collaborative approach with the non-government organisations still occurs. I suspect it does not because of the cuts I have seen to the non-government organisations by the CLP government.
If you want to make a difference in someone’s life, give them sanctuary and shelter. Rather than pretending the issue does not exist and playing politics with it, confront it in a real sense and get a collaborative working approach for shelter options. Get the people on the ground from the non-government organisations working side by side with government agencies to assess the extent of homelessness, who is out there and where housing options could be provided for these people.
They are some issues I wanted to put into this debate. They are not meant as a criticism; they are meant to flag concerns I have, as an elected member of this parliament, about issues which are growing in depth and breadth rather than being increasingly resolved.
In the last part of my contribution I raise the issue of the value of elders in our society. There are many women I have the pleasure of working for and alongside who are above the age of 60. They are concerned with the changes the government has made to the Pensioner and Carer Concession Scheme. Women in the Territory, from the age of 60, used to be entitled to that scheme. Now, if you are a recipient of Newstart because the Commonwealth has shifted the pension age to 65, you are locked out of access to the Pensioner and Carer Concession Scheme.
I have contacted the government minister in regard to this issue. It is a very real issue for quite a few of our women who basically have five years without access to the concessions they need to meet the cost of living in the Northern Territory. Minister, I hope you have that on your radar and are working effectively to make sure the changes the CLP put in place which have disenfranchised women aged 60 to 65 in the Territory are changed, and those women on Newstart between the ages of 60 and 65, who have almost Buckley’s of getting a job, are not disenfranchised by the changes you put in place. I sincerely hope you make the necessary changes to the scheme to ensure women on Newstart who meet the Commonwealth pension entitlements are able to access the Pensioner and Carer Concession Scheme’s full concessions.
I acknowledge the work done by the many senior women in our community who are the volunteers, the lifeblood, of our non-government organisations and charities. Without these women, who I believe are the true leaders in our society, who put in hours a week of volunteer work, who literally run the organisations, we would be a far poorer society.
Minister, there are volunteer awards and recognition of women awards, but is there some way we can create a special category event that recognises retired women who do voluntary work in our community? That may be across the charitable organisations, voluntary work at our schools, taking care of the grandkids so their children can go to work because they cannot afford childcare, or the generation of grandmothers who are raising their grandchildren because their children are incapable of raising them. Is there something we can create to recognise the invaluable work being done by women aged 60 and above across our communities in the many different facets that literally become the lifeblood of our community? I take this opportunity to make that suggestion.
I finish by thanking the member for Nelson for raising the Family Responsibilities Commission. It is a robust model. We looked very closely at it when we were in government. Part of the work I did in creating the Alcohol and Other Drugs Tribunal – with the makeup and the powers given to it, it was to operate as a Territory version of the FRC. I said to the stakeholders at the time that I wanted to see it operate for a year or so and then go back to the stakeholders to talk to them about whether or not that could become a broader FRC-style operation. That clearly came to a crunching end with the change of government, but it is something very worthy and worthwhile considering.
Mr Deputy Speaker, I thank the minister for bringing the statement to the House.
Mrs PRICE (Women’s Policy): Mr Deputy Speaker, I thank the member for Nhulunbuy for her contribution to the statement on Women’s Policy and other members for their contributions.
I will respond to some of the points they raised …
Mr ELFERINK: A point of order, Madam Speaker! With the indulgence of the House I understand the member for Drysdale wanted to contribute to this debate. Unfortunately, she has been tied up with her newborn out the back. I am wondering if the House could cut the member some slack and enable her to make her comments before the minister wraps, or if the minister will acquiesce to that?
Mrs PRICE: Would that be allowed, Mr Deputy Speaker?
Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER: I am at the will of the House.
Mrs FINOCCHIARO (Drysdale): Mr Deputy Speaker, I thank the Assembly for giving me that grace. I literally just saw the member for Karama sit down and I came in and the minister was on her feet. Minister, I apologise for interrupting you during your wrap.
I commend the minister for bringing this statement to the House. Women’s policy means many things to many people, and in the debate today we have heard about the domestic violence space. There is no question that when we talk about women’s policy, much of our resources, time, thoughts and energy goes into looking after those most vulnerable, and rightfully so.
Having said that, there are so many facets to what that unit in the minister’s department has to look after, and I want to touch on a couple of the others. The minister really framed women’s policy for me in one of her paragraphs on page two. I will just quote from it:
Minister, I think we all agree with that, but the really important part of your paragraph is the remainder of it, which highlights all the areas where we are not kicking enough goals and where we need to see bigger leaps and bounds forward. Some of them really are shameful. The minister, in her statement, mentions that we are still staring down the barrel of a gender pay gap of 17.9% nationally, and in the Territory it is 18.1%.
That is astonishing. Twenty or 30 years ago the women who were championing equal pay for equal work would never have thought that at the end of 2015 we would still be looking at extremely high gender pay gaps. I assume these statistics are on equal pay for equal work. All of the nay sayers out there who say – you hear a lot of rhetoric about, ‘But that is because a lot more women are in lower paying jobs and a lot more men are in higher paying jobs, and that is how you get such an out-of-whack statistic’. That is not exactly true. The statistics are usually measured on like for like: a man and a woman in exactly the same job performing exactly the same role. The minister went on in that paragraph to say:
As I said at the start of my contribution, there is no question that we need to protect the most vulnerable, and two women being killed each week in Australia is disgusting. The minister is a very fierce advocate for women. She is working very hard in that domestic violence space and has a great deal of expertise and knowledge in that area. It will not be in our term of government, given there are only nine or ten months left, but hopefully we can all look back on our lives and think we have done something to contribute to reducing that, and hopefully making that number zero.
The minister went on to identify that women’s superannuation savings at retirement age are 46.6% less than men, which is astonishing. If you think about what that means – we are all living a lot longer; we all have greater commitments these days, and many people are supporting their older children. I am one of those who mooch happily off their parents, and will continue to do so for as long as I am allowed to. They provide tremendous support to Sam, Isla and me, and I know many other people rely on their parents so much more these days, perhaps more than ever before. People moving into retirement need to be secure and able to look after themselves for a lot longer because we are living longer, which is wonderful, and because of all the extra support we are expected to give in our retirements years, not just enjoying the rest of our lives after our working careers are over but supporting our families in whatever way, shape and form they might need. For a woman to have just under half the superannuation of a man can be incredibly debilitating to the quality of her life for the remainder of her life, which would be 30 or 40 years. That has a flow-on effect, an impact, on any family or other responsibilities she might have as she lives out those retirement years.
The last point in that paragraph which the minister makes is that we are still not equally represented in leadership and decision-making positions. I do not think anyone can say otherwise. There are many debates and arguments, and we could go on all day and have a statement based on promoting women on merit, if there should be quotas and many different things, but whichever way you skin the cat, there are not enough women in leadership and decision-making positions.
That is a negative way of looking at it. I heard someone say earlier that only six of our 30-plus CEOs are women. You can look at that as a negative, but you can also embrace it as a positive and say, ‘Let’s examine these six women. Let us make them role models and exemplify them to other women, and show them there are career pathways and opportunities in the Northern Territory for young women to change that number.’ There might be six now but let us have 10, then 15 at the next election, and hopefully by the time our daughters are older and here in our place, the number of female CEOs has evened out a bit.
We talk about the Northern Territory being a place for young people. That is a bit of a throwaway line because the average age of a Territorian is 32. Obviously we have a broad range of ages across the Northern Territory, particularly in Palmerston. We have a really booming senior sector, which is fantastic and has brought so much richness to our community, but when we look specifically at the Territory being a place for young people, 37% of all women in the Northern Territory are under the age of 25. That is an important statistic. We can criticise statistics all we like, but 37% of all women – and women make up 45% of the workforce in the Northern Territory – are under the age of 25. We have a tremendous opportunity, and an even bigger obligation, to provide school-age women and women entering careers or studies with the support, education and self-empowerment they need to lead full and wholesome lives free from the grips of domestic violence and with the opportunity to be everything they want to be when they grow up.
The minister also touched on some of the services the Office of Women’s Policy provides, including the Women on Boards website. Prior to entering politics I was a lawyer and was heavily involved with, and the president of, Business and Professional Women. We did a lot of work with the Office of Women’s Policy, looking at how we could provide greater opportunities for women starting their career, women in the middle of their career looking to give themselves an edge and take the next step up, and women in the peak of their career. Women on Boards and advancing women into boards and leadership roles was something we looked very closely at because we had a firm belief – and I still firmly believe – that women need to look after women and the more women we have in high positions, whether it be chairman of the school council, a member of parliament or anything in between, the more opportunity there is for women to for women to come up. Women in a position of relative power need to extend their arm down and extend a branch out to younger women and mentor them up through the ranks. Women on Boards was one of those platforms.
At that time the Women on Boards website was not working as it was intended to, and I am pleased to see in the minister’s statement that the website is being revamped. I hope that along with the rebadge of the website there is a re-engagement of the private sector and the public sector on the use of the website. It is all very good to say you can go to the website, put your details up and you will be matched to a board, but if boards are not accessing the website as a valuable database of Territory women then there is a breakdown and disconnect, and they are just words on a piece of paper; it is just a website. I always saw the tremendous opportunity the program had, and I suppose to some extent it was rivalled by Women on Boards, which is an organisation whose sole focus is getting women onto boards. To have a local version and local content can be incredibly powerful, and I would love to see that bolstered so when a board opportunity comes up in the private sector, or wherever it might be, the first thing they turn to is this database. Then they can ask the Office of Women’s Policy, ‘What wonderful Territory women do we have? Let’s look at the list.’ I have great hope for that website and look forward to seeing its reincarnation.
The Office of Women’s Policy also provides International Women’s Day Grants, which are important. Often they are small grants, but they are a huge deal to women’s organisations. In the Territory we have seen a growth of women’s organisations, and it is wonderful.
In her statement the minister touched on encouraging women into non-traditional industries and trades, and we have seen the emergence of women’s groups in the Territory and across the country, including Women in Resources, Women in the Construction Trades and Women in Film and TV. In all sectors that are traditionally male-dominated, we are starting to see groups pop up to provide support to women moving into these sectors. It is fantastic, and those groups and other community groups which take advantage of the International Women’s Day Grants and provide a wide array of events to celebrate International Women’s Day, reflect on - as long as I have been alive - the poor gender pay gap statistics, and to have an open conversation, look forward and say, ‘It is our responsibility; what are we doing to change this? What are we doing to bring these numbers down? What can I personally do and what can my organisation do?’
Whilst International Women’s Day Grants might be $1000 or $2000, their reach is far and wide, and the community seriously benefits from such a small gesture. It is welcomed right across the community very broadly and with open arms.
When we say it is all of our responsibility to ensure this 37% of women, those under the age of 25, live a life where they are equal in every way and in their opportunities, we all have that responsibility. Many people think, ‘Oh well, it is women’s responsibility, so what are all those women out there doing to make sure other women get to grow up and be the CEO of a department?’ That is not true; men have a huge role to play in the women’s policy space, particularly with domestic violence.
I heard someone negatively comment that there has been a lot of focus on men and bringing men along for the ride, and I think that is an unfair comment to make. Men have a huge role to play not just in the domestic violence space, but men are employers. If we are talking about the fact the proportion of women on boards is much less than men, or the fact the number of male CEOs is far greater than the number of female CEOs, then we need men to come on board and culturally change our language, rhetoric, phrases and the way we create associations with women and femininity.
If men are the employers and they do not take their responsibility seriously, we are almost certainly doomed to fail because women cannot do it on their own. It is a joint pathway we need to go down. It is ridiculous that we are talking about 18% gender pay gaps in 2015. I am sure many women roll in their graves every time those figures come out, because they are appalling.
One thing I am passionate about is flexible working arrangements. When we first came into government one of the very first constituent inquiries I had was from a woman who wanted to go back into the workforce and was looking at government jobs. She said the government does not offer any flexible working arrangements, like part-time or job share, so when I inquired a few things changed. The public service should lead by example and we still have room to grow in working out how we can do job share and flexible working arrangements better - working from home, children at work, maternity leave and all of those things. The public service does a good job, but there is still a little way to go. It is about creating understanding around those things. Many people do not understand it. Unfortunately, many women who come back to work part-time end up having to squeeze a full-time job into part-time hours. That is not what returning to part-time work is about. We see women falling victim to that repeatedly.
It creates tremendous productivity for the employer. It is unfair as women are wonderfully productive, can achieve so much and push themselves so hard, yet the payoff is not there. We have to create safe work environments where women feel they will not be stigmatised for having a sick child or another appointment with the midwife. We have to provide a work environment where, culturally, all of these things are understood, accepted and embraced.
You cannot change a pregnant woman needing to see the midwife. You cannot make a sick child better because you have a deadline tomorrow. If we do not come to grips with the reality that women are usually the primary care giver and therefore have no option but to juggle the work/life responsibilities, then we will not be forging forward or going anywhere. I am only a new mum, but I have seen how my electorate officer struggled in the private sector with the responsibilities of being a mum, childcare and work deadlines. She came to work for me when I was elected. I am proud that in my office I open up the doors and created a really flexible environment where if the baby is sick or something happens there is no issue, no question; it is totally fine. I am getting 1000% productivity out of her and she knows she has a safe, happy child and is not caught between the great divide.
People should not underestimate how much more you will get out of someone by providing a very supportive environment to them where they do not feel shamed, tied, stuck or in two minds. A woman, or a man if they are the caregiver, should never have to think, ‘Do I just leave little Johnny? I know he has a really high temperature, but just three more hours and I will be out of here.’ That situation should never happen.
I want to touch on the Palmerston Girls Academy at Palmerston Senior College. Bo de la Cruz and her team do an amazing job at Palmerston Senior College and the Girls Academy is brilliant. They do wonderful things with the Indigenous girls there. The Palmerston Girls Academy is a girl’s version of Clontarf where they develop self-worth, empowerment and choice in young women. Women need to know they have choices and there are opportunities for them, no matter where they have come from or where they think they are going in this life. A key part of that is providing strong education to our girls and women, both about themselves and the world, and academically. Hopefully, in 20 or 30 years’ time when Bess and I are thinking of rolling in our graves at the next equal pay statistics, we will not have to and the numbers will be going down.
Mr Deputy Speaker, they are a few of the issues I wanted to talk about today. Thank you very much again to the Assembly for allowing me to jump in after interrupting the minister on her wrap. I look forward to seeing more coming out of the Office of Women's Policy.
Mrs PRICE (Women’s Policy): Mr Deputy Speaker, I thank the member for Nhulunbuy for her contribution to the statement on women’s policy and other members for their contributions. I will respond to some of the points raised in their comments.
The Directorate of Domestic Violence implements the Family Safety Framework. In Nhulunbuy last week over 50 people participated in Family Safety Framework training provided by the Domestic Violence Directorate, including Indigenous organisations such as Miwatj, the East Arnhem Regional Council, the Sobering Up Shelter, Night Patrol and frontline Northern Territory public servants.
To date, over 300 high-risk victims have been referred to Family Safety Meetings, as well as 83 accompanying children. As at the end of October 2015, 90% of victims had not been re-referred to Family Safety Meetings, indicating a significant reduction in their risk of further serious harm or homicide.
This was led by police and was extremely successful. The integrated response provided to 300 people at risk of assault is a very important achievement. More than 1211 government and non-government staff across the Territory have received Family Safety Framework training. This training is ongoing and run in multiple locations. In addition, the Domestic Violence Directorate has offered and delivered tailored information sessions to 225 frontline workers from many agencies.
We have been busy doing, not spinning rhetoric on a subject in the Chamber, as some across the floor would prefer. The Family Safety Framework is about protecting high-risk victims from further harm and homicide by sharing information across core government and non-government agencies. Key aspects of the framework include consistent risk assessment tools, information sharing and fortnightly Family Safety Meetings, where agencies plan immediate actions and jointly monitor safety improvement for each referral. The Family Safety Framework is led by Northern Territory Police, who do a fantastic job across the Territory in supporting women in domestic violence situations. I thank the minister for Police for his concerted efforts in this area.
The Family Safety Framework has now been implemented in Alice Springs, Darwin, Katherine, Tennant Creek, Yuendumu and Nhulunbuy. Last week over 50 people in Nhulunbuy participated in Family Safety Framework training provided by the Domestic Violence Directorate. It has been great to have this in the remote communities.
In response to what policy we had prior to the current one and when the previous policy framework for women came into effect, maybe the member for Namatjira could outline to the member for Nhulunbuy why she, in her media release on 9 March 2013, did not include the previous Labor attempt at supporting women, life balances, as part of the new framework. Possibly it was because at that time she shared the Country Liberal approach of focusing on the most vulnerable of Territorian women and their priority of concerns. The Country Liberal government has listened to the voices of the Territory and that has informed the development of the women’s policy for all Territorian women, the vulnerable included.
I took on the portfolio of Women’s Policy in September 2013. I assessed the work already done and continued to develop the framework in consultation with everybody. This has resulted in an effective framework has been implemented by a team of dedicated and hard-working women through the Office of Women’s Policy. The reporting framework will be biennial and the progress report will be tabled in the Legislative Assembly. When the policy framework for Northern Territory women was released, the Office of Women’s Policy established an inter-departmental committee to progress actions across government.
The development of specific programs and strategies regarding retaining girls in the education system is one of the group’s key focuses. The Office of Women’s Policy and the Department of Local Government and Community Services actively engages with remote communities, offering support and sponsorship where required. This includes assistance in the completion of grant applications. The Office of Women’s Policy provides International Women’s Day Grants where there is a particular focus on opportunities for remote and rural women to participate in activities for International Women’s Day.
The general grants program also supports activities that advance the status of women and girls in remote and rural areas. Examples of this are the Aboriginal Girls Circle program and the Friends Project that are both delivered through NAPCAN and the Smith Family. The Office of Women’s Policy uses the Northern Territory engagement strategy as best-practice guidelines in engaging remote communities. The guidelines have been referred to in the NT News as, the game changer for the bush where, finally, someone in government has caught up with an age-old Indigenous service delivery mish-mash which has given rise to the term, Aboriginal industry’.
Yes, it took a Country Liberal government to get it right in regard to the A Conversation Worth Having events. We should not underestimate the value of these events in providing guidance and mentors to inspire women to believe in themselves. I know many women who have taken steps in their careers and personal lives to improve their self-esteem and their lot in life as a result of these inspiring events.
In saying this, as all best practice is applied, the events are being renewed and the improvements and adaptations are being applied for the 2016 period, focusing on broadening the purpose, audience and needs for the current climate.
The member for Nhulunbuy asked why alcohol was not part of the Safety is Everyone’s Right strategy. The Country Liberal government has a plan, a strategy. There never was a plan under a Labor government to reduce domestic violence, or a practical solution.
I note the member for Wanguri told you, member for Nhulunbuy, that the women in Central Australia know the solutions and stated how powerful that was to see.
The Northern Territory government was the first jurisdiction in Australia to sign up to Our Watch, and in Canberra recently Senator Michaelia Cash acknowledged the influence I had in leading the nation by putting domestic violence on the map through making this decision.
The women in Alice Springs, with the support of the Country Liberal government and the federal government, have worked with Our Watch to deliver an integrated response.
The Office of Women’s Policy has supported a women’s safety program, along with minister Elferink’s Attorney-General’s department, to deliver, through Tangentyere Council, the resources to improve messaging and support the successful grassroots approach.
Alcohol is not the only contributing element to domestic violence. Knowing that Aboriginal women is the group with the highest number of women affected in the Northern Territory, the women of Central Australia know just as I do that behaviours like jealousy and family feuding are also factors. Other things, such as financial abuse, ice and marijuana, also contribute to domestic violence.
I will respond to the member for Araluen’s comments. The member for Araluen said that actions are abundant for those who wish to see them, that it is women’s and men’s choice to live and that it is not gender but the reflection of personal virtue. I say to her that the reason I was not at the Hidden Valley Tangentyere event is because I was in Mutitjulu celebrating the 30-year hand-back as a representative of the Northern Territory government and as the Minister for Parks and Wildlife, another significant milestone for Aboriginal people. I had departmental people represent me from the Office of Women’s Policy at the Hidden Valley Tangentyere event, and the Minister for Children and Families had his people there representing him, so we were represented at the event.
Also, last Thursday I was at the Tangentyere women’s office to launch its 12-month celebration of the Men’s Behaviour Change Program. I acknowledge the good work those women do in helping their men through this healing process. I congratulate them for doing a good job. I congratulate Barbara Shaw, Helen Gillen, Gwen Gillen and all the other ladies as well. I know how hard it is because they come from town camps.
Yes, there are two women on this side, and the member for Drysdale and I are determined to stay with this government because we are two strong women and if the extra problems that women face, and my people face, are ever to be fixed it will need real strength on our part. It will need strength and willingness to do the hard work, and our male colleagues respect us for that.
The Office of Women’s Policy is doing a great job in supporting the women of the Northern Territory. I commend their hard work and wish them a safe and well-deserved Christmas break.
Motion agreed to; statement noted.
Mr BARRETT (Blain): Mr Deputy Speaker, I move that the paper be noted.
Ms MOSS (Casuarina): Mr Deputy Speaker, thank you for the opportunity to speak on the report of the ice committee, which was tabled in this House in the November sittings after the establishment of the committee in March this year. I was the vice Chair of the committee established in March, and it has been a very interesting learning experience for all of us.
The rise of crystal methamphetamines across the country has been a significant area of focus for state and territory governments, and the Australian government, in recent times.
The effect of this drug on the user, their loved ones and their peers is different to what has been seen with many other drugs, and the short- and long-term effects can be devastating in relation to health and social outcomes, including the potential harm to others. Like other devastating drugs, including alcohol, ice can be a major factor in the breakdown of interpersonal relationships, domestic and family violence, neglect, issues with finances and associated issues and, in some cases, criminal behaviour.
I acknowledge the other members of the ice committee: the member for Blain, the Chair of the committee; the member for Nelson; and the member for Arafura. It was a committee made of up diverse views and backgrounds, and we have not always agreed with each other. However, there has been genuine goodwill and a shared goal to setting a positive direction in this area.
I also acknowledge and thank the hard-working staff in Committees in Parliament House, in particular, Julia Knight, Russell Keith and Elise Dyer. They were with us the whole way and their support has been appreciated. It was an epic job to put together such a comprehensive report, one that is very complex in nature, and I think I speak on behalf of the committee when I say we have really appreciated the support they offered us.
Over the last six months we have had the opportunity to look comprehensively at the issue of ice harms in our community. There were varying levels of exposure to that issue previously, and different backgrounds. I came from a background in working around alcohol and other drugs before coming in to parliament, but in a very different context, and others have different backgrounds.
It was interesting to look at the different perspectives on ice harms in our communities through the submissions lodged, public hearings held in Darwin, Alice Springs and Katherine, which involved local community members and organisations, and through visits to rehabilitation and treatment services. I also acknowledge that the member for Katherine came to the public hearings in Katherine and the member for Araluen came to the public hearings in the town council in Alice Springs. It was good to see other members of parliament coming together as part of those public hearings in their local communities and contributing to the conversation.
We visited Banyan House here in Darwin, Bush Mob in Alice Springs and Venndale in Katherine, and I will talk a bit more about those in a little while. One of the issues that came through very early is the reliability of data in relation to ice use and harms in the Northern Territory. There is a lack of shared terminology across agencies and sectors, which has an impact on the way data is recorded and communicated.
These data issues were particularly raised by AADANT, which surveyed its members in relation to the terms of reference of the committee before coming to the hearings in Katherine. The Territory would benefit from getting on the front foot in relation to the coordination of such collection so we can properly record data and provide the targeted services that are sorely needed in this area.
Anecdotal evidence is incredibly important, and we have heard a great deal of anecdotal evidence; however, the quantity of data is lacking and the committee turned our minds to it in the recommendations as a needed focus.
There were approximately 30 submissions to the committee, and many of those organisations and individuals took the time to front the committee at our hearings to answer questions, which was greatly appreciated by all. The diversity of the stakeholders was high and included, but was certainly not limited to, Amity Community Services; Banyan House; NT and Federal Police; government departments, including the Department of Children and Families, Education, Justice and Corrections; the AHA NT; CAAAPU; BushMob; INPEX; and the Road Transport Association.
The committee had many robust discussions both in our meetings and in the public hearings. From the diversity of those organisations we heard from you can get a grasp of just how big a job the committee was faced with, and the spectrum of perspectives, ideas and issues that came forward through that robust system.
Banyan House stands out for me. It was the first rehabilitation and treatment centre we visited as a committee, and it was great to see that first hand. What was particularly important and valuable to me as a committee member was having the opportunity to speak to some of the clients at Banyan House. I thank them very much for sharing their personal stories with us and their views on the work we were doing. I found that provided some much-needed perspective in the debate and conversations we were having as a committee.
The main message given by the majority of those who fronted the committee was stark, and it is mentioned in the report. Alcohol is far and beyond still the biggest substance abuse issue in the Northern Territory. I got a deep sense from many of the organisations that there was a level of concern that by doing this we were potentially looking at diverting resources away from alcohol treatment. I want to ensure those concerns are on the record. It was mentioned during every set of hearings we held and in many of the written submissions.
I believe every member of the committee took this on board, and we have recommended that the government, through a high-level multiagency working group, produces an alcohol and other drugs strategy for the Northern Territory in line with the national alcohol and other drugs strategy. A multiagency working group was a recommendation that was made very early in this House by the opposition, and is one that has come through in the report.
The development of a strategy on alcohol and other drugs in the NT is important to me. Over the decades, our community and those across the country and the world have experienced issues with a range of substances over a long period of time. Some of those issues have remained constant, such as the issues we see around alcohol and, in many communities, marijuana. At other times we have seen high trends in the use of particular illicit drugs.
While we need a strong focus on addressing the current use of crystal methamphetamine, it is a concern that as the manufacture of drugs becomes more sophisticated there will be other substances, and in some cases more dangerous substances. So for me it was important to make sure we are looking at being responsive to all licit and illicit substances, and making sure we have a system that is responsive to the needs of Territorians, to the issues we are facing, and we can be proactive as well as responsive.
An evolving strategy will put the Territory in a position to be proactive about our approaches to drug harms and bring together initiatives and services designed to address issues of the misuse of substances in the Northern Territory. It will provide guidance for the targeting of resources and identify gaps which we know exist. It would also provide a roadmap for how government and non-government organisations can work together more strongly in this space, making sure we are all using the same terminology and collecting the data we need so we can properly target support for users, their families and their loved ones.
It is hoped that such a strategy could take into account the need to upskill frontline workers across industries on not only drugs such as ice but other emerging drugs. We also need to ensure that programs, campaigns and information are culturally appropriate in our diverse community. I acknowledge that when we were holding our public hearings there was also work being done up and down the track, consulting with people on resources, which I am very interested to see as well.
We must focus on the development of resources and promotion of assistance for families who are impacted by ice. This includes assessing the availability of services. We heard repeatedly, and continue to, that families do not know where to go for help. It is not necessarily that those services do not exist, because we heard from many good long-term Territory services which are putting in a hell of a lot of hard yards. We need to get better at how we communicate what is available to families and get around to those families and connect them properly.
Soon after the establishment of the ice committee, I met with families crying out for help and the provision of advice and support for those families who are dealing with the fallout of illicit drug use and its destruction should be a priority for the government. I thank the grandmothers who were part of that meeting for their time and for sharing their stories with me. I know they have met with other members of parliament.
It was disappointing to uncover that on many of our government websites and many other help-seeking websites the information is out of date and links are dead. In addition, we have no context of how many families and individuals are seeking help in that way. These kinds of analytics are easy for the government to obtain, and ensuring the contact details and information about these drugs is easy to access is a very achievable action that can go a long way. Ideally, I would like to see everything brought together in one portal with information for families in crisis in the NT that is easy to find and use, and is kept up to date as a matter of priority.
I want to put on the record that the campaign that came from the Australian government towards the start of the year was money that could have been spent much more effectively. It was almost a carbon copy of one that was produced a few years before. The committee asked a number of local services and stakeholders whether they felt campaigns such as that had increased contact with help-seekers or increased referrals, and the answer was an overwhelming no.
Fears were also raised about the accuracy of those campaigns and the portrayal of issues relating to ice. We talk about different cohorts of users quite often when we are talking about drug and alcohol use, particularly when we are talking about antisocial behaviour and alcohol and other drug misuse. We often focus on young people but it is not necessarily just young people. We need to acknowledge that, particularly with crystal methamphetamines, there is a strong cohort of users that are mid to late twenties and engaged in work. Some of them are running businesses; some of them might be engaged in a trade or another profession. This is a cohort of illicit drug users. The campaign – many of us have seen it – is very much about aggression, about the person who goes into the Emergency Department and throws a chair, the person at home assaulting someone, or someone in a dirty bathroom. It is one of the things we continue to do in drug and alcohol campaigns, although it is not necessarily effective and the evidence does not back it up as being effective. We need to accurately reflect what is happening. The outcome we want is to connect people to services. We want people to be thinking seriously about drug and alcohol use, and the impact on the community.
With further investment in such campaigns I would hope to see a much more localised approach that is less focused on shock tactics and more on connecting users and families with the help they need. I would like to see a much deeper investment in resourcing detox and rehabilitation services, and strengthening our community education.
Many of those who spoke to the committee talked about the work being done in Victoria, which was also raised in this House as early as February this year. Victoria has a comprehensive action plan with resources attached to it that many of us in this House have seen. The recommendation that we get a Northern Territory alcohol and drug strategy in place with a good, strong team across agencies in the non-government sector is incredibly important and will go a long way.
Another issue that struck me significantly is the continued lack of certainty in relation to the funding of alcohol and other drug services, and other support services, such as those in the mental health sector. These concerns are not isolated to funding received from the Northern Territory government but on a federal level too. The concerns refer to the length of the funding agreement – with some still on a one-year funding cycle, which seems crazy – and the certainty of continuation of funding. If we are to say these services are important – and they are incredibly important; they are vital in addressing these issues – we need to sort out the certainty of funding and stop putting vital organisation and support services in a position where they are spending so much of their time trying to chase up whether or not they will get an extension of funding.
All in this House have expressed a great deal of concern about the issues involving illicit drugs and crystal methamphetamines. We should commit to helping organisations with this funding agreement, because under this environment organisations find it hard to plan and workers, quite reasonably, look to moving on if they inch closer to the end of their contracts with little certainty of continuation.
There are services which provide rehabilitation that are often at capacity, and we also need to look at the use of beds for AMT. A clinical nurse is required for those beds to be used, and often some of our treatment facilities are at capacity but have beds they cannot use because they have to hold them in case they get a referral from AMT. We often have a situation where there are empty beds that can take clients, and there must be a much better way to manage that.
We know drug seizures have increased across Australia, so too has the use of illicit drugs such as ice. Our police play an important and growing role not only in supply reduction, but in community education in relation to reporting and the investigation of clandestine labs and drug houses. They do a fantastic job. They cannot do it alone, nor should their role be looked at or implemented in isolation.
A harm minimisation approach is best practice and takes into account harm minimisation, supply reduction and demand reduction. It is a model where agencies and organisations play an important role in reducing the impact of alcohol and other drugs in our community.
We know there is a number of community education courses and activities happening in our schools, and the youth engagement police officers are involved in that. I have been very lucky to work alongside youth engagement police officers in my former role and to assist in the delivery of such education in schools. I understand the hard work they put into delivering strong messages about the safety and wellbeing of children and young Territorians.
I am particularly pleased that we have put a recommendation in the ice committee report about evaluating current programs offered in schools, because we should aim to ensure the delivery of education is consistent and evidence-based rather than ad hoc, and that those who deliver it are well resourced and supported to do so.
There are many strong organisations and programs that come to mind which have a long history of delivering quality best-practice education in schools in relation to health and wellbeing, and alcohol and other drugs which take into account issues that might be particularly relevant to that cohort. However, there is a great deal of variance in relation to what is and has been delivered in schools in health and wellbeing, and we have to accept it has not always been best practice. The member for Sanderson earlier touched on education he has been part of delivering in the past, and I would like us to move to evaluating these programs and having the programs we deliver based on evidence and achieving outcomes. We will not get the outcomes we want from delivering an hour’s session a year and ticking a box.
It came to our attention that there continues to be issues in the way information is captured in the child protection data system, particularly where child protection workers visit vulnerable children and families and illicit drug use is a factor in abuse and harm or is evident to that worker upon a visit. This is a particular concern. We know alcohol and other drugs can be a factor in violence and abuse, and we know the number of notifications in child protection is increasing exponentially in the Northern Territory. This goes back to data and the importance of understanding the true context in which harm and abuse to children in the NT is occurring.
It is also about the ability of case workers to assess and investigate situations, and accurately reflect the situation, and the evidence to demonstrate where greater support or professional development might be needed for workers who go into often dangerous situations and situations that are uncomfortable and difficult for them, where drugs might be present and they are not sure what to do about it. If we can improve how we collect that data and how it is reported we will have a better evidence base to know we need to support our child protection and justice workers better with these issues.
The government has focused on one aspect of what has been raised over the last six months, but I wonder whether it will follow up on another with great gusto. We had a very strong assertion from a representative from Corrections in a public hearing about the need for child and adolescent forensic mental health services in our juvenile detention centres. They struggle to deal with the consequences of these issues, often manifested in aggressive behaviour and suicide ideation.
Much has been said in this House, particularly by the member for Nhulunbuy, about training and support for workers in our juvenile justice facilities. This came through strongly in our Corrections public hearing. We need to better support those people on the front line in our correctional facilities as well. One of the recommendations goes to assessing the availability of forensic mental health services and detox and rehabilitation services in all of our correctional facilities across the Northern Territory, not just in Darwin, not just in one of our juvenile justice systems, but looking at what is available across the board and making sure we support our workers.
It would be remiss of me not to mention that I felt the tabling of the report was lost in some of the politicking that has taken place over this issue in the House over the last couple of months. That disappointed me as a member of the committee. The committee members forged on anyway and shut it out as much as possible, but I have found myself questioning multiple times how many families could have been connected to services had those full-page colour ads been used to promote the services available to families, or promote the Crime Stoppers number.
Some of the issues that have been identified to us across a long period of time – there are organisations where thousands of dollars makes a huge difference. To see that spent on an ad that misinformed about, and misrepresented, what happened in this House was disappointing. It said to me there are people in the government who are more interested in smearing the reputations of members in this House and spreading fear than having a proper debate about legislative change.
I want to make sure I put something on the record from the Katherine hearings. There was significant concern from community members, particularly in Katherine, about community engagement from police, comfort in reporting and issues about drug houses and drug deals. Community members were open about the fact they are aware that this is happening in their community. It is a small community and they are not sure who they can report to or what the consequences will be. So it was good to have members of the police there to talk those issues out with members of the community.
We made a specific recommendation about extension and improvement of community engagement activities through the Northern Territory Police, particularly in relation to those numbers ...
Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER: Thank you. You have exhausted your allotted time, member for Casuarina.
Debate suspended.
Bill presented and read a first time.
Ms PURICK (Goyder): Mr Deputy Speaker, I move that the bill be now read a second time.
These amendments to the Medical Services Act are long overdue and put the Territory into contemporary times with the rest of Australia when it comes to the provision of medical and health services to Territory women, and women being able to access safe and professional medical care at a time in their life when they need it most.
I express my appreciation to the many people who have helped and supported me on the work on this bill, including the Australian Medical Association NT, private doctors and medical practitioners in and out of Darwin, Aboriginal health professionals, religious organisations, legal people, Suzanne Belton from Menzies School of Health Research, Aditi Srinivas from Top End Women’s Legal Network, Robyn Wardle from Family Planning, the group called On Her Terms, the group called What RU4 NT?, and the many women and men who have spoken to me about what has been proposed and what benefits it will bring to Territory women.
I also thank the many people who shared my post on social media. When I checked just before I came in here, I saw that post has been shared and seen by 3764 people, which goes to show you the power of social media.
I also thank Parliamentary Counsel for its work and advice, which has been invaluable. A final thank you goes to my female parliamentarian colleagues, who have supported me. Without naming you – you know who you are – I say thank you, as I know you too are keen to see this bill pass.
Up front I will say what these amendments and this bill are not about. This bill is not about abortion, which is legal across the country, including the Territory where it became legal in 1973. Elsewhere it has been legal for many decades. The act of termination of pregnancy is a state and territory responsibility, not a federal matter.
Over the decades and years, women have fought hard and long for the right to have responsibility over their own bodies and if this involves an abortion, then that is a basic right. There should never have been an assumption in the past or presently that a woman would not care for her body appropriately, and given what is involved, any termination is done and has been done in consultation with a medical practitioner.
Abortion is not a modern action as it has existed all around the world in some form from the ancient Egyptians to Romans, Greeks, Sanskrits, Chinese, and many other countries and places. Apart from the obvious action of wanting to terminate a pregnancy, the reasons, historically, to end a pregnancy were varied as well. Some were based on religious grounds, some based on controlling population growth, some suspicions and some due to social and community structural reasons.
I am proud of the history of women who have fought so hard for so long, and I am sure at great personal cost, to achieve the rights and position they have today in the legalisation of abortion. History shows us that the definition of abortion, rules about abortion and the medical world addressing abortion were predominately undertaken by men. Men shaped the world, which included the women in the world at those times. However, much has changed over the centuries, and in recent times in Australia, and it is through women’s leadership that women have gained what they should have had from the beginning of time: basic human rights over their own bodies and lives.
Many women helped me in this journey to get where I am today with this bill and you, individually and collectively, are true leaders. Legalising abortions across the country and elsewhere in the world took the procedure out of back yards and into the safety of medical establishments. Clearly that was good for women’s health and wellbeing, and society in general.
This bill is not about the actual medication, which is colloquially called RU486, or Mifepristone, as it has been listed on the Therapeutic Goods Administration since the mid-2000s. This bill is not about questioning the quality of the drug. The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists has advised that a substantial volume of research and work has been done that ably demonstrates the established safety of the drug.
The World Health Organisation has included the drug RU486 as an essential on the list of medicines for use in abortion and delivering one of the safest medical procedures. RU486 is available in 35 countries, and that number is increasing.
This bill is not about telehealth and whether it applies to this bill, as it does not.
This bill is not about women in remote and bush communities accessing the drug indiscriminately, because that is arrant nonsense and a beat-up by those who oppose giving Territory women a choice in medical healthcare, and those who want to scare people and hijack the debate.
This bill is not about unsubstantiated, emotionally charged, misguided, misinformed rants by those who want to keep women repressed, downtrodden and without the ability to choose their own destiny.
This is not about RU486 the drug being sold over a chemist’s counter like Panadol, as that is incorrect and misleading.
This bill is about providing equality and fairness to Territory women. This bill is about providing a medically safe alternative option for Territory women if they are faced with a situation of terminating a pregnancy, one of the most difficult and important decisions in a woman’s life. This bill is about giving to Territory women the right to have choice in their medical care. This is about basic human rights – the human rights of Territory women.
This is not a social justice matter; it is about basic rights for Territory women. It is an issue involving a woman’s health. Are women so devalued that women’s rights are not human rights? In an article titled Human rights: another look at abortion by Beryl Holmes of Queensland, she referenced another author who says women around the world have been subject to torture, starvation, terrorism, rape, genital mutilation and murder. Sadly, this continues today, as we know. If any other group in the world, or society, was subject to these actions, there would be an outcry and a complete violation of their human rights.
While this debate is not about the aforementioned atrocities, it is about fundamental human rights, and I ask the question, why are we debating this issue today? It should have happened years ago in the Territory. In standing here today I express surprise at the current government’s unwillingness to present the bill itself, and can only suggest that they do not take women and women’s affairs and policies seriously, despite the Minister for Women’s Policy’s ministerial statement to the House this morning, which in many parts was very good.
While the minister spoke of many important matters to women, there was no reference to this item, or how she is going to support the bill, which I know is important to the many women across her electorate. While I take aim at the current government, I should point out that past governments must also shoulder some criticism – both Labor and Country Liberals – over the decades for inaction. But that is in the past, and I thank members today from the cross benches for the support they have given me towards this bill. I thank some of the government members who I know support this bill.
Additionally, I must give credit where credit is due and say thank you to the Attorney-General, John Elferink, who has said to me on more than one occasion that he wished he could have presented a government bill and that he supports the bill. The Attorney-General has been public on the matter, and this is both good and welcomed.
The undertaking by the Chief Minister that government members can have a conscience vote is welcome and as it should take place, because I know there are government members who are very supportive of this bill and want to see it passed in the February sittings of 2016.
Now to the bill itself. This bill amends the Medical Services Act. While the bill itself is short in words, it is long in meaning and importance to Territory women. The purpose of this bill is to provide women access to safe and professional medical services. The bill will allow the medical termination of pregnancy to occur outside of a hospital. Section 11(1)(c) of the act is amended to omit the requirement that a medical termination must occur in a hospital for that termination to be lawful. The new subclause provides that where the medical treatment requires the dispensing of a drug, that drug may be dispensed by a medical practitioner or pharmacist. Where surgical treatment is involved in the medical termination, the subclause provides that this treatment must still occur in a hospital.
Subclause 3(2) removes the condition in section 11(2) that one of the medical practitioners required to form an opinion in good faith about the continuance of the pregnancy under section 11(1)(b) is a gynaecologist or obstetrician. The clause replaces that condition in section 11(2) with the requirement of a suitably qualified medical practitioner, unless it is not reasonably practical in the circumstances.
Subclause 3(3) expands the obligation to give medical treatment with professional care, and otherwise, according to the law, to include pharmacists dispensing a drug, or giving a medical treatment.
Subclause 3(4) defines the term, ‘pharmacist’, ‘suitably qualified medical practitioner’, and ‘suitably qualified pharmacist’ to facilitate and regulate the availability of safe and professional (inaudible) medical services for women in the Northern Territory.
These definitions are not something I have made up. They are definitions specific to the medical world and are recognised by the various colleges of medical practitioners and the Australian Medical Association. In closing, the bill and its ultimate passage – I am hoping – in the February 2016 sittings is a turning point for women in the Northern Territory, as it will not only provide equity and fairness with other Australian women, but provide Territory women with a basic human right and that is an inalienable and valuable right for themselves, their own body, health and well-being.
I have been placed in the special position of presenting this bill and for that I am thankful. I will put it down as one of the best parts of my job as a member of this parliament and remember this day forever.
I commend the bill to honourable members and table the explanatory statement.
Debate adjourned.
Mrs LAMBLEY (Araluen): Mr Deputy Speaker, it is my pleasure to speak on this motion that government considers providing stamp duty relief or a grant to assist first home owners to buy existing homes. People in this Chamber will remember that just a few months ago I introduced a very similar motion. The difference between the motion I put to parliament in July and the motion I am putting to parliament today is to broaden this request that government considers changing the guidelines to a more reasonable position when it comes to first home owner assistance for people wanting to buy existing homes.
On 1 January 2015 changes were made to guidelines for the First Home Owner Grant affecting areas outside Darwin. They meant that from 1 January only people buying existing homes were eligible for the First Home Owner Grant. In 2013 the rules were changed for the greater Darwin area to the effect that the First Home Owner Grant was only applicable to those buying new homes. We now have a situation across the Territory where the First Home Owner Grant is only applicable to new homes. No longer can anyone in the Territory get a grant or any assistance from the government if they are first home buyers and want to buy existing homes. This has been a dramatic change to how potential first home owners go about getting their finances together and assessing their ability to get into the housing market.
Being a member of parliament from Alice Springs I can say that changing the guidelines in Alice Springs has had what can only be described as a devastating effect. In the first nine months of 2015, from 1 January to 30 September, compared to the first nine months of 2014, there was a 60% reduction in the take-up of the First Home Owner Grant in Alice Springs.
In the first nine months of last year 156 First Home Owner Grants were paid. In the first nine months of this year only 63 First Home Owner Grants were paid. That is a drop of 93 transactions. It is a drop of 93 purchasers being given assistance to buy homes in the Alice Springs region. In the Katherine region in the first nine months of this year, 13 applicants received the First Home Owner Grant compared to 47 in the first nine months of 2014. That is a reduction of the take up of the First Home Owner Grant in Katherine of 72%.
In Tennant Creek the numbers are small but significant. In the first nine months of this year, compared to the first nine months of last year, there has been a 66% reduction in the take-up of the First Home Owner Grant in Tennant Creek, dropping from six last year to two this year. The significant reduction in the take-up of the First Home Owner Grant across regional areas of the Northern Territory has had a devastating effect on the local economies.
Last time we raised this in parliament, in July this year, the Treasurer brushed it off. He said it was a COAG agreement that no state or territory in Australia would continue to offer a first home owner grant for existing homes, and that was pretty much the extent of his response. The context he gave was that the price of housing across the Northern Territory has been reduced and is now affordable, therefore this refined targeting of the First Home Owner Grant has been a resounding success. However, as was pointed out earlier today by the member for Karama, the economic climate in the Northern Territory has changed significantly.
We have seen a constriction of the economy. We have seen a slowing of population growth. We are seeing generally, across the board, things are getting tight. There has been a significant drop throughout the Territory in the overall sale of residential properties across the regional areas and the greater Darwin area. ‘That might not be such a bad thing’, some people might argue. But what it means in real terms, particularly from an Alice Springs perspective - once again I go back to Alice Springs, because it is Alice Springs I know best - is people who have houses in the lower range of the market, $400 000 and below, cannot sell their houses. Many of these people would normally choose to upgrade at some point in their lives. They have started in a fairly reasonably-priced house in Alice Springs, and they plan to upgrade, maybe to a house in the $500 000 to $650 000 range, but they cannot sell their houses.
For the first home owners who were given assistance to get into the market before 1 January for the areas outside of Darwin, and before 2013 for the Darwin area, there is no longer the market for existing homes at the lower end of the market. They are stuck in their homes. These are the stories we are hearing right across the Territory. They are stuck because they cannot sell these fairly reasonably-priced homes. A 60% reduction in the take-up of First Home Owner Grants in Alice Springs means there has been at least a 60% reduction in the sale of houses at that lower end of the market in the first nine months of this year.
Things have slowed. People cannot sell their houses and cannot upgrade. Houses in that next category, the middle category of housing, are not being bought and sold either. People who are not even in the market are struggling to enter it, because there is no assistance in the Northern Territory for people who want to buy existing homes.
In Alice Springs there are very few new homes to buy, in relative terms. There were 63 First Home Owner Grants paid to people buying new homes in Alice Springs in the first nine months of the year, which is a relatively low number. And in Tennant Creek, as I said before, only two First Home Owner Grants were paid in that period, to people buying new properties.
The government must be saving a fortune. It is a good savings reduction strategy, and that is what we - the CLP government - had to do when we first came in to government. We had to look at saving money, being vigilant and prudent, and ways of reining in government spending. Times have changed; three-and-a-half years is a long time. We now see this removal of first home owner assistance, to people who want to buy existing properties, which are generally much cheaper than new properties, is killing our local economies.
My personal concern about this is for young people who perhaps grew up in the Territory or moved to the Territory, like I did years ago, who want to commit to our wonderful part of the world. They want to contribute socially and economically; they want to be a part of their community. What better way to invest in your community than to take an enormous step and buy your first home in the Northern Territory? I read some statistics yesterday saying the average age of people buying their first homes throughout Australia has increased substantially over the last 10 years. I think it was around 24 years of age and now it is up to 32. It is getting harder across the country, possibly because of the removal of grants to assist people to buy existing homes.
We are in a different situation in the Northern Territory in that we do not have the population growth and the steady economic basis other jurisdictions enjoy. We have a boom and bust economy, no one can dispute that. Quite often there are periods in which there is a general lack of confidence in the economy when big projects finish and there do not seem to be more in the future.
As I was saying, I am concerned for young people. People come to me in Alice Springs quite regularly, talking about how their adult children cannot get into the market. They cannot get together their 4% deposit and 3% stamp duty to buy a $300 000 or $400 000 existing property. A 5% deposit on a $300 000 property is $15 000 and the 4% stamp duty on a $300 000 existing property is $12 000. Someone wanting to buy a fairly cheap property, in the scheme of things in the Northern Territory, for $300 000 would have to get $27 000 together up front before they can even consider buying it. That is a lot of money. I do not know many 25- to 35-year-olds who have $27 000 sitting in the bank. It is too difficult.
Taking away the assistance for first home owners to buy existing homes has shot the market. It has shot the opportunities for young people or anyone who wants to get into the market as a first home owner, such as new Australians. In Alice Springs we have a significant new population of people from all over the world. We now have 3000 Indian people living in Alice Springs. Those people are great workers and contributors to our community who enrich the social fabric of our community. They want to be a part of it, so they work hard and make money.
I know where many of these people live as I have been doorknocking in recent times. In my electorate they have bought into the market, presumably before 1 January 2015 so they received the First Home Owner Grant. Future new Australians coming to our town will have a lot of difficulty getting into the Alice Springs market without any assistance. That $27 000 up front for a $300 000 existing property is a heck of a lot of money. It is daunting and, for many people, unachievable.
I have concerns that people wanting to contribute to and be part of the communities in the Northern Territory, who want to invest and commit, cannot get over the lump and having to scrape together that significant amount of money – around $20 000, $30 000, $35 000, $40 000 – to buy a very reasonably-priced existing property in the Northern Territory.
Many people have told me they purchased properties at the lower end of the market and they either want to leave town and buy another property elsewhere, or they want to upgrade. It is not only stopping people from stabilising within our communities; it is stopping movement within our communities. People want to upgrade by offloading their cheaper house and buying something more expensive. Things are stagnant and they are stifled economically by the lack of this grant that used to be extremely generous.
I am not for a minute expecting the government, at this point in time, to reinstitute the guidelines that were in place before 1 January 2015 for first home owners outside the Darwin area and go back to the way it was in Darwin before the changes made in 2013, but I am suggesting that the government looks at this a bit more closely. Just saying no is extreme and does not take into account that the economic climate and the factors that led the government to make these decisions have changed over the last three years. The circumstances have changed, and it is now time to review the guidelines and look at how not assisting first home owners to buy existing homes is adversely impacting on all communities throughout the Northern Territory.
I have spoken to a number of real estate agents. I did a lot of preparation for the original motion I put to parliament in July. I spoke to 20 Alice Springs real estate agents and a few outside of Alice Springs and they gave me a very gloomy picture of what was happening, particularly in that lower end of the market. Sales have plummeted and property conveyancers have gone out of business, and I know that is also happening in the Darwin area. The whole real estate industry is suffering. I know the Treasurer will stand up and talk about how real estate agents throughout the Northern Territory have for years enjoyed great prosperity and success as house prices rose consistently for years on end, so this downturn in the housing market is to be expected. He is right; we must expect that these things are cyclical to some extent.
The other point which is highly relevant, particularly in areas outside Darwin, is that our population growth is generally quite sluggish, and in some parts of the Northern Territory it is in the negative. In Alice Springs, over the last 20 years the population has not grown at all. As a community we fight constantly to attract people to our communities and for them to stay there, and we have to look after them when they get there.
As a parliament and a government, we need to try to stabilise our workforce. It is essential that we create an environment in our communities that makes it easier for people to choose to stay. The longer they stay the better. How many of us thought we would come to the Territory for six months, six weeks, maybe a couple of years, and 20 years later we are still here? Many people will tell you the reason they have stayed so long is because they invested in the place. They sunk some money in, got the government assistance and bought a home; they made that commitment. The years have passed and they are still there and enjoying the wonderful lifestyle of the Northern Territory. That is certainly what happened to me, and I know many other people did the same. They used the grant – that wonderful First Home Owner Grant, which was called something different 20 years ago or more but was essentially the same principle. They got into the market and the rest is history.
That is wonderful. It is the beauty of being a Territorian. It is still the wild frontier. There has always been a sense of community and people looking after each other, and on top of that the government providing incentives, some carrots, for people to stick around and to stay in their jobs. Doctors, nurses teachers and all those professional people we have enormous difficulty attracting to certain parts of the Northern Territory, if you offer them some first home owner’s incentive to stay, it is more likely they will. It makes life easier if you have your own home. It certainly was life-changing for me. I will never forget it. I would recommend it to anyone. However, without the $7000 I got up front to buy my first home, an existing home in Alice Springs, I would have almost definitely gone.
I am putting forward a suggestion to the government that it thinks about how it, and we as a parliament, can assist people to buy existing homes. I will not prescribe an amount; I will not say $10 000 as a grant or ask the government to provide stamp duty relief of a certain amount, but anything is better than nothing. At the moment there is no movement in the lower end of the housing market because there is no assistance for people to buy existing homes as first home owners throughout the Territory.
I am not proposing this to further the economic gain of the real estate industry. I remember last time I introduced this in parliament, in July, the Treasurer suggested I might be selling some properties in Alice Springs to pad my own pocket. I can honestly say I have no conflict of interest. I do not intend to sell any existing or new properties in Alice Springs or anywhere else in the Northern Territory in the foreseeable future. I have no conflict apart from to say this is a message I am receiving throughout the community from the real estate industry and from average people.
People I have known ever since I came here who now have 25-year-old or 30-year-old kids, even 18-year-old kids, want their kids to get into the market. Their kids want to get into the market; they want to buy a house around the block from mum and dad living in Gillen. They want to start living the life they have been aspiring to possibly their entire life. It is a very modest request, a very modest expectation in life, but to get over that hump, to get the stamp duty and deposit together is too hard. It is too onerous, and we know from the statistics the Treasurer provided me with – I thank him for that – the numbers speak for themselves. There has been a dramatic drop in the take-up of the First Home Owner Grant for new homes across the Northern Territory, and that is damaging the social and economic fabric of the Territory.
It is putting too much pressure on our economy and has a huge knock-on effect. If people are not staying in Alice Springs, Katherine, Tennant Creek, Nhulunbuy or Darwin because they cannot get into the market, you will have a greater turnover of staff, a greater turnover in schools –the flow-on effect is untold. It affects retail, service industries and every part or our sometimes finely balanced economy.
My husband and I used to laugh when we first opened our retail business in Alice Springs years ago. If Kmart had a sale one weekend our business would be down X amount of dollars, and I am sure when our shop had a sale the next weekend the Kmart sales would have been down. Only a finite amount of money circulates within our regional centres – I notice the member for Barkly nodding – and tipping one way has a resounding and profound effect on all other parts of the system. I see it as a system; it is cyclical and systemic. The government removing all assistance for people to buy existing homes in the Northern Territory might have seemed like a good idea at the time, but it is no longer relevant or effective. People need something, even a small amount, to get them over the hump.
I would greatly appreciate it if the Treasurer, who I know is poised to respond to this motion tonight, considered with his Cabinet, his parliamentary colleagues, this very reasonable motion that government considers buying stamp duty relief or a grant to assist first home owners to buy existing homes.
Mr McCARTHY (Barkly): Mr Deputy Speaker, I thank the member for Araluen for bringing this forward. I supported this in July and I support it now. It is a great, pragmatic voice from the regions.
I acknowledge Sidhant Vashisht in the gallery. What perfect timing that he should turn up to listen to the member for Araluen and this motion in the very limited time of General Business the opposition and Independent members get in this place. Sid is a young person in Tennant Creek working with a non-government organisation in a very challenging role, managing juvenile diversion clients, and he is looking at buying a home. It is exactly what the member for Araluen has talked about. This is a real example and there are many more examples from the regions in Tennant Creek.
The member for Araluen talked about the drop in home purchases across the regions and itemised Tennant Creek, saying there were only two home purchases in 2015.
Member for Araluen, I acknowledge there could be a lot done by government to stimulate those numbers; there is no doubt about it. It relates to good fiscal management and providing that incentive and stimulus for young people. But there was another challenge, Treasurer, which was the ANZ Bank, which is the main home loan lender in Tennant Creek. It applied a national policy across all mining towns, declaring them high risk and demanding a 40% deposit for a home loan.
That knocked out the majority of Tennant Creek residents, young and old, immediately. For the young people it was a massive hurdle. I will acknowledge Lin Andrews Real Estate, as well as the finance officers at the ANZ Bank in Darwin, and the opportunity I had to work with those two groups to try to get some balance and sense into this. Essentially the debate that I created was, God love it, but Tennant Creek is not a mining town. It used to be the powerhouse of the Northern Territory. It produced more gross state product during the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s than this town of Darwin. At the end of the 1960s it had more registered businesses than Darwin, but alas, times changed.
There are extensive exploration programs going on around Tennant, and resources, minerals and energy will be its future, which is part of Labor’s policy being designed as we speak. However, I had to convince the ANZ Bank that Tennant Creek is a service town. It is a town based on public sector and non-government organisations, and a large component of its economy is based on Commonwealth benefits; therefore, we should not be lumped into this category. The ANZ Bank, which I acknowledge and thank, changed that policy by tweaking it. It will assess each individual case in regard to the 40% deposit levy.
We made a small gain there; I thank the ANZ Bank and Lin Andrews, our local real estate agent, which really worked hard in that space and provided a lot of evidence in the debate. We have competing pressures for regional areas. Unique events emerge and this government could support residents from these areas.
This is a request by constituents. The member for Araluen was right; many mums and dads of my generation came to me when the CLP made the changes and requested that we go back to looking at existing dwellings being supported with a subsidy or a grant for first home owner purchases in regional centres. Tennant Creek is a perfect example.
This generation of mums and dads has the new emerging generation in Tennant Creek – Sid’s generation. That is real. It is amazing to see the young families that are staying in Tennant Creek and having their children now. My second son is one of them. He was dragged kicking and screaming out of the gulf country, has worked on cattle stations and was riding bulls in rodeos. He finished his schooling in Tennant Creek. He has his first son. This is the generation I am talking about. They want to get access into the market. They want to purchase their first home, and they need a hand up, not a hand out, as the member for Port Darwin continually reminds us in this House.
Let us talk about the elephant in the room: land release. Tennant Creek had a subdivision of 54 lots, the first land release in 30 years. The lots were a combination of medium-density and single dwelling, and all sold. It is now an emerging little subdivision. One of the reasons I was very keen to push that policy as a minister in the previous Labor government was to create an opportunity for very significant government head-leased stock to become new accommodation for our government workers. That would free up the old traditional stock in Tennant Creek, which would then come on line and be first homes for many of these young families.
The landlords of that existing stock that has been supported by government through head-lease programs for many decades have a choice. They can upgrade that dwelling to meet the head-leasing standards and compete with the new subdivision dwellings, or they can put it on the market and allow the young people to get their first stake in a family home. That was a good model which is still rolling out.
The CLP has continued with Labor’s land release program and is releasing some more lots as part of that subdivision. Essentially, Labor negotiated with the traditional owners and created a capacity of 200 lots. We have released 54 and there are 23 in the second stage. To give credit where credit is due, it is commendable of the new government to continue Labor’s good policy. It also has the residual effect of creating stock for a new, younger market, but they need that hand up. That story is coming from their parents. They want these kids to stay in town. It is good for our economy and future. It is good for families to have grandparents involved in their kids’ lives.
This is an important part of just one example. The member for Araluen has wisely included all the regional areas across the Northern Territory; I am just talking about Tennant Creek. My recent investigation revealed that there were 70 dwellings on the market in Tennant Creek. That is a large number and there are many young families that would like to get access to those dwellings, but they need a helping hand.
The member for Araluen said the government must have made savings with this change. The member for Araluen is dead right. In the budget papers for 2013–14 it is clearly printed that this government saved $30m. That was a nice little revenue hit and money in the bank when they changed the policy. Fair enough, that was CLP policy – $30m straight up. I am sure when I investigate the next round of budget papers we will see further savings that have credited the government’s account.
However, there has been a deficit in economic activity in the regions because people have not been able to get access to existing dwellings with that very important government support. Essentially – and I will say this a few times in debate – if we have a cashed-up government and young families that really need a hand up, surely we can get some sense into this debate. The member for Araluen’s motion is very moderate. There is no cap or number; it is about the principle of government being supportive across the regions. I know Tennant Creek very well. I understand Alice Springs has the same logistics and I am sure Katherine has as well. I relay this message into the regions. Under Labor’s land release program we released land in Elliott and now there are great challenges for housing in Elliott, as the Minister for Housing knows. We created a subdivision in Elliott and this story is about all our regional areas.
It was not just about the savings of $30m. The CLP has made considerable revenue out of stamp duty with the land release and construction program that is the bread and butter of any economy. The Treasurer stands in here and crows about the biggest land release ever under the CLP, but he does not give us the names of the new subdivisions. I wanted to hear Daveville or Tollner Heights. I wanted to hear something new but no, the CLP completely avoids that debate. They do not want to go there because there are no new names, but there are some proposed new names, like Noonamah Ridge. Then there will be all that private land in the area east of Berry Springs and south of Noonamah …
Mr Wood: Weddell
Mr McCARTHY: No, we will not talk about Weddell; the CLP is allergic to Weddell. Weddell has definitely gone out of the rhetoric. There is all that private land where we are still waiting. I challenged Mr Mills when he was the Chief Minister and the Planning minster, here on this floor, about this strategy, and all it has brought you is a world of pain, and there are no new names.
Let us go back over the CLP’s largest land release in the Northern Territory, which basically has paralleled Labor’s land release policy. Let us be honest, cut through the spin and talk about new subdivisions like Bellamack, Johnston Stages 1A and 1B, and Zuccoli Stage 1, a master-planned suburb. I will give the Treasurer credit because the CLP rolled in $20m to provide head services to get Zuccoli Stage 2 going. It is very easy. It is a strike of the pen when you are the Treasurer. He did not really have to do much with the land release because it was all master planned and ready to roll. All it needed was servicing of the lots in partnership with a good developer. You certainly have a good developer in that Zuccoli subdivision.
What about the private partnerships with a Labor government supporting developers? Durack Heights, Muirhead, Lyons – where do these names jump out from? These are amazing areas of development for the greater Darwin area. Katherine had a subdivision, and towards the end of my time as Lands and Planning minister, which ended involuntarily I might add, I checked on Katherine and counted that out of 39 lots there were still about 17 vacant. I questioned the minister at the time about new land release in Katherine; however, it has gone ahead. I support that because I think Katherine will have significant need for land in supporting the Defence forces. If that RAAF expansion continues, Katherine has a good future in supporting Defence. The new land release in Katherine backs off Labor’s 39 lots where there were quite a few still vacant when I looked at it in 2012. Good on you, government, and well done.
Labor gets bagged out about never doing anything in Alice Springs, and the CLP’s largest release ever in the universe – I remember, as a previous minister, names like Larapinta, Stirling Heights, Mount Johns in partnership with the Lhere Artepe Aboriginal Corporation and Kilgariff. I will not talk about Kilgariff because I have some major disappointments with it and there is not enough time in this debate. But Kilgariff, in partnership with Northern Territory Airports, can release 3000 lots in the future, if it is done properly.
There is Labor’s land release program now taken on board by the CLP, and rightfully the biggest land release program in the Territory’s history. This has delivered significant returns for this government – a significant windfall. It was great timing. ‘Throw these guys out in 2012 and then we can really cash in on the dividends’, and so you have. That is the naturally-occurring phenomena of electoral cycles.
You do not have to go very far into the Northern Territory government’s 2014 Treasurer’s Annual Financial Report to start to see some of the windfalls that have been created by successive governments planning and rolling out assets into the Northern Territory. I will quote from page nine:
That can be broken down, but I do not have time:
That is a bit of a sting, but it is money in the bank:
You can see the significant spin-off from the construction industry, which essentially is land being purchased and new homes being built:
We cannot go any further without talking about the Ichthys project and INPEX. That has to be put into this debate as a major fiscal stimulus for the Northern Territory. This government has been realising the benefits of that shared project with the previous Labor government. However, the CLP is very good at rewriting history. It will continue to rewrite history over the next nine months.
The increased GST revenue of $95.8m was a nice windfall. There is also a $26m balancing adjustment related to the 2013-14 final national GST collections. That is not a bad windfall the Treasurer can claim. It is not exactly brilliant economic management, but a very nice deposit from the Commonwealth into the CLP coffers that should be managed and mentioned in this House:
That is not talked about much. It is significant revenue that came across to the Northern Territory government, and a very successful scheme. When the CLP was fudging the figures around the sale of TIO, something in the order of $148m was surplus to the MAC scheme and was siphoned off by the Chief Minister, deposited into the CLP’s government account then used to inflate the sale price of TIO. So this is very clever accounting.
We have a cashed-up government and young families across the regions that need a hand up. This makes sense. It is logical, because young families getting into their first dwelling add an economic stimulus to regional and remote towns. You can see it when you go down the main street of Tennant Creek, particularly on a Saturday morning, with young families shopping at the hardware store, doing DIY improvements to their homes, building and landscaping – improving the amenity of their property.
We have the economic stimulus of the trades sector. In Tennant Creek we have a very tight trades sector. It is doing it very tough because the CLP changed the tendering process considerably. It is doing it very tough across the Northern Territory because the work in that middle level, small to medium construction industry has slowed right down. I hear about it in Darwin as I am hearing about it in Alice Springs and Tennant Creek. Government tenders have been very difficult to get because processes have been changed by this government, and it will be held to account. Many in the trade sector do not agree with the way business is being done under the CLP.
However, having our local trades engaged in private work with young families in their new homes is a real stimulus for a regional economy. A new home in terms of an existing dwelling – the opportunities for repairs and maintenance, and upgrades. This is a good, pragmatic motion which should appeal to a sensitive government that wants to do business for the true welfare of Territorians. These are Territorians who live outside the big end of town.
The construction sector in the greater Darwin area also needs some attention. It is great to have some background and experience in that area because I feel honoured when I visit Darwin and people acknowledge me, remember me and talk to me. It is a great feeling; we then reminisce about work we shared together. One of the resonating tones is about how this sector is shrinking dramatically.
The macro story for economic development across the Territory is: what is there post-INPEX? The CLP has not been able to engage a major economic signature project; it is still looking. It needs middle level, small to medium businesses. To the Minister for Infrastructure, that repairs and maintenance area, particularly government work, provides a great opportunity to stimulate that sector. It is well documented that the construction sector feeds economic benefits throughout the community evenly. It is the old story of bread on the table for families.
Thank you, member for Araluen; this has given us a great opportunity for debate. We have a witness, a young man from Tennant Creek - it is amazing you turned up when you did, brother. This is real, and in the context of a cashed-up government, a Chief Minister who talks about budget surpluses and brilliant economic management by a hard-edged government to achieve that should be looking at the opportunity to address a shrinking economy. It is a particularly challenging economy in the regions. The value-added component of getting young families into their first home, an existing dwelling, complementing the land release programs, makes sense to me.
Maybe I am on a different planet; I do not know. I just live there and share that environment with regional and remote residents. I am their conduit, their spokesperson. The member for Araluen has succinctly put forward a great opportunity and, by the way, it is Christmas. As the Chief Minister and those on the other side talk about stealing Christmas, we are not about stealing Christmas, Treasurer. You can be the best Santa Claus for the regions tonight. This can be an early Christmas present because you are a Treasurer and you want to stimulate the economy.
This could be a Christmas present for the building and construction industry across the length and breadth of the Northern Territory, including all those young families. Who knows? They might vote for you. I am sorry; they cannot vote for you, but they might vote for you mob. You know the game; I have learnt a lot from you. I will take this opportunity. I hope you deliver it and I will try to claim every bit of it.
Ms MOSS (Casuarina): Mr Deputy Speaker, I will not talk for long. The issues have been greatly articulated by the members for Araluen and Barkly. Thank you for that imagery of the member for Fong Lim as Santa Claus.
This is an opportunity for the member for Fong Lim and the CLP government to think about their legacy. I thank the member for Araluen for bringing the motion to the House, as she did with a similar motion in July.
I have said this in the past, and I will reiterate that Labor supports the concept that assistance should be provided to people seeking to buy a principal place of residence if they currently do not own a home. Our position is broader than what is proposed by the member for Araluen, but I agree and understand where she is coming from with this motion and the call for government to consider relief or assistance for those who are looking to buy a principal place of residence. We support people getting into their own home if they are a first home owner or have owned a house before and do not now.
Members would be aware – and we have talked about many issues today that contribute to this – that losing one’s house through a divorce or a financial separation can often mean the same level of financial difficulty getting back into the housing market as for those people seeking to get in for the first time. We support the concept of assistance applying to new and existing homes. We are, however, extremely concerned that these grants can have inflammatory impact on house prices. Therefore, we want a proper Treasury analysis, and then to move forward with a policy that has the effect of getting people into homes without causing the price of housing to increase. We have requested that previously.
This motion presents the opportunity to government to implement the expressed wishes of this House by examining the concepts available, having a proper Treasury analysis of them and bringing forward sensible policy the whole House can support.
We acknowledge that home ownership for many, whether it is their first home or otherwise, can become a distant dream. It is, for most of us, the biggest financial commitment we will ever make in our lifetime and a process we will remember forever. It impacts people of a range of ages and backgrounds, as has been articulated in this debate already.
We in Territory Labor want to see Territory families have the experience of working towards and achieving home ownership as a real option. We want families to stay here, and live and contribute here. All of us have seen people who have left the Northern Territory for various reasons. Many of us have seen people leave the Northern Territory because of housing options and what they can see available elsewhere. They want to stay here, so it would be good for the government to support this tonight and consider how we might do a better job of supporting people.
In our policies we should be considering how we can assist Territorians from a range of backgrounds and situations to achieve stable, secure and sustainable housing options. This is why the Labor government did the leg work towards Zuccoli, Bellamack, Johnston and Mitchell. Kilgariff, in Alice Springs, was well under construction under the Labor government, and there were new lots in Katherine and Tennant Creek for private sale. The Labor government worked in partnership to establish Venture Housing, which is an important initiative to create affordable rental housing options in the Territory. I was very pleased to go to the launch of some of those new affordable rental properties in Driver earlier in the year.
Mr Deputy Speaker, the failure to properly administer a financial assistance scheme to get Territorians into their own home has been criticised by the Real Estate Institute of the Northern Territory, particularly in relation to ownership in Alice Springs and Katherine. I thank the member for Araluen for bringing this motion to the House so we can continue the discussion of the importance of government providing much-needed assistance to those seeking to buy a principal place of residence.
Mr WOOD (Nelson): Mr Deputy Speaker, I support the motion the member for Araluen has presented. One issue that is a little different from last time is that we are asking the government to at least consider it. It would not do any harm to the government to agree to that.
I have looked at the previous debate and was interested in the member for Blain’s contribution. I got a little lost in the Keynesian economic arguments he put forward. I think he was trying to baffle us with economic science. I have heard of John Keynes, but economics used to bore me to death, probably because I could not understand it all. But I understand some things. One of the things I felt I got from the member for Blain’s contribution was that we should not be subsidising because it upsets the market. He said:
Elsewhere, I presume, would be Katherine, Tennant and Alice Springs. I am not sure if that is correct but that is my understanding. ‘Urban’ meant Darwin, Palmerston, Litchfield, Wagait, Darwin Waterfront and any other areas. Previously, people in those other areas in the Northern Territory received $25 000 to buy an established home.
I am not just speaking about the member for Blain, but I read what he said and I understand a fair bit of what he said. But I do worry that some of this debate relies on – there is a lot of discussion about land release and how that stimulates the market. I also wonder whether we ever get to the point where people make more money out of land releases than is reasonable. The market people will say we should not control that. The market forces apply, so if someone wants to charge $1000 for a small block of land and another person wants to charge $500 000 for the same block of land, so be it.
You do have to wonder whether profits are reasonable. I was just looking at Casuarina Park. It is in Katherine. It is a nice subdivision. LJ Hooker is doing the work there. What would you pay for a 778 m2 block in Zuccoli? Probably about $340 000 or around that? For the same block of land in Katherine you pay $162 000. It is about half the price and you have to ask why. Obviously in Katherine you will have storm water drainage, kerbs, guttering, and lighting, etcetera. I am sure the people selling the land in Casuarina Park, Katherine, are not giving it away and are making a profit, but for the same size block of land in Palmerston you pay nearly double the price. When we talk about affordable housing, one has to ask if developers are ripping off the market simply because they can and the market allows it, and is that contributing to the inability to buy land and a house at a reasonable price.
If you argue that we need to subsidise people by giving them a First Home Owner Grant, it might not be such a necessity if you knew that you could buy a block of land at $162 000 instead of $340 000. It is the same block of land with the same requirements. Someone is skimming a bit of cream off this. How come? I raise that issue as one of the things that does not help if you really believe young people should be able to get into the market. Governments say quite often that they are trying to make land available for affordable housing, yet when some of the developers get in there the price of land gets very high.
I think it was the member for Brennan who was saying that if people cannot afford it they should start with a unit. That is good but if they want a subsidy they have to buy a new unit. Why can they not buy one of the RAAF houses and stick it out in the rural area, like many people are doing, and get a subsidy for that? Why can they not buy an old housing commission house in Rapid Creek? It appears to me that the government has made up its mind. ‘We will scrap it for established houses because we want to stimulate the building market.’
To some extent you still stimulate the building market by selling existing houses. You allow people not to get into major debt by having large mortgages. It is a bit like buying a car. You will get a cheaper 1990 Holden rather than a brand-new Commodore. At least you will be able to get around. You will still stimulate the market a bit because I am sure that 1990 Holden will need a few new tyres. It will probably need a few more bits and pieces added to it. The spare parts market might be helped by buying second-hand vehicles.
Allowing people to buy a second-hand house is surely part of what the government is promoting: allowing people to buy an affordable house. I have heard that statement many times, even when the member for Brennan was minister for Planning – affordable housing, choice of housing. The housing choice could be brand-new housing, second-hand housing, even housing that is being moved. What the government has done is discriminatory. It seems to have listened to part of the industry and said, ‘We need to help you so we will not encourage people to buy an existing house because that will slow the building economy down in the Northern Territory’.
That is an artificial thing. If the government believes in the free market, then scrap the subsidies altogether and allow people the choice of buying a new house or a second-hand house without a subsidy. In reverse, if you give a subsidy do it equally, do not discriminate. Allow the first home buyer to choose which house they wish to buy. At the moment it is discriminatory because the government wants to stimulate one part of the industry and that is not fair.
The government has been promoting affordable housing. There is an opportunity for affordable housing without people having to buy a brand-new house. New houses in Darwin are being built on inflated prices. If a 778 m block can be developed in Katherine with the same infrastructure required for one in Zuccoli or Bakewell – someone is taking a fair hunk of money home out of that sale. The people who suffer, of course, are the young families who wish to buy there.
The government has said from time to time, ‘We’ve reduced prices now because you can buy a block for about $130 000 in Zuccoli or one of the suburbs in Palmerston’, but they are 330 m blocks, and when you put the 330 m blocks into an 800 m block you end up with exactly the same price you had before. There is no difference except you are paying a smaller amount of money for a fairly small piece of land.
There is nothing wrong with people living on a small piece of land. I call it Velcro living because sometimes the blocks are so small you have to sleep vertically. We sometimes forget the social impact of infill. Urban designers and the Planning Commission’s views of the world are about infill these days, but we live in a tropical city. Families need space and it is sometimes forgotten that people need space. There can be a social impact on families living too close to their neighbours. Sometimes that is not taken into consideration. That does not mean we should not have choice, but we should identify that we need land large enough for people to raise a family with a bit of space around them.
I support this motion. It is saying, ‘We are asking the government to consider stamp duty relief or a grant to assist first owners buy existing homes’. The member for Barkly was right. What better time than Christmas. I thought, ‘What better time than nine months before an election?’ I imagine a few little trinkets will be pushed out from now until next August. This could be a good one. Many people would be happy to see the government doing it. Obviously they will think the government is trying to sweeten them up. They are probably right, but at the same time there has been enough pressure, especially in areas like Alice Springs, Tennant Creek and Katherine where that subsidy was important to people. Many people in those communities are not high-income earners and that subsidy would have helped them get off the ground and into a new home.
There is merit in what the member for Araluen has put forward today. It would not hurt the government to agree to this because at least they can put it out there for discussion in the wider community. It would be worth the government coming back after they have looked at it and, hopefully, reconsidering and changing the present policy.
Mr TOLLNER (Treasurer): Mr Acting Deputy Speaker, I thank the member for Araluen for the motion. I think it is completely unnecessary, but I will go into that in a little while. I want to comment on what a few people said.
I will start with my good friend, the member for Barkly, who I always find quite entertaining. Listening to him talking about his son bull riding, and his grandson and that sort of stuff, I pine for my times living in a small remote township, as I grew up doing similar things as a child - riding bulls and all that sort of caper.
There is no doubt about it, it is a wholesome way of life, and I envy the member for Barkly for living in place like Tennant Creek. I find it to be a beautiful town. I love visiting there and I love the people it attracts. It truly is a wonderful place. They could do better with their local member, but I think at the next election there is an opportunity for the people of Tennant Creek to upgrade and find someone a bit more switched on. I do enjoy his contributions in this place.
The member for Barkly talked about a cashed-up government. That may sound right to the member for Barkly given that we just released the Treasurer’s Annual Financial Report, which shows a budget surplus. It is not a big surplus. A few things brought that surplus on. It is not a permanent surplus in any way, shape or form. Government recurrent spending is still far too excessive and work needs to be done to make sure we are fiscally responsible as a jurisdiction. The view that we are cashed up is wrong.
The member for Barkly suggested I am stealing Christmas, and that it is time to release the purse strings and throw some money around. I appreciate where he is coming from. That is the Labor way. You throw money around and there are goodies and lollies going everywhere for everybody all the time. It is the old case of the magic pudding which you keep eating but never seems to disappear.
Unfortunately the world does not work like that. We on the conservative side of politics understand the fact that what you borrow, one day you have to pay back, which has occupied my mind for the last three years in this job. We talk about intergenerational debt, which I find concerning. It is one of the big no nos when it comes to fiscal morality, if you want to call it that. The idea is we do not pass on debt to our children and that we sustain ourselves. The thought is that you should be able to sustain yourself and leave a little behind for your kids rather than leaving them a debt into the future.
It is something that never seems to bother the Labor Party. Every place I go where there is a Labor member – I was at the Richardson Park public information session on Sunday night. Luke Gosling, the federal Labor candidate, was there screaming and shouting, saying, ‘Just move Richardson Park to Marrara and to hell with the cost. Who cares?’ The difference is $20m or $100m. Clearly Labor does not care. That is the Labor way. It does not matter what it costs, you just spend money. I sit beside my good friend, the member for Brennan, the Education minister, who always talks about spending being an outcome for the Labor Party. It is not an outcome. Results are an outcome.
For many people on the other side, throwing around money is what you are supposed to do in government. That is not our view at all. Member for Barkly, whilst I love listening to your stories and pine for your lifestyle, there is no doubt that you have the Labor stamp on you. You are a Labor man through and through. Spending means nothing and ultimately it is about Christmas all year round, throwing goodies to everybody and to hell with future generations. So be it. People have a choice when it comes to elections. If that is the way they want to live their lives, not caring about debt and deficits ...
Mr Chandler: Shadow Treasurer, remember?
Mr TOLLNER: Shadow Treasurer? We all know who the shadow Treasurer is. I reckon she is the shadow Opposition Leader but we will not go there in this debate.
The member for Barkly also talked about suburb names. Zuccoli is named after a fellow called Guido Zuccoli, a famous aviator of the Northern Territory and a decent Territorian. I was reliably informed just the other day by one of his long and close friends that Guido loathed being called ZuccOli. The correct pronunciation is ZUccoli. I have tried to get people to start calling the suburb ZUccoli in honour of Guido Zuccoli who it was named after. I even went as far as saying to the Lands department CE, ‘If I hear anybody refer to ZuccOli the fine is a carton of beer’. Lo and behold, just the other day in my office I said the word ZuccOli myself, so I shouted the department a carton of beer. We can all make that mistake.
The member for Barkly mentioned Zuccoli, Kilgariff and all these other places, saying they were all Labor plans. They may well have been Labor plans and Labor names; I am not exactly certain of the history. The reality is that is all they were: just names. This government has released the land …
Mr Chandler: They are claiming Palmerston.
Mr TOLLNER: They probably are claiming Palmerston. I know they are claiming Weddell. Weddell goes back some 30 or so years to previous CLP governments a long way gone. Weddell was always envisaged to be centred on Lake Elizabeth, which meant putting a dam on the Elizabeth River and turning it into a recreational lake. That was a bridge too far for some people in this place who did not want to see the Elizabeth River dam. The government changed its view on that and scrapped the damming of the Elizabeth River. That has massively changed the planning for Weddell. Weddell now will have to be located elsewhere because you cannot locate a new township in a mosquito, sand fly or midge zone, but that is another story.
Member for Barkly, you are right that you came up with these names, but you never did anything about it.
It was interesting listening to the member for Nelson, but it is very difficult to take him seriously on any of this. I am aware that the previous Labor government offered the member for Nelson a portfolio, which he rejected. I, as the minister, said he could vet all developments in the Litchfield rural area – set up a committee with the members for Goyder and Daly to vet what comes to the minister on developments in the rural area. Again, the member for Nelson shirked that responsibility. He is all ideas. He is good at throwing rocks, but when it comes to making any type of decision, or taking responsibility, he will always run and hide. He does not want to be in a position of responsibility. He likes to sit on the sidelines and throw rocks. He likes to put in his two cents’ worth but never wants to take responsibility for anything. I suppose that is the whole idea of being an Independent. You do not have to take responsibility for anything.
Getting to this motion, there are many organisations around Australia, such as the Housing Supply and Affordability Reform Working Party of COAG and the National Housing Supply Council, and an enormous number of economists and other financial experts who have established that housing grants, including the First Home Owner Grant, and stamp duty tax concessions increase the prices of established homes and exacerbate any imbalance between demand for and supply of housing. That is the established view of the experts.
The member for Araluen acknowledged that every state and Territory has now ceased providing first home owner grants for purchases of established homes. That is because the evidence shows these types of housing grants increase the prices of established homes and exacerbate any imbalance between demand for and supply of housing. Based on that information from economists, COAG working groups and others who understand that homeowners grants on existing houses add inflationary pressures, it becomes obvious why the government made that decision.
I take members back three years. When we came into government – I should not have to remind this House – we were facing the worst housing and rental crisis in the history of the Northern Territory.
Mr Giles: Just three years ago.
Mr TOLLNER: Just three years ago. Housing was unaffordable. Everywhere you went, people would say it was impossible for young people and first home buyers to get into the housing market in the Northern Territory. At that time the cost of housing was higher than in Sydney. We were the highest-cost jurisdiction in the nation. Given that and the information we had from economists, we did two things. Firstly, we embarked on the largest land release process in the Territory’s history, which has worked. We have released enormous amounts of land across the Northern Territory for development. Secondly, we removed the First Home Owner Grant for people wanting to buy an established house.
The latest data I have is that median house prices in Darwin and Palmerston have fallen to $605 500 from $610 000 at this time last year. In Alice Springs there has been a slight increase in housing prices. In Katherine there has been a drop to the point where houses are now $322 500 compared to $357 500 a year ago. In Tennant Creek we have seen a decrease in housing prices to $222 500 from $271 500. There have been significant drops in rents. In Darwin now the median weekly house rent is $556 compared to $653 12 months ago. There is almost a $100 a week saving for people, and this is what we are doing to drive down the cost of living in the Territory. In Alice Springs there has been a decrease in rents to $400 a week from $546, almost $150 a week from 12 months ago. In Katherine, median prices have dropped to $430 from $470 to rent a house.
What we have done has had an effect. When we came into government we said we would reduce the cost of living. The biggest driver of cost-of-living impacts was housing and accommodation, without a doubt. Government, true to its word, acted and we have seen that change.
It was the government’s intention, through removal of stamp duty concessions and the First Home Owner Grant for established homes, in conjunction with strong land release, to decrease the demand-fuelled effect on housing prices. The strategy is working and, as part of the natural cycle, reduced housing prices along with current low interest rates is resulting in increased activity in the market, especially from first home buyers who are able to afford entry-level established homes without the need for government assistance.
Lower priced homes attract lower rates of stamp duty as well. The ABS data, which is sourced from banks, credit unions and building societies, shows that first home buyers still remain a significant proportion of home finance commitments, with more than one in five housing finance commitments in the September 2015 quarter being first home buyers.
Relieving all first home buyers of the stamp duty obligation by way of exemption would cost government upwards of $21m per year and would put upward pressure on house prices. I know that means nothing to members opposite. They do not care what you spend, but fiscally responsible governments always keep an eye on the bottom line.
There is a range of good news things with what the government has done. To date, First Home Owner Grant numbers are much higher than we expected, with about 30 approvals a month since March 2015. In March this year we saw higher than expected approvals in First Home Owner Grant numbers for new houses. As a result, First Home Owner Grant payments are about $3m higher in 2015-16 than we originally forecast, with $8m in grants expected to be paid this financial year.
Mr CHANDLER: A point of order, Mr Deputy Speaker! Pursuant to Standing Order 43, I ask that an extension of time be granted to my good colleague, the member for Fong Lim.
Motion agreed to.
Mr TOLLNER: Thank you very much, member for Brennan. I will not take too much time. As I said at the outset, this is somewhat of a worthless debate, but I am prepared to put things on the record that have already been put on the record several times.
Getting to the point of why it is a worthless debate and what people on the other side seem to do with their time – it is a bit difficult to understand. Government supports the motion, but it is a pointless debate. If members opposite and the member for Araluen were paying any attention, they would know government is already doing this. In fact, I have a media release from the Chief Minister of the Northern Territory and the Minister for Housing dated 17 June 2015, which is six or seven months ago. It is titled ‘Review into government housing program initiatives’. The first line of that media release is:
Further in it says:
And, wait for it:
Then it goes on to say:
That media release has been on the public record since 17 June 2015. It is looking at what concessions for first home buyers might be most appropriate in the market. Government announced this six or seven months ago. Six or seven months later, in waltzes the member for Araluen with a motion that everybody on the other side agrees with. We agree with it, too, because it is already happening.
Time in this place is valuable. We all like to hear the sound of our own voices and to be seen to be doing something. It is a bit like the TAFR and what the member for Araluen read into that. She did not realise that a week ago we tabled it and outlined it; there had even been a story in the paper drawing attention to the fact the Power and Water Corporation’s financials were not up to scratch. She comes in here like she has some big news story to belt the government around the ears with. It is time for Labor and the Independents to start paying attention. Open your eyes and see what is going on around you.
We will support this motion; we already are. It has been a great debate. Thank you, member for Araluen, for coming in here with it. It has given me the opportunity to reinforce why the government has put in place the measures it has and done what it has. Obviously with all things you do you review them. We announced the review six or seven months ago, and it is happening. I hope when I sit down and the member Araluen decides to sum up, she will acknowledge the good work of this government and the foresight we have had to review those programs.
Mrs LAMBLEY (Araluen): Mr Deputy Speaker, I thank the Treasurer for his contribution. First I must address what is, in my mind, a confusing conclusion to the Treasurer’s contribution. In the first part he was saying, ‘I do not agree with this motion and providing stamp duty concessions or grants to assist first home owners to buy existing homes’, then he concluded by saying government has a six to seven month review under way and he will support the motion. I feel confused, as I am sure other people in the Chamber also do. But I guess we have become accustomed to feeling confused by the Treasurer so that is not a new response.
My question to the government now is, if you have had a review under way for the last six or seven months, surely you would have asked the Minister for Housing or the Chief Minister to update us on the review? Reviews do not usually take more than six or seven months. The Treasurer has reminded us of this review. I recall that review more in terms of the Real Housing for Growth program, which I also have major concerns about.
In the context of this motion tonight, I thank the Treasurer for reminding us of this fabulous review. He probably needed to remind his government that the review is being undertaken. Perhaps he should have reminded the Minister for Housing and the Chief Minister, who issued the media release six or seven months ago, that they could have used this as a wonderful opportunity, in conjunction with the Treasurer reminding us of the review, to update the House on the review. Alas, we will not be given that indulgence tonight. We have just been reminded that the review is being undertaken and, despite the Treasurer’s better judgment, they will support the motion. I should be deliriously happy to hear that the government is supporting this motion. However, I feel somewhat bewildered by this strange response from the Treasurer.
But celebrations tonight – the government will deeply consider and perhaps even support providing stamp duty relief or government assistance to first home owners to buy existing homes. I should feel very happy about that, but given the context in which that was delivered to us I remain somewhat sceptical. Scepticism has been a part of how I have learnt to deal with this government’s mixed messages. The somewhat strange and convoluted messages we hear from the government leave most of us on this side of the Chamber feeling confused, as would Territorians who might be listening tonight.
I am very pleased to know that the government will support this motion and may even provide government subsidies and assistance to first home owners buying existing homes. I feel very encouraged, as I am sure others on this side of the Chamber feel after the Treasurer’s response. I hope we will hear an update from the government, perhaps even tomorrow, on the last day of sittings for the year. Perhaps Santa Claus will avail himself in the Northern Territory parliamentary Chamber tomorrow and give us an update on this review and even confirm that the government will reinstitute assistance for first home owners buying existing homes.
I will not elaborate anymore in my closing comments. Perhaps the onus now is directly on the government. In a timely fashion – I think six to seven months is time enough. I call on the Chief Minister to update the House tomorrow, given he has failed to do so today. Nor has the Housing minister updated us on this review, so I call on them to, tomorrow, the last day of sittings, give us some direct feedback on exactly what this review contains, what the conclusions or recommendations are, and take some misery out of the lives of Territorians who are sitting back waiting for a response to this motion tonight.
People are expectant. They are hopeful that this government will see that times have changed. The decisions were made several years ago to change the guidelines for the First Home Owner Grant. When those decisions were made they were made with the best of intentions, but we live in the Territory. Our jurisdiction is very different to other states and territories. It is a mendicant state. We are dependent. Eighty per cent of our revenue comes from the federal government. What applies to states like Victoria or New South Wales is very different here. In the Territory we all rely on significant government subsidies and handouts no matter who we are or what our circumstances are. It is pretty miserable if you continue this line of not assisting the good prospective first home owners of the Territory to buy existing homes.
Thank you for all your support. To the people who have spoken tonight, the members for Barkly, Nelson and Casuarina, and the Treasurer, I thank you for participating in this debate, and I commend this motion to the House.
Motion agreed to.
Continued from 29 October 2014.
Mr ELFERINK (Attorney-General and Justice): Mr Acting Deputy Speaker, this was introduced on 29 October 2014, so it has taken a while to get back into this House for debate, and hopefully for completion.
I reflect on the questions we heard in Question Time, because clearly part of the Question Time assault – if you would call it that – launched by the members opposite was aimed at attacking the Education minister for cuts in Education. I do not for one second agree with any of the numbers the members opposite use.
Generally, if you would like to know if the members opposite are not telling the truth, just see if their lips are moving. If they are, then the likelihood is that they are not telling the truth.
Let us indulge them for one second without challenging the numbers they have been trotting out. Let us indulge them in a very important way. In Question Time today they talked about teacher numbers. They talked about people working in remote communities, Aboriginal people working in the education system, etcetera. What they did not mention in their questions was results for students. The only time they mentioned students is when they wanted to talk about teacher-to-student ratios, so it was still about the teachers anyhow. This is the fundamental difference between the Minister for Education, who quite rightly got cranky today at some of the absurd suggestions being made by the members opposite, and the Labor Party, which has consistently run the same argument year-in year-out in this place that you measure government success by how much you spend.
My belief is that you measure success in the education field by the results you get. In this environment the results have been consistently encouraging. The NAPLAN results are out at the moment, and there are some very interesting things to observe. Some things worth observing are that in 2015 a significant increase in the average scores – mean scale scores for Year 3 and Year 5 reading, grammar and punctuation compared to 2008 show a strong improvement trend in early years education over the past eight years. Cohort gains for Year 3, Year 7 and Years 5 to 9 between 2011 and 2015 have been stronger in the Northern Territory than nationally for all test domains except writing. The Year 3 to Year 9 cohort gains were also stronger in the NT compared to national for comparable test domains between 2009 and 2015.
The issue I raise today, and the issue the minister raised during Question Time today, is that for the minister it was about results. Are we getting better results out of our education system, and the answer is yes. That is important to acknowledge because for the members opposite it is almost exclusively about the teachers, the teachers union and how much money they spent. I argue, as I know the Education minister argues, that it is not about how much you spend but how much you achieve.
Under the Labor model, if they were to scale Mount Everest they would decide to spend 10 gazillion dollars to achieve it when it could be done a lot more cheaply. For them, the success in scaling Mount Everest is not whether they got to the top or not; it is how much they spent on the equipment.
The result must be what is important, and the results have not traditionally been achieved under the former Labor government. Its answer was to consistently throw more money at it. The definition of madness, which has often used in this place – I remind honourable members of that – is trying the same thing again and again and expecting different results. That is what the former government tried to do, and its answer was always to spend more money. When former minister Syd Stirling became Minister for Education he said the answer was middle schools. We went from a primary/high school system to a primary, middle school and senior school system. We spent tens of millions, probably close to $100m, building new middle schools, but what has the net gain been?
I suggest that despite the best efforts of former minister Syd Stirling to say middle schools would be the solution for everything, the results have not substantially shifted. Here is some thinking I encourage members to consider. If one teacher was able to produce for every student in the Northern Territory the same or better results than the whole Education department, then surely you would spend the money on that teacher. I know that is an absurd stretch of the thinking, but the idea remains the same.
The Education minister has just placed this in my hand, ‘In very remote areas there have significant and substantial improvements compared to 2008 achievements for Year 3 Indigenous students in grammar and punctuation; Year 5 Indigenous students in reading, grammar and punctuation; Year 7 Indigenous students in reading; and Year 9 Indigenous students in numeracy. Four- and six-year cohort gains for the Northern Territory have been strong compared to the performance nationally. The average four-year gain to 2015 for Year 7 students was higher than the national gains for each test domain, except writing. The average four-year gain to 2015 for Year 9 students was also higher than national gains for each test domain, except writing. The average six-year gain to 2015 for NT Year 9 students was higher than the national six-year gains for reading, spelling, grammar, punctuation and numeracy.
We know we are improving and gaining ground faster than the rest of the nation, but we also acknowledge that we are coming from a lower base.
With my experience of Indigenous education in remote areas I know we will continue to struggle in the bush, as will any other government in the Northern Territory, whether it be left or right.
The focus has to remain consistent. The focus must consistently remain on results, not on the teachers, the department or the bureaucracy, but on the results the students achieve, which has been utterly lost on the opposition. For them it is still about spend, spend and spend, not what your systems should be.
The minister went to Cape York and looked at education models there to see if there was something he could do. The direct process he came back with has seen improvements in the Cape York area and he wants to translate that into the Northern Territory because he wants to better results. That has been resisted by the members opposite. They also resisted global funding and public schools essentially operating their own budgets. They did that on ideological grounds only. They did it to satisfy the unions, not the need for results.
Larrakeyah Primary School, which is an example I will rely on, is an Independent Public School. I happen to know two of the students who go there because they are my daughters. I have seen the school undergo a substantial transition under Independent Public School status. It provides services I have never seen in the public school system, and it provides them at a cost. It costs my wife and me more money for our children to participate in some of the programs run by the school. But where else in the system could you purchase robotics for a Year 5 student? You can at Larrakeyah Primary School.
The theatre my youngest daughter so thoroughly enjoys, and the drama classes she does, come at a cost, but my goodness gracious me, talk about two young women who are engaged in their education. I can also report to the House with great pleasure that both of my daughters have completely smashed the NAPLAN tests. They did better than the Australian average by a long chalk. They were off the scale in many of the areas they were tested in, and they continue to perform better than the school average. The school average was substantially higher than the national benchmarks because it has an engaged school council with engaged parents who are taking the liberty granted to them by the Minister for Education and using it to advance the educational standards of the students at Larrakeyah Primary School in a way I never imagined could be done.
There are results coming out of Larrakeyah Primary School that, without knowing, I would be prepared to bet are better than or as good as many private institutions not only in this jurisdiction, but in this country.
This Education minister has been prepared to be bold. He has been prepared to have a go and make some pretty tough decisions. We were almost at war at one stage with Australian Education Union NT, particularly through the processes they chose to engage in politically, undermining their union membership in pursuit of a seat in this House. We all remember the Cranitch/Clisby leadership of the Australian Education Union, which came to such a calamitous result for that union. It is small wonder they were both ultimately removed from that role by the union membership. They thought it was fair to use the EBA to leverage teachers’ conditions and entitlements in the workplace to wedge government on government policy, something we were never prepared to do. As a consequence of that, they then ran a long-standing campaign. As the Minister for Public Employment at the time, I remember this campaign going for about 18 months. All we did did as a government was simply say, ‘Teachers’ pay and conditions, and education policy, should not be brought into contact with each other and should be dealt with separately’.
Come the Blain by-election, Mr Cranitch, if memory serves me, stood as a candidate using union funds for his campaign and came to a crushing defeat, gaining only as much as 9% of the vote, which basically means he travelled worse than the Greens Party did. They had convinced themselves that the outrage they felt had translated into the community and genuinely came to a point where they believed they would win the seat and have some leverage in this parliament. So calamitous was their campaign, not only did they fail, it cost the teachers’ union some credibility in the eyes of the public.
Eventually, after about 18 months, the new representatives of the teachers’ union got to the point where they said, ‘This is getting ridiculous. This is costing our members thousands and thousands of dollars, and clearly the government will continue stridently and patiently in pursuit of better results, so we will settle on the EBA’, and the EBA was settled.
Not surprisingly, the teachers’ union continued to be critical of some of things government was doing. That is what unions do, particularly with conservative governments. But now the tests are in. The test has come back to demonstrate that this minister, through his careful management of the portfolio, has been able to get better results for students in the Northern Territory than the former government did, despite the former government’s spendathon.
I note and have seen that teachers are becoming increasingly engaged in the education system in a way they have not been before. One of the spin-offs, in my humble opinion, of the independent schools, is that the teaching staff embrace that independence and use that newfound desire to be teachers, and you see that translated into the classroom. Many teachers seem to be more enthusiastic and engaged with their jobs in the Northern Territory than they have been in a long time. It is now an exciting place to be. There is no crushing bureaucratic environment where EBA and the rules of the unions have all power and precedence. It is now an environment where they can get back to their Mr Chips-type role and engage with their profession in a way they have not been able to for a long time. It is a place of imagination and passion. I am increasingly impressed with the number of teachers telling me they enjoy doing their job.
Mr Deputy Speaker, I am pleased to contribute to this debate. It is interesting that after over a year of this sitting on the Notice Paper we get to look back at the last year that was and see that all the doom-saying captured in this motion does not reflect the results. In Labor’s last three years it had 170 additional students to 780 staff, with results going backwards.
This motion accuses the government of:
One, I do not entirely believe the first figure is anywhere close to correct, and secondly, forcing global budgets has hardly led to a decline in educational standards. It has enabled schools to show greater capacity and ability in pushing forward with their own programs which are specific to those schools. Imagine that a school actually gets to decide what it does with its own money and has therefore been given the ability by the Education department, and this minister, to make some very important decisions as to what the local community wants.
The members opposite consistently argue for local community engagement. This minister has delivered it. Global budgets mean they can deal with issues locally. Independent Public Schools can do even more for their students, and because the decision-maker is close to the person receiving the benefit of that decision, those decisions are more effectively tailored for the students in the school. As a result, the engagement of teachers and parents increases, engagement in management of the school increases, and engaged teachers work more efficiently and effectively and engage better with their students. As a consequence, students’ results go up. In short, the effect of this is an improved set of results and statistics. We do not have to throw millions and millions of dollars at ideas when we see an effective and efficient system being rolled out and producing better results in our schools.
Mr STYLES (Young Territorians): Mr Deputy Speaker, I rise to contribute to this debate on a number of issues that not only affect me as a minister, especially for youth, but also as the local member in Sanderson.
I went to a breakfast recently at Wulagi Primary School. We met there as a result of a new proposal called, Collective Impact. It is not new around the world and interstate, but it is here. I give credit to the principal of Wulagi Primary School, Susan Kilgour, for her extraordinary effort and commitment to the kids of Wulagi Primary School. Over the last six months she has spent just about every Sunday researching this new approach.
We have some very knowledgeable and good people on board with this. The principals behind it are probably too numerous to mention and it would take up too much debate time, but we have a Sanderson alliance based around the schools in the Sanderson electorate. We have the middle school on board. We have primary schools from across the northern suburbs in the area east of Lee Point Road by McMillans Road and Vanderlin Drive.
Collective Impact affects somewhere between 4000 and 4500 students in the catchment area I just described. It is a holistic approach to a child’s education from birth until they leave school. Having worked alongside teachers for many years as a school-based police officer, and eventually being in control of that program as well as working with a number of schools, I saw many interesting aspects of education and how it works. There are many things that people may not realise, such as that holidays are not for children; they are for teachers. If you did not give teachers holidays you would have few people going into that profession. They would not last. If you want people to last you must give them plenty of good breaks to rest from the rigours of the classroom.
That brings me to the commitment of the people in the Sanderson alliance. They are very committed to their cause and happy to do what they do.
I am on the record as saying that in a number of key roles in our community it is not possible to pay people enough. It is not possible to pay emergency room nurses, police officers, teachers and health professionals enough. They are callings. The member for Port Darwin spoke today about some of the things he could give descriptions of in this Chamber. I suggest the experiences of some police officers, fire officers and emergency room nurses would shock and distress some people in this House. It is a great if you have a calling to a particular career. Most teachers say they love their work and what they achieve. It is about what teachers can achieve personally and within their heart. I know teachers who discuss salaries and conditions and say, ‘I’m okay’. I know police officers and emergency service nurses who say, ‘I’m okay’, but others say, ‘We want more’. That is their right. I have no problem debating the issue and putting things forward. Eventually people will settle on something that suits – those who are paying, be it private enterprise or the government, and those who are accepting. We have many committed teachers. I have witnessed that, which is why it is easy for me to say there are numerous dedicated people in the teaching profession.
Collective Impact is new. We should, as a community, evaluate these programs. When there is a great leader, like the principal of Wulagi Primary School, someone who has done their research, who I have spoken to about Collective Impact – when people understand what they are talking about and have many years of experience, I listen to them.
That same principal and the previous school council have decided Wulagi will become an Independent Public School. The staff and the principal are rapt that they can have autonomy in running programs in the school and distributing government money, and with what they have available to them under the auspices of an Independent Public School. The school council goes and a board takes its place. They have found some very qualified people who are quite happy to give their expertise to the board running the Independent Public School at Wulagi. The rules are laid out and people know they can have a major impact on what children in the catchment area of Wulagi can do.
A number of years ago there was a bleeding off of students out of the Wulagi area to different schools. When I was doorknocking I found out there were some issues at the school. The previous principals were working on those issues and eventually most of them were resolved. Now we see an influx back into Wulagi Primary School because people see it can offer a broader range of subjects and education.
The other obvious thing about Wulagi is that there is a childcare centre attached to the school. Parents who live in the Sanderson catchment area for the Collective Impact area known as Sanderson alliance can now take their children as babies to the childcare centre. As the kids grow they see Wulagi Primary School through the fence. Once they are ready to go to Transition, they go from one area into another which they are already familiar with; they are comfortable and they know the people there. From there on it is into the big school until Year 6. It is a fantastic journey for Wulagi students and it makes a huge impact on where they will go with their education.
Global budgets are something many schools relish. They want autonomy; they want to look at where they spend their money and what they do.
I have worked with many principals and teachers over many years. I was involved in that area for about 19 years of my working life, probably some of the most rewarding years I have had. Talking to principals on numerous occasions over those years, one of the things they clearly wanted was a greater degree of autonomy and freedom to do what they, their school council, the parents and teachers wanted so the education their students received was improved.
I have heard today a number of speakers in this debate talk about money. I recall that between 2008 and 2012, when the current opposition was in government, the member for Karama, when she was the Treasurer, would stand up on the government side and boast about how much money they spent. They created the biggest projected debt in the Territory’s history, of $5.5bn, and were not concerned about how much money they spent. They constantly said, ‘We spent more money than the CLP, and we did this and spent more money on this’.
I reiterate, because I believe it is important for those listening, that money is an input not an outcome. I can remember trying to get that through in all the debates we had. Whenever I had an opportunity to talk to the then government and Treasurer I would say, ‘You cannot call this an outcome. It is about what students achieve, not how much money you spend.’ No we are seeing improvements. The NAPLAN results have improved.
What are we doing that is better than the previous government? It did not achieve the results we have achieved and what we are seeing now. It is obviously the change in policy three years ago that caused that.
One has to ask the question about cash and the claim that Labor spent more money. They will say, ‘We spent more money here and we did this and that’, but they did not achieve the outcomes. I have seen documentaries and I went to various seminars when I was involved in community policing, and you hear about people in Africa where the classroom is under a tree. The chalkboard is literally a piece of board leaning up against the tree. The teacher will have a piece of chalk. They may not have the text books to go around to every student.
I have seen documentaries where they have interviewed doctors, neurosurgeons, pilots of airplanes and lawyers, people who have achieved an extremely high level of education but went to a school under a tree in the savannah of Africa. They still achieved great things in their lives. I do not know what support their parents gave them because it is not something the documentary revealed, but some of their parents were subsistence farmers struggling to keep food in the mouths of their children and on the table for the rest of the family. These people did extremely well.
We give many people – and we want to – the best environment we can. When I was a student I was a recipient of a scholarship from the Australian Rural Leadership Foundation. There were 35 every year. It is a great program; it is one of the leading leadership development programs in Australia. To win one of 35 scholarships they give out each year was a privilege. On that program we travelled around Australia to country and city areas. It is an 18-month program. There is a lot of research you have to do to complete the program.
There is one section where they take you overseas. We went to India for our overseas section. It was a real eye opener, because we saw the educational requirements of people who live in regional, rural and remote parts of India, not dissimilar to the rural and remote parts of the Northern Territory. We visited some schools where there were hundreds of Indian children trying to get an education in half-a-dozen classrooms. The classrooms were basic. Granted, we did not go to any that were held under a tree, although we saw lessons conducted under a tree because there were not enough classrooms. There were some classrooms and desks, but not enough.
Some of those children were extremely bright young people. The school told us they have an honour list of those who go on from their school to achieve great heights. Although I cannot remember the names, I remember there were a number of people who had been very successful in later life who went to this village school. The village was nothing flash. There were many goats, a lot of cowpats, which they use for cooking, and a small dam that the community built. One of the reasons we went there was to see the hydroelectric system they had in place to provide small amounts of electricity to the village, which was very interesting.
Some children who came out of those classrooms have done extremely well in life and are now contributing to medical, scientific and engineering research. We were in Hyderabad at one stage and we went to a building that was about 10 or 12 floors high which was full of engineers. As a matter of course, we asked those people where they came from, what they did and where they received their education, because it was part of the theme of learning about rural education in outback Australia.
To go there and see what they have compared to what we have showed us we are quite lucky in this country. Albeit that everybody wants more, we are considerably more fortunate in Australia with our education facilities and programs than they are in India. Yet they turn out some very well-qualified people. In a building we went to in Hyderabad there were about 12 floors of engineers in just one building. They were all sitting at computers, certifying plans and drawings from all over the world that were e-mailed to them. They came out of some schools where there were not enough desks or books, but they studied hard and applied themselves.
Somehow in this country we have to get to the point where we can get our young people to apply themselves in the same manner those in Africa and India do, because they too can achieve. Through our education system in the Territory we now have Aboriginal people from communities becoming pharmacists. We have some doctors and engineers, and, I think, some pilots. I used to work with a man named Rob Mills, who is a Thursday Islander. He came up through the village system there but got his pilot’s licence. I ran into him on an aeroplane about three months ago and he has done very well for himself. We had a chat about the old days when we used to work together.
He came out of a system that was not perfect. I do not think we will ever get to a stage where we have a perfect system because we can never do enough. Governments do not have enough money to create the perfect system, but we do have wise people who are working together with the minister to come up with a system where the money is spent in the wisest possible way to get the best possible outcome. We are seeing these outcomes increase through the NAPLAN results.
I look at why they may have increased. One of the things we can do better is to look at the range of school structures. We need to make schools as safe as we can, which brings me to a number of issues in relation to young people feeling secure and safe. It does not matter where you work, play or go to school, we all want to be safe. We should have the right to be safe in our working environments. Whatever happens in those environments, if people are not relaxed and their anxiety levels are through the roof, they will not learn as well as if they were relaxed.
This is not about money. This is about creating an environment and community where our young people and students feel safe. That is the first thing you have to do. This is about bullying; it is about all of those issues. It is about creating an environment where people’s anxiety levels are extremely low. It is not about money. It is about how people feel.
I take, for instance, Sanderson Middle School. One of the things I argued against was middle schools. I thought there were some issues in relation to having 14-year-old boys as role models, which is probably on average one of the …
Mr CHANDLER: A point of order, Mr Deputy Speaker! In accordance with Standing Order 43, I ask for an extension of time for the member for Sanderson.
Motion agreed to.
Mr STYLES: I will continue talking about the wonderful things happening at Sanderson Middle School. As the member for Sanderson, it is in my electorate and I am very keen to make sure the children and young Territorians who go there feel as safe as possible. The principal is Liz Veel, who I worked with 25 years ago in classrooms when I was a young school-based police officer.
I found Liz to be an excellent classroom teacher and now she is an excellent principal. Some years ago she went to Canada to look at a range of things that happen in schools and where schools can be the centre of a community. I was unaware of that whilst I was in school-based policing and community policing, looking at ways to solve the problem and to create an environment where schools and students could flourish. I was involved in party politics in those days and was looking for a community answer and a financial answer. Being around politics for a while, watching governments and seeing what happens, I realised it is not so different to what I remember on Sunday nights as a child.
Mum would always bake an apple pie, a rhubarb pie, a bread and butter pudding or some other yummy thing, and she would make custard. No one makes custard quite like your mother. The pie was usually in a round dish. When mum got it out of the oven she would carve it up, and I learnt about pie graphs. I did not know they were called pie graphs until I studied them at school, but pie graphs …
Mr Tollner: Look like a pie.
Mr STYLES: That is right. That is very observant, member for Fong Lim. The pie graph looks like a pie.
Mr Tollner: Do you know bar graphs?
Mr STYLES: A bar graph looks like a bar, I suppose. We digress, and I get back to the rhubarb pie. The rhubarb pie is only so big, and mum would cut it up. I was the baby of the family. There was mum and dad, and he was a pretty big bloke, bigger than me, which is why I never tackled him as a young bloke. My brother was a bit taller than I was because he is a bit older than me. When mum carved the pie I never liked the result and said, ‘Mum, I want a bigger share’. The reality of life can hit you even when you are quite young that even though you want more of the pie, if there is no more pie you can only have what you get.
When I was involved with community policing I looked …
Mr Tollner: Unless it is Labor’s magic pudding.
Mr STYLES: That is true, and I pick up on interjection from the member for Fong Lim, who said, ‘Unless it is Labor’s magic pudding’. They seem to think money comes out of the magic pudding, but I heard someone in this debate say – I think it was the member for Fong Lim – when you keep borrowing money, sometime in the future you have to pay it back. I recall the Pied Piper nursery rhyme. Nursery rhymes are a tool for kids to learn about life in a way they can relate to and understand. The Pied Piper eventually comes for payment of the debt, and if you do not pay your debt – look at what happened to Greece – you lose control of your economy and what you can do for people in your community. That is not something this government will tolerate, so we work hard to make sure we balance it.
Let us go back to the pie. The pie is cut up and you have your share. As a young guy with three children I was looking for ways to resource schools without having to say I wanted more of the pie. When there are competing interests you have to do whatever you can to create services where you still get the same sized piece of pie.
Looking at what this debate is about and the title on the Notice Paper that says, ‘Funding and Resourcing Territory Schools’ – if you do not have bucket loads of money which you can tip into a truck, back it up to a school and tip it out – money is an input not an outcome. We are looking to responsible spending of taxpayers’ dollars, getting the system functioning efficiently and effectively, and getting better results. We have a system that is now operating efficiently and effectively, and is getting better NAPLAN results. I heard the member for Port Darwin talk about the NAPLAN results, and I feel very proud because I am part of a government that is operating responsibly financially and ensuring we are not loading our children with debt.
The current federal government is stuck with the same problem we had, and that is the massive debt that was created by Labor. We had to deal with it here. We go to the feds and say to the federal Minister for Education, ‘You don’t happen to have a spare rhubarb pie so we can have a bigger slice of the pie, with cream?’ There is no cream, and there is no rhubarb pie there. When Labor took over in 2007, it had $45bn in the bank and no debt. What a great way to start a government. Actually, there was $60bn in the futures fund. They spent that.
Mr Tollner: And in the higher education endowment fund.
Mr STYLES: There is another $20bn, $60bn, $45bn - we are adding it up. It is an enormous amount of money. Within six years we find there is a $667bn debt. That is an appalling situation where you keep borrowing money and spending it without achieving results.
In the Northern Territory it is not about money. The Labor Party bankrupts the country and the other side gets in and needs to fix it. Eventually the circle turns and we go back to where Labor is in government. They borrow, spend, throw money around like magic dust and hope that will solve all the problems. It is sad that it does not. It takes more than just throwing money around to act responsibly so future generations of Australia, in this instance Territorians, are not burdened with a massive amount of debt for no gain.
There is an old saying, no pain, no gain, but it does not work in this area. In the recent history of the Northern Territory we have had a lot of pain and no gain. We still have that pain because we still have to pay back the debt from the waste and lack of achievement of the previous government.
What is available in schools these days includes the Neighbourhood Activity Centre, and I am very proud to have brought the Neighbourhood Activity Centre to fruition and that the pilot project is at Sanderson Middle School. That is a total community engagement program where the community resolves community issues. We facilitate people coming in – volunteers, businesses and others who can contribute, including non-government organisations that have received Northern Territory and federal government grants to do particular tasks. We provide the environment.
I am very grateful to the Commissioner of Police. He and his executive team have agreed to support what we are doing at the school. They know what is at stake. To get kids to school you must make the environment a safe one. By contributing what they will when the project begins in Semester 1 next year, we will have a very safe place for young people, older people and the multicultural community to go. That will create an environment at the school where all can flourish, and the school will become a safe and cool place to be.
I commend this motion to the House.
Ms FYLES (Nightcliff): Madam Speaker, I am glad the minister commends my motion. Last night not one government minister spoke on the Education Act.
Mr STYLES: A point of order, Madam Speaker!
Madam SPEAKER: Please be seated. It is the first person on their feet.
Mr Tollner: I was standing. I was waiting for the call.
Madam Speaker: Member for Fong Lim, you may speak to the motion.
Mr TOLLNER (Treasurer): Madam Speaker, I appreciate this from the member for Nightcliff. I thought you wanted people to contribute to your motion.
I have just enjoyed listening to one of the greatest contributions to this Chamber I have ever heard. I love the little stories my good friend, the member for Sanderson, talked about in regard to rhubarb pie. There is a lesson to be learnt there. It is not hard to see that the member for Sanderson has had a lot to do with the education system over the years and, more to the point, he understands the realities when it comes to the distribution of money. In the member for Sanderson’s words, there is never enough to go around. What you give to one comes off another. It is always a difficult balancing act. I liked the metaphor in relation to the rhubarb pie.
I have a bit to do with the education system, like pretty well everybody in this place. I note that my good friend, the member for Barkly is here as well, an esteemed chalkie who knows the business very well. He possibly should have stuck to it, but we will not go there ...
Mr McCarthy: There is always a comeback.
Mr TOLLNER: There is always a comeback. The member for Barkly, I have no doubt, was a genuinely good teacher. I have enormous regard for people who teach in bush schools. Both of my parents are former teachers. My father was a high school teacher, and my mother did more than 40 years in primary schools and worked in some very remote locations. My uncle was an esteemed schoolteacher who worked in one-teacher primary schools all over Queensland. He ended up being the principal of the Toowoomba primary school, the largest primary school in Queensland. But, my goodness, he did the hard yards in some incredibly small places to attain that position. Like the member for Barkly, he is a good Labor man, and we do not often see eye to eye.
I have a brother who is a schoolteacher and goodness knows how many other aunts, uncles and cousins overseas from my father’s side who are schoolteachers. Growing up in country Queensland, regularly visiting my aunt and uncle with my parents, inevitably the discussion went to school curricular, what the Education department was doing, what individual kids were doing …
Ms Fyles: What are your views, Dave?
Mr TOLLNER: My views are very similar to the member for Sanderson’s. The point I am trying to make is that I have enormous regard for schoolteachers, particularly schoolteachers who have cut their teeth in the bush. It is an incredibly difficult environment in which to be a schoolteacher. Having said that – and I am sure the member for Barkly will agree – it is an incredibly rewarding career. You build very close relationships with your students and former students. You tend to keep track of them a lot more than teachers in urban schools do. That is not to belittle teachers in urban schools in any way, shape or form. There is a strong connection between students and teachers who work in remote and regional areas of the country in very small schools.
One thing I have learnt from my family upbringing is that it is not necessarily the infrastructure that makes a school. In fact, it is quite often everything but the infrastructure. Obviously, like everybody, we like to work in good digs and have nice air conditioned offices. But if you get out of urban areas quite often you will find yourself in a shed, or simply sitting under a bottle tree, because there are not enough classrooms and the like, and there are some quite difficult conditions.
We grew up next to the Dawson River and every time the river went up or down we had a plague of sandflies. It was quite funny because we put cow dung in a Milo tin with holes punched in the bottom of it and little handle on it. We would light the top of it up, get a bit of ash going and swing the tin around our heads to get enough smoke to come out of it to keep the sandflies off us. Almost every kid would go to school swinging old powered milk or Milo cans around with smouldering cow dung to keep the sandflies off. When we got to school there would be 44 gallon drums of smouldering cow dung all around the school to keep the sandflies away.
Ms FYLES: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Standing Order 35: relevance. We are talking about funding and resourcing Territory schools. I enjoy listening to the member for Fong Lim’s anecdotes from his childhood but we have important things to debate and I feel like we are wasting time.
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Fong Lim, yes, I know about burning cow dung too but if you could get to the point of the topic.
Mr TOLLNER: Thank you very much, Madam Speaker. Also, thank you to the member for Nightcliff, but this is exactly my point. We went to school in these conditions. The school had very little. It was a piece of corrugated iron on an old frame of a building which was full of sparrows. Every kid at school had sparrow lice. We would be scratching our heads, very similar to nits. We would get home in the afternoon and mum and dad would wash our hair out with DDT.
You would buy DDT in a bottle and you were encouraged to put on your rubber gloves and rub DDT into your hair, leave it for about five minutes and then wash it out. The member for Brennan is pointing at me saying it all makes sense now what is going on with me. I am obviously DDT-affected or sandfly or sparrow lice affected.
But the point is that every kid in the 1970s going to school in those areas was going to school in those circumstances. This was not anything special. I do not want to sound like I went to some sort of a weird way-out western school that was vastly different to everywhere else. I am sure the member for Barkly will attest to that. He has probably taught in and seen some schools that were very poorly resourced and not well structured. The fact of the matter is that kids in those communities do not necessarily need air conditioned buildings to go to school and learn.
I was very fortunate. I do not want to sound nasty but I do think teachers of yesteryear were somewhat more committed. I do not want to sound like the current crop is not, because I know every teacher values their job and is in it to impart as much knowledge as they can to their students. But I think people who qualified as teachers prior to the 1980s went through a different learning curve through teachers’ colleges and the like than they do today.
It was a different curriculum, without a doubt. There was more of a focus on rote learning and making sure kids knew the three Rs: reading, writing and arithmetic. It was a well-known clich when I was at school. We always talked about the three Rs. These days we seem to have gone away from that. I have even heard people say that in the modern world, reading, writing and adding up are not necessarily as important as they were 20 to 30 years ago because we have all this wonderful technology. It will not be too long before you have computer programs with voice recognition so you do not have to write anything. You just speak to the computer and it writes it all down for you. You can ask the computer to do sums for you and it will give you the answer. You do not even need know how to type or what letters look like.
That may well be the case, but parents still want their children to be able to read and write sufficiently. I saw how passionate our Education minister was in Question Time today when quizzed about outcomes. He said it is a disgrace that there are children finishing school with a Northern Territory certificate of education for Year 12 who still cannot read and write properly. I share that concern.
The motion put forward by the member for Nightcliff in relation to funding and resourcing Territory schools says:
Ms Walker: Exactly, 17 Indigenous staff members gone, mostly women. Shame on you!
Mr TOLLNER: That is the point. This motion is about money and teachers, not about education results. I like the member for Nightcliff a lot; she is a very nice person, but she seems to miss the point, which is how we improve results, how we get to where the Education minister was talking about. It is such a disgrace that people are leaving Year 12 and cannot read, write or add up. That, in my world, is a shameful situation. I understand the argument that in the modern world you do not need to be able to read, write and add up because we all have computers, smartphones and all of that stuff, but you wonder what children go to school for if they are not there to learn to read, write and add up – the three Rs. It is very hard to ascertain why people are going to school if they do not need to know the three Rs.
I share the minister’s concern about that. I appreciate the focus he has on results and how we get better results for schools. I know teachers well, and I think teachers themselves would be somewhat embarrassed by this motion from the member for Nightcliff. They must feel embarrassed about this because it somehow infers that all teachers care about is $125m from the education budget and global school budgets. It is suggesting that the outcomes for children are not important to teachers and that this is what really matters.
I know teachers and what they are about; I grew up with a family full of them. They are there for the children. They are there to make sure children get a good educational outcome. With genuine teachers, the environment they are in does not really matter. It could be under a tree with a blackboard or sitting in a brand-new $50 000 facility, fully air conditioned with nice seats and all the accoutrements that come with a modern school. We seem to have lost focus on why children are at school. Fundamentally they are at school to learn, and it is about the information we impart to the children to make sure they get a good education, and from a good education they can get a good job.
The Giles government is often talking about growing the north and northern development. I am probably an economic rationalist. I am not for giving people subsidies and handouts. I believe Territorians have it within themselves to be the most competitive, leading-edge people on the face of this planet. We do necessarily need to artificially support people when they have it within themselves to make their own way in life. It is like the member for Sanderson said, you have a rhubarb pie and three brothers; everybody wants the biggest bit. There is only one who can have it, and one gets the biggest bit; it means all the others get a smaller bit, but there is only so much pie to go around.
The Minister for Education has demonstrated that it is not how big the piece of pie is; it is about how satisfied you are and the results you achieve as a student. There are many things going on that are making a difference. Looking at the latest NAPLAN results, we have seen significant increases in average scores for Years 3 and 5 in reading, grammar and punctuation compared with 2008. Four- and six-year cohort gains for the Northern Territory have been very strong compared to performance nationally. The average four-year gain to 2015 for Northern Territory Year 7 students was higher than national gains for each test domain, except writing. The average four-year gain to 2015 for NT Year 9 students was also higher than national gains for each test domain, except writing. The average six-year gain to 2015 for Year 9 students was higher than the national six-year gains for reading, spelling, grammar, punctuation and numeracy.
This might not mean a lot to the member for Nightcliff. The Labor Party has never been into NAPLAN testing and comparing one school with the other and all that stuff. At the end of the day it is a measure, whether it is a good one or not. But we are seeing changes to the outcomes students are getting with the education policies our Education minister is putting in place. That is ultimately what matters.
People say, ‘Ah, Northern Territory, all the kids are dumb; you do not get a very good education in the Northern Territory.’ I take offence because it blindly ignores some of the realities about kids in the Northern Territory. For example, the school-age population in the most disadvantaged socioeconomic group, that is, the lowest decile - in the Northern Territory 19.5% of our kids fit that grouping; nationally it is only 10%. The population under 15 years of age is 22% in the Northern Territory compared to 18% nationally. In the Northern Territory 40.5% of our school population is Indigenous, compared to 8.5% nationally. It is eight times higher in the Northern Territory.
The school population from a language background other than English is 37.2% in the Northern Territory, compared to 23% nationally. Young people living in remote and very remote areas – in the Northern Territory it is a whopping 44.8%. Almost 45% of our school kids are in remote areas.
Mr WESTRA van HOLTHE: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Pursuant to Standing Order 43, I move an extension of time for the member for Fong Lim.
Motion agreed to.
Mr TOLLNER: As I said, the number of young people living in remote areas in the Northern Territory is a whopping 44.8%; nationally it is 2.3%. Developmentally vulnerable on two or more EDI domains is 29%, compared to 10.8% nationally.
It is fundamentally more difficult, as the member for Barkly will tell you, to teach kids in remote areas. We have an overwhelming proportion of our children in remote areas from low socioeconomic backgrounds. These statistics in some way point to the reasons we have lower school outcomes than nationally.
It is not how we look at the outcomes, but how we look at the gains. That is what we are seeing for the first time in a long time. This is what grinds Labor people. Whilst we have seen a reduction in funding going to the education sector, interestingly we have seen a slight increase in outcomes. Children are getting a better education. It is not about how many teachers there are at schools. One of the primary schools I went to had a teacher for Grades 1 to 4 and another for Grades 5 to 7. It was a two-teacher school. My uncle taught at numerous one-teacher schools, with a range of students from Year 1 to Year 9. They were incredibly difficult environments in very small schools, but the value of those schools is that students received much more personal attention. There is often a lot more connection between teachers and students than you find in large urban schools ...
Ms Walker: And all English first language speakers? No hearing-impaired? No hunger issues?
Mr TOLLNER: You get all of those things in remote areas. I grew up right next door to a place called Woorabinda, one of the largest Indigenous communities in Queensland. We had a lot of Indigenous students at our school. That is not to suggest they were any better or worse than other students. Many of the Indigenous kids did a lot better than many of the white kids. I was not a particularly good student, as many of you would guess.
Ms Fyles: That is the quote of the day!
Mr TOLLNER: Call it the quote of the day or whatever you like. I have never been one to bang the drum, saying I am highly educated. All I can do is tell it as I see it, which I try to do as honestly as possible.
When I see that Labor’s focus is how much money you pour into a system, I think you have it wrong. It is not about money; it is about outcomes. It is about students turning up to school.
When I was in primary school the Indigenous students from Woorabinda where whipped if they did not go to school. You could not do that these days. We had corporal punishment in school. I got the cuts in Grade 1 all the way through to Grade 9, with regular monotony. There was a good deal more discipline in schools. People say that is the wrong thing. I personally do not necessarily agree with that. Some kids, particularly boys, require a clip under the ear every now and again to get them to snap out of it. Ultimately, that is part of an education system too
I find it odd that we cottonwool people all the way through school. They turn 18 and – bang – they end up with the Minister for Correctional Services because they have never had any discipline in their lives. They seemingly get away with everything. That is another problem with our school system. Many people here would say it is lucky I have never been given the Education department, because we would be having some of those conversations.
This minister has done a fantastic job in the short period he has been in the job – three years, I believe ...
Ms Fyles: You have had 14 reshuffles, remember.
Mr TOLLNER: We may well have had 14 reshuffles. This minister stayed with the job. It has been a tough job …
Ms Fyles: No, he has not.
Ms Walker: No he has not. He was the Education minister, she was the Education minister …
Mr Chandler: We had a little hiatus for a while.
Mr TOLLNER: All right, a little hiatus – whatever. He is the bloke who has driven the education policy and framework in our team for quite some time. He is the bloke we are looking to, to make positive changes.
Ms Fyles: Maybe he could be your leader.
Mr TOLLNER: It is interesting that the member for Nightcliff says, ‘You cannot talk about when you went to school’, but it is all right talking about politics and us isn’t it? You want to talk about that. I am talking about education and the job our minister is doing. You want to talk about leadership challenges and other things.
Ms Fyles: You are just talking the clock down, Dave.
Mr TOLLNER: I will talk about anything you like, but do not call points of order that I am not being relevant when I am in fact talking about education and everything to do with it.
Ms Walker: There is a very important motion before the House that would see you go to the Privileges Committee, and you guys just do not want it to go there.
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Fong Lim, you have the call.
Mr TOLLNER: We will get onto that topic as soon as you are done.
Ms Fyles: Well you can sit down, I will wrap and we can get onto that motion.
Mr TOLLNER: I think there are plenty of other people here who are keen to have a chat about what you have put to this parliament, because what you put to this parliament is pretty damn embarrassing, particularly for teachers, because it makes the assumption that teachers are only in it for the money and the plush digs they operate in. That is what this is about, member for Nightcliff.
I have complete faith in our Education minister to run an education bill in this parliament.
Ms Fyles: You did not speak last night.
Mr TOLLNER: I did not have to speak last night because I had faith in our Education minister, but when you stroll into this joint with some harebrained motion like this, that disparages school teachers and denigrates our education system, too right I want to speak. I would not be surprised if there are a few others who want to as well. You have made it pretty damn easy for us to have a good crack at you. People have to understand that if you guys are elected, education and the budget will go down the drain.
You left us bankrupt three years ago and we had the worst education system in the country. In a little over three years our Education minister has made real gains in outcomes. We cut $3bn off your projected debt. We have just posted the first surplus in eight years, and you want to denigrate teachers, saying the only reason they are in it is because of the money and the flash schools they should be provided. Do you care about the kids? Do you have any interest at all in providing an education for the kids, and any regard for why teachers turn up to do their job?
Teachers turn up to educate children. They are fundamentally decent people. They do not do it for the money. By the way, we have almost the highest-paid teachers in the country in the Northern Territory, not far off the top. I think the previous Minister for Public Employment gave them a 3% wage increase, which was the highest increase of any jurisdiction in the country. We value teachers; we are looking after teachers and making sure they get a good remuneration package, but we will not waste money in education like Labor wants to.
You are saying, ‘Spend another couple of hundred million!’ Earlier today it was, Spend more money on’ – I think it was health or something like that. Every time we come in here you are saying spend, spend, spend, spend, spend! Your spending almost bankrupted the Northern Territory. You lot are a disgrace and now you are denigrating teachers. Shame on the lot of you.
Ms WALKER (Nhulunbuy): Madam Speaker, it is very plain that members opposite are not sincere or genuine about education. That was demonstrated last night when we had the Education Bill before the House that was so important to them it had to come in on urgency. They were so interested. The member for Stuart was so interested she did not get to her feet to stick up for Indigenous kids in her electorate and in schools.
Members interjecting.
Ms WALKER: What we are seeing this evening is disingenuous from a government which is filibustering, which wants to see the clock run down to 9 pm, and they will do it because they are a bunch of bullies.
Members interjecting.
Ms Walker: They do not want the next motion on the paper brought before the House.
Members interjecting.
Ms WALKER: Madam Speaker, if you could ask members, under Standing Order 20, to cease interrupting.
Mr ELFERINK: A point of order, Madam Speaker!
Madam SPEAKER: Member, please pause.
Mr Elferink: If she was not being disingenuous why did she spend five-and-a-half hours ...
Madam SPEAKER: Wait! Member for Port Darwin, sit down. You do not have the call.
Mr Elferink: She spent five-and-a-half hours …
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Port Darwin, I would like you to leave the Chamber for one hour, pursuant to Standing Order 49.
Ms WALKER: Madam Speaker, we on this side of the House know that education is an incredibly important subject to our constituents and Territorians. We on this side of the House know that those opposite, the Country Liberal government, have stripped resources shamefully in the past three years and three months. I am deeply concerned that they have had oversight of the removal of 160 teachers from the education system.
As an ex-teacher I know bigger classes do not make for better educational outcomes. I would like to hear from the Minister for Indigenous Affairs, a portfolio that was only very disingenuously reinstated when the Chief Minister, the member for Braitling …
Mrs Price interjecting.
Ms WALKER: … decided that for the last two years he had done the wrong thing by not acknowledging the need for an Indigenous Affairs portfolio in Cabinet.
Mrs Price interjecting.
Ms WALKER: One-hundred-and-fifteen Indigenous staff in the Department of Education have been ripped out, and most of them women.
Mrs Price interjecting.
Ms FYLES: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Standing Order 20 – I ask you to ask the member for Stuart to stop interjecting. It is quite rude.
Mrs Price interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Stuart, please be seated.
Madam SPEAKER: Honourable members, if we could listen to the debate in relative quiet. It is an important debate, which you all acknowledge, so it would be nice to have a little quiet under Standing Order 20.
Ms WALKER: Thanks very much, Madam Speaker. We have had a Women’s Policy statement before the House today and the member for Stuart has behaved as childishly as she just did and has failed to acknowledge that under her government’s watch 115 Indigenous staff positions in education, mainly women, have gone. Those Indigenous employees are not bureaucrats, not people who were wasting oxygen, as the members opposite would have us believe, within the bureaucracy of the Education department. Indigenous employees are critical assets for our schools out bush where children do not have English as their first language and have factors that impact on their lives which make learning difficult, not the least of which is the cultural divide between non-Indigenous teachers and their students.
Our non-Indigenous teachers do an incredible job. I see it every time I travel in my electorate and visit schools, generally on overnight visits wherever I can. I cannot begin to tell you how valuable the Indigenous support staff are in bridging that gap in schools. I find it shameful that this government allows these cuts to happen, then tries to justify them as something reasonable when clearly they are entirely unreasonable.
I attended a Batchelor college graduation at Rika Park, Yirrkala last Friday. I cannot begin to tell you the enormous sense of pride in seeing those graduates, both Dhuwa and Yirritja, and the incredible bunggul, or ceremony, that goes with those graduates being escorted to the area where they sit ahead of the speeches and presentation of certificates. Amongst those graduates were Certificate III Education Support graduates, including Miliritj Wanambi from Yirritja moiety, and from Dhuwa moiety was Dindirrk Mununggurr, Bamurungu Mununggurr, Gupulanbuy Wanambi and Merrkiyawuy Wunungmurra, all women, all dedicated to what they do, dedicated to their studies. They overcame some real hurdles to complete their study. It is all about doing such an important job in their schools, supporting their children and grandchildren to be on the pathway through education to the end of their schooling, and seeing kids move through school and into training and jobs, with the social and economic security we all aspire to.
Forgive me if I am speaking in support of education after hearing some of the most shameful contributions from the other side. This motion has been on the Notice Paper since October 2014. There has been no interest from members on the other side to talk about education issues; there was no interest from members on the other side yesterday to talk about the Education Bill that was in progress for more than a year and saw significant changes to the Education Act. There was significant consultation and hard work on this side. I find it incredibly disingenuous that everyone on that side suddenly wants to talk education.
Last night not one of them, other than the Education minister, who presented the bill and wrapped the debate - good on him; he listened to the members on this side who were responding to peak bodies like COGSO, the AEU NT and the hundreds of parents around the Territory who contacted us, lobbying for changes to be made to the Education Act. It was a positive outcome that amendments were taken forward by the member for Wanguri, who works incredibly hard as our shadow for Education.
I think she has ticked the box for visiting just about every government school in the Northern Territory. That is quite feat, especially when she has commitments with a little one at home. It is a sign of how hard she is prepared to work for education and do what members on the opposite side do not do, which is travel, visit, listen, engage and bring people’s concerns back to this parliament and discuss them in this House. That is not so of the members opposite. Not one of them, other than the Education minister, spoke in that debate last night.
Why is it they are all suddenly interested now? They want to talk up education, sing their praises and say how great they are. It is because they are filibustering. All they want to do is avoid the opportunity for the debate which could send them to the Privileges Committee to come back into this House, and this is the last opportunity in 2015. Tomorrow parliament closes and we will not see another GBD Wednesday, which comes on from 5.30 pm and goes to 9 pm, where the members on this side of the House have the opportunity …
Mr WESTRA van HOLTHE: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Standing Order 38; the member for Nhulunbuy is engaging in irrelevance, and the discussion around why we are on our …
Madam SPEAKER: No, she is not, member for Katherine. Please be seated; it is not a point of order.
Ms WALKER: There could be nothing and nobody more irrelevant than the member for Katherine. Let us remind him of wasting time, and remind everybody about the midnight coup he led late on a night in February, when he stepped out before the cameras with the member for Port Darwin and announced - guess what? – he was the Chief Minister.
Mr WESTRA van HOLTHE: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Again, Standing Order 38; surely this is irrelevant to the debate.
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Katherine, I have listened to the contributions of many speakers this evening and there has been exceptional latitude, including a vivid description of cow manure being burnt. I gave the member for Fong Lim latitude; the member for Nhulunbuy has latitude.
Mr Styles: Talk about an anger management problem.
Ms WALKER: I do not have an anger management problem. I have a problem with having to tolerate three years and three months of the most incompetent government anybody has ever witnessed in the Northern Territory.
Incompetent, unstable, not united, back stabbing - there are just four members on that side who support the Chief Minister, the member for Braitling. We know that, and we know the member for Katherine is not one of them, otherwise why would he have led the coup in February? A failed coup, where he stepped out in front of a media conference at about 1 am and said, ‘I am the Chief Minister; this bloke alongside me, the member for Port Darwin, is the Deputy Chief Minister.’ Then, what do you know? The Territory goes into meltdown and nothing happens; the public service was paralysed. Some 14 hours later, the Chief Minister steps out and says, ‘I am the Chief Minister. We have resolved our differences, we are best buddies now.’ What a joke! Their approach to government, to running Cabinet and to running education is a joke. Their approach tonight on the floor of this House is to run down the clock so we cannot get to a very important item of business brought before this House by the member for Goyder to refer the government to the Privileges Committee about two ads that appeared …
Mr STYLES: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Standing Order 38. I am struggling to understand the relevance and I ask if you could clarify the relevance of this to funding in schools.
Madam SPEAKER: There is no point of order, member for Sanderson. Member for Nhulunbuy, if you would address your comments to the motion before the House.
Ms WALKER: Thank you, Madam Speaker. Funding in schools has suffered under this government because it is so dysfunctional. We have seen a revolving door of ministers through Cabinet across portfolios. That is why we have seen resources ripped out of Education and have not seen the Palmerston hospital progress beyond a media stunt with a hole dug in the ground and concrete poured in it. Even the member for Solomon was standing there, unwittingly apparently, as part of the stunt and has asked the Chief Minister to explain.
We are here to talk about education and the waste of money and resources, and the betrayal and deficit of trust in the Northern Territory because of this incredibly dysfunctional government. We have five minutes to go before we get to 9 pm, which is the end of GBD. When I sit down the member for Nightcliff will not be able to wrap the debate and the Speaker put the motion because you lot on the other side will want to keep it going for another five minutes.
Maybe it will be the member for Stuart who will talk about education, but only if she has something on a yellow piece of paper in front of her. She would not be able to speak off the cuff. Clearly what is happening here …
Mrs PRICE: A point of order, Madam Speaker!
Mr STYLES: A point of order, Madam Speaker! That is offensive.
Madam SPEAKER: I do not need three of you to jump. Be seated, please, members.
If you have made offensive comments, please withdraw them, member for Nhulunbuy.
Ms WALKER: I withdraw. I am not sure what is offensive but I would like to know what words were used in language by the member for Stuart directed at the member for Nightcliff. I will ask to review the video and have an interpreter with me so we can see whether or not what the member for Stuart said was offensive.
This government is offensive and I am offended by the disruption to democratic processes in this House that gives opposition members on this side, including our Independents, from 5.30 pm to 9 pm to debate items we put on the Notice Paper. Quite clearly the government’s strategy tonight – they think they are too clever by half – is to talk the clock down so we cannot get to the motion about why it they should be referred to the Privileges Committee for misspending taxpayer funds on misleading advertisements about their legislation not being passed on urgency.
Madam Speaker, I listened to the speech you gave in this House. The advertisements they took out were simply a dummy spit. This government has not realised that it is a minority government. They cannot pass legislation or motions unless they have the support of this House. When that bill was knocked back from this side because there was no case for urgency, they could not tolerate that. They are so used to bullying their way through to doing whatever they want, however they want – it is a scandal-ridden government – that they took out advertisements.
One of the first things that happened because they did not realise what life in minority government was like, is we managed to establish an independent commission against corruption in the Northern Territory. Clearly this government will do whatever it takes, whether it is trying to unseat you from that Chair, Madam Speaker, or trying to stop debate about whether or not they should go to the Privileges Committee about those ice ads, which were a terrible and very wrongful use of taxpayers’ money on full-page ads around the Northern Territory. Members on this side certainly did not block legislation. We voted against urgency, and they know that only too well.
Members interjecting.
Ms WALKER: Madam Speaker, they can yell at me all they like. They can bully me all they like. I am much stronger than they think. Given that we have had an important statement on Women’s Policy and the rights of women, dish it out. Go on; keep dishing it out to me, because you will not have me sit down. I have the call in this House and I will keep talking.
You can laugh because you are clowns. Nobody takes you seriously. The reality is that people in the Northern Territory are laughing at you. They do not take you seriously. They do not listen to you. They know what your tactics and strategies are.
We know that the member opposite – the failed Treasurer – has not been preselected and will be gone at the next election. We know the member for Port Darwin has stepped aside.
Mr GILES: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Standing Order 20: relevance. And I note the serious nature of the racial attacks you have just put on the member for Stuart.
Madam SPEAKER: It is not Standing Order 20. Please be seated. Member for Nhulunbuy, you have the call.
Ms WALKER: Thanks, Madam Speaker. I have welcomed the opportunity to talk on this GBD motion about the importance of education in the Northern Territory and how the CLP government has trashed the education system. They have withdrawn teachers to the tune of around 160. We have lost 117 or so Indigenous teaching positions, and resources have been stripped from our schools. It is absolutely shameful. We know why they have been so interested in the debate tonight; it has all been about filibustering.
Mr GILES (Chief Minister): Madam Speaker, it would be immoral if I did not stand up and pass comment on the most recent speaker and her racial slur against the member for Stuart.
Ms WALKER: A point of order, Madam Speaker! I find it highly offensive to be accused of making racist remarks.
Madam SPEAKER: Chief Minister, please withdraw.
Mr GILES: Madam Speaker, I am happy to withdraw and follow your direction, but the commentary that the member for Stuart is unable to read and the connotation that …
Ms WALKER: A point of order, Madam Speaker! My comment was in relation to her capacity to speak off the cuff. It had nothing to do with her capacity to read.
Madam SPEAKER: Thank you, member for Nhulunbuy; it is not point of order. Chief Minister, you have the call.
Mrs PRICE: A point of order Madam Speaker! Standing Order 38 – I take that as …
Madam SPEAKER: It is not 38. Sit down. Chief Minister, you have the call.
Mr GILES: Thank you, Madam Speaker. We are in a debate about education. There are some people on the other side of this Chamber talking about filibustering. This is not filibustering. Many people asked if they could speak about this important matter. Yes, the Minister for Education was the only person who spoke on the Education Bill. He asked to be the only speaker on it. That is all well and good.
Debate suspended.
Mr WOOD (Nelson): Madam Speaker, I move that so much of standing orders be suspended as would allow this Assembly to debate General Business Orders of the Day Nos 1 and 2 until the debates are concluded.
I believe there was filibustering tonight. I have been in this House long enough to know when filibustering is occurring, when people who would usually not speak on a matter speak for their full length of time plus a bit extra. We can normally get through three or four items on General Business Day, and today we got through two. I believe it was the intention of the government to make sure item two was not debated, and they were hoping it would disappear into February.
We need to make sure this House and the people on this side of parliament have a proper opportunity to debate issues. This is the only chance we have to debate important matters where we some control of the agenda. However, that agenda can be deliberately wrecked when people deliver speeches designed to fill in time and not allow adequate time for debate on highly important matters before this parliament.
Mr TOLLNER (Treasurer): Madam Speaker, it is interesting that the member for Nelson should suggest the government is wasting time. The last debate was a very important one which I have been looking forward to for quite some time. Labor introduced a harebrained motion to discuss resourcing and funding schools, which demonstrates its devaluing of teachers and the profession, and that its focus is money not outcomes.
It is interesting that you talk about wasting time. Member for Nelson, I am not suggesting you wasted time, but yesterday the first item of business was the motion of no confidence in the government. It would have become obvious to Labor members opposite fairly quickly that there was no chance the motion would succeed. In my view what occurred yesterday was nothing more than filibustering and grandstanding.
I appreciate that some members – and I put you in that category, member for Nelson – spoke briefly and explained their point of view and why you were doing what you were doing. Again, member for Nelson, you abstained, which is somewhat dodgy. One should have an opinion one way or the other, but I do not want to call you out on that. Your actions worked to support government and I will not have a crack at you for that.
Mr Wood: Sometimes it is three opinions.
Mr TOLLNER: Absolutely, but we knew when one or two of the Independent members said they would not support the motion – I think one said they would support the government, a couple said they would abstain and a couple supported Labor. At that stage it became blatantly obvious that the vote was lost by Labor.
Rather than sitting down, shutting up and not wasting the time of the House, people chose to debate that for seven long hours. When you talk about filibustering, grandstanding and all that sort of caper – they did; they just stood there. They are a pack of blowhards. Every one of them had to have their little gripe. We already knew what the outcome would be. We already knew what their bitches and issues with the government were, and why they had to speak. But rather than allowing the government to get on with the business of government, it became obvious that the opposition was only in it to disrupt the Chamber.
General Business belongs to the opposition and Independents. We do not run General Business. It is not ours, member for Nelson. It is not us who make the call. If the member for Nightcliff thought we were filibustering and the motion was irrelevant she had every opportunity to say, ‘I withdraw the motion’. But no, we did not hear that. In fact, the last 25 minutes or so of that debate were run by the member for Nhulunbuy, someone on your own side.
It is not the government stopping the debate; it is the opposition and crossbenchers gagging and stopping debate on what you see as important issues.
I am ready to say in the next motion, ‘If the boot fits, wear it’. You did block legislation. You did get in the way of ice legislation; you delayed it for two months. It is very important legislation. We had the audacity to tell Territorians what you did and now you do not like it. Well, whoopee. Get over it. Every now and again you are responsible for some of your decisions. That is what you did. Wear it.
We did not wreck GBD. It was Labor and the crossbenchers. I am absolutely not supporting that we carry on with this nonsense. Wait until February, get your act together and run your business properly. Come into this place, look mature, look like you have something to say and say it. If you do not, withdraw the motion.
Ms FYLES (Nightcliff): Madam Speaker, what an interesting evening. We simply would like to finish a motion that is over a year old. If the Treasurer had any clue about how the Notice Paper, parliamentary procedure and General Business Day worked, he would know we simply wanted to wrap the motion. I stood to do that, but you, Madam Speaker, kindly gave him the call, thinking he might suddenly have some wisdom on education he would like to share with us.
Last night we debated one of the most important education motions this parliament has seen in many years. We changed the Education Act for the first time in 35 or 36 years. Last night one minister spoke: the Minister for Education. I did not believe the Chief Minister tonight when he said the Minister for Education asked to be the only speaker yesterday.
Somehow, within 24 hours, we have every member of the government wanting to speak on a motion that is over a year old, an important motion, nonetheless. In fact, that motion was in place when I was the shadow Education minister.
Mr Chandler: You are proud.
Ms FYLES: I am proud, and will welcome any opportunity to talk about education, but what we saw tonight was an obvious choice made by government members to talk the clock down, to avoid the Chief Minister being referred to the Privileges Committee. We had senior ministers of government waffling on. My goodness, I did not know the Treasurer had such wisdom to share with the community on education, the worst education system in the country.
‘Teachers turn up to educate kids.’ ‘It is probably best I am not the Education minister.’ Although it was interesting, and at times comical, it was an attempt to talk the clock down. We have a very serious item for General Business Day next on the Notice Paper, and we simply wanted to wrap that education motion and move on, because that is how the Notice Paper works.
The behaviour from those opposite was appalling. I support the motion put forward by the member for Nelson. He is correct; usually we get through three to four General Business items. Tonight we have seen one, possibly two, simply because they are trying to stop something; they are trying to cover up. Why not let the debate happen? Last time this happened, we saw what happened with the midnight attempt at rolling you, Madam Speaker. We simply want to debate this very important motion about the advertisements that mentioned all of us and referring the Chief Minister to the Privileges Committee.
Madam Speaker, I welcome the motion put forward by the member for Nelson, and in the interests of time, I move that the motion be put.
The Assembly divided:
Mr Barrett Mr Conlan
Mr Chandler Mrs Finocchiaro
Mr Elferink Ms Lawrie
Ms Fyles Mrs Price
Mr Giles Mr Westra van Holthe
Mr Gunner Mr Wood
Mr Higgins
Ms Lee
Mr McCarthy
Ms Manison
Ms Moss
Mr Styles
Mr Tollner
Ms Walker
Motion agreed to.
Madam SPEAKER: The question is that the motion to suspend standing orders be agreed to.
The Assembly divided:
Motion negatived.
Mr HIGGINS (Sport and Recreation): Madam Speaker, I move that the Assembly do now adjourn.
Mrs FINOCCHIARO (Drysdale): Madam Speaker, I rise to talk about my year and do the traditional Christmas wrap up. It is the last sittings for 2015. It has been a wonderful year. It is a year my family will always remember.
In February Sam and I found out we were expecting our first child, and come October, Isla came into this world. It has been a very different year, one that we obviously had not experienced before, and it has been a real blessing. We have had a very good year as a family.
As a member of parliament I feel really pleased to have achieved many things for my electorate and the broader population of Palmerston. When I was casting my mind back over some of the things we have done this year it drew my mind to the $1.98m we secured for Satellite City BMX Club, which is looking at building a roof and/or upgrading the track at Marlow Lagoon. We wish them all the very best with managing that very large and exciting project.
We saw $250 000 go to Top End MotoX, which is much-needed funds for that organisation in Marlow Lagoon. There was also $1m set aside to upgrade the intersection of Kirkland Drive and Woodlake Boulevard, and those design works are happening. The people of Durack are ecstatic about that because we all know it is a very dangerous and precarious intersection because of the rail lines in close proximity, and there is a bit of a hill. Visibility is poor at best, so when those works are completed the people of Durack will be much safer travelling to and from the city.
We also saw the development and roll-out of a roads master plan for Palmerston, which is fantastic. There are lots of roadworks forecast for Palmerston and we wanted to make sure the people of Palmerston understood what was coming up, so we developed an entire master plan of our city and have been rolling that out in updates to our community. It includes upgrades to Roystonea Avenue, Temple Terrace, Gurd Street and Lambrick Avenue, just to name a few.
We have also seen the cycle path on Lambrick right through to the Stuart Highway coming along. That means kids who attend MacKillop college can ride their bikes to and from school safely. Gray and Driver Primary Schools, in my electorate, we repainted after 30 years. You can imagine they were looking a little tired. The schools are very happy with their new paint jobs, which look fantastic. There are all sorts of colours and it has given those two schools a new lease of life.
Palmerston Special Education Centre received a road safety grant, as did Gray Primary School, which is excellent. They developed packages to teach the children about road safety.
We also saw three mobile CCTV cameras come into operation, which have been used extensively in Palmerston. My constituents love them and we have had them rolled out at the Bunnings car park and in the car park at Palm Plaza. They were trialled at the Gray shops a couple of times because I am very interested to see whether it is feasible to have permanent CCTV at the Gray shops.
I was also able to secure $600 000 for fixed CCTV in Palmerston. Those locations are yet to be determined by police, but I am looking forward to seeing how that contributes to our Palmerston CCTV network.
We also contributed $2.5m to the council for the Goyder Square upgrade, which is coming along. You can really see a change to that space now. Of course, there is our continued construction of the Palmerston hospital. And we saw the roll-out of CCTV at the Elizabeth River Bridge, which fishos have been calling for and was very welcome.
Gateway Shopping Centre is exploding out of the ground. I was able to visit the site last week and it is looking fantastic. The people of Palmerston are very excited about that coming on line.
Durack Heights continues to grow and is blooming into a wonderful suburb. We thank CIC for working with the community, particularly for supporting Durack Primary School as they do. I am grateful to CIC for that support. We also, as team Palmerston, being myself and the members for Blain, Brennan and Solomon, held a Red Cross Big Cake Bake and raised $1376. They are just some of the highlights of the things achieved this year.
I thank my colleagues for a good year. We have brought the budget back into surplus, secured a gas pipeline, house prices are down by 20% and land release at Zuccoli is going great guns. Tiger Brennan Drive is looking amazing. I love seeing the progress on Tiger Brennan Drive every time I drive into town. The day that opens I think everyone will be kissing the bitumen and looking forward to driving into town in the morning.
We have seen greater powers given to police to test for and seize drugs, and of course we have had the conversation about statehood coming back on the agenda. It certainly has been a big year and a good year, and I thank all my colleagues for that and wish them and their families all a very merry Christmas.
I held my Territory Day barbecue again this year. I thank SIDS and Kids Northern Territory, Neighbourhood Watch, Darwin Jumping Castles and Water Slides, and all my volunteers for helping make that such a wonderful and fun afternoon for the people of Palmerston. I thank Costa Georgiadis for coming to the Gray Community Garden again. He is a huge supporter of our garden and it is always a lot of fun when he comes to Darwin, particularly when he hangs out at the garden.
I thank all my school councils. They do such a wonderful job. This year Durack Primary School became an IPS, which is very exciting. That school is now in full swing with planning all the new opportunities it can take advantage of under the new structure in the new year.
Driver Primary School turned 30, which was amazing. It got a new principal, as did Gray Primary School, so it has been a time of change this year for my schools as well as challenges. Palmerston Senior College, being an IPS, came together with Woodroffe Primary School and Rosebery Middle School to create the connectED Board, which is very innovative and they are leading in that space.
I welcome my new principals and school councils, and I congratulate Driver on its 30th birthday and look forward to continuing to work with you all in 2016.
I thank AFANT, particularly Tristan, and the department of Fisheries, particularly Glenn, and everyone else there who helped with my neighbourhood fishing program. It is coming along really nicely and we are creating many offshoot benefits from it. We are looking to work with Durack Primary School in a major way to secure educational outcomes being linked into the neighbourhood fishing program. I am looking forward to all of that rolling out in 2016. It is very exciting and it has grown bigger and better than I could have ever imagined.
I thank the clubs I am patron of. I am very proud to be patron of the Palmerston Football Club, the Palmerston Cricket Club, the University of the Third Age and Probus Palmerston. I try to support you in every way I can and it is a pleasure to be involved and advocate on your behalf.
I thank those at the Country Liberals Calder Branch for all the support they provide me as a local member, particularly with the markets. Being pregnant for most of the market season was pretty rough, to say the least. My swollen ankles were not looking that crash hot on a Friday night, but the volunteers of the Calder Branch helped me get through that. I very much appreciate that and I look forward to doing it all again next year.
I also thank our seniors in Palmerston. They are amazing people. I think, three years on, everyone knows I am in love with all the Palmerston seniors. I thank everyone at the 50+ Club. I thank the Seniors Week committee. It works hard all year round to deliver a wonderful fortnight of events. I thank Alzheimer’s Australia NT in Palmerston. It does such a wonderful job with the Joy Anderson Centre, particularly Rosemary, who has undertaken the project of making Palmerston a dementia-friendly community. All of the MLA offices have become dementia-friendly spaces. I am working on the task force to get businesses and other initiatives up and going so Palmerston is a dementia-friendly community.
None of this could be possible without the wonderful support at the electorate office. The electorate office is the hub of everything, the root of all. It is so important to have a strong electorate officer who will back you all the way and give your constituents 100% of their time. It is no secret that I think Angie is amazing and I know many other people think she is too. When people come into the office and Angie says, ‘Lia is not in the office’, and people say, ‘No, I have come to speak to you’, you know you have a truly wonderful electorate officer. Since I had Isla, I am obviously at home on maternity leave with the baby most of the time. Angie has picked up my work and run with it. I am so proud of her. She has excelled. I jokingly say I am almost becoming redundant. She is making it her own and doing a wonderful job. I could not be prouder of her and could not be better represented. If anyone should be out in Palmerston, going to events, being with my constituents and advocating for people, it is certainly her. She has been an absolute gem.
Also, Kim started with me this year as my Whip’s officer, so that has been a learning curve for her. I thank her for all her hard work. Being a Whip’s officer is probably the most unglamorous job. You have to be in parliament early in the morning for all the meetings we have, and then be here very late at night for all the discussions we have in here. Kim, thank you very much; we really enjoyed having you as part of the Drysdale team and I look forward to continuing to work with you through 2016.
I thank my parents for their endless support of Sam and me. We rely on mum and dad a lot. They do a great deal for us around the house. As I said earlier today, I happily mooch off my parents and look forward to doing that for as long as they will let me, especially now mum is looking after Isla while I am in parliament. She has been a trooper; I could not do it without her.
Of course, my darling husband Sam provides 24-hours-a-day, seven-days-a-week support. He is a rock. Little Isla is as good as a seven-week-old could possibly be, even though she threw up all over me today. I should not have worn black ...
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Drysdale, your time has expired.
Mrs FINOCCHIARO: Sorry, Madam Speaker. Merry Christmas to the opposition and we will see you all in 2016.
Ms MANISON (Wanguri): Madam Speaker, I rise to put questions to the government with regard to the Power and Water Corporation. I am doing this after referring to the Treasurer’s Annual Financial Report which was tabled on the last night of the last sittings.
Included in the Treasurer’s statement is some correspondence provided by the Office of the Auditor-General, which is the Auditor-General’s Report to the Treasurer on the Treasurer’s Annual Financial Statement, year ended 30 June 2015. I will read onto the record some of the content of particular note in that report to the Treasurer and ask some questions that need to be answered by the government with regard to the Power and Water Corporation.
The letter starts:
Further in the letter, in the Auditor’s Opinion, I turn the attention of the parliament to the section which is titled Basis for Disclaimer of Opinion:
Madam Speaker, after reading that letter I have these questions for the Treasurer, or for the Essential Services minister, with regard to the Power and Water Corporation. The first of my questions is, was the Power and Water Corporation ready for structural separation? Will the government confirm if this was rammed through far too quickly when they were not prepared for the financial separation of the Power and Water Corporation?
The other question I have for the government is, how much have the issues with the financial management systems within the Power and Water Corporation cost? At estimates this was an issue that was discussed by the Chair of the Power and Water Corporation Board. The question to the government is, to date, in the millions, how much have the financial management systems issues within Power and Water cost?
The other question I have for the government is, what is the cost of the structural separation of the Power and Water Corporation? To date, how much has that cost the taxpayer? This process was meant to be completed but it appears to be ongoing, and there are some major issues with the financial separation of the Power and Water Corporation, Jacana Energy and Territory Generation. So the question is, are those costs still ongoing? If not, what was the final cost? How many millions of dollars did the structural separation of the Power and Water Corporation cost?
My other question to the government is, we saw a lot of annual reports tabled at the last sittings; when will the Power and Water Corporation Annual Report be tabled? When will the statements of corporate intent be tabled in this parliament so we can see what is going on within the Power and Water Corporation, Jacana Energy and Territory Generation? Importantly, I would like to know if the government has confidence in the financial information that will be in those annual reports and statements of corporate intent?
These are very important questions that we need to hear answers on from this government.
Mr STYLES (Sanderson): Madam Speaker, the Australian Training Awards are the peak national honours for the vocational education and training sector. They recognise the exemplary achievements of business, registered training organisations and everyday Australians in vocational and educational training. The vocational education and training sector plays a vital role in the ongoing economic and social growth of the Territory by skilling and training the workforce required to develop northern Australia. This year’s national awards were held in Hobart on 17 November with seven Northern Territory representatives who claimed Territory honours in their respective categories, competing against the best of the best from around the country.
Being chosen as a finalist in a national award offers individuals and organisations Australia-wide recognition and the chance to be known as the top performers in their field.
I recognise the finalists who represented the Northern Territory in the National Awards, including Michael Perez, Australian Apprentice (Trainee) of the Year; Raymond Fordimail, Australian School-based Apprentice of the Year; Matthew Deveraux, VET Teacher/Trainer of the Year; and the Arnhem Land Progress Aboriginal Corporation, Employer of the Year.
I give special congratulations to the three Territorians who were recognised at the national awards for their outstanding achievements in individual studies. Karen Rose was awarded the 2015 Vocational Student of the Year Award. Karen completed a Diploma of Logistics while working at Rio Tinto Alcan Gove. Philadelphia Hughes was awarded the 2015 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Student of the Year Award. Philadelphia completed Certificate IV in Frontline Management at Charles Darwin University in Darwin. Taylor Fishlock was awarded Runner-up in the Australian Apprentice of the Year Award. Taylor completed a Certificate III in Electrotechnology Electrician with M & K Lee Electrical in Katherine.
These winners are a credit to their employers and training providers, and they represent the Northern Territory as ambassadors for the vocational education and training system. They demonstrate the success that is possible through the vocational education and training sector in the Northern Territory. I congratulate not only the award winners but all trainers, employers and registered training organisations for the role they play in the success of our trainees. The Territory’s VET sector is doing a great job training Territorians to meet the needs of local business and our economy.
I am particularly excited to announce that the Northern Territory will be hosting the 2016 Australian Training Awards in Darwin on Thursday 17 November 2016. I look forward to meeting our next round of outstanding nominees and finalists.
Once again I congratulate all the finalists and winners of the Australian Training Awards and wish them all the very best in their future endeavours.
I also recognise and thank the staff at Group Training NT for the work they put into organising the finalists’ participation in both the NT Training Awards and the national awards.
I will also talk about the Chief Minister’s Awards for Excellence in the Public Sector. These awards are the Northern Territory government’s showcase event. They recognise the exceptional talent we have in the Northern Territory Public Sector and showcase some of the great initiatives that make a difference to public sector administration and the broader Territory. They provide an opportunity for public sector work teams and individuals to be recognised and rewarded for their outstanding performance, innovation, continuous improvement and exceptional results.
I particularly recognise the outstanding performance of the Department of Business in the 2015 awards. This year five initiatives driven through the Department of Business were recognised and chosen as finalists. They include: the streamlined licensing project, a finalist in the Chief Minister’s Award for Delivering Quality Customer Service; the Prelude to the Future Project, a finalist in the Chief Minister’s Award for Excellence in Partnering; the Business Innovation Support Initiatives, a finalist in the Chief Minister’s Award for Innovation in the Public Sector; and the Tiwi Island pop-up program, a finalist in the Chief Minister’s Award for Developing the North and Building Regional and/or Remote Economies.
It was extremely pleasing that the Department of Business, in conjunction with the Department of the Chief Minister, brought home the award for Developing the North and Building Regional and/or Remote Economies for the Gove transition project. The reward recognises outstanding performance and achievements in the public sector that stimulate and sustain growth across northern Australia and/or respond to the needs of the regions and drive growth and regional economies in the Territory. This outstanding project was implemented to assist the Gove community following curtailment of the local aluminium refinery, where a project team from the Department of the Chief Minister and the Department of Business was tasked with managing the impact to the local community and businesses.
Working closely with Rio Tinto, the Australian government and the Gove community, a wide range of support programs and workshops have been implemented, targeting affected families and businesses to build resilience, confidence and capability. The team also ran the Business Growth program, which attracted more than 75 business operators, assisting them to successfully transition to their new environment. Through their efforts new industries have emerged, including tourism, service deliveries and fisheries. Cautious optimism exists in the Gove business community with business operators reporting better trading conditions than previously existed due to local business resilience, the development of new opportunities and the project support programs. This is such a great award and it is really well deserved. The program is such a valuable initiative and I am very proud of the team which brought it to fruition.
I give special recognition to Graeme Kevern, Nicki Kokles and members of the Darwin business development team, who provided such great support to the team on the ground in Gove. So much hard work by the work team goes into achieving these outcomes. The program is making a huge difference to our remote communities so I congratulate the department on its hard work and tireless efforts in getting this up and running.
Once again I congratulate all the nominees, finalists and winners, and commend the invaluable work the department undertakes.
Ms MOSS (Casuarina): Madam Speaker, I give my thanks at the end of the year and say Merry Christmas to everyone here and outside the Chamber. I also want to recognise some achievements, so hopefully I will be good for time.
My first thanks always goes to the people of Casuarina. It has been a pleasure to represent the people of Alawa, Brinkin, Tiwi, Nakara and Lyons for just over a year and to hear their stories and concerns. Also, to share in the joyous moments and celebrations in Territorians’ lives is an absolute privilege and it has been a wonderful year.
I turn to one of the bigger issues in my community that local residents have raised with me, which we are pushing forward on, which is speeding outside Dripstone Middle School on Trower Road. They are ongoing issues and some people along Trower Road have been passionately raising them for a number of years; others have come to see me in recent times. We had two accidents outside Dripstone Middle School, one of which, tragically, was fatal. Local residents are reasonably and understandably very concerned about safety there and have been proactive in trying to get some change.
I am pleased that local Alderman Rebecca Want de Rowe has been responsive to these concerns, and the City of Darwin will be undertaking a traffic assessment to inform decision-making about what is needed in the new year. Hopefully we can see some action there.
I put on the record my sincere thanks to the Casuarina police in regard to this. They have heard the concerns of local residents. They are obviously aware of what happens there, and local residents have noticed their increased activities with RBTs and random speed checks around the school. I thank them for that. I have written to the minister for Police and Transport, the member for Brennan, in relation to those issues, and I hope to hear back soon so we can get some action happening there.
We held a successful workshop on volatile substance misuse, which I have spoken about a couple of times in the House. I was pleased to see one of the partnerships formed in that room was recently in the NT News with GPT investing in the local youth service, The SHAK. There was a brilliant photo in the NT News last week of some the great work GPT is doing with the wonderful team, Freya Bundey and others at The SHAK. What a fantastic outcome for our community that businesses and large organisations are so willing to back the small organisations working hard to deliver such brilliant activities in our community.
A massive thank you to those in our business, retail and community precinct, including Casuarina Village, GPT Casuarina Square and Casuarina Plaza, for their willingness to raise and discuss issues throughout the year and for all they do in our community that is above and beyond their business. To the small business owners at Tiwi shops, Alawa shops and Nakara shops, and those who operate out of their homes, I wish you all a lovely Christmas. I encourage Territorians to think about what you can buy locally over this period, supporting local business owners who are making a go of it and providing such wonderful employment opportunities in our local communities.
To my local schools, the teachers and the school councils, thank you so much for your work throughout the year. It has been an absolute pleasure getting to know you and I look forward to 2016. Nakara Primary School is embracing technology and the power of peer-to-peer education in doing so. Nemarluk School just got the new therapy dog, Laddie, who appeared on the member for Nightcliff’s Facebook page when he was out for a walk. I believe HPA, Tony Burns and Amy Brady, were instrumental in helping to get Laddie the therapy dog to Nemarluk School. I am sure there will be some brilliant results and I understand students and staff alike are in love with Laddie.
Alawa Primary School is doing incredible work through the Alawa farm, the native garden and the frog pond. It recently won the Junior Landcare award at the Natural Resource Management and the Landcare Awards, which is pretty serious stuff. They will go national. I am proud of them and the work they are doing to educate kids through a hands-on approach to our environment.
I was very lucky to see the art exhibition at the Essington International campus recently. They are very talented young people.
Dripstone Middle School had its talent quest last week. It was an amazing three-hour spectacular with dancing, music and incredibly talented young people.
I send my appreciation to Sandy Cartwright, Britany Roestenburg, Lorraine Hodgson and Peter Swan, and, of course, to all my school council chairs and parents, who put in so many additional hours throughout the year for our schools. I look forward to those continued relationships, including with the Dripstone Children’s Centre and the Casuarina Child Care Centre. We have many Christmas functions and final assemblies over the next few weeks and I am really excited about that.
I put on the record my congratulations to Vanessa Adzaip. Vanessa works for Deaf NT. Its office is next to mine in Casuarina Plaza. Vanessa was the overall winner in the NT Disability Services Awards, which were held very recently at SKYCITY. She is an incredible advocate for education and for Auslan, and the importance of teaching people how to have conversations and how we can be a much more inclusive community for those across the Northern Territory who have hearing impairments.
I have been very lucky to have Auslan classes running in my community room over the last few months. When I pop in on a Saturday and see the flurry of conversation it reminds me of how much I need to start learning some Auslan. I am looking forward to that in the new year as well. I made the commitment to them that I will definitely learn some Auslan. Congratulations to Vanessa; she is incredibly inspiring.
Thank you to the Casuarina Coastal Reserve Landcare Group. Over the last year in particular, but for much longer than that, the group has been solidly been working away at the Moth Block and the beach block. We held a barbecue a few weeks ago and invited members of the community and a range of other Landcare group members from around Darwin to come and learn about the Moth Block. Deb Hall, Louise Finch and all of the volunteers there are incredibly knowledgeable and willing to share their knowledge. I have learnt an incredible amount about a range of things, such as weeds and the Atlas Moth, from weekends at the Moth Block. It is enjoyable. They put Jake to work as well, which is great. We appreciate our Sundays there with the Landcare group.
I share my deep appreciation for Jake, my family and my friends for their endless support and love over what has been a very different year of our lives. I know I drive them mad on occasions, but I am sure I am not the only person in this House who drives their family completely bonkers sometimes with everything that goes on. I thank them. I recognise my stepfather as well, who has made a huge achievement this week. He has received the cover of his book My Life as an Alphabet in South Korean, so incredible things are happening there as well.
To Alasdair and Rangga in my office, thank you so much for the support you continue to provide me in the House and the electorate, and for all the fun times. You are fantastic and very appreciated.
To the Casuarina Branch of Territory Labor, thank you for the support you provide us and the thoughts and feedback you provide on local issues and a range of other things.
To the Territory Labor team, I have appreciated your mentorship, collegiality and support over the course of the year.
I also put on the record an achievement of quite a notable Territorian who I graduated from Darwin High School with in 2004, Miranda Tapsell. Miranda is pretty well known to Territorians. She is an incredible, inspiring young woman and I hope she continues to tell her story and her truth to the Australian people. She is very inspiring and has a wonderful message to tell. I note that she has been picked up by the ABC’s Play School, which is exciting news for the Northern Territory.
The ABC is coming up to its 50th anniversary with Play School. To have a young Territorian woman fronting Play School is very exciting. I say to her, well done; we are right behind you and look forward to seeing you on the ABC. Of course, she has been in Love Child. It is always a bit bizarre when she is back in Darwin to think she has been recording and is on TV every week. She is doing exceptionally well for herself and that is great.
Madam Speaker, I am down to my last minute so I will get this in quickly. I have been a huge advocate for trying to get more headspace centres in the Northern Territory. I was pleased to hear in October that the Minister for Mental Health Services said the government has put aside $150 000 and is now starting to advocate to the government for a headspace centre in Katherine. I hope that continues and we can get an update on that soon.
Mr McCARTHY (Barkly): Madam Speaker, the CLP Attorney-General, Hon John Elferink, willed the NT to be the first jurisdiction in Australia to have a publicly accessible website listing details of convicted sex offenders. Northern Territory justice agencies, law societies, the Criminal Lawyers Association and the Information Commissioner, reflecting legal experts and public policy commentators, state there is no evidence that public registers increase community safety or reduce reoffending rates.
Justice agencies call for evidence-based policy, stating comprehensive reviews of Megan’s Law in the United States – the model used by the CLP – found little evidence that public websites with details and locations of sex offenders reduce offending.
Law Society NT President, Mr Tass Liveris, stated there is the added risk that such websites create barriers for victims to report offending, and that protecting our children is the highest priority in the community. The Law Society NT states that sex offenders are already closely monitored by police, with convicted offenders required to comply with stringent reporting requirements and restrictions which support police to closely monitor their activities and movement. CLP legislation risks vigilantism, possibly impacting the entire family of the offender, especially in the Northern Territory. It is a small jurisdiction comprising large, extended families, risking retribution and mistaken identity. Facing deficit legislation, the minister delegated listing a person on the website to a panel of statutory office holders, circumventing court processes according normal sentencing principles and supervision by the court.
NT justice agencies view rehabilitation of offenders, the cornerstone of good legislation, with public naming and shaming on the Internet, as detrimental to offenders’ prospects of rehabilitation, working against successful reintegration into employment, housing and community.
The CLP legislation alarmingly lacks a definitive budget where economic modelling of similar website technology notes extremely high costs. New Zealand’s set up and management of its register will cost government an estimated $146m over 10 years.
The NT Information Commissioner supports justice agencies’ concerns, convinced that police may have difficulties protecting families and individuals against random vigilante acts, reflecting episodes of abuse or violence influenced by the Internet.
Research demonstrates that public sex offender websites do not protect children from persons not on the register, in addition to risking the safety and security of innocent people, signalling deficit CLP legislation.
As a clear alternative, minister, I urge the allocation of significant taxpayer dollars for website investment to be redirected to educating children and families in child protective behaviours where children learn how to process and report abuse, including sexual abuse in the family and community.
Global research demonstrates that children who are educated and aware of their bodies, protecting their personal space and defining unacceptable behaviour of others, including strategies proactively calling out inappropriate sexualised and violent behaviour, remain safer in families and community.
Tens of millions in taxpayer funds should resource Health, Education, and Child Protection for teaching, training and modelling proactive child protective behaviours. Critical care and protection of children resonates best-practice child protective behaviours focusing on surviving abuse. The minister withdrew the CLP legislation, Daniel’s Law, from passage through parliament. Minister, I respectfully request that you reconsider your significant power and the allocation of the resources at your disposal to reintroduce into Territory schools, clinics and the community a very proactive system of teaching child protective behaviours.
Minister, you have announced your retirement and this is a significant legacy you have the power and the authority to deliver before you retire from public life as an elected community leader. I request that you consider this carefully. I remember, vividly, having these systems in place in the Education department in the 1990s. It was under a CLP government where teachers and school community leaders were trained in child protective behaviours. They then tutored teachers, parent groups and children, and together, across the Northern Territory, we were teaching child protective behaviours in a supportive, warm and welcoming environment in schools. This has dropped off the agenda.
On an aeroplane about 18 months ago I sat next to the last person employed by the Education department to be responsible for the dissemination and practices of teaching child protective behaviours. That person has moved on and gone into other employment. I am not sure if anybody is doing this anymore. That is a very clear alternative I am presenting, minister. I do it with honesty and integrity. I hope in the new year you will re-enter the parliament of the Northern Territory with an announcement that we will significantly resource one of the most effective tools in protecting our children, and that is the teaching and learning of child protective behaviours. It is about surviving abuse, minister.
In the second part of the adjournment I have to talk about a very unfortunate situation that has arisen in Tennant Creek, and that is the 11-year-old girl who was restrained at Tennant Creek Primary School is facing serious charges in a judicial context and been relocated to Darwin.
Minister, I have written to you over a number of weeks and I find it unusual that nobody has responded. In opposition I have written over 100 letters to ministers about all sorts of issues. This correspondence was the first time I tried e-mail. I do not know whether that is the problem, but I sent it to your office by e-mail – and I know your diligent staff will be monitoring this broadcast – because it contains confidential details of family members who are extremely concerned. You have access to this child’s great-grandmother’s details through the department. You have access to this child’s very concerned aunt’s details contained in the e-mail trail.
Minister, I urgently ask that you look at this issue carefully and respond to the family. This child is a highly-complex case. I have made inquiries in Darwin and have been able to talk to people at the primary school she attended in Darwin. I understand, from my professional experience working in London, the level of complexity in this case. Minister, for what it is worth, in my opinion we do not have the resources in the Northern Territory to protect and care for this child at the moment. We need to look at an interstate placement. We need to be looking at very intensive intervention for this child to try to stabilise this period in her life, and then try to make gain in the Northern Territory with her family and the supportive adults in her life.
It is very important, minister, that you contact her family. They need to be walked through this. They have been through a lot of stress and are very concerned. This incident is one of the most complex you will deal with in your portfolio of Children and Families.
Minister, this is the end of a parliamentary year. This relates also to your announced retirement. The case of the 11-year-old girl from Tennant Creek is urgent and needs to be dealt with sensitively and with great care.
The other issue around child protective behaviours, minister, is a long-term legacy that you can set in train. I was involved in the debate about stamp duty support for young families and getting them into existing dwellings, and I used the words ‘cashed up’. The Treasurer was able to twist and spin that, then, essentially, he agreed with the motion. Let us be honest, minister. You have significant resources at your fingertips within existing budget resources. I ask that you prioritise into what is globally recognised as a substantial, honourable and lasting legacy of your time in this parliament and as a minister of the Crown for Children and Families. Child protective behaviours for all our children, in all our families, will protect children and will reinforce survival skills not victims of abuse.
Motion agreed to; the Assembly adjourned.
VISITORS
Madam SPEAKER: Honourable members, I advise of the presence in the gallery of two Year 5/6 classes from St Paul’s Catholic Primary School accompanied by Dan Wetherall and Phillipa Pond. Welcome to Parliament House; I hope you enjoy your time here.
Members: Hear, hear!
ELECTORAL LEGISLATION AMENDMENT BILL
(Serial 149)
(Serial 149)
Bill presented and read a first time.
Mr GILES (Chief Minister): Madam Speaker, I move that the bill be now read a second time.
Since the last general election there has been a number of developments relating to the electoral process. The Northern Territory Electoral Commission prepared a report into issues arising from the 2012 election, the first under the new fixed-term provisions.
This report, which was tabled in May 2014, raises legislative and administrative issues, and makes a number of recommendations in regard to the Electoral Act. Following receipt of that report the government commissioned a separate report into the regulation of political donations in the Northern Territory.
This report, titled the McGuiness report, was tabled in April 2015. In May this year the Electoral Commission issued a further report entitled Compliance review with focus on Political Disclosure Returns in relation to election contributions and annual political party returns. Work to address the issues raised in these reports will take some considerable time. The issues are complex, and considerable research and discussion needs to take place. Much of what is recommended in the reports will not be ready in time for implementation for the scheduled general election in August 2016.
Given this situation, the government proposes to proceed with a limited number of amendments to the act and regulations as set out in the bill before the House. The intention in regard to this bill is to seek comment and suggestions whilst it lies on the Notice Paper until this Assembly reconvenes in the new year.
Any legitimate issues of concern can then be addressed at the committee stage. This process has the advantage that honourable members and the public can see exactly what is being proposed and how the amendments will be implemented.
Before going to the specific amendments proposed, it is useful to take a step back and look at the main challenges the democratic electoral process faces in the Territory. On the basis of the Australian Bureau of Statistics’ population data, there is estimated to be a considerable disparity between the number of people actually on the roll in the Northern Territory and those thought to be eligible to be enrolled. This data suggests that the current roll captures only about 81.6% of the eligible population, a shortfall of some 24 168 people, a significant number in the context of the Territory jurisdiction.
Considerable efforts are being made by both the Australian Electoral Commission and the Northern Territory Electoral Commission to improve the rolls, and the disparity is being reduced. These efforts include direct field operations, public campaigns and direct enrolment measures using other databases.
The trend is up. The figures show that the percentage thought to be captured in the roll has improved from 76% in 2010 to the mentioned figure of 81.6% in 2014. This is encouraging; however, more must be done to boost voter enrolment.
The second big-picture issue is the level of participation by those who are actually on the roll. In the 2012 general election the Electoral Commission’s report notes that of the 123 805 on the roll, only 95 215 voted, a shortfall of 28 590, or a participation rate of 76.9%. This recognises that some of those shown as not participating will be due to errors on the roll.
The Electoral Commission’s data also shows that of the 95 215 voters at the 2012 general election, 3.2% of these were informal. Informal vote rates are the highest in remote and regional parts of the Northern Territory, largely due to the lower levels of numeracy and literacy. For example, the electorate of Stuart experienced the highest informal vote rate of 5.9% in 2012 in the Northern Territory general election, which is 2.7% above the Territory’s average.
This parliament should strive to do the best it can in regard to improving processes, reducing informality and removing restrictions on people’s capacity to vote. We must turn our focus to increasing voter participation, including by providing voters with more flexibility as to how to vote and reducing voting informality.
On that note, I now turn to the first substantive amendment proposed. The amendment to section 21 aims to increase enrolment by inserting a reference to the requirement that, for eligible people, enrolment and changing address details is compulsory. Section 279(1) of the act already provides that a person entitled to vote must vote, but it does not contain an express provision saying enrolment is compulsory.
Enrolment is currently compulsory, but to reach that conclusion you have to refer to the provisions in section 101 of the Commonwealth Electoral Act. This act is applicable because the Northern Territory uses the Commonwealth electoral roll. It is appropriate to have an express reference to the requirement to enrol in the Northern Territory legislation, even though the provision does not change the existing statutory requirements.
The next substantive amendment deals with section 41 of the act, which currently provides that the draw for the order of candidates’ names on the ballot paper is to be made by lot in public at the Electoral Commissioner’s office in the Northern Territory’s capital of Darwin. The proposed amendment will allow the Electoral Commission discretion as to where to hold this public draw. For example, the commission might determine that the draw for Central Australian seats should more appropriately be held in Alice Springs or Tennant Creek.
Improving the public’s access to the democratic process is a worthwhile objective. As honourable members are aware, the voting system for the Legislative Assembly is currently what is known as full preferential. With some limited exceptions, for a person’s vote to be valid it must show a number in every candidate’s box. The proposed amendment to section 50 changes the voting system to optional preferential.
Under the proposed scheme a person may place a one in the candidate’s square to indicate their first preference and then can, but need not, place consecutively increasing whole numbers in the candidate squares for some or all of the other candidates. Hence, a person will be able to vote in exactly the same way they have in the past by giving a preference to each candidate, or only marking some preferences after their first preference, or simply giving a first preference only. These amendments should give voters greater freedom of choice in regard to indicating their preferences, and will likely result in a decline of informal votes.
As a result of this amendment some minor modifications are necessary to the way in which votes are counted if preferences need to be distributed, and to the sections that deal with saving votes from informality. Under the proposed system if a voter does not wish to vote for any particular party or candidate, there is no obligation. It does not require them to make a preference for every single candidate on the ballot paper.
The current section 94 of the act saves certain votes from informality, where a tick or a cross is used to indicate a person’s first preference rather than the number one. The proposed amendments to this section retain the essence of the current savings provisions, but a number of minor adjustments are necessary to accommodate an optional preferential voting system.
In addition to that, new subsections are added which provide that where a voter has placed the same number in two or more candidate squares, those votes and any higher numbers are to be disregarded. If there is a break in a row of whole numbers that the voter has placed in two or more candidate squares, any preference after the break is to be disregarded. These measures have been adopted from the Queensland electoral system, which currently uses an optional preferential scheme.
As a result of the change to optional preferential, some modifications are required to the way in which votes are counted if one candidate does not get more than 50% of the votes on first preferences. Under section 128 in the amended arrangements, if it is necessary to distribute preferences the candidate with the least number of first preference votes is excluded and their next preference, if any, is distributed accordingly until one candidate has received more than 50% of the formal votes remaining in the count.
The regulations contain a form that sets out the format of a ballot paper. The form currently contains a direction to number every box to make the vote count. To provide for optional preferential, an amendment is proposed to amend this form so it will direct the voter to place the number one in the box next to the photograph of their first preference candidate and then place increasing whole numbers in as many other boxes as they wish to indicate their order of preferences for the other candidates.
As mentioned earlier, to increase voter participation there are a number of amendments which can be implemented to allow greater flexibility for how people may wish to vote. To address this there is an amendment which deals with a criteria in the act regarding who may apply for a postal vote. Currently, under section 60, to be eligible to apply for a postal vote a person’s situation must fall within one of the specified circumstances described in subsection 2. For example, during polling hours they will not be within 20 km of a polling place, or because they cannot attend a polling place because of illness or physical disability. The proposed amendments will remove the need to fall within any of the listed criteria and simply provide that any person entitled to a vote may apply for a postal vote.
As mentioned previously, participation levels of enrolled people is one of the major issues for the electoral process in the Northern Territory, and the removal of restrictions should provide considerable assistance in this regard. We should be looking at every possible way of making voting easier, not putting limitations in the way or restricting availability.
This change is also at harmony with local government elections in the Northern Territory. Currently, under sections 96 and 112 of the act, for a postal vote to be included in the count it must be received by the Electoral Commission no later than 6 pm on the Friday following polling day. This is an extremely tight time frame considering the irregularity of mail services in parts of the Northern Territory. Whilst there are good governance reasons to reduce the time the Northern Territory does not have an effective government following an election, this one-week period is considered too short and acts to disenfranchise a number of people. The proposed amendment will allow the receipt of postal votes up to 12 noon on the second Friday following polling day.
On a related matter, the proposed amendment to section 61 will remove the requirement that a postal vote application is to be made within three months before an election is to be held. The new provision will provide that an application can be made at any time in the calendar year in which the polling day occurs. Removal of the three-month restriction should expand the availability of voting choices for the public. Currently, under section 67(7), the only way that postal votes can be returned is through the postal service.
An amendment is proposed to the act that will allow for the development of a system for the electronic lodgement of scanned postal vote certificates and ballot papers. This would be through the existing mechanisms of section 85A that contain safeguards in regard to secrecy, security and the availability of technology. While the Electoral Commissioner has the discretion to accept electronic votes, it is rarely exercised. This government wants to increase voter participation, particularly for those living in areas where mail services are irregular, such as pastoral properties or remote communities and parts of the Northern Territory. However, to cater for an increase in electronic votes the commissioner must be satisfied that there is a system which is capable of sending and receiving electronic votes securely and confidentially. The change is also consistent with the other proposed amendments to extend the availability of voting services and choices. A note is being inserted in section 67 to refer to the possibility of alternative methods of return of postal vote papers, and a specific reference to the matter is being made to section 85A.
The proposed amendment to section 71 is similar to the removal of the criteria for applying for a postal vote. The act currently provides that only those who expect to be unable to attend the polling place on polling day are able to vote at a pre-election voting centre set up by the Electoral Commission. The proposed amendment will remove this requirement and provide that any person entitled to vote may vote at a pre-election voting centre. This means that those who make plans on early election day are not restricted to remain in their electorate to cast a vote. Instead, if you know you are heading out on the water for a fish, attending an event away from home or going out camping for the weekend, you can head to a pre-election polling centre and cast a vote. This government wants to increase voter participation and make it flexible and easier for busy Territorians who make plans on an election day, which falls on a Saturday.
Other parts of the act have been reformatted to make them easier to read. A specific reference to the Government Printer has been removed and replaced with a requirement that a ballot paper, which has to be in the prescribed form, has to be printed by a person or body authorised by the Electoral Commission.
Section 275 of the act currently restricts canvassing-type activities within 10 m of the entrance of a polling place, and there is a similar restriction on the use of loudspeakers and the like, for such purposes, that are audible within these 10 m.
This bill proposes a 500 m exclusion zone. Under the new arrangements Territorians will no longer be faced with the uncomfortable and often confronting prospect of having to run the gauntlet of party officials and spruikers trying to thrust how-to-vote material into their hands. The objective is to have elections conducted in an orderly fashion, free from undue pressure or influence. The amendments put forward in the bill remove restrictions and give voters greater freedom of choice in regard to how they can cast their vote. The objective is to have as many eligible people as possible enrolled and participating in an election.
The proposed changes should assist in the maintenance of a healthy and democratic society. I encourage interested stakeholders to have their say on the changes outlined in the bill before the House. I look forward to receiving submissions and nominations to my office on this bill.
I commend this bill to honourable members and table a copy of the explanatory statement to accompany the bill.
Debate adjourned.
REORDER OF BUSINESS
Mr ELFERINK (Leader of Government Business): Madam Speaker, while there is no question before the House, and with the acquiescence of members opposite, I move that Ministerial Statements be called on after Government Business Order of the Day No 1, and Government Business be resumed after Ministerial Statements.
Motion agreed to.
TRAFFIC ACT AND OTHER LEGISLATION AMENDMENT BILL
(Serial 138)
(Serial 138)
Continued from 17 September 2015.
Mr VOWLES (Johnston): Madam Speaker, as the shadow minister I say straight off the bat that we will support these amendments to the Traffic Act.
I thank the minister’s office for the briefing and the ongoing work we have done to alleviate any issues we had. I thank the minister’s office for being very available for that and for the very thorough briefing and continuing information provided between the office and me. I also express my thanks to the police, in particular, Commander Tony Fuller and Superintendent Bob Rennie, who attended the briefing. The police have recommended this testing, and we have no issues in supporting it. Police, emergency services, firemen, paramedics, nurses and doctors see firsthand the issues related to driving under the influence of alcohol and other drugs. It is a real and growing concern. I thank the government for bringing this on because it is an ongoing and growing issue that we need to deal with.
I have one issue to raise, which is the cost of the testing and if that has been allocated in the budget by the minister. That was raised in the briefing. I had a quick chat to the minister. He might give me a figure or a decision about where that funding has been allocated. I am sure it will be because this needs to be done. We need to clear up any issues on our roads so people driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs are detected. We need to make sure everybody else is doing the right thing and that they are protected and safe on our roads.
As I said, we support this motion. I will not take much time because we need to get this bill sorted out and start testing people who are doing the wrong thing. I want to make sure everybody is safe and has a good Christmas. We will see everybody next year.
Mr ELFERINK (Attorney-General and Justice): Madam Speaker, one of the things you can say about the friendly fisherfolk on the other side is that you could hardly ever accuse the member for Johnston of bloviation when it comes to speaking in this House.
The bill before us today is very important because we have, for a number of years, accepted the difficulty of testing people who drive cars whilst under the influence of drugs. I want to share with the House one reason why this is important. The old DUI offence, which still exists under the Traffic Act, was very difficult to prove because if you pursued a person for DUI of a drug rather than alcohol, you had to confirm that several other offences had been committed in the process.
The legislation in relation to driving under the influence of alcohol or psychotropic substance is that a psychotropic substance has to be present in the system where it creates a driving offence. To test the notion that a person is driving while drug-affected you have to demonstrate that there is some effect of the drug. In a practical sense this means that a person has to commit an offence before they can be picked up for driving under the influence of a drug. Adding complication to this situation is that you also probably have to prosecute them for the drug-related offences in the first place.
By way of practical example, I recall an occasion many years ago as a police officer when my attention was drawn to a driver going through the intersection of McMillans Road and the Stuart Highway at Berrimah. What drew my attention to the driver was when he entered the intersection his car was going sideways in a puff of tyre smoke and, moreover, went through a red light. Needless to say we turned on our flashing blue light and pulled the gentleman over. He had no presence of alcohol whatsoever in his system. However, he admitted to using cannabis, which enabled us to search his vehicle where we found the remnants of some cannabis in the glove box.
Ultimately, to prove the DUI offence we had to prove he had lost effective control of the motor vehicle. That was easy because he drove into the intersection sideways. We also had to prove that he was affected by drugs, so ultimately we had to not only charge him with the DUI, but we had to charge him with drug offences and driving offences to make the whole package come together. That is a cumbersome and difficult way to proceed, which is why DUI for drug-affected drivers is such a rare event.
This, however, changes some of the presumptions built into the legislation, and that is a very important component of this legislative change. The presumption built into the legislation is that, like alcohol, if you are driving whilst you are affected by a drug or psychotropic substance we will assume that it robs you of control of the vehicle at the outset, which means it will be the same as a random breath-testing station testing for the presence of alcohol. Basically 0.05 is still the measure used. That 0.05 measure is merely an arbitrary line we have drawn in the sand. You commit the offence simply by having more alcohol in your system than 500 mg per 100 L of blood, but I am not sure that is the right measurement anymore.
In any instance it is an arbitrary figure. We draw a line in the sand and say if you have that much liquor in your system you will be committing an offence, and too right. Our families, your families and my family, have to share the roads with people who have a tonne or better of metal around them and are driving in circumstances where their ability is impaired, and we place a very low level on that, which is 0.05. It used to be 0.08 but we lowered it even further to meet the national standard. Other countries do not accept the presence of any alcohol in the bloodstream as being acceptable to drive a car.
What exactly is the difference between somebody who is alcohol-affected and somebody who is affected by cannabis, heroin or, for that matter, amphetamines? Whilst amphetamines heighten your sense of self-awareness, here is the truth of it; it also makes you a greater risk-taker. As a consequence, we are saying we expect people to be as sober and straight as they possibly can be when they drive a motorcar. We are prepared to say we will randomly test for drugs, and if we can prove their presence in your system you will find yourself liable for prosecution under the traffic legislation, and so it should be.
I know this exists in a number of other jurisdictions. We are probably a bit on the late side to introduce it in this jurisdiction. In keeping people safe on our roads, understanding that chemicals change the way people perceive the world, and knowing that perception leads to impaired judgment or impaired reaction time, when people are in charge of a bucket of metal which can travel up to 200 km/h, we want to make absolutely sure those people are as straight and sober as they possibly can be. Even if they are obeying the speed limit, a tonne of metal travelling at 60 km/h is still a dangerous weapon. It is something we expect people to be very careful with and take every responsibility in the privilege they have when they hold a driver’s licence.
Beyond that, this legislation is self-explanatory. I am grateful the minister has brought it in to this place and I am happy to support it.
Mr WOOD (Nelson): Madam Speaker, I also support the Traffic Act amendments. I thank the minister for allowing the department to give us a good briefing. It also gave us a handout which explains clearly the differences between the existing act and the new changes to the act, which makes it pretty easy to understand.
I think everybody would welcome making our roads safer; if you can get people who have been using drugs off the road, that makes good common sense. This legislation exists in other parts of Australia, so it is time the Northern Territory caught up with other states in relation to testing people for illegal drugs.
I have a couple of questions which I only thought of this morning; I am not trying to catch the minister on the hop. In relation to the concern government members had about what they said was us blocking the Misuse of Drugs Act, here is a really important one. This went through in normal time. This will reduce lives being lost by taking people off the road. It has gone through in the normal 30 days. We have had time to look at it. It is probably a bit less serious than the Misuse of Drugs Act because it has many other things included. I make that comparison with the way this bill has gone through.
The issue I was going to raise was whether passengers would be tested. My understanding, from a quick conversation with the department, is that would not happen. Is it a danger if people were on a high in the back seat or the passenger seat; if they are on ice could they potentially cause an accident, even if the driver was not under the influence? If it cannot be done through this act, can it be done under the changes to the Misuse of Drugs Act?
The other question is in relation to legal drugs which may have a component of what would be normally an illegal drug, perhaps a morphine derivative. If that was taken by a driver before or while driving, would the driver be subject to a conviction?
I will explain what I am saying. If you pick up medication from the pharmacy, the chemist will sometimes ask whether you will be driving a heavy vehicle or doing something dangerous like dropping out of a plane or using heavy equipment. Then you hop in a vehicle and are tested. If it is a morphine derivative which was legally given to you by a doctor, can you be prosecuted for that, not so much from the point of view of having an illegal drug – it has been given to you legally – but that you are driving a vehicle when you have been told you should not be after taking this drug? It might sound a bit convoluted but it would be interesting to see whether the testing would pick this up and what would happen to someone who was picked up for taking a drug which had been given to them legally. It is a small point which I thought was worth raising today.
Obviously, with the changes, you can have a choice of a blood test and a saliva test. That is a good change. Overall, Madam Speaker, I do not have a problem with the bill at all. If it can make our roads safer, I am sure it will be supported by everyone in the House.
Mr CHANDLER (Transport): Madam Speaker, I thank all those involved, particularly Bob Rennie and Tony Fuller. They have done a tremendous job. If you appreciate what those gentlemen, the rest of our traffic officers and other Police, Fire and Emergency Services staff put up with every day on our roads, you can understand why we want legislation such as this that will strengthen the job they do.
I thank those opposite, the members for Nelson and Johnston, for their contributions and for agreeing that we have to do all we can to strengthen how we use our roads. When we all use them with our families in those vehicles, we want them to be as safe as possible; therefore, we have to give our police officers the tools they need to help reduce not only the death toll, but accidents and getting fools off our roads. Thank you to everyone involved.
Member for Johnston, you asked a question about costs. In association with the proposed bill to enact full random driver testing we will introduce a new testing regime of two saliva screens while retaining blood testing. With the introduction of saliva sampling, sampling can be facilitated in only 10 minutes, a difference of at least 50 minutes compared to taking blood samples. In 2014 the Forensic Science Branch, FSB, received 1022 blood samples under the Traffic Act, potentially representing a minimum saving of over 1700 frontline sworn police officer work hours, or 212 working days. The Forensic Science Branch will require capital works estimated at about $700 000 for additional laboratory and office accommodation, recurrent funding of about $145 000 for two additional staff – that is administration and technical support – and recurrent funding of $31 000 for operational expenses.
In regard to roadside operations it is estimated that the NT Police Force will test approximately 2000 road users annually Territory-wide. Roadside saliva screens at approximately $40 per test equates to around $80 000 annually. An estimated 500 of these will return a positive result requiring second-stage testing and collection action. The second-stage analysis costs approximately $5500, and it is envisaged that the purchase of approximately 15 will suffice, equating to approximately $83 000. Each second-stage test consumable is approximately $45, therefore conducting 500 second-stage tests equates to $23 000. Northern Territory Police, Fire and Emergency Services has submitted a budget initiative in respect to funding. This will require a Cabinet submission for the funding. Annual roadside operational costs are expected to be in the vicinity of $185 000.
It is worth noting that bringing equivalent legislation into Victoria saved an estimated 20 lives per year on that state’s roads.
Member for Nelson, you asked about prescription drugs. My advice is that roadside tests will not detect prescription drugs other than perhaps morphine-based drugs. In that case, the sample is sent back to a laboratory. If morphine is detected at the lab stage, a letter would be sent to the driver asking for an explanation. The driver would then produce their prescription. As long as they were driving in accordance with their prescription, they are not guilty. However, if they were driving at the time when a doctor said they should not be driving, they could be guilty of that offence. There are drugs on the market today where doctors will tell you cannot drive whilst under the influence of them. It may be for two days or the duration of the course. In that case, as long as the driver is driving in full accordance with the prescription, the doctor’s orders if you like, they are not guilty of any offence. But that would not be detected until the laboratory stage.
In regard to your question about passengers affected by drugs and the danger of having people in your vehicle who are under the influence of drugs and could have an impact on the driver. Yes, but the same thing could happen with drunk passengers today. We have a Sober Bob program that encourages people to have a sober driver to take people who have been drinking home. On our roads every night of the week there is the potential to have a sober driver at the helm with a few people in the car who are a little over the limit. It is better that they are in the back seat than behind the wheel. The same could be said for drugs. As long as the person behind the wheel is not affected by drugs, there is not much we could do to prevent, by way of law, somebody in the car interfering with the driver. I would much prefer someone in the back seat if they are under the influence of drugs or alcohol than behind the wheel. We need to focus on the driver at that stage.
Motion agreed to; bill read a second time.
Mr CHANDLER (Transport) (by leave): Madam Speaker, I move that the bill be now read a third time.
Motion agreed to; bill read a third time.
MINISTERIAL STATEMENT
Women’s Policy
Women’s Policy
Mrs PRICE (Women’s Policy): Madam Speaker, I am pleased to report on the Northern Territory government’s progress in developing and implementing measures designed to improve the lives of Territorian women.
A confident culture is a proud culture. It is a culture that celebrates the diversity of its people. Women make up more than 47% of the Territory’s population, and as a group they reflect many different cultures, backgrounds and experiences.
Northern Territory women are well represented by the Office of Women’s Policy, which is located within the Department of Local Government and Community Services. The Office of Women’s Policy provides gendered policy advice to government, engages with Northern Territory women and progresses the Northern Territory policy framework for Northern Territory women.
In line with national and international women’s policy agendas, this policy framework has four key focus areas for action: women’s safety; economic security; health and wellbeing; and women’s leadership and participation. There is a focus on practical measures and the contribution women make to the Northern Territory, and where improvements can be made to improve economic, social and cultural equality between Territory men and women.
The Office of Women’s Policy was established in the Northern Territory in 1983 when Australia became one of the first signatories of the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, known as CEDAW. This international agreement upholds the principles of fundamental human rights and equality for women around the world.
I am sure you will agree that there have been major advancements in gender equality in Australia over the last 100 years. However, it is evident that there is still much work to be done when we see the gender pay gap of 17.9% nationally and 18.1% locally, where two women are killed in our country per week as a direct result of violence against them, where women’s superannuation savings at retirement age are 46.6% less than men’s and where women are still not equally represented in leadership and decision-making positions. Some 37% of women in the Northern Territory are under the age of 25 so it is vital that we continue to strive for a Territory that provides a more equal future for them and where all women are able to reach their full potential.
A prosperous economy is one that captures the ideas and energy of its people. Women make up almost 45% of the workforce in the Northern Territory. It is essential that we support women to achieve economic security and pay equity. We also want to increase options that ensure young mothers are supported to continue their education and skills development. The policy framework for Northern Territory women also recognises the issues faced by older women in maintaining sufficient income and accessing employment, and we will be exploring ways to alleviate these issues.
The Office of Women’s Policy supports Northern Territory women and women’s organisations to build leadership capabilities, as well as encouraging equality of representation in decision-making roles and on decision-making bodies. The Office of Women’s Policy administers the Women on Boards website, which matches women who have registered an interest to nominate to government and business sector boards, authorities and committees with vacancies that have been registered on the site. This site is currently being upgraded and will be promoted across the Northern Territory. I encourage all Northern Territory organisations to register their board and committee vacancies on this site.
The office hosts the A Conversation Worth Having seminar series, which presents inspirational and dynamic keynote speakers who share their experiences and facilitate debate about a broad range of issues.
I am also very pleased to announce that I am in the process of establishing the Northern Territory women’s consultative council. This council will provide an avenue of direct community engagement with Northern Territory women from all parts of the Northern Territory to inform across government policy development and initiatives. Members of the council will conduct direct consultation with Northern Territory women to identify local issues and priorities for women, with support and coordination from my Office of Women’s Policy.
As minister for Community Services I was very proud to announce the establishment of the First Circles program, which is aimed at supporting and mentoring upcoming Indigenous leaders. The inaugural members met for the first time in December last year and included 16 men and 14 women of varying ages from communities around the Northern Territory. This engagement program will increase members’ knowledge and understanding of government processes, build confidence and improve the participation of the community in local decision-making.
In partnership with industry groups and member organisations across the Territory, the Office of Women’s Policy supports women to consider working in non-traditional industries and trades. The undervaluing of and less pay for female-dominated industries contributes to the gender pay gap. More women in male-dominated industries increase women’s acceptance, support and critical mass in these industries as well.
Earlier this year the Minister for Education, Hon Peter Chandler MLA, announced that seven Territory high schools will be participating in an engagement program aimed at supporting Indigenous female students to obtain education and training qualifications. Similar to the Clontarf program, it reinforces engagement and attendance, with a focus on educational outcomes, health and wellbeing. The program will operate at Katherine High School, Dripstone Middle School, Sanderson Middle School, Nhulunbuy High School, Yirrkala School, Casuarina Senior College and Tennant Creek High School.
A confident culture supports significant occasions and events. International Women’s Day is celebrated around the world on 8 March each year. The Office of Women’s Policy supports Territorians to celebrate this international celebration of advancements in gender equality, and the contribution of women throughout history and the present day.
The Office of Women’s Policy’s International Women’s Day Grants program provides funding to support individuals and organisations to celebrate International Women’s Day through honouring and empowering women and girls, and encouraging the whole community to get involved in International Women’s Day.
I now turn to a key issue facing women in the Territory: domestic and family violence, and its consequences and effects in our community.
The Northern Territory has among the highest rates of assaults in Australia, and 63% of those victims are female. Also there were 373 sexual assaults in the Northern Territory with 91% of victims being female. Northern Territory crime statistics show that in 2014-15 over 61% of all assault offences were reported as domestic violence-related, and Indigenous women are 48 times more likely to be admitted to hospital for reasons of assault than non-Indigenous women.
The violence has to stop and this government is committed to stopping it. In September 2014 this government launched the Safety is Everyone’s Right strategy and committed $6.1m per year for three years to tackle domestic and family violence. The aim of this strategy is to increase the safety of victims and their children, reduce rates of intergenerational trauma, increase the accountability of perpetrators and establish integrated service delivery systems. One of the main components of the strategy is the Family Safety Framework, which has a focus on protecting high-risk victims and their children from further harm and homicide by coordinating a response across government and non-government agencies.
An amount of $3m has been invested in critical intervention outreach services for Indigenous victims of domestic and family violence in remote and very remote locations. Alice Springs Women’s Shelter, Tennant Creek women’s shelter and Darwin Aboriginal and Islander Women’s Shelter will provide this service in their regions.
In August I was delighted and privileged to host the 2015 Australian of Year, Ms Rosie Batty, for her tour of honour in the Northern Territory. In the Top End, Rosie and I visited Pirlangimpi on the Tiwi Islands and were welcomed by the community. I wanted to demonstrate what domestic violence is to us in the Territory, and Rosie was able to view firsthand our story, the strong and active women’s centre and the support framework in place to deal with serious threats of violence in the home. We also visited women’s shelters in Alice Springs and Darwin.
I am honoured to represent the Northern Territory government on the Council of Australian Governments Advisory Panel on Reducing Violence against Women and their Children. The members of this advisory panel are some of the most highly-regarded domestic violence advocates in Australia and will advise COAG on the issue of domestic violence and make recommendations on how governments can best respond. It is essential that we continue to raise awareness of this issue in the community to support the most vulnerable and create a strong society that values an individual’s right to a safe environment.
The Territory is a signatory to the National Plan to Reduce Violence against Women and their Children 2010-22. The national plan aims to achieve a significant and sustained reduction in the levels of violence against women and their children across Australia. The national plan sets out six national outcomes for all governments to deliver during the next 12 years:
1. communities are safe and free from violence
The national outcomes are delivered through four-year action plans. The Office of Women’s Policy works with senior officials from all jurisdictions to progress this work. The Office of Women’s Policy also has membership of Our Watch, the national Foundation to Prevent Violence against Women and their Children, and Australia’s National Research Organisation for Women’s Safety Ltd, which are also progressing the agenda of the National Plan to Reduce Violence against Women and Their Children 2010-22. This government is also committed to improved health outcomes for all Northern Territory women and that health services provide culturally-appropriate health information and education. The Office of Women's Policy will be working closely with the Women’s Health Strategy Unit in the Department of Health to progress this commitment.
No public policy can be developed without consideration of all the lived experiences of women and men. The Northern Territory government, through the Office of Women’s Policy and the establishment of the Office of Men’s Policy, demonstrates a commitment to this concept.
I close this statement by acknowledging the important achievements of the Northern Territory government in improving women’s safety, increasing women’s opportunities for leadership and participation, and promoting gender equality. We will continue to strive for a prosperous economy that captures the ideas and energy of its people, confident culture that supports significant occasions and events like International Women’s Day, and a strong society that values an individual’s human rights, including the right to a safe environment.
Madam Speaker, I move that the Assembly take note of this statement.
Ms WALKER (Nhulunbuy): Madam Speaker, I thank the Minister for Women’s Policy for bringing this statement before the House. It is a subject very close to her heart, as it is for me.
We should be proud that in this parliament 44% of the elected members are women and that we are indeed women of very diverse backgrounds culturally, linguistically, professionally and by virtue of a range of ages, with me being at the upper end of the age group down to my younger colleagues, the members for Casuarina and Drysdale. We surely have the highest representation of women in any Australian jurisdiction, and by Commonwealth Parliamentary Association benchmarks I suspect we are punching well above our weight.
In preparing to speak to this statement I have been back through the last women’s policy statement brought forward by the member for Namatjira when she was our Women’s Policy minister in February 2013. We welcome having this statement made a couple of years down the track so we can look at where we have been and where we are going.
I have also revisited Labor’s time in government in the women’s policy space when I was a newly-elected member. Building on Our Strengths: A Framework for Action for Women in the Northern Territory 2008-2012 was the policy document launched by the then Minister for Women’s Policy, Marion Scrymgour, who was the member for Arafura. Following the August 2008 election it was Malarndirri McCarthy, our former member for Arnhem, who stepped into that portfolio.
Looking back from then to where we are now there has clearly been a very proud history of Indigenous women from both Labor and the CLP filling the role of Women’s Policy minister and driving the direction of women’s policy.
I have to say, though, that the focus and spotlight on women’s issues seems to have diminished over time and I suspect that to be a result of changes to conservative governments with less drive for a broad reform agenda. Tony Abbott, as the former Prime Minister, struggled to engage women or progress their interests and rights in any really meaningful way. In fact, it was a major issue for him electorally. When he became Prime Minister there was just one woman in his Cabinet. That was Julie Bishop, his deputy, quite a talented politician. He explained that it was a merit-based process and women were knocking on the Cabinet door, to which someone replied, ‘Well, why don’t you open it and let them in?’ Indeed, a good question.
Going back to Building on Our Strengths: A Framework for Action For Women in the Northern Territory, it was a much meatier document than the government’s current policy framework for Northern Territory women 2015-20. I trust members are familiar with it. The Building on Our Strengths Framework for Action, which had a life from 2008 to 2012, delivered two substantial progress reports. There was one in 2010, which is this one, and a second one in 2012. It had a green cover. It is available on the website and was a much bigger document than this one.
Perhaps I am missing something in the chronology, but I am not sure what the policy document was for women’s policy between 2012 and the current one the minister launched this year. What filled that gap between 2012 and 2015?
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Visitors
Madam SPEAKER: Honourable members, I advise of the presence in the gallery of the Year 5/6 class from St Paul’s Catholic Primary School accompanied by Alain van Gurp. On behalf of honourable members, welcome to Parliament House. I hope you enjoy your time here.
Members: Hear, hear!
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Ms WALKER: Madam Speaker, perhaps the minister can fill that gap for me as to what the policy document was between 2012 and 2015. Perhaps it exists and I have just missed it along the way.
I am also keen to know why the key focus areas for action have been reduced from five to four over the years. The four areas that currently exist within the policy document and existed in previous versions are women’s safety, women’s health and wellbeing, economic security and leadership and participation. I am wondering why the fifth focus area, life balance, has dropped off the women’s policy agenda. There may be a very logical reason for that but I am unaware of it. That fifth area was about government’s commitment to supporting all women to balance work, lifestyle and family commitments. It promoted things like access to childcare and making childcare affordable through government subsidies to many childcare centres. I believe that is ongoing. The second report, in 2012, which was a Labor policy document, talked about incentivising, by way of scholarships, early childhood educator positions and courses as well as access to family-friendly work practices, which, as we know, saw the Northern Territory public service adopt a work-life balance policy and implementation plan. I am curious to know why that fifth focus area, life balance, is not covered in the 2015-20 policy document.
I appreciate the effort that has gone into the current policy framework for 2015-20, but I ask the minister what sort of reporting we can expect to see in response to the actions detailed in each of the four key focus areas. Will written reports about progress be tabled? Will it be by way of a statement delivered annually in the parliament? When you have a policy document and have set an action plan there are not necessarily targets factored into that framework, but we need to know how we are progressing with the policy and actions the government says it will put in place.
I also appreciate that the resources of the Office of Women’s Policy are limited and there is support for various funded programs, but I query how the Office of Women’s Policy engages with Northern Territory women as per your opening remarks, minister. A look through the webpage of the Office of Women’s Policy indicates the activities the office is involved in, but I am thinking more of women in remote, regional and rural areas and how they engage with the Office of Women’s Policy.
I know there is a series of keynote speakers and there are forums – A Conversation Worth Having – but these do not appear to go outside Darwin and Alice Springs. In Nhulunbuy, in northeast Arnhem Land, we have a strong, resilient network of women who work together and support one another, and by virtue of the tyranny of distance they do not have access to this type of thing. In 2013 four forums were held with guest speakers across Alice Springs and Darwin. In 2014 there were probably six or seven, yet year to date in the Northern Territory there has only been one forum held under the banner of A Conversation Worth Having, and it was in Darwin on 7 August with Colleen Gwynne, the NT Children’s Commissioner. I am sure that would have been an interesting forum to attend.
I understand resources are limited, but I would like to see the contact the Office of Women’s Policy has with women across the Territory to endeavour to reach women in remote and regional areas. Women in my electorate, and I am sure in other remote parts of the Territory, would embrace this opportunity to get together and talk about things important to them and to be led by well-known guest speakers.
The minister is quite right in acknowledging there have been major advancements in gender equality in Australia over the last 100 years. However, as we all know, and as the minister knows only too well, there is still much to be done across so many areas. Let us start with women in the workforce and the Northern Territory public service, which is a very large employer in our jurisdiction.
The Office of the Commissioner for Public Employment’s State of the Service Report for 2013-14 – I could not see the 2014-15 report on the webpage when I was looking last night; it cannot be far away. In the 2013-14 statistics you find the following facts. In the Northern Territory public service, women make up 63% of the workforce and men make up 37%. The number of women in senior management roles has increased over the last 10 years, and that has to be a good thing, from 17% to 44% across roles from SAO2 through to ECO6. However, as we know from estimates this year, when I asked the commissioner how many of the 32 agencies in the Northern Territory public service had female CEOs, the answer was just six. There is some significant disparity when women make up 63% of our public servants but just under 19% of our chief executive officers. We need to find ways to boost participation and opportunities, and support women to step up to those opportunities.
It is critical that we continue to see women equally represented in leadership and decision-making positions, and that opportunities are provided through supported training and leadership development. I also note the growth of women in elected roles within local government, and I have watched in my electorate the growth in confidence and leadership of elected shire councillors, or regional councillors as they have been rebadged.
I urge the minister, who also holds the Local Government portfolio, to ask her colleagues, especially the Chief Minister, to desist from the continued referral to these entities as the ‘toxic shires’. He has no idea how hurtful and disrespectful that term is to elected councillors who are hard-working and very proud of the jobs they do. They are proud of the steps and progress their councils and communities have made since the local government reforms, which have seen a far more democratic process in the way elected councillors have responsibility, and they have seen more women step up and have a voice in those councils.
The same can be said for organisations like the many Aboriginal corporations across the Northern Territory where I see elected board members who welcome governance training to support and strengthen their, more often than not, volunteer role and to have confidence in that role. We want women to be actively engaged; therefore, it is important to provide support for women to organise, and to ensure their voices are heard effectively in decision-making forums by providing training opportunities for women in governance and leadership skills.
Too many women, especially young women, are disempowered by not having the skills and confidence to take part in decision-making forums such as boards and councils. I am mindful of our Indigenous women and women from migrant backgrounds who, by reasons of culture and language, also have limitations placed on their confidence. We need to have support in place for those women to step up, have a voice and be actively involved in their community’s organisations.
I have not heard a great deal about it, but I welcome the minister’s First Circles initiative, which supports and mentors upcoming Indigenous leaders. I know a couple of the First Circles participants and I am pleased they have this opportunity. I am sure it has given the likes of strong Numbulwar woman and respected educator Selena Uibo a chance to step up and nominate to run for Labor at the next election in the seat of Arnhem. Whilst in her own right she possesses inherent leadership skills and talent, I am sure First Circles has helped grow her confidence and skills. We need to be actively supporting and grooming young women for all sorts of leadership roles in society, including those for public and political life, as Madam Speaker knows only too well with the very recent hosting of the Commonwealth Youth Parliament in this parliament.
I note the minister’s reference to being in the process of establishing the Northern Territory women’s consultative committee, and we welcome that. It is listed as an action under the key focus area of leadership and participation, but women have expressed to me their disappointment and frustration that the process has been so slow. I do not know when we will see an announcement or a round of advertising, inviting expressions of interest for whatever the consultative body might take. I think women are frustrated that they are still waiting for their consultative group to take shape while a men’s consultative group was established and up and running some time ago. Notwithstanding the need to address men’s issues, especially in relation to domestic and family violence, women believe they have taken a second place in this arena. It is not a good look and not a positive message to send in addressing gender inequity.
One of the best things we can do to support women - young women in particular - is to ensure they have access to quality education, benefit from what a quality education can do for them and have support mechanisms to assist young women who may experience disadvantage or have complex needs.
I note that whilst the minister did not name it as such, she was referring to the Stars Foundation. It is commencing in a number of Territory schools to support Indigenous girls. I recently met with the Stars Foundation staff at Nhulunbuy High School and Yirrkala School to get an understanding of the work they will do to engage and support female Indigenous students and, importantly, assist them to stay at school by overcoming hurdles and barriers, and support them to complete their schooling and be on a pathway through to further training or study and into work in order to lead independent lives so they can secure their economic future.
While the establishment of the Stars Foundation is good news, it remains a source of disappointment that the government saw fit, as a cost-saving measure, to close down the GEMS program within Education at Sanderson school. I have only recently learned that the Girls at the Centre program, run by the Smith Family at Centralian Middle School, will conclude at the end of this school year after being run with very good success and great outcomes for girls since 2008. The Smith Family, as an NGO, does very good work in our schools in engaging families and kids and assisting them to overcome barriers to success. The good thing about the Smith Family as an NGO is that it costs government very little money because it sources its own funding through fundraising and philanthropic support. At very minimal cost to government the Smith Family delivers great programs in the Northern Territory to assist those who are disadvantaged, girls in particular. I know the girls at Centralian Middle School are disappointed to see that program close.
In relation to education, I note in one of the four key areas for action in the policy framework document under the heading Economic Security the issue of ensuring young mothers have the opportunity to continue their education is mentioned. Specifically,0 on page 16 it states:
- The Northern Territory Department of Education delivers the Pregnant and Parenting Program in Darwin to engage … young mothers in a flexible, supportive learning environment. This program supported 24 students in 2014.
I understand those numbers have been much lower in 2015. I have tried to line up a briefing and a visit to the classroom base utilised for this Pregnant and Parenting Program, which I understand operates from a room at the old Nemarluk School, and to make that visit with the member for Wanguri. We have not managed to get there yet, given that I need to be in Darwin on a Tuesday as this is the only day in the week that the program runs.
I doubt that one day a week will provide adequate engagement for young women trying to continue their studies, either pregnant or with a little one. I will be watching the program with interest. Perhaps the minister can explain how the Office of Women’s Policy is, as her policy document says:
- … engaging across government and with community organisations to encourage similar programs to be delivered in remote and regional areas …
I know by representing a remote electorate that this is a very real issue, especially for Indigenous girls at school. I welcome any initiatives and programs the minister and the Education minister are looking at launching. In engaging across government and community organisations, I look forward to a forum of that nature coming out to my electorate and other remote parts of the Territory so people can be actively engaged in talking about the needs of young women at school who find themselves pregnant and a parent, and pulling out all stops to ensure those young women and mothers are able to continue and complete their education. It is obviously as important for them as it is for their children.
As I have moved around the Territory and talked to stakeholders who have a vested interest in women’s policy, I acknowledge some of the great work I have seen happening. This is not an exhaustive list of organisations, but some I have recently met with.
I acknowledge the NT Working Women’s Centre and I confess that I became much more familiar with the work it does as a result of attending the 20th anniversary event you hosted for them, Madam Speaker, in Parliament House last year. On that occasion I enjoyed hearing about the history of the Northern Territory Working Women’s Centre, how the entity was created, how funding works, and how it has battled to retain its funding.
Its vision is front and centre in its annual report. It was only issued last week and there is a great group photograph from the 20th anniversary held last year on the front of the report.
I was in Alice Springs the week before last. It was the Friday after the last sittings week and I visited the Northern Territory Working Women’s Centre and had an opportunity to hear about the work it does and the unique issues working women face in Central Australia. I will be meeting with the staff at the Darwin office on Woods Street this coming Friday morning to talk more about important women’s policy matters.
I am very supportive of its bid to have domestic and family violence recognised by employers as a legitimate reason for leave from a workplace. Domestic and family violence is a very serious issue, which, staggeringly, affects one in three women. We need to break the silence and recognise it exists and it impacts on women’s lives in their workplace. Rosie Batty is an advocate for this. Given the minister’s strong stand on domestic and family violence and the fact she sits on the panel aimed at reducing violence against women, and this panel advises COAG on the issue and provides recommendations, I ask the minister if this is a recommendation she has voiced to COAG? Has she raised the point that domestic and family violence needs to be recognised as a legitimate reason for leave from a workplace and for employers to recognise that?
While I was in Alice Springs I also met with the Central Australian Women’s Legal Service, and I acknowledge the work it does providing representation for women across a raft of issues that affect them, from domestic and family violence to workplace matters and child protection. Often these women were from disadvantaged backgrounds or low socioeconomic status who simply do not have the means to access legal aid other than through a government-funded community legal aid service.
I also acknowledge the work of the Tangentyere Women’s Committee and congratulate it for the Putting Gender on the Agenda Forum that was held in collaboration with the Alice Springs Women’s Shelter in late October. It was in my calendar to attend this two-day forum. I was really looking forward to it. It was a really interesting agenda and I really wanted to be there. Unfortunately I was in Melbourne over those couple of days looking at alternative justice systems in Victoria such as therapeutic justice and Koori Courts, and that was the only time I could be there to do that. I was very grateful that the member for Wanguri represented our Labor opposition at the Putting Gender on the Agenda Forum. On the day it opened I managed to phone Barb Shaw from Tangentyere Council. I wished her every success and congratulated her on putting together this forum. She said they were very excited about the conversation they were about to have.
When I spoke with the member for Wanguri about how those couple of days went, she told me she was incredibly impressed by the turnout of women. I have the newsletter from the Tangentyere Women’s Committee’s Family Safety Project for 2015. It says more than 160 women came from the NT and around Australia, and the vast majority of women attending were Indigenous.
When I asked the member for Wanguri about how it all went she told me what she was really struck by was the preparedness of women to talk frankly about issues that affect them, such as domestic and family violence, and sexual violence, but she said what also struck her was that these women had the answers. They knew what needed to be addressed and how these issues that impact upon them need to be addressed. She said we do not need a government task force to be formed to tell them what we will do for them. They have the answers; they just need the ear of government and the support to implement them. That is a fantastic outcome.
Ms FYLES: A point of order, Madam Speaker! I ask that the member for Nhulunbuy be granted an extension of time pursuant to Standing Order 43.
Motion agreed to.
Ms WALKER: There is a really important lesson here. Grassroots solutions to community issues, family issues and women’s issues are the way to go. I know that from my own electorate where I saw the amazing work which happened in suicide prevention, driven at a grassroots level by the Indigenous women, predominantly, and supported by men at Gunyangara, or Ski Beach. They have a model that works. I know that in addressing alcohol-related issues, historically in Nhulunbuy and Yirrkala the best response has come from a grassroots level.
Last night I e-mailed somebody a copy of a letter to the Licensing Commission to establish our now closed down alcohol rehabilitation centre and to implement a takeaway liquor permit system, which was a forerunner of the successful Banned Drinker Register. That letter was signed by a number of very strong Marika women, sadly a couple of whom are no longer with us. Those women, at a grassroots level, took up the fight and said, ‘This is happening to our community. This is what we want to do. We want to work with government and other stakeholders to resolve this issue.’ This is how it works.
I implore the government to listen to women at the grassroots level and see the outcomes from the Putting Gender on the Agenda conference, and work with those women who know how to address these issues. It is the only way to go; it is not right to have a government which says, ‘We know what’s best for you and this is what we will do for you’.
Domestic and family violence, as the minister quite rightly highlighted, is a key issue. It is probably the biggest issue facing women in the Northern Territory, and we have the highest rates of domestic violence in the country. I appreciate that the Domestic Violence Directorate is relatively new in the Northern Territory and sits in the Department of the Attorney-General and Justice, but details have been thin about how the directorate works and what it delivers since it was announced more than a year ago. That was in tandem with the Safety is Everyone’s Right Strategy 2014-17.
I understand it to be an integrated support model, and I discussed it with the Attorney-General during estimates in June. It was also the subject of much interest when we had a Senate Finance and Public Administration References Committee investigating domestic violence in Australia. That committee convened in Darwin on 10 March this year.
I will go back to those DV statistics. I am reading from the Hansard when I was chatting in estimates with the Attorney-General and I said:
- … crime statistics show that since the change of government in 2012 in the Northern Territory overall, domestic violence-related assaults are up 6%. Alarmingly these statistics for domestic violence are up in Darwin 38.2%, Palmerston 16.1%.
In estimates I went on to say:
- … the Alice Springs Women’s Shelter advised that it had provided care …
- … to 413 children and 561 women that year, which translated into 7025 bed nights in Alice Springs. The service also reported, however, that it was unable to support 1700 individual women and children on 2346 occasions. In its report this averages almost seven people a day being turned away.
I went on to say at estimates:
- I guess when we look at Alice Springs, the DV crime statistics have dropped, but there is still clear evidence that there is an unmet need to support the victims of domestic and family violence.
From there the Attorney-General asked me, ‘Are you suggesting that if you were in government you would be putting more money into opening up new beds in Alice Springs Women’s Shelter?’ I said we do not want to have to open more beds - that is certainly the view of Daryl Wakefield at Alice Springs Women’s Shelter - but we need more money put into preventative work and strategies that address the offending behaviour and the underlying issues that see domestic violence perpetrated.
I know the Domestic Violence Directorate is about having that broader strategy across government with the ultimate goal of eliminating domestic violence. It is not all about just opening up new beds, in fact, far from it.
The Safety is Everyone’s Right strategy was discussed at length in the Senate inquiry. I have the transcript of that. The minister made an opening statement, and I want to place on the record her very frank remarks at the beginning of that:
- Family violence is at epidemic proportions in the Northern Territory. The statistics regarding the incidence of violence are breathtaking. To provide some context, for the 12-month period ending November 2014, there were 7076 assault offences in the Northern Territory, of which 4262, or 60%, were recorded as being associated with domestic violence. For this same period, there were 349 sexual assault and related offences. In 2013, the Northern Territory recorded the highest homicide rate in Australia, with 9.6 homicides per 100 000 people, which is five times the national rate of 1.9% per 100 000 people.
The number of Northern Territory Aboriginal females hospitalised as a result of assault has increased each year, from 821 in 2008-09 to 1059 in 2011-12. The latest hospitalisation rate for Northern Territory Aboriginal women is three times the Australian Aboriginal female rate and more than 50 times the overall Australian female rate. Domestic violence order applications have steadily increased over the past four years, with 3022 orders made in relation to male defendants. This increasing rate may be demonstrating victims’ increasing confidence in the system to protect them. More than 70% of the Northern Territory’s sentenced prisoners and 60% of remand prisoners in custody on 31 of December 2013 had been convicted of an offence involving domestic violence.
As the minister said, these statistics are indeed alarming. I was present at that public hearing of the Senate committee investigating domestic violence. The question was raised why it is that this strategy does not mention anywhere the word ‘alcohol’? Several members of the committee said that given that alcohol plays such a large part, why can we not be explicit and open, and say the word ‘alcohol’ must appear here and we must address alcohol-related issues. The minister’s response was disappointing in recognising that we have to be explicit and talk about the role alcohol has to play, front and centre, in domestic violence. One of the recommendations of the committee was to reintroduce the Banned Drinker Register, which the government continues to ignore, as an important tool that reduces alcohol abuse and in turn will reduce incidents of domestic violence.
I am also interested in alternative ways of our justice system dealing with domestic violence. I commend to honourable members an article in The Weekend Australian on 14 November, ‘Treat domestic violence with therapy, saw WA chief justice’. The Western Australian Chief Justice says that if we are really to address domestic violence we need justice systems that are less punitive and more therapeutic in going to the heart of the offending behaviour.
I am also disappointed that FASD has entirely dropped off the agenda. It is such an important subject for women and children.
Madam Speaker, there is much to do in the women’s policy area and I look forward to hearing more from the minister about how she delivers on the actions she talks about.
Mr STYLES (Business): Madam Speaker, I support the Minister for Women’s Policy. Before I get into some of the notes I have made, I will comment on a number of points the member for Nhulunbuy raised.
First, either the member for Nhulunbuy is not aware of what is going on in the community or she is conveniently leaving out some parts of the story. I refer to her comments in relation to what is happening at Alice Springs in relation to the girls’ program and what is happening in Darwin, particularly at Sanderson Middle School with the GEMS program.
For the information of the member for Nhulunbuy and all those listening and following this, the Smith Family was running an operation in the school in Alice Springs and doing a fabulous job. It is a government tender system for the provision of those services and the Smith Family missed out on a tender for the services it provides to young girls in Alice Springs. There is a Territory-based organisation call the Stars Foundation which was successful in obtaining the ability to provide those services to young women and students in Alice Springs.
The Smith Family was providing a good service. The government has offered funding through to 2017 so the Smith Family can complete the training of a particular cohort there so they would not be subject to too much change or disturbance in what they were doing. Unfortunately the Smith Family chose not to take that option to go through to 2017 and will be finishing.
In relation to Sanderson, the GEMS program is a good program, but now we have a Territory-based organisation called the Stars Foundation, which is ably guided by a former Deputy Chief Minister of the Northern Territory parliament in the Labor Party. Marion Scrymgour is part of that organisation and will be doing great things.
Again, for those listening and watching, and for the information of the member for Nhulunbuy, if she cared to read yesterday’s paper and look at the back page, it said, ‘Talented trio tickled pink’. I will quote the back page of yesterday’s paper:
- Cricket Australia and the Star Foundation are establishing a female Indigenous cricket competition in NT schools – and Sanderson Middle School students …
It mentions three students:
- … can’t wait.
On page 46 of yesterday’s paper there is a picture of three fantastic young women at Sanderson Middle School who talk about the program in Sanderson.
The member for Nhulunbuy wanted everyone to know that services had finished; what she failed to mention to everyone is they are being replaced by Territory-based organisations led by some very good people.
Ms Walker: You were not listening to me, Peter. I talked about the Stars Foundation …
Mr STYLES: They do not like hearing the good news. The member for Nhulunbuy continues to interject because she does not like hearing the good part of the story. She just wants to try to create in people’s minds the impression that this government does not care and is pulling programs all over the place. That is not correct, so I correct the record.
The member for Nhulunbuy said we have the highest domestic violence rates in the country. We have an interesting demographic in the Northern Territory. The average age is about 32. We do not have the upper end of the population where this issue does not normally arise. This balances out things. I do acknowledge we have a problem though, and one domestic violence problem is too many.
As a result of many of the policies of the CLP government, like paperless arrests, police officers have more time to chase things. Our police officers are encouraging people to make complaints. We have campaigns we support such as the White Ribbon and No More campaigns. These campaigns are actively in the community, supporting women and encouraging them to report these things. Obviously statistics will go up in some instances. I do not see that as an issue because we want more women to have the confidence to make complaints. When you give more support to people, you end up with more complaints. I hope every woman who suffers at the hands of domestic violence – and it is not just physical violence; there are various aspects of what is considered to be domestic violence – is encouraged to seek the support to report it.
I listen to the community. At the rallies I attend in support of women, people tell me this is a men’s problem. It is not a women’s problem; it is a men’s problem, because most of the domestic violence in our community is perpetrated by men against women. It is about men understanding and not accepting what other men in their community do to their mothers, sisters, aunts, uncles and grandmothers. It is across the board. I am very grateful to those organisations and the volunteers who encourage this to be debated in our community.
The member for Nhulunbuy also spoke about alcohol-related issues. It is broader than that. Alcohol and other drugs are very important to this debate. It is not just alcohol, although alcohol features often in domestic violence issues.
The member for Nhulunbuy also spoke about the Banned Drinker Register. The Banned Drinker Register had enormous problems in how it worked. Again we are required to explain, for the benefit of the member for Nhulunbuy and those opposite, the failings of the Banned Drinker Register. I have spoken in this House before about it. I do not want to go too much into it, but if it has been raised here, then we should address it again. I have heard anecdotal evidence as I have walked and driven around the Top End and the Centre about what happened when the Banned Drinker Register came in.
I had my doubts about it as a former police officer. I worked with people who were addicted to alcohol and other drugs. I had my doubts about whether it would work but I was happy to sit and watch with interest. Some people were walking into shops with 12 drivers’ licences in their pocket, which I heard from someone who was waiting in line. In the licence pictures some had long hair, some short, some had beards, some did not, some had goatees. They would go into shops and say, ‘This is me’. There was a young person at the counter with a scanning machine. We were told the machines would take 183 different forms of identification, but it generally came down to two. At most premises they just wanted a passport or a driver’s licence, otherwise they would say, ‘Go to the back of the line and wait until the line goes’.
We became the laughing stock of international and interstate tourists, who almost needed a licence to buy alcohol. We knew people were getting around it. I can talk about going to camps and seeing them. I was getting information from various people around town and various suburban shopping centres. People would ring and say, ‘Pete, you have a problem here’. I would have a look. Violence inevitably flowed from people being able to get alcohol so easily and not be accountable.
People will argue about Alcohol Protection Orders, and that is probably a debate for a different day, but the sad things is people were still getting alcohol by getting other people to buy it; they were using other people’s driver’s licences or identification. It was a problem. People were selling alcohol to people and, of course, they then moved to other drugs because it was easier to get other drugs than alcohol in some instances.
We were not resolving the problem, just making the entire community pay for the behaviour of a few. Alcohol Protection Orders changed that and put the onus on the person. If people have an Alcohol Protection Order served on them and they want to drink, they run the risk, the same as if they were on the Banned Drinker Register. Mandatory alcohol treatment under the previous government’s Banned Drinker Register was optional. I have challenged people to stand up and say it was not. It was called mandatory alcohol treatment, but if you did not turn up for it you just stayed on the Banned Drinker Register. Where was the mandatory? People were still getting alcohol. You could still go into a hotel bar and drink under that system. If you are on an Alcohol Protection Order you are not allowed to be under the influence of alcohol.
If someone is on an Alcohol Protection Order, in a relationship and found to be under the influence, they are in trouble. However, if they realise they will be in trouble and control themselves, then to a certain extent you have achieved what you were trying to – that people consume alcohol responsibly and those who do not will pay the penalty.
I support my colleague’s statement. She said:
- Women make up more than 47% of the Territory’s population, and as a group they reflect many different cultures, backgrounds and experiences.
My support for the implementation of women’s policy is based on a number of things. For instance, as a community member and having been a police officer and seen the results of this, and having been involved in educating the community on domestic violence and its prevention as a school-based police officer, I want to see this policy implemented.
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Visitors
Visitors
Madam SPEAKER: Honourable members, I advise of the presence in the gallery of the NT Junior Track and Field Team, accompanied by Nicole Simmonds. Welcome to Parliament House. I hope you sprinted in here and can now have a rest. Enjoy your time.
Members: Hear, hear!
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Mr STYLES: It is great to see the team here.
I am a husband, a father and an elected representative for the Northern Territory electorate of Sanderson. They are some of the reasons I support this. I have three important portfolios in relation to community: Seniors; Youth; and Multicultural Affairs. This policy framework has four focus areas which encompass those three portfolios: women’s safety; economic security; health and wellbeing; and women’s leadership and participation.
The Giles government is committed to women’s safety and reducing the incidence of violence against women in the Northern Territory community, and seeks to increase the safety of all Territory women in their homes, workplaces and communities.
In recorded crime statistics for all assault victims in the Northern Territory during 2013, 64% of victims assaulted were females, and 87% of these victims knew the offender. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander females had a victimisation rate more than three times of that of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander male victims.
The minister, in her statement, said two women are killed in our country per week as a direct result of violence against them. What an appalling state of affairs. Any act of gender-based violence that results, or is likely to result, in physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or private life, is unacceptable.
The Northern Territory Domestic and Family Violence Reduction Strategy, titled Safety is Everyone’s Right, is an important document. Safety is Everyone’s Right is a joint initiative between the Northern Territory government and the Australian government.
This Safety is Everyone’s Right strategy identifies five key issues and five key action areas for change, including prevention, early intervention, protection and safety for victims, rebuilding the lives of victims and survivors, and perpetrators taking responsibility for their actions.
I refer to some points the minister spoke of in relation to the five key action areas for change. The Territory is a signatory to the National Plan to Reduce Violence against Women and their Children 2010-22. This national plan aims to achieve a significant and sustained reduction in the levels of violence against women and their children across Australia.
The national plan sets out six outcomes for all governments to deliver during the next 12 years. The first one is that communities are safe and free from violence. It is really important that we introduce policies that make it easier for police to have the time to follow up on issues. We have heard the opposition, in the last day or two, talk about paperless arrests. We are talking about the things we are doing to free up police time, such as the extra 120 police officers; we have taken police officers from behind desks and put them back on the street, where they can be most effective.
It is about making sure that women’s refuge centres get as much funding as we can give them. It is about making sure there is community involvement in this. I was talking to Amelia Stone from Dawn House last Saturday when I attended a domestic violence forum, instigated by the Indonesian Consul, Andre Siregar. He was looking around the community and we have had some chats about this problem, so he got his community - a substantial number of people from Indonesia who live in the Northern Territory – to run a forum about domestic violence. It was predominantly Muslim women at that forum. We had Melaleuca, Dawn House and people who assist victims of domestic violence enlighten women and men from that community as to what the laws and requirements are in Australia.
I was very interested, because at this workshop they also explained what the laws are in Indonesia. Indonesia brought in a raft of domestic violence laws in 2004. The consul made sure the people presenting from the Indonesian Consulate, including lawyers from the Indonesian Consulate, explained to their community - and there were people from other nationalities - what the rules are. It was a fantastic initiative they took so the women understood what was available in Indonesia under these domestic violence laws and all the things that can occur in and out of marriage, what is permitted and what is not permitted. What they have introduced in Indonesia is very similar to what we have here.
Our laws are not that different. In fact some of the laws in Indonesia in relation to supporting families are quite strong. Those women now understand, through the information given to them, that the police are here to support them and there are places they can go and get help.
I had a very good discussion with a number of service providers at that forum about what we can do in relation to some of these key issues that are national outcomes, like relationships are respectful, Indigenous communities are strengthened, services ...
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Visitors
Visitors
Madam SPEAKER: Honourable members, I advise of the presence in the gallery of senior students from Palmerston Senior College Special Education Centre, accompanied by Eleonore Simpson, Anna McRae, Elaine Williams and Rokiah Lacey. On behalf of honourable members, welcome to Parliament House. I hope you enjoy your time here.
Members: Hear, hear!
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Mr ELFERINK: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Pursuant to Standing Order 43, I move an extension of time for the minister.
Motion agreed to.
Mr STYLES: I thank the member for Port Darwin for the extension.
The fifth key issue on that list is, ‘justice responses are effective’, and number six is, ‘perpetrators stop their violence and are held to account’.
One of the things the Country Liberals government has done is about supporting community. The member for Nhulunbuy raised alcohol-related issues. We have alcohol accords, and I will try to speak about that more in this House. It is about local communities fixing local problems. The Neighbourhood Activity Centre, the pilot program being run at Sanderson Middle School, is just that. It is about community getting involved in resolving community issues. Looking at those six outcomes from the national strategy, we tick all those boxes. We have people coming from all over our community to support other people in the community.
When I am doorknocking I meet many migrant women. Unfortunately they suffer from the fact that they do not have strong English. They have other languages, and in some cases immigrants have two or three other languages and English is their third or fourth language. It concerns me when I knock on the door and they come to the door and do not speak much English so they get their children to interpret what I am saying.
As a former police officer it has always been a concern of mine that women in our community who do not have the best English language skills have to sometimes suffer in silence. For instance, let us talk about physical assault. If they are being physically assaulted at home and do not have family or a support network, or are not familiar with what the support networks are, and they have an eight- or 10-year-old daughter, how do they go to the police station and tell their daughter, ‘Daddy belted the living daylights out of me last night’? That is not right. The daughter has to be exposed to things that perhaps eight- and 10-year-old girls – or even sons – are not supposed to be exposed to.
The worst part about my role as a police officer was I found that there were women who were raped in marriage. If they do not have the English skills, then we have someone who says, ‘What do I do; how do I explain that to my daughter or my son when we go to the police station?’, because they are the only people they trust, as they do not know too many people. Unfortunately, some of these men use the fact that the women cannot speak English well.
The Neighbourhood Activity Centre is where people from Dawn House will be involved. We have a number of people in the community who have time on their hands and can volunteer to assist people. If people want to get a driver’s licence, they need to be able to speak English and understand signs and what is happening on the road. You have to be able to read the examination. Many of these women are stuck in situations they cannot get out of. I am not saying all of them are, but there are people who are.
This is only a small part of the things we will do at the Neighbourhood Activity Centre. It is about getting women to come there when school finishes. There will be activities for their children on the school grounds. It might be playing soccer or football, abseiling, photography or computing. There will be something for everyone, especially young people. We have the school of music there so there will be jam sessions and concerts. I am trying to get support for lighting on the ovals so young people can play into the night. They can have sports and other things to do as opposed to running around the streets in the dark.
These women can come. We have Foodbank, Coles and Woolworths on board. Food will be prepared in the kitchens that are part of the home economics program at Sanderson Middle School. Women will be able to bring their kids and give them a meal. They will not need to cook a meal. While their kids are running around the oval, these women can interact on a one-to-one basis with retired women from our community who have a need to give.
When I was a young person I did not quite understand the empty nest syndrome but now, in my adult life, I do. Women have a nurturing instinct that comes naturally to them. They want to give, to nurture people and make sure everyone in our community is fine. When their children have left home, there is an emptiness. I talk to the older women about that in my community and they say, ‘What is there for me to do?’ The Neighbourhood Activity Centre will match these people and give them something to do where they are seriously needed. The community needs them, so it fulfils a number of things.
We can have a migrant lady sit with a lady who has a lot to give and has some time. They can speak English one-to-one, which is quite often the best way to learn; you sit down and have a conversation. Suddenly this migrant lady is learning English and able to get a driver’s licence, which means she is not dependent on buses when she does not even understand how the ticketing system works because she does not have a command of English. There are many things you can do in that area to make sure those women are supported.
The other point is education. I recall very well when I was a school-based police officer. They are now called youth engagement officers, and, on a personal level, I do not forgive the previous Labor government for changing the roles of school-based police officers. We used to go into classrooms and teach a program called DARE. It was an excellent program; it still is. In 2001 we had the best school-based policing program in the world. It was deemed so not by me but by experts, like Terry O’Connell, who wrote the Real Justice program that is used all over the world these days. Terry came to the Northern Territory and said, ‘You people have the best in the world’.
Sadly we lost it. Just after the 2001 election, the former member for Nhulunbuy, Mr Stirling, wrote to the police. I read the letter and it was astounding. He was the Minister for Education and the minister for Police and he wrote a letter to himself and one to his department saying, ‘You should get rid of this’.
Debate suspended.
The Assembly suspended.
MOTION
Note Statement – Women’s Policy
Note Statement – Women’s Policy
Continued from earlier this day.
Mr STYLES (Business): Madam Speaker, I again congratulate my colleague, the member for Stuart, for bringing this forward.
The government faces a big job with our young population. It is a highly mobile population. To comply with the national outcomes, we need to get into that space. This policy will help us comply with the National Plan to Reduce Violence against Women and their Children 2010-22. I earlier spoke about the six outcomes: communities that are safe and free from violence; relationships that are respectful; Indigenous communities are strengthened; services that meet the needs of women and their children; justice responses that are effective; and perpetrators stop their violence and are held to account.
What we heard in Question Time, even today, and in debate over the last few days, gives people an understanding that the CLP government is taking initiatives and steps to work towards protecting women and children. It is achieving outcomes in each of those six points of the national plan.
It is appalling that in 2015 we are still in this space. This government is working on a range of issues to help protect women; however, it behoves all of us in this Chamber to join together and make sure we are all on the same page and are sending the same message to people in the community, that we work together to make sure whatever we can do – whatever rules, laws or regulations we need to make in this Chamber – has a very clear message in relation to violence against women. All 25 people in this Chamber need to send the message that it is not acceptable, that the community should not tolerate what is going on, and send the message to men that this is a men’s problem, and whilst men walk past these things occurring – if they accept that, it is not tolerable. I was happy to say at the public rally that it is appalling, and men who perpetrate this violence are simply cowards. I am happy to have that argument with anyone anywhere, anytime.
Mrs LAMBLEY (Araluen): Madam Speaker, I commend the Minister for Women’s Policy on her report to parliament, an update on what she has been doing over the last few years in her honoured roll as the Minister for Women’s Policy. There is a lot to this portfolio. I held it briefly when we first came to government and confess I got nowhere. I was snowed under with many other portfolio responsibilities – 15 portfolios in two-and-a-bit years. I really did not touch this one at all, so I am so pleased the member for Stuart has turned her attention completely to this very important portfolio.
I, like all members in this Chamber, feel passionate about this issue. It affects every one of us in the Northern Territory, and particularly in my town of Alice Springs. It was interesting to hear the members who have spoken on this ministerial statement talk about Alice Springs in particular. We have a high, unacceptable level of violence and discrimination against women in Central Australia, in the township of Alice Springs, and we have made some progress in trying to address this almost culturally endemic problem.
There are other aspects of this ministerial statement in which we have made much progress. With all the good intentions, many of these problems obviously do not have an easy solution. It is about cultural change over long periods of time. The most encouraging strategy that can be implemented is focusing on young people, and that is obvious. To change attitudes over long periods you have to work with children within the education system. The member for Nhulunbuy talked about the Girls at the Centre program, which I have had quite a bit to do with over the last five years since I have been a member of parliament. The program has been immensely successful. I have had the enormous privilege of seeing girls and young women go through that program. I have seen changes in those young people, which has been enormously fulfilling for me as an observer, and wonderful for them personally, and their families.
We have to start with young people and change the way we think about women, behaviour, aggression and where it is appropriate to be behave aggressively, perhaps on the sports field. There are spaces where it is socially acceptable to behave aggressively, violently if you like, and there are situations in which violence is completely unacceptable.
We know what those boundaries are. I hope the people in this Chamber know very clearly where those boundaries are, but for people who have come from a violent background or difficult circumstances, it is very difficult to break that cycle. Statements like the one we heard today give us all some hope that we are progressing as part of a national team to address the problem of domestic and family violence in the Territory and throughout the country.
I wondered, like the member for Nhulunbuy mentioned, what the exact progress has been over the last few years. I recall the ministerial statement given by the former Minister for Women’s Policy, the member for Namatjira. I remember when she gave her ministerial statement some years ago - and I glanced at that very quickly today before giving this speech - and there does not appear to be much difference. I think the next phase of any women’s policy has to start measuring how we are travelling. There are some statistics that definitely indicate progress. The improved level of domestic violence reporting in the community is a great achievement and can be directly attributed to mandatory reporting of domestic violence.
The POSIs, which the member for Sanderson was referring to - I like to call them temporary beat locations; it took me 12 months to remember TBLs and now I have to remember POSIs – have been incredibly successful in Alice Springs in reducing alcohol consumption and alcohol-related violence throughout the community. To remove POSIs, or TBLs, would be an enormous backward step in combatting violence against women in our community.
This paper has been written very concisely. It is a brush of what this government has been doing, but I would have liked to have seen a bit more substance in how we are going. I have engaged in a number of women’s events and activities in my community, particularly over the last 12 months as I seem to have a bit more time on my hands to spend in my community. I have had the thrill and delight of being involved in lots of activities and events relating to the progress of addressing issues women experience in our community and combatting inequality and violence against women.
One of the events I went to, which the Attorney-General was at, was the unveiling of the Tangentyere Safe Families Program in a town camp in Alice Springs, Hidden Valley. This was a great milestone for that town camp, and a great celebration of grassroots community development. The Tangentyere Council has been extremely proactive in recent times, empowering local communities and town camps to get on board, train and educate their people, increase awareness and put in place strategies that can combat violence in town camps. That was a really exciting day.
The Minister for Women’s Policy was meant to attend, I was told, but she did not turn up. The Attorney-General was definitely there, being a former member of parliament representing Central Australia. His attendance at that was valued by the people there. It was primarily an occasion for Aboriginal people involved in Tangentyere Council, who live in the town camps, to celebrate their own empowerment and action in fighting family violence.
The other organisation I have had a bit to do with of late is the Pioneer Women’s Hall of Fame in Alice Springs. It is one of two women’s museums in Australia. It is an extremely unique museum that sits in the old prison in the middle of town. It is an incredible facility that locals do not tend to visit. It is quite a popular tourist venue. The exhibits are spectacular.
I have recently become a life member of the Pioneer Women’s Hall of Fame. I went to its AGM recently. After I hang up my political shoes I will be spending a bit more time helping at the Pioneer Women’s Hall of Fame. It provides great interest to me personally. It is about the stories of women in Central Australia from all sorts of backgrounds, and women across the country who have done remarkable and extraordinary things.
One project they are embarking on is to engage local Arrernte women who grew up on pastoral properties, who came from the land. They are trying to collect stories from these Arrernte women about how they worked and survived living, growing up and spending their lives in the bush. That is a big project. They are working with local Aboriginal female identities – Elane Peckham is one of them – to engage these, mainly old, Aboriginal Arrernte ladies, encouraging them to put down their stories and history so it is not lost. That is an exciting program.
I encourage the government to come on board with the Pioneer Women’s Hall of Fame.
Mr Styles: Hear, hear!
Mrs LAMBLEY: I am glad to hear the ‘hear, hear!’ from the minister, because they struggle. Having attended their AGM the other day, I found that they are extremely frugal. Like a lot of non-government organisations they work so hard to survive, and survive they do. Much of their support is in-kind, and they need continuing, if not increased, government support to maintain doing their business as well as they have been. It is a remarkable group of people.
The history of this organisation is worth looking into. Molly Clark from Andado Station – it is a remarkable museum in Alice Springs, representing women. I also encourage the Minister for Women’s Policy, who I know has had considerable contact with the Women’s Hall of Fame, to open herself to giving it more financial assistance in the next financial year.
I have had a reasonable amount to do with the Alice Springs Women’s Shelter. I see Dale Wakefield, the extraordinary Director of the Alice Springs Women’s Shelter, fairly regularly around the traps. I keep abreast of what the shelter is up to. That organisation started off small, as they all do. It has certainly spread its wings over the last couple of years, providing an essential service, a safety house for women across Central Australia. Its work is remarkable. It has extended its services into a range of areas through the assistance of the Northern Territory and the federal governments, and they are extremely appreciative of that.
One point I will make – and I will not labour my contribution to this ministerial statement beyond the fact that I support the good work – is that many women throughout the Northern Territory are victims of domestic violence; there is no doubt. The statistics, which I do not have in front of me – other contributors to this debate have reeled them off – are staggering. We are overrepresented when it comes to domestic and family violence victims. It is beyond dispute that victims are primarily women. I have heard too many times men say, ‘Yes, but men can be victims of domestic violence too’. They can be and they are, but they make up probably less than 5% ...
Mr Wood: Seventeen.
Mrs LAMBLEY: Seventeen? It is very low in comparison to the number of women. That is not to minimise their experience and how that affects them, but we are talking about women’s policy this evening. When you consider that over 80% of victims of domestic and family violence are women, it is important, as a government and a parliament, to focus our resources and attention on that group of people. For women to come together and tell their stories of domestic violence is essential. Beyond that, it is therapeutic; it is good for them and the community to talk about what is happening.
The role of the Minister for Women’s Policy should be less about telling stories and more about action. I say that in a very respectful way. You have your own story, but as ministers of this parliament we have to move beyond telling our own stories. We need to implement action, measure that action and allocate resources to help women who are experiencing these terrible situations.
I move on to another aspect of policy the minister has in her statement, which is the section on women’s leadership and participation. I conclude by reminding the government it has let down the women of the Northern Territory. I remind Territorians that when we first came to government, in August 2012, six of the 16 CLP members of parliament were women. Women made up 40% of the CLP parliamentary wing.
Over the last three-and-a-half years we have seen four women leave. That represents 25% of the Country Liberal Party parliamentary wing. That is no coincidence. Actions speak louder than words. If we are to have a Minister for Women’s Policy, and a government that talks about women’s policy and such things as respecting women, their safety, health, economic safety, economic position in our community and being in leadership roles, you must reflect that within your government. This government is now down to two women; two of the remaining 12 members of the CLP parliamentary wing are women. That means only 17% of the parliamentary wing are women. This is an appalling statistic. Eighty-four per cent of the Independents in this parliament are women and 57% of Labor is made up of women. The government is letting itself down.
I will not labour this point. I have said enough over the last 12 months about this issue. It is very disappointing. The government needs to look within itself to work out what it is doing wrong because actions speak louder than words.
Ms ANDERSON (Namatjira): Madam Speaker, I thank the minister for bringing this statement forward. It is important with statements like this that this House gets to debate them and understand each other’s perspective, because we all have different views; we represent different areas of the Northern Territory but the problem is exactly the same.
Violence is not a black or white issue; it is not a Labor issue, or a CLP or an Independent issue. It is an issue that is across the board and one that we must, as a society, deal with. As families, individuals, women, men and a community, we must work it out. That is the only way we will be able to educate people to say no to the punches or kicks, or having the guns put to their head. It is the only time, through the talking process, that we will give tools to the younger generation to deal with this issue, to make sure they have the right tools to recognise when something is wrong and say no to that wrong.
The minister has been very outspoken in this area, saying to people that ‘no’ is an important word. We should not tolerate violence, and as a community we have to continuously use the word ‘no’ to violence of any form; mental or physical abuse, we must say no to. One of the things I can suggest, minister, is that we start talking to the Education minister to make sure those appropriate tools are given to young adolescents in upper primary schools in remote Aboriginal communities and the northern suburbs so these children are engaging early with the signs through the appropriate tools to recognise when something is wrong. They can have the opportunity to say no and can see it straightaway. They can see it coming and say, ‘I don’t like what I see; I don’t like what I hear. I can see the ugliness coming and I will say no to it.’
Minister, I congratulate you for bringing the statement forward because it gives us an opportunity, as individuals and as politicians representing our constituents, to talk about the appropriate tools and see if we are appropriately funding these organisations. Maybe we can do better things. Maybe we can duplicate programs that are working in other areas, like Tangentyere town camp – the women getting together and talking about issues in town camps.
If that is a good program then we need to make sure it is duplicated, through funds, in other remote Aboriginal communities. It is unreal to look at who the ministers have been in this area. It is amazing that four Indigenous members of parliament have been ministers – Marion Scrymgour, Malarndirri McCarthy, me, the member for Stuart, and we cannot forget the member for Araluen. We have had a staunch Attorney-General overarching this area and supporting it, and I think he will be the second man to support this statement.
It is really important that our men in this parliament contribute to this statement, because we cannot continually say to our Aboriginal men they have to stop doing things, or to anyone in the domestic violence arena, ‘You cannot do this’. Whether you contribute for five minutes, two minutes, 10 minutes or 20 minutes then get an extension, it is a contribution we have as politicians and as mothers, fathers, aunties, grandmothers, grandfathers and members of communities. It is very important, and it is very important that the Chief Minister comes back in and, as a leader of the Northern Territory, contributes to this statement so people can see that the number one in the Northern Territory is contributing to a most important policy affecting the whole of the Northern Territory.
Again, minister, I congratulate you for bringing this statement forward. We have had various statements. It would be nice to talk about these issues and make sure the word is getting out. The Attorney-General will jump up after me and he will take 20 minutes plus an extension because it is a subject he loves. He will talk about these issues to make sure that, as a man, he is supporting the minister’s statement.
I thank you, minister, for bringing this statement forward, and I thank you, Attorney-General, for always having your two bobs’ worth.
Mr WOOD (Nelson): Madam Speaker, I have a couple of things the Attorney-General might be interested in, as well as the Minister for Women’s Policy. I will try to be as positive as I can so I will start on a really positive note. It looks like four out of five elected councillors in Litchfield will be women. I say well done. Congratulations.
A member: Girl power.
Mr WOOD: I heard someone say, ‘Girl power’. I would say it might be electors’ power because they elected them on their merit, not because they were women necessarily. I congratulate them. One of those positions could still be up for grabs, simply because postal votes and preferences have not been counted, but it looks like four out of those five people will be women and the CEO will be a woman as well, so I congratulate them.
The minister spoke about the First Circles program. I wrote in my report when I came back from Canada that in the Northwest Territories they have an elders group that meets in parliament every two years. I think it something like the First Circles program, which I do not know a lot about, except that the minister has announced it in the statement today. This may be a good place to have that program.
I say that because we need to be reminded that 40% of the people in the Northern Territory are Aboriginal. They have a culture that needs to be recognised, and one way to recognise that is to bring this parliament into that kind of thinking. We should allow people, like those in the First Circles program, to come into this parliament to discuss issues which are relevant to Aboriginal people, and to make recommendations to parliament in relation to those discussions.
In some ways, not exactly parallel, having a youth parliament which does something similar – but having an elders or a First Circles program in this parliament would be a good thing. It would recognise the original peoples of the Northern Territory.
I hope the Attorney-General can look at and address - and I might have raised it with him already – that one of the programs the Northern Territory should be seriously looking at is setting up a family responsibilities commission. Family responsibilities commissions operate in Cape York and in Doomadgee, and they are empowering Aboriginal people in a way which is, to some extent, revolutionary, and gives them a sense of ownership of what is happening in their community.
I will read from the Department of Social Services website about the Family Responsibilities Commission:
- The Family Responsibilities Commission (FRC) is a key element of Cape York welfare reform. The FRC is an independent statutory body consisting of a legally qualified commissioner and six local commissioners for each of the four Cape York Welfare Reform communities (Aurukun, Coen, Mossman Gorge and Hope Vale) …
I will keep going from what is on the website:
- The FRC will help rebuild social norms in the four Cape York Welfare Reform communities by:
appointing respected Elders to positions of responsibility, thereby rebuilding local authority
articulating the original Indigenous community values of respect and responsibility
sending a consistent message about the expected behaviour of individuals, families and households
determining appropriate actions to address the dysfunctional behaviour of people in the community
where appropriate, referring individuals to community support services to assist them to address their behaviours
where appropriate, directing the person’s income to be managed by Centrelink to pay for the priority needs of their family.
People who can be referred to this commission are people who are on welfare payments and live in that area. People referred to the Family Responsibilities Commission are those who are not sending their children to school, but also may be people who are causing problems in the community with their behaviour, including domestic violence and not looking after their children.
I raise this because we have an opportunity to look at this scheme which, from all my discussions with the commissioner and looking at the reviews of this commission, is a worthwhile project that could fit the Northern Territory in certain circumstances.
The other reason I say that is because looking at the statistics for domestic violence in the Northern Territory – and I am reading off the Department of the Attorney-General and Justice’s website – Indigenous females represent 73% of domestic victims in the Northern Territory.
Mr Elferink: I will get you some exact numbers shortly.
Mr WOOD: Thank you. I presume that is 73% of the 82% of domestic violence victims in the Northern Territory. I am interested to hear the figures.
We know that Indigenous females are more likely to be victims of domestic violence, yet we have this option that has been running for a number of years in parts of Queensland, which I ask the government to seriously look at as a positive approach to giving Aboriginal people the power to change things.
I will not go through everything about the Family Responsibilities Commission today. I have this good article; it is a small booklet I have given the member for Arnhem to look at. There is an evaluation of how this program works. The cost of it, from what I have seen, is quite low when compared with the benefits. If I can get some time, I would like to travel to these communities and have a look. I do not want to be a sticky beak, but I am interested in talking to the commissioner. I have already done that, but it would be nice to talk to people on the ground and to the commissioners.
I see this as a way forward that the government should examine seriously, not only in relation to domestic violence, but in getting kids back to school and getting people off the grog. It gives the community an opportunity to control welfare payments, and that is the key to its success.
If you read the CVs of some of these people, you can see you are dealing with genuine people who want to make a difference. This is the CV for Doomadgee local commissioner Isabel Toby:
- Commissioner Isabel Toby (Waanyi/Gangalidda Clans) was born in Doomadgee and has lived most of her life there. Married to Christopher Toby, Isabel has three sons, one daughter and two grandchildren. Doomadgee Commissioner Toby has worked at Centrelink, the Doomadgee Shire Council, Job Futures and as a teacher aide. She is currently employed as a team leader to Family Support Workers at Save the Children. Having not had the opportunity to attend boarding school herself, Local Commissioner Toby is determined that her own children will not miss out, and has sent each of them to boarding school to further their education. She looks forward to their return each school holidays when they head out bush camping and fishing
There is another commissioner, Guy Douglas. It says at the end of his CV:
- Doomadgee Commissioner Douglas is a firm believer that education must begin at home from a young age to form a strong foundation for the future.
I am just reading a bit there. There is another one here from commissioner Elaine Cairns:
- She has also been involved with the Indigenous Women’s Forum since 2004. In her capacity with the Forum she has travelled across Australia taking a stand against domestic violence towards Aboriginal women. Her view that strong Indigenous women can make a difference to the communities in which they live drives her ambition to contribute to building a better future for Doomadgee’s children.
There are eight commissioners. All are local commissioners working with the coordinator to help the community and be part of the decision-making of the community to get people off welfare, reduce domestic violence, reduce alcohol abuse and get kids back to school. I cannot emphasise this strongly enough; if this is working in Queensland, and I am not saying it will match exactly what happens in the Northern Territory, we should be looking at it as a model for the Northern Territory.
I listened to the member for Araluen talk about how domestic violence is a major problem in the Northern Territory and that it predominantly affects women. The Attorney-General said he might have some stats for me. When I took the stats from the website I presumed that if 83% of victims in the Northern Territory are women, then 17% are men. It is not easy to work from stats; they get abused in this place at times. My understanding from the statistics from the Department of the Attorney-General and Justice for Northern Territory assaults for the September quarter 2015 is that there were 947 domestic violence offences. Half of those involved alcohol. Around 170 of those victims would have been men and the remaining 777 women.
I understand fully that the majority of people affected by domestic violence are women, but the Domestic and Family Violence Reduction Strategy talks about safety as a fundamental human right:
- Everyone – regardless of their age, gender, sexual orientation, race, culture, disability, religious and spiritual belief or location – has a right to be safe and live in a society that is free from violence.
We have to put more emphasis on violence in general. Where does that violence come from before it enters the family? I have been to communities and seen women fight brutally. It is probably caused by jealousy, and men. I have seen kids fight at school. White Ribbon Day should be expanded to say we do not accept violence as a way to solve our problems. We are picking one section, which is a very serious and important part of violence. We do not want women bashed at home but we do not want violence prevention to be limited to just that. I agree with the values and principles the government has put forward; we all have a right to be safe and live in a society that is free from violence. We need to emphasise that. The minister is also the Minister for Men’s Policy, and that applies just as much to women’s policy as men’s policy.
Looking at these stats, I think we still shy away from the reality that half – I will give you the figures in regard to domestic violence. The September 2015 figures state that 190 of those incidents involved alcohol. Some 98 did not and in 44 cases it is not known. It gets to around 45-50% of those figures for the Northern Territory. It varies; it is sometimes higher than that. The March 2015 figures were 202 assaults that included alcohol, against a total of 356.
We have a major problem with alcohol in our society but we tend to shy away from it. It is such a part of our society that we tend to say, ‘No, we are not going to touch it’. We might tinker with it. It was good to see recently that the Western Warriors, the Western Australian cricket team, have a no-alcohol logo on their jerseys. That is refreshing. The reality, though, is that alcohol is big money for the government, and not just this government but governments in general. The alcohol industry is very powerful. When Rosie Batty spoke at the Convention Centre recently I asked if she was at the launch of a website recognising the role alcohol plays. I asked if she believed alcohol, if not the cause, is a conduit to the reason we have so much violence, and she said she did. We have the figures here. This is not broken down into Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people, but I have no doubt that many Aboriginal street bashings involve alcohol. You do not need stats; you just see it. Sometimes the victim is also affected, which makes it just as bad.
I do not believe we can say no more violence if we do not address the proper use of alcohol in our society. I regret that we do not have that old program the government had, the living with alcohol scheme.
Mr Elferink: Unfortunately the High Court …
Mr WOOD: I realise that, but it was money going from the alcohol industry directly into a campaign which was trying to turn things around. That is something the government should seriously look at bringing back.
We do not just have domestic violence. Looking at the figures, there were 235 assaults in the Northern Territory in September 2015 that did not involve domestic violence. That is about 100 fewer than the domestic violence incidents, but it adds up to 567 assaults. If you put those together, in 314 cases alcohol was involved. Does that not show statistically we have a problem in society that is not only about domestic violence? It is about violence in general and the abuse of alcohol and shows that a lot of violence is related to alcohol.
More than 70% of sentenced prisoners in the Northern Territory have one or more convictions for domestic violence-related offences. It is a problem we cannot shy away from, and one that is costing our society lots from an economic point of view. How many people are in prison because of this? How many families have broken up? How much is it costing for carers to look after children because families cannot look after them? These social problems are not easy to fix, but neither should we shy away from the fact that, looking at the stats, violence is a problem in our society full stop, and alcohol abuse is a problem in our society full stop. If we do not work towards trying to turn those things around – not just one section – and say these are issues our society has to take responsibility for, then we are only tinkering.
I thank the minister for her statement. It gives us the opportunity to talk about women’s policy. I have tried to put some good sides to it. I have tried to give some positive ways we can approach this through a family responsibilities commission, and I have also tried to say that violence against women cannot be tolerated. However, we must respect that there are some men – at least 17%, looking at the figures – affected by domestic violence. We must also recognise that violence is not just associated with domestic violence. The figures show it is something in our society that we need to get rid of.
I thank the minister for her statement, and I hope that was a positive contribution to what she had to say.
Mr ELFERINK (Attorney-General and Justice): Madam Speaker, I rise to respond to a number of members. I thank the minister for her statement and for bringing it here today, and I thank the member for Namatjira for her acknowledgement of the efforts made.
One of the greatest things I did when I was studying my first degree was ignore reading a course syllabus and simply take a course on the basis of the course title. Being a good boy, I like military history and those types of things. I was doing a history and political science major in my arts degree, and there was this a wonderful unit called Courtesans, Concubines and Conquests. I thought, ‘You beauty, that sounds like a good military history course. I will do that.’ You can imagine my dismay and horror upon receiving the course material to find that is was actually the study of feminism, particularly during the second wave of feminism in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Being a good boy, I thought, ‘What have I let myself in for?’
The curious thing is that of all the courses I remember doing during my arts degree, this is the one I remember the name of. It provided me with a series of insights that have remained with me to this day. It was a study of feminist philosophy, essentially, of that period, and the three main schools of feminism during that time. It was interesting to note that it was not long before you stopped talking about feminist issues when you read the course material and the conversation very quickly drifted to power relationships, placed in the context of gender but, nevertheless, the power relationships, for the purposes of the course, between men and women.
Noted philosophers were referred to on a number of occasions who were not particularly noted for their feminist philosophy but their philosophy of the nature of the relationships of power between people. Essentially, the three schools broke up as follows: the Marxist feminist school; the radical feminist school; and the liberal feminist school. Each set of arguments has its own merits.
Marxist feminism, to put a sweeping generalisation over it, basically saw feminism through the lens of the division of labour, particularly in the domestic environment, where the labour of the woman was bought cheaply. The Marxist criticism of that division of labour was scathing. You hear that sort of philosophy in observations where people continue to describe what domestic labour is worth, so there is merit to the argument and the notion.
Radical feminism saw the relationship between men and women largely in sexually oppressive terms and, frankly, there was a number of observations made by the feminist writers of that school which also had merit and were worth describing.
Liberal feminism, by its very name, suggests the notion that the liberal feminist school was generally concerned with the acknowledgement that there was a separation, in the same way Marxist and radical feminists made observations, but argued that in terms of solutions, the way forward was to make sure there were economic liberties given which would enable women to stand separately and on their own two feet. This is the school of feminism that generally drove the notion of equal pay, arguments I am old enough to remember, and I suspect maybe one or two other members in this Chamber may remember.
The upshot was, from my world view, the relationship between men and women was never the same after I did that course. I am grateful to this day that the lecturer had, I suspect, deliberately tweaked the title of the course to attract unsuspecting men like me into doing it, because there were many revelations in the journey.
The reason I make any comment in relation to this is that I want to return to the philosophical construct around liberal feminism and how it has influenced my view on how we should deal with certain matters. Let me then wind the clock forward a couple of years to when I was a young police officer on patrol in the Ludmilla area. We were called to a side street not far from the controversial Richardson Park. When we arrived, there was a man and a woman in the middle of the street. The man had the woman by the throat, so it was obviously of concern. Moreover, the woman was naked but for her underwear. He had forced her to her knees and was punching her about the head with blows reminiscent of a rugby field, not of a domestic relationship. He beat her around the head on a number of occasions, and you could imagine the two young police officers seeing this said, ‘Okay, cool. We are going deal with this right now.’ So we did.
I remember jumping out of the police car and placing the gentleman under arrest, putting him in the back of a police car, then taking the lady back to her house. He was erupting with rage in the back of the cage, kicking the cage and doing God knows what else, obviously causing her concern. We wanted to get an assault complaint from her because it was a walk-up start for an assault. Even in those days it was quite possible for a woman to complain of being assaulted by her husband. The notion that there was no such thing as assault or sexual assault in marriage has long been left behind.
Nevertheless, that was the only weapon we had. I will never forget this woman, by virtue of the fact she was such a crushed spirit, so broken in soul that her mind was consumed with one thing and one thing only: do nothing. ‘Never do anything to upset my husband because of the consequences that flow.’ That was so far entrenched in her mind that the very notion of him remaining in the back of the cage was causing her distress, let alone standing up in court and saying, ‘This is what this man did to me’.
We returned to the police station and were left with the quandary of having this man in custody and not being able to do anything about him beyond the summary offence of disorderly behaviour in a public place. If he had been beating her about the head in the bedroom of the house and we had knocked on the door, after separating the two and her refusal to do anything about it, the only option that would have been available to us at the time was to tell both parties to keep the peace. In other words, ‘If you are going to hurt your wife, please do it quietly. You are disturbing the neighbours.’ That is hardly a satisfactory outcome. Because this man was beating his wife about the head in the middle of the street, we at least were able to charge him with disorderly behaviour.
You can well imagine that the explanatory note we had to put on the prcis of events was longer than the prcis of events itself because of the obvious questions the magistrate would ask in assault complaints. But in those days, unless an assault complaint was filed, there was no way to proceed with the matter. The magistrate, thank goodness, saw through the situation and made critical comments about policy at the time. I think he put this man in gaol for a number of months simply to buy some time for his wife. What happened to that couple I do not know. I hope they found peace, either apart or together. That was an incident which occurred close on 30 years ago which is scorched into my memory.
As time passed in my years in the police force, I went to many domestic violence disputes, many of them grossly violent. When I say grossly violent I mean violent in ways that if I was to describe them to the members of this House, it would cause them distress. So I will keep my comments to generalities. But it demonstrated to me that there were problems in relation to how the state responded.
Long before I left the police force, the first of the domestic violence-type of intervention powers came into effect. It was not particularly strong, but it was a vehicle by which, in circumstances similar to the ones I just described, the police were able to arrest and then seek an order preventing the husband or spouse – generally speaking, the husband – going back and beating up on the wife. If he went back and beat up on the wife then he committed the criminal offence of breaching the order.
That, of course, was still unsatisfactory, but it was better than nothing. Essentially, it was a civil order. There was no criminal history that attached itself at all to a domestic order. In fact, there is not one today. It is a civil order; it is not something the criminal courts look at.
Upon entering parliament and becoming the Attorney-General, I wanted to use those experiences to guide my and the government’s thinking in relation to what we should do. There are a number of things that have to be done. The first is that I genuinely believe we must hold the perpetrators of violence responsible for their conduct. Let us stop making excuses for them. Yet I heard the member for Nhulunbuy today do exactly that. ‘It is a therapeutic response that we need.’ I understand what she is saying, but, before you know it, that argument flows into the other argument that these people are not really responsible. It is somehow somebody else’s or society’s fault that this person is beating their wife. I cannot countenance such an argument.
We, as a society, are allowed to say to individuals in the community, ‘You cannot perpetrate violence against another person’. We declare that to be a crime. When a person is found guilty of that crime, they go to gaol. That is why we made violent crimes, especially those that engendered bodily harm, gaolable offences as a matter of mandatory course, unless there was some exceptional circumstance to prevent that person from going to gaol. It is about holding individuals accountable.
I heard the member for Nelson talking about all these people going to gaol. Too bloody right they are. I have no qualms or compunction about putting violent people in gaol, particularly, but not exclusively, if they commit violent acts in the home. I note that the member for Nelson is in the room right now and is listening, so I will give him those numbers I promised in relation to domestic violence.
For 2014-15, Indigenous domestic violence victims were: male, 634; and female, 2971, making a total of 3605 Indigenous victims of domestic violence assault. Of non-Indigenous victims, 147 were male and 331 were female, making a total of 478. The status not recorded figures were 29 male and 80 female, making a total of 109. It is clear that, unfortunately, as usual, Aboriginal people are overrepresented in nearly every negative set of indicators we have in this community.
I hear what the member was saying in relation to alcohol. I will return to that shortly. I will not countenance the argument that just because a perpetrator is an Aboriginal person they should be treated differently under the law, because a person who is a victim, whether they are Aboriginal or not, should also receive similar treatment under the law. It is for this reason that, upon becoming the Attorney-General, I became quite strident in the notion that every report of domestic violence received by police was to be treated as a crime and a criminal prosecution for assault was to be pursued to its logical conclusion. That was because I believe violence is a crime, whether it occurs in the street or the lounge room, to a male or a female, an Aboriginal person or a person of another racial descent. It does not matter.
I genuinely believe that people should be treated equally before the law and victims should equally receive the protections they deserve from the state. If that means pursuing the perpetrators more aggressively, then so be it. That is what we have done. That pushed up the rate of domestic violence-related assaults being reported to police because I said to the police and government, and government concurred, that we needed to find out what the reality of the problem was.
If you think this was not happening prior to the CLP coming to government you are dead wrong. The violence has always been there. The member for Nelson described it. All we have done, working with the member for Stuart, who has endorsed everything we have done, is look, and now we can start to describe the reality of the problem.
The next question is what is the response to that? We must have a response. It is one thing to say, ‘I’m going to lock you up and put you in gaol’, but what do we do for the family? The Safety is Everyone’s Right policy has been rolled out because it gives us an opportunity to tailor-make the response surrounding the victim and the victim’s family, which includes bringing services, where necessary, to the perpetrator. That is being rolled out as a successful policy and has resulted in a 9% reduction in domestic violence in the most recent set of numbers I have – from September last year to September this year.
We have the base right. We now know what the basis was because we dealt with every incident of domestic violence as a crime. That had never been established in the Northern Territory. Having established that we then created a policy called Safety is Everyone’s Right, and we are now starting to see the effect of that.
Whilst 9% represents hundreds of victims, which means there are now hundreds of women who have not had their faces bashed in or their bones broken, which is heartening, it is still only 9%.
What concerns me is if there is a change of government all this will be unbolted and thrown on the scrap heap. We will go back to, ‘Every perpetrator is a victim and the BDR will fix everything’. It does not make for sound policy settings.
I hear what the member for Nelson says in relation to the management of alcohol, but you still cannot have this conversation in its entirety unless you also look at some of the other drivers: unemployment, particularly in remote and regional areas, and passive welfare. I have always been a strident critic of the Land Rights Act and continue to be, not because I am against land rights but because the nature and structure of that act makes development of remote and regional areas extraordinarily difficult, particularly when land councils are becoming increasingly pedestrian in their approach.
I will give you a classic example. I have been working my tail off trying to settle bunch of native title issues. I recently appeared in court in relation to a settlement of a polygon claim only to listen to Justice Mansfield, the native title commissioner, sitting as a judge in the Federal Court, criticising the land council and calling its work ‘disgraceful’ because of the lack of effort in relation to resolving native title issues.
I know that native title is not land rights, but the Land Rights Act creates the land councils which carry native title responsibility. The tardiness we are seeing in the land councils’ response is of such grave concern to me because the longer they spend mucking about with this stuff, the longer it will be before you see jobs, wealth and a future being created which means people have greater control over their lives.
This is the thinking behind the Sentenced to a Job program. I understand the member for Nhulunbuy is saying we must have therapy, and I do not really agree with it because of the way it will become manifest; I get the notion, but the manifestation of it would be flawed. The answer from the Labor Party is get rid of things like Sentenced to a Job, a process which gives people a sense of dignity because they have some worth and a sense of direction in life …
Mrs PRICE: A point of order, Mr Acting Deputy Speaker! I seek an extension of time for the minister, pursuant to Standing Order 43.
Motion agreed to.
Mr ELFERINK: … and what we will end up seeing under a Labor government is the idea that you do not do jobs; you do therapy. ‘We will step away from this idea, roll back Sentenced to a Job and get rid of it because it gives us a point of difference with the Country Liberals government, and introduce therapy so you will be unemployed and in gaol, and we will get a psychiatrist to you.’
A job will do more for a person’s self-esteem than Gestalt therapy ever will. People yelling at an empty chair, or whatever therapy the member for Nhulunbuy is advocating, will not replace work. The members opposite still cling to this unremitting attitude that somehow you can fix other people’s lives for them. That is writ large in their policy settings; it is writ large in their utterances in this House, and it is not a philosophical world view they can effectively abandon because it is not one they have ever tried to reconcile. You cannot fix other people’s lives for them. You can create an environment in which that person may choose to fix their life for themselves. Other than that, what you are advocating for is welfare.
If you want to see the success of welfare in our community in whatever form it takes, whether the government is providing housing, free money, free healthcare or free this or free that, it means the logic or rationale behind it is that we can do this for you.
That is the same condescending thinking which saw history in this country say Aboriginal people had no future. ‘We will just keep them comfortable whilst they die out.’ It never happened. It is the same condescending thinking of the missions, which went into these places and said, ‘We can do things for Aboriginal people and bring them into the 20th century under the Christian model’. At least they said to Aboriginal people on those missions, ‘We still expect you to make a contribution to the life you live’.
We see an extension of this notion now in the policies advocated by the members opposite, that we can do this thing for you and if we do, one day you will get out of bed and do it for yourself. No they will not. You will create reliance and dependence, which is why I bridle at the idea of rolling up Sentenced to a Job and replacing it with a therapeutic model. The moment you start to do that, you have fulfilled the assumption that you know best for other people. Sentenced to a Job does not tell a person to do anything. It says to a person, ‘Go out and get some work and, by the way, if you discover you have to pay rent for your cell and make contributions to victims along the way, you will discover that you make a contribution and you are worth something’.
That is the fundamental difference between the philosophy of members on this side of the House and members on that side of the House, because they are social engineers. They think they can socially engineer their way out of problems, and they will apply that logic to issues, including women’s issues. They are adherents of the Marxist school of feminism and the radical school of feminism. They will not countenance the idea that a woman, through the liberal school of feminism, can stand up on her own two feet and be counted. They will say, ‘I am a strong woman’. I am glad people feel they can identify as strong women, but I would prefer the utterance to be, ‘I am a strong person’, because in a world where we treat people equally, surely we should be advocating for strong people, irrespective of their backgrounds or genders.
The other thing that concerns me is the nebulous way in which the member for Nhulunbuy states these things. She made comments in relation to certain cultures not allowing women the liberties and freedoms she would hope for. Member for Nhulunbuy, identify which cultures you are talking about. Are you talking about Islam? Is Islam offensive to you? If that is the case, describe it and call it out for what it is. Is it some Aboriginal cultures? We all know in this House that Aboriginal culture is not one thing; it is a multiple of different cultures and languages. If that is what you are talking about, say it. Is it Christianity? Is it a Christian sect that you think is culturally inappropriate? Maybe it is a nation; so is it Indians, Pakistanis or Japanese? If you describe these things, start to call them out for what they are, because once you say, ‘I think this or that culture is wrong in relation to the way they treat women’, then you can take the next logical step by saying, ‘I believe the rights of women have greater ascendency then cultural rights’. That is what I believe. I would prefer to live in a society where an individual is measured by their conduct and their capacity to be free so they can become the best they possibly can be. If any cultural mores prevents that from occurring, then I am against it.
If it becomes manifest in Islam, then I would simply say I prefer women be free in our society rather than being limited by any Islamic rules, equally so with any fundamentalist Christian ideology. The philosophy of liberty and freedom must have ascendency over those things that would limit freedom and liberty.
I will not walk on egg shells around it because when I see it, if I see it become manifest in a particular way, such as the way the Taliban practices Islam, then I find what happens to women in that society utterly repugnant, equally with the Islamic state, the caliphate, which sees women as tradeable commodities.
Those are the things we should be railing against as a nation, as a culture in our own right. The member for Nhulunbuy walks on egg shells saying, ‘There might be certain cultural practices that I find objectionable’. Well, stand up and say what they are. Call them out for what they are! Use the strength you claim to have as a woman, that I would ascribe to you as an individual, and say, ‘I do not like what I see’, in whatever culture it is. Do not fudge your way around it. Call out the culture and be critical of it, as I have just done.
That is what leadership and governance is about, because other than that all you are doing is fluffing around the edges and your answer to any issue going forward, be it criminal or whatever, is to have a group hug and consult on it. I did not consult broadly on the legislation which puts violent people in gaol. I will go out on a limb here and believe that most people in this House – certainly the CLP members of this House – believe that violent people belong in gaol. You do not have to consult on that because most punters out there think violent people should be in gaol. The moment you make a decision like that, be prepared to back yourself. Say, ‘I believe this to be right’. There are certain lines you draw in the sand and say, ‘This is what I stand for’.
I hear members opposite say, ‘There are certain cultures that limit women’s rights’. Call them out and tell us which cultures that limit women’s rights you find so offensive! I will probably be inclined to agree with you if you made the argument properly. That is the difference between governing and sitting in the bleachers and criticising.
This minister governs. She makes decisions and tough calls. I know some of the things she says will be confronting to the men in her life, including the men in her family. She does so at her own peril and risk, and the members for Namatjira and Arnhem equally so. There is real risk carried by the member for Stuart when she criticises her own culture. But she has the clarity of vision to simply say that women’s rights, in a liberal democracy – something she fundamentally supports – must take precedence over certain cultural rights. It is a tough call for her to make, considering her background and the environment in which she works. But do you know what? It is what makes a person tough and strong.
Madam Speaker, it is for that reason I completely endorse what the minister had to say here today, and I place on the record my admiration for her ongoing courage to call it as she sees it.
Ms LAWRIE (Karama): Madam Speaker, I contribute to the debate as a proudly strong woman. A lot of nonsense was just spoken by the member for Port Darwin. It is a shame he wants to play pathetic politics and twist the words of members of this House rather than focus on core issues affecting and confronting women across the Northern Territory. But so be it. That is his form. He will continue to do that. He will continue to shout and act in a thuggish and bullying way towards women of this House.
I thank the minister for bringing the statement to the House, given it is an opportunity to talk about issues affecting women of the Northern Territory. My response will go across the age groups and demographics to some extent. One thing that continues to remain a barrier to women fully participating in our economy is the high cost of childcare. Many women have to take time out of the workforce to have babies. Entering the workforce is a matter of making childcare arrangements. That is the real crux of the problem; we cannot have our babies at our workplace with us. Some of us manage to do so for a short period of time when we have jobs such as these where we have the flexibility to have our babies with us and people caring for them while we are in meetings or, for example, in this Chamber.
But the reality for most women in the Territory who have taken on motherhood, which is an incredibly special and beautiful role, is that re-entering the workforce is an economic imperative. They need to contribute to the realities of life by having a wage to put food on the table and pay the rent or mortgage. That may be as a single parent or a family household where they have relied on two incomes and cannot afford to drop that second income for a great period of time. Maternity leave does not cut it for a lengthy period of time. Going down to half salary puts an incredible financial burden on many households. The return to work is inevitable. Many of us put it off for as long as we can, if we can. There are, though, many women who are confronted with the harsh reality that they have to get back to work as quickly as possible.
If you have one, two or, sometimes, three little ones of childcare age, basically you are working to pay childcare. Whilst childcare is seen predominantly as a Commonwealth responsibility, there is much that can be done at state or territory level to assist women to have childcare options. One of the things that concerns me is – and it is something I worked on for quite a while in government – is the hands-off approach taken to assisting and coordinating support for not-for-profit childcare centres. Our community sector, in providing childcare, is incredibly important because it does its utmost to keep childcare prices down and make it more affordable for women.
I urge the government to pick up the ball on the work instigated when I was in government to ensure a coordinated approach to supporting not-for-profit community-based childcare centres. That is not the only answer, though. Often women have family daycare providers, members of their family who step in to support them or private providers. I know many professional women who have now gone down the path of au pairs, for example.
At the end of the day, a focus within women’s policy on what innovation and lobbying can occur to ensure childcare is more affordable would greatly benefit many women. The reality is that we have to go back to work to support our families.
The other issue I raise is the safety of young women. I am speaking as the member for Karama. I am not trying to address issues confronting young women right across the Territory. As the member for Karama, I am aware of many young women who are going to the nightclub district of Darwin. They do that to socialise. It is what they go through from age 18 onwards. The frequency of that starts to ebb once they get settled in a permanent relationship and take on responsibilities. There are, however, young single women frequently going to the nightclub district of Darwin.
Something that concerned me when I was Minister for Alcohol Policy, and continues to concern me, is the lack of safe and reliable transport home when these venues close. The main venues close around the same time, so logistically it is not mission impossible. I am a firm believer, which is why I struck agreements when I was the Transport minister and Minister for Alcohol Policy, in the need for safe and affordable transport home. It is a women’s issue which particularly affects our young women because at 3 am, even though you are in a group of young women, you do not feel particularly safe exiting the nightclub district. You are vying with a lot of other people to get a taxi home. We do not have a sufficient number of taxis on the street when nightclubs are starting to empty to be able to get people home. They spend hours sometimes, at minimum half an hour, searching for a means to get home. That is something we could address with some effort.
The Office of Women’s Policy has the opportunity to work across the silos of government and pull people together into think tanks. The Christmas Express we had, in a collaborative funding arrangement with the Hotels Association, was useful in running subsidised transport to Palmerston and Casuarina, providing, predominantly, young Territorians with a safe and affordable means of getting home. This is a women’s issue, Minister for Women’s Policy. I know it crosses other portfolios, but the beauty of having a Minister for Women’s Policy is it gives you a chance to cut across the silos of government and address real and confronting issues.
These are issues of women’s safety. That is why I am raising it, and I am pretty lucky. The young women I know can rely on a set of parents they call and one of us will step up to the plate when they cannot get transport home. But I know – I see it when I pick up young women to give them a lift home – that plenty of young women do not have that option.
It is an unsafe environment and they need an option for transport home. It is a bit of a task. It can be done, but it takes government will and focus to pull it together. You have an opportunity with the Christmas/New Year period coming up. It is a period of festivities. I would like to hear, minister, whether or not there are plans by the government to reinstate the Christmas/New Year express bus transport system to Casuarina and Palmerston that existed when I was the minister. I look forward to hearing your response on that in the wrap.
Another issue I feel is often too much of a political football is the need for additional funding and support for shelter for women. We had a pretty long rave from the Leader of Government Business about violence. I find it somewhat despicable for him to think there is anyone in this Chamber, regardless of their political ideology, who does not want to see the perpetrators of violence locked up. Putting those slurs aside, the reality is that women, sadly, tragically, are often the victims of violence. Fleeing violent situations is a really difficult situation for many women because they often do not have somewhere to flee to.
Our women’s shelters are full, and are regularly full. You can talk to them about their turn-away statistics. As well as our women’s shelters work – I acknowledge the good work being done on a daily basis by Dawn House and by DAIWS, the Darwin Aboriginal and Islander Women’s Shelter, both of which I have the utmost respect for – the reality is there are just not enough beds for the women needing support and shelter. Often with the women, as we know, come the children. Minister, a fair and frank analysis of the demand in the sector needs to be done again. I would like to see both major parties going into the 2016 election with significant and identified new funding for women’s shelters across the Territory, but I put the plea out on behalf of the women I represent in Karama and Malak to make sure the Darwin shelter crisis burden is eased.
Once you are in a shelter, you are the lucky one and you are getting great support, but then you need to find housing. Much of the work we do as local members, especially in my area, is to provide advocacy on behalf of people trying to find appropriate shelter, often within the public housing system. I have grave concerns – I know you are also the Minister for Housing, which is why I raise this as a women’s issue – about the reduction in the public housing stock and the blowout in the waiting times, particularly waiting times for the most urgent housing. If you are given the status to be on the urgent housing list – and I am probably using the wrong terminology there, my apologies – you wait for years. To get on that list, a person has to be homeless. Often they will have multiple issues in their life, chronic health issues for example, or they are couch surfing, staying with relatives or moving around constantly because you cannot overstay in any one place. They are homeless and on a waiting list for years.
When we have a society which accepts that, I do not think we are doing enough. I would like to see the land that should have been set aside for public housing in the suburbs of Johnston and Zuccoli, with the new suburb of Mitchell that will come on at some stage, when you stop playing politics with land release and get down to the meaty work. I want to see a return to the policy instigated by Labor of a 15% slice of that land set aside for affordable and public housing. You need to go on a public housing build, minister, if you are to provide shelter options to women and their children. This is a crucial issue that confronts many women.
Sadly and tragically, there are women living on the fringes of our suburban areas in and around Darwin who do not have access to shelter. I alert police when I meet with them to areas I see of women and children – numbers are growing in what I call the long grass. We used to work very closely, when we were in government, with the non-government organisations to gather information on women and children and where they were in regard to homelessness situations in and around the urban environments. I do not know if that data gathering still occurs. I do not know if the collaborative approach with the non-government organisations still occurs. I suspect it does not because of the cuts I have seen to the non-government organisations by the CLP government.
If you want to make a difference in someone’s life, give them sanctuary and shelter. Rather than pretending the issue does not exist and playing politics with it, confront it in a real sense and get a collaborative working approach for shelter options. Get the people on the ground from the non-government organisations working side by side with government agencies to assess the extent of homelessness, who is out there and where housing options could be provided for these people.
They are some issues I wanted to put into this debate. They are not meant as a criticism; they are meant to flag concerns I have, as an elected member of this parliament, about issues which are growing in depth and breadth rather than being increasingly resolved.
In the last part of my contribution I raise the issue of the value of elders in our society. There are many women I have the pleasure of working for and alongside who are above the age of 60. They are concerned with the changes the government has made to the Pensioner and Carer Concession Scheme. Women in the Territory, from the age of 60, used to be entitled to that scheme. Now, if you are a recipient of Newstart because the Commonwealth has shifted the pension age to 65, you are locked out of access to the Pensioner and Carer Concession Scheme.
I have contacted the government minister in regard to this issue. It is a very real issue for quite a few of our women who basically have five years without access to the concessions they need to meet the cost of living in the Northern Territory. Minister, I hope you have that on your radar and are working effectively to make sure the changes the CLP put in place which have disenfranchised women aged 60 to 65 in the Territory are changed, and those women on Newstart between the ages of 60 and 65, who have almost Buckley’s of getting a job, are not disenfranchised by the changes you put in place. I sincerely hope you make the necessary changes to the scheme to ensure women on Newstart who meet the Commonwealth pension entitlements are able to access the Pensioner and Carer Concession Scheme’s full concessions.
I acknowledge the work done by the many senior women in our community who are the volunteers, the lifeblood, of our non-government organisations and charities. Without these women, who I believe are the true leaders in our society, who put in hours a week of volunteer work, who literally run the organisations, we would be a far poorer society.
Minister, there are volunteer awards and recognition of women awards, but is there some way we can create a special category event that recognises retired women who do voluntary work in our community? That may be across the charitable organisations, voluntary work at our schools, taking care of the grandkids so their children can go to work because they cannot afford childcare, or the generation of grandmothers who are raising their grandchildren because their children are incapable of raising them. Is there something we can create to recognise the invaluable work being done by women aged 60 and above across our communities in the many different facets that literally become the lifeblood of our community? I take this opportunity to make that suggestion.
I finish by thanking the member for Nelson for raising the Family Responsibilities Commission. It is a robust model. We looked very closely at it when we were in government. Part of the work I did in creating the Alcohol and Other Drugs Tribunal – with the makeup and the powers given to it, it was to operate as a Territory version of the FRC. I said to the stakeholders at the time that I wanted to see it operate for a year or so and then go back to the stakeholders to talk to them about whether or not that could become a broader FRC-style operation. That clearly came to a crunching end with the change of government, but it is something very worthy and worthwhile considering.
Mr Deputy Speaker, I thank the minister for bringing the statement to the House.
Mrs PRICE (Women’s Policy): Mr Deputy Speaker, I thank the member for Nhulunbuy for her contribution to the statement on Women’s Policy and other members for their contributions.
I will respond to some of the points they raised …
Mr ELFERINK: A point of order, Madam Speaker! With the indulgence of the House I understand the member for Drysdale wanted to contribute to this debate. Unfortunately, she has been tied up with her newborn out the back. I am wondering if the House could cut the member some slack and enable her to make her comments before the minister wraps, or if the minister will acquiesce to that?
Mrs PRICE: Would that be allowed, Mr Deputy Speaker?
Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER: I am at the will of the House.
Mrs FINOCCHIARO (Drysdale): Mr Deputy Speaker, I thank the Assembly for giving me that grace. I literally just saw the member for Karama sit down and I came in and the minister was on her feet. Minister, I apologise for interrupting you during your wrap.
I commend the minister for bringing this statement to the House. Women’s policy means many things to many people, and in the debate today we have heard about the domestic violence space. There is no question that when we talk about women’s policy, much of our resources, time, thoughts and energy goes into looking after those most vulnerable, and rightfully so.
Having said that, there are so many facets to what that unit in the minister’s department has to look after, and I want to touch on a couple of the others. The minister really framed women’s policy for me in one of her paragraphs on page two. I will just quote from it:
- I am sure you will agree that there have been major advancements in gender equality in Australia over the last 100 years.
Minister, I think we all agree with that, but the really important part of your paragraph is the remainder of it, which highlights all the areas where we are not kicking enough goals and where we need to see bigger leaps and bounds forward. Some of them really are shameful. The minister, in her statement, mentions that we are still staring down the barrel of a gender pay gap of 17.9% nationally, and in the Territory it is 18.1%.
That is astonishing. Twenty or 30 years ago the women who were championing equal pay for equal work would never have thought that at the end of 2015 we would still be looking at extremely high gender pay gaps. I assume these statistics are on equal pay for equal work. All of the nay sayers out there who say – you hear a lot of rhetoric about, ‘But that is because a lot more women are in lower paying jobs and a lot more men are in higher paying jobs, and that is how you get such an out-of-whack statistic’. That is not exactly true. The statistics are usually measured on like for like: a man and a woman in exactly the same job performing exactly the same role. The minister went on in that paragraph to say:
- … two women are killed in our country per week as a direct result of violence against them …
As I said at the start of my contribution, there is no question that we need to protect the most vulnerable, and two women being killed each week in Australia is disgusting. The minister is a very fierce advocate for women. She is working very hard in that domestic violence space and has a great deal of expertise and knowledge in that area. It will not be in our term of government, given there are only nine or ten months left, but hopefully we can all look back on our lives and think we have done something to contribute to reducing that, and hopefully making that number zero.
The minister went on to identify that women’s superannuation savings at retirement age are 46.6% less than men, which is astonishing. If you think about what that means – we are all living a lot longer; we all have greater commitments these days, and many people are supporting their older children. I am one of those who mooch happily off their parents, and will continue to do so for as long as I am allowed to. They provide tremendous support to Sam, Isla and me, and I know many other people rely on their parents so much more these days, perhaps more than ever before. People moving into retirement need to be secure and able to look after themselves for a lot longer because we are living longer, which is wonderful, and because of all the extra support we are expected to give in our retirements years, not just enjoying the rest of our lives after our working careers are over but supporting our families in whatever way, shape and form they might need. For a woman to have just under half the superannuation of a man can be incredibly debilitating to the quality of her life for the remainder of her life, which would be 30 or 40 years. That has a flow-on effect, an impact, on any family or other responsibilities she might have as she lives out those retirement years.
The last point in that paragraph which the minister makes is that we are still not equally represented in leadership and decision-making positions. I do not think anyone can say otherwise. There are many debates and arguments, and we could go on all day and have a statement based on promoting women on merit, if there should be quotas and many different things, but whichever way you skin the cat, there are not enough women in leadership and decision-making positions.
That is a negative way of looking at it. I heard someone say earlier that only six of our 30-plus CEOs are women. You can look at that as a negative, but you can also embrace it as a positive and say, ‘Let’s examine these six women. Let us make them role models and exemplify them to other women, and show them there are career pathways and opportunities in the Northern Territory for young women to change that number.’ There might be six now but let us have 10, then 15 at the next election, and hopefully by the time our daughters are older and here in our place, the number of female CEOs has evened out a bit.
We talk about the Northern Territory being a place for young people. That is a bit of a throwaway line because the average age of a Territorian is 32. Obviously we have a broad range of ages across the Northern Territory, particularly in Palmerston. We have a really booming senior sector, which is fantastic and has brought so much richness to our community, but when we look specifically at the Territory being a place for young people, 37% of all women in the Northern Territory are under the age of 25. That is an important statistic. We can criticise statistics all we like, but 37% of all women – and women make up 45% of the workforce in the Northern Territory – are under the age of 25. We have a tremendous opportunity, and an even bigger obligation, to provide school-age women and women entering careers or studies with the support, education and self-empowerment they need to lead full and wholesome lives free from the grips of domestic violence and with the opportunity to be everything they want to be when they grow up.
The minister also touched on some of the services the Office of Women’s Policy provides, including the Women on Boards website. Prior to entering politics I was a lawyer and was heavily involved with, and the president of, Business and Professional Women. We did a lot of work with the Office of Women’s Policy, looking at how we could provide greater opportunities for women starting their career, women in the middle of their career looking to give themselves an edge and take the next step up, and women in the peak of their career. Women on Boards and advancing women into boards and leadership roles was something we looked very closely at because we had a firm belief – and I still firmly believe – that women need to look after women and the more women we have in high positions, whether it be chairman of the school council, a member of parliament or anything in between, the more opportunity there is for women to for women to come up. Women in a position of relative power need to extend their arm down and extend a branch out to younger women and mentor them up through the ranks. Women on Boards was one of those platforms.
At that time the Women on Boards website was not working as it was intended to, and I am pleased to see in the minister’s statement that the website is being revamped. I hope that along with the rebadge of the website there is a re-engagement of the private sector and the public sector on the use of the website. It is all very good to say you can go to the website, put your details up and you will be matched to a board, but if boards are not accessing the website as a valuable database of Territory women then there is a breakdown and disconnect, and they are just words on a piece of paper; it is just a website. I always saw the tremendous opportunity the program had, and I suppose to some extent it was rivalled by Women on Boards, which is an organisation whose sole focus is getting women onto boards. To have a local version and local content can be incredibly powerful, and I would love to see that bolstered so when a board opportunity comes up in the private sector, or wherever it might be, the first thing they turn to is this database. Then they can ask the Office of Women’s Policy, ‘What wonderful Territory women do we have? Let’s look at the list.’ I have great hope for that website and look forward to seeing its reincarnation.
The Office of Women’s Policy also provides International Women’s Day Grants, which are important. Often they are small grants, but they are a huge deal to women’s organisations. In the Territory we have seen a growth of women’s organisations, and it is wonderful.
In her statement the minister touched on encouraging women into non-traditional industries and trades, and we have seen the emergence of women’s groups in the Territory and across the country, including Women in Resources, Women in the Construction Trades and Women in Film and TV. In all sectors that are traditionally male-dominated, we are starting to see groups pop up to provide support to women moving into these sectors. It is fantastic, and those groups and other community groups which take advantage of the International Women’s Day Grants and provide a wide array of events to celebrate International Women’s Day, reflect on - as long as I have been alive - the poor gender pay gap statistics, and to have an open conversation, look forward and say, ‘It is our responsibility; what are we doing to change this? What are we doing to bring these numbers down? What can I personally do and what can my organisation do?’
Whilst International Women’s Day Grants might be $1000 or $2000, their reach is far and wide, and the community seriously benefits from such a small gesture. It is welcomed right across the community very broadly and with open arms.
When we say it is all of our responsibility to ensure this 37% of women, those under the age of 25, live a life where they are equal in every way and in their opportunities, we all have that responsibility. Many people think, ‘Oh well, it is women’s responsibility, so what are all those women out there doing to make sure other women get to grow up and be the CEO of a department?’ That is not true; men have a huge role to play in the women’s policy space, particularly with domestic violence.
I heard someone negatively comment that there has been a lot of focus on men and bringing men along for the ride, and I think that is an unfair comment to make. Men have a huge role to play not just in the domestic violence space, but men are employers. If we are talking about the fact the proportion of women on boards is much less than men, or the fact the number of male CEOs is far greater than the number of female CEOs, then we need men to come on board and culturally change our language, rhetoric, phrases and the way we create associations with women and femininity.
If men are the employers and they do not take their responsibility seriously, we are almost certainly doomed to fail because women cannot do it on their own. It is a joint pathway we need to go down. It is ridiculous that we are talking about 18% gender pay gaps in 2015. I am sure many women roll in their graves every time those figures come out, because they are appalling.
One thing I am passionate about is flexible working arrangements. When we first came into government one of the very first constituent inquiries I had was from a woman who wanted to go back into the workforce and was looking at government jobs. She said the government does not offer any flexible working arrangements, like part-time or job share, so when I inquired a few things changed. The public service should lead by example and we still have room to grow in working out how we can do job share and flexible working arrangements better - working from home, children at work, maternity leave and all of those things. The public service does a good job, but there is still a little way to go. It is about creating understanding around those things. Many people do not understand it. Unfortunately, many women who come back to work part-time end up having to squeeze a full-time job into part-time hours. That is not what returning to part-time work is about. We see women falling victim to that repeatedly.
It creates tremendous productivity for the employer. It is unfair as women are wonderfully productive, can achieve so much and push themselves so hard, yet the payoff is not there. We have to create safe work environments where women feel they will not be stigmatised for having a sick child or another appointment with the midwife. We have to provide a work environment where, culturally, all of these things are understood, accepted and embraced.
You cannot change a pregnant woman needing to see the midwife. You cannot make a sick child better because you have a deadline tomorrow. If we do not come to grips with the reality that women are usually the primary care giver and therefore have no option but to juggle the work/life responsibilities, then we will not be forging forward or going anywhere. I am only a new mum, but I have seen how my electorate officer struggled in the private sector with the responsibilities of being a mum, childcare and work deadlines. She came to work for me when I was elected. I am proud that in my office I open up the doors and created a really flexible environment where if the baby is sick or something happens there is no issue, no question; it is totally fine. I am getting 1000% productivity out of her and she knows she has a safe, happy child and is not caught between the great divide.
People should not underestimate how much more you will get out of someone by providing a very supportive environment to them where they do not feel shamed, tied, stuck or in two minds. A woman, or a man if they are the caregiver, should never have to think, ‘Do I just leave little Johnny? I know he has a really high temperature, but just three more hours and I will be out of here.’ That situation should never happen.
I want to touch on the Palmerston Girls Academy at Palmerston Senior College. Bo de la Cruz and her team do an amazing job at Palmerston Senior College and the Girls Academy is brilliant. They do wonderful things with the Indigenous girls there. The Palmerston Girls Academy is a girl’s version of Clontarf where they develop self-worth, empowerment and choice in young women. Women need to know they have choices and there are opportunities for them, no matter where they have come from or where they think they are going in this life. A key part of that is providing strong education to our girls and women, both about themselves and the world, and academically. Hopefully, in 20 or 30 years’ time when Bess and I are thinking of rolling in our graves at the next equal pay statistics, we will not have to and the numbers will be going down.
Mr Deputy Speaker, they are a few of the issues I wanted to talk about today. Thank you very much again to the Assembly for allowing me to jump in after interrupting the minister on her wrap. I look forward to seeing more coming out of the Office of Women's Policy.
Mrs PRICE (Women’s Policy): Mr Deputy Speaker, I thank the member for Nhulunbuy for her contribution to the statement on women’s policy and other members for their contributions. I will respond to some of the points raised in their comments.
The Directorate of Domestic Violence implements the Family Safety Framework. In Nhulunbuy last week over 50 people participated in Family Safety Framework training provided by the Domestic Violence Directorate, including Indigenous organisations such as Miwatj, the East Arnhem Regional Council, the Sobering Up Shelter, Night Patrol and frontline Northern Territory public servants.
To date, over 300 high-risk victims have been referred to Family Safety Meetings, as well as 83 accompanying children. As at the end of October 2015, 90% of victims had not been re-referred to Family Safety Meetings, indicating a significant reduction in their risk of further serious harm or homicide.
This was led by police and was extremely successful. The integrated response provided to 300 people at risk of assault is a very important achievement. More than 1211 government and non-government staff across the Territory have received Family Safety Framework training. This training is ongoing and run in multiple locations. In addition, the Domestic Violence Directorate has offered and delivered tailored information sessions to 225 frontline workers from many agencies.
We have been busy doing, not spinning rhetoric on a subject in the Chamber, as some across the floor would prefer. The Family Safety Framework is about protecting high-risk victims from further harm and homicide by sharing information across core government and non-government agencies. Key aspects of the framework include consistent risk assessment tools, information sharing and fortnightly Family Safety Meetings, where agencies plan immediate actions and jointly monitor safety improvement for each referral. The Family Safety Framework is led by Northern Territory Police, who do a fantastic job across the Territory in supporting women in domestic violence situations. I thank the minister for Police for his concerted efforts in this area.
The Family Safety Framework has now been implemented in Alice Springs, Darwin, Katherine, Tennant Creek, Yuendumu and Nhulunbuy. Last week over 50 people in Nhulunbuy participated in Family Safety Framework training provided by the Domestic Violence Directorate. It has been great to have this in the remote communities.
In response to what policy we had prior to the current one and when the previous policy framework for women came into effect, maybe the member for Namatjira could outline to the member for Nhulunbuy why she, in her media release on 9 March 2013, did not include the previous Labor attempt at supporting women, life balances, as part of the new framework. Possibly it was because at that time she shared the Country Liberal approach of focusing on the most vulnerable of Territorian women and their priority of concerns. The Country Liberal government has listened to the voices of the Territory and that has informed the development of the women’s policy for all Territorian women, the vulnerable included.
I took on the portfolio of Women’s Policy in September 2013. I assessed the work already done and continued to develop the framework in consultation with everybody. This has resulted in an effective framework has been implemented by a team of dedicated and hard-working women through the Office of Women’s Policy. The reporting framework will be biennial and the progress report will be tabled in the Legislative Assembly. When the policy framework for Northern Territory women was released, the Office of Women’s Policy established an inter-departmental committee to progress actions across government.
The development of specific programs and strategies regarding retaining girls in the education system is one of the group’s key focuses. The Office of Women’s Policy and the Department of Local Government and Community Services actively engages with remote communities, offering support and sponsorship where required. This includes assistance in the completion of grant applications. The Office of Women’s Policy provides International Women’s Day Grants where there is a particular focus on opportunities for remote and rural women to participate in activities for International Women’s Day.
The general grants program also supports activities that advance the status of women and girls in remote and rural areas. Examples of this are the Aboriginal Girls Circle program and the Friends Project that are both delivered through NAPCAN and the Smith Family. The Office of Women’s Policy uses the Northern Territory engagement strategy as best-practice guidelines in engaging remote communities. The guidelines have been referred to in the NT News as, the game changer for the bush where, finally, someone in government has caught up with an age-old Indigenous service delivery mish-mash which has given rise to the term, Aboriginal industry’.
Yes, it took a Country Liberal government to get it right in regard to the A Conversation Worth Having events. We should not underestimate the value of these events in providing guidance and mentors to inspire women to believe in themselves. I know many women who have taken steps in their careers and personal lives to improve their self-esteem and their lot in life as a result of these inspiring events.
In saying this, as all best practice is applied, the events are being renewed and the improvements and adaptations are being applied for the 2016 period, focusing on broadening the purpose, audience and needs for the current climate.
The member for Nhulunbuy asked why alcohol was not part of the Safety is Everyone’s Right strategy. The Country Liberal government has a plan, a strategy. There never was a plan under a Labor government to reduce domestic violence, or a practical solution.
I note the member for Wanguri told you, member for Nhulunbuy, that the women in Central Australia know the solutions and stated how powerful that was to see.
The Northern Territory government was the first jurisdiction in Australia to sign up to Our Watch, and in Canberra recently Senator Michaelia Cash acknowledged the influence I had in leading the nation by putting domestic violence on the map through making this decision.
The women in Alice Springs, with the support of the Country Liberal government and the federal government, have worked with Our Watch to deliver an integrated response.
The Office of Women’s Policy has supported a women’s safety program, along with minister Elferink’s Attorney-General’s department, to deliver, through Tangentyere Council, the resources to improve messaging and support the successful grassroots approach.
Alcohol is not the only contributing element to domestic violence. Knowing that Aboriginal women is the group with the highest number of women affected in the Northern Territory, the women of Central Australia know just as I do that behaviours like jealousy and family feuding are also factors. Other things, such as financial abuse, ice and marijuana, also contribute to domestic violence.
I will respond to the member for Araluen’s comments. The member for Araluen said that actions are abundant for those who wish to see them, that it is women’s and men’s choice to live and that it is not gender but the reflection of personal virtue. I say to her that the reason I was not at the Hidden Valley Tangentyere event is because I was in Mutitjulu celebrating the 30-year hand-back as a representative of the Northern Territory government and as the Minister for Parks and Wildlife, another significant milestone for Aboriginal people. I had departmental people represent me from the Office of Women’s Policy at the Hidden Valley Tangentyere event, and the Minister for Children and Families had his people there representing him, so we were represented at the event.
Also, last Thursday I was at the Tangentyere women’s office to launch its 12-month celebration of the Men’s Behaviour Change Program. I acknowledge the good work those women do in helping their men through this healing process. I congratulate them for doing a good job. I congratulate Barbara Shaw, Helen Gillen, Gwen Gillen and all the other ladies as well. I know how hard it is because they come from town camps.
Yes, there are two women on this side, and the member for Drysdale and I are determined to stay with this government because we are two strong women and if the extra problems that women face, and my people face, are ever to be fixed it will need real strength on our part. It will need strength and willingness to do the hard work, and our male colleagues respect us for that.
The Office of Women’s Policy is doing a great job in supporting the women of the Northern Territory. I commend their hard work and wish them a safe and well-deserved Christmas break.
Motion agreed to; statement noted.
MOTION
Note Paper – ‘Ice’ Select Committee – Breaking the Ice Inquiry into ‘ice’ use in the Northern Territory
Note Paper – ‘Ice’ Select Committee – Breaking the Ice Inquiry into ‘ice’ use in the Northern Territory
Mr BARRETT (Blain): Mr Deputy Speaker, I move that the paper be noted.
Ms MOSS (Casuarina): Mr Deputy Speaker, thank you for the opportunity to speak on the report of the ice committee, which was tabled in this House in the November sittings after the establishment of the committee in March this year. I was the vice Chair of the committee established in March, and it has been a very interesting learning experience for all of us.
The rise of crystal methamphetamines across the country has been a significant area of focus for state and territory governments, and the Australian government, in recent times.
The effect of this drug on the user, their loved ones and their peers is different to what has been seen with many other drugs, and the short- and long-term effects can be devastating in relation to health and social outcomes, including the potential harm to others. Like other devastating drugs, including alcohol, ice can be a major factor in the breakdown of interpersonal relationships, domestic and family violence, neglect, issues with finances and associated issues and, in some cases, criminal behaviour.
I acknowledge the other members of the ice committee: the member for Blain, the Chair of the committee; the member for Nelson; and the member for Arafura. It was a committee made of up diverse views and backgrounds, and we have not always agreed with each other. However, there has been genuine goodwill and a shared goal to setting a positive direction in this area.
I also acknowledge and thank the hard-working staff in Committees in Parliament House, in particular, Julia Knight, Russell Keith and Elise Dyer. They were with us the whole way and their support has been appreciated. It was an epic job to put together such a comprehensive report, one that is very complex in nature, and I think I speak on behalf of the committee when I say we have really appreciated the support they offered us.
Over the last six months we have had the opportunity to look comprehensively at the issue of ice harms in our community. There were varying levels of exposure to that issue previously, and different backgrounds. I came from a background in working around alcohol and other drugs before coming in to parliament, but in a very different context, and others have different backgrounds.
It was interesting to look at the different perspectives on ice harms in our communities through the submissions lodged, public hearings held in Darwin, Alice Springs and Katherine, which involved local community members and organisations, and through visits to rehabilitation and treatment services. I also acknowledge that the member for Katherine came to the public hearings in Katherine and the member for Araluen came to the public hearings in the town council in Alice Springs. It was good to see other members of parliament coming together as part of those public hearings in their local communities and contributing to the conversation.
We visited Banyan House here in Darwin, Bush Mob in Alice Springs and Venndale in Katherine, and I will talk a bit more about those in a little while. One of the issues that came through very early is the reliability of data in relation to ice use and harms in the Northern Territory. There is a lack of shared terminology across agencies and sectors, which has an impact on the way data is recorded and communicated.
These data issues were particularly raised by AADANT, which surveyed its members in relation to the terms of reference of the committee before coming to the hearings in Katherine. The Territory would benefit from getting on the front foot in relation to the coordination of such collection so we can properly record data and provide the targeted services that are sorely needed in this area.
Anecdotal evidence is incredibly important, and we have heard a great deal of anecdotal evidence; however, the quantity of data is lacking and the committee turned our minds to it in the recommendations as a needed focus.
There were approximately 30 submissions to the committee, and many of those organisations and individuals took the time to front the committee at our hearings to answer questions, which was greatly appreciated by all. The diversity of the stakeholders was high and included, but was certainly not limited to, Amity Community Services; Banyan House; NT and Federal Police; government departments, including the Department of Children and Families, Education, Justice and Corrections; the AHA NT; CAAAPU; BushMob; INPEX; and the Road Transport Association.
The committee had many robust discussions both in our meetings and in the public hearings. From the diversity of those organisations we heard from you can get a grasp of just how big a job the committee was faced with, and the spectrum of perspectives, ideas and issues that came forward through that robust system.
Banyan House stands out for me. It was the first rehabilitation and treatment centre we visited as a committee, and it was great to see that first hand. What was particularly important and valuable to me as a committee member was having the opportunity to speak to some of the clients at Banyan House. I thank them very much for sharing their personal stories with us and their views on the work we were doing. I found that provided some much-needed perspective in the debate and conversations we were having as a committee.
The main message given by the majority of those who fronted the committee was stark, and it is mentioned in the report. Alcohol is far and beyond still the biggest substance abuse issue in the Northern Territory. I got a deep sense from many of the organisations that there was a level of concern that by doing this we were potentially looking at diverting resources away from alcohol treatment. I want to ensure those concerns are on the record. It was mentioned during every set of hearings we held and in many of the written submissions.
I believe every member of the committee took this on board, and we have recommended that the government, through a high-level multiagency working group, produces an alcohol and other drugs strategy for the Northern Territory in line with the national alcohol and other drugs strategy. A multiagency working group was a recommendation that was made very early in this House by the opposition, and is one that has come through in the report.
The development of a strategy on alcohol and other drugs in the NT is important to me. Over the decades, our community and those across the country and the world have experienced issues with a range of substances over a long period of time. Some of those issues have remained constant, such as the issues we see around alcohol and, in many communities, marijuana. At other times we have seen high trends in the use of particular illicit drugs.
While we need a strong focus on addressing the current use of crystal methamphetamine, it is a concern that as the manufacture of drugs becomes more sophisticated there will be other substances, and in some cases more dangerous substances. So for me it was important to make sure we are looking at being responsive to all licit and illicit substances, and making sure we have a system that is responsive to the needs of Territorians, to the issues we are facing, and we can be proactive as well as responsive.
An evolving strategy will put the Territory in a position to be proactive about our approaches to drug harms and bring together initiatives and services designed to address issues of the misuse of substances in the Northern Territory. It will provide guidance for the targeting of resources and identify gaps which we know exist. It would also provide a roadmap for how government and non-government organisations can work together more strongly in this space, making sure we are all using the same terminology and collecting the data we need so we can properly target support for users, their families and their loved ones.
It is hoped that such a strategy could take into account the need to upskill frontline workers across industries on not only drugs such as ice but other emerging drugs. We also need to ensure that programs, campaigns and information are culturally appropriate in our diverse community. I acknowledge that when we were holding our public hearings there was also work being done up and down the track, consulting with people on resources, which I am very interested to see as well.
We must focus on the development of resources and promotion of assistance for families who are impacted by ice. This includes assessing the availability of services. We heard repeatedly, and continue to, that families do not know where to go for help. It is not necessarily that those services do not exist, because we heard from many good long-term Territory services which are putting in a hell of a lot of hard yards. We need to get better at how we communicate what is available to families and get around to those families and connect them properly.
Soon after the establishment of the ice committee, I met with families crying out for help and the provision of advice and support for those families who are dealing with the fallout of illicit drug use and its destruction should be a priority for the government. I thank the grandmothers who were part of that meeting for their time and for sharing their stories with me. I know they have met with other members of parliament.
It was disappointing to uncover that on many of our government websites and many other help-seeking websites the information is out of date and links are dead. In addition, we have no context of how many families and individuals are seeking help in that way. These kinds of analytics are easy for the government to obtain, and ensuring the contact details and information about these drugs is easy to access is a very achievable action that can go a long way. Ideally, I would like to see everything brought together in one portal with information for families in crisis in the NT that is easy to find and use, and is kept up to date as a matter of priority.
I want to put on the record that the campaign that came from the Australian government towards the start of the year was money that could have been spent much more effectively. It was almost a carbon copy of one that was produced a few years before. The committee asked a number of local services and stakeholders whether they felt campaigns such as that had increased contact with help-seekers or increased referrals, and the answer was an overwhelming no.
Fears were also raised about the accuracy of those campaigns and the portrayal of issues relating to ice. We talk about different cohorts of users quite often when we are talking about drug and alcohol use, particularly when we are talking about antisocial behaviour and alcohol and other drug misuse. We often focus on young people but it is not necessarily just young people. We need to acknowledge that, particularly with crystal methamphetamines, there is a strong cohort of users that are mid to late twenties and engaged in work. Some of them are running businesses; some of them might be engaged in a trade or another profession. This is a cohort of illicit drug users. The campaign – many of us have seen it – is very much about aggression, about the person who goes into the Emergency Department and throws a chair, the person at home assaulting someone, or someone in a dirty bathroom. It is one of the things we continue to do in drug and alcohol campaigns, although it is not necessarily effective and the evidence does not back it up as being effective. We need to accurately reflect what is happening. The outcome we want is to connect people to services. We want people to be thinking seriously about drug and alcohol use, and the impact on the community.
With further investment in such campaigns I would hope to see a much more localised approach that is less focused on shock tactics and more on connecting users and families with the help they need. I would like to see a much deeper investment in resourcing detox and rehabilitation services, and strengthening our community education.
Many of those who spoke to the committee talked about the work being done in Victoria, which was also raised in this House as early as February this year. Victoria has a comprehensive action plan with resources attached to it that many of us in this House have seen. The recommendation that we get a Northern Territory alcohol and drug strategy in place with a good, strong team across agencies in the non-government sector is incredibly important and will go a long way.
Another issue that struck me significantly is the continued lack of certainty in relation to the funding of alcohol and other drug services, and other support services, such as those in the mental health sector. These concerns are not isolated to funding received from the Northern Territory government but on a federal level too. The concerns refer to the length of the funding agreement – with some still on a one-year funding cycle, which seems crazy – and the certainty of continuation of funding. If we are to say these services are important – and they are incredibly important; they are vital in addressing these issues – we need to sort out the certainty of funding and stop putting vital organisation and support services in a position where they are spending so much of their time trying to chase up whether or not they will get an extension of funding.
All in this House have expressed a great deal of concern about the issues involving illicit drugs and crystal methamphetamines. We should commit to helping organisations with this funding agreement, because under this environment organisations find it hard to plan and workers, quite reasonably, look to moving on if they inch closer to the end of their contracts with little certainty of continuation.
There are services which provide rehabilitation that are often at capacity, and we also need to look at the use of beds for AMT. A clinical nurse is required for those beds to be used, and often some of our treatment facilities are at capacity but have beds they cannot use because they have to hold them in case they get a referral from AMT. We often have a situation where there are empty beds that can take clients, and there must be a much better way to manage that.
We know drug seizures have increased across Australia, so too has the use of illicit drugs such as ice. Our police play an important and growing role not only in supply reduction, but in community education in relation to reporting and the investigation of clandestine labs and drug houses. They do a fantastic job. They cannot do it alone, nor should their role be looked at or implemented in isolation.
A harm minimisation approach is best practice and takes into account harm minimisation, supply reduction and demand reduction. It is a model where agencies and organisations play an important role in reducing the impact of alcohol and other drugs in our community.
We know there is a number of community education courses and activities happening in our schools, and the youth engagement police officers are involved in that. I have been very lucky to work alongside youth engagement police officers in my former role and to assist in the delivery of such education in schools. I understand the hard work they put into delivering strong messages about the safety and wellbeing of children and young Territorians.
I am particularly pleased that we have put a recommendation in the ice committee report about evaluating current programs offered in schools, because we should aim to ensure the delivery of education is consistent and evidence-based rather than ad hoc, and that those who deliver it are well resourced and supported to do so.
There are many strong organisations and programs that come to mind which have a long history of delivering quality best-practice education in schools in relation to health and wellbeing, and alcohol and other drugs which take into account issues that might be particularly relevant to that cohort. However, there is a great deal of variance in relation to what is and has been delivered in schools in health and wellbeing, and we have to accept it has not always been best practice. The member for Sanderson earlier touched on education he has been part of delivering in the past, and I would like us to move to evaluating these programs and having the programs we deliver based on evidence and achieving outcomes. We will not get the outcomes we want from delivering an hour’s session a year and ticking a box.
It came to our attention that there continues to be issues in the way information is captured in the child protection data system, particularly where child protection workers visit vulnerable children and families and illicit drug use is a factor in abuse and harm or is evident to that worker upon a visit. This is a particular concern. We know alcohol and other drugs can be a factor in violence and abuse, and we know the number of notifications in child protection is increasing exponentially in the Northern Territory. This goes back to data and the importance of understanding the true context in which harm and abuse to children in the NT is occurring.
It is also about the ability of case workers to assess and investigate situations, and accurately reflect the situation, and the evidence to demonstrate where greater support or professional development might be needed for workers who go into often dangerous situations and situations that are uncomfortable and difficult for them, where drugs might be present and they are not sure what to do about it. If we can improve how we collect that data and how it is reported we will have a better evidence base to know we need to support our child protection and justice workers better with these issues.
The government has focused on one aspect of what has been raised over the last six months, but I wonder whether it will follow up on another with great gusto. We had a very strong assertion from a representative from Corrections in a public hearing about the need for child and adolescent forensic mental health services in our juvenile detention centres. They struggle to deal with the consequences of these issues, often manifested in aggressive behaviour and suicide ideation.
Much has been said in this House, particularly by the member for Nhulunbuy, about training and support for workers in our juvenile justice facilities. This came through strongly in our Corrections public hearing. We need to better support those people on the front line in our correctional facilities as well. One of the recommendations goes to assessing the availability of forensic mental health services and detox and rehabilitation services in all of our correctional facilities across the Northern Territory, not just in Darwin, not just in one of our juvenile justice systems, but looking at what is available across the board and making sure we support our workers.
It would be remiss of me not to mention that I felt the tabling of the report was lost in some of the politicking that has taken place over this issue in the House over the last couple of months. That disappointed me as a member of the committee. The committee members forged on anyway and shut it out as much as possible, but I have found myself questioning multiple times how many families could have been connected to services had those full-page colour ads been used to promote the services available to families, or promote the Crime Stoppers number.
Some of the issues that have been identified to us across a long period of time – there are organisations where thousands of dollars makes a huge difference. To see that spent on an ad that misinformed about, and misrepresented, what happened in this House was disappointing. It said to me there are people in the government who are more interested in smearing the reputations of members in this House and spreading fear than having a proper debate about legislative change.
I want to make sure I put something on the record from the Katherine hearings. There was significant concern from community members, particularly in Katherine, about community engagement from police, comfort in reporting and issues about drug houses and drug deals. Community members were open about the fact they are aware that this is happening in their community. It is a small community and they are not sure who they can report to or what the consequences will be. So it was good to have members of the police there to talk those issues out with members of the community.
We made a specific recommendation about extension and improvement of community engagement activities through the Northern Territory Police, particularly in relation to those numbers ...
Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER: Thank you. You have exhausted your allotted time, member for Casuarina.
Debate suspended.
MEDICAL SERVICES AMENDMENT BILL
(Serial 150)
(Serial 150)
Bill presented and read a first time.
Ms PURICK (Goyder): Mr Deputy Speaker, I move that the bill be now read a second time.
These amendments to the Medical Services Act are long overdue and put the Territory into contemporary times with the rest of Australia when it comes to the provision of medical and health services to Territory women, and women being able to access safe and professional medical care at a time in their life when they need it most.
I express my appreciation to the many people who have helped and supported me on the work on this bill, including the Australian Medical Association NT, private doctors and medical practitioners in and out of Darwin, Aboriginal health professionals, religious organisations, legal people, Suzanne Belton from Menzies School of Health Research, Aditi Srinivas from Top End Women’s Legal Network, Robyn Wardle from Family Planning, the group called On Her Terms, the group called What RU4 NT?, and the many women and men who have spoken to me about what has been proposed and what benefits it will bring to Territory women.
I also thank the many people who shared my post on social media. When I checked just before I came in here, I saw that post has been shared and seen by 3764 people, which goes to show you the power of social media.
I also thank Parliamentary Counsel for its work and advice, which has been invaluable. A final thank you goes to my female parliamentarian colleagues, who have supported me. Without naming you – you know who you are – I say thank you, as I know you too are keen to see this bill pass.
Up front I will say what these amendments and this bill are not about. This bill is not about abortion, which is legal across the country, including the Territory where it became legal in 1973. Elsewhere it has been legal for many decades. The act of termination of pregnancy is a state and territory responsibility, not a federal matter.
Over the decades and years, women have fought hard and long for the right to have responsibility over their own bodies and if this involves an abortion, then that is a basic right. There should never have been an assumption in the past or presently that a woman would not care for her body appropriately, and given what is involved, any termination is done and has been done in consultation with a medical practitioner.
Abortion is not a modern action as it has existed all around the world in some form from the ancient Egyptians to Romans, Greeks, Sanskrits, Chinese, and many other countries and places. Apart from the obvious action of wanting to terminate a pregnancy, the reasons, historically, to end a pregnancy were varied as well. Some were based on religious grounds, some based on controlling population growth, some suspicions and some due to social and community structural reasons.
I am proud of the history of women who have fought so hard for so long, and I am sure at great personal cost, to achieve the rights and position they have today in the legalisation of abortion. History shows us that the definition of abortion, rules about abortion and the medical world addressing abortion were predominately undertaken by men. Men shaped the world, which included the women in the world at those times. However, much has changed over the centuries, and in recent times in Australia, and it is through women’s leadership that women have gained what they should have had from the beginning of time: basic human rights over their own bodies and lives.
Many women helped me in this journey to get where I am today with this bill and you, individually and collectively, are true leaders. Legalising abortions across the country and elsewhere in the world took the procedure out of back yards and into the safety of medical establishments. Clearly that was good for women’s health and wellbeing, and society in general.
This bill is not about the actual medication, which is colloquially called RU486, or Mifepristone, as it has been listed on the Therapeutic Goods Administration since the mid-2000s. This bill is not about questioning the quality of the drug. The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists has advised that a substantial volume of research and work has been done that ably demonstrates the established safety of the drug.
The World Health Organisation has included the drug RU486 as an essential on the list of medicines for use in abortion and delivering one of the safest medical procedures. RU486 is available in 35 countries, and that number is increasing.
This bill is not about telehealth and whether it applies to this bill, as it does not.
This bill is not about women in remote and bush communities accessing the drug indiscriminately, because that is arrant nonsense and a beat-up by those who oppose giving Territory women a choice in medical healthcare, and those who want to scare people and hijack the debate.
This bill is not about unsubstantiated, emotionally charged, misguided, misinformed rants by those who want to keep women repressed, downtrodden and without the ability to choose their own destiny.
This is not about RU486 the drug being sold over a chemist’s counter like Panadol, as that is incorrect and misleading.
This bill is about providing equality and fairness to Territory women. This bill is about providing a medically safe alternative option for Territory women if they are faced with a situation of terminating a pregnancy, one of the most difficult and important decisions in a woman’s life. This bill is about giving to Territory women the right to have choice in their medical care. This is about basic human rights – the human rights of Territory women.
This is not a social justice matter; it is about basic rights for Territory women. It is an issue involving a woman’s health. Are women so devalued that women’s rights are not human rights? In an article titled Human rights: another look at abortion by Beryl Holmes of Queensland, she referenced another author who says women around the world have been subject to torture, starvation, terrorism, rape, genital mutilation and murder. Sadly, this continues today, as we know. If any other group in the world, or society, was subject to these actions, there would be an outcry and a complete violation of their human rights.
While this debate is not about the aforementioned atrocities, it is about fundamental human rights, and I ask the question, why are we debating this issue today? It should have happened years ago in the Territory. In standing here today I express surprise at the current government’s unwillingness to present the bill itself, and can only suggest that they do not take women and women’s affairs and policies seriously, despite the Minister for Women’s Policy’s ministerial statement to the House this morning, which in many parts was very good.
While the minister spoke of many important matters to women, there was no reference to this item, or how she is going to support the bill, which I know is important to the many women across her electorate. While I take aim at the current government, I should point out that past governments must also shoulder some criticism – both Labor and Country Liberals – over the decades for inaction. But that is in the past, and I thank members today from the cross benches for the support they have given me towards this bill. I thank some of the government members who I know support this bill.
Additionally, I must give credit where credit is due and say thank you to the Attorney-General, John Elferink, who has said to me on more than one occasion that he wished he could have presented a government bill and that he supports the bill. The Attorney-General has been public on the matter, and this is both good and welcomed.
The undertaking by the Chief Minister that government members can have a conscience vote is welcome and as it should take place, because I know there are government members who are very supportive of this bill and want to see it passed in the February sittings of 2016.
Now to the bill itself. This bill amends the Medical Services Act. While the bill itself is short in words, it is long in meaning and importance to Territory women. The purpose of this bill is to provide women access to safe and professional medical services. The bill will allow the medical termination of pregnancy to occur outside of a hospital. Section 11(1)(c) of the act is amended to omit the requirement that a medical termination must occur in a hospital for that termination to be lawful. The new subclause provides that where the medical treatment requires the dispensing of a drug, that drug may be dispensed by a medical practitioner or pharmacist. Where surgical treatment is involved in the medical termination, the subclause provides that this treatment must still occur in a hospital.
Subclause 3(2) removes the condition in section 11(2) that one of the medical practitioners required to form an opinion in good faith about the continuance of the pregnancy under section 11(1)(b) is a gynaecologist or obstetrician. The clause replaces that condition in section 11(2) with the requirement of a suitably qualified medical practitioner, unless it is not reasonably practical in the circumstances.
Subclause 3(3) expands the obligation to give medical treatment with professional care, and otherwise, according to the law, to include pharmacists dispensing a drug, or giving a medical treatment.
Subclause 3(4) defines the term, ‘pharmacist’, ‘suitably qualified medical practitioner’, and ‘suitably qualified pharmacist’ to facilitate and regulate the availability of safe and professional (inaudible) medical services for women in the Northern Territory.
These definitions are not something I have made up. They are definitions specific to the medical world and are recognised by the various colleges of medical practitioners and the Australian Medical Association. In closing, the bill and its ultimate passage – I am hoping – in the February 2016 sittings is a turning point for women in the Northern Territory, as it will not only provide equity and fairness with other Australian women, but provide Territory women with a basic human right and that is an inalienable and valuable right for themselves, their own body, health and well-being.
I have been placed in the special position of presenting this bill and for that I am thankful. I will put it down as one of the best parts of my job as a member of this parliament and remember this day forever.
I commend the bill to honourable members and table the explanatory statement.
Debate adjourned.
MOTION
Stamp Duty Relief and First Home Owner Grants
Stamp Duty Relief and First Home Owner Grants
Mrs LAMBLEY (Araluen): Mr Deputy Speaker, it is my pleasure to speak on this motion that government considers providing stamp duty relief or a grant to assist first home owners to buy existing homes. People in this Chamber will remember that just a few months ago I introduced a very similar motion. The difference between the motion I put to parliament in July and the motion I am putting to parliament today is to broaden this request that government considers changing the guidelines to a more reasonable position when it comes to first home owner assistance for people wanting to buy existing homes.
On 1 January 2015 changes were made to guidelines for the First Home Owner Grant affecting areas outside Darwin. They meant that from 1 January only people buying existing homes were eligible for the First Home Owner Grant. In 2013 the rules were changed for the greater Darwin area to the effect that the First Home Owner Grant was only applicable to those buying new homes. We now have a situation across the Territory where the First Home Owner Grant is only applicable to new homes. No longer can anyone in the Territory get a grant or any assistance from the government if they are first home buyers and want to buy existing homes. This has been a dramatic change to how potential first home owners go about getting their finances together and assessing their ability to get into the housing market.
Being a member of parliament from Alice Springs I can say that changing the guidelines in Alice Springs has had what can only be described as a devastating effect. In the first nine months of 2015, from 1 January to 30 September, compared to the first nine months of 2014, there was a 60% reduction in the take-up of the First Home Owner Grant in Alice Springs.
In the first nine months of last year 156 First Home Owner Grants were paid. In the first nine months of this year only 63 First Home Owner Grants were paid. That is a drop of 93 transactions. It is a drop of 93 purchasers being given assistance to buy homes in the Alice Springs region. In the Katherine region in the first nine months of this year, 13 applicants received the First Home Owner Grant compared to 47 in the first nine months of 2014. That is a reduction of the take up of the First Home Owner Grant in Katherine of 72%.
In Tennant Creek the numbers are small but significant. In the first nine months of this year, compared to the first nine months of last year, there has been a 66% reduction in the take-up of the First Home Owner Grant in Tennant Creek, dropping from six last year to two this year. The significant reduction in the take-up of the First Home Owner Grant across regional areas of the Northern Territory has had a devastating effect on the local economies.
Last time we raised this in parliament, in July this year, the Treasurer brushed it off. He said it was a COAG agreement that no state or territory in Australia would continue to offer a first home owner grant for existing homes, and that was pretty much the extent of his response. The context he gave was that the price of housing across the Northern Territory has been reduced and is now affordable, therefore this refined targeting of the First Home Owner Grant has been a resounding success. However, as was pointed out earlier today by the member for Karama, the economic climate in the Northern Territory has changed significantly.
We have seen a constriction of the economy. We have seen a slowing of population growth. We are seeing generally, across the board, things are getting tight. There has been a significant drop throughout the Territory in the overall sale of residential properties across the regional areas and the greater Darwin area. ‘That might not be such a bad thing’, some people might argue. But what it means in real terms, particularly from an Alice Springs perspective - once again I go back to Alice Springs, because it is Alice Springs I know best - is people who have houses in the lower range of the market, $400 000 and below, cannot sell their houses. Many of these people would normally choose to upgrade at some point in their lives. They have started in a fairly reasonably-priced house in Alice Springs, and they plan to upgrade, maybe to a house in the $500 000 to $650 000 range, but they cannot sell their houses.
For the first home owners who were given assistance to get into the market before 1 January for the areas outside of Darwin, and before 2013 for the Darwin area, there is no longer the market for existing homes at the lower end of the market. They are stuck in their homes. These are the stories we are hearing right across the Territory. They are stuck because they cannot sell these fairly reasonably-priced homes. A 60% reduction in the take-up of First Home Owner Grants in Alice Springs means there has been at least a 60% reduction in the sale of houses at that lower end of the market in the first nine months of this year.
Things have slowed. People cannot sell their houses and cannot upgrade. Houses in that next category, the middle category of housing, are not being bought and sold either. People who are not even in the market are struggling to enter it, because there is no assistance in the Northern Territory for people who want to buy existing homes.
In Alice Springs there are very few new homes to buy, in relative terms. There were 63 First Home Owner Grants paid to people buying new homes in Alice Springs in the first nine months of the year, which is a relatively low number. And in Tennant Creek, as I said before, only two First Home Owner Grants were paid in that period, to people buying new properties.
The government must be saving a fortune. It is a good savings reduction strategy, and that is what we - the CLP government - had to do when we first came in to government. We had to look at saving money, being vigilant and prudent, and ways of reining in government spending. Times have changed; three-and-a-half years is a long time. We now see this removal of first home owner assistance, to people who want to buy existing properties, which are generally much cheaper than new properties, is killing our local economies.
My personal concern about this is for young people who perhaps grew up in the Territory or moved to the Territory, like I did years ago, who want to commit to our wonderful part of the world. They want to contribute socially and economically; they want to be a part of their community. What better way to invest in your community than to take an enormous step and buy your first home in the Northern Territory? I read some statistics yesterday saying the average age of people buying their first homes throughout Australia has increased substantially over the last 10 years. I think it was around 24 years of age and now it is up to 32. It is getting harder across the country, possibly because of the removal of grants to assist people to buy existing homes.
We are in a different situation in the Northern Territory in that we do not have the population growth and the steady economic basis other jurisdictions enjoy. We have a boom and bust economy, no one can dispute that. Quite often there are periods in which there is a general lack of confidence in the economy when big projects finish and there do not seem to be more in the future.
As I was saying, I am concerned for young people. People come to me in Alice Springs quite regularly, talking about how their adult children cannot get into the market. They cannot get together their 4% deposit and 3% stamp duty to buy a $300 000 or $400 000 existing property. A 5% deposit on a $300 000 property is $15 000 and the 4% stamp duty on a $300 000 existing property is $12 000. Someone wanting to buy a fairly cheap property, in the scheme of things in the Northern Territory, for $300 000 would have to get $27 000 together up front before they can even consider buying it. That is a lot of money. I do not know many 25- to 35-year-olds who have $27 000 sitting in the bank. It is too difficult.
Taking away the assistance for first home owners to buy existing homes has shot the market. It has shot the opportunities for young people or anyone who wants to get into the market as a first home owner, such as new Australians. In Alice Springs we have a significant new population of people from all over the world. We now have 3000 Indian people living in Alice Springs. Those people are great workers and contributors to our community who enrich the social fabric of our community. They want to be a part of it, so they work hard and make money.
I know where many of these people live as I have been doorknocking in recent times. In my electorate they have bought into the market, presumably before 1 January 2015 so they received the First Home Owner Grant. Future new Australians coming to our town will have a lot of difficulty getting into the Alice Springs market without any assistance. That $27 000 up front for a $300 000 existing property is a heck of a lot of money. It is daunting and, for many people, unachievable.
I have concerns that people wanting to contribute to and be part of the communities in the Northern Territory, who want to invest and commit, cannot get over the lump and having to scrape together that significant amount of money – around $20 000, $30 000, $35 000, $40 000 – to buy a very reasonably-priced existing property in the Northern Territory.
Many people have told me they purchased properties at the lower end of the market and they either want to leave town and buy another property elsewhere, or they want to upgrade. It is not only stopping people from stabilising within our communities; it is stopping movement within our communities. People want to upgrade by offloading their cheaper house and buying something more expensive. Things are stagnant and they are stifled economically by the lack of this grant that used to be extremely generous.
I am not for a minute expecting the government, at this point in time, to reinstitute the guidelines that were in place before 1 January 2015 for first home owners outside the Darwin area and go back to the way it was in Darwin before the changes made in 2013, but I am suggesting that the government looks at this a bit more closely. Just saying no is extreme and does not take into account that the economic climate and the factors that led the government to make these decisions have changed over the last three years. The circumstances have changed, and it is now time to review the guidelines and look at how not assisting first home owners to buy existing homes is adversely impacting on all communities throughout the Northern Territory.
I have spoken to a number of real estate agents. I did a lot of preparation for the original motion I put to parliament in July. I spoke to 20 Alice Springs real estate agents and a few outside of Alice Springs and they gave me a very gloomy picture of what was happening, particularly in that lower end of the market. Sales have plummeted and property conveyancers have gone out of business, and I know that is also happening in the Darwin area. The whole real estate industry is suffering. I know the Treasurer will stand up and talk about how real estate agents throughout the Northern Territory have for years enjoyed great prosperity and success as house prices rose consistently for years on end, so this downturn in the housing market is to be expected. He is right; we must expect that these things are cyclical to some extent.
The other point which is highly relevant, particularly in areas outside Darwin, is that our population growth is generally quite sluggish, and in some parts of the Northern Territory it is in the negative. In Alice Springs, over the last 20 years the population has not grown at all. As a community we fight constantly to attract people to our communities and for them to stay there, and we have to look after them when they get there.
As a parliament and a government, we need to try to stabilise our workforce. It is essential that we create an environment in our communities that makes it easier for people to choose to stay. The longer they stay the better. How many of us thought we would come to the Territory for six months, six weeks, maybe a couple of years, and 20 years later we are still here? Many people will tell you the reason they have stayed so long is because they invested in the place. They sunk some money in, got the government assistance and bought a home; they made that commitment. The years have passed and they are still there and enjoying the wonderful lifestyle of the Northern Territory. That is certainly what happened to me, and I know many other people did the same. They used the grant – that wonderful First Home Owner Grant, which was called something different 20 years ago or more but was essentially the same principle. They got into the market and the rest is history.
That is wonderful. It is the beauty of being a Territorian. It is still the wild frontier. There has always been a sense of community and people looking after each other, and on top of that the government providing incentives, some carrots, for people to stick around and to stay in their jobs. Doctors, nurses teachers and all those professional people we have enormous difficulty attracting to certain parts of the Northern Territory, if you offer them some first home owner’s incentive to stay, it is more likely they will. It makes life easier if you have your own home. It certainly was life-changing for me. I will never forget it. I would recommend it to anyone. However, without the $7000 I got up front to buy my first home, an existing home in Alice Springs, I would have almost definitely gone.
I am putting forward a suggestion to the government that it thinks about how it, and we as a parliament, can assist people to buy existing homes. I will not prescribe an amount; I will not say $10 000 as a grant or ask the government to provide stamp duty relief of a certain amount, but anything is better than nothing. At the moment there is no movement in the lower end of the housing market because there is no assistance for people to buy existing homes as first home owners throughout the Territory.
I am not proposing this to further the economic gain of the real estate industry. I remember last time I introduced this in parliament, in July, the Treasurer suggested I might be selling some properties in Alice Springs to pad my own pocket. I can honestly say I have no conflict of interest. I do not intend to sell any existing or new properties in Alice Springs or anywhere else in the Northern Territory in the foreseeable future. I have no conflict apart from to say this is a message I am receiving throughout the community from the real estate industry and from average people.
People I have known ever since I came here who now have 25-year-old or 30-year-old kids, even 18-year-old kids, want their kids to get into the market. Their kids want to get into the market; they want to buy a house around the block from mum and dad living in Gillen. They want to start living the life they have been aspiring to possibly their entire life. It is a very modest request, a very modest expectation in life, but to get over that hump, to get the stamp duty and deposit together is too hard. It is too onerous, and we know from the statistics the Treasurer provided me with – I thank him for that – the numbers speak for themselves. There has been a dramatic drop in the take-up of the First Home Owner Grant for new homes across the Northern Territory, and that is damaging the social and economic fabric of the Territory.
It is putting too much pressure on our economy and has a huge knock-on effect. If people are not staying in Alice Springs, Katherine, Tennant Creek, Nhulunbuy or Darwin because they cannot get into the market, you will have a greater turnover of staff, a greater turnover in schools –the flow-on effect is untold. It affects retail, service industries and every part or our sometimes finely balanced economy.
My husband and I used to laugh when we first opened our retail business in Alice Springs years ago. If Kmart had a sale one weekend our business would be down X amount of dollars, and I am sure when our shop had a sale the next weekend the Kmart sales would have been down. Only a finite amount of money circulates within our regional centres – I notice the member for Barkly nodding – and tipping one way has a resounding and profound effect on all other parts of the system. I see it as a system; it is cyclical and systemic. The government removing all assistance for people to buy existing homes in the Northern Territory might have seemed like a good idea at the time, but it is no longer relevant or effective. People need something, even a small amount, to get them over the hump.
I would greatly appreciate it if the Treasurer, who I know is poised to respond to this motion tonight, considered with his Cabinet, his parliamentary colleagues, this very reasonable motion that government considers buying stamp duty relief or a grant to assist first home owners to buy existing homes.
Mr McCARTHY (Barkly): Mr Deputy Speaker, I thank the member for Araluen for bringing this forward. I supported this in July and I support it now. It is a great, pragmatic voice from the regions.
I acknowledge Sidhant Vashisht in the gallery. What perfect timing that he should turn up to listen to the member for Araluen and this motion in the very limited time of General Business the opposition and Independent members get in this place. Sid is a young person in Tennant Creek working with a non-government organisation in a very challenging role, managing juvenile diversion clients, and he is looking at buying a home. It is exactly what the member for Araluen has talked about. This is a real example and there are many more examples from the regions in Tennant Creek.
The member for Araluen talked about the drop in home purchases across the regions and itemised Tennant Creek, saying there were only two home purchases in 2015.
Member for Araluen, I acknowledge there could be a lot done by government to stimulate those numbers; there is no doubt about it. It relates to good fiscal management and providing that incentive and stimulus for young people. But there was another challenge, Treasurer, which was the ANZ Bank, which is the main home loan lender in Tennant Creek. It applied a national policy across all mining towns, declaring them high risk and demanding a 40% deposit for a home loan.
That knocked out the majority of Tennant Creek residents, young and old, immediately. For the young people it was a massive hurdle. I will acknowledge Lin Andrews Real Estate, as well as the finance officers at the ANZ Bank in Darwin, and the opportunity I had to work with those two groups to try to get some balance and sense into this. Essentially the debate that I created was, God love it, but Tennant Creek is not a mining town. It used to be the powerhouse of the Northern Territory. It produced more gross state product during the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s than this town of Darwin. At the end of the 1960s it had more registered businesses than Darwin, but alas, times changed.
There are extensive exploration programs going on around Tennant, and resources, minerals and energy will be its future, which is part of Labor’s policy being designed as we speak. However, I had to convince the ANZ Bank that Tennant Creek is a service town. It is a town based on public sector and non-government organisations, and a large component of its economy is based on Commonwealth benefits; therefore, we should not be lumped into this category. The ANZ Bank, which I acknowledge and thank, changed that policy by tweaking it. It will assess each individual case in regard to the 40% deposit levy.
We made a small gain there; I thank the ANZ Bank and Lin Andrews, our local real estate agent, which really worked hard in that space and provided a lot of evidence in the debate. We have competing pressures for regional areas. Unique events emerge and this government could support residents from these areas.
This is a request by constituents. The member for Araluen was right; many mums and dads of my generation came to me when the CLP made the changes and requested that we go back to looking at existing dwellings being supported with a subsidy or a grant for first home owner purchases in regional centres. Tennant Creek is a perfect example.
This generation of mums and dads has the new emerging generation in Tennant Creek – Sid’s generation. That is real. It is amazing to see the young families that are staying in Tennant Creek and having their children now. My second son is one of them. He was dragged kicking and screaming out of the gulf country, has worked on cattle stations and was riding bulls in rodeos. He finished his schooling in Tennant Creek. He has his first son. This is the generation I am talking about. They want to get access into the market. They want to purchase their first home, and they need a hand up, not a hand out, as the member for Port Darwin continually reminds us in this House.
Let us talk about the elephant in the room: land release. Tennant Creek had a subdivision of 54 lots, the first land release in 30 years. The lots were a combination of medium-density and single dwelling, and all sold. It is now an emerging little subdivision. One of the reasons I was very keen to push that policy as a minister in the previous Labor government was to create an opportunity for very significant government head-leased stock to become new accommodation for our government workers. That would free up the old traditional stock in Tennant Creek, which would then come on line and be first homes for many of these young families.
The landlords of that existing stock that has been supported by government through head-lease programs for many decades have a choice. They can upgrade that dwelling to meet the head-leasing standards and compete with the new subdivision dwellings, or they can put it on the market and allow the young people to get their first stake in a family home. That was a good model which is still rolling out.
The CLP has continued with Labor’s land release program and is releasing some more lots as part of that subdivision. Essentially, Labor negotiated with the traditional owners and created a capacity of 200 lots. We have released 54 and there are 23 in the second stage. To give credit where credit is due, it is commendable of the new government to continue Labor’s good policy. It also has the residual effect of creating stock for a new, younger market, but they need that hand up. That story is coming from their parents. They want these kids to stay in town. It is good for our economy and future. It is good for families to have grandparents involved in their kids’ lives.
This is an important part of just one example. The member for Araluen has wisely included all the regional areas across the Northern Territory; I am just talking about Tennant Creek. My recent investigation revealed that there were 70 dwellings on the market in Tennant Creek. That is a large number and there are many young families that would like to get access to those dwellings, but they need a helping hand.
The member for Araluen said the government must have made savings with this change. The member for Araluen is dead right. In the budget papers for 2013–14 it is clearly printed that this government saved $30m. That was a nice little revenue hit and money in the bank when they changed the policy. Fair enough, that was CLP policy – $30m straight up. I am sure when I investigate the next round of budget papers we will see further savings that have credited the government’s account.
However, there has been a deficit in economic activity in the regions because people have not been able to get access to existing dwellings with that very important government support. Essentially – and I will say this a few times in debate – if we have a cashed-up government and young families that really need a hand up, surely we can get some sense into this debate. The member for Araluen’s motion is very moderate. There is no cap or number; it is about the principle of government being supportive across the regions. I know Tennant Creek very well. I understand Alice Springs has the same logistics and I am sure Katherine has as well. I relay this message into the regions. Under Labor’s land release program we released land in Elliott and now there are great challenges for housing in Elliott, as the Minister for Housing knows. We created a subdivision in Elliott and this story is about all our regional areas.
It was not just about the savings of $30m. The CLP has made considerable revenue out of stamp duty with the land release and construction program that is the bread and butter of any economy. The Treasurer stands in here and crows about the biggest land release ever under the CLP, but he does not give us the names of the new subdivisions. I wanted to hear Daveville or Tollner Heights. I wanted to hear something new but no, the CLP completely avoids that debate. They do not want to go there because there are no new names, but there are some proposed new names, like Noonamah Ridge. Then there will be all that private land in the area east of Berry Springs and south of Noonamah …
Mr Wood: Weddell
Mr McCARTHY: No, we will not talk about Weddell; the CLP is allergic to Weddell. Weddell has definitely gone out of the rhetoric. There is all that private land where we are still waiting. I challenged Mr Mills when he was the Chief Minister and the Planning minster, here on this floor, about this strategy, and all it has brought you is a world of pain, and there are no new names.
Let us go back over the CLP’s largest land release in the Northern Territory, which basically has paralleled Labor’s land release policy. Let us be honest, cut through the spin and talk about new subdivisions like Bellamack, Johnston Stages 1A and 1B, and Zuccoli Stage 1, a master-planned suburb. I will give the Treasurer credit because the CLP rolled in $20m to provide head services to get Zuccoli Stage 2 going. It is very easy. It is a strike of the pen when you are the Treasurer. He did not really have to do much with the land release because it was all master planned and ready to roll. All it needed was servicing of the lots in partnership with a good developer. You certainly have a good developer in that Zuccoli subdivision.
What about the private partnerships with a Labor government supporting developers? Durack Heights, Muirhead, Lyons – where do these names jump out from? These are amazing areas of development for the greater Darwin area. Katherine had a subdivision, and towards the end of my time as Lands and Planning minister, which ended involuntarily I might add, I checked on Katherine and counted that out of 39 lots there were still about 17 vacant. I questioned the minister at the time about new land release in Katherine; however, it has gone ahead. I support that because I think Katherine will have significant need for land in supporting the Defence forces. If that RAAF expansion continues, Katherine has a good future in supporting Defence. The new land release in Katherine backs off Labor’s 39 lots where there were quite a few still vacant when I looked at it in 2012. Good on you, government, and well done.
Labor gets bagged out about never doing anything in Alice Springs, and the CLP’s largest release ever in the universe – I remember, as a previous minister, names like Larapinta, Stirling Heights, Mount Johns in partnership with the Lhere Artepe Aboriginal Corporation and Kilgariff. I will not talk about Kilgariff because I have some major disappointments with it and there is not enough time in this debate. But Kilgariff, in partnership with Northern Territory Airports, can release 3000 lots in the future, if it is done properly.
There is Labor’s land release program now taken on board by the CLP, and rightfully the biggest land release program in the Territory’s history. This has delivered significant returns for this government – a significant windfall. It was great timing. ‘Throw these guys out in 2012 and then we can really cash in on the dividends’, and so you have. That is the naturally-occurring phenomena of electoral cycles.
You do not have to go very far into the Northern Territory government’s 2014 Treasurer’s Annual Financial Report to start to see some of the windfalls that have been created by successive governments planning and rolling out assets into the Northern Territory. I will quote from page nine:
- Non-financial public sector operating revenue has increased from the May 2014 budget by $890.5m, comprising $410.9m related to the sale of TIO ...
That can be broken down, but I do not have time:
- … and non-policy revenue-related variations of $479.6m due to:
increased taxation revenue of $140.6 …
That is a bit of a sting, but it is money in the bank:
- … predominantly relating to $116.7m in stamp duty and other taxes …
You can see the significant spin-off from the construction industry, which essentially is land being purchased and new homes being built:
- … reflecting an increase in the number and value of residential and commercial transactions including a large one-off commercial transaction, and payroll tax collections of $23.9m as a result of employment and wages growth particularly among the larger employers forming part of the Territory’s payroll tax base.
We cannot go any further without talking about the Ichthys project and INPEX. That has to be put into this debate as a major fiscal stimulus for the Northern Territory. This government has been realising the benefits of that shared project with the previous Labor government. However, the CLP is very good at rewriting history. It will continue to rewrite history over the next nine months.
The increased GST revenue of $95.8m was a nice windfall. There is also a $26m balancing adjustment related to the 2013-14 final national GST collections. That is not a bad windfall the Treasurer can claim. It is not exactly brilliant economic management, but a very nice deposit from the Commonwealth into the CLP coffers that should be managed and mentioned in this House:
- increase in tied Commonwealth funding of $132.2m for new and expanded initiatives
That is not talked about much. It is significant revenue that came across to the Northern Territory government, and a very successful scheme. When the CLP was fudging the figures around the sale of TIO, something in the order of $148m was surplus to the MAC scheme and was siphoned off by the Chief Minister, deposited into the CLP’s government account then used to inflate the sale price of TIO. So this is very clever accounting.
We have a cashed-up government and young families across the regions that need a hand up. This makes sense. It is logical, because young families getting into their first dwelling add an economic stimulus to regional and remote towns. You can see it when you go down the main street of Tennant Creek, particularly on a Saturday morning, with young families shopping at the hardware store, doing DIY improvements to their homes, building and landscaping – improving the amenity of their property.
We have the economic stimulus of the trades sector. In Tennant Creek we have a very tight trades sector. It is doing it very tough because the CLP changed the tendering process considerably. It is doing it very tough across the Northern Territory because the work in that middle level, small to medium construction industry has slowed right down. I hear about it in Darwin as I am hearing about it in Alice Springs and Tennant Creek. Government tenders have been very difficult to get because processes have been changed by this government, and it will be held to account. Many in the trade sector do not agree with the way business is being done under the CLP.
However, having our local trades engaged in private work with young families in their new homes is a real stimulus for a regional economy. A new home in terms of an existing dwelling – the opportunities for repairs and maintenance, and upgrades. This is a good, pragmatic motion which should appeal to a sensitive government that wants to do business for the true welfare of Territorians. These are Territorians who live outside the big end of town.
The construction sector in the greater Darwin area also needs some attention. It is great to have some background and experience in that area because I feel honoured when I visit Darwin and people acknowledge me, remember me and talk to me. It is a great feeling; we then reminisce about work we shared together. One of the resonating tones is about how this sector is shrinking dramatically.
The macro story for economic development across the Territory is: what is there post-INPEX? The CLP has not been able to engage a major economic signature project; it is still looking. It needs middle level, small to medium businesses. To the Minister for Infrastructure, that repairs and maintenance area, particularly government work, provides a great opportunity to stimulate that sector. It is well documented that the construction sector feeds economic benefits throughout the community evenly. It is the old story of bread on the table for families.
Thank you, member for Araluen; this has given us a great opportunity for debate. We have a witness, a young man from Tennant Creek - it is amazing you turned up when you did, brother. This is real, and in the context of a cashed-up government, a Chief Minister who talks about budget surpluses and brilliant economic management by a hard-edged government to achieve that should be looking at the opportunity to address a shrinking economy. It is a particularly challenging economy in the regions. The value-added component of getting young families into their first home, an existing dwelling, complementing the land release programs, makes sense to me.
Maybe I am on a different planet; I do not know. I just live there and share that environment with regional and remote residents. I am their conduit, their spokesperson. The member for Araluen has succinctly put forward a great opportunity and, by the way, it is Christmas. As the Chief Minister and those on the other side talk about stealing Christmas, we are not about stealing Christmas, Treasurer. You can be the best Santa Claus for the regions tonight. This can be an early Christmas present because you are a Treasurer and you want to stimulate the economy.
This could be a Christmas present for the building and construction industry across the length and breadth of the Northern Territory, including all those young families. Who knows? They might vote for you. I am sorry; they cannot vote for you, but they might vote for you mob. You know the game; I have learnt a lot from you. I will take this opportunity. I hope you deliver it and I will try to claim every bit of it.
Ms MOSS (Casuarina): Mr Deputy Speaker, I will not talk for long. The issues have been greatly articulated by the members for Araluen and Barkly. Thank you for that imagery of the member for Fong Lim as Santa Claus.
This is an opportunity for the member for Fong Lim and the CLP government to think about their legacy. I thank the member for Araluen for bringing the motion to the House, as she did with a similar motion in July.
I have said this in the past, and I will reiterate that Labor supports the concept that assistance should be provided to people seeking to buy a principal place of residence if they currently do not own a home. Our position is broader than what is proposed by the member for Araluen, but I agree and understand where she is coming from with this motion and the call for government to consider relief or assistance for those who are looking to buy a principal place of residence. We support people getting into their own home if they are a first home owner or have owned a house before and do not now.
Members would be aware – and we have talked about many issues today that contribute to this – that losing one’s house through a divorce or a financial separation can often mean the same level of financial difficulty getting back into the housing market as for those people seeking to get in for the first time. We support the concept of assistance applying to new and existing homes. We are, however, extremely concerned that these grants can have inflammatory impact on house prices. Therefore, we want a proper Treasury analysis, and then to move forward with a policy that has the effect of getting people into homes without causing the price of housing to increase. We have requested that previously.
This motion presents the opportunity to government to implement the expressed wishes of this House by examining the concepts available, having a proper Treasury analysis of them and bringing forward sensible policy the whole House can support.
We acknowledge that home ownership for many, whether it is their first home or otherwise, can become a distant dream. It is, for most of us, the biggest financial commitment we will ever make in our lifetime and a process we will remember forever. It impacts people of a range of ages and backgrounds, as has been articulated in this debate already.
We in Territory Labor want to see Territory families have the experience of working towards and achieving home ownership as a real option. We want families to stay here, and live and contribute here. All of us have seen people who have left the Northern Territory for various reasons. Many of us have seen people leave the Northern Territory because of housing options and what they can see available elsewhere. They want to stay here, so it would be good for the government to support this tonight and consider how we might do a better job of supporting people.
In our policies we should be considering how we can assist Territorians from a range of backgrounds and situations to achieve stable, secure and sustainable housing options. This is why the Labor government did the leg work towards Zuccoli, Bellamack, Johnston and Mitchell. Kilgariff, in Alice Springs, was well under construction under the Labor government, and there were new lots in Katherine and Tennant Creek for private sale. The Labor government worked in partnership to establish Venture Housing, which is an important initiative to create affordable rental housing options in the Territory. I was very pleased to go to the launch of some of those new affordable rental properties in Driver earlier in the year.
Mr Deputy Speaker, the failure to properly administer a financial assistance scheme to get Territorians into their own home has been criticised by the Real Estate Institute of the Northern Territory, particularly in relation to ownership in Alice Springs and Katherine. I thank the member for Araluen for bringing this motion to the House so we can continue the discussion of the importance of government providing much-needed assistance to those seeking to buy a principal place of residence.
Mr WOOD (Nelson): Mr Deputy Speaker, I support the motion the member for Araluen has presented. One issue that is a little different from last time is that we are asking the government to at least consider it. It would not do any harm to the government to agree to that.
I have looked at the previous debate and was interested in the member for Blain’s contribution. I got a little lost in the Keynesian economic arguments he put forward. I think he was trying to baffle us with economic science. I have heard of John Keynes, but economics used to bore me to death, probably because I could not understand it all. But I understand some things. One of the things I felt I got from the member for Blain’s contribution was that we should not be subsidising because it upsets the market. He said:
- I have deep philosophical problems with this approach. The government should give people money to buy a car. It would be like me asking the government to spot me $500 to pay for my wedding.
Elsewhere, I presume, would be Katherine, Tennant and Alice Springs. I am not sure if that is correct but that is my understanding. ‘Urban’ meant Darwin, Palmerston, Litchfield, Wagait, Darwin Waterfront and any other areas. Previously, people in those other areas in the Northern Territory received $25 000 to buy an established home.
I am not just speaking about the member for Blain, but I read what he said and I understand a fair bit of what he said. But I do worry that some of this debate relies on – there is a lot of discussion about land release and how that stimulates the market. I also wonder whether we ever get to the point where people make more money out of land releases than is reasonable. The market people will say we should not control that. The market forces apply, so if someone wants to charge $1000 for a small block of land and another person wants to charge $500 000 for the same block of land, so be it.
You do have to wonder whether profits are reasonable. I was just looking at Casuarina Park. It is in Katherine. It is a nice subdivision. LJ Hooker is doing the work there. What would you pay for a 778 m2 block in Zuccoli? Probably about $340 000 or around that? For the same block of land in Katherine you pay $162 000. It is about half the price and you have to ask why. Obviously in Katherine you will have storm water drainage, kerbs, guttering, and lighting, etcetera. I am sure the people selling the land in Casuarina Park, Katherine, are not giving it away and are making a profit, but for the same size block of land in Palmerston you pay nearly double the price. When we talk about affordable housing, one has to ask if developers are ripping off the market simply because they can and the market allows it, and is that contributing to the inability to buy land and a house at a reasonable price.
If you argue that we need to subsidise people by giving them a First Home Owner Grant, it might not be such a necessity if you knew that you could buy a block of land at $162 000 instead of $340 000. It is the same block of land with the same requirements. Someone is skimming a bit of cream off this. How come? I raise that issue as one of the things that does not help if you really believe young people should be able to get into the market. Governments say quite often that they are trying to make land available for affordable housing, yet when some of the developers get in there the price of land gets very high.
I think it was the member for Brennan who was saying that if people cannot afford it they should start with a unit. That is good but if they want a subsidy they have to buy a new unit. Why can they not buy one of the RAAF houses and stick it out in the rural area, like many people are doing, and get a subsidy for that? Why can they not buy an old housing commission house in Rapid Creek? It appears to me that the government has made up its mind. ‘We will scrap it for established houses because we want to stimulate the building market.’
To some extent you still stimulate the building market by selling existing houses. You allow people not to get into major debt by having large mortgages. It is a bit like buying a car. You will get a cheaper 1990 Holden rather than a brand-new Commodore. At least you will be able to get around. You will still stimulate the market a bit because I am sure that 1990 Holden will need a few new tyres. It will probably need a few more bits and pieces added to it. The spare parts market might be helped by buying second-hand vehicles.
Allowing people to buy a second-hand house is surely part of what the government is promoting: allowing people to buy an affordable house. I have heard that statement many times, even when the member for Brennan was minister for Planning – affordable housing, choice of housing. The housing choice could be brand-new housing, second-hand housing, even housing that is being moved. What the government has done is discriminatory. It seems to have listened to part of the industry and said, ‘We need to help you so we will not encourage people to buy an existing house because that will slow the building economy down in the Northern Territory’.
That is an artificial thing. If the government believes in the free market, then scrap the subsidies altogether and allow people the choice of buying a new house or a second-hand house without a subsidy. In reverse, if you give a subsidy do it equally, do not discriminate. Allow the first home buyer to choose which house they wish to buy. At the moment it is discriminatory because the government wants to stimulate one part of the industry and that is not fair.
The government has been promoting affordable housing. There is an opportunity for affordable housing without people having to buy a brand-new house. New houses in Darwin are being built on inflated prices. If a 778 m block can be developed in Katherine with the same infrastructure required for one in Zuccoli or Bakewell – someone is taking a fair hunk of money home out of that sale. The people who suffer, of course, are the young families who wish to buy there.
The government has said from time to time, ‘We’ve reduced prices now because you can buy a block for about $130 000 in Zuccoli or one of the suburbs in Palmerston’, but they are 330 m blocks, and when you put the 330 m blocks into an 800 m block you end up with exactly the same price you had before. There is no difference except you are paying a smaller amount of money for a fairly small piece of land.
There is nothing wrong with people living on a small piece of land. I call it Velcro living because sometimes the blocks are so small you have to sleep vertically. We sometimes forget the social impact of infill. Urban designers and the Planning Commission’s views of the world are about infill these days, but we live in a tropical city. Families need space and it is sometimes forgotten that people need space. There can be a social impact on families living too close to their neighbours. Sometimes that is not taken into consideration. That does not mean we should not have choice, but we should identify that we need land large enough for people to raise a family with a bit of space around them.
I support this motion. It is saying, ‘We are asking the government to consider stamp duty relief or a grant to assist first owners buy existing homes’. The member for Barkly was right. What better time than Christmas. I thought, ‘What better time than nine months before an election?’ I imagine a few little trinkets will be pushed out from now until next August. This could be a good one. Many people would be happy to see the government doing it. Obviously they will think the government is trying to sweeten them up. They are probably right, but at the same time there has been enough pressure, especially in areas like Alice Springs, Tennant Creek and Katherine where that subsidy was important to people. Many people in those communities are not high-income earners and that subsidy would have helped them get off the ground and into a new home.
There is merit in what the member for Araluen has put forward today. It would not hurt the government to agree to this because at least they can put it out there for discussion in the wider community. It would be worth the government coming back after they have looked at it and, hopefully, reconsidering and changing the present policy.
Mr TOLLNER (Treasurer): Mr Acting Deputy Speaker, I thank the member for Araluen for the motion. I think it is completely unnecessary, but I will go into that in a little while. I want to comment on what a few people said.
I will start with my good friend, the member for Barkly, who I always find quite entertaining. Listening to him talking about his son bull riding, and his grandson and that sort of stuff, I pine for my times living in a small remote township, as I grew up doing similar things as a child - riding bulls and all that sort of caper.
There is no doubt about it, it is a wholesome way of life, and I envy the member for Barkly for living in place like Tennant Creek. I find it to be a beautiful town. I love visiting there and I love the people it attracts. It truly is a wonderful place. They could do better with their local member, but I think at the next election there is an opportunity for the people of Tennant Creek to upgrade and find someone a bit more switched on. I do enjoy his contributions in this place.
The member for Barkly talked about a cashed-up government. That may sound right to the member for Barkly given that we just released the Treasurer’s Annual Financial Report, which shows a budget surplus. It is not a big surplus. A few things brought that surplus on. It is not a permanent surplus in any way, shape or form. Government recurrent spending is still far too excessive and work needs to be done to make sure we are fiscally responsible as a jurisdiction. The view that we are cashed up is wrong.
The member for Barkly suggested I am stealing Christmas, and that it is time to release the purse strings and throw some money around. I appreciate where he is coming from. That is the Labor way. You throw money around and there are goodies and lollies going everywhere for everybody all the time. It is the old case of the magic pudding which you keep eating but never seems to disappear.
Unfortunately the world does not work like that. We on the conservative side of politics understand the fact that what you borrow, one day you have to pay back, which has occupied my mind for the last three years in this job. We talk about intergenerational debt, which I find concerning. It is one of the big no nos when it comes to fiscal morality, if you want to call it that. The idea is we do not pass on debt to our children and that we sustain ourselves. The thought is that you should be able to sustain yourself and leave a little behind for your kids rather than leaving them a debt into the future.
It is something that never seems to bother the Labor Party. Every place I go where there is a Labor member – I was at the Richardson Park public information session on Sunday night. Luke Gosling, the federal Labor candidate, was there screaming and shouting, saying, ‘Just move Richardson Park to Marrara and to hell with the cost. Who cares?’ The difference is $20m or $100m. Clearly Labor does not care. That is the Labor way. It does not matter what it costs, you just spend money. I sit beside my good friend, the member for Brennan, the Education minister, who always talks about spending being an outcome for the Labor Party. It is not an outcome. Results are an outcome.
For many people on the other side, throwing around money is what you are supposed to do in government. That is not our view at all. Member for Barkly, whilst I love listening to your stories and pine for your lifestyle, there is no doubt that you have the Labor stamp on you. You are a Labor man through and through. Spending means nothing and ultimately it is about Christmas all year round, throwing goodies to everybody and to hell with future generations. So be it. People have a choice when it comes to elections. If that is the way they want to live their lives, not caring about debt and deficits ...
Mr Chandler: Shadow Treasurer, remember?
Mr TOLLNER: Shadow Treasurer? We all know who the shadow Treasurer is. I reckon she is the shadow Opposition Leader but we will not go there in this debate.
The member for Barkly also talked about suburb names. Zuccoli is named after a fellow called Guido Zuccoli, a famous aviator of the Northern Territory and a decent Territorian. I was reliably informed just the other day by one of his long and close friends that Guido loathed being called ZuccOli. The correct pronunciation is ZUccoli. I have tried to get people to start calling the suburb ZUccoli in honour of Guido Zuccoli who it was named after. I even went as far as saying to the Lands department CE, ‘If I hear anybody refer to ZuccOli the fine is a carton of beer’. Lo and behold, just the other day in my office I said the word ZuccOli myself, so I shouted the department a carton of beer. We can all make that mistake.
The member for Barkly mentioned Zuccoli, Kilgariff and all these other places, saying they were all Labor plans. They may well have been Labor plans and Labor names; I am not exactly certain of the history. The reality is that is all they were: just names. This government has released the land …
Mr Chandler: They are claiming Palmerston.
Mr TOLLNER: They probably are claiming Palmerston. I know they are claiming Weddell. Weddell goes back some 30 or so years to previous CLP governments a long way gone. Weddell was always envisaged to be centred on Lake Elizabeth, which meant putting a dam on the Elizabeth River and turning it into a recreational lake. That was a bridge too far for some people in this place who did not want to see the Elizabeth River dam. The government changed its view on that and scrapped the damming of the Elizabeth River. That has massively changed the planning for Weddell. Weddell now will have to be located elsewhere because you cannot locate a new township in a mosquito, sand fly or midge zone, but that is another story.
Member for Barkly, you are right that you came up with these names, but you never did anything about it.
It was interesting listening to the member for Nelson, but it is very difficult to take him seriously on any of this. I am aware that the previous Labor government offered the member for Nelson a portfolio, which he rejected. I, as the minister, said he could vet all developments in the Litchfield rural area – set up a committee with the members for Goyder and Daly to vet what comes to the minister on developments in the rural area. Again, the member for Nelson shirked that responsibility. He is all ideas. He is good at throwing rocks, but when it comes to making any type of decision, or taking responsibility, he will always run and hide. He does not want to be in a position of responsibility. He likes to sit on the sidelines and throw rocks. He likes to put in his two cents’ worth but never wants to take responsibility for anything. I suppose that is the whole idea of being an Independent. You do not have to take responsibility for anything.
Getting to this motion, there are many organisations around Australia, such as the Housing Supply and Affordability Reform Working Party of COAG and the National Housing Supply Council, and an enormous number of economists and other financial experts who have established that housing grants, including the First Home Owner Grant, and stamp duty tax concessions increase the prices of established homes and exacerbate any imbalance between demand for and supply of housing. That is the established view of the experts.
The member for Araluen acknowledged that every state and Territory has now ceased providing first home owner grants for purchases of established homes. That is because the evidence shows these types of housing grants increase the prices of established homes and exacerbate any imbalance between demand for and supply of housing. Based on that information from economists, COAG working groups and others who understand that homeowners grants on existing houses add inflationary pressures, it becomes obvious why the government made that decision.
I take members back three years. When we came into government – I should not have to remind this House – we were facing the worst housing and rental crisis in the history of the Northern Territory.
Mr Giles: Just three years ago.
Mr TOLLNER: Just three years ago. Housing was unaffordable. Everywhere you went, people would say it was impossible for young people and first home buyers to get into the housing market in the Northern Territory. At that time the cost of housing was higher than in Sydney. We were the highest-cost jurisdiction in the nation. Given that and the information we had from economists, we did two things. Firstly, we embarked on the largest land release process in the Territory’s history, which has worked. We have released enormous amounts of land across the Northern Territory for development. Secondly, we removed the First Home Owner Grant for people wanting to buy an established house.
The latest data I have is that median house prices in Darwin and Palmerston have fallen to $605 500 from $610 000 at this time last year. In Alice Springs there has been a slight increase in housing prices. In Katherine there has been a drop to the point where houses are now $322 500 compared to $357 500 a year ago. In Tennant Creek we have seen a decrease in housing prices to $222 500 from $271 500. There have been significant drops in rents. In Darwin now the median weekly house rent is $556 compared to $653 12 months ago. There is almost a $100 a week saving for people, and this is what we are doing to drive down the cost of living in the Territory. In Alice Springs there has been a decrease in rents to $400 a week from $546, almost $150 a week from 12 months ago. In Katherine, median prices have dropped to $430 from $470 to rent a house.
What we have done has had an effect. When we came into government we said we would reduce the cost of living. The biggest driver of cost-of-living impacts was housing and accommodation, without a doubt. Government, true to its word, acted and we have seen that change.
It was the government’s intention, through removal of stamp duty concessions and the First Home Owner Grant for established homes, in conjunction with strong land release, to decrease the demand-fuelled effect on housing prices. The strategy is working and, as part of the natural cycle, reduced housing prices along with current low interest rates is resulting in increased activity in the market, especially from first home buyers who are able to afford entry-level established homes without the need for government assistance.
Lower priced homes attract lower rates of stamp duty as well. The ABS data, which is sourced from banks, credit unions and building societies, shows that first home buyers still remain a significant proportion of home finance commitments, with more than one in five housing finance commitments in the September 2015 quarter being first home buyers.
Relieving all first home buyers of the stamp duty obligation by way of exemption would cost government upwards of $21m per year and would put upward pressure on house prices. I know that means nothing to members opposite. They do not care what you spend, but fiscally responsible governments always keep an eye on the bottom line.
There is a range of good news things with what the government has done. To date, First Home Owner Grant numbers are much higher than we expected, with about 30 approvals a month since March 2015. In March this year we saw higher than expected approvals in First Home Owner Grant numbers for new houses. As a result, First Home Owner Grant payments are about $3m higher in 2015-16 than we originally forecast, with $8m in grants expected to be paid this financial year.
Mr CHANDLER: A point of order, Mr Deputy Speaker! Pursuant to Standing Order 43, I ask that an extension of time be granted to my good colleague, the member for Fong Lim.
Motion agreed to.
Mr TOLLNER: Thank you very much, member for Brennan. I will not take too much time. As I said at the outset, this is somewhat of a worthless debate, but I am prepared to put things on the record that have already been put on the record several times.
Getting to the point of why it is a worthless debate and what people on the other side seem to do with their time – it is a bit difficult to understand. Government supports the motion, but it is a pointless debate. If members opposite and the member for Araluen were paying any attention, they would know government is already doing this. In fact, I have a media release from the Chief Minister of the Northern Territory and the Minister for Housing dated 17 June 2015, which is six or seven months ago. It is titled ‘Review into government housing program initiatives’. The first line of that media release is:
- The Northern Territory government will review its suite of housing supply and assistance programs to ensure they are meeting the needs of Territorians.
Further in it says:
- The review of housing programs will encompass:
what level and type of residential dwelling demand exists in the market
the impact of government’s affordable housing initiatives in assisting Territorians on limited incomes into home ownership
the flow of new residential land on to the market as a result of the government’s land release program …
And, wait for it:
- what concessions for first home buyers might be most appropriate in the market
Then it goes on to say:
- social housing demands, including public, assisted and homelessness services; and
how we can better work in partnership with community housing providers.
That media release has been on the public record since 17 June 2015. It is looking at what concessions for first home buyers might be most appropriate in the market. Government announced this six or seven months ago. Six or seven months later, in waltzes the member for Araluen with a motion that everybody on the other side agrees with. We agree with it, too, because it is already happening.
Time in this place is valuable. We all like to hear the sound of our own voices and to be seen to be doing something. It is a bit like the TAFR and what the member for Araluen read into that. She did not realise that a week ago we tabled it and outlined it; there had even been a story in the paper drawing attention to the fact the Power and Water Corporation’s financials were not up to scratch. She comes in here like she has some big news story to belt the government around the ears with. It is time for Labor and the Independents to start paying attention. Open your eyes and see what is going on around you.
We will support this motion; we already are. It has been a great debate. Thank you, member for Araluen, for coming in here with it. It has given me the opportunity to reinforce why the government has put in place the measures it has and done what it has. Obviously with all things you do you review them. We announced the review six or seven months ago, and it is happening. I hope when I sit down and the member Araluen decides to sum up, she will acknowledge the good work of this government and the foresight we have had to review those programs.
Mrs LAMBLEY (Araluen): Mr Deputy Speaker, I thank the Treasurer for his contribution. First I must address what is, in my mind, a confusing conclusion to the Treasurer’s contribution. In the first part he was saying, ‘I do not agree with this motion and providing stamp duty concessions or grants to assist first home owners to buy existing homes’, then he concluded by saying government has a six to seven month review under way and he will support the motion. I feel confused, as I am sure other people in the Chamber also do. But I guess we have become accustomed to feeling confused by the Treasurer so that is not a new response.
My question to the government now is, if you have had a review under way for the last six or seven months, surely you would have asked the Minister for Housing or the Chief Minister to update us on the review? Reviews do not usually take more than six or seven months. The Treasurer has reminded us of this review. I recall that review more in terms of the Real Housing for Growth program, which I also have major concerns about.
In the context of this motion tonight, I thank the Treasurer for reminding us of this fabulous review. He probably needed to remind his government that the review is being undertaken. Perhaps he should have reminded the Minister for Housing and the Chief Minister, who issued the media release six or seven months ago, that they could have used this as a wonderful opportunity, in conjunction with the Treasurer reminding us of the review, to update the House on the review. Alas, we will not be given that indulgence tonight. We have just been reminded that the review is being undertaken and, despite the Treasurer’s better judgment, they will support the motion. I should be deliriously happy to hear that the government is supporting this motion. However, I feel somewhat bewildered by this strange response from the Treasurer.
But celebrations tonight – the government will deeply consider and perhaps even support providing stamp duty relief or government assistance to first home owners to buy existing homes. I should feel very happy about that, but given the context in which that was delivered to us I remain somewhat sceptical. Scepticism has been a part of how I have learnt to deal with this government’s mixed messages. The somewhat strange and convoluted messages we hear from the government leave most of us on this side of the Chamber feeling confused, as would Territorians who might be listening tonight.
I am very pleased to know that the government will support this motion and may even provide government subsidies and assistance to first home owners buying existing homes. I feel very encouraged, as I am sure others on this side of the Chamber feel after the Treasurer’s response. I hope we will hear an update from the government, perhaps even tomorrow, on the last day of sittings for the year. Perhaps Santa Claus will avail himself in the Northern Territory parliamentary Chamber tomorrow and give us an update on this review and even confirm that the government will reinstitute assistance for first home owners buying existing homes.
I will not elaborate anymore in my closing comments. Perhaps the onus now is directly on the government. In a timely fashion – I think six to seven months is time enough. I call on the Chief Minister to update the House tomorrow, given he has failed to do so today. Nor has the Housing minister updated us on this review, so I call on them to, tomorrow, the last day of sittings, give us some direct feedback on exactly what this review contains, what the conclusions or recommendations are, and take some misery out of the lives of Territorians who are sitting back waiting for a response to this motion tonight.
People are expectant. They are hopeful that this government will see that times have changed. The decisions were made several years ago to change the guidelines for the First Home Owner Grant. When those decisions were made they were made with the best of intentions, but we live in the Territory. Our jurisdiction is very different to other states and territories. It is a mendicant state. We are dependent. Eighty per cent of our revenue comes from the federal government. What applies to states like Victoria or New South Wales is very different here. In the Territory we all rely on significant government subsidies and handouts no matter who we are or what our circumstances are. It is pretty miserable if you continue this line of not assisting the good prospective first home owners of the Territory to buy existing homes.
Thank you for all your support. To the people who have spoken tonight, the members for Barkly, Nelson and Casuarina, and the Treasurer, I thank you for participating in this debate, and I commend this motion to the House.
Motion agreed to.
MOTION
Funding and Resourcing Territory Schools
Funding and Resourcing Territory Schools
Continued from 29 October 2014.
Mr ELFERINK (Attorney-General and Justice): Mr Acting Deputy Speaker, this was introduced on 29 October 2014, so it has taken a while to get back into this House for debate, and hopefully for completion.
I reflect on the questions we heard in Question Time, because clearly part of the Question Time assault – if you would call it that – launched by the members opposite was aimed at attacking the Education minister for cuts in Education. I do not for one second agree with any of the numbers the members opposite use.
Generally, if you would like to know if the members opposite are not telling the truth, just see if their lips are moving. If they are, then the likelihood is that they are not telling the truth.
Let us indulge them for one second without challenging the numbers they have been trotting out. Let us indulge them in a very important way. In Question Time today they talked about teacher numbers. They talked about people working in remote communities, Aboriginal people working in the education system, etcetera. What they did not mention in their questions was results for students. The only time they mentioned students is when they wanted to talk about teacher-to-student ratios, so it was still about the teachers anyhow. This is the fundamental difference between the Minister for Education, who quite rightly got cranky today at some of the absurd suggestions being made by the members opposite, and the Labor Party, which has consistently run the same argument year-in year-out in this place that you measure government success by how much you spend.
My belief is that you measure success in the education field by the results you get. In this environment the results have been consistently encouraging. The NAPLAN results are out at the moment, and there are some very interesting things to observe. Some things worth observing are that in 2015 a significant increase in the average scores – mean scale scores for Year 3 and Year 5 reading, grammar and punctuation compared to 2008 show a strong improvement trend in early years education over the past eight years. Cohort gains for Year 3, Year 7 and Years 5 to 9 between 2011 and 2015 have been stronger in the Northern Territory than nationally for all test domains except writing. The Year 3 to Year 9 cohort gains were also stronger in the NT compared to national for comparable test domains between 2009 and 2015.
The issue I raise today, and the issue the minister raised during Question Time today, is that for the minister it was about results. Are we getting better results out of our education system, and the answer is yes. That is important to acknowledge because for the members opposite it is almost exclusively about the teachers, the teachers union and how much money they spent. I argue, as I know the Education minister argues, that it is not about how much you spend but how much you achieve.
Under the Labor model, if they were to scale Mount Everest they would decide to spend 10 gazillion dollars to achieve it when it could be done a lot more cheaply. For them, the success in scaling Mount Everest is not whether they got to the top or not; it is how much they spent on the equipment.
The result must be what is important, and the results have not traditionally been achieved under the former Labor government. Its answer was to consistently throw more money at it. The definition of madness, which has often used in this place – I remind honourable members of that – is trying the same thing again and again and expecting different results. That is what the former government tried to do, and its answer was always to spend more money. When former minister Syd Stirling became Minister for Education he said the answer was middle schools. We went from a primary/high school system to a primary, middle school and senior school system. We spent tens of millions, probably close to $100m, building new middle schools, but what has the net gain been?
I suggest that despite the best efforts of former minister Syd Stirling to say middle schools would be the solution for everything, the results have not substantially shifted. Here is some thinking I encourage members to consider. If one teacher was able to produce for every student in the Northern Territory the same or better results than the whole Education department, then surely you would spend the money on that teacher. I know that is an absurd stretch of the thinking, but the idea remains the same.
The Education minister has just placed this in my hand, ‘In very remote areas there have significant and substantial improvements compared to 2008 achievements for Year 3 Indigenous students in grammar and punctuation; Year 5 Indigenous students in reading, grammar and punctuation; Year 7 Indigenous students in reading; and Year 9 Indigenous students in numeracy. Four- and six-year cohort gains for the Northern Territory have been strong compared to the performance nationally. The average four-year gain to 2015 for Year 7 students was higher than the national gains for each test domain, except writing. The average four-year gain to 2015 for Year 9 students was also higher than national gains for each test domain, except writing. The average six-year gain to 2015 for NT Year 9 students was higher than the national six-year gains for reading, spelling, grammar, punctuation and numeracy.
We know we are improving and gaining ground faster than the rest of the nation, but we also acknowledge that we are coming from a lower base.
With my experience of Indigenous education in remote areas I know we will continue to struggle in the bush, as will any other government in the Northern Territory, whether it be left or right.
The focus has to remain consistent. The focus must consistently remain on results, not on the teachers, the department or the bureaucracy, but on the results the students achieve, which has been utterly lost on the opposition. For them it is still about spend, spend and spend, not what your systems should be.
The minister went to Cape York and looked at education models there to see if there was something he could do. The direct process he came back with has seen improvements in the Cape York area and he wants to translate that into the Northern Territory because he wants to better results. That has been resisted by the members opposite. They also resisted global funding and public schools essentially operating their own budgets. They did that on ideological grounds only. They did it to satisfy the unions, not the need for results.
Larrakeyah Primary School, which is an example I will rely on, is an Independent Public School. I happen to know two of the students who go there because they are my daughters. I have seen the school undergo a substantial transition under Independent Public School status. It provides services I have never seen in the public school system, and it provides them at a cost. It costs my wife and me more money for our children to participate in some of the programs run by the school. But where else in the system could you purchase robotics for a Year 5 student? You can at Larrakeyah Primary School.
The theatre my youngest daughter so thoroughly enjoys, and the drama classes she does, come at a cost, but my goodness gracious me, talk about two young women who are engaged in their education. I can also report to the House with great pleasure that both of my daughters have completely smashed the NAPLAN tests. They did better than the Australian average by a long chalk. They were off the scale in many of the areas they were tested in, and they continue to perform better than the school average. The school average was substantially higher than the national benchmarks because it has an engaged school council with engaged parents who are taking the liberty granted to them by the Minister for Education and using it to advance the educational standards of the students at Larrakeyah Primary School in a way I never imagined could be done.
There are results coming out of Larrakeyah Primary School that, without knowing, I would be prepared to bet are better than or as good as many private institutions not only in this jurisdiction, but in this country.
This Education minister has been prepared to be bold. He has been prepared to have a go and make some pretty tough decisions. We were almost at war at one stage with Australian Education Union NT, particularly through the processes they chose to engage in politically, undermining their union membership in pursuit of a seat in this House. We all remember the Cranitch/Clisby leadership of the Australian Education Union, which came to such a calamitous result for that union. It is small wonder they were both ultimately removed from that role by the union membership. They thought it was fair to use the EBA to leverage teachers’ conditions and entitlements in the workplace to wedge government on government policy, something we were never prepared to do. As a consequence of that, they then ran a long-standing campaign. As the Minister for Public Employment at the time, I remember this campaign going for about 18 months. All we did did as a government was simply say, ‘Teachers’ pay and conditions, and education policy, should not be brought into contact with each other and should be dealt with separately’.
Come the Blain by-election, Mr Cranitch, if memory serves me, stood as a candidate using union funds for his campaign and came to a crushing defeat, gaining only as much as 9% of the vote, which basically means he travelled worse than the Greens Party did. They had convinced themselves that the outrage they felt had translated into the community and genuinely came to a point where they believed they would win the seat and have some leverage in this parliament. So calamitous was their campaign, not only did they fail, it cost the teachers’ union some credibility in the eyes of the public.
Eventually, after about 18 months, the new representatives of the teachers’ union got to the point where they said, ‘This is getting ridiculous. This is costing our members thousands and thousands of dollars, and clearly the government will continue stridently and patiently in pursuit of better results, so we will settle on the EBA’, and the EBA was settled.
Not surprisingly, the teachers’ union continued to be critical of some of things government was doing. That is what unions do, particularly with conservative governments. But now the tests are in. The test has come back to demonstrate that this minister, through his careful management of the portfolio, has been able to get better results for students in the Northern Territory than the former government did, despite the former government’s spendathon.
I note and have seen that teachers are becoming increasingly engaged in the education system in a way they have not been before. One of the spin-offs, in my humble opinion, of the independent schools, is that the teaching staff embrace that independence and use that newfound desire to be teachers, and you see that translated into the classroom. Many teachers seem to be more enthusiastic and engaged with their jobs in the Northern Territory than they have been in a long time. It is now an exciting place to be. There is no crushing bureaucratic environment where EBA and the rules of the unions have all power and precedence. It is now an environment where they can get back to their Mr Chips-type role and engage with their profession in a way they have not been able to for a long time. It is a place of imagination and passion. I am increasingly impressed with the number of teachers telling me they enjoy doing their job.
Mr Deputy Speaker, I am pleased to contribute to this debate. It is interesting that after over a year of this sitting on the Notice Paper we get to look back at the last year that was and see that all the doom-saying captured in this motion does not reflect the results. In Labor’s last three years it had 170 additional students to 780 staff, with results going backwards.
This motion accuses the government of:
- … slashing $125 m from our education budgets and forcing global school budgets on to schools, which is cost shifting and putting resource burdens onto our schools.
One, I do not entirely believe the first figure is anywhere close to correct, and secondly, forcing global budgets has hardly led to a decline in educational standards. It has enabled schools to show greater capacity and ability in pushing forward with their own programs which are specific to those schools. Imagine that a school actually gets to decide what it does with its own money and has therefore been given the ability by the Education department, and this minister, to make some very important decisions as to what the local community wants.
The members opposite consistently argue for local community engagement. This minister has delivered it. Global budgets mean they can deal with issues locally. Independent Public Schools can do even more for their students, and because the decision-maker is close to the person receiving the benefit of that decision, those decisions are more effectively tailored for the students in the school. As a result, the engagement of teachers and parents increases, engagement in management of the school increases, and engaged teachers work more efficiently and effectively and engage better with their students. As a consequence, students’ results go up. In short, the effect of this is an improved set of results and statistics. We do not have to throw millions and millions of dollars at ideas when we see an effective and efficient system being rolled out and producing better results in our schools.
Mr STYLES (Young Territorians): Mr Deputy Speaker, I rise to contribute to this debate on a number of issues that not only affect me as a minister, especially for youth, but also as the local member in Sanderson.
I went to a breakfast recently at Wulagi Primary School. We met there as a result of a new proposal called, Collective Impact. It is not new around the world and interstate, but it is here. I give credit to the principal of Wulagi Primary School, Susan Kilgour, for her extraordinary effort and commitment to the kids of Wulagi Primary School. Over the last six months she has spent just about every Sunday researching this new approach.
We have some very knowledgeable and good people on board with this. The principals behind it are probably too numerous to mention and it would take up too much debate time, but we have a Sanderson alliance based around the schools in the Sanderson electorate. We have the middle school on board. We have primary schools from across the northern suburbs in the area east of Lee Point Road by McMillans Road and Vanderlin Drive.
Collective Impact affects somewhere between 4000 and 4500 students in the catchment area I just described. It is a holistic approach to a child’s education from birth until they leave school. Having worked alongside teachers for many years as a school-based police officer, and eventually being in control of that program as well as working with a number of schools, I saw many interesting aspects of education and how it works. There are many things that people may not realise, such as that holidays are not for children; they are for teachers. If you did not give teachers holidays you would have few people going into that profession. They would not last. If you want people to last you must give them plenty of good breaks to rest from the rigours of the classroom.
That brings me to the commitment of the people in the Sanderson alliance. They are very committed to their cause and happy to do what they do.
I am on the record as saying that in a number of key roles in our community it is not possible to pay people enough. It is not possible to pay emergency room nurses, police officers, teachers and health professionals enough. They are callings. The member for Port Darwin spoke today about some of the things he could give descriptions of in this Chamber. I suggest the experiences of some police officers, fire officers and emergency room nurses would shock and distress some people in this House. It is a great if you have a calling to a particular career. Most teachers say they love their work and what they achieve. It is about what teachers can achieve personally and within their heart. I know teachers who discuss salaries and conditions and say, ‘I’m okay’. I know police officers and emergency service nurses who say, ‘I’m okay’, but others say, ‘We want more’. That is their right. I have no problem debating the issue and putting things forward. Eventually people will settle on something that suits – those who are paying, be it private enterprise or the government, and those who are accepting. We have many committed teachers. I have witnessed that, which is why it is easy for me to say there are numerous dedicated people in the teaching profession.
Collective Impact is new. We should, as a community, evaluate these programs. When there is a great leader, like the principal of Wulagi Primary School, someone who has done their research, who I have spoken to about Collective Impact – when people understand what they are talking about and have many years of experience, I listen to them.
That same principal and the previous school council have decided Wulagi will become an Independent Public School. The staff and the principal are rapt that they can have autonomy in running programs in the school and distributing government money, and with what they have available to them under the auspices of an Independent Public School. The school council goes and a board takes its place. They have found some very qualified people who are quite happy to give their expertise to the board running the Independent Public School at Wulagi. The rules are laid out and people know they can have a major impact on what children in the catchment area of Wulagi can do.
A number of years ago there was a bleeding off of students out of the Wulagi area to different schools. When I was doorknocking I found out there were some issues at the school. The previous principals were working on those issues and eventually most of them were resolved. Now we see an influx back into Wulagi Primary School because people see it can offer a broader range of subjects and education.
The other obvious thing about Wulagi is that there is a childcare centre attached to the school. Parents who live in the Sanderson catchment area for the Collective Impact area known as Sanderson alliance can now take their children as babies to the childcare centre. As the kids grow they see Wulagi Primary School through the fence. Once they are ready to go to Transition, they go from one area into another which they are already familiar with; they are comfortable and they know the people there. From there on it is into the big school until Year 6. It is a fantastic journey for Wulagi students and it makes a huge impact on where they will go with their education.
Global budgets are something many schools relish. They want autonomy; they want to look at where they spend their money and what they do.
I have worked with many principals and teachers over many years. I was involved in that area for about 19 years of my working life, probably some of the most rewarding years I have had. Talking to principals on numerous occasions over those years, one of the things they clearly wanted was a greater degree of autonomy and freedom to do what they, their school council, the parents and teachers wanted so the education their students received was improved.
I have heard today a number of speakers in this debate talk about money. I recall that between 2008 and 2012, when the current opposition was in government, the member for Karama, when she was the Treasurer, would stand up on the government side and boast about how much money they spent. They created the biggest projected debt in the Territory’s history, of $5.5bn, and were not concerned about how much money they spent. They constantly said, ‘We spent more money than the CLP, and we did this and spent more money on this’.
I reiterate, because I believe it is important for those listening, that money is an input not an outcome. I can remember trying to get that through in all the debates we had. Whenever I had an opportunity to talk to the then government and Treasurer I would say, ‘You cannot call this an outcome. It is about what students achieve, not how much money you spend.’ No we are seeing improvements. The NAPLAN results have improved.
What are we doing that is better than the previous government? It did not achieve the results we have achieved and what we are seeing now. It is obviously the change in policy three years ago that caused that.
One has to ask the question about cash and the claim that Labor spent more money. They will say, ‘We spent more money here and we did this and that’, but they did not achieve the outcomes. I have seen documentaries and I went to various seminars when I was involved in community policing, and you hear about people in Africa where the classroom is under a tree. The chalkboard is literally a piece of board leaning up against the tree. The teacher will have a piece of chalk. They may not have the text books to go around to every student.
I have seen documentaries where they have interviewed doctors, neurosurgeons, pilots of airplanes and lawyers, people who have achieved an extremely high level of education but went to a school under a tree in the savannah of Africa. They still achieved great things in their lives. I do not know what support their parents gave them because it is not something the documentary revealed, but some of their parents were subsistence farmers struggling to keep food in the mouths of their children and on the table for the rest of the family. These people did extremely well.
We give many people – and we want to – the best environment we can. When I was a student I was a recipient of a scholarship from the Australian Rural Leadership Foundation. There were 35 every year. It is a great program; it is one of the leading leadership development programs in Australia. To win one of 35 scholarships they give out each year was a privilege. On that program we travelled around Australia to country and city areas. It is an 18-month program. There is a lot of research you have to do to complete the program.
There is one section where they take you overseas. We went to India for our overseas section. It was a real eye opener, because we saw the educational requirements of people who live in regional, rural and remote parts of India, not dissimilar to the rural and remote parts of the Northern Territory. We visited some schools where there were hundreds of Indian children trying to get an education in half-a-dozen classrooms. The classrooms were basic. Granted, we did not go to any that were held under a tree, although we saw lessons conducted under a tree because there were not enough classrooms. There were some classrooms and desks, but not enough.
Some of those children were extremely bright young people. The school told us they have an honour list of those who go on from their school to achieve great heights. Although I cannot remember the names, I remember there were a number of people who had been very successful in later life who went to this village school. The village was nothing flash. There were many goats, a lot of cowpats, which they use for cooking, and a small dam that the community built. One of the reasons we went there was to see the hydroelectric system they had in place to provide small amounts of electricity to the village, which was very interesting.
Some children who came out of those classrooms have done extremely well in life and are now contributing to medical, scientific and engineering research. We were in Hyderabad at one stage and we went to a building that was about 10 or 12 floors high which was full of engineers. As a matter of course, we asked those people where they came from, what they did and where they received their education, because it was part of the theme of learning about rural education in outback Australia.
To go there and see what they have compared to what we have showed us we are quite lucky in this country. Albeit that everybody wants more, we are considerably more fortunate in Australia with our education facilities and programs than they are in India. Yet they turn out some very well-qualified people. In a building we went to in Hyderabad there were about 12 floors of engineers in just one building. They were all sitting at computers, certifying plans and drawings from all over the world that were e-mailed to them. They came out of some schools where there were not enough desks or books, but they studied hard and applied themselves.
Somehow in this country we have to get to the point where we can get our young people to apply themselves in the same manner those in Africa and India do, because they too can achieve. Through our education system in the Territory we now have Aboriginal people from communities becoming pharmacists. We have some doctors and engineers, and, I think, some pilots. I used to work with a man named Rob Mills, who is a Thursday Islander. He came up through the village system there but got his pilot’s licence. I ran into him on an aeroplane about three months ago and he has done very well for himself. We had a chat about the old days when we used to work together.
He came out of a system that was not perfect. I do not think we will ever get to a stage where we have a perfect system because we can never do enough. Governments do not have enough money to create the perfect system, but we do have wise people who are working together with the minister to come up with a system where the money is spent in the wisest possible way to get the best possible outcome. We are seeing these outcomes increase through the NAPLAN results.
I look at why they may have increased. One of the things we can do better is to look at the range of school structures. We need to make schools as safe as we can, which brings me to a number of issues in relation to young people feeling secure and safe. It does not matter where you work, play or go to school, we all want to be safe. We should have the right to be safe in our working environments. Whatever happens in those environments, if people are not relaxed and their anxiety levels are through the roof, they will not learn as well as if they were relaxed.
This is not about money. This is about creating an environment and community where our young people and students feel safe. That is the first thing you have to do. This is about bullying; it is about all of those issues. It is about creating an environment where people’s anxiety levels are extremely low. It is not about money. It is about how people feel.
I take, for instance, Sanderson Middle School. One of the things I argued against was middle schools. I thought there were some issues in relation to having 14-year-old boys as role models, which is probably on average one of the …
Mr CHANDLER: A point of order, Mr Deputy Speaker! In accordance with Standing Order 43, I ask for an extension of time for the member for Sanderson.
Motion agreed to.
Mr STYLES: I will continue talking about the wonderful things happening at Sanderson Middle School. As the member for Sanderson, it is in my electorate and I am very keen to make sure the children and young Territorians who go there feel as safe as possible. The principal is Liz Veel, who I worked with 25 years ago in classrooms when I was a young school-based police officer.
I found Liz to be an excellent classroom teacher and now she is an excellent principal. Some years ago she went to Canada to look at a range of things that happen in schools and where schools can be the centre of a community. I was unaware of that whilst I was in school-based policing and community policing, looking at ways to solve the problem and to create an environment where schools and students could flourish. I was involved in party politics in those days and was looking for a community answer and a financial answer. Being around politics for a while, watching governments and seeing what happens, I realised it is not so different to what I remember on Sunday nights as a child.
Mum would always bake an apple pie, a rhubarb pie, a bread and butter pudding or some other yummy thing, and she would make custard. No one makes custard quite like your mother. The pie was usually in a round dish. When mum got it out of the oven she would carve it up, and I learnt about pie graphs. I did not know they were called pie graphs until I studied them at school, but pie graphs …
Mr Tollner: Look like a pie.
Mr STYLES: That is right. That is very observant, member for Fong Lim. The pie graph looks like a pie.
Mr Tollner: Do you know bar graphs?
Mr STYLES: A bar graph looks like a bar, I suppose. We digress, and I get back to the rhubarb pie. The rhubarb pie is only so big, and mum would cut it up. I was the baby of the family. There was mum and dad, and he was a pretty big bloke, bigger than me, which is why I never tackled him as a young bloke. My brother was a bit taller than I was because he is a bit older than me. When mum carved the pie I never liked the result and said, ‘Mum, I want a bigger share’. The reality of life can hit you even when you are quite young that even though you want more of the pie, if there is no more pie you can only have what you get.
When I was involved with community policing I looked …
Mr Tollner: Unless it is Labor’s magic pudding.
Mr STYLES: That is true, and I pick up on interjection from the member for Fong Lim, who said, ‘Unless it is Labor’s magic pudding’. They seem to think money comes out of the magic pudding, but I heard someone in this debate say – I think it was the member for Fong Lim – when you keep borrowing money, sometime in the future you have to pay it back. I recall the Pied Piper nursery rhyme. Nursery rhymes are a tool for kids to learn about life in a way they can relate to and understand. The Pied Piper eventually comes for payment of the debt, and if you do not pay your debt – look at what happened to Greece – you lose control of your economy and what you can do for people in your community. That is not something this government will tolerate, so we work hard to make sure we balance it.
Let us go back to the pie. The pie is cut up and you have your share. As a young guy with three children I was looking for ways to resource schools without having to say I wanted more of the pie. When there are competing interests you have to do whatever you can to create services where you still get the same sized piece of pie.
Looking at what this debate is about and the title on the Notice Paper that says, ‘Funding and Resourcing Territory Schools’ – if you do not have bucket loads of money which you can tip into a truck, back it up to a school and tip it out – money is an input not an outcome. We are looking to responsible spending of taxpayers’ dollars, getting the system functioning efficiently and effectively, and getting better results. We have a system that is now operating efficiently and effectively, and is getting better NAPLAN results. I heard the member for Port Darwin talk about the NAPLAN results, and I feel very proud because I am part of a government that is operating responsibly financially and ensuring we are not loading our children with debt.
The current federal government is stuck with the same problem we had, and that is the massive debt that was created by Labor. We had to deal with it here. We go to the feds and say to the federal Minister for Education, ‘You don’t happen to have a spare rhubarb pie so we can have a bigger slice of the pie, with cream?’ There is no cream, and there is no rhubarb pie there. When Labor took over in 2007, it had $45bn in the bank and no debt. What a great way to start a government. Actually, there was $60bn in the futures fund. They spent that.
Mr Tollner: And in the higher education endowment fund.
Mr STYLES: There is another $20bn, $60bn, $45bn - we are adding it up. It is an enormous amount of money. Within six years we find there is a $667bn debt. That is an appalling situation where you keep borrowing money and spending it without achieving results.
In the Northern Territory it is not about money. The Labor Party bankrupts the country and the other side gets in and needs to fix it. Eventually the circle turns and we go back to where Labor is in government. They borrow, spend, throw money around like magic dust and hope that will solve all the problems. It is sad that it does not. It takes more than just throwing money around to act responsibly so future generations of Australia, in this instance Territorians, are not burdened with a massive amount of debt for no gain.
There is an old saying, no pain, no gain, but it does not work in this area. In the recent history of the Northern Territory we have had a lot of pain and no gain. We still have that pain because we still have to pay back the debt from the waste and lack of achievement of the previous government.
What is available in schools these days includes the Neighbourhood Activity Centre, and I am very proud to have brought the Neighbourhood Activity Centre to fruition and that the pilot project is at Sanderson Middle School. That is a total community engagement program where the community resolves community issues. We facilitate people coming in – volunteers, businesses and others who can contribute, including non-government organisations that have received Northern Territory and federal government grants to do particular tasks. We provide the environment.
I am very grateful to the Commissioner of Police. He and his executive team have agreed to support what we are doing at the school. They know what is at stake. To get kids to school you must make the environment a safe one. By contributing what they will when the project begins in Semester 1 next year, we will have a very safe place for young people, older people and the multicultural community to go. That will create an environment at the school where all can flourish, and the school will become a safe and cool place to be.
I commend this motion to the House.
Ms FYLES (Nightcliff): Madam Speaker, I am glad the minister commends my motion. Last night not one government minister spoke on the Education Act.
Mr STYLES: A point of order, Madam Speaker!
Madam SPEAKER: Please be seated. It is the first person on their feet.
Mr Tollner: I was standing. I was waiting for the call.
Madam Speaker: Member for Fong Lim, you may speak to the motion.
Mr TOLLNER (Treasurer): Madam Speaker, I appreciate this from the member for Nightcliff. I thought you wanted people to contribute to your motion.
I have just enjoyed listening to one of the greatest contributions to this Chamber I have ever heard. I love the little stories my good friend, the member for Sanderson, talked about in regard to rhubarb pie. There is a lesson to be learnt there. It is not hard to see that the member for Sanderson has had a lot to do with the education system over the years and, more to the point, he understands the realities when it comes to the distribution of money. In the member for Sanderson’s words, there is never enough to go around. What you give to one comes off another. It is always a difficult balancing act. I liked the metaphor in relation to the rhubarb pie.
I have a bit to do with the education system, like pretty well everybody in this place. I note that my good friend, the member for Barkly is here as well, an esteemed chalkie who knows the business very well. He possibly should have stuck to it, but we will not go there ...
Mr McCarthy: There is always a comeback.
Mr TOLLNER: There is always a comeback. The member for Barkly, I have no doubt, was a genuinely good teacher. I have enormous regard for people who teach in bush schools. Both of my parents are former teachers. My father was a high school teacher, and my mother did more than 40 years in primary schools and worked in some very remote locations. My uncle was an esteemed schoolteacher who worked in one-teacher primary schools all over Queensland. He ended up being the principal of the Toowoomba primary school, the largest primary school in Queensland. But, my goodness, he did the hard yards in some incredibly small places to attain that position. Like the member for Barkly, he is a good Labor man, and we do not often see eye to eye.
I have a brother who is a schoolteacher and goodness knows how many other aunts, uncles and cousins overseas from my father’s side who are schoolteachers. Growing up in country Queensland, regularly visiting my aunt and uncle with my parents, inevitably the discussion went to school curricular, what the Education department was doing, what individual kids were doing …
Ms Fyles: What are your views, Dave?
Mr TOLLNER: My views are very similar to the member for Sanderson’s. The point I am trying to make is that I have enormous regard for schoolteachers, particularly schoolteachers who have cut their teeth in the bush. It is an incredibly difficult environment in which to be a schoolteacher. Having said that – and I am sure the member for Barkly will agree – it is an incredibly rewarding career. You build very close relationships with your students and former students. You tend to keep track of them a lot more than teachers in urban schools do. That is not to belittle teachers in urban schools in any way, shape or form. There is a strong connection between students and teachers who work in remote and regional areas of the country in very small schools.
One thing I have learnt from my family upbringing is that it is not necessarily the infrastructure that makes a school. In fact, it is quite often everything but the infrastructure. Obviously, like everybody, we like to work in good digs and have nice air conditioned offices. But if you get out of urban areas quite often you will find yourself in a shed, or simply sitting under a bottle tree, because there are not enough classrooms and the like, and there are some quite difficult conditions.
We grew up next to the Dawson River and every time the river went up or down we had a plague of sandflies. It was quite funny because we put cow dung in a Milo tin with holes punched in the bottom of it and little handle on it. We would light the top of it up, get a bit of ash going and swing the tin around our heads to get enough smoke to come out of it to keep the sandflies off us. Almost every kid would go to school swinging old powered milk or Milo cans around with smouldering cow dung to keep the sandflies off. When we got to school there would be 44 gallon drums of smouldering cow dung all around the school to keep the sandflies away.
Ms FYLES: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Standing Order 35: relevance. We are talking about funding and resourcing Territory schools. I enjoy listening to the member for Fong Lim’s anecdotes from his childhood but we have important things to debate and I feel like we are wasting time.
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Fong Lim, yes, I know about burning cow dung too but if you could get to the point of the topic.
Mr TOLLNER: Thank you very much, Madam Speaker. Also, thank you to the member for Nightcliff, but this is exactly my point. We went to school in these conditions. The school had very little. It was a piece of corrugated iron on an old frame of a building which was full of sparrows. Every kid at school had sparrow lice. We would be scratching our heads, very similar to nits. We would get home in the afternoon and mum and dad would wash our hair out with DDT.
You would buy DDT in a bottle and you were encouraged to put on your rubber gloves and rub DDT into your hair, leave it for about five minutes and then wash it out. The member for Brennan is pointing at me saying it all makes sense now what is going on with me. I am obviously DDT-affected or sandfly or sparrow lice affected.
But the point is that every kid in the 1970s going to school in those areas was going to school in those circumstances. This was not anything special. I do not want to sound like I went to some sort of a weird way-out western school that was vastly different to everywhere else. I am sure the member for Barkly will attest to that. He has probably taught in and seen some schools that were very poorly resourced and not well structured. The fact of the matter is that kids in those communities do not necessarily need air conditioned buildings to go to school and learn.
I was very fortunate. I do not want to sound nasty but I do think teachers of yesteryear were somewhat more committed. I do not want to sound like the current crop is not, because I know every teacher values their job and is in it to impart as much knowledge as they can to their students. But I think people who qualified as teachers prior to the 1980s went through a different learning curve through teachers’ colleges and the like than they do today.
It was a different curriculum, without a doubt. There was more of a focus on rote learning and making sure kids knew the three Rs: reading, writing and arithmetic. It was a well-known clich when I was at school. We always talked about the three Rs. These days we seem to have gone away from that. I have even heard people say that in the modern world, reading, writing and adding up are not necessarily as important as they were 20 to 30 years ago because we have all this wonderful technology. It will not be too long before you have computer programs with voice recognition so you do not have to write anything. You just speak to the computer and it writes it all down for you. You can ask the computer to do sums for you and it will give you the answer. You do not even need know how to type or what letters look like.
That may well be the case, but parents still want their children to be able to read and write sufficiently. I saw how passionate our Education minister was in Question Time today when quizzed about outcomes. He said it is a disgrace that there are children finishing school with a Northern Territory certificate of education for Year 12 who still cannot read and write properly. I share that concern.
The motion put forward by the member for Nightcliff in relation to funding and resourcing Territory schools says:
- … that this Legislative Assembly condemns the CLP government for failing to properly fund and resource Territory schools by slashing $125m from our education budgets and forcing global school budgets on to schools, which is cost shifting and putting resource burdens onto our schools. The Legislative Assembly calls on the government to reinstate teachers and teacher assistants and properly resource our Territory schools.
Ms Walker: Exactly, 17 Indigenous staff members gone, mostly women. Shame on you!
Mr TOLLNER: That is the point. This motion is about money and teachers, not about education results. I like the member for Nightcliff a lot; she is a very nice person, but she seems to miss the point, which is how we improve results, how we get to where the Education minister was talking about. It is such a disgrace that people are leaving Year 12 and cannot read, write or add up. That, in my world, is a shameful situation. I understand the argument that in the modern world you do not need to be able to read, write and add up because we all have computers, smartphones and all of that stuff, but you wonder what children go to school for if they are not there to learn to read, write and add up – the three Rs. It is very hard to ascertain why people are going to school if they do not need to know the three Rs.
I share the minister’s concern about that. I appreciate the focus he has on results and how we get better results for schools. I know teachers well, and I think teachers themselves would be somewhat embarrassed by this motion from the member for Nightcliff. They must feel embarrassed about this because it somehow infers that all teachers care about is $125m from the education budget and global school budgets. It is suggesting that the outcomes for children are not important to teachers and that this is what really matters.
I know teachers and what they are about; I grew up with a family full of them. They are there for the children. They are there to make sure children get a good educational outcome. With genuine teachers, the environment they are in does not really matter. It could be under a tree with a blackboard or sitting in a brand-new $50 000 facility, fully air conditioned with nice seats and all the accoutrements that come with a modern school. We seem to have lost focus on why children are at school. Fundamentally they are at school to learn, and it is about the information we impart to the children to make sure they get a good education, and from a good education they can get a good job.
The Giles government is often talking about growing the north and northern development. I am probably an economic rationalist. I am not for giving people subsidies and handouts. I believe Territorians have it within themselves to be the most competitive, leading-edge people on the face of this planet. We do necessarily need to artificially support people when they have it within themselves to make their own way in life. It is like the member for Sanderson said, you have a rhubarb pie and three brothers; everybody wants the biggest bit. There is only one who can have it, and one gets the biggest bit; it means all the others get a smaller bit, but there is only so much pie to go around.
The Minister for Education has demonstrated that it is not how big the piece of pie is; it is about how satisfied you are and the results you achieve as a student. There are many things going on that are making a difference. Looking at the latest NAPLAN results, we have seen significant increases in average scores for Years 3 and 5 in reading, grammar and punctuation compared with 2008. Four- and six-year cohort gains for the Northern Territory have been very strong compared to performance nationally. The average four-year gain to 2015 for Northern Territory Year 7 students was higher than national gains for each test domain, except writing. The average four-year gain to 2015 for NT Year 9 students was also higher than national gains for each test domain, except writing. The average six-year gain to 2015 for Year 9 students was higher than the national six-year gains for reading, spelling, grammar, punctuation and numeracy.
This might not mean a lot to the member for Nightcliff. The Labor Party has never been into NAPLAN testing and comparing one school with the other and all that stuff. At the end of the day it is a measure, whether it is a good one or not. But we are seeing changes to the outcomes students are getting with the education policies our Education minister is putting in place. That is ultimately what matters.
People say, ‘Ah, Northern Territory, all the kids are dumb; you do not get a very good education in the Northern Territory.’ I take offence because it blindly ignores some of the realities about kids in the Northern Territory. For example, the school-age population in the most disadvantaged socioeconomic group, that is, the lowest decile - in the Northern Territory 19.5% of our kids fit that grouping; nationally it is only 10%. The population under 15 years of age is 22% in the Northern Territory compared to 18% nationally. In the Northern Territory 40.5% of our school population is Indigenous, compared to 8.5% nationally. It is eight times higher in the Northern Territory.
The school population from a language background other than English is 37.2% in the Northern Territory, compared to 23% nationally. Young people living in remote and very remote areas – in the Northern Territory it is a whopping 44.8%. Almost 45% of our school kids are in remote areas.
Mr WESTRA van HOLTHE: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Pursuant to Standing Order 43, I move an extension of time for the member for Fong Lim.
Motion agreed to.
Mr TOLLNER: As I said, the number of young people living in remote areas in the Northern Territory is a whopping 44.8%; nationally it is 2.3%. Developmentally vulnerable on two or more EDI domains is 29%, compared to 10.8% nationally.
It is fundamentally more difficult, as the member for Barkly will tell you, to teach kids in remote areas. We have an overwhelming proportion of our children in remote areas from low socioeconomic backgrounds. These statistics in some way point to the reasons we have lower school outcomes than nationally.
It is not how we look at the outcomes, but how we look at the gains. That is what we are seeing for the first time in a long time. This is what grinds Labor people. Whilst we have seen a reduction in funding going to the education sector, interestingly we have seen a slight increase in outcomes. Children are getting a better education. It is not about how many teachers there are at schools. One of the primary schools I went to had a teacher for Grades 1 to 4 and another for Grades 5 to 7. It was a two-teacher school. My uncle taught at numerous one-teacher schools, with a range of students from Year 1 to Year 9. They were incredibly difficult environments in very small schools, but the value of those schools is that students received much more personal attention. There is often a lot more connection between teachers and students than you find in large urban schools ...
Ms Walker: And all English first language speakers? No hearing-impaired? No hunger issues?
Mr TOLLNER: You get all of those things in remote areas. I grew up right next door to a place called Woorabinda, one of the largest Indigenous communities in Queensland. We had a lot of Indigenous students at our school. That is not to suggest they were any better or worse than other students. Many of the Indigenous kids did a lot better than many of the white kids. I was not a particularly good student, as many of you would guess.
Ms Fyles: That is the quote of the day!
Mr TOLLNER: Call it the quote of the day or whatever you like. I have never been one to bang the drum, saying I am highly educated. All I can do is tell it as I see it, which I try to do as honestly as possible.
When I see that Labor’s focus is how much money you pour into a system, I think you have it wrong. It is not about money; it is about outcomes. It is about students turning up to school.
When I was in primary school the Indigenous students from Woorabinda where whipped if they did not go to school. You could not do that these days. We had corporal punishment in school. I got the cuts in Grade 1 all the way through to Grade 9, with regular monotony. There was a good deal more discipline in schools. People say that is the wrong thing. I personally do not necessarily agree with that. Some kids, particularly boys, require a clip under the ear every now and again to get them to snap out of it. Ultimately, that is part of an education system too
I find it odd that we cottonwool people all the way through school. They turn 18 and – bang – they end up with the Minister for Correctional Services because they have never had any discipline in their lives. They seemingly get away with everything. That is another problem with our school system. Many people here would say it is lucky I have never been given the Education department, because we would be having some of those conversations.
This minister has done a fantastic job in the short period he has been in the job – three years, I believe ...
Ms Fyles: You have had 14 reshuffles, remember.
Mr TOLLNER: We may well have had 14 reshuffles. This minister stayed with the job. It has been a tough job …
Ms Fyles: No, he has not.
Ms Walker: No he has not. He was the Education minister, she was the Education minister …
Mr Chandler: We had a little hiatus for a while.
Mr TOLLNER: All right, a little hiatus – whatever. He is the bloke who has driven the education policy and framework in our team for quite some time. He is the bloke we are looking to, to make positive changes.
Ms Fyles: Maybe he could be your leader.
Mr TOLLNER: It is interesting that the member for Nightcliff says, ‘You cannot talk about when you went to school’, but it is all right talking about politics and us isn’t it? You want to talk about that. I am talking about education and the job our minister is doing. You want to talk about leadership challenges and other things.
Ms Fyles: You are just talking the clock down, Dave.
Mr TOLLNER: I will talk about anything you like, but do not call points of order that I am not being relevant when I am in fact talking about education and everything to do with it.
Ms Walker: There is a very important motion before the House that would see you go to the Privileges Committee, and you guys just do not want it to go there.
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Fong Lim, you have the call.
Mr TOLLNER: We will get onto that topic as soon as you are done.
Ms Fyles: Well you can sit down, I will wrap and we can get onto that motion.
Mr TOLLNER: I think there are plenty of other people here who are keen to have a chat about what you have put to this parliament, because what you put to this parliament is pretty damn embarrassing, particularly for teachers, because it makes the assumption that teachers are only in it for the money and the plush digs they operate in. That is what this is about, member for Nightcliff.
I have complete faith in our Education minister to run an education bill in this parliament.
Ms Fyles: You did not speak last night.
Mr TOLLNER: I did not have to speak last night because I had faith in our Education minister, but when you stroll into this joint with some harebrained motion like this, that disparages school teachers and denigrates our education system, too right I want to speak. I would not be surprised if there are a few others who want to as well. You have made it pretty damn easy for us to have a good crack at you. People have to understand that if you guys are elected, education and the budget will go down the drain.
You left us bankrupt three years ago and we had the worst education system in the country. In a little over three years our Education minister has made real gains in outcomes. We cut $3bn off your projected debt. We have just posted the first surplus in eight years, and you want to denigrate teachers, saying the only reason they are in it is because of the money and the flash schools they should be provided. Do you care about the kids? Do you have any interest at all in providing an education for the kids, and any regard for why teachers turn up to do their job?
Teachers turn up to educate children. They are fundamentally decent people. They do not do it for the money. By the way, we have almost the highest-paid teachers in the country in the Northern Territory, not far off the top. I think the previous Minister for Public Employment gave them a 3% wage increase, which was the highest increase of any jurisdiction in the country. We value teachers; we are looking after teachers and making sure they get a good remuneration package, but we will not waste money in education like Labor wants to.
You are saying, ‘Spend another couple of hundred million!’ Earlier today it was, Spend more money on’ – I think it was health or something like that. Every time we come in here you are saying spend, spend, spend, spend, spend! Your spending almost bankrupted the Northern Territory. You lot are a disgrace and now you are denigrating teachers. Shame on the lot of you.
Ms WALKER (Nhulunbuy): Madam Speaker, it is very plain that members opposite are not sincere or genuine about education. That was demonstrated last night when we had the Education Bill before the House that was so important to them it had to come in on urgency. They were so interested. The member for Stuart was so interested she did not get to her feet to stick up for Indigenous kids in her electorate and in schools.
Members interjecting.
Ms WALKER: What we are seeing this evening is disingenuous from a government which is filibustering, which wants to see the clock run down to 9 pm, and they will do it because they are a bunch of bullies.
Members interjecting.
Ms Walker: They do not want the next motion on the paper brought before the House.
Members interjecting.
Ms WALKER: Madam Speaker, if you could ask members, under Standing Order 20, to cease interrupting.
Mr ELFERINK: A point of order, Madam Speaker!
Madam SPEAKER: Member, please pause.
Mr Elferink: If she was not being disingenuous why did she spend five-and-a-half hours ...
Madam SPEAKER: Wait! Member for Port Darwin, sit down. You do not have the call.
Mr Elferink: She spent five-and-a-half hours …
_______________________
Suspension of Member
Member for Port Darwin
Suspension of Member
Member for Port Darwin
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Port Darwin, I would like you to leave the Chamber for one hour, pursuant to Standing Order 49.
_______________________
Ms WALKER: Madam Speaker, we on this side of the House know that education is an incredibly important subject to our constituents and Territorians. We on this side of the House know that those opposite, the Country Liberal government, have stripped resources shamefully in the past three years and three months. I am deeply concerned that they have had oversight of the removal of 160 teachers from the education system.
As an ex-teacher I know bigger classes do not make for better educational outcomes. I would like to hear from the Minister for Indigenous Affairs, a portfolio that was only very disingenuously reinstated when the Chief Minister, the member for Braitling …
Mrs Price interjecting.
Ms WALKER: … decided that for the last two years he had done the wrong thing by not acknowledging the need for an Indigenous Affairs portfolio in Cabinet.
Mrs Price interjecting.
Ms WALKER: One-hundred-and-fifteen Indigenous staff in the Department of Education have been ripped out, and most of them women.
Mrs Price interjecting.
Ms FYLES: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Standing Order 20 – I ask you to ask the member for Stuart to stop interjecting. It is quite rude.
Mrs Price interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Stuart, please be seated.
Madam SPEAKER: Honourable members, if we could listen to the debate in relative quiet. It is an important debate, which you all acknowledge, so it would be nice to have a little quiet under Standing Order 20.
Ms WALKER: Thanks very much, Madam Speaker. We have had a Women’s Policy statement before the House today and the member for Stuart has behaved as childishly as she just did and has failed to acknowledge that under her government’s watch 115 Indigenous staff positions in education, mainly women, have gone. Those Indigenous employees are not bureaucrats, not people who were wasting oxygen, as the members opposite would have us believe, within the bureaucracy of the Education department. Indigenous employees are critical assets for our schools out bush where children do not have English as their first language and have factors that impact on their lives which make learning difficult, not the least of which is the cultural divide between non-Indigenous teachers and their students.
Our non-Indigenous teachers do an incredible job. I see it every time I travel in my electorate and visit schools, generally on overnight visits wherever I can. I cannot begin to tell you how valuable the Indigenous support staff are in bridging that gap in schools. I find it shameful that this government allows these cuts to happen, then tries to justify them as something reasonable when clearly they are entirely unreasonable.
I attended a Batchelor college graduation at Rika Park, Yirrkala last Friday. I cannot begin to tell you the enormous sense of pride in seeing those graduates, both Dhuwa and Yirritja, and the incredible bunggul, or ceremony, that goes with those graduates being escorted to the area where they sit ahead of the speeches and presentation of certificates. Amongst those graduates were Certificate III Education Support graduates, including Miliritj Wanambi from Yirritja moiety, and from Dhuwa moiety was Dindirrk Mununggurr, Bamurungu Mununggurr, Gupulanbuy Wanambi and Merrkiyawuy Wunungmurra, all women, all dedicated to what they do, dedicated to their studies. They overcame some real hurdles to complete their study. It is all about doing such an important job in their schools, supporting their children and grandchildren to be on the pathway through education to the end of their schooling, and seeing kids move through school and into training and jobs, with the social and economic security we all aspire to.
Forgive me if I am speaking in support of education after hearing some of the most shameful contributions from the other side. This motion has been on the Notice Paper since October 2014. There has been no interest from members on the other side to talk about education issues; there was no interest from members on the other side yesterday to talk about the Education Bill that was in progress for more than a year and saw significant changes to the Education Act. There was significant consultation and hard work on this side. I find it incredibly disingenuous that everyone on that side suddenly wants to talk education.
Last night not one of them, other than the Education minister, who presented the bill and wrapped the debate - good on him; he listened to the members on this side who were responding to peak bodies like COGSO, the AEU NT and the hundreds of parents around the Territory who contacted us, lobbying for changes to be made to the Education Act. It was a positive outcome that amendments were taken forward by the member for Wanguri, who works incredibly hard as our shadow for Education.
I think she has ticked the box for visiting just about every government school in the Northern Territory. That is quite feat, especially when she has commitments with a little one at home. It is a sign of how hard she is prepared to work for education and do what members on the opposite side do not do, which is travel, visit, listen, engage and bring people’s concerns back to this parliament and discuss them in this House. That is not so of the members opposite. Not one of them, other than the Education minister, spoke in that debate last night.
Why is it they are all suddenly interested now? They want to talk up education, sing their praises and say how great they are. It is because they are filibustering. All they want to do is avoid the opportunity for the debate which could send them to the Privileges Committee to come back into this House, and this is the last opportunity in 2015. Tomorrow parliament closes and we will not see another GBD Wednesday, which comes on from 5.30 pm and goes to 9 pm, where the members on this side of the House have the opportunity …
Mr WESTRA van HOLTHE: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Standing Order 38; the member for Nhulunbuy is engaging in irrelevance, and the discussion around why we are on our …
Madam SPEAKER: No, she is not, member for Katherine. Please be seated; it is not a point of order.
Ms WALKER: There could be nothing and nobody more irrelevant than the member for Katherine. Let us remind him of wasting time, and remind everybody about the midnight coup he led late on a night in February, when he stepped out before the cameras with the member for Port Darwin and announced - guess what? – he was the Chief Minister.
Mr WESTRA van HOLTHE: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Again, Standing Order 38; surely this is irrelevant to the debate.
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Katherine, I have listened to the contributions of many speakers this evening and there has been exceptional latitude, including a vivid description of cow manure being burnt. I gave the member for Fong Lim latitude; the member for Nhulunbuy has latitude.
Mr Styles: Talk about an anger management problem.
Ms WALKER: I do not have an anger management problem. I have a problem with having to tolerate three years and three months of the most incompetent government anybody has ever witnessed in the Northern Territory.
Incompetent, unstable, not united, back stabbing - there are just four members on that side who support the Chief Minister, the member for Braitling. We know that, and we know the member for Katherine is not one of them, otherwise why would he have led the coup in February? A failed coup, where he stepped out in front of a media conference at about 1 am and said, ‘I am the Chief Minister; this bloke alongside me, the member for Port Darwin, is the Deputy Chief Minister.’ Then, what do you know? The Territory goes into meltdown and nothing happens; the public service was paralysed. Some 14 hours later, the Chief Minister steps out and says, ‘I am the Chief Minister. We have resolved our differences, we are best buddies now.’ What a joke! Their approach to government, to running Cabinet and to running education is a joke. Their approach tonight on the floor of this House is to run down the clock so we cannot get to a very important item of business brought before this House by the member for Goyder to refer the government to the Privileges Committee about two ads that appeared …
Mr STYLES: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Standing Order 38. I am struggling to understand the relevance and I ask if you could clarify the relevance of this to funding in schools.
Madam SPEAKER: There is no point of order, member for Sanderson. Member for Nhulunbuy, if you would address your comments to the motion before the House.
Ms WALKER: Thank you, Madam Speaker. Funding in schools has suffered under this government because it is so dysfunctional. We have seen a revolving door of ministers through Cabinet across portfolios. That is why we have seen resources ripped out of Education and have not seen the Palmerston hospital progress beyond a media stunt with a hole dug in the ground and concrete poured in it. Even the member for Solomon was standing there, unwittingly apparently, as part of the stunt and has asked the Chief Minister to explain.
We are here to talk about education and the waste of money and resources, and the betrayal and deficit of trust in the Northern Territory because of this incredibly dysfunctional government. We have five minutes to go before we get to 9 pm, which is the end of GBD. When I sit down the member for Nightcliff will not be able to wrap the debate and the Speaker put the motion because you lot on the other side will want to keep it going for another five minutes.
Maybe it will be the member for Stuart who will talk about education, but only if she has something on a yellow piece of paper in front of her. She would not be able to speak off the cuff. Clearly what is happening here …
Mrs PRICE: A point of order, Madam Speaker!
Mr STYLES: A point of order, Madam Speaker! That is offensive.
Madam SPEAKER: I do not need three of you to jump. Be seated, please, members.
If you have made offensive comments, please withdraw them, member for Nhulunbuy.
Ms WALKER: I withdraw. I am not sure what is offensive but I would like to know what words were used in language by the member for Stuart directed at the member for Nightcliff. I will ask to review the video and have an interpreter with me so we can see whether or not what the member for Stuart said was offensive.
This government is offensive and I am offended by the disruption to democratic processes in this House that gives opposition members on this side, including our Independents, from 5.30 pm to 9 pm to debate items we put on the Notice Paper. Quite clearly the government’s strategy tonight – they think they are too clever by half – is to talk the clock down so we cannot get to the motion about why it they should be referred to the Privileges Committee for misspending taxpayer funds on misleading advertisements about their legislation not being passed on urgency.
Madam Speaker, I listened to the speech you gave in this House. The advertisements they took out were simply a dummy spit. This government has not realised that it is a minority government. They cannot pass legislation or motions unless they have the support of this House. When that bill was knocked back from this side because there was no case for urgency, they could not tolerate that. They are so used to bullying their way through to doing whatever they want, however they want – it is a scandal-ridden government – that they took out advertisements.
One of the first things that happened because they did not realise what life in minority government was like, is we managed to establish an independent commission against corruption in the Northern Territory. Clearly this government will do whatever it takes, whether it is trying to unseat you from that Chair, Madam Speaker, or trying to stop debate about whether or not they should go to the Privileges Committee about those ice ads, which were a terrible and very wrongful use of taxpayers’ money on full-page ads around the Northern Territory. Members on this side certainly did not block legislation. We voted against urgency, and they know that only too well.
Members interjecting.
Ms WALKER: Madam Speaker, they can yell at me all they like. They can bully me all they like. I am much stronger than they think. Given that we have had an important statement on Women’s Policy and the rights of women, dish it out. Go on; keep dishing it out to me, because you will not have me sit down. I have the call in this House and I will keep talking.
You can laugh because you are clowns. Nobody takes you seriously. The reality is that people in the Northern Territory are laughing at you. They do not take you seriously. They do not listen to you. They know what your tactics and strategies are.
We know that the member opposite – the failed Treasurer – has not been preselected and will be gone at the next election. We know the member for Port Darwin has stepped aside.
Mr GILES: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Standing Order 20: relevance. And I note the serious nature of the racial attacks you have just put on the member for Stuart.
Madam SPEAKER: It is not Standing Order 20. Please be seated. Member for Nhulunbuy, you have the call.
Ms WALKER: Thanks, Madam Speaker. I have welcomed the opportunity to talk on this GBD motion about the importance of education in the Northern Territory and how the CLP government has trashed the education system. They have withdrawn teachers to the tune of around 160. We have lost 117 or so Indigenous teaching positions, and resources have been stripped from our schools. It is absolutely shameful. We know why they have been so interested in the debate tonight; it has all been about filibustering.
Mr GILES (Chief Minister): Madam Speaker, it would be immoral if I did not stand up and pass comment on the most recent speaker and her racial slur against the member for Stuart.
Ms WALKER: A point of order, Madam Speaker! I find it highly offensive to be accused of making racist remarks.
Madam SPEAKER: Chief Minister, please withdraw.
Mr GILES: Madam Speaker, I am happy to withdraw and follow your direction, but the commentary that the member for Stuart is unable to read and the connotation that …
Ms WALKER: A point of order, Madam Speaker! My comment was in relation to her capacity to speak off the cuff. It had nothing to do with her capacity to read.
Madam SPEAKER: Thank you, member for Nhulunbuy; it is not point of order. Chief Minister, you have the call.
Mrs PRICE: A point of order Madam Speaker! Standing Order 38 – I take that as …
Madam SPEAKER: It is not 38. Sit down. Chief Minister, you have the call.
Mr GILES: Thank you, Madam Speaker. We are in a debate about education. There are some people on the other side of this Chamber talking about filibustering. This is not filibustering. Many people asked if they could speak about this important matter. Yes, the Minister for Education was the only person who spoke on the Education Bill. He asked to be the only speaker on it. That is all well and good.
Debate suspended.
SUSPENSION OF STANDING ORDERS
Allow Completion of Debate on General Business Orders of the Day Nos 1 and 2
Allow Completion of Debate on General Business Orders of the Day Nos 1 and 2
Mr WOOD (Nelson): Madam Speaker, I move that so much of standing orders be suspended as would allow this Assembly to debate General Business Orders of the Day Nos 1 and 2 until the debates are concluded.
I believe there was filibustering tonight. I have been in this House long enough to know when filibustering is occurring, when people who would usually not speak on a matter speak for their full length of time plus a bit extra. We can normally get through three or four items on General Business Day, and today we got through two. I believe it was the intention of the government to make sure item two was not debated, and they were hoping it would disappear into February.
We need to make sure this House and the people on this side of parliament have a proper opportunity to debate issues. This is the only chance we have to debate important matters where we some control of the agenda. However, that agenda can be deliberately wrecked when people deliver speeches designed to fill in time and not allow adequate time for debate on highly important matters before this parliament.
Mr TOLLNER (Treasurer): Madam Speaker, it is interesting that the member for Nelson should suggest the government is wasting time. The last debate was a very important one which I have been looking forward to for quite some time. Labor introduced a harebrained motion to discuss resourcing and funding schools, which demonstrates its devaluing of teachers and the profession, and that its focus is money not outcomes.
It is interesting that you talk about wasting time. Member for Nelson, I am not suggesting you wasted time, but yesterday the first item of business was the motion of no confidence in the government. It would have become obvious to Labor members opposite fairly quickly that there was no chance the motion would succeed. In my view what occurred yesterday was nothing more than filibustering and grandstanding.
I appreciate that some members – and I put you in that category, member for Nelson – spoke briefly and explained their point of view and why you were doing what you were doing. Again, member for Nelson, you abstained, which is somewhat dodgy. One should have an opinion one way or the other, but I do not want to call you out on that. Your actions worked to support government and I will not have a crack at you for that.
Mr Wood: Sometimes it is three opinions.
Mr TOLLNER: Absolutely, but we knew when one or two of the Independent members said they would not support the motion – I think one said they would support the government, a couple said they would abstain and a couple supported Labor. At that stage it became blatantly obvious that the vote was lost by Labor.
Rather than sitting down, shutting up and not wasting the time of the House, people chose to debate that for seven long hours. When you talk about filibustering, grandstanding and all that sort of caper – they did; they just stood there. They are a pack of blowhards. Every one of them had to have their little gripe. We already knew what the outcome would be. We already knew what their bitches and issues with the government were, and why they had to speak. But rather than allowing the government to get on with the business of government, it became obvious that the opposition was only in it to disrupt the Chamber.
General Business belongs to the opposition and Independents. We do not run General Business. It is not ours, member for Nelson. It is not us who make the call. If the member for Nightcliff thought we were filibustering and the motion was irrelevant she had every opportunity to say, ‘I withdraw the motion’. But no, we did not hear that. In fact, the last 25 minutes or so of that debate were run by the member for Nhulunbuy, someone on your own side.
It is not the government stopping the debate; it is the opposition and crossbenchers gagging and stopping debate on what you see as important issues.
I am ready to say in the next motion, ‘If the boot fits, wear it’. You did block legislation. You did get in the way of ice legislation; you delayed it for two months. It is very important legislation. We had the audacity to tell Territorians what you did and now you do not like it. Well, whoopee. Get over it. Every now and again you are responsible for some of your decisions. That is what you did. Wear it.
We did not wreck GBD. It was Labor and the crossbenchers. I am absolutely not supporting that we carry on with this nonsense. Wait until February, get your act together and run your business properly. Come into this place, look mature, look like you have something to say and say it. If you do not, withdraw the motion.
Ms FYLES (Nightcliff): Madam Speaker, what an interesting evening. We simply would like to finish a motion that is over a year old. If the Treasurer had any clue about how the Notice Paper, parliamentary procedure and General Business Day worked, he would know we simply wanted to wrap the motion. I stood to do that, but you, Madam Speaker, kindly gave him the call, thinking he might suddenly have some wisdom on education he would like to share with us.
Last night we debated one of the most important education motions this parliament has seen in many years. We changed the Education Act for the first time in 35 or 36 years. Last night one minister spoke: the Minister for Education. I did not believe the Chief Minister tonight when he said the Minister for Education asked to be the only speaker yesterday.
Somehow, within 24 hours, we have every member of the government wanting to speak on a motion that is over a year old, an important motion, nonetheless. In fact, that motion was in place when I was the shadow Education minister.
Mr Chandler: You are proud.
Ms FYLES: I am proud, and will welcome any opportunity to talk about education, but what we saw tonight was an obvious choice made by government members to talk the clock down, to avoid the Chief Minister being referred to the Privileges Committee. We had senior ministers of government waffling on. My goodness, I did not know the Treasurer had such wisdom to share with the community on education, the worst education system in the country.
‘Teachers turn up to educate kids.’ ‘It is probably best I am not the Education minister.’ Although it was interesting, and at times comical, it was an attempt to talk the clock down. We have a very serious item for General Business Day next on the Notice Paper, and we simply wanted to wrap that education motion and move on, because that is how the Notice Paper works.
The behaviour from those opposite was appalling. I support the motion put forward by the member for Nelson. He is correct; usually we get through three to four General Business items. Tonight we have seen one, possibly two, simply because they are trying to stop something; they are trying to cover up. Why not let the debate happen? Last time this happened, we saw what happened with the midnight attempt at rolling you, Madam Speaker. We simply want to debate this very important motion about the advertisements that mentioned all of us and referring the Chief Minister to the Privileges Committee.
Madam Speaker, I welcome the motion put forward by the member for Nelson, and in the interests of time, I move that the motion be put.
The Assembly divided:
- Ayes 14 Noes 6
Mr Barrett Mr Conlan
Mr Chandler Mrs Finocchiaro
Mr Elferink Ms Lawrie
Ms Fyles Mrs Price
Mr Giles Mr Westra van Holthe
Mr Gunner Mr Wood
Mr Higgins
Ms Lee
Mr McCarthy
Ms Manison
Ms Moss
Mr Styles
Mr Tollner
Ms Walker
Motion agreed to.
Madam SPEAKER: The question is that the motion to suspend standing orders be agreed to.
The Assembly divided:
- Ayes 8 Noes 12
Ms Fyles Mr Barrett
Mr Gunner Mr Chandler
Ms Lawrie Mr Conlan
Mr McCarthy Mr Elferink
Ms Manison Mrs Finocchiaro
Ms Moss Mr Giles
Ms Walker Mr Higgins
Mr Wood Ms Lee
- Mrs Price
Mr Styles
Mr Tollner
Mr Westra van Holthe
Motion negatived.
ADJOURNMENT
Mr HIGGINS (Sport and Recreation): Madam Speaker, I move that the Assembly do now adjourn.
Mrs FINOCCHIARO (Drysdale): Madam Speaker, I rise to talk about my year and do the traditional Christmas wrap up. It is the last sittings for 2015. It has been a wonderful year. It is a year my family will always remember.
In February Sam and I found out we were expecting our first child, and come October, Isla came into this world. It has been a very different year, one that we obviously had not experienced before, and it has been a real blessing. We have had a very good year as a family.
As a member of parliament I feel really pleased to have achieved many things for my electorate and the broader population of Palmerston. When I was casting my mind back over some of the things we have done this year it drew my mind to the $1.98m we secured for Satellite City BMX Club, which is looking at building a roof and/or upgrading the track at Marlow Lagoon. We wish them all the very best with managing that very large and exciting project.
We saw $250 000 go to Top End MotoX, which is much-needed funds for that organisation in Marlow Lagoon. There was also $1m set aside to upgrade the intersection of Kirkland Drive and Woodlake Boulevard, and those design works are happening. The people of Durack are ecstatic about that because we all know it is a very dangerous and precarious intersection because of the rail lines in close proximity, and there is a bit of a hill. Visibility is poor at best, so when those works are completed the people of Durack will be much safer travelling to and from the city.
We also saw the development and roll-out of a roads master plan for Palmerston, which is fantastic. There are lots of roadworks forecast for Palmerston and we wanted to make sure the people of Palmerston understood what was coming up, so we developed an entire master plan of our city and have been rolling that out in updates to our community. It includes upgrades to Roystonea Avenue, Temple Terrace, Gurd Street and Lambrick Avenue, just to name a few.
We have also seen the cycle path on Lambrick right through to the Stuart Highway coming along. That means kids who attend MacKillop college can ride their bikes to and from school safely. Gray and Driver Primary Schools, in my electorate, we repainted after 30 years. You can imagine they were looking a little tired. The schools are very happy with their new paint jobs, which look fantastic. There are all sorts of colours and it has given those two schools a new lease of life.
Palmerston Special Education Centre received a road safety grant, as did Gray Primary School, which is excellent. They developed packages to teach the children about road safety.
We also saw three mobile CCTV cameras come into operation, which have been used extensively in Palmerston. My constituents love them and we have had them rolled out at the Bunnings car park and in the car park at Palm Plaza. They were trialled at the Gray shops a couple of times because I am very interested to see whether it is feasible to have permanent CCTV at the Gray shops.
I was also able to secure $600 000 for fixed CCTV in Palmerston. Those locations are yet to be determined by police, but I am looking forward to seeing how that contributes to our Palmerston CCTV network.
We also contributed $2.5m to the council for the Goyder Square upgrade, which is coming along. You can really see a change to that space now. Of course, there is our continued construction of the Palmerston hospital. And we saw the roll-out of CCTV at the Elizabeth River Bridge, which fishos have been calling for and was very welcome.
Gateway Shopping Centre is exploding out of the ground. I was able to visit the site last week and it is looking fantastic. The people of Palmerston are very excited about that coming on line.
Durack Heights continues to grow and is blooming into a wonderful suburb. We thank CIC for working with the community, particularly for supporting Durack Primary School as they do. I am grateful to CIC for that support. We also, as team Palmerston, being myself and the members for Blain, Brennan and Solomon, held a Red Cross Big Cake Bake and raised $1376. They are just some of the highlights of the things achieved this year.
I thank my colleagues for a good year. We have brought the budget back into surplus, secured a gas pipeline, house prices are down by 20% and land release at Zuccoli is going great guns. Tiger Brennan Drive is looking amazing. I love seeing the progress on Tiger Brennan Drive every time I drive into town. The day that opens I think everyone will be kissing the bitumen and looking forward to driving into town in the morning.
We have seen greater powers given to police to test for and seize drugs, and of course we have had the conversation about statehood coming back on the agenda. It certainly has been a big year and a good year, and I thank all my colleagues for that and wish them and their families all a very merry Christmas.
I held my Territory Day barbecue again this year. I thank SIDS and Kids Northern Territory, Neighbourhood Watch, Darwin Jumping Castles and Water Slides, and all my volunteers for helping make that such a wonderful and fun afternoon for the people of Palmerston. I thank Costa Georgiadis for coming to the Gray Community Garden again. He is a huge supporter of our garden and it is always a lot of fun when he comes to Darwin, particularly when he hangs out at the garden.
I thank all my school councils. They do such a wonderful job. This year Durack Primary School became an IPS, which is very exciting. That school is now in full swing with planning all the new opportunities it can take advantage of under the new structure in the new year.
Driver Primary School turned 30, which was amazing. It got a new principal, as did Gray Primary School, so it has been a time of change this year for my schools as well as challenges. Palmerston Senior College, being an IPS, came together with Woodroffe Primary School and Rosebery Middle School to create the connectED Board, which is very innovative and they are leading in that space.
I welcome my new principals and school councils, and I congratulate Driver on its 30th birthday and look forward to continuing to work with you all in 2016.
I thank AFANT, particularly Tristan, and the department of Fisheries, particularly Glenn, and everyone else there who helped with my neighbourhood fishing program. It is coming along really nicely and we are creating many offshoot benefits from it. We are looking to work with Durack Primary School in a major way to secure educational outcomes being linked into the neighbourhood fishing program. I am looking forward to all of that rolling out in 2016. It is very exciting and it has grown bigger and better than I could have ever imagined.
I thank the clubs I am patron of. I am very proud to be patron of the Palmerston Football Club, the Palmerston Cricket Club, the University of the Third Age and Probus Palmerston. I try to support you in every way I can and it is a pleasure to be involved and advocate on your behalf.
I thank those at the Country Liberals Calder Branch for all the support they provide me as a local member, particularly with the markets. Being pregnant for most of the market season was pretty rough, to say the least. My swollen ankles were not looking that crash hot on a Friday night, but the volunteers of the Calder Branch helped me get through that. I very much appreciate that and I look forward to doing it all again next year.
I also thank our seniors in Palmerston. They are amazing people. I think, three years on, everyone knows I am in love with all the Palmerston seniors. I thank everyone at the 50+ Club. I thank the Seniors Week committee. It works hard all year round to deliver a wonderful fortnight of events. I thank Alzheimer’s Australia NT in Palmerston. It does such a wonderful job with the Joy Anderson Centre, particularly Rosemary, who has undertaken the project of making Palmerston a dementia-friendly community. All of the MLA offices have become dementia-friendly spaces. I am working on the task force to get businesses and other initiatives up and going so Palmerston is a dementia-friendly community.
None of this could be possible without the wonderful support at the electorate office. The electorate office is the hub of everything, the root of all. It is so important to have a strong electorate officer who will back you all the way and give your constituents 100% of their time. It is no secret that I think Angie is amazing and I know many other people think she is too. When people come into the office and Angie says, ‘Lia is not in the office’, and people say, ‘No, I have come to speak to you’, you know you have a truly wonderful electorate officer. Since I had Isla, I am obviously at home on maternity leave with the baby most of the time. Angie has picked up my work and run with it. I am so proud of her. She has excelled. I jokingly say I am almost becoming redundant. She is making it her own and doing a wonderful job. I could not be prouder of her and could not be better represented. If anyone should be out in Palmerston, going to events, being with my constituents and advocating for people, it is certainly her. She has been an absolute gem.
Also, Kim started with me this year as my Whip’s officer, so that has been a learning curve for her. I thank her for all her hard work. Being a Whip’s officer is probably the most unglamorous job. You have to be in parliament early in the morning for all the meetings we have, and then be here very late at night for all the discussions we have in here. Kim, thank you very much; we really enjoyed having you as part of the Drysdale team and I look forward to continuing to work with you through 2016.
I thank my parents for their endless support of Sam and me. We rely on mum and dad a lot. They do a great deal for us around the house. As I said earlier today, I happily mooch off my parents and look forward to doing that for as long as they will let me, especially now mum is looking after Isla while I am in parliament. She has been a trooper; I could not do it without her.
Of course, my darling husband Sam provides 24-hours-a-day, seven-days-a-week support. He is a rock. Little Isla is as good as a seven-week-old could possibly be, even though she threw up all over me today. I should not have worn black ...
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Drysdale, your time has expired.
Mrs FINOCCHIARO: Sorry, Madam Speaker. Merry Christmas to the opposition and we will see you all in 2016.
Ms MANISON (Wanguri): Madam Speaker, I rise to put questions to the government with regard to the Power and Water Corporation. I am doing this after referring to the Treasurer’s Annual Financial Report which was tabled on the last night of the last sittings.
Included in the Treasurer’s statement is some correspondence provided by the Office of the Auditor-General, which is the Auditor-General’s Report to the Treasurer on the Treasurer’s Annual Financial Statement, year ended 30 June 2015. I will read onto the record some of the content of particular note in that report to the Treasurer and ask some questions that need to be answered by the government with regard to the Power and Water Corporation.
The letter starts:
- I have audited the accompanying Treasurer’s Annual Financial Report (‘the Financial Report’), which comprises a balance sheet as at 30 June 2015, a comprehensive operating statement, a statement of changes in equity and cash flow statement for the year then ended, for each of the General Government Sector, Public Non-Financial Corporation Sector, Non-Financial Public Sector, Public Financial Corporation Sector and Total Public Sector, and notes comprising a summary of significant accounting policies and other explanatory information for the General Government Sector and Total Public Sector, and certification by the Treasurer.
Further in the letter, in the Auditor’s Opinion, I turn the attention of the parliament to the section which is titled Basis for Disclaimer of Opinion:
- a. Inability to form an opinion – Power and Water Corporation
- I have not received financial statements for Power and Water Corporation and its controlled entities that are sufficiently complete to enable me to form an audit opinion on the financial statements of Power and Water Corporation, its controlled entity Indigenous Essential Services Pty Ltd or the consolidated group.
b. Inadequate books and records maintained – Power and Water Corporation
- In February 2014, legislation was introduced in the Northern Territory Parliament to restructure Power and Water Corporation … into three separate corporations being the Power Retail Corporation (Jacana Energy), Power Generation Corporation (Territory Generation) and Power and Water Corporation (retaining residual functions). The restructure was effective from 1 July 2014, however, the core financial applications and underlying infrastructure were not reconfigured until 27 April 2015. This has resulted in numerous errors and unresolved issues in relation to the recording of revenue; trade and other receivables; expenses; trade and other payables; property, plant and equipment; intercompany balances; goods and services tax; and the allocation of transactions between the three entities. I have been unable to confirm or verify these financial statement items by alternative means.
As a result I was unable to determine whether any adjustments to the records of Power and Water Corporation might have been required in respect of these balances, and the corresponding elements making up the comprehensive operating statement, the balance sheet, statement of changes in equity and the cash flow statement for the Public Non-Financial Corporation Sector.
- c. Property, plant and equipment valuation – Power and Water Corporation
- As at 1 July 2014 the Power and Water Corporation changed its accounting policy in relation to the measurement of its property, plant and equipment from historical cost to fair value. The Corporation commissioned independent valuations to provide a fair value which resulted in the value of property, plant and equipment reported in the balance sheet increasing by $2 063 769 000 to $3 992 140 000. The valuations were performed using depreciated optimised replacement cost and have not considered the Corporation’s ability to generate economic benefits by using the assets or by selling them to another market participant.
- In addition, the financial records used to derive the fair value at 1 July 2014 were complex and contained numerous errors, both individually and cumulatively material, with some of these errors remaining unresolved as at the date of this audit report.
As a result of the above, I am unable to satisfy myself that the amount reported in the balance sheet as at 30 June 2015 attributable to the Corporation, accurately represents the fair value of property, plant and equipment and that the amounts for depreciation and asset impairment attributable to the Corporation are accurately reported in the comprehensive operating statement for the year ended 30 June 2015 for the Public Non-Financial Corporation Sector.
Disclaimer of Opinion
Because of the significance of the matters described in the Basis for Disclaimer of Opinion paragraphs, I have not been able to obtain sufficient appropriate audit evidence in relation to the financial information attributable to the Corporation to provide a basis for an audit opinion on the balance sheet as at 30 June 2015, the comprehensive operating statement, the statement of changes in equity and the cash flow statement for the year then ended for the Public Non-Financial Corporation Sector.
Accordingly, I do not express an opinion on the Public Non-Financial Corporation Sector component of the Financial Report.
Madam Speaker, after reading that letter I have these questions for the Treasurer, or for the Essential Services minister, with regard to the Power and Water Corporation. The first of my questions is, was the Power and Water Corporation ready for structural separation? Will the government confirm if this was rammed through far too quickly when they were not prepared for the financial separation of the Power and Water Corporation?
The other question I have for the government is, how much have the issues with the financial management systems within the Power and Water Corporation cost? At estimates this was an issue that was discussed by the Chair of the Power and Water Corporation Board. The question to the government is, to date, in the millions, how much have the financial management systems issues within Power and Water cost?
The other question I have for the government is, what is the cost of the structural separation of the Power and Water Corporation? To date, how much has that cost the taxpayer? This process was meant to be completed but it appears to be ongoing, and there are some major issues with the financial separation of the Power and Water Corporation, Jacana Energy and Territory Generation. So the question is, are those costs still ongoing? If not, what was the final cost? How many millions of dollars did the structural separation of the Power and Water Corporation cost?
My other question to the government is, we saw a lot of annual reports tabled at the last sittings; when will the Power and Water Corporation Annual Report be tabled? When will the statements of corporate intent be tabled in this parliament so we can see what is going on within the Power and Water Corporation, Jacana Energy and Territory Generation? Importantly, I would like to know if the government has confidence in the financial information that will be in those annual reports and statements of corporate intent?
These are very important questions that we need to hear answers on from this government.
Mr STYLES (Sanderson): Madam Speaker, the Australian Training Awards are the peak national honours for the vocational education and training sector. They recognise the exemplary achievements of business, registered training organisations and everyday Australians in vocational and educational training. The vocational education and training sector plays a vital role in the ongoing economic and social growth of the Territory by skilling and training the workforce required to develop northern Australia. This year’s national awards were held in Hobart on 17 November with seven Northern Territory representatives who claimed Territory honours in their respective categories, competing against the best of the best from around the country.
Being chosen as a finalist in a national award offers individuals and organisations Australia-wide recognition and the chance to be known as the top performers in their field.
I recognise the finalists who represented the Northern Territory in the National Awards, including Michael Perez, Australian Apprentice (Trainee) of the Year; Raymond Fordimail, Australian School-based Apprentice of the Year; Matthew Deveraux, VET Teacher/Trainer of the Year; and the Arnhem Land Progress Aboriginal Corporation, Employer of the Year.
I give special congratulations to the three Territorians who were recognised at the national awards for their outstanding achievements in individual studies. Karen Rose was awarded the 2015 Vocational Student of the Year Award. Karen completed a Diploma of Logistics while working at Rio Tinto Alcan Gove. Philadelphia Hughes was awarded the 2015 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Student of the Year Award. Philadelphia completed Certificate IV in Frontline Management at Charles Darwin University in Darwin. Taylor Fishlock was awarded Runner-up in the Australian Apprentice of the Year Award. Taylor completed a Certificate III in Electrotechnology Electrician with M & K Lee Electrical in Katherine.
These winners are a credit to their employers and training providers, and they represent the Northern Territory as ambassadors for the vocational education and training system. They demonstrate the success that is possible through the vocational education and training sector in the Northern Territory. I congratulate not only the award winners but all trainers, employers and registered training organisations for the role they play in the success of our trainees. The Territory’s VET sector is doing a great job training Territorians to meet the needs of local business and our economy.
I am particularly excited to announce that the Northern Territory will be hosting the 2016 Australian Training Awards in Darwin on Thursday 17 November 2016. I look forward to meeting our next round of outstanding nominees and finalists.
Once again I congratulate all the finalists and winners of the Australian Training Awards and wish them all the very best in their future endeavours.
I also recognise and thank the staff at Group Training NT for the work they put into organising the finalists’ participation in both the NT Training Awards and the national awards.
I will also talk about the Chief Minister’s Awards for Excellence in the Public Sector. These awards are the Northern Territory government’s showcase event. They recognise the exceptional talent we have in the Northern Territory Public Sector and showcase some of the great initiatives that make a difference to public sector administration and the broader Territory. They provide an opportunity for public sector work teams and individuals to be recognised and rewarded for their outstanding performance, innovation, continuous improvement and exceptional results.
I particularly recognise the outstanding performance of the Department of Business in the 2015 awards. This year five initiatives driven through the Department of Business were recognised and chosen as finalists. They include: the streamlined licensing project, a finalist in the Chief Minister’s Award for Delivering Quality Customer Service; the Prelude to the Future Project, a finalist in the Chief Minister’s Award for Excellence in Partnering; the Business Innovation Support Initiatives, a finalist in the Chief Minister’s Award for Innovation in the Public Sector; and the Tiwi Island pop-up program, a finalist in the Chief Minister’s Award for Developing the North and Building Regional and/or Remote Economies.
It was extremely pleasing that the Department of Business, in conjunction with the Department of the Chief Minister, brought home the award for Developing the North and Building Regional and/or Remote Economies for the Gove transition project. The reward recognises outstanding performance and achievements in the public sector that stimulate and sustain growth across northern Australia and/or respond to the needs of the regions and drive growth and regional economies in the Territory. This outstanding project was implemented to assist the Gove community following curtailment of the local aluminium refinery, where a project team from the Department of the Chief Minister and the Department of Business was tasked with managing the impact to the local community and businesses.
Working closely with Rio Tinto, the Australian government and the Gove community, a wide range of support programs and workshops have been implemented, targeting affected families and businesses to build resilience, confidence and capability. The team also ran the Business Growth program, which attracted more than 75 business operators, assisting them to successfully transition to their new environment. Through their efforts new industries have emerged, including tourism, service deliveries and fisheries. Cautious optimism exists in the Gove business community with business operators reporting better trading conditions than previously existed due to local business resilience, the development of new opportunities and the project support programs. This is such a great award and it is really well deserved. The program is such a valuable initiative and I am very proud of the team which brought it to fruition.
I give special recognition to Graeme Kevern, Nicki Kokles and members of the Darwin business development team, who provided such great support to the team on the ground in Gove. So much hard work by the work team goes into achieving these outcomes. The program is making a huge difference to our remote communities so I congratulate the department on its hard work and tireless efforts in getting this up and running.
Once again I congratulate all the nominees, finalists and winners, and commend the invaluable work the department undertakes.
Ms MOSS (Casuarina): Madam Speaker, I give my thanks at the end of the year and say Merry Christmas to everyone here and outside the Chamber. I also want to recognise some achievements, so hopefully I will be good for time.
My first thanks always goes to the people of Casuarina. It has been a pleasure to represent the people of Alawa, Brinkin, Tiwi, Nakara and Lyons for just over a year and to hear their stories and concerns. Also, to share in the joyous moments and celebrations in Territorians’ lives is an absolute privilege and it has been a wonderful year.
I turn to one of the bigger issues in my community that local residents have raised with me, which we are pushing forward on, which is speeding outside Dripstone Middle School on Trower Road. They are ongoing issues and some people along Trower Road have been passionately raising them for a number of years; others have come to see me in recent times. We had two accidents outside Dripstone Middle School, one of which, tragically, was fatal. Local residents are reasonably and understandably very concerned about safety there and have been proactive in trying to get some change.
I am pleased that local Alderman Rebecca Want de Rowe has been responsive to these concerns, and the City of Darwin will be undertaking a traffic assessment to inform decision-making about what is needed in the new year. Hopefully we can see some action there.
I put on the record my sincere thanks to the Casuarina police in regard to this. They have heard the concerns of local residents. They are obviously aware of what happens there, and local residents have noticed their increased activities with RBTs and random speed checks around the school. I thank them for that. I have written to the minister for Police and Transport, the member for Brennan, in relation to those issues, and I hope to hear back soon so we can get some action happening there.
We held a successful workshop on volatile substance misuse, which I have spoken about a couple of times in the House. I was pleased to see one of the partnerships formed in that room was recently in the NT News with GPT investing in the local youth service, The SHAK. There was a brilliant photo in the NT News last week of some the great work GPT is doing with the wonderful team, Freya Bundey and others at The SHAK. What a fantastic outcome for our community that businesses and large organisations are so willing to back the small organisations working hard to deliver such brilliant activities in our community.
A massive thank you to those in our business, retail and community precinct, including Casuarina Village, GPT Casuarina Square and Casuarina Plaza, for their willingness to raise and discuss issues throughout the year and for all they do in our community that is above and beyond their business. To the small business owners at Tiwi shops, Alawa shops and Nakara shops, and those who operate out of their homes, I wish you all a lovely Christmas. I encourage Territorians to think about what you can buy locally over this period, supporting local business owners who are making a go of it and providing such wonderful employment opportunities in our local communities.
To my local schools, the teachers and the school councils, thank you so much for your work throughout the year. It has been an absolute pleasure getting to know you and I look forward to 2016. Nakara Primary School is embracing technology and the power of peer-to-peer education in doing so. Nemarluk School just got the new therapy dog, Laddie, who appeared on the member for Nightcliff’s Facebook page when he was out for a walk. I believe HPA, Tony Burns and Amy Brady, were instrumental in helping to get Laddie the therapy dog to Nemarluk School. I am sure there will be some brilliant results and I understand students and staff alike are in love with Laddie.
Alawa Primary School is doing incredible work through the Alawa farm, the native garden and the frog pond. It recently won the Junior Landcare award at the Natural Resource Management and the Landcare Awards, which is pretty serious stuff. They will go national. I am proud of them and the work they are doing to educate kids through a hands-on approach to our environment.
I was very lucky to see the art exhibition at the Essington International campus recently. They are very talented young people.
Dripstone Middle School had its talent quest last week. It was an amazing three-hour spectacular with dancing, music and incredibly talented young people.
I send my appreciation to Sandy Cartwright, Britany Roestenburg, Lorraine Hodgson and Peter Swan, and, of course, to all my school council chairs and parents, who put in so many additional hours throughout the year for our schools. I look forward to those continued relationships, including with the Dripstone Children’s Centre and the Casuarina Child Care Centre. We have many Christmas functions and final assemblies over the next few weeks and I am really excited about that.
I put on the record my congratulations to Vanessa Adzaip. Vanessa works for Deaf NT. Its office is next to mine in Casuarina Plaza. Vanessa was the overall winner in the NT Disability Services Awards, which were held very recently at SKYCITY. She is an incredible advocate for education and for Auslan, and the importance of teaching people how to have conversations and how we can be a much more inclusive community for those across the Northern Territory who have hearing impairments.
I have been very lucky to have Auslan classes running in my community room over the last few months. When I pop in on a Saturday and see the flurry of conversation it reminds me of how much I need to start learning some Auslan. I am looking forward to that in the new year as well. I made the commitment to them that I will definitely learn some Auslan. Congratulations to Vanessa; she is incredibly inspiring.
Thank you to the Casuarina Coastal Reserve Landcare Group. Over the last year in particular, but for much longer than that, the group has been solidly been working away at the Moth Block and the beach block. We held a barbecue a few weeks ago and invited members of the community and a range of other Landcare group members from around Darwin to come and learn about the Moth Block. Deb Hall, Louise Finch and all of the volunteers there are incredibly knowledgeable and willing to share their knowledge. I have learnt an incredible amount about a range of things, such as weeds and the Atlas Moth, from weekends at the Moth Block. It is enjoyable. They put Jake to work as well, which is great. We appreciate our Sundays there with the Landcare group.
I share my deep appreciation for Jake, my family and my friends for their endless support and love over what has been a very different year of our lives. I know I drive them mad on occasions, but I am sure I am not the only person in this House who drives their family completely bonkers sometimes with everything that goes on. I thank them. I recognise my stepfather as well, who has made a huge achievement this week. He has received the cover of his book My Life as an Alphabet in South Korean, so incredible things are happening there as well.
To Alasdair and Rangga in my office, thank you so much for the support you continue to provide me in the House and the electorate, and for all the fun times. You are fantastic and very appreciated.
To the Casuarina Branch of Territory Labor, thank you for the support you provide us and the thoughts and feedback you provide on local issues and a range of other things.
To the Territory Labor team, I have appreciated your mentorship, collegiality and support over the course of the year.
I also put on the record an achievement of quite a notable Territorian who I graduated from Darwin High School with in 2004, Miranda Tapsell. Miranda is pretty well known to Territorians. She is an incredible, inspiring young woman and I hope she continues to tell her story and her truth to the Australian people. She is very inspiring and has a wonderful message to tell. I note that she has been picked up by the ABC’s Play School, which is exciting news for the Northern Territory.
The ABC is coming up to its 50th anniversary with Play School. To have a young Territorian woman fronting Play School is very exciting. I say to her, well done; we are right behind you and look forward to seeing you on the ABC. Of course, she has been in Love Child. It is always a bit bizarre when she is back in Darwin to think she has been recording and is on TV every week. She is doing exceptionally well for herself and that is great.
Madam Speaker, I am down to my last minute so I will get this in quickly. I have been a huge advocate for trying to get more headspace centres in the Northern Territory. I was pleased to hear in October that the Minister for Mental Health Services said the government has put aside $150 000 and is now starting to advocate to the government for a headspace centre in Katherine. I hope that continues and we can get an update on that soon.
Mr McCARTHY (Barkly): Madam Speaker, the CLP Attorney-General, Hon John Elferink, willed the NT to be the first jurisdiction in Australia to have a publicly accessible website listing details of convicted sex offenders. Northern Territory justice agencies, law societies, the Criminal Lawyers Association and the Information Commissioner, reflecting legal experts and public policy commentators, state there is no evidence that public registers increase community safety or reduce reoffending rates.
Justice agencies call for evidence-based policy, stating comprehensive reviews of Megan’s Law in the United States – the model used by the CLP – found little evidence that public websites with details and locations of sex offenders reduce offending.
Law Society NT President, Mr Tass Liveris, stated there is the added risk that such websites create barriers for victims to report offending, and that protecting our children is the highest priority in the community. The Law Society NT states that sex offenders are already closely monitored by police, with convicted offenders required to comply with stringent reporting requirements and restrictions which support police to closely monitor their activities and movement. CLP legislation risks vigilantism, possibly impacting the entire family of the offender, especially in the Northern Territory. It is a small jurisdiction comprising large, extended families, risking retribution and mistaken identity. Facing deficit legislation, the minister delegated listing a person on the website to a panel of statutory office holders, circumventing court processes according normal sentencing principles and supervision by the court.
NT justice agencies view rehabilitation of offenders, the cornerstone of good legislation, with public naming and shaming on the Internet, as detrimental to offenders’ prospects of rehabilitation, working against successful reintegration into employment, housing and community.
The CLP legislation alarmingly lacks a definitive budget where economic modelling of similar website technology notes extremely high costs. New Zealand’s set up and management of its register will cost government an estimated $146m over 10 years.
The NT Information Commissioner supports justice agencies’ concerns, convinced that police may have difficulties protecting families and individuals against random vigilante acts, reflecting episodes of abuse or violence influenced by the Internet.
Research demonstrates that public sex offender websites do not protect children from persons not on the register, in addition to risking the safety and security of innocent people, signalling deficit CLP legislation.
As a clear alternative, minister, I urge the allocation of significant taxpayer dollars for website investment to be redirected to educating children and families in child protective behaviours where children learn how to process and report abuse, including sexual abuse in the family and community.
Global research demonstrates that children who are educated and aware of their bodies, protecting their personal space and defining unacceptable behaviour of others, including strategies proactively calling out inappropriate sexualised and violent behaviour, remain safer in families and community.
Tens of millions in taxpayer funds should resource Health, Education, and Child Protection for teaching, training and modelling proactive child protective behaviours. Critical care and protection of children resonates best-practice child protective behaviours focusing on surviving abuse. The minister withdrew the CLP legislation, Daniel’s Law, from passage through parliament. Minister, I respectfully request that you reconsider your significant power and the allocation of the resources at your disposal to reintroduce into Territory schools, clinics and the community a very proactive system of teaching child protective behaviours.
Minister, you have announced your retirement and this is a significant legacy you have the power and the authority to deliver before you retire from public life as an elected community leader. I request that you consider this carefully. I remember, vividly, having these systems in place in the Education department in the 1990s. It was under a CLP government where teachers and school community leaders were trained in child protective behaviours. They then tutored teachers, parent groups and children, and together, across the Northern Territory, we were teaching child protective behaviours in a supportive, warm and welcoming environment in schools. This has dropped off the agenda.
On an aeroplane about 18 months ago I sat next to the last person employed by the Education department to be responsible for the dissemination and practices of teaching child protective behaviours. That person has moved on and gone into other employment. I am not sure if anybody is doing this anymore. That is a very clear alternative I am presenting, minister. I do it with honesty and integrity. I hope in the new year you will re-enter the parliament of the Northern Territory with an announcement that we will significantly resource one of the most effective tools in protecting our children, and that is the teaching and learning of child protective behaviours. It is about surviving abuse, minister.
In the second part of the adjournment I have to talk about a very unfortunate situation that has arisen in Tennant Creek, and that is the 11-year-old girl who was restrained at Tennant Creek Primary School is facing serious charges in a judicial context and been relocated to Darwin.
Minister, I have written to you over a number of weeks and I find it unusual that nobody has responded. In opposition I have written over 100 letters to ministers about all sorts of issues. This correspondence was the first time I tried e-mail. I do not know whether that is the problem, but I sent it to your office by e-mail – and I know your diligent staff will be monitoring this broadcast – because it contains confidential details of family members who are extremely concerned. You have access to this child’s great-grandmother’s details through the department. You have access to this child’s very concerned aunt’s details contained in the e-mail trail.
Minister, I urgently ask that you look at this issue carefully and respond to the family. This child is a highly-complex case. I have made inquiries in Darwin and have been able to talk to people at the primary school she attended in Darwin. I understand, from my professional experience working in London, the level of complexity in this case. Minister, for what it is worth, in my opinion we do not have the resources in the Northern Territory to protect and care for this child at the moment. We need to look at an interstate placement. We need to be looking at very intensive intervention for this child to try to stabilise this period in her life, and then try to make gain in the Northern Territory with her family and the supportive adults in her life.
It is very important, minister, that you contact her family. They need to be walked through this. They have been through a lot of stress and are very concerned. This incident is one of the most complex you will deal with in your portfolio of Children and Families.
Minister, this is the end of a parliamentary year. This relates also to your announced retirement. The case of the 11-year-old girl from Tennant Creek is urgent and needs to be dealt with sensitively and with great care.
The other issue around child protective behaviours, minister, is a long-term legacy that you can set in train. I was involved in the debate about stamp duty support for young families and getting them into existing dwellings, and I used the words ‘cashed up’. The Treasurer was able to twist and spin that, then, essentially, he agreed with the motion. Let us be honest, minister. You have significant resources at your fingertips within existing budget resources. I ask that you prioritise into what is globally recognised as a substantial, honourable and lasting legacy of your time in this parliament and as a minister of the Crown for Children and Families. Child protective behaviours for all our children, in all our families, will protect children and will reinforce survival skills not victims of abuse.
Motion agreed to; the Assembly adjourned.
Last updated: 04 Aug 2016