2014-03-18
Madam Speaker Purick took the chair at 10 am.
Madam SPEAKER: Honourable members, I have received a message from Her Majesty the Queen regarding the celebration of Commonwealth Day 2014. The message is dated 10 March 2014. I table a copy of that message.
Madam SPEAKER: Honourable members, I advise that on 21 February 2014, the resignation of the former member for Blain, Mr Terry Mills, was submitted to me, pursuant to section 18 of the Northern Territory (Self-Government) Act 1978. I table a copy of that letter.
Madam SPEAKER: Honourable members, I advise of the presence in the gallery of two Year 7 classes from Rosebery Middle School, accompanied by Alison Stringer, Shanelle Lee and Karen Hudson. On behalf of honourable members, welcome to Parliament House and I hope you enjoy your time here.
Members: Hear, hear!
Ms LAWRIE (Opposition Leader): Madam Speaker, I move that this House censure the Chief Minister for lying about the pain his dysfunctional administration has inflicted on Territorians in his first year, including:
increasing Territorians Power and Water bills by thousands of dollars, with more increases to come, while splitting up Power and Water in an effort to fatten it up for sale
ripping $32m out of the pockets of Territorians with increased Power and Water tariffs
failing to deal with the spiralling cost of living. Under the CLP, Darwin’s cost of living is now the highest in the country
failing to deal with alcohol-related crime, up by 12% across the Territory
increasing almost all government charges, including slugging Territorians $5.2m with increased car registration
failing to release new land - the only blocks being developed are those planned and funded under the former Labor government
cutting 130 teachers from our schools and then lying about the numbers, pretending only 35 have been sacked
delaying the Palmerston hospital by choosing an unserviced site and pretending it will be open this term
failing the bush with no increased infrastructure, no new projects – unless agreed between previous Labor governments) and job cuts
plans to force children away from their families and communities by scrapping senior education options in the bush
failing Central Australians by refusing to invest in economic stimulation and ignoring businesses that are cutting jobs and closing
failing to secure the future of Nhulunbuy and presiding over the demise of the Territory’s fourth largest town
giving plum jobs and lucrative water deals to your mates
lying about the Labor debt, claiming the projected debt under Labor instead of the actual debt, while you ignore the CLP projected debt of $5.1bn
cutting budgets over Christmas by 10% and then continuing your spending spree, including wasting $100 000 on a private jet so you could attend a photo shoot with Prime Minister Abbott.
Madam Speaker, Question Time was an example of just how much this Chief Minister is failing to grasp the responsibilities of his office, and we all bear the consequences and pain of that. We witnessed, in Question Time today, his outright refusal to get to the nub and answer the detail of any question. He preferred, instead, to stick to some sort of script where he talked about something – anything except the question asked. It was blatantly obvious, and embarrassingly so for the Chief Minister, that he would not get to nub of the answers about how much it is costing taxpayers to split up Power and Water, which is their utility.
The CLP did not go to the election saying, ‘Elect us and give us a mandate to split up Power and Water because we are great believers in the energy market reform agenda set by the energy ministerial council’. What a load of rubbish! No, the CLP has mates lined up to do some deals with, particularly in the area of generation, and it is looking forward to the outcome of that. The outcome of that will be a whole host of new pain on Territorians.
Estimates from industry experts on the split of Power and Water range, but they all hit around the $100m mark. There is little wonder the Chief Minister refuses to answer the question about the cost. We have seen the establishment of the new unit within the Department of the Chief Minister, which is why the question went to the Chief Minister, by the way, and he would not answer it.
Exactly how much will all those consultants, advisors and experts cost the taxpayer? How much will the three new corporations cost the taxpayer with rebranding the new systems and …
Madam SPEAKER: Opposition Leader, can we pause to welcome the students.
Ms LAWRIE: Certainly.
Madam SPEAKER: Honourable members, I advise of the presence in the gallery of two Year 5/6 classes from Leanyer Primary School, accompanied by Leanne Avery and Chris Charman. On behalf of honourable members, welcome to Parliament House and I hope you enjoy your time here.
Members: Hear, hear!
Ms LAWRIE: Welcome, Leanyer Primary; what a great school in the electorate of Wanguri for the member for Wanguri.
These are very genuine questions and the Chief Minister flat out refuses to answer them, but he is the big pretender. He pretended he would not be part of a leadership challenge on the former member for Blain, Terry Mills, and still pretends he did not really – people just came to him and said, ‘Come on, Adam, please be our Chief Minister’. In fact, we know he was holding one-on-one meetings with colleagues, rounding up the numbers, and it is shameful that he will not admit that he undermined his leader at the time, the Chief Minister at the time, and stepped up to take the mantle of leadership.
He still pretends it did not happen in the way it did. It is an incredible fabrication of lies the member for Braitling, the current Chief Minister, builds around himself. It is one after the other and it compounds. It is little wonder there is no trust in this Chief Minister in the electorate anymore. He has been pretending, ‘I saved everyone because I dropped the price of power from 30% to 20% and it is done and dusted’. He will not be honest with Territorians and say, ‘By the way, you got 5% in January. You will get another 4% with CPI in July, and you will be hit with another 5% next January. You are staring down the barrel of not just the 25% you have now on your electricity bill, but another 9% coming within the next months.’
There is no honesty and decency around this government engaging with constituents and telling them the truth about what is happening. Where are the expert reports that clearly step through, identify and define the detail around the split of Power and Water Corporation into three corporations? Where is the evidence upon which they are relying to make that decision? Where in the detailed reports does it say – if you listen to the lies of the Chief Minister, it is all about improving efficiency, reducing costs; therefore, there will be this magical reduction in tariffs that people are paying, which is the main cause of the increase in the cost of living. Where is that, Chief Minister? Where is that, Treasurer? It is not to be seen. It is not to be provided to the public because it is another big fat lie.
The experience elsewhere in Australia has been consistent. The experience globally has been consistent. Where you break up an authority like Power and Water, it is fattened for sale – which we see occurring now – and a sale leads to corporate pricing. We are staring down the barrel of some huge decisions being made by the Chief Minister and Dave Tollner around our Power and Water Corporation utility, without any evidence in the public domain to justify it. They will not be honest and tell Territorians what the cost of that split is.
I have seen many governments in the Northern Territory. I have never seen a government as secretive as this one; I have never seen a government hide the facts from Territorians as consistently as this government, and it is to its shame. If you truly believe in what you are doing, if you truly believe it is the right thing to do, if you truly are convinced that somehow, magically, despite the evidence everywhere else, this will lead to efficiencies and reduction in tariffs, then lead that evidence. Put the evidence on the table, put it into the public domain and let the experts look at it. We get the exact opposite from the CLP when members of this parliament say to the government, ‘Refer it to a parliamentary committee at the very least. Let that parliamentary committee scrutinise this legislation so we can call before it experts and hear from the experts as to what the implications will be.’ No, you cannot do that; it is not allowed. What is the CLP hiding?
We hear from experts – professors who speak on the radio, talk about experiences elsewhere and studies they have undertaken – and everyone says it is consistent. If you want to sell parts of a utility, you must split it up. They say the split of a utility like this is a precursor to sale, and the issue of privatisation leads to tariff increases everywhere.
There are real and stark implications of this splitand we are not getting the answers. A simple answer of cost will not be provided. Ask how many Territorians are aware their power and water prices are going up by CPI in July and by another 5% in January. That is 9%, folks. People are not aware. Why? Because this government will do its utmost to hide the truth from Territorians. We will not hide the truth from Territorians. We are putting the facts out there; including in Blain, and people are horrified.
Many people are not aware they copped another 5% on their electricity bill in January. People are not aware another 9% is locked in and coming their way. Chief Minister, you can make fun of the disconnections and laugh at this in Question Time today, but there is no fun in it for the families who are being disconnected. These are the battlers in our society. These are people who are trying and struggling to get through, day by day, week by week, and the rate of disconnections is escalating.
You can poke fun at it, but it is a tragedy. It is a tragedy occurring under your watch, and you think it is funny. You think it is some sort of political point scoring, and it is not. These are families who desperately need access to power, water and sewerage in their homes and you think it is a joke.
Mr ELFERINK: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Comments are to be directed through the Chair.
Madam SPEAKER: Opposition Leader, if you could direct your comments through the Chair please.
Ms LAWRIE: I find the dismissive and arrogant manner in which this Chief Minister deals with such dire issues of concern to families abhorrent. The lack of compassion is extraordinary. I have witnessed many Chief Ministers, CLP and Labor, and I have never seen anyone lacking in compassion like this Chief Minister.
Households are spending something like $82 per week more on housing costs than the average Australian household; this is contained in the NT Shelter December 2013 report. If you look at the NT cost of living in the December 2013 report, it says it is now more expensive to rent than buy your home in the Territory. What we have seen is, under the CLP, the cost of rent in Darwin has gone up 7.9% and the cost of buying a home in Darwin has risen by 8.3%. This is the CLP; its core, number one election commitment was to cut the cost of living. That clearly was a big fat lie, because it has done the exact opposite. It has escalated CPI inflation from 2.9% to 4.4%. It has doubled the cost of living in only 18 months, which is extraordinary. When opposition holds the CLP to account for it, it is dismissive, refuses to answer questions and jokes about the serious issue of disconnections. The Chief Minister should spend a day in the life of a lower socioeconomic family in Palmerston which is trying to pay its bills. They are going backwards, drowning under your cost of living and have no light at the end of the tunnel, because you axed the schemes which would get them into home ownership.
You axed HOMESTART Extra which was specifically designed to get lower socioeconomic people into home ownership. You replaced it with a rental scheme – no home ownership schemes – that you consistently will not answer the question on. You lauded it this week, the 30% below market rate on rentals. I have consistently asked, Chief Minister, if that includes 20% of federal government NRAS funding. That question has never been answered by your government. Why not? Why not try to be honest in some way, in some detail, on anything? It just simply is not in you, is it?
If that 30% discount is all CLP initiative, then say so.
Mr ELFERINK: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Once again, she is not directing her comments through the Chair.
Madam SPEAKER: Thank you, member for Port Darwin.
Ms LAWRIE: Madam Speaker, I am happy to. I know the CLP is very sensitive to this because it does not like being called out on its dishonesty, and, sadly, that is what we are doing today in this Chamber. This is not the gutter; this is the reality of people’s lives. They are trapped in rentals that are increasing in cost. They are trapped in utility bills that are increasing in cost, and we have a government that pretends otherwise. It should deal with the reality of the lives of Territorians. That is what they need their government to do, deal with the reality of their lives when it comes to increasing utility costs and their housing, and take responsibility for your own actions.
Your actions to scrap HOMESTART Extra were deplorable. It was a balanced scheme that gave lower socioeconomic Territorians a chance of home ownership. Without it, they cannot break through and get off the rental roundabout. But you scrapped it. You did not replace it with a home ownership scheme; you replaced it with rental options that have not yet physically appeared. The first construction starts in May; we have consistently asked you whether that 30% includes the 20% federal NRAS funding and you have failed to answer that simple question.
You consistently said there would be no new taxes, then we saw, in the CLP budget, almost all charges increase. Motor vehicle registration went up. We have seen $32m in revenue flow out of Territorians pockets and into Power and Water as a result of the tariff increases on power, water and sewerage, and $5.2m in new revenue with the registration hikes. You introduced those new mining levies without any stakeholder consultation and the Minerals Council said you have closed the Territory for business.
People stuck on the rental roundabout need you to pay attention to their reality. It is such a tightening housing market under your watch. Deal with your watch, Chief Minister. None of the promised 2000 new rental homes have been delivered, but we have had an announcement that we will see the first construction in May. You have not been honest about who is funding that, whether 20% is coming from the federal government.
You promised to release land faster and reduce the cost of land. The only land being released in Darwin and Palmerston is land that was agreed to, planned and funded under previous Labor governments. That includes the new sections at Muirhead and what we refer to as Palmerston east. It also includes the land being turned off in Driver as a result of the agreement we made with Charles Darwin University, being developed through CIC.
We now have the weakest economy for new housing finance. The momentum in housing starts is slowing under the CLP. I refer the CLP to the CommSec Economic Insights report of January 2014. As I have said, rentals have risen year to year and hit $700 per week in the December quarter. The median unit rent in Darwin is $570 per week compared to $485 in Sydney. Chief Minister, this is under your watch after you promised to reduce these costs.
You scrapped the first home owners stamp duty concession, as well as scrapping HOMESTART Extra and My New Home, those two all-important housing finance schemes. Scrapping the first home owners stamp duty concession – did you really need to go that far and that deep to hurt Territorians who were trying to get into the housing market for the first time?
You have changed remote housing contractors. We have seen that debacle roll out across the regions. You have reduced housing standards with what will amount to be, in many cases, a fly-in fly-out or drive-in drive-out series of contractors, rather than the employees who were hired – the Aboriginal people hired in their own communities to undertake housing maintenance. Job losses across that vary. In some towns it is 12, in other towns it is 14. However, you are pretending all the time that you are increasing jobs in the bush. It is little wonder you are dealing with a revolt from some bush members in your own party.
We do not have access to data and figures because written questions on notice go unanswered under this government. That written question on notice about what Crown leases you have provided since you have been in government has not been answered. It is the first time a written question on notice under this government has ever gone unanswered past its 30 days. I wonder why you would not be telling us about what Crown leases have occurred under this government. I wonder why you would be hiding that information. We will continue to pursue those answers. I am sure you will continue to hide them until a certain inquiry you concocted is over, because the answers might be very embarrassing for the CLP. However, we will continue to ask that question because it is legitimate. What Crown leases has the CLP provided since it has been in government?
The really disturbing thing I am seeing in housing is the increase in the rate of evictions. People are literally being turfed out of public housing for a variety of reasons. Some are evicted because they have breached the eligibility threshold to be in that house. We are increasingly hearing of people who, when they breach the eligibility threshold – goodbye, Leanyer Primary – that is, they earn too much to be in public housing, are told they must get out. When the family asks whether they can buy the house they have been living in, sometimes for 20 years, the answer has consistently been no. As local members, we write letters to the Minister for Housing, the member for Greatorex, and we are told no. Families who have been in homes for decades are told, ‘No, you cannot buy that home, get out’.
What is happening with public housing stock? It is being sold. The public housing stock people are being evicted from is being sold. It is not being repaired and turned over so we can get people on the public housing list off that waiting list and into housing, it is being sold. There is no detail or information about this.
We are advised that the Chief Minister, in his own electorate, forced the sale of a block of units against the advice of the department. We were advised the Housing department said, ‘No, Chief Minister, do not sell that block of units. They are public housing units that are crucial to the Alice Springs stock.’ But we are advised you went against that advice and instructed the sale of those units. By all means, Chief Minister, if that is not the case, I am sure you will stand up in contribution to this debate and tell us.
What is going on in public housing is, potentially, one of the scariest things I have even seen. These are battlers. Someone breaking through the eligibility of public housing is not earning enough to get into the private property market. They are going under. These are genuine battlers, families who are doing it tough, and because the housing finance schemes were scrapped by the government – HOMESTART Extra, My New Home – they cannot get the finance to get in to the housing market. They are then thrown into the private rental market. As I said before, when private rentals are hitting a high of $700 per week, and a medium unit rent of $570 per week, guess what is happening to these families? They are in severe finance stress. But, that is okay, because the CLP government does not care about that. I guess it takes the attitude that these people will pack up and leave.
Anecdotally, what are we hearing from removalists around the Top End? They have never been busier …
Mr Tollner: Everyone is leaving.
Ms LAWRIE: You can make a joke of it, Treasurer, as you came in with, ‘Everyone is leaving’. These are families who are literally being split up because of your policies and broken promises after the election. For the mother who is seeing her adult children leave with her grandchildren because they simply cannot afford to live here, that is no joke. It is devastating. It is real and it is happening. We will not hear that from you, of course. You will not acknowledge it and you will not address the policy failures that have led to it because that is not your style, is it? Your style is to pretend otherwise.
Mr ELFERINK: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Comments should be directed through the Chair.
Madam SPEAKER: It is fine, member for Port Darwin; you do not need to keep getting up. The comments are coming through the Chair.
Ms LAWRIE: Of course, there was the big pretend across the bush. ‘Vote us in and we will scrap the shires.’ They changed the name to ‘regional councils’. We have ‘regional councils’, not ‘shires’, so there was a name scrapping and now they have a committee to talk about possible changes to one regional council, the Victoria Daly shire.
As we have heard, they changed tendering arrangements for housing maintenance and other bush services, and local families in communities who have been doing those jobs for years are now out of work. They are unemployed in favour of new drive-in, drive-out, fly-in, fly-out contractors. We saw the promised $5200 per outstation dwelling take a year to design. It was an application process that was incredibly complex and many homelands are yet to see any improvements.
Under the power price hikes we saw power cards lasting only half the time they used to; people are churning through them at twice the rate, so much so that, consistently, we are seeing stores run out of them. When a store runs out of power cards, you have no power in that remote home. That is a real issue for many people who have serious health problems and need to charge things such as electric wheelchairs.
We saw the scrapping of the program to seal the barge landings and the roads to them. Look at Gapuwiyak. The barge landing is still waiting for that upgrade. It was on the program under Labor, but you scrapped it.
We are still waiting to see the funding promise for all-weather roads on Melville Island. We are still waiting to see the development of a proper Borroloola town plan, including provision of residential land, roads and service, and economic infrastructure. That simply has not happened as you promised. There has been no establishment of a Borroloola government business centre; that, also, has not happened.
The big promise to increase infrastructure in the bush has not materialised. Instead we now hear government saying private enterprise will fund infrastructure – the Northern Territory’s vast road network – when all economists doing the analysis of private funding into roads identify that you need a user pays system to fund it.
It is interesting there was not a single government minister at the industry forum held to talk about the Territory’s infrastructure. The minister for Primary Industry was a no show. He was meant to be there and did not show up. The Minister for Infrastructure apologised, and we listened instead to Regional Development Australia, the Northern Territory Cattlemen’s Association and others, who talked to us without a government minister represented.
We heard the head of the Department of Transport, Clare Gardiner-Barnes say, ‘I am very interested in what this forum thinks about the user pays model for transport infrastructure’ …
Mr McCarthy: The toll road to Wadeye.
Ms LAWRIE: I pick up on that interjection from my colleague, the member for Barkly, about the toll road to Wadeye. How do you explain your newly embraced policy – not enunciated to the bush before the election – of a user pays model for infrastructure across the regional areas of the Northern Territory? Who will pay for those road improvements? Is it the truckies, the cattlemen? Is it the people living in remote communities? Who do you propose will pay for billions of dollars of road upgrades you promised, albeit not written on the document you provided to Treasury? That was the big pretend; let us not put those billions of dollars of promises on the document to Treasury before the election, but slash every budget we can and increase the cost of living for Territorians to find some money to pay for some of those un-costed, unfunded promises.
Infrastructure in the bush: the only road projects in the bush, announced with great fanfare during the Blain by-election by the Chief Minister, were funded and agreed to under Labor. I know, because negotiated directly with Anthony Albanese when I was the Treasurer. The Chief Minister of the Northern Territory, on 3 August 2012, stood on the side of Tiger Brennan Drive and announced it, listing the roads, funding amounts and upgrades for each road. My goodness, compare and contrast the two press releases, one from former Chief Minister Paul Henderson on 3 August and one from current Chief Minister Adam Giles in the Blain by-election, on the Tiger Brennan Drive extension funding and bush roads funding. They are the same. How embarrassing! They show the same amount of funding, the same roads and the same projects. This is what you hang your hat on an agreement nailed under Labor as great success for delivering on bush infrastructure.
The all-weather road from Daly to Wadeye – member for Daly, I wonder what has happened to that great big promise of the development of a proper Wadeye town plan, including provision of residential land, roads, services and economic infrastructure. What happened to the contract you signed in Wadeye? There has been nothing yet.
Commerce planning for a transport hub in Katherine to fully integrate road and rail services has not happened. You cancelled the existing integrated regional transport plan and commissioned a new study. What happened to the new study, Chief Minister? You scrapped the strategic Indigenous water initiative that was allocating water for horticulture because you preferred to provide water to your mate, Tina MacFarlane. What happened with that process? Who was involved in the process? We heard ministers of the Crown from the CLP saying you were not involved. You then hear otherwise; you hear a senior departmental official was called to a meeting at the member for Fong Lim’s office in Winnellie to discuss it before approvals were granted. That is what we heard. Did it happen? I guess it will be a simple denial from you, Dave.
We see the proof of what happened though. All those gigalitres - against government policy and a court case the previous government won – were given to Tina MacFarlane. They are worth millions of dollars, but they were given to Tina MacFarlane, the CLP candidate for Lingiari, who horticulturalists in the region were up in arms about. Talk to the NT farmers federation about the decision. They could not believe it because that family was not producing on the land. There were neighbours producing on land who wanted water to increase their production, but they did not get it. They got it after the event though, after they lodged complaints and appeals against the Tina MacFarlane water rights grant, even though we were told there was no problem with appeals, and we saw the same officer …
Mr GUNNER: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Pursuant to Standing Order 77, I move that the member be granted an extension of time.
Motion agreed to.
Ms LAWRIE: We saw the government pretend there had not been appeals, and we then provided FOI documentation. Yes, there had been appeals and the same departmental officer, the controller of water, who determined the water allocation to Tina MacFarlane, reviewed his own decision. He did not give it to the water tribunal or the Natural Resources department to review. He reviewed his own decision and found it was okay. What a disgrace!
When you are in Blain, listening to people in Palmerston, you hear that law and order remains a big issue for them. Listen to the Chief Minister today, ‘It is all sorted, it is all okay, because they have cut property crime’. But there is still public drunkenness and antisocial behaviour and the riot in Moulden still occurred. You pretend this is not happening because it does not suit your big fabrication of it all being sorted, but it is still happening. Police are taking drunks to our emergency departments at a higher rate than they ever were previously. It goes to the accident and emergency data the member for Wanguri provided.
You pretend the blockage, double-bunking and crisis in Royal Darwin Hospital is occurring because of asylum seekers and aged bed block. You ignore the fact you decided to turn the medi-hotel over to drunks. You promised to build a new $30m alcohol rehabilitation facility in Katherine and a new $30m alcohol rehabilitation facility in Central Australia, but nothing has started. Instead you are using existing infrastructure like our secure care facility which was really for secure care clients, and the medi-hotel. You promised safe homes for victims of violence; there has been no change to the increase of safe homes and we have seen drunks back on the streets, literally. You have your new Alcohol Protection Orders, but there is no identification as to who people are. Do people in bottle shops have to guess? Have they got the great Dave Tollner wanted posters happening?
You posted police outside bottle shops. Chief Minister, have you done any analysis as to who is stopped outside those bottle shops? It is becoming a real issue of tension in Alice Springs, as to who is being stopped outside bottle shops by police. It has been raised with me by people in the community and they are really concerned. Chief Minister, I would like to hear from you what analysis you are doing of police work. Police are doing a good job; they are trying really hard. I do not know that standing outside bottle shops is what they signed up to do when they became sworn officers of the Northern Territory Police Force. The Police Association says they certainly do not want to be standing outside bottle shops, but you will not listen to them because you have your own view, and that is the only view you will countenance. In Darwin, alcohol-related assaults are up by more than 12%, domestic assaults have increased by nearly 19%, and we are seeing an escalation in sexual assaults. But under you, it is all okay because property crime is being tackled.
You promised to ensure priority is given to resourcing frontline services like police, and to recruit 120 new police officers, but the only new police recruited have been funded under the federal government’s detention centre funding program which was agreed to under Labor.
In growing the economy and jobs, Chief Minister, again you have failed to grasp that we are now in the haves and have-nots, the two-speed economy. We are now in a situation where companies associated with the major Ichthys project are doing very well. That is a fantastic thing, and I am incredibly proud to have been part of a government that delivered that major project. But you are failing to grasp that our small- and medium-sized businesses are really struggling. Your Treasurer says, ‘Well, hey, they can always try to access that $80 credit for the blackout that shut their businesses down for a day’, if they were closed for 12 hours. This is after you scrapped the compensation system Labor introduced for Power and Water.
You have removed the instant asset tax write-off for small businesses, and in Alice Springs, Kay Eade from the Chamber of Commerce said that Territory small businesses are already doing it tough, and, along with Power and Water increases, this is just another body blow they cannot afford.
That is from the Centralian Advocate. Chamber of Commerce president Julie Ross said, in February this year that the government just does not seem to have any vision at the moment and it is a very trying time for business.
You said you would reduce public service turnover. Turnover under your watch, Chief Minister, is now at an all-time high, and loss of knowledge will certainly start to affect capacity in the public service.
Supporting frontline workers: that has been a tragic lie when you look at the consequences for firefighters who have cancer. Do something good, Chief Minister, and introduce legislation during these sittings of parliament to give protection to those firefighters. Introduce it this sittings; it has been a live and engaged debate for months. You have had plenty of time to instruct parliamentary counsel to draft the legislation to meet any issues you have with the detail of the legislation. You are the line minister responsible for Police, Fire and Emergency Services. Do this for our firefighters during these sittings, Chief Minister.
We have firefighters who have no financial protection in their battle with cancer, yet they contracted the disease as a result of their job. Where is the delivery on the commitment to take care of those firefighters who are personally affected today? Why have you not put arrangements in place to give them some protection while you introduce and pass legislation?
Apart from your EBA disputes with teachers, you are in dispute with the firefighters and our paramedics. You pretend you are not in dispute with the paramedics because that service is delivered by St John. St John cannot change the funding parameters of the EBA without a financial change in the relationship of the service agreement with the Department of Health, which is presided over by your government and your Health minister. You pretend it has nothing to do with you, but we never did.
The mining industry is saying the CLP is not open for business and is out of touch with its industry. Tourism is flat, but you pretend it is buoyant. The Ord Stage 3 has disappeared completely from anything you have to say when it comes to horticultural development in the Territory. Why, Chief Minister? Does it have something to do with the debacle we saw emerging over the Sacred Sites Authority?
You promised to train and employ more local teachers, to provide secure employment for our teachers and ensure priority is given to resourcing frontline services like teachers. The exact opposite has occurred: 130 jobs for teachers are lost. We are staring down the barrel of 150 more, and hundreds of support staff have been sacked.
You promised an expert panel on literacy and numeracy, which has not happened. You promised to introduce a standardised regime of term testing for all year levels, and there is silence. You promised assistance and support for a school boarding facility in the gulf region; that has been scrapped. You promised new independent Indigenous schools, and there has been no announcement. Instead, we have the Indigenous education review that proposes to scrap secondary education in our bush schools. The much lauded and expanded School of the Air teaching model in 10 outstation schools has since been pared back to a $500 000 trial. You said the CLP promise to improve education outcomes in the bush would be a priority of the Country Liberals government. Instead we have the Indigenous education review that will reduce education options for our bush students.
All of this, Chief Minister, is under your watch: all of these delays, all of these price increases, all of the scrapping of schemes designed to support Territorians, ignoring your commitments whether in town or in the bush, the mishandling of the two-speed economy that has emerged and your failure to secure Nhulunbuy.
Today Rio Tinto announced a $50m support package, and the Chief Minister responded with $2m. Rio Tinto has announced $50m and the new additional amount from the Northern Territory government is $2m. Is that it, Chief Minister? Will we get anything else to support the Territory’s fourth largest town?
Madam Speaker, I condemn and censure this Chief Minister for his failures and his lies.
Mr TOLLNER (Treasurer): Madam Speaker, I thank the Opposition Leader for bringing on this censure motion. I thank her because it gives us the opportunity to talk about who is lying.
It was interesting to hear the Opposition Leader talking about Power and Water at the start of the debate. She comes into this place and blatantly lies. Without a doubt, the Opposition Leader is a compulsive liar.
A few weeks ago …
Mr GUNNER: A point of order, Madam Speaker!
Madam SPEAKER: Deputy Chief Minister, please pause. Member for Fannie Bay, it is a censure motion.
Mr GUNNER: I know, but in a previous censure motion you made the ruling you can only refer to the lying referenced in the motion itself.
I know what you are saying, Dave, but it was her ruling.
Madam SPEAKER: Deputy Chief Minister, the censure motion is directed at the Chief Minister and he is labelled a liar. It does not give you the right to call anyone else in the Chamber a liar during the debate, so if you could withdraw, please.
Mr ELFERINK: Madam Speaker, speaking to the point of order, there are two ways we can do this. We can allow the conversation to go as it is or we can bring an amendment to the motion and turn it around on the opposition. It is up to the opposition. If they want to stick to this point of order, that is fine. We will simply move an amendment to the motion, it is that easy.
Madam SPEAKER: Deputy Chief Minister, if you could withdraw the reference to lying or liars in regard to members of the opposition.
Mr TOLLNER: Madam Speaker, I withdraw. I will get a set of words from the Leader of Government Business.
It is interesting the Opposition Leader talks about liars. A few weeks ago she came in here banging on about the 43% increase in the network determination by the Utilities Commission, saying that would cost the Territory government $1.2bn –a couple of thousand dollars per household. That is not factual.
The Opposition Leader said the determination had seen a 43% increase because of the government’s planned structural separation of the Power and Water Corporation. Again, that is not factual.
The company has not changed at all from the way it was when the Opposition Leader was the shareholding minister. The determination, if it reflects on government at all, reflects on the former government’s failure to put enough money into the network. It is nothing to do with structural separation, and I think the Opposition Leader knows that.
On the day of the most recent power failure the Opposition Leader was jumping up and down saying it was because the government did not put enough money into maintenance. Again, that is a porky pie. Government increased its repairs and maintenance budget to Power and Water by almost $20m - $61m was the highest it peaked at when the Opposition Leader was the shareholding minister. It now sits at about $80m.
The Opposition Leader said on the day this was the worst blackout in the history of the Northern Territory. Again, that is nonsense. She totally disregards her time as shareholding minister, where we saw similar blackouts in 2009 and 2010.
The Opposition Leader said 130 000 customers were affected by the blackouts. As the Chief Minister pointed out in Question Time, there are not 130 000 customers in the entire Northern Territory. There are only 88 000 in entirety, yet the Opposition Leader is quite prepared to say 130 000 customers were affected across the Northern Territory.
If the Opposition Leader wants credibility, the easiest way to establish that is to start telling the truth, something that seems completely foreign to the Opposition Leader. She was talking today about disconnections being sevenfold to what they were during her time as Opposition Leader. Some facts came out in Question Time today which showed that in January 2012 there were 900 disconnections, as opposed to last month where there were some 450. Disconnections have halved since the Opposition Leader was the shareholding minister of the Power and Water Corporation. This list of mistruths goes hand in glove with the Opposition Leader.
I move that all words after the word ‘censuring’ be omitted and the following words be inserted: the Leader of the Opposition and her shadow Cabinet for consistently lying to Territorians about actions taken by government. I table that.
Now we can speak openly about lying. We will not be caught up splitting hairs, saying, ‘Oh, no, it is all right for the Opposition Leader to call someone on this side of the Chamber a liar, but we cannot draw attention to the multiple lies of the Opposition Leader’. It would be wrong, because the Opposition Leader, for some reason, is allowed to tell everybody lies, yet the government cannot talk about the Opposition Leader. We have just changed the motion, and now, I trust everybody can talk fulsomely about the Opposition Leader’s lies.
Without a doubt, the Opposition Leader is a compulsive liar. Every day, without fail, the Opposition Leader has some other lie to peddle to the community and it seems as soon as she is pulled up on one lie, she moves to another one. The lies do not seem to abate from the Opposition Leader, and she sees it as all fair because this is politics and the way she sees it, lying is part of politics. Lying is not part of politics, it is not part of this parliament, it is a serious offence and something the Opposition Leader should be made aware of, because she continually comes into this joint and lies.
There are lies about the amount of disconnections, the number of Territorians affected and what the government is doing. I notice a petition has been going around talking about the government selling Power and Water assets. That is another lie. I challenge the Opposition Leader, or anybody, to find one example of where any person in this government has said we are preparing Power and Water for sale. It is a lie. There is no other way of putting it and it does not seem to matter what we say, the Opposition Leader and her union mates will constantly lie.
The Blain by-election campaign is happening. I note the lies put into people’s letter boxes by the Labor Party talking about Power and Water assets not being for sale. They never were for sale. It was heartening to hear the Chief Minister in Question Time say he would gratefully sign the petition, because we are prepared to stump up and say we are not privatising or selling any Power and Water assets. They are blatant lies. They all know they are lies, but they think it is all right because this is politics. You tell a lie often enough, it becomes the truth; that is the way Labor operates. It has done it for years. It is their members’ modus operandi. They tell one lie, and they tell that lie over and over again.
Ms WALKER: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Could you direct the Treasurer to direct his comments through the Chair, please.
Madam SPEAKER: Deputy Chief Minister, if you could keep your comments through the Chair, please.
Mr TOLLNER: Absolutely, Madam Speaker. They lie, and they know it. It is the only way they operate because they do not have a skerrick of a clue. They can only operate on lies. The only way they can get by in this world is to keep making up lies. Every day there is a new lie. Why do they do it? Somehow or other, it keeps them relevant.
They should know why Power and Water is being reformed. It is because it is a bit of a basket case. It does not take Einstein to work that out. We have gone from power outages all the way through. We are paying far more than we should be. Power and Water Corporation should be a much more efficient operation; it should be much more reliable in the services it provides, everyone here knows that. It is a given fact. Why would you stand in the way of reform, apart from simple pigheadedness and a desire to make mischief? These reforms have been on the table since 1991.
Every Australian state and territory has embraced the reforms, except the Northern Territory. I take umbrage at former CLP governments in that regard as well, because in 1991 the Country Liberals were in power in the Northern Territory and should have done something as well, but we have also had 11 years of Labor sitting on its hands doing nothing. The former Treasurer, the former shareholding minister, sat on the Ministerial Council on Energy during the reform process. We signed up to these reforms years and years ago, yet when we start to try to implement them in the Northern Territory, what do we get? We get lies that competition never brings prices down and that we are trying to sell publicly owned assets.
All of this nonsense is simply trying to create mischief to put pressure on government to derail the reform process. What is the benefit in derailing the reform process? My goodness me, for the first time ever we have an Australian government that recognises the potential of north Australia. It has come out with a north Australian policy. There is a white paper being worked up. We have a Chief Minister and a government here which are dead keen to continue to drive economic growth and private enterprise investment in the Northern Territory.
We realise what a wonderful prize we have within our grasp, yet we have a Labor opposition that just wants to get in the way and stop it. How pathetic! Goodness me, we are talking about reforming our utilities. We are talking about joining the Australian energy regulator and the NEM, the Australian energy market. We want a wholesale market operating here. We want to do these things because they bring benefit. We are about to leap into the 21st century in a period of previously unexperienced economic growth into the future, and we have a Labor opposition which is trying to hang on to the past, some quaint English style cottage industry of a utility it wants to maintain, complete with its no ticket, no start policies: inefficiencies, blackouts, all of that sort of stuff. They want to retain that when we see a much bigger prize ahead of us, a prize where we can see Territorians prospering, jobs for all, a better lifestyle, and these guys want to get in the way. Goodness me, and they get in the way by telling lie after lie after lie.
Last week, we saw the APA group announce a $2m feasibility study into a pipeline connection between the Northern Territory and southeast Australia. What happens if we connect up to the national gas grid? Who will regulate our gas? Will it be the Utilities Commission? I do not believe so as it has no expertise in that area. Who regulates pipelines around Australia? Would that be the Australian Energy Regulator? Would that be the group we want to join with and say, ‘Come and regulate our pipelines in the Northern Territory, because we have gas in the Northern Territory and there are huge demands interstate?’ I believe it would be.
What do we hear from the opposition about that? Nothing, because that does not fit with its convenient lie, which is to scare Territorians and convince them power prices will go up, the cost of living will continually go up and we will go to hell in a hand basket. That is an absolute lie.
The benefits of joining the national system are enormous. Currently, what you are charged for your electricity consumption does not depend on the time of day or where you live, for that matter. You can run your pool pump in the middle of the day when every other business is open, when all the air conditioners are on, and it makes no difference to your bill, irrespective that the real cost of generating is a great deal higher in the middle of the day when everyone is using electricity. Why? Because we have an average tariff and a uniform tariff that goes across the Northern Territory for smaller customers.
Interstate, people can have real-time tariffs. There are retail businesses doorknocking households interstate, trying to sign people up to contracts. Some of those contracts offer people a Smart Meter to put on the side of their house so when they use power, the cost of that power is taken into account at the time it is used. People see a real benefit in running their washing machines or pool filters at night when there is a lower tariff, because Smart Meters capture the real-time cost of power. That is an important innovation which should be embraced by our marketplace in the Northern Territory.
Interstate, between 55% and 80% of customers are not on regulated tariffs. In the Northern Territory, every household is on a regulated tariff. You have no choice in the Northern Territory. The price is the same whether you live here, Alice Springs or Tennant Creek. We are charged the same. We have no choice, so 100% of households are on a regulated tariff.
Interstate, between 55% and 80% of customers choose to be on something other than the regulated tariff. Why is that? Because of things like choice. People have a greater choice. Some people want to be able to run their pool filter at night and do their washing at night when the tariffs are low and they can make real savings to their power bill. The other consequence of it is that it is easier to run the network when you have more people running their pool filters, dishwashers or washing machines at night. It helps regulate the amount of electricity going into the network. It makes more sense and is a much more efficient way of utilising electricity, but no, not in the Northern Territory.
We have Labor opposition members who bury their heads in the sand and say, ‘No, this reform nonsense, we do not want a part of that. This is all about Dave and his rich mates selling off power and trying to drive costs up for everyone else.’ That is another lie. Labor lies never stop.
Debate suspended.
Continued from earlier this day.
Madam SPEAKER: Honourable members, there are two motions before parliament at the moment. I will assume you are speaking to both motions, unless you indicate otherwise.
Mr TOLLNER (Treasurer): Madam Speaker, before the lunch break, I was speaking to an amended motion, in relation to the lies from the Leader of the Opposition in particular, and I outlined a litany of lies picked up just on the Power and Water issue alone, let alone any other area.
The $1.2bn network determination cost was a lie. The suggestion it was increasing because of structural separation was a lie. The lack of maintenance dollars, a suggestion this government has reduced repairs and maintenance spending on Power and Water was a lie. The worst ever blackout last week was a lie. How short their memories are on that side of the Chamber. The suggestion that 130 000 customers suffered is a complete lie. We know there are only 88 000 customers in the entire network, but no, the Leader of the Opposition, for her own political purposes, peddles the idea that 130 000 customers were affected. What a load of nonsense. She said disconnections have gone up sevenfold since this government came to office, and that is another blatant lie. In fact, the highest level of disconnections I can identify occurred in January 2012. In that month there were 890 disconnections compared to about 445, exactly half February just gone.
There is no end to the lies from the Leader of the Opposition. It is there to scare people, to tell people things are worse than they are and she makes no bones about it. As far as she is concerned, that is the political process and that is what you do when you are in politics, you just tell lies.
We do not believe in that on this side of the House. We have a good story to tell and are reforming our Power and Water Corporation because we want to join the 21st century. We want to build, develop and grow the Northern Territory economy, provide wealth and prosperity for all Territorians, ensure we have a wonderful lifestyle and maintain the lifestyle we have. We can only do that by making some reforms, and this government has made reforms in many areas. It is a wonderful story indeed.
We mentioned in Question Time that the Power and Water board was meeting to discuss the lighting issue affecting councils around the Territory. The board met, made a decision and issued this media release, which I happened to get just before lunch. It has said it is putting off its decision to implement the new charges while the corporation goes through the process of structural reform. While the structural reforms have not happened yet, they are already having an effect on board decisions.
It is delaying this because the bundled street lighting charge has not increased in line with cost, but it is …
Ms Walker: Bundled or bungled?
Mr TOLLNER: … unbundling the cost.
Ms Walker: Bungling?
Mr TOLLNER: Unbundling the cost. The member for Nhulunbuy wants to make a bit of fun at it, but Power and Water knows why it is important to understand the real costs, rather than passing cost on to councils, that is, ratepayers. It has made the sensible decision to put that on hold. I will table the media release.
This is great news. As I was saying, reform of our utility in the Northern Territory will have wonderful benefits for all Territorians and will provide a pathway for us to move quickly into the 21st century to realise the dream of north Australian development and see wealth and prosperity created for Territorians across the board.
This government has been working hard in the last two years and there has been a number of good stories which have not been heard. On an economic front, the Northern Territory is the envy of Australia. This year, our economy is set to grow by some 7%. We are leaving the rest of the nation behind in economic growth; that is a significant achievement.
Retail trade is up; the last quarterly change in retail trade saw a 0.3% increase. It is very small, but it was after the Christmas period, a typically slow time. Irrespective, retail trade has grown for the ninth consecutive month.
I think we have the fastest rate of building residential construction in the history of the Northern Territory. That is a great reflection of the hard work done by this government, especially the minister for Lands and Planning, who is getting on with land release and making sure building approvals are done in a timely fashion. That is great work on that front.
We are currently sitting on a 3.7% unemployment rate. That is an incredible result for the Northern Territory. Anybody who wants a job can get one. Meanwhile, we are here, listening to the Labor opposition saying how the Territory is going to hell in a hand basket, everybody is losing their jobs and all is terrible. The figures, however, speak for themselves. An unemployment rate of 3.7% is very low, compared to 6% nationally. Again, the Territory is leading the charge on that front.
During Question Time we heard a range of good news stories about alcohol and the Northern Territory. There are now 800 people on Alcohol Protection Orders. These are real statistics; people on APOs are banned from drinking. They are banned from purchasing alcohol or even possessing alcohol, and we hear the opposition saying, ‘Oh, well, the publicans do not know who to sell alcohol to and who not to’. Under our regime, it is not up to the publicans or anybody else; it is up to the individual. It is like driving a car without a licence. If you are caught, look out because there will be trouble. We see the results of the APOs; property crime is down. I think the Chief Minister said there was a 22% reduction in assaults. Property crime is the lowest on record. These statistics are starting to speak volumes about the direction this government is taking.
The Corrections minister rightfully said we are sitting at 129% capacity of our gaols, but there is light at the end of the tunnel. The great legacy of the former government was this $600m prison it decided to build; it will be $1.8bn by the time Territorians pay for it. Imagine leaving a legacy, as a government, that – I think the Corrections minister called it the prison Mahal. What a legacy to leave. ‘This is our one great achievement; we built a prison.’ How appalling, but that was Labor’s one great achievement. It built a new prison and we are already at 120% of capacity.
The Attorney-General and Minister for Correctional Services has done a marvellous job in his portfolio. We are seeing big reductions in recidivism. We are seeing people in gaol being skilled up to get a job and they are not going back into prison. What a wonderful outcome. Labor’s response to this was to build a bigger prison. Our response is to try to stop people going to prison in the first place and work on them being meaningful members of our society. That is a great outcome and the more of these people we can turn around and get into jobs, the better. Congratulations and well done to the Attorney-General and Minister for Correctional Services.
Alcohol mandatory treatment is having big impacts; we see the number of people drinking in public reduced right across the Territory. It was interesting to hear the Opposition Leader having a good crack at the Chief Minister about the situation in Alice Springs. I am stunned at how peaceful that town has been in recent months. It is an example of why the government should not be frustrated in moving ahead with these reforms. The combination of alcohol mandatory treatment, APOs, Sentenced to a Job and all of those sorts of things is having big effects in a place like Alice Springs and noticeable effects in Darwin, Katherine, Palmerston and other parts of the Northern Territory.
The Territory does have something to hang its hat on. We are doing a good job in government. All we ask is while we are trying to fix the mess …
Mr STYLES: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Pursuant to Standing Order 77, I move the member be granted an extension of time.
Motion agreed to.
Mr TOLLNER: While we are trying to fix the mess that Labor created – it is a mess, we had crime that was out of hand, drunks out of hand and a nanny state mentality where government does everything for everybody, trying to take responsibility for people who take no responsibility for themselves. We saw, under the previous government, the worst housing crisis in Australia, some of the worst crime in Australia, terrible statistics everywhere. This is a mess we have had to fix as a government, and we are fixing it. As we make these reforms and changes, as we drive the need for private investment and economic development to give people a better way of life and more prosperity and wealth, all we ask is that Labor gets out of the way. Do not frustrate the process. Do not stuff things up for us because you stuffed it up yourselves.
All we ask is that Labor gets out of the way, and stops telling lies and making mischief. That is not good for our economy or the confidence of Territorians and, worst of all, it shows what a pathetic mob you are. Get out of the way, try to understand some of the reforms we are making, and look at some of the results these reforms are achieving, because they are many and they are varied.
I take my hat off to the minister for Primary Industry with the work he has done on live cattle exports. We all know what sort of a legacy Labor left there. According to the former Chief Minister, ‘Well, it was the circuit breaker we had to have. We need it. Ban live cattle exports!’ Goodness me, you would hardly believe that guy was a Chief Minister of the Northern Territory when he tried to cripple one of our traditional foundation industries. It was appalling. It is only through the hard work of the member for Katherine and the Chief Minister that we have seen things turn around. Last week, when the blackout happened, the Primary Industry minister was in Vietnam talking cattle, resources and the like. We are a government that is doing the business, putting in the hard yards.
Labor wants to throw a bag of mud all over the Minister for Tourism. Why? Because he is doing a good job. He is talking up the Territory at every opportunity. He is running the line for tourism and fighting in Cabinet to make sure there are more tourism dollars. He is a bloke with passion for the Territory and should be congratulated for his efforts. He is a great minister and is doing a good job.
What a remarkable job our Minister for Health has done on alcohol mandatory treatment. Health is one of the most difficult portfolios going, yet our Minister for Health is handling it with aplomb, knuckling down to business and making sure government reforms are in place. I congratulate the member for Araluen on the work she is doing as the Minister for Health.
All ministers on this side are firing. Without a doubt, every minister is doing their bit to fix the problems created by the previous Labor government, and there is a myriad of them. All we ask is they get out of the way, stop muckraking, stop getting down in the gutter, lift their eyes up and look on the horizon to see what a future we have in the Northern Territory.
In the Northern Territory, we now have a Chief Minister we can all rally behind. He is a bloke with big visions and a big plan for the Territory. I am as proud as hell to stand behind him and assist him in that great work of delivering a better lifestyle for Territorians.
The last 12 months have been 12 months of achievement on achievement. What do we get from the other side? Negativity, carping, getting down in the mud and personal insults. Every day these people open their mouths there is some personal insult. The other night, I saw St Mary’s win its 30th grand final. St Mary’s has a motto: play the ball not the man. That is the way the team has operated for 50 years. They are focused on football, not punching their opponent out. They have won premierships by thinking big, looking at the goal at the end of the season and making sure they are winning games, not necessarily beating up their opponents. That is why St Mary’s is a great club and wins premierships.
We are trying to do the same thing. We have a Chief Minister focused on the future and northern development. He is not scared to pick a fight. He is having a fight with the feds, with Warren Entsch in Cairns. He is letting everybody know that Darwin is the place it all happens and the Northern Territory will drive Australia into the future. That is what our Chief Minister is on about and that is why I am proud to serve him and be part of this government. I despise every time I hear the Opposition Leader pour scorn on this great man, the Chief Minister of the Northern Territory.
Mr VOWLES (Johnston): Madam Speaker, I will be speaking to the original motion.
Before the last election, the CLP promised to be open and accountable. It also promised to reduce the cost of living. Electricity, water and sewerage charges are a major contributor to cost of living pressures and a major concern for Territory consumers.
Since coming to office, the CLP has punished Territory families and businesses with savage price increases of 25% on electricity, 35% on water and 20% on sewerage. These increases have hit all Territorians very hard. Families are leaving the Territory because the cost of living is too high and businesses are closing.
The Chief Minister and the Treasurer have an arrogant disregard for the impact of these price hikes on ordinary, hard-working Territorians. They simply do not understand that not everyone is on a ministerial or parliamentary salary. Your savage price hikes hurt ordinary, hard-working Territorians.
A recent survey conducted by Mortgage Choice National found that 64% of Territory consumers are worried about their utility bills. The most frequently raised issue when Labor candidate Geoff Bahnert knocks on doors in Blain is the pain inflicted by the CLP’s punishing increases in electricity tariffs, and the people Geoff Bahnert has met in Blain are very angry.
The average family is paying more than $2000 per year for electricity. We have seen young mothers forced to return to work early from maternity leave to pay their power bills. Families have told us they reach the point where they have to choose between buying food or paying their Power and Water bills.
Let us recap what has been said so far about Power and Water. In parliament on 3 December 2013, the Treasurer said:
Look at what the CLP is saying now. In parliament on 12 February 2014, the Chief Minister identified four ways to fund infrastructure:
The key point is the CLP has moved from ruling out privatising or selling Power and Water assets without a mandate in an election to a position of saying everything is on the table. Why? Because the CLP has introduced legislation into this parliament which explicitly allows the Treasurer to sell or privatise Power and Water assets under Part 5A of the Power and Water Corporation Legislation Amendment Bill, and because the CLP needs to pay for unfunded election commitments, it will have to sell assets before the next election.
Can anyone trust the CLP with the Territory’s public assets? As industry expert and former Commonwealth Ombudsman, Allan Asher, said recently:
The community will not be deceived and members opposite will be held to account. The CLP makes decisions in the dark and the Chief Minister and the Treasurer cannot be trusted with public assets.
More financial stresses are compounded by other CLP imposts. Even parking at RDH is more expensive. What will the CLP tax next? We will find out, and Chief Minister, do not worry, because people are seriously angry with this government and will tell us what you will tax next.
We know Territory local government councils will be slugged with massive annual bills by Power and Water which will be passed on to ratepayers. In Palmerston alone, the bill is $575 000 per year, which will be passed onto ratepayers. Palmerston mayor Ian Abbott said this will hurt Palmerston families, but the Chief Minister and the Treasurer simply do not care; they show more arrogant disregard for Territory families and businesses.
At least Darwin Lord Mayor Katrina Fong Lim, unlike the Chief Minister, has had the decency to acknowledge the stress these increases will place on ordinary Territory families. She said:
On this side of the House we are concerned about the severe stress CLP hikes are imposing on family and business budgets. Members opposite run dead on this issue by burying their heads deeper into the sand. Why? Because they know the Power and Water Corporation is being fattened up with revenue increases prior to disaggregation and privatisation, which is why they are not speaking up for constituents. It is why they also have a callous disregard for the impact of savage cost of living increases on Territory families and businesses. The split up and privatisation of Power and Water Corporation will drive tariffs even higher.
I urge the Chief Minister to come to Rapid Creek markets with me on a Sunday morning and let ordinary Territorians tell him about the stress his government and its policies have put on their finances. It will not be pretty, but he would earn respect not only from the people of that area, but from me as well.
Over the Christmas period, Territory NGOs such as St Vincent de Paul Society, the Salvation Army, Anglicare and Somerville reported increasing demand for assistance arising from income stress caused by the government’s huge increases in utility prices. We know funding to NGOs was cut up to 65% as soon as the CLP came into government.
This is a really disappointing government. In a recent briefing, a government consultant confirmed there was no analysis or science in calculating the savage increases in utility prices. The government looked at prices elsewhere in Australia and came up with huge arbitrary increases which have punished Territory families and businesses. It was a cash grab and nothing else. There are many other examples of external pain inflicted on Territory families by the Chief Minister and this government. Mindless attacks on school communities that have resulted in the loss of talented teachers and support staff, and reduced subject choice and contact time for students have characterised the CLP’s approach to education. Families, teachers, students and support staff will not forget the chaos and lost opportunities for our children caused by the ideologically driven cuts. Electors in Blain will not forget.
The chaos, which is endemic in the CLP, came to full expression when the elected Chief Minister, the member for Braitling’s predecessor, Terry Mills, was knifed whilst representing government in high-level negotiations in Japan. You did not even give him the respect to eyeball him. You chopped him down whilst he was overseas. Now the residents of Blain are unrepresented in this parliament because the Chief Minister could not be bothered walking across the road to get a writ issued for the election. Electors in Blain will not forget your arrogance.
There is one other issue which involves both chaos and pain which the CLP cannot hide from. I refer to the bullying and harassing behaviour directed by the Minister for Tourism, the disgraced member for Greatorex, towards the member for Namatjira. I will quote from ABC Darwin; the headline is, ‘”Conlan called me the C-word”, Anderson says’.
That is the end of the transcript.
Chief Minister, are you accusing the members for Arnhem, Braitling, Namatjira and Araluen of lying?
I will read that again. Mr Giles said:
Are you accusing your three colleagues of lying? Are you not talking about it? Do you not want to acknowledge it?
Madam SPEAKER: Direct your comments through the Chair, please, member for Johnston.
Mr VOWLES: Okay.
We continue to talk about the chaos and pain the CLP is causing us. I remember another CLP promise that has been broken from the last election in August 2012 when then Opposition Leader and former Chief Minister, Terry Mills, said, ‘All ministers’ travel, and I promise you, will be detailed and will be costed on a website and will be open and accountable’.
I have not seen a website anywhere. I have not seen any costs anywhere. All we know about cost is an $82 000 charter from Vietnam for a 30 minute photo shoot, an opportunity with the Prime Minister because you stuffed your diary up. The number of people who come to my office on a Sunday at Rapid Creek markets just to complain about that waste of $82 000 is unbelievable.
There are so many people complaining about that and how $82 000 could have been spent elsewhere. It could have supported teachers, funded NGOs, helped the homeless or helped NT shelters. It could have helped in a number of areas. It could have kept a public servant you promised to protect in a job, but no. He tried to defend it, and say it was not $100 000, but it was $82 000, and I could not believe it when he tried to justify it.
No, it was not $100 000, it was $82 000 and the number of people coming to me and going off their nut about your blatant disregard and arrogance with taxpayers’ money – you came back for a 30 minute photo opportunity with the Prime Minister of Australia while you are cutting teachers, slashing jobs you promised not to slash and cutting funding left, right and centre. You wonder why we are censuring you. You have no idea what is going on, the arrogance, pain and dysfunction your administration is inflicting on Territorians. You need to get out into the real world. You are very rarely in Alice Springs now and when you do go, you swan in and swan off.
I ask you to start talking to people. How about you chat to the people who voted you and your colleagues in and start saying what is really happening? A number of people come into our offices – I am talking about all of my colleagues here – complaining how your government is treating them, and saying, ‘You blokes will be right in 2016’. We say, ‘We are just doing our job holding them to account’. They say it must be an easy job for us, with this government.
We are working hard, working as a team. We are united, professional and very strong in our commitment to standing up for the people who elected us. I am sure there must be people knocking on your electorate office door; I know you have a brand new office in Alice Springs, Chief Minister. It is pretty flash, but some people have said it is a bit of traffic hazard where it is with the size of your melon on it. I am sure people are coming into your offices, people are stopping you in the street – whenever you get down from where you live – to say, ‘Mate, what are you doing?’
I see the member for Port Darwin sitting in the mall, and that is good, I get that. He is at least talking. I do not know if anyone talks to him, but at least he is open and I am sure some people have gone to him and said, ‘What are you doing, John? What is the Chief Minister doing? Are you not in Cabinet? What is going on here? You are supposed to serve us, we voted you in.’ There is a grassroots movement against this government and it is growing. No matter what you say and hear, no matter what you do, you are supposed to govern for Territorians.
You can say we lie on this side and that is fine. That is what you do. Sometimes, I believe you still have not moved from being in opposition to being in government. You have not done that, and you are supposed to govern for Territorians. You govern for people who voted you and all your bush members in, every one of you over there. We get that, we know we have a democratic society and that is what goes on.
But you must be copping it from people wanting to talk to you. I had a meeting yesterday; people were complaining to me about their numerous requests to meet with the Housing minister and him refusing to meet with them. That is a disgrace. You are ministers of the Crown to serve the people of the Northern Territory, not to serve your own interests or say, ‘I am going to be Chief Minister for a while. I will see how we go. I knifed Terry Mills in the back. I cannot believe I have waited a year and I am still in.’ You are supposed to serve Territorians.
Somebody came into my office and said, ‘You know what? The people of the Northern Territory, taxpayers, own Power and Water. The government manages it for us.’ It is not a cash cash cow to fund unfunded election commitments. We know it happened in the bush. I am sure the member for Daly is still looking for his road from Daly to Wadeye. We all look forward to the commitments you made in the bush and everywhere else around the Northern Territory. There was a port on the Tiwi Islands; has that been built yet? That was promised.
What else do we have that was promised? I have a thick document here, mate …
Mr ELFERINK: A point of order, Madam Speaker! The member’s time has expired.
Madam SPEAKER: Your time has expired, member for Johnston. Thank you, member for Port Darwin.
Mr GILES (Chief Minister): Madam Speaker, the censure by the Opposition Leader, doomsday Delia, the lady running around thinking the sky is falling in everywhere, is typical of her poor leadership, both in this House and across the Northern Territory. It has been on display for the past 12 months. Territorians are tired of the level of debate and the angst that goes with what she and her opposition have been saying.
It is very interesting listening to the member for Johnston, recognising he is one of Delia’s numbers because he is the one who gets the call. You have coherent people like the member for Fannie Bay, who is not allowed to speak on this, and the member for Casuarina, who can contribute to policy debate and is not allowed to speak, but they get Kenny up. I find that quite interesting and embarrassing for Labor. In a nutshell, it is quite embarrassing for the Northern Territory to see Ken Vowles speaking the way he does.
Madam SPEAKER: Chief Minister, if you could refer to the member by his …
Mr GILES: The member for Johnston, sorry, Madam Speaker. While this government has been getting on with the business of governing for the Northern Territory to develop the Territory economy and deliver a better future for our children, desperate Delia continues to stay negative in the policy vacuum …
Ms LAWRIE: A point of order, Madam Speaker!
Madam SPEAKER: Chief Minister, withdraw that comment, please. Refer to members by their electorate name.
Mr GILES: It is a censure debate, Madam Speaker. Are we not allowed flexibility?
Madam SPEAKER: You still need to refer to members by their electorate names.
Mr GILES: Okay, I will do that, thank you.
She continues to stay negative and the policy vacuum from the opposition clearly shows they have no plan or vision for the Northern Territory. There was a huge mountain of debt the Leader of the Opposition left as a legacy for all Territorians. While this government continues to drive economic growth, we are also forced to pay Delia’s debt, which accrues interest of nearly $1m every day. That is $1m we are paying back every day in interest, money that could build more schools, roads and hospitals instead.
What we must do in paying back this debt provides significant challenges for us in our ability to govern going forward. However, over the last 18 months we have done a fantastic job of trying to balance our fiscal position, plus providing a reform agenda and delivering outcomes for Territorians. I am happy to go through what has been achieved and outline what a government in action, with good policies and a plan for the future – for opposition members who have never been part of governing for all Territorians.
The Leader of the Opposition likes to tell lies and tattletales about huge cuts to the public service. It is important we look at what public service numbers are. In the 12 months from March 2013 to March 2014, the Territory government has employed 206 more staff. Some may ask what 206 additional staff means. In pay period 26, June 2012, there were 20 062 full-time equivalents. At pay period 18, February 2014 –the numbers have gone from 20 062 to 19 806, a change of 256 people. The comment that thousands and of people have been sacked as per Labor’s lie – the Leader of the Opposition lies again, and the numbers reflect a change of 256 people. In fact, the percentage status of permanent employees has increased by 2.7%. It went from 69.9% permanent employees to 72.6% permanent employees. It is good to get that on the record. There have not been thousands of people sacked or retrenched. We have seen a change in FTE of about 256 people.
It is also good to look at some of the other lies peddled by the Leader of the Opposition. Let us look at the latest figure on Territory alcohol consumption to see our vindication, as a government, on axing Labor’s failed Banned Drinker Register. The register taxed every Territorian, targeted every Territorian, and did not target the problem at all.
The Country Liberals’ alcohol policies are working, with alcohol consumption now falling across the Northern Territory. The figures are unequivocal, and I have been to Tennant Creek to see evidence of those figures falling. Per capita alcohol consumption in the Northern Territory was down 12.84 litres per person in 2012-13. That is down 4% on 2011-12 and down a whopping 16% on 2004-05 figures. They are the lowest figures since before 2001-02, the lowest since before Labor came to power for its eleven-and-a-half years.
Wholesale alcohol supply in 2012-13 - that is litres of pure alcohol across the Northern Territory - was down 2% on the previous year. In Darwin, it is down 1%, in Alice Springs it is down 17% on the previous year and is the lowest figure on record. Katherine is down 7% on the previous year. Tennant Creek, for the Leader of the Opposition’s sake, is down by 5% on the previous year and Nhulunbuy is down 17% on the previous year, the lowest since 2000-01.
For those listening, I will keep going through all the good things government is doing. I know Labor members are not. Their ears are blocked and they are coming up with more lies. More than 800 people are currently banned from drinking on Alcohol Protection Orders; there are early positive signs that the orders are starting to bite as a deterrent, with a reduction in assaults. Raw police figures, which I have spoken about already today, show assaults across the Territory are down from 631 in February 2013 to 496 in February 2014. These are early days and they are early figures, but the results are promising. That is a 22% reduction for assaults year-on-year in February, amazing figures.
Under the Country Liberals, the Territory has seen property crime figures drop to their lowest level since records began. I will repeat that: property crime figures have dropped to their lowest levels since records began. Unlike Labor’s failed government, we are taking law and order seriously in the Northern Territory.
Our policies are delivering, driving crime down and cutting alcohol consumption. Compare 2013 with 2012: in Darwin, house break-ins have dropped by 43%; property damage has dropped by 23%; commercial break-ins are down 22% and motor vehicle theft and related offences are down 22%. We said we would cut crime by 10%; we have not cut it by 10%. If you look at some of those figures you see we have cut it by 20%, 30% or 40%.
I know Nathan Barrett, the Country Liberals candidate in Blain, is very happy to hear all of this. We were just talking about it in Palmerston during the lunch break. Commercial break-ins are down by 36% in Palmerston and house break-ins have dropped by a whopping 44%.
Look at Alice Springs: total property offences down 31%, the lowest number for a calendar year since 2006; property damage down 34%; commercial break-ins dropped 37%; car theft and related offences dropped 40%; house break-ins down 33%; and sexual assaults down 22%. The figures are amazing with how successful the government has been in a 12-month period.
Our zero tolerance approach to domestic violence has seen an increased number of cases going before the courts, and we are proud of it. This is instead of allowing cases to go unpursued, and police are now making a point of prosecuting domestic violence cases to the full. This approach began in 2012 as part of Project Respect, which enforces a zero tolerance and pro-prosecution policy in regard to all family violence matters. This continues to influence assault statistics and we know that for a period of time those assault statistics will go up, but what we are already seeing is change.
Crime figures show an increase in domestic violence assault cases is driving up those figures, while non-domestic violence assault cases have gone down, but, as we see with the use of APOs, there has been a reduction of around 22% on early figures, year-on-year, in February. In Tennant Creek, a targeted police operation, Strike Force Datsun, saw more than 10% in domestic violence figures for February.
The Northern Territory government, the Australian Hotels Association and the City of Darwin council have formed a new partnership aimed at making a night out in Darwin an even safer night. Darwin Safe includes a suite of new and existing measures designed to ensure Darwin city remains an enjoyable place for a dinner out with your family or a night out on the town with your mates. Darwin Safe is also about ensuring antisocial behaviour is not tolerated, without penalising responsible patrons. This is a united approach which strikes a balance between stamping out trouble makers, while not restricting the vast majority of people who go out and do the right thing.
Let us look at some other law and order achievements we have seen to date. The roll-out of iPads to all frontline police makes it easier for police to pursue their jobs and to keep them out on the beat where they want to be. Paperless arrests will soon be introduced, which will also free up police time, and we have quadrupled the fines for failing to quit licensed premises. There is a range of initiatives we have introduced in the law and order setting which is driving real reform.
The department has been very active and highly responsive in providing assistance and support to the community of Gove and the broader East Arnhem Land business community following Rio Tinto’s announcement to curtail its refinery. A senior business liaison client manager was placed in Nhulunbuy on a full-time basis. One-hundred-and-two businesses were contacted and interviewed, with 28 applications to the Territory Business Growth program received. Those applicants employ 220 local people. Applications totalled $193 340 in grant assistance, with another 29 businesses likely to apply soon.
In regard to land release, the cost of living and stabilising our housing prices, the growth on the median house price in Darwin under Labor was, on average, 11% per annum over its tenure in government. In 2013, a full calendar year of a Country Liberals government, we drove that down to 6% and we will continue to drive it down with our accelerated land release program. Seventy infill sites have been identified for quick development, which could potentially yield an additional 2700 lots. We are working on greenfield sites in Katherine and Alice Springs, as well as advancing other areas in delivering for the regions. I spoke this morning about stages three, four and five at Zuccoli. Stage two is delivering 400 lots and stages three and four are delivering another 1300. Stage five will deliver 400 on top of that, so that is another 1700 lots at Zuccoli in stages three, four and five.
In regard to cutting red tape, we see that concurrent applications are now allowed, which will allow developers to apply for rezoning and development at the same time. We have improved the online one-stop shop to do more online trading, and we are the first jurisdiction to have building approvals done online.
We are making development easier and cheaper, and we have translated that to a massive 810 approved development applications in 2013, which I believe is the highest on record.
In Primary Industry and Fisheries we have established the Ord Development Unit, and I heard the Leader of the Opposition talking about the Ord, saying it has gone missing. We have established the unit and are getting it going.
We have increased the numbers in the live cattle trade. We re-established that after the former Chief Minister Paul Henderson supported Julia Gillard, the former Prime Minister, in getting rid of it; we have that back up and running. Last year we had the highest number of cattle on record going through our port and we now have the buffalo industry with Vietnam up and running again.
We have invested in the live animal export market development unit, with $300 000 for increasing trade with Asia. We established an exclusive recreational fishing zone in Finke and Chambers Bays, which came into effect on 1 February 2013. Going back to the Ord project, we have a memorandum of understanding with Western Australia and the Commonwealth. We are doing market development in China to support the live cattle trade. We have the Livingstone abattoir construction now ongoing at stage one, giving that project certainty after a time of crisis.
We established a recreational fisheries advisory committee, advising the minister on recreational fishing matters. We are supporting the Humpty Doo barramundi farm expansion, which is going very well with little support from government, but it receives encouragement and support all the same. We are working with pastoralists to clear any possible traces of Bovine Johne’s disease and, fortunately, it was confirmed that disease has never made it to the Northern Territory. We are working to eradicate banana freckle in a very sensitive environment and we are rolling out opium trials in the Katherine and Douglas regions, a potential new industry for the Northern Territory.
In regard to Mines and Energy, we have established the environmental rehabilitation levy, a 1% levy, based on the environmental rehabilitation security bond paid to the department annually. We have established the energy directorate, which can set forward energy policy for the Northern Territory government into the future. We have created the CORE programs, including funds given to exploration companies to do geological research on our behalf, and the geological research program we are conducting is quite exciting. It will set us up for the future.
We have a renewed focus on the onshore oil and gas industry, with Central Petroleum getting the first production licence in over 32 years. I could go on all day about the good things government is doing, because we have been doing a lot in the last 12 months, but let us look at a couple of things that are on the drawing board.
How long did Labor promise the Palmerston hospital for? All it managed to deliver was a fence and a sign. There was nothing but a fence and a sign. We have identified a whole new area, a whole new site. We have gone to a scoping study. We are working with the community now and will see construction commence this year to get the job done. We waited eleven-and-a-half years for Labor to deliver it. They now talk about deadlock and over capacity at Royal Darwin Hospital. Why did they not do anything about it while they were in government?
It is the same with the cost of living on housing pressures. Why did they not do something about it? Why did they not do something about alcohol issues? We are fixing all of these issues and seeing real results on them.
I noticed they talked about Tiger Brennan Drive earlier today. We are delivering on the Tiger Brennan Drive extension. We have extra money from the federal government and have brought forward the commencement of the next stage from Woolner Road to Berrimah Road. That will be delivered by 2016. It is a project that would not have come to fruition without us advancing it as a Country Liberals government, and without the member for Fong Lim, the former member for Solomon, who got the money in the first place to make the project happen.
There are 400 additional elective surgeries now being conducted each year in the Northern Territory. The Tiwi ferry is up and running. We have WiFi on buses. We have MVR online, with reduced waiting times at the MVR. There are new bus routes and extra police, with 20 extra police on the beat in Alice Springs and there will be 100 police on top of that across the Northern Territory in our four-year term.
We have the one punch homicide legislation brought in by the Attorney-General and passed. We have rolled out, from 1 February, our open speed limit commitment, which is starting to have positive impacts on supporting the economy in Central Australia and, for the member for Barkly, will soon be supporting Tennant Creek as well.
Mr Elferink: Is that Hyundai with one of its new models?
Mr GILES: Ssangyong is running around there at the moment.
Residential building approvals are up by 18.7%, and housing finance is up. The Treasurer talked about how much the Leader of the Opposition lies. She stood here before and said how housing finance has gone down. Housing finance is up ...
Ms Lawrie: 28% in the last quarter.
Mr GILES: Housing finance is up. You cannot spread lies and deceit in here and across the Northern Territory.
Ms Lawrie: It was 28% in the last month.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Mr GILES: Housing finance is up. It is continuing to go up, and building activity is up. You can tell when Delia is lying because her lips are moving.
I have spoken about property crime. Let us look at what is happening in the area of Community Services and the homelands debate. We have increased funding, in many cases, where residents were getting $685 per annum for housing repairs and maintenance, to a point where they are now getting $5200 per property. That figure was identified based on the average cost of repairs and maintenance of public houses in Tennant Creek, so $5200 will ensure sustainability in tenancy housing matters.
We announced $106m funding that will go towards a regional roads package. Work will start in April on the Port Keats road in the member for Daly’s electorate; there will be $20m directly for this road. There has been some commentary that this was done by Labor. If it was done by Labor, why did none of the work start? Why was it not commenced? Why was it not announced? We have been negotiating with the federal government to ensure we deliver on that work.
Let us look at tourism numbers. We have a commitment to expand the tourism industry to $2.2bn by 2020. The Tourism minister is working hard to make that happen. We are already starting to see positive results in Central Australia with an increase in tourism numbers.
However, let us look at what is happening in Darwin. We have troubles in Darwin with tourism numbers. Why do we have troubles? Because the previous government failed to plan to ensure we had hotels that could accommodate tourists. We are starting to feel the pinch now and tourism operators will feel the pinch. Major events such as the Darwin Cup Carnival and the V8s will feel the pinch this year as accommodation is taken up by workers because Labor failed to plan. Fortunately, we can tell Territorians there are a number of hotels on the forward plan which are being, or will soon be, developed and will start to fill that void in the tourism market. But, for the next couple of years in the Top End, it will be tough with tourism numbers. No thanks can go to the former Labor government, or the former Treasurer and Leader of the Opposition for her failure to plan for the tourism industry. It is a significant problem and one that will continue to haunt us …
Mr STYLES: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Pursuant to Standing Order 77, I ask that the Chief Minister be granted an extension of time.
Motion agreed to.
Mr GILES: I will not talk much longer about things government has done. I will refer to commentary that I think was made by the Leader of the Opposition, or it could have been one of the other three people who support her, such as the member for Johnston. They talked about unanswered questions. I am not sure if it was the Leader of the Opposition – she will not own up to this because she knows she is about to be advised otherwise – or the member for Johnston, who is not here. I refer back to some commentary which I am not sure is in Hansard because it was an interjection in some of that screaming Labor does quite a lot of. They referred to government not answering questions. I know colleagues on my side heard it, so I looked at all current unanswered questions. It is quite true; there is an unanswered question on the Written Question Paper. It is Question 105, dated 6 January 2014, regarding leases under the Crown Lands Act. This was no doubt put forward by the member for Johnston under advice from the member for Nightcliff and the Leader of the Opposition to try to cause trouble for the Halikos island proposal.
This innuendo and lie – it was a lie, but Labor lies, the Leader of the Opposition lies and it was a lie by Labor about unanswered questions. There is only one unanswered question, and I know the member for Port Darwin will be interested in this. I decided to go through all questions on notice to see how many there have been. Setting aside the one that is unanswered, I looked at how many questions the member for Johnston has asked since 25 August 2012. You will be surprised to know the member for Johnston has asked, in 19 months, five questions plus the unanswered one. Those five questions all came on 2 November 2012. Since 2 November 2012, the member for Johnston has not asked one question, except for the one about Halikos island because he does not like the Halikos Group.
I thought I would look at some other members on the other side. Do not worry, member for Fannie Bay, yours is a compliment, and you know that, but we know that no one else’s will be. I thought I would go to the screaming, muttering one, the member for Nightcliff. I wondered how many questions she has asked; she has asked six questions. One was on 24 September 2013, but before that – hallelujah, heaven forbid – they were on the same date as the member for Johnston. On 2 November 2012, she asked five questions as well. They were all about public servant numbers when they were trying to stir up trouble and lie, once again.
We have seen the numbers in the change. It is not thousands of people, it is a difference of 200 people since we came in. You know that. I thought I would look at the member for Nhulunbuy; the member for Nhulunbuy must have asked a great many questions. She carps, whines, sucks those lemons and has a sour approach …
Ms LAWRIE: A point of order, Madam Speaker! That is highly offensive. It is a very low, gutter, personal attack on a member. I know we are in a censure debate about lying and all of that, but that is going a bit far for the Chief Minister. I ask that he understands he overstepped the mark of decency, and withdraw.
Madam SPEAKER: Chief Minister, a censure debate does not mean it is a free-for-all. If you could withdraw that comment about the member for Nhulunbuy.
Mr GILES: Madam Speaker, I withdraw, but I am not sure which component. The member for Nhulunbuy carps and whines and has not contributed to the debate on Gove since she has been in this Chamber. Let us look at her questions.
She asked six questions on 2 November 2012, again about public servants, trying to set up a line of false impression. She has not asked one question on Gove since 2 November 2012. In 18 months, she has not asked one question.
We will not look at the member for Nelson, who has asked five questions. Let us look at the member for Casuarina, who asked five questions on 10 December 2012. Clearly, he missed the memo about 2 November 2012 and was a couple of weeks late, but he managed to go straight to that lie about public servants and tried to stir up trouble with his five questions.
You then go to the member for Barkly, who did exactly the same thing; he tried to ask questions about public servants and stir it all up. It is interesting that the member for Barkly is the Deputy Opposition Leader. I thought he would have had some important things he wanted to chase up as Deputy Leader of the Opposition. I thought he would have gone into other portfolios, would have asked a range of questions, but in 18 months he has not asked a question.
I fail to see how they can say we are not answering questions on notice, particularly when the Deputy Leader of the Opposition has not asked a question in 18 months, not since 2 November 2012, and here we are in 2014. She put them all in around Melbourne Cup day. She has not asked five or six questions; she has asked three questions on notice in 18 months, back in November 2012, all designed to stir up another lie about public servants. That is all it is about. It is quite interesting, but it is also interesting when you look at the member for Fannie Bay, the wannabe leader who cannot get the courage to have a crack. I have not counted how many he has asked. There is a whole page and more of questions he has asked, dating from 2 November 2012 to January 2013. That is where it ends, because he did not do any work after January 2013, but at least he did a bit more work than the Leader of the Opposition.
I point this out because when the opposition carps, whines, moans, makes up stories and lies about what is happening, people need to know the truth. They sat in here today and said, ‘You will not answer any questions on notice’. There is only one unanswered question on notice, which was submitted this year. There has been only one written question put to government this year by the entire opposition. We look back through all written questions and, apart from one or two, they have not asked a question since 2012. You must ask how committed they are as an alternative government.
They then walk in here with a half-hearted censure motion, which does not mean a whole lot after a very poor Question Time where they did not perform once again. They do not provide a vibrant opposition for the Northern Territory; you must ask what is going on over there. Do they understand they are in opposition? Do they have their hearts in it? Are they like Labor Party people who could not work in an iron lung? Is it the union influence? Is it that they are living in the shadow of the Stella Maris inquiry?
What is going on to the point where they cannot focus on being in opposition for the Northern Territory? Just because you are in opposition does not mean you need to claim doomsday and that the sky is falling in. You can contribute to good policy debate, but the Leader of the Opposition - it is somewhat of an oxymoron being called the Leader of the Opposition in this case, because the Leader of the Opposition is not a leader. She is the person sitting in the chair, but she is not leading her opposition. It is unfortunate she is not contributing to debate, and we all suffer the pain and anguish of you talking every time you are in the Chamber. We tolerate it, but the lies, deceit, mistruths and mistrust are incomprehensible for us when we listen to what goes on.
The Northern Territory government has a firm agenda on driving forward. Crime is coming down at a rapid pace. Land is being released at a rapid pace, driving down the cost of living pressures on land. We have a structural reform process in Power and Water we are bringing on, which will put downward pressures on the cost of power in the Northern Territory. We will continue to lead the way in developing infrastructure and ensuring we have a firm agenda for northern Australia. As the Treasurer said, we can lead the nation in economic reform through some of the struggles occurring on our eastern seaboard and provide real direction with our connectivity to Asia, all the while ensuring we create jobs for the future of the Northern Territory and jobs for future Territorians.
I will support the amended censure. We should censure the Leader of the Opposition and we should be censuring Labor. It is not a good opposition. It is not providing any good governance from an opposition point of view. We are achieving fantastic outcomes in the Northern Territory. We will keep doing so as a government and, despite what Labor says, we are happy to have a strong and vibrant opposition. These guys are not. We want them to get out of the way so we can do good things for the Territory. If they do not want to support policy debate and reform in the Territory, we will just get on and do it anyway.
Madam SPEAKER: Honourable members, I will first address the matter of the amendment proposed by the Deputy Chief Minister, which is to delete certain words as they have been read. The first question is that the amendment be agreed to.
Motion agreed to.
Madam SPEAKER: The next question is that the motion, as amended, be agreed to.
The Assembly divided
Mrs Lambley Mr Vatskalis
Mrs Price Mr Vowles
Mr Styles Ms Walker
Mr Tollner
Mr Westra van Holthe
Motion agreed to
Continued from 19 February 2014
Mr GUNNER (Fannie Bay): Madam Speaker, we support this bill. The bill comes about as a result of a national reform process that has been going on since June 2009, when all Australian jurisdictions signed up to tighten legislative gaps in relation to identity crime. Identity crime and cybercrime can be complex and sophisticated, and can cross not just state, but international borders. The capacity of NT agencies to not only legislate but investigate and prosecute for identity theft can be, in many cases, extremely limited.
It is for these reasons that while we support this bill, we do not think this legislation will suddenly result in the cessation of identity crime. Identity crime is considered the fastest growing crime trend in the world, and these types of crimes are anticipated to increase in scale and scope.
Victims of identity crime in the NT would typically find that offenders are from outside the NT. In the NT, there are already offences in relation to identity theft and forgery, and we have seen people charged and convicted in relation to criminal deception. The Emily Adam case, which was referred to in relation to this bill and in the media earlier this year, was a case where current legislation resulted in a successful prosecution and a conviction. The difference between that case and the incidents this bill will attempt to tackle is around the collection of data, where the collection is done with the intent of using it for a criminal purpose.
In a nutshell, this bill seeks to make it an offence to deal with identity data. Currently, it is illegal to use someone’s identity for theft, fraud or deception, but simply having or dealing with the data is a gap in the legislation. There are three new offences in this bill that cover dealing with information data, possessing information data and possessing equipment used to gain information data. Such equipment would include credit card skimming devices.
Each of these offences requires the offender to intend to commit a crime by dealing in or possessing identification information or equipment. That is important because there are many legal reasons why a person or an organisation may be in possession of identity information. The buying and selling of people’s personal information is an industry in itself. If someone in Darwin uses their flybuys card at Coles, information about their purchase can then be passed on to organisations across 23 different countries. People constantly allow organisations to have access to their information, such as credit card details for online bill payments, purchases and other personal information. There can be a legal collection of information. Most people are probably unaware of how much information they voluntarily provide legally.
There are reasons why it is legitimate for someone to collect information, which is why this legislation requires the offender to intend to commit a crime. We then have the issue of intent and how you prove it. My concern with implementing this legislation is that offenders must simply have a plausible reason for intent. All they need do is cover their tracks in relation to intent. These are often very sophisticated operations, and they are very experienced in making sure that, in the cyber world, their actions cannot be followed. If they cover up their dealings with information as the act defines it, the potential to prosecute is limited.
This is a caution. The legislation should still happen and we support it, but we must be aware the people we are dealing with are often very sophisticated at what they do. Another likely scenario is that in the cyber world the collation of and the dealing in this information is very unlikely to actually occur within the NT, which is why a national approach is so important. As I touched upon at the start of this speech, this bill has come about from a national reform process.
It also requires cooperation with international agencies. Most of these cases must be dealt with by a national agency such as the Australian Crime Commission and the federal police, rather than Northern Territory agencies.
We can anticipate that people who practice identity theft through the collection of data will be adapting their methods to avoid these provisions. Given that other jurisdictions have already legislated in this regard, I suspect they may already have done so. Regardless, we must do everything we can, which is why we support the legislation. The most important thing we can do to crack down on cybercrime and identity theft is raise awareness and educate. With too many people still volunteering their personal information, it amazes me that things like the Nigerian bank scam – to use their phrase – still work. The scams rely on naivety, and there are people who are willing to forward on their information. That must and should still remain a concern. It makes it easier for identity crime to occur. The more we can encourage people to protect their personal details, the harder such scams and crimes become.
Another aspect of this bill is the capacity to issue a certificate to a victim of identity theft where certain transactions were carried out by another person. This will help the victim cope with the effects of the crime and the restoration of their personal identity. It will assist with issues such as getting a credit rating restored. An offender does not have to be found guilty for a certificate to be issued, which is significant because often offenders will never be caught or it may take years to bring them to justice.
Unfortunately, it is not within the power of the NT government to legislate to force a bank or financial institution to restore a credit rating. However, I am advised that work between the Commonwealth and the banks is designed to ensure this is facilitated so victims of identity theft can get their identities back and continue to live their lives without the obvious handicaps of their credit rating being taken away, or other problems which can result from their identity being misused by somebody else.
I thank the officers for their briefing on this bill. They were, as always, well-informed and capable of answering questions on the detail. Mr Deputy Speaker, we support the bill.
Mr ELFERINK (Attorney-General and Justice): What can I say, but brevity is the soul of wit. This is self-evident, sensible and smart. We thank the opposition for its support of this legislative instrument. I do not think I have anything to add to what the opposition had to say, above or beyond what I said in the second reading speech. Therefore, we thank the opposition for its support and look forward to this bill passing the House today.
Motion agreed to; bill read a second time.
Mr ELFERINK (Attorney-General and Justice) (by leave): Madam Speaker, I move that the bill be now read a third time.
Motion agreed to; bill read a third time.
Mr ELFERINK (Leader of Government Business): Madam Speaker, I move that we bring on ministerial statements, and return to government business orders of the day shortly.
Motion agreed to.
Mr ELFERINK (Children and Families): Madam Speaker, I provide a statement on child protection in the Northern Territory.
This is my first statement since becoming Minister for Children and Families just six months ago. I propose to report to the House each year by ministerial statement. My statements will be frank about the challenges before us and how the Department of Children and Families (DCF) is, and will be, addressing them.
I believe few issues come to this House as important as how we, as a society, protect children. All members see this as a high priority issue for any government and would commit to supporting any initiative which genuinely attempts to protect children from harm.
For this reason, I will not denigrate the policy position of the previous government because I firmly belief its intention was based on improving the situations of at-risk children. That is not to say I wholly agree with how child protection was handled over the last few years, nor do I expect contributors to this debate to be silent on any matter which they believe warrants comment, criticism or disagreement.
My hope is this debate will rise above a trite comparison of who cares more and how much has been spent by who and on what programs. By any measure, the Department of Children and Families has had a tumultuous time since it was formed as a new government agency in January 2011. It has been reinvented, reformed and rearranged, and its leadership, at both ministerial and executive officer level, has been rotated and replaced.
In 2010, the child protection system was described as being in crisis, and $130.8m was allocated over five years to implement 147 recommendations of the Board of Inquiry into Child Protection in the Northern Territory.
In 2011, funding was further increased to $141m over five years. A child protection agency was formed and its numbers swelled to more than 820 staff. Reports were written, forums convened and activity against each of the 147 recommendations of the board of inquiry report was painstakingly documented, described and scrutinised.
All of this activity was purportedly for the benefit of the Northern Territory’s most vulnerable children, those at risk of and those already subject to: neglect, abuse and harm. Now is the time to reflect upon what has been achieved.
Child protection notifications and rates of substantiation, as well as rates of re-substantiation, year-on-year, continue to grow and more children are being taken into statutory care than ever before. All this activity came at a cost, with the department publicly named for its budget blowout and uncontained spending. I am getting the Territory’s child protection system to focus on its core business and ensuring we deal with its challenges in thoughtful and sensitive ways.
I am committed to setting a solid foundation for the organisation through steady, accountable management of its funding and its people. I am supporting our workforce to do the work it must do. We know hard decisions need to be made by case workers and child protection practitioners, on which the wisdom of Solomon often will not be enough.
No one would dispute the tenacity and dedication of those who work in the child protection system day after day, and this is where the efforts of the agency must focus. Sadly, it must be acknowledged that the work of case workers and the not-for-profit sector is a response to the failure of parents who cannot or will not provide the level of love, care and development for their children to grow and flourish.
By the time we are involved, much damage has already been done. I have said before, governments make poor surrogate parents and we have graphic evidence of this being provided to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. I will return to the subject of the Royal Commission later, but, suffice to say, the following painful truths must be confronted.
Children around the world will continue to be physically, emotionally and sexually abused. They will be neglected and exploited in ways which permanently impair their growth and development, and many will suffer irretrievable damage. Many will commit the same offences to their own children. Rates of child abuse in the Northern Territory exceed all other states. Predominantly, those who abuse children are interfamilial. Aboriginal children are substantially over-represented in child abuse statistics. Family and community responses to children in need are potentially much more effective than governmental responses. All our actions must acknowledge the important role families, communities and the non-government sector can provide, given the opportunity to partner with government.
Child protection is internationally recognised as one of the most difficult decision-making areas for government. Every day, child protection staff make difficult and critical decisions which directly and permanently affect children, parents, their families and the community. Ensuring those decisions are the right ones and people’s lives are improved as a result is an ongoing challenge I feel very strongly about, as the minister accountable. It is this burden which has settled heavily upon my conscience. While child protection is challenging for governments, I recognise the challenges for those who work in the child protection system. It is, as we know, an area which lends itself to errors of judgement, and these can and will happen.
I want to ensure those on the frontline are supported in a variety of ways. This includes providing practical support, improving areas of professional practice, undertaking more effective recruitment and retaining our existing workforce. As with any area of human services, there is no definitive book of standard operating procedures which will render a positive outcome in all cases. I deliberately include the Care and Protection Policy and Procedures Practice manual in current use.
Often, a case plan for a particular child is unique to the circumstances of the child. The choices are often not optimal and the path taken is one which ensures, or hopes for, the least amount of damage. Case plans sometimes have embedded risks and the potential for failure in one or more components is high. Acceptable risks, taken solely in the best interests of the child, will always have my endorsement. We must trust them, only reserving my condemnation for the grossly negligent or the criminal.
I am aware of the commentary regarding the turnover of ministers and CEOs. This has now settled down and we can all plan for the long term. I have asked the CEO to do what she needs to get through some issues which have been sitting on the table for too long: to stabilise the organisation and instil a clear sense of forward momentum with purpose, focus and intent. The CEO has provided me with a comprehensive list and it is appropriate I now outline some of these priorities:
creating an organisational structure relevant to the business and objectives of the department. This was achieved in November last year with the release of a new organisational structure and leadership team focused on the core business of child protection services
a new strategic plan documenting the department’s priorities and commitments over the next three years
a child protection practice framework and companion service standards. These have now been drafted and will be used in conjunction with the strategic plan and the performance framework to set and guide services and practices
A performance reporting framework against key statutory and policy requirements. The framework has been designed to ensure the department and its staff are accountable and meet their collective obligations with respect to: the timeliness of investigations; case plan compliance; contact and engagement with children; foster and kinship care assessment; and registration and monitoring and reporting requirements.
As much as the department is responsible for child protection services, it is also responsible, as a Northern Territory government agency, for living within its means and operating within legislation to manage its resources, particularly its staff. With that said, nothing governs the work and practice of a statutory child protection agency more than the legislation which underpins it. In recent months, there has been a series of amendments made to the Care and Protection of Children Act and the new Children’s Commissioner Act to give a greater voice to children and young people inside our child protection system. Specifically, the amendments improve legal representation of children in court, enhance oversight of child protection practice by the Children’s Commissioner and provide for better responses to concerns about care, including abuse in care.
Last month, the Charter of Rights Bill 2013 was passed by parliament. The charter is for all children and young people in care in the Northern Territory and ensures children in care know and understand what to expect from the people that care for them, and what they should be able to do. It was developed to be consistent with national out-of-home care standards and captures the views and experiences of many children and young people who have been or are currently in our care.
Child protection rates in the Northern Territory paint a very depressing picture and reflect our very high rates of disadvantage and welfare dependency. The 2012 Australian Early Development Index data collection for this jurisdiction showed that children under five lag behind all other states and territories in meeting developmental milestones. By way of comparison, 35.5% of children in the Northern Territory are developmentally vulnerable in one or more areas, compared with only 22% of children nationally. That means our children are lagging from the outset.
Against this backdrop, child protection reports continue to grow at a significant rate. Notifications concerning abuse or the neglect of children rose to just under 10 000 last financial year, an increase of 25% on the previous year. This year, the department is tracking to receive over 12 000 child protection reports from concerned community members and citizens. Not all of these notifications result in investigations or relate to individual children, and as a result over 4000 child protection investigations will be undertaken this financial year. This is an increase of about 500 investigations from last year.
In 2012-13, 22% of notifications of child abuse and neglect were substantiated. While this declined to 14% last financial year, the figure remains too high. Last year, there were 1356 substantiations of child abuse and neglect in the Northern Territory, and while I thank and acknowledge those that reported cases of neglect and abuse to authorities, it remains a sad state of affairs if we have even one proven case of child abuse. While these figures may appear alarming to some, I have greater comfort in knowing that the department has improved its responsiveness to reports of children in danger. These are notifications concerning children identified as the most vulnerable.
In 2010-11, the department was able to respond to children in danger within 24 hours in just 74% of cases. Last financial year, this figure increased to 93% of cases.
Responding to immediate concerns and completing all necessary administrative and procedural tasks required for a child protection investigation is different. This is one of the reasons there continues to be a large number of investigation cases still open, with 434 open investigations as at the end of the last financial year.
This is an area which must be prioritised and supported through stable staffing. Around 40% of investigations find the child has been or is at risk of harm, with the majority finding risk around neglect and emotional abuse. Even more concerning are our high rates of re-substantiation. Around one in five children found to be at risk or who had been be harmed in 2011-12 had another substantiation of harm within 12 months. This means one in five children who are substantiated as being harmed are again harmed within just one year.
The child protection system is not getting the traction it must, and families need to be more responsible for the wellbeing and care of their children. The greatest drivers of our child protection notifications and substantiations are our rates of substance misuse and domestic and family violence.
Over the next 12 months, the department will be focusing its efforts on more consistent engagement with families, and improved links to services such as family support, domestic and family violence, and alcohol and other drugs services when families first have contact with the child protection system.
I have previously commented on the important work which is under way to more effectively deal with the scourge of domestic and family violence. I am optimistic about the potential to partner with the Commonwealth to achieve important gains in this area, and I look forward to providing the House with a more comprehensive statement in the near future.
This work will be supported across a number of departments. As part of ongoing case work, staff will attempt to assist reunification where a home situation has significantly improved and the care of the child is being proactively managed by parents and family. This will not be done in isolation. DCF will work with other key agencies so there is a whole-of-government focus on vulnerable children and families.
The NGO sector also has an important role to play. For example, police operations, including Project Respect, target the offenders of domestic violence. It is hoped this operation and other similar operations are seeking out the offender, punishing them and correcting their behaviours to prevent the harm of an innocent victim: a child.
Despite efforts to keep families together, it is a sad fact that children in our community will need statutory care, and more and more children will be, by necessity, taken into care over time. There is no greater obligation under the Care and Protection of Children Act than caring for children whose parents have failed them. A child who has been brought into out-of-home care is completely reliant on government for its wellbeing and development. This is our greatest responsibility, as well as our greatest challenge.
A child who has been a victim of child abuse and neglect does not fit a strict criterion. Just as the perpetrators of child abuse are varied, so too are the children they commit gross acts of indecency against. Children in out-of-home care comprise 52% females, and 48% males, and range in age from just a few months old to 17 years. In July 2013, 33% were aged 10 to 14 years; 28% were aged five to nine years, 24% were aged zero to four years; and 15% were adult youths aged between 15 and 17 years.
The number of children in care has doubled over the last five years, and there are now more than 830 children and young people in the care of the Chief Executive Officer of the Department of Children and Families. A sad realisation is that almost half of them will be in care until they become adults. That is tragic. Almost half the children currently in care will be in care until they are 18 years of age. They are the ones for who reunification with their parents is unlikely and, for some, will never happen. These are, for the most part, children whose parents have demonstrated repeated reckless and negligent treatment of their own children. These are children for who we must provide long-term security. Abused and neglected children do not benefit from being on a foster care merry-go-round for years and years, and we must work tirelessly to make their lives better, safer, more secure and certain.
That is why I am keen to explore concepts such as enduring parental responsibility orders, similar to those that exist in some other jurisdictions. These transfer parental responsibility for a child to the child’s carer until that child turns 18, but unlike adoption, legal parental rights do not transfer to the carer. Potential benefits of this open process include, where appropriate: maintenance of culture, direct access to family, health and history and provides answers to those ageless questions of: ‘who am I?’ and, ‘where did I come from?’ Other benefits of this arrangement directly address the psychological development and wellbeing of a child, with reducing feelings of abandonment and a greater sense of safety.
It is also time to review the Territory’s 1994 Adoption of Children Act, which is no longer a contemporary legislative instrument. While the act requires a full review, several aspects stand out. One area is the age of prospective adoptive parents. The Territory is the only jurisdiction that has an upper age limit for adoption applicants. Another is that the Territory is the only jurisdiction that does not recognise de facto relationships. The number of adoptions in the Territory is very low. In 2012-13 only 10 children were adopted and only one of those was born in Australia.
In May 2013, the Chief Minister spoke out against an issue on which both he and I share concerns: the removal of Aboriginal children from their parents if they are facing neglect. This should not be construed as a new Stolen Generation. The reason behind this policy is simple. As a government, we must not idly stand by and allow children to experience neglect when there are loving individuals in our community who are willing to provide safe and secure care. We need to put the onus back on to parents to look after their children and we must, as the Chief Minister said, ‘stand up for our kids’.
What we must not do is allow children to stay in high-risk situations, riddled with violence, alcohol abuse, sexual abuse and neglect. We must seek out alternative care for these children to ensure they are in a safe environment, and protect them from having a childhood which fails to meet even the most basic standards of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. In June last year, 83% of the children in the Northern Territory government’s out-of-home care were Aboriginal. The number of notifications received for abuse and neglect of an Indigenous child was 7595 or 76% of all notifications. Admittedly, we have a significant Indigenous population in the Northern Territory; however, it is clear we should not be afraid to act, so long as we are acting in the best interests of the child. Let it be clearly understood that Aboriginality should not become a reason to be timid about child protection. Human rights must always take precedence over cultural and other rights. It must be a last resort, but a resort nonetheless.
The legislative basis for adoption in the Northern Territory already exists. I have given a clear direction to DCF to do more to progress adoptions for some of the children in the care of the CEO. Work will commence this year on changes to internal policy and procedures to change accordingly. The number of children in care has doubled over the last five years. The costs of out-of-home care have skyrocketed. This blowout in spending has been well documented. Last financial year, nearly 50% of the budget, or $85.4m, was attributed to spending on out-of-home care services. We stand apart from every other Australian jurisdiction as a result of our spending in this area. According to the Report on Government Services 2014, the Territory has the highest expenditure on out-of-home care per placement night, at double the Australian average.
This drastic increase in spending has not manifested in better outcomes for children in our care. This is clearly not sustainable and something has gone terribly awry. The CEO has been frank with me about the issues driving these costs and the work that needs to be done to redress this. The rapid increase in children entering care has had a significant effect, but the department has not responded to this growth by finding enough safe and supportive foster kinship carers for children. The department has instead relied more on more on high cost purchased care arrangements. It is frustrating that these problems were not identified, solutions were not implemented earlier and spending was able to reach such phenomenal levels. Tough decisions have been required, coupled with sensitivity for the needs of those children and young people in our care.
Over the last 18 months, substantial work has been done within the department to better understand and predict demand for out-of-home care services over time, and to make sure we have better, more efficient options available.
I am pleased to report I am starting to see change and progress, with a more formalised approach to out-of-home care, increased care options and placement decisions which better match the needs of children and, importantly, the management of costs in care.
I will take a moment to outline some of the activity now driving this change. From late November, a centralised out-of-home care division was established and immediately assumed responsibility for placing children into care. The primary focus of the division is finding placements which match the needs of our children. This has already had the effect of reducing inconsistent placement arrangements and containing more excessive costs.
Probity and procurement for services have been strengthened. Where the agency is purchasing care from other organisations, services are being tendered to ensure consistency and quality. In November last year, a panel contract for residential care services in Katherine, Darwin and Alice Springs was advertised for commencement on 1 July 2014. In the coming weeks, the agency will advertise open tenders for the provision of short-term, emergency and respite care, and individually tailored care for our children with the highest levels of need. The tenders will provide for transparency in the procurement of these services. Foster and kinship care numbers are increasing. Growth and retention of foster and kinship carers will continue to be a major priority for government, and the department, in the coming years.
Such is the commitment that government has set growth targets for foster and kinship carers. While adoption provides a child with stability and security about their future, foster and kinship care provides a cost effective solution for those children seeking refuge from the harsh realities they have faced and been exposed to.
The department has over 10% of its work force living and working in remote communities, a number unheard of five years ago. Aided by funds which have flowed from the Australian government under Stronger Futures expenditure, DCF has established a remote workforce operating with 29 Aboriginal and family and community workers across 22 locations, and seven child safety and wellbeing practitioners, delivering professional child protection services including links to statutory interventions as needed. This is providing family and community support services for vulnerable children.
These remote staff and programs are aided by Mobile Child Protection Teams, staffed by child protection practitioners providing front end child protection investigations in remote communities, and the Mobile Outreach Service Plus, known as the MOS Plus, which delivers education programs and case-related counselling and therapeutic services for children who have experienced sexual abuse across 30 remote communities.
As effective as these services are, we need to better capitalise on these programs and our relationships with other agencies based in remote communities, each with their own role to play in child safety and protection. These are agencies such as Health, Education, Corrections and the police.
I have charged the department with identifying a model of collaboration to capitalise on existing programs and our relationships in communities. It needs to ensure that families are able to participate, and there are incentives in terms of support as well as consequences. We must have better outcomes for children in the bush, and find new ways of keeping families strong and together.
In 2014, DCF will be reviewing what it offers in the bush and, where necessary, will make changes to ensure better service delivery. These policies coupled with an effective domestic violence reduction strategy; mandatory alcohol rehabilitation; Alcohol Protection Orders; a streamlined court system; preventative policing; and a Corrections system that turns out reformed people will work to restore responsibility in the family.
Last financial year, the department invested over $33m in services delivered by the non-government sector across family support, domestic and family violence and out-of-home care services, including $2.17m for youth services. This accounts for a significant proportion of the child protection budget, the largest, proportionally, of all Northern Territory government agencies. By way of example, DCF allocated: $8.8m for family support services; $9.8m for domestic and family violence services; and $8.6m for out-of-home care services.
These services are, by necessity, part of the service mix for child protection and are integral to the outcomes described earlier. Services must be targeted to the business of government and be adaptable to changing demand and needs.
This is where many non-government services have particular strengths and capabilities. At a service level, the relationship between non-government services and DCF is more open and more functional for the benefit of the children and families they serve.
Services, staff and processes need to change. My executive officer has established regular forums with services in Darwin and Alice Springs, and has been clear about the opportunities for better working relationships and charged her leadership team with the same. She is meeting with key organisations to work through issues and strive for better outcomes.
At a contracting level, the relationship between DCF and the non-government sector has also changed. Government expects service accountability, led in part by a strident expectation that public funds will be responsibly invested and applied, and I make no apology for this.
Yes, services under contract to the department have ceased and funds have been redirected over the last 12 months. The decisions were not taken lightly and coincided with having to make some very tough decisions about funding across government overall.
They were also based on a much closer alignment of outsourced service delivery and the objectives of the DCF. That is: child protection, out-of-home care and family support. Any funding that does not effectively protect kids will be redirected to goals that protect kids, no matter who or what organisation receives that funding.
We want to fund services that demonstrate they can deliver tangible outcomes for Territorians. The government’s only child protection agency is not in the business of recreation, transport or even education.
There has been some commentary about the decision to terminate the funding agreement with Strong Aboriginal Families, Together, known as SAF,T. SAF,T was established and funded with significant fanfare two years ago, with $1.5m per year. The decision to terminate the agreement with SAF,T was a straightforward one, in light of the lack of a single service outcome over that period. In contrast, in February, CatholicCare NT was awarded the family support service in Tennant Creek and was announced as part of the 2012 election campaign. CatholicCare NT will deliver a range of family support services in the region. Tennant Creek will also be the site of a new short term placement service for younger children in out-of-home care.
The service is a collaboration between Territory Housing, Community Corrections and the department. Correctional services work parties will be used to modify a residential house to make it suitable for out-of-home care. An open expression of interest for a non-government provider, or even a consortium of non-government providers, to run the service will be advertised early in the new financial year.
It is important we focus on these sensitive issues such as the protection of children, and frankly debate policy, legislation and future directions. This debate should rightly appraise the government’s efforts and whether changes are being wrought. We should canvass options and continue to seek solutions which should be added to our repertoire. Enduring parental responsibility orders may be one such option.
The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse has heard evidence which is staggeringly vile and confronting. It is hard to conceive that not so long ago, Australian children were subjected to abuse at the hands of governments, churches and benevolent institutions charged with ensuring their safety. Those children were betrayed. So, too, was the community which entrusted the care of vulnerable children into the custodianship of the government. The community has every right to question the government’s actions regarding the protection of children, and to demand the failures of the past are owned up to and remedied in current and future practice.
The commission is shortly to arrive in Darwin, and this government will cooperate fully with its inquiries. We look forward to the recommendations which will ensue from the commission. As a government, we will do what we can to assist vulnerable parents and families to protect their children. However, those parents who fail their children, and at times actively harm them, must be made to take responsibility for their actions as well as their inactions. I am considering ways this can be done and, subject to work currently under way, I will have more to say about the issue later this year.
Some say it is difficult to be optimistic about the state of the Territory’s child protection system. It involves often confronting and distressing realities. It saddens each and every one of us to see parents failing their children and causing them harm. As I said at the beginning of this statement, I am getting the Territory’s child protection system to focus on its core business, and to ensure we deal with its challenges in thoughtful and sensitive ways. It was astonishing to see, when we came to government, that there was so much left over from the former government for us to do. It is even more astonishing, given the high levels of funding injected into the child protection system. We are, nevertheless, working our way methodically and sensibly through all of the challenges, so we can provide the Territory’s vulnerable children with a well-functioning child protection system, a system we expect and they deserve. Our passion for this cause is deep, our determination must be steadfast and our efforts will be laborious, but our motivation is loving and our optimism will give us strength in the task. Above all, we will not be afraid.
Madam Speaker, I move that the Assembly take note of the statement.
Ms WALKER (Nhulunbuy): Madam Speaker, I thank the minister for bringing this statement before the House. Uncharacteristically of a ministerial statement, it does not seek to beat up on the former government. In fact, its tone is quite conciliatory. I also suspect, as I have on previous occasions where the minister has provided statements, he has prepared this statement himself. There is much of the language and sentiment that I recognise as coming directly from the heart and mind of the minister. I know he is very passionate about this area of government responsibility that fell into his lap in September last year.
He has been most helpful to me in the time I have been in opposition, not just with the shadow portfolio responsibility for child protection, but with Attorney-General and Justice as well, in wanting to have an open door, be available and make officers available for briefings and so forth. I appreciate the way the minister operates towards me as a member of the opposition, and I know we all recognise – I have said before that this is an incredibly difficult area of government responsibility, looking after our most vulnerable children who are, regrettably, at the receiving end of neglect and abuse. It is something we struggle with not only in the Northern Territory, but in every jurisdiction around the country. It is not unique to Australia. Child protection issues and the wellbeing of children is something all governments deal with around the globe.
Many things in this statement resonate with me and my colleagues. There are many truths in there. We do not necessarily agree with everything, but I welcome this statement. I recognise, as I said in concurring with the minister, there are few issues as important as how we as a society protect our children. I welcome that he says he will report annually to the parliament by ministerial statement. In fact, that would be a good thing to do across every area of ministerial responsibility. There should be report card ministerial statements to put on the record what is being progressed in policy, what goals are being achieved, and I see that as a move in the right direction of a government wanting to be open, accountable and transparent with not just those of us in this parliament, but those who listen and have a keen interest in what is said in this House.
I also note the minister said he will not denigrate the policy position of the previous government. He said he is firmly of the belief that the intentions of the former Labor government were based on improving the situation for children at risk. However, he just could not help himself by the time he got to the last page. He had to make note that:
I would not expect anything different from you, minister.
You note that all our actions must acknowledge the very important role families, communities and the non-government sector can provide, given the opportunity to partner with government. There are many in the NGO sector perhaps struggling with that partnership at the moment, in light of budget cuts.
You also front-footed the turnover of ministers and CEOs in the 18 months since the change of government. That has had an impact. You state you have now settled down and can plan for the long term. Minister, perhaps if you, in the wisdom of the first Cabinet appointed under administrative orders, had been appointed as the Minister for Child Protection, we might be further along than we were 18 months ago. Without doubt, the turnover with Cabinet reshuffles, three ministers and five CEOs is clearly not the basis for running a department for vulnerable children when there is that chaos going on in the background.
I am delighted to hear there is a new strategic plan to document the department’s priorities over the next three years. I note you say the reporting framework will focus on the timeliness of investigations, case plan compliance – very important – contact and engagement with children, as well as foster and kin care assessment and registration, and this framework will also be about monitoring and reporting requirements. The previous government had external monitoring mechanisms in place. Sadly, they have been removed, but the strengthening of the powers of the Children’s Commissioner will, to a degree, step into that space.
In your statement you acknowledge that notifications are increasing: There was a 25% on the previous year, according to the last annual report. You also note there are more than 830 children in the care of the CEO of the Department of Children and Families, and almost half will be in care until adulthood at the age of 18. Eighty-three per cent of children in out-of-home care are Aboriginal. These statistics are staggering. They are saddening and, regardless of who is in government, they must be addressed. Those statistics need to be reduced.
You also note the very large number of investigation cases still open, over 400 at the end of last financial year. This is of great concern, as are staffing numbers within the agency and the capacity of hard-working members to manage fairly high caseloads in trying to reduce the number of investigations.
You talked about the high rates of re-substantiation. One in five children, I think it is, come back into the system within one year. This is symptomatic of a system which is not working somewhere along the way and we both agree those statistics are unacceptable.
You talked about the greatest drivers of notifications and substantiations being the link to very high rates of substance abuse and family violence, which are, again, unacceptably high. From a policy perspective, we are at odds about how we manage alcohol and substance abuse. We are at odds about the effectiveness of the former Labor government’s Banned Drinker Register as a tool to reduce access to alcohol and the misery resulting from alcohol abuse.
I am delighted to see Tennant Creek is moving forward, with some of the worst and most shocking statistics associated with alcohol abuse and crime having come from there. It is a good thing those little machines used to scan identification have not been thrown away and are being pulled back out and put into use there, though not in the same sense they were when we had alcohol reforms and the BDR in place. Without a doubt, unless you can come up with effective policy and strategy for dealing with high rates of alcohol and substance abuse, we will continue to see, in correlation, high rates of neglected and abused children.
The minister is quite right that human rights must always take precedence over culture or other rights - no disagreement whatsoever - and the minister has given a very clear direction to the CEO, Ms Carney, to do more to progress adoptions for some of the children in the CEO’s care. It was news to me, under Northern Territory legislation, that we are the only jurisdiction in the country where de facto couples cannot adopt. In our modern, contemporary times with relationships, I find that really surprising. It is something we must look at. If we can fix the loophole in the legislation and provide a loving and caring home for a child, I am all for it.
I am interested to hear more. You talked about wanting to explore enduring parental responsibility orders around transferring responsibility for children to the child’s carers, but unlike adoption, legal parental rights do not transfer to the carer. This sounds like something which must be further explored and pursued, and the necessary changes brought about via legislation.
You raised the fact you are concerned about the budget blowout. Nearly 50% of the budget, which is over $85m, goes to out-of-home care services. It is a staggering figure, and it is obvious to me so much of the money we are spending is going into the very pointy end of child protection where we have children in crisis and are dealing with them then. Ideally, we want to see that funding going into the other end of the system, and that is parental education and teaching parents how to be parents. That was one of the key recommendations of the board of inquiry.
If I turn to when Labor came into government in 2001, the first time there had ever been a Labor government in the Northern Territory. There is no doubt the new government inherited a very run down and deficient child protection system.
As a government, we always took our responsibility seriously to provide a sound framework for child protection in the Northern Territory. We did not always get it right. It was not a perfect world in trying to address years of deficiencies within that system. It is certainly well documented where some of those children – the case of Deborah Melville has provided much commentary in this House and in the media. It was a shocking failure of the system that a child could die in those circumstances. Those on the other side of the House, when they were in opposition, frequently visited that case, highlighting it as a failure of the system, and indeed it was.
I am not sure if the minister acknowledges that work in this space is never ending.
Mr Elferink: I do. I will accept it on face value.
Ms WALKER: Thank you, minister, for accepting the work is never ending in this space, but will continue to be a challenge. The work we did in government, to a point, was destabilised with the change of government when we had the turnover of ministers, CEOs and the ripple effect of that right across the agency through staff and down to clientele. Children have suffered and this occurred because on coming into government, I am not convinced the CLP had a clear plan for the area of child protection, and those constant changes.
There were changes within the administrative orders alone, taking Children and Families as a stand-alone agency and lobbing it into one of the biggest agencies, Education, to create the Department of Education and Children’s Services. Nobody believed that would benefit children, and it changed. It has changed a couple of times and is now back where it started. I hope that at least the agency is now in a period of stability where it can rebuild. Some of the things the minister has talked about, like the creation of the framework, give me some confidence there is that period of rebuilding and stability coming for the agency.
I agree with one of the minister’s lines – and he has said it on a number of occasions – that governments do not make good surrogate parents. On occasions, he has even said they make shocking parents.
It brings us back to the point that government does not want to be responsible for children but must be responsible for children where parents are unable to care for them. That is why we must go back into that space and look at our systems, invest in helping parents and help those who invariably come from backgrounds of low socioeconomic status to build their parenting skills and step up to their responsibility as parents and care for their children.
The minister said all of our actions must acknowledge the important role that families, communities and the non-government sector can provide, given the opportunity to partner with government. Hear, hear! We need to strengthen and develop those partnerships but, regrettably, what we have seen in the space of 18 months, thanks to a large degree to significant budget cuts, is that those partnerships are not where they should be.
We have a number of NGOs in the Northern Territory which work in this sector. I have tried to meet with a number of them that have a role to play in the child protection area. I was very pleased, at the end of the last sittings, to meet with Foster Care NT, and was delighted to hear they are the only sector body I have met with which has not had a budget cut. I hope that remains the case when the budget is handed down in May because I saw in the conversation I had with the Executive Director of Foster Care NT that it is clearly a very effective group. It has an enormous role to play in assisting the agency to find children to go into foster care, and supporting, importantly, those who put their hand up. They are very unique and special individuals and families who put their hands up to offer foster care to children in need.
However, our NGO service providers, with the exception of Foster Care NT, do not know today if their service contracts will be renewed next financial year. They are concerned about what happens to the staff and skills they have developed and the relationships they have with carers and kids in care, these incredibly important relationships and service providers.
There is real concern among those involved in delivering children and family services that, potentially, the agenda for the government is the minister’s key priority of finding a cost-effective solution to growing notifications and focus on out-of-home care. There is real concern the government is turning its back on early detection, early intervention and family support services and focusing instead on rescue and out-of-home care on the back of substantiated notifications.
There is real concern with one of the pathways to help develop a cost-effective solution. I am not quite sure what the minister means when he said he has given:
I would love to hear some of the more specific instructions that come with that direction from the minister to his CEO. Has he set targets for the CEO to meet in adoptions? Have targets been set for implementing enduring parental responsibility orders that might infer a long-term parental relationship for a child in care, often until they are 18, and often at the expense of ongoing connection with their family and home community? Knowing that Aboriginal children are over-represented in the system, it is at the expense of that ongoing connection with their family and home community, and their culture.
Our new minister, who started in September, said that Children and Families leadership has settled down and the government can plan for the long term. I certainly hope so, because the department had a plan. There was a five-year strategic plan built off the back of the Growing them strong, together inquiry, a report that was described as ‘brilliant’ by the member for Araluen when she spoke in this House in May last year.
We know the Growing them strong, together inquiry was the most rigorous inquiry into the care and protection of children in the Northern Territory, and the time frame for that inquiry was extended beyond the initial time period by some months, simply because of the sheer volume of work the members of the board of inquiry – Professor Muriel Bamblett, Dr Rob Roseby and Dr Howard Bath – had. It was a very extensive investigation into the state of child protection in the Northern Territory, with exhaustive community consultation around the Northern Territory, and it subsequently needed a longer period of time to collate its findings and, importantly, frame its recommendations.
Our minister says the department has a new strategic plan to document the department’s priorities over the next three years. I look forward to understanding when that strategic plan will be available for us and the wider community to peruse. It would be useful to hear more about that new plan and how it will differ from earlier plans. No doubt it will be informed by well-regarded and expert advice on what works and what does not.
If I go back to the board of inquiry, you could not get three more qualified experts preparing the report yet it is disappointing so many of those recommendations are still to be acted upon. Minister, I recall saying to your office I would seek a briefing about the progress of those recommendations. I know you have acted upon some of them. In the last sittings we saw that a charter of rights has now been created for children in the Northern Territory. I recognise how important that charter of rights is and the fact we were the only jurisdiction not to have one. It is important, but so too is a care plan for a child, one that is maintained and kept current. Down the road, I look forward to hearing from the minister about that strategic plan, and exactly what the priorities will be over the next three years.
The minister, as I mentioned earlier, talked about that reporting framework which will focus on the timeliness of investigations, case plan compliance, contact engagement with children, foster and kin care assessment, and registration, monitoring and reporting requirements. On page 13 of your statement, minister, it says:
I am delighted to hear that. I would love to know exactly what those numbers are and how significant that increase is. We must increase the number of foster and kinship carers. In my own community of Nhulunbuy, I have witnessed a growing number of foster carers in the last couple of years. It is wonderful to see we have local people willing to give a caring and loving home to children in need. Previously, without homes in Nhulunbuy where children might have access to family, those kids would have been found foster care homes outside the region some distance away, be it in Darwin or other places. I am pleased to hear there is an increase in the number of foster carers and kinship carers.
I am disappointed, as many people are, about the demise of SAF,T. I am very clear on some of the issues that impacted its demise and funding arrangements. I have spoken with a number of stakeholders, not all of whom are particularly sympathetic towards the organisation, but by the end of last year when I picked up this shadow portfolio and met with SAF,T and the acting CEO, I thought the situation was disappointing for the acting CEO. She was an incredibly competent individual who had gone to great lengths to try to reduce spending and see the survival of SAF,T, relocating premises and making all types of arrangements to reduce its overheads. It was too late; the writing was on the wall that government would not renew any funding contracts with it, but what is coming in to replace the organisation? It was specifically set up as a peak body, and to work at finding and establishing pathways for foster and kinship carers specifically for Aboriginal children. Its demise leaves a void. I know NAAJA, when SAF,T’s demise had been announced, also asked what support it was given to try to survive. It is a bit like throwing the baby out with the bath water. I am interested to hear how the specific role of building foster and kinship carers and networks for Aboriginal children might go forward.
I looked at the Children’s Commissioner’s last annual report - the report of one man in this mix we can rely on - and he had highlighted a key shortfall under the 18 months of CLP government. He found, as we have heard – and the minister noted in the statement today - a 25% increase in notifications, but many of these notifications were for emotional abuse, the consequence of children being involved in and witnessing alcohol-related family violence. Minister, it was your government that scrapped the Banned Drinker Register and made access to alcohol easier for problem drinkers. This is one of the consequences of the policy decision made by your government, and the impact it is having down the line on family-related violence and upon vulnerable, innocent children.
The Children’s Commissioner, in his report, also writes of a decline in investigations resulting in substantiations, from 44% down to 36%. The Children’s Commissioner, in his report, said:
That was on page 67 of the Children’s Commissioner’s 2012-13 annual report.
The Children’s Commissioner also flagged his concern that investigations and substantiations of sexual abuse cases have declined to 1%, well below the national average of, sadly, 13%. While I hope there is a positive explanation for this downward spiral, I fear it is possibly a consequence of wrong priorities.
Another worrying matter from the Children’s Commissioner’s report is the result of the care plan review. Of those cases reviewed, 94% had a care plan, but in only 44% of those cases was the care plan current. I talked about the charter of rights …
Mr McCARTHY: A point of order, Mr Deputy Speaker! Pursuant to Standing Order 77, I ask that the member for Nhulunbuy be granted an extension of time.
Motion agreed to.
Ms WALKER: Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker and members.
We can have a charter of rights for children, but it simply becomes a piece of paper if we cannot get current care plans for children, and acknowledge this was an issue highlighted by the board of inquiry under the former government.
The Children’s Commissioner also expressed concern about the lack of transition services to help our young people transition from out-of-home care into independent living. The period of transition and crucial support for keeping kids on the rails so they do not come back into the system is critical in helping them to live independently.
Lastly, the Children’s Commissioner reported concerns about contact being maintained with children in out-of-home care. In 30% of cases reviewed, kids in care had no contact with a caseworker over a two-month period and only half had contact in one month, though monthly contact is required by the department’s own policy manual. This is a deficiency in the system which must be addressed to ensure children do have that contact, and that someone is keeping an eye on them to see they are not slipping through the cracks.
In relation to that decline in standards, the National Children’s Commissioner, Ms Megan Mitchell, commented on 12 March 2014 that:
It is critical, and we compare that observation by the National Children’s Commissioner with our own Northern Territory Children’s Commissioner. It highlights deficiencies we see, and that he has noted, in caseworker contact with children.
We know this is how responsibility slips away and problems are not identified early. There is the loss of contact and agency supervision to ensure that appropriate care is being provided, and those children in care are being monitored and are okay. Minister, now that your government has scrapped the independent and expert external monitoring committee – a committee that a former minister described as a ‘feel-good’ committee – we will take a very keen interest in how these important indices change over time, and especially in the context of continual cost cutting by the government.
As I said, in 2001, Labor did inherit a deficient child protection system, with only a $7m budget and 100 workers for the whole of the Northern Territory. We commissioned six reports over 11 years to ensure we were building a strong and contemporary child protection system for the Territory. We commissioned the 2007 Little Children are Sacred report and acknowledged continuing difficulties in child protection policy and practice in 2008 and 2009. In particular, there were issues in central intake and very high levels of staff turnover and, as I said previously, we were very committed to the board of inquiry, led by three eminent experts.
The former Labor government established the Office of the Children’s Commissioner, where Dr Bath has held that position since its inception, and we are certainly glad he has been reappointed for another term. We also established mandatory reporting of serious family violence under child protection, and in the financial year 2012-13, we provided an additional $33m for child protection, with $11m for frontline workers. We prioritised improved early intervention and prevention strategies to reduce the need for statutory child protection interventions wherever possible, but not at the cost of failing to ensure proper care in statutory protection.
I have highlighted a number of things in my contribution to this debate. I have a colleague from this side who will talk more about that area of protection for Aboriginal children, and the deficiencies inherent in the system for those children and those who are most vulnerable. What we really need to be investing in is not just the pointy end where children and families have reached that point of crisis, but the other end of the system. I think it is chapter 6 of the Growing them Strong, Together report where the need to invest in children and families is highlighted, to help parents learn their responsibilities in caring for their children. The minister has highlighted in his statement and on many other occasions - as has his CEO – what we are dealing with as a result of bad parents, poor parenting, and if we are serious about addressing the issues in Children and Families and child protection, there must be that investment.
I welcome the news about what is happening in Tennant Creek. What is happening, with funding through Stronger Futures, to other children and family centres that were to be established? The minister will correct me - I have not verified this - but I believe there was to have been a children and family centre for Milingimbi, or perhaps it was Gapuwiyak. I have recently learned that whichever community it was, it is now on hold and is not proceeding at this stage.
Within our education system, we look at initiatives like the Families as First Teachers program, and the success that program has had in assisting parents to understand their roles, to be good parents and to work with their children to ensure they are not only strong and healthy, but also prepared and ready for school when their fourth birthday comes around, and they can be enrolled in preschool. Those sorts of proactive programs, as we have seen with Families as First Teachers, deliver good results.
Minister, we await with great interest news of the budget when it is handed down in May. I look forward to the opportunity in estimates to discuss the finances, policy decisions and numbers around Children and Families. I acknowledge the work the minister is doing in this important area of responsibility. I know he takes it very seriously and has a passion for it. I look forward to ongoing updates to the House on an annual basis, perhaps more regularly than that if there is more news to deliver around what is happening in the area of Children and Families.
In some ways, it is a shame you were not around the Cabinet table and given this responsibility in the first place. Perhaps if you had been, you would be 18 months into your three-year plan. Regrettably, we are now in a place where we are starting again, having had a period of instability for some 18 months.
Mr Deputy Speaker, I thank the minister for bringing this statement before the House. I welcome the many ideas he has shared here and understand he is committed to making a difference to the lives of children.
Mrs LAMBLEY (Health): Mr Deputy Speaker, I support my colleague’s statement on child protection in the Northern Territory. If there is one thing that rings true about the debate we are having this afternoon, it is that you can never stop reforming the child protection system in the Northern Territory. If you take your eye off the ball for even a short period, it is a system that is so delicately balanced and finely tuned that it leads to all sorts of very negative ramifications. Reform, reform and more reform is a key theme of what we are hearing this afternoon.
One thing that has been a theme of my work in this Chamber over the last three-and-a-half years is speaking regularly on the topic of child protection. This is probably the 10th, 12th or 15th speech I have given on the topic of child protection in the Northern Territory.
My colleague stated in the first part of his speech today that he hopes this debate will rise above a:
If you look at the agenda the minister put forward today, it is about being frank and honest about how challenging this responsibility is and how even now, despite the fact we have had numerous inquiries into child protection over the years, we still struggle and will continue to struggle. It is the nature of the beast and the experience across all jurisdictions within Australia. It is difficult providing child protection services, it is a difficult industry to work in and it is a difficult industry to do really well. I know at different times different jurisdictions have shone brightly in this space, and soon after, you hear they are struggling and have had a few horrendous cases. It is tenuous, it is changeable and reforming and continuing to improve the child protection system is a great goal, great aspiration and a great commitment from this government. We cannot take our eye off the ball.
One myth perpetuated by the opposition since we have been in government is we have reduced spending in this space. That is not true. Never has more been spent on child protection than is being spent in the Northern Territory. In fact, the story we heard from the minister was about budget blow outs. We are probably spending too much in some areas of child protection and not enough in others, and he gave the example of out-of-home care, which has completely blown out.
That was a legacy we inherited from Labor. It was a situation where it had effectively let the foster care system deplete and, as a knee-jerk reaction to not having foster carers available, it invested heavily in expensive alternative care options. That really has sunk the budget of child protection in the Northern Territory over the last few years. Trying to wind that back after paying private carers a substantial amount of money to look after children, to wean those private businesses off the government dollar is extraordinarily difficult. I remember when I became minister for Child Protection, it stood out like a sore thumb. We were throwing money into a system that was never going to be sustainable. We could not afford it, and we had to work very quickly to try to rebuild the foster care system, at the expense of running down this very expensive private childcare system Labor had built up over time. According to the minister, that is still a great challenge for the child protection system in the Northern Territory.
We must rectify that problem we inherited from Labor. We must fix this problem which is draining all of our resources. However, it is refreshing to hear the minister say his focus in child protection is back on the core business of child protection. It is very easy to become distracted; there are endless ways to spend your money when you are in charge of a government agency. As Health minister, I know it is very tempting to disperse money in all directions and get involved in a range of business that is not necessarily where you need to be.
Child protection, because it is a relatively small government agency, must be focused. There are so many children coming to our attention. As the minister stated, numbers continue to escalate. We have record numbers of notifications to the Department of Children and Families. We heard from last financial year, there was a 25% increase on the previous year in demand for child protection services across the Northern Territory. It is horrific, unsustainable and is a national shame that we have this enormous, growing problem in the Northern Territory. We will all battle to deal with it, whether we are Labor, Country Liberal or Independent; it is an extremely difficult area to work in.
How do you deal with a 25% increase in notifications? This will possibly increase in the next financial year. To go from 10 000 notifications in 2012-13 to 12 000 in 2013-14, an increase of 2000 notifications, is staggering. It is like Health, in many ways; you cannot stem the demand and need for health services. If people require healthcare as a government public service, you must try to meet the demand. It is incredibly difficult with limited resources, but you must try to meet the demand. It is the same in child protection; you cannot turn your back on a child who is notified for suspected abuse or neglect. It is impossible.
The only thing you can do - and what the minister is doing is exactly right - is focus on your core business. Things which are miscellaneous, or secondary, must fall off the radar, because you only have X amount of dollars. Unlike the former Labor government, we intend to work within our budget. We do not intend to put the Northern Territory into more debt, which means, in effect, we have less to spend on these very important services.
One thing which came through strongly in this statement is the minister’s acknowledgement of how difficult it is to work within this sector. He talked about the value of his staff within the agency. As a social worker, I graduated in the late 1980s and it was always considered a challenging and somewhat unattractive area to work in because of the seriousness of what you had to do, the enormous responsibility of the role of a child protection worker and the risk you had to manage.
As a young person going through university and coming out as a fairly nave social worker, how do you deal with that level of risk? It is frightening. In another context, I have counselled people who have worked in the child protection system. I have offered them assistance around depression and anxiety because of how personally challenging and difficult it is to be a child protection worker. It is scary stuff. They are a whole group of people in our community, public servants who go largely unrecognised. They work long hours, are committed and have the best intentions. They come to this far-flung place called the Northern Territory; they could end up in Alice Springs, Tennant Creek, Gove or one of our remote communities and they are not only disconnected from their families, but also have this tough role to perform in our communities.
The minister’s vision of how to protect these frontline workers and how to try and stem this very fast turnover of staff in child protection is honourable. It is enormously challenging though. How do you stop the wheels of turning over staff? You can put all sorts of incentives in place and find the best managers, but it is a bit about the nature of the beast. Staff who stick around and demonstrate a long-term commitment are extraordinary and I have the utmost respect for their commitment and stamina. It does not suit everyone, living in the Northern Territory, and it does not suit everyone working in the area of child protection.
The member for Nhulunbuy mentioned that the Children’s Commissioner, Dr Howard Bath – an incredible person who is absolutely committed to child protection in the Northern Territory – still has concerns around case plans, the practice of these child protection workers at the coalface and how they go about their business. The bible of child protection is still for me – every time I talk about child protection, I bring out my Growing them Strong, together bibles and go through them again. It is an incredible document. It is first class and will live for a long time as a reference for what we should do in this space. A part of that inquiry into child protection focused on the practice of child protection workers and looking very critically and analytically at how they go about their business. They uncovered all sorts of deficits and that is, in part, about the high turnover of staff and the lack of support. It is about putting systems in place and that is what the minister is doing.
He is putting systems in place. He talked about various strategic plans, child protection policy, procedure manuals and performance and reporting frameworks. All of those things that sound like gobbledygook to most people in the community are incredibly important to lay the foundations for good casework. By casework, I mean the service you provide to the children, young people and families who are referred into the system. That interface between the child protection worker and the client or the young person and the family is the most critical part of the whole system.
It is lost in politics to some extent, but caring for those young people and providing them a positive experience through an incredibly traumatic period is essential and takes great skill. It takes great expertise and considerable education and understanding to do it well. Doing four years of university and coming out at the end as a social worker, psychologist or whatever qualifications are accepted these days does not equip you to do that job. It requires ongoing training and professional development and support, and our new CLP Child Protection minister is onto this. He understands that, and it came through very strongly in his statement.
The out-of-home care system which I touched on earlier – this is a very concerning story and apart from what I have already said, I will touch briefly on the notion of trying to open up the legislation or the bureaucracy to allow children a more permanent relationship with their carer. We will not push children into forced adoptions, nothing like that and there will be no forced adoptions. Adoption is not a particularly favourable word in this day and age. It has all sorts of very negative connotations, but I note the minister talked about enduring parental responsibility orders.
This is something I investigated when I was the Minister for Children and Families, and this is the next best thing to adoption in a way. It provides the child with a long-term, almost parental-child relationship without stripping away the legal rights of biological parents. That is incredible important to provide children with that stability and that security. Psychologically, it is so important that children have a connection, that they know where they belong and know that next week they will not be shuffled on to the next care placement. I applaud the minister for pursuing this. Western Australia does have enduring parental responsibility orders, and they have been very effectively rolled out over the last couple of years. I look forward to seeing what happens in that space.
The connection between child protection and other government agencies is something I explored to some degree when I was the Minister for Children and Families. As people might remember, I had a strong view that child protection and education could work very well together for the benefit of children and families, and thinking there were great potential synergies, I merged those two agencies. I note the member for Nhulunbuy talked about Family as First Teachers, the parenting and child support program. That is an Education initiative, but it works hand in glove with Children and Families and the child protection agency.
An area that, as a government, we need to work harder on is working out where government agencies can work better together. We always talk about the siloed way we go about our business. It is definitely a challenge to break down those silos and work across agencies. I would like to see the minister pursuing that. For such a small population, 240 000 people across our vast geographical area in the Northern Territory, we have all these government agencies and all these people going off in different directions. There has to be a better way of caring for our children.
In Health, we have 80 remote clinics, 54 of those are Northern Territory government operated clinics and 26 of those are community-controlled health services, but there are 80 in total across the Northern Territory. Why can those clinics not work more closely with child protection workers? Why can those clinics and those child protection workers not work more closely with Education? There is great potential for a lot of good work to happen across government, and if I know the member for Port Darwin, he will take on that sort of challenge.
Mr WOOD: A point of order, Mr Deputy Speaker! Pursuant to Standing Order 77, I move that the member be granted an extension of time.
Motion agreed to.
Mrs LAMBLEY: Thank you, member for Nelson. That is an area of great potential, looking to do the work of government in a more effective and cross-agency manner for the benefit of children and families. It just makes sense. It is incredibly hard to do. That is one thing I have learned since becoming a minister; it sounds a lot easier than it is.
I note the fact we have so many Aboriginal children in care; 83% of kids in care are Aboriginal. Out of 830, that equates to around 690 kids. That is staggering and frightening, considering the Aboriginal population is around 30% of the NT population. This concern was expressed in the Growing them strong, together report.
Just quickly, I reflect on some of the things that Howard Bath and his colleagues who wrote the Growing them strong, together report focused on, and the reason things do not change quickly in this space, despite the good policies and good practices. We must be realistic about our expectations. What they found in 2010, or just before when they were doing their investigations, was that many of the basic needs of children were not being met. There was a reduced child focus, neglect related to chronic gambling and ganja, poor supervision, harms from alcohol, trauma and exposure to violence, increased health problems and deaths across childhood, poor developmental indicators, poor school attendance and the absolute and relative disadvantage of Aboriginal children.
They found all social determinants of health and welfare were alive and well in the communities they visited: the family violence, the alcohol abuse, the inadequate access to wellbeing services, unemployment, poor housing; teenage parents were an issue in some communities, as well as the express need for parenting skills and older adults taking over child rearing. Those things are still being talked about in our community; those problems still exist. We are only four years down the track, no one has a magic wand, but those things are still a major issue throughout the Northern Territory.
The other thing they found was the number of notifications had been steadily rising for years. It is a trend. Like the demand for healthcare, demand for child protection services keeps escalating, and the demand for out-of-home care, similarly, keeps escalating.
The 147 recommendations of the Growing them strong, together report have become almost institutionalised in my mind. Perhaps for some it is not as relevant as time goes on. I believe we can do a great service to the Northern Territory if we keep referring to this very important report, which is not just about 147 recommendations, but also has a great deal of knowledge in it. There was extensive information and research done into all areas of child protection, the practice of child protection, and the out-of-home care system. It itemises, essentially, all aspects of child protection which we can never afford to ignore or diminish in any way. Everything in that report is still relevant, and that is the point I am trying to make in conclusion: reform, reform and more reform. We can never take our eye off the ball.
Successively, as governments, we have struggled to do this business very well. We started from a low base 18 months ago when we came to government. I heard the member for Nhulunbuy say they started from a low base when they came to government in 2001. For the benefit of children in the Northern Territory, we must be mindful of what is realistic and try to support the minister in the good work he is doing.
Mr WOOD (Nelson): Mr Deputy Speaker, I thank the minister for his statement. We occasionally do not agree on things, but I appreciate the hard work the minister has put into his new job. It is relatively new, and that is reflected in this statement. This statement has some guts in it. Some statements we hear are 25 pages and, if I quote a member of parliament who was in opposition, they are ‘puff pieces’. This one is not, and I thank the minister for dealing with a serious subject we can debate in this parliament, hopefully in a mature way.
The issue of child protection is an area we can talk about as if it were a department. This is the Children and Families department, but it is far more than that. If you read the Growing them strong, together report the member for Araluen mentioned a number of times, you see the issues we are dealing with in the introduction. In his statement, the minister recognises we have a group of parents who have failed their children. They have simply not given the love required, and those children are now part of a problem – if I can put it that way – we face in the Northern Territory. The area which needs just as much focus - that is, the nuts and bolts of children and families - is why do we have parents who cannot look after their children?
We must step up, ask the questions and put more emphasis on fixing the problem at the beginning with early intervention and $1 spent now, as against the $200 spent later on. I have no doubt the 83% of Indigenous children misrepresented in this area come from low socioeconomic backgrounds.
I do not have to go to remote areas. I only have to look at my own electorate to see some of the problems which exist: overcrowding; unemployment; alcohol and drug abuse; children not going to school; gambling; boredom; low incomes; and a reliance on social security. Mix all of it in with violence, which is sometimes a reflection of drug and alcohol problems, and what kind of family do you have? Where is the opportunity for a family to love and nurture the children in that family? As I said, I do not have to go far, even in my own electorate, to see the damage caused by some of these problems.
There are moves by governments to try to change things, but they are huge tasks which must be ongoing. There is a housing program which got a lot of attention when the previous government was in office. The CLP is going down the path, along with the federal government, of increasing the number of houses in remote communities.
Employment is still a major issue, and I put employment and boredom together. If you have boredom, it is the same old famous saying: when someone is bored, the devil will get hold of you.
Mr Elferink: The devil finds work for idle hands.
Mr WOOD: That is right. I do not think it matters whether the statement was made in the 1800s, 1900s or the 2000s, it still applies. People get up to mischief when they are bored. If you have a job, opportunities to play sport, a house you can go home to without 20 people in it, a life worth living and with meaning, there is a lot more chance you will raise children in a more productive and safe manner.
People like those from NAPCAN have always emphasised that we must push parenting. That is excellent, because some people do not have any parenting skills. There are many young people who have children when they have not learnt parenting skills, which is an important part of it. You still need a secure place that is not overcrowded, a job which can bring you a reasonable income and an education which can allow you to get a job. Parallel to the matters the minister raised in his statement today, unless we put equal emphasis on changing that side of the equation, we will continue to see an increase of 25% in notifications every year, because nothing will change.
That is not to say – this is one of the problems with talking about this issue – there are not good families out there. There are lots of good families, but they can sometimes be crushed by the atmosphere of a community which brings them down as well. The broad Aboriginal family, unfortunately, has been hammered to some extent by some of the modern day issues that confront them and which they find difficult to handle.
As I said, a lot of what the minister said in his statement is good. I do not think we should be blaming so much on the previous government, because as the member for Araluen said, the Growing them strong, together report came out under the previous government.
Yes, there was certainly pressure from the opposition, but there was also pressure from others to make sure the Growing them strong, together report – this is getting to be like one of those issues where a lot of words are thrown across the Chamber, but it unfortunately becomes mixed up in party politics, instead of saying kids are surely the number one group of people in our community which needs us to work together. This is not something we should be scoring party political points from. Does that help any children? Does that fix the problems we have with child abuse, sexual abuse, physical abuse and kids with no education? I do not think so. At least this statement gives us an opportunity to talk about those issues.
I would have liked a response to some of the issues the Children’s Commissioner mentioned in his 2012-13 annual report included in this statement. I will only read a few of them. In his media release he summarised some of the issues. He said:
The release went on to say:
This is something the member for Nhulunbuy mentioned:
Some of those might have been discussed, but I hope when we are talking about children and families we bring the Children’s Commissioner into the discussion. He is such an important person; he is the neutral observer and when there were changes in CEOs and all that sort of stuff, he was very concerned about the state of affairs. When we report what is happening, we should not just report it from the departmental point of view, but see what the Children’s Commissioner is saying, perhaps comment on what he is also concerned about and supply answers to those concerns. We could see the government is also listening to what the Children’s Commissioner is saying.
Minister, I will quickly go on to a couple of other subjects. I am no expert on children and families’ issues to the degree that many other people like the Minister for Health, you and the member for Nhulunbuy are, but there are a couple of issues I will comment on. Adoption is one, and I know Prime Minister Abbott is talking about trying to improve the number of adoptions; whether that is overseas and does not relate to Australia, I am not sure. He has certainly put that matter on the public agenda.
The ex-Minister for Health, Marion Scrymgour, said you must put the welfare of the child above cultural concerns when it comes to the crunch, and that the welfare of the child is more important. I attended a committee meeting with her quite a long time ago in Alice Springs. She was accused of a creating a second Stolen Generation, and I thought that was woeful, because what she was saying was the child’s welfare should come first. When people throw those sorts of clichs out, they are not particularly understanding of the problems.
When 83% of a group of people is Indigenous – young children in this situation – you will not always be able to find a culturally appropriate person to look after them. It is the child who is number one, and that debate is important. We should try to make sure people have continual contact with their culture, no one would deny that, but if it comes to the bottom line and the way to protect that child is adoption, then adoption should be the way taken.
The minister mentioned that the Royal Commission on sexual abuse is coming to Darwin fairly soon. As a Catholic, I find what has been going on extremely sad, and it will take a long time for the Catholic Church to recover from what has happened. It is not the only one either. It tends to get most of the publicity, and sometimes unfairly. I am not saying it should not get publicity, but there were other people involved in these sorts of issues, from the government to other denominations and other people. From the point of view of a Catholic, it has been a shameful part of the Catholic Church in Australia. One of the sad things, other than the abuse of children, is the good people in the Catholic Church are now being covered in the same mud.
I remember an interview on radio some time ago with a Marist or Christian Brother who had gone through all this, and they said they could hardly say who they were if someone asked them what they did for a job because their name was mud. They have had to live through all this, even though many of them were not part of it. For the few who have done it, it has caused tremendous trauma, not only for the victims, but for those who have not done anything wrong. The Catholic Church must go through all this pain before it is able to have a renaissance, to some extent, because it is something they must, we must – I am part of it – face up to, that it has caused immeasurable harm to young people who have had to carry that through their adult life. I suppose to some extent, many of us must take responsibility, not all of us directly, of course. We cannot sit idly by and say we cannot comment on it when we should.
It is one of those things that is a blot, but as time goes on and new people take over roles in the Catholic Church, a different approach will probably occur, but it is a shameful part of the Catholic Church, not only in Australia, but in other places. We will see, as the sexual abuse inquiry comes to Darwin, what matters are raised.
Minister, one of the Growing them strong, together statements talks about alcohol; it is to do with foetal alcohol syndrome. It is one of the major issues we have, and you have raised it as something to be discussed. I would like you to explain, if this is an opportunity, where you are coming from. I raised it previously, during the Children Commissioner’s Act debate about the definition of what is a vulnerable child. You might remember I mentioned that if someone does something which causes damage to a child before they are born, and when it is born they have some permanent damage, is that a vulnerable child? Has the Children’s Commissioner a role to play? The Children’s Commissioner has a role to play with vulnerable children. The present definition does not quite cover it, but is an unborn child a vulnerable child? That is why what you have been putting forward is worthy of debate. It raises some ethical questions, but it is certainly something worthy of good, solid debate in this House.
I should thank one group of people I deal with every year, and I get a bit confused about all the different groups, but it is Kentish day care. I play Father Christmas every year, and you might say, ‘So what’, but when I am there …
Mr Styles: A very important job.
Mr WOOD: It is. You might be one yourself. I hope Hansard does not record that, someone might be listening. The people I see there are families of all cultures, not just Australian. There are Sudanese, Lebanese and all sorts of people looking after all sorts of kids, and it is great. There are kids who do not have a family, yet there are families, not just Australian – they are Australian, but not necessarily from an Anglo-Saxon background – looking after children, and it is wonderful to see. I know it costs the government money to provide services through places like Kentish day care, but at least there are people who make the effort to care for these children.
I have a group in my electorate – I often see the bus go past – and it sometimes has different kids in that bus, but it takes a lot of kids and looks after them all. Sometimes there are six to nine, and the group cares for all the children, making sure they get to school and giving them some love and care. It is fantastic to see. There are some great stories, and sometimes we must publicise and promote them because we must give a chance to those kids who do not have one.
The other matter the member for Araluen mentioned was the child protection workers. They go down with ambulance people who work on the front line when there is an accident, and the nurses and doctors who deal with people. These people also suffer trauma because they deal with personal stress when they see families which have broken up or abused children, and they must feel it because they are human as well. I thank all those workers who do such a terrific job. I understand why they might not last the full time, because it is a tough job, and after a while you might think there are greener pastures with another job. I also thank the minister for bringing this really important debate on, and I hope we can work as a parliament to improve the situation for all children in the Northern Territory.
Mr VOWLES (Johnston): Mr Deputy Speaker, I thank the minister for bringing this statement into parliament. My contribution will focus on the family, community and culture. I agree with what the minister has said about governments making poor surrogate parents. We lost government, the CLP came into government and there were some really terrible decisions made early on. It was obvious when the CLP came into government that there was no plan. There were things like the constant changes at the top, changes to departmental structure, CEO changes; there were three ministers in 18 months. It was a difficult time, and having three different ministers is never an ideal situation. They lost sight of what the Department of Children and Families does, and that is look after the care and protection of children.
With this statement, I can see you are finally getting down to business. I have said many times in this parliament, in my short time here, that if a minister or member does some good work, I will stand up and applaud it. I will give credit where credit is due, at the moment, to the current Minister for Children and Families, the member for Port Darwin. There has been some movement in this area, finally some stability and you are getting down to core business. For Territorians, and for me, it is about protecting our children.
While we were in government, we focused on working in partnerships with families, communities, NGOs and Commonwealth government, not cost cutting and finding ways to shift children to adoptive parents. We agree a merry-go-round of carers is not helpful for children in care. They need nurturing, support and stability, but also a sense of who they are and where they come from. All the evidence of history shows this is important for an individual sense of self-worth and long-term emotional wellbeing.
The Chief Minister was completely insensitive in grabbing a headline like the one I am holding up which says, ‘Exclusive’, from Tuesday 14 May, 2013, ‘NT Government to Approve Forced Adoption of Neglected Children. ‘We’ll remove abused kids’.
The Chief Minister said:
Headlines like that do not help what you are trying to achieve, but that is his form. We all know he threw out this outrageous statement to cover for some trouble he was having with other areas of his leadership and to divert attention away from some of the issues he was facing at the time. It was very embarrassing for me, as a Territorian, that our national press started relaying how Adam Giles said it was time to reintroduce forced adoptions.
I remember reading The Australian on 18 May 2013 and thinking I was very embarrassed to be a Territorian; yes, it is always a touchy, sensitive subject with child protection, and we must be very conscious that the core focus is about children, but sometimes I do not think our Chief Minister understands the hurt that past government policies in this area have caused families in the Northern Territory. This includes my own family, and a few other members in this Chamber.
Sometimes I struggle – does he have any sense of the history of hurt to do with previous government policies or the torturous path to the long overdue national apology for the wrongs of past governments practices? The member for Nelson mentioned Marion Scrymgour, a very proud Aboriginal lady, esteemed former Labor member and former Deputy Chief Minister of the Northern Territory government. I am sure she has family members who were part of the Stolen Generation; it is something we need to acknowledge, move on from and make sure it does not happen again.
We are very sensitive when we talk about forced adoptions, and at the time I cringed. I received many calls from families, many people from all walks of life and even some from people in other countries who said, ‘What is going on there? What is happening in the Territory? Is this what is going to happen?’ I said, ‘We will just have to wait and see’.
What I continue to be really shocked about, and will continue to stand up and talk about, is the fact that 83% of those in out-of-home care are Aboriginal children. I am sure that is distressing and very upsetting for everybody, including all in this Chamber and all Territorians. I am not proud of the high rate of Aboriginal kids there, and I am not proud of the continuing entrenched disadvantage of many Indigenous families in the Northern Territory. I am not proud we cannot provide more family, community and government support for young parents struggling with parenting responsibilities, and I am not proud of the high rates of alcohol and substance abuse, family violence and child neglect in the Territory. We need focused, considered and consistent actions in doing our best to prevent our children going into care and provide protection for children in abusive situations.
The Northern Territory News reported on 22 October 2013 – I am happy for the minister to correct this and give us an update – that there were 150 fewer staff in the Department of Children and Families. The Department of Children and Families annual report showed employee numbers dropped from 865 to 652 between June 2012 and June 2013. I am happy for the minister to correct me on that during his wrap. What really shocks is the 25% increase on previous years from 2012-13. We need to do better, and I know you are going to work hard to …
Mr Elferink: Much of that is in police notifications.
Mr VOWLES: Yes, we are talking about an increase in the number of children and the lack of care. We need to ensure we get a decrease. I am sure the minister is working hard, as his department and staff are, to ensure the next time he addresses parliament he can talk about how numbers have decreased in this terrible situation.
Mr Elferink: Blessed would be the day.
Mr VOWLES: There have been a few debates in this parliament on child protection issues. We had a parliamentary debate in May 2013, which was about the same time Adam Giles talked about forced adoptions. As you know, I was elected in 2012; I looked at the bush members and said what a contribution they could make, as we all can in this Chamber. However, they could make a particular contribution around Indigenous disadvantage and the opportunities – they represent people in those electorates and see this firsthand.
A few things stick out about the debate on child protection at the time. I remember the member for Arnhem speaking eloquently about the day-to-day struggle of many Indigenous leaders confronting child neglect and abuse. She said:
She went on to say:
The member for Arnhem is a true representative of her people and she faces this every day in her electorate. In the same debate, the member for Araluen said:
I think she was talking about Adam Giles and his comments around forced adoption. Even the member for Stuart, talking about parental responsibilities on that same day, said:
I seriously encourage members to read the contribution of the member for Namatjira during the same debate on 15 May 2013. The member for Namatjira gets it and she always has.
We know we have had some issues in this parliament around, ‘We said, she said’ and ‘We have our job to do to hold you to account’, but there have been moments during my short time in parliament where I have sat back and really listened. This happens a lot when the members for Namatjira, Arnhem and Stuart speak because they have a great opportunity to truly represent the Indigenous population in the Northern Territory, and their own electorates. On that day, May 15 2013, the member for Namatjira spoke fantastically and in a heartfelt manner. In her contribution she covered a breadth of issues that must be addressed to reverse the trend of kids requiring protection and the need for statutory care, let alone adoptions.
There is not one line that summarises her broad contribution on that day. The member for Namatjira said:
If that does not hit some chord within you on this debate around the care of our children and how important that is – we are talking about a member of this parliament who gets it. She gets it and I am still wondering – no offence to you, minister Elferink – why she was sacked as the Minister for Children and Families. She had the assistance of the member for Arnhem. Together, they were working very well towards rolling out a plan, getting into departments, getting out on the ground in communities – 83% of people in out-of-home care are Indigenous kids – and going from community to community.
They are the reports I received. I have a lot of family in communities all around the Northern Territory, as other Indigenous members in this Chamber do, and they were saying the members for Namatjira and Arnhem were out there talking to people on the ground about how they could help. They were saying, ‘What do we need to change in our government? What do we need to do in our legislation to get this done?’ I still do not get why, Chief Minister, she was sacked from that portfolio.
On 18 May 2013, The Australian also reported views of Jenni Collard on taking leadership of the department.
That should be the focus of any government and any Minister for Children and Families. I know the member of Port Darwin will do whatever he can to ensure that happens. I had a quick look at minister Elferink’s charter of rights. It is signed in about a 58pt font signature with ‘The Elf’ on it. The things highlighted to me were:
They are very important things. I ask the minister: what are you doing to give substance to those rights? I look forward to him explaining to me a bit further on. Maybe he can address that in his wrap.
I was very interested to go through your statement, and I thought it was a good statement. The member for Nelson was being very nice when he said, ‘There are a lot of puff statements in here’. I could have used a couple of other words; I am sure the member for Greatorex would use them in here and maybe outside, but this statement has some substance. It does show the Department of Children and Families is trying to do something. It is going back to core business, which is looking after and protecting our most vulnerable children.
I was really interested in adoptions, the part where the minister wants to look at de facto couples being able to adopt. Will this include same-sex de facto relationships? Are we looking at same sex de facto couples being able to adopt in the Northern Territory? I look forward to further comments on that in your wrap, minister.
I am deeply upset about the 83% of Indigenous children who are in and out of out-of-home care. We must ensure we do more. I hope this government is finally off its training tracks onto the real track, and is looking at doing something better. The minister will work hard on this. I hope he gets the support he needs through and within departments for that, because we on this side of the House would love to see the minister here in a year – I would love it to be six months, not a year – talking about the decrease in child protection notifications and the cases and clients coming in front of the department. Thank you.
Mr STYLES (Young Territorians): Mr Deputy Speaker, I will talk about this great statement. I congratulate the minister for his work and his commitment to this portfolio. It definitely shows in the statement.
On 31 December 2013, there were 834 children in out-of-home care. The trajectory of children in the care of CEOs is growing not only in the Northern Territory, but across Australia and the world. Child protection is internationally recognised as one of the most difficult decision-making areas of government. In fact, it is probably one of the most difficult issues for the entire community. It has been debated from time immemorial, and what is best for children and families will continue to be debated forever.
In the early 1980s, on the wall of the old Casuarina police station there was a photograph of a child by the name of Dean. I will not use his last name as it is probably not appropriate. There may be some tears from people who, as part of the community, found it hard to do something about this poor young fellow’s issue and plight.
It was there to remind all police officers who worked at Casuarina of the difficult situations children find themselves in, not by their own choice. Sadly, Dean was subjected to ongoing violence by his father, and there was violence against his mother by his father. Police officers were struggling to find ways of helping young Dean, and departments of the day were also finding it difficult to help this young child. Sadly, one night police from Casuarina were called to Kurringal Flats where the beaten and bruised body of this child was found by ambulance officers. Sadly, young Dean died from those injuries. It was an extremely sad situation, but it would appear people were hamstrung by the rules and regulations of the day. People in the community were crying out that children were far better off in the care of their families. That is generally the case; however, young Dean was not.
A photograph of this young fellow sat on the wall and every new recruit who came in to Casuarina police station would say, ‘What is that photo doing on the wall? Who is that?’ Those of us who were there told the story, and for many years to come that photograph stayed there to remind police officers that not every child is safe in the family environment.
I look at my own upbringing. I was very fortunate to have fantastic parents. My mother almost hugged me to death, so I got the love and care of a loving family, but when I was young, my mother used to have foster kids in our home. Some of those kids, sadly, failed to get the same love, care and attention at home. Fortunately for them, they got a lot of it from my mother and father, who was very supportive of my mother’s role as a foster carer. I grew up seeing some of the issues those young people went through. Some of them who stayed with us for some length of time – the change a little love, care and compassion can bring about.
It was a driving force of mine in relation to the child protection issues I faced as a police officer, as a member in opposition. As a former school-based police officer I dealt with it on virtually a daily basis. I speak with a lot of compassion for people who suffer a lack of love and care in what we would call a normal environment. It drives me, in my role as minister for Youth, to make sure I support people like the minister for Child Protection, his statement today and everything he does on a daily basis, in the parliamentary wing and in Cabinet. He has my very strong support.
Until young people become of school age, the government does not have a lot of input into their development. Sadly for some, there is a lot of damage done and kids, when they turn up at school, are damaged. They have not had that care, love and support. One case comes to mind from not that many years ago of a brother and sister who lived in Malak. People insisted they stay with their family. I was a school-based police officer at the time, and these young kids used to roam the streets at night; they would be caught breaking into places for something to eat. The brother was 18 months older than his sister.
When you deal with these things as a school-based police officer, quite often you get to talk to these young people in an environment where they are supported, they feel safe and will tell you what is going on. I will not use their names because just their Christian names will identify them. I sat down with them one day, early in the piece when they were struggling a bit, and said, ‘Well, what is happening in your life?’
The result was interesting. I will not quote them word for word, but I will paraphrase. ‘Basically, we go home from school and there are people there sticking needles in themselves and smoking marijuana.’ They knew exactly what drugs were all about because they lived in an environment of drug abuse. They said they would go to sleep at night and have people crawling all over them in bed, so what did they do? They left the house at night, wandered the streets and broke into cars and slept in them.
It was very interesting because it would appear in those days that because there was Aboriginality in these kids, people were reluctant to take them off their parents. I used to contact community welfare and say, ‘This is a bit of an issue. There is a problem’, but it was a struggle to get anything done.
It is still a struggle to get anything done for poor people like that. What do we do about that? We look at all the things the minster said, and I agree with the member for Johnston that there are way too many people, especially young Aboriginal people, represented in the 834 people in out-of-home care. We must engage those people and their families. What government is doing, which brings me to what I am doing – it has not been announced yet, but when it is in its final form, it will be rolled out. It is being developed at the moment and is a whole-of-community engagement strategy where we bring people together. I think I have mentioned it in this House before, but it is so important we engage young people and do not let them go through life suffering; that may bring some criticism from certain groups in our community, and that is a bit sad.
I was on the youth suicides committee of this parliament and when the Gone Too Soon report came out it told a very sad story that as a community we were not doing very well in the engagement of young people. So many young people commit suicide, so many young people engage in drugs and this goes all the way back to what we do from day one when a child is born. The member for Nelson raised it earlier. What do we do about foetal alcohol syndrome and what are the rights of the child before they are born? What happens when they are born? Who has a say and who does not?
I was listening to some radio commentary on this matter, and one person said, ‘Well, I agree with all of that, but it is terrible that people can tell other people what they should do with their kids’. I have witnessed the result of that kind of thinking with the bodies of innocent children who have died through physical violence, malnourishment and total neglect. It is really sad, but it happens. It is one of those things that we face.
There are young people who take their own lives because there is no hope, there is no meaning to life, and I pick up on what the member for Nelson said in relation to boredom. Kids and young people get bored. Why do they get bored? Some people, like the two I mentioned from Malak, cannot stay at home at night. We must fix these issues, and in these instances, sometimes people are far better off removed from that environment and put into a safe, loving and caring environment where they too can have what we call a ‘normal kids’ experience: a supportive, secure and safe place to live and sleep.
The issue of housing has been raised and is another issue the government is working on. To go back to whole-of-community engagement, it is so important that young people have somewhere to go that is safe. We look at juvenile crime rates, juvenile participation in drugs and drug trafficking and it then goes to young people prostituting themselves to get money for drugs or simply prostituting themselves for drugs. That is a really sad situation.
I am very proud to be working on this whole-of-community engagement strategy. It is a result of many years of work in the community and understanding what the needs of young people are. Having taught 40 000 of them in my time as a school-based police officer, it is refreshing when they still come and talk to you and give you information about what is going on in the community. It is quite funny; I walked into an office in Parliament House in Canberra last week and one of the receptionists said, ‘Hi, Constable Styles’. It is amazing how these young people remember you. Why do they remember you? Because it was a great program and we helped give them the resilience that all young people need built into them.
How do we do that? If families are not going to do that, then we need other people who can do it. It may not be foster care, it may not be forcibly taking people out of homes, but it is about creating an environment where young people feel safe, can socialise, be with other young people, be with older people in our community, and where they can be with retired people. It is where they can be with people who like other people, like being with other people and like to pass on skills.
Not every child is born with automatic resilience for many issues and problems they will face during their life. We have to inform, instruct and pass on that resilience to our young people. Generally, those who come from what we call a normal family have had parents, carers or grandparents who have taught us about what it is to be ‘normal’. What do ‘normal’ people do? What do you do on Saturday nights? Do you go out and throw rocks at buses or taxis? No, you do not. That is wrong.
We learn right from wrong; the law says that at age 10, it is expected that a child who is not mentally challenged has the ability to understand right from wrong. Sadly, in our community many young people, at 15, do not seem to understand right from wrong. Some of them just choose not to understand or to participate in what is considered to be right and wrong within our community.
They are the people who target other young people. It is not always older people who stalk young people. There are reasons why young people get other young people to do things for them. Young people are vulnerable, and there are other young people who want to use them to go and steal stuff and all sorts of things.
It is important that as a government, in fact, as the Territory community and as people in this House, we support these community engagement programs, particularly when they are first rolled out. I will do a launch this engagement strategy when it is finalised and make a ministerial statement. It is not too far away and will be an exciting new development. We have looked at things around the world and there is nothing quite like it. It is a culmination of many years of being involved in politics and working in the community as a school-based police officer. I have worked on school councils, worked with youth and have run youth organisations and centres. When you put all this together, you come up with something that, hopefully, will compliment what the minister for Child Protection is doing and the things he and the government want to achieve.
Once that is done, the second process is for me, as the minister for Youth, to pick up the ball and make sure these people, when taken into care or lost, have somewhere child protection staff can move them into, in what most people would term normal community activities.
Unless people teach you and demonstrate what most people believe is normal, you have no benchmark. Where do you go when you are asking yourself as a young person where you fit into the world, what is normal? Is this behaviour, throwing rocks at taxis on Friday night from a bridge somewhere in the Northern Territory, normal? Some kids think it is. They think it is okay to do that.
Do you go and spray paint tourist buses? That was reported in the paper. It has cost these people thousands of dollars to get all the artwork redone on their buses. What a tragedy! Yet, some young person – we are assuming it is some young person – thinks it is a great joke. It is probably because many of these people did not have what we would call a normal upbringing. Somehow, they just chose it as a lifestyle. They want to go and create havoc and do it for fun.
As a community, we must support the initiatives of the minister for Child Protection, and I will be asking this House and the people of the Northern Territory to support the initiatives we are creating in relation to community engagement strategies. We will use existing infrastructure and kids will go there; it will be a safe environment and we will make sure of that. It will be somewhere that is fun to be. Most kids I know and have dealt with in my time working in the community want an adrenalin rush. They want to do something that is fun, and whether it is abseiling down the side of a wall or going for a ride in a speed boat, it is about getting fun things to happen. Generally, many young people who come from disadvantaged families do not have an opportunity to get into that.
We hope, in relation to moving things along, that we can help reduce people’s desire to take their own lives and the Gone Too Soon report can be implemented as part of the whole-of-community engagement strategy. We want to give kids some meaning in life, put them into an environment where they can make their own decisions about what might be normal and what might be happening at home, where they can speak to a range of people in the community who will be present at these centres, and they can get some advice on what is going on.
Picking up on something the member for Nelson said, yes, I have played Santa Claus. It is a great thing to do for the community, but sadly for some kids, Santa Claus does not come. I hope all initiatives contained in this child protection statement and the other things we are doing in the youth portfolio will make Santa Claus come for some of these children. Thank you very much.
Mrs PRICE (Community Services): Mr Deputy Speaker, I commend the Minister for Children and Families’ statement about the current status of child protection in the Northern Territory to the House. As members know, I have been a long-time advocate for the reduction of violence against women and children, having been a victim myself and having young relatives who need protection. My niece was killed in a car crash a couple of months ago. She has a daughter, and the father is in and out of gaol; he is now in gaol. Who is protecting this child right now, as we speak? One grandmother has just been released from gaol – the father’s mother – and the other grandmother is too sick to give her support and, since the death of her mother, has been trying to commit suicide.
Child protection is very close to my heart, and as the member for Johnston said, keeping children in a safe environment with families is the ideal, but I know, as an Aboriginal person, families do not give enough protection for the support of this child.
I see children on the streets of Alice Springs, wandering from 9 pm until 1 am, 2 am or 3 am, in groups. These children need protection. Who is protecting them? I have relatives whose mums have been killed by their fathers. How are they supposed to grow up in this environment, without protection from an authorised person who will give them the support, love and protection needed? These children grow up knowing their mother was killed by their father. I know many of these children who will be growing up thinking, ‘What has the world come to? Why are we not protected? Who is doing something for us as children who need to be protected?’
These children grow up surrounded by family members in communities or town camps like the camps around Alice Springs. Yes, they have families; they have lots of aunties, uncles, sisters and cousins, but the environment they grow up in is supposed to be a carefree environment, where they go and enjoy the freedom they should have, but it is not there. Times have changed; these children must fend for themselves. These children do not know what life is all about. We expect them to be born into this environment with people who will show them love and protect and care for them.
In Alice Springs, I am happy I have seen same-sex couples who have fostered young Aboriginal kids. These children look so happy, healthy and carefree, and they know they have these people who care for them. These same-sex carers love these children and make sure they keep connections with the families of these children. In Alice Springs, I have seen a lot of this, a lot of white families who have taken in Aboriginal kids, maybe one, two or three. They give them the care we, as parents, are supposed to give our children. I can talk a lot about how Aboriginal people view caring for children, but it would take me forever. I commend the minister for his direct, frank and assertive comments on his and his department’s direction, regarding child protection.
As the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Mr Ban Ki-moon, said:
I know what it means. It is also linked to increased risk of poor health, school performance and long-term welfare dependency. It is also linked to psychological and emotional consequences, such as feelings of rejection, anxiety, trauma, fear and insecurity. Child violence is also linked to risky behaviours and developmental and behavioural issues, such as non-attendance at schools, antisocial behaviours and poor relationships.
Child violence is also associated with poverty and holds back the potential of individuals and countries, but this does not mean it is inevitable. From my attendance at the recent 58th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women in New York at UN headquarters, I was buoyed to find that world, federal, state and local governments are partnering at the highest level to take a stand on violence against women and children. There were pledges to honour international treaties, support to introduce more robust legal provisions and to reduce violence and rally public commitment and support through coordinated public campaigns to overcome social norms and attitudes that condone violence against children.
It is also vital we partner and work alongside children and young people, and learn from their insights and wisdom. One of the great things I observed at the CSW 58 was the engagement of young people in this multitiered approach. I was moved by the number of young women from around the world who talked about their experiences and how they are now taking a stand to end this unnecessary violence.
There was a girl from Malawi, who had no protection and no adult there to protect her from abuse. There was a Rwandan girl, who watched her mum being butchered in front of her when she was a three-year old. She managed to survive, without protection, to tell her story.
We must shield our children from violence and address the attitudes that allow it to flourish. These are attitudes like, ‘It is culturally appropriate’ or ‘It is religious custom’. These attitudes must stop, and violence against children should never be accepted.
I am proud to be associated with a government committed to developing appropriate institutional responses; preventing and ending violence against children requires a united, non-partisan effort. While there is no time for complacency, the situation is dramatic in its scale and extent, but there are signs of change. We must celebrate the gains, grasp the lessons learnt and redouble our efforts towards a dynamic, forward-looking strategy to ensure children’s rights to freedom from violence at all times. We must intervene more in my people’s families to protect their children. The level of violence in our communities is unacceptable. The only way we can make a change is through intervention.
While I acknowledge it is important children grow up in their own families with their parents, this is by no means an absolute. If it is proven families are unable to provide a loving, violence-free environment for their children, we must step in to provide one. This must be regardless of race, culture or religion.
How we do this is critical. We must allow their family to be part of any process that seeks to address violence and its consequences, but we must not live in fear when protecting our children. If we have to act, then we must, in spite of skin colour.
Why should a child in Malak be thought about differently to a child in Yuendumu, my own town? I am aware that such a strong, multitiered commitment raises negative voices within our community: the cries and claims by those saying we are creating another Stolen Generation. If we do not act now they will be. I realise this is a challenge, but it is one we must overcome. I have witnessed too much violence against children across communities. We as a society must protect our children. We have an obligation to stop the cycle of violence.
We must not listen to those voices who oppose. The voices we must listen to are from children crying for help, those screaming enough is enough and those who are begging us for help. Our children need to grow up well nourished, in good health, well-educated, resilient and free from violence. We must all remember that every child is not safe.
We as parliamentarians, parents, friends, brothers, sisters, husbands, wives and families owe each and every child a life without fear. I commend the minister for his statement and support the House noting it.
Mr ELFERINK (Children and Families): Madam Speaker, I thank all honourable members for their contributions to this debate. The intention of this statement was to outline my beliefs and the Northern Territory government’s beliefs about what we can do in child protection. It is important for a minister to articulate and identify precisely what is on that minister’s mind in what should happen in portfolio areas. The ministerial statement exists because a minister must, by their very definition, come into their portfolio responsibilities and be able to articulate what they want to do in that portfolio area.
If a minister is not comprehensively able to articulate what they want to achieve and describe that to the public of the Northern Territory, they have scant chance of being able to articulate it and describe it to their own CEO or staff. The role of the minister is one that should be cherished and relished. It is a rare and wonderful opportunity to use the resources made available to you and to make a difference in whatever portfolio the Chief Minister would condescend to give you. When I was asked to become the minister for Child Protection, I confess to a certain apprehension initially because I know of the difficulties that surround this ministry and the pain it has caused. I have noticed a number of ministers – and I do not seek to belittle them – have struggled with the enormity of the task this portfolio area represents.
I have matured in a number of ways, I suspect, since becoming a minister of the Crown, and while I think I had a pretty good grasp on how governments should work from opposition, the nuances and day-to-day business of being a minister of the Crown have educated me in the role of what a minister should be. It has given me the capacity to have courage in my own sense of right and wrong and how that translates into government policy, because, ultimately, while there are substantial limitations on my power – and so there should be – the ministry I am given is still, in some respects, a reflection of my beliefs and passions.
Having made those opening observations, the ministry of child protection is a ministry I decided not to be squeamish about. It was, I think, some 12 hours after I was given the ministry that I was sitting in front of an ABC radio microphone being asked questions such as, ‘What do you believe in, in terms of child protection?’ While I had been given no preparation whatsoever, and I do not think I had even had the first departmental briefings come across my desk at that stage, I found myself suddenly resolved to articulate clearly what I believed in. It was during that radio interview that Maslow’s hierarchy of needs jumped into my head. It struck me as completely self-evident that if the first tier of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs was not being satisfied, all other rights on the planet, including the rights to privacy, cultural rights, etcetera, were essentially rendered meaningless. I articulated that during that interview, and as the interview went on, I became more certain of my position.
If my memory serves, I was asked questions about adoption during that interview and was able, once again, to suddenly resolve in my own mind the structure and hierarchy that should surround an issue such as adoption. Adoptions were deliberately mentioned in this statement, not because they were easy to talk about, but for exactly the opposite reason. They are hard to talk about because by the time we are talking about an adoption as a form of intervention, we have essentially abandoned all hope for any form of reconciliation for that child. That is something we should lament in this House, because once a child is adopted and those ties are severed with their family, they are set on a new course.
Shortly upon becoming the minister for this department, a matter ended up on my desk, which was a decision to enable a child to move to another jurisdiction to be with a foster care family. I will not go into too much detail because there is always a risk of identifying people, so I will be very careful not to, but this child was with a family which had good cause to move to another jurisdiction because they were assisting another child. I had the choice of directing that child be returned to her natural family, which was from Central Australia, where the mother was unreliable to say the least, the father was a complete non-entity and the best they could hope for was to drop this child, who had been in the protection of this foster family, into a camp with some relatives, in the hope they might find mum at some point. It was not a hard decision to make, but as I signed the piece of paper, my pen paused over the top of the signature block because I realised with the stroke of a pen, I would be changing this child’s life forever.
It is for that reason the line is in the ministerial statement. I do take this on as a great burden, because to change a person’s life with the stroke of a pen seems like such an arbitrary thing to do but, nevertheless, somebody must make these decisions. As I said in the closing points of my statement, these decisions should be made without fear. I hope if I have anything to offer the people of the Northern Territory and the true welfare of those kids in my or my CEO’s care –hopefully soon to be my care – it would be somebody who genuinely believes they are doing something with their best interests at heart, and will do so without fear.
I will suffer any abuse. I will gladly and wilfully suffer any amount of public condemnation if I continue to have the best outcomes of the child close to my heart and at the forefront of my consciousness.
I note the member for Nhulunbuy asked about the strategic plan. I am happy to make that strategic plan available to the shadow minister for her perusal. Generally they find their way into annual reports anyhow, so if it is not already a public document, it soon will be. In any instance, I trust the member for Nhulunbuy to peruse that strategic plan and I will offer it to her.
I also note there were comments from the member for Johnston about the increasing number of notifications. That is true, but I also point honourable members’ attention to page 42 of the annual report from the Children’s Commissioner for the Northern Territory. Notifications have been pretty static over the whole period 2008-09 to the end of the period 2012-13, but for reports coming in from the Northern Territory police.
I suggest to honourable members that a large slice of these substantial increases are a result of increased police activity in these areas. Police are not above the law. While they supervise the law, they must still comply with it, and when the law says you must report child abuse if and when you see it, the police are quite right to report it. You will see - and I urge honourable members to look at page 42 of the report - that activity of the police in this area has substantially increased, particularly in the last two reported years.
As a consequence, you can take some almost bizarre comfort, because on page 51 of the report, the number of notifications has been climbing over the last couple of years and, as I said in the statement, we have continued to see increases in the last financial year. Oddly enough, the number of substantiations has gone down slightly, and what happens is because people are complying with the law, you will see a sharp increase as people become aware of their duty to report, which will proportionally lower the number of substantiations.
While reports go up, and investigations ensue as a result of those reports, the first place to determine whether or not a child is in need of care is done at central intake, where they pick up the phone. They have some very experienced people sitting on the phones there, who are able to do a determination up-front. Many of the telephone calls central intake receives do not amount to child neglect or abuse, Gott sei Dank!
Those which do lead to investigations - from those investigations, approximately one-third will lead to substantiations, which still leaves us with well over 1000 children who need care, and as I said in the statement, many of those children end up in permanent care through out-of-home care services. I hope this goes some way to addressing the member for Johnston’s issue with the amount of reports we are getting, as compared to the amount of substantiations. Again, I direct honourable members to the annual report of the Children’s Commissioner, because it is done at arm’s length from government and there are some very interesting facts in it. I also note on page 52 of the report that the number of sexual abuse cases has fallen to 1%, which is well below the national average.
This concurs with the assertion I made in the House the last time we met that we are dealing with a particularly insipid enemy as a government, which the former government also had to struggle with. The enemy here is not necessarily active abuse, but rather the corrosive natural predisposition towards entropy. Entropy, to remind honourable members, is a word from the physical sciences, which suggests something in a state of organisation, without any active participation, will tend to decay to a state of disorganisation. I said the forces of entropy were manifest, with a welfare system which does a lot more to harm people than it necessarily should. The passive welfare system is fuel for the entropic principle in people, which is one of the reasons I suspect you will find active abuse and sexual abuse are lower, but neglect is extremely high indeed.
It is because, sadly, child abuse in this jurisdiction is not something that is actively done; it is something that is passively not done. That is probably the better way to describe it. We, as a government, are confronted with a large slice of our population which shows, essentially, indifference to the plight of their children. One can only suggest that indifference is the product of people’s minds being in other places, such as the card game, getting into town and getting on the drink and not taking any responsibility for anything whatsoever. If anything drives child neglect it is a lack of responsibility on the part of parents. We, as a government, will attempt to become parents in the place of those parents, but my God, at that point, it really is the case of the lesser of two evils. Government will try, government will continue to try, but ultimately, all we can do is be the ambulance at the bottom of the hill when it comes to the child protection response.
Honourable members may be oblivious to the comments I made last time in this House, but it is about the appropriate use of resources. The child protection system should be there to respond to child protection needs in the community. It is, by definition, the ambulance at the bottom of the hill. I do not anticipate that the ambulance tries to drive to the top of the hill and provide first aid before somebody falls off the hill. It is not an appropriate use of the resource, and it is why this government will shortly examine other things which will build the fence at the top of the hill. These include a juvenile justice policy, which must be rolled out over the next four or five months, as well as a domestic violence policy, which I believe, should it be approved by Cabinet in its final form, will be the benchmark and model as to what a domestic violence policy must and should be in this country. I believe it would be particularly effective in remote communities across the Northern Territory.
This can be coupled with a system of Alcohol Protection Orders, mandatory alcohol rehabilitation and preventative policing, which we are seeing large swathes of, particularly in Alice Springs - this has had an effect on the amount of grog being consumed - and a Corrections system that can try and turn out people who are employed and employable. All of a sudden, you have something to build around the family because there are a number of ways that each of those organisations and policies can help reach into the family.
To use child protection officers for familial reconstruction would probably be a misappropriation of resources into a particular area, but I do hear members talk about the necessity to attend to the family, and I agree. Child protection officers are not the starting point, so this is a very specific role the government needs to do. This is the difference from what the former government attempted to do, and I am not seeking to be overtly critical of the former government. I have been very careful - and I note other members have picked up on this - not to make this a slanging match, but if we describe the resources applied, the former government doubtlessly applied a lot of resources, and I acknowledge that in my statement.
It was not an attempt to bash up the former government, as the member for Nhulunbuy suggested. Perhaps I could have worded it better, but it was an attempt to describe the difference between a garden hose and a sprinkler. A sprinkler will invariably use more water. A garden hose, with a nozzle, can direct water in a very specific direction. What I have been trying to do since becoming the minister for Child Protection is essentially find ways we can far more actively focus our attention, and point the hose in the right direction.
We do pick up on comments by members opposite, and two members mentioned it; it was to do with making sure care plans are up to date. Yes, we are endeavouring to make sure all care plans are up to date. It is all part of making sure we are focused on our primary function, which is protecting children.
I also note comments from the shadow minister, the member for Nhulunbuy, in relation to child and family centres. Child and family centres are a product of the Education department. I am sure you could fire a question at the Minister for Education or seek a briefing, and he will be more than happy to help you with those centres in places like Gunbalanya and Maningrida, which we discussed.
Finally I do want to touch on something that was briefly referred to today and that was the Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder debate. I was quite deliberate in wanting to bring this matter into the public domain for discussion because the Fulton matter out of Western Australia has certainly generated some interest locally and on a national scale. Without entering into that matter - because it is not central to this particular debate - it does raise the issue of FASD. I just want to touch on one issue before I sit down …
Mr GILES: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Pursuant to Standing Order 77, I ask that the member be granted an extension of time.
Motion agreed to.
Mr ELFERINK: Thank you, honourable members. I shall not be on my feet for those ten minutes. I just want to touch on this very quickly because I suspected the debate was going to go in this direction, and I want to clarify in people’s minds what I am talking about. The question was raised with me on radio the other day - and it was crafted in the form of the abortion debate - that a woman’s body is her temple and she has every right to determine what happens with that body.
I will not enter into the debate as to whether an abortion is necessarily part of this conversation at all. A woman will exercise a choice and has the right to exercise a choice under the laws of the Northern Territory, if she can demonstrate a requirement for medical intervention, and that is not what I am talking about. If, however, a woman chooses to keep a child, the community expects that woman to look after that child to a particular standard. The question I have put out there is not meant to focus on what happens before a woman makes that decision, but after a woman makes that decision. I thank everybody who has entered into this debate so far for being so sensitive in relation to it, because it has been dealt with very sensitively in the public domain. I acknowledge the member for Wanguri for also exercising sensitivity in this space.
Once a woman has determined, either by her own decision or conduct to take a pregnancy through to full term, the question I have as the Child Protection minister is: do I have some jurisdiction, for a lack of a better way to express it, over the unborn? It is a sad truth that from time to time in our community, pregnant women will continue to conduct themselves in a fashion that could seriously threaten the wellbeing of an unborn child. That presents the community with a substantial challenge. One of the ways that challenge may be introduced is some form of restraint on a woman if she chose to conduct herself in such a reckless fashion that she could rob a child brought into the world of the opportunities that child needs to get ahead. That is as complicated as the question is, but it is one that attracts serious debate. It is one that engenders deep consideration and I thank honourable members for being as cautious as they have around this particular issue. Should this debate go on, then I would ask honourable members to continue their sobriety and temperance in relation to the language that surrounds this important issue.
Beyond that, I could speak for another hour at least in relation to issues that pertain to my portfolios areas. I have already run over time, and I am conscious of that, but I thank all honourable members, including members of the Labor Party, for understanding what this ministerial statement attempted to outline and also understanding the spirit in which it was crafted. I am grateful to the House for dealing with this sensitive issue in a very sensitive way.
Motion agreed to; statement noted.
Continued from 21 August 2013.
Ms LAWRIE (Opposition Leader): Madam Speaker, I thank the government for finally bringing this statement back. It is obvious why it came back today: because the government has announced a funding position for support, complementing the funding decision announced by Rio Tinto today.
We are deeply disappointed with the government’s announcement of an additional $2m to support the community of Nhulunbuy and the northeast Arnhem Land region. We have waited four months for an announcement from the government, and on a day when Rio Tinto announced a $50m package, to hear just $2m from the Chief Minister and the Territory government continues a long line of very deep disappointment in how we have seen the Nhulunbuy situation mishandled by this Chief Minister.
Four months is a long time for a community to wait for an indication from the government in their own jurisdiction as to what level of support they could expect. Chief Minister, I hope you go to Nhulunbuy and engage with people there, not just the task force members, but the GCAC, the Gove Community Advisory Council, which has some 20-odd people who represent a great number of different walks of life in Nhulunbuy. That would be a very wise thing to do as soon as you can – even in the middle of sittings – to talk through these announcements, hear directly from them and see whether or not you need to further consider the government’s position in supporting not just the Nhulunbuy community, but, as we keep stressing, the northeast Arnhem Land region. Nhulunbuy is such a crucial service supply hub for northeast Arnhem Land.
When we saw Rio Tinto in February announce its transitional support for businesses with a reduction in rates payable to the Nhulunbuy Corporation, a reduction in power tariffs and a reduction in commercial rent for businesses, we welcomed that announcement. Rio Tinto, in February, also announced a mortgage subsidy and rates relief for Nhulunbuy property investors experiencing financial hardship. At the time we pointed out there was no like package for businesses in commercial rental relationships with other business owners. That still remains a concern and an issue the government really needs to pay attention to in facilitating some business outcomes for businesses hanging on for grim life in a rapidly contracting community.
We see the loss of some 1050-odd jobs, and we see the consequential devastating impact that will have on the township, the region, and the Northern Territory economy, because we saw some $500m injected into the Territory economy as a result of refinery operations in Gove. That is no small thing, and we still do not have a social and economic impact analysis forthcoming from the Commonwealth government or the Northern Territory government, or a combined body of work from the two tiers of government.
How the GCAC, the task force and others are meant to make informed and considered decisions on the best way to maximise the $50m package announced by Rio Tinto – or indeed the small $2m from the government – without that information is very difficult. We know the government appointed a couple of people to give some advice, and today we had an announcement of $2m from the Chief Minister as a contribution to a regional economic development fund which, he says:
We do not have the results of that work, Chief Minister, and it is crucially important that members of the Nhulunbuy community and the very strong and capable Yolngu of northeast Arnhem Land are privy to this detailed information. Taxpayers’ funds have been expended on consultancies for these advisors. We were told it would be a work of some weeks’ duration and here we are, four months down the track, and the detail is not forthcoming.
It would have been reasonable to expect today’s announcement to include a hand down of the report, showing the very limited social and economic - only economic in the report by these advisors – analysis to complement the announcement, but that has not occurred. The people of Nhulunbuy and the region, to a large extent, are still being kept in the dark as to what feasibly and realistically could be prioritised in economic and job stimulus in Nhulunbuy and the region. It is a bit of a task, because Rio has announced a $50m support package - I note, over five years - and the CLP government, with its colleagues, the Commonwealth government, has ensured it has been provided into, literally, a void of information required through social and economic impact analysis.
The $2m towards the economic development of the Territory’s fourth biggest town, and a vibrant region, is pretty embarrassing after some four months of the Chief Minister failing to deliver at all. What remains to be known is the basis of that $2m contribution. Where is the detail for the community to make an informed decision on the economic stimulus which could flow? Let us look at how this contribution, announced today by the Chief Minister, compares to structural adjustment packages in other communities.
Here is a snapshot of a few: in 2011, the New South Wales government contributed $5m following the loss of 800 jobs at BlueScope Steel; in 2011, the South Australian government contributed $7m following the loss of 200 jobs at Kimberly-Clark; in 2009, the Tasmanian government contributed $7.5m following the loss of 474 jobs at PaperlinX. The good folk of Nhulunbuy and the region of northeast Arnhem Land get $2m for in excess of 1050 jobs.
These are three recent examples where engaged governments recognised their responsibilities and contributed real funds towards structural adjustment in their communities. We must look at how we overcome the loss of such a significant job shed in Nhulunbuy, where we look for what I describe as the low-hanging fruit regarding opportunities for jobs, replacement jobs and job stimulus. There is still silence from the Abbott-led federal government following the company and the Chief Minister’s announcements today. One of the things there is still silence on, Chief Minister - and the clock is ticking - is the future of public servants and their jobs in Nhulunbuy. They are a crucial workforce in the town; they are crucial to not only supporting the residents of the town, but, more broadly, the residents of the northeast Arnhem Land community.
While the curtailment time frame has been brutal with refinery workers, we have significant concerns with the time frames the government has put in place for its public servants. The Commissioner for Public Employment committed that there will be no changes to employment of school staff until the end of semester one. Chief Minister, that is weeks away. This is except for Year 12, where no change will occur until the end of 2014. In stark contrast, Nhulunbuy Christian College was straight up there in guaranteeing staff a full year at the school for 2014. The Territory government must do the same for the entire teaching staff of Nhulunbuy High School, as Nhulunbuy Christian College managed to do. Chief Minister, I know you go on data, and we are concerned about your use of data and the veracity of the data you use. In a previous Question Time in December, you said the school age population of the town is expected to drop from 947 to 275.
We know education officials on the ground in Nhulunbuy did not line up with that data and that announcement. Chief Minister, have you kept track of the rate of separations, if you like, of students leaving Nhulunbuy? Have you revised that data? Have you revised the views of the government, in terms of the provision of teachers at Nhulunbuy High School?
Earlier in the year, the Commissioner for Public Employment committed that there would be no changes to the employment of permanent Northern Territory public sector staff in Nhulunbuy until 31 March this year. That is less than two weeks away, Chief Minister. You announced the $2m funding package for Nhulunbuy today, and failed to talk about the jobs of public servants employed under your government in Nhulunbuy that expire on 31 March, less than two weeks away.
What on earth is going on in government that the Chief Minister, in announcing a funding package today, did not provide certainty of employment for public servants in that town? Do we have to read the tea leaves or could you guarantee it during your contribution in closing this ministerial statement?
During your contribution in Question Time today, what we saw you do is essentially announce the rolled up, recurrent funding that government already provides into Nhulunbuy and the region. You did admit the only new additional dollars were $2m, but you then went on to talk about the recurrent contribution government makes.
In reading the tea leaves without a comprehensive response from you, Chief Minister, are we to understand there will be no loss, permanent or contractual, of a public servant in Nhulunbuy through all of 2014? Do we guess that it is through to 2015? Could you please explain to the House, in your summation today - and indeed ensure that information gets out to the Nhulunbuy community - just what you mean by announcing the recurrent contribution the government makes to Nhulunbuy?
Do all of those public servants have a job through all of 2014 or 2015? What exactly is the position of the government? Nothing has been said since the announcements by the Commissioner for Public Employment. As I said, for public servants who are not teachers, the clock expires on 31 March in terms of certainty of employment in Nhulunbuy.
You have a responsibility to explain future plans, as you see them, for the town and the region, and not just let Rio Tinto take the lead. There are families and people who operate businesses in Nhulunbuy who must make very tough decisions, but they are doing so at the moment in void, without the information a government would normally provide. It is certainly time; it is overdue, but it is definitely time for the government to be clear about its plans for the town and to be very up-front and honest with the people of the northeast Arnhem Land region.
Given today’s announcement occurred without information about economic plans from the advisors you have funded as consultants, given the announcement was far short of what anyone would expect a structural adjustment package from a Northern Territory government to be and given the announcement today does not include one cent from the federal government in terms of economic stimulus, any project stimulus, nothing, we are very concerned that you, Chief Minister, have failed to deliver, yet again, for the people of Nhulunbuy and the northeast Arnhem Land region.
There is a bit of form with the Chief Minister in this regard. We have a pretty sad history, with his mishandling of the gas to Gove situation, which ultimately led to the announcement of the refinery curtailment. We know that in February 2013 former Chief Minister Terry Mills told the good news:
I refer you to his media release of 11 February 2013. Two days later, then Chief Minister Terry Mills welcomed the announcement by Rio to keep the alumina refinery open, with a media release headlined, ‘Done Deal to Secure the Future of Gove’.
I refer you to that release of 13 February 2013. The government provided confidence to the community with those announcements that a deal had been done, and as stated in the then Chief Minister’s media release.
The company’s chief executive responded by saying:
He went on to say:
I refer you to the Rio Tinto media release dated 13 February 2013. People in Nhulunbuy believed them. People in the northeast Arnhem Land region believed them, and we believed them. But that was torn apart by this current Chief Minister when he decided to renege on the gas to Gove deal. You reneged on your decision; this rests squarely with your reneging on the deal. Over a thousand people will lose their jobs and a community has been torn apart with no real plans for the future. It is on your shoulders, Chief Minister.
This has been a sorry debate. This has been a debate of ministers missing in action. This has been a debate of people having to be called and called before they would go and visit Nhulunbuy. Chief Minister, when you decided to renege on the deal, you went on to say:
How wrong you called it then - utter rubbish. It led to the curtailment of the refinery. It has led to the loss of over 1000 jobs in the Northern Territory. We do not know the full extent of the economic impact; we can only go on some early preliminary estimates from Treasury, which is talking about a 2% contraction in our gross state product. The real figures, hopefully, will come forth at estimates time. For the loss of somewhere towards $500m investment into the economy, you found $2m for a regional economic plan with no data, no detail and no information behind it. How much are you paying the consultants to give you a plan that has not yet materialised? What has been their fee, Chief Minister? This is information that ultimately gets onto the public record. I know you will do your best to obfuscate and pretend but it will ultimately come out on the public record, through one means or another. How does your $2m stack up against what you are spending on consultants for a plan that nobody in the public domain has seen?
Reneging on the gas deal not only irrevocably damaged the community of Nhulunbuy, it sent a global message that the CLP government, under Chief Minister Adam Giles, cannot be trusted, that your word is not good, and a deal is not a deal. That has sent shock waves through the major players in the oil and gas industry. In a single day, you put the future and the future of many things in jeopardy.
People in Nhulunbuy have faced four months of absolute uncertainty, deep sadness as they say farewell to friends and work colleagues and a tragic death at the Rio site. It has been a shock, but there have been glimmers of hope that maybe the Northern Territory government would listen to the GCAC, to task force members and step up to respond responsibly with a reasonable structural adjustment package based on detail and fact. Chief Minister, that has not happened today, has it? You have rushed into sittings with the need to announce something, and you have $2m. That is what you put on the table, without any plans around it. You have Rio Tinto’s $50m over five years, without any details around it. You then issue a media release with a wish list of requests to the federal government, without a single cent. In that media release, you could not even quantify the amount of roads funding you would seek.
Chief Minister, you will stand condemned for tearing apart a magnificent community, failing to deliver a structural adjustment package of any great reason from your government, and nothing from the federal government. It is ignoring you.
Mr GILES (Chief Minister): Madam Speaker, I will finish the statement I tried to make on 11 February, updating the House on the significant efforts of the government to secure the future of Nhulunbuy and the East Arnhem Land region. My government understands the enormous economic and social impact Rio Tinto’s decision will have on the residents of the Nhulunbuy region. I have good news about my government’s negotiations with Rio Tinto and our ongoing conversations with the Australian government for an economic development support package for Nhulunbuy.
Today, I have agreed to work with Rio Tinto and the Australian government in establishing a new private sector entity that will manage surplus Rio Tinto housing and access to a range of key company-owned commercial and industrial assets, including their general cargo wharf, warehouses and workshops. These assets will be made available for new economic activities, and will help grow a robust and diverse economy for Nhulunbuy and the broader East Arnhem Land region.
My government and Rio Tinto have agreed to investigate options for establishing a new special purpose economic development entity to deliver on this. The entity’s five key functions will be: to provide leadership that drives and coordinates new and existing economic activity in the region; to actively market and promote Nhulunbuy and the East Arnhem Land region to prospective investors and residents; to attract and secure new investment for Nhulunbuy and the wider region; to facilitate the establishment of new industries and businesses; and the expansion of existing business through the use of the available assets, funding and advice on regulatory matters.
To support Indigenous economic development, the strategy of using a business entity to pursue economic development goals is a well-established approach. The entity will address the longer term economic development needs of East Arnhem Land, equipped with a regional development fund which could be used to support private sector investment, facilitate the use of economically valuable assets and seed and foster new economic activity. I am pleased to demonstrate the government’s support of the East Arnhem Land region by committing $2m to the establishment of the economic development entity and regional economic development fund.
Following negotiations with my government, Rio Tinto has today set out an arrangement to provide an additional $50m over the next five years. This includes Rio Tinto’s $2m contribution to creating an economic development entity and regional economic development fund; launching a community investment fund to support Nhulunbuy’s community organisations; the provision of additional funding, training and business mentors to help build the capacity of Indigenous businesses and support new economic activities, potentially including mining operations by traditional owners; and offering professional advisors and financial assistance for Nhulunbuy residents, businesses and residential property investors.
Rio Tinto estimates its ongoing bauxite operation will contribute more than $500m to the region over the next five years through expenditure on wages and spending with local suppliers. Since Rio Tinto announced its decision to curtail its refinery operations, Northern Territory government departments have been working within their existing programs and budgets to ensure individuals, businesses and other organisations are supported in the short term.
Northern Territory government support includes restructuring and re-prioritising capital projects and repairs and maintenance programs to ensure local service providers and contractors are able to secure contracts combined with Rio Tinto’s equivalent strategy for prioritising local procurement.
This approach is assisting many Nhulunbuy and East Arnhem Land businesses to manage their transition to Rio Tinto’s reduced activity levels. The Northern Territory government is already a significant contributor to economic activity in the region. Our commitment to the region includes expenditure of more than $1bn on essential services including health, education and police over the next five years.
For 2013-14, this equates to a spend of $330m in the region, including $272m on services, grants and infrastructure plus $58m this financial year on public sector wages. I will now outline some of this expenditure in detail.
The Department of Business has been on the ground in Gove since early December, giving advice and assistance to local businesses. The Department of Business’ senior client manager has met with 111 local businesses. Twenty-eight applications have been received from businesses for consultancy grants and $254 561 in grants has been committed to date, under the Business Growth consultancy program. A further 33 businesses are known to be in the process of developing their applications now. A number of workshops have been provided to local businesses in the transition.
The Northern Territory government has also made its Territory Worker Database available to those people affected by Rio Tinto’s decision to suspend production at the refinery. This database can be used by employees located in Gove, the East Arnhem Land region and elsewhere in the Northern Territory to find suitable staff. The Deputy Chief Executive of the Department of Chief Minister wrote to the Deputy Secretary of the Department of Industry to request his assistance in the NT gaining access to the Enterprise Connect program. The Department of Industry responded by sending an Enterprise Connect representative to Nhulunbuy to scope opportunities for the program to assist small and medium size businesses to connect to new ideas, technologies and markets.
The Northern Territory government is working with local communities, sporting, leisure and arts clubs to plan for their transition into a post refinery future. The Department of Business is rotating specialist personnel through Nhulunbuy to provide specialist advice and support to childcare and tourism operators, and with the Indigenous Business Development and workforce development programs. The Chief Executive of Tourism NT, along with a number of his senior staff and representatives of the Department of Business, visited the East Arnhem Land region and have developed a campaign known as ‘Do Amazing - Do East Arnhem Land’ to encourage tourism in the Nhulunbuy and the broader East Arnhem Land region.
Stage one of the ‘Do Amazing - Do East Arnhem Land’ campaign was launched to the Darwin market on 12 February, supported by a $199 Airnorth airfare. In the same week, the campaign was launched at the broader Australian market through a social media campaign promoting cultural and tourism activities in the region. At the Australian travellers and writers’ conference in Sydney on Tuesday 11 February, attendees including more than one hundred journalists were provided with a fact sheet on East Arnhem Land to encourage them to write about and visit the region. A new website has been launched to attract new markets to the region, supported by print materials which will be distributed via tourism information centres across the Territory. The Department of Business has provided familiarisation training on the East Arnhem Land region to tourism support organisations, such as the Katherine Visitor Information Centre in support of the ‘Do Amazing - Do East Arnhem Land’ campaign.
Tourism NT and the Department of Business have developed and funded a tourism activity plan for the East Arnhem Land region with a focus on the Gove area, and are working closely with the local tourism association to increase the level of marketing. The Department of Business has undertaken a number of local projects with a total value of $29 000 to better equip tourism operators, Tourism NT and Tourism Top End to promote the region.
With regard to procurement, the NT government is working with businesses to encourage greater local participation in government tenders and contracts, and is facilitating the fast-tracking of program works in the region through the use of local industry. Examples of these contracts include panel contracts for housing and the recent contract for the bus service. All departmental chief executives have been directed to review their agency’s services, with a view to identifying packaging initiatives to maximise opportunities and employment for local business and non-government organisations.
The Northern Territory Department of Education is working closely with the principals of Nhulunbuy High School and primary school, as well as both school councils to ensure a high level of education service is maintained in the town. Recognising the concern arising from Rio Tinto’s announcement, additional resources have been provided to fund counselling services to young people in schools. High school students - Northern Territory Education department chief executive, Ken Davies, confirmed full Year 12 subject offerings will remain in place for the entire 2014 school year. There will be no change to education services or permanent positions in semester one this year. Mr Davies has also reiterated any adjustments made during the second semester of 2014 will be made in full consultation with school councils. Primary school enrolments increased to 575 at the start of the 2014 academic year. The Department of Education is closely monitoring education service delivery to ensure schools continue to meet the needs of students in their community. The Northern Territory government is working with local childcare providers to ensure quality and continuity of services to the township. The Department of Education has a number of building improvement programs under way across the East Arnhem Land region, including work at the Nhulunbuy Community Child Care Centre, Nhulunbuy Primary School, Shepherdson College, Nhulunbuy High School and Yirrkala School.
The total value of local contracts available for just that work alone is $1.76m. As previously announced, the Department of Education is working to deliver a trade training centre at Gapuwiyak, and a second tier in either Yirrkala or Nhulunbuy using funding of $3.9m. In regard to housing, the Department of Community Services will upgrade government employee housing in Nhulunbuy through a program of minor works. This is providing local contractors with immediate work to the value of $500 000.
The Department of Housing is currently contracting for the provision of tenancy management services in specified remote communities for a period of 55 months. The total value of this contract is $11.3m. Contracts for the replacement of six dwellings in Yirrkala have also been issued and work is currently under way, with the current total value of that contract being $2.4m.
The Department of Housing will deliver the East Arnhem Land component of the Living in a House program as a matter of priority, and will bring forward East Arnhem Land projects funded by the national partnership agreement on remote Indigenous housing. The value of those projects is yet to be established, and we are working with the Australian government on that.
The Department of Community Services is providing $1.7m to local contractors to manage the removal of asbestos in a number of East Arnhem Land locations. The Department of Community Services is coordinating the removal of asbestos from a building in Nhulunbuy as the first stage of establishing a new home economics centre. A local service provider has been awarded the contract, with a total value of $2.5m for the project.
The Department of Community Services’ homelands Municipal Essential Services and Housing Maintenance grants programs, new initiatives by the government valued at $3.3m, are sustaining the workload of a number of local service providers. By June 30 2014, a total of $543 000 in capital infrastructure grants to homelands will be accessed by East Arnhem Land service providers. A total of $283 000 in grants for Groote Eylandt homelands will be dispersed by 30 June 2014.
In regard to infrastructure, the Department of Infrastructure is administering six contracts worth a total of $0.9m for minor and new works to be delivered during 2014. These projects are expected to provide employment for up to 29 workers. An ongoing project to upgrade fire protection at the Gove District Hospital has resulted in the awarding of a contract for $1.4m. Approximately $283 000 will be spent on repairs and maintenance of Northern Territory government facilities in Nhulunbuy.
The Department of Arts and Museums has been provided grant funding worth a total of $55 000 in the current financial year to support cultural events and art practitioners operating in the East Arnhem Land region. In addition to the funding outlined above, important projects planned for the region, such as improving the Central Arnhem Road and maintaining government assets will also proceed as previously announced.
Improvements to the Central Arnhem Road include the upgrading of the Mainoru River, the Donydji River and the Goyder River, along with its associated road realignment. There is funding of $54m, and the work is expected to be completed by June 2015. Construction of a bridge over Rocky Bottom Creek on the Central Arnhem Road – I think this in the member for Arnhem’s electorate – has also recently been announced as part of the regional roads productivity package. The Northern Territory government allocated $1.5m in its 2013-14 capital works program for seven truck passing lanes on the Central Arnhem Road. This design work has been finalised and we now await the completion of gravel clearances before proceeding to construction.
The Department of Transport has also undertaken a number of small or local projects, such as bus stop installations. A further $11m has been provided towards upgrading the Arnhem link road between Cahills Crossing and the turnoff to Gunbalanya. The time frame for completing this work is still being finalised. The Northern Territory government has also worked with the federal government to secure additional funding for the region and that work will continue to be supported. That includes work on roads such as the Gapuwiyak access road and the Ramingining access road.
As previously outlined, I have appointed Mike Chiodo as the Territory’s on the ground coordinator in Gove. He is playing a key role in assessing the effect of Rio Tinto’s decision on local businesses and the community of Gove and the East Arnhem Land region, and is coordinating NT government services to ensure they are delivered to best meet the community’s needs.
The coordinator is supported by the chief executive officers of key government departments and by a regional coordination team of senior public servants in Gove, with further support from an interagency working group providing data activity identification and content expertise from Darwin.
The Gove Task Force and community advisory committee: my government established the Gove Task Force to develop recommendations to support the diversification of its economy, to monitor the progress of the current transition and to help generate long-term structural adjustment initiatives. The task force has met four times since it was established. To ensure that community views are being heard, my government also established a community reference group, the Gove Community Advisory Committee. The committee provides a key mechanism for ongoing community engagement and is instrumental in ensuring the Territory and Australian governments, and Rio Tinto, receive timely information about emerging community issues. It is also a conduit for providing information back to the community. The committee’s membership covers a range of different stakeholders, including local traditional owners. Three members of the community reference group are community representatives on the Gove Task Force. The original Yolngu representative on the Gove Task Force has resigned and has since been replaced by the President of East Arnhem Shire, Banambi Wunungmurra.
In addition to the work we have been doing with Rio Tinto, we have also been working closely with the Australian government. I proposed to the Prime Minister that his government support the transition support package by making a real financial contribution. I have requested $102m in funding for local roads construction to improve all-weather access. Improved access is a key enabler for economic growth in the East Arnhem Land region. In recognising the importance of education, I have requested $14m in capital funding and a recurrent funding amount of $4.6m for a regional boarding facility in Nhulunbuy for Yolngu children of the East Arnhem Land region.
The economic development entity and regional economic development fund I previously outlined will require an Australian government contribution. I have asked the Prime Minister to commit $10m towards this work. To help kick-start the East Arnhem Land economy, I am seeking an additional $8m contribution towards pre-competitive, pre-commerical mineral and gas geoscience research within the region. It is anticipated this investment will drive growth in future minerals and energy projects.
I have previously said my government is committed to building a viable economic future for the region that can provide jobs and business opportunities for all East Arnhem Land residents, particularly traditional owners. The statement today outlines that very commitment in detail. Nhulunbuy will continue to be the government service centre for the region. The Country Liberals government will ensure sufficient public services, including health, education and policing, to meet the needs of the community, and the public servants to deliver those services.
I am adamant we will not stand still on this issue. I have outlined a range of actions we are already putting in place and that are or soon will be under way, actions that support both Nhulunbuy and the East Arnhem Land region. I have also indicated there is further work to be done, and we will continue to negotiate with Rio Tinto and the Australian government towards building a better future for Nhulunbuy and the East Arnhem Land region.
Mr Deputy Speaker, I commend the statement to the House.
Motion agreed to; statement noted.
Mr ELFERINK (Leader of Government Business): Mr Deputy Speaker, I move that the Assembly do now adjourn.
Mr VOWLES (Johnston): Mr Deputy Speaker, at times, this Chamber can be a combative, robust and hostile place. The clash of ideas, passion and philosophies is the driving force in our democracy, and to have them tested in the fire of debate in this Chamber can only be a good thing.
However, there are times when we are all called on to be magnanimous and to perhaps show a touch more humility than we may be accustomed to during proceedings in this House. The retirement of a former Chief Minister is one such time. Only the savagely mean-spirited would fail to acknowledge the significant contribution the former member for Blain and former Chief Minister made in this place, and the significant contribution he made on behalf of all Territorians. Only the few remaining, rusted-on supporters of the current Chief Minister would deny he was viciously mistreated by the CLP and those who sit opposite. For that, this CLP government is about to be held to account.
In a matter of weeks, the men and women of Blain will have the opportunity to decide who will represent them in this parliament. It will be their first opportunity to hold this horrid, arrogant, self-absorbed and heartless government to account, their first chance to hold the CLP to account for sending the family budget to the wall by jacking up power prices when it promised to reduce the cost of living and their first chance to hold the CLP to account for slashing services and sacking public servants when it promised not to. It will be their first chance to hold the CLP to account for slashing teacher numbers and education funding when it promised it would not, their first chance to hold the CLP to account for the disgraceful and disrespectful way it has treated and spoken about our hard-working teachers, police and firefighters and their first chance to hold the CLP to account for deliberately ensuring they have no representation in this parliament during these sittings. The people of Blain deserve much better than this disunited, self-absorbed rabble of a government.
The arrogance and hypocrisy of this CLP government knows no bounds. Granted, members opposite do not seem to be on speaking terms with each other unless we are talking about c and f-bombs, so it does not come as much of a surprise they were caught unawares by the retirement of the former member for Blain last sittings. Even so, his retirement gave the Chief Minister more than ample time to ensure the election was held on 15 March. This would have ensured the shortest possible time without a representative for the people of Blain and, in all likelihood, a new member for Blain would be in the Assembly for these sittings.
The Chief Minister was more than happy to sacrifice the interests of the people of Blain on the altar of his own selfish political interests. He was more than happy to ensure that at a time when the people of Blain need someone in this Chamber more than ever to fight higher power prices, disgracefully appalling levels of service and to stand up for their interests, they are without a voice.
If there was any remaining doubt this government does not care about Territorians, and is only focused on itself, the events of the last few weeks have blown it away. The Chief Minister laughably suggested he was too busy to walk a couple of hundred metres from his office to the Administrator to advise of a date for the election, but he can find plenty of time to campaign with his candidate for Blain. He can find plenty of time to spend on the phone, trying to hose down the latest attempts by his colleagues to knife him like he knifed the former member for Blain and he can find plenty of time for $82 000 photo shoots with the Prime Minister.
Does he really think the people of Blain are mugs? This CLP government simply does not care about the plight of ordinary Territorians. It is so focused on itself, its mates and its own internal squabbling that ordinary Territorians do not even get a look in.
It is worth taking a moment to reflect on the hypocrisy of the member for Port Darwin when the former member for Wanguri and former Chief Minister retired from this Assembly. We had a former Chief Minister of the Territory, someone who faithfully represented the electors of Wanguri for over 13 years, and who made an enormous contribution to the Territory over that time, announce his retirement. The fact this seat was empty for a sitting of this parliament produced one of the most spiteful, ungracious and cowardly attacks in this parliament, and it is worth repeating some of the member for Port Darwin’s comments:
He goes on to say:
The member for Port Darwin continued:
Does the member for Port Darwin now hold the Chief Minister in the same esteem as he does the former member for Wanguri? Did he make the case to the Chief Minister to ensure the families of Blain had a voice in this parliament, or was he 100% on board with the disgraceful decision to put the CLP first and the people of Blain a distant second? Does he agree the words ‘fixer’ and ‘Adam Giles’ should probably not be in the same sentence, and a more appropriate title for the member for Braitling’s memoirs would be ‘Passion Fingers: The Untold Story of Adam Giles?’
The last few weeks have nailed to the mast everything this CLP government stands for. While the CLP was busy robbing the men and women of Blain of their representation in this Chamber, busy bullying each other and disrespecting women, while the Chief Minister was totally consumed by whether he would still have his job from day-to-day, the rest of us were dealing with the chaos caused by the incompetent management of Power and Water. It is now clearer than ever this CLP government simply does not care about the plight of ordinary Territorians, only about itself and its small circle of mates.
The chaos and dysfunction that has been the only defining feature of this government is now leeching into the rest of the Territory, and Territorians are paying the price. But the people of Blain have a choice. In Geoff Bahnert, they can choose a hard-working, decent and caring representative. They can choose a man who has spent most of his life serving the community as a member of our fine and distinguished police force. They can choose someone who will always put Blain first, or they can vote for more of the same old arrogance, self-interest and higher power prices this government stands for.
The choice is clear: only a vote for Geoff Bahnert and Labor will elect a member who always stands up for Blain, always puts its interests first, who cares about higher power prices and thinks we all deserve a reliable service for the ever-increasing price we all pay. Only a vote for Geoff Bahnert and Labor will elect a member who is always on the side of the men, women and families of Blain.
Mr Elferink: That was a great speech, who wrote it?
Mr VOWLES: Obviously not you.
Mrs LAMBLEY (Araluen): Mr Deputy Speaker, I wish to set the record straight and dispel some of the mistruths that have circulated on what is a very emotional issue, and one on which the Northern Territory government takes its obligations very seriously.
I refer to the national media furore surrounding the situation whereby Ms Roseanne Fulton is currently in the care of the Eastern Goldfields Regional Prison in Kalgoorlie, Western Australia. Ms Fulton is currently accommodated and engaged in programs through Western Australian corrections. Due to her severely limited mental capacity, Ms Fulton is subject to an adult guardianship order in the Northern Territory under the Adult Guardianship Act, and I share responsibilities of guardianship with Mr Ian McKinlay.
In exercising my authority, and through the delegation of that authority to officers within the Office of the Public Guardian, I must act in the best interests of individuals who are subject to guardianship orders. As such, I have felt constrained and reluctant to publicly air information pertaining to Ms Fulton’s case. Given the actions of the media and the public call for information and action, I feel compelled to provide additional detail regarding her situation.
My compulsion is also driven by the actions of Mr McKinlay, including his express written approval for information regarding Ms Fulton’s situation to be made public. I quote:
So, without seeking to prejudice, vilify or in any way harm Roseanne Fulton, and with her best interests in mind, I believe it is appropriate, like Mr McKinlay, to discuss her situation and outline how the Northern Territory government, through the Office of the Public Guardian, has been satisfying its obligations to Ms Fulton.
Ms Fulton has been under the authority of a guardianship order since 14 January 2009. The orders appointing the public guardian as sole adult guardian for Ms Fulton remained unchanged until the 29 June 2011. From 2009 to 2011, Mr Ian McKinlay, as an employee of the Northern Territory government, was the delegated adult guardianship officer responsible for Ms Fulton within the Office of the Public Guardian. During that time, he was a strong advocate against the implementation of secure care facilities in the Northern Territory, and opposed both the location and model of care provided in the secure care facility currently operating in Alice Springs, the same facility he now calls on the Northern Territory government to place Ms Fulton in. From 29 June 2011 onwards, the public guardian and Mr McKinlay were appointed as joint guardians for Ms Fulton. Mr McKinlay had left the employment of the Office of the Public Guardian by this time, and now resides outside of the Northern Territory in Tasmania.
Since that time, the Office of the Public Guardian has maintained constant contact with Mr McKinlay about Ms Fulton’s case, and other clients he is a guardian of. Unfortunately, as has been reported already in the media, Ms Fulton has had a troubled past living in Alice Springs. She continually ran away from supported care accommodation arrangements and would end up in the Todd River bed, where I understand she traded sexual favours to access drugs and alcohol.
Ms Fulton fell afoul of the Northern Territory criminal justice system in early 2012. She was on remand at the Alice Springs Correctional Centre for unlawful use of a motor vehicle and failure to participate in a breath test in early 2012. Upon release from the Alice Springs Correctional Centre, Ms Fulton was considered ‘at risk’ in Alice Springs, with no appropriate supported accommodation place available. There was no supported accommodation placement available at that time because she had numerous trespass orders against her, including at: BushMob, the Alice Springs Hospital, most of the Aboriginal hostels in Alice Springs and the Yeperenye Shopping Centre in Alice Springs, due to her continually displaying high risk behaviours when in the community.
At the time, Ms Fulton indicated a desire to visit her father and aunt in Warburton, Western Australia, through local service provider, BushMob. Given Warburton was a dry community, it was envisaged there would be a reduced risk of harm by removing Ms Fulton from Alice Springs, away from drugs, alcohol, sexual predation and abuse. The Northern Territory Office of Disability paid BushMob an individual support package, or an ISP, to relocate Ms Fulton to Warburton and case manage and monitor Ms Fulton with the approval of Ms Fulton’s community guardian, Mr McKinlay.
Far from the respite care Mr McKinlay claims, this was the only alternative for Ms Fulton in a difficult situation. In consultation with the Office of Disability, BushMob facilitated the transfer and continued to maintain contact with Ms Fulton by visiting her in Warburton in the initial period. Given the strong family ties and the fact that Ms Fulton originates from the tri-state area, it was not unusual for her to move between the Northern Territory and Western Australia, and I understand that had occurred several times throughout her life.
Unfortunately, Ms Fulton, while in Warburton, committed a number of crimes, including: obstruction of a public officer; stealing a motor vehicle; reckless driving; being a driver involved in an accident where property was damaged; and failure to stop and report an accident and provide a breath sample.
In January 2013, Ms Fulton was found unfit to stand trial in Western Australia, following a psychiatric assessment. The presiding judge took the view that the matter of stealing a car and driving recklessly meant Ms Fulton presented a danger to the community and remanded her in Kalgoorlie prison under a custodial order. In Western Australia, the Mentally Impaired Accused Review Board reviews a case of clients found unfit to plead and provides recommendations to the Western Australian courts. The Mentally Impaired Accused Review Board and Mr McKinlay have been corresponding with Disability Services NT regarding options for repatriation.
On 8 August 2013, the Mentally Impaired Accused Review Board wrote to Disability Services NT to advise there is no legal provision for the interstate transfer of a mentally impaired accused detainee under the Criminal Law (Mentally Impaired Accused) Act 1996 of Western Australia. So, in other words, it is not possible for a Western Australian court system, which believes there is still a risk to the community or an individual, to direct that individual be transferred into the care of another jurisdiction.
Further, the issue is complicated because Ms Fulton is not subject to any custody order under the Northern Territory’s Disability Services Act, so there is currently no legal basis on which to involuntarily detain her in the Northern Territory. The Northern Territory Office of the Public Guardian has maintained contact with Western Australian service providers, in order to continue to advocate and make best interest decisions with a joint adult guardian, as authorised under the current guardianship order, on behalf of Ms Fulton.
Ms Fulton is receiving support from a range of stakeholders and personnel, including the WA Disability Services Commission; Life Without Barriers; representatives from community corrections; her guardian, Mr Ian McKinlay; Ms Cheryl Harris, acting senior guardian from the Office of the Northern Territory Public Guardian; a Disability Services Commission forensic psychologist; and a speech pathologist. Ms Fulton has been on day release, enjoying shopping, eating out, swimming and partaking in some social activities. I am advised the outings have been going well, with Ms Fulton enjoying them.
The Office of the Public Guardian is cognisant of the work being undertaken in Western Australia to develop options for the supported release of Ms Fulton. The Office of the Public Guardian advocates that at this time all options should be carefully considered on behalf of Ms Fulton. At this time, the Office of the Public Guardian is satisfied that until all options are considered, it is in Ms Fulton’s best interest to remain in Western Australia.
I am running out of time and I have not finished my speech. There is quite a bit more information that I might continue with tomorrow evening. It is important we get this accurately on the public record. In summary, Roseanne Fulton is an Aboriginal woman from Central Australia, Northern Territory. As the Minister for Health and the Minister for Disability Services of the Northern Territory, I am absolutely committed to getting Roseanne Fulton home as soon as it is practicable. I will continue my speech tomorrow night.
Ms MANISON (Wanguri): Mr Deputy Speaker, I will talk about some events I attended earlier this year. My intention was to adjourn about this during our last sittings, but that was the night the former member for Blain announced his retirement. I am doing it now because it is really important to congratulate and acknowledge all the hard work and effort that went into making these events possible.
Firstly, going back to the Australia Day Ball this year: it was a terrific evening held by the Australia Day Council on 25 January. It was great to see so many people there. It was the first Australia Day Ball I had attended and I had a wonderful time. I got to speak to some of the committee members that evening, and it was clear they were extremely passionate about their job and love it when 26 January comes around each year. They told me they would encourage anybody who thinks they would like to have a go at sitting on the Australia Day committee in the future to put their hand up, because they thoroughly enjoy it. It has been a great opportunity for them and it is a job they do with immense pride.
It was wonderful to see them all turn up to the Australia Day fun run the next day, which was a nice early start at the convention centre. As somebody who has loved running for a long time, the new course they have is fantastic. They have set out a new course that allows runners to spread out and there are fewer bottlenecks after you get out of the first 500m. It is really good to see we are utilising the public space with the convention centre there, finishing at the waterfront.
It makes for a wonderful morning for families to stay on and get into Australia Day celebrations. It was great to see so many people, young and old, participating in the run; there were runners and walkers and various fitness abilities. It was great to see them involved. It was great to see Athletics NT handing out flyers to encourage people to get their training started for the City to Surf in June. I am hoping to see a lot more runners at the Mother’s Day Classic in May as well.
I also congratulate the members of the committee of the Darwin Malayalee Association for holding a fantastic flag raising ceremony on Australia Day. It was not just about celebrating Australia Day; it was also about celebrating Indian Republic Day, which falls on January 26 as well. They hold a wonderful ceremony where they raise both the Australian and Indian flags. They sing both national anthems, and the children then present speeches they have prepared about how they see Australia Day, how they see Indian Republic Day and the importance and significance of those days. That tends to be followed by a sausage sizzle. It is a very special celebration because it
really brings the community together to embrace the country they have left behind that is still very close and dear to their hearts, and where they have strong connections, but also their wonderful love of Australia, and to see their children, who are being raised in Australia, get to embrace the important days of Indian history and learn a bit more about them. It is a really wonderful celebration.
Congratulations to the Darwin Malayalee Association’s hard-working committee. They do a terrific job, particularly the president, Mr Baby Abraham, vice president Rajesh Nair, secretary Mr Lal Jose, joint secretary Ms Neethi Ashok and treasurer, Dijo Sebastain. They do a great job and I am looking forward to going to more of their events this year. They are just a great group to see.
OzFusion was also on Australia Day and it was a wonderful event. It was great to hear the member for Sanderson’s speech where he mentioned he thought it was time to move to a bigger venue next year, and I agree with him. The Cypriot community hall is a wonderful place for the event, but it was clearly packed and the popularity is only growing, with people celebrating the wonderful multiculturalism of the Top End. They might need to look at future events and see how to expand it, and make it even bigger and better. Well done to the workers of the Multicultural Council of the NT as well as the Australia Day Council committee. They were still going later on that day. They had a huge night, an early start in the morning, a long day and were still having a great time with OzFusion.
The Melaleuca Refugee Centre was there, and Multicultural Youth NT hosted the event as emcees. It did a great job and it was terrific to see some passionate young leaders with Multicultural Youth NT, looking to inspire other young leaders in the community. I was fortunate enough to meet them a few weeks ago to hear about the work they do. With young leaders like that coming up in the community, the future is very bright. It is great to see they view their role as mentoring other people in the community and inspiring others, so well done to them. Well done also to Darwin Community Arts for its help with OzFusion.
There were also multicultural groups that performed. OzFusion is such a special event because it gives an opportunity for such a vast array of multicultural groups in Darwin to share their culture, dances and traditions with everybody else. It is a wonderful event, and congratulations to all involved.
I would also like to pass on my congratulations to the Vietnamese Community in Australia, NT chapter, for its recent New Year celebrations to mark the Year of the Horse. It is the second time I have attended the group’s celebrations and they are very good fun. Well done to Mr Thien Le and Mr Bac Lam on organising another wonderful event. It is great to see all the young children involved in the event, and the smiles on their faces as they are presented with the little red envelopes with some monetary treats inside. They have a terrific time.
The Opposition Leader and I were also fortunate to not only visit the Vietnamese community that night, but also the NT Timor-Chinese association Chinese New Year dinner dance. It is the second year I have been to that event. It is such a wonderful celebration that really does send you back in time. It is beautiful to see their traditions of dancing. It is very old fashioned for someone like me, who was brought up with high school socials and nightclubs in Darwin, to go to an event like that and see a wonderful band playing and some very traditional dancing, with the whole room getting involved.
It was a beautiful celebration. Thank you to Mr Rui Mu, the president, for keeping us so entertained with his stories, and the hard work he put into the event, and thank you to Ms Adelia Mu-Prasad, who is the secretary, for helping to organise the event and the committee. Another wonderful year, another full house and I look forward to the event next year.
I also place my congratulations on the record to the Sri Lanka Australia Friendship Association for its terrific Independence Day celebrations that took place recently at the golf club at Northlakes. It was a jam packed agenda, full of performances from start to finish. It was go, go, go, and they did a wonderful job. It started off with a presentation by Lithira, and this young man’s speech was absolutely outstanding. He was a wonderful public speaker, and it was clear he put a lot of time and effort into his presentation. He was fantastic to watch, and you could see he is a young man with a big future ahead.
The dancing was wonderful as well; we had children of all ages, young through to the teens, with two special groups organised. The first one was organised by Chandrika, and the second dance group was organised by Saranga. There was wonderful, different dancing and everybody really enjoyed it. There were some individual dancers; we had a dance by Veniska, a dance by Yehani and the fabulous singer Ravi, who kept the crowd entertained between many of the dances, so it was terrific. Well done to the president, Mr Lalith Ramachandra and his partner Sue, and thank you for your hospitality. Well done again to the vice president and emcee, Brenda Kulatunga, and the hard-working committee and volunteers. It was wonderful to see everybody come in to help cook the meal for the evening, which was just absolutely superb. That is one of the great parts of being the shadow minister for Multicultural Affairs; you get to go to these events, eat and the food is amazing. Well done on a fabulous celebration and, again, I am looking forward to catching up with the different multicultural groups throughout the year to help celebrate the wonderful multiculturalism and diversity we have here in the Northern Territory community. Thank you.
Ms WALKER (Nhulunbuy): Mr Deputy Speaker, I wish to update the House and place on the record some of the achievements in my wonderful electorate. I had prepared this contribution for 20 February 2014, but of course, that was the night the member for Blain, as a surprise to everybody, announced his resignation. I put my adjournment to one side, and instead adjourned about the many contributions the member for Blain had made to this parliament. What a great shame it is the people of Blain remain unrepresented in parliament for the first time in the history of this parliament, for this week and next.
I am perhaps a bit late in reporting on some of these events, but I still wish to acknowledge the grand opening of the new Gove Regional Arts Centre on 1 November last year. The multipurpose arts centre is the result of hard work by the Gove Peninsula Festival committee and the generosity of founding members. The Gove Peninsula Festival has operated successfully for a number of years, not always annually, but it is always a successful community event. Over the years, there has been growing recognition that the festival needed a home, a venue, a space to meet and where things might be stored, including the many important files which are passed from one group of volunteers to another. This particular need sat high on the priority list of the outgoing President of the Gove Peninsula Festival, Ian Maclean, and became yet another project and quest that Ian Maclean was involved in. He delivered on it, as witnessed by the opening of the Gove Regional Arts Centre in November of last year.
The centre is housed in the Captain Cook Community Centre, and co-located with other tenants Gove Arts Theatre, the playgroup and the fairly newly renovated club rooms for the Nhulunbuy Regional Sports Fishing Club. The building is more than 40 years old, but serves the community well, thanks to many years of volunteer efforts. I commend Ian and his committee for the arts centre, which also hosts film nights. GPF has a wonderful film society under its umbrella, with Angela Madden taking a leading role in co-ordinating in between being the very busy manager and broadcaster with our local community radio station, Gove FM. Several films have been screened, and with good roll ups, including on Saturday 15 February 2014, where they screened Lasseter’s Bones, and followed up just recently on Friday 14 March 2014 with a double feature, where they screened The Darkside and Wake in Fright.
I pay tribute to people like Angela Madden, as well as GPF committee members: Alilah and Rod Watts, Debbie Beldham, who has recently left, Jason Minney, Justin Hart, Kristie Maggs, Kirsty Prowse, Lyn Percic, Matt Garrick, our new president, Sharon Norris and also the recently departed treasurer, Ben O’Brien. He is one of many people who have left the community, as a result of losing his job with Rio Tinto.
I also note, with sadness, that Ian Maclean is not only the outgoing president, but he has now gone from our community, another statistic associated with the departure of Rio Tinto. His departure from Nhulunbuy will certainly be felt community wide. Apart from GPF, he was the founder of Gove Amateur Astronomers, Arnhem Writers and President of Gove FM, with a long involvement as a volunteer broadcaster. I wish him well and thank him for his tireless dedication to the many clubs and associations he has been involved with over the last 18 years. I also note he was a worthy nominee for Nhulunbuy’s Australia Day Citizen of the Year some two or three years ago.
On the subject of Australia Day citizens, I offer my congratulations to Klaus Helms, who was named as the Territory’s Senior Australian of the Year and Emily Osborne, who was named NT Young Australian of the Year. They attended the national awards ceremony, held in Canberra on the eve of Australia Day. While they may have missed out on receiving the national award of Australian of the Year, it was certainly a proud moment to have not one but two Goveites representing the Northern Territory at these national awards.
Klaus was recognised for his years of dedication working with Indigenous people, and Emily for her dedication and efforts advocating for young people, especially those in remote areas, but also for her advocacy for carers and young people with disabilities. I have no doubt that Debbie and Gary Osborne, who have only recently left Gove after many years, are rightly proud of Em. She is a legend.
Nhulunbuy had its own Australia Day celebrations, held at the town pool; thanks to the Nhulunbuy Corporation and its hard-working staff. I was pleased to be one of a number of sponsors of the day’s activities. I offer my congratulations to our Australia Day Citizens of the Year: Young Citizen of the Year Emma Putland and Australia Day Citizen of the Year Wali Wunungmurra.
Emma is a long-term resident, a delightful young woman, who after completing her university degree in Zoology returned to Nhulunbuy where, until recently, she was working at our local vet practice. Our local vet practice, like just about every other business in town, is struggling in the current downturn. Dr Sue has had to put off all of her staff, including Emma and has reduced her hours while trying to maintain a veterinary service. That is tough. To go back to Emma: the award also recognises her incredible contribution to surf lifesaving over many years, which has been absolutely incredible.
Mr Wali Wunungmurra was rightly recognised as a senior Yolngu leader, who has only recently retired from his role as chairman of the Northern Land Council. I can barely do justice to Wali’s achievements over decades, his leadership on so many fronts, his involvement on multiple boards of Indigenous organisations and the fact he is the youngest and a surviving signatory to the Bark Petition, which had its 50th anniversary last year at Yirrkala. This was a significant historical event, marking the start of the recognition of Aboriginal Land Rights, and a pivotal time for Wali in his quest and advocacy for Yolngu rights.
On Australia Day in Nhulunbuy, we always recognise, in addition to our Citizens of the Year, the Community Event of the Year. I am not sure if I was the only nominator - I suspect not - but I put forward the Relay for Life event and was delighted to see it win. There were many worthy community events in our vibrant little town, but this was a standout. This was the third Relay for Life event held in Nhulunbuy, over the weekend of 17-18 August, and there is one person who has led and coordinated throughout: Fiona Pearce. This year, Fiona Pearce worked with a hard-working committee which included: her sister, Sally Putland; Fiona Stimpson; Jenny Preest, Wendy Troe and possibly others I may have overlooked, but I hope not.
The event raised in excess of $71 000 and with it, awareness about the disease. Thanks to local people who rallied, including 340 registered participants. What this event also raises is a collective community spirit; it was the spirit of wanting to fight for and find a cure, and to do so in the poignant memory of so many loved ones lost to this terrible disease.
As I have just described, Nhulunbuy is a special community that knows how to come to the aid of those in need, and we certainly saw members of the Filipino community come together to organise relief packages for those affected by the devastation of Typhoon Haiyan on 8 November last year. Nearly 100 boxes were donated and sent to the Philippines, and a charity dinner, hosted at the Waterfront Kitchen on 26 November, raised $2 710 for the relief effort.
I would like to acknowledge the effort that Gil and Ansel Avila put in to coordinating these fundraising efforts for their homeland of the Philippines, and the band of helpers who assisted them. I will also place on the record names of those students who were recipients of end of year awards that I sponsor each year out in my community, as I know a number of members of this House do in theirs.
At the Nhulunbuy High School presentation night, I was delighted to present my citizenship awards to Charlotte Piper and Benjamin Cox, both very worthy recipients and worthy of that recognition. I wish both of them well as they head into their senior years.
At the Nhulunbuy Primary School end of year concert and awards ceremony, I presented my citizenship awards to two Year Six students nominated by their school as the most deserving recipients and leaders among their peers. I was pleased to hand awards to Isabel Blundell and Jayden Wagg. I felt just a little nostalgic, not to mention a little old, with this pair of terrific Year Six kids. Why was this? Because way back in my teaching days at Nhulunbuy High School, I taught Isabel’s parents Rachel and Davin and her aunties from the Blundell and Fincham-Thompson clan. I also taught Jayden Wagg’s dad, Dan. The Blundells and the Waggs can rightly be proud of their offspring.
I was delighted to sponsor the arts awards at Nhulunbuy Christian College and congratulate Hannah Rika, Hannah Fourie and Chayse Aston. Unfortunately, I was unable to attend the school’s annual Thanksgiving Award on 5 December, as our parliament was still sitting.
I also add my thanks and admiration for the huge contribution Nhulunbuy Christian College’s arts teacher Mrs Kylie Farnsworth has made over many years in fostering and nurturing a love of creative arts for hundreds and hundreds of children who have passed through the school.
She leaves her mark with some beautiful permanent works, not least of which are some stunning mosaics around the school grounds. Sadly, Kylie and her husband Malcolm, who has devoted much to the school council, are leaving Nhulunbuy, as a result of Rio Tinto’s departures, along with their beautiful daughters Zoe and Katie. They will be sorely missed and I wish them all the best of luck, God bless.
I also thank and acknowledge our local schools and principals, Matt Watson, Sabina Smith, Russell McKane, Stuart Bramston, Merrkiyawuy Ganambarr Stubbs and Leonard Freeman for the incredible job they do, and all the teachers and support staff who work so hard for our kids out in Nhulunbuy, Yirrkala and around the region. Certainly at the moment, they are doing a sterling job at a particularly difficult time in our community, where hundreds of students are likely to be leaving, if not now, then by the end of the year. I take my hat off to them for the leadership, encouragement and support they provide to their school and staff, families and students.
Ms PURICK (Goyder): Mr Deputy Speaker, I will speak briefly on one of the volunteer bush fire brigades in my electorate, that being the Elizabeth Valley Volunteer Bush Fire Brigade. In my electorate, I have a combination of Northern Territory fire service volunteer brigades and Bushfire Council NT volunteer brigades. Elizabeth Valley is one of those under the Bushfire Council NT’s management. It recently had its annual general meeting, which I was unable to attend, but Trish O’Hehir from my electoral office was able to attend and a report on the year was presented by the captain, Dianne Tynan. There is no doubt this volunteer bush fire brigade does an enormous amount of work in making and keeping the community of the Elizabeth Valley, or the Valley as they call it, safe, not only from bushfires, but also from flooding and assist in other areas where people get into trouble, for example with motor vehicle accidents.
Over the year, the brigade has fought bushfires; undertaken controlled burn-offs; done a lot of mop-ups from spot fires; and helped with food and refreshments delivery to people in need. It does a lot of motor vehicle and depot maintenance at its base on Elizabeth Valley Road. It must do fundraising; the brigade does get a certain amount of money from the Bushfire Council NT of the Northern Territory government, but must complement that. It must provide paperwork, not only to the bushfires council, but also to the office of business affairs, because it is an incorporated association.
Over the last year, there was an approximate total of 1153 volunteer hours extended by the group, compared to 924 hours in the previous year. Those hours were given to protect the valley and surrounds, and also to assist other brigades when in need, such as with large bush fires or fires that get out of control, as there have been in the past in the Noonamah area, and also in the Girraween and Howard Springs area a few years ago.
Those hours are just the hours on the ground; they do not take into account other hours where the brigade attend to administration and general running around, the maintenance of services at the station and also hosting functions and meeting and greeting visitors, such as me as the local member.
The Elizabeth Valley takes in all of the Noonamah area, back to Humpty Doo and south to the Acacia Hills area, and the brigade does a sterling job. It has larger blocks that must be maintained and protected, compared to the smaller blocks around the Howard Springs and Girraween areas. For example, of the 1153 hours, 880 hours were spent on activities within the area, and it also extended 273 hours helping other brigades with other fires and activities.
The brigade volunteer firefighters undertook 23 hours of smoke fire spotting patrols; 165 hours of controlled burn-offs; 30 hours of mopping up after controlled burn-offs; 255 hours at wildfires in their own area and 64 hours mopping up after wildfires. It is one thing to manage and combat a fire, but it is another thing to make sure the fire does not get out of control again from wind or bits of wildfire going somewhere. Twenty eight hours were spent checking for permits. All rural people know if you want to do burns-offs, you must get a permit. The permits are issued by the volunteer brigades, so they must check a property to make sure the burn-off can be done in a safe manner. There was 23 hours of miscellaneous fire business, for example: checking fire breaks and working with the Litchfield Council; 108 miscellaneous patrols at rodeos; fundraising; cyclone and floods and they did 16 hours of training. These people are well trained and must continue to maintain their standards at a professional level. They did 39 hours assisting other brigades at controlled burn-offs, possibly the ones in your electorate, Mr Deputy Speaker, or they might also have been at Lambells Lagoon. Fifty eight hours were spent assisting other brigades at wildfires - bushfires that have gotten out of control - and nine hours of miscellaneous fires in other brigade areas. It is an extraordinary amount of hours for a small brigade.
A total of 68 fire incidents were attended to, including 13 smoke fire patrols, four controlled burn-offs and a mop-up in the brigade area, 35 wildfires and a mop-up, three controlled burn-offs and mop-up assisting other brigades and 13 wildfires and mop-up in other brigade areas.
They issued 65 permits to burn, which were from February through to February this year. That is an important thing because there are regulations in our legislation, as you know, Mr Deputy Speaker, and if you want to do a controlled burn, you must make sure that controlled burn does not get out of control as, sadly, often happens across the rural area. The brigade does an enormous amount of work in that area.
Not only does it do the activities I have just mentioned, but the brigade also take a lot of time to make sure people who live in the Elizabeth Valley area and surrounds are kept safe. They did a lot of work helping some people with flooding of their blocks in the recent rains, and also ensured they could get in and out of their blocks accordingly.
I think it was last year when it had a special function, which I attended, and there was the handover of a water trailer. It was a 2000 litre firefighting tanker to the Elizabeth Valley Volunteer Fire Brigade, pump and hoses, and it was donated by INPEX, John Holland and Macmahon, which I think is now called Territoria. I went to the function, and it was a much appreciated donation by those companies. They have also assisted those proponents and operators in grass control burns at the INPEX site, which is important because we cannot have any uncontrolled burns getting close to a construction site and, more importantly, when the site becomes an operational gas plant.
I want to extend my congratulations to all the people at the Elizabeth Valley Volunteer Fire Brigade. They do a terrific, sterling job. They have been at it for many years; some of them have been there for over 10, 15 and 20 years, in particular, Di Tynan, who is, again, this year’s captain and fire warden. She was involved with Elizabeth Valley when my mother, Noel Padgham, was a member of this parliament - she was the member for what could have been Nelson in those days or Koolpinyah – and she has given her time tirelessly and on an ongoing basis for the benefit of the broader community.
Congratulations to the Elizabeth Valley fire brigade’s new committee: captain and fire warden Di Tynan, vice-captain Paul Pokorny, secretary Geoff Baker, public officer Roy Christensen, treasurer Deneise Edwards and committee members Charmaine Tynan, Jean Baker, Andy Lewsley and Bob Pitts. Congratulations on your appointment to the committee for the 2014 year; I wish you the very best and hope it is a quiet Dry Season.
As I mentioned, members do fundraising, not only for their own brigade, but they raised $5000 in total from working and helping at the Noonamah Rodeo and the Noonamah Frog Races at the Noonamah Tavern, which coincide with the Melbourne Cup. These funds were sent as cheques of $555.55 to the nine volunteer bush firefighters who lost their properties while fighting fires in the Katoomba area of New South Wales. There is a bond between the volunteer people in the Northern Territory and their sisters and brothers in other places; they like to help where they can, so congratulations to the Elizabeth Valley people and Di Tynan, the captain, for fundraising to help other people who have lost out. Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker.
Mr ELFERINK (Port Darwin): Mr Deputy Speaker, I speak on behalf of the Minister for Health, who was reading into Hansard from her prepared speech, an adjournment on Roseanne Fulton, the matter that has occupied some space in the national press recently. Unfortunately, she was unable to finish her speech and has asked me to continue on with it. I will do so on her behalf, but please forgive me as I stumble through it, because there will be elements of the speech where I have to turn it from the first to the third person.
Ms Fulton has been on day release shopping, eating at Hungry Jack’s, swimming at Oasis Recreation Centre and having a barbecue at Hammond Park. The Health minister says she has been advised the outings have been going well with Ms Fulton, and she has appeared to enjoy them. The Office of the Public Guardian is cognisant of the work being undertaken in Western Australia to develop options for a supported release for Ms Fulton.
The Office of the Public Guardian advocates at this time all options should be carefully considered on behalf of Ms Fulton. At this time, the Office of the Public Guardian is satisfied, until all options are considered, that it is in Ms Fulton’s best interests to remain in Western Australia. Even if legal hurdles could be overcome, an assessment has been carried out on the appropriateness of the secure care facility in Alice Springs for Ms Fulton. There are currently two males residing in the facility and two further males on day visits from the Alice Springs Correctional Centre, who will transition into the service over the coming months.
The assessment determined that given the current client mix and Ms Fulton’s specific behaviour, it would be unsuitable and not in her best interest to move into that particular facility. The Health minister notes that Mr McKinlay is the community guardian for the two full time clients, as well as one of the transitioning clients and has been briefed comprehensively on the issues in this case.
On 13 February 2014, the Health department wrote to the Mentally Impaired Accused Review Board and Mr McKinlay, outlining why a placement in Alice Springs secure care could not be supported. The Health minister was subsequently advised Mr McKinlay responded on 14 February 2014, accepting the decision that Ms Fulton would not be offered a secure care placement due to compatibility issues, and would be provided support based on her assessed need, should she voluntarily return to the Northern Territory.
The Health minister, as Ms Fulton’s public guardian, remains committed to working with all stakeholders to ensure we continue to satisfy our obligation under the Adult Guardianship Act. The Health minister, I am sure, is confident at all times that personnel within the Office of the Public Guardian have fulfilled their roles professionally and kept the best interests of Ms Fulton at the centre of their decision-making. That said, it is the minister’s role, as the minister for Disabilities – she has described to me that she is passionate about seeing Roseanne Fulton get the care and support she needs. As such, the Minister for Health has requested that the Northern Territory Office of Disability conduct a risk assessment and develop a treatment plan for Ms Fulton’s return to Alice Springs, should it occur.
The Health minister has requested they develop a model of care for Ms Fulton, which would have her living back in appropriate supported accommodation in Alice Springs, engaging with her local community and relatives, receiving the care and support she requires and otherwise participating in a normal life to the best of her ability. Once the assessment and treatment plans have been completed, the Health minister will personally be writing to the Western Australian Mentally Impaired Accused Review Board and Ms Fulton’s other guardian, Mr McKinlay, providing the option of Ms Fulton returning to Alice Springs for their consideration and input. The Northern Territory government remains steadfast in its commitment to due process, good governance and supporting all Territorians, regardless of their ability.
That was the completion of the Health minister’s comments in this area, and I wish to make a comment. I tried to impress upon Tony Jones on the ABC Lateline program, as well as on a number of other people, that it is a principle of our liberal democracy that you are allowed to be at liberty until such time as you conduct yourself in such a fashion as that liberty could be deprived. The orders which keep Ms Fulton in custody in Kalgoorlie have no weight in the Northern Territory and, consequently, should the Western Australian authorities choose to set her free, she is welcome to return to the Northern Territory at any time and no barrier would be put in her way. I would not advocate or accept the suggestion that was made on the ABC Lateline program that we should, in some fashion or another as a jurisdiction, incarcerate a person, even in a secure care facility, without an authorised warrant, order or lawful process to do so.
It is not in my nature, as the Attorney-General of the Northern Territory, to go about randomly apprehending people, even if I have the best motivation in the world. This is a liberal society in which we live; you are at liberty until such time as you conduct yourself in a fashion as to have your liberty deprived from you. A secure care facility is just that, whether it is a hospice, a medical facility or a jail. It still has a lock on the front door, and that lock closes and locks when you are inside it. As a consequence of that, it would be unlawful for us to lock up somebody, unless we had some lawful vehicle or mechanism to do so.
Consequently, should Ms Fulton return to the Northern Territory, she would be subject to the laws of this jurisdiction, as would any other Australian citizen who happens to be in our jurisdiction. We can offer her medical assistance, which is what the Health minister has suggested, if she so requires it.
Motion agreed to; the Assembly adjourned
TABLED PAPERS
Message from Her Majesty the Queen
Message from Her Majesty the Queen
Madam SPEAKER: Honourable members, I have received a message from Her Majesty the Queen regarding the celebration of Commonwealth Day 2014. The message is dated 10 March 2014. I table a copy of that message.
Resignation of Member for Blain
Madam SPEAKER: Honourable members, I advise that on 21 February 2014, the resignation of the former member for Blain, Mr Terry Mills, was submitted to me, pursuant to section 18 of the Northern Territory (Self-Government) Act 1978. I table a copy of that letter.
VISITORS
Madam SPEAKER: Honourable members, I advise of the presence in the gallery of two Year 7 classes from Rosebery Middle School, accompanied by Alison Stringer, Shanelle Lee and Karen Hudson. On behalf of honourable members, welcome to Parliament House and I hope you enjoy your time here.
Members: Hear, hear!
MOTION
Proposed Censure of Chief Minister
Proposed Censure of Chief Minister
Ms LAWRIE (Opposition Leader): Madam Speaker, I move that this House censure the Chief Minister for lying about the pain his dysfunctional administration has inflicted on Territorians in his first year, including:
increasing Territorians Power and Water bills by thousands of dollars, with more increases to come, while splitting up Power and Water in an effort to fatten it up for sale
ripping $32m out of the pockets of Territorians with increased Power and Water tariffs
failing to deal with the spiralling cost of living. Under the CLP, Darwin’s cost of living is now the highest in the country
failing to deal with alcohol-related crime, up by 12% across the Territory
increasing almost all government charges, including slugging Territorians $5.2m with increased car registration
failing to release new land - the only blocks being developed are those planned and funded under the former Labor government
cutting 130 teachers from our schools and then lying about the numbers, pretending only 35 have been sacked
delaying the Palmerston hospital by choosing an unserviced site and pretending it will be open this term
failing the bush with no increased infrastructure, no new projects – unless agreed between previous Labor governments) and job cuts
plans to force children away from their families and communities by scrapping senior education options in the bush
failing Central Australians by refusing to invest in economic stimulation and ignoring businesses that are cutting jobs and closing
failing to secure the future of Nhulunbuy and presiding over the demise of the Territory’s fourth largest town
giving plum jobs and lucrative water deals to your mates
lying about the Labor debt, claiming the projected debt under Labor instead of the actual debt, while you ignore the CLP projected debt of $5.1bn
cutting budgets over Christmas by 10% and then continuing your spending spree, including wasting $100 000 on a private jet so you could attend a photo shoot with Prime Minister Abbott.
Madam Speaker, Question Time was an example of just how much this Chief Minister is failing to grasp the responsibilities of his office, and we all bear the consequences and pain of that. We witnessed, in Question Time today, his outright refusal to get to the nub and answer the detail of any question. He preferred, instead, to stick to some sort of script where he talked about something – anything except the question asked. It was blatantly obvious, and embarrassingly so for the Chief Minister, that he would not get to nub of the answers about how much it is costing taxpayers to split up Power and Water, which is their utility.
The CLP did not go to the election saying, ‘Elect us and give us a mandate to split up Power and Water because we are great believers in the energy market reform agenda set by the energy ministerial council’. What a load of rubbish! No, the CLP has mates lined up to do some deals with, particularly in the area of generation, and it is looking forward to the outcome of that. The outcome of that will be a whole host of new pain on Territorians.
Estimates from industry experts on the split of Power and Water range, but they all hit around the $100m mark. There is little wonder the Chief Minister refuses to answer the question about the cost. We have seen the establishment of the new unit within the Department of the Chief Minister, which is why the question went to the Chief Minister, by the way, and he would not answer it.
Exactly how much will all those consultants, advisors and experts cost the taxpayer? How much will the three new corporations cost the taxpayer with rebranding the new systems and …
Madam SPEAKER: Opposition Leader, can we pause to welcome the students.
Ms LAWRIE: Certainly.
_____________________
Visitors
Visitors
Madam SPEAKER: Honourable members, I advise of the presence in the gallery of two Year 5/6 classes from Leanyer Primary School, accompanied by Leanne Avery and Chris Charman. On behalf of honourable members, welcome to Parliament House and I hope you enjoy your time here.
Members: Hear, hear!
_____________________
Ms LAWRIE: Welcome, Leanyer Primary; what a great school in the electorate of Wanguri for the member for Wanguri.
These are very genuine questions and the Chief Minister flat out refuses to answer them, but he is the big pretender. He pretended he would not be part of a leadership challenge on the former member for Blain, Terry Mills, and still pretends he did not really – people just came to him and said, ‘Come on, Adam, please be our Chief Minister’. In fact, we know he was holding one-on-one meetings with colleagues, rounding up the numbers, and it is shameful that he will not admit that he undermined his leader at the time, the Chief Minister at the time, and stepped up to take the mantle of leadership.
He still pretends it did not happen in the way it did. It is an incredible fabrication of lies the member for Braitling, the current Chief Minister, builds around himself. It is one after the other and it compounds. It is little wonder there is no trust in this Chief Minister in the electorate anymore. He has been pretending, ‘I saved everyone because I dropped the price of power from 30% to 20% and it is done and dusted’. He will not be honest with Territorians and say, ‘By the way, you got 5% in January. You will get another 4% with CPI in July, and you will be hit with another 5% next January. You are staring down the barrel of not just the 25% you have now on your electricity bill, but another 9% coming within the next months.’
There is no honesty and decency around this government engaging with constituents and telling them the truth about what is happening. Where are the expert reports that clearly step through, identify and define the detail around the split of Power and Water Corporation into three corporations? Where is the evidence upon which they are relying to make that decision? Where in the detailed reports does it say – if you listen to the lies of the Chief Minister, it is all about improving efficiency, reducing costs; therefore, there will be this magical reduction in tariffs that people are paying, which is the main cause of the increase in the cost of living. Where is that, Chief Minister? Where is that, Treasurer? It is not to be seen. It is not to be provided to the public because it is another big fat lie.
The experience elsewhere in Australia has been consistent. The experience globally has been consistent. Where you break up an authority like Power and Water, it is fattened for sale – which we see occurring now – and a sale leads to corporate pricing. We are staring down the barrel of some huge decisions being made by the Chief Minister and Dave Tollner around our Power and Water Corporation utility, without any evidence in the public domain to justify it. They will not be honest and tell Territorians what the cost of that split is.
I have seen many governments in the Northern Territory. I have never seen a government as secretive as this one; I have never seen a government hide the facts from Territorians as consistently as this government, and it is to its shame. If you truly believe in what you are doing, if you truly believe it is the right thing to do, if you truly are convinced that somehow, magically, despite the evidence everywhere else, this will lead to efficiencies and reduction in tariffs, then lead that evidence. Put the evidence on the table, put it into the public domain and let the experts look at it. We get the exact opposite from the CLP when members of this parliament say to the government, ‘Refer it to a parliamentary committee at the very least. Let that parliamentary committee scrutinise this legislation so we can call before it experts and hear from the experts as to what the implications will be.’ No, you cannot do that; it is not allowed. What is the CLP hiding?
We hear from experts – professors who speak on the radio, talk about experiences elsewhere and studies they have undertaken – and everyone says it is consistent. If you want to sell parts of a utility, you must split it up. They say the split of a utility like this is a precursor to sale, and the issue of privatisation leads to tariff increases everywhere.
There are real and stark implications of this splitand we are not getting the answers. A simple answer of cost will not be provided. Ask how many Territorians are aware their power and water prices are going up by CPI in July and by another 5% in January. That is 9%, folks. People are not aware. Why? Because this government will do its utmost to hide the truth from Territorians. We will not hide the truth from Territorians. We are putting the facts out there; including in Blain, and people are horrified.
Many people are not aware they copped another 5% on their electricity bill in January. People are not aware another 9% is locked in and coming their way. Chief Minister, you can make fun of the disconnections and laugh at this in Question Time today, but there is no fun in it for the families who are being disconnected. These are the battlers in our society. These are people who are trying and struggling to get through, day by day, week by week, and the rate of disconnections is escalating.
You can poke fun at it, but it is a tragedy. It is a tragedy occurring under your watch, and you think it is funny. You think it is some sort of political point scoring, and it is not. These are families who desperately need access to power, water and sewerage in their homes and you think it is a joke.
Mr ELFERINK: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Comments are to be directed through the Chair.
Madam SPEAKER: Opposition Leader, if you could direct your comments through the Chair please.
Ms LAWRIE: I find the dismissive and arrogant manner in which this Chief Minister deals with such dire issues of concern to families abhorrent. The lack of compassion is extraordinary. I have witnessed many Chief Ministers, CLP and Labor, and I have never seen anyone lacking in compassion like this Chief Minister.
Households are spending something like $82 per week more on housing costs than the average Australian household; this is contained in the NT Shelter December 2013 report. If you look at the NT cost of living in the December 2013 report, it says it is now more expensive to rent than buy your home in the Territory. What we have seen is, under the CLP, the cost of rent in Darwin has gone up 7.9% and the cost of buying a home in Darwin has risen by 8.3%. This is the CLP; its core, number one election commitment was to cut the cost of living. That clearly was a big fat lie, because it has done the exact opposite. It has escalated CPI inflation from 2.9% to 4.4%. It has doubled the cost of living in only 18 months, which is extraordinary. When opposition holds the CLP to account for it, it is dismissive, refuses to answer questions and jokes about the serious issue of disconnections. The Chief Minister should spend a day in the life of a lower socioeconomic family in Palmerston which is trying to pay its bills. They are going backwards, drowning under your cost of living and have no light at the end of the tunnel, because you axed the schemes which would get them into home ownership.
You axed HOMESTART Extra which was specifically designed to get lower socioeconomic people into home ownership. You replaced it with a rental scheme – no home ownership schemes – that you consistently will not answer the question on. You lauded it this week, the 30% below market rate on rentals. I have consistently asked, Chief Minister, if that includes 20% of federal government NRAS funding. That question has never been answered by your government. Why not? Why not try to be honest in some way, in some detail, on anything? It just simply is not in you, is it?
If that 30% discount is all CLP initiative, then say so.
Mr ELFERINK: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Once again, she is not directing her comments through the Chair.
Madam SPEAKER: Thank you, member for Port Darwin.
Ms LAWRIE: Madam Speaker, I am happy to. I know the CLP is very sensitive to this because it does not like being called out on its dishonesty, and, sadly, that is what we are doing today in this Chamber. This is not the gutter; this is the reality of people’s lives. They are trapped in rentals that are increasing in cost. They are trapped in utility bills that are increasing in cost, and we have a government that pretends otherwise. It should deal with the reality of the lives of Territorians. That is what they need their government to do, deal with the reality of their lives when it comes to increasing utility costs and their housing, and take responsibility for your own actions.
Your actions to scrap HOMESTART Extra were deplorable. It was a balanced scheme that gave lower socioeconomic Territorians a chance of home ownership. Without it, they cannot break through and get off the rental roundabout. But you scrapped it. You did not replace it with a home ownership scheme; you replaced it with rental options that have not yet physically appeared. The first construction starts in May; we have consistently asked you whether that 30% includes the 20% federal NRAS funding and you have failed to answer that simple question.
You consistently said there would be no new taxes, then we saw, in the CLP budget, almost all charges increase. Motor vehicle registration went up. We have seen $32m in revenue flow out of Territorians pockets and into Power and Water as a result of the tariff increases on power, water and sewerage, and $5.2m in new revenue with the registration hikes. You introduced those new mining levies without any stakeholder consultation and the Minerals Council said you have closed the Territory for business.
People stuck on the rental roundabout need you to pay attention to their reality. It is such a tightening housing market under your watch. Deal with your watch, Chief Minister. None of the promised 2000 new rental homes have been delivered, but we have had an announcement that we will see the first construction in May. You have not been honest about who is funding that, whether 20% is coming from the federal government.
You promised to release land faster and reduce the cost of land. The only land being released in Darwin and Palmerston is land that was agreed to, planned and funded under previous Labor governments. That includes the new sections at Muirhead and what we refer to as Palmerston east. It also includes the land being turned off in Driver as a result of the agreement we made with Charles Darwin University, being developed through CIC.
We now have the weakest economy for new housing finance. The momentum in housing starts is slowing under the CLP. I refer the CLP to the CommSec Economic Insights report of January 2014. As I have said, rentals have risen year to year and hit $700 per week in the December quarter. The median unit rent in Darwin is $570 per week compared to $485 in Sydney. Chief Minister, this is under your watch after you promised to reduce these costs.
You scrapped the first home owners stamp duty concession, as well as scrapping HOMESTART Extra and My New Home, those two all-important housing finance schemes. Scrapping the first home owners stamp duty concession – did you really need to go that far and that deep to hurt Territorians who were trying to get into the housing market for the first time?
You have changed remote housing contractors. We have seen that debacle roll out across the regions. You have reduced housing standards with what will amount to be, in many cases, a fly-in fly-out or drive-in drive-out series of contractors, rather than the employees who were hired – the Aboriginal people hired in their own communities to undertake housing maintenance. Job losses across that vary. In some towns it is 12, in other towns it is 14. However, you are pretending all the time that you are increasing jobs in the bush. It is little wonder you are dealing with a revolt from some bush members in your own party.
We do not have access to data and figures because written questions on notice go unanswered under this government. That written question on notice about what Crown leases you have provided since you have been in government has not been answered. It is the first time a written question on notice under this government has ever gone unanswered past its 30 days. I wonder why you would not be telling us about what Crown leases have occurred under this government. I wonder why you would be hiding that information. We will continue to pursue those answers. I am sure you will continue to hide them until a certain inquiry you concocted is over, because the answers might be very embarrassing for the CLP. However, we will continue to ask that question because it is legitimate. What Crown leases has the CLP provided since it has been in government?
The really disturbing thing I am seeing in housing is the increase in the rate of evictions. People are literally being turfed out of public housing for a variety of reasons. Some are evicted because they have breached the eligibility threshold to be in that house. We are increasingly hearing of people who, when they breach the eligibility threshold – goodbye, Leanyer Primary – that is, they earn too much to be in public housing, are told they must get out. When the family asks whether they can buy the house they have been living in, sometimes for 20 years, the answer has consistently been no. As local members, we write letters to the Minister for Housing, the member for Greatorex, and we are told no. Families who have been in homes for decades are told, ‘No, you cannot buy that home, get out’.
What is happening with public housing stock? It is being sold. The public housing stock people are being evicted from is being sold. It is not being repaired and turned over so we can get people on the public housing list off that waiting list and into housing, it is being sold. There is no detail or information about this.
We are advised that the Chief Minister, in his own electorate, forced the sale of a block of units against the advice of the department. We were advised the Housing department said, ‘No, Chief Minister, do not sell that block of units. They are public housing units that are crucial to the Alice Springs stock.’ But we are advised you went against that advice and instructed the sale of those units. By all means, Chief Minister, if that is not the case, I am sure you will stand up in contribution to this debate and tell us.
What is going on in public housing is, potentially, one of the scariest things I have even seen. These are battlers. Someone breaking through the eligibility of public housing is not earning enough to get into the private property market. They are going under. These are genuine battlers, families who are doing it tough, and because the housing finance schemes were scrapped by the government – HOMESTART Extra, My New Home – they cannot get the finance to get in to the housing market. They are then thrown into the private rental market. As I said before, when private rentals are hitting a high of $700 per week, and a medium unit rent of $570 per week, guess what is happening to these families? They are in severe finance stress. But, that is okay, because the CLP government does not care about that. I guess it takes the attitude that these people will pack up and leave.
Anecdotally, what are we hearing from removalists around the Top End? They have never been busier …
Mr Tollner: Everyone is leaving.
Ms LAWRIE: You can make a joke of it, Treasurer, as you came in with, ‘Everyone is leaving’. These are families who are literally being split up because of your policies and broken promises after the election. For the mother who is seeing her adult children leave with her grandchildren because they simply cannot afford to live here, that is no joke. It is devastating. It is real and it is happening. We will not hear that from you, of course. You will not acknowledge it and you will not address the policy failures that have led to it because that is not your style, is it? Your style is to pretend otherwise.
Mr ELFERINK: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Comments should be directed through the Chair.
Madam SPEAKER: It is fine, member for Port Darwin; you do not need to keep getting up. The comments are coming through the Chair.
Ms LAWRIE: Of course, there was the big pretend across the bush. ‘Vote us in and we will scrap the shires.’ They changed the name to ‘regional councils’. We have ‘regional councils’, not ‘shires’, so there was a name scrapping and now they have a committee to talk about possible changes to one regional council, the Victoria Daly shire.
As we have heard, they changed tendering arrangements for housing maintenance and other bush services, and local families in communities who have been doing those jobs for years are now out of work. They are unemployed in favour of new drive-in, drive-out, fly-in, fly-out contractors. We saw the promised $5200 per outstation dwelling take a year to design. It was an application process that was incredibly complex and many homelands are yet to see any improvements.
Under the power price hikes we saw power cards lasting only half the time they used to; people are churning through them at twice the rate, so much so that, consistently, we are seeing stores run out of them. When a store runs out of power cards, you have no power in that remote home. That is a real issue for many people who have serious health problems and need to charge things such as electric wheelchairs.
We saw the scrapping of the program to seal the barge landings and the roads to them. Look at Gapuwiyak. The barge landing is still waiting for that upgrade. It was on the program under Labor, but you scrapped it.
We are still waiting to see the funding promise for all-weather roads on Melville Island. We are still waiting to see the development of a proper Borroloola town plan, including provision of residential land, roads and service, and economic infrastructure. That simply has not happened as you promised. There has been no establishment of a Borroloola government business centre; that, also, has not happened.
The big promise to increase infrastructure in the bush has not materialised. Instead we now hear government saying private enterprise will fund infrastructure – the Northern Territory’s vast road network – when all economists doing the analysis of private funding into roads identify that you need a user pays system to fund it.
It is interesting there was not a single government minister at the industry forum held to talk about the Territory’s infrastructure. The minister for Primary Industry was a no show. He was meant to be there and did not show up. The Minister for Infrastructure apologised, and we listened instead to Regional Development Australia, the Northern Territory Cattlemen’s Association and others, who talked to us without a government minister represented.
We heard the head of the Department of Transport, Clare Gardiner-Barnes say, ‘I am very interested in what this forum thinks about the user pays model for transport infrastructure’ …
Mr McCarthy: The toll road to Wadeye.
Ms LAWRIE: I pick up on that interjection from my colleague, the member for Barkly, about the toll road to Wadeye. How do you explain your newly embraced policy – not enunciated to the bush before the election – of a user pays model for infrastructure across the regional areas of the Northern Territory? Who will pay for those road improvements? Is it the truckies, the cattlemen? Is it the people living in remote communities? Who do you propose will pay for billions of dollars of road upgrades you promised, albeit not written on the document you provided to Treasury? That was the big pretend; let us not put those billions of dollars of promises on the document to Treasury before the election, but slash every budget we can and increase the cost of living for Territorians to find some money to pay for some of those un-costed, unfunded promises.
Infrastructure in the bush: the only road projects in the bush, announced with great fanfare during the Blain by-election by the Chief Minister, were funded and agreed to under Labor. I know, because negotiated directly with Anthony Albanese when I was the Treasurer. The Chief Minister of the Northern Territory, on 3 August 2012, stood on the side of Tiger Brennan Drive and announced it, listing the roads, funding amounts and upgrades for each road. My goodness, compare and contrast the two press releases, one from former Chief Minister Paul Henderson on 3 August and one from current Chief Minister Adam Giles in the Blain by-election, on the Tiger Brennan Drive extension funding and bush roads funding. They are the same. How embarrassing! They show the same amount of funding, the same roads and the same projects. This is what you hang your hat on an agreement nailed under Labor as great success for delivering on bush infrastructure.
The all-weather road from Daly to Wadeye – member for Daly, I wonder what has happened to that great big promise of the development of a proper Wadeye town plan, including provision of residential land, roads, services and economic infrastructure. What happened to the contract you signed in Wadeye? There has been nothing yet.
Commerce planning for a transport hub in Katherine to fully integrate road and rail services has not happened. You cancelled the existing integrated regional transport plan and commissioned a new study. What happened to the new study, Chief Minister? You scrapped the strategic Indigenous water initiative that was allocating water for horticulture because you preferred to provide water to your mate, Tina MacFarlane. What happened with that process? Who was involved in the process? We heard ministers of the Crown from the CLP saying you were not involved. You then hear otherwise; you hear a senior departmental official was called to a meeting at the member for Fong Lim’s office in Winnellie to discuss it before approvals were granted. That is what we heard. Did it happen? I guess it will be a simple denial from you, Dave.
We see the proof of what happened though. All those gigalitres - against government policy and a court case the previous government won – were given to Tina MacFarlane. They are worth millions of dollars, but they were given to Tina MacFarlane, the CLP candidate for Lingiari, who horticulturalists in the region were up in arms about. Talk to the NT farmers federation about the decision. They could not believe it because that family was not producing on the land. There were neighbours producing on land who wanted water to increase their production, but they did not get it. They got it after the event though, after they lodged complaints and appeals against the Tina MacFarlane water rights grant, even though we were told there was no problem with appeals, and we saw the same officer …
Mr GUNNER: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Pursuant to Standing Order 77, I move that the member be granted an extension of time.
Motion agreed to.
Ms LAWRIE: We saw the government pretend there had not been appeals, and we then provided FOI documentation. Yes, there had been appeals and the same departmental officer, the controller of water, who determined the water allocation to Tina MacFarlane, reviewed his own decision. He did not give it to the water tribunal or the Natural Resources department to review. He reviewed his own decision and found it was okay. What a disgrace!
When you are in Blain, listening to people in Palmerston, you hear that law and order remains a big issue for them. Listen to the Chief Minister today, ‘It is all sorted, it is all okay, because they have cut property crime’. But there is still public drunkenness and antisocial behaviour and the riot in Moulden still occurred. You pretend this is not happening because it does not suit your big fabrication of it all being sorted, but it is still happening. Police are taking drunks to our emergency departments at a higher rate than they ever were previously. It goes to the accident and emergency data the member for Wanguri provided.
You pretend the blockage, double-bunking and crisis in Royal Darwin Hospital is occurring because of asylum seekers and aged bed block. You ignore the fact you decided to turn the medi-hotel over to drunks. You promised to build a new $30m alcohol rehabilitation facility in Katherine and a new $30m alcohol rehabilitation facility in Central Australia, but nothing has started. Instead you are using existing infrastructure like our secure care facility which was really for secure care clients, and the medi-hotel. You promised safe homes for victims of violence; there has been no change to the increase of safe homes and we have seen drunks back on the streets, literally. You have your new Alcohol Protection Orders, but there is no identification as to who people are. Do people in bottle shops have to guess? Have they got the great Dave Tollner wanted posters happening?
You posted police outside bottle shops. Chief Minister, have you done any analysis as to who is stopped outside those bottle shops? It is becoming a real issue of tension in Alice Springs, as to who is being stopped outside bottle shops by police. It has been raised with me by people in the community and they are really concerned. Chief Minister, I would like to hear from you what analysis you are doing of police work. Police are doing a good job; they are trying really hard. I do not know that standing outside bottle shops is what they signed up to do when they became sworn officers of the Northern Territory Police Force. The Police Association says they certainly do not want to be standing outside bottle shops, but you will not listen to them because you have your own view, and that is the only view you will countenance. In Darwin, alcohol-related assaults are up by more than 12%, domestic assaults have increased by nearly 19%, and we are seeing an escalation in sexual assaults. But under you, it is all okay because property crime is being tackled.
You promised to ensure priority is given to resourcing frontline services like police, and to recruit 120 new police officers, but the only new police recruited have been funded under the federal government’s detention centre funding program which was agreed to under Labor.
In growing the economy and jobs, Chief Minister, again you have failed to grasp that we are now in the haves and have-nots, the two-speed economy. We are now in a situation where companies associated with the major Ichthys project are doing very well. That is a fantastic thing, and I am incredibly proud to have been part of a government that delivered that major project. But you are failing to grasp that our small- and medium-sized businesses are really struggling. Your Treasurer says, ‘Well, hey, they can always try to access that $80 credit for the blackout that shut their businesses down for a day’, if they were closed for 12 hours. This is after you scrapped the compensation system Labor introduced for Power and Water.
You have removed the instant asset tax write-off for small businesses, and in Alice Springs, Kay Eade from the Chamber of Commerce said that Territory small businesses are already doing it tough, and, along with Power and Water increases, this is just another body blow they cannot afford.
That is from the Centralian Advocate. Chamber of Commerce president Julie Ross said, in February this year that the government just does not seem to have any vision at the moment and it is a very trying time for business.
You said you would reduce public service turnover. Turnover under your watch, Chief Minister, is now at an all-time high, and loss of knowledge will certainly start to affect capacity in the public service.
Supporting frontline workers: that has been a tragic lie when you look at the consequences for firefighters who have cancer. Do something good, Chief Minister, and introduce legislation during these sittings of parliament to give protection to those firefighters. Introduce it this sittings; it has been a live and engaged debate for months. You have had plenty of time to instruct parliamentary counsel to draft the legislation to meet any issues you have with the detail of the legislation. You are the line minister responsible for Police, Fire and Emergency Services. Do this for our firefighters during these sittings, Chief Minister.
We have firefighters who have no financial protection in their battle with cancer, yet they contracted the disease as a result of their job. Where is the delivery on the commitment to take care of those firefighters who are personally affected today? Why have you not put arrangements in place to give them some protection while you introduce and pass legislation?
Apart from your EBA disputes with teachers, you are in dispute with the firefighters and our paramedics. You pretend you are not in dispute with the paramedics because that service is delivered by St John. St John cannot change the funding parameters of the EBA without a financial change in the relationship of the service agreement with the Department of Health, which is presided over by your government and your Health minister. You pretend it has nothing to do with you, but we never did.
The mining industry is saying the CLP is not open for business and is out of touch with its industry. Tourism is flat, but you pretend it is buoyant. The Ord Stage 3 has disappeared completely from anything you have to say when it comes to horticultural development in the Territory. Why, Chief Minister? Does it have something to do with the debacle we saw emerging over the Sacred Sites Authority?
You promised to train and employ more local teachers, to provide secure employment for our teachers and ensure priority is given to resourcing frontline services like teachers. The exact opposite has occurred: 130 jobs for teachers are lost. We are staring down the barrel of 150 more, and hundreds of support staff have been sacked.
You promised an expert panel on literacy and numeracy, which has not happened. You promised to introduce a standardised regime of term testing for all year levels, and there is silence. You promised assistance and support for a school boarding facility in the gulf region; that has been scrapped. You promised new independent Indigenous schools, and there has been no announcement. Instead, we have the Indigenous education review that proposes to scrap secondary education in our bush schools. The much lauded and expanded School of the Air teaching model in 10 outstation schools has since been pared back to a $500 000 trial. You said the CLP promise to improve education outcomes in the bush would be a priority of the Country Liberals government. Instead we have the Indigenous education review that will reduce education options for our bush students.
All of this, Chief Minister, is under your watch: all of these delays, all of these price increases, all of the scrapping of schemes designed to support Territorians, ignoring your commitments whether in town or in the bush, the mishandling of the two-speed economy that has emerged and your failure to secure Nhulunbuy.
Today Rio Tinto announced a $50m support package, and the Chief Minister responded with $2m. Rio Tinto has announced $50m and the new additional amount from the Northern Territory government is $2m. Is that it, Chief Minister? Will we get anything else to support the Territory’s fourth largest town?
Madam Speaker, I condemn and censure this Chief Minister for his failures and his lies.
Mr TOLLNER (Treasurer): Madam Speaker, I thank the Opposition Leader for bringing on this censure motion. I thank her because it gives us the opportunity to talk about who is lying.
It was interesting to hear the Opposition Leader talking about Power and Water at the start of the debate. She comes into this place and blatantly lies. Without a doubt, the Opposition Leader is a compulsive liar.
A few weeks ago …
Mr GUNNER: A point of order, Madam Speaker!
Madam SPEAKER: Deputy Chief Minister, please pause. Member for Fannie Bay, it is a censure motion.
Mr GUNNER: I know, but in a previous censure motion you made the ruling you can only refer to the lying referenced in the motion itself.
I know what you are saying, Dave, but it was her ruling.
Madam SPEAKER: Deputy Chief Minister, the censure motion is directed at the Chief Minister and he is labelled a liar. It does not give you the right to call anyone else in the Chamber a liar during the debate, so if you could withdraw, please.
Mr ELFERINK: Madam Speaker, speaking to the point of order, there are two ways we can do this. We can allow the conversation to go as it is or we can bring an amendment to the motion and turn it around on the opposition. It is up to the opposition. If they want to stick to this point of order, that is fine. We will simply move an amendment to the motion, it is that easy.
Madam SPEAKER: Deputy Chief Minister, if you could withdraw the reference to lying or liars in regard to members of the opposition.
Mr TOLLNER: Madam Speaker, I withdraw. I will get a set of words from the Leader of Government Business.
It is interesting the Opposition Leader talks about liars. A few weeks ago she came in here banging on about the 43% increase in the network determination by the Utilities Commission, saying that would cost the Territory government $1.2bn –a couple of thousand dollars per household. That is not factual.
The Opposition Leader said the determination had seen a 43% increase because of the government’s planned structural separation of the Power and Water Corporation. Again, that is not factual.
The company has not changed at all from the way it was when the Opposition Leader was the shareholding minister. The determination, if it reflects on government at all, reflects on the former government’s failure to put enough money into the network. It is nothing to do with structural separation, and I think the Opposition Leader knows that.
On the day of the most recent power failure the Opposition Leader was jumping up and down saying it was because the government did not put enough money into maintenance. Again, that is a porky pie. Government increased its repairs and maintenance budget to Power and Water by almost $20m - $61m was the highest it peaked at when the Opposition Leader was the shareholding minister. It now sits at about $80m.
The Opposition Leader said on the day this was the worst blackout in the history of the Northern Territory. Again, that is nonsense. She totally disregards her time as shareholding minister, where we saw similar blackouts in 2009 and 2010.
The Opposition Leader said 130 000 customers were affected by the blackouts. As the Chief Minister pointed out in Question Time, there are not 130 000 customers in the entire Northern Territory. There are only 88 000 in entirety, yet the Opposition Leader is quite prepared to say 130 000 customers were affected across the Northern Territory.
If the Opposition Leader wants credibility, the easiest way to establish that is to start telling the truth, something that seems completely foreign to the Opposition Leader. She was talking today about disconnections being sevenfold to what they were during her time as Opposition Leader. Some facts came out in Question Time today which showed that in January 2012 there were 900 disconnections, as opposed to last month where there were some 450. Disconnections have halved since the Opposition Leader was the shareholding minister of the Power and Water Corporation. This list of mistruths goes hand in glove with the Opposition Leader.
I move that all words after the word ‘censuring’ be omitted and the following words be inserted: the Leader of the Opposition and her shadow Cabinet for consistently lying to Territorians about actions taken by government. I table that.
Now we can speak openly about lying. We will not be caught up splitting hairs, saying, ‘Oh, no, it is all right for the Opposition Leader to call someone on this side of the Chamber a liar, but we cannot draw attention to the multiple lies of the Opposition Leader’. It would be wrong, because the Opposition Leader, for some reason, is allowed to tell everybody lies, yet the government cannot talk about the Opposition Leader. We have just changed the motion, and now, I trust everybody can talk fulsomely about the Opposition Leader’s lies.
Without a doubt, the Opposition Leader is a compulsive liar. Every day, without fail, the Opposition Leader has some other lie to peddle to the community and it seems as soon as she is pulled up on one lie, she moves to another one. The lies do not seem to abate from the Opposition Leader, and she sees it as all fair because this is politics and the way she sees it, lying is part of politics. Lying is not part of politics, it is not part of this parliament, it is a serious offence and something the Opposition Leader should be made aware of, because she continually comes into this joint and lies.
There are lies about the amount of disconnections, the number of Territorians affected and what the government is doing. I notice a petition has been going around talking about the government selling Power and Water assets. That is another lie. I challenge the Opposition Leader, or anybody, to find one example of where any person in this government has said we are preparing Power and Water for sale. It is a lie. There is no other way of putting it and it does not seem to matter what we say, the Opposition Leader and her union mates will constantly lie.
The Blain by-election campaign is happening. I note the lies put into people’s letter boxes by the Labor Party talking about Power and Water assets not being for sale. They never were for sale. It was heartening to hear the Chief Minister in Question Time say he would gratefully sign the petition, because we are prepared to stump up and say we are not privatising or selling any Power and Water assets. They are blatant lies. They all know they are lies, but they think it is all right because this is politics. You tell a lie often enough, it becomes the truth; that is the way Labor operates. It has done it for years. It is their members’ modus operandi. They tell one lie, and they tell that lie over and over again.
Ms WALKER: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Could you direct the Treasurer to direct his comments through the Chair, please.
Madam SPEAKER: Deputy Chief Minister, if you could keep your comments through the Chair, please.
Mr TOLLNER: Absolutely, Madam Speaker. They lie, and they know it. It is the only way they operate because they do not have a skerrick of a clue. They can only operate on lies. The only way they can get by in this world is to keep making up lies. Every day there is a new lie. Why do they do it? Somehow or other, it keeps them relevant.
They should know why Power and Water is being reformed. It is because it is a bit of a basket case. It does not take Einstein to work that out. We have gone from power outages all the way through. We are paying far more than we should be. Power and Water Corporation should be a much more efficient operation; it should be much more reliable in the services it provides, everyone here knows that. It is a given fact. Why would you stand in the way of reform, apart from simple pigheadedness and a desire to make mischief? These reforms have been on the table since 1991.
Every Australian state and territory has embraced the reforms, except the Northern Territory. I take umbrage at former CLP governments in that regard as well, because in 1991 the Country Liberals were in power in the Northern Territory and should have done something as well, but we have also had 11 years of Labor sitting on its hands doing nothing. The former Treasurer, the former shareholding minister, sat on the Ministerial Council on Energy during the reform process. We signed up to these reforms years and years ago, yet when we start to try to implement them in the Northern Territory, what do we get? We get lies that competition never brings prices down and that we are trying to sell publicly owned assets.
All of this nonsense is simply trying to create mischief to put pressure on government to derail the reform process. What is the benefit in derailing the reform process? My goodness me, for the first time ever we have an Australian government that recognises the potential of north Australia. It has come out with a north Australian policy. There is a white paper being worked up. We have a Chief Minister and a government here which are dead keen to continue to drive economic growth and private enterprise investment in the Northern Territory.
We realise what a wonderful prize we have within our grasp, yet we have a Labor opposition that just wants to get in the way and stop it. How pathetic! Goodness me, we are talking about reforming our utilities. We are talking about joining the Australian energy regulator and the NEM, the Australian energy market. We want a wholesale market operating here. We want to do these things because they bring benefit. We are about to leap into the 21st century in a period of previously unexperienced economic growth into the future, and we have a Labor opposition which is trying to hang on to the past, some quaint English style cottage industry of a utility it wants to maintain, complete with its no ticket, no start policies: inefficiencies, blackouts, all of that sort of stuff. They want to retain that when we see a much bigger prize ahead of us, a prize where we can see Territorians prospering, jobs for all, a better lifestyle, and these guys want to get in the way. Goodness me, and they get in the way by telling lie after lie after lie.
Last week, we saw the APA group announce a $2m feasibility study into a pipeline connection between the Northern Territory and southeast Australia. What happens if we connect up to the national gas grid? Who will regulate our gas? Will it be the Utilities Commission? I do not believe so as it has no expertise in that area. Who regulates pipelines around Australia? Would that be the Australian Energy Regulator? Would that be the group we want to join with and say, ‘Come and regulate our pipelines in the Northern Territory, because we have gas in the Northern Territory and there are huge demands interstate?’ I believe it would be.
What do we hear from the opposition about that? Nothing, because that does not fit with its convenient lie, which is to scare Territorians and convince them power prices will go up, the cost of living will continually go up and we will go to hell in a hand basket. That is an absolute lie.
The benefits of joining the national system are enormous. Currently, what you are charged for your electricity consumption does not depend on the time of day or where you live, for that matter. You can run your pool pump in the middle of the day when every other business is open, when all the air conditioners are on, and it makes no difference to your bill, irrespective that the real cost of generating is a great deal higher in the middle of the day when everyone is using electricity. Why? Because we have an average tariff and a uniform tariff that goes across the Northern Territory for smaller customers.
Interstate, people can have real-time tariffs. There are retail businesses doorknocking households interstate, trying to sign people up to contracts. Some of those contracts offer people a Smart Meter to put on the side of their house so when they use power, the cost of that power is taken into account at the time it is used. People see a real benefit in running their washing machines or pool filters at night when there is a lower tariff, because Smart Meters capture the real-time cost of power. That is an important innovation which should be embraced by our marketplace in the Northern Territory.
Interstate, between 55% and 80% of customers are not on regulated tariffs. In the Northern Territory, every household is on a regulated tariff. You have no choice in the Northern Territory. The price is the same whether you live here, Alice Springs or Tennant Creek. We are charged the same. We have no choice, so 100% of households are on a regulated tariff.
Interstate, between 55% and 80% of customers choose to be on something other than the regulated tariff. Why is that? Because of things like choice. People have a greater choice. Some people want to be able to run their pool filter at night and do their washing at night when the tariffs are low and they can make real savings to their power bill. The other consequence of it is that it is easier to run the network when you have more people running their pool filters, dishwashers or washing machines at night. It helps regulate the amount of electricity going into the network. It makes more sense and is a much more efficient way of utilising electricity, but no, not in the Northern Territory.
We have Labor opposition members who bury their heads in the sand and say, ‘No, this reform nonsense, we do not want a part of that. This is all about Dave and his rich mates selling off power and trying to drive costs up for everyone else.’ That is another lie. Labor lies never stop.
Debate suspended.
MOTION
Proposed Censure of Chief Minister
Proposed Censure of Chief Minister
Continued from earlier this day.
Madam SPEAKER: Honourable members, there are two motions before parliament at the moment. I will assume you are speaking to both motions, unless you indicate otherwise.
Mr TOLLNER (Treasurer): Madam Speaker, before the lunch break, I was speaking to an amended motion, in relation to the lies from the Leader of the Opposition in particular, and I outlined a litany of lies picked up just on the Power and Water issue alone, let alone any other area.
The $1.2bn network determination cost was a lie. The suggestion it was increasing because of structural separation was a lie. The lack of maintenance dollars, a suggestion this government has reduced repairs and maintenance spending on Power and Water was a lie. The worst ever blackout last week was a lie. How short their memories are on that side of the Chamber. The suggestion that 130 000 customers suffered is a complete lie. We know there are only 88 000 customers in the entire network, but no, the Leader of the Opposition, for her own political purposes, peddles the idea that 130 000 customers were affected. What a load of nonsense. She said disconnections have gone up sevenfold since this government came to office, and that is another blatant lie. In fact, the highest level of disconnections I can identify occurred in January 2012. In that month there were 890 disconnections compared to about 445, exactly half February just gone.
There is no end to the lies from the Leader of the Opposition. It is there to scare people, to tell people things are worse than they are and she makes no bones about it. As far as she is concerned, that is the political process and that is what you do when you are in politics, you just tell lies.
We do not believe in that on this side of the House. We have a good story to tell and are reforming our Power and Water Corporation because we want to join the 21st century. We want to build, develop and grow the Northern Territory economy, provide wealth and prosperity for all Territorians, ensure we have a wonderful lifestyle and maintain the lifestyle we have. We can only do that by making some reforms, and this government has made reforms in many areas. It is a wonderful story indeed.
We mentioned in Question Time that the Power and Water board was meeting to discuss the lighting issue affecting councils around the Territory. The board met, made a decision and issued this media release, which I happened to get just before lunch. It has said it is putting off its decision to implement the new charges while the corporation goes through the process of structural reform. While the structural reforms have not happened yet, they are already having an effect on board decisions.
It is delaying this because the bundled street lighting charge has not increased in line with cost, but it is …
Ms Walker: Bundled or bungled?
Mr TOLLNER: … unbundling the cost.
Ms Walker: Bungling?
Mr TOLLNER: Unbundling the cost. The member for Nhulunbuy wants to make a bit of fun at it, but Power and Water knows why it is important to understand the real costs, rather than passing cost on to councils, that is, ratepayers. It has made the sensible decision to put that on hold. I will table the media release.
This is great news. As I was saying, reform of our utility in the Northern Territory will have wonderful benefits for all Territorians and will provide a pathway for us to move quickly into the 21st century to realise the dream of north Australian development and see wealth and prosperity created for Territorians across the board.
This government has been working hard in the last two years and there has been a number of good stories which have not been heard. On an economic front, the Northern Territory is the envy of Australia. This year, our economy is set to grow by some 7%. We are leaving the rest of the nation behind in economic growth; that is a significant achievement.
Retail trade is up; the last quarterly change in retail trade saw a 0.3% increase. It is very small, but it was after the Christmas period, a typically slow time. Irrespective, retail trade has grown for the ninth consecutive month.
I think we have the fastest rate of building residential construction in the history of the Northern Territory. That is a great reflection of the hard work done by this government, especially the minister for Lands and Planning, who is getting on with land release and making sure building approvals are done in a timely fashion. That is great work on that front.
We are currently sitting on a 3.7% unemployment rate. That is an incredible result for the Northern Territory. Anybody who wants a job can get one. Meanwhile, we are here, listening to the Labor opposition saying how the Territory is going to hell in a hand basket, everybody is losing their jobs and all is terrible. The figures, however, speak for themselves. An unemployment rate of 3.7% is very low, compared to 6% nationally. Again, the Territory is leading the charge on that front.
During Question Time we heard a range of good news stories about alcohol and the Northern Territory. There are now 800 people on Alcohol Protection Orders. These are real statistics; people on APOs are banned from drinking. They are banned from purchasing alcohol or even possessing alcohol, and we hear the opposition saying, ‘Oh, well, the publicans do not know who to sell alcohol to and who not to’. Under our regime, it is not up to the publicans or anybody else; it is up to the individual. It is like driving a car without a licence. If you are caught, look out because there will be trouble. We see the results of the APOs; property crime is down. I think the Chief Minister said there was a 22% reduction in assaults. Property crime is the lowest on record. These statistics are starting to speak volumes about the direction this government is taking.
The Corrections minister rightfully said we are sitting at 129% capacity of our gaols, but there is light at the end of the tunnel. The great legacy of the former government was this $600m prison it decided to build; it will be $1.8bn by the time Territorians pay for it. Imagine leaving a legacy, as a government, that – I think the Corrections minister called it the prison Mahal. What a legacy to leave. ‘This is our one great achievement; we built a prison.’ How appalling, but that was Labor’s one great achievement. It built a new prison and we are already at 120% of capacity.
The Attorney-General and Minister for Correctional Services has done a marvellous job in his portfolio. We are seeing big reductions in recidivism. We are seeing people in gaol being skilled up to get a job and they are not going back into prison. What a wonderful outcome. Labor’s response to this was to build a bigger prison. Our response is to try to stop people going to prison in the first place and work on them being meaningful members of our society. That is a great outcome and the more of these people we can turn around and get into jobs, the better. Congratulations and well done to the Attorney-General and Minister for Correctional Services.
Alcohol mandatory treatment is having big impacts; we see the number of people drinking in public reduced right across the Territory. It was interesting to hear the Opposition Leader having a good crack at the Chief Minister about the situation in Alice Springs. I am stunned at how peaceful that town has been in recent months. It is an example of why the government should not be frustrated in moving ahead with these reforms. The combination of alcohol mandatory treatment, APOs, Sentenced to a Job and all of those sorts of things is having big effects in a place like Alice Springs and noticeable effects in Darwin, Katherine, Palmerston and other parts of the Northern Territory.
The Territory does have something to hang its hat on. We are doing a good job in government. All we ask is while we are trying to fix the mess …
Mr STYLES: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Pursuant to Standing Order 77, I move the member be granted an extension of time.
Motion agreed to.
Mr TOLLNER: While we are trying to fix the mess that Labor created – it is a mess, we had crime that was out of hand, drunks out of hand and a nanny state mentality where government does everything for everybody, trying to take responsibility for people who take no responsibility for themselves. We saw, under the previous government, the worst housing crisis in Australia, some of the worst crime in Australia, terrible statistics everywhere. This is a mess we have had to fix as a government, and we are fixing it. As we make these reforms and changes, as we drive the need for private investment and economic development to give people a better way of life and more prosperity and wealth, all we ask is that Labor gets out of the way. Do not frustrate the process. Do not stuff things up for us because you stuffed it up yourselves.
All we ask is that Labor gets out of the way, and stops telling lies and making mischief. That is not good for our economy or the confidence of Territorians and, worst of all, it shows what a pathetic mob you are. Get out of the way, try to understand some of the reforms we are making, and look at some of the results these reforms are achieving, because they are many and they are varied.
I take my hat off to the minister for Primary Industry with the work he has done on live cattle exports. We all know what sort of a legacy Labor left there. According to the former Chief Minister, ‘Well, it was the circuit breaker we had to have. We need it. Ban live cattle exports!’ Goodness me, you would hardly believe that guy was a Chief Minister of the Northern Territory when he tried to cripple one of our traditional foundation industries. It was appalling. It is only through the hard work of the member for Katherine and the Chief Minister that we have seen things turn around. Last week, when the blackout happened, the Primary Industry minister was in Vietnam talking cattle, resources and the like. We are a government that is doing the business, putting in the hard yards.
Labor wants to throw a bag of mud all over the Minister for Tourism. Why? Because he is doing a good job. He is talking up the Territory at every opportunity. He is running the line for tourism and fighting in Cabinet to make sure there are more tourism dollars. He is a bloke with passion for the Territory and should be congratulated for his efforts. He is a great minister and is doing a good job.
What a remarkable job our Minister for Health has done on alcohol mandatory treatment. Health is one of the most difficult portfolios going, yet our Minister for Health is handling it with aplomb, knuckling down to business and making sure government reforms are in place. I congratulate the member for Araluen on the work she is doing as the Minister for Health.
All ministers on this side are firing. Without a doubt, every minister is doing their bit to fix the problems created by the previous Labor government, and there is a myriad of them. All we ask is they get out of the way, stop muckraking, stop getting down in the gutter, lift their eyes up and look on the horizon to see what a future we have in the Northern Territory.
In the Northern Territory, we now have a Chief Minister we can all rally behind. He is a bloke with big visions and a big plan for the Territory. I am as proud as hell to stand behind him and assist him in that great work of delivering a better lifestyle for Territorians.
The last 12 months have been 12 months of achievement on achievement. What do we get from the other side? Negativity, carping, getting down in the mud and personal insults. Every day these people open their mouths there is some personal insult. The other night, I saw St Mary’s win its 30th grand final. St Mary’s has a motto: play the ball not the man. That is the way the team has operated for 50 years. They are focused on football, not punching their opponent out. They have won premierships by thinking big, looking at the goal at the end of the season and making sure they are winning games, not necessarily beating up their opponents. That is why St Mary’s is a great club and wins premierships.
We are trying to do the same thing. We have a Chief Minister focused on the future and northern development. He is not scared to pick a fight. He is having a fight with the feds, with Warren Entsch in Cairns. He is letting everybody know that Darwin is the place it all happens and the Northern Territory will drive Australia into the future. That is what our Chief Minister is on about and that is why I am proud to serve him and be part of this government. I despise every time I hear the Opposition Leader pour scorn on this great man, the Chief Minister of the Northern Territory.
Mr VOWLES (Johnston): Madam Speaker, I will be speaking to the original motion.
Before the last election, the CLP promised to be open and accountable. It also promised to reduce the cost of living. Electricity, water and sewerage charges are a major contributor to cost of living pressures and a major concern for Territory consumers.
Since coming to office, the CLP has punished Territory families and businesses with savage price increases of 25% on electricity, 35% on water and 20% on sewerage. These increases have hit all Territorians very hard. Families are leaving the Territory because the cost of living is too high and businesses are closing.
The Chief Minister and the Treasurer have an arrogant disregard for the impact of these price hikes on ordinary, hard-working Territorians. They simply do not understand that not everyone is on a ministerial or parliamentary salary. Your savage price hikes hurt ordinary, hard-working Territorians.
A recent survey conducted by Mortgage Choice National found that 64% of Territory consumers are worried about their utility bills. The most frequently raised issue when Labor candidate Geoff Bahnert knocks on doors in Blain is the pain inflicted by the CLP’s punishing increases in electricity tariffs, and the people Geoff Bahnert has met in Blain are very angry.
The average family is paying more than $2000 per year for electricity. We have seen young mothers forced to return to work early from maternity leave to pay their power bills. Families have told us they reach the point where they have to choose between buying food or paying their Power and Water bills.
Let us recap what has been said so far about Power and Water. In parliament on 3 December 2013, the Treasurer said:
We are on the record saying we are not interested in privatising any Power and Water Corporation assets this term. We would not do so without a mandate of the people, and we are not seeking such a mandate.
- Treasurer Dave Tollner has opened the door to a possible privatisation of Power and Water Corporation – but said it would only be considered after the next NT election.
Mr Tollner has previously said splitting up Power and Water was not a move to privatisation, but was about making it more efficient.
But speaking on ABC radio yesterday, Mr Tollner said he couldn’t rule it out.
Mr Tollner refused to speak to the NT News, but he issued a statement saying that privatisation was not on the agenda – yet.
- ‘The government has not ruled out privatising aspects of Power and Water’, he said. ‘However, we would only consider this action with a mandate from the people at an election’.
Look at what the CLP is saying now. In parliament on 12 February 2014, the Chief Minister identified four ways to fund infrastructure:
- There are four lanes we can take in identifying resources and the way we can spend money. It includes talking about raising taxes, cutting spending, selling assets or borrowing money.’
The key point is the CLP has moved from ruling out privatising or selling Power and Water assets without a mandate in an election to a position of saying everything is on the table. Why? Because the CLP has introduced legislation into this parliament which explicitly allows the Treasurer to sell or privatise Power and Water assets under Part 5A of the Power and Water Corporation Legislation Amendment Bill, and because the CLP needs to pay for unfunded election commitments, it will have to sell assets before the next election.
Can anyone trust the CLP with the Territory’s public assets? As industry expert and former Commonwealth Ombudsman, Allan Asher, said recently:
- The public have every right to know – they’ve paid so far for all of the investments while they’re in government hands and they’re going to pay again when it’s demerged and then ultimately if it’s privatised. The problem is that where decisions are made in the darkness, they’re so often wrong and that individuals lose out.
The community will not be deceived and members opposite will be held to account. The CLP makes decisions in the dark and the Chief Minister and the Treasurer cannot be trusted with public assets.
More financial stresses are compounded by other CLP imposts. Even parking at RDH is more expensive. What will the CLP tax next? We will find out, and Chief Minister, do not worry, because people are seriously angry with this government and will tell us what you will tax next.
We know Territory local government councils will be slugged with massive annual bills by Power and Water which will be passed on to ratepayers. In Palmerston alone, the bill is $575 000 per year, which will be passed onto ratepayers. Palmerston mayor Ian Abbott said this will hurt Palmerston families, but the Chief Minister and the Treasurer simply do not care; they show more arrogant disregard for Territory families and businesses.
At least Darwin Lord Mayor Katrina Fong Lim, unlike the Chief Minister, has had the decency to acknowledge the stress these increases will place on ordinary Territory families. She said:
- I’m concerned that any extra expense adds to the burden on ratepayers and the cost of living.
On this side of the House we are concerned about the severe stress CLP hikes are imposing on family and business budgets. Members opposite run dead on this issue by burying their heads deeper into the sand. Why? Because they know the Power and Water Corporation is being fattened up with revenue increases prior to disaggregation and privatisation, which is why they are not speaking up for constituents. It is why they also have a callous disregard for the impact of savage cost of living increases on Territory families and businesses. The split up and privatisation of Power and Water Corporation will drive tariffs even higher.
I urge the Chief Minister to come to Rapid Creek markets with me on a Sunday morning and let ordinary Territorians tell him about the stress his government and its policies have put on their finances. It will not be pretty, but he would earn respect not only from the people of that area, but from me as well.
Over the Christmas period, Territory NGOs such as St Vincent de Paul Society, the Salvation Army, Anglicare and Somerville reported increasing demand for assistance arising from income stress caused by the government’s huge increases in utility prices. We know funding to NGOs was cut up to 65% as soon as the CLP came into government.
This is a really disappointing government. In a recent briefing, a government consultant confirmed there was no analysis or science in calculating the savage increases in utility prices. The government looked at prices elsewhere in Australia and came up with huge arbitrary increases which have punished Territory families and businesses. It was a cash grab and nothing else. There are many other examples of external pain inflicted on Territory families by the Chief Minister and this government. Mindless attacks on school communities that have resulted in the loss of talented teachers and support staff, and reduced subject choice and contact time for students have characterised the CLP’s approach to education. Families, teachers, students and support staff will not forget the chaos and lost opportunities for our children caused by the ideologically driven cuts. Electors in Blain will not forget.
The chaos, which is endemic in the CLP, came to full expression when the elected Chief Minister, the member for Braitling’s predecessor, Terry Mills, was knifed whilst representing government in high-level negotiations in Japan. You did not even give him the respect to eyeball him. You chopped him down whilst he was overseas. Now the residents of Blain are unrepresented in this parliament because the Chief Minister could not be bothered walking across the road to get a writ issued for the election. Electors in Blain will not forget your arrogance.
There is one other issue which involves both chaos and pain which the CLP cannot hide from. I refer to the bullying and harassing behaviour directed by the Minister for Tourism, the disgraced member for Greatorex, towards the member for Namatjira. I will quote from ABC Darwin; the headline is, ‘”Conlan called me the C-word”, Anderson says’.
- Country Liberal Party (CLP) backbencher Alison Anderson has broken her silence to confirm reports that Tourism Minister Matt Conlan called her a c*** at a party meeting recently.
- The move puts Ms Anderson at odds with Chief Minister Adam Giles who has publicly said he does not believe Mr Conlan swore.
Speaking on ABC 105.7 Ms Anderson said the incident happened at a meeting of the parliamentary wing of the party on February 17 and left her feeling insulted.
‘Matt used the words, ‘why don’t you do us all a favour Alison. F-off, you C,’ Ms Anderson said.
Ms Anderson also said Chief Minister Adam Giles was told of the language directed at her, and he said, ‘We have a full agenda, let’s get on with business’.
She said fellow MP Larisa Lee was sitting between Mr Conlan, and herself and also heard the language used.
‘I think any woman would feel insulted, I felt absolutely insulted’, Ms Anderson told host Julia Christensen.
Three days after the incident Mr Conlan apologised to Ms Anderson, but the text of the apology has not been made public.
‘I am not sort of happy to take three days to apologise to someone,’ Ms Anderson said.
Meanwhile Ms Anderson denied that she and other rural MP’s were considering splitting off from the CLP to form their own political party.
‘That is a nonsense that has been going around for about a month,’ Ms Anderson said.
Mr Conlan has been contacted several times by the ABC since the allegations were first revealed last week by Health Minister Robyn Lambley, but he is yet to respond to requests for an interview.
‘I think that Robyn Lambley here is the great hero,’ Ms Anderson said.
‘She has uncovered something that has been laying around in the dark, in the closet, and dragged it out into the light, and we need to deal with these issues,’ she said.
On Monday Mr Giles said Mr Conlan would not be sacked over the incident. ‘I don’t believe Minister Conlan swore,’ Mr Giles said.
That is the end of the transcript.
Chief Minister, are you accusing the members for Arnhem, Braitling, Namatjira and Araluen of lying?
I will read that again. Mr Giles said:
- ‘I do not believe Minister Conlan swore’, Mr Giles said
Are you accusing your three colleagues of lying? Are you not talking about it? Do you not want to acknowledge it?
Madam SPEAKER: Direct your comments through the Chair, please, member for Johnston.
Mr VOWLES: Okay.
We continue to talk about the chaos and pain the CLP is causing us. I remember another CLP promise that has been broken from the last election in August 2012 when then Opposition Leader and former Chief Minister, Terry Mills, said, ‘All ministers’ travel, and I promise you, will be detailed and will be costed on a website and will be open and accountable’.
I have not seen a website anywhere. I have not seen any costs anywhere. All we know about cost is an $82 000 charter from Vietnam for a 30 minute photo shoot, an opportunity with the Prime Minister because you stuffed your diary up. The number of people who come to my office on a Sunday at Rapid Creek markets just to complain about that waste of $82 000 is unbelievable.
There are so many people complaining about that and how $82 000 could have been spent elsewhere. It could have supported teachers, funded NGOs, helped the homeless or helped NT shelters. It could have helped in a number of areas. It could have kept a public servant you promised to protect in a job, but no. He tried to defend it, and say it was not $100 000, but it was $82 000, and I could not believe it when he tried to justify it.
No, it was not $100 000, it was $82 000 and the number of people coming to me and going off their nut about your blatant disregard and arrogance with taxpayers’ money – you came back for a 30 minute photo opportunity with the Prime Minister of Australia while you are cutting teachers, slashing jobs you promised not to slash and cutting funding left, right and centre. You wonder why we are censuring you. You have no idea what is going on, the arrogance, pain and dysfunction your administration is inflicting on Territorians. You need to get out into the real world. You are very rarely in Alice Springs now and when you do go, you swan in and swan off.
I ask you to start talking to people. How about you chat to the people who voted you and your colleagues in and start saying what is really happening? A number of people come into our offices – I am talking about all of my colleagues here – complaining how your government is treating them, and saying, ‘You blokes will be right in 2016’. We say, ‘We are just doing our job holding them to account’. They say it must be an easy job for us, with this government.
We are working hard, working as a team. We are united, professional and very strong in our commitment to standing up for the people who elected us. I am sure there must be people knocking on your electorate office door; I know you have a brand new office in Alice Springs, Chief Minister. It is pretty flash, but some people have said it is a bit of traffic hazard where it is with the size of your melon on it. I am sure people are coming into your offices, people are stopping you in the street – whenever you get down from where you live – to say, ‘Mate, what are you doing?’
I see the member for Port Darwin sitting in the mall, and that is good, I get that. He is at least talking. I do not know if anyone talks to him, but at least he is open and I am sure some people have gone to him and said, ‘What are you doing, John? What is the Chief Minister doing? Are you not in Cabinet? What is going on here? You are supposed to serve us, we voted you in.’ There is a grassroots movement against this government and it is growing. No matter what you say and hear, no matter what you do, you are supposed to govern for Territorians.
You can say we lie on this side and that is fine. That is what you do. Sometimes, I believe you still have not moved from being in opposition to being in government. You have not done that, and you are supposed to govern for Territorians. You govern for people who voted you and all your bush members in, every one of you over there. We get that, we know we have a democratic society and that is what goes on.
But you must be copping it from people wanting to talk to you. I had a meeting yesterday; people were complaining to me about their numerous requests to meet with the Housing minister and him refusing to meet with them. That is a disgrace. You are ministers of the Crown to serve the people of the Northern Territory, not to serve your own interests or say, ‘I am going to be Chief Minister for a while. I will see how we go. I knifed Terry Mills in the back. I cannot believe I have waited a year and I am still in.’ You are supposed to serve Territorians.
Somebody came into my office and said, ‘You know what? The people of the Northern Territory, taxpayers, own Power and Water. The government manages it for us.’ It is not a cash cash cow to fund unfunded election commitments. We know it happened in the bush. I am sure the member for Daly is still looking for his road from Daly to Wadeye. We all look forward to the commitments you made in the bush and everywhere else around the Northern Territory. There was a port on the Tiwi Islands; has that been built yet? That was promised.
What else do we have that was promised? I have a thick document here, mate …
Mr ELFERINK: A point of order, Madam Speaker! The member’s time has expired.
Madam SPEAKER: Your time has expired, member for Johnston. Thank you, member for Port Darwin.
Mr GILES (Chief Minister): Madam Speaker, the censure by the Opposition Leader, doomsday Delia, the lady running around thinking the sky is falling in everywhere, is typical of her poor leadership, both in this House and across the Northern Territory. It has been on display for the past 12 months. Territorians are tired of the level of debate and the angst that goes with what she and her opposition have been saying.
It is very interesting listening to the member for Johnston, recognising he is one of Delia’s numbers because he is the one who gets the call. You have coherent people like the member for Fannie Bay, who is not allowed to speak on this, and the member for Casuarina, who can contribute to policy debate and is not allowed to speak, but they get Kenny up. I find that quite interesting and embarrassing for Labor. In a nutshell, it is quite embarrassing for the Northern Territory to see Ken Vowles speaking the way he does.
Madam SPEAKER: Chief Minister, if you could refer to the member by his …
Mr GILES: The member for Johnston, sorry, Madam Speaker. While this government has been getting on with the business of governing for the Northern Territory to develop the Territory economy and deliver a better future for our children, desperate Delia continues to stay negative in the policy vacuum …
Ms LAWRIE: A point of order, Madam Speaker!
Madam SPEAKER: Chief Minister, withdraw that comment, please. Refer to members by their electorate name.
Mr GILES: It is a censure debate, Madam Speaker. Are we not allowed flexibility?
Madam SPEAKER: You still need to refer to members by their electorate names.
Mr GILES: Okay, I will do that, thank you.
She continues to stay negative and the policy vacuum from the opposition clearly shows they have no plan or vision for the Northern Territory. There was a huge mountain of debt the Leader of the Opposition left as a legacy for all Territorians. While this government continues to drive economic growth, we are also forced to pay Delia’s debt, which accrues interest of nearly $1m every day. That is $1m we are paying back every day in interest, money that could build more schools, roads and hospitals instead.
What we must do in paying back this debt provides significant challenges for us in our ability to govern going forward. However, over the last 18 months we have done a fantastic job of trying to balance our fiscal position, plus providing a reform agenda and delivering outcomes for Territorians. I am happy to go through what has been achieved and outline what a government in action, with good policies and a plan for the future – for opposition members who have never been part of governing for all Territorians.
The Leader of the Opposition likes to tell lies and tattletales about huge cuts to the public service. It is important we look at what public service numbers are. In the 12 months from March 2013 to March 2014, the Territory government has employed 206 more staff. Some may ask what 206 additional staff means. In pay period 26, June 2012, there were 20 062 full-time equivalents. At pay period 18, February 2014 –the numbers have gone from 20 062 to 19 806, a change of 256 people. The comment that thousands and of people have been sacked as per Labor’s lie – the Leader of the Opposition lies again, and the numbers reflect a change of 256 people. In fact, the percentage status of permanent employees has increased by 2.7%. It went from 69.9% permanent employees to 72.6% permanent employees. It is good to get that on the record. There have not been thousands of people sacked or retrenched. We have seen a change in FTE of about 256 people.
It is also good to look at some of the other lies peddled by the Leader of the Opposition. Let us look at the latest figure on Territory alcohol consumption to see our vindication, as a government, on axing Labor’s failed Banned Drinker Register. The register taxed every Territorian, targeted every Territorian, and did not target the problem at all.
The Country Liberals’ alcohol policies are working, with alcohol consumption now falling across the Northern Territory. The figures are unequivocal, and I have been to Tennant Creek to see evidence of those figures falling. Per capita alcohol consumption in the Northern Territory was down 12.84 litres per person in 2012-13. That is down 4% on 2011-12 and down a whopping 16% on 2004-05 figures. They are the lowest figures since before 2001-02, the lowest since before Labor came to power for its eleven-and-a-half years.
Wholesale alcohol supply in 2012-13 - that is litres of pure alcohol across the Northern Territory - was down 2% on the previous year. In Darwin, it is down 1%, in Alice Springs it is down 17% on the previous year and is the lowest figure on record. Katherine is down 7% on the previous year. Tennant Creek, for the Leader of the Opposition’s sake, is down by 5% on the previous year and Nhulunbuy is down 17% on the previous year, the lowest since 2000-01.
For those listening, I will keep going through all the good things government is doing. I know Labor members are not. Their ears are blocked and they are coming up with more lies. More than 800 people are currently banned from drinking on Alcohol Protection Orders; there are early positive signs that the orders are starting to bite as a deterrent, with a reduction in assaults. Raw police figures, which I have spoken about already today, show assaults across the Territory are down from 631 in February 2013 to 496 in February 2014. These are early days and they are early figures, but the results are promising. That is a 22% reduction for assaults year-on-year in February, amazing figures.
Under the Country Liberals, the Territory has seen property crime figures drop to their lowest level since records began. I will repeat that: property crime figures have dropped to their lowest levels since records began. Unlike Labor’s failed government, we are taking law and order seriously in the Northern Territory.
Our policies are delivering, driving crime down and cutting alcohol consumption. Compare 2013 with 2012: in Darwin, house break-ins have dropped by 43%; property damage has dropped by 23%; commercial break-ins are down 22% and motor vehicle theft and related offences are down 22%. We said we would cut crime by 10%; we have not cut it by 10%. If you look at some of those figures you see we have cut it by 20%, 30% or 40%.
I know Nathan Barrett, the Country Liberals candidate in Blain, is very happy to hear all of this. We were just talking about it in Palmerston during the lunch break. Commercial break-ins are down by 36% in Palmerston and house break-ins have dropped by a whopping 44%.
Look at Alice Springs: total property offences down 31%, the lowest number for a calendar year since 2006; property damage down 34%; commercial break-ins dropped 37%; car theft and related offences dropped 40%; house break-ins down 33%; and sexual assaults down 22%. The figures are amazing with how successful the government has been in a 12-month period.
Our zero tolerance approach to domestic violence has seen an increased number of cases going before the courts, and we are proud of it. This is instead of allowing cases to go unpursued, and police are now making a point of prosecuting domestic violence cases to the full. This approach began in 2012 as part of Project Respect, which enforces a zero tolerance and pro-prosecution policy in regard to all family violence matters. This continues to influence assault statistics and we know that for a period of time those assault statistics will go up, but what we are already seeing is change.
Crime figures show an increase in domestic violence assault cases is driving up those figures, while non-domestic violence assault cases have gone down, but, as we see with the use of APOs, there has been a reduction of around 22% on early figures, year-on-year, in February. In Tennant Creek, a targeted police operation, Strike Force Datsun, saw more than 10% in domestic violence figures for February.
The Northern Territory government, the Australian Hotels Association and the City of Darwin council have formed a new partnership aimed at making a night out in Darwin an even safer night. Darwin Safe includes a suite of new and existing measures designed to ensure Darwin city remains an enjoyable place for a dinner out with your family or a night out on the town with your mates. Darwin Safe is also about ensuring antisocial behaviour is not tolerated, without penalising responsible patrons. This is a united approach which strikes a balance between stamping out trouble makers, while not restricting the vast majority of people who go out and do the right thing.
Let us look at some other law and order achievements we have seen to date. The roll-out of iPads to all frontline police makes it easier for police to pursue their jobs and to keep them out on the beat where they want to be. Paperless arrests will soon be introduced, which will also free up police time, and we have quadrupled the fines for failing to quit licensed premises. There is a range of initiatives we have introduced in the law and order setting which is driving real reform.
The department has been very active and highly responsive in providing assistance and support to the community of Gove and the broader East Arnhem Land business community following Rio Tinto’s announcement to curtail its refinery. A senior business liaison client manager was placed in Nhulunbuy on a full-time basis. One-hundred-and-two businesses were contacted and interviewed, with 28 applications to the Territory Business Growth program received. Those applicants employ 220 local people. Applications totalled $193 340 in grant assistance, with another 29 businesses likely to apply soon.
In regard to land release, the cost of living and stabilising our housing prices, the growth on the median house price in Darwin under Labor was, on average, 11% per annum over its tenure in government. In 2013, a full calendar year of a Country Liberals government, we drove that down to 6% and we will continue to drive it down with our accelerated land release program. Seventy infill sites have been identified for quick development, which could potentially yield an additional 2700 lots. We are working on greenfield sites in Katherine and Alice Springs, as well as advancing other areas in delivering for the regions. I spoke this morning about stages three, four and five at Zuccoli. Stage two is delivering 400 lots and stages three and four are delivering another 1300. Stage five will deliver 400 on top of that, so that is another 1700 lots at Zuccoli in stages three, four and five.
In regard to cutting red tape, we see that concurrent applications are now allowed, which will allow developers to apply for rezoning and development at the same time. We have improved the online one-stop shop to do more online trading, and we are the first jurisdiction to have building approvals done online.
We are making development easier and cheaper, and we have translated that to a massive 810 approved development applications in 2013, which I believe is the highest on record.
In Primary Industry and Fisheries we have established the Ord Development Unit, and I heard the Leader of the Opposition talking about the Ord, saying it has gone missing. We have established the unit and are getting it going.
We have increased the numbers in the live cattle trade. We re-established that after the former Chief Minister Paul Henderson supported Julia Gillard, the former Prime Minister, in getting rid of it; we have that back up and running. Last year we had the highest number of cattle on record going through our port and we now have the buffalo industry with Vietnam up and running again.
We have invested in the live animal export market development unit, with $300 000 for increasing trade with Asia. We established an exclusive recreational fishing zone in Finke and Chambers Bays, which came into effect on 1 February 2013. Going back to the Ord project, we have a memorandum of understanding with Western Australia and the Commonwealth. We are doing market development in China to support the live cattle trade. We have the Livingstone abattoir construction now ongoing at stage one, giving that project certainty after a time of crisis.
We established a recreational fisheries advisory committee, advising the minister on recreational fishing matters. We are supporting the Humpty Doo barramundi farm expansion, which is going very well with little support from government, but it receives encouragement and support all the same. We are working with pastoralists to clear any possible traces of Bovine Johne’s disease and, fortunately, it was confirmed that disease has never made it to the Northern Territory. We are working to eradicate banana freckle in a very sensitive environment and we are rolling out opium trials in the Katherine and Douglas regions, a potential new industry for the Northern Territory.
In regard to Mines and Energy, we have established the environmental rehabilitation levy, a 1% levy, based on the environmental rehabilitation security bond paid to the department annually. We have established the energy directorate, which can set forward energy policy for the Northern Territory government into the future. We have created the CORE programs, including funds given to exploration companies to do geological research on our behalf, and the geological research program we are conducting is quite exciting. It will set us up for the future.
We have a renewed focus on the onshore oil and gas industry, with Central Petroleum getting the first production licence in over 32 years. I could go on all day about the good things government is doing, because we have been doing a lot in the last 12 months, but let us look at a couple of things that are on the drawing board.
How long did Labor promise the Palmerston hospital for? All it managed to deliver was a fence and a sign. There was nothing but a fence and a sign. We have identified a whole new area, a whole new site. We have gone to a scoping study. We are working with the community now and will see construction commence this year to get the job done. We waited eleven-and-a-half years for Labor to deliver it. They now talk about deadlock and over capacity at Royal Darwin Hospital. Why did they not do anything about it while they were in government?
It is the same with the cost of living on housing pressures. Why did they not do something about it? Why did they not do something about alcohol issues? We are fixing all of these issues and seeing real results on them.
I noticed they talked about Tiger Brennan Drive earlier today. We are delivering on the Tiger Brennan Drive extension. We have extra money from the federal government and have brought forward the commencement of the next stage from Woolner Road to Berrimah Road. That will be delivered by 2016. It is a project that would not have come to fruition without us advancing it as a Country Liberals government, and without the member for Fong Lim, the former member for Solomon, who got the money in the first place to make the project happen.
There are 400 additional elective surgeries now being conducted each year in the Northern Territory. The Tiwi ferry is up and running. We have WiFi on buses. We have MVR online, with reduced waiting times at the MVR. There are new bus routes and extra police, with 20 extra police on the beat in Alice Springs and there will be 100 police on top of that across the Northern Territory in our four-year term.
We have the one punch homicide legislation brought in by the Attorney-General and passed. We have rolled out, from 1 February, our open speed limit commitment, which is starting to have positive impacts on supporting the economy in Central Australia and, for the member for Barkly, will soon be supporting Tennant Creek as well.
Mr Elferink: Is that Hyundai with one of its new models?
Mr GILES: Ssangyong is running around there at the moment.
Residential building approvals are up by 18.7%, and housing finance is up. The Treasurer talked about how much the Leader of the Opposition lies. She stood here before and said how housing finance has gone down. Housing finance is up ...
Ms Lawrie: 28% in the last quarter.
Mr GILES: Housing finance is up. You cannot spread lies and deceit in here and across the Northern Territory.
Ms Lawrie: It was 28% in the last month.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Mr GILES: Housing finance is up. It is continuing to go up, and building activity is up. You can tell when Delia is lying because her lips are moving.
I have spoken about property crime. Let us look at what is happening in the area of Community Services and the homelands debate. We have increased funding, in many cases, where residents were getting $685 per annum for housing repairs and maintenance, to a point where they are now getting $5200 per property. That figure was identified based on the average cost of repairs and maintenance of public houses in Tennant Creek, so $5200 will ensure sustainability in tenancy housing matters.
We announced $106m funding that will go towards a regional roads package. Work will start in April on the Port Keats road in the member for Daly’s electorate; there will be $20m directly for this road. There has been some commentary that this was done by Labor. If it was done by Labor, why did none of the work start? Why was it not commenced? Why was it not announced? We have been negotiating with the federal government to ensure we deliver on that work.
Let us look at tourism numbers. We have a commitment to expand the tourism industry to $2.2bn by 2020. The Tourism minister is working hard to make that happen. We are already starting to see positive results in Central Australia with an increase in tourism numbers.
However, let us look at what is happening in Darwin. We have troubles in Darwin with tourism numbers. Why do we have troubles? Because the previous government failed to plan to ensure we had hotels that could accommodate tourists. We are starting to feel the pinch now and tourism operators will feel the pinch. Major events such as the Darwin Cup Carnival and the V8s will feel the pinch this year as accommodation is taken up by workers because Labor failed to plan. Fortunately, we can tell Territorians there are a number of hotels on the forward plan which are being, or will soon be, developed and will start to fill that void in the tourism market. But, for the next couple of years in the Top End, it will be tough with tourism numbers. No thanks can go to the former Labor government, or the former Treasurer and Leader of the Opposition for her failure to plan for the tourism industry. It is a significant problem and one that will continue to haunt us …
Mr STYLES: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Pursuant to Standing Order 77, I ask that the Chief Minister be granted an extension of time.
Motion agreed to.
Mr GILES: I will not talk much longer about things government has done. I will refer to commentary that I think was made by the Leader of the Opposition, or it could have been one of the other three people who support her, such as the member for Johnston. They talked about unanswered questions. I am not sure if it was the Leader of the Opposition – she will not own up to this because she knows she is about to be advised otherwise – or the member for Johnston, who is not here. I refer back to some commentary which I am not sure is in Hansard because it was an interjection in some of that screaming Labor does quite a lot of. They referred to government not answering questions. I know colleagues on my side heard it, so I looked at all current unanswered questions. It is quite true; there is an unanswered question on the Written Question Paper. It is Question 105, dated 6 January 2014, regarding leases under the Crown Lands Act. This was no doubt put forward by the member for Johnston under advice from the member for Nightcliff and the Leader of the Opposition to try to cause trouble for the Halikos island proposal.
This innuendo and lie – it was a lie, but Labor lies, the Leader of the Opposition lies and it was a lie by Labor about unanswered questions. There is only one unanswered question, and I know the member for Port Darwin will be interested in this. I decided to go through all questions on notice to see how many there have been. Setting aside the one that is unanswered, I looked at how many questions the member for Johnston has asked since 25 August 2012. You will be surprised to know the member for Johnston has asked, in 19 months, five questions plus the unanswered one. Those five questions all came on 2 November 2012. Since 2 November 2012, the member for Johnston has not asked one question, except for the one about Halikos island because he does not like the Halikos Group.
I thought I would look at some other members on the other side. Do not worry, member for Fannie Bay, yours is a compliment, and you know that, but we know that no one else’s will be. I thought I would go to the screaming, muttering one, the member for Nightcliff. I wondered how many questions she has asked; she has asked six questions. One was on 24 September 2013, but before that – hallelujah, heaven forbid – they were on the same date as the member for Johnston. On 2 November 2012, she asked five questions as well. They were all about public servant numbers when they were trying to stir up trouble and lie, once again.
We have seen the numbers in the change. It is not thousands of people, it is a difference of 200 people since we came in. You know that. I thought I would look at the member for Nhulunbuy; the member for Nhulunbuy must have asked a great many questions. She carps, whines, sucks those lemons and has a sour approach …
Ms LAWRIE: A point of order, Madam Speaker! That is highly offensive. It is a very low, gutter, personal attack on a member. I know we are in a censure debate about lying and all of that, but that is going a bit far for the Chief Minister. I ask that he understands he overstepped the mark of decency, and withdraw.
Madam SPEAKER: Chief Minister, a censure debate does not mean it is a free-for-all. If you could withdraw that comment about the member for Nhulunbuy.
Mr GILES: Madam Speaker, I withdraw, but I am not sure which component. The member for Nhulunbuy carps and whines and has not contributed to the debate on Gove since she has been in this Chamber. Let us look at her questions.
She asked six questions on 2 November 2012, again about public servants, trying to set up a line of false impression. She has not asked one question on Gove since 2 November 2012. In 18 months, she has not asked one question.
We will not look at the member for Nelson, who has asked five questions. Let us look at the member for Casuarina, who asked five questions on 10 December 2012. Clearly, he missed the memo about 2 November 2012 and was a couple of weeks late, but he managed to go straight to that lie about public servants and tried to stir up trouble with his five questions.
You then go to the member for Barkly, who did exactly the same thing; he tried to ask questions about public servants and stir it all up. It is interesting that the member for Barkly is the Deputy Opposition Leader. I thought he would have had some important things he wanted to chase up as Deputy Leader of the Opposition. I thought he would have gone into other portfolios, would have asked a range of questions, but in 18 months he has not asked a question.
I fail to see how they can say we are not answering questions on notice, particularly when the Deputy Leader of the Opposition has not asked a question in 18 months, not since 2 November 2012, and here we are in 2014. She put them all in around Melbourne Cup day. She has not asked five or six questions; she has asked three questions on notice in 18 months, back in November 2012, all designed to stir up another lie about public servants. That is all it is about. It is quite interesting, but it is also interesting when you look at the member for Fannie Bay, the wannabe leader who cannot get the courage to have a crack. I have not counted how many he has asked. There is a whole page and more of questions he has asked, dating from 2 November 2012 to January 2013. That is where it ends, because he did not do any work after January 2013, but at least he did a bit more work than the Leader of the Opposition.
I point this out because when the opposition carps, whines, moans, makes up stories and lies about what is happening, people need to know the truth. They sat in here today and said, ‘You will not answer any questions on notice’. There is only one unanswered question on notice, which was submitted this year. There has been only one written question put to government this year by the entire opposition. We look back through all written questions and, apart from one or two, they have not asked a question since 2012. You must ask how committed they are as an alternative government.
They then walk in here with a half-hearted censure motion, which does not mean a whole lot after a very poor Question Time where they did not perform once again. They do not provide a vibrant opposition for the Northern Territory; you must ask what is going on over there. Do they understand they are in opposition? Do they have their hearts in it? Are they like Labor Party people who could not work in an iron lung? Is it the union influence? Is it that they are living in the shadow of the Stella Maris inquiry?
What is going on to the point where they cannot focus on being in opposition for the Northern Territory? Just because you are in opposition does not mean you need to claim doomsday and that the sky is falling in. You can contribute to good policy debate, but the Leader of the Opposition - it is somewhat of an oxymoron being called the Leader of the Opposition in this case, because the Leader of the Opposition is not a leader. She is the person sitting in the chair, but she is not leading her opposition. It is unfortunate she is not contributing to debate, and we all suffer the pain and anguish of you talking every time you are in the Chamber. We tolerate it, but the lies, deceit, mistruths and mistrust are incomprehensible for us when we listen to what goes on.
The Northern Territory government has a firm agenda on driving forward. Crime is coming down at a rapid pace. Land is being released at a rapid pace, driving down the cost of living pressures on land. We have a structural reform process in Power and Water we are bringing on, which will put downward pressures on the cost of power in the Northern Territory. We will continue to lead the way in developing infrastructure and ensuring we have a firm agenda for northern Australia. As the Treasurer said, we can lead the nation in economic reform through some of the struggles occurring on our eastern seaboard and provide real direction with our connectivity to Asia, all the while ensuring we create jobs for the future of the Northern Territory and jobs for future Territorians.
I will support the amended censure. We should censure the Leader of the Opposition and we should be censuring Labor. It is not a good opposition. It is not providing any good governance from an opposition point of view. We are achieving fantastic outcomes in the Northern Territory. We will keep doing so as a government and, despite what Labor says, we are happy to have a strong and vibrant opposition. These guys are not. We want them to get out of the way so we can do good things for the Territory. If they do not want to support policy debate and reform in the Territory, we will just get on and do it anyway.
Madam SPEAKER: Honourable members, I will first address the matter of the amendment proposed by the Deputy Chief Minister, which is to delete certain words as they have been read. The first question is that the amendment be agreed to.
Motion agreed to.
Madam SPEAKER: The next question is that the motion, as amended, be agreed to.
The Assembly divided
- Ayes 10 Noes 8
Mr Chandler Ms Fyles
Mr Conlan Mr Gunner
Mr Elferink Ms Lawrie
Mr Giles Mr McCarthy
Mrs Lambley Mr Vatskalis
Mrs Price Mr Vowles
Mr Styles Ms Walker
Mr Tollner
Mr Westra van Holthe
Motion agreed to
CRIMINAL CODE AMENDMENT (IDENTITY CRIME) BILL
(Serial 68)
(Serial 68)
Continued from 19 February 2014
Mr GUNNER (Fannie Bay): Madam Speaker, we support this bill. The bill comes about as a result of a national reform process that has been going on since June 2009, when all Australian jurisdictions signed up to tighten legislative gaps in relation to identity crime. Identity crime and cybercrime can be complex and sophisticated, and can cross not just state, but international borders. The capacity of NT agencies to not only legislate but investigate and prosecute for identity theft can be, in many cases, extremely limited.
It is for these reasons that while we support this bill, we do not think this legislation will suddenly result in the cessation of identity crime. Identity crime is considered the fastest growing crime trend in the world, and these types of crimes are anticipated to increase in scale and scope.
Victims of identity crime in the NT would typically find that offenders are from outside the NT. In the NT, there are already offences in relation to identity theft and forgery, and we have seen people charged and convicted in relation to criminal deception. The Emily Adam case, which was referred to in relation to this bill and in the media earlier this year, was a case where current legislation resulted in a successful prosecution and a conviction. The difference between that case and the incidents this bill will attempt to tackle is around the collection of data, where the collection is done with the intent of using it for a criminal purpose.
In a nutshell, this bill seeks to make it an offence to deal with identity data. Currently, it is illegal to use someone’s identity for theft, fraud or deception, but simply having or dealing with the data is a gap in the legislation. There are three new offences in this bill that cover dealing with information data, possessing information data and possessing equipment used to gain information data. Such equipment would include credit card skimming devices.
Each of these offences requires the offender to intend to commit a crime by dealing in or possessing identification information or equipment. That is important because there are many legal reasons why a person or an organisation may be in possession of identity information. The buying and selling of people’s personal information is an industry in itself. If someone in Darwin uses their flybuys card at Coles, information about their purchase can then be passed on to organisations across 23 different countries. People constantly allow organisations to have access to their information, such as credit card details for online bill payments, purchases and other personal information. There can be a legal collection of information. Most people are probably unaware of how much information they voluntarily provide legally.
There are reasons why it is legitimate for someone to collect information, which is why this legislation requires the offender to intend to commit a crime. We then have the issue of intent and how you prove it. My concern with implementing this legislation is that offenders must simply have a plausible reason for intent. All they need do is cover their tracks in relation to intent. These are often very sophisticated operations, and they are very experienced in making sure that, in the cyber world, their actions cannot be followed. If they cover up their dealings with information as the act defines it, the potential to prosecute is limited.
This is a caution. The legislation should still happen and we support it, but we must be aware the people we are dealing with are often very sophisticated at what they do. Another likely scenario is that in the cyber world the collation of and the dealing in this information is very unlikely to actually occur within the NT, which is why a national approach is so important. As I touched upon at the start of this speech, this bill has come about from a national reform process.
It also requires cooperation with international agencies. Most of these cases must be dealt with by a national agency such as the Australian Crime Commission and the federal police, rather than Northern Territory agencies.
We can anticipate that people who practice identity theft through the collection of data will be adapting their methods to avoid these provisions. Given that other jurisdictions have already legislated in this regard, I suspect they may already have done so. Regardless, we must do everything we can, which is why we support the legislation. The most important thing we can do to crack down on cybercrime and identity theft is raise awareness and educate. With too many people still volunteering their personal information, it amazes me that things like the Nigerian bank scam – to use their phrase – still work. The scams rely on naivety, and there are people who are willing to forward on their information. That must and should still remain a concern. It makes it easier for identity crime to occur. The more we can encourage people to protect their personal details, the harder such scams and crimes become.
Another aspect of this bill is the capacity to issue a certificate to a victim of identity theft where certain transactions were carried out by another person. This will help the victim cope with the effects of the crime and the restoration of their personal identity. It will assist with issues such as getting a credit rating restored. An offender does not have to be found guilty for a certificate to be issued, which is significant because often offenders will never be caught or it may take years to bring them to justice.
Unfortunately, it is not within the power of the NT government to legislate to force a bank or financial institution to restore a credit rating. However, I am advised that work between the Commonwealth and the banks is designed to ensure this is facilitated so victims of identity theft can get their identities back and continue to live their lives without the obvious handicaps of their credit rating being taken away, or other problems which can result from their identity being misused by somebody else.
I thank the officers for their briefing on this bill. They were, as always, well-informed and capable of answering questions on the detail. Mr Deputy Speaker, we support the bill.
Mr ELFERINK (Attorney-General and Justice): What can I say, but brevity is the soul of wit. This is self-evident, sensible and smart. We thank the opposition for its support of this legislative instrument. I do not think I have anything to add to what the opposition had to say, above or beyond what I said in the second reading speech. Therefore, we thank the opposition for its support and look forward to this bill passing the House today.
Motion agreed to; bill read a second time.
Mr ELFERINK (Attorney-General and Justice) (by leave): Madam Speaker, I move that the bill be now read a third time.
Motion agreed to; bill read a third time.
REORDER OF BUSINESS
Mr ELFERINK (Leader of Government Business): Madam Speaker, I move that we bring on ministerial statements, and return to government business orders of the day shortly.
Motion agreed to.
MINISTERIAL STATEMENT
Child Protection in the Northern Territory
Child Protection in the Northern Territory
Mr ELFERINK (Children and Families): Madam Speaker, I provide a statement on child protection in the Northern Territory.
This is my first statement since becoming Minister for Children and Families just six months ago. I propose to report to the House each year by ministerial statement. My statements will be frank about the challenges before us and how the Department of Children and Families (DCF) is, and will be, addressing them.
I believe few issues come to this House as important as how we, as a society, protect children. All members see this as a high priority issue for any government and would commit to supporting any initiative which genuinely attempts to protect children from harm.
For this reason, I will not denigrate the policy position of the previous government because I firmly belief its intention was based on improving the situations of at-risk children. That is not to say I wholly agree with how child protection was handled over the last few years, nor do I expect contributors to this debate to be silent on any matter which they believe warrants comment, criticism or disagreement.
My hope is this debate will rise above a trite comparison of who cares more and how much has been spent by who and on what programs. By any measure, the Department of Children and Families has had a tumultuous time since it was formed as a new government agency in January 2011. It has been reinvented, reformed and rearranged, and its leadership, at both ministerial and executive officer level, has been rotated and replaced.
In 2010, the child protection system was described as being in crisis, and $130.8m was allocated over five years to implement 147 recommendations of the Board of Inquiry into Child Protection in the Northern Territory.
In 2011, funding was further increased to $141m over five years. A child protection agency was formed and its numbers swelled to more than 820 staff. Reports were written, forums convened and activity against each of the 147 recommendations of the board of inquiry report was painstakingly documented, described and scrutinised.
All of this activity was purportedly for the benefit of the Northern Territory’s most vulnerable children, those at risk of and those already subject to: neglect, abuse and harm. Now is the time to reflect upon what has been achieved.
Child protection notifications and rates of substantiation, as well as rates of re-substantiation, year-on-year, continue to grow and more children are being taken into statutory care than ever before. All this activity came at a cost, with the department publicly named for its budget blowout and uncontained spending. I am getting the Territory’s child protection system to focus on its core business and ensuring we deal with its challenges in thoughtful and sensitive ways.
I am committed to setting a solid foundation for the organisation through steady, accountable management of its funding and its people. I am supporting our workforce to do the work it must do. We know hard decisions need to be made by case workers and child protection practitioners, on which the wisdom of Solomon often will not be enough.
No one would dispute the tenacity and dedication of those who work in the child protection system day after day, and this is where the efforts of the agency must focus. Sadly, it must be acknowledged that the work of case workers and the not-for-profit sector is a response to the failure of parents who cannot or will not provide the level of love, care and development for their children to grow and flourish.
By the time we are involved, much damage has already been done. I have said before, governments make poor surrogate parents and we have graphic evidence of this being provided to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. I will return to the subject of the Royal Commission later, but, suffice to say, the following painful truths must be confronted.
Children around the world will continue to be physically, emotionally and sexually abused. They will be neglected and exploited in ways which permanently impair their growth and development, and many will suffer irretrievable damage. Many will commit the same offences to their own children. Rates of child abuse in the Northern Territory exceed all other states. Predominantly, those who abuse children are interfamilial. Aboriginal children are substantially over-represented in child abuse statistics. Family and community responses to children in need are potentially much more effective than governmental responses. All our actions must acknowledge the important role families, communities and the non-government sector can provide, given the opportunity to partner with government.
Child protection is internationally recognised as one of the most difficult decision-making areas for government. Every day, child protection staff make difficult and critical decisions which directly and permanently affect children, parents, their families and the community. Ensuring those decisions are the right ones and people’s lives are improved as a result is an ongoing challenge I feel very strongly about, as the minister accountable. It is this burden which has settled heavily upon my conscience. While child protection is challenging for governments, I recognise the challenges for those who work in the child protection system. It is, as we know, an area which lends itself to errors of judgement, and these can and will happen.
I want to ensure those on the frontline are supported in a variety of ways. This includes providing practical support, improving areas of professional practice, undertaking more effective recruitment and retaining our existing workforce. As with any area of human services, there is no definitive book of standard operating procedures which will render a positive outcome in all cases. I deliberately include the Care and Protection Policy and Procedures Practice manual in current use.
Often, a case plan for a particular child is unique to the circumstances of the child. The choices are often not optimal and the path taken is one which ensures, or hopes for, the least amount of damage. Case plans sometimes have embedded risks and the potential for failure in one or more components is high. Acceptable risks, taken solely in the best interests of the child, will always have my endorsement. We must trust them, only reserving my condemnation for the grossly negligent or the criminal.
I am aware of the commentary regarding the turnover of ministers and CEOs. This has now settled down and we can all plan for the long term. I have asked the CEO to do what she needs to get through some issues which have been sitting on the table for too long: to stabilise the organisation and instil a clear sense of forward momentum with purpose, focus and intent. The CEO has provided me with a comprehensive list and it is appropriate I now outline some of these priorities:
creating an organisational structure relevant to the business and objectives of the department. This was achieved in November last year with the release of a new organisational structure and leadership team focused on the core business of child protection services
a new strategic plan documenting the department’s priorities and commitments over the next three years
a child protection practice framework and companion service standards. These have now been drafted and will be used in conjunction with the strategic plan and the performance framework to set and guide services and practices
A performance reporting framework against key statutory and policy requirements. The framework has been designed to ensure the department and its staff are accountable and meet their collective obligations with respect to: the timeliness of investigations; case plan compliance; contact and engagement with children; foster and kinship care assessment; and registration and monitoring and reporting requirements.
As much as the department is responsible for child protection services, it is also responsible, as a Northern Territory government agency, for living within its means and operating within legislation to manage its resources, particularly its staff. With that said, nothing governs the work and practice of a statutory child protection agency more than the legislation which underpins it. In recent months, there has been a series of amendments made to the Care and Protection of Children Act and the new Children’s Commissioner Act to give a greater voice to children and young people inside our child protection system. Specifically, the amendments improve legal representation of children in court, enhance oversight of child protection practice by the Children’s Commissioner and provide for better responses to concerns about care, including abuse in care.
Last month, the Charter of Rights Bill 2013 was passed by parliament. The charter is for all children and young people in care in the Northern Territory and ensures children in care know and understand what to expect from the people that care for them, and what they should be able to do. It was developed to be consistent with national out-of-home care standards and captures the views and experiences of many children and young people who have been or are currently in our care.
Child protection rates in the Northern Territory paint a very depressing picture and reflect our very high rates of disadvantage and welfare dependency. The 2012 Australian Early Development Index data collection for this jurisdiction showed that children under five lag behind all other states and territories in meeting developmental milestones. By way of comparison, 35.5% of children in the Northern Territory are developmentally vulnerable in one or more areas, compared with only 22% of children nationally. That means our children are lagging from the outset.
Against this backdrop, child protection reports continue to grow at a significant rate. Notifications concerning abuse or the neglect of children rose to just under 10 000 last financial year, an increase of 25% on the previous year. This year, the department is tracking to receive over 12 000 child protection reports from concerned community members and citizens. Not all of these notifications result in investigations or relate to individual children, and as a result over 4000 child protection investigations will be undertaken this financial year. This is an increase of about 500 investigations from last year.
In 2012-13, 22% of notifications of child abuse and neglect were substantiated. While this declined to 14% last financial year, the figure remains too high. Last year, there were 1356 substantiations of child abuse and neglect in the Northern Territory, and while I thank and acknowledge those that reported cases of neglect and abuse to authorities, it remains a sad state of affairs if we have even one proven case of child abuse. While these figures may appear alarming to some, I have greater comfort in knowing that the department has improved its responsiveness to reports of children in danger. These are notifications concerning children identified as the most vulnerable.
In 2010-11, the department was able to respond to children in danger within 24 hours in just 74% of cases. Last financial year, this figure increased to 93% of cases.
Responding to immediate concerns and completing all necessary administrative and procedural tasks required for a child protection investigation is different. This is one of the reasons there continues to be a large number of investigation cases still open, with 434 open investigations as at the end of the last financial year.
This is an area which must be prioritised and supported through stable staffing. Around 40% of investigations find the child has been or is at risk of harm, with the majority finding risk around neglect and emotional abuse. Even more concerning are our high rates of re-substantiation. Around one in five children found to be at risk or who had been be harmed in 2011-12 had another substantiation of harm within 12 months. This means one in five children who are substantiated as being harmed are again harmed within just one year.
The child protection system is not getting the traction it must, and families need to be more responsible for the wellbeing and care of their children. The greatest drivers of our child protection notifications and substantiations are our rates of substance misuse and domestic and family violence.
Over the next 12 months, the department will be focusing its efforts on more consistent engagement with families, and improved links to services such as family support, domestic and family violence, and alcohol and other drugs services when families first have contact with the child protection system.
I have previously commented on the important work which is under way to more effectively deal with the scourge of domestic and family violence. I am optimistic about the potential to partner with the Commonwealth to achieve important gains in this area, and I look forward to providing the House with a more comprehensive statement in the near future.
This work will be supported across a number of departments. As part of ongoing case work, staff will attempt to assist reunification where a home situation has significantly improved and the care of the child is being proactively managed by parents and family. This will not be done in isolation. DCF will work with other key agencies so there is a whole-of-government focus on vulnerable children and families.
The NGO sector also has an important role to play. For example, police operations, including Project Respect, target the offenders of domestic violence. It is hoped this operation and other similar operations are seeking out the offender, punishing them and correcting their behaviours to prevent the harm of an innocent victim: a child.
Despite efforts to keep families together, it is a sad fact that children in our community will need statutory care, and more and more children will be, by necessity, taken into care over time. There is no greater obligation under the Care and Protection of Children Act than caring for children whose parents have failed them. A child who has been brought into out-of-home care is completely reliant on government for its wellbeing and development. This is our greatest responsibility, as well as our greatest challenge.
A child who has been a victim of child abuse and neglect does not fit a strict criterion. Just as the perpetrators of child abuse are varied, so too are the children they commit gross acts of indecency against. Children in out-of-home care comprise 52% females, and 48% males, and range in age from just a few months old to 17 years. In July 2013, 33% were aged 10 to 14 years; 28% were aged five to nine years, 24% were aged zero to four years; and 15% were adult youths aged between 15 and 17 years.
The number of children in care has doubled over the last five years, and there are now more than 830 children and young people in the care of the Chief Executive Officer of the Department of Children and Families. A sad realisation is that almost half of them will be in care until they become adults. That is tragic. Almost half the children currently in care will be in care until they are 18 years of age. They are the ones for who reunification with their parents is unlikely and, for some, will never happen. These are, for the most part, children whose parents have demonstrated repeated reckless and negligent treatment of their own children. These are children for who we must provide long-term security. Abused and neglected children do not benefit from being on a foster care merry-go-round for years and years, and we must work tirelessly to make their lives better, safer, more secure and certain.
That is why I am keen to explore concepts such as enduring parental responsibility orders, similar to those that exist in some other jurisdictions. These transfer parental responsibility for a child to the child’s carer until that child turns 18, but unlike adoption, legal parental rights do not transfer to the carer. Potential benefits of this open process include, where appropriate: maintenance of culture, direct access to family, health and history and provides answers to those ageless questions of: ‘who am I?’ and, ‘where did I come from?’ Other benefits of this arrangement directly address the psychological development and wellbeing of a child, with reducing feelings of abandonment and a greater sense of safety.
It is also time to review the Territory’s 1994 Adoption of Children Act, which is no longer a contemporary legislative instrument. While the act requires a full review, several aspects stand out. One area is the age of prospective adoptive parents. The Territory is the only jurisdiction that has an upper age limit for adoption applicants. Another is that the Territory is the only jurisdiction that does not recognise de facto relationships. The number of adoptions in the Territory is very low. In 2012-13 only 10 children were adopted and only one of those was born in Australia.
In May 2013, the Chief Minister spoke out against an issue on which both he and I share concerns: the removal of Aboriginal children from their parents if they are facing neglect. This should not be construed as a new Stolen Generation. The reason behind this policy is simple. As a government, we must not idly stand by and allow children to experience neglect when there are loving individuals in our community who are willing to provide safe and secure care. We need to put the onus back on to parents to look after their children and we must, as the Chief Minister said, ‘stand up for our kids’.
What we must not do is allow children to stay in high-risk situations, riddled with violence, alcohol abuse, sexual abuse and neglect. We must seek out alternative care for these children to ensure they are in a safe environment, and protect them from having a childhood which fails to meet even the most basic standards of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. In June last year, 83% of the children in the Northern Territory government’s out-of-home care were Aboriginal. The number of notifications received for abuse and neglect of an Indigenous child was 7595 or 76% of all notifications. Admittedly, we have a significant Indigenous population in the Northern Territory; however, it is clear we should not be afraid to act, so long as we are acting in the best interests of the child. Let it be clearly understood that Aboriginality should not become a reason to be timid about child protection. Human rights must always take precedence over cultural and other rights. It must be a last resort, but a resort nonetheless.
The legislative basis for adoption in the Northern Territory already exists. I have given a clear direction to DCF to do more to progress adoptions for some of the children in the care of the CEO. Work will commence this year on changes to internal policy and procedures to change accordingly. The number of children in care has doubled over the last five years. The costs of out-of-home care have skyrocketed. This blowout in spending has been well documented. Last financial year, nearly 50% of the budget, or $85.4m, was attributed to spending on out-of-home care services. We stand apart from every other Australian jurisdiction as a result of our spending in this area. According to the Report on Government Services 2014, the Territory has the highest expenditure on out-of-home care per placement night, at double the Australian average.
This drastic increase in spending has not manifested in better outcomes for children in our care. This is clearly not sustainable and something has gone terribly awry. The CEO has been frank with me about the issues driving these costs and the work that needs to be done to redress this. The rapid increase in children entering care has had a significant effect, but the department has not responded to this growth by finding enough safe and supportive foster kinship carers for children. The department has instead relied more on more on high cost purchased care arrangements. It is frustrating that these problems were not identified, solutions were not implemented earlier and spending was able to reach such phenomenal levels. Tough decisions have been required, coupled with sensitivity for the needs of those children and young people in our care.
Over the last 18 months, substantial work has been done within the department to better understand and predict demand for out-of-home care services over time, and to make sure we have better, more efficient options available.
I am pleased to report I am starting to see change and progress, with a more formalised approach to out-of-home care, increased care options and placement decisions which better match the needs of children and, importantly, the management of costs in care.
I will take a moment to outline some of the activity now driving this change. From late November, a centralised out-of-home care division was established and immediately assumed responsibility for placing children into care. The primary focus of the division is finding placements which match the needs of our children. This has already had the effect of reducing inconsistent placement arrangements and containing more excessive costs.
Probity and procurement for services have been strengthened. Where the agency is purchasing care from other organisations, services are being tendered to ensure consistency and quality. In November last year, a panel contract for residential care services in Katherine, Darwin and Alice Springs was advertised for commencement on 1 July 2014. In the coming weeks, the agency will advertise open tenders for the provision of short-term, emergency and respite care, and individually tailored care for our children with the highest levels of need. The tenders will provide for transparency in the procurement of these services. Foster and kinship care numbers are increasing. Growth and retention of foster and kinship carers will continue to be a major priority for government, and the department, in the coming years.
Such is the commitment that government has set growth targets for foster and kinship carers. While adoption provides a child with stability and security about their future, foster and kinship care provides a cost effective solution for those children seeking refuge from the harsh realities they have faced and been exposed to.
The department has over 10% of its work force living and working in remote communities, a number unheard of five years ago. Aided by funds which have flowed from the Australian government under Stronger Futures expenditure, DCF has established a remote workforce operating with 29 Aboriginal and family and community workers across 22 locations, and seven child safety and wellbeing practitioners, delivering professional child protection services including links to statutory interventions as needed. This is providing family and community support services for vulnerable children.
These remote staff and programs are aided by Mobile Child Protection Teams, staffed by child protection practitioners providing front end child protection investigations in remote communities, and the Mobile Outreach Service Plus, known as the MOS Plus, which delivers education programs and case-related counselling and therapeutic services for children who have experienced sexual abuse across 30 remote communities.
As effective as these services are, we need to better capitalise on these programs and our relationships with other agencies based in remote communities, each with their own role to play in child safety and protection. These are agencies such as Health, Education, Corrections and the police.
I have charged the department with identifying a model of collaboration to capitalise on existing programs and our relationships in communities. It needs to ensure that families are able to participate, and there are incentives in terms of support as well as consequences. We must have better outcomes for children in the bush, and find new ways of keeping families strong and together.
In 2014, DCF will be reviewing what it offers in the bush and, where necessary, will make changes to ensure better service delivery. These policies coupled with an effective domestic violence reduction strategy; mandatory alcohol rehabilitation; Alcohol Protection Orders; a streamlined court system; preventative policing; and a Corrections system that turns out reformed people will work to restore responsibility in the family.
Last financial year, the department invested over $33m in services delivered by the non-government sector across family support, domestic and family violence and out-of-home care services, including $2.17m for youth services. This accounts for a significant proportion of the child protection budget, the largest, proportionally, of all Northern Territory government agencies. By way of example, DCF allocated: $8.8m for family support services; $9.8m for domestic and family violence services; and $8.6m for out-of-home care services.
These services are, by necessity, part of the service mix for child protection and are integral to the outcomes described earlier. Services must be targeted to the business of government and be adaptable to changing demand and needs.
This is where many non-government services have particular strengths and capabilities. At a service level, the relationship between non-government services and DCF is more open and more functional for the benefit of the children and families they serve.
Services, staff and processes need to change. My executive officer has established regular forums with services in Darwin and Alice Springs, and has been clear about the opportunities for better working relationships and charged her leadership team with the same. She is meeting with key organisations to work through issues and strive for better outcomes.
At a contracting level, the relationship between DCF and the non-government sector has also changed. Government expects service accountability, led in part by a strident expectation that public funds will be responsibly invested and applied, and I make no apology for this.
Yes, services under contract to the department have ceased and funds have been redirected over the last 12 months. The decisions were not taken lightly and coincided with having to make some very tough decisions about funding across government overall.
They were also based on a much closer alignment of outsourced service delivery and the objectives of the DCF. That is: child protection, out-of-home care and family support. Any funding that does not effectively protect kids will be redirected to goals that protect kids, no matter who or what organisation receives that funding.
We want to fund services that demonstrate they can deliver tangible outcomes for Territorians. The government’s only child protection agency is not in the business of recreation, transport or even education.
There has been some commentary about the decision to terminate the funding agreement with Strong Aboriginal Families, Together, known as SAF,T. SAF,T was established and funded with significant fanfare two years ago, with $1.5m per year. The decision to terminate the agreement with SAF,T was a straightforward one, in light of the lack of a single service outcome over that period. In contrast, in February, CatholicCare NT was awarded the family support service in Tennant Creek and was announced as part of the 2012 election campaign. CatholicCare NT will deliver a range of family support services in the region. Tennant Creek will also be the site of a new short term placement service for younger children in out-of-home care.
The service is a collaboration between Territory Housing, Community Corrections and the department. Correctional services work parties will be used to modify a residential house to make it suitable for out-of-home care. An open expression of interest for a non-government provider, or even a consortium of non-government providers, to run the service will be advertised early in the new financial year.
It is important we focus on these sensitive issues such as the protection of children, and frankly debate policy, legislation and future directions. This debate should rightly appraise the government’s efforts and whether changes are being wrought. We should canvass options and continue to seek solutions which should be added to our repertoire. Enduring parental responsibility orders may be one such option.
The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse has heard evidence which is staggeringly vile and confronting. It is hard to conceive that not so long ago, Australian children were subjected to abuse at the hands of governments, churches and benevolent institutions charged with ensuring their safety. Those children were betrayed. So, too, was the community which entrusted the care of vulnerable children into the custodianship of the government. The community has every right to question the government’s actions regarding the protection of children, and to demand the failures of the past are owned up to and remedied in current and future practice.
The commission is shortly to arrive in Darwin, and this government will cooperate fully with its inquiries. We look forward to the recommendations which will ensue from the commission. As a government, we will do what we can to assist vulnerable parents and families to protect their children. However, those parents who fail their children, and at times actively harm them, must be made to take responsibility for their actions as well as their inactions. I am considering ways this can be done and, subject to work currently under way, I will have more to say about the issue later this year.
Some say it is difficult to be optimistic about the state of the Territory’s child protection system. It involves often confronting and distressing realities. It saddens each and every one of us to see parents failing their children and causing them harm. As I said at the beginning of this statement, I am getting the Territory’s child protection system to focus on its core business, and to ensure we deal with its challenges in thoughtful and sensitive ways. It was astonishing to see, when we came to government, that there was so much left over from the former government for us to do. It is even more astonishing, given the high levels of funding injected into the child protection system. We are, nevertheless, working our way methodically and sensibly through all of the challenges, so we can provide the Territory’s vulnerable children with a well-functioning child protection system, a system we expect and they deserve. Our passion for this cause is deep, our determination must be steadfast and our efforts will be laborious, but our motivation is loving and our optimism will give us strength in the task. Above all, we will not be afraid.
Madam Speaker, I move that the Assembly take note of the statement.
Ms WALKER (Nhulunbuy): Madam Speaker, I thank the minister for bringing this statement before the House. Uncharacteristically of a ministerial statement, it does not seek to beat up on the former government. In fact, its tone is quite conciliatory. I also suspect, as I have on previous occasions where the minister has provided statements, he has prepared this statement himself. There is much of the language and sentiment that I recognise as coming directly from the heart and mind of the minister. I know he is very passionate about this area of government responsibility that fell into his lap in September last year.
He has been most helpful to me in the time I have been in opposition, not just with the shadow portfolio responsibility for child protection, but with Attorney-General and Justice as well, in wanting to have an open door, be available and make officers available for briefings and so forth. I appreciate the way the minister operates towards me as a member of the opposition, and I know we all recognise – I have said before that this is an incredibly difficult area of government responsibility, looking after our most vulnerable children who are, regrettably, at the receiving end of neglect and abuse. It is something we struggle with not only in the Northern Territory, but in every jurisdiction around the country. It is not unique to Australia. Child protection issues and the wellbeing of children is something all governments deal with around the globe.
Many things in this statement resonate with me and my colleagues. There are many truths in there. We do not necessarily agree with everything, but I welcome this statement. I recognise, as I said in concurring with the minister, there are few issues as important as how we as a society protect our children. I welcome that he says he will report annually to the parliament by ministerial statement. In fact, that would be a good thing to do across every area of ministerial responsibility. There should be report card ministerial statements to put on the record what is being progressed in policy, what goals are being achieved, and I see that as a move in the right direction of a government wanting to be open, accountable and transparent with not just those of us in this parliament, but those who listen and have a keen interest in what is said in this House.
I also note the minister said he will not denigrate the policy position of the previous government. He said he is firmly of the belief that the intentions of the former Labor government were based on improving the situation for children at risk. However, he just could not help himself by the time he got to the last page. He had to make note that:
- It was astonishing to see, when we came to government, that there was so much left over from the former government for us to do.
I would not expect anything different from you, minister.
You note that all our actions must acknowledge the very important role families, communities and the non-government sector can provide, given the opportunity to partner with government. There are many in the NGO sector perhaps struggling with that partnership at the moment, in light of budget cuts.
You also front-footed the turnover of ministers and CEOs in the 18 months since the change of government. That has had an impact. You state you have now settled down and can plan for the long term. Minister, perhaps if you, in the wisdom of the first Cabinet appointed under administrative orders, had been appointed as the Minister for Child Protection, we might be further along than we were 18 months ago. Without doubt, the turnover with Cabinet reshuffles, three ministers and five CEOs is clearly not the basis for running a department for vulnerable children when there is that chaos going on in the background.
I am delighted to hear there is a new strategic plan to document the department’s priorities over the next three years. I note you say the reporting framework will focus on the timeliness of investigations, case plan compliance – very important – contact and engagement with children, as well as foster and kin care assessment and registration, and this framework will also be about monitoring and reporting requirements. The previous government had external monitoring mechanisms in place. Sadly, they have been removed, but the strengthening of the powers of the Children’s Commissioner will, to a degree, step into that space.
In your statement you acknowledge that notifications are increasing: There was a 25% on the previous year, according to the last annual report. You also note there are more than 830 children in the care of the CEO of the Department of Children and Families, and almost half will be in care until adulthood at the age of 18. Eighty-three per cent of children in out-of-home care are Aboriginal. These statistics are staggering. They are saddening and, regardless of who is in government, they must be addressed. Those statistics need to be reduced.
You also note the very large number of investigation cases still open, over 400 at the end of last financial year. This is of great concern, as are staffing numbers within the agency and the capacity of hard-working members to manage fairly high caseloads in trying to reduce the number of investigations.
You talked about the high rates of re-substantiation. One in five children, I think it is, come back into the system within one year. This is symptomatic of a system which is not working somewhere along the way and we both agree those statistics are unacceptable.
You talked about the greatest drivers of notifications and substantiations being the link to very high rates of substance abuse and family violence, which are, again, unacceptably high. From a policy perspective, we are at odds about how we manage alcohol and substance abuse. We are at odds about the effectiveness of the former Labor government’s Banned Drinker Register as a tool to reduce access to alcohol and the misery resulting from alcohol abuse.
I am delighted to see Tennant Creek is moving forward, with some of the worst and most shocking statistics associated with alcohol abuse and crime having come from there. It is a good thing those little machines used to scan identification have not been thrown away and are being pulled back out and put into use there, though not in the same sense they were when we had alcohol reforms and the BDR in place. Without a doubt, unless you can come up with effective policy and strategy for dealing with high rates of alcohol and substance abuse, we will continue to see, in correlation, high rates of neglected and abused children.
The minister is quite right that human rights must always take precedence over culture or other rights - no disagreement whatsoever - and the minister has given a very clear direction to the CEO, Ms Carney, to do more to progress adoptions for some of the children in the CEO’s care. It was news to me, under Northern Territory legislation, that we are the only jurisdiction in the country where de facto couples cannot adopt. In our modern, contemporary times with relationships, I find that really surprising. It is something we must look at. If we can fix the loophole in the legislation and provide a loving and caring home for a child, I am all for it.
I am interested to hear more. You talked about wanting to explore enduring parental responsibility orders around transferring responsibility for children to the child’s carers, but unlike adoption, legal parental rights do not transfer to the carer. This sounds like something which must be further explored and pursued, and the necessary changes brought about via legislation.
You raised the fact you are concerned about the budget blowout. Nearly 50% of the budget, which is over $85m, goes to out-of-home care services. It is a staggering figure, and it is obvious to me so much of the money we are spending is going into the very pointy end of child protection where we have children in crisis and are dealing with them then. Ideally, we want to see that funding going into the other end of the system, and that is parental education and teaching parents how to be parents. That was one of the key recommendations of the board of inquiry.
If I turn to when Labor came into government in 2001, the first time there had ever been a Labor government in the Northern Territory. There is no doubt the new government inherited a very run down and deficient child protection system.
As a government, we always took our responsibility seriously to provide a sound framework for child protection in the Northern Territory. We did not always get it right. It was not a perfect world in trying to address years of deficiencies within that system. It is certainly well documented where some of those children – the case of Deborah Melville has provided much commentary in this House and in the media. It was a shocking failure of the system that a child could die in those circumstances. Those on the other side of the House, when they were in opposition, frequently visited that case, highlighting it as a failure of the system, and indeed it was.
I am not sure if the minister acknowledges that work in this space is never ending.
Mr Elferink: I do. I will accept it on face value.
Ms WALKER: Thank you, minister, for accepting the work is never ending in this space, but will continue to be a challenge. The work we did in government, to a point, was destabilised with the change of government when we had the turnover of ministers, CEOs and the ripple effect of that right across the agency through staff and down to clientele. Children have suffered and this occurred because on coming into government, I am not convinced the CLP had a clear plan for the area of child protection, and those constant changes.
There were changes within the administrative orders alone, taking Children and Families as a stand-alone agency and lobbing it into one of the biggest agencies, Education, to create the Department of Education and Children’s Services. Nobody believed that would benefit children, and it changed. It has changed a couple of times and is now back where it started. I hope that at least the agency is now in a period of stability where it can rebuild. Some of the things the minister has talked about, like the creation of the framework, give me some confidence there is that period of rebuilding and stability coming for the agency.
I agree with one of the minister’s lines – and he has said it on a number of occasions – that governments do not make good surrogate parents. On occasions, he has even said they make shocking parents.
It brings us back to the point that government does not want to be responsible for children but must be responsible for children where parents are unable to care for them. That is why we must go back into that space and look at our systems, invest in helping parents and help those who invariably come from backgrounds of low socioeconomic status to build their parenting skills and step up to their responsibility as parents and care for their children.
The minister said all of our actions must acknowledge the important role that families, communities and the non-government sector can provide, given the opportunity to partner with government. Hear, hear! We need to strengthen and develop those partnerships but, regrettably, what we have seen in the space of 18 months, thanks to a large degree to significant budget cuts, is that those partnerships are not where they should be.
We have a number of NGOs in the Northern Territory which work in this sector. I have tried to meet with a number of them that have a role to play in the child protection area. I was very pleased, at the end of the last sittings, to meet with Foster Care NT, and was delighted to hear they are the only sector body I have met with which has not had a budget cut. I hope that remains the case when the budget is handed down in May because I saw in the conversation I had with the Executive Director of Foster Care NT that it is clearly a very effective group. It has an enormous role to play in assisting the agency to find children to go into foster care, and supporting, importantly, those who put their hand up. They are very unique and special individuals and families who put their hands up to offer foster care to children in need.
However, our NGO service providers, with the exception of Foster Care NT, do not know today if their service contracts will be renewed next financial year. They are concerned about what happens to the staff and skills they have developed and the relationships they have with carers and kids in care, these incredibly important relationships and service providers.
There is real concern among those involved in delivering children and family services that, potentially, the agenda for the government is the minister’s key priority of finding a cost-effective solution to growing notifications and focus on out-of-home care. There is real concern the government is turning its back on early detection, early intervention and family support services and focusing instead on rescue and out-of-home care on the back of substantiated notifications.
There is real concern with one of the pathways to help develop a cost-effective solution. I am not quite sure what the minister means when he said he has given:
- … clear direction to the CEO to do more to progress adoptions for some of the children in the care of the CEO.
I would love to hear some of the more specific instructions that come with that direction from the minister to his CEO. Has he set targets for the CEO to meet in adoptions? Have targets been set for implementing enduring parental responsibility orders that might infer a long-term parental relationship for a child in care, often until they are 18, and often at the expense of ongoing connection with their family and home community? Knowing that Aboriginal children are over-represented in the system, it is at the expense of that ongoing connection with their family and home community, and their culture.
Our new minister, who started in September, said that Children and Families leadership has settled down and the government can plan for the long term. I certainly hope so, because the department had a plan. There was a five-year strategic plan built off the back of the Growing them strong, together inquiry, a report that was described as ‘brilliant’ by the member for Araluen when she spoke in this House in May last year.
We know the Growing them strong, together inquiry was the most rigorous inquiry into the care and protection of children in the Northern Territory, and the time frame for that inquiry was extended beyond the initial time period by some months, simply because of the sheer volume of work the members of the board of inquiry – Professor Muriel Bamblett, Dr Rob Roseby and Dr Howard Bath – had. It was a very extensive investigation into the state of child protection in the Northern Territory, with exhaustive community consultation around the Northern Territory, and it subsequently needed a longer period of time to collate its findings and, importantly, frame its recommendations.
Our minister says the department has a new strategic plan to document the department’s priorities over the next three years. I look forward to understanding when that strategic plan will be available for us and the wider community to peruse. It would be useful to hear more about that new plan and how it will differ from earlier plans. No doubt it will be informed by well-regarded and expert advice on what works and what does not.
If I go back to the board of inquiry, you could not get three more qualified experts preparing the report yet it is disappointing so many of those recommendations are still to be acted upon. Minister, I recall saying to your office I would seek a briefing about the progress of those recommendations. I know you have acted upon some of them. In the last sittings we saw that a charter of rights has now been created for children in the Northern Territory. I recognise how important that charter of rights is and the fact we were the only jurisdiction not to have one. It is important, but so too is a care plan for a child, one that is maintained and kept current. Down the road, I look forward to hearing from the minister about that strategic plan, and exactly what the priorities will be over the next three years.
The minister, as I mentioned earlier, talked about that reporting framework which will focus on the timeliness of investigations, case plan compliance, contact engagement with children, foster and kin care assessment, and registration, monitoring and reporting requirements. On page 13 of your statement, minister, it says:
- Foster and kinship care numbers are increasing.
I am delighted to hear that. I would love to know exactly what those numbers are and how significant that increase is. We must increase the number of foster and kinship carers. In my own community of Nhulunbuy, I have witnessed a growing number of foster carers in the last couple of years. It is wonderful to see we have local people willing to give a caring and loving home to children in need. Previously, without homes in Nhulunbuy where children might have access to family, those kids would have been found foster care homes outside the region some distance away, be it in Darwin or other places. I am pleased to hear there is an increase in the number of foster carers and kinship carers.
I am disappointed, as many people are, about the demise of SAF,T. I am very clear on some of the issues that impacted its demise and funding arrangements. I have spoken with a number of stakeholders, not all of whom are particularly sympathetic towards the organisation, but by the end of last year when I picked up this shadow portfolio and met with SAF,T and the acting CEO, I thought the situation was disappointing for the acting CEO. She was an incredibly competent individual who had gone to great lengths to try to reduce spending and see the survival of SAF,T, relocating premises and making all types of arrangements to reduce its overheads. It was too late; the writing was on the wall that government would not renew any funding contracts with it, but what is coming in to replace the organisation? It was specifically set up as a peak body, and to work at finding and establishing pathways for foster and kinship carers specifically for Aboriginal children. Its demise leaves a void. I know NAAJA, when SAF,T’s demise had been announced, also asked what support it was given to try to survive. It is a bit like throwing the baby out with the bath water. I am interested to hear how the specific role of building foster and kinship carers and networks for Aboriginal children might go forward.
I looked at the Children’s Commissioner’s last annual report - the report of one man in this mix we can rely on - and he had highlighted a key shortfall under the 18 months of CLP government. He found, as we have heard – and the minister noted in the statement today - a 25% increase in notifications, but many of these notifications were for emotional abuse, the consequence of children being involved in and witnessing alcohol-related family violence. Minister, it was your government that scrapped the Banned Drinker Register and made access to alcohol easier for problem drinkers. This is one of the consequences of the policy decision made by your government, and the impact it is having down the line on family-related violence and upon vulnerable, innocent children.
The Children’s Commissioner, in his report, also writes of a decline in investigations resulting in substantiations, from 44% down to 36%. The Children’s Commissioner, in his report, said:
Over time it appears that there is little correlation between the number of notifications being received and the number of investigations being undertaken by OCF. This suggests that the response is more likely to be determined by resource allocation and current policy than the substance of the notifications.
That was on page 67 of the Children’s Commissioner’s 2012-13 annual report.
The Children’s Commissioner also flagged his concern that investigations and substantiations of sexual abuse cases have declined to 1%, well below the national average of, sadly, 13%. While I hope there is a positive explanation for this downward spiral, I fear it is possibly a consequence of wrong priorities.
Another worrying matter from the Children’s Commissioner’s report is the result of the care plan review. Of those cases reviewed, 94% had a care plan, but in only 44% of those cases was the care plan current. I talked about the charter of rights …
Mr McCARTHY: A point of order, Mr Deputy Speaker! Pursuant to Standing Order 77, I ask that the member for Nhulunbuy be granted an extension of time.
Motion agreed to.
Ms WALKER: Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker and members.
We can have a charter of rights for children, but it simply becomes a piece of paper if we cannot get current care plans for children, and acknowledge this was an issue highlighted by the board of inquiry under the former government.
The Children’s Commissioner also expressed concern about the lack of transition services to help our young people transition from out-of-home care into independent living. The period of transition and crucial support for keeping kids on the rails so they do not come back into the system is critical in helping them to live independently.
Lastly, the Children’s Commissioner reported concerns about contact being maintained with children in out-of-home care. In 30% of cases reviewed, kids in care had no contact with a caseworker over a two-month period and only half had contact in one month, though monthly contact is required by the department’s own policy manual. This is a deficiency in the system which must be addressed to ensure children do have that contact, and that someone is keeping an eye on them to see they are not slipping through the cracks.
In relation to that decline in standards, the National Children’s Commissioner, Ms Megan Mitchell, commented on 12 March 2014 that:
- What we need to make sure is the standards that are applied to residential settings are really vigilantly applied and monitored.
It is critical, and we compare that observation by the National Children’s Commissioner with our own Northern Territory Children’s Commissioner. It highlights deficiencies we see, and that he has noted, in caseworker contact with children.
We know this is how responsibility slips away and problems are not identified early. There is the loss of contact and agency supervision to ensure that appropriate care is being provided, and those children in care are being monitored and are okay. Minister, now that your government has scrapped the independent and expert external monitoring committee – a committee that a former minister described as a ‘feel-good’ committee – we will take a very keen interest in how these important indices change over time, and especially in the context of continual cost cutting by the government.
As I said, in 2001, Labor did inherit a deficient child protection system, with only a $7m budget and 100 workers for the whole of the Northern Territory. We commissioned six reports over 11 years to ensure we were building a strong and contemporary child protection system for the Territory. We commissioned the 2007 Little Children are Sacred report and acknowledged continuing difficulties in child protection policy and practice in 2008 and 2009. In particular, there were issues in central intake and very high levels of staff turnover and, as I said previously, we were very committed to the board of inquiry, led by three eminent experts.
The former Labor government established the Office of the Children’s Commissioner, where Dr Bath has held that position since its inception, and we are certainly glad he has been reappointed for another term. We also established mandatory reporting of serious family violence under child protection, and in the financial year 2012-13, we provided an additional $33m for child protection, with $11m for frontline workers. We prioritised improved early intervention and prevention strategies to reduce the need for statutory child protection interventions wherever possible, but not at the cost of failing to ensure proper care in statutory protection.
I have highlighted a number of things in my contribution to this debate. I have a colleague from this side who will talk more about that area of protection for Aboriginal children, and the deficiencies inherent in the system for those children and those who are most vulnerable. What we really need to be investing in is not just the pointy end where children and families have reached that point of crisis, but the other end of the system. I think it is chapter 6 of the Growing them Strong, Together report where the need to invest in children and families is highlighted, to help parents learn their responsibilities in caring for their children. The minister has highlighted in his statement and on many other occasions - as has his CEO – what we are dealing with as a result of bad parents, poor parenting, and if we are serious about addressing the issues in Children and Families and child protection, there must be that investment.
I welcome the news about what is happening in Tennant Creek. What is happening, with funding through Stronger Futures, to other children and family centres that were to be established? The minister will correct me - I have not verified this - but I believe there was to have been a children and family centre for Milingimbi, or perhaps it was Gapuwiyak. I have recently learned that whichever community it was, it is now on hold and is not proceeding at this stage.
Within our education system, we look at initiatives like the Families as First Teachers program, and the success that program has had in assisting parents to understand their roles, to be good parents and to work with their children to ensure they are not only strong and healthy, but also prepared and ready for school when their fourth birthday comes around, and they can be enrolled in preschool. Those sorts of proactive programs, as we have seen with Families as First Teachers, deliver good results.
Minister, we await with great interest news of the budget when it is handed down in May. I look forward to the opportunity in estimates to discuss the finances, policy decisions and numbers around Children and Families. I acknowledge the work the minister is doing in this important area of responsibility. I know he takes it very seriously and has a passion for it. I look forward to ongoing updates to the House on an annual basis, perhaps more regularly than that if there is more news to deliver around what is happening in the area of Children and Families.
In some ways, it is a shame you were not around the Cabinet table and given this responsibility in the first place. Perhaps if you had been, you would be 18 months into your three-year plan. Regrettably, we are now in a place where we are starting again, having had a period of instability for some 18 months.
Mr Deputy Speaker, I thank the minister for bringing this statement before the House. I welcome the many ideas he has shared here and understand he is committed to making a difference to the lives of children.
Mrs LAMBLEY (Health): Mr Deputy Speaker, I support my colleague’s statement on child protection in the Northern Territory. If there is one thing that rings true about the debate we are having this afternoon, it is that you can never stop reforming the child protection system in the Northern Territory. If you take your eye off the ball for even a short period, it is a system that is so delicately balanced and finely tuned that it leads to all sorts of very negative ramifications. Reform, reform and more reform is a key theme of what we are hearing this afternoon.
One thing that has been a theme of my work in this Chamber over the last three-and-a-half years is speaking regularly on the topic of child protection. This is probably the 10th, 12th or 15th speech I have given on the topic of child protection in the Northern Territory.
My colleague stated in the first part of his speech today that he hopes this debate will rise above a:
- Trite comparison of who cares more and how much has been spent by whom and on what programs.
If you look at the agenda the minister put forward today, it is about being frank and honest about how challenging this responsibility is and how even now, despite the fact we have had numerous inquiries into child protection over the years, we still struggle and will continue to struggle. It is the nature of the beast and the experience across all jurisdictions within Australia. It is difficult providing child protection services, it is a difficult industry to work in and it is a difficult industry to do really well. I know at different times different jurisdictions have shone brightly in this space, and soon after, you hear they are struggling and have had a few horrendous cases. It is tenuous, it is changeable and reforming and continuing to improve the child protection system is a great goal, great aspiration and a great commitment from this government. We cannot take our eye off the ball.
One myth perpetuated by the opposition since we have been in government is we have reduced spending in this space. That is not true. Never has more been spent on child protection than is being spent in the Northern Territory. In fact, the story we heard from the minister was about budget blow outs. We are probably spending too much in some areas of child protection and not enough in others, and he gave the example of out-of-home care, which has completely blown out.
That was a legacy we inherited from Labor. It was a situation where it had effectively let the foster care system deplete and, as a knee-jerk reaction to not having foster carers available, it invested heavily in expensive alternative care options. That really has sunk the budget of child protection in the Northern Territory over the last few years. Trying to wind that back after paying private carers a substantial amount of money to look after children, to wean those private businesses off the government dollar is extraordinarily difficult. I remember when I became minister for Child Protection, it stood out like a sore thumb. We were throwing money into a system that was never going to be sustainable. We could not afford it, and we had to work very quickly to try to rebuild the foster care system, at the expense of running down this very expensive private childcare system Labor had built up over time. According to the minister, that is still a great challenge for the child protection system in the Northern Territory.
We must rectify that problem we inherited from Labor. We must fix this problem which is draining all of our resources. However, it is refreshing to hear the minister say his focus in child protection is back on the core business of child protection. It is very easy to become distracted; there are endless ways to spend your money when you are in charge of a government agency. As Health minister, I know it is very tempting to disperse money in all directions and get involved in a range of business that is not necessarily where you need to be.
Child protection, because it is a relatively small government agency, must be focused. There are so many children coming to our attention. As the minister stated, numbers continue to escalate. We have record numbers of notifications to the Department of Children and Families. We heard from last financial year, there was a 25% increase on the previous year in demand for child protection services across the Northern Territory. It is horrific, unsustainable and is a national shame that we have this enormous, growing problem in the Northern Territory. We will all battle to deal with it, whether we are Labor, Country Liberal or Independent; it is an extremely difficult area to work in.
How do you deal with a 25% increase in notifications? This will possibly increase in the next financial year. To go from 10 000 notifications in 2012-13 to 12 000 in 2013-14, an increase of 2000 notifications, is staggering. It is like Health, in many ways; you cannot stem the demand and need for health services. If people require healthcare as a government public service, you must try to meet the demand. It is incredibly difficult with limited resources, but you must try to meet the demand. It is the same in child protection; you cannot turn your back on a child who is notified for suspected abuse or neglect. It is impossible.
The only thing you can do - and what the minister is doing is exactly right - is focus on your core business. Things which are miscellaneous, or secondary, must fall off the radar, because you only have X amount of dollars. Unlike the former Labor government, we intend to work within our budget. We do not intend to put the Northern Territory into more debt, which means, in effect, we have less to spend on these very important services.
One thing which came through strongly in this statement is the minister’s acknowledgement of how difficult it is to work within this sector. He talked about the value of his staff within the agency. As a social worker, I graduated in the late 1980s and it was always considered a challenging and somewhat unattractive area to work in because of the seriousness of what you had to do, the enormous responsibility of the role of a child protection worker and the risk you had to manage.
As a young person going through university and coming out as a fairly nave social worker, how do you deal with that level of risk? It is frightening. In another context, I have counselled people who have worked in the child protection system. I have offered them assistance around depression and anxiety because of how personally challenging and difficult it is to be a child protection worker. It is scary stuff. They are a whole group of people in our community, public servants who go largely unrecognised. They work long hours, are committed and have the best intentions. They come to this far-flung place called the Northern Territory; they could end up in Alice Springs, Tennant Creek, Gove or one of our remote communities and they are not only disconnected from their families, but also have this tough role to perform in our communities.
The minister’s vision of how to protect these frontline workers and how to try and stem this very fast turnover of staff in child protection is honourable. It is enormously challenging though. How do you stop the wheels of turning over staff? You can put all sorts of incentives in place and find the best managers, but it is a bit about the nature of the beast. Staff who stick around and demonstrate a long-term commitment are extraordinary and I have the utmost respect for their commitment and stamina. It does not suit everyone, living in the Northern Territory, and it does not suit everyone working in the area of child protection.
The member for Nhulunbuy mentioned that the Children’s Commissioner, Dr Howard Bath – an incredible person who is absolutely committed to child protection in the Northern Territory – still has concerns around case plans, the practice of these child protection workers at the coalface and how they go about their business. The bible of child protection is still for me – every time I talk about child protection, I bring out my Growing them Strong, together bibles and go through them again. It is an incredible document. It is first class and will live for a long time as a reference for what we should do in this space. A part of that inquiry into child protection focused on the practice of child protection workers and looking very critically and analytically at how they go about their business. They uncovered all sorts of deficits and that is, in part, about the high turnover of staff and the lack of support. It is about putting systems in place and that is what the minister is doing.
He is putting systems in place. He talked about various strategic plans, child protection policy, procedure manuals and performance and reporting frameworks. All of those things that sound like gobbledygook to most people in the community are incredibly important to lay the foundations for good casework. By casework, I mean the service you provide to the children, young people and families who are referred into the system. That interface between the child protection worker and the client or the young person and the family is the most critical part of the whole system.
It is lost in politics to some extent, but caring for those young people and providing them a positive experience through an incredibly traumatic period is essential and takes great skill. It takes great expertise and considerable education and understanding to do it well. Doing four years of university and coming out at the end as a social worker, psychologist or whatever qualifications are accepted these days does not equip you to do that job. It requires ongoing training and professional development and support, and our new CLP Child Protection minister is onto this. He understands that, and it came through very strongly in his statement.
The out-of-home care system which I touched on earlier – this is a very concerning story and apart from what I have already said, I will touch briefly on the notion of trying to open up the legislation or the bureaucracy to allow children a more permanent relationship with their carer. We will not push children into forced adoptions, nothing like that and there will be no forced adoptions. Adoption is not a particularly favourable word in this day and age. It has all sorts of very negative connotations, but I note the minister talked about enduring parental responsibility orders.
This is something I investigated when I was the Minister for Children and Families, and this is the next best thing to adoption in a way. It provides the child with a long-term, almost parental-child relationship without stripping away the legal rights of biological parents. That is incredible important to provide children with that stability and that security. Psychologically, it is so important that children have a connection, that they know where they belong and know that next week they will not be shuffled on to the next care placement. I applaud the minister for pursuing this. Western Australia does have enduring parental responsibility orders, and they have been very effectively rolled out over the last couple of years. I look forward to seeing what happens in that space.
The connection between child protection and other government agencies is something I explored to some degree when I was the Minister for Children and Families. As people might remember, I had a strong view that child protection and education could work very well together for the benefit of children and families, and thinking there were great potential synergies, I merged those two agencies. I note the member for Nhulunbuy talked about Family as First Teachers, the parenting and child support program. That is an Education initiative, but it works hand in glove with Children and Families and the child protection agency.
An area that, as a government, we need to work harder on is working out where government agencies can work better together. We always talk about the siloed way we go about our business. It is definitely a challenge to break down those silos and work across agencies. I would like to see the minister pursuing that. For such a small population, 240 000 people across our vast geographical area in the Northern Territory, we have all these government agencies and all these people going off in different directions. There has to be a better way of caring for our children.
In Health, we have 80 remote clinics, 54 of those are Northern Territory government operated clinics and 26 of those are community-controlled health services, but there are 80 in total across the Northern Territory. Why can those clinics not work more closely with child protection workers? Why can those clinics and those child protection workers not work more closely with Education? There is great potential for a lot of good work to happen across government, and if I know the member for Port Darwin, he will take on that sort of challenge.
Mr WOOD: A point of order, Mr Deputy Speaker! Pursuant to Standing Order 77, I move that the member be granted an extension of time.
Motion agreed to.
Mrs LAMBLEY: Thank you, member for Nelson. That is an area of great potential, looking to do the work of government in a more effective and cross-agency manner for the benefit of children and families. It just makes sense. It is incredibly hard to do. That is one thing I have learned since becoming a minister; it sounds a lot easier than it is.
I note the fact we have so many Aboriginal children in care; 83% of kids in care are Aboriginal. Out of 830, that equates to around 690 kids. That is staggering and frightening, considering the Aboriginal population is around 30% of the NT population. This concern was expressed in the Growing them strong, together report.
Just quickly, I reflect on some of the things that Howard Bath and his colleagues who wrote the Growing them strong, together report focused on, and the reason things do not change quickly in this space, despite the good policies and good practices. We must be realistic about our expectations. What they found in 2010, or just before when they were doing their investigations, was that many of the basic needs of children were not being met. There was a reduced child focus, neglect related to chronic gambling and ganja, poor supervision, harms from alcohol, trauma and exposure to violence, increased health problems and deaths across childhood, poor developmental indicators, poor school attendance and the absolute and relative disadvantage of Aboriginal children.
They found all social determinants of health and welfare were alive and well in the communities they visited: the family violence, the alcohol abuse, the inadequate access to wellbeing services, unemployment, poor housing; teenage parents were an issue in some communities, as well as the express need for parenting skills and older adults taking over child rearing. Those things are still being talked about in our community; those problems still exist. We are only four years down the track, no one has a magic wand, but those things are still a major issue throughout the Northern Territory.
The other thing they found was the number of notifications had been steadily rising for years. It is a trend. Like the demand for healthcare, demand for child protection services keeps escalating, and the demand for out-of-home care, similarly, keeps escalating.
The 147 recommendations of the Growing them strong, together report have become almost institutionalised in my mind. Perhaps for some it is not as relevant as time goes on. I believe we can do a great service to the Northern Territory if we keep referring to this very important report, which is not just about 147 recommendations, but also has a great deal of knowledge in it. There was extensive information and research done into all areas of child protection, the practice of child protection, and the out-of-home care system. It itemises, essentially, all aspects of child protection which we can never afford to ignore or diminish in any way. Everything in that report is still relevant, and that is the point I am trying to make in conclusion: reform, reform and more reform. We can never take our eye off the ball.
Successively, as governments, we have struggled to do this business very well. We started from a low base 18 months ago when we came to government. I heard the member for Nhulunbuy say they started from a low base when they came to government in 2001. For the benefit of children in the Northern Territory, we must be mindful of what is realistic and try to support the minister in the good work he is doing.
Mr WOOD (Nelson): Mr Deputy Speaker, I thank the minister for his statement. We occasionally do not agree on things, but I appreciate the hard work the minister has put into his new job. It is relatively new, and that is reflected in this statement. This statement has some guts in it. Some statements we hear are 25 pages and, if I quote a member of parliament who was in opposition, they are ‘puff pieces’. This one is not, and I thank the minister for dealing with a serious subject we can debate in this parliament, hopefully in a mature way.
The issue of child protection is an area we can talk about as if it were a department. This is the Children and Families department, but it is far more than that. If you read the Growing them strong, together report the member for Araluen mentioned a number of times, you see the issues we are dealing with in the introduction. In his statement, the minister recognises we have a group of parents who have failed their children. They have simply not given the love required, and those children are now part of a problem – if I can put it that way – we face in the Northern Territory. The area which needs just as much focus - that is, the nuts and bolts of children and families - is why do we have parents who cannot look after their children?
We must step up, ask the questions and put more emphasis on fixing the problem at the beginning with early intervention and $1 spent now, as against the $200 spent later on. I have no doubt the 83% of Indigenous children misrepresented in this area come from low socioeconomic backgrounds.
I do not have to go to remote areas. I only have to look at my own electorate to see some of the problems which exist: overcrowding; unemployment; alcohol and drug abuse; children not going to school; gambling; boredom; low incomes; and a reliance on social security. Mix all of it in with violence, which is sometimes a reflection of drug and alcohol problems, and what kind of family do you have? Where is the opportunity for a family to love and nurture the children in that family? As I said, I do not have to go far, even in my own electorate, to see the damage caused by some of these problems.
There are moves by governments to try to change things, but they are huge tasks which must be ongoing. There is a housing program which got a lot of attention when the previous government was in office. The CLP is going down the path, along with the federal government, of increasing the number of houses in remote communities.
Employment is still a major issue, and I put employment and boredom together. If you have boredom, it is the same old famous saying: when someone is bored, the devil will get hold of you.
Mr Elferink: The devil finds work for idle hands.
Mr WOOD: That is right. I do not think it matters whether the statement was made in the 1800s, 1900s or the 2000s, it still applies. People get up to mischief when they are bored. If you have a job, opportunities to play sport, a house you can go home to without 20 people in it, a life worth living and with meaning, there is a lot more chance you will raise children in a more productive and safe manner.
People like those from NAPCAN have always emphasised that we must push parenting. That is excellent, because some people do not have any parenting skills. There are many young people who have children when they have not learnt parenting skills, which is an important part of it. You still need a secure place that is not overcrowded, a job which can bring you a reasonable income and an education which can allow you to get a job. Parallel to the matters the minister raised in his statement today, unless we put equal emphasis on changing that side of the equation, we will continue to see an increase of 25% in notifications every year, because nothing will change.
That is not to say – this is one of the problems with talking about this issue – there are not good families out there. There are lots of good families, but they can sometimes be crushed by the atmosphere of a community which brings them down as well. The broad Aboriginal family, unfortunately, has been hammered to some extent by some of the modern day issues that confront them and which they find difficult to handle.
As I said, a lot of what the minister said in his statement is good. I do not think we should be blaming so much on the previous government, because as the member for Araluen said, the Growing them strong, together report came out under the previous government.
Yes, there was certainly pressure from the opposition, but there was also pressure from others to make sure the Growing them strong, together report – this is getting to be like one of those issues where a lot of words are thrown across the Chamber, but it unfortunately becomes mixed up in party politics, instead of saying kids are surely the number one group of people in our community which needs us to work together. This is not something we should be scoring party political points from. Does that help any children? Does that fix the problems we have with child abuse, sexual abuse, physical abuse and kids with no education? I do not think so. At least this statement gives us an opportunity to talk about those issues.
I would have liked a response to some of the issues the Children’s Commissioner mentioned in his 2012-13 annual report included in this statement. I will only read a few of them. In his media release he summarised some of the issues. He said:
- It is clear that the child protection system is now identifying many Aboriginal children who are ‘at risk’, but relatively few are placed into protective care, and limited family support and treatment services are available to assist struggling parents.
The release went on to say:
- Reviews were also conducted for specific areas of practice including care plans, leaving care plans, contact with children in care, use of Temporary Placement Arrangements and leaving care support. Key findings included: 1. fewer than half of the care plans on file were current; 2. very little planning is being undertaken for young people leaving care; and 3. few Aboriginal people have plans that adequately address their cultural needs. The reviews also indicated that there has been a reduction in the level of direct case worker contact with children in care …
This is something the member for Nhulunbuy mentioned:
- … with only 69 per cent of the children having direct contact with case workers in the two month period prior to the review date.
Some of those might have been discussed, but I hope when we are talking about children and families we bring the Children’s Commissioner into the discussion. He is such an important person; he is the neutral observer and when there were changes in CEOs and all that sort of stuff, he was very concerned about the state of affairs. When we report what is happening, we should not just report it from the departmental point of view, but see what the Children’s Commissioner is saying, perhaps comment on what he is also concerned about and supply answers to those concerns. We could see the government is also listening to what the Children’s Commissioner is saying.
Minister, I will quickly go on to a couple of other subjects. I am no expert on children and families’ issues to the degree that many other people like the Minister for Health, you and the member for Nhulunbuy are, but there are a couple of issues I will comment on. Adoption is one, and I know Prime Minister Abbott is talking about trying to improve the number of adoptions; whether that is overseas and does not relate to Australia, I am not sure. He has certainly put that matter on the public agenda.
The ex-Minister for Health, Marion Scrymgour, said you must put the welfare of the child above cultural concerns when it comes to the crunch, and that the welfare of the child is more important. I attended a committee meeting with her quite a long time ago in Alice Springs. She was accused of a creating a second Stolen Generation, and I thought that was woeful, because what she was saying was the child’s welfare should come first. When people throw those sorts of clichs out, they are not particularly understanding of the problems.
When 83% of a group of people is Indigenous – young children in this situation – you will not always be able to find a culturally appropriate person to look after them. It is the child who is number one, and that debate is important. We should try to make sure people have continual contact with their culture, no one would deny that, but if it comes to the bottom line and the way to protect that child is adoption, then adoption should be the way taken.
The minister mentioned that the Royal Commission on sexual abuse is coming to Darwin fairly soon. As a Catholic, I find what has been going on extremely sad, and it will take a long time for the Catholic Church to recover from what has happened. It is not the only one either. It tends to get most of the publicity, and sometimes unfairly. I am not saying it should not get publicity, but there were other people involved in these sorts of issues, from the government to other denominations and other people. From the point of view of a Catholic, it has been a shameful part of the Catholic Church in Australia. One of the sad things, other than the abuse of children, is the good people in the Catholic Church are now being covered in the same mud.
I remember an interview on radio some time ago with a Marist or Christian Brother who had gone through all this, and they said they could hardly say who they were if someone asked them what they did for a job because their name was mud. They have had to live through all this, even though many of them were not part of it. For the few who have done it, it has caused tremendous trauma, not only for the victims, but for those who have not done anything wrong. The Catholic Church must go through all this pain before it is able to have a renaissance, to some extent, because it is something they must, we must – I am part of it – face up to, that it has caused immeasurable harm to young people who have had to carry that through their adult life. I suppose to some extent, many of us must take responsibility, not all of us directly, of course. We cannot sit idly by and say we cannot comment on it when we should.
It is one of those things that is a blot, but as time goes on and new people take over roles in the Catholic Church, a different approach will probably occur, but it is a shameful part of the Catholic Church, not only in Australia, but in other places. We will see, as the sexual abuse inquiry comes to Darwin, what matters are raised.
Minister, one of the Growing them strong, together statements talks about alcohol; it is to do with foetal alcohol syndrome. It is one of the major issues we have, and you have raised it as something to be discussed. I would like you to explain, if this is an opportunity, where you are coming from. I raised it previously, during the Children Commissioner’s Act debate about the definition of what is a vulnerable child. You might remember I mentioned that if someone does something which causes damage to a child before they are born, and when it is born they have some permanent damage, is that a vulnerable child? Has the Children’s Commissioner a role to play? The Children’s Commissioner has a role to play with vulnerable children. The present definition does not quite cover it, but is an unborn child a vulnerable child? That is why what you have been putting forward is worthy of debate. It raises some ethical questions, but it is certainly something worthy of good, solid debate in this House.
I should thank one group of people I deal with every year, and I get a bit confused about all the different groups, but it is Kentish day care. I play Father Christmas every year, and you might say, ‘So what’, but when I am there …
Mr Styles: A very important job.
Mr WOOD: It is. You might be one yourself. I hope Hansard does not record that, someone might be listening. The people I see there are families of all cultures, not just Australian. There are Sudanese, Lebanese and all sorts of people looking after all sorts of kids, and it is great. There are kids who do not have a family, yet there are families, not just Australian – they are Australian, but not necessarily from an Anglo-Saxon background – looking after children, and it is wonderful to see. I know it costs the government money to provide services through places like Kentish day care, but at least there are people who make the effort to care for these children.
I have a group in my electorate – I often see the bus go past – and it sometimes has different kids in that bus, but it takes a lot of kids and looks after them all. Sometimes there are six to nine, and the group cares for all the children, making sure they get to school and giving them some love and care. It is fantastic to see. There are some great stories, and sometimes we must publicise and promote them because we must give a chance to those kids who do not have one.
The other matter the member for Araluen mentioned was the child protection workers. They go down with ambulance people who work on the front line when there is an accident, and the nurses and doctors who deal with people. These people also suffer trauma because they deal with personal stress when they see families which have broken up or abused children, and they must feel it because they are human as well. I thank all those workers who do such a terrific job. I understand why they might not last the full time, because it is a tough job, and after a while you might think there are greener pastures with another job. I also thank the minister for bringing this really important debate on, and I hope we can work as a parliament to improve the situation for all children in the Northern Territory.
Mr VOWLES (Johnston): Mr Deputy Speaker, I thank the minister for bringing this statement into parliament. My contribution will focus on the family, community and culture. I agree with what the minister has said about governments making poor surrogate parents. We lost government, the CLP came into government and there were some really terrible decisions made early on. It was obvious when the CLP came into government that there was no plan. There were things like the constant changes at the top, changes to departmental structure, CEO changes; there were three ministers in 18 months. It was a difficult time, and having three different ministers is never an ideal situation. They lost sight of what the Department of Children and Families does, and that is look after the care and protection of children.
With this statement, I can see you are finally getting down to business. I have said many times in this parliament, in my short time here, that if a minister or member does some good work, I will stand up and applaud it. I will give credit where credit is due, at the moment, to the current Minister for Children and Families, the member for Port Darwin. There has been some movement in this area, finally some stability and you are getting down to core business. For Territorians, and for me, it is about protecting our children.
While we were in government, we focused on working in partnerships with families, communities, NGOs and Commonwealth government, not cost cutting and finding ways to shift children to adoptive parents. We agree a merry-go-round of carers is not helpful for children in care. They need nurturing, support and stability, but also a sense of who they are and where they come from. All the evidence of history shows this is important for an individual sense of self-worth and long-term emotional wellbeing.
The Chief Minister was completely insensitive in grabbing a headline like the one I am holding up which says, ‘Exclusive’, from Tuesday 14 May, 2013, ‘NT Government to Approve Forced Adoption of Neglected Children. ‘We’ll remove abused kids’.
The Chief Minister said:
- There are situations in the Northern Territory where nobody has been prepared to support a permanent adoption of a child for fear of the Stolen Generation …
Headlines like that do not help what you are trying to achieve, but that is his form. We all know he threw out this outrageous statement to cover for some trouble he was having with other areas of his leadership and to divert attention away from some of the issues he was facing at the time. It was very embarrassing for me, as a Territorian, that our national press started relaying how Adam Giles said it was time to reintroduce forced adoptions.
I remember reading The Australian on 18 May 2013 and thinking I was very embarrassed to be a Territorian; yes, it is always a touchy, sensitive subject with child protection, and we must be very conscious that the core focus is about children, but sometimes I do not think our Chief Minister understands the hurt that past government policies in this area have caused families in the Northern Territory. This includes my own family, and a few other members in this Chamber.
Sometimes I struggle – does he have any sense of the history of hurt to do with previous government policies or the torturous path to the long overdue national apology for the wrongs of past governments practices? The member for Nelson mentioned Marion Scrymgour, a very proud Aboriginal lady, esteemed former Labor member and former Deputy Chief Minister of the Northern Territory government. I am sure she has family members who were part of the Stolen Generation; it is something we need to acknowledge, move on from and make sure it does not happen again.
We are very sensitive when we talk about forced adoptions, and at the time I cringed. I received many calls from families, many people from all walks of life and even some from people in other countries who said, ‘What is going on there? What is happening in the Territory? Is this what is going to happen?’ I said, ‘We will just have to wait and see’.
What I continue to be really shocked about, and will continue to stand up and talk about, is the fact that 83% of those in out-of-home care are Aboriginal children. I am sure that is distressing and very upsetting for everybody, including all in this Chamber and all Territorians. I am not proud of the high rate of Aboriginal kids there, and I am not proud of the continuing entrenched disadvantage of many Indigenous families in the Northern Territory. I am not proud we cannot provide more family, community and government support for young parents struggling with parenting responsibilities, and I am not proud of the high rates of alcohol and substance abuse, family violence and child neglect in the Territory. We need focused, considered and consistent actions in doing our best to prevent our children going into care and provide protection for children in abusive situations.
The Northern Territory News reported on 22 October 2013 – I am happy for the minister to correct this and give us an update – that there were 150 fewer staff in the Department of Children and Families. The Department of Children and Families annual report showed employee numbers dropped from 865 to 652 between June 2012 and June 2013. I am happy for the minister to correct me on that during his wrap. What really shocks is the 25% increase on previous years from 2012-13. We need to do better, and I know you are going to work hard to …
Mr Elferink: Much of that is in police notifications.
Mr VOWLES: Yes, we are talking about an increase in the number of children and the lack of care. We need to ensure we get a decrease. I am sure the minister is working hard, as his department and staff are, to ensure the next time he addresses parliament he can talk about how numbers have decreased in this terrible situation.
Mr Elferink: Blessed would be the day.
Mr VOWLES: There have been a few debates in this parliament on child protection issues. We had a parliamentary debate in May 2013, which was about the same time Adam Giles talked about forced adoptions. As you know, I was elected in 2012; I looked at the bush members and said what a contribution they could make, as we all can in this Chamber. However, they could make a particular contribution around Indigenous disadvantage and the opportunities – they represent people in those electorates and see this firsthand.
A few things stick out about the debate on child protection at the time. I remember the member for Arnhem speaking eloquently about the day-to-day struggle of many Indigenous leaders confronting child neglect and abuse. She said:
- It brings tears to my eyes to think about that. Safeguards were not in place to put a child into a culturally appropriate safe place.
She went on to say:
- …we are not there to take the kids and put them in care until they are 18 years old. Are you trying to build another Stolen Generation with these kids? We have to sort that out because that is not what the parents want. The majority of parents are trying everything in their ability to get their kids back. They are going through counselling, rehabilitation, you name it.
The member for Arnhem is a true representative of her people and she faces this every day in her electorate. In the same debate, the member for Araluen said:
We are not talking about rolling out adoptions, forced adoptions or all this nonsense we are hearing about and reading in the paper.
I think she was talking about Adam Giles and his comments around forced adoption. Even the member for Stuart, talking about parental responsibilities on that same day, said:
- What is most important is keeping families together: keeping children with their families in a safe environment.
I seriously encourage members to read the contribution of the member for Namatjira during the same debate on 15 May 2013. The member for Namatjira gets it and she always has.
We know we have had some issues in this parliament around, ‘We said, she said’ and ‘We have our job to do to hold you to account’, but there have been moments during my short time in parliament where I have sat back and really listened. This happens a lot when the members for Namatjira, Arnhem and Stuart speak because they have a great opportunity to truly represent the Indigenous population in the Northern Territory, and their own electorates. On that day, May 15 2013, the member for Namatjira spoke fantastically and in a heartfelt manner. In her contribution she covered a breadth of issues that must be addressed to reverse the trend of kids requiring protection and the need for statutory care, let alone adoptions.
There is not one line that summarises her broad contribution on that day. The member for Namatjira said:
- I ask my own people in this journey to make sure they direct their children to be loving children, and that they give and show those children the love and respect their parents showed them, and if they have a problem with drugs or alcoholism, that they go and talk to someone.
If that does not hit some chord within you on this debate around the care of our children and how important that is – we are talking about a member of this parliament who gets it. She gets it and I am still wondering – no offence to you, minister Elferink – why she was sacked as the Minister for Children and Families. She had the assistance of the member for Arnhem. Together, they were working very well towards rolling out a plan, getting into departments, getting out on the ground in communities – 83% of people in out-of-home care are Indigenous kids – and going from community to community.
They are the reports I received. I have a lot of family in communities all around the Northern Territory, as other Indigenous members in this Chamber do, and they were saying the members for Namatjira and Arnhem were out there talking to people on the ground about how they could help. They were saying, ‘What do we need to change in our government? What do we need to do in our legislation to get this done?’ I still do not get why, Chief Minister, she was sacked from that portfolio.
On 18 May 2013, The Australian also reported views of Jenni Collard on taking leadership of the department.
- … while her department was good at taking kids into care, it was ‘not very good at looking after them’.
That should be the focus of any government and any Minister for Children and Families. I know the member of Port Darwin will do whatever he can to ensure that happens. I had a quick look at minister Elferink’s charter of rights. It is signed in about a 58pt font signature with ‘The Elf’ on it. The things highlighted to me were:
You have the right to be involved in your community.
You have the right to stay connected to your culture, language and religion.
They are very important things. I ask the minister: what are you doing to give substance to those rights? I look forward to him explaining to me a bit further on. Maybe he can address that in his wrap.
I was very interested to go through your statement, and I thought it was a good statement. The member for Nelson was being very nice when he said, ‘There are a lot of puff statements in here’. I could have used a couple of other words; I am sure the member for Greatorex would use them in here and maybe outside, but this statement has some substance. It does show the Department of Children and Families is trying to do something. It is going back to core business, which is looking after and protecting our most vulnerable children.
I was really interested in adoptions, the part where the minister wants to look at de facto couples being able to adopt. Will this include same-sex de facto relationships? Are we looking at same sex de facto couples being able to adopt in the Northern Territory? I look forward to further comments on that in your wrap, minister.
I am deeply upset about the 83% of Indigenous children who are in and out of out-of-home care. We must ensure we do more. I hope this government is finally off its training tracks onto the real track, and is looking at doing something better. The minister will work hard on this. I hope he gets the support he needs through and within departments for that, because we on this side of the House would love to see the minister here in a year – I would love it to be six months, not a year – talking about the decrease in child protection notifications and the cases and clients coming in front of the department. Thank you.
Mr STYLES (Young Territorians): Mr Deputy Speaker, I will talk about this great statement. I congratulate the minister for his work and his commitment to this portfolio. It definitely shows in the statement.
On 31 December 2013, there were 834 children in out-of-home care. The trajectory of children in the care of CEOs is growing not only in the Northern Territory, but across Australia and the world. Child protection is internationally recognised as one of the most difficult decision-making areas of government. In fact, it is probably one of the most difficult issues for the entire community. It has been debated from time immemorial, and what is best for children and families will continue to be debated forever.
In the early 1980s, on the wall of the old Casuarina police station there was a photograph of a child by the name of Dean. I will not use his last name as it is probably not appropriate. There may be some tears from people who, as part of the community, found it hard to do something about this poor young fellow’s issue and plight.
It was there to remind all police officers who worked at Casuarina of the difficult situations children find themselves in, not by their own choice. Sadly, Dean was subjected to ongoing violence by his father, and there was violence against his mother by his father. Police officers were struggling to find ways of helping young Dean, and departments of the day were also finding it difficult to help this young child. Sadly, one night police from Casuarina were called to Kurringal Flats where the beaten and bruised body of this child was found by ambulance officers. Sadly, young Dean died from those injuries. It was an extremely sad situation, but it would appear people were hamstrung by the rules and regulations of the day. People in the community were crying out that children were far better off in the care of their families. That is generally the case; however, young Dean was not.
A photograph of this young fellow sat on the wall and every new recruit who came in to Casuarina police station would say, ‘What is that photo doing on the wall? Who is that?’ Those of us who were there told the story, and for many years to come that photograph stayed there to remind police officers that not every child is safe in the family environment.
I look at my own upbringing. I was very fortunate to have fantastic parents. My mother almost hugged me to death, so I got the love and care of a loving family, but when I was young, my mother used to have foster kids in our home. Some of those kids, sadly, failed to get the same love, care and attention at home. Fortunately for them, they got a lot of it from my mother and father, who was very supportive of my mother’s role as a foster carer. I grew up seeing some of the issues those young people went through. Some of them who stayed with us for some length of time – the change a little love, care and compassion can bring about.
It was a driving force of mine in relation to the child protection issues I faced as a police officer, as a member in opposition. As a former school-based police officer I dealt with it on virtually a daily basis. I speak with a lot of compassion for people who suffer a lack of love and care in what we would call a normal environment. It drives me, in my role as minister for Youth, to make sure I support people like the minister for Child Protection, his statement today and everything he does on a daily basis, in the parliamentary wing and in Cabinet. He has my very strong support.
Until young people become of school age, the government does not have a lot of input into their development. Sadly for some, there is a lot of damage done and kids, when they turn up at school, are damaged. They have not had that care, love and support. One case comes to mind from not that many years ago of a brother and sister who lived in Malak. People insisted they stay with their family. I was a school-based police officer at the time, and these young kids used to roam the streets at night; they would be caught breaking into places for something to eat. The brother was 18 months older than his sister.
When you deal with these things as a school-based police officer, quite often you get to talk to these young people in an environment where they are supported, they feel safe and will tell you what is going on. I will not use their names because just their Christian names will identify them. I sat down with them one day, early in the piece when they were struggling a bit, and said, ‘Well, what is happening in your life?’
The result was interesting. I will not quote them word for word, but I will paraphrase. ‘Basically, we go home from school and there are people there sticking needles in themselves and smoking marijuana.’ They knew exactly what drugs were all about because they lived in an environment of drug abuse. They said they would go to sleep at night and have people crawling all over them in bed, so what did they do? They left the house at night, wandered the streets and broke into cars and slept in them.
It was very interesting because it would appear in those days that because there was Aboriginality in these kids, people were reluctant to take them off their parents. I used to contact community welfare and say, ‘This is a bit of an issue. There is a problem’, but it was a struggle to get anything done.
It is still a struggle to get anything done for poor people like that. What do we do about that? We look at all the things the minster said, and I agree with the member for Johnston that there are way too many people, especially young Aboriginal people, represented in the 834 people in out-of-home care. We must engage those people and their families. What government is doing, which brings me to what I am doing – it has not been announced yet, but when it is in its final form, it will be rolled out. It is being developed at the moment and is a whole-of-community engagement strategy where we bring people together. I think I have mentioned it in this House before, but it is so important we engage young people and do not let them go through life suffering; that may bring some criticism from certain groups in our community, and that is a bit sad.
I was on the youth suicides committee of this parliament and when the Gone Too Soon report came out it told a very sad story that as a community we were not doing very well in the engagement of young people. So many young people commit suicide, so many young people engage in drugs and this goes all the way back to what we do from day one when a child is born. The member for Nelson raised it earlier. What do we do about foetal alcohol syndrome and what are the rights of the child before they are born? What happens when they are born? Who has a say and who does not?
I was listening to some radio commentary on this matter, and one person said, ‘Well, I agree with all of that, but it is terrible that people can tell other people what they should do with their kids’. I have witnessed the result of that kind of thinking with the bodies of innocent children who have died through physical violence, malnourishment and total neglect. It is really sad, but it happens. It is one of those things that we face.
There are young people who take their own lives because there is no hope, there is no meaning to life, and I pick up on what the member for Nelson said in relation to boredom. Kids and young people get bored. Why do they get bored? Some people, like the two I mentioned from Malak, cannot stay at home at night. We must fix these issues, and in these instances, sometimes people are far better off removed from that environment and put into a safe, loving and caring environment where they too can have what we call a ‘normal kids’ experience: a supportive, secure and safe place to live and sleep.
The issue of housing has been raised and is another issue the government is working on. To go back to whole-of-community engagement, it is so important that young people have somewhere to go that is safe. We look at juvenile crime rates, juvenile participation in drugs and drug trafficking and it then goes to young people prostituting themselves to get money for drugs or simply prostituting themselves for drugs. That is a really sad situation.
I am very proud to be working on this whole-of-community engagement strategy. It is a result of many years of work in the community and understanding what the needs of young people are. Having taught 40 000 of them in my time as a school-based police officer, it is refreshing when they still come and talk to you and give you information about what is going on in the community. It is quite funny; I walked into an office in Parliament House in Canberra last week and one of the receptionists said, ‘Hi, Constable Styles’. It is amazing how these young people remember you. Why do they remember you? Because it was a great program and we helped give them the resilience that all young people need built into them.
How do we do that? If families are not going to do that, then we need other people who can do it. It may not be foster care, it may not be forcibly taking people out of homes, but it is about creating an environment where young people feel safe, can socialise, be with other young people, be with older people in our community, and where they can be with retired people. It is where they can be with people who like other people, like being with other people and like to pass on skills.
Not every child is born with automatic resilience for many issues and problems they will face during their life. We have to inform, instruct and pass on that resilience to our young people. Generally, those who come from what we call a normal family have had parents, carers or grandparents who have taught us about what it is to be ‘normal’. What do ‘normal’ people do? What do you do on Saturday nights? Do you go out and throw rocks at buses or taxis? No, you do not. That is wrong.
We learn right from wrong; the law says that at age 10, it is expected that a child who is not mentally challenged has the ability to understand right from wrong. Sadly, in our community many young people, at 15, do not seem to understand right from wrong. Some of them just choose not to understand or to participate in what is considered to be right and wrong within our community.
They are the people who target other young people. It is not always older people who stalk young people. There are reasons why young people get other young people to do things for them. Young people are vulnerable, and there are other young people who want to use them to go and steal stuff and all sorts of things.
It is important that as a government, in fact, as the Territory community and as people in this House, we support these community engagement programs, particularly when they are first rolled out. I will do a launch this engagement strategy when it is finalised and make a ministerial statement. It is not too far away and will be an exciting new development. We have looked at things around the world and there is nothing quite like it. It is a culmination of many years of being involved in politics and working in the community as a school-based police officer. I have worked on school councils, worked with youth and have run youth organisations and centres. When you put all this together, you come up with something that, hopefully, will compliment what the minister for Child Protection is doing and the things he and the government want to achieve.
Once that is done, the second process is for me, as the minister for Youth, to pick up the ball and make sure these people, when taken into care or lost, have somewhere child protection staff can move them into, in what most people would term normal community activities.
Unless people teach you and demonstrate what most people believe is normal, you have no benchmark. Where do you go when you are asking yourself as a young person where you fit into the world, what is normal? Is this behaviour, throwing rocks at taxis on Friday night from a bridge somewhere in the Northern Territory, normal? Some kids think it is. They think it is okay to do that.
Do you go and spray paint tourist buses? That was reported in the paper. It has cost these people thousands of dollars to get all the artwork redone on their buses. What a tragedy! Yet, some young person – we are assuming it is some young person – thinks it is a great joke. It is probably because many of these people did not have what we would call a normal upbringing. Somehow, they just chose it as a lifestyle. They want to go and create havoc and do it for fun.
As a community, we must support the initiatives of the minister for Child Protection, and I will be asking this House and the people of the Northern Territory to support the initiatives we are creating in relation to community engagement strategies. We will use existing infrastructure and kids will go there; it will be a safe environment and we will make sure of that. It will be somewhere that is fun to be. Most kids I know and have dealt with in my time working in the community want an adrenalin rush. They want to do something that is fun, and whether it is abseiling down the side of a wall or going for a ride in a speed boat, it is about getting fun things to happen. Generally, many young people who come from disadvantaged families do not have an opportunity to get into that.
We hope, in relation to moving things along, that we can help reduce people’s desire to take their own lives and the Gone Too Soon report can be implemented as part of the whole-of-community engagement strategy. We want to give kids some meaning in life, put them into an environment where they can make their own decisions about what might be normal and what might be happening at home, where they can speak to a range of people in the community who will be present at these centres, and they can get some advice on what is going on.
Picking up on something the member for Nelson said, yes, I have played Santa Claus. It is a great thing to do for the community, but sadly for some kids, Santa Claus does not come. I hope all initiatives contained in this child protection statement and the other things we are doing in the youth portfolio will make Santa Claus come for some of these children. Thank you very much.
Mrs PRICE (Community Services): Mr Deputy Speaker, I commend the Minister for Children and Families’ statement about the current status of child protection in the Northern Territory to the House. As members know, I have been a long-time advocate for the reduction of violence against women and children, having been a victim myself and having young relatives who need protection. My niece was killed in a car crash a couple of months ago. She has a daughter, and the father is in and out of gaol; he is now in gaol. Who is protecting this child right now, as we speak? One grandmother has just been released from gaol – the father’s mother – and the other grandmother is too sick to give her support and, since the death of her mother, has been trying to commit suicide.
Child protection is very close to my heart, and as the member for Johnston said, keeping children in a safe environment with families is the ideal, but I know, as an Aboriginal person, families do not give enough protection for the support of this child.
I see children on the streets of Alice Springs, wandering from 9 pm until 1 am, 2 am or 3 am, in groups. These children need protection. Who is protecting them? I have relatives whose mums have been killed by their fathers. How are they supposed to grow up in this environment, without protection from an authorised person who will give them the support, love and protection needed? These children grow up knowing their mother was killed by their father. I know many of these children who will be growing up thinking, ‘What has the world come to? Why are we not protected? Who is doing something for us as children who need to be protected?’
These children grow up surrounded by family members in communities or town camps like the camps around Alice Springs. Yes, they have families; they have lots of aunties, uncles, sisters and cousins, but the environment they grow up in is supposed to be a carefree environment, where they go and enjoy the freedom they should have, but it is not there. Times have changed; these children must fend for themselves. These children do not know what life is all about. We expect them to be born into this environment with people who will show them love and protect and care for them.
In Alice Springs, I am happy I have seen same-sex couples who have fostered young Aboriginal kids. These children look so happy, healthy and carefree, and they know they have these people who care for them. These same-sex carers love these children and make sure they keep connections with the families of these children. In Alice Springs, I have seen a lot of this, a lot of white families who have taken in Aboriginal kids, maybe one, two or three. They give them the care we, as parents, are supposed to give our children. I can talk a lot about how Aboriginal people view caring for children, but it would take me forever. I commend the minister for his direct, frank and assertive comments on his and his department’s direction, regarding child protection.
As the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Mr Ban Ki-moon, said:
- Freedom from fear and violence …
These values are the very foundation of cohesive and prosperous societies.
- … violence against girls and boys cuts across boundaries of age, race, culture, wealth and geography. It takes place in the home, on the streets, in schools, in the workplace, in detention centres and in institutions for the care of children. For countless girls and boys the world over, childhood is described by one word: fear.
- Violence manifests itself in many forms: neglect, physical and emotional violence, sexual abuse, rape, trafficking, torture, inhumane and degrading treatment or punishment, forced begging, bonded labour; and so many others.
I know what it means. It is also linked to increased risk of poor health, school performance and long-term welfare dependency. It is also linked to psychological and emotional consequences, such as feelings of rejection, anxiety, trauma, fear and insecurity. Child violence is also linked to risky behaviours and developmental and behavioural issues, such as non-attendance at schools, antisocial behaviours and poor relationships.
Child violence is also associated with poverty and holds back the potential of individuals and countries, but this does not mean it is inevitable. From my attendance at the recent 58th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women in New York at UN headquarters, I was buoyed to find that world, federal, state and local governments are partnering at the highest level to take a stand on violence against women and children. There were pledges to honour international treaties, support to introduce more robust legal provisions and to reduce violence and rally public commitment and support through coordinated public campaigns to overcome social norms and attitudes that condone violence against children.
It is also vital we partner and work alongside children and young people, and learn from their insights and wisdom. One of the great things I observed at the CSW 58 was the engagement of young people in this multitiered approach. I was moved by the number of young women from around the world who talked about their experiences and how they are now taking a stand to end this unnecessary violence.
There was a girl from Malawi, who had no protection and no adult there to protect her from abuse. There was a Rwandan girl, who watched her mum being butchered in front of her when she was a three-year old. She managed to survive, without protection, to tell her story.
We must shield our children from violence and address the attitudes that allow it to flourish. These are attitudes like, ‘It is culturally appropriate’ or ‘It is religious custom’. These attitudes must stop, and violence against children should never be accepted.
I am proud to be associated with a government committed to developing appropriate institutional responses; preventing and ending violence against children requires a united, non-partisan effort. While there is no time for complacency, the situation is dramatic in its scale and extent, but there are signs of change. We must celebrate the gains, grasp the lessons learnt and redouble our efforts towards a dynamic, forward-looking strategy to ensure children’s rights to freedom from violence at all times. We must intervene more in my people’s families to protect their children. The level of violence in our communities is unacceptable. The only way we can make a change is through intervention.
While I acknowledge it is important children grow up in their own families with their parents, this is by no means an absolute. If it is proven families are unable to provide a loving, violence-free environment for their children, we must step in to provide one. This must be regardless of race, culture or religion.
How we do this is critical. We must allow their family to be part of any process that seeks to address violence and its consequences, but we must not live in fear when protecting our children. If we have to act, then we must, in spite of skin colour.
Why should a child in Malak be thought about differently to a child in Yuendumu, my own town? I am aware that such a strong, multitiered commitment raises negative voices within our community: the cries and claims by those saying we are creating another Stolen Generation. If we do not act now they will be. I realise this is a challenge, but it is one we must overcome. I have witnessed too much violence against children across communities. We as a society must protect our children. We have an obligation to stop the cycle of violence.
We must not listen to those voices who oppose. The voices we must listen to are from children crying for help, those screaming enough is enough and those who are begging us for help. Our children need to grow up well nourished, in good health, well-educated, resilient and free from violence. We must all remember that every child is not safe.
We as parliamentarians, parents, friends, brothers, sisters, husbands, wives and families owe each and every child a life without fear. I commend the minister for his statement and support the House noting it.
Mr ELFERINK (Children and Families): Madam Speaker, I thank all honourable members for their contributions to this debate. The intention of this statement was to outline my beliefs and the Northern Territory government’s beliefs about what we can do in child protection. It is important for a minister to articulate and identify precisely what is on that minister’s mind in what should happen in portfolio areas. The ministerial statement exists because a minister must, by their very definition, come into their portfolio responsibilities and be able to articulate what they want to do in that portfolio area.
If a minister is not comprehensively able to articulate what they want to achieve and describe that to the public of the Northern Territory, they have scant chance of being able to articulate it and describe it to their own CEO or staff. The role of the minister is one that should be cherished and relished. It is a rare and wonderful opportunity to use the resources made available to you and to make a difference in whatever portfolio the Chief Minister would condescend to give you. When I was asked to become the minister for Child Protection, I confess to a certain apprehension initially because I know of the difficulties that surround this ministry and the pain it has caused. I have noticed a number of ministers – and I do not seek to belittle them – have struggled with the enormity of the task this portfolio area represents.
I have matured in a number of ways, I suspect, since becoming a minister of the Crown, and while I think I had a pretty good grasp on how governments should work from opposition, the nuances and day-to-day business of being a minister of the Crown have educated me in the role of what a minister should be. It has given me the capacity to have courage in my own sense of right and wrong and how that translates into government policy, because, ultimately, while there are substantial limitations on my power – and so there should be – the ministry I am given is still, in some respects, a reflection of my beliefs and passions.
Having made those opening observations, the ministry of child protection is a ministry I decided not to be squeamish about. It was, I think, some 12 hours after I was given the ministry that I was sitting in front of an ABC radio microphone being asked questions such as, ‘What do you believe in, in terms of child protection?’ While I had been given no preparation whatsoever, and I do not think I had even had the first departmental briefings come across my desk at that stage, I found myself suddenly resolved to articulate clearly what I believed in. It was during that radio interview that Maslow’s hierarchy of needs jumped into my head. It struck me as completely self-evident that if the first tier of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs was not being satisfied, all other rights on the planet, including the rights to privacy, cultural rights, etcetera, were essentially rendered meaningless. I articulated that during that interview, and as the interview went on, I became more certain of my position.
If my memory serves, I was asked questions about adoption during that interview and was able, once again, to suddenly resolve in my own mind the structure and hierarchy that should surround an issue such as adoption. Adoptions were deliberately mentioned in this statement, not because they were easy to talk about, but for exactly the opposite reason. They are hard to talk about because by the time we are talking about an adoption as a form of intervention, we have essentially abandoned all hope for any form of reconciliation for that child. That is something we should lament in this House, because once a child is adopted and those ties are severed with their family, they are set on a new course.
Shortly upon becoming the minister for this department, a matter ended up on my desk, which was a decision to enable a child to move to another jurisdiction to be with a foster care family. I will not go into too much detail because there is always a risk of identifying people, so I will be very careful not to, but this child was with a family which had good cause to move to another jurisdiction because they were assisting another child. I had the choice of directing that child be returned to her natural family, which was from Central Australia, where the mother was unreliable to say the least, the father was a complete non-entity and the best they could hope for was to drop this child, who had been in the protection of this foster family, into a camp with some relatives, in the hope they might find mum at some point. It was not a hard decision to make, but as I signed the piece of paper, my pen paused over the top of the signature block because I realised with the stroke of a pen, I would be changing this child’s life forever.
It is for that reason the line is in the ministerial statement. I do take this on as a great burden, because to change a person’s life with the stroke of a pen seems like such an arbitrary thing to do but, nevertheless, somebody must make these decisions. As I said in the closing points of my statement, these decisions should be made without fear. I hope if I have anything to offer the people of the Northern Territory and the true welfare of those kids in my or my CEO’s care –hopefully soon to be my care – it would be somebody who genuinely believes they are doing something with their best interests at heart, and will do so without fear.
I will suffer any abuse. I will gladly and wilfully suffer any amount of public condemnation if I continue to have the best outcomes of the child close to my heart and at the forefront of my consciousness.
I note the member for Nhulunbuy asked about the strategic plan. I am happy to make that strategic plan available to the shadow minister for her perusal. Generally they find their way into annual reports anyhow, so if it is not already a public document, it soon will be. In any instance, I trust the member for Nhulunbuy to peruse that strategic plan and I will offer it to her.
I also note there were comments from the member for Johnston about the increasing number of notifications. That is true, but I also point honourable members’ attention to page 42 of the annual report from the Children’s Commissioner for the Northern Territory. Notifications have been pretty static over the whole period 2008-09 to the end of the period 2012-13, but for reports coming in from the Northern Territory police.
I suggest to honourable members that a large slice of these substantial increases are a result of increased police activity in these areas. Police are not above the law. While they supervise the law, they must still comply with it, and when the law says you must report child abuse if and when you see it, the police are quite right to report it. You will see - and I urge honourable members to look at page 42 of the report - that activity of the police in this area has substantially increased, particularly in the last two reported years.
As a consequence, you can take some almost bizarre comfort, because on page 51 of the report, the number of notifications has been climbing over the last couple of years and, as I said in the statement, we have continued to see increases in the last financial year. Oddly enough, the number of substantiations has gone down slightly, and what happens is because people are complying with the law, you will see a sharp increase as people become aware of their duty to report, which will proportionally lower the number of substantiations.
While reports go up, and investigations ensue as a result of those reports, the first place to determine whether or not a child is in need of care is done at central intake, where they pick up the phone. They have some very experienced people sitting on the phones there, who are able to do a determination up-front. Many of the telephone calls central intake receives do not amount to child neglect or abuse, Gott sei Dank!
Those which do lead to investigations - from those investigations, approximately one-third will lead to substantiations, which still leaves us with well over 1000 children who need care, and as I said in the statement, many of those children end up in permanent care through out-of-home care services. I hope this goes some way to addressing the member for Johnston’s issue with the amount of reports we are getting, as compared to the amount of substantiations. Again, I direct honourable members to the annual report of the Children’s Commissioner, because it is done at arm’s length from government and there are some very interesting facts in it. I also note on page 52 of the report that the number of sexual abuse cases has fallen to 1%, which is well below the national average.
This concurs with the assertion I made in the House the last time we met that we are dealing with a particularly insipid enemy as a government, which the former government also had to struggle with. The enemy here is not necessarily active abuse, but rather the corrosive natural predisposition towards entropy. Entropy, to remind honourable members, is a word from the physical sciences, which suggests something in a state of organisation, without any active participation, will tend to decay to a state of disorganisation. I said the forces of entropy were manifest, with a welfare system which does a lot more to harm people than it necessarily should. The passive welfare system is fuel for the entropic principle in people, which is one of the reasons I suspect you will find active abuse and sexual abuse are lower, but neglect is extremely high indeed.
It is because, sadly, child abuse in this jurisdiction is not something that is actively done; it is something that is passively not done. That is probably the better way to describe it. We, as a government, are confronted with a large slice of our population which shows, essentially, indifference to the plight of their children. One can only suggest that indifference is the product of people’s minds being in other places, such as the card game, getting into town and getting on the drink and not taking any responsibility for anything whatsoever. If anything drives child neglect it is a lack of responsibility on the part of parents. We, as a government, will attempt to become parents in the place of those parents, but my God, at that point, it really is the case of the lesser of two evils. Government will try, government will continue to try, but ultimately, all we can do is be the ambulance at the bottom of the hill when it comes to the child protection response.
Honourable members may be oblivious to the comments I made last time in this House, but it is about the appropriate use of resources. The child protection system should be there to respond to child protection needs in the community. It is, by definition, the ambulance at the bottom of the hill. I do not anticipate that the ambulance tries to drive to the top of the hill and provide first aid before somebody falls off the hill. It is not an appropriate use of the resource, and it is why this government will shortly examine other things which will build the fence at the top of the hill. These include a juvenile justice policy, which must be rolled out over the next four or five months, as well as a domestic violence policy, which I believe, should it be approved by Cabinet in its final form, will be the benchmark and model as to what a domestic violence policy must and should be in this country. I believe it would be particularly effective in remote communities across the Northern Territory.
This can be coupled with a system of Alcohol Protection Orders, mandatory alcohol rehabilitation and preventative policing, which we are seeing large swathes of, particularly in Alice Springs - this has had an effect on the amount of grog being consumed - and a Corrections system that can try and turn out people who are employed and employable. All of a sudden, you have something to build around the family because there are a number of ways that each of those organisations and policies can help reach into the family.
To use child protection officers for familial reconstruction would probably be a misappropriation of resources into a particular area, but I do hear members talk about the necessity to attend to the family, and I agree. Child protection officers are not the starting point, so this is a very specific role the government needs to do. This is the difference from what the former government attempted to do, and I am not seeking to be overtly critical of the former government. I have been very careful - and I note other members have picked up on this - not to make this a slanging match, but if we describe the resources applied, the former government doubtlessly applied a lot of resources, and I acknowledge that in my statement.
It was not an attempt to bash up the former government, as the member for Nhulunbuy suggested. Perhaps I could have worded it better, but it was an attempt to describe the difference between a garden hose and a sprinkler. A sprinkler will invariably use more water. A garden hose, with a nozzle, can direct water in a very specific direction. What I have been trying to do since becoming the minister for Child Protection is essentially find ways we can far more actively focus our attention, and point the hose in the right direction.
We do pick up on comments by members opposite, and two members mentioned it; it was to do with making sure care plans are up to date. Yes, we are endeavouring to make sure all care plans are up to date. It is all part of making sure we are focused on our primary function, which is protecting children.
I also note comments from the shadow minister, the member for Nhulunbuy, in relation to child and family centres. Child and family centres are a product of the Education department. I am sure you could fire a question at the Minister for Education or seek a briefing, and he will be more than happy to help you with those centres in places like Gunbalanya and Maningrida, which we discussed.
Finally I do want to touch on something that was briefly referred to today and that was the Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder debate. I was quite deliberate in wanting to bring this matter into the public domain for discussion because the Fulton matter out of Western Australia has certainly generated some interest locally and on a national scale. Without entering into that matter - because it is not central to this particular debate - it does raise the issue of FASD. I just want to touch on one issue before I sit down …
Mr GILES: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Pursuant to Standing Order 77, I ask that the member be granted an extension of time.
Motion agreed to.
Mr ELFERINK: Thank you, honourable members. I shall not be on my feet for those ten minutes. I just want to touch on this very quickly because I suspected the debate was going to go in this direction, and I want to clarify in people’s minds what I am talking about. The question was raised with me on radio the other day - and it was crafted in the form of the abortion debate - that a woman’s body is her temple and she has every right to determine what happens with that body.
I will not enter into the debate as to whether an abortion is necessarily part of this conversation at all. A woman will exercise a choice and has the right to exercise a choice under the laws of the Northern Territory, if she can demonstrate a requirement for medical intervention, and that is not what I am talking about. If, however, a woman chooses to keep a child, the community expects that woman to look after that child to a particular standard. The question I have put out there is not meant to focus on what happens before a woman makes that decision, but after a woman makes that decision. I thank everybody who has entered into this debate so far for being so sensitive in relation to it, because it has been dealt with very sensitively in the public domain. I acknowledge the member for Wanguri for also exercising sensitivity in this space.
Once a woman has determined, either by her own decision or conduct to take a pregnancy through to full term, the question I have as the Child Protection minister is: do I have some jurisdiction, for a lack of a better way to express it, over the unborn? It is a sad truth that from time to time in our community, pregnant women will continue to conduct themselves in a fashion that could seriously threaten the wellbeing of an unborn child. That presents the community with a substantial challenge. One of the ways that challenge may be introduced is some form of restraint on a woman if she chose to conduct herself in such a reckless fashion that she could rob a child brought into the world of the opportunities that child needs to get ahead. That is as complicated as the question is, but it is one that attracts serious debate. It is one that engenders deep consideration and I thank honourable members for being as cautious as they have around this particular issue. Should this debate go on, then I would ask honourable members to continue their sobriety and temperance in relation to the language that surrounds this important issue.
Beyond that, I could speak for another hour at least in relation to issues that pertain to my portfolios areas. I have already run over time, and I am conscious of that, but I thank all honourable members, including members of the Labor Party, for understanding what this ministerial statement attempted to outline and also understanding the spirit in which it was crafted. I am grateful to the House for dealing with this sensitive issue in a very sensitive way.
Motion agreed to; statement noted.
MOTION
Note Statement – Gas to Gove Update
Note Statement – Gas to Gove Update
Continued from 21 August 2013.
Ms LAWRIE (Opposition Leader): Madam Speaker, I thank the government for finally bringing this statement back. It is obvious why it came back today: because the government has announced a funding position for support, complementing the funding decision announced by Rio Tinto today.
We are deeply disappointed with the government’s announcement of an additional $2m to support the community of Nhulunbuy and the northeast Arnhem Land region. We have waited four months for an announcement from the government, and on a day when Rio Tinto announced a $50m package, to hear just $2m from the Chief Minister and the Territory government continues a long line of very deep disappointment in how we have seen the Nhulunbuy situation mishandled by this Chief Minister.
Four months is a long time for a community to wait for an indication from the government in their own jurisdiction as to what level of support they could expect. Chief Minister, I hope you go to Nhulunbuy and engage with people there, not just the task force members, but the GCAC, the Gove Community Advisory Council, which has some 20-odd people who represent a great number of different walks of life in Nhulunbuy. That would be a very wise thing to do as soon as you can – even in the middle of sittings – to talk through these announcements, hear directly from them and see whether or not you need to further consider the government’s position in supporting not just the Nhulunbuy community, but, as we keep stressing, the northeast Arnhem Land region. Nhulunbuy is such a crucial service supply hub for northeast Arnhem Land.
When we saw Rio Tinto in February announce its transitional support for businesses with a reduction in rates payable to the Nhulunbuy Corporation, a reduction in power tariffs and a reduction in commercial rent for businesses, we welcomed that announcement. Rio Tinto, in February, also announced a mortgage subsidy and rates relief for Nhulunbuy property investors experiencing financial hardship. At the time we pointed out there was no like package for businesses in commercial rental relationships with other business owners. That still remains a concern and an issue the government really needs to pay attention to in facilitating some business outcomes for businesses hanging on for grim life in a rapidly contracting community.
We see the loss of some 1050-odd jobs, and we see the consequential devastating impact that will have on the township, the region, and the Northern Territory economy, because we saw some $500m injected into the Territory economy as a result of refinery operations in Gove. That is no small thing, and we still do not have a social and economic impact analysis forthcoming from the Commonwealth government or the Northern Territory government, or a combined body of work from the two tiers of government.
How the GCAC, the task force and others are meant to make informed and considered decisions on the best way to maximise the $50m package announced by Rio Tinto – or indeed the small $2m from the government – without that information is very difficult. We know the government appointed a couple of people to give some advice, and today we had an announcement of $2m from the Chief Minister as a contribution to a regional economic development fund which, he says:
- … is aimed at driving new private sector investment and facilitating access to key infrastructure in Nhulunbuy.
We do not have the results of that work, Chief Minister, and it is crucially important that members of the Nhulunbuy community and the very strong and capable Yolngu of northeast Arnhem Land are privy to this detailed information. Taxpayers’ funds have been expended on consultancies for these advisors. We were told it would be a work of some weeks’ duration and here we are, four months down the track, and the detail is not forthcoming.
It would have been reasonable to expect today’s announcement to include a hand down of the report, showing the very limited social and economic - only economic in the report by these advisors – analysis to complement the announcement, but that has not occurred. The people of Nhulunbuy and the region, to a large extent, are still being kept in the dark as to what feasibly and realistically could be prioritised in economic and job stimulus in Nhulunbuy and the region. It is a bit of a task, because Rio has announced a $50m support package - I note, over five years - and the CLP government, with its colleagues, the Commonwealth government, has ensured it has been provided into, literally, a void of information required through social and economic impact analysis.
The $2m towards the economic development of the Territory’s fourth biggest town, and a vibrant region, is pretty embarrassing after some four months of the Chief Minister failing to deliver at all. What remains to be known is the basis of that $2m contribution. Where is the detail for the community to make an informed decision on the economic stimulus which could flow? Let us look at how this contribution, announced today by the Chief Minister, compares to structural adjustment packages in other communities.
Here is a snapshot of a few: in 2011, the New South Wales government contributed $5m following the loss of 800 jobs at BlueScope Steel; in 2011, the South Australian government contributed $7m following the loss of 200 jobs at Kimberly-Clark; in 2009, the Tasmanian government contributed $7.5m following the loss of 474 jobs at PaperlinX. The good folk of Nhulunbuy and the region of northeast Arnhem Land get $2m for in excess of 1050 jobs.
These are three recent examples where engaged governments recognised their responsibilities and contributed real funds towards structural adjustment in their communities. We must look at how we overcome the loss of such a significant job shed in Nhulunbuy, where we look for what I describe as the low-hanging fruit regarding opportunities for jobs, replacement jobs and job stimulus. There is still silence from the Abbott-led federal government following the company and the Chief Minister’s announcements today. One of the things there is still silence on, Chief Minister - and the clock is ticking - is the future of public servants and their jobs in Nhulunbuy. They are a crucial workforce in the town; they are crucial to not only supporting the residents of the town, but, more broadly, the residents of the northeast Arnhem Land community.
While the curtailment time frame has been brutal with refinery workers, we have significant concerns with the time frames the government has put in place for its public servants. The Commissioner for Public Employment committed that there will be no changes to employment of school staff until the end of semester one. Chief Minister, that is weeks away. This is except for Year 12, where no change will occur until the end of 2014. In stark contrast, Nhulunbuy Christian College was straight up there in guaranteeing staff a full year at the school for 2014. The Territory government must do the same for the entire teaching staff of Nhulunbuy High School, as Nhulunbuy Christian College managed to do. Chief Minister, I know you go on data, and we are concerned about your use of data and the veracity of the data you use. In a previous Question Time in December, you said the school age population of the town is expected to drop from 947 to 275.
We know education officials on the ground in Nhulunbuy did not line up with that data and that announcement. Chief Minister, have you kept track of the rate of separations, if you like, of students leaving Nhulunbuy? Have you revised that data? Have you revised the views of the government, in terms of the provision of teachers at Nhulunbuy High School?
Earlier in the year, the Commissioner for Public Employment committed that there would be no changes to the employment of permanent Northern Territory public sector staff in Nhulunbuy until 31 March this year. That is less than two weeks away, Chief Minister. You announced the $2m funding package for Nhulunbuy today, and failed to talk about the jobs of public servants employed under your government in Nhulunbuy that expire on 31 March, less than two weeks away.
What on earth is going on in government that the Chief Minister, in announcing a funding package today, did not provide certainty of employment for public servants in that town? Do we have to read the tea leaves or could you guarantee it during your contribution in closing this ministerial statement?
During your contribution in Question Time today, what we saw you do is essentially announce the rolled up, recurrent funding that government already provides into Nhulunbuy and the region. You did admit the only new additional dollars were $2m, but you then went on to talk about the recurrent contribution government makes.
In reading the tea leaves without a comprehensive response from you, Chief Minister, are we to understand there will be no loss, permanent or contractual, of a public servant in Nhulunbuy through all of 2014? Do we guess that it is through to 2015? Could you please explain to the House, in your summation today - and indeed ensure that information gets out to the Nhulunbuy community - just what you mean by announcing the recurrent contribution the government makes to Nhulunbuy?
Do all of those public servants have a job through all of 2014 or 2015? What exactly is the position of the government? Nothing has been said since the announcements by the Commissioner for Public Employment. As I said, for public servants who are not teachers, the clock expires on 31 March in terms of certainty of employment in Nhulunbuy.
You have a responsibility to explain future plans, as you see them, for the town and the region, and not just let Rio Tinto take the lead. There are families and people who operate businesses in Nhulunbuy who must make very tough decisions, but they are doing so at the moment in void, without the information a government would normally provide. It is certainly time; it is overdue, but it is definitely time for the government to be clear about its plans for the town and to be very up-front and honest with the people of the northeast Arnhem Land region.
Given today’s announcement occurred without information about economic plans from the advisors you have funded as consultants, given the announcement was far short of what anyone would expect a structural adjustment package from a Northern Territory government to be and given the announcement today does not include one cent from the federal government in terms of economic stimulus, any project stimulus, nothing, we are very concerned that you, Chief Minister, have failed to deliver, yet again, for the people of Nhulunbuy and the northeast Arnhem Land region.
There is a bit of form with the Chief Minister in this regard. We have a pretty sad history, with his mishandling of the gas to Gove situation, which ultimately led to the announcement of the refinery curtailment. We know that in February 2013 former Chief Minister Terry Mills told the good news:
- The Northern Territory government has agreed to release enough gas to keep the Gove alumina refinery open for the next 10 years
I refer you to his media release of 11 February 2013. Two days later, then Chief Minister Terry Mills welcomed the announcement by Rio to keep the alumina refinery open, with a media release headlined, ‘Done Deal to Secure the Future of Gove’.
I refer you to that release of 13 February 2013. The government provided confidence to the community with those announcements that a deal had been done, and as stated in the then Chief Minister’s media release.
- Commitment by Rio Tinto to continue operating the refinery follows this week’s decision by the Northern Territory Government to supply enough gas to keep the operation open for ten years.
The company’s chief executive responded by saying:
- We recognise that the Chief Minister needed to follow a rigorous process to consider the short and long-term issues for the Territory. We appreciate that an outcome balancing the needs of all stakeholders has been reached. It has been a complex issue to resolve but everyone involved has worked tirelessly to find a solution.
He went on to say:
- Gas to Gove is not only important for the refinery and the community of Nhulunbuy, it is important to the entire Northern Territory. The project will double the size of the domestic gas market, drive further investment in gas exploration, increase long term gas supply, attract new industries and create jobs for Territorians.
I refer you to the Rio Tinto media release dated 13 February 2013. People in Nhulunbuy believed them. People in the northeast Arnhem Land region believed them, and we believed them. But that was torn apart by this current Chief Minister when he decided to renege on the gas to Gove deal. You reneged on your decision; this rests squarely with your reneging on the deal. Over a thousand people will lose their jobs and a community has been torn apart with no real plans for the future. It is on your shoulders, Chief Minister.
This has been a sorry debate. This has been a debate of ministers missing in action. This has been a debate of people having to be called and called before they would go and visit Nhulunbuy. Chief Minister, when you decided to renege on the deal, you went on to say:
- This is a responsible decision that will increase the incentive for the commercial market to open new gas fields and meet Pacific Aluminium’s energy needs. Heavy fuel oil would supplement supply until that happens, giving the market time to respond.
How wrong you called it then - utter rubbish. It led to the curtailment of the refinery. It has led to the loss of over 1000 jobs in the Northern Territory. We do not know the full extent of the economic impact; we can only go on some early preliminary estimates from Treasury, which is talking about a 2% contraction in our gross state product. The real figures, hopefully, will come forth at estimates time. For the loss of somewhere towards $500m investment into the economy, you found $2m for a regional economic plan with no data, no detail and no information behind it. How much are you paying the consultants to give you a plan that has not yet materialised? What has been their fee, Chief Minister? This is information that ultimately gets onto the public record. I know you will do your best to obfuscate and pretend but it will ultimately come out on the public record, through one means or another. How does your $2m stack up against what you are spending on consultants for a plan that nobody in the public domain has seen?
Reneging on the gas deal not only irrevocably damaged the community of Nhulunbuy, it sent a global message that the CLP government, under Chief Minister Adam Giles, cannot be trusted, that your word is not good, and a deal is not a deal. That has sent shock waves through the major players in the oil and gas industry. In a single day, you put the future and the future of many things in jeopardy.
People in Nhulunbuy have faced four months of absolute uncertainty, deep sadness as they say farewell to friends and work colleagues and a tragic death at the Rio site. It has been a shock, but there have been glimmers of hope that maybe the Northern Territory government would listen to the GCAC, to task force members and step up to respond responsibly with a reasonable structural adjustment package based on detail and fact. Chief Minister, that has not happened today, has it? You have rushed into sittings with the need to announce something, and you have $2m. That is what you put on the table, without any plans around it. You have Rio Tinto’s $50m over five years, without any details around it. You then issue a media release with a wish list of requests to the federal government, without a single cent. In that media release, you could not even quantify the amount of roads funding you would seek.
Chief Minister, you will stand condemned for tearing apart a magnificent community, failing to deliver a structural adjustment package of any great reason from your government, and nothing from the federal government. It is ignoring you.
Mr GILES (Chief Minister): Madam Speaker, I will finish the statement I tried to make on 11 February, updating the House on the significant efforts of the government to secure the future of Nhulunbuy and the East Arnhem Land region. My government understands the enormous economic and social impact Rio Tinto’s decision will have on the residents of the Nhulunbuy region. I have good news about my government’s negotiations with Rio Tinto and our ongoing conversations with the Australian government for an economic development support package for Nhulunbuy.
Today, I have agreed to work with Rio Tinto and the Australian government in establishing a new private sector entity that will manage surplus Rio Tinto housing and access to a range of key company-owned commercial and industrial assets, including their general cargo wharf, warehouses and workshops. These assets will be made available for new economic activities, and will help grow a robust and diverse economy for Nhulunbuy and the broader East Arnhem Land region.
My government and Rio Tinto have agreed to investigate options for establishing a new special purpose economic development entity to deliver on this. The entity’s five key functions will be: to provide leadership that drives and coordinates new and existing economic activity in the region; to actively market and promote Nhulunbuy and the East Arnhem Land region to prospective investors and residents; to attract and secure new investment for Nhulunbuy and the wider region; to facilitate the establishment of new industries and businesses; and the expansion of existing business through the use of the available assets, funding and advice on regulatory matters.
To support Indigenous economic development, the strategy of using a business entity to pursue economic development goals is a well-established approach. The entity will address the longer term economic development needs of East Arnhem Land, equipped with a regional development fund which could be used to support private sector investment, facilitate the use of economically valuable assets and seed and foster new economic activity. I am pleased to demonstrate the government’s support of the East Arnhem Land region by committing $2m to the establishment of the economic development entity and regional economic development fund.
Following negotiations with my government, Rio Tinto has today set out an arrangement to provide an additional $50m over the next five years. This includes Rio Tinto’s $2m contribution to creating an economic development entity and regional economic development fund; launching a community investment fund to support Nhulunbuy’s community organisations; the provision of additional funding, training and business mentors to help build the capacity of Indigenous businesses and support new economic activities, potentially including mining operations by traditional owners; and offering professional advisors and financial assistance for Nhulunbuy residents, businesses and residential property investors.
Rio Tinto estimates its ongoing bauxite operation will contribute more than $500m to the region over the next five years through expenditure on wages and spending with local suppliers. Since Rio Tinto announced its decision to curtail its refinery operations, Northern Territory government departments have been working within their existing programs and budgets to ensure individuals, businesses and other organisations are supported in the short term.
Northern Territory government support includes restructuring and re-prioritising capital projects and repairs and maintenance programs to ensure local service providers and contractors are able to secure contracts combined with Rio Tinto’s equivalent strategy for prioritising local procurement.
This approach is assisting many Nhulunbuy and East Arnhem Land businesses to manage their transition to Rio Tinto’s reduced activity levels. The Northern Territory government is already a significant contributor to economic activity in the region. Our commitment to the region includes expenditure of more than $1bn on essential services including health, education and police over the next five years.
For 2013-14, this equates to a spend of $330m in the region, including $272m on services, grants and infrastructure plus $58m this financial year on public sector wages. I will now outline some of this expenditure in detail.
The Department of Business has been on the ground in Gove since early December, giving advice and assistance to local businesses. The Department of Business’ senior client manager has met with 111 local businesses. Twenty-eight applications have been received from businesses for consultancy grants and $254 561 in grants has been committed to date, under the Business Growth consultancy program. A further 33 businesses are known to be in the process of developing their applications now. A number of workshops have been provided to local businesses in the transition.
The Northern Territory government has also made its Territory Worker Database available to those people affected by Rio Tinto’s decision to suspend production at the refinery. This database can be used by employees located in Gove, the East Arnhem Land region and elsewhere in the Northern Territory to find suitable staff. The Deputy Chief Executive of the Department of Chief Minister wrote to the Deputy Secretary of the Department of Industry to request his assistance in the NT gaining access to the Enterprise Connect program. The Department of Industry responded by sending an Enterprise Connect representative to Nhulunbuy to scope opportunities for the program to assist small and medium size businesses to connect to new ideas, technologies and markets.
The Northern Territory government is working with local communities, sporting, leisure and arts clubs to plan for their transition into a post refinery future. The Department of Business is rotating specialist personnel through Nhulunbuy to provide specialist advice and support to childcare and tourism operators, and with the Indigenous Business Development and workforce development programs. The Chief Executive of Tourism NT, along with a number of his senior staff and representatives of the Department of Business, visited the East Arnhem Land region and have developed a campaign known as ‘Do Amazing - Do East Arnhem Land’ to encourage tourism in the Nhulunbuy and the broader East Arnhem Land region.
Stage one of the ‘Do Amazing - Do East Arnhem Land’ campaign was launched to the Darwin market on 12 February, supported by a $199 Airnorth airfare. In the same week, the campaign was launched at the broader Australian market through a social media campaign promoting cultural and tourism activities in the region. At the Australian travellers and writers’ conference in Sydney on Tuesday 11 February, attendees including more than one hundred journalists were provided with a fact sheet on East Arnhem Land to encourage them to write about and visit the region. A new website has been launched to attract new markets to the region, supported by print materials which will be distributed via tourism information centres across the Territory. The Department of Business has provided familiarisation training on the East Arnhem Land region to tourism support organisations, such as the Katherine Visitor Information Centre in support of the ‘Do Amazing - Do East Arnhem Land’ campaign.
Tourism NT and the Department of Business have developed and funded a tourism activity plan for the East Arnhem Land region with a focus on the Gove area, and are working closely with the local tourism association to increase the level of marketing. The Department of Business has undertaken a number of local projects with a total value of $29 000 to better equip tourism operators, Tourism NT and Tourism Top End to promote the region.
With regard to procurement, the NT government is working with businesses to encourage greater local participation in government tenders and contracts, and is facilitating the fast-tracking of program works in the region through the use of local industry. Examples of these contracts include panel contracts for housing and the recent contract for the bus service. All departmental chief executives have been directed to review their agency’s services, with a view to identifying packaging initiatives to maximise opportunities and employment for local business and non-government organisations.
The Northern Territory Department of Education is working closely with the principals of Nhulunbuy High School and primary school, as well as both school councils to ensure a high level of education service is maintained in the town. Recognising the concern arising from Rio Tinto’s announcement, additional resources have been provided to fund counselling services to young people in schools. High school students - Northern Territory Education department chief executive, Ken Davies, confirmed full Year 12 subject offerings will remain in place for the entire 2014 school year. There will be no change to education services or permanent positions in semester one this year. Mr Davies has also reiterated any adjustments made during the second semester of 2014 will be made in full consultation with school councils. Primary school enrolments increased to 575 at the start of the 2014 academic year. The Department of Education is closely monitoring education service delivery to ensure schools continue to meet the needs of students in their community. The Northern Territory government is working with local childcare providers to ensure quality and continuity of services to the township. The Department of Education has a number of building improvement programs under way across the East Arnhem Land region, including work at the Nhulunbuy Community Child Care Centre, Nhulunbuy Primary School, Shepherdson College, Nhulunbuy High School and Yirrkala School.
The total value of local contracts available for just that work alone is $1.76m. As previously announced, the Department of Education is working to deliver a trade training centre at Gapuwiyak, and a second tier in either Yirrkala or Nhulunbuy using funding of $3.9m. In regard to housing, the Department of Community Services will upgrade government employee housing in Nhulunbuy through a program of minor works. This is providing local contractors with immediate work to the value of $500 000.
The Department of Housing is currently contracting for the provision of tenancy management services in specified remote communities for a period of 55 months. The total value of this contract is $11.3m. Contracts for the replacement of six dwellings in Yirrkala have also been issued and work is currently under way, with the current total value of that contract being $2.4m.
The Department of Housing will deliver the East Arnhem Land component of the Living in a House program as a matter of priority, and will bring forward East Arnhem Land projects funded by the national partnership agreement on remote Indigenous housing. The value of those projects is yet to be established, and we are working with the Australian government on that.
The Department of Community Services is providing $1.7m to local contractors to manage the removal of asbestos in a number of East Arnhem Land locations. The Department of Community Services is coordinating the removal of asbestos from a building in Nhulunbuy as the first stage of establishing a new home economics centre. A local service provider has been awarded the contract, with a total value of $2.5m for the project.
The Department of Community Services’ homelands Municipal Essential Services and Housing Maintenance grants programs, new initiatives by the government valued at $3.3m, are sustaining the workload of a number of local service providers. By June 30 2014, a total of $543 000 in capital infrastructure grants to homelands will be accessed by East Arnhem Land service providers. A total of $283 000 in grants for Groote Eylandt homelands will be dispersed by 30 June 2014.
In regard to infrastructure, the Department of Infrastructure is administering six contracts worth a total of $0.9m for minor and new works to be delivered during 2014. These projects are expected to provide employment for up to 29 workers. An ongoing project to upgrade fire protection at the Gove District Hospital has resulted in the awarding of a contract for $1.4m. Approximately $283 000 will be spent on repairs and maintenance of Northern Territory government facilities in Nhulunbuy.
The Department of Arts and Museums has been provided grant funding worth a total of $55 000 in the current financial year to support cultural events and art practitioners operating in the East Arnhem Land region. In addition to the funding outlined above, important projects planned for the region, such as improving the Central Arnhem Road and maintaining government assets will also proceed as previously announced.
Improvements to the Central Arnhem Road include the upgrading of the Mainoru River, the Donydji River and the Goyder River, along with its associated road realignment. There is funding of $54m, and the work is expected to be completed by June 2015. Construction of a bridge over Rocky Bottom Creek on the Central Arnhem Road – I think this in the member for Arnhem’s electorate – has also recently been announced as part of the regional roads productivity package. The Northern Territory government allocated $1.5m in its 2013-14 capital works program for seven truck passing lanes on the Central Arnhem Road. This design work has been finalised and we now await the completion of gravel clearances before proceeding to construction.
The Department of Transport has also undertaken a number of small or local projects, such as bus stop installations. A further $11m has been provided towards upgrading the Arnhem link road between Cahills Crossing and the turnoff to Gunbalanya. The time frame for completing this work is still being finalised. The Northern Territory government has also worked with the federal government to secure additional funding for the region and that work will continue to be supported. That includes work on roads such as the Gapuwiyak access road and the Ramingining access road.
As previously outlined, I have appointed Mike Chiodo as the Territory’s on the ground coordinator in Gove. He is playing a key role in assessing the effect of Rio Tinto’s decision on local businesses and the community of Gove and the East Arnhem Land region, and is coordinating NT government services to ensure they are delivered to best meet the community’s needs.
The coordinator is supported by the chief executive officers of key government departments and by a regional coordination team of senior public servants in Gove, with further support from an interagency working group providing data activity identification and content expertise from Darwin.
The Gove Task Force and community advisory committee: my government established the Gove Task Force to develop recommendations to support the diversification of its economy, to monitor the progress of the current transition and to help generate long-term structural adjustment initiatives. The task force has met four times since it was established. To ensure that community views are being heard, my government also established a community reference group, the Gove Community Advisory Committee. The committee provides a key mechanism for ongoing community engagement and is instrumental in ensuring the Territory and Australian governments, and Rio Tinto, receive timely information about emerging community issues. It is also a conduit for providing information back to the community. The committee’s membership covers a range of different stakeholders, including local traditional owners. Three members of the community reference group are community representatives on the Gove Task Force. The original Yolngu representative on the Gove Task Force has resigned and has since been replaced by the President of East Arnhem Shire, Banambi Wunungmurra.
In addition to the work we have been doing with Rio Tinto, we have also been working closely with the Australian government. I proposed to the Prime Minister that his government support the transition support package by making a real financial contribution. I have requested $102m in funding for local roads construction to improve all-weather access. Improved access is a key enabler for economic growth in the East Arnhem Land region. In recognising the importance of education, I have requested $14m in capital funding and a recurrent funding amount of $4.6m for a regional boarding facility in Nhulunbuy for Yolngu children of the East Arnhem Land region.
The economic development entity and regional economic development fund I previously outlined will require an Australian government contribution. I have asked the Prime Minister to commit $10m towards this work. To help kick-start the East Arnhem Land economy, I am seeking an additional $8m contribution towards pre-competitive, pre-commerical mineral and gas geoscience research within the region. It is anticipated this investment will drive growth in future minerals and energy projects.
I have previously said my government is committed to building a viable economic future for the region that can provide jobs and business opportunities for all East Arnhem Land residents, particularly traditional owners. The statement today outlines that very commitment in detail. Nhulunbuy will continue to be the government service centre for the region. The Country Liberals government will ensure sufficient public services, including health, education and policing, to meet the needs of the community, and the public servants to deliver those services.
I am adamant we will not stand still on this issue. I have outlined a range of actions we are already putting in place and that are or soon will be under way, actions that support both Nhulunbuy and the East Arnhem Land region. I have also indicated there is further work to be done, and we will continue to negotiate with Rio Tinto and the Australian government towards building a better future for Nhulunbuy and the East Arnhem Land region.
Mr Deputy Speaker, I commend the statement to the House.
Motion agreed to; statement noted.
ADJOURNMENT
Mr ELFERINK (Leader of Government Business): Mr Deputy Speaker, I move that the Assembly do now adjourn.
Mr VOWLES (Johnston): Mr Deputy Speaker, at times, this Chamber can be a combative, robust and hostile place. The clash of ideas, passion and philosophies is the driving force in our democracy, and to have them tested in the fire of debate in this Chamber can only be a good thing.
However, there are times when we are all called on to be magnanimous and to perhaps show a touch more humility than we may be accustomed to during proceedings in this House. The retirement of a former Chief Minister is one such time. Only the savagely mean-spirited would fail to acknowledge the significant contribution the former member for Blain and former Chief Minister made in this place, and the significant contribution he made on behalf of all Territorians. Only the few remaining, rusted-on supporters of the current Chief Minister would deny he was viciously mistreated by the CLP and those who sit opposite. For that, this CLP government is about to be held to account.
In a matter of weeks, the men and women of Blain will have the opportunity to decide who will represent them in this parliament. It will be their first opportunity to hold this horrid, arrogant, self-absorbed and heartless government to account, their first chance to hold the CLP to account for sending the family budget to the wall by jacking up power prices when it promised to reduce the cost of living and their first chance to hold the CLP to account for slashing services and sacking public servants when it promised not to. It will be their first chance to hold the CLP to account for slashing teacher numbers and education funding when it promised it would not, their first chance to hold the CLP to account for the disgraceful and disrespectful way it has treated and spoken about our hard-working teachers, police and firefighters and their first chance to hold the CLP to account for deliberately ensuring they have no representation in this parliament during these sittings. The people of Blain deserve much better than this disunited, self-absorbed rabble of a government.
The arrogance and hypocrisy of this CLP government knows no bounds. Granted, members opposite do not seem to be on speaking terms with each other unless we are talking about c and f-bombs, so it does not come as much of a surprise they were caught unawares by the retirement of the former member for Blain last sittings. Even so, his retirement gave the Chief Minister more than ample time to ensure the election was held on 15 March. This would have ensured the shortest possible time without a representative for the people of Blain and, in all likelihood, a new member for Blain would be in the Assembly for these sittings.
The Chief Minister was more than happy to sacrifice the interests of the people of Blain on the altar of his own selfish political interests. He was more than happy to ensure that at a time when the people of Blain need someone in this Chamber more than ever to fight higher power prices, disgracefully appalling levels of service and to stand up for their interests, they are without a voice.
If there was any remaining doubt this government does not care about Territorians, and is only focused on itself, the events of the last few weeks have blown it away. The Chief Minister laughably suggested he was too busy to walk a couple of hundred metres from his office to the Administrator to advise of a date for the election, but he can find plenty of time to campaign with his candidate for Blain. He can find plenty of time to spend on the phone, trying to hose down the latest attempts by his colleagues to knife him like he knifed the former member for Blain and he can find plenty of time for $82 000 photo shoots with the Prime Minister.
Does he really think the people of Blain are mugs? This CLP government simply does not care about the plight of ordinary Territorians. It is so focused on itself, its mates and its own internal squabbling that ordinary Territorians do not even get a look in.
It is worth taking a moment to reflect on the hypocrisy of the member for Port Darwin when the former member for Wanguri and former Chief Minister retired from this Assembly. We had a former Chief Minister of the Territory, someone who faithfully represented the electors of Wanguri for over 13 years, and who made an enormous contribution to the Territory over that time, announce his retirement. The fact this seat was empty for a sitting of this parliament produced one of the most spiteful, ungracious and cowardly attacks in this parliament, and it is worth repeating some of the member for Port Darwin’s comments:
- Madam Speaker, friends, Territorians, countrymen, lend me your ears because today I have not come to praise Henderson, but to bury him. As far as I am concerned, the timing of this by-election has been the product of a member who has, throughout his political career, seen opportunity through a political lens rather than through the lens of the people he purports to serve.
He goes on to say:
- However, he did not do the right thing by the people of Wanguri. Did he see his duty as being to the people of the Northern Territory and the people of Wanguri, to serve them, or to serve, exclusively, the interests of the Northern Territory branch of the Australian Labor Party?
…
As a consequence of this member’s decision, it is beyond my memory, and I suspect the memory of many people in this House, that any member has ever vacated their seat at a time of parliamentary sittings knowing full well the people of their electorate would be abandoned and not represented in this House. That is a reprehensible decision from a person who in, his maiden speech said, and I quote:
‘I come to this parliament striving to put something back, to make a contribution and a difference to individuals I will come into contact with as well as organisations as a whole. I am honoured to take my seat in this place to represent the good people of Wanguri. I will strive to the best of my abilities, on principles that guide me to serve them as best I can.’
The member for Port Darwin continued:
- I see the back of an empty chair and wonder how that serves them as best he can. Perhaps the principles which guide him are the ones articulated in The Fixer: The Untold Story of Graham Richardson.
Does the member for Port Darwin now hold the Chief Minister in the same esteem as he does the former member for Wanguri? Did he make the case to the Chief Minister to ensure the families of Blain had a voice in this parliament, or was he 100% on board with the disgraceful decision to put the CLP first and the people of Blain a distant second? Does he agree the words ‘fixer’ and ‘Adam Giles’ should probably not be in the same sentence, and a more appropriate title for the member for Braitling’s memoirs would be ‘Passion Fingers: The Untold Story of Adam Giles?’
The last few weeks have nailed to the mast everything this CLP government stands for. While the CLP was busy robbing the men and women of Blain of their representation in this Chamber, busy bullying each other and disrespecting women, while the Chief Minister was totally consumed by whether he would still have his job from day-to-day, the rest of us were dealing with the chaos caused by the incompetent management of Power and Water. It is now clearer than ever this CLP government simply does not care about the plight of ordinary Territorians, only about itself and its small circle of mates.
The chaos and dysfunction that has been the only defining feature of this government is now leeching into the rest of the Territory, and Territorians are paying the price. But the people of Blain have a choice. In Geoff Bahnert, they can choose a hard-working, decent and caring representative. They can choose a man who has spent most of his life serving the community as a member of our fine and distinguished police force. They can choose someone who will always put Blain first, or they can vote for more of the same old arrogance, self-interest and higher power prices this government stands for.
The choice is clear: only a vote for Geoff Bahnert and Labor will elect a member who always stands up for Blain, always puts its interests first, who cares about higher power prices and thinks we all deserve a reliable service for the ever-increasing price we all pay. Only a vote for Geoff Bahnert and Labor will elect a member who is always on the side of the men, women and families of Blain.
Mr Elferink: That was a great speech, who wrote it?
Mr VOWLES: Obviously not you.
Mrs LAMBLEY (Araluen): Mr Deputy Speaker, I wish to set the record straight and dispel some of the mistruths that have circulated on what is a very emotional issue, and one on which the Northern Territory government takes its obligations very seriously.
I refer to the national media furore surrounding the situation whereby Ms Roseanne Fulton is currently in the care of the Eastern Goldfields Regional Prison in Kalgoorlie, Western Australia. Ms Fulton is currently accommodated and engaged in programs through Western Australian corrections. Due to her severely limited mental capacity, Ms Fulton is subject to an adult guardianship order in the Northern Territory under the Adult Guardianship Act, and I share responsibilities of guardianship with Mr Ian McKinlay.
In exercising my authority, and through the delegation of that authority to officers within the Office of the Public Guardian, I must act in the best interests of individuals who are subject to guardianship orders. As such, I have felt constrained and reluctant to publicly air information pertaining to Ms Fulton’s case. Given the actions of the media and the public call for information and action, I feel compelled to provide additional detail regarding her situation.
My compulsion is also driven by the actions of Mr McKinlay, including his express written approval for information regarding Ms Fulton’s situation to be made public. I quote:
- As Ms Fulton’s joint guardian, I give my consent for her case to be discussed in general terms.
So, without seeking to prejudice, vilify or in any way harm Roseanne Fulton, and with her best interests in mind, I believe it is appropriate, like Mr McKinlay, to discuss her situation and outline how the Northern Territory government, through the Office of the Public Guardian, has been satisfying its obligations to Ms Fulton.
Ms Fulton has been under the authority of a guardianship order since 14 January 2009. The orders appointing the public guardian as sole adult guardian for Ms Fulton remained unchanged until the 29 June 2011. From 2009 to 2011, Mr Ian McKinlay, as an employee of the Northern Territory government, was the delegated adult guardianship officer responsible for Ms Fulton within the Office of the Public Guardian. During that time, he was a strong advocate against the implementation of secure care facilities in the Northern Territory, and opposed both the location and model of care provided in the secure care facility currently operating in Alice Springs, the same facility he now calls on the Northern Territory government to place Ms Fulton in. From 29 June 2011 onwards, the public guardian and Mr McKinlay were appointed as joint guardians for Ms Fulton. Mr McKinlay had left the employment of the Office of the Public Guardian by this time, and now resides outside of the Northern Territory in Tasmania.
Since that time, the Office of the Public Guardian has maintained constant contact with Mr McKinlay about Ms Fulton’s case, and other clients he is a guardian of. Unfortunately, as has been reported already in the media, Ms Fulton has had a troubled past living in Alice Springs. She continually ran away from supported care accommodation arrangements and would end up in the Todd River bed, where I understand she traded sexual favours to access drugs and alcohol.
Ms Fulton fell afoul of the Northern Territory criminal justice system in early 2012. She was on remand at the Alice Springs Correctional Centre for unlawful use of a motor vehicle and failure to participate in a breath test in early 2012. Upon release from the Alice Springs Correctional Centre, Ms Fulton was considered ‘at risk’ in Alice Springs, with no appropriate supported accommodation place available. There was no supported accommodation placement available at that time because she had numerous trespass orders against her, including at: BushMob, the Alice Springs Hospital, most of the Aboriginal hostels in Alice Springs and the Yeperenye Shopping Centre in Alice Springs, due to her continually displaying high risk behaviours when in the community.
At the time, Ms Fulton indicated a desire to visit her father and aunt in Warburton, Western Australia, through local service provider, BushMob. Given Warburton was a dry community, it was envisaged there would be a reduced risk of harm by removing Ms Fulton from Alice Springs, away from drugs, alcohol, sexual predation and abuse. The Northern Territory Office of Disability paid BushMob an individual support package, or an ISP, to relocate Ms Fulton to Warburton and case manage and monitor Ms Fulton with the approval of Ms Fulton’s community guardian, Mr McKinlay.
Far from the respite care Mr McKinlay claims, this was the only alternative for Ms Fulton in a difficult situation. In consultation with the Office of Disability, BushMob facilitated the transfer and continued to maintain contact with Ms Fulton by visiting her in Warburton in the initial period. Given the strong family ties and the fact that Ms Fulton originates from the tri-state area, it was not unusual for her to move between the Northern Territory and Western Australia, and I understand that had occurred several times throughout her life.
Unfortunately, Ms Fulton, while in Warburton, committed a number of crimes, including: obstruction of a public officer; stealing a motor vehicle; reckless driving; being a driver involved in an accident where property was damaged; and failure to stop and report an accident and provide a breath sample.
In January 2013, Ms Fulton was found unfit to stand trial in Western Australia, following a psychiatric assessment. The presiding judge took the view that the matter of stealing a car and driving recklessly meant Ms Fulton presented a danger to the community and remanded her in Kalgoorlie prison under a custodial order. In Western Australia, the Mentally Impaired Accused Review Board reviews a case of clients found unfit to plead and provides recommendations to the Western Australian courts. The Mentally Impaired Accused Review Board and Mr McKinlay have been corresponding with Disability Services NT regarding options for repatriation.
On 8 August 2013, the Mentally Impaired Accused Review Board wrote to Disability Services NT to advise there is no legal provision for the interstate transfer of a mentally impaired accused detainee under the Criminal Law (Mentally Impaired Accused) Act 1996 of Western Australia. So, in other words, it is not possible for a Western Australian court system, which believes there is still a risk to the community or an individual, to direct that individual be transferred into the care of another jurisdiction.
Further, the issue is complicated because Ms Fulton is not subject to any custody order under the Northern Territory’s Disability Services Act, so there is currently no legal basis on which to involuntarily detain her in the Northern Territory. The Northern Territory Office of the Public Guardian has maintained contact with Western Australian service providers, in order to continue to advocate and make best interest decisions with a joint adult guardian, as authorised under the current guardianship order, on behalf of Ms Fulton.
Ms Fulton is receiving support from a range of stakeholders and personnel, including the WA Disability Services Commission; Life Without Barriers; representatives from community corrections; her guardian, Mr Ian McKinlay; Ms Cheryl Harris, acting senior guardian from the Office of the Northern Territory Public Guardian; a Disability Services Commission forensic psychologist; and a speech pathologist. Ms Fulton has been on day release, enjoying shopping, eating out, swimming and partaking in some social activities. I am advised the outings have been going well, with Ms Fulton enjoying them.
The Office of the Public Guardian is cognisant of the work being undertaken in Western Australia to develop options for the supported release of Ms Fulton. The Office of the Public Guardian advocates that at this time all options should be carefully considered on behalf of Ms Fulton. At this time, the Office of the Public Guardian is satisfied that until all options are considered, it is in Ms Fulton’s best interest to remain in Western Australia.
I am running out of time and I have not finished my speech. There is quite a bit more information that I might continue with tomorrow evening. It is important we get this accurately on the public record. In summary, Roseanne Fulton is an Aboriginal woman from Central Australia, Northern Territory. As the Minister for Health and the Minister for Disability Services of the Northern Territory, I am absolutely committed to getting Roseanne Fulton home as soon as it is practicable. I will continue my speech tomorrow night.
Ms MANISON (Wanguri): Mr Deputy Speaker, I will talk about some events I attended earlier this year. My intention was to adjourn about this during our last sittings, but that was the night the former member for Blain announced his retirement. I am doing it now because it is really important to congratulate and acknowledge all the hard work and effort that went into making these events possible.
Firstly, going back to the Australia Day Ball this year: it was a terrific evening held by the Australia Day Council on 25 January. It was great to see so many people there. It was the first Australia Day Ball I had attended and I had a wonderful time. I got to speak to some of the committee members that evening, and it was clear they were extremely passionate about their job and love it when 26 January comes around each year. They told me they would encourage anybody who thinks they would like to have a go at sitting on the Australia Day committee in the future to put their hand up, because they thoroughly enjoy it. It has been a great opportunity for them and it is a job they do with immense pride.
It was wonderful to see them all turn up to the Australia Day fun run the next day, which was a nice early start at the convention centre. As somebody who has loved running for a long time, the new course they have is fantastic. They have set out a new course that allows runners to spread out and there are fewer bottlenecks after you get out of the first 500m. It is really good to see we are utilising the public space with the convention centre there, finishing at the waterfront.
It makes for a wonderful morning for families to stay on and get into Australia Day celebrations. It was great to see so many people, young and old, participating in the run; there were runners and walkers and various fitness abilities. It was great to see them involved. It was great to see Athletics NT handing out flyers to encourage people to get their training started for the City to Surf in June. I am hoping to see a lot more runners at the Mother’s Day Classic in May as well.
I also congratulate the members of the committee of the Darwin Malayalee Association for holding a fantastic flag raising ceremony on Australia Day. It was not just about celebrating Australia Day; it was also about celebrating Indian Republic Day, which falls on January 26 as well. They hold a wonderful ceremony where they raise both the Australian and Indian flags. They sing both national anthems, and the children then present speeches they have prepared about how they see Australia Day, how they see Indian Republic Day and the importance and significance of those days. That tends to be followed by a sausage sizzle. It is a very special celebration because it
really brings the community together to embrace the country they have left behind that is still very close and dear to their hearts, and where they have strong connections, but also their wonderful love of Australia, and to see their children, who are being raised in Australia, get to embrace the important days of Indian history and learn a bit more about them. It is a really wonderful celebration.
Congratulations to the Darwin Malayalee Association’s hard-working committee. They do a terrific job, particularly the president, Mr Baby Abraham, vice president Rajesh Nair, secretary Mr Lal Jose, joint secretary Ms Neethi Ashok and treasurer, Dijo Sebastain. They do a great job and I am looking forward to going to more of their events this year. They are just a great group to see.
OzFusion was also on Australia Day and it was a wonderful event. It was great to hear the member for Sanderson’s speech where he mentioned he thought it was time to move to a bigger venue next year, and I agree with him. The Cypriot community hall is a wonderful place for the event, but it was clearly packed and the popularity is only growing, with people celebrating the wonderful multiculturalism of the Top End. They might need to look at future events and see how to expand it, and make it even bigger and better. Well done to the workers of the Multicultural Council of the NT as well as the Australia Day Council committee. They were still going later on that day. They had a huge night, an early start in the morning, a long day and were still having a great time with OzFusion.
The Melaleuca Refugee Centre was there, and Multicultural Youth NT hosted the event as emcees. It did a great job and it was terrific to see some passionate young leaders with Multicultural Youth NT, looking to inspire other young leaders in the community. I was fortunate enough to meet them a few weeks ago to hear about the work they do. With young leaders like that coming up in the community, the future is very bright. It is great to see they view their role as mentoring other people in the community and inspiring others, so well done to them. Well done also to Darwin Community Arts for its help with OzFusion.
There were also multicultural groups that performed. OzFusion is such a special event because it gives an opportunity for such a vast array of multicultural groups in Darwin to share their culture, dances and traditions with everybody else. It is a wonderful event, and congratulations to all involved.
I would also like to pass on my congratulations to the Vietnamese Community in Australia, NT chapter, for its recent New Year celebrations to mark the Year of the Horse. It is the second time I have attended the group’s celebrations and they are very good fun. Well done to Mr Thien Le and Mr Bac Lam on organising another wonderful event. It is great to see all the young children involved in the event, and the smiles on their faces as they are presented with the little red envelopes with some monetary treats inside. They have a terrific time.
The Opposition Leader and I were also fortunate to not only visit the Vietnamese community that night, but also the NT Timor-Chinese association Chinese New Year dinner dance. It is the second year I have been to that event. It is such a wonderful celebration that really does send you back in time. It is beautiful to see their traditions of dancing. It is very old fashioned for someone like me, who was brought up with high school socials and nightclubs in Darwin, to go to an event like that and see a wonderful band playing and some very traditional dancing, with the whole room getting involved.
It was a beautiful celebration. Thank you to Mr Rui Mu, the president, for keeping us so entertained with his stories, and the hard work he put into the event, and thank you to Ms Adelia Mu-Prasad, who is the secretary, for helping to organise the event and the committee. Another wonderful year, another full house and I look forward to the event next year.
I also place my congratulations on the record to the Sri Lanka Australia Friendship Association for its terrific Independence Day celebrations that took place recently at the golf club at Northlakes. It was a jam packed agenda, full of performances from start to finish. It was go, go, go, and they did a wonderful job. It started off with a presentation by Lithira, and this young man’s speech was absolutely outstanding. He was a wonderful public speaker, and it was clear he put a lot of time and effort into his presentation. He was fantastic to watch, and you could see he is a young man with a big future ahead.
The dancing was wonderful as well; we had children of all ages, young through to the teens, with two special groups organised. The first one was organised by Chandrika, and the second dance group was organised by Saranga. There was wonderful, different dancing and everybody really enjoyed it. There were some individual dancers; we had a dance by Veniska, a dance by Yehani and the fabulous singer Ravi, who kept the crowd entertained between many of the dances, so it was terrific. Well done to the president, Mr Lalith Ramachandra and his partner Sue, and thank you for your hospitality. Well done again to the vice president and emcee, Brenda Kulatunga, and the hard-working committee and volunteers. It was wonderful to see everybody come in to help cook the meal for the evening, which was just absolutely superb. That is one of the great parts of being the shadow minister for Multicultural Affairs; you get to go to these events, eat and the food is amazing. Well done on a fabulous celebration and, again, I am looking forward to catching up with the different multicultural groups throughout the year to help celebrate the wonderful multiculturalism and diversity we have here in the Northern Territory community. Thank you.
Ms WALKER (Nhulunbuy): Mr Deputy Speaker, I wish to update the House and place on the record some of the achievements in my wonderful electorate. I had prepared this contribution for 20 February 2014, but of course, that was the night the member for Blain, as a surprise to everybody, announced his resignation. I put my adjournment to one side, and instead adjourned about the many contributions the member for Blain had made to this parliament. What a great shame it is the people of Blain remain unrepresented in parliament for the first time in the history of this parliament, for this week and next.
I am perhaps a bit late in reporting on some of these events, but I still wish to acknowledge the grand opening of the new Gove Regional Arts Centre on 1 November last year. The multipurpose arts centre is the result of hard work by the Gove Peninsula Festival committee and the generosity of founding members. The Gove Peninsula Festival has operated successfully for a number of years, not always annually, but it is always a successful community event. Over the years, there has been growing recognition that the festival needed a home, a venue, a space to meet and where things might be stored, including the many important files which are passed from one group of volunteers to another. This particular need sat high on the priority list of the outgoing President of the Gove Peninsula Festival, Ian Maclean, and became yet another project and quest that Ian Maclean was involved in. He delivered on it, as witnessed by the opening of the Gove Regional Arts Centre in November of last year.
The centre is housed in the Captain Cook Community Centre, and co-located with other tenants Gove Arts Theatre, the playgroup and the fairly newly renovated club rooms for the Nhulunbuy Regional Sports Fishing Club. The building is more than 40 years old, but serves the community well, thanks to many years of volunteer efforts. I commend Ian and his committee for the arts centre, which also hosts film nights. GPF has a wonderful film society under its umbrella, with Angela Madden taking a leading role in co-ordinating in between being the very busy manager and broadcaster with our local community radio station, Gove FM. Several films have been screened, and with good roll ups, including on Saturday 15 February 2014, where they screened Lasseter’s Bones, and followed up just recently on Friday 14 March 2014 with a double feature, where they screened The Darkside and Wake in Fright.
I pay tribute to people like Angela Madden, as well as GPF committee members: Alilah and Rod Watts, Debbie Beldham, who has recently left, Jason Minney, Justin Hart, Kristie Maggs, Kirsty Prowse, Lyn Percic, Matt Garrick, our new president, Sharon Norris and also the recently departed treasurer, Ben O’Brien. He is one of many people who have left the community, as a result of losing his job with Rio Tinto.
I also note, with sadness, that Ian Maclean is not only the outgoing president, but he has now gone from our community, another statistic associated with the departure of Rio Tinto. His departure from Nhulunbuy will certainly be felt community wide. Apart from GPF, he was the founder of Gove Amateur Astronomers, Arnhem Writers and President of Gove FM, with a long involvement as a volunteer broadcaster. I wish him well and thank him for his tireless dedication to the many clubs and associations he has been involved with over the last 18 years. I also note he was a worthy nominee for Nhulunbuy’s Australia Day Citizen of the Year some two or three years ago.
On the subject of Australia Day citizens, I offer my congratulations to Klaus Helms, who was named as the Territory’s Senior Australian of the Year and Emily Osborne, who was named NT Young Australian of the Year. They attended the national awards ceremony, held in Canberra on the eve of Australia Day. While they may have missed out on receiving the national award of Australian of the Year, it was certainly a proud moment to have not one but two Goveites representing the Northern Territory at these national awards.
Klaus was recognised for his years of dedication working with Indigenous people, and Emily for her dedication and efforts advocating for young people, especially those in remote areas, but also for her advocacy for carers and young people with disabilities. I have no doubt that Debbie and Gary Osborne, who have only recently left Gove after many years, are rightly proud of Em. She is a legend.
Nhulunbuy had its own Australia Day celebrations, held at the town pool; thanks to the Nhulunbuy Corporation and its hard-working staff. I was pleased to be one of a number of sponsors of the day’s activities. I offer my congratulations to our Australia Day Citizens of the Year: Young Citizen of the Year Emma Putland and Australia Day Citizen of the Year Wali Wunungmurra.
Emma is a long-term resident, a delightful young woman, who after completing her university degree in Zoology returned to Nhulunbuy where, until recently, she was working at our local vet practice. Our local vet practice, like just about every other business in town, is struggling in the current downturn. Dr Sue has had to put off all of her staff, including Emma and has reduced her hours while trying to maintain a veterinary service. That is tough. To go back to Emma: the award also recognises her incredible contribution to surf lifesaving over many years, which has been absolutely incredible.
Mr Wali Wunungmurra was rightly recognised as a senior Yolngu leader, who has only recently retired from his role as chairman of the Northern Land Council. I can barely do justice to Wali’s achievements over decades, his leadership on so many fronts, his involvement on multiple boards of Indigenous organisations and the fact he is the youngest and a surviving signatory to the Bark Petition, which had its 50th anniversary last year at Yirrkala. This was a significant historical event, marking the start of the recognition of Aboriginal Land Rights, and a pivotal time for Wali in his quest and advocacy for Yolngu rights.
On Australia Day in Nhulunbuy, we always recognise, in addition to our Citizens of the Year, the Community Event of the Year. I am not sure if I was the only nominator - I suspect not - but I put forward the Relay for Life event and was delighted to see it win. There were many worthy community events in our vibrant little town, but this was a standout. This was the third Relay for Life event held in Nhulunbuy, over the weekend of 17-18 August, and there is one person who has led and coordinated throughout: Fiona Pearce. This year, Fiona Pearce worked with a hard-working committee which included: her sister, Sally Putland; Fiona Stimpson; Jenny Preest, Wendy Troe and possibly others I may have overlooked, but I hope not.
The event raised in excess of $71 000 and with it, awareness about the disease. Thanks to local people who rallied, including 340 registered participants. What this event also raises is a collective community spirit; it was the spirit of wanting to fight for and find a cure, and to do so in the poignant memory of so many loved ones lost to this terrible disease.
As I have just described, Nhulunbuy is a special community that knows how to come to the aid of those in need, and we certainly saw members of the Filipino community come together to organise relief packages for those affected by the devastation of Typhoon Haiyan on 8 November last year. Nearly 100 boxes were donated and sent to the Philippines, and a charity dinner, hosted at the Waterfront Kitchen on 26 November, raised $2 710 for the relief effort.
I would like to acknowledge the effort that Gil and Ansel Avila put in to coordinating these fundraising efforts for their homeland of the Philippines, and the band of helpers who assisted them. I will also place on the record names of those students who were recipients of end of year awards that I sponsor each year out in my community, as I know a number of members of this House do in theirs.
At the Nhulunbuy High School presentation night, I was delighted to present my citizenship awards to Charlotte Piper and Benjamin Cox, both very worthy recipients and worthy of that recognition. I wish both of them well as they head into their senior years.
At the Nhulunbuy Primary School end of year concert and awards ceremony, I presented my citizenship awards to two Year Six students nominated by their school as the most deserving recipients and leaders among their peers. I was pleased to hand awards to Isabel Blundell and Jayden Wagg. I felt just a little nostalgic, not to mention a little old, with this pair of terrific Year Six kids. Why was this? Because way back in my teaching days at Nhulunbuy High School, I taught Isabel’s parents Rachel and Davin and her aunties from the Blundell and Fincham-Thompson clan. I also taught Jayden Wagg’s dad, Dan. The Blundells and the Waggs can rightly be proud of their offspring.
I was delighted to sponsor the arts awards at Nhulunbuy Christian College and congratulate Hannah Rika, Hannah Fourie and Chayse Aston. Unfortunately, I was unable to attend the school’s annual Thanksgiving Award on 5 December, as our parliament was still sitting.
I also add my thanks and admiration for the huge contribution Nhulunbuy Christian College’s arts teacher Mrs Kylie Farnsworth has made over many years in fostering and nurturing a love of creative arts for hundreds and hundreds of children who have passed through the school.
She leaves her mark with some beautiful permanent works, not least of which are some stunning mosaics around the school grounds. Sadly, Kylie and her husband Malcolm, who has devoted much to the school council, are leaving Nhulunbuy, as a result of Rio Tinto’s departures, along with their beautiful daughters Zoe and Katie. They will be sorely missed and I wish them all the best of luck, God bless.
I also thank and acknowledge our local schools and principals, Matt Watson, Sabina Smith, Russell McKane, Stuart Bramston, Merrkiyawuy Ganambarr Stubbs and Leonard Freeman for the incredible job they do, and all the teachers and support staff who work so hard for our kids out in Nhulunbuy, Yirrkala and around the region. Certainly at the moment, they are doing a sterling job at a particularly difficult time in our community, where hundreds of students are likely to be leaving, if not now, then by the end of the year. I take my hat off to them for the leadership, encouragement and support they provide to their school and staff, families and students.
Ms PURICK (Goyder): Mr Deputy Speaker, I will speak briefly on one of the volunteer bush fire brigades in my electorate, that being the Elizabeth Valley Volunteer Bush Fire Brigade. In my electorate, I have a combination of Northern Territory fire service volunteer brigades and Bushfire Council NT volunteer brigades. Elizabeth Valley is one of those under the Bushfire Council NT’s management. It recently had its annual general meeting, which I was unable to attend, but Trish O’Hehir from my electoral office was able to attend and a report on the year was presented by the captain, Dianne Tynan. There is no doubt this volunteer bush fire brigade does an enormous amount of work in making and keeping the community of the Elizabeth Valley, or the Valley as they call it, safe, not only from bushfires, but also from flooding and assist in other areas where people get into trouble, for example with motor vehicle accidents.
Over the year, the brigade has fought bushfires; undertaken controlled burn-offs; done a lot of mop-ups from spot fires; and helped with food and refreshments delivery to people in need. It does a lot of motor vehicle and depot maintenance at its base on Elizabeth Valley Road. It must do fundraising; the brigade does get a certain amount of money from the Bushfire Council NT of the Northern Territory government, but must complement that. It must provide paperwork, not only to the bushfires council, but also to the office of business affairs, because it is an incorporated association.
Over the last year, there was an approximate total of 1153 volunteer hours extended by the group, compared to 924 hours in the previous year. Those hours were given to protect the valley and surrounds, and also to assist other brigades when in need, such as with large bush fires or fires that get out of control, as there have been in the past in the Noonamah area, and also in the Girraween and Howard Springs area a few years ago.
Those hours are just the hours on the ground; they do not take into account other hours where the brigade attend to administration and general running around, the maintenance of services at the station and also hosting functions and meeting and greeting visitors, such as me as the local member.
The Elizabeth Valley takes in all of the Noonamah area, back to Humpty Doo and south to the Acacia Hills area, and the brigade does a sterling job. It has larger blocks that must be maintained and protected, compared to the smaller blocks around the Howard Springs and Girraween areas. For example, of the 1153 hours, 880 hours were spent on activities within the area, and it also extended 273 hours helping other brigades with other fires and activities.
The brigade volunteer firefighters undertook 23 hours of smoke fire spotting patrols; 165 hours of controlled burn-offs; 30 hours of mopping up after controlled burn-offs; 255 hours at wildfires in their own area and 64 hours mopping up after wildfires. It is one thing to manage and combat a fire, but it is another thing to make sure the fire does not get out of control again from wind or bits of wildfire going somewhere. Twenty eight hours were spent checking for permits. All rural people know if you want to do burns-offs, you must get a permit. The permits are issued by the volunteer brigades, so they must check a property to make sure the burn-off can be done in a safe manner. There was 23 hours of miscellaneous fire business, for example: checking fire breaks and working with the Litchfield Council; 108 miscellaneous patrols at rodeos; fundraising; cyclone and floods and they did 16 hours of training. These people are well trained and must continue to maintain their standards at a professional level. They did 39 hours assisting other brigades at controlled burn-offs, possibly the ones in your electorate, Mr Deputy Speaker, or they might also have been at Lambells Lagoon. Fifty eight hours were spent assisting other brigades at wildfires - bushfires that have gotten out of control - and nine hours of miscellaneous fires in other brigade areas. It is an extraordinary amount of hours for a small brigade.
A total of 68 fire incidents were attended to, including 13 smoke fire patrols, four controlled burn-offs and a mop-up in the brigade area, 35 wildfires and a mop-up, three controlled burn-offs and mop-up assisting other brigades and 13 wildfires and mop-up in other brigade areas.
They issued 65 permits to burn, which were from February through to February this year. That is an important thing because there are regulations in our legislation, as you know, Mr Deputy Speaker, and if you want to do a controlled burn, you must make sure that controlled burn does not get out of control as, sadly, often happens across the rural area. The brigade does an enormous amount of work in that area.
Not only does it do the activities I have just mentioned, but the brigade also take a lot of time to make sure people who live in the Elizabeth Valley area and surrounds are kept safe. They did a lot of work helping some people with flooding of their blocks in the recent rains, and also ensured they could get in and out of their blocks accordingly.
I think it was last year when it had a special function, which I attended, and there was the handover of a water trailer. It was a 2000 litre firefighting tanker to the Elizabeth Valley Volunteer Fire Brigade, pump and hoses, and it was donated by INPEX, John Holland and Macmahon, which I think is now called Territoria. I went to the function, and it was a much appreciated donation by those companies. They have also assisted those proponents and operators in grass control burns at the INPEX site, which is important because we cannot have any uncontrolled burns getting close to a construction site and, more importantly, when the site becomes an operational gas plant.
I want to extend my congratulations to all the people at the Elizabeth Valley Volunteer Fire Brigade. They do a terrific, sterling job. They have been at it for many years; some of them have been there for over 10, 15 and 20 years, in particular, Di Tynan, who is, again, this year’s captain and fire warden. She was involved with Elizabeth Valley when my mother, Noel Padgham, was a member of this parliament - she was the member for what could have been Nelson in those days or Koolpinyah – and she has given her time tirelessly and on an ongoing basis for the benefit of the broader community.
Congratulations to the Elizabeth Valley fire brigade’s new committee: captain and fire warden Di Tynan, vice-captain Paul Pokorny, secretary Geoff Baker, public officer Roy Christensen, treasurer Deneise Edwards and committee members Charmaine Tynan, Jean Baker, Andy Lewsley and Bob Pitts. Congratulations on your appointment to the committee for the 2014 year; I wish you the very best and hope it is a quiet Dry Season.
As I mentioned, members do fundraising, not only for their own brigade, but they raised $5000 in total from working and helping at the Noonamah Rodeo and the Noonamah Frog Races at the Noonamah Tavern, which coincide with the Melbourne Cup. These funds were sent as cheques of $555.55 to the nine volunteer bush firefighters who lost their properties while fighting fires in the Katoomba area of New South Wales. There is a bond between the volunteer people in the Northern Territory and their sisters and brothers in other places; they like to help where they can, so congratulations to the Elizabeth Valley people and Di Tynan, the captain, for fundraising to help other people who have lost out. Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker.
Mr ELFERINK (Port Darwin): Mr Deputy Speaker, I speak on behalf of the Minister for Health, who was reading into Hansard from her prepared speech, an adjournment on Roseanne Fulton, the matter that has occupied some space in the national press recently. Unfortunately, she was unable to finish her speech and has asked me to continue on with it. I will do so on her behalf, but please forgive me as I stumble through it, because there will be elements of the speech where I have to turn it from the first to the third person.
Ms Fulton has been on day release shopping, eating at Hungry Jack’s, swimming at Oasis Recreation Centre and having a barbecue at Hammond Park. The Health minister says she has been advised the outings have been going well with Ms Fulton, and she has appeared to enjoy them. The Office of the Public Guardian is cognisant of the work being undertaken in Western Australia to develop options for a supported release for Ms Fulton.
The Office of the Public Guardian advocates at this time all options should be carefully considered on behalf of Ms Fulton. At this time, the Office of the Public Guardian is satisfied, until all options are considered, that it is in Ms Fulton’s best interests to remain in Western Australia. Even if legal hurdles could be overcome, an assessment has been carried out on the appropriateness of the secure care facility in Alice Springs for Ms Fulton. There are currently two males residing in the facility and two further males on day visits from the Alice Springs Correctional Centre, who will transition into the service over the coming months.
The assessment determined that given the current client mix and Ms Fulton’s specific behaviour, it would be unsuitable and not in her best interest to move into that particular facility. The Health minister notes that Mr McKinlay is the community guardian for the two full time clients, as well as one of the transitioning clients and has been briefed comprehensively on the issues in this case.
On 13 February 2014, the Health department wrote to the Mentally Impaired Accused Review Board and Mr McKinlay, outlining why a placement in Alice Springs secure care could not be supported. The Health minister was subsequently advised Mr McKinlay responded on 14 February 2014, accepting the decision that Ms Fulton would not be offered a secure care placement due to compatibility issues, and would be provided support based on her assessed need, should she voluntarily return to the Northern Territory.
The Health minister, as Ms Fulton’s public guardian, remains committed to working with all stakeholders to ensure we continue to satisfy our obligation under the Adult Guardianship Act. The Health minister, I am sure, is confident at all times that personnel within the Office of the Public Guardian have fulfilled their roles professionally and kept the best interests of Ms Fulton at the centre of their decision-making. That said, it is the minister’s role, as the minister for Disabilities – she has described to me that she is passionate about seeing Roseanne Fulton get the care and support she needs. As such, the Minister for Health has requested that the Northern Territory Office of Disability conduct a risk assessment and develop a treatment plan for Ms Fulton’s return to Alice Springs, should it occur.
The Health minister has requested they develop a model of care for Ms Fulton, which would have her living back in appropriate supported accommodation in Alice Springs, engaging with her local community and relatives, receiving the care and support she requires and otherwise participating in a normal life to the best of her ability. Once the assessment and treatment plans have been completed, the Health minister will personally be writing to the Western Australian Mentally Impaired Accused Review Board and Ms Fulton’s other guardian, Mr McKinlay, providing the option of Ms Fulton returning to Alice Springs for their consideration and input. The Northern Territory government remains steadfast in its commitment to due process, good governance and supporting all Territorians, regardless of their ability.
That was the completion of the Health minister’s comments in this area, and I wish to make a comment. I tried to impress upon Tony Jones on the ABC Lateline program, as well as on a number of other people, that it is a principle of our liberal democracy that you are allowed to be at liberty until such time as you conduct yourself in such a fashion as that liberty could be deprived. The orders which keep Ms Fulton in custody in Kalgoorlie have no weight in the Northern Territory and, consequently, should the Western Australian authorities choose to set her free, she is welcome to return to the Northern Territory at any time and no barrier would be put in her way. I would not advocate or accept the suggestion that was made on the ABC Lateline program that we should, in some fashion or another as a jurisdiction, incarcerate a person, even in a secure care facility, without an authorised warrant, order or lawful process to do so.
It is not in my nature, as the Attorney-General of the Northern Territory, to go about randomly apprehending people, even if I have the best motivation in the world. This is a liberal society in which we live; you are at liberty until such time as you conduct yourself in a fashion as to have your liberty deprived from you. A secure care facility is just that, whether it is a hospice, a medical facility or a jail. It still has a lock on the front door, and that lock closes and locks when you are inside it. As a consequence of that, it would be unlawful for us to lock up somebody, unless we had some lawful vehicle or mechanism to do so.
Consequently, should Ms Fulton return to the Northern Territory, she would be subject to the laws of this jurisdiction, as would any other Australian citizen who happens to be in our jurisdiction. We can offer her medical assistance, which is what the Health minister has suggested, if she so requires it.
Motion agreed to; the Assembly adjourned
Last updated: 04 Aug 2016