Debates Day 1 - Tuesday 23 May 1995
Parliamentary Record 11
Debates for 7th Assembly 1994 - 1997; ParliamentNT; Parliamentary Record; 7th Assembly 1994 - 1997
1995-05-23
Made available by the Legislative Assembly of the Northern Territory
English
Debates
Legislative Assembly of the Northern Territory
Darwin
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DEBATES - Tuesday 23 May 1995 exactly as it was. I hope the approach will be one of authenticity, not arty-crafty simply for the sake of bringing in more tourists. As an item of interest, the Treasurer mentioned that more money is being allocated to the management of problem crocodiles. No doubt that will go to pay contractors to collect the crocodiles. This is to be applauded. Money is to be provided for research into feral animals in central Australia. I hope the feral animals are not killed and their corpses simply left to lie there because they are a good source of protein no matter what species they are. I believe even the bodies of cats are useful. With a little thought, the corpses of feral animals can be put to some use, even if it is only their pelts. The honourable Treasurer mentioned a notable initiative in the area of mining, mineral resources and manufacturing. An additional $ 1.4m has been allocated for geological survey and exploration work throughout the Territory. This is one of the few items in the budget of the Department of Mines and Energy where I noted an increase. As I did last year, I must say that it is a great shame that, while the Department of Mines and Energy has a slight increase of $239 000 overall this year, once again the budget for the Department of Primary Industry and Fisheries is down on the previous year. Its budget for 1995-96 is nearly $4m down on that for the previous year. I had thought that commonsense would prevail and more attention would be paid to the departments that oversee production in the Northern Territory. My main criticism of the budget, as might be expected by people who know my rather right-wing views on these matters ... Mr Reed: Nothing in there for goats. Mrs PADGHAM-PURICH: No. I can manage. I do not need your help or the help of anybody else to work with my goats. I did not get much help from the department when it did have goats. I will get on without anybodys help although, if help is offered to me, I do take it. My criticism is that the government is supporting increasingly those people in the community who do not do anything for themselves and who are non-productive. Many do not want to work. Many of them have no wish to live anywhere but in the Northern Territory because the Northern Territory government runs after them and wet-nurses them constantly. We have a good climate for people to live here if they do not want to work. The winters are not very cold. The government is very generous to people who come from the south and put a good sob story to the government in one way or another. However, while the government is supporting people like this, people who would not work in an iron lung on a sunny day, productive members in the community, who could do with more help, are being neglected. It is pleasing to note that the government has supported the Conservation Commission. That is probably because the Treasurer is the Minister for Conservation as well. These associations stand out. Nevertheless, it is good to see, knowing as we do that the parks and other projects operated by the Conservation Commission are very well known tourist attractions. Money is spent indirectly on tourism through the governments support for the projects of the Conservation Commission. I will not go through them all, but I agree with the direction that the government is taking on that matter. Speaking about future directions, the Treasurer said that plans will be made to withdraw the Tank Farm from Darwin. I believe that 3572