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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Legislative Assembly of the Northern Territory
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DEBATES - Tuesday 23 May 1995 Mr Coulter: The Commonwealth - $103m nationally - over 5 years. Mrs HICKEY: It is always a Commonwealth responsibility, isnt it? It alway is when this government wants to shirk its responsibility. It wants the Territory to become a state. We all want the Northern Territory to become a state, but the present Northern Territory government would like the federal government to pay for everything. As far as people who live in the sticks are concerned, there is no doubt that federal government moneys are a lifeline to them, and they certainly see little to comfort them in this budget in terms of the effort that the CLP is making towards improving the quality of life of ordinary Territorians who live south of the Berrimah Line. Mr MANZIE (Transport and Works): Mr Speaker, my opening remarks, in response to yet another responsible CLP budget, relate to activities occurring in my Department of Transport and Works. I am very pleased to say that, at the time of the bringing down of the budget for 1995-96, the construction industry in the Northern Territory is in a very sound state. I am certainly not claiming credit for this because it does not result from our capital works program alone. The private sector is generating large-scale building investment, and activity is buoyant because of an underlying confidence in the Territorys future. There are 3 factors at play here - private sector development, the Northern Territory government construction program and the federal governments defence force expansion program in the north. When these 3 factors are combined, the construction industry picture is very healthy indeed. It is extremely gratifying to see a vigorous and rejuvenated private sector building industry. This government can rightly claim to have nurtured the industry through the recent difficult recession by producing the State Square project. At the time, we were able to provide the impetus needed for a depressed industry during a period when it was struggling. That is what sound government leadership is about. To give members some idea of the extent of the construction industrys revival, in 1992-93, total expenditure on capital works in the Northern Territory was $400m. In 1993-94, total expenditure on capital works rose to $510m. In 1994-95, it is estimated that new works expenditure will be $650m. In 1995-96, we estimate that construction and building expenditure for the Northern Territory will exceed $750m - a remarkable turnaround in anyones language. When to that is added $95m-odd for repairs and maintenance expenditure, more than $850m-worth of building activity will occur in the Northern Territory in this next financial year. That will be an all-time record. I table a graph for the information of honourable members. The graph shows the levels of activity in the private sector, government sector and the State Square contribution, and how the governments initiatives kept the industry buoyant through the hard times. Capital works expenditure in the Northern Territory will be spread fairly evenly according to our population patterns. The bulk of the construction industrys activity will be focused in the Top End due to the influence of the federal governments defence force expansion program. Nevertheless, there continues to be considerable activity in other regions. For example, in Alice Springs, we have an active government building program under way which will require significant amounts of capital works expenditure in 1995-96. The new prison for Alice Springs is progressing towards completion at a total cost of $27m. The wildlife park to be constructed on the western outskirts of Alice Springs will provide an important tourism, education, conservation and research facility focused on central Australia 3482