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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https://hdl.handle.net/10070/281694
https://hdl.handle.net/10070/413979
DEBATES - Tuesday 23 May 1995 Asia, which conducted a major survey last year of its readers, noted that the Northern Territory Ministry of Asian Relations and Trade was accorded the highest rating of user satisfaction, ahead of agencies like Austrade and, most notably, ahead of counter agencies in both New South Wales and Victoria. A specialist responsibility within the departments national group is communications. Darwins geographic location offers some exciting possibilities and advantages, and work is continuing to market these advantages to large players in the national and international communications industry. This group has been allocated $493 000 in 1995-96 to continue to put Australian and Asian business interests together via the Darwin connection. The international project has been allocated $1.173m in 1995-96 to continue to market the professional expertise of the Northern Territory in the Asia Pacific area. To this end, an exploratory training course is currently being undertaken with a large mining operation in Indonesia in the trade training area. A positive result from this activity is expected to result in the establishment of ongoing trade training on site. The Territory is particularly well placed to provide this because of the availability of trade trainers with the necessary advanced Indonesian language skills to deliver instruction to the trainees in their native tongue. The total budget allocated to the departments Corporate Management Activity for 1995-96 is $6.223m, and this includes $566 000 for the Procurement Policy Unit which was returned to the industries and development portfolio in July 1994. The provision of secretariat services to the Procurement Review Board is a major responsibility of the Procurement Policy Program. $278 000 has been allocated for this activity. Another important function of this unit is provision of training to the public sector to ensure that all public servants, who are involved in procurement, are aware of the requirements of the Northern Territory governments procurement policy. During 1995-96, $100 000 has been allocated to increase awareness of this policy. Another of these important service units is the Public Relations Marketing Group which, among other things, produces Territory Business Magazine which is recognised nationally and internationally for its content and production quality. The departments participation in and displays at NT Expo, the show displays at Alice Springs, Katherine, Tennant Creek, Darwin and Freds Pass, sponsorship for international and national conferences held in the Northern Territory, and local, national and international media advertising are all responsibilities of this group. This years NT Expo promises to be bigger and better than ever, with participation from China, the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei, Hong Kong and a number of Indonesian provinces. The record set for international participation in NT Expo in 1994 will be broken this year. A feature of the departments involvement in NT Expo 1995 will be the business seminar on Friday 30 June. We have been fortunate that Senator Bob McMullan, Australias Trade Minister, Paul Dominguez, Presidential Assistant for Mindanao, Tun Daim Zainuddin, a dominant figure in Malaysia, and Yusef Kalla, head of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry in South Sulawesi, have accepted invitations to be speakers at the seminar. We expect a number of other experts in other industries and trade fields to lead workshops as part of this seminar. The Trade Development Zone has really turned the corner. In 1994-95, the TDZ experienced its largest growth phase, achieving 90% factory space committed, of which 75% is 3526