Questions Day 5 - Wednesday 13 February 1991
Parliamentary Record 2
Questions for 6th Assembly 1990 - 1994; ParliamentNT; Parliamentary Record; 6th Assembly 1990 - 1994
1991-02-13
Made available by the Legislative Assembly of the Northern Territory
English
Questions
Legislative Assembly of the Northern Territory
Darwin
application/pdf
Attribution International 4.0 (CC BY 4.0)
Legislative Assembly of the Northern Territory
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
https://hdl.handle.net/10070/279886
https://hdl.handle.net/10070/418347
QUESTIONS - Wednesday 13 February 1991 the benefits of effective housing management on Aboriginal communities and to assess the overall costs, to develop mainstream experience in the support of Aboriginal housing organisations and to investigate some training needs for community managers. I have also held preliminary discussions with the Minister for Employment and Training with a view to involving the private sector supplier groups of building products in training schemes linked to this program. It is important that these people start to understand the actual products used in the construction of their homes. The number of communities participating in this pilot program has been chosen on the basis that it allows a sufficiently broad selection to be made at a cost affordable to the program. The upper limit of this cost is $0.50m for 3 years. The Commonwealth's agreement to support the pilot program has been sought so that the necessary commitments can be made for the project to proceed. It is my intention to have one oversighting officer for both programs - the needs survey and the maintenance program. The high cost of maintenance in Aboriginal communities and also in the urban communities of all types of Housing Commission housing is of great concern to me. I intend to have a thorough investigation conducted as soon as possible to come to grips with the problem. One of the main initiatives in the program is the idea of the Homemaker Program. Woodcutters Mine Mr LANHUPUY to MINISTER for CONSERVATION I refer the minister to an earlier answer he gave to me in relation to the Woodcutters Mine. Given that the minister has asked his department to undertake an environmental audit of the mine, will he make public whatever information has been given to him in relation to the mine so that interested persons may comment? ANSWER Mr Speaker, the honourable member seems to be suggesting that he has a particular concern in relation to the mine. I have advised him already that an audit is being undertaken. In fact, it is nearing completion. The results will be considered by officers of the Department of Mines and Energy and the Conservation Commission in conjunction with the mine operators. We will assess at that time whether or not it will be appropriate to make public all or part of that audit. However, I give the honourable member an assurance that the audit obviously is intended to ensure that environmental considerations are taken into account. If he has any particular concerns, I would like to hear about them. Appropriate action in relation to the audit will be taken by the officers of both departments and, I am sure, by the mine operator. I will be only too happy to provide him with any additional advice should it become available. Barkly Highway Realignment Mrs HICKEY to MINISTER for TRANSPORT and WORKS My question relates to the proposal to realign the Barkly Highway. Members might recall that, in an adjournment debate last week, the Minister for Transport and Works declared that he was not lukewarm in his support for the proposal and for the people of Tennant Creek. Today, the federal Minister for Lands and Transport, Hon Bob Brown, has stated in a press release: 'In conversation with Fred Finch last year, he suggested to me 103