Debates Day 3 - Thursday 19 November 2015
Parliamentary Record 24
Debates for 12th Assembly 2012 - 2016; ParliamentNT; Parliamentary Record; 12th Assembly 2012 - 2016
2015-11-19
Made available by the Legislative Assembly of the Northern Territory
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Debates
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DEBATES Thursday 19 November 2015 7402 community about the storage of power. There are more companies than Tesla doing it, but Tesla is the one getting the headlines. It will cause us to completely rethink our attitudes to power, which we have to be thinking about now. More than anything else, you can see exactly how 3D printing will change the Territory. Necessity is the mother of invention. Our remote communities can become the front line of innovation and technology. If we get 3D printing right and out there, and allow free innovation and imagination, we will find some amazing solutions and ideas come forward from our remote communities. It is very pleasing to see the Arnhem Land Progress Association embracing that already. We need to be thinking about our approach to 3D printing and manufacturing down the line. It is a matter of urgency that we think about our innovations, proposed solutions and what we export to the world. We have that capacity to connect with intellectual property and embrace it. We need to discover how we adapt these technologies and innovations into our society as a matter of urgency. To do that we need a cultural evidence-based policy, a public service genuinely independent and free to provide fearless advice, a reform to government to make it open, flexible and responsive to the needs of Territorians through the use of digital technologies, a clear whole-ofgovernment ICT strategy and a procurement policy around that which backs locals and fosters innovation and creativity partnerships with the university, business, the arts sector and the community, and which thinks and creates to make sure we get innovation hubs going, and going well. We have to find a way. There are plenty of different models around the world we can look at. Let us make them Territory models. You have to try different models. Let us get it right around innovation hubs and get people thinking creatively. We have to get our grant schemes around innovation and start-up right. We have to make sure we are fostering local solutions and local ways of embracing technology and change. In order to do that, it is important that Territory Labor adopts the same position that federal Labor has taken with introducing coding of Territory primary and secondary schools. Let us make sure we are a forward-thinking, future-thinking government that is embracing the change that is coming. Let us be a well-planned, big-picture government. Let us give the Territory community and the business community stability and certainty. These are the clear messages I heard through October Business Month: stability; certainty; trust; and openness and transparency. That certainty and consistency of message you hear from all members of government, all levels of government, means you know the road and what the decisions are. That certainty is missing at the moment. We can see that every day through feedback. People who have to engage at a business level with government say the certainty is simply lacking. I heard that message very strongly through October Business Month from all levels of business across the Northern Territory. I can say very safely that we will offer that certainty and stability. October Business Month was a fantastic month. It is a fantastic opportunity to talk to business, and the department and staff do it really well. It is an excellent program up and down the track. It is a great initiative to bring business together. Obviously, we have chances to talk to business all year but October Business Month provides focus and hot spots, for want of a better word, of gatherings where you have opportunities to talk to business people. It was good to get that clear and consistent message about what business wants with stronger certainty, stability and trust. We will deliver those qualities. Madam Speaker, I commend this statement to the House. Mr CHANDLER (Police, Fire and Emergency Services): Madam Speaker, I thank the Minister for Business for making this statement today on October Business Month. October Business Month was started under the previous CLP government, was carried through by Labor and has been picked up and continued by the Country Liberals government. I commend the minister that 9332 people attended October Business Month this year. I recall that when I was the Minister for Business we were talking about the future of OBM and how we needed to ensure this program grew. As the member for Fannie Bay just said, it is an ideal time, not only for businesses to come together and to talk about what they are dealing with or working on, but to showcase what they do. It gives the government a fantastic opportunity to talk one-on-one with businesses at these events. It brings businesses together, and you see connections and networks made like no other time through the year. It is a wonderful program, and I commend it to the House. I listened to the member for Fannie Bay talk about October Business Month and what they would do as a government. Before I go through the facts and figures of the Department of Infrastructure, I need to mention the amount of work this Country Liberals government is doing behind the scenes and very publicly, because these are the very businesses that are affected by how much