Natasha Griggs (Solomon, Country Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I was not sure, Mr Deputy Speaker. The letter was from Senator Arbib, the Minister for Sport, stating that the Prime Minister has given her assurance that these commitments will be honoured. Both Senator Arbib and the Prime Minister are aware that the BMX track is now closed to riders until the start of the dry season in Darwin and may not reopen until April this year. Effectively that means that all the Northern Territory riders, including Jake Tunney, the current world champion, have been disadvantaged in their lead-up and preparation for future events due to the high rainfall in Darwin over the wet season. Preparations for future events will continue to be put on hold, including those for the upcoming rounds 7 and 8 of the Champbikx Probikx and UCI, which is actually being held in Canberra this coming week. I wish all riders, the very, very best of luck, including those Territorian riders that I know are here, Nathan and Ryan York-Morris, who are travelling from Darwin. My question to Senator Arbib and the Prime Minister is: thank you for saying you will honour those commitments but when will those commitments be honoured? Will it be this financial year? Will it be next financial year? I need a bit more of a definitive answer for my constituents.

Another matter that I have been asked to raise, with the Minister for School Education, Early Childhood and Youth, on behalf of a number of schools that provide Indigenous education, is that of the Indigenous funding guarantee program. The current Gillard Labor government committed to this funding in the lead-up to the 2010 federal election. The commitment was to provide increased funding to non-remote boarding schools with more than 50 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students from remote Indigenous communities. When my office spoke with one of the affected schools last month, Kormilda College, they were yet to see any of this funding and had not actually been contacted about the information that will be required for calculating any additional funding. Quite frankly, this is not good enough. There are a number of other colleges in my electorate, including St John’s College and O’Loughlin Catholic College, that are affected by these delays in payment. This delay is costing jobs in the Indigenous education sector. The schools are very concerned and seek further assurance as to whether the promised but delayed payment of the remote rate for remote students based at their school will indeed be backdated to 2010.

Another matter that my constituents have raised is that of the GP superclinic at Palmerston, which is where I live. The current Gillard government and the Minister for Health and Ageing need to be held accountable for the non-existent 24-hour-a-day GP service and the many healthcare services which were promised to be provided to my constituents. In fact, urgent after-hours services are provided at the nearby Palmerston Health Precinct, which is actually funded by the Northern Territory government, but urgent after-hours services are not a 24-hour-a-day GP service. Local residents were led to believe that the Palmerston GP superclinic would include a 24-hour-a-day GP service, which currently it is failing to deliver. It is another promise made by this Gillard Labor government that has not been delivered. It is no secret that I have advocated and will continue to advocate for a long-term solution—a hospital to service Palmerston and the rural area. It is essential that the planning starts now. I will continue to push for the delivery of good medical services for the Territory.

I would also like to take this opportunity to announce the 2011 Solomon awards. These awards will be honouring community service and achievement during National Volunteer Week from 9 May to 15 May. This year it is entitled ‘Inspiring the volunteer in you.’ My office will provide an opportunity to highlight the role of volunteers in our community and say thank you to the many volunteers in the electorate of Solomon. The Solomon awards have been designed to recognise community service and volunteers and the achievements of community organisations and individuals in a range of areas, including youth, environment, the arts and health. Application forms will be available from my office and also from my website, which is currently being redesigned. Nominations will close on 29 April and the awards will be presented during a special ceremony during Volunteer Week.

The recent discussions taking place on the Gillard Labor government’s plan to introduce a carbon tax deeply concern me as this will have an adverse effect on the Northern Territory economy. In my electorate, in the lead-up to the 2010 federal election, the then federal member for Solomon, Mr Damian Hale, contradicted his own Prime Minister’s stance that she would rule out a carbon tax. This week Prime Minister Gillard has now announced that she will introduce a carbon tax—a fundamental breach of faith with the Australian people. Damian Hale supported a carbon tax and he was unsuccessful in the election. I am here today to stand up for my constituents in Solomon and the Northern Territory who are opposed to the carbon tax. My constituents are very concerned about the increased cost of living that they will face. They are already paying record house prices and the highest of any capital city for groceries, petrol and rent along with soaring power bills and interest rates.

Unfortunately, a carbon tax will affect every aspect of people’s lives—in particular, those families that are already struggling to make ends meet. Many of my constituents will simply not be able to afford to pay for the power that they use. We know that living in Darwin you need to have the air conditioning on. As stated in a release by my colleague Senator Scullion last week, the Prime Minister’s climate change committee is seeking to include transport in the tax. This will have massive ramifications for the Territory. The Territory, and in particular my electorate of Solomon, will be hard-hit by a high cost of fuel. As members of parliament are aware, generally petrol and diesel prices are higher in regional and remote areas of Australia and the distances travelled are greater. Last week in Darwin and Palmerston, according to the Northern Territory government’s fuelwatch website, the mean unleaded price of petrol was 141.9c per litre, with some constituents paying, believe it or not, up to 147.9c. The mean price of diesel was 150.1c per litre and was a maximum of 150.3c. looking at average prices of fuel in Sydney today, my electorate’s fuel was 1.7c and 2.8c more per litre for unleaded and diesel respectively. I am concerned. This proposed carbon tax would see even higher prices for everything that Territorians buy, including petrol, which is expected to rise about 6.5c a litre, taking prices well above $1.50 per litre in my electorate and close to $2 a litre in some remote areas of the Northern Territory. Quite frankly, this is not good enough.

In addition to this, key industries in my electorate such as primary producers, mining, tourism and construction will also be hard-hit. In particular, the Northern Territory gas industry may see harmful effects. The reason for the existence of the proposed carbon tax is to reduce the generation of carbon dioxide by making the activities that cause it more expensive. As a gas province, the Northern Territory relies on these businesses and it is anticipated that jobs will be lost so that businesses can remain internationally competitive. This can already be seen by responses from prominent businesses such as BlueScope Steel. Their chief executive, Paul O’Malley, was reported in the Australian only yesterday sharing the views of many of those in the manufacturing sector—that is, if they are made to pay for carbon, a resulting loss of competitiveness will mean plants will shut down here with the void filled by imports from countries without a carbon tax. Furthermore, costs as a direct result of the carbon tax will not be shared by our international competitors, as there is no global agreement on reducing emissions.

This appears to be a tax on remoteness and indeed the Territory. It stands to increase the cost of living and directly impact our key industries in the Northern Territory. I ask: how can the Gillard Labor government be trusted when Ms Gillard said before the election, ‘There will be no carbon tax under the government I lead,’ and now, after the election, we all know that she wants to introduce a carbon tax? It is a tax on electricity, a tax on petrol and a tax that is going to affect all Australians but particularly Territorians, increasing the already high cost of living. For shame!

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