Nigel Scullion (NT, Country Liberal Party, Minister for Community Services) Share this | Hansard source

The intent of this particular piece of the legislation is to deal with a number of the issues that we have seen very clearly in these communities that add to their dysfunction. That is the basic principle of service delivery. We know that a number of the services that should be being provided are not being provided for a whole suite of reasons. It might be the way that the funding is being released. It might be the way that the funds are spent. It might be about the requirements for reporting about how the funds are spent, depending on the agreement. It might be the nature of the appointment of a particular person to control the funding. It might be the way that assets are acquired and how they are used. They are the fundamental parts of service delivery in communities in a whole suite of agreements.

Whilst Senator Bartlett indicated that there were a number of ways under which these powers could be seen as extreme powers, they are in fact seen by the Commonwealth as reserve powers. As we have indicated, these powers would be used only where negotiations to introduce these changes have in fact been unsuccessful. We have not just delegated these powers to officer level. These powers will be held at a very senior level of the Australian Public Service or solely by the minister. It is interesting to note that these powers will not actually apply to the Northern Territory shire councils, the town camps or outstations. In other words, they will apply to those areas that have been prescribed under the act.

A sunset clause applies to these powers—the same sunset clause that goes to the provision of the five-year lease. These powers would lapse at the same time the five-year lease does. We would hope that, by the end of the five-year period, the level of amenity in terms of infrastructure and the delivery of services that every Australian would take for granted has in fact been delivered. So it is important to note that these powers would lapse and, in fact, are limited to a five-year period.

The notion of this particular aspect of the legislation is that there will be a range of governance related powers that will ensure we have the necessary authority to implement the full scope of the improvements we intend to provide to these communities. As I have said, the scope of these powers is broad enough to cover the nature of service delivery in the communities, which—as honourable senators would be aware—is extremely broad. I cannot stress enough that this is in the event of a failure to provide a satisfactory outcome from negotiations. As part of our negotiations, we will be insisting that services delivered in these communities are delivered to an acceptable standard and in an acceptable way so that occupants in the prescribed communities will be getting a level of amenity that is satisfactory in terms of a benchmark with the rest of Australia. I think this level of amenity is parallel to the infrastructure amenities—of housing, behaviour and the shield of law and order—that we take for granted in so many other areas of Australia. I am not sure whether I have completely answered Senator Bartlett’s questions, but I hope I have contributed to his understanding of these issues.

Progress reported.