Damian Hale (Solomon, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise tonight in this adjournment debate to update the House and the people of Solomon on the projects that were committed to before the first election and on how they are going. I have no doubt that the centrepiece of the program that I committed to when I put my hand up to be the member for Solomon was the cancer care unit. It is good to be able to say in this place that the Alan Walker Cancer Care Unit is completed. The first patients began to be treated in April, which is fantastic. The centre now provides a service where people do not have to go interstate; they can actually get cancer treatment in the Northern Territory and in Darwin, which is significant. It was a $28 million commitment delivered by the Rudd Labor government through the hard work of the Prime Minister as well as the Minister for Health and Ageing, Nicola Roxon.

On Saturday I had a great deal of pleasure in opening the first stage of Tiger Brennan Drive. It is a $110 million commitment—$74 million from the Commonwealth and $36 million from the Northern Territory government. This will ease the traffic congestion in the morning from Palmerston into the city and vice versa, giving people time to get home earlier and spend time with their families. We have also opened up more of a seamless access through to our East Arm Port facilities, which will quicken access for semitrailers. The second stage—the southern bridge—will be opened in June and the northern bridge in July, with completion of the project in November. This was a project that drew blame for both the  Commonwealth and the Northern Territory government for a long time, and it is on track to be delivered.

The GP superclinic at Palmerston is a fantastic project. Palmerston has long suffered with inadequate medical services in that area—a rural area—and now has a $10 million commitment from the minister, which was made previous to the last election. The roof is now on. People would be aware that during the wet season we do have problems with building, but the roof is on now. It is being fitted out and we are looking at an August opening. We have been running the after-hours service throughout the night in a facility nearby and have had some 28 representations, on average, each night. That saves people driving into Darwin to go to Darwin Hospital. It has been a fantastic thing for the community and I look forward to opening that with the minister and hopefully the Prime Minister in the near future.

Other projects are in law and order. We committed $2 million towards CCTV cameras in the CBD in the Casuarina area as well as in the Palmerston area, and I am happy to say that they have been rolled out and are now in operation.

When you take on politics you want to make a difference; we all say that. I am happy to be able to stand here tonight and talk about these projects. They were probably the four biggest commitments that we made. In addition to that, as we have gone along we have been very well looked after by the stimulus package—185 houses for Defence, which was fantastic. That kept our tradies working, kept our apprentices in jobs and kept infrastructure rolling along during the global financial crisis. I have a very good announcement to make on Friday with regard to social housing. That is something that as a government we cop criticism about from time to time from those opposite and from the media. We can be very proud of Tanya Plibersek as our Minister for Housing—the first ever—and the job that she has done, especially in that housing affordability and social housing space. I think that is significant.

What are the threats to what we do? I would ask my opponent, as all my colleagues are asking their opponents going forward: what programs are you going to cut? We have fought for a long time to have our doctors trained in the Northern Territory and now have a $30 million commitment. The building has started, but I have real reservations that if Tony Abbott becomes Prime Minister we are going to lose that. I need to know: is my opponent going to come out and stand up for the Northern Territory, or is she going to back down to Tony Abbott? One of the great programs that we ran during the global financial crisis was the Regional and Local Community Infrastructure Program. I know that my lord mayors in Darwin and Palmerston are really worried that the money they received and are going to receive into the future from the Rudd Labor government is in jeopardy. I know where the comments by the shadow finance minister point. When you start to use words like ‘discontinued’, that makes me very nervous as a Territorian and as the member for Solomon.

We have also committed $50 million to the expansion of port Darwin. Do we lose that? We need to know; she needs to come out and tell us if she is going to stand up for the Territory. (Time expired)