Luke Gosling (Solomon, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Yesterday I updated the House on the devastation caused by Cyclone Marcus up in the NT. There are still a lot of people suffering in the aftermath, with nearly 500 people still without power, but I did thank everyone who hooked in and helped each other, neighbours helping neighbours, emergency services, Defence and groups like the Darwin's Sikh community, who, when so many thousands of Darwinites were out of power, went and cooked meals and gave those meals to members of the community.

What I didn't mention was that, on the Wednesday after the cyclone, the Northern Territory Football League held the men's Premier League final at TIO Stadium in Darwin. The Darwin Buffaloes were unable to overcome the minor premiers, Southern Districts, but it was a ripper of a game, decided by just one point. Congratulations to the Crocs. I'd like to make a special mention of Darwin Buffaloes co-captain Jarrod Stokes, who played the game of his life and was awarded the Chaney Medal as best on the ground. Jarrod showed tremendous leadership throughout the finals campaign. I'd invite our Prime Minister to meet with Jarrod to learn about what true leadership is.

It did take the Prime Minister four days to pick up the phone to Darwin to ask how we were all going up there after that very damaging cyclone, which is unfortunate. From the people of Darwin and Palmerston, in my electorate: we are sick and tired, up in the Northern Territory, of being treated as second-class citizens. We heard yesterday in the chamber about the city deal for Western Sydney. But we've also heard from the minister, Minister Fletcher, that the city deal for Darwin won't even be signed this year. At a time when we need job-creating infrastructure hitting the ground in Darwin, there's nothing to be seen. In Western Sydney, they negotiated with eight different councils and the New South Wales government. We've got one council in Darwin, so I don't understand what the hold-up is. Perhaps it is to fit in with an election timetable. But get the money going. Come up and sign the deal.

We've had a $1.1 billion backflip on remote housing—not helpful—and $15 million cut from CDU—not helpful—and $16 million cut from NT's public hospitals—not helpful. We've also had actual cuts to our education budget. I'm not talking about how Labor would have spent more on education than the government; I'm talking about actual government cuts to the funding when we are in so much need of education across the expanse of the Northern Territory. It is not helpful.

The tourism sector is struggling. It is not just because of the backpacker tax; tourism is really struggling with airfares. The cost of airfares is keeping tourists away from the NT. So we've launched a Fair Fares NT campaign, and I ask Territorians to get behind it. We've got an inquiry into Darwin coming after Easter, and we need to get fairer fares into the Territory.