Trish Crossin (NT, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Minister, I want to pick up where we left off before the dinner break—that is, your declaration that people would no longer need a permit to travel on the road between the Stuart Highway and Nhulunbuy. Can you advise me what this government is proposing in two aspects there. You would be well aware that the current permit system has been required on that road for people’s safety. It is extremely unsafe at times, and extremely corrugated. There are two rivers to cross, one of which is the Goyder, which can be extremely unsafe. My advice from the land council is that the issuing of permits was not so much so that people did not go where they were not advised to go but as a safety measure. After the permit was issued, if you went across that road and you had not arrived in 48 hours people started to be concerned about your safety. There is no mobile phone coverage along the road. We are talking about a 780-kilometre stretch here. People I have spoken to recently tell me that satellite coverage is intermittent. So, in revoking the permit system, what is this government’s plan to protect the safety of people who travel on that road?

Secondly, Dhimurru land management people tell me that tracking the number of people who use that road by permit allows them to also track the quality of the road, to get an idea of how much it is being used and when they ought to get out there and grade it. If this is now not something that can be monitored through the permit system, what are the federal government’s plans for both of those measures in the future?