Nigel Scullion (NT, Country Liberal Party, Deputy Leader of the Nationals) Share this | Hansard source

I withdraw. That is quite fair. Mike Rann said to the Prime Minister: ‘Prime Minister, we’ve got this bit of legislation at the moment that won’t let me store my gear in the Northern Territory. If you can just give me the material I will call it “Commonwealth” and then it sort of fits in.’ Senator Crossin, I do hope you will support my amendment. My amendment ensures that all of the states and territories are charged because, except for the Northern Territory, all of them have decided ‘not in my backyard’. Every Territorian should agree that if the other states and territory are not storing waste in their backyards and want it to come to the Territory—they have all had an opportunity to provide a site, particularly South Australia because it does the best science—then they should be charged. It is not a penalty; it is simply a charge. If this service is to be foisted onto the Territory—except in terms of the land being provided voluntarily—then it is very, very important that that be the case. This is why I flagged the amendment that is being circulated.

We may not get to the committee stage of the bill; however, the amendment is about the creation of the Northern Territory Oncological Services Fund; it will establish that. So we will be able to say to those people who seek to get around the very good amendment that was placed before them: ‘You can’t just give waste to the Commonwealth and then it become Commonwealth waste. What you have to accept is that that is the mischief that the Scullion amendment intended to prevent.’ Hopefully, this amendment will provide the Northern Territory with funds that will go specifically to oncology. We do not have a very big invoicing base. Whilst we now have a very good oncology unit in Darwin, it is difficult to ensure sufficient staff or the provision of scholarships. We have a whole range of important cancer services there.

In closing, I make the following points. It was Labor who decided that we needed a process based on science. It was Labor who pulled out of the process based on science. It was Labor who said: ‘We’ll destroy the process when we are elected. We’re going to throw it away and we’re going to start again on science.’ Today, we are looking at a piece of legislation which Labor have introduced and which is still not based on science. I do not know how you rationalise this position. I cannot for the life of me understand where Labor are on this, apart from where they started. They are all about political expedience. The government do not care a fig for the health system of Australia. This is a very serious matter and they stand indicted for forcing this site onto the Territory. I am one of the ones responsible enough to take it on the chin, because we do need those very important health services. But the government stand indicted for promising that they would go away and withdraw the legislation and restart the process based on science. They have simply taken out one piece of legislation, slipped in another and said, ‘What about voting for this?’ The legislation is almost identical. Once again, the only thing they do better than waste and mismanagement is promise something and never deliver on it.