Page 4302 - Week 13 - Thursday, 4 December 2014
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The finances are a very important issue in all of this. There is a paragraph which I will read—it is bolded—in the “Committee comment” chapter:
The Committee notes that it has been asked to comment on a bill where the final impact on the bottom line is unknown. Furthermore, given the size of the appropriation in terms of the Territory’s annual budget—approximately about one fifth—the Committee has undertaken its consideration very cautiously.
I thank the Treasurer for being up-front––and his officials, particularly the Under Treasurer. I thought they were very frank in what they presented to us. They had, in the short time frame, made what they thought were reasonable assumptions. Until they get the response from the affected owners, it will be very hard for them to tell us accurately what will happen.
The reasonable cost of the buyback and demolition is there, but from thereon it is unclear. The Treasurer has committed, and we thank him for it, in the midyear update—due, as he well knows, no later than 15 February next year––to make all clear as best he can at that time. There will be an ongoing element and a changing element in all of this for some time until we really find out what people want to do.
That is why the final rec in the report says “notwithstanding the previous 61 recommendations”. We want this money to flow so that those people who want to move on can do so as quickly as they can. I think that, until the midyear review, the details and the impacts will remain unclear. One would hope the Treasurer’s assumptions have worked out reasonably well, but we will not know until at least February what this means.
I would like to finish by thanking you, Madam Speaker, for the efforts of your staff. They have done extraordinarily well. I say to the Clerk, again, thank you; and to Mr Snedden, the director of the committee secretariat, thank you for the support that was given to the committee. It only worked and we are only tabling this report today because of the efforts of your officers. So with that, thank you.
Members, the final point I will make is this. For those of you who have been here for some time, when we had the bushfires in 2003 and the government’s response, the response was ongoing for some time, particularly the support for the individuals who were affected. I think it finished in about 2006 and there were a number of debates in this place about shutting that support down.
I have had reports––and it is unconfirmed––that people have said that much of the trauma for those bushfire families came out years and years afterwards and that a significant number of relationships have ended, and there are still a significant number of individuals out there who suffer as a consequence of something they had no control over.
These people had no control over what they either purchased or inherited in their homes, because we told them it was clean––and they have a certificate that says it is clean. I would urge you, Chief Minister, to make sure there are adequate resources.
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