Brennan newsPeter Chandler Mla Member for Brennan

Peter Chandler MlaMember for Brennan shop 2 Palmerston shopping Centre PO Box 3668 Palmerston nt 0831

tel: 08 8999 5587

Fax: 08 8932 7488

email: electorate.brennan@nt.gov.au

February 2013

getting government debt under control

some of the recent price increases, particularly Powerwater charges have not been received well in the community. I appreciate how these charges can affect families. the reality, however, when faced with the territory’s deteriorating debt position required immediate action and the new government is taking responsibility now before this debt level becomes unsustainable. Currently the government is paying over $750,000 a day just to meet its interest payments. Left unchecked this was likely

to rise to over $1,000,000 a day. that is not paying off the debt, just meeting the interest payments! Imagine what you could do in the community with that money? new schools, new services, infrastructure, more police and ambulance services, the list is endless. It is a serious problem that can’t be ignored. Our job now is to cut government waste, get the debt under control and to work hard releasing land, supporting the construction of new homes and focusing on delivering good governance.

help reduce graffiti in our communityGraffiti has again become problematic in some areas around Brennan. I along with the Member for drysdale, lia Finocchiaro wrote to Council and Government departments to see what action could be taken to tackle graffiti. I was incensed at the wonton use of graffiti on the 17 mile world war II displays in Johnston. Both lia and I met with Palmerston police who advised recent action has been taken against graffiti offenders. This was only possible through people taking photos and reporting graffiti when it occurs and we work to remove it as soon as possible. I encourage you

to report graffiti direct to the nt Police by phoning 131 444. Police will issue you with a police report reference number.

take a photo if you can, and email the photo and police report reference number to the nt Police Graffiti Task Force ongraffiti.taskforce@pfes.nt.gov.au

territorians must – above all else – feel safe in their homes and on the streets. this is the highest priority and a fundamental responsibility of your government.It is obviously not possible to prevent all crime but there are ways of minimising anti-social and offensive behaviour.within two weeks of winning the election the new government launched a recruitment campaign to

attract new officers to the northern territory police force. A key platform of the election campaign was to deliver 120 new police on the beat.In november the Chief Minister presided over the largest single intake in the territory’s history when 84 officers were sworn in. Since then an additional 30 officers have been deployed to alice Springs police station.But this increased presence of

police officers on our streets is just one ingredient in a mix designed to reduce crime.new laws have been passed that will give judges the power to impose tougher sentences on violent offenders convicted of one-punch homicides. two new “boot” camps designed to reform youth justice are to be trialled later this year and serious offenders now face mandatory minimum

sentences of three months for a first offence or 12 months for subsequent offences.Offenders who assault workers and cause physical harm will face three months mandatory imprisonment.My government is realistic and acknowledges that changing criminal behaviour patterns will take some time. But we are resolved to fix this unacceptable state of affairs.

Safety at home and on the streets

Brennan news

Federal Member for solomon natasha Griggs MP is pleased to announce the next round of Local Sporting Champions Grants are now open.

Grants of up to $500 for individuals and $3000 for teams are available for individuals, teams, coaches or umpires between 12-18 years who participate in official national sporting organisation (NSO) endorsed state/territory, national or international sporting championships. this includes school sport australian state/territory championships.

Our remoteness puts additional pressure on

families to absorb the costs associated with playing sport at a national level.

Local Sporting Champion Grants were created to help young people reach their sporting ambitions by assisting with competition expenses such as travel, accommodation, uniforms and equipment.

to apply for a solomon Local Sporting Champions grant application forms are available online at www.natashagriggs.com.au or by phoning natasha Griggs’ electorate office on 8981 3434. Alternatively, drop into my office for an application form.

sOlOMOn lOCal sPOrtInG ChaMPIOns Grants

Under the previous government, queues at the MVR often extended out the door and the wait time to be served was excessive.

Immediately upon gaining office the government started working to make fixing the wait times in the MVR an absolute priority.

The first action was to open the MVR on Saturday mornings and this was done within weeks of government assuming office.

There was still much more to be done to ease the pressure on the MVR staff and to provide greater convenience for territorians.

While there were some online options available for conducting registration and licence renewals, the take up was not good.

to encourage the take up of these services the government proposed a $20 fee to take effect on 1 July 2013 for any transactions that were completed in an MVR office that could have been done online.

while this proposed fee was not popular with Territorians, its proposal has seen a significant take up of alternative and more convenient payment options.

We have heard loud and clear the opposition to the proposed $20 fee from the community and in light of your concerns as well as in light of the significant change in behaviour in the take up of online payment options, the proposed $20 fee will be scrapped.

I urge all Territorians to continue to use the more flexible and convenient MVR payment options as we all have much better things to do than waiting in a queue in MVR.

beloW: Chief Minister terry Mills, transport Minister adam Giles and my Palmerston colleague lia Finocchiaro announcing the changes recently.

$20 propoSed mvr fee Scrapped

$75 SpORTS VOUCheR FOR FAMILIeSas a parent myself, I understand the cost of registering children in sports is a major expense for territory families.A large part of registration fees goes into insurance cover for children who participate in sport. To help ease the cost of living

pressures on families and to increase sports participation among children, as part of our election commitment we have introduced a sports assistance scheme.For further information, drop into my office.

we are delivering on our election commitment to provide $150,000 a year for a toy and equipment program in long day care services. Palmerston early learning Centre will receive between $85 and

$87 per child in June/July this year and every second year thereafter.

tOy & equIPMent Grant PrOGraM

Brennan news Supporting our community

On the 1st January 2013 the standard electricity meter prices went up from 21.7cents per kilowatt hour to 27.87cents per kilowatt hour and the fixed daily charge of 40.07cents per day went up to 52.09cents.

For the average territorian this increase will add between $9 and $19 a week to their electricity costs.

Power and water Corporation needs to generate enough revenue to pay for vital infrastructure upgrades

and cannot continue to pull the territory further into unsustainable debt.

the northern territory’s electricity prices are still below the national average despite being a relatively high cost jurisdiction.

Following the 2008 Casuarina sub-station melt down the former government commissioned an independent review. the reeves review recommended massive infrastructure program electricity price increases of 40%.

For political reasons the labor government ignored the findings of its own review and failed to increase power prices to pay for the infrastructure roll-out.

this created a dangerous debt bubble that would have seen debt hit $2 billion if the Mills government hadn’t taken action.

The build-up of debt by Power and water was a legacy of the previous government’s blatant disregard for the Corporation’s long term sustainability.

there has been a lot of talk of the graphs being

removed from accounts; this is not true, the graphs are an important tool for you to see how your consumption has increased or decreased and how you average across australia.

If you have a query on your bill or you feel it is not correct, please contact Power and water on 1800 245 092 or bring it into my office.

small businesses should contact ecoBiz for assistance in reducing their energy costs by calling 89995309.

NT pOWeR pRICeS - The FACTS

Farewell & welCOMeIt is with regret that we all have to say goodbye to someone very special to me and special to so many within our community. My electorate Officer Marlise is leaving on the 22 March and moving to Perth with her family. Marlise has been the front line for the Brennan Office for the last few years and her dedication to the role and the community has

been second to none. I may be biased but I sincerely wish Marlise, henrique and luke all the very best for the future and heartfelt thanks for everything you have done.I would also like to take this opportunity to welcome Ben Dawson to the office who I am sure will do a marvellous job. If you have any issues, want to book the community

room or need to make an appointment; please don’t hesitate to contact Ben at the electorate Office on telephone 89327477.

Brennan news