Labor to invest $200m to upgrade remote Territory roads if it wins at the federal election

Anthony Albanese said a federal Labor government will invest in NT road upgrades if it wins this year’s election.

A FEDERAL Labor government will invest $200m to upgrade remote Territory roads if it wins this year’s election.

Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese launched the Labor Party’s strategic roads package at the Arnhem Land Progress Aboriginal Corporation’s (ALPA) headquarters at East Arm on Sunday.

Mr Albanese said the package would improve safety, open up remote economies and create jobs.

“You are 11 times more likely to have a fatality on a remote community road as you do in a capital city,” he said.

“That’s why this announcement … of a $200m Northern Territory strategic roads package is so important.

“It’s about safety but it’s also about economic activity.

“It’s about employment. It’s about making sure, particularly during the wet season, that you can continue to have this activity.

“We’ve looked already at a range of projects at Santa Teresa Rd, Mereenie Loop Rd, all-weather access to Maningrida and other places like Milingimbi barge landing.

“We’ll work through a plan with the NT government, with local communities to make sure that we deliver bang for the buck when it comes to this $200m.”

Mr Albanese stopped short of committing to fully sealing the Mereenie Loop despite the bitumen rollout – and promises – beginning more than 20 years ago.

“We can’t put a date on it because we have to sit down with the NT government and work these issues through,” he said.

Meanwhile, NT senator Malarndirri McCarthy and Labor candidate for Lingiari Marion Scrymgour both indicated support for the full-sealing of the road into Arnhem Land before the area’s 100th anniversary.

Proclaimed by the commonwealth as the Arnhem Land Aboriginal reserve in 1931, there is a view that a sealed road into towns such as Nhulunbuy is overdue.

“I certainly want to see that happen,” Senator McCarthy said.

“It’s something that both Marion and I will be doing and pushing for through our First Nation’s caucus with the federal Labor Party.”

Senator McCarthy’s remote roads priorities include Milingimbi barge landing and roads into Ramingining and Maningrida.

Albo to consider Port ownership, vows rights on euthanasia

ANTHONY Albanese will reconsider the Port of Darwin’s Chinese ownership if he’s elected as Prime Minister.

In an exclusive interview with the NT News on Friday, the Labor leader also pledged to give Territorians the freedom to legislate for themselves on the issue of voluntary euthanasia.

Mr Albanese said a referendum on the Indigenous voice to parliament would be held either in his first term, or at the next election due in 2025, and that a Labor government would build more remote housing to ease overcrowding in Indigenous Territory communities.

And he paid tribute to the legacy of outgoing Lingiari MP Warren Snowdon, while staying mum on whether Solomon MP Luke Gosling was being primed for a ministerial gig.

Mr Albanese jetted into Darwin on Friday ahead of Bombing of Darwin commemorations on Saturday.

But the Opposition Leader was also in town to help shore up his party’s chances of retaining control of Lingiari and Solomon, the Territory’s two federal seats, ahead of the looming election due by the end of May. After years of frustration, in which one of the Coalition’s own senators tried and failed to restore the Territory’s rights to legislate around voluntary euthanasia, Mr Albanese made his position clear.

Australian Labor Party Leader Anthony Albanese. Photograph: Cameron Bates

“I believe it’s a matter for the Northern Territory,” he said. “I think the Northern Territory is a mature jurisdiction (and) Northern Territorians should enjoy the same rights as every Australian.”

The Territory legalised voluntary euthanasia in 1995, only to have the Commonwealth strip it of that right a year later.

In the last decade, most Australian states have legalised euthanasia. However, both the NT and Australian Capital Territory have remained unable to legislate the issue.

Mr Albanese also vowed there would be a review of the Port of Darwin’s ownership if he were to win power, saying he had opposed the move back when the lease was signed in 2015.

“We’d give consideration to it,” he said.

The Labor leader has been under sustained attack from the Prime Minister, who has accused Mr Albanese of being too soft on China.

Mr Albanese has rejected that accusation, spruiking his credentials in dealing with the United States.

He also accused Scott Morrison of playing politics with national security.

“Something that has characterised this prime minister in particular is everything is just a short term political frame – ‘what’s the politics, or how do I secure a wedge in political advantage in the next 24 hours?’.

“The problem with that is that it doesn’t set up the country for stability and growth going forward, it doesn’t present a plan for the future.”

In recent months, the NT News has reported around chronic overcrowding and poor conditions in remote Indigenous housing across the Northern Territory.

While housing is a responsibility of the NT government, Mr Albanese said his Future Housing Fund would include dedicated funding for Indigenous housing.

Labor’s website says an Albanese government will spend $200m on repair, maintenance and improvements on remote Indigenous housing.

“Covid has really shone a light on that as well, it was of great concern that if you have outbreaks where there’s overcrowding, then you’re obviously going to get potentially very very bad outcomes,” Mr Albanese said.

Hon Warren Snowdon MP (left) is retiring at the next election, while Mr Albanese has spoken highly of Luke Gosling (right). Picture: Che Chorley

“So yes, there will be additional investment.”

Mr Albanese said he also supported giving First Nations people a voice to parliament, and promised a referendum “as soon as possible”.

“There’s been very little advance (in closing the gap),” Mr Albanese said about the current government’s performance.

The upcoming federal election will be the first in decades not contested by Warren Snowdon, after the Lingiari MP decided to retire.

Labor hopes former deputy chief minister Marion Scrymgour will replace Mr Snowdon in the seat, which is being hotly contested by the CLP’s Damien Ryan.

Mr Albanese said Snowdon’s departure would “leave a gap” but expressed optimism about Ms Scrymgour’s odds.

“He’s so passionate about Indigenous affairs in particular.” Solomon MP Luke Gosling, who has been appearing prominently alongside Labor politicians in recent months, introduced Mr Albanese at a press conference on Friday.

Mr Albanese said Mr Gosling was making a “great contribution both as a local member but also in the caucus”, in areas such as defence policy and regional ties with Indonesia. But the Labor leader was mum on whether Mr Gosling would be elevated to a ministry. “Those decisions are made by the caucus,” he said.

Labor pledge to give Aboriginal health service permanent home

FEDERAL Labor have pledged $11.6m toward Danila Dilba to help the Darwin-based Aboriginal health service establish a permanent home in Palmerston.

The NT News can reveal the Federal Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese will announce a funding package for Danila Dilba on Friday.

It will be part of a federal Labor push to strengthen health services in the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The pledge is a further sign the federal election campaign is well and truly underway, with Australians expected to go to the polls by the end of May.

Labor Solomon MP Luke Gosling said the pledged funds would help Indigenous people gain access to better health services in the Darwin area.

“Danila Dilba, as the Aboriginal medical service for greater Darwin, provides a vital culturally appropriate health service for Territorians,” Mr Gosling said.

Member for Solomon Luke Gosling said the current Danila Dilba clinic was too small. Picture: Floss Adams.

“There is massive need in Palmerston for these health services; however, the current clinic is too small and doesn’t have the capacity to deal with the increasing patient loads.

“Together with the Palmerston Hospital, a new Danila Dilba clinic in the Palmerston region will mean that health services are more accessible, and we’ll see better health outcomes for all.

“I’m proud to have secured this commitment from Federal Labor for our local community, who deserve the best healthcare possible.”

In the Territory, the seat of Lingiari – which takes in Palmerston – is considered in play between the CLP’s Damien Ryan and Labor’s Marion Scrymgour, after the retirement of longserving Labor MP Warren Snowden.

Danila Dilba chief executive Rob McPhee. Picture: Amanda Parkinson

Mr Gosling is also defending his seat of Solomon, taking in much of Darwin, from the CLP’s Tina MacFarlane.

Labor have already promised $7.5m toward overhauling the Casuarina Swimming Pool for the first time since the 1980s.

Originally published as Labor to invest $200m to upgrade remote Territory roads if it wins at the federal election