Delivering for Fong Lim – Year 1

Dr RAHMAN (Fong Lim): Madam Speaker, I am delighted to talk about the year in review, which everyone had an opportunity to do in respect of the government’s agenda. For my constituents of Fong Lim, I specifically wanted to draw attention to some of the things that I have worked hard, in partnership with others in this place, to deliver over the course of this year.

Nothing happens in this place without working with other people. I do not, for a second, lay claim to having achieved anything by myself without the help of others. It is the case that we represent individual constituencies, and it is extremely important that we let our members know what we have delivered for them across our wide and diverse electorates.

My electorate, as I have pointed out before, is made up of 12 remarkable locations which all require attention in different ways. It is not just about worrying about my boutique suburbs of Bayview and Stuart Park; it is also ensuring that I look after Charles Darwin National Park and people in The Narrows and Berrimah, fledgling new places. To my constituents across the electorate, I want to draw out a few things to give an indication of what I do when you do not see me like this in a suit, if you like, giving speeches in parliament.

Whilst I am on the topic of parliamentary contributions, it is important that members of the Assembly function as good local members, are out and about in the community and are good parliamentarians. That means making a proper contribution in the parliament. I am pleased to say that I have given close to 50 substantive speeches in the House in my first year, across a range of topics, and all those subjects and speeches I give are freely available on the digital office that my hardworking staff in my electorate and I have created. If you want to know what I have to say about the economy, police, housing, health or the arts, it is all there transparently for you to interrogate.

Beyond the innumerable events that we attend, representing ministers, parliamentary contributions and our community engagements, I will talk about a handful of specific things that I have managed to deliver for my electorate in my first year as the elected member.

Before doing so, I recognise a handful of ministers whom I have had the opportunity to work with closely to try to deliver specific outcomes. I also have had the opportunity to represent the Chief Minister on a number of occasions; the Minister for Trade, Business and Asian Relations in her multiple capacities in overseas engagement; the Minister for Arts on frequent occasions at festivals and artistic endeavours; and the Minister for Major Events. I am grateful to those ministers for the opportunity to fly the flag for the government and make a presence known at all these things. We are a team that shares the workload in that regard.

I have spoken about some of these things in small, but not exhaustive, detail. I have only a limited amount of time, so I will not go into forensic detail. One of my top 10 achievements for this year is the buses for Berrimah Northcrest. For five years children did not have buses to get from Berrimah Northcrest to any of the public schools in the northern suburbs, and now they do. I probably get more love, attention and fan mail from little kids regarding those buses than just about anything else. It warms my heart.

Security upgrades for Stuart Park Primary School—the minister for Education was good enough to help me on short notice to solve a problem which had been unsolved for a long time. Critical locks and doors had not been fixed as part of minor works upgrades. I got $50,000 worth of that sorted at the beginning of this year.

Council affiliation for Berrimah Northcrest—for 10 long years we have been waiting, and people are paying lump sum rates, not getting their garbage collected, cannot chip and tag their dog and cannot go to the tip. I worked with the government to get a commitment in Question Time when the minister committed to resolving this issue by the end of the year. In the meantime, I have surveyed the electorate, collated the data and presented it to the minister. If and when our council ever figures out who is in charge—the various councils in the election are in some sort of limbo—I am confident that the minister will act decisively and swiftly, using the information I provided.

With the Fong Lim Fanfare Festival I delivered in one year a festival that actually moved gross state product. It did not make billions of dollars, but it made hundreds of thousands in three days. It contributed to the arts in a new way, and I look forward to continuing that commitment. I want to expand that next year, Member for Karama, to include other electorates so that we can support our fledgling community arts and band programs.

I have plans drawn up for the revitalisation of the Stuart Park high street and had modelling done for it. We are at the consultation and costing stage. The government has been good enough to hear me out to this point and believes in the integrity of the project. The government is looking at how we will revitalise the Stuart Park high street, because it will be good for all of us, I promise you. The return on investment will be high and it will reinvigorate Stuart Park and The Gardens in my neighbouring electorate of Fannie Bay. We can create a precinct, a gentrifiable area, which the Territory has failed to do in the CBD, because the CBD is choked of blood flow. We have to get that area free-flowing, and it will have a huge knock-on effect for everyone else.

In the background I have been working with the Minister for Health and the Minister for International Education, Migration and Population on brokering new workforce pipelines in healthcare. Watch this space, because more is coming soon. We know how critically we need healthcare workers in the Northern Territory, and you will all tire of me next year; that becoming my new theme, if you like. Watch this space, it is coming.

The Narrows, I have not forgotten you. I know people have been looking at that hole in the ground in Shiers Street for years, and I have a straight answer; it is not good enough. I will hold my government to account to make sure that there is more than a hole in the ground there. I will also put pressure on the federal government to work with us to build aged-care living in The Narrows. It is the perfect place to build a retirement precinct. The money is available federally to do it, and in partnership with the federal government, we can do that. It is something we could work on together. It is unacceptable that sitting in the middle of this prime location is unused land because we do not have a better plan to get the money or make sure the site is ready to go. I will be fighting that corner.

I have not forgotten about you in Woolner. I am working with the Waters Ward Councillors to make sure that we turn Brian Chong Wee Park into a park that is usable, not just a strip of land in the middle of a beautiful place with a tonne of kids but no toilets, running water or amenity. I will make sure that, as soon as the council figures out who is in charge, Brian Chong Wee Park becomes the next destination and one of the venues I use for upcoming festivals.

Bayview has not been finalised for all these years, and I will, in partnership with the minister for Lands and Planning, ensure we cauterise that wound and have no more question marks about whether there will be a stage 3 and where or when it will happen. We will ensure there is finality to that project so that everyone in Bayview knows what will be there and what it will be good for. There is a small strip of land where the developer has an entitlement to build. That has been the case for decades, and we will resolve that issue. My constituents in Bayview—I have been talking to them about it for a number of months—know that is coming to you soon, publicly.

I am proud of my electorate staff. I thank my loyal electorate officer, who hates the limelight, James Perrin. He helped me set up my office. I not only have a physical office; I am proud to have a digital office. I am goading all my colleagues in the House; you should all have a digital office. In this day and age, everybody should be able to access the services we provide online. Tanzilrahman.com is where all the constituents of Fong Lim can find everything I do. I am accountable to you; you know where I am and what I am trying to deliver for you.

I had the opportunity, through the Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee, to attend the Scrutiny of Legislation Conference and to try to shepherd resolution of the voluntary assisted dying inquiry in partnership with my hardworking colleagues.

That is a little of what I have achieved in my first year, as well as being selected as a McKinnon Institute Advanced Political Leadership Scholar, and I am grateful for the opportunity.

I thank my constituents in Fong Lim for my first year. I look forward to working hard.