Ms MARTIN - 2000-03-01
Since 1990-91 the Territory has had economic growth in real terms of 30%. Yet, by January 2000 there were only 500 more full time jobs in the Territory than a decade earlier.
Chief Minister, will you tell Territorians why your economic management has resulted in just 50 extra full time jobs per year since January 1990?
ANSWER
Mr Speaker, they are astounding assertions being made by the Leader of the Opposition and certainly cannot be backed up by the facts. I am looking at a newspaper report from Saturday 5 February, where it states that retail sales jumped $150m to a new high. I notice the latest Yellow Pages Small Business Report states that the Northern Territory expectations for the current quarter are much brighter with significant improvements predicted in sales, employment, profitability, capital expenditure and prices.
This is interesting. The Northern Territory government retained its position as a clear leader among its small business constituents and is now a remarkable 58 percentage points ahead of the average of all the states and territories. That report and others come on top of the BIS Shrapnel report that predicts doubling of the Northern Territory economy, and the Access Economics Report that predicts economic growth for the Northern Territory will average 9% per year over the next 5 years.
Ms Martin: 50 jobs per year.
Mr BURKE: The Leader of the Opposition says that only 50 jobs per year have been created in the Northern Territory. I cannot answer that off the top of my head. I certainly take the allegation on board and, as with most things that come from the opposition, we will have it checked out and in due course we will provide the response which generally shows that the opposition is good at raising allegations that at the end of the day have no substance.
Chief Minister, will you tell Territorians why your economic management has resulted in just 50 extra full time jobs per year since January 1990?
ANSWER
Mr Speaker, they are astounding assertions being made by the Leader of the Opposition and certainly cannot be backed up by the facts. I am looking at a newspaper report from Saturday 5 February, where it states that retail sales jumped $150m to a new high. I notice the latest Yellow Pages Small Business Report states that the Northern Territory expectations for the current quarter are much brighter with significant improvements predicted in sales, employment, profitability, capital expenditure and prices.
This is interesting. The Northern Territory government retained its position as a clear leader among its small business constituents and is now a remarkable 58 percentage points ahead of the average of all the states and territories. That report and others come on top of the BIS Shrapnel report that predicts doubling of the Northern Territory economy, and the Access Economics Report that predicts economic growth for the Northern Territory will average 9% per year over the next 5 years.
Ms Martin: 50 jobs per year.
Mr BURKE: The Leader of the Opposition says that only 50 jobs per year have been created in the Northern Territory. I cannot answer that off the top of my head. I certainly take the allegation on board and, as with most things that come from the opposition, we will have it checked out and in due course we will provide the response which generally shows that the opposition is good at raising allegations that at the end of the day have no substance.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016