Mr HENDERSON - 2000-03-01
I have recently been provided with a pay slip of a tradesman, a fitter. I seek leave to table a copy of the pay slip.
Leave granted.
Mr HENDERSON: This fully qualified tradesman earns $643 a week. After deducting tax of $232 and rent of $260 a week, this family with 3 children is left with just $152 a week to live in a city with the highest prices in the country and which are about to get higher under the GST. Will the Treasurer please explain where are the benefits of the Territory’s economic growth rates for this skilled tradesman before he packs and leaves for Queensland?
ANSWER
First of all, Mr Speaker, the positive is that he has just answered his boss’s question. This fellow has a job, so don’t say that you can’t get a job in the Northern Territory. You’ve dispelled your boss’s argument - this fellow at least has a job.
Members interjecting.
Mr REED: Do you want the answer or not? You haven’t improved on yesterday’s performance, because you are again misleading Territorians. Yesterday, it was about health, today it’s about the new tax system. In his question the good member for Wanguri clearly made the statement that, ‘come 1 July with the GST, everyone will have to pay higher bills to sustain themselves’. That has been strongly refuted by one of the largest companies in the country that sell these workers their food. Woolworths believe that their range of food products will increase by 0.8%. I’ll remind honourable members that 80% of workers will get a pay rise in the form of reduced taxation of something in the order of between $40 to $50 per week.
I know how hard it must be for you, but you must try to tell the truth. I know it’s hard for him not to represent the facts in a way that suits his own political stance, but Territorians can see through what he’s all about.
Now, in relation to the wages that this particular employee is receiving, that is a matter for the work place. It’s a matter for the competitive nature of the private sector, it’s a matter for the unions, that the member fondly represents, to establish the wages, and it’s very much a market place situation that all workers find themselves in.
If he is suggesting that, as a government, the Labor Party would somehow be subsidising people or interfering in the determination of these wages, then I would like to hear more of that particular policy. Mind you, they have no policies. I draw into question the interpretation that he has placed upon the facts as he represents them The fact that he has mentioned a particular level of tax in relation to a particular income level, I have to question the validity of that and as to whether he is being absolutely truthful in that regard. He has been caught out on the fact that there is no jobs in the Northern Territory. He has obviously indicated that at least one person has got a job. He has been caught out on the fact that people are going to be worse off because of the food costs, as he alluded to, and even Woolworths refute that.
We have a strong economy, we have people who if they want a job can get a job. The last time you raised this, last week, when the Leader of the Opposition raised this issue and said there were no jobs, I had a mango grower ring up my office and say: ‘I’ve got the jobs, I want people to fill them’. That is the reverse to what the Leader of the Opposition is putting. There are people out there looking for workers to fill the vacancies they have. That is a position that we should be very pleased with. Last year we had 3% growth in employment in the Northern Territory. Recognise the positives, do not be so negative, do not be such a down-in-the mouth soul who keeps trying to put the Territory down instead of elevating it to a position that it should be recognised for.
Leave granted.
Mr HENDERSON: This fully qualified tradesman earns $643 a week. After deducting tax of $232 and rent of $260 a week, this family with 3 children is left with just $152 a week to live in a city with the highest prices in the country and which are about to get higher under the GST. Will the Treasurer please explain where are the benefits of the Territory’s economic growth rates for this skilled tradesman before he packs and leaves for Queensland?
ANSWER
First of all, Mr Speaker, the positive is that he has just answered his boss’s question. This fellow has a job, so don’t say that you can’t get a job in the Northern Territory. You’ve dispelled your boss’s argument - this fellow at least has a job.
Members interjecting.
Mr REED: Do you want the answer or not? You haven’t improved on yesterday’s performance, because you are again misleading Territorians. Yesterday, it was about health, today it’s about the new tax system. In his question the good member for Wanguri clearly made the statement that, ‘come 1 July with the GST, everyone will have to pay higher bills to sustain themselves’. That has been strongly refuted by one of the largest companies in the country that sell these workers their food. Woolworths believe that their range of food products will increase by 0.8%. I’ll remind honourable members that 80% of workers will get a pay rise in the form of reduced taxation of something in the order of between $40 to $50 per week.
I know how hard it must be for you, but you must try to tell the truth. I know it’s hard for him not to represent the facts in a way that suits his own political stance, but Territorians can see through what he’s all about.
Now, in relation to the wages that this particular employee is receiving, that is a matter for the work place. It’s a matter for the competitive nature of the private sector, it’s a matter for the unions, that the member fondly represents, to establish the wages, and it’s very much a market place situation that all workers find themselves in.
If he is suggesting that, as a government, the Labor Party would somehow be subsidising people or interfering in the determination of these wages, then I would like to hear more of that particular policy. Mind you, they have no policies. I draw into question the interpretation that he has placed upon the facts as he represents them The fact that he has mentioned a particular level of tax in relation to a particular income level, I have to question the validity of that and as to whether he is being absolutely truthful in that regard. He has been caught out on the fact that there is no jobs in the Northern Territory. He has obviously indicated that at least one person has got a job. He has been caught out on the fact that people are going to be worse off because of the food costs, as he alluded to, and even Woolworths refute that.
We have a strong economy, we have people who if they want a job can get a job. The last time you raised this, last week, when the Leader of the Opposition raised this issue and said there were no jobs, I had a mango grower ring up my office and say: ‘I’ve got the jobs, I want people to fill them’. That is the reverse to what the Leader of the Opposition is putting. There are people out there looking for workers to fill the vacancies they have. That is a position that we should be very pleased with. Last year we had 3% growth in employment in the Northern Territory. Recognise the positives, do not be so negative, do not be such a down-in-the mouth soul who keeps trying to put the Territory down instead of elevating it to a position that it should be recognised for.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016