Mr LUGG - 1999-02-16
Mr Speaker, first of all, my congratulations to yourself on your election to the Chair.
The Leader of the Opposition has claimed this morning that if the 7000-odd CDEP participants were to be included in calculating the unemployment rate in the Territory, it would be over 15%. Would the Treasurer please comment on this?
Members interjecting.
ANSWER
Mr Speaker,interestingly, by way of interjection both the Leader of the Opposition and the Deputy Leader of the Opposition confirm the 15% allegation. And that’s all you can call it.
Members interjecting.
Mr SPEAKER: Order!
Mr REED: Here we go! Half an hour and we can’t have a peaceful Question Time. It took them half an hour to break their own rules, so that might be an indication as to where we are heading in these sittings. That would be unfortunate if that is the case.
The fact is that if the 7000-odd persons that the Leader of the Opposition suggested could be added to the unemployment figures increased the real unemployment in the Northern Territory to 15%, we cannot find any way to justify that figure at all. You might be able to squeeze it up to 12.9%, but that is still 2.1% below the alleged 15% figure.
I would like the honourable Leader of the Opposition, if she is going to be espousing honesty and openness, to disclose the source of her information. She might disclose to Territorians the source of the information that led her to the 15% figure - and indeed, the other unemployment figures that she quoted this morning.
It has been a matter of great angst to the Labor Party that the Northern Territory has had the lowest unemployment rate in this country for many years ...
Members interjecting.
Mr SPEAKER: Order!
Mr REED: They object to it, and they object to the CDEP recipients being included in the employment figures. I want people to remember that it was a federal Labor Party that introduced the CDEP program. It was a federal Labor Party that said: ‘Thou shalt not include CDEP workers in the unemployment figures’. That is the process that is continuing today. It is not being done by this government. They are totally independent figures. It happens to be that the Australian Bureau of Statistics and the International Labour Organisation apply the definitions which include CDEP recipients in the employment figures.
It is a question of these independent bodies, internationally the ILO and nationally the ABS, telling Territorians of the great success that they enjoy in having the lowest unemployment figures in the country. What is it that you don’t like about success? What is that you don’t like about the highest economic growth in the country? What is it that you don’t like about the greatest population growth in the country occurring here in the Northern Territory? What is it that they don’t like about the Northern Territory having the lowest unemployment rates in the country as assessed by independent bodies?
Ms Martin: Because it is not!
Mr REED: If the Leader of the Opposition alleges they are not, as she has just interjected, I would ask her to disclose to Territorians the source of her figures, to justify them to Territorians, and to demonstrate the validity of her figures and her allegations against the ABS and against the ILO definitions as to how the unemployment and the employment figures should be assessed. And, of course, to balance those against the statistics of the other states in the federation of Australia.
It is clearly demonstrated, as the Chief Minister implied earlier, that the Leader of the Opposition might well be embarking on her job as the Leader of the Opposition by doing what she did when she first went into politics, and that is she starts off by lying. But she has an opportunity to be able to justify it by releasing the source of the figures. Come square with it.
The Leader of the Opposition has claimed this morning that if the 7000-odd CDEP participants were to be included in calculating the unemployment rate in the Territory, it would be over 15%. Would the Treasurer please comment on this?
Members interjecting.
ANSWER
Mr Speaker,interestingly, by way of interjection both the Leader of the Opposition and the Deputy Leader of the Opposition confirm the 15% allegation. And that’s all you can call it.
Members interjecting.
Mr SPEAKER: Order!
Mr REED: Here we go! Half an hour and we can’t have a peaceful Question Time. It took them half an hour to break their own rules, so that might be an indication as to where we are heading in these sittings. That would be unfortunate if that is the case.
The fact is that if the 7000-odd persons that the Leader of the Opposition suggested could be added to the unemployment figures increased the real unemployment in the Northern Territory to 15%, we cannot find any way to justify that figure at all. You might be able to squeeze it up to 12.9%, but that is still 2.1% below the alleged 15% figure.
I would like the honourable Leader of the Opposition, if she is going to be espousing honesty and openness, to disclose the source of her information. She might disclose to Territorians the source of the information that led her to the 15% figure - and indeed, the other unemployment figures that she quoted this morning.
It has been a matter of great angst to the Labor Party that the Northern Territory has had the lowest unemployment rate in this country for many years ...
Members interjecting.
Mr SPEAKER: Order!
Mr REED: They object to it, and they object to the CDEP recipients being included in the employment figures. I want people to remember that it was a federal Labor Party that introduced the CDEP program. It was a federal Labor Party that said: ‘Thou shalt not include CDEP workers in the unemployment figures’. That is the process that is continuing today. It is not being done by this government. They are totally independent figures. It happens to be that the Australian Bureau of Statistics and the International Labour Organisation apply the definitions which include CDEP recipients in the employment figures.
It is a question of these independent bodies, internationally the ILO and nationally the ABS, telling Territorians of the great success that they enjoy in having the lowest unemployment figures in the country. What is it that you don’t like about success? What is that you don’t like about the highest economic growth in the country? What is it that you don’t like about the greatest population growth in the country occurring here in the Northern Territory? What is it that they don’t like about the Northern Territory having the lowest unemployment rates in the country as assessed by independent bodies?
Ms Martin: Because it is not!
Mr REED: If the Leader of the Opposition alleges they are not, as she has just interjected, I would ask her to disclose to Territorians the source of her figures, to justify them to Territorians, and to demonstrate the validity of her figures and her allegations against the ABS and against the ILO definitions as to how the unemployment and the employment figures should be assessed. And, of course, to balance those against the statistics of the other states in the federation of Australia.
It is clearly demonstrated, as the Chief Minister implied earlier, that the Leader of the Opposition might well be embarking on her job as the Leader of the Opposition by doing what she did when she first went into politics, and that is she starts off by lying. But she has an opportunity to be able to justify it by releasing the source of the figures. Come square with it.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016