Mr STIRLING - 1998-04-29
Yesterday, his budget imposed over $1000 of extra expenditure on Territory households between now and the next Territory election. His budget hiked up power charges by $105 per year, water and sewerage charges by $150 per year, bus fares by $50 per person per year and rents for many in the public sector by $60 per week. All these charges will sting low- and middle-income earners and hit them proportionately much harder than the Country Liberal Party's Silver Circle mates. Why has the Treasurer sunk the boot into ordinary Territorians?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, principally it is because this is a government of responsibility and one that pursues sound financial management. The opposition has several other approaches to such matters. The first is, if there is a problem, to throw money at it and not worry about the consequences or how it will be paid for. If it does not take that course, it calls for an inquiry. It requires an investigation or a royal commission. Its third approach is to ignore the problem and hope it will go away. That is fine for a party in opposition, but a government cannot adopt that attitude.
The hollowness of the member for Nhulunbuy's question is demonstrated by the fact that he has to put it in terms of what will happen over 3 or 4 years to try to make the cost impost sound more dramatic than it really is. If we had been able to avoid increasing costs, we would have done so. Obviously, that would be the preference of any government. However, that would have been an entirely irresponsible action.
The cost of gas for generating electricity has risen by 40%. The capital cost of providing expanded reticulation systems and generation capacity has been enormous. The water supply to Territorians, even after the increases, is still heavily subsidised. Costs in the Northern Territory are the second-lowest in the country. The combined increased cost for the average household for water, sewerage and electricity from this budget is about $3.60 per week. This is an impost that we would have preferred not to put on Territorians. However, as business people said to me after a budget presentation function this morning, these costs are not extreme. From a business point of view, there are some offsets. Off-peak power is now available for 12 hours a day instead of 8 hours. The cost of commercial electricity has risen by just over one-tenth of 1, and the cost of domestic electricity has risen by just under nine-tenths of 1. That equates to about half the cost of a packet of cigarettes per week. That, in basic terms, is the extra impost that Territorians will experience from those increases.
Members opposite should not ignore the positives. They should not stand in here and draw out the negatives purely for political gain and in order to mislead people. They should tell Territorians about the increased access for the commercial sector to off-peak power. They should talk about the additional money that is being contributed by the government for tourism promotion. They should talk about the additional money that contractors will earn. More contractors will be employing people, enabling people to earn a dollar, spend it in the Territory and enjoy the Territory lifestyle.
An extra $28m is available for repairs and maintenance. Health services for Territorians will be expanded, and there will be more schools. We will be upgrading classrooms. We will be building better university facilities, with a $5m facility at the Palmerston campus. We will be improving trade school training and all those young Territorians who are leaving school will be able to avail themselves of the additional trade school classes that this government has put in place because of the high levels of employment, the high level of activity in this economy and the continued population growth.
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It is a good budget. It is a budget that Territorians will benefit from. That is what is galling to members opposite because they are too incompetent to understand it. They cannot even read and understand the budget documents. The fact is that most of the reductions across agencies mentioned in questions today are linked to the Katherine flood. For example, the Department of Education in Katherine had to rebuild 2 primary schools. That involves millions of dollars of expenditure. Hopefully, it will not need to rebuild them again this year. It will not need that money again. During the course of 1997-98, that additional money was provided to build those 2 schools. The department will not need to do that again in 1998-99, thus a decrease appears in the increased budget it received last year. The same applies to the Department of Sport and Recreation which received $0.55m to help sporting clubs and groups in Katherine after the flood. They will not need that assistance again. It applies also to Territory Health Services.
Each year, members opposite fail to understand the budget documents. This year, in a mood of cooperation and assistance, we have provided additional information in the form of the budget overview. It provides information in more simple terms. The opposition does not have the capacity to read through the big books. Labor members see a big book and they are frightened. They do not pick it up because there is too much in it and they cannot absorb it. I cannot put it in simpler terms. All they have to do is read the document and they will understand that the Northern Territory has the strongest economic growth in the country. It has the highest population growth in the country and it has the lowest unemployment, as it has had for years. This is the place to be. This is the future of the country. Anyone bringing up children here can see a bright and prosperous future for them.
Madam SPEAKER: I advise the opposition Whip that any time he wishes to look at my records of the number of questions, he is more than welcome to do so. I think it would be appropriate if the member for Wanguri returned to the Chamber to listen to the Leader of the Opposition's reply to the budget.
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ANSWER
Madam Speaker, principally it is because this is a government of responsibility and one that pursues sound financial management. The opposition has several other approaches to such matters. The first is, if there is a problem, to throw money at it and not worry about the consequences or how it will be paid for. If it does not take that course, it calls for an inquiry. It requires an investigation or a royal commission. Its third approach is to ignore the problem and hope it will go away. That is fine for a party in opposition, but a government cannot adopt that attitude.
The hollowness of the member for Nhulunbuy's question is demonstrated by the fact that he has to put it in terms of what will happen over 3 or 4 years to try to make the cost impost sound more dramatic than it really is. If we had been able to avoid increasing costs, we would have done so. Obviously, that would be the preference of any government. However, that would have been an entirely irresponsible action.
The cost of gas for generating electricity has risen by 40%. The capital cost of providing expanded reticulation systems and generation capacity has been enormous. The water supply to Territorians, even after the increases, is still heavily subsidised. Costs in the Northern Territory are the second-lowest in the country. The combined increased cost for the average household for water, sewerage and electricity from this budget is about $3.60 per week. This is an impost that we would have preferred not to put on Territorians. However, as business people said to me after a budget presentation function this morning, these costs are not extreme. From a business point of view, there are some offsets. Off-peak power is now available for 12 hours a day instead of 8 hours. The cost of commercial electricity has risen by just over one-tenth of 1, and the cost of domestic electricity has risen by just under nine-tenths of 1. That equates to about half the cost of a packet of cigarettes per week. That, in basic terms, is the extra impost that Territorians will experience from those increases.
Members opposite should not ignore the positives. They should not stand in here and draw out the negatives purely for political gain and in order to mislead people. They should tell Territorians about the increased access for the commercial sector to off-peak power. They should talk about the additional money that is being contributed by the government for tourism promotion. They should talk about the additional money that contractors will earn. More contractors will be employing people, enabling people to earn a dollar, spend it in the Territory and enjoy the Territory lifestyle.
An extra $28m is available for repairs and maintenance. Health services for Territorians will be expanded, and there will be more schools. We will be upgrading classrooms. We will be building better university facilities, with a $5m facility at the Palmerston campus. We will be improving trade school training and all those young Territorians who are leaving school will be able to avail themselves of the additional trade school classes that this government has put in place because of the high levels of employment, the high level of activity in this economy and the continued population growth.
Page 225
It is a good budget. It is a budget that Territorians will benefit from. That is what is galling to members opposite because they are too incompetent to understand it. They cannot even read and understand the budget documents. The fact is that most of the reductions across agencies mentioned in questions today are linked to the Katherine flood. For example, the Department of Education in Katherine had to rebuild 2 primary schools. That involves millions of dollars of expenditure. Hopefully, it will not need to rebuild them again this year. It will not need that money again. During the course of 1997-98, that additional money was provided to build those 2 schools. The department will not need to do that again in 1998-99, thus a decrease appears in the increased budget it received last year. The same applies to the Department of Sport and Recreation which received $0.55m to help sporting clubs and groups in Katherine after the flood. They will not need that assistance again. It applies also to Territory Health Services.
Each year, members opposite fail to understand the budget documents. This year, in a mood of cooperation and assistance, we have provided additional information in the form of the budget overview. It provides information in more simple terms. The opposition does not have the capacity to read through the big books. Labor members see a big book and they are frightened. They do not pick it up because there is too much in it and they cannot absorb it. I cannot put it in simpler terms. All they have to do is read the document and they will understand that the Northern Territory has the strongest economic growth in the country. It has the highest population growth in the country and it has the lowest unemployment, as it has had for years. This is the place to be. This is the future of the country. Anyone bringing up children here can see a bright and prosperous future for them.
Madam SPEAKER: I advise the opposition Whip that any time he wishes to look at my records of the number of questions, he is more than welcome to do so. I think it would be appropriate if the member for Wanguri returned to the Chamber to listen to the Leader of the Opposition's reply to the budget.
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Last updated: 09 Aug 2016