Ms MARTIN - 1999-11-25
I have opened the book for the government during this week and we now know that the Planning For Growth exercise has cost $41m so far. That was nearly half the amount of payroll tax collections in 1998-99. Similarly, outsourcing legal services has also cost - not saved - Territorians money. Will the Chief Minister admit that both these policy failures have given the government even less scope to reduce payroll tax as a means of lowering the cost of living for ordinary Territorians?
ANSWER
Mr Speaker, I find it interesting that the Leader of the Opposition on the one hand can say that she can’t interrogate the business of government departments because she hasn’t been able to avail herself of annual reports, yet at the same time can come in here and give a global statement as to how Planning for Growth has affected departments with regard to changes in their budgets. There’s a contradiction at the outset.
With regard to the details of financial blow-outs (in her opinion), I refer that question to the Treasurer.
Mr REED: Mr Speaker,I will start with the payroll tax assertion that the Leader of the Opposition has made and the impost that she says it has. She has compared the payroll tax system in the Northern Territory with those interstate and quite erroneously, quite misleadingly, tried to portray to Territorians that our payroll tax compares unfavourably. She very selectively chooses those parts of the payroll tax that she thinks can be demonstrated as not being as good here as elsewhere.
What she doesn’t go on to say, of course, is that she doesn’t have the ability to completely understand it. So she doesn’t give a complete comparison. For example, she doesn’t go into the commencement of...
Mr Stirling interjecting.
Mr SPEAKER: Order!
Mr REED: You’ve got the yellow card, Syd. It’s the last day - one working day to Christmas. Go and have a pill. You go on holidays tonight.
She doesn’t take into account the threshold arrangements that apply here and compare them with other jurisdictions. She doesn’t appreciate the fact that we changed substantially the payroll tax arrangements in this year’s budget. You haven’t read this year’s budget papers. You’ve had them since April, so you should get to understand them.
The impost on small business in the Northern Territory has been reduced and that is a significant step forward. We recognise the burden of payroll tax. Every jurisdiction has it in one form or another. They would all like to get rid of it, but of course they can’t.
If the Leader of the Opposition is going to talk about payroll tax and give a comparative analysis between the Territory system and the interstate systems, she should do it on a complete basis, not just pick out sections of it. Payroll tax is a very complex process. If you’re going to compare it, compare all the factors.
In relation to the Planning for Growth, what the Leader of Opposition is trying to say is that the budget was $41m. In her terms, we spent $41m.
Mr Stirling interjecting.
Mr REED: You’ve got the yellow card, Syd. I know you’ve got a short memory, but I didn’t think it was as short as 1 minutes.
The $41m was the overall budget outcome.
Mr Stirling: It’s a blow-out.
Mr REED: The member for Nhulunbuy says: ‘It’s a blow-out’. I will tell you what was a blow-out. Yesterday in this House we had the member for Stuart saying we should fund in total the Collins report recommendations. That would be a blow-out. If you want to talk about blow-outs, look at their reaction to issues that arise and the expenditure that they would incur, as have other Labor governments around the country which sent their jurisdictions broke. Then you would know what blow-outs are all about.
But let us look at the $41m. One single item is a significant component of that - the decision by the government since the budget was brought down in April to buy a new generating set for the Channel Island power station. It alone cost $33m. Now, what do you expect us to do - not respond to the increasing needs for electricity? Why is electricity demand increasing? It’s increasing because there are more jobs, there are more people working, there are more people coming to the Territory to live, there is a higher level of business activity. As a consequence of that, there is a higher level of electricity consumption. So, we responded by increasing the electricity generation capacity of the Northern Territory with $33m that wasn’t in the budget.
That alone is a significant component of the $41m. It has nothing to do with Planning for Growth. If you look at your budget book, it mentions savings. Turn to the page for the Department of Corporate and Information Services. It demonstrates the savings, but you can’t understand it.
In the House last night, the Leader of the Opposition spoke about the Treasurer’s Annual Financial Statement. I asked her about a particular component relating to the Department of Primary Industry and Fisheries. This is how tuned in she is to the job. She said: ‘I can’t talk about that because I haven’t got the annual report. It hasn’t been tabled yet’. This is a comment she made publicly earlier this week, that she hasn’t got the information so she can’t do her job properly, and it’s the government’s fault. I refer the honourable member to the Parliamentary Record for October 1999, page 578, Department of Primary Industry and Fisheries annual report, tabled paper No 1579.
Mr Speaker, I’m going to give you more money. I think annual reports should be provided as talking books. Then the Leader of the Opposition can sit on her patio sipping chardonnay and listening to the annual reports. If you get them verbally, you might understand them. You might have a bit more time to listen to them. You have the hide to go on radio and television saying there’s are no annual reports for you to get the information. Not only do you not read them, you don’t even know when they’ve been tabled in front of you, when you’re sitting in this room. You are becoming an irrelevance! And you are certainly demonstrating your inability not only to be shadow treasurer ...
Ms Martin: $41m!
Mr REED: ... but also to be a prospective chief minister. You can’t handle the job of opposition leader. I’ve explained to you the $41m and the reasons for that. It was nothing to do with DCIS. DCIS achieved savings over the course of the financial year.
We’ll put it on a talking book for you. Go and buy another bottle of chardonnay. You can sit on the verandah, sip away and listen to it. You might be able to absorb it better with a little lubrication from the alcohol to make the brain wheels work a bit better.
ANSWER
Mr Speaker, I find it interesting that the Leader of the Opposition on the one hand can say that she can’t interrogate the business of government departments because she hasn’t been able to avail herself of annual reports, yet at the same time can come in here and give a global statement as to how Planning for Growth has affected departments with regard to changes in their budgets. There’s a contradiction at the outset.
With regard to the details of financial blow-outs (in her opinion), I refer that question to the Treasurer.
Mr REED: Mr Speaker,I will start with the payroll tax assertion that the Leader of the Opposition has made and the impost that she says it has. She has compared the payroll tax system in the Northern Territory with those interstate and quite erroneously, quite misleadingly, tried to portray to Territorians that our payroll tax compares unfavourably. She very selectively chooses those parts of the payroll tax that she thinks can be demonstrated as not being as good here as elsewhere.
What she doesn’t go on to say, of course, is that she doesn’t have the ability to completely understand it. So she doesn’t give a complete comparison. For example, she doesn’t go into the commencement of...
Mr Stirling interjecting.
Mr SPEAKER: Order!
Mr REED: You’ve got the yellow card, Syd. It’s the last day - one working day to Christmas. Go and have a pill. You go on holidays tonight.
She doesn’t take into account the threshold arrangements that apply here and compare them with other jurisdictions. She doesn’t appreciate the fact that we changed substantially the payroll tax arrangements in this year’s budget. You haven’t read this year’s budget papers. You’ve had them since April, so you should get to understand them.
The impost on small business in the Northern Territory has been reduced and that is a significant step forward. We recognise the burden of payroll tax. Every jurisdiction has it in one form or another. They would all like to get rid of it, but of course they can’t.
If the Leader of the Opposition is going to talk about payroll tax and give a comparative analysis between the Territory system and the interstate systems, she should do it on a complete basis, not just pick out sections of it. Payroll tax is a very complex process. If you’re going to compare it, compare all the factors.
In relation to the Planning for Growth, what the Leader of Opposition is trying to say is that the budget was $41m. In her terms, we spent $41m.
Mr Stirling interjecting.
Mr REED: You’ve got the yellow card, Syd. I know you’ve got a short memory, but I didn’t think it was as short as 1 minutes.
The $41m was the overall budget outcome.
Mr Stirling: It’s a blow-out.
Mr REED: The member for Nhulunbuy says: ‘It’s a blow-out’. I will tell you what was a blow-out. Yesterday in this House we had the member for Stuart saying we should fund in total the Collins report recommendations. That would be a blow-out. If you want to talk about blow-outs, look at their reaction to issues that arise and the expenditure that they would incur, as have other Labor governments around the country which sent their jurisdictions broke. Then you would know what blow-outs are all about.
But let us look at the $41m. One single item is a significant component of that - the decision by the government since the budget was brought down in April to buy a new generating set for the Channel Island power station. It alone cost $33m. Now, what do you expect us to do - not respond to the increasing needs for electricity? Why is electricity demand increasing? It’s increasing because there are more jobs, there are more people working, there are more people coming to the Territory to live, there is a higher level of business activity. As a consequence of that, there is a higher level of electricity consumption. So, we responded by increasing the electricity generation capacity of the Northern Territory with $33m that wasn’t in the budget.
That alone is a significant component of the $41m. It has nothing to do with Planning for Growth. If you look at your budget book, it mentions savings. Turn to the page for the Department of Corporate and Information Services. It demonstrates the savings, but you can’t understand it.
In the House last night, the Leader of the Opposition spoke about the Treasurer’s Annual Financial Statement. I asked her about a particular component relating to the Department of Primary Industry and Fisheries. This is how tuned in she is to the job. She said: ‘I can’t talk about that because I haven’t got the annual report. It hasn’t been tabled yet’. This is a comment she made publicly earlier this week, that she hasn’t got the information so she can’t do her job properly, and it’s the government’s fault. I refer the honourable member to the Parliamentary Record for October 1999, page 578, Department of Primary Industry and Fisheries annual report, tabled paper No 1579.
Mr Speaker, I’m going to give you more money. I think annual reports should be provided as talking books. Then the Leader of the Opposition can sit on her patio sipping chardonnay and listening to the annual reports. If you get them verbally, you might understand them. You might have a bit more time to listen to them. You have the hide to go on radio and television saying there’s are no annual reports for you to get the information. Not only do you not read them, you don’t even know when they’ve been tabled in front of you, when you’re sitting in this room. You are becoming an irrelevance! And you are certainly demonstrating your inability not only to be shadow treasurer ...
Ms Martin: $41m!
Mr REED: ... but also to be a prospective chief minister. You can’t handle the job of opposition leader. I’ve explained to you the $41m and the reasons for that. It was nothing to do with DCIS. DCIS achieved savings over the course of the financial year.
We’ll put it on a talking book for you. Go and buy another bottle of chardonnay. You can sit on the verandah, sip away and listen to it. You might be able to absorb it better with a little lubrication from the alcohol to make the brain wheels work a bit better.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016