Ms MARTIN - 2000-03-01
Moody’s rating agency has recently announced the Territory’s credit rating is to remain at Aa2, the same as South Australia and Tasmania, the lowest of the Australian states and territories. Despite the Territory’s economic growth and proximity to Timor Sea oil and gas, this rating has not improved since the first rating several years ago. Does the Treasurer think that being equal worst in Australia is good enough?
ANSWER
Mr Speaker, the Leader of the Opposition has been through her files because she asked this question this time last year. I suppose I could again direct her to Hansard, and to read the answer that I gave.
The interesting situation that we should consider in this regard is that 12 months after she asked the very same question in relation to the Moody’s assessment of the Northern Territory, we’ve seen the economy of the Northern Territory further expand. We’ve seen more jobs created and ...
Mr Stirling: Have we?
Mr REED: Thank you for the opportunity to get in that part of the discussion. Have we seen more jobs created, says the Deputy Leader of the Opposition. Well, we have. What do you think all the people who are filling the units and the houses that are being constructed across Darwin and other parts of the Northern Territory are doing at the moment? I suspect they’re probably at work. I suspect that they’ve probably got jobs. What do you think the thousands of Defence Force workers and employees, staff and personnel are doing at the moment? I suspect that they’re out there working.
I know from the point of view of RAAF Base Tindal, and there’s no difference here in Darwin, with the wives of Defence Force personnel, many of them happen to be working in our schools as teachers or teachers aides. They happen to be working in hospitals as nurses and in other professions as well. Why are those wives working in the work force? Because when they come to the Northern Territory, they’ve got excellent prospects of getting a you know what - a job!
The problem that the Leader of the Opposition has is she doesn’t believe the Australian Bureau of Statistics when they tell her, and the rest of the country, that we have each year the lowest unemployment rates in the country. That is not good enough for the Leader of the Opposition. She does not believe that, but if there is an aberration for a month in the figures she says: ‘Oh, look, terrible circumstances, we have seen a loss in jobs’. What the Leader of the Opposition wants is for the Territory to be ...
Ms MARTIN: A point of order, Mr Speaker! We have had the Treasurer talk for a number of minutes now and he has not addressed the question, which is the Moody's rating. I am still waiting for him to address the question.
Mr SPEAKER: Order! Again I say that there is no point of order. The minister has a fair amount of leeway in answering a question, as you are aware, but I would ask him to get to the answer as quickly as possible.
Mr REED: I could ask the Leader of the Opposition to assert herself, as she has got the capacity as the boss over that mob over there to do so, and to stop the interjections. I was in fact responding to an interjection by the Deputy Leader of the Opposition, and that is why I was diverted from the Moody’s matter. If she was a shadow treasurer who could earn her keep, she would be aware that matters of employment, matters of economy, and matters of the business community, are matters of great relevance to Moody’s in assessing the Northern Territory’s credit.
I would simply ask her to read the Moody’s release as regards the assessment of the Northern Territory’s economy. Did she read beyond the paragraph where it said we have a rating of Aa2, to where Moody’s assessed the economic growth for the Northern Territory, I think, was in excess of 9%. It was in the order of 9%. What is wrong with that level of success? Could she point me to an economy in Australia that Moodys are predicting will grow more than that?
What is it that you do not like about success? Why are you such a doomsayer? Why do you always try to put the Territory down? Why do you always fail to recognise that we have the strongest economy in the country? Why do you fail to recognise that we have had for the last 7 years the lowest unemployment in the country? What is it you don’t like about success? Because you are a failure, don’t apply your behaviour and your performance to the rest of the Territory. The business community deserves better than that. The 7 dwarfs don’t have the capacity to have the confidence in the Northern Territory and to recognise that we have a great opportunity for growth and that with that growth comes employment, as predicted by Moody’s. You can’t recognise the fact, but don’t brand all other Territorians with that.
ANSWER
Mr Speaker, the Leader of the Opposition has been through her files because she asked this question this time last year. I suppose I could again direct her to Hansard, and to read the answer that I gave.
The interesting situation that we should consider in this regard is that 12 months after she asked the very same question in relation to the Moody’s assessment of the Northern Territory, we’ve seen the economy of the Northern Territory further expand. We’ve seen more jobs created and ...
Mr Stirling: Have we?
Mr REED: Thank you for the opportunity to get in that part of the discussion. Have we seen more jobs created, says the Deputy Leader of the Opposition. Well, we have. What do you think all the people who are filling the units and the houses that are being constructed across Darwin and other parts of the Northern Territory are doing at the moment? I suspect they’re probably at work. I suspect that they’ve probably got jobs. What do you think the thousands of Defence Force workers and employees, staff and personnel are doing at the moment? I suspect that they’re out there working.
I know from the point of view of RAAF Base Tindal, and there’s no difference here in Darwin, with the wives of Defence Force personnel, many of them happen to be working in our schools as teachers or teachers aides. They happen to be working in hospitals as nurses and in other professions as well. Why are those wives working in the work force? Because when they come to the Northern Territory, they’ve got excellent prospects of getting a you know what - a job!
The problem that the Leader of the Opposition has is she doesn’t believe the Australian Bureau of Statistics when they tell her, and the rest of the country, that we have each year the lowest unemployment rates in the country. That is not good enough for the Leader of the Opposition. She does not believe that, but if there is an aberration for a month in the figures she says: ‘Oh, look, terrible circumstances, we have seen a loss in jobs’. What the Leader of the Opposition wants is for the Territory to be ...
Ms MARTIN: A point of order, Mr Speaker! We have had the Treasurer talk for a number of minutes now and he has not addressed the question, which is the Moody's rating. I am still waiting for him to address the question.
Mr SPEAKER: Order! Again I say that there is no point of order. The minister has a fair amount of leeway in answering a question, as you are aware, but I would ask him to get to the answer as quickly as possible.
Mr REED: I could ask the Leader of the Opposition to assert herself, as she has got the capacity as the boss over that mob over there to do so, and to stop the interjections. I was in fact responding to an interjection by the Deputy Leader of the Opposition, and that is why I was diverted from the Moody’s matter. If she was a shadow treasurer who could earn her keep, she would be aware that matters of employment, matters of economy, and matters of the business community, are matters of great relevance to Moody’s in assessing the Northern Territory’s credit.
I would simply ask her to read the Moody’s release as regards the assessment of the Northern Territory’s economy. Did she read beyond the paragraph where it said we have a rating of Aa2, to where Moody’s assessed the economic growth for the Northern Territory, I think, was in excess of 9%. It was in the order of 9%. What is wrong with that level of success? Could she point me to an economy in Australia that Moodys are predicting will grow more than that?
What is it that you do not like about success? Why are you such a doomsayer? Why do you always try to put the Territory down? Why do you always fail to recognise that we have the strongest economy in the country? Why do you fail to recognise that we have had for the last 7 years the lowest unemployment in the country? What is it you don’t like about success? Because you are a failure, don’t apply your behaviour and your performance to the rest of the Territory. The business community deserves better than that. The 7 dwarfs don’t have the capacity to have the confidence in the Northern Territory and to recognise that we have a great opportunity for growth and that with that growth comes employment, as predicted by Moody’s. You can’t recognise the fact, but don’t brand all other Territorians with that.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016