Ms LAWRIE - 2013-05-15
Your budget breaks your promise to cut the cost of living. In the March quarter, the cost of living in the Territory grew at four times the National average, and more pain is to come. In your budget you have put inflation up to nearly 4%, twice what you inherited. You are hitting the hip pockets and are taking from Territory families - $84m in taxes and revenue, up from $55m. You are completely insensitive to the pain you are causing. Why have you decided to further increase the cost of living to Territory families and triple the amount you are taking from them in revenue?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, for a technical answer it is very important for the Northern Territory to be able to achieve a revenue basis that is cost comparative with the rest of the nation to ensure we are able to pay our costs. The Treasurer, the shareholding minister for Power and Water, has spoken about how important it is to work towards a cost recovery basis, as did the former Treasurer, so the price of power is the same as the cost of producing it. These are some of the revenue measures we must put in place.
Look at the cost of living pressures. The price of land was going up $1000 a week, $50 000 a year, under the previous government. That is a challenge we have inherited from them.
Ms LAWRIE: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Go to Palmerston! It has gone from $260 000 to $340 000 under your government.
Madam SPEAKER: Opposition Leader, please be seated. It is not a point of order.
Mr GILES: Thank you, Madam Speaker. I am sure the Opposition Leader knows you do not just turn up at a block of land, put a fence on it and say it is a serviced block. It takes a long lead-up time. The Minister for Housing is working overtime to identify sites we can redevelop - working out land releases.
We have put $20m towards the development of headworks at Bellamack to ensure we have an increased level of supply. The cost of living pressures are not about Power and Water or MVR fees, it is about the price of housing in the Northern Territory. The cost of living has increased because you failed to release sufficient land in time to reduce the pressure on Northern Territory families.
Ms LAWRIE: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Standing Order 113: relevance! The question was about the cost of living. The budget books point to rising utility prices.
Madam SPEAKER: Please be seated. Chief Minister, you have the call.
Mr GILES: Madam Speaker, I am happy to take a relevant point of order, but when the interjection is not relevant I ask that a determination be made early in the piece, and if the repeated offences keep being committed, I ask that the member be removed from the Chamber.
Madam SPEAKER: Chief Minister, please pause. It is not your job to give direction to the Speaker about how decisions should be made. Please continue, just take that on board.
Mr GILES: Let us take it on board, Madam Speaker.
Prior to the irrelevant point of order just made we were talking about land release. There is a long lead-up time to releasing land. The affordability of housing is the biggest increment in the cost of living in the Northern Territory.
We are pushing heaven and earth to release land as quickly as we can and find properties that can be redeveloped. We are putting in place the NRAS incentives and doing everything we can to provide housing in the Northern Territory. You left us to inherit a cycle of economic misery in the Northern Territory with a $1.2bn deficit.
The $5.5bn deficit, which was a tax on our future generations - we have taken responsible action to cut back the spending to try to bring it more in line, which allows us to operate more within our means, but not completely because you had set the parameters and the framework for a massive deficit and debt. We have tried to scale that back. Do not make us own your problem. You set us up with this and we are trying to reduce the problem.
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, for a technical answer it is very important for the Northern Territory to be able to achieve a revenue basis that is cost comparative with the rest of the nation to ensure we are able to pay our costs. The Treasurer, the shareholding minister for Power and Water, has spoken about how important it is to work towards a cost recovery basis, as did the former Treasurer, so the price of power is the same as the cost of producing it. These are some of the revenue measures we must put in place.
Look at the cost of living pressures. The price of land was going up $1000 a week, $50 000 a year, under the previous government. That is a challenge we have inherited from them.
Ms LAWRIE: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Go to Palmerston! It has gone from $260 000 to $340 000 under your government.
Madam SPEAKER: Opposition Leader, please be seated. It is not a point of order.
Mr GILES: Thank you, Madam Speaker. I am sure the Opposition Leader knows you do not just turn up at a block of land, put a fence on it and say it is a serviced block. It takes a long lead-up time. The Minister for Housing is working overtime to identify sites we can redevelop - working out land releases.
We have put $20m towards the development of headworks at Bellamack to ensure we have an increased level of supply. The cost of living pressures are not about Power and Water or MVR fees, it is about the price of housing in the Northern Territory. The cost of living has increased because you failed to release sufficient land in time to reduce the pressure on Northern Territory families.
Ms LAWRIE: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Standing Order 113: relevance! The question was about the cost of living. The budget books point to rising utility prices.
Madam SPEAKER: Please be seated. Chief Minister, you have the call.
Mr GILES: Madam Speaker, I am happy to take a relevant point of order, but when the interjection is not relevant I ask that a determination be made early in the piece, and if the repeated offences keep being committed, I ask that the member be removed from the Chamber.
Madam SPEAKER: Chief Minister, please pause. It is not your job to give direction to the Speaker about how decisions should be made. Please continue, just take that on board.
Mr GILES: Let us take it on board, Madam Speaker.
Prior to the irrelevant point of order just made we were talking about land release. There is a long lead-up time to releasing land. The affordability of housing is the biggest increment in the cost of living in the Northern Territory.
We are pushing heaven and earth to release land as quickly as we can and find properties that can be redeveloped. We are putting in place the NRAS incentives and doing everything we can to provide housing in the Northern Territory. You left us to inherit a cycle of economic misery in the Northern Territory with a $1.2bn deficit.
The $5.5bn deficit, which was a tax on our future generations - we have taken responsible action to cut back the spending to try to bring it more in line, which allows us to operate more within our means, but not completely because you had set the parameters and the framework for a massive deficit and debt. We have tried to scale that back. Do not make us own your problem. You set us up with this and we are trying to reduce the problem.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016