Ms FYLES - 2012-11-28
Frontier Services provides a range of health and community services across the Territory. The regional manager of Frontier Services, Sharon Davies said on ABC:
How much will your mini-budget increase funding to NGOs to compensate for their power and water bill hikes and to increase salaries to retain their staff?
ANSWER
Rents in the Northern Territory are crippling the ability for services like Frontier Services to recruit and retain staff. The tariff increases for power, water and sewerage have not come into effect yet. This is all fear mongering and scaremongering from the opposition.
Rents have continued to cripple the Northern Territory economy for many years. What did you do about that, opposition, when you were in government? Leader of the Opposition, what did you do to assist low-income earners pay their astronomical and ever increasing rents? Nothing. The former government did nothing on that front to the extent where now the medium asking rental price for a house in Darwin is $700 a week. When we hear from the member for Nightcliff ...
Mr MILLS: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Reflecting on the last comment you made about comments designed to interrupt the speaker, I draw your attention to the Leader of the Opposition who is engaging in repeated obstruction.
Madam SPEAKER: Thank you, Chief Minister.
Minister, you have the call.
Mrs LAMBLEY: With rents as high as $700 per week, how can people live in the Northern Territory now despite…
Ms LAWRIE: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Relevance. The question was quite specific. What funding is in the mini-budget to compensate non-government organisations for the hike in power prices and additional salary to retain their staff?
Mrs LAMBLEY: Madam Speaker, I put the question back to the Leader of the Opposition, what subsidy did you give organisations like Frontier Services to assist with the high rentals their workers had to pay? What assistance did you give them? It is the same scenario; it is a comparable scenario. Here we are intending to increase tariffs.
Ms LAWRIE: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Relevance. She is not answering the questions. They are about funding to non-government organisations to compensate them for the power price hikes they will have to pay and funding to increase their staff’s wages. You scrapped HOMESTART Extra.
Madam SPEAKER: Please be seated, Opposition Leader. Treasurer, you have the call.
Mrs LAMBLEY: Madam Speaker, in 2009 the former Labor government increased power and water prices by 18%. Did they offer any subsidy? Did they offer any extra money to Frontier Services so they could pay their workers? The answer to that is, no, they did not assist Frontier Services workers with their rent. They did not assist Frontier Services to pay their water, power and sewerage tariffs. Similarly, we are in a position where we cannot provide much assistance either.
- I was almost in tears yesterday considering the impact. We now struggle to recruit, it means somebody on $20.00 per hour, they are gone.
How much will your mini-budget increase funding to NGOs to compensate for their power and water bill hikes and to increase salaries to retain their staff?
ANSWER
Rents in the Northern Territory are crippling the ability for services like Frontier Services to recruit and retain staff. The tariff increases for power, water and sewerage have not come into effect yet. This is all fear mongering and scaremongering from the opposition.
Rents have continued to cripple the Northern Territory economy for many years. What did you do about that, opposition, when you were in government? Leader of the Opposition, what did you do to assist low-income earners pay their astronomical and ever increasing rents? Nothing. The former government did nothing on that front to the extent where now the medium asking rental price for a house in Darwin is $700 a week. When we hear from the member for Nightcliff ...
Mr MILLS: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Reflecting on the last comment you made about comments designed to interrupt the speaker, I draw your attention to the Leader of the Opposition who is engaging in repeated obstruction.
Madam SPEAKER: Thank you, Chief Minister.
Minister, you have the call.
Mrs LAMBLEY: With rents as high as $700 per week, how can people live in the Northern Territory now despite…
Ms LAWRIE: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Relevance. The question was quite specific. What funding is in the mini-budget to compensate non-government organisations for the hike in power prices and additional salary to retain their staff?
Mrs LAMBLEY: Madam Speaker, I put the question back to the Leader of the Opposition, what subsidy did you give organisations like Frontier Services to assist with the high rentals their workers had to pay? What assistance did you give them? It is the same scenario; it is a comparable scenario. Here we are intending to increase tariffs.
Ms LAWRIE: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Relevance. She is not answering the questions. They are about funding to non-government organisations to compensate them for the power price hikes they will have to pay and funding to increase their staff’s wages. You scrapped HOMESTART Extra.
Madam SPEAKER: Please be seated, Opposition Leader. Treasurer, you have the call.
Mrs LAMBLEY: Madam Speaker, in 2009 the former Labor government increased power and water prices by 18%. Did they offer any subsidy? Did they offer any extra money to Frontier Services so they could pay their workers? The answer to that is, no, they did not assist Frontier Services workers with their rent. They did not assist Frontier Services to pay their water, power and sewerage tariffs. Similarly, we are in a position where we cannot provide much assistance either.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016