Mr GUNNER - 2012-11-28
Pubs, clubs and restaurants and our entire retail sector will have their costs jacked up and their sales slashed as a result of your power and water tariff hike. Will you conduct and release economic modelling on the impact your price hikes will have on our retail and hospitality industries and how many businesses will close and how many jobs will be lost?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I appreciate the question from the member for Fannie Bay. The obvious truth is power increases will affect all businesses here in the Northern Territory. One fails to recognise why these prices have been put up in the first place: because of the fiscal irresponsibility of the previous Labor government. That is the answer to the question ...
Mr GUNNER: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Relevance. The question was will he do economic modelling on how many businesses will close and how many jobs will be lost?
Mr CHANDLER: Madam Speaker, the issue is with power prices going up in the Territory and we know the reasons they are going up. Of course, there will be an effect on businesses. However, like anything - and I can remember it was Charles Darwin who said, ‘It is perhaps not the most intelligent or even the smartest people who will survive ...’, but those who can adapt will be the ones who survive in the Northern Territory.
We will survive; most people will survive. And guess what? The sun will come up tomorrow. However, the harsh reality is we are dealing with additional prices in the Northern Territory because of your fiscal irresponsibility. When does it all end? Does it just keep going on the credit card? Do we just keep borrowing money? I have heard the Treasurer say we are now spending 8% of our budget, and that is quite manageable.
Mr GUNNER: A point of order, Madam Speaker! The question was not about the philosophy that only the strong will survive. The question was: will you do economic modelling on how many businesses will close, and how many jobs will be lost?
Madam SPEAKER: Minister, can you come to the point?
Mr CHANDLER: Madam Speaker, the reality is that power prices going up will have an effect, there is no doubt about it. The reason we have to put up the prices is quite real, and most Territorians understand it is because of a previous Labour government’s irresponsibility, raking debt on the credit card, and where does it stop? People still talk about trying to pay off the debt in four years; that is so wrong. It is just getting government spending back under control, which was lost under your government. There comes a point in time where debt needs to be repaid.
Like I said earlier, $1m a day that could be spent on so many essential services in the Northern Territory cannot be because it is paying the bankers. The Labor government is supposed to look after the poor, yet your fiscal irresponsibility has sent the Territory to the brink of bankruptcy.
Mr Henderson: Rubbish!
Mr CHANDLER: Yes, to the brink of bankruptcy unless it is brought into line. You have failed to recognise this and now we have a debt situation that needs to be dealt with. Any of the increases can be put down to a previous Labor administration that failed Territorians miserably.
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I appreciate the question from the member for Fannie Bay. The obvious truth is power increases will affect all businesses here in the Northern Territory. One fails to recognise why these prices have been put up in the first place: because of the fiscal irresponsibility of the previous Labor government. That is the answer to the question ...
Mr GUNNER: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Relevance. The question was will he do economic modelling on how many businesses will close and how many jobs will be lost?
Mr CHANDLER: Madam Speaker, the issue is with power prices going up in the Territory and we know the reasons they are going up. Of course, there will be an effect on businesses. However, like anything - and I can remember it was Charles Darwin who said, ‘It is perhaps not the most intelligent or even the smartest people who will survive ...’, but those who can adapt will be the ones who survive in the Northern Territory.
We will survive; most people will survive. And guess what? The sun will come up tomorrow. However, the harsh reality is we are dealing with additional prices in the Northern Territory because of your fiscal irresponsibility. When does it all end? Does it just keep going on the credit card? Do we just keep borrowing money? I have heard the Treasurer say we are now spending 8% of our budget, and that is quite manageable.
Mr GUNNER: A point of order, Madam Speaker! The question was not about the philosophy that only the strong will survive. The question was: will you do economic modelling on how many businesses will close, and how many jobs will be lost?
Madam SPEAKER: Minister, can you come to the point?
Mr CHANDLER: Madam Speaker, the reality is that power prices going up will have an effect, there is no doubt about it. The reason we have to put up the prices is quite real, and most Territorians understand it is because of a previous Labour government’s irresponsibility, raking debt on the credit card, and where does it stop? People still talk about trying to pay off the debt in four years; that is so wrong. It is just getting government spending back under control, which was lost under your government. There comes a point in time where debt needs to be repaid.
Like I said earlier, $1m a day that could be spent on so many essential services in the Northern Territory cannot be because it is paying the bankers. The Labor government is supposed to look after the poor, yet your fiscal irresponsibility has sent the Territory to the brink of bankruptcy.
Mr Henderson: Rubbish!
Mr CHANDLER: Yes, to the brink of bankruptcy unless it is brought into line. You have failed to recognise this and now we have a debt situation that needs to be dealt with. Any of the increases can be put down to a previous Labor administration that failed Territorians miserably.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016