Mr EDE - 1996-02-27
To clarify this matter, the federal Treasurer, Mr Ralph Willis, has offered states and territories a funding formula.
Mr COULTER: A point of order, Mr Speaker! The preambles to the Leader of the Opposition's questions are becoming quite extensive.
Members interjecting.
Mr SPEAKER: Order! There is no point of order. The Leader of the Opposition should keep the preamble to his questions brief, but I believe he has not been given an opportunity on this matter.
Mr EDE: We just had an answer that went for 20 minutes. I would like 2 minutes.
This formula was agreed to by the minister's predecessor and the previous Chief Minister ...
Mr Coulter interjecting.
Mr EDE: Do you want an answer or don't you? You obviously do not like the truth. You are on the record ...
Mr SPEAKER: Order! Will the Leader of the Opposition please ask his question?
Mr EDE: Mr Speaker, the federal Treasurer, Ralph Willis, offered the states and territories a funding formula that was agreed to by Premiers and Chief Ministers. The formula was for funding for the next 3 years and it gave the Northern Territory an increase of $16m in untied grants next year. That increase will be nearly $90 per capita in the Northern Territory if Labor is returned to office. Has the Treasurer costed the losses that we will have if the Coalition wins on Saturday? The federal Treasury has costed this at $11m per annum for the first 2 years. Has he approached his own party's federal candidate who has said that real cuts should apply across Australia and are good for us? Will the Treasurer come out of hiding and agree that the agreement that was made by his predecessor as Treasurer and by the Chief Minister's predecessor, the previous member for Fannie Bay, will give us an increase in funds, as against the losses in real terms - or whatever terms you care to name - that the Coalition is promising?
ANSWER
Mr Speaker, what I want Territorians to focus on today is the $27m cut.
Members interjecting.
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Mr REED: I will come to your point about the Coalition. Be patient.
That $27m cut comes to the Territory because of the relativities that are now being applied to assessing what the states and the territories should receive by way of the Grants Commission. What has happened? I will give you an example of what has happened.
Mr Coulter: It is a good reflection on their federal colleagues.
Mr SPEAKER: Order!
Mr REED: New South Wales, for example, has changed its budgetary arrangements. It is funding tollways and expressways from capital works. In broad terms, these are funded by income from charges on people who use the tollways. What the Grants Commission is saying is that, if that is good enough for New South Wales, it is good enough for the entire country. It changed the formula by which the funding to all of the states and territories is assessed nationally. We are affected more because we are at the end of the dog's tail. New South Wales is at the top end which has more meat and bone and does not wag as ours does when the national funding dog wags. Those are the types of relativities that are being applied to us. New South Wales made changes to its health system and to its accounting for ambulance and outpatients services. In turn, that was applied across the country. Those are the relativities by which we are now assessed because they have been determined through changes applied by
the New South Wales government. That is how we are assessed to lose $6.3m.
The Leader of the Opposition can be an apologist for Warren Snowdon on this matter. He can stand in here and say that we will lose $11m if the Coalition is elected on Saturday. Strangely enough, Warren Snowdon said in his press release yesterday that it will be $12m. However, in today's press release, Warren Snowdon obviously is becoming panicky. He wants to make the story a little more emotive. Today, he refers to a $24m increase, albeit over 2 years. I expect that tomorrow's press release will refer to a $36m increase over 3 years. He is trying to paint the picture in a more emotive and a more untruthful way.
Nothing can conceal from Territorians the fact that we are facing a $27m cut. The Leader of the Opposition denies it and laughs. Mark my words, if the Labor government is re-elected on Saturday, we will be going to Canberra to argue against a $27.3m reduction in funding to the Northern Territory because the formula which the opposition supports so strongly has been changed. It has been changed because of the factors that I have mentioned in New South Wales ...
A member: Wrong!
Mr REED: I am not wrong. He has only to read today's NT News to see that I am not wrong ...
Members interjecting.
Mr SPEAKER: Order!
Mr REED: I quote it because it is a document to which they so often refer themselves. That is where they find all their questions. There it is! He said Victoria would be the `big
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winner in next year's allocation of Commonwealth grants'. If there are to be big winners - $120m in Victoria's case - there have to be losers. In national terms, $27m is not a great deal. In Territory terms, it is a great deal.
Mr Ede: $16m. Just take last year's figures and this year's figures.
Mr SPEAKER: Order!
Mr REED: When we are debating the Territory budget later this year, and if we have not been successful in convincing a Labor government, if it is re-elected on Saturday, to turn around this $27m decrease, I will be very interested to hear the arguments that the Leader of the Opposition puts and how he will support the fact that, in some areas, Territorians be required to face reduced services. That is what it will boil down to, and he will be the person whom they will have to thank, together with Warren Snowdon. However, I suggest that Territorians and Australians across the nation will be thinking a little more sensibly on Saturday in relation to all these matters. I do not think that I will be going to see Treasurer Willis next week. I will be going to see Treasurer Costello. I have a great deal more confidence in the prospect of dealing with Treasurer Costello than I have about dealing with Treasurer Willis.
Mr Ede interjecting.
Mr SPEAKER: Order!
Mr REED: Mr Speaker, Warren Snowdon has nothing to substantiate his allegations of cuts that will flow to the Northern Territory if a Coalition government is elected. He is using scaremongering tactics, trying to hide the $27m cut that we will experience if his government is re-elected.
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Mr COULTER: A point of order, Mr Speaker! The preambles to the Leader of the Opposition's questions are becoming quite extensive.
Members interjecting.
Mr SPEAKER: Order! There is no point of order. The Leader of the Opposition should keep the preamble to his questions brief, but I believe he has not been given an opportunity on this matter.
Mr EDE: We just had an answer that went for 20 minutes. I would like 2 minutes.
This formula was agreed to by the minister's predecessor and the previous Chief Minister ...
Mr Coulter interjecting.
Mr EDE: Do you want an answer or don't you? You obviously do not like the truth. You are on the record ...
Mr SPEAKER: Order! Will the Leader of the Opposition please ask his question?
Mr EDE: Mr Speaker, the federal Treasurer, Ralph Willis, offered the states and territories a funding formula that was agreed to by Premiers and Chief Ministers. The formula was for funding for the next 3 years and it gave the Northern Territory an increase of $16m in untied grants next year. That increase will be nearly $90 per capita in the Northern Territory if Labor is returned to office. Has the Treasurer costed the losses that we will have if the Coalition wins on Saturday? The federal Treasury has costed this at $11m per annum for the first 2 years. Has he approached his own party's federal candidate who has said that real cuts should apply across Australia and are good for us? Will the Treasurer come out of hiding and agree that the agreement that was made by his predecessor as Treasurer and by the Chief Minister's predecessor, the previous member for Fannie Bay, will give us an increase in funds, as against the losses in real terms - or whatever terms you care to name - that the Coalition is promising?
ANSWER
Mr Speaker, what I want Territorians to focus on today is the $27m cut.
Members interjecting.
Page 1216
Mr REED: I will come to your point about the Coalition. Be patient.
That $27m cut comes to the Territory because of the relativities that are now being applied to assessing what the states and the territories should receive by way of the Grants Commission. What has happened? I will give you an example of what has happened.
Mr Coulter: It is a good reflection on their federal colleagues.
Mr SPEAKER: Order!
Mr REED: New South Wales, for example, has changed its budgetary arrangements. It is funding tollways and expressways from capital works. In broad terms, these are funded by income from charges on people who use the tollways. What the Grants Commission is saying is that, if that is good enough for New South Wales, it is good enough for the entire country. It changed the formula by which the funding to all of the states and territories is assessed nationally. We are affected more because we are at the end of the dog's tail. New South Wales is at the top end which has more meat and bone and does not wag as ours does when the national funding dog wags. Those are the types of relativities that are being applied to us. New South Wales made changes to its health system and to its accounting for ambulance and outpatients services. In turn, that was applied across the country. Those are the relativities by which we are now assessed because they have been determined through changes applied by
the New South Wales government. That is how we are assessed to lose $6.3m.
The Leader of the Opposition can be an apologist for Warren Snowdon on this matter. He can stand in here and say that we will lose $11m if the Coalition is elected on Saturday. Strangely enough, Warren Snowdon said in his press release yesterday that it will be $12m. However, in today's press release, Warren Snowdon obviously is becoming panicky. He wants to make the story a little more emotive. Today, he refers to a $24m increase, albeit over 2 years. I expect that tomorrow's press release will refer to a $36m increase over 3 years. He is trying to paint the picture in a more emotive and a more untruthful way.
Nothing can conceal from Territorians the fact that we are facing a $27m cut. The Leader of the Opposition denies it and laughs. Mark my words, if the Labor government is re-elected on Saturday, we will be going to Canberra to argue against a $27.3m reduction in funding to the Northern Territory because the formula which the opposition supports so strongly has been changed. It has been changed because of the factors that I have mentioned in New South Wales ...
A member: Wrong!
Mr REED: I am not wrong. He has only to read today's NT News to see that I am not wrong ...
Members interjecting.
Mr SPEAKER: Order!
Mr REED: I quote it because it is a document to which they so often refer themselves. That is where they find all their questions. There it is! He said Victoria would be the `big
Page 1217
winner in next year's allocation of Commonwealth grants'. If there are to be big winners - $120m in Victoria's case - there have to be losers. In national terms, $27m is not a great deal. In Territory terms, it is a great deal.
Mr Ede: $16m. Just take last year's figures and this year's figures.
Mr SPEAKER: Order!
Mr REED: When we are debating the Territory budget later this year, and if we have not been successful in convincing a Labor government, if it is re-elected on Saturday, to turn around this $27m decrease, I will be very interested to hear the arguments that the Leader of the Opposition puts and how he will support the fact that, in some areas, Territorians be required to face reduced services. That is what it will boil down to, and he will be the person whom they will have to thank, together with Warren Snowdon. However, I suggest that Territorians and Australians across the nation will be thinking a little more sensibly on Saturday in relation to all these matters. I do not think that I will be going to see Treasurer Willis next week. I will be going to see Treasurer Costello. I have a great deal more confidence in the prospect of dealing with Treasurer Costello than I have about dealing with Treasurer Willis.
Mr Ede interjecting.
Mr SPEAKER: Order!
Mr REED: Mr Speaker, Warren Snowdon has nothing to substantiate his allegations of cuts that will flow to the Northern Territory if a Coalition government is elected. He is using scaremongering tactics, trying to hide the $27m cut that we will experience if his government is re-elected.
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Last updated: 09 Aug 2016