Mr McADAM - 2002-08-20
Can you please advise what you see as the highlights of your first budget?
ANSWER
Certainly, member for Barkly, it is a great question. Madam Speaker, this budget today is about delivering for today for Territorians and investing for our future. That is done within a responsible financial management strategy and a responsible – and heaven help us from the other side - deficit reduction strategy.
There are four key areas. In job creation, figures show that over the last year, 3600 extra jobs were created and more than half of those were full-time jobs around the Territory. A good start. In health, extra funds, an increase of 4%. In education, extra funds, an increase of 3%. In the area of community safety, which involves police and other initiatives, an increase of 6%. Real dollars going to key areas for Territorians. We are proud of that. Putting $20m extra into the health portfolio, $14m into education and training, and $8m into police will really see some effect start to be made. It is the first step on the way to really delivering today and investing for our future.
Put this together with real spending in infrastructure. We have seen the facades over the last years when we have looked at budgets from the previous government. However, in this one, $333m worth of cash against our capital works program - that is a record for the Territory since self-government. We on this side are very proud of that. It is not some ad hoc arrangement about ‘We will just have a scatter gun approach to capital works’. It is not. That $333m that is allocated to capital works is to support our key initiatives. We are building schools, refurbishing schools, building health clinics, building police stations, making sure that service delivery in towns and cities across the Territory and in remote communities can work.
It is a very strategic approach, but it also recognises that our construction industry needs strong support, and we are working with them on that. It keeps our skilled tradespeople in town. Importantly, when you look at the project component of that capital works budget, you will see that significant funds in the program delivery have been allocated. Across the Territory it is an increase of $3.7m up to $25m, or an increase of 17%, to keep our architects, surveyors, draftspeople and engineers working on the designing of projects for this year and into the future.
We also have initiatives in home ownership, lifting the threshold on stamp duty payable, and a whole lot of initiatives across the housing area. Because, as you know, Madam Speaker, as someone who came from an educational background, if we want to get education really happening in remote communities, what we need is good infrastructure and housing for our teachers. Housing right across that outstanding need in the bush is something that has to be tackled. All up, through the IHANT program this year, there is $57m to start tackling that outstanding area for houses in remote communities.
It is a budget we are very proud of, with targetted and responsible funding. I am very proud to have just come from a Chamber of Commerce and Industry lunch where our budget was well received. The tag that we got from business people around town was ‘responsible and responsive’. That is what this budget is about. It is about delivering for today, it is about investing for our future. To use the words of our business community, it is a responsible budget, this first Labor government budget, and it is a responsive one.
ANSWER
Certainly, member for Barkly, it is a great question. Madam Speaker, this budget today is about delivering for today for Territorians and investing for our future. That is done within a responsible financial management strategy and a responsible – and heaven help us from the other side - deficit reduction strategy.
There are four key areas. In job creation, figures show that over the last year, 3600 extra jobs were created and more than half of those were full-time jobs around the Territory. A good start. In health, extra funds, an increase of 4%. In education, extra funds, an increase of 3%. In the area of community safety, which involves police and other initiatives, an increase of 6%. Real dollars going to key areas for Territorians. We are proud of that. Putting $20m extra into the health portfolio, $14m into education and training, and $8m into police will really see some effect start to be made. It is the first step on the way to really delivering today and investing for our future.
Put this together with real spending in infrastructure. We have seen the facades over the last years when we have looked at budgets from the previous government. However, in this one, $333m worth of cash against our capital works program - that is a record for the Territory since self-government. We on this side are very proud of that. It is not some ad hoc arrangement about ‘We will just have a scatter gun approach to capital works’. It is not. That $333m that is allocated to capital works is to support our key initiatives. We are building schools, refurbishing schools, building health clinics, building police stations, making sure that service delivery in towns and cities across the Territory and in remote communities can work.
It is a very strategic approach, but it also recognises that our construction industry needs strong support, and we are working with them on that. It keeps our skilled tradespeople in town. Importantly, when you look at the project component of that capital works budget, you will see that significant funds in the program delivery have been allocated. Across the Territory it is an increase of $3.7m up to $25m, or an increase of 17%, to keep our architects, surveyors, draftspeople and engineers working on the designing of projects for this year and into the future.
We also have initiatives in home ownership, lifting the threshold on stamp duty payable, and a whole lot of initiatives across the housing area. Because, as you know, Madam Speaker, as someone who came from an educational background, if we want to get education really happening in remote communities, what we need is good infrastructure and housing for our teachers. Housing right across that outstanding need in the bush is something that has to be tackled. All up, through the IHANT program this year, there is $57m to start tackling that outstanding area for houses in remote communities.
It is a budget we are very proud of, with targetted and responsible funding. I am very proud to have just come from a Chamber of Commerce and Industry lunch where our budget was well received. The tag that we got from business people around town was ‘responsible and responsive’. That is what this budget is about. It is about delivering for today, it is about investing for our future. To use the words of our business community, it is a responsible budget, this first Labor government budget, and it is a responsive one.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016