Leader of the Opposition, Lia Finocchiaro, says the Gunner Labor Government has been caught out fudging figures, after the Auditor-General compared projected job creation from major projects in the Territory against actual jobs created.
The Auditor-General probed a list of ten significant projects and found the number of jobs actually created was either a fraction of what was projected, couldn’t be calculated due to inconsistent and inadequate performance management systems, or found no evidence the predicted job creation could be delivered.
“The Gunner Labor Government has been exposed for sensationally exaggerating the number of jobs generated, or to be generated, by a number of significant projects in the latest report from the Auditor-General.
“We’ve been subjected to the tedious ‘jobs, jobs, jobs’ rhetoric from Labor ad nauseam. Turns out it’s all just spin, spin, spin!
“The audit found there wasn’t sufficient evidence to support the creation of 100 construction jobs during the development of the $400 million Ship Lift, and identified limitations in the ability to accurately predict 359 ongoing full time employment (FTE) jobs could be created.
“The report also found that despite claiming 575 jobs would be supported during the construction of the $25 million Alice Springs Hospital Accommodation, which was estimated to directly employ 110 people and indirectly employee 465 FTEs, just 154 actual jobs were reported.
“The $38 million Gunn Point Road upgrade originally projected 177 jobs, yet only 133 actual jobs were reported, while the $8.5 million Katherine Fire, Rescue and Emergency Services Complex reported 130 actual jobs, despite the projection of supporting 240 jobs.
“These figures give Territorians no confidence that this Gunner Labor Government can deliver any action on jobs and growth.
“We haven’t had a single major project delivered in the NT in the four and a half years of the Gunner Government, and it appears when those projects are finally complete the number of actual jobs created is a far cry from what was promised by this Chief Minister and his Labor team,” said Ms Finocchiaro.