Leader of the Opposition, Lia Finocchiaro, says Territorians are staring down the barrel of decades of economic annihilation as the Gunner Labor Government nose dives further into the red.
“Today’s budget is a spectacular flop. For the second year in a row, the Chief Minister has delivered the worst budget the Territory has ever been forced to endure.
“Net debt has increased to more than $9 billion and is set to climb further, to $11.4 billion in 2024-25. Yet, the Treasurer’s so-called plan is a patchwork of re-hashed announcements, devoid of a blueprint for budget repair or economic growth. The deficit will sit a shade under
$1.5 billion.
“Our interest payments continue to balloon. Debt per Territorian will be close to $50,000 and our daily interest payments will be $1.15 million. Labor is still putting $3.7 million on the credit card every single day just to keep the lights on.
“For the first time, the Chief Minister has admitted his fiscal ineptitude, by introducing a net debt ceiling of $15 billion. This is simply because he doesn’t trust himself, or his Labor government to rein in spending. What’s most concerning is Michael Gunner may use this as a safety net, instead of a target to avoid at all costs.
“Alarmingly, budget papers show $900 million of last year’s $1.4 billion Department of Infrastructure, Planning and Logistics infrastructure program allocation wasn’t spent and has been carried over. There are pages and pages dedicated to projects which were earmarked for funding in the last financial year that haven’t seen a cent spent.
“Another example of budget filler is the Chief Minister’s perceived big-stick approach to ensure agency Chief Executives live within their budgets. This is nothing new and it’s absolutely ridiculous Michael Gunner is attempting to dress this up as an additional cost- saving measure. In fact, the CLP took this budget repair policy to the last election.
“How can we ever claim to be the comeback capital when we’ve been ranked the worst performing economy in the country for ten consecutive quarters? CommSec says we’re dead last on six of the eight key indicators used to measure economic success including; retail spending, the job market, construction work, population growth, housing finance and dwelling starts. Independent economists have bluntly refuted the Chief Minister’s claims our economy is rebounding.
“It’s plain to see we need to grow our population and attract private sector investment. We can’t do that while global mining executives say Botswana and Chile are more attractive to invest in, over the Northern Territory – according the Fraser Institute’s annual survey. We can’t capitalise on economic growth opportunities when exploration companies say the Gunner Government’s legislation ‘is an investment and job killer’.
“This unprecedented and catastrophic debt blow-out saddles Territorians with an even bigger economic burden and means we will suffer for decades to come,” said Ms Finocchiaro.
Leader of the Opposition, Lia Finocchiaro, will deliver the CLP’s budget reply tomorrow at 10am.