Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Do we know that. The treasure of Billiyan yesterday commenced
(00:02):
his budget road show, announcing he's going to take action
to repair what he's described as Labour's debt legacy, while
continuing to pledge to protect public service jobs. Now he's
also set to remove Labour's debt cap, introducing legislation next
week to the first sittings of Parliament to repeal it.
He revealed yesterday that the territory's forecast accessible borrowing for
(00:26):
twenty twenty eight to twenty nine well it's projected to
hit fifteen billion dollars, while outlining a number of financial
failures caused by the previous government, including a failure to
allocate any operational funding to the Darwin Art Gallery, estimated
to be at least six million dollars a year and
the Aboriginal Torres Strait Islander Art Gallery of Australia project,
(00:49):
which is estimated to be in excess of ten million
dollars a year. Now, the Treasurer of Billian joins me
on the line. Good morning to you, Treasurer.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
Good morning Katie, and good morning to your listeners.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
Now good to have you on the show.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
Bill.
Speaker 1 (01:03):
These blowouts are really concerning. I mean the Darwin Art
Gallery blowing out from seventy million dollars to one hundred
and forty three million, while the Aboriginal Torres Strait Islander
Art Gallery first announced at one hundred and fifty MILI,
only to blow out to three hundred million. Now the
cop trying to rain that budget back into its original
(01:25):
allocation treasurer it must have been quite concerning when you
took on the role and started to get a better
understanding of the finances.
Speaker 2 (01:34):
Look, it really was. Look, we knew sort of what
we were getting into, but the more that we delved
into the budget and what the previous government we're doing
with territories money, the reality really started to set in
on the actual issues that we face. And those art
is just a couple of instances of where funding was
(01:56):
just it was being allocated but not being managed. And
then the big issue, one of the big issues we found,
I think was there's all these projects and a course
programs happening that were going to be happening for three,
four or five years, but what the previous government were
doing so to hide the true costs and their potential
or their breach of the debt cap which was forecasts.
(02:17):
Rather than funding them for the entire time, they're only
funding them year by year by year to hide that
overall cost. And that's what we found because if it
actually costed all these programs into that they were doing,
it would have forecasted a breach of the debt cap
much much sooner. So they were hide They were hiding
(02:38):
these numbers a year on year on year on year
to try and minimize or hide that they were going
to breach the debt cap that they put in in
twenty twenty one.
Speaker 1 (02:46):
So in terms of the operational blowouts, in your opinion,
is it normal to forecast years in advance how much
it's going to operate, for example, a new gallery.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
Well, then that's the thing, Katie, right right, we'll use
dad Ciaga and All Springs as the example. Right, there
was budget for one hundred and fifty MILI, when you
we now know that it was going to blow out
well and trearly over three hundred MILI. So they would
have been borring one hundred and fifty million dollars to
complete that project. But they knew that it was going
to cost ten million dollars per aundum operationally to run
it but never put that into a budget, never forecast that,
(03:22):
so of course again that would be would be money
that they were borring. So it just goes to show
some of the sneaky tactics that they were using to
try and hide the actual costs and ongoing cost of
territories for some of these projects. Do you believe sixty
one and now one hundred and eighty do you believe.
Speaker 1 (03:41):
The former government was being dishonest or do you think
they were being fiscally irresponsible?
Speaker 2 (03:48):
Well, I think certainly they are being physically irresponsible. You're
going to you only have to see the two million
dollars in debt they wrapped up in the last two
years leading into the election. Were they being dishonest? Look,
I don't think i'd come out that harsh and say
they'll decides. I'll say they're being very very tricky and
probably hiding some of the facts from territorials on the
(04:09):
true state of affairs of the budget. And this is
what we're finding now. It's just the blowouts and the
spending that was just gune aboarding the debt cap in
twenty twenty one, or they rained it in a little
bit and then it was like the drunken sailors back again.
Let's just go and keep spending and keep spending and
(04:29):
keep spending, and there's no moderation to it, Katie. And
that's what we have to do now, is do that
hard work. Yes, we're going to breach the debt cap.
We're going to remove it because it was actually a fast.
At the end of the day, we know that we
have to be very very careful with our spending and
we're going to do everything I can to make sure
that we manage the economy and do absolute not a
(04:54):
best to make sure that that debt doesn't get out
of control. We'll be spending our money.
Speaker 1 (04:59):
Well. Selena Rubo joined me on the show yesterday. She
said the government that your part of has got no
vision for the future and that people in Alice Springs
are really concerned about the reduced budget allocation for the
Aboriginal Art Gallery. Is that gallery going to be at
a national standard with the decreased budget.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
Well, all we've done when we look at the reduced budget,
and this is the thing. Later, we're just going to
go and spend an extra one hundred and fifty to
two hundred million dollars on the gallery and this is
money that we would have been putting on the credit
card with to no account So we've looked at the
project and going, well, we have a budget. We have
to stay within budget because this is what the previous
(05:41):
government weren't doing. They were just doing projects allowing to
run over. Now we'll just go and borrow the money.
There was no accountability. So we've looked at the artgoing on, okay,
what can we deliver for one hundred and fifty MILI.
We've done a redesign of the actual gallery, so the
actual exhibition space will only be reduced by one hundred
square meetings.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
That's still a fair good.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
Well over when you're talking like four and a half
thousand square meters. I think for the entire project, we're
losing one hundred square meters of exhibition spots. So we're
able to do the exhibition space. We're changing the layout
of what it looks like on the site. We've managed
to keep a zach obal so there's a community asset
back for the use of the community. Again, we can
(06:24):
deliver the Atsiaga project, and we have to do it
on budget. I can't. I've been very clear with the
agencies that the budgets one hundred and fifty mili. It's
not three hundred. It's not three hundred and fifty. And
this is where labor went wrong. Look, I get it,
we have a budget. Ye oh, well, it's okay. We
won't worry about the budget.
Speaker 1 (06:43):
I totally get it. You know, I think if you're
going to renovate your home, you can't say you're going
to spend one hundred grand and then spend three hundred
thousand and expect that you're able to then continue to
buy groceries and do everything in the way that you
have previously been doing it. You know, Like I totally
understand it from a real sort of normal person perspective.
But how are you going to staff these two galleries
now that we're going to have and the operational costs
(07:06):
sound like they're going to be incredibly high.
Speaker 2 (07:10):
And that's the thing is, we now need to look
at those operational costs. So if these galleries go ahead
in their current format, then we now need to look
at what the operational costs are and actually budget for them,
and then and look at that holistically within the entire
territory budget. Do we have Look, we've said, we're not
going to be shacking any public service. We're quarantining our
(07:31):
frontline staff, and we may have to grow our frontline staff,
but we have to maintain that watch on those non
frontline areas, so we reduce that or stop that growth,
but we may have to then reprioritize people from different
areas in to say, working in the gallery. I can't
just keep going out like labor did and employing more
(07:54):
and more and more public service and putting that money
on the credit card. We have to be responsible.
Speaker 1 (07:59):
I want to through because I've got a few things
to get through and we've got such a busy hour
lined up. You say that there's no long term funding
for corrections, estimated to be worth fifty million per anum
just to maintain existing budget and service levels. Clearly this
cost is going to blow out. I mean, we need
more infrastructure, we need more staff. How much could this
(08:22):
blow out?
Speaker 2 (08:23):
Well, we have a Corrections master plan now which does
include some infrastructure, which we're working through at the moment.
And I've been saying this for years now because I
come from the industry. Is that this was proven in
New South Wales where the justice system collapsed because of
the way that it was managed at the time, there
was a huge investment in police in New South Wales,
(08:45):
no investment in the justice system and it fell over.
And the same has happened here. And I've been saying
it for years. For every dollar that you invest in
the police, you need to invest a dollar fifty into
your justice system, which is courts and corrections that never
had And now we see the crisis that corrections are
Incurrently there's a shortage of infrastructure, a shortage of beds,
(09:07):
there is a shortage of staff that there's been very
little investment in the courts. The courts of backlogs. So
this is a direct result of that under investment in
that sector. So we have to put money into it.
Speaker 1 (09:19):
We don't know how much, Like do we know how
much we're going to have to put in Well.
Speaker 2 (09:24):
I think we're talking about over the next few years
at least one hundred and ten million dollars in some
infrastructure projects immediately to get some things across the line,
to give us some bed capacity, and there will be
some investment in the staff. And the Commissioner for Correction
is working through what that's going to look like. At
the moment, but we have to do it. They've been
neglected for so long and we made that commitment to
(09:46):
keeping our community safety. And that means particularly you commit
a crime, there's going to be consequences. You may end
up in jail, and we've seen an increasing we've seen
an increase in prison numbers, and I said, I make
no apologies for that, and I make for keeping the
community saying.
Speaker 1 (10:01):
Sorry to hurry here along, mate. I'm just very conscious
of time now in terms of the failure to manage
the IT projects such as the Acacia it rollout. I mean,
with that that's going to cost and like it looks
like it's it's going to cost. Is it right that
it's an additional sixty one million dollars to date and
require a further one hundred and twenty seven million, How
(10:25):
on earth are you going to manage to afford that?
Speaker 2 (10:28):
And that's and that's what the what it's estimated to be, Katie. Again,
it comes down to management of the project. And I
think when you look at a Casia when it first
come out, there was some very clear parameters about practices
and this should be done and that should be done again,
there was it wasn't managed properly from government's end. They
(10:49):
allowed things to change and of course that's caused those
cost blowouts. Again at the end of the day that
that's put a place undue issues on our front line staffing,
our hospitals. So look, we've it's at a point now
where we've invested quite a lot in it. We're going
to have to invest some more in it to get
(11:10):
it across the line. It will be good for the
community are rule, and good for our health sector if
they can get that the functionality into it. But it
really frustrates me that it's been allowed to blow out
like this, and it.
Speaker 1 (11:23):
Sounds as though like there's a lot of factors at
play here in terms of removing that that debt ceiling,
and you know that is really the path that we
are on.
Speaker 2 (11:36):
Bill.
Speaker 1 (11:36):
Some people listening this morning, though, they're going to be going,
of course, the CLP would be saying it's all Labour's fault.
Of course you come into government and you're going to
blame the former labor government. I guess the big question
this morning though, is how on earth are you going
to rain it back in without cutting jobs and without
you know, making making.
Speaker 2 (11:56):
Cuts and that's the key thing, Katie. We've got to
be about how we do business. Look, we need to
grow our own source revenue and that's part of the
Territory Coordinator at cutting the red tape work that we're doing. Now.
We need investors to get into the territory and start
spending money and helping us grow our economy because that's
one of the pathways out is our own source revenue.
(12:16):
But we need we need our public sector to be
more streamline and start to work smarter too. And that
work is also under way because the public sector and
those key works in, those frontline workers are the people
that look after us and help us, but also help
drive that investment and work with those proponents to get
these projects offline. So we definitely need our public sector
(12:38):
on board and working with us.
Speaker 1 (12:42):
It's about things going well.
Speaker 2 (12:45):
It's about streamlining the public sector, I said, getting them
being making territory that can do plants we make ourselves,
can do place and start to bring that investment in.
Our budget is in a perilous position. The territory economy
is starting to make that term. We're starting to see
some growth in some certain areas, so it will be
(13:07):
that own source revenue and that economic growth that will
help get us out of the hole. But also we've
got to do some work with the federal government. So
Treasury are working on our compact with the federal government
on what our GST revenue looks like and because that
has a big effect on the territory at the end
of the day. So there's a number of things we're
working on and will that budget repair and particularly our
(13:30):
debt recovery will be part of the twenty twenty five
budget that will be releasing in the next few months.
Speaker 1 (13:35):
Bill A quick one. I'm being told that some public
servants receive notification that there was a miscalculation on their
pays for public holidays. They're now having to be paid back.
How many people impacted and how much is that balls
up going to cost.
Speaker 2 (13:53):
I'm I'm not sure exactly how many purbocating. I know
that the majority are within the health sector and the
shift workers, and it was involving public holidays and there
was a miscalculation in that pays. My understanding is around
about nineteen or twenty million dollars over a number of years.
So this goes back quite a way. And again I said,
this is a legacy issue that I'm happy to deal
(14:15):
with now and again. These are the things that affect
their bottom line and our ability to do the things
that we want to do. So Bill, it just seems
to be one issue after another day.
Speaker 1 (14:26):
It seems that way, mate. A couple of really quickly
listener questions. I've got one here, Good morning, Katie. Can
you please ask Bill Yan how much does the government
spend on patient travel for medical assistance that our hospital
cannot provide.
Speaker 2 (14:40):
I wouldn't have that figure off the top of my head, Katie.
I'm happy to take that one on notice and get
that number back there, but yeah, off the top of
my head, I wouldn't have that.
Speaker 1 (14:48):
No, that's all right. We will definitely follow that up.
Another one come through from a local contractor who says
that he's doing it tough. It says, good morning, Katie.
Can you ask the honorable Bill Yan when the COLP
government will meet the local civil contractors to discuss the
issues within DIPPLE. We cannot even get meetings after multiple requests.
We hope the CLP will be reasonable.
Speaker 2 (15:10):
Yeah, well, look, I've met with I think that some
of the peak bodies for the civil contractors and I've
met with our department, I gave and I've given a
commitment pretty well to all the way to the peak
bodies that I'll meet with the quarterly to discuss the issues.
I'm happy to sit down with anyone, Katie and have
a chat. But I know I'm doing a huge piece
of reform work, and so it was Louise McCormack, the
(15:32):
new CE in DLI, to change how we're doing business
within d I want the communication from d LI out
to our contractors and our proponents to be better and
both ways. The key to achieving good outcomes within government
is good communication and that's between our departments and the
(15:52):
people that do that work for us, our contractors and
other proponents. So it's a piece of work I know
Louise is working on, like to hopefully give assurances to
it the person that's called in that those communication lines
will be opening up, because that's a key priority for
me as part of that reform for d A line.
Speaker 1 (16:10):
Bill just very quickly. I mean, you've described the budget
being in a perilous position and you know said that
we are in a difficult, difficult spot right now. Can
you just guarantee to our listeners though that despite that,
and despite the fact that we really need to get
some movement into the Northern Territory in terms of major projects,
(16:33):
that you're not going to be sort of you know,
going overboard and crossing boundaries when it comes to the environment,
or you know, selling off assets and cutting jobs and
doing all the things that the former CLP. Giles government did.
Speaker 2 (16:48):
So I can give you that guarantee, Katie, we won't
be doing that. And the Territory coordinated stuff has been
I suppose interesting in the fact that everyone seems to
think that we're going to bypass all of these regulations.
These regulations exist, and what the Territory Coordinator is there
to do is to make sure that the departments and
agenies meet their timeframes. That's the key part. We don't
(17:09):
want to have to go in and make those decisions.
The Churchy Coordinator doesn't want to have to do that.
We want our departments and agencies working quickly and efficiently
to make the decisions that they need to do so
the Territory Coordinating can get on with driving investment and
attracting investment to the territory. So we're not about to
bypass I said all these different laws. We're not about
(17:30):
to sell off assets and bits and pieces. But the
one thing I will say, Cayd is that there's some
things that the government can't do and don't do well,
and that's where we want to get the private investment
and private industry and proponents to come in and work
with us. So we're working up as some stuff now
around proposals from the private sector to come and work
(17:54):
with work with government to help us grow the economy
and grow the territory because sometimes the private sector can
do it better than us, and sometimes we shouldn't be
in that marketplace because the government doesn't have to be everything.
That's why we have the private sector out there, and
if we're providing the right environment, we will see that
(18:14):
private sector investment starting to flow into the territory and
that's certainly what we want to see.
Speaker 1 (18:19):
We are going to have to leave it there. Thank
you so much for your time this morning, Treasurer Bill Yan,
the Treasurer of the Northern Territory. Thanks mate,
Do we know that. The treasure of Billiyan yesterday commenced
(00:02):
his budget road show, announcing he's going to take action
to repair what he's described as Labour's debt legacy, while
continuing to pledge to protect public service jobs. Now he's
also set to remove Labour's debt cap, introducing legislation next
week to the first sittings of Parliament to repeal it.
He revealed yesterday that the territory's forecast accessible borrowing for
(00:26):
twenty twenty eight to twenty nine well it's projected to
hit fifteen billion dollars, while outlining a number of financial
failures caused by the previous government, including a failure to
allocate any operational funding to the Darwin Art Gallery, estimated
to be at least six million dollars a year and
the Aboriginal Torres Strait Islander Art Gallery of Australia project,
(00:49):
which is estimated to be in excess of ten million
dollars a year. Now, the Treasurer of Billian joins me
on the line. Good morning to you, Treasurer.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
Good morning Katie, and good morning to your listeners.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
Now good to have you on the show.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
Bill.
Speaker 1 (01:03):
These blowouts are really concerning. I mean the Darwin Art
Gallery blowing out from seventy million dollars to one hundred
and forty three million, while the Aboriginal Torres Strait Islander
Art Gallery first announced at one hundred and fifty MILI,
only to blow out to three hundred million. Now the
cop trying to rain that budget back into its original
(01:25):
allocation treasurer it must have been quite concerning when you
took on the role and started to get a better
understanding of the finances.
Speaker 2 (01:34):
Look, it really was. Look, we knew sort of what
we were getting into, but the more that we delved
into the budget and what the previous government we're doing
with territories money, the reality really started to set in
on the actual issues that we face. And those art
is just a couple of instances of where funding was
(01:56):
just it was being allocated but not being managed. And
then the big issue, one of the big issues we found,
I think was there's all these projects and a course
programs happening that were going to be happening for three,
four or five years, but what the previous government were
doing so to hide the true costs and their potential
or their breach of the debt cap which was forecasts.
(02:17):
Rather than funding them for the entire time, they're only
funding them year by year by year to hide that
overall cost. And that's what we found because if it
actually costed all these programs into that they were doing,
it would have forecasted a breach of the debt cap
much much sooner. So they were hide They were hiding
(02:38):
these numbers a year on year on year on year
to try and minimize or hide that they were going
to breach the debt cap that they put in in
twenty twenty one.
Speaker 1 (02:46):
So in terms of the operational blowouts, in your opinion,
is it normal to forecast years in advance how much
it's going to operate, for example, a new gallery.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
Well, then that's the thing, Katie, right right, we'll use
dad Ciaga and All Springs as the example. Right, there
was budget for one hundred and fifty MILI, when you
we now know that it was going to blow out
well and trearly over three hundred MILI. So they would
have been borring one hundred and fifty million dollars to
complete that project. But they knew that it was going
to cost ten million dollars per aundum operationally to run
it but never put that into a budget, never forecast that,
(03:22):
so of course again that would be would be money
that they were borring. So it just goes to show
some of the sneaky tactics that they were using to
try and hide the actual costs and ongoing cost of
territories for some of these projects. Do you believe sixty
one and now one hundred and eighty do you believe.
Speaker 1 (03:41):
The former government was being dishonest or do you think
they were being fiscally irresponsible?
Speaker 2 (03:48):
Well, I think certainly they are being physically irresponsible. You're
going to you only have to see the two million
dollars in debt they wrapped up in the last two
years leading into the election. Were they being dishonest? Look,
I don't think i'd come out that harsh and say
they'll decides. I'll say they're being very very tricky and
probably hiding some of the facts from territorials on the
(04:09):
true state of affairs of the budget. And this is
what we're finding now. It's just the blowouts and the
spending that was just gune aboarding the debt cap in
twenty twenty one, or they rained it in a little
bit and then it was like the drunken sailors back again.
Let's just go and keep spending and keep spending and
(04:29):
keep spending, and there's no moderation to it, Katie. And
that's what we have to do now, is do that
hard work. Yes, we're going to breach the debt cap.
We're going to remove it because it was actually a fast.
At the end of the day, we know that we
have to be very very careful with our spending and
we're going to do everything I can to make sure
that we manage the economy and do absolute not a
(04:54):
best to make sure that that debt doesn't get out
of control. We'll be spending our money.
Speaker 1 (04:59):
Well. Selena Rubo joined me on the show yesterday. She
said the government that your part of has got no
vision for the future and that people in Alice Springs
are really concerned about the reduced budget allocation for the
Aboriginal Art Gallery. Is that gallery going to be at
a national standard with the decreased budget.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
Well, all we've done when we look at the reduced budget,
and this is the thing. Later, we're just going to
go and spend an extra one hundred and fifty to
two hundred million dollars on the gallery and this is
money that we would have been putting on the credit
card with to no account So we've looked at the
project and going, well, we have a budget. We have
to stay within budget because this is what the previous
(05:41):
government weren't doing. They were just doing projects allowing to
run over. Now we'll just go and borrow the money.
There was no accountability. So we've looked at the artgoing on, okay,
what can we deliver for one hundred and fifty MILI.
We've done a redesign of the actual gallery, so the
actual exhibition space will only be reduced by one hundred
square meetings.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
That's still a fair good.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
Well over when you're talking like four and a half
thousand square meters. I think for the entire project, we're
losing one hundred square meters of exhibition spots. So we're
able to do the exhibition space. We're changing the layout
of what it looks like on the site. We've managed
to keep a zach obal so there's a community asset
back for the use of the community. Again, we can
(06:24):
deliver the Atsiaga project, and we have to do it
on budget. I can't. I've been very clear with the
agencies that the budgets one hundred and fifty mili. It's
not three hundred. It's not three hundred and fifty. And
this is where labor went wrong. Look, I get it,
we have a budget. Ye oh, well, it's okay. We
won't worry about the budget.
Speaker 1 (06:43):
I totally get it. You know, I think if you're
going to renovate your home, you can't say you're going
to spend one hundred grand and then spend three hundred
thousand and expect that you're able to then continue to
buy groceries and do everything in the way that you
have previously been doing it. You know, Like I totally
understand it from a real sort of normal person perspective.
But how are you going to staff these two galleries
now that we're going to have and the operational costs
(07:06):
sound like they're going to be incredibly high.
Speaker 2 (07:10):
And that's the thing is, we now need to look
at those operational costs. So if these galleries go ahead
in their current format, then we now need to look
at what the operational costs are and actually budget for them,
and then and look at that holistically within the entire
territory budget. Do we have Look, we've said, we're not
going to be shacking any public service. We're quarantining our
(07:31):
frontline staff, and we may have to grow our frontline staff,
but we have to maintain that watch on those non
frontline areas, so we reduce that or stop that growth,
but we may have to then reprioritize people from different
areas in to say, working in the gallery. I can't
just keep going out like labor did and employing more
(07:54):
and more and more public service and putting that money
on the credit card. We have to be responsible.
Speaker 1 (07:59):
I want to through because I've got a few things
to get through and we've got such a busy hour
lined up. You say that there's no long term funding
for corrections, estimated to be worth fifty million per anum
just to maintain existing budget and service levels. Clearly this
cost is going to blow out. I mean, we need
more infrastructure, we need more staff. How much could this
(08:22):
blow out?
Speaker 2 (08:23):
Well, we have a Corrections master plan now which does
include some infrastructure, which we're working through at the moment.
And I've been saying this for years now because I
come from the industry. Is that this was proven in
New South Wales where the justice system collapsed because of
the way that it was managed at the time, there
was a huge investment in police in New South Wales,
(08:45):
no investment in the justice system and it fell over.
And the same has happened here. And I've been saying
it for years. For every dollar that you invest in
the police, you need to invest a dollar fifty into
your justice system, which is courts and corrections that never
had And now we see the crisis that corrections are
Incurrently there's a shortage of infrastructure, a shortage of beds,
(09:07):
there is a shortage of staff that there's been very
little investment in the courts. The courts of backlogs. So
this is a direct result of that under investment in
that sector. So we have to put money into it.
Speaker 1 (09:19):
We don't know how much, Like do we know how
much we're going to have to put in Well.
Speaker 2 (09:24):
I think we're talking about over the next few years
at least one hundred and ten million dollars in some
infrastructure projects immediately to get some things across the line,
to give us some bed capacity, and there will be
some investment in the staff. And the Commissioner for Correction
is working through what that's going to look like. At
the moment, but we have to do it. They've been
neglected for so long and we made that commitment to
(09:46):
keeping our community safety. And that means particularly you commit
a crime, there's going to be consequences. You may end
up in jail, and we've seen an increasing we've seen
an increase in prison numbers, and I said, I make
no apologies for that, and I make for keeping the
community saying.
Speaker 1 (10:01):
Sorry to hurry here along, mate. I'm just very conscious
of time now in terms of the failure to manage
the IT projects such as the Acacia it rollout. I mean,
with that that's going to cost and like it looks
like it's it's going to cost. Is it right that
it's an additional sixty one million dollars to date and
require a further one hundred and twenty seven million, How
(10:25):
on earth are you going to manage to afford that?
Speaker 2 (10:28):
And that's and that's what the what it's estimated to be, Katie. Again,
it comes down to management of the project. And I
think when you look at a Casia when it first
come out, there was some very clear parameters about practices
and this should be done and that should be done again,
there was it wasn't managed properly from government's end. They
(10:49):
allowed things to change and of course that's caused those
cost blowouts. Again at the end of the day that
that's put a place undue issues on our front line staffing,
our hospitals. So look, we've it's at a point now
where we've invested quite a lot in it. We're going
to have to invest some more in it to get
(11:10):
it across the line. It will be good for the
community are rule, and good for our health sector if
they can get that the functionality into it. But it
really frustrates me that it's been allowed to blow out
like this, and it.
Speaker 1 (11:23):
Sounds as though like there's a lot of factors at
play here in terms of removing that that debt ceiling,
and you know that is really the path that we
are on.
Speaker 2 (11:36):
Bill.
Speaker 1 (11:36):
Some people listening this morning, though, they're going to be going,
of course, the CLP would be saying it's all Labour's fault.
Of course you come into government and you're going to
blame the former labor government. I guess the big question
this morning though, is how on earth are you going
to rain it back in without cutting jobs and without
you know, making making.
Speaker 2 (11:56):
Cuts and that's the key thing, Katie. We've got to
be about how we do business. Look, we need to
grow our own source revenue and that's part of the
Territory Coordinator at cutting the red tape work that we're doing. Now.
We need investors to get into the territory and start
spending money and helping us grow our economy because that's
one of the pathways out is our own source revenue.
(12:16):
But we need we need our public sector to be
more streamline and start to work smarter too. And that
work is also under way because the public sector and
those key works in, those frontline workers are the people
that look after us and help us, but also help
drive that investment and work with those proponents to get
these projects offline. So we definitely need our public sector
(12:38):
on board and working with us.
Speaker 1 (12:42):
It's about things going well.
Speaker 2 (12:45):
It's about streamlining the public sector, I said, getting them
being making territory that can do plants we make ourselves,
can do place and start to bring that investment in.
Our budget is in a perilous position. The territory economy
is starting to make that term. We're starting to see
some growth in some certain areas, so it will be
(13:07):
that own source revenue and that economic growth that will
help get us out of the hole. But also we've
got to do some work with the federal government. So
Treasury are working on our compact with the federal government
on what our GST revenue looks like and because that
has a big effect on the territory at the end
of the day. So there's a number of things we're
working on and will that budget repair and particularly our
(13:30):
debt recovery will be part of the twenty twenty five
budget that will be releasing in the next few months.
Speaker 1 (13:35):
Bill A quick one. I'm being told that some public
servants receive notification that there was a miscalculation on their
pays for public holidays. They're now having to be paid back.
How many people impacted and how much is that balls
up going to cost.
Speaker 2 (13:53):
I'm I'm not sure exactly how many purbocating. I know
that the majority are within the health sector and the
shift workers, and it was involving public holidays and there
was a miscalculation in that pays. My understanding is around
about nineteen or twenty million dollars over a number of years.
So this goes back quite a way. And again I said,
this is a legacy issue that I'm happy to deal
(14:15):
with now and again. These are the things that affect
their bottom line and our ability to do the things
that we want to do. So Bill, it just seems
to be one issue after another day.
Speaker 1 (14:26):
It seems that way, mate. A couple of really quickly
listener questions. I've got one here, Good morning, Katie. Can
you please ask Bill Yan how much does the government
spend on patient travel for medical assistance that our hospital
cannot provide.
Speaker 2 (14:40):
I wouldn't have that figure off the top of my head, Katie.
I'm happy to take that one on notice and get
that number back there, but yeah, off the top of
my head, I wouldn't have that.
Speaker 1 (14:48):
No, that's all right. We will definitely follow that up.
Another one come through from a local contractor who says
that he's doing it tough. It says, good morning, Katie.
Can you ask the honorable Bill Yan when the COLP
government will meet the local civil contractors to discuss the
issues within DIPPLE. We cannot even get meetings after multiple requests.
We hope the CLP will be reasonable.
Speaker 2 (15:10):
Yeah, well, look, I've met with I think that some
of the peak bodies for the civil contractors and I've
met with our department, I gave and I've given a
commitment pretty well to all the way to the peak
bodies that I'll meet with the quarterly to discuss the issues.
I'm happy to sit down with anyone, Katie and have
a chat. But I know I'm doing a huge piece
of reform work, and so it was Louise McCormack, the
(15:32):
new CE in DLI, to change how we're doing business
within d I want the communication from d LI out
to our contractors and our proponents to be better and
both ways. The key to achieving good outcomes within government
is good communication and that's between our departments and the
(15:52):
people that do that work for us, our contractors and
other proponents. So it's a piece of work I know
Louise is working on, like to hopefully give assurances to
it the person that's called in that those communication lines
will be opening up, because that's a key priority for
me as part of that reform for d A line.
Speaker 1 (16:10):
Bill just very quickly. I mean, you've described the budget
being in a perilous position and you know said that
we are in a difficult, difficult spot right now. Can
you just guarantee to our listeners though that despite that,
and despite the fact that we really need to get
some movement into the Northern Territory in terms of major projects,
(16:33):
that you're not going to be sort of you know,
going overboard and crossing boundaries when it comes to the environment,
or you know, selling off assets and cutting jobs and
doing all the things that the former CLP. Giles government did.
Speaker 2 (16:48):
So I can give you that guarantee, Katie, we won't
be doing that. And the Territory coordinated stuff has been
I suppose interesting in the fact that everyone seems to
think that we're going to bypass all of these regulations.
These regulations exist, and what the Territory Coordinator is there
to do is to make sure that the departments and
agenies meet their timeframes. That's the key part. We don't
(17:09):
want to have to go in and make those decisions.
The Churchy Coordinator doesn't want to have to do that.
We want our departments and agencies working quickly and efficiently
to make the decisions that they need to do so
the Territory Coordinating can get on with driving investment and
attracting investment to the territory. So we're not about to
bypass I said all these different laws. We're not about
(17:30):
to sell off assets and bits and pieces. But the
one thing I will say, Cayd is that there's some
things that the government can't do and don't do well,
and that's where we want to get the private investment
and private industry and proponents to come in and work
with us. So we're working up as some stuff now
around proposals from the private sector to come and work
(17:54):
with work with government to help us grow the economy
and grow the territory because sometimes the private sector can
do it better than us, and sometimes we shouldn't be
in that marketplace because the government doesn't have to be everything.
That's why we have the private sector out there, and
if we're providing the right environment, we will see that
(18:14):
private sector investment starting to flow into the territory and
that's certainly what we want to see.
Speaker 1 (18:19):
We are going to have to leave it there. Thank
you so much for your time this morning, Treasurer Bill Yan,
the Treasurer of the Northern Territory. Thanks mate,
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