Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Now, five dollars a week is certainly my understanding. That's
(00:02):
what's been reported largely and widely when we talk about
the when we talk about those tax cuts, I mean
from what I've got in front of me right now,
the info I've got in front of me, it is seven. Sorry,
So we're literally going to go to a point where
we're seventeen billion dollar tax cut package. Now that's being
(00:24):
sold obviously as a centerpiece of the government's cost of
living relief plan, but for millions of working Australians it
is only going to amount to about five dollars a week. Now,
the federal minister saying fifty dollars a week is what
she's got in front of her, I don't know how
exactly that breaks down. The only thing that I can
sort of wrap my head around is whether the government
(00:47):
is sort of going off all the other announcements that
they've made prior that could be cost saving measures and
then adding that five to it. I don't know anyway,
Maybe the Northern Territory treasure Er Bill Yan's got a
better idea.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
Good morning to you, Bill, Good Morningding, Good morning to
er on.
Speaker 1 (01:05):
The top end, Bill, do you have much of an
idea of just how much we're going to save a
week on this seventeen billion dollar tax cuts.
Speaker 2 (01:12):
I think I'm just as confused as you and everybody
else in the territory's dated, but my understanding it's a
five bucks and with the cost of living pressures, apparently
coffee is going up, so it's might about the seven
bucks a cup, So your five bucks isn't even going
to buy you a cup of coffee.
Speaker 1 (01:28):
Well, this is you know, this is the thing right
around Australia. The news headlines right around Australia. You know,
I've seen some of those, some of those headlines and
make happy meal Jim, you know, and that's how much
or what you'll be able to buy a week with
the cost of living savings measures, Others saying, you.
Speaker 3 (01:46):
Know, you'll be able to buy yourself a coffee.
Speaker 1 (01:48):
So there is no doubt that a lot of people
are feeling as though what has been announced simply isn't
enough to deal with the cost of living issues that
we are facing right around Australia, but particularly in a
place like the Northern Territory.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
Yeah, absolutely, Katie. And when you look at the federal
bugs budget that's been handed down, and it's certainly a
bit of a slap in the face for us here
in the territory. And I suppose to put in perspective,
and I know you're a Queenslander, and I'm going to
have a bit of a poker at the banana benders.
But the federal government announced seven point two billion dollars
(02:26):
to make safe and do upgrades to the Bruce Highway. Well,
they're giving the entire territory seven point one billion dollars
to run the entire place. Yeah, so that's that's that's
certainly a bit of a slap in the phase for
us here in the territory. And out of that seven
point one there's two point five. With that that's tide punning,
which I don't have any discretion over. We have to
(02:47):
spend it, as the federal governments says, we have to
spend it. So it makes a lot things.
Speaker 3 (02:52):
Really tough from your perspective.
Speaker 1 (02:54):
Is what is new in the Northern territory, Like, what
is new from the federal budget for the Northern territory.
Speaker 3 (03:02):
Is it just that two hundred million for the.
Speaker 2 (03:05):
Only specific news stuff in this budget? Is that two
hundred million for the short high between Catherine Daralen and
out of that two hundred and we have to chip
in another forty million dollars to get that program off
the ground. So the federal government made an announcement on
a program and committed the territory, of course, then to
(03:26):
an additional forty million dollars on that projecting idea. At
the moment, Ky, it's forty million dollars that I don't have,
so we don't have to work through how we can
deliver that project. Added into the future years, it's another
forty million bucks all of a sudden that I've got
to find when I'm trying to produce a budget and
I'm scripping and saving where i can to make sure
that we don't blow the debt completely out. And now
(03:50):
I've got the Fed saying, well, okay, we'll give you
two undred million, but you've got to stump up another
forty And look, I.
Speaker 3 (03:55):
Mean the thing is built.
Speaker 2 (03:56):
Like.
Speaker 1 (03:56):
I don't want to be body slamming and all, you know,
the federal government. I don't want to be having a
crack and sounding like I'm a winder or sounding like
we're not grateful because there is money being invested into
the Northern Territory.
Speaker 3 (04:06):
But like you know, when you look at.
Speaker 1 (04:09):
This year's budget and when you look at what is
in there for the Northern Territory, I feel like they've
kind of, you know, not don't care.
Speaker 3 (04:17):
I don't know what the right word is.
Speaker 2 (04:20):
Yeah, Well, we've been speaking to the federal government for
quite some time, ever since we got in and there's
some commitments that we need from the Feds to grow
our economy here. And I've said it and I said
it this morning again in another press conferences. I don't
need a hand out, I need a bit of a
hand up. I need the federal government to be putting
money into projects that are going to stimulate our economy
(04:41):
instimulate private sector investments. So defense is one. We've seen
no announcements for additional defense spending here on the top end.
And we've got those infrastructure projects Middle Arm and the
infrastructure corals and infrastructure hubs, Tenant Creek and Catherine. Now,
the federal government got that money tied up in equ
which rains it's not actual cash. You know, I haven't
(05:02):
it's really really difficult to get them to releasing that
cash to start delivering those projects so that we can
get Budloo moving, at middle A moving and a number
of other things. So there was no commitment in that
federal budget to release some of that equity funding is
into cash so we can get these things moving because
we need that. We know from the Day and Major
Business Groups Forum last week that private sector investment is
(05:26):
what's going to pull the territory out of the current
financial crisis it sees itself in. But we need we
need some help from the federal government to do that.
Speaker 1 (05:34):
Mate. I don't know whether you heard the federal minister
on the show just a short time ago, the Minister
for Northern Australia, Madeline King, I certainly did ask you know,
what's in the budget for the Northern Territory and she
went through, you know, everything that has been promised over
the last number of years, like you've just you know,
like you have just touched on. But when I sort
of tried to ask us some further questions about what's
(05:54):
in it, you know, for the Northern Territory this year,
as we've also touched on that two hundred million for
the Stuart Highway, well you know, she sort of didn't
want to or didn't go into that level of detail
from your perspective as the Northern Territory treasurer. I mean,
are you are you feeling a bit let down by
the federal government today?
Speaker 3 (06:16):
Oh?
Speaker 2 (06:16):
Absolutely, Cat, I'm really disappointed. I think everybody in the
territory should feel extremely disappointed. And what really sad me
today is we had Melanerie McCarthy come out and make
veiled threats because we were criticizing the federal government about
the budget saying what do you watch or she said
we should watch our language or they might reduce their funding. Well,
(06:37):
I'm not going to make any excuses or apologize for
standing up for territories and standing up for what we
want and what we need to the federal government. The
stuff that she said this morning is absolutely appalling. Katie.
So we've got three we've got three federal labor members
in that government down there. What have they been doing
for us? That's the question I sort of asked, because
(06:59):
we've got very little out of this budget two hundred
million dollars additional on top of effective what is maintenance money?
What have they been doing for us at the end
of the day.
Speaker 1 (07:09):
Bill in terms of the tax cuts, what do you think?
What do you make of some of the cost of
living measures that have been announced.
Speaker 3 (07:17):
Do you think that they're going to help territories.
Speaker 2 (07:20):
Well, we've seen there's the tax cuts, which we still
don't know exactly how much that's going to be, but
it's been reported by everybody it's about five bucks. Look,
the federal government have put up some money for another
six months of those energy subsidies, but that disappears in
six months, so that's going to hit people in the
pocket coming into Christmas unless they can find another twenty
(07:42):
plus billion dollars to keep those going. We've done some
fairly tangible things here in the territory ourselves, which was
the free licenses for one year. We actually put a
freeze on vehicle regios. That the things that sort of
matter to people there are small things, but actually they
all add up, so they actually provide that little bit
of relief to people in territory. The power the power
(08:07):
subjects will help us, but only for six months. And
what's going to happen after that six months. No, of
course nobody knows. So the tax cuts a minimal. We'll
see that power substy but I don't see much else
on the horizon for us up here as far as
cost of living benefits to territories bill.
Speaker 1 (08:26):
When you look at, you know, the infrastructure spend.
Speaker 3 (08:29):
We've spoken at lengths.
Speaker 1 (08:31):
About, you know, the way that we feel we haven't
received as much as we might like. I mean, I'll
be very blunt about it. Are you being a bit
of a winger? Given the fact that we've got a
massive GST increase? Am I being a bit of a winger?
I mean, I don't know.
Speaker 2 (08:46):
Well, the thing is, the GST increase doesn't effectively come
from the budget. Our GST increases due to relatively and
that's done by the Federal Grants body, So they look
at our GST relatively and we've got a little uptick
in jere which is great, But again it's that maintenance money.
We need, that real investment from the federal government if
(09:06):
we're to pull ourselves out of the financial hole that
we're in now. The infrastructure stuff is great, but I've
been banging on about it all week for a couple
of weeks. I'll be banging on about it in Parliament
again today. We've seen the previous governed had a five
billion dollar infrastructure program. They spent one point two billion
(09:27):
dollars this financial year that we're dealing with now. But
they only put three hundred and thirty million dollars into
that infrastructure budget forward next for next year. So that's
like the nine hundred million dollars short for in the
infrastructure program. So where do we find that money, Katie?
So that's that's stuff that we're going to have to borrow.
(09:49):
These are projects that are already in play, that are
already already that we have to pay for that you
certainly can't stop. So we're going to be borrowing money
to deliver an infrastructure program that we're talking five billion
dollars with only three hundred and thirty million dollars allocated
to deliver. It's just that these are the things that
we're finding as we work through the budget process.
Speaker 1 (10:09):
Bill, I want to ask you about another topic something
you and I have spoken about on numerous occasions.
Speaker 3 (10:15):
The port. Will it seem like it's back on the agenda?
Speaker 1 (10:19):
I know Sky News reporting that that Labor MP Luke
Gosling had said there will be more to say about
the port returning to Australian hands. The opposition, the federal opposition,
sees the government needs to act the Shadow Home Affairs
Minister James Patterson telling Sky News the Northern Territory government's
decision to lease Darwin Port to Chinese company Lanmdbridge was
(10:42):
a mistake. Minister, Is there any update on the port
from your perspective?
Speaker 2 (10:48):
Well, this is this is the thing, Ky, We've just
seen a federal budget. They've tossed three point two or
three point six million dollars at the Whale Steel Works.
There's no mention in that budget anywhere of anything about
the dam and port. So it seems Louke, the self
appointed salesman for the port, it wasn't his ideas weren't
(11:09):
supported in their federal budget. So where does it really
sitcat you? If they were serious about this, if the
federal government were serious about the security of the port
longer term, we would have seen something in the budget
and it's not there.
Speaker 1 (11:20):
And from your perspective, I mean, does the Northern Territory
have the capacity or the money here to take that
port back.
Speaker 2 (11:29):
Well, that's what we spoke to the federal government about
just last month, and what we've been talking to them
since November about what the future of the port looks like.
We know that there's those issues around that the financial
concerns of Landbridge. That's what kicked these discussions off back
in November. So we've been working through with the federal
(11:49):
government with that and that's why we spoke to them
just last month about the future of the port and
where does it stand and will they step in and
help us, And at that point in time, there was
no support from the federal government to do that. So
we have live Gosling saying one thing, but his parliamentary
colleagues and the federal government not backing him in on it.
(12:11):
So I just I don't know where that stands. I
don't know why he actually went down that road if
there was no support from the federal government to actually
do it. So it seemed like a bit of grand
standing to me.
Speaker 1 (12:22):
And so from your perspective as the Treasurer of the
Northern Territory and as the Minister for Infrastructure, there's no
there is no capacity here like Lambridge have not done
anything to break their lease. They've not you know, yeah,
there's no reason to take that lease from them.
Speaker 2 (12:41):
Well, no, there were those solvers issues which we're working
with Lanbridge on to determine. And again we've been working
with the federal governor to determine where that actually hits
because there was a breach in payment of a bond,
so that's what triggered those discussions back in November. That's
something that we're still working through to see what that
(13:03):
looks like. It's very hard to determine a course with
a foreign based company, but that's the work that's happening
between US and the federal government to determine it and
then where it sits longer term.
Speaker 1 (13:13):
All right, will Bill Yan, the Northern Territories Treasurer, Minister
for Infrastructure and other portfolio, is good to speak with
you this morning. Always appreciate your time and let us
know if you hear anything else about that.
Speaker 2 (13:24):
Port we'll do kay. Do you have a great day
you too.
Speaker 3 (13:27):
Thank you.