May 5, 2026 • 8 mins
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
The Northern Territory budgets seen a significant amounts of spending
(00:04):
in various different areas. Infrastructure for example, one of those areas.
We've seen an increase in the health budget to some
degree two point five six billion dollars allocated for twenty
twenty six. We've seen that increase as well in federal
funding now the government sees that it's up by more
than two hundred and thirty million dollars on last year's budget.
Joining me on the show though, to talk more about
(00:26):
this and just what it's going to mean for the
Northern Territory's health system. Where we need further investment, where
it falls short is doctor john's Orbis. He's the head
of the Australian Medical Association here in the Northern Territory.
Good morning to you, doctor's Orbis.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
Good morning Katie, Good morning to everybody listening this morning.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
Really good to have you on the show. Doctor's Orbis.
What is your reaction to the budget from a health perspective.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
Yeah, disappointing from oalth perspectives. There's a lot of smoke
and mirrors to make it look like there's headline investment
in health, but the truth is, once you dig down,
you can see that that's not actually the case. So,
as you said, there's an increase, and there's always an
increase in health budgets a year on year across the country.
That's not a surprise. But a lot of that is
cut away in areas where it matters. So there's cuts
(01:14):
in primary care, there's cuts in remote primary care, especially
cuts in mental health, and cuts in disease prevention at
a time when we're facing epidemics and pandemics all over
the country. We've got our own diphtheria and syphilis outbreaks,
and we've got polio rearing its head in Wa. So
it's not a time to be cutting from primary care.
And yet this is what that budget does.
Speaker 1 (01:34):
Now, doctor's orbis. I asked the Treasurer about this. He
says that there's been some I don't know whether he
said cuts or not certainty from the federal government in
some of these areas. I mean, what do you say
to that.
Speaker 2 (01:48):
I'd say that both at fault here. So if you
look at the commonwealth contribution, most of the increase, most
of this seventy million dollar increase in health expenses in
the budget is being funded by the Commonwealth. So the
new NHI Agreement, the new Small States Uplift, that's one
hundred and twenty one million dollars. So it looks like
we're spending more and it looks like there's an extra
hundred and twenty one million coming from the Commonwealth. But
(02:10):
then you turn the pages and you see that there
is a bunch of cuts to commonwealth program So the
Treasurer is right. We're losing about sixty million dollars worth
in federal programs and grants that are just expiring. One
I'm really concerned about is something called the Specialist Training
Program the STP. So there's five million dollars disappearing there,
and that's funds training our doctors. So they are pediatric doctors,
(02:32):
obstetric doctors GP trainees that you see every day as
a territory and in your clinics. Those positions will just
go now. But equally, the NT government's got dirty hands
as well. They're spending twenty million dollars less or twenty
one million dollars less on operations compared to last year.
So they've gained a bit of money from the Commonwealth
(02:53):
and they've managed to reduce their contribution. And this is
what we feared. We've always said this with the NHR
race stuff. We said, you can't just spend less locally.
If you're getting more from the Commonwealth, you need to
recognize that it's a system in crisis. We need to
invest in it. And that's not what this budget is doing.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
Doctors orbis when you look then at infrastructure, are we
seeing you know what are we seeing when it comes
to the infrastructure around health? I mean this is something
that you and I have spoken about on numerous occasions.
We all know we need a new hospital. We've been
banging on about it for a while. We're not seeing
any money in the budget into any of that planning works,
but we are saying that for new jails.
Speaker 2 (03:30):
Yeah, absolutely, you spot on there. So in terms of
the bright side of this budget, I mean the fact
that we're funding the operations of the new module of
ward and the new mental health ward at Darwen Hospital.
That has to be commended because that was an in
previous budget. So you can't just build trainee buildings and
not pay to run them. So I do appreciate that funding.
But infrastructure, we there's just nothing there. So in a
(03:51):
four point twenty five billion billion dollar capital works budget,
there's only eight million being spent on new health infrastructure. Now,
for context, that's how much we're spending on repairing an
intersection between Schwartz Crescent and Stuart Highway down in Alice Springs. Right,
So for the entire one point three four square kilometers
of the territory, we're spending the exact same of money
(04:13):
on new health infrastructure that we are on one single
intersection repair, which that just blows my mind. There's no
money for a new oal Dart hospital. And yes, it's
a shared responsibility. The Treasurer is right when he says
this is the Commonwealth as much as it is them.
But both sides can't do nothing. And the initial headworks,
the design, you know, that starts with us. So this
is another twelve months we're going to lose and we
(04:35):
don't have twelve months to lose when it comes to
our health infrastructure.
Speaker 1 (04:39):
Tell me, doctors, orbis I mean, if you could see
investment in you know, in one area, or if you
could you know, you could articulate just one thing to
the Northern Territory government about this budget when it comes
to health. What would it be?
Speaker 2 (04:53):
I would want them and the previous government to stop
playing games with health. So every year we see roughly
one hundred to two hundred million dollars that's emergency funding
repair funding. You can't keep calling it an emergency if
it happens every year. So last year we had to
spend one hundred and seventy dollars of emergency repair funding.
(05:15):
That money's gone, it's not in this budget. So we're
one hundred and seventy million dollars down. But we've still
got the same issues with lack of capacity, bed block,
access block. So for that money to just go, there's
there's no planning there. Equally, the last mob did the
same thing. We had Minister law Las saying, you know,
we overspent by two hundred million and we were badly
(05:36):
behaved in healthcare and that didn't land very well with
frontline staff. As you can imagine, Let's stop playing games
with health, let's stop short changing at one hundred to
two hundred million every year, and then you know, rocking
up halfway through the year saying oh, here's some cash
to bail you out. Be better next year. You can't
underfund something and then just expect things to work. You
get what you pay for and I think both sides
(05:58):
of politics need to stop playing with our health and
our future.
Speaker 1 (06:02):
Doctors orbis I'll play Devil's advocate for a moment, because
I think everybody listening this morning, including yourself, know that
I very much support our health workers, everybody you know,
from the cleaners to the doctors, you know, everybody within
our health care system. But what do you say to
anybody listening this morning that you know that maybe thinks
is our being a bit creative with your overtime, or
(06:23):
that you know, why does the budget keep blowing out
every year when it comes to the delivery of health services,
or are our doctors, nurses people getting paid too much
over time? What do you say to those people listening
this morning?
Speaker 2 (06:37):
So firstly, I'd say this government recognizes that frontline staff
aren't where you've got money to save. So there's always
repair initiatives, and it's about one point five percent that
you have to reduce your costs by year on year.
And we recognize that most of the cost of the
police force, most of the cost of the healthcare are services.
(06:57):
Most of these frontline services you can't actually do that.
That's people doing real jobs, real work, and We're not
talking about unnecessary over time. We're talking about not having
enough staff in the territory and so we just have
to get blood out of a stone and work these
people to the bone, and then half of them end
up leaving. So most of this money, most of this
extra cost, is increasing expenses. It's not unnecessary over time.
(07:19):
What I would say is again you get what you
pay for, and we continue to underinvest in primary care.
If you spend money on primary care, you get that
payment down the track. The problem is it's not longer
than an election cycle, right, so if I put money
in primary care now, I'll reap the reward five ten
years from now. We vote for a new government before then.
(07:41):
And so often it's something that just isn't you know,
it's not focused on it's not highlighted in budgets because
it's not sexy when it comes to the ballot box.
But that's how you improve health if you spend more
money on primary care, and if you listen to your
frontline staff right, listen to the people doing the work.
They know what the solutions are. You know, this government
would they could do a lot listening more to the AMA,
to the nursing Federation, the A and MS. Instead of meeting,
(08:04):
we'd say, you know, lobby groups like the pharmacy deal
to look at patchwork solutions like meet with the people
doing the job. But I'll tell you where the money
can be saved, because there is money to be saved,
and we can have a healthy budget and a productive
healthcare system. It's not a binary choice.
Speaker 1 (08:18):
Well, doctor John Zorbis, I always appreciate your time, and
I think you're actually meant to have a day off today,
are you, And you've joined us on your day off, mate,
so I certainly appreciate it today.
Speaker 2 (08:28):
I think I lost access to days off when I
took the job, Katie. But something like this it's really important.
It's important that we talk about it. And I appreciate you,
you know, putting a focus on the budget and let's
all have this conversation and let's hold our government accountable
and reward them where they do well, but keep them
in line when they don't agree.
Speaker 1 (08:47):
Good on you. Thank you so much for your time
this morning, Doctors Orbis.
Speaker 2 (08:51):
Thanks Gatie, thank you
The Northern Territory budgets seen a significant amounts of spending
(00:04):
in various different areas. Infrastructure for example, one of those areas.
We've seen an increase in the health budget to some
degree two point five six billion dollars allocated for twenty
twenty six. We've seen that increase as well in federal
funding now the government sees that it's up by more
than two hundred and thirty million dollars on last year's budget.
Joining me on the show though, to talk more about
(00:26):
this and just what it's going to mean for the
Northern Territory's health system. Where we need further investment, where
it falls short is doctor john's Orbis. He's the head
of the Australian Medical Association here in the Northern Territory.
Good morning to you, doctor's Orbis.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
Good morning Katie, Good morning to everybody listening this morning.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
Really good to have you on the show. Doctor's Orbis.
What is your reaction to the budget from a health perspective.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
Yeah, disappointing from oalth perspectives. There's a lot of smoke
and mirrors to make it look like there's headline investment
in health, but the truth is, once you dig down,
you can see that that's not actually the case. So,
as you said, there's an increase, and there's always an
increase in health budgets a year on year across the country.
That's not a surprise. But a lot of that is
cut away in areas where it matters. So there's cuts
(01:14):
in primary care, there's cuts in remote primary care, especially
cuts in mental health, and cuts in disease prevention at
a time when we're facing epidemics and pandemics all over
the country. We've got our own diphtheria and syphilis outbreaks,
and we've got polio rearing its head in Wa. So
it's not a time to be cutting from primary care.
And yet this is what that budget does.
Speaker 1 (01:34):
Now, doctor's orbis. I asked the Treasurer about this. He
says that there's been some I don't know whether he
said cuts or not certainty from the federal government in
some of these areas. I mean, what do you say
to that.
Speaker 2 (01:48):
I'd say that both at fault here. So if you
look at the commonwealth contribution, most of the increase, most
of this seventy million dollar increase in health expenses in
the budget is being funded by the Commonwealth. So the
new NHI Agreement, the new Small States Uplift, that's one
hundred and twenty one million dollars. So it looks like
we're spending more and it looks like there's an extra
hundred and twenty one million coming from the Commonwealth. But
(02:10):
then you turn the pages and you see that there
is a bunch of cuts to commonwealth program So the
Treasurer is right. We're losing about sixty million dollars worth
in federal programs and grants that are just expiring. One
I'm really concerned about is something called the Specialist Training
Program the STP. So there's five million dollars disappearing there,
and that's funds training our doctors. So they are pediatric doctors,
(02:32):
obstetric doctors GP trainees that you see every day as
a territory and in your clinics. Those positions will just
go now. But equally, the NT government's got dirty hands
as well. They're spending twenty million dollars less or twenty
one million dollars less on operations compared to last year.
So they've gained a bit of money from the Commonwealth
(02:53):
and they've managed to reduce their contribution. And this is
what we feared. We've always said this with the NHR
race stuff. We said, you can't just spend less locally.
If you're getting more from the Commonwealth, you need to
recognize that it's a system in crisis. We need to
invest in it. And that's not what this budget is doing.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
Doctors orbis when you look then at infrastructure, are we
seeing you know what are we seeing when it comes
to the infrastructure around health? I mean this is something
that you and I have spoken about on numerous occasions.
We all know we need a new hospital. We've been
banging on about it for a while. We're not seeing
any money in the budget into any of that planning works,
but we are saying that for new jails.
Speaker 2 (03:30):
Yeah, absolutely, you spot on there. So in terms of
the bright side of this budget, I mean the fact
that we're funding the operations of the new module of
ward and the new mental health ward at Darwen Hospital.
That has to be commended because that was an in
previous budget. So you can't just build trainee buildings and
not pay to run them. So I do appreciate that funding.
But infrastructure, we there's just nothing there. So in a
(03:51):
four point twenty five billion billion dollar capital works budget,
there's only eight million being spent on new health infrastructure. Now,
for context, that's how much we're spending on repairing an
intersection between Schwartz Crescent and Stuart Highway down in Alice Springs. Right,
So for the entire one point three four square kilometers
of the territory, we're spending the exact same of money
(04:13):
on new health infrastructure that we are on one single
intersection repair, which that just blows my mind. There's no
money for a new oal Dart hospital. And yes, it's
a shared responsibility. The Treasurer is right when he says
this is the Commonwealth as much as it is them.
But both sides can't do nothing. And the initial headworks,
the design, you know, that starts with us. So this
is another twelve months we're going to lose and we
(04:35):
don't have twelve months to lose when it comes to
our health infrastructure.
Speaker 1 (04:39):
Tell me, doctors, orbis I mean, if you could see
investment in you know, in one area, or if you
could you know, you could articulate just one thing to
the Northern Territory government about this budget when it comes
to health. What would it be?
Speaker 2 (04:53):
I would want them and the previous government to stop
playing games with health. So every year we see roughly
one hundred to two hundred million dollars that's emergency funding
repair funding. You can't keep calling it an emergency if
it happens every year. So last year we had to
spend one hundred and seventy dollars of emergency repair funding.
(05:15):
That money's gone, it's not in this budget. So we're
one hundred and seventy million dollars down. But we've still
got the same issues with lack of capacity, bed block,
access block. So for that money to just go, there's
there's no planning there. Equally, the last mob did the
same thing. We had Minister law Las saying, you know,
we overspent by two hundred million and we were badly
(05:36):
behaved in healthcare and that didn't land very well with
frontline staff. As you can imagine, Let's stop playing games
with health, let's stop short changing at one hundred to
two hundred million every year, and then you know, rocking
up halfway through the year saying oh, here's some cash
to bail you out. Be better next year. You can't
underfund something and then just expect things to work. You
get what you pay for and I think both sides
(05:58):
of politics need to stop playing with our health and
our future.
Speaker 1 (06:02):
Doctors orbis I'll play Devil's advocate for a moment, because
I think everybody listening this morning, including yourself, know that
I very much support our health workers, everybody you know,
from the cleaners to the doctors, you know, everybody within
our health care system. But what do you say to
anybody listening this morning that you know that maybe thinks
is our being a bit creative with your overtime, or
(06:23):
that you know, why does the budget keep blowing out
every year when it comes to the delivery of health services,
or are our doctors, nurses people getting paid too much
over time? What do you say to those people listening
this morning?
Speaker 2 (06:37):
So firstly, I'd say this government recognizes that frontline staff
aren't where you've got money to save. So there's always
repair initiatives, and it's about one point five percent that
you have to reduce your costs by year on year.
And we recognize that most of the cost of the
police force, most of the cost of the healthcare are services.
(06:57):
Most of these frontline services you can't actually do that.
That's people doing real jobs, real work, and We're not
talking about unnecessary over time. We're talking about not having
enough staff in the territory and so we just have
to get blood out of a stone and work these
people to the bone, and then half of them end
up leaving. So most of this money, most of this
extra cost, is increasing expenses. It's not unnecessary over time.
(07:19):
What I would say is again you get what you
pay for, and we continue to underinvest in primary care.
If you spend money on primary care, you get that
payment down the track. The problem is it's not longer
than an election cycle, right, so if I put money
in primary care now, I'll reap the reward five ten
years from now. We vote for a new government before then.
(07:41):
And so often it's something that just isn't you know,
it's not focused on it's not highlighted in budgets because
it's not sexy when it comes to the ballot box.
But that's how you improve health if you spend more
money on primary care, and if you listen to your
frontline staff right, listen to the people doing the work.
They know what the solutions are. You know, this government
would they could do a lot listening more to the AMA,
to the nursing Federation, the A and MS. Instead of meeting,
(08:04):
we'd say, you know, lobby groups like the pharmacy deal
to look at patchwork solutions like meet with the people
doing the job. But I'll tell you where the money
can be saved, because there is money to be saved,
and we can have a healthy budget and a productive
healthcare system. It's not a binary choice.
Speaker 1 (08:18):
Well, doctor John Zorbis, I always appreciate your time, and
I think you're actually meant to have a day off today,
are you, And you've joined us on your day off, mate,
so I certainly appreciate it today.
Speaker 2 (08:28):
I think I lost access to days off when I
took the job, Katie. But something like this it's really important.
It's important that we talk about it. And I appreciate you,
you know, putting a focus on the budget and let's
all have this conversation and let's hold our government accountable
and reward them where they do well, but keep them
in line when they don't agree.
Speaker 1 (08:47):
Good on you. Thank you so much for your time
this morning, Doctors Orbis.
Speaker 2 (08:51):
Thanks Gatie, thank you
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