The Northern Territory government has released its Mid-Year Report on the NT's economic and fiscal outlook, reporting the seventh net operating deficit in the past ten years. Facing a difficult task ahead, the treasurer says the government is looking at ways to cut spending in a bid to rescue the NT's ailing economy.
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00:00A damning report from the NT's Auditor-General, painting a grim economic picture.
00:08These are absolutely staggering figures.
00:11Figures show the Territory's net debt ballooned by $315 million last financial year
00:18and is on its way to exceed $11.1 billion in total,
00:23with cost blowouts within the Health Department partly to blame.
00:27Yes, it did blow out and we take responsibility for that,
00:30but we did not put Territorians' lives at risk by cutting any health services.
00:35Another driver of debt, back payments of pay rises to workers in the Territory's bloated public sector,
00:41which grew by 12%.
00:44Because of that, we're having to make difficult financial decisions
00:47to try and make sure that we don't exceed the spending and increase that financial burden.
00:54Adding to the Territory's financial woes is the high price of paying for emergency gas
00:59to make up for ongoing supply issues at the NT's main supplier.
01:03It's a headache that's cost power and water more than $48 million last year,
01:08and it isn't going away.
01:11We've ended up with this energy crisis that's really been borne out by the reliance on gas
01:17instead of diversifying.
01:19It's costing Territorians a lot more money.
01:23It is certainly a grim picture and we're looking at all of our spending
01:26to make sure that we're spending Territory money wisely for the benefit of all Territorians.
01:31The NT government facing some tough decisions as it seeks to bring the budget to surplus.