Nova Peris (NT, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise tonight to talk about the enormous pressure so many families are currently under due to the staggering increases in the cost of living in the Northern Territory. I know the cost of living is an issue right now around Australia, but nowhere is it a bigger issue than in the Northern Territory. Historically, we have had the highest cost of living of all Australian states and territories. This is essentially due to the small and sparse population we have. Not only does it cost more to provide goods and services in the bush but there is also less competition and less market focus. However, what is more concerning now is that the cost of living in the Northern Territory is increasing at a faster rate than anywhere else in Australia.

Not only is our cost of living the highest but it is also currently increasing at the fastest rate in the country. I am going to go through some of the latest cost-of-living figures published by the ABS that outline just how dramatic and widespread the cost-of-living increases are in the Northern Territory. Territory families do not need statistics to tell them they are doing it tough. They already know what their costs are. They are going through the roof, increasing at a much greater rate than incomes. When everything else costs more, families know about it. When household budgets are broken because more money is going out than is coming in, families know about it. When just paying for the essentials in life causes pain, families know about it. And when things like holidays have to be cancelled, families know about it.

Inflation, or the consumer price index, is the best measure of the increased cost of living. Inflation in the Northern Territory is at 4.4 per cent. This is by far the highest in the country. The ABS data shows that the cost of power, water, housing and fuel are all increasing at a rate far faster than in the rest of Australia. That is not all. The cost of food, health, services, rents, education, transport and recreation have all increased more in the Northern Territory in the last year than in the rest of Australia. Pretty much everything is increasing at a faster rate in the Northern Territory than around this country. What is particular concerning is that wages and incomes are not keeping pace with the increased cost of living. Of course, cost-of-living increases are not so bad if incomes and wages are going up at the same rate or a faster rate, but this is not the case; it is quite the opposite. While the cost of living is increasing at that 4.4 per cent, average weekly earnings have only increased by 1.8 per cent. In other words, the cost of living is increasing at nearly three times the rate of incomes.

The increase in average weekly earnings last year is the lowest ever since records began in the Northern Territory. This is placing families under enormous stress. I know that the cost of living is placing stress on people right around Australia, but at least in the rest of the country wages are keeping pace with the increases in that cost of living. Nationally, wages grew by 3.1 per cent, which is higher than the national inflation increase of 2.7 per cent. So Territorians are doing it tough. All these increases come after both the Northern Territory and the Commonwealth governments were elected on a platform of lowering the cost of living.

People do not like to be deceived. The electorate in the Northern Territory reacted furiously to this broken promise and the elected Chief Minister, Terry Mills, was dumped by his own party only seven months after taking them to an election victory. People were burning their power bills in the street. The CLP blamed the media for reporting the huge price hikes. The people thanked the media for reporting the huge price hikes. But, in the year since Terry Mills was dumped, things have only got worse under Adam Giles. He has continued to increase the cost of power. It was up five per cent at the start of the year, and he has recently announced another four per cent rise in the middle of the year and another five per cent rise at the end of the year. Average families are being hit every single day. The battle against the cost-of-living hikes is relentless, and there is no end in sight.

I will go through some of the increases families are having to cope with. Power and water bills are up by $2,000 per year, and more increases are to come. The Northern Territory is a hot place, and many Territorians can now no longer afford air conditioners. I want to crush a furphy when it comes to power prices, and that is that the carbon tax is responsible for the increases in power prices. The Northern Territory government have put average household power bills up, like I said before, by $2,000 per year. The carbon price put average household power bills up by only $135 per year. So only around six per cent of the increases to power bills in the last 18 months have been due to the carbon price. This means 94 per cent of the increases are due to the Northern Territory Country Liberal Party government. Fuel prices are increasing at twice the rate of the rest of the country. In the NT, our petrol prices are currently around 20c higher per litre than the rest of Australia, and the gap is growing. Our petrol prices increased by 5.6 per cent last year, twice the national average. The cost of housing is a national issue. In the Northern Territory the government promised 18 months ago to cut the cost of housing. Since then house prices and rents have increased substantially. House prices are up by 7.5 per cent. In the NT we spend more of our income on rents than anywhere else. On average, Territorians spent 36 per cent of their income on rents compared to 25 per cent across Australia.

The federal member for Solomon, Natasha Griggs, campaigned across two federal elections committing to release Defence Force houses to the public, which she claimed would reduce housing costs. Within six months of getting into government she scrapped the commitment she spent four years talking about. Her biggest single issue turned out to be nothing more than meaningless, empty talk. Like Terry Mills, Natasha Griggs promised before an election to cut the cost of living, only to break her promise after being elected. She should be wary of a similar fate to Mr Mills, which is that Territorians do not like such blatant deception.

A completely unsympathetic Northern Territory government claims that people are not struggling with the cost of living, because retail trade has gone up. Retail trade has gone up only because the cost of groceries has increased. Territorians have to pay much more than people elsewhere in Australia to buy the same amount of groceries, and the NT government claims that this is a good thing.

While Territorians are doing it tough against immense cost-of-living pressures, the Chief Minister, Adam Giles, spent nearly $100,000 to charter a private jet just so he could attend a photo shoot with the Prime Minister in Darwin last week. While Territorians are forced to cut back, this was an offensive waste of taxpayers' money. It was also a bitter pill to swallow. I will let the Prime Minister explain why he decided not to tell the Chief Minister why he was going to Darwin, but the fact that he did not tell him ended up costing Territory taxpayers more than most Territorians earn in a year. Sadly there is no relief in sight. Deloitte Access Economics has predicted that inflation in the NT will remain the highest in the country this year. Our cost of living will keep increasing as the fastest in the country.

The NT government have announced that they are splitting Power and Water into three divisions. The only reason you would do this is to sell it off. Everyone is aware of their plan. Like everywhere else where power has been privatised, prices will go up. Of course, families are also looking down the barrel at things like Medicare co-payments to see a GP and reduced penalty rates for working on weekends. It is not a pleasant outlook.

There is a by-election coming up in the Northern Territory in the seat of Blain. The seat is being vacated by Terry Mills, who lost his job as Chief Minister after the community rebelled against his broken promises to cut the cost of living. Blain is a suburban heartland, and young families are hurting in Blain. A swing against the government in Blain will be a message to both the Northern Territory government and to the Commonwealth government: if you promise to cut the cost of living but then do the exact opposite, you will pay for it.

The result in the by-election will not change the government, but, hopefully, a swing against this uncaring CLP government will force change, which is change the community desperately needs. It will force the NT government to change the way they govern, change their approach to the cost of living and change their approach to hurting families.