Malarndirri McCarthy (NT, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I wanted to spend some time this evening raising an issue that has stunned the people of the Northern Territory. I have been reading through the Commonwealth Grants Commission: report on GST revenue sharing relativities 2016 update, particularly in terms of what is going to happen in the Northern Territory. This has created a real concern for not only the Northern Territory government but the people right across the Territory about truly understanding what this means.

The Northern Territory is a big place. It is over 135 million hectares. Only about 245,000 people live there. In fact, our population density is one person for every five square kilometres. The reality of life for many Territorians is a life in remote areas. The Territory is certainly a wonderful place to live but not an inexpensive place to live and raise your family. Territorians take these challenges in their stride: living out bush in remote areas, where kids have to move thousands of kilometres away from home to go to high school; relying on the Royal Flying Doctor Service for emergency medical services; and the cost of living.

Now this government has just dealt the Territory a very savage, budget heavy hit—a $2 billion cut to our GST revenues over the next four years. This is an unprecedented cut to the Northern Territory's budget. Let me be clear: the Northern Territory has the smallest population base; the highest level of disadvantaged people; and the biggest deficits in health, education, infrastructure and housing—in particular, in the bush. And the Territory is certainly more reliant on Commonwealth revenue than any other jurisdiction. The Commonwealth revenue makes up around 70 per cent of the Territory's total revenue at 50 per cent untied GST revenue and 20 per cent tied payments.

The principle underlying horizontal fiscal equalisation is that all Australians can expect to receive a comparable level of schooling, access to hospitals, justice services, transport infrastructure and public housing availability regardless of what state or territory they reside in. But that principle seems to have gone out of the window with this $2 billion cut to the Northern Territory. The reality is that this decision treats Territorians unfairly, precisely because of where they live, and this government should recognise that.

I know that the Michael Gunner Labor government are certainly excellent economic managers and are looking at how to shield Territorians as much as possible from these vicious cuts. The Territory Labor government have committed to delivering their election commitments in the face of these cuts, and they will be out there fighting for a better deal for Territorians. The Territory's federal Labor representatives—Warren Snowdon, the member for Lingiari; Luke Gosling, the member for Solomon; and I—will certainly be fighting for the benefit of the people of the Northern Territory and alongside the Northern Territory government.

I call on my fellow senator for the Northern Territory here in the house, Senator Nigel Scullion, to stand with us in standing up for the Northern Territory. It is absolutely critical that he does. He is the only member in the federal government cabinet, and he must stand up for the people of the Northern Territory. It is certainly an opportunity for Senator Scullion to show leadership and to prove to the people of the Northern Territory that he does have their best interests at heart by showing that he is prepared to go toe to toe with the Treasurer and to fight to ensure economic development opportunities for the people of the Northern Territory.

What impact will a $2 billion cut have on programs and services for people? We know what that is going to do. This brutal cut will have incredible impacts on closing the gap of Indigenous disadvantage. We stood in the house here only a month ago to talk about closing the gap in life expectancy, health and education for Indigenous people in this country, and we know that that is still an enormous challenge in the Northern Territory. How is it that we could experience, just in the 2014 Tony Abbott budget, a $500 million cut to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander services across Australia, which has been particularly felt in the Northern Territory? On top of that were the cuts to the Indigenous Advancement Strategy and the difficulties that the IAS has been found to have in terms of what that program is doing across Australia. The Auditor-General's report showed some severe concerns around the IAS, another blow to the people of the Northern Territory. It really is a budget double whammy for Indigenous Territorians especially.

When we look at the development of northern Australia and how the federal government wants to push the growth of northern Australia, one questions how that is going to be really possible, especially now, with this significant cut to the GST for the Northern Territory. We talk about the $5 billion Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility. Since that program was announced in the 2015 budget, we have not seen one red cent hit the ground in the Northern Territory. Territory Chief Minister Michael Gunner and Treasurer Nicole Manison are certainly going to be knocking on doors here in Canberra, and they are going to be looking to us to help them to get a better deal.

In the few minutes that I have left, I want to just highlight some of the things of concern for me in relation to the Commonwealth Grants Commission report. Lots of questions still come from this—questions that still need to be answered—and these are largely in relation to the indicators that the Grants Commission uses, like community health, the taxable payrolls and the Commonwealth payments. Which of the roads in the Northern Territory is it referring to? There are more questions that come from these pointed statistics, in particular about the decline in school enrolment.

I think that, again, we know the challenges in trying to get our kids to school across many of our remote regions in Australia, and it is no different in the Northern Territory. What does this mean when we talk about the reduction in school enrolment and how that is then linked to the decline in GST revenue? These are the things that the people of the Northern Territory want to understand. What is the fall in the enrolments? Where did those enrolments take place? How were they measured? I know that ACARA is one indicator that the Grants Commission has used, but when was this taken?

In terms of the population growth, looking at the decline in the population growth, when was that measured? How was that taken? Are we talking about the population of the whole of the Northern Territory or specific places? There are so many unanswered questions that still come from this report, which I will certainly be keen to ask over the coming days.

On reflection, in terms of the roads, we certainly know about Infrastructure Australia and the funds that come into the Northern Territory in the Commonwealth payments. How is it that we can, on the one hand, as a territory seek to be funded for the best of roads and transportation to be able to get food into the communities and have bridges built so that there can be access and yet, because we have received a certain amount of funding to build that infrastructure, it is then taken away with the other hand? These are the things that do not seem to add up.

The question of fairness is one that will certainly be asked over coming days. We will certainly be asking about all these things from the commission's report.