Treasurers meet on NT fiscal crisis: No offers from Canberra

13
2136
25100 Josh Frydenberg OKBy ERWIN CHLANDA
 
“I look forward to continuing to work with the Northern Territory and await further advice from Treasurer Manison on how they intend to get their budget back on track.”
 
This statement was made Federal Treasurer Josh Frydenberg (pictured) today, in reply to questions put to him and Prime Minister Scott Morrison by the Alice Springs News Online.
 
The statement indicates that no bailout has been offered by Canberra.
 
Mr Fryenberg said: “I had a constructive discussion with the Northern Territory Treasurer this week about the economic challenges facing the Territory.”
 
The News put the same questions CLP Senator for the NT, Nigel Scullion, but received no reply.
 
The questions were:–
 
• Will the Federal Government bail out the NT Government?
 
• If so, on what conditions?
 
• How much will it spend?
 
• Given that the NT is not a state, and Canberra can overturn NT decisions, and that the preceding (Giles) government, without Federal consent and knowledge, sold the 99 year lease to Port Darwin to a Chinese company with reported links to that country’s military, is there a case for Canberra to pay more attention to what happens in the NT?
 
• If so, to what avail?
 
• If so, does Canberra have ultimately responsibility for the current NT Budget crisis?
 
• If so, what will you do about it?
 
• Is return to “Canberra control” such as it existed before self-government, an option being considered?
 
 
 

13 COMMENTS

  1. NT in charge of decisions like the port one is like giving your V8 car to your recently license child and saying be good.
    It’s amazing, the government personnel aren’t held to account in any way for their silly mistakes and dodgy (looking) actions.
    The worst thing is they coast until their term ends and they wonder off into other high paying jobs. And the port deal will still stand for another 97 odd years.

  2. The huge debt comes with the out of control Aboriginal problems.
    Let’s face it, Aboriginal people are a huge financial cost!
    Justice, education, health, housing problems everywhere!

  3. They know they will lose the next Federal election and will leave it to Comrade Shorten to bail out Comrade Gunner.

  4. Oh dear! Treasurer Manison went all the way to Canberra to panhandle ScoMo and comes home with a doughnut.
    No sugar frosting, no chocolate filling, just a plain old doughnut.
    Have a nice day, y’all.

  5. @ Liberal: Yeah, as if Aboriginal people determine the policies, as if Aboriginal people “control” the budget, as if Aboriginal people run government, as if Aboriginal people have anything to do with employment.
    We have incompetent politicians in government with shifting sands policies here and Canberra.

  6. @ So called Liberal: For the past years, since the introduction of the GST, the Territory has been receiving over and above the GST levels that other Australians revived with an expectation that we would invest wisely in infrastructure, right across the Territory, lifting our Aboriginal populations along with other Territorians to a 21st century level of living, services, health care, overall amenity while creating sustainable economies, employment, opportunity, happy healthy futures for all, repaying the investments of our fellow Australians.
    Instead on the ground, in communities, we have growing poverty and despair, continuing welfare dependency, failure to deliver the most basic of services.
    Now we are expecting worsening health outcomes as staff are withdrawn from clinics because.
    Meanwhile in our glorious capital we’ve lived the high life, installed services, sports grounds, water parks, general amenities to a level that very few other Australians share.
    Along with that we have built the most gigantic suffocating, free enterprise killing, parasitic bureaucracy which wastes the good intentions of the rest of the nation while delivering almost nothing.
    What should have been a great boon for Territorians setting us up for the future has in fact been our undoing because of greedy self indulgent uncaring and blatantly incompetent government and governments
    It’s time we stopped and took stock, time to undertake the biggest restructuring of our bureaucracy since the beginning of Self Government!
    I think we have reached a point where it’s time the Feds inflicted upon us A Royal Commission that we really do deserve!
    Territorians along with Canberra need to develop a believable, achievable, long term planned, incremental, infrastructural strategy which acknowledges the needs of all Territorians equally and sets out to lift the lives of all Territorians in that manner.
    Do we grow our capital?
    Of course we do. But not at the expense of the regions.
    We grow our capital by developing our regions.
    Which in turn feed the growth of the Capital.
    We do all this through encouraging and facilitating the growth of free enterprise while shrinking Government to the minimum required – not making up almost the entire population, as it does today.

  7. @ Steve: And your point is what, beside the 1000 word book of nonsense?
    @ David: Don’t get defensive. Aboriginal people don’t contribute to solutions, they contribute to problems.

  8. @ Liberal, 21 December, 2018: Easy to point the finger at one sector of the Territory, as usual.
    At the lot that are subject to Basics Cards, unemployment and all sorts of measures foisted on Aboriginal people by government, to then be dumped on the scrap heap of society, after the many failed social experiments, the last being the “Intervention”.
    The Intervention turned Aboriginal affairs backwards at least 50 years, leaving Aboriginal people voiceless and with no control to “contribute” according to you, Liberal.

  9. Aboriginal people need intervention to survive David, stop blaming the intervention.
    That’s a cop out. You just keep on blaming governments – no accountability or responsibility to change for the better.

  10. Re David, Posted December 22, 2018 at 7:05 am
    I did not like “the Intervention” yet in reality it was only a slight change to flavor used by our racist Commonwealth.
    The ALRNT is Commonwealth legislation to promote and maintain long term racism.
    Racism you either support or you reject, for there is no neutrality with racism.
    Supporters of racism need accept all its flavours.
    All ALRNT lands need be converted to freehold title, with the same legal rights, responsibilities, and opportunities to sink, swim, or loose their land, just like everyone else.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here