Racism review scrapped, concession scheme overpaid: What the 2025 budget estimates revealed

Racism review scrapped, $1m overpayment waived, and project cuts: here are six key things revealed during the Territory’s budget estimate hearings.

Six things we learned from this year’s NT budget estimates hearings.

Budget estimates have wrapped up for another year, detailing how Territorians tax dollars are being spent.

The committee hearings, which ran across the past two weeks, are the best opportunity for the opposition and crossbench to scrutinise government activity and expenditure.

Here are six key things we learned across the fortnight.

Police racism review abandoned

A review into racism in the NT Police Force has been abandoned.

A review into racism in the NT Police Force will not go ahead, as the CLP axes a long-stalled plan to investigate systemic racism in government departments.

As part of the 2021 bipartisan Aboriginal Justice Agreement the then Labor government promised to “identify and eliminate systemic racism in government agencies” that “directly or indirectly discriminate against Aboriginal Territorians” in the justice system.

Attorney-General Marie-Clare Boothby said not one departmental racism review had been finalised, and work had begun on only one agency since the pledge was made four years ago.

Ms Boothby said $300,000 committed by the previous government to review racism in the police force had been redirected to Legal Aid NT “to keep them sustainable”.

“It was important that Legal Aid had the funding that they needed to continue the work so that we did have representation in our courts for those people,” she said.

“That money is now with Legal Aid and it has been removed from the racism review under the Anti-Discrimination Commissioner.”

Ms Boothby pointed to work being done internally by NT Police, which included an “anti-racism strategy” being developed by Leanne Liddle – the former director of the Aboriginal Justice Agreement.

Unlawful build of military fuel tanks not realised for almost two years

The tanks pictured in November 2023. Picture: Sierra Haigh

It took almost two years before the NT government realised eleven US military fuel tanks were being built unlawfully on Darwin Harbour.

The $270m “Project Caymus” never received a building permit, and there is a leak at the base of the tanks.

There were also reports that the tanks had not been built to withstand a Category 3 cyclone and had been built to the wrong standards for a hazardous facility – however Planning Minister Joshua Burgoyne said he understood “they have been built to code”.

Construction on the tanks, designed to hold 300 million litres of fuel, began under the former Labor government in January 2022.

Mr Burgoyne told estimates it was not until September 2023 that the Planning Department became aware of the lack of building permit.

Director of Building Control Mark Meldrum told estimates he sent a letter to US owner-operator Crowley five months later, in February last year, alerting them to the breach of the NT Building Act.

Mr Meldrum said that despite the breach, no enforcement action had been taken, “mainly because they have been co-operating with our inquiries and advice”.

“The other reason is there’s no fuel in the tanks,” he said.

Asked how a multimillion dollar project began and continued without a permit, Minister Burgoyne said: “you are left asking yourself, ‘how are we left in this situation?’”.

“These operations, which occurred under the previous (Labor) government, are something that we are now trying to deal with to ensure that should these tanks be utilised into the future for their purpose, that they meet the necessary standards,” he said.

“We will ensure that before those tanks are filled with fuel that we are happy that they have been independently verified as structurally safe to contain the hazardous fuel.”

Cuts to remote community projects

The Energy Smart Schools program is one project that has had its funding cut.

The CLP cut $1.1bn from its infrastructure program in this year’s budget amid eye-watering amounts of debt – but the details of which exact projects had hit the chopping block remained unclear.

Treasurer Bill Yan said the “reprioritisation” removed projects from the books that were “never cashed”, “not scoped correctly”, or “not costed correctly”, with some costings “so old that they are no longer fit for purpose”.

“That is why that program has been revisited to look at what we can realistically deliver,” he said.

Estimates hearings revealed some of the projects reprioritised from the infrastructure spend:

– $19m for a new multipurpose police facility in Peppimenarti

– $20m Phelp River crossing at Numbulwar

– $3.4m homeland early learning centre upgrades

– $2m from the Energy Smart Schools program

– Funding for the Elcho Island aerodrome secure aircraft compound

A full list of reprioritised projects was requested as a Question on Notice.

Nearly $1m in concession scheme overpayments waived

The CLP has decided to waive almost $1m overpaid to concession card holders. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Emma Brasier

The government has decided to waive almost a million dollars in overpayments made to 687 people on the NT Concession Scheme.

The scheme provides discounts to pensioners, veterans and other concession card holders on a range of essential goods and services to help with the cost of living.

Minister for People Jinson Charls revealed that over six years $951,796 extra was paid out of the scheme.

In December last year Centrelink launched a new system that automatically alerted the NT Concessions Scheme when a member was no longer eligible.

That new alert system led the department to identify 172 people who had received about $277,000 of overpayment in 2024-25.

Mr Charls said the department had started working to recover the money when the CLP decided to waive the debt in light of “concerns raised by members of the community”.

“The government made the decision that we will waive that overpayment because it is going back for the last six years,” he said.

“There are many individuals in that situation who are not in a position to pay back as well.”

Decrease in prisoner complaints raises red flag

Berrimah Prison, Darwin.

The number of complaints made against corrections dropped this financial year, despite a more than 20 per cent jump in prisoner numbers over the same period.

Acting Ombudsman Candice McLean told estimates she expected about 430 complaints against NT Correctional Services by the end of the financial year, down from 453 in 2023-24.

Ms McLean said the drop was likely due to a number of factors, including prisoners being unable to access complaint services during lockdowns and when being kept in watch houses – both of which have increased amid the ongoing corrections crisis.

The Corrections Commissioner confirmed there were “lockdowns across all of the facilities all of the time”.

However Corrections Minister Gerard Maley said there were other possible explanations as to why the number of complaints had dropped.

“That is the Ombudsman’s view and I fully respect his (sic) view,” Mr Maley said.

“I am saying there are alternative hypotheses in relation to why those numbers have gone down.

“For example, one, conditions have been improved; two, there is a confidential complaint system within the prison system and that could be working better; and, three, the Official Visitor Scheme is operational. There are other avenues for prisoners.”

Official Visitors are appointed members of the community tasked with visiting Territory prisons and providing independent assessments of the treatment and conditions of prisoners.

Further questioning of Mr Maley revealed only one Official Visitor had been operating in the NT this financial year, visiting Darwin six times, Berrimah once, and Alice Springs not at all.

Meanwhile, the Ombudsman revealed complaints against NT Police were up on last year.

Ms McLean said she expected more than 600 police complaints by the end of the month, compared with 369 last year, “which we consider may be due to increased police presence and operational activity”.

Emissions reduction target scrapped

The CLP has abandoned its emissions reduction target, saying it needed to make the most of “opportunities” such as gas development in the Beetaloo.

The NT government has quietly scrapped its 2030 emissions reduction target, backflipping on a promise it took to last year’s election.

Environment Minister Joshua Burgoyne confirmed that a 43 per cent reduction target in the NT’s greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 was no longer CLP policy.

Mr Burgoyne argued the Territory was a “relatively small emitter” and needed to be able to make the most of “opportunities”, such as gas development in the Beetaloo Basin.

Originally published as Racism review scrapped, concession scheme overpaid: What the 2025 budget estimates revealed