CLP’s Tracey Hayes slams NT Government over economy after dire Moody’s credit report

IT would be “disgraceful” for the NT Government to “spend like drunken sailors” and expect the Federal Government to bail it out, the CLP has said.

IT would be “disgraceful” for the NT Government to “spend like drunken sailors” and expect the Federal Government to bail it out, the CLP has said.

CLP treasury spokeswoman and candidate for Fannie Bay Tracey Hayes called on the Government to be transparent and clear about its fiscal position.

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Tracey Hayes. Picture GLENN CAMPBELL

Her comments come as international credit rating agency Moody’s Investors Service released fresh analysis saying it would expect the Commonwealth to provide “extraordinary support” if the NT “faced acute liquidity stress”.

The NT has the worst credit rating of any jurisdiction in Australia ever. It remains at “stable” Aa3.

Moody’s report stated one of the factors behind this is because they believe there is a “high likelihood” the Federal Government would save the NT from the brink of bankruptcy due to “potential reputation risk” to Australia.

“They can’t spend like drunken sailors, not be transparent and clear, and expect Uncle Scott (Morrison, the Prime Minister) to bail us out every time we’re in trouble,” Ms Hayes said.

“That’s a disgrace.”

According to Moody’s analysis the NT’s debt in 2021 would be 144 per cent of its total revenue.

The true scale of NT’s debt in 2019/20 following the coronavirus pandemic is not yet known.

The NT Government is due to hand down its fiscal outlook on July 29.

Territory Alliance leader Terry Mills likened NT Labor to treating the territory like a “poor kid in a rich family”.

“The eternal child that has potential but will not accept responsibility nor work hard because the Commonwealth will always be there to blame or to bail us out,” he said.

Treasurer Nicole Manison said the NT was on “the road to recovery”.

“We are on the road to recovery – and we’re doing it with jobs, not cuts, asset sales and power price rises,” she said.