Cutting NT public service and starting at the top only way out of economic crisis, says leading political economist

THE Territory’s economic crisis has no chance of being resolved unless the Gunner Government bites the bullet and cuts back the ‘ballooning’ public service sector, according to a leading NT political economist

Charles Darwin University professor of public policy Rolf Gerritsen

THE Territory’s economic crisis has no chance of being resolved unless the Gunner Government bites the bullet and cuts back the “ballooning” public service sector, according to a leading NT political economist.

Charles Darwin University professor of public policy Rolf Gerritsen said the Territory has a “vastly-oversized” public service standing at 21,207, twice the national average.

“There’s been this never-ending wave pool of public service jobs building up over the last 20 years and it’s become very top heavy,” he said.

Former NT Treasurer David Tollner ... ‘the CLP put a freeze on public service numbers’

“About 45 per cent of our public service are managers and administrators. We don’t need that many bureaucrats but we still have twice the national average of those top positions.

“Governments have come and gone but no one wants to make the tough decision to cut them back but we need to because realistically we only really need about 14,000 full-time mostly front-line positions.”

Professor Gerritsen said he thought the government was hesitant to make the cuts because a large population of public servants lived in Darwin’s northern suburbs, an area he believes that often dictates government priorities.

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Treasurer Nicole Manison initially ruled out making cuts to the public service last Friday but seemed to walk back her comments on Monday.

She said jobs that are considered “no longer relevant” could be cut in an attempt to bring the budget under control.

“We only make changes where we think that programs are not working or jobs are no longer relevant,” she said.

NT Chamber of Commerce chief executive Greg Bicknell said the government put themselves in an “awkward position” by taking public service cuts off the table on Friday.

“They need to review every cent they’re spending,” he said.

“This situation also underscores the importance of onshore gas as a way forward for the NT because without it, I don’t see a way out of this financial mess.”

Former CLP Treasurer Dave Tollner rejected claims from the Gunner Government that the CLP was partly to blame for some of the economic problems.

“Manison basically attributed blame to the previous government and said we didn’t have a plan but we did,” he said.

“We basically put a freeze on public service numbers and we tried to grow the economy through gas developments.”