NT Government to release fiscal outlook on July 29, as new data reveals number of people on the dole has soared
CHIEF Minister Michael Gunner has revealed the date that Territorians will find out exactly how bad the NT’s economic position is and what its financial future will look like ahead of this year’s election
Business
Don't miss out on the headlines from Business. Followed categories will be added to My News.
- NT Government backflips, will provide forecasts to Territorians before August election after all
- NT Government refuses to follow Tasmania’s lead on releasing a detailed budget update
- NT Government debt to be ‘accelerated’ by coronavirus, warn economists
TERRITORIANS will find out exactly how bad the NT’s economic position is and what its financial future will look like one month before the election, the Chief Minister has revealed.
A wide-ranging parliamentary hearing into the NT’s coronavirus response on Thursday was told the Government, which had previously declined to release economic estimates, would release a fiscal outlook on July 29.
The NT’s spiralling net debt pre-coronavirus stood at $5.49 billion, with expectations the July report will show the jurisdiction is in a debt hole far north of $7 billion.
MORE TOP NEWS
Traditional owners calling for Kakadu to reopen
Gunner explains why NT borders are still closed to interstate travel
NT’s $2.4 billion tourism industry could remain in hibernation until 2021 unless help comes soon
It comes as a new report by the Centre for Independent Studies warned the NT’s treacherous position as Australia’s most federal government funding dependant, least economically diverse and fiscally weakest jurisdiction meant it had the “greatest exposure to revenues at risk” in the current crisis.
The report by CIS senior economics fellow Robert Carling found by 2022 the NT would have the “highest debt burden ratio” by far, of any jurisdiction in Australia.
Mr Carling estimated the NT could lose $750 million in revenue in the upcoming financial year before taking into account the impact of COVID-19 stimulus packages like payroll tax deferrals or power and water bill amnesties.
It was also revealed during the Public Accounts Committee hearing that the number of Territorians on the dole in Darwin and Alice Springs had soared to 9391 people in just three months due to the economy crippling coronavirus pandemic, with unemployment expected to be much worse when the rest of the jurisdiction is taken into account.
The number of people in Darwin and the Red Centre receiving Federal Government JobSeeker benefits as of May 17 is up from 5259 people on February 29 before pandemic restrictions hit.
Get amazing Sennheiser earbuds (RRP: $499) with NT News subscription deal
The statistics are expected to stretch even higher when the situation in remote and other regional communities are factored in.
Olivia Wirth’s Myer revival hinges on it all coming together
The former Qantas executive has moved at lightning speed in her first 100 days in charge of the retailer. This is where she wants to take it.
‘Did not fall’: CCTV tells different story in Darwin man’s workplace injury
Police have reviewed CCTV footage of a workplace injury that left a man with no feeling in his legs – alleging there was more to the incident than first meets the eye.