Federal budget 2023-24 relieves Territorians’ power and health bills

Health and energy bills are set to drop for tens of thousands of Territorians as promised in the federal government’s 2023-24 budget.

Tens of thousands of Territorians are set to reap the benefits of the federal government’s 2023-24 budget, the Top End’s man in Canberra and Labor government insider has promised.

Solomon MP Luke Gosling said cost-of-living relief was on the way for about 50,000 NT households and 11,000 small businesses.

Mr Gosling said pensioners, veterans, seniors, concession card holders, carer allowance recipients, Family Tax Benefit recipients and existing electricity concession scheme recipients were eligible for energy rebates.

“They’re going to be delivered to the energy companies and then they’ll be applied to Territorians’ energy bills,” he said.

“Just under 50,000 households in the NT are expected to be eligible for that $350 rebate and that’s going to be applied quarterly from first of July.”

Mr Gosling said small businesses with an electricity usage of less than 750 megawatts per annum could see up to $650 per year in power-bill relief.

Member for Solomon Luke Gosling said the federal government’s 2023-24 budget was a “cost of living” budget. Picture: Pema Tamang Pakhrin

Mr Gosling said the budget was also a good step towards reducing GP costs and boosting the Territory’s health system.

“We’re doing a couple of things to take the pressure off Royal Darwin Hospital’s emergency department, and the first thing we did is last week, the prime minister announced an urgent care clinic for Palmerston,” he said.

“So what that’s going to do is enable Territorians to go in there and get support for … many of the things people go to EDs for when they can really get it at an urgent care clinic, and that’s bulk-billed.”

Mr Gosling said the federal government was also strengthening Medicare by tripling bulk-billing incentives.

“That will provide an immediate benefit to just under 40,000 people in Darwin and Palmerston,” he said.

“We’re hoping that GP clinics – with the investments we’re making in their clinics – will be able to offer that to more Territorians over time.”

The federal budget allocated more than $300m to handling veterans claims and pensions. Picture: ADF

More than 5400 veterans in Solomon will also be supported by federal funding to retain more than 480 Department of Veterans’ Affairs staff across the country.

It comes under the federal government’s $64.1m budget allocated to staff resourcing, to eliminate the backlog of claims from veterans.

The federal government has also allocated $254.1m over the next four years to replace, enhance and sustain the DVA’s ageing IT systems, ensuring timely payments and access to services for veterans and families.