Media Release from Shadow Treasurer Bill Yan
The Northern Territory's economy continues to go backwards under Labor, with the former Treasurer responsible for a large part of this decline now in charge.
The Chief Minister tried to tell Territorians to ignore Monday’s damaging Commsec report citing flawed methodology. Just days later, Deloitte Access Economics the report used by the Northern Territory Government paints a similar grim picture.
For 21 months running, the Territory Labor Government has stayed at the bottom of the economic performance charts. Deloitte Access Economics, in its latest forecast, predicts that this abysmal state of affairs will persist, casting a shadow of gloom over our economic future.
The report states, “The Territory is expected to experience the weakest economic growth of the jurisdictions in 2023 – 2024.”
Despite the Chief Minister’s spin, there is clearly a direct link between weak policy and leadership and our weak economy.
Data out today shows Darwin inflation increased by 0.5% in the December quarter, reaching a cumulative 3.9% over the entire year.
Of serious concern when looking at the increase in CPI between September 2016 and December 2023 quarters, inflation has surged by 20%. This has a direct impact on the daily decision-making of Territorians, particularly when combined with additional stresses caused by the skyrocketing crime rate including insurance premium increases.
Despite Labor’s claims of diversification Deloitte shows a starkly different picture, and ABS published retail spending is dwindling as the cost of living crisis means Territorians have less money to spend in our local economy.
Throughout her tenure as Treasurer – then now Chief Minister Eva Lawler’s track record reads like a catalogue of failures. Government debt has ballooned from $2.71 billion to a staggering $10.1 billion, a triple increase under the Labor Government. Eva’s promises of prosperity ring hollow against the backdrop of fiscal irresponsibility and economic mismanagement.
Our CLP economic plan focuses on making the Northern Territory a great place to live, work and invest. The CLP will achieve this with our policy to slash project approval times by 50%, get rid of Labor’s destructive hybrid mining tax and install the Territory Co-ordinator who will ensure projects are fought for, started quickly and completed on time.
Opening up our economy to private investment will increase competition and bring down cost of living.
