Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / NTCOSS CEO Deb Di Natale says the Federal budget is disappointing for struggling Territorians, with nothing on offer to make ends meet

Transcript

NTCOSS CEO Deb Di Natale says the Federal budget is disappointing for struggling Territorians, with nothing on offer to make ends meet · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Let's talk budget. I know that there is a big
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: infrastructure spend which we've seen for the Northern territory, but
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: how are things looking for territorians more generally? Joining me
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: on the line is deb Di Natalie, who is the
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: NT Costs CEO. Good morning to you, Deb.
• 0:18
  Speaker 2: Good morning Katy, and good morning to your listening deb.
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: What was your reaction to the federal budget last night?
• 0:25
  Speaker 2: Possibly, like a number of people, a mixed reaction. Really
• 0:29
  Speaker 2: pleased to see the increase in the paid parental leave
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: and those changes because that improves flexibility for families, but
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: incredibly disappointed for a number of Territorians who are doing
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: it really tough. And we all know the cost of
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: living pressures and I've just heard you talking about the
• 0:46
  Speaker 2: fuel prices and nothing to alleviate people who are already
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: struggling to make ends meet.
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: Yeah, this is the thing, isn't it. Deb. It's so
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: tough for a lot of people right now in these
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: petrol price says. I know that it doesn't seem like
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: a big thing to some people out there listening, but
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: you know, if you can only afford to put fifty
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: dollars worth of petrol in your car every week, and
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: then the prices go up as astronomically as they have.
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: It's not only the cost that your hip pocket to
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: fill your car up, but it's also the cost of
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: everything else going up in turn.
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and I think that can often happen unfortunately in
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: a federal budget, is that the Northern territory gets overlooked.
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: And a really good example is the CPI increased nationally.
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: If you have a look at we always say that
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: living in Melbourne and living in Sydney's really expensive. Well,
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: the CPI in Melbourne is two point five percent and
• 1:41
  Speaker 2: in Darwin it's gone up six percent. Also, rents, people
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: are the rent have gone up astronomically here. So the
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: national CPI on a rent is zero point four percent,
• 1:54
  Speaker 2: but in Darwin it's eight percent. And we had a
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: look at the last quarter in terms of twenty twenty
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: and your average car loan repayment was one hundred and
• 2:06
  Speaker 2: twenty nine dollars and in the most recent quarter of
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: twenty twenty one it was one hundred and sixty nine dollars.
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: So you think of a family who's trying to pay
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: off their car that's gone up from one hundred and
• 2:20
  Speaker 2: twenty nine dollars to one hundred and sixty nine dollars.
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: You think of a family whose rent has gone up
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: and the fuel prices on top of that, you are
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: going to push these families into poverty and into financial
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: stress without question.
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: Wow. And you know, I think quite often, you know,
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: we may be we understand that it's tough for people,
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: but to hear it like that, particularly when you talk
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: about CPI and how it is in other states and
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: then compare it to Darwin and then you look at
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: the cost of living, it is it's tough going for
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: a lot of people right now.
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: It's tough going. And we also have the highest poverty
• 2:57
  Speaker 2: rates compared to any other day fiction in the country.
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: And the other thing that we have is we have
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: more job seekers than anybody else. So we've got twenty
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: three thousand job seekers in the Northern Territory and they
• 3:09
  Speaker 2: haven't seen a single dollar increase. So we're expecting twenty
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: three thousand territorians to live on not even forty six
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: dollars a day. So this is why we have the
• 3:20
  Speaker 2: social issues that we do. And at ant cost, we
• 3:24
  Speaker 2: would say a really good budget is a budget where
• 3:27
  Speaker 2: nobody is left behind.
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: Deep we know that there has been obviously some sweetness,
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: and you'd always expect to see that before a federal election.
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: Included in those they have obviously cut the fuel excise.
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: We also know I think it's a four hundred and
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: twenty dollars cost of living tax of set from your perspective, though,
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: does that really go far enough for our low to
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: middle income earners and you know, those that are really struggling.
• 3:54
  Speaker 2: Look, I think it will be a short term fix,
• 3:57
  Speaker 2: and I think it'll make a number of people across
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: the country feel like there has been some movement. But
• 4:04
  Speaker 2: in real terms, this is not a long term solution
• 4:06
  Speaker 2: to people who are doing it tough. And you heard
• 4:09
  Speaker 2: those prices that I mentioned in terms of you've got
• 4:12
  Speaker 2: car loan payments, you've got your rents that have gone up,
• 4:15
  Speaker 2: and you've got CPI that's higher than any other jurisdiction
• 4:19
  Speaker 2: in the country. A two hundred and fifty dollars cut
• 4:22
  Speaker 2: is just not going to get you to a place
• 4:25
  Speaker 2: of financial sustainability. So the answer to that is a
• 4:29
  Speaker 2: short no, it's not enough, and it's certainly not going
• 4:32
  Speaker 2: to help the lower income earners.
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: If you did speak about those changes to paid parental leave.
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: Were there any other wins from your perspective.
• 4:41
  Speaker 2: Oh, I think people who are really interested in roads
• 4:46
  Speaker 2: would say there's been a win for the Northern Territory.
• 4:48
  Speaker 2: We've got a really big budget in terms of roads
• 4:51
  Speaker 2: and infrastructure. But from our point of view, we would
• 4:54
  Speaker 2: say that that is absolutely essential and we think that
• 4:59
  Speaker 2: they do need to be good roads and we do
• 5:01
  Speaker 2: need good infrastructure here in the MT. But you have
• 5:05
  Speaker 2: to think about the community sector that is assisting vulnerable
• 5:09
  Speaker 2: people on the front line every day, a sector of
• 5:13
  Speaker 2: more than twenty thousand territory workers that brings in more
• 5:17
  Speaker 2: money than mining, and we haven't seen a single incentive
• 5:20
  Speaker 2: for any of those, So for our industry, I would
• 5:24
  Speaker 2: say it's been a massive loss.
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: Well, deb Di, Natalie, I always think it's incredibly important
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: for us to hear from a number of different sectors
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: so that we can get a good understanding about you know,
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: where we've hit the mark, where we've missed the mark,
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: and how you know how everybody's feeling on the morning
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: after the budget. It's always a mixed bag, isn't it.
• 5:44
  Speaker 2: And absolutely is and I always appreciate your Katie reaching
• 5:48
  Speaker 2: out to us to hear the perspective from the community sector.
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: Yeah, well, we always appreciate you joining us on the show.
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: Dev thanks so much for your time this morning.
• 5:57
  Speaker 2: No worries. Have a great day you two.
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: Thank you.