Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / NT Treasurer Eva Lawler says the government is committed to delivering the Darwin ship lift project despite the collapse of one of the construction companies

Transcript

NT Treasurer Eva Lawler says the government is committed to delivering the Darwin ship lift project despite the collapse of one of the construction companies · 360 with Katie Woolf

0:00
Speaker 1: We did indeed learn that Western Australian builder Cloff, the
0:03
Speaker 1: builder task with the job of building the shiplift, has
0:06
Speaker 1: been placed into voluntary administration. Now Deloitte has reportedly been
0:11
Speaker 1: appointed the administrator and is managing Cloff's affairs. Cloff was
0:15
Speaker 1: indeed a joint venture partner with BMD in building the
0:18
Speaker 1: shiplift at East RM. Now joining me on the line
0:22
Speaker 1: right now to tell us a little bit more about.
0:23
Speaker 2: The situation is the Treasurer.
0:26
Speaker 1: She's also the Minister for Infrastructure and Education.
0:30
Speaker 2: Evil Laula. Good morning to your minister.
0:32
Speaker 3: Good morning Katie.
0:33
Speaker 1: Now, minister, firstly, what does you know what's going to
0:37
Speaker 1: happen now with the fact that Cloff has gone into administration.
0:41
Speaker 2: What does it mean for the shiplift project?
0:43
Speaker 3: Yeah, so absolutely it was disappointing to hear that, you know,
0:47
Speaker 3: Cloff have gone into receivership. They are a long term
0:50
Speaker 3: Australian company. But what it means, I mean it is
0:53
Speaker 3: a joint venture between Cloff and BMD. But what the
0:58
Speaker 3: Department Infrastructure into is doing is they will be working
1:02
Speaker 3: with the administrators. They'll be working through what needs to
1:06
Speaker 3: happen next around this project. But you know, the shiplift
1:09
Speaker 3: will be delivered by the Northern Territory government. As I said,
1:11
Speaker 3: it is disappointing to see that, but it is also
1:14
Speaker 3: the bigger picture. It is an indication of some of
1:16
Speaker 3: the issues that we're seeing in Australia now around the
1:19
Speaker 3: cost of infrastructure going up and then the impact on
1:22
Speaker 3: those businesses. You know, So we're seeing thirty forty percent
1:25
Speaker 3: increases and that's obviously what's happened on Snowy two point zero.
1:28
Speaker 1: So could it mean that BND delivers the projects themselves.
1:33
Speaker 3: Well, you know, it's far too early around any of
1:35
Speaker 3: these things. But as I said, well you know, and
1:38
Speaker 3: I absolutely don't want to commit any of those sorts
1:40
Speaker 3: of things. Those things are being worked through literally over
1:44
Speaker 3: the next few weeks and then the Department Infrastructure and
1:48
Speaker 3: TEA will be working with the administrators as well as
1:52
Speaker 3: so Deloitte's the administrators around this to see what needs
1:55
Speaker 3: to be done. But as I said, Kluff are huge,
1:57
Speaker 3: aren't they, you know, with the projects in WA, projects
2:00
Speaker 3: in the Snowy as well. So yeah, we're on a
2:04
Speaker 3: long list of people I guess that need to work
2:06
Speaker 3: with CLUFF to work out where this all goes well.
2:09
Speaker 1: And when we caught up with the Chamber of Commerce
2:11
Speaker 1: a short time ago, Greg Island had said, you know,
2:14
Speaker 1: I guess the best way to describe.
2:15
Speaker 2: The situation is messy.
2:18
Speaker 1: Is it going to me though, that we've got further
2:20
Speaker 1: delays on the ship left?
2:22
Speaker 3: Well, we hope not. As I said, you know, the
2:24
Speaker 3: design work that's been done, and both BEM Cluff and
2:29
Speaker 3: BMD got paid for that design work phase and they
2:32
Speaker 3: have been Cluff BMD have been progressively paid for design
2:36
Speaker 3: and they're deliverable. So we'll continue to work on that.
2:39
Speaker 3: But you know, just to be clear, though, the terrific
2:41
Speaker 3: government owns, you know, everything that has been paid for
2:44
Speaker 3: at this stage.
2:45
Speaker 2: So how much has already been paid?
2:49
Speaker 3: I probably can't tell you that figure. As I said,
2:51
Speaker 3: I don't actually have it at hand. But also I
2:53
Speaker 3: think most of those things are commercial in confidence around that.
2:57
Speaker 3: But they as I said, I did tell you that,
2:59
Speaker 3: you know, they were both paid a million dollars for
3:02
Speaker 3: that design phase. This is a huge project. It is
3:05
Speaker 3: a big project. There is substantial work that's happened before
3:09
Speaker 3: you know, even the first top sods turned. Really it's
3:12
Speaker 3: all the tendering, all of that work that needs to
3:15
Speaker 3: go into this project.
3:16
Speaker 1: Minister, as I understand that the project was originally costed
3:19
Speaker 1: about two hundred and sixty million dollars.
3:22
Speaker 2: That was back in twenty twenty.
3:24
Speaker 1: It's now being reported that it's going to cost five
3:26
Speaker 1: hundred and fifteen million dollars. Is that still going to
3:30
Speaker 1: be deliverable at that cost now given what's going on
3:33
Speaker 1: with class Yeah, as I.
3:35
Speaker 3: Say, that's one of the biggest issues that you know,
3:37
Speaker 3: Australia faces and we face in the territory has been
3:40
Speaker 3: the increases of all infrastructure. So everything is seen between
3:45
Speaker 3: thirty and forty percent, whether you're building a house or
3:48
Speaker 3: building a big project. So yeah, you know, and that
3:51
Speaker 3: was reported in our mid year budget that's has been
3:55
Speaker 3: a cost increase of about one hundred and twelve million dollars,
3:57
Speaker 3: so it is now about five hundred and fifteen. But
4:00
Speaker 3: you know, this is the issue around infrastructure. It is
4:03
Speaker 3: about you know, the projects then will generate millions of
4:06
Speaker 3: dollars for the economy. It is about diversifying our economy.
4:10
Speaker 3: It's some of the things that we really truly need
4:12
Speaker 3: to do. It is long term jobs in that industry
4:15
Speaker 3: for territory and so yes, it is a cost increase,
4:18
Speaker 3: but hopefully there is a large benefit well, and.
4:20
Speaker 1: I know people are going to be listening thinking it's
4:22
Speaker 1: now costed at five hundred and fifteen million dollars in
4:24
Speaker 1: the project. Realistically, you know, we don't even know now
4:28
Speaker 1: who exactly is going to be delivering it. So can
4:31
Speaker 1: we expect that it's going to stay on that target
4:34
Speaker 1: of five hundred and fifteen and is it still going
4:37
Speaker 1: to be viable?
4:39
Speaker 3: Yes, so absolutely we want to make sure that that
4:42
Speaker 3: project continues. We do want to see a shiplift. I
4:45
Speaker 3: think we've all talked about those the benefits of that,
4:48
Speaker 3: you know, having those repairs, that maintenance being to be
4:51
Speaker 3: done in the North of Australia, So we've had all
4:53
Speaker 3: of those conversations. We do also, I think just need
4:57
Speaker 3: to be reminded that they are in administer draation, not receivership.
5:01
Speaker 3: So you know what's happened is you know people have
5:03
Speaker 3: come in early, the accountants have come in early, and
5:06
Speaker 3: they'll work through this so and you know they're a
5:08
Speaker 3: long term Australian company. Nobody wants to see any company
5:12
Speaker 3: go broke. You know, that's a huge impact on any
5:15
Speaker 3: on on their their employees, all of those issues. So
5:19
Speaker 3: let's hope that the Receivership can tighten some of the belts,
5:22
Speaker 3: get to a solution around some of these things, and
5:24
Speaker 3: we'll see this project continue as is.
5:26
Speaker 1: I mean you've pointed to it yourself, though obviously in
5:29
Speaker 1: receivership we're part of a long list of you know,
5:32
Speaker 1: of different projects that this is going to impact. You
5:35
Speaker 1: must can say that it's going to cause some pretty
5:38
Speaker 1: significant delays.
5:40
Speaker 3: Well, as I said, hopefully not. It is a joint
5:42
Speaker 3: venture and so you've got b MD there, so you know,
5:45
Speaker 3: and what's impact then on the ground is you know,
5:47
Speaker 3: they do they have subcontractors that are already in subcontractors
5:51
Speaker 3: that they're calling for tenders. It's all all that work.
5:54
Speaker 3: And as I said, Louise McCormack is the person that's
5:57
Speaker 3: leading that work for the Northern Territory government. She a
6:00
Speaker 3: very very experienced engineer. She'll be making sure that the
6:03
Speaker 3: Territory government isn't putting a you know, a disadvantage position
6:07
Speaker 3: on this project.
6:09
Speaker 1: And you still believe from your perspective as the Treasurer,
6:12
Speaker 1: this project is still going to be worthwhile for the
6:14
Speaker 1: Northern Territory.
6:15
Speaker 2: Tax payer.
6:16
Speaker 3: Yes. As I said, the long term benefits of this
6:19
Speaker 3: are around diversifying our economy. You know, I mean London
6:23
Speaker 3: Michael Gunny used to say it. We all say this.
6:25
Speaker 3: You can't cut yourself out of debt. You need to
6:27
Speaker 3: actually grow the economy. And we've relied for a long
6:30
Speaker 3: long time in the territory on tourism, on the pastoral industry,
6:33
Speaker 3: on mining. We actually do need to, you know, continue
6:36
Speaker 3: to diversify and that's why we've had these ideas around
6:41
Speaker 3: a ship lift, you know, the be Toloo, you know,
6:45
Speaker 3: the rockets, the amphibious aircraft. We've got to actually be
6:49
Speaker 3: able to increase the population. The biggest thing we can
6:51
Speaker 3: do in the territory is to increase the population to
6:54
Speaker 3: see increases in GST. But then you have people who
6:57
Speaker 3: are spending and you have that private investment. So we
6:59
Speaker 3: do need to continue to push ahead with this project.
7:02
Speaker 1: And Minister, do we have a number of customers who
7:05
Speaker 1: are going to be using that shiplift because I know
7:08
Speaker 1: that there's been a lot of discussion about defense and
7:10
Speaker 1: making sure that we've got different customers locked in so
7:13
Speaker 1: it is viable long term.
7:15
Speaker 3: Yes, yes, So that work has been done and there
7:18
Speaker 3: are people, there are companies, there are as you say,
7:21
Speaker 3: defense that are absolutely committed to the shiplift.
7:24
Speaker 2: All right.
7:25
Speaker 1: We have spoken a lot this week about education and
7:28
Speaker 1: there has been quite a few concerns raised around funding
7:32
Speaker 1: when it comes to the teacher's payoffer, as well as
7:34
Speaker 1: discussion about the review into secondary education. But first off,
7:39
Speaker 1: people were pretty concerned in April earlier this year when
7:42
Speaker 1: it was revealed by Sky News that Anti Education the
7:45
Speaker 1: Department had released an eighteen page document for internal consultation
7:49
Speaker 1: on how schools should deal with students struggling with their
7:52
Speaker 1: gender identity. The document, which was produced in July twenty one,
7:57
Speaker 1: included a recommendation that teachers should avoid using gendered language
8:01
Speaker 1: such as boys and girls and ladies and gentlemen because
8:05
Speaker 1: it confirms gender stereotyping and roles and can be alienating
8:09
Speaker 1: for gender questioning and gender diverse children. Schools would have
8:14
Speaker 1: also been encouraged to organize non gendered sporting teams and
8:19
Speaker 1: physical education activities and sports days. Minister, it seems that
8:24
Speaker 1: common sense, though, has prevailed. Why did you decide to
8:27
Speaker 1: scrap these plans?
8:30
Speaker 3: So obviously there was a lot of feedback around was
8:33
Speaker 3: what had been proposed, and it was only a draft
8:37
Speaker 3: that had gone out, as I said, for comment around that.
8:41
Speaker 3: So we've put together a statement of commitment which is
8:43
Speaker 3: around supporting gender diversity and inclusion in our school settings,
8:47
Speaker 3: in our education settings. But what it's all about is
8:51
Speaker 3: just making sure that young people aren't bullied in our schools,
8:55
Speaker 3: that they feel that they belong, that they can actually
8:58
Speaker 3: get a great education, as I said, across every one
9:01
Speaker 3: of our schools. And whether that's you know, whether your
9:06
Speaker 3: race or your you know, your sexuality, whatever the issues
9:10
Speaker 3: are that you may be experiencing bullying about, you know,
9:14
Speaker 3: we don't want to see that in our schools. We
9:16
Speaker 3: want all our young people to feel empowered, to feel
9:19
Speaker 3: belong to make sure our teaching and learning programs are inclusive.
9:23
Speaker 3: Because you know, I often, and probably at least once
9:26
Speaker 3: a week, I get a report from a parent concerned
9:29
Speaker 3: about that their child's being bullied in our schools. And
9:32
Speaker 3: I think bullying has improved. I mean, I think it
9:35
Speaker 3: was quite vicious when we were younger, but I think
9:37
Speaker 3: we do need a lot of work to be done.
9:39
Speaker 3: And we did the work around the phone policy, but
9:42
Speaker 3: we need a lot of work to be done to
9:44
Speaker 3: see people being more inclusive and more accepting in the territory.
9:47
Speaker 2: And absolutely I think most people would agree with that.
9:50
Speaker 1: But surely like the phasing out of boys and girls
9:53
Speaker 1: was a bridge too far, wasn't it.
9:55
Speaker 3: I think, as I said, the feedback was absolutely around that.
9:58
Speaker 3: But it is, you know, we do need to continue
10:00
Speaker 3: to work around respectful relationships. We all know our domestic
10:04
Speaker 3: and family violence, sexual violence figures in the territory of shocking.
10:08
Speaker 3: So what can schools do to improve that? You know,
10:10
Speaker 3: we do need to start in schools around how we
10:14
Speaker 3: manage our anger how you know, you know, as I said,
10:18
Speaker 3: we accept diversity in our schools. All those things are things.
10:22
Speaker 3: And so I saw love the Love Whites program at
10:24
Speaker 3: though in high school last week. So it is, it
10:27
Speaker 3: is a complex topic and it is one that, as
10:29
Speaker 3: I said, gets you know, raises concerns from people. So
10:32
Speaker 3: hopefully this overarching commitment statement, as I said, covers off
10:37
Speaker 3: on some of the concerns that we've been raised.
10:38
Speaker 1: All right, quite a bit to cover off on this morning,
10:40
Speaker 1: and I'm keen to power through some big announcements, some
10:44
Speaker 1: big announcements around education. Now the current funding model set
10:48
Speaker 1: to change independent analysis of the current effective enrollment methodology
10:53
Speaker 1: used to provide funding to schools is.
10:54
Speaker 2: Set for a real shakeup. Why does this need to happen?
10:59
Speaker 3: So, as I said, I've been around education for nearly
11:02
Speaker 3: thirty or forty years and there has been over those years,
11:05
Speaker 3: probably three or four different funding models that we've had
11:08
Speaker 3: of schools, and the model that came in in twenty
11:11
Speaker 3: thirteen which is under the COLP. Obviously there's been considerable
11:15
Speaker 3: angst around it not hitting the mark in our remote schools.
11:20
Speaker 3: That said, funding of schools is really difficult in the
11:23
Speaker 3: territory compared to other states. We have a number, particularly
11:28
Speaker 3: in our remotes, where kids don't go to school every day,
11:30
Speaker 3: and we are very mobile. So for our town schools,
11:33
Speaker 3: kids turn up on the majority we have tenants figures
11:36
Speaker 3: are about ninety percent. You can look online and see
11:38
Speaker 3: all those attendance figures. So those schools get funded on
11:43
Speaker 3: that ninety percent attendance and so those schools have very
11:45
Speaker 3: stable funding. The numbers of kids that attend are relatively
11:50
Speaker 3: stable as well. It's our remote schools where we have issues.
11:53
Speaker 3: So Deloitte have done this report. There were ten recommendations
11:57
Speaker 3: we'll implement all of those two where many straight away,
12:02
Speaker 3: and those are around making sure that there is a
12:05
Speaker 3: minimum flaw funding or funding guarantee for the school. So
12:08
Speaker 3: whether you're a large school or a large remote school
12:12
Speaker 3: or a secondary school, if you are as short of funding,
12:14
Speaker 3: then you know what teachers you can employ. Because originally,
12:18
Speaker 3: and as I said, this is a bit detailed, but
12:21
Speaker 3: originally this funding model was brought in around organizing what
12:26
Speaker 3: teachers schools could have. Then we saw under the CLP
12:29
Speaker 3: the school based funding model where the funding then went
12:34
Speaker 3: to the school. So then you had that next layer
12:36
Speaker 3: where this money went to the school, So then the
12:39
Speaker 3: school was responsible for how many teachers they had, and
12:42
Speaker 3: the schools obviously at times were concerned. Nobody wants to
12:45
Speaker 3: see their school go broke or even though the government
12:48
Speaker 3: bails them out. Nobody wanted to be a principal where
12:51
Speaker 3: they had a difficulty funding their teachers. So that was
12:56
Speaker 3: the next layer. Then that made it really hard. So
12:58
Speaker 3: we're making sure that there is a minimum flow of
13:01
Speaker 3: funding or a minimum guarantee around that. But also particularly
13:04
Speaker 3: for our small schools, so twenty seven percent of our
13:07
Speaker 3: schools in the territory have less than fifty kids, so
13:10
Speaker 3: that's you know, a third of our schools are very small,
13:13
Speaker 3: some of them only have a dozen kids. So how
13:16
Speaker 3: do you actually then make sure that there is continuous
13:19
Speaker 3: funding because if six kids leave a school with you know,
13:22
Speaker 3: forty eight kids, it's a huge impact. If six kids
13:25
Speaker 3: leave dune On High nobody had even noticed properly, you know, yeah, but.
13:28
Speaker 1: For a smaller school obviously a huge impact. So Minister,
13:31
Speaker 1: how soon is this going to come into play, because
13:34
Speaker 1: there are some concerns being raised that it could take years.
13:38
Speaker 3: It will need to take a couple of years anyway,
13:40
Speaker 3: because I mean, obviously budgets have already been done. School's
13:43
Speaker 3: work on a calendar year budget, but there are a
13:46
Speaker 3: couple of other things. So one of the things the
13:48
Speaker 3: Department are also doing is looking at secondary education, particularly
13:52
Speaker 3: in our remotes because again, and say a bit of
13:55
Speaker 3: a history lesson, the pendulum swung one way. So when
13:58
Speaker 3: Paul Henderson was Minister you may remember Education Minister, it
14:02
Speaker 3: was a real push to have all kids being able
14:05
Speaker 3: to do their secondary education in remote so they could
14:07
Speaker 3: do a secondary education at their school. We then saw
14:10
Speaker 3: the pendulum swing with cop where literally there was a
14:13
Speaker 3: huge push for all kids to go to boarding school.
14:16
Speaker 3: So we had both ends and now you know, it's
14:19
Speaker 3: very much come back to the middle where yes, some
14:21
Speaker 3: kids absolutely should go to boarding school, they enjoy that,
14:25
Speaker 3: they do very well. But we also need to be
14:27
Speaker 3: able to make sure that there is secondary provision in
14:30
Speaker 3: our remotes as well.
14:31
Speaker 1: Is that review into secondary schools also going to be
14:34
Speaker 1: looking at how effective or how well that separation of
14:38
Speaker 1: middle school and high school is going.
14:41
Speaker 3: It hasn't been a focus, but in the last week
14:44
Speaker 3: since I announced that, I've had lots of people say
14:47
Speaker 3: that could we have a look at the middle school?
14:49
Speaker 3: So over the Christmas break, it'll give us some time
14:52
Speaker 3: to have a think about that because it hasn't been
14:54
Speaker 3: one that has been your policy position of Northern Territory
14:57
Speaker 3: government to change that. But literally, as I said, since
15:00
Speaker 3: I've put out that media release, I've had quite a
15:02
Speaker 3: few people saying, what about the middle schools in our
15:05
Speaker 3: town schools? There's only there's probably only I think about
15:08
Speaker 3: five or six schools now that us still have that
15:10
Speaker 3: middle school model. So we have Centrailian in Alice Springs,
15:14
Speaker 3: got Dripstone, Sanderson and Darin Middle and literally Darn Middle
15:19
Speaker 3: is a joint campus there, so we don't have a
15:22
Speaker 3: lot of them anymore. It's as things that have evolved.
15:26
Speaker 1: I mean, if people are raising and it's obviously a concern,
15:28
Speaker 1: so is it something that the Northern Territory government will
15:30
Speaker 1: have a look into well?
15:32
Speaker 3: As I said, yeah, I said, I've got the next
15:35
Speaker 3: month or so for us to have conversations with education.
15:38
Speaker 3: As I said, this review wasn't going to have a
15:40
Speaker 3: fig focus on middle years. It was more about particularly
15:44
Speaker 3: around secondary provision in our remotes. But as I said,
15:46
Speaker 3: seeing this conversation keeps coming up, it might be one
15:49
Speaker 3: where we do need to have a look at that.
15:51
Speaker 3: And I'm truly open minded around the middle years as
15:55
Speaker 3: I said, but yeah, the conversations need to be had
15:58
Speaker 3: with possibly the schools, the middle school as well.
16:00
Speaker 2: Minister.
16:00
Speaker 1: We're fast running out of time, but I do want
16:02
Speaker 1: to ask the teachers. Have obviously been given the update
16:06
Speaker 1: and offer. They'll be back next week with the results
16:09
Speaker 1: to that offer. The Chief Minister confirmed on Monday that
16:13
Speaker 1: it is going to cost about seven million dollars next year.
16:16
Speaker 2: The big question.
16:17
Speaker 1: From cogso also from the Education Union, has been is
16:22
Speaker 1: that money going to come from the current school budgets
16:25
Speaker 1: or is it going to be funded through additional funding
16:28
Speaker 1: that the Northern Territory government's going to find.
16:31
Speaker 3: So if that funding will come from the Northern Department
16:34
Speaker 3: of Education. So it is a fact that the money
16:37
Speaker 3: that all goes to schools anyway is Education Department money.
16:40
Speaker 3: It's not it's money that comes from treasury.
16:42
Speaker 2: So current funding or new funding.
16:44
Speaker 3: Well, as I said, it will be. It may be
16:47
Speaker 3: out of Education Department funding or it may be additional
16:51
Speaker 3: funding that has to go through the budget process. So
16:53
Speaker 3: Budget twenty twenty three will work on that. So how
16:56
Speaker 3: do you reckon how should the schools determined one point
17:00
Speaker 3: one billion dollar budgets? Yeah, it probably isn't and they probably.
17:05
Speaker 1: So it is going to be for school So I
17:07
Speaker 1: would imagine like if they're planning for early next year
17:09
Speaker 1: and they're trying to work out exactly how much their
17:11
Speaker 1: budget is, like what you've just spoken about in terms
17:14
Speaker 1: of you know, the funding model that we've currently got,
17:17
Speaker 1: it is going to be a big change for some
17:20
Speaker 1: of those particular schools. So are they going to be
17:23
Speaker 1: finding that money themselves through their current budgets or you know,
17:27
Speaker 1: how's it going to work?
17:28
Speaker 3: No? No, educate. As I said, and Natasha said that
17:31
Speaker 3: as well. Education department will fund will make sure that
17:35
Speaker 3: there is funding for any pay rise. And we do
17:38
Speaker 3: need to see this, We do need to see this through.
17:40
Speaker 3: We haven't actually haven't been this haven't actually been accepted yet,
17:44
Speaker 3: but the Education Department will make sure that there is
17:47
Speaker 3: funding for those positions, for those positions if there is
17:51
Speaker 3: an increase of that three percent.
17:52
Speaker 1: So from next year, if they do agree to that,
17:55
Speaker 1: the education Department's going to have to find that money
17:58
Speaker 1: from the budget that they've already got for next year.
18:01
Speaker 2: So other things will have to be tough.
18:03
Speaker 3: No, As I said, you know, the education budget is
18:06
Speaker 3: financial year budget. The school year is a school year budget,
18:10
Speaker 3: so education will make sure that they're an education often
18:13
Speaker 3: have well, they usually have underspends, so that education will
18:16
Speaker 3: adjust to make sure that that's funded.
18:18
Speaker 2: But then also do you reckon they'll have seven million underspent.
18:22
Speaker 3: Yes, easily and one point two billion dollar budget, but
18:26
Speaker 3: they can also ask for treasurers advance. So the process
18:29
Speaker 3: around that, and this was something that came out through Langoland.
18:32
Speaker 3: We don't actually do change any budgets just for the
18:36
Speaker 3: you know, on a whim, we have to actually go
18:38
Speaker 3: through a budget process, either the mid year budget process
18:41
Speaker 3: or the financial year budget process. So either they asked
18:45
Speaker 3: then for a Treasurer's advance if Education couldn't find the
18:48
Speaker 3: seven million dollars. But it won't even be seven million
18:51
Speaker 3: dollars because it's only half a financial year, and as
18:53
Speaker 3: I said, we haven't even seen it signed, so it'd
18:56
Speaker 3: be three point five million if it was signed off
18:59
Speaker 3: now and pays then went in in January. So two
19:02
Speaker 3: point five million in a one point two billion dollar
19:04
Speaker 3: budget isn't a big deal for education, I can tell you.
19:08
Speaker 3: But again, if it is, they then can ask for
19:10
Speaker 3: a Treasurer's advanced before you know, probably around March April,
19:14
Speaker 3: if they find that they couldn't afford to pay that
19:16
Speaker 3: three point.
19:16
Speaker 1: Five So in terms of obviously plicating yeah, it does,
19:20
Speaker 1: it does sound we do want.
19:22
Speaker 3: To make sure our teachers take up the payoffer, and
19:26
Speaker 3: I can assure schools that you know, we'll make sure
19:28
Speaker 3: that the money is there for our teachers.
19:30
Speaker 1: Well, I guess what a lot of people are going
19:32
Speaker 1: to be wondering though, is if this offer has been
19:34
Speaker 1: put on the table, have you gone through that budget
19:36
Speaker 1: process for the pay rights? Like, have you gone through
19:38
Speaker 1: that whole process to make sure that there is a
19:40
Speaker 1: funding there.
19:41
Speaker 3: So literally we're going through the budget process as we speak.
19:44
Speaker 3: So I've met with every Chief executive, I've met with
19:48
Speaker 3: every minister, and we're going through the budget process for
19:52
Speaker 3: our next budget in twenty twenty three. So those processes
19:54
Speaker 3: are going through. But you can see those figures are
19:57
Speaker 3: in the in the mid years, I mean the mid
20:01
Speaker 3: year budget, So I think I as in with that
20:03
Speaker 3: additional forty five million over four years, so it's already
20:08
Speaker 3: in the it's already been accounted for that. If there's
20:11
Speaker 3: a two percent pay rise, that's two hundred and forty
20:14
Speaker 3: five million over four years.
20:15
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's a two percent, But then it's gone up
20:17
Speaker 1: further than that obviously with the three on three on
20:19
Speaker 1: three and then we've got all the other you know,
20:22
Speaker 1: all the other sort of frontline workers looking for a
20:24
Speaker 1: pay increase too.
20:25
Speaker 3: Yeah. So yes, it's a tough job being a treasurer CAG. Yes,
20:29
Speaker 3: we were actually you know, they're the things that have
20:31
Speaker 3: to be worked through around those things. But yeah, the
20:33
Speaker 3: midyear budget, as I said, has identified a cost increase
20:38
Speaker 3: and that's the that was the issue, and this is
20:40
Speaker 3: why the you know, the Northern Territory government worked really
20:42
Speaker 3: hard around a one off payment rather than a compounding
20:47
Speaker 3: payment for teachers because it was going to be a
20:50
Speaker 3: big cost. And those costs mean as I said, you know,
20:53
Speaker 3: two hundred and forty five million over four years is
20:56
Speaker 3: a cost. And there's things then that don't get you know,
20:58
Speaker 3: don't get built or get you have to minister anyway.
21:02
Speaker 2: Unfortunately we've run out of time. Thank you.
21:04
Speaker 1: As always, we appreciate you having a chat with us
21:06
Speaker 1: this morning.
21:07
Speaker 3: Thank you very much.
21:08
Speaker 2: Thank you