The Northern Territory’s debt continues to climb, with Treasury now predicting the government will breach its own spending cap within four years. In response, the Country Liberal government has announced it will scrap the debt ceiling when Parliament resumes next week.
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00:00As the country-liberal government spruiks its economic credentials, an ominous warning.
00:07A lot of numbers, some of your eyes may glaze over, but there'll be a few accountants that the heart rate might pick up a tick.
00:14The Northern Territory has by far the highest per capita net debt of any state or territory.
00:20Following a review in 2021, Labor legislated a cap, meaning the government can't borrow anymore
00:27when assessable debt reaches $15 billion.
00:30After last year's change in government, the country-liberals are accusing Labor of hiding extra costs on major projects
00:38like the Targa Brennan Drive overpass and the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art gallery in Alice Springs.
00:44There's nothing at the moment the CLP could possibly do to stop breaching that debt cap.
00:49The government now scrapping the ceiling, accepting there's no hope of cutting debt any time soon.
00:55The NT's not the only place to have tried a debt ceiling.
00:58Most famously, the United States also has one, which Donald Trump wants to remove.
01:03Some economists argue they're a crude and populist tool because governments tend to either lift them or scrap them altogether when the limits reached.
01:12So how's the government planning to address debt now?
01:15There'll be no cuts to the public service, which made up nearly half of all government costs last year.
01:22Instead, the government's capping growth in the public workforce, other than front-line positions.
01:27But they wouldn't say what that cap would be.
01:30Work with industry and work with the private sector to grow our own source revenue. That will be our way out.
01:37At the moment, we've heard of no vision, no projects from the CLP government. What are they going to do in the next four years?
01:43The government plans to remove the cap when parliament resumes next week.