The federal budget papers revealed little in the way of new funding commitments for projects in the Northern Territory. The biggest item a 200-million-dollar investment for upgrades to the Stuart Highway - but there's a catch.
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00:00When the supermarket shelves look like this in Darwin, it's a sure sign the Stuart Highway
00:09is out of action.
00:11For feeding Darwin, there's no plan B.
00:13Living costs go up and like we've seen in many floods, the shelves at Coles and Woolworths
00:20are empty.
00:21Last night's federal budget offered few big ticket items for the territory, but one detail
00:27stood out, $200 million to duplicate the Stuart Highway between Darwin and Catherine.
00:34We think it's a welcome announcement, but the Northern Territory Government have claimed
00:39that the funding is conditional.
00:41The project's funding hinges on the NT Government's willingness to chip in 20%.
00:47So that means $40 million that the Territory Government is going to have to fund if we
00:50want to commit to this project.
00:52The Treasurer indicating the project could be years away.
00:56We're formulating our budget and it's too late in the cycle for the Territory Government
01:00to commit to an additional $40 million.
01:03Road safety advocates say upgrades to NT roads can't afford to wait.
01:08The Stuart Highway is our most travelled road and it's the subject of a lot of car crashes
01:14and a lot of road trauma.
01:15We're getting more and more traffic on the road, which means more and more people are
01:20trying to overtake road trains.
01:22If the Stuart Highway is ever closed, then our defence impacts are very significantly
01:28felt as well.
01:30Roads funding aside, the federal budget didn't deliver much else in the way of new projects
01:35for the Northern Territory.
01:37Previously announced items for the NT include an extra $51 million for public hospitals
01:43and $842 million across six years for remote Aboriginal investment.