Luke Gosling (Solomon, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I want to take the opportunity this morning to talk about my electorate and the economic situation that we find ourselves in. Confidence is very important, as all honourable members know, when it comes to our electorates. We all want our constituencies to have plenty of jobs and the economy to be going well. I just want to outline how we are perhaps a bit different to the large east coast capitals when it comes to our economy in Darwin.

Whilst populations—as we hear quite often—are booming in Sydney and Melbourne, in particular, up in the north we're actually going backwards a little bit in population, and that is a real problem for us. We need some focus on that. Every person who leaves the Northern Territory costs us, in GST, $11,000 per person per annum. That is a huge loss, because obviously we have an enormous landmass that we need to provide services across, and every time we lose a person it hits us hard. I'm pleased that we fought for a legislated guarantee on GST that no jurisdiction will be worse off. It's very important.

We need federal investment in the north, and I'm afraid that reannouncing small amounts of road funding is not going to do it. It's not going to cut it. We heard from the Minister for Resources and Northern Australia last night, with the Annual Statement on Developing Northern Australia, and, yes, the NAIF has funded small amounts of money to aid projects in the north, but it is not enough. It's now been 547 days since a city deal was promised for the north. Unfortunately this divided Abbott-Turnbull-Morrison government has not been able to deliver a city deal for the north, for Darwin. On top of that, we've had 39 per cent of our federal Public Service jobs cut—39 per cent in a capital city of the north where the Public Service is incredibly important. I think all members will agree that that is unacceptable.

Now, on the eve of cyclone season, we are hearing that they're even going to start cutting jobs from the BOM and sending them to the east coast! That is obviously unacceptable, and it's something that I have asked the Minister for the Environment to review. I have not heard back from her at this point, but it is vital that those services aren't cut.

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