Debates and Questions - Day 1 - 24 April 2020
Parliamentary Record 27
Debates and Questions for 13th Assembly 2019 - 2020; ParliamentNT; Parliamentary Record; 13th Assembly 2016 - 2020
2020-04-24
Made available by the Legislative Assembly of the Northern Territory
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Debates and Questions
Legislative Assembly of the Northern Territory
Darwin
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Legislative Assembly of the Northern Territory
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https://hdl.handle.net/10070/787608
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DEBATES AND QUESTIONS Friday 24 April 2020 8371 Ms MANISON: A raft of different foregone revenues could be impacted; that includes some of payroll. Mrs FINOCCHIARO: Apart from that increase, does the government expect this to have any other impact on the budget? Ms MANISON: I think everyone can plainly see that COVID-19 has moved at such a swift pace that if you asked an economist, Treasury or businesses six weeks ago where this would beit rapidly changed week to week and continues to change. We keep using the word unprecedented because that is what it is. Even the experts want to predict exactly where it will land and most people will openly say that they do not know. This is such a big situation locally, nationally and globally. Calculating revenues as part of that is very difficultthe economic impacts and where this will land. It is difficult for a nation like Australia, which has very healthy global trade relations, when we see our borders closed internally and externally, to calculate what will happen. We do not make the decisions for our key trading nation partners such as China, the US and many Asian nations. We do not know when they will make decisions about how they will be moving around or when we will open our borders to them. As you can see, it is very hard to predict the impacts. Mrs FINOCCHIARO: I was asking about the impact of this change, but that is okay. Who assesses whether the business is experiencing hardship in order to access the reduction, or is it blanket? Ms MANISON: The Department of Trade, Business and Innovation. Mrs FINOCCHIARO: Do businesses have to apply? Ms MANISON: Yes. Mrs FINOCCHIARO: Did the government consider offering similar or the same relief to residential customers? Ms MANISON: We already announced early on in the piece that we would freeze power, water and sewerage rates. We also have hardship provisions within utilities. Clause 4 agreed to. Remainder of the bill, by leave, taken together and agreed to. Ms MANISON (Treasurer): Mr Acting Deputy Speaker, I move that the bill be now read a third time. Motion agreed to; bill read a third time. MOTION Public Accounts Committee Coronavirus Hearings Ms FYLES (Leader of Government Business): Madam Speaker, I move that this Assembly resolves under Sessional Order 14(2)(d)(i), as a consequence of the presence of COVID-19 in Australia, the delay of the federal budget and, by extension, the delay of the Northern Territory budget and to give Territorians confidence in Coronavirus-related expenditure that: 1. The Public Accounts Committee will convene on the last Thursday of each month to hold a hearing with the Security and Emergency Management Sub Committee of Cabinet in attendance. 2. In addition to those mentioned in point 1, the Under Treasurer will also be in attendance at this hearing. 3. The time for the hearing should be two hours, with an additional hour for a deliberative meeting of the committee. 4. The hearing will be open to the public unless the committee orders otherwise. 5. In line with physical distancing guidelines, the hearing will have a limit of 20 persons in the room at any given time. The Chief Minister; Chief Executive of the Department of the Chief Minister; and the Police Commissioner, as the Territory Controller; will be seated at the front of the hearing at the beginning of