Northern Territory Auditor-General's Office, February 2023 Report to the Legislative Assembly
Tabled Paper 772
Tabled Papers for 14th Assembly 2020 -; Tabled Papers; ParliamentNT
2023-02-14
Tabled by the Speaker
Made available by the Legislative Assembly of the Northern Territory under Standing Order 240. Where copyright subsists with a third party it remains with the original owner and permission may be required to reuse the material.
English
Tabled papers
Legislative Assembly of the Northern Territory
Darwin
application/pdf
Copyright
Legislative Assembly of the Northern Territory
https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2019C00042
https://hdl.handle.net/10070/898837
https://hdl.handle.net/10070/898851
Auditor-General for the Northern Territory February 2023 Report Page 57 of 131 Local Jobs Fund cont Key changes to the Fund Funding The original funding allocated to the Fund in 2019 was $91.5 million. In 2020, the Loan Guarantees (a product offered through the Fund) were removed as a product due to a $20 million reallocation of the Funds budget to the Home Improvement Scheme. This reduced the total funds on offer from $91.5 million to $71.5 million. This was reflected in the February 2021 Policy Framework. As part of the 2021-22 Budget, the government announced an additional injection of $120 million into the Fund. This increased the total investment in the operation of the Fund to $191.5 million. Of this, $12.5 million was allocated to administration of the Fund leaving $179.0 million available for offerings from the Fund. Agency representatives responsible for managing the Fund advised that $7.5 million allocated to the Fund was committed for 2 projects that were not assessed using the Fund requirements and are not being monitored using the Funds processes. As a consequence, the total funding available for offerings through the Fund has been reduced from $179.0 million to $171.5 million. Table 2: Funding Changes for the Local Jobs Fund 2019 - 2021 2019 2020 2021 ($million) Administration 2.5 2.5 12.5 Funds used for other projects - - 7.5 Fund offerings 89.0 69.0 171.5 Total 91.5 71.5 191.5 Source: DCMC Documentation Outcomes and products The release of the LJF Policy Framework March 2022 involved changes to the outcomes and product range with the business industry restrictions limitation removed. The increased scope was applied with the increase in funding described above. In March 2022, the outcomes of the Fund were updated to: Create enduring employment opportunities for Territorians Increase the long term productive capacity of the NT economy Encourage private sector participation in the NT Receive a return on investment. The following key items were removed from the original outcomes statement: Improve the Territorys trade balance and economic output Increase the standard of living Provide a return of/on capital.