Gunner needs to ditch training wheels
THE Chamber of Commerce NT wishes all Territorians the best for the coming year and we continue to be a strong voice for our many small to medium businesses that are our economy’s heart and soul.
Our recent survey shows many local businesses, including those that have been operating and employing Territorians for decades, found 2017 the hardest year they have yet experienced.
Some 80 per cent of our businesses told us they will struggle to maintain their existing levels of employment. Almost 30 per cent said they expect to reduce their staff numbers in 2018.
Such painful decisions are not taken lightly: business owners and operators honestly feel for the good hardworking employees they have to reluctantly let go just to allow their businesses to survive.
There is no doubt a number of our businesses are thriving, even seeking to employ more staff, and we wish them well.
However, if I had to broadly sum up the current feeling of our business community towards the NT Government’s management of our economy, in one word, it would be FRUSTRATION.
So what is the source of this frustration? It is indecision combined with conflicting spin-doctored messages and actions from the government. Let me explain.
A year ago, when I wrote a similar article to this, I stressed that the business community wanted the new Gunner Government to succeed especially after the shambolic performance, egotistical political infighting and failure to listen to everyday Territorians that characterised the previous CLP government. And our businesses still want the Gunner Government to succeed but their confidence is quickly waning. I also suggested governments should act as though they only have six months to run till the next election during the first 3.5 years of their term.
This way, they avoid becoming arrogant, ensure elected members genuinely stay in touch with their electorates and avoid becoming captive to advice provided by unelected ministerial advisers and public servants.
Now, a year later, the Gov- ernment still seems to have its training wheels on.
Ministers continue to overly rely on backroom advice at the risk of disconnecting themselves from everyday Territorians.
Let’s look at some of the conflicting messaging coming from government.
We are continually being told that we face a major shortfall in GST revenue, government needs to control its spending and the private sector must do the heavy lifting to grow our economy.
This makes sense. We agree that the government should still use debt to fund strategic infrastructure and we encour- age the government to expedite the rollout of its $1.7 billion infrastructure program across the Territory.
However, what frustrates us is that genuine private sector investment proposals have been stymied and delayed by flawed decisions.
For example, the new $40 million Darwin Airport Development (which includes a Dan Murphy’s store) and Landbridge’s proposal to build a $250 million luxury hotel could have commenced last year, immediately creating new jobs for Territorians. Now we have to hope that they can overcome additional, if not unnecessary, bureaucratic obstacles to proceed this year.
The business community does agree that, like our own businesses, government must have the discipline and fortitude to live within its means.
Yet we get mixed messages that there must be surplus taxpayers’ funds around to fund a $50 million museum project that most Territorians don’t want, and a burgeoning executive level of the public service to provide even more closed advice to ministers.
I stress again that these are taxpayers’ funds!
Regarding our public service, the chamber is highly respectful of the majority of hardworking public servants who are an important part of our community.
Our teachers, health professionals, Police and Emergency members and frontline staff of many agencies work hard and truly deserve our support.
Our concern is that they are now over managed, with too many layers of executive bureaucracy.
A streamlining of the executive levels across all agencies is urgently required to fund additional frontline staff and to achieve financial savings. We have also argued that many current government programs could sensibly and more efficiently be delivered by the private sector – once again saving taxpayers’ funds. These suggestions seem to fall on deaf ears.
On behalf of our small to medium business community, we send a loud and unambiguous wake-up call to our elected political leaders – stop the navel gazing and endless reviews. It is time to let the private sector revive our economy and generate the jobs for local Territorians.
Here are some practical ways government could help:
•Stay committed to your Buy Local Policy and expedite the rollout of the $1.7 billion infrastructure program across the Territory to get more projects and jobs happening now.
•Strengthen the NT’s longterm growth opportunities by moving quickly to allow the sustainable development of our onshore gas industry.
•Show courage and discipline to control unnecessary spending of taxpayers’ money by genuinely streamlining the executive levels of the public
“Ministers continue to overly rely on backroom advice at the risk of disconnecting themselves”
service and genuinely examining options to outsource the delivery of some government programs. Importantly, do this before looking at raising business taxes to increase revenue.
•Listen to the community when Territorians tell you they are happy for new private sector investment proposals (such as the $40 million Darwin Airport development) to proceed and when they tell you not to spend $50 million of taxpayers’ funds on a museum they don’t want.
•Openly acknowledge that crime, vandalism and anti-social behaviour are a major concern across all of the Territory’s business centres and require urgent attention.
As a chamber we have full confidence in the resilience of local Territorians and businesspeople to survive these tough times and to grow a prosperous NT. Nevertheless, blind Freddy can see that the growing number of vacant shops and warehouses across the Territory indicates that all is not well in paradise.
Chief Minister: we want your government to succeed. But to do so your government needs to throw away the training wheels and stop the neverending commissioning of government reviews. And elec- ted members must start making some sensible practical decisions to kickstart our economy. As the largest employer organisation in the Territory, we are happy to work with you to achieve this.