Worry-warts might be tempted to conclude that something is amiss in the Northern Territory when the NT Government spends only 50% of the funding allocated to it by the Commonwealth Grants Commission for services to Indigenous communities. Crikey readers may recall the odd bit of media over the last 18 months suggesting that things were not entirely tickety-boo on remote communities in the NT, so an underspend of this magnitude comes as something of a shock.
But this is a mere bagatelle compared to the discrepancy in the Family and Children’s Services category, where the NT Government’s own figures indicate that it spent $43m, rather than the $218m that the CGC deemed appropriate. For those of a mathematical bent, this represents an underspend of 75.9%.
However, it seems that everything is OK. Late last week, the Senate Standing Committee on Community Affairs investigation into “Government expenditure on Indigenous affairs and social services in the Northern Territory” handed down its report. The thrust of the finding was one of “no case to answer.”
The Coalition senators on the Committee, adopted a different view, noting in a dissenting report that “this inquiry has exposed serious questions about the spending priorities and accountability mechanisms of the Northern Territory Government”. The only Greens senator on the Committee, Rachel Siewert, wrote of her “disappointment” with the approach taken in the majority report.
Siewert notes the apolitical role of the Commonwealth Grants Commission, but points out that a Senate Committee has “an obligation” to delve a bit deeper. Then she cuts to the chase, pointing out that once the smoke has been cleared and the mirrors removed, there is still a significant gap in outcomes for Indigenous communities and a significant gap in the level of government services they receive.
The Grants Commission, an independent body which oversees the distribution of GST to the states and territories, is scurrying away from the spotlight, saying that it has no role in making political judgements about the way the governments spend their revenue. GST funding is untied and the Commission makes recommendations only.
The NT Treasurer Delia Lawrie was rather less reticent, issuing a media release titled “Senate Inquiry Finds No Evidence of Underspending”. It might be argued that this is a very long bow to draw on a highly technical finding which focused principally on the terminology employed in the Committee’s terms of reference.
She might equally have noted that the committee’s finding that “historically, service provision has been poor, that there have been significant backlogs in infrastructure provision and that these problems have been compounded by governance failure at all levels” is hardly a vindication of the Northern Territory Government.
Crikey spoke in Darwin yesterday with a disappointed Barry Hansen, Chair of the Northern Territory Council of Social Service. Hansen is a chartered accountant who knows a thing or two about books and the juggling thereof. He has received national media coverage for his outspoken comments about the NT Government’s fiscal failings, and is “fingered” as the major protagonist in the introduction to the Senate Committee’s report.
“The Treasurer’s understanding of the report appears to be less than complete,” Hansen told us dryly.
“The report by the four ALP Senators claims that the Commonwealth Grants Commission does not have a ‘funding formula’ as referred to in the Terms of Reference, and that this prevented them from reporting on the underspending. Use of a technicality to suppress what presumably otherwise could only have been a finding of underspending, has not served the NT or its Aboriginal citizens well.”
“Labor solidarity is alive and well!” Hansen concluded.
*Graham Ring is currently doing some part-time work for NTCOSS
From where I am what I read from Mr Graham Ring from National Indigenous Darwin, and other sources I believe I perceive an unacceptable form of aparthide flowing down from the way our senior politicians are prepared to interpret the facts we are all well aware of.
Perhaps Bill Cushing needs to attend another basic Australian Public Finance 101 course – so that he can learn about CGC calculation of disabilities as well as Indigenous Specific Funding.
Spending the Indigenous specific funds on anything but Indigenous people has a long history in the NT and the ALP Government is carrying on the tradition.
The difference between the ALP and the CLP is that the ALP relied on the Indigenous vote for its very existence, particularly during the wilderness years.
Senator Trish Crossin should be ashamed of her role in producing this sham cover-up.
The premise of this article, in relation to the Commonwealth Grants Commission, is just plain wrong.
The job of the Commonwealth Grants Commssion, since 1931, is fiscal equalisation. It recommends how Canberra’s general purpose grants should be adjusted to enable — not compel — the States (and nowadays Territories) to deliver services at an average standard nationwide.
It recommends nothing about how much a Government should spend on this or that service; nor does it recommend any specific funds allocations for specific services.
This is basic Australian Public Finance 101.
Which none of those mentioned in the article, and its author, seem to have studied.
Taking on board the (recommended) CGC general purpose grants adjustments, it is up to State & Territory Governments to raise revenues and allocate spending according to their priorities and to be accountable to their respective electorates for these decisions.
Nowadays, all State & Territory Governments publish their budgetary information to a uniform standard, to facilitate that accountability. Published Departmental reports provide voluminous finer detail.
The possibility that the NT Government may be spending less in some service areas than seems desirable (in the view of some people) is fully open to debate on the basis of a wealth of financial information.
It is a pity that such an ill-informed debate is occurring in Darwin — as this article plainly shows.
From where I am what I read from Mr Graham Ring from National Indigenous Darwin, and other sources I believe I perceive an unacceptable for of aparthide flowing down from the way senior politicians are prepared to interpret the facts.
The pity is that the NT Govt does get huge funding advantages because of the indigenous factor in our population spread, and yet in the last seven years, the NT Govt has been a combination of profligate in its spending priorities (as made clear in the minority reports of the Senate Committee) and totally unable to address the issues that finally had to be tackled with the intervention. Verging on incompetent!
Barry Hansen is so right when he observes that Labor solidarity is alive and well, and the profligacy of both Govts must be addressed as cheques continue to be sent out (to the selected few), inefficient industries get massive subsidies, corrupt neighbour countries get huge “loans” and genuine issues in remote communities get lip service.