The NT Government plans to remove housing subsidies for Katherine's teachers.
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The subsidy removal would save $500,000 annually as part of the NT's Budget repair announced today.
Housing subsidies have long been used as one method to attract teachers to remote areas like Katherine.
Similar inducements are used to attract other professions to the town.
Budget fix documents state there is already an established private market available for rental accommodation in Katherine.
The Budget repair says some of these rental arrangements may be "difficult to implement" and may required some "grandfathering" of existing arrangements.
The Katherine Times has sought more information about the planned loss of housing subsidies.
The NT today released its plan to fix the Territory Budget.
The plan consists of two parts:
- The Government's response to the 'Plan For Budget Repair: Final Report' developed by independent former WA under-treasurer John Langoulant
- Immediate savings identified from the Root and Branch review of Government programs
Of the 76 recommendations contained in the final report: Sixty eight have been accepted in full, two in par, four in principal and two were not accepted.
Implementation of these measures is expected to reduce Government expenditure by $11.2 billion over 10-years and see the budget return to surplus in 2027/28.
Key recommendations accepted from The Final Report include:
- A pay freeze for politicians and public service executives
- A 10% reduction in executive positions (52 full-time jobs)
- Tough new accountability measures for senior staff and consequences for poor performance
- Cutting red tape to attract private investment and create local jobs
- Selling the Lands Titles Office including the Integrated Land Information System
The Root and Branch review of Government programs was designed to ensure expenditure remains focused on the key priorities of:
- Creating jobs and attracting investment
- Creating generational change which will reduce demand for government services in the medium to long term
- Increasing community safety and cohesion
- Enhancing transparency and integrity of Government
Savings from this review total $1.4B over 10 years.
The Government is taking action to fix the budget after:
Inheriting a $876 million deficit from the former CLP Government
A cut of $500 million annual in GST revenue from the Federal Government (which reduced by a further $88 million in their April budget).
Chief Minister Michael Gunner said: "This plan to fix the budget makes the tough decisions needed to ensure we can continue investing in local jobs, generational change and tackling crime.
"The plan protects front line workers like teachers, nurses and police and includes important reforms to maximise the private investment which creates local jobs."
Treasurer Nicole Manison said: "Our plan puts Territorians first by making tough decisions in a way that's fair.
"It makes politicians and senior executives accountable for their financial decisions.
"It ensures much of the heavy lifting is done by cutting the number of executive positions, and freezing politicians and executive pay.
"We've made the tough decisions now, so we can continue the investments in education, health and housing that will reduce pressure on the budget in the long term.
"We have not repeated the CLP approach of sacking hundreds of teachers and massive increasing power prices".
For more information on the plan.
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