Submission to the Northern Territory Emergency Response Review
The purpose of this submission is to inform the Review of patterns of expenditure by the Northern Territory Government which we expect limits the effectiveness of the Emergency Response.
Each year when apportioning the Commonwealth’s revenue sharing to the States and Territories, the Commonwealth Grants Commission (CGC) makes assessments of the spending necessary in various categories to enable equal service delivery across Australia. These assessments include adjustments for factors affecting the costs of service delivery in each jurisdiction, and they become the grants provided (after adjustment for corresponding revenue assessments). After the end of each year, each State and Territory reports its actual spending in each category, in accordance with the Uniform Presentation Framework.
In several key areas relevant to remote indigenous communities, the Northern Territory Government has seriously underspent.
For 2006/07 (the most recent figures available) the underspending was:
| Category | CGC Assessment | Actual Spending | Shortfall |
|---|---|---|---|
| $m | $m | $m | |
| Transport of Rural School Children | 14 | 2 | 12 |
| Family and Child Services | 179 | 43 | 137 |
| Homeless and general welfare | 62 | 48 | 14 |
| Housing | 136 | 121 | 15 |
| Services to Indigenous Communities | 218 | 110 | 108 |
| Police | 166 | 136 | 30 |
| Corrective Services | 133 | 68 | 65 |
| Non-Urban Transport | 17 | 4 | 13 |
| Roads | 250 | 122 | 128 |
| Total | 522 |
Because of the weighting factors used in the CGC assessment a very much larger proportion of per capita funding allocations are attributable to remote indigenous communities then to urban area.
This CGC data is extracted from Commonwealth Grants Commission. The figures are in the table at the end of the report on each category.
The Northern Territory Council of Social Service believes the collective shortfall in spending for the categories shown above has contributed significantly to the dire circumstances of many remote communities and continuing underspending and will inhibit intervention initiatives.
Barry Hansen
President
N.T. Council of Social Service