00:00As the country-liberal government spruiks its economic credentials, an ominous warning.
00:07A lot of numbers, some of your eyes may glaze over, but there'll be a few accountants that the heart rate might pick up a tick.
00:14The Northern Territory has by far the highest per capita net debt of any state or territory.
00:20Following a review in 2021, Labor legislated a cap, meaning the government can't borrow anymore
00:27when assessable debt reaches $15 billion.
00:30After last year's change in government, the country-liberals are accusing Labor of hiding extra costs on major projects
00:38like the Targa Brennan Drive overpass and the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art gallery in Alice Springs.
00:44There's nothing at the moment the CLP could possibly do to stop breaching that debt cap.
00:49The government now scrapping the ceiling, accepting there's no hope of cutting debt any time soon.
00:55The NT's not the only place to have tried a debt ceiling.
00:58Most famously, the United States also has one, which Donald Trump wants to remove.
01:03Some economists argue they're a crude and populist tool because governments tend to either lift them or scrap them altogether when the limits reached.
01:12So how's the government planning to address debt now?
01:15There'll be no cuts to the public service, which made up nearly half of all government costs last year.
01:22Instead, the government's capping growth in the public workforce, other than front-line positions.
01:27But they wouldn't say what that cap would be.
01:30Work with industry and work with the private sector to grow our own source revenue. That will be our way out.
01:37At the moment, we've heard of no vision, no projects from the CLP government. What are they going to do in the next four years?
01:43The government plans to remove the cap when parliament resumes next week.
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