00:01With the spotlight on law and order, social services have little to celebrate in this
00:07year's budget.
00:07It's the glue that actually holds the NT together, is the community and social sector.
00:13And the way that the funding is going, we're eroding continuously the amount of services
00:20that can be provided.
00:22They say the government could be investing in measures which reduce the initial need
00:26for health and crime spending, like social housing and rehabilitative services.
00:31There's a huge health spend which is great, it is needed, but if we look at some of the
00:36reasons that people are presenting to our emergency departments, it's for entirely preventable
00:43illnesses which are the result of living in overcrowded conditions which are absolutely
00:48everywhere in the Northern Territory.
00:50We're seeing investments in this budget into rehabilitation when people are in jail.
00:55We're saying that's too late, it's not the right investment.
00:59It's important to invest when people are in jail, but the best investment is earlier.
01:03It's not all bad news, with some finance experts praising strong infrastructure spending in
01:08this year's budget.
01:09They're concerned, however, that most of that comes in the form of one-off spending and that
01:13the budget fails to contribute to long-term economic growth.
01:16Immediate policing needs are important, but at the same time we need to also spend money
01:21on providing hope and employment and pathways to these young people, especially in the remote
01:28and regional communities for the future.
01:31So that's not what is happening in a big way.
01:34The Northern Territory opposition will provide their budget reply tomorrow.
01:38All right.
01:38All right.
01:40All right.
01:40I've got this.
01:40Let's go.
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