The NT receives more federal funding per capita than any other jurisdiction. Where is it going?

The Northern Territory receives lots of funding from the rest of Australia, and for good reason.

But, when it comes to transparency and accountability around how we spend your money, things aren’t so clear.

Specifically, the NT gets more funding from the Federal Government per person than any other jurisdiction in Australia, mostly paid for by Goods and Services Tax (GST).

This money comes from everyone in Australia, but the Territory gets a bigger share of the pie because of our unique challenges – vast distances, high service delivery costs and deep, persistent disadvantage. The Federal Government recognises that Territorians need additional support and additional investment to achieve similar outcomes to the rest of the country.

However, while we get extra money because of our distances and disadvantage, it is not at all clear that we spend the money on actually addressing these problems.

We know that the NT Government does not track how our extra GST funding is spent. This was confirmed by Treasurer, Bill Yan during the recent NT Budget Estimates session.

Let that sink in. There is no way to know whether funding intended to address disadvantage in the NT is reaching those who need it most. No tracking and transparency even though nearly half of NT Government revenue comes from GST, mostly from taxpayers in other states.

This isn’t a new issue. Over the last two decades at least, the Yothu Yindi Foundation and former NT council of social services president Barry Hansen estimated hundreds of millions of dollars intended for disadvantaged Indigenous communities had been spent elsewhere by the NT Government, including half a billion in 2015-16 alone.

So, the question is, without proper tracking, how can we be sure needs-based funding is actually meeting need?

I asked that question a lot during Estimates, and hit a wall, repeatedly.

I asked Minister after Minister about the evidence underpinning their decisions and how they are evaluating outcomes for Territorians – ensuring that money spent is meeting need. Minister after Minister could not point to any data or analysis demonstrating that their policy or funding decisions are working. Their answer instead?

It was an election commitment.

Take this example, from the Attorney General, Marie-Clare Boothby, the minister responsible for a legislative onslaught that has put many Territorians behind bars.

I asked what evidence, or formal framework underpinned the Country Liberal Party (CLP)’s law and order reforms, which include the strictest bail laws in the country. The response?

The formal framework that I adhere to is the one that Territorians elected us to do on the back of our reducing crime, rebuilding the economy and restoring our lifestyle strategies.

While the Attorney General bases policy on “restoring the Territory lifestyle”, it is important to remember that if the NT was a country, we’d have the second highest incarceration rate in the world, behind only El Salvador. We also have a 60% recidivism rate, meaning the thousands of people in NT jails are more likely to return there than not.

Territorians want safe communities, and rightly so. But, if we are spending other people’s money, more than half a billion dollars on prisons alone, and crime is not going down, the government should be able to explain what is going on.

I asked if the Treasurer undertakes any long-term modelling to understand whether earlier intervention could reduce offending, and the high social and economic cost of incarceration. He said no. No modelling to see if it is cheaper to invest in prevention, no modelling to see what effect the decision to double down on incarceration will have on the NT budget into the future.

What the CLP have done instead is put $15 million in the budget to prepare for building another prison. That tells us something important about where the government expects its policies to lead.

Building prisons is expensive. Running prisons is expensive. The social and economic costs of incarceration are enormous. Prevention is not only the more humane option; it is the smarter economic investment.

Safe and accessible housing, adequately funded Domestic Family and Sexual Violence (DFSV) services, quality education, family support services, mental health care and early intervention all help reduce the likelihood that people become victims of crime or enter the justice system in the first place.

These services strengthen communities and reduce long-term costs. These are things the NT Government would be investing in if they were spending the rest of Australia’s GST funding appropriately.

When people living in every state and territory in Australia contribute to GST, they do so on the understanding that this money will help disadvantaged Australians overcome challenges and achieve better outcomes.

Right now, there is no way Australians to know whether GST funding meant to address disadvantage is paying for remote health services, schools and housing, or helping fund the Territory’s ever-expanding prison system instead.

And that’s the problem. Because if we do not know whether money collected from the rest of Australia to meet our acute need is reaching people who need it most, and making a difference, how can we trust that the government is doing their job: spending Australian money to ensure Territorians are better off next year than they are today?

Justine Davis is the independent Member for Johnston in the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly.