By Justine Davis

This is a speech by the Legislative Assembly’s independent Member for Johnston who, given time constraints, read an abbreviated version on Thursday afternoon before the 2026 Budget was passed. The speech reflects on the lack of accountability of the CLP Government at Estimates hearings over the last two weeks and what that means for the future of the Northern Territory.

Firstly, like my colleagues, I would like to extend my heartfelt thanks to every public servant who prepared for and appeared before Budget Estimates. I am truly grateful for the hours you have put into this essential transparency process, and into the work you do to support Territorians in all facets of their lives every day. I only wish we could table all your big binders so that a much greater level of transparency could be achieved, and I am sorry that so many of you did not get to share your work with Territorians.

And thanks to my fellow committee members, and DLA and committee secretariat staff – as always, your work is excellent, reliable and appreciated.

I also want to thank my staff and incredible volunteers. As the independent shadow minister for everything, it’s a huge job to be across everything and the amount of work and effort you put into this on behalf of our constituents and the Territory is truly astounding.

And thank you to all the many people outside this Chamber who I know followed along, who sent in questions, who engaged deeply with this process because they care deeply about the NT. This is the people’s house, and I feel inspired and hopeful by the amount of people who contacted me because they care about what we are doing in here.

Every question I didn’t get time to ask I will put in as a written question – so public servants, all your work, all your prep, and your thick binders, will not be wasted!

Budget Estimates is one of the most important accountability processes we have in this Parliament. We have 60 hours to ask questions.

It is one of the few opportunities for elected representatives to sit down with ministers and senior public servants and ask a simple question: What are you doing with Territorians’ money, and is it actually improving Territorians’ lives?

That is not a partisan question.

It is not a political question.

It is the most basic responsibility of any Parliament.

And, as my fellow committee members have said after being present for every minute of two weeks of Estimates, I have come away with a deep concern.

Not because I heard things I disagreed with.

Not because I think governments should never make difficult decisions.

But because, again and again, we were told that there are critical areas of government where there is no clear plan, no meaningful evaluation, no way of measuring success, and in some cases no way for Territorians to know whether the money being spent in their name is achieving what it is supposed to achieve.

Territorians deserve better than that.

If the government is spending public money – our money – we should know what outcomes we are trying to achieve.

If the government is making major policy decisions, we should know what evidence supports them.

If we are investing hundreds of millions, or billions of dollars, we should know whether those investments are working.

That is the minimum standard of transparency and accountability Territorians should expect from any government.

Throughout Estimates, a consistent pattern emerged.

When asked about evidence, the tone was set on day one when I asked the CM: Was any specific evidence relied on in developing these Bills?

She replied: “This is so old news. Member for Johnston, your style is incredibly predictable”.

Yep, you got me Chief Minister. I will keep asking about evidence, I will keep asking about evaluation, I will keep asking about how the government is making decisions and spending all of our money.

Instead, we were told evidence is about election commitments.

And the data for measurement – whether it is working – does not exist or that we could not see it.

When asked about plans, we were told they are still being developed. And when asked how decisions are being made, too often the answer was simply: trust us.

Territorians deserve more than trust.

They deserve evidence.

They deserve transparency.

And they deserve accountability.

On justice issues

For two years, Territorians have been told that tougher laws would make communities safer.

Yet when I asked what evidence underpinned major changes to bail laws, youth justice laws and the Criminal Code, the answer was not research, evidence or evaluation.

The answer was that Territorians voted for them.

That is not evidence.

It is entirely possible for a policy to be popular and ineffective at the same time. If the CLP genuinely cares about reducing crime, it should be measuring whether these policies are working.

Yet Treasury has undertaken no long-term modelling of what investing in prevention could mean compared with investing in prisons.

No modelling of whether earlier intervention would reduce offending. No modelling of the long-term costs borne by future generations.

We learned there is already $15 million in the budget preparing for the possibility of another prison.

We learned there is no publicly available data on youth recidivism and If we are not measuring whether young people come back into the system, how do we know what works?

How do we know what doesn’t?

How do we know whether taxpayers’ money is being spent effectively?

If the CLP truly cares about community safety, it should start measuring outcomes and publishing the results. Because safe communities are built through evidence, not assumptions.

Same pattern in housing

There are currently more than 5,400 people waiting for urban public housing. If demand stopped growing tomorrow, it would still take decades to house everyone currently waiting.

Yet there was little evidence of a comprehensive plan to address the scale of need. Housing is not simply about buildings. It affects health outcomes, education outcomes, family violence, employment, child protection, community safety.

If the CLP genuinely cares about reducing disadvantage, it should be treating housing as essential social infrastructure and measuring whether investments are reducing waiting lists and improving people’s lives.

The concerns become even more serious when we look at children and families.

We heard that child protection vacancies sit at around 25 per cent.

We heard that intensive therapeutic out-of-home care costs around $750,000 per child per year – the median cost for a house.

We heard that the Minister could not say how many women and children are turned away from domestic, family and sexual violence crisis accommodation.

We learned that funding increases promised to frontline domestic violence services had still not reached providers with only weeks remaining in the financial year.

How can we know whether services are meeting demand if we do not measure unmet demand?

How can we know whether investments are working if funding is not reaching the frontline?

And perhaps most concerningly, we heard that the Attorney General could not say whether she had met with, received advice from, or acted on recommendations from the Children’s Commissioner.

The Children’s Commissioner exists to advocate for vulnerable children and part of her statutory role is to advise the Minister.

If the CLP truly cares about protecting children, listening to the independent office established to protect their interests would be a good place to start.

And when I asked to speak directly to the commissioners there at the table. The AG said ‘I am the Minister, I decide who speaks’. This is a deeply concerning attitude towards independent statutory officers.

The same questions arise in Health

The Northern Territory has some of the highest rates of preventable illness in the country.

Yet when asked what proportion of the health budget is spent on prevention, the Department could not say. The only figure provided was around one per cent.

One per cent.

If the CLP genuinely cares about improving health outcomes, it should know how much is being spent preventing illness before it occurs. Because every preventable disease avoided means a healthier Territorian and a more sustainable health system.

We also learned that the Northern Territory still operates under the oldest mental health legislation in Australia.

A draft bill has already been prepared. Consultation occurred a year ago Yet there is still no clear commitment or timeline for reform.

If the CLP genuinely cares about mental health, Territorians deserve certainty about when modern, rights-based legislation will arrive.

Same disconnect between spending, policy and evidence in Education

When asked what evidence supported fining parents and children to improve school attendance, the Minister said that whether evidence existed or not, it was an election commitment.

At the same time, attendance rates have declined.

Millions of dollars are being spent on a program with no evidence, no program evaluation – and where attendance rates are dropping, what is the plan?

Yet when asked about supports for Kriol-speaking students, the Minister could not identify specific measures and described Kriol as “broken English”. Kriol is a recognised language, the second most spoken language in the NT, with at least 11 schools having all students speaking Kriol as their first language.

The Minister could not give any examples of resourcing and support for these students.

If the CLP genuinely cares about educational outcomes, it should begin by recognising and supporting the languages and cultures students bring into classrooms every day.

Territorians should be equally concerned on energy and the economy

We learned that 65 per cent of Territory Generation’s investments are currently in gas.

Yet when asked to provide modelling showing how investment decisions are made, including decisions about renewables, we were told that could not be provided.

At the same time, we heard about the success of a single large-scale battery installation that allowed an entire gas turbine to be switched off, saving millions of dollars and tens of thousands of tonnes of emissions.

That raises an obvious question.

If this investment is delivering benefits, where is the modelling comparing future options? Where is the analysis showing Territorians, they are getting the best value for money?

The Department of Mining and Energy could not say whether fossil fuels represent the cheapest energy option because the modelling has not been done.

If the CLP genuinely cares about keeping power affordable, it should be undertaking that work urgently. Not after decisions are made.

The same lack of planning is evident in environmental policy.

The Pepper Inquiry recommended strategic planning for the Beetaloo Basin before large-scale development proceeds. That planning still does not exist.

We heard projects continue to be assessed individually without understanding cumulative impacts. And once all these cumulative effects come together, it is too late to repair harm.

Meanwhile, emissions continue to rise. When I asked whether emissions are considered in planning and investment decisions, the answer was effectively no.

If the CLP genuinely cares about balancing economic development with environmental responsibility, it needs a plan, not project-by-project decision making.

One of the most troubling themes throughout Estimates was what we learned about accountability itself

We learned that Treasury cannot track how GST funding is spent.

Nearly half of government revenue is GST. We learned there is no way of knowing whether that money is reaching the disadvantage it is intended to address.

We learned that the Territory Coordinator cannot provide a list of who the office has met with.

We learned that key conflict-of-interest information relating to the EPA is not publicly available.

We learned that the NT ranked last out of 12 jurisdictions in the 2025 ACAG auditor independence report – below every single Australian state and territory, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and Fiji. That the Auditor-General cannot conduct standard performance audits or comprehensive “follow the dollar” audits.

Think about what that means.

The independent officer responsible for auditing government spending cannot fully examine whether public money is achieving what it is supposed to achieve.

That should concern every Territorian regardless of political persuasion.

Because accountability is not a left-wing value or a right-wing value. It is a democratic value.

If the CLP genuinely cares about transparency and public confidence, it should strengthen the Auditor-General, not leave him unable to do the work Territorians expect.

Madam Speaker,

Throughout this Estimates process, I was not looking for perfection. No government is perfect. No budget is perfect. No policy is perfect.

But Territorians deserve a government that measures outcomes. That evaluates evidence. That listens to independent oversight bodies. That plans for the future.

And that can explain clearly how public money is improving people’s lives.

Too often during these Estimates, those answers were missing. Refusing to answer questions is deeply disrespectful to Territorians who work hard, pay taxes, contribute to their communities.

And they have every right to expect transparency about how decisions affecting their lives are being made. Every dollar spent is a dollar entrusted to government by the people of the Northern Territory.

The least we can do is ensure that dollar is being tracked, measured, evaluated and used effectively. Because accountability is not an administrative burden.

It is how trust is built.

Transparency is not an inconvenience.

It is how democracy functions.

And evidence is not optional.

It is how we make sure government decisions actually improve people’s lives.

When a Minister answers questions about what framework they use to develop laws with “the formal framework I adhere to is the one that Territorians elected us to do which is to restore the territory lifestyle” (as the Attorney General did), we should all be very worried.

Governments might plan for the four-year electoral cycle but the rest of us are here for the long term and that’s what we want planning for – not for the next election – but for all of our children, and grandchildren.