Territory households will have less to spend on on essentials like food, electricity, clothing, in the festive season the NT Council of Social Services has said, based on its December Cost of Living report, and it has called on the Territory Government to provide financial incentives for key workers.

The council’s December report showed the Territory was the third most expensive place to rent a three-bedroom house in 2022, and that the median price of a healthy food purchase in remote Indigenous communities was 52 per cent higher on average than the previous 12 months.

“It is tough out there, many Territorians are not on big incomes and are struggling to make ends meet,” NTCOSS chief executive Deborah Di Natale said.

“The NT government is projecting a $40 billion economy and population of 300,000 in 7-8 years.

“If they want to keep families here, have an inclusive Territory, and attract new people on low to moderate incomes, they must provide incentives or it will be too expensive for key workers in retail, health nursing, hospital and other occupations to live here.”

Australian Bureau of Statistics data also showed Darwin’s Consumer Price Index — which measures the cost of living — increased 1.9 per cent in the three months to September this year. The figure was 0.1 per cent above the national average.

The Territory’s CPI rose seven per cent for the year to September. For comparison, the national inflation figure posted by the Reserve Bank of Australia in 1990, during a very high interest rates period, was 8.7 per cent.

Ms Di Natale said the council wants the Territory government to broaden the NT Concession Scheme and the federal government needed to increase social security payments to at least $73 a day, and to spend money on social housing because of what she said was a 12,000 home shortfall.

Fuel prices in Territory are among the highest in the country, according to the cost of living report.

In Alice Springs, the median price of unleaded fuel was $2.39 per litre in October. Diesel has almost doubled regional NT since October 2017, increasing from about $1.35 per litre to about $2.63 per litre in October this year.

Total transport costs during the last five years — car loan payments and registrations, licensing, servicing, public transport and roadside assistance – have risen by 27 per cent in Darwin and by 34 per cent in Alice Springs.