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Speaker 1: Now I spoke about this with the Chief Minister. The

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Speaker 1: latest abs residential building approval STARTA it's been released with

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Speaker 1: the Master Builders of the Northern Territory saying that it

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Speaker 1: confirms the urgent need for substantial government grants to support

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Speaker 1: the construction of new homes. Now, Ben Carter has said

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Speaker 1: that the data shows only twenty four new dwellings will

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Speaker 1: approved for construction in April twenty twenty four, down twenty

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Speaker 1: nine percent on the March figures. Now Ben Carter, the

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Speaker 1: CEO of Master Builders, joins me in the studio right now.

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Speaker 1: Good morning to you, Ben.

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Speaker 2: Okay, how are you?

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Speaker 3: You're not bad?

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Speaker 1: Mate? Tell me twenty four new dwellings for April, down

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Speaker 1: twenty nine percent on March.

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Speaker 3: How do those numbers.

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Speaker 1: Sort of compare to previous years? So what do those

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Speaker 1: numbers say to you?

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Speaker 4: Well, kay, you, where as I said to you, we've

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Speaker 4: previously that we're on tractor to have the worst year

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Speaker 4: for home building in this financial year, the twenty twenty three,

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Speaker 4: twenty four financial year in history of the Territori's records began.

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Speaker 4: That's not that should be alarming everybody. The twenty four homes.

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Speaker 1: Let me just go back to that we are on

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Speaker 1: track for the worst year in history when.

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Speaker 2: It comes to since records began.

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Speaker 4: When did they begin, I'm not sure, but it would

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Speaker 4: have been at least two decades or a decade ago,

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Speaker 4: you would have thought at least. So there's no question

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Speaker 4: we're on tractor to have one of the worst years

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Speaker 4: for new home building since records in the territory began,

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Speaker 4: and that should be really alarming. In terms of twenty

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Speaker 4: four homes that are approved in the last month, there

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Speaker 4: is a bit of volatility around monthly ABS figures, but

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Speaker 4: what that shows is that is it where is that

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Speaker 4: we're still being consistent up here for very low numbers.

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Speaker 4: Now we have a small population anywhere else. However, in

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Speaker 4: comparison to small other smaller states like Tereties, like the

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Speaker 4: Act in Tasmania, they were building something like two hundred

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Speaker 4: homes last month. So by any comparison, by any manufacturing

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Speaker 4: and small population, we are just we are just in

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Speaker 4: a crisis when it comes to private sector housing.

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Speaker 1: Then the Chief Minister just left the studio. I know

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Speaker 1: you ran into it in the hall, but mate, like

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Speaker 1: she said, the economy is going well well.

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Speaker 4: I think the Chief Ministers has every roll. She's the

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Speaker 4: chief minister, and she will say that the economies go well.

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Speaker 4: I think she has some legitimacy in saying that in

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Speaker 4: some setments of the economy. So if you're looking at

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Speaker 4: public investment, so government investment by the federal government and

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Speaker 4: by the territory government, then there is substantial investment. She's

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Speaker 4: absolutely right, and we commend her government for that. And

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Speaker 4: we also can mend by the way, the federal government

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Speaker 4: who's investing six point twelve between them and the US

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Speaker 4: six point two billion in defense in the territory. So

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Speaker 4: when it comes to public sector investment, there's no question

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Speaker 4: there is substantial spending happening. But by compare that to

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Speaker 4: private investment as a darn major business group report recently

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Speaker 4: showed it's abysmal by comparison. And to have a strong

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Speaker 4: economy you need strong public investment. Yes, you'll always have

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Speaker 4: in a small jurisdiction and important role for government, both

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Speaker 4: federal and territory. But you need in any economy to

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Speaker 4: have a strong economy, strong private investment and private investments

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Speaker 4: driven by confidence. And what this shows, what these figures

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Speaker 4: about private sector housing show is that a lack of

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Speaker 4: confidence and that. I listened to some of the Chief

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Speaker 4: Minister and she was absolutely right when she said that

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Speaker 4: there's a lack of confidence. The point is what can

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Speaker 4: we do to fix that confidence. She touched on young

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Speaker 4: people being lack of confidence to actually build new homes.

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Speaker 2: She's absolutely right to do that.

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Speaker 4: One of the things we're saying is we need urgently

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Speaker 4: these substantial grants to actually redress that, to actually give

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Speaker 4: people a confidence.

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Speaker 2: To build new homes.

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Speaker 4: If someone is going to receive, as the CLP is proposed,

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Speaker 4: fifty thousand dollars for a first time buyer or thirty

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Speaker 4: thousand dollars for someone who has already owned a home

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Speaker 4: or owns a home but wants to build a new

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Speaker 4: one in the territory, that's going to inspire confidence, and

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Speaker 4: we'd call on the government to respond in kind.

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Speaker 1: Then what do you think, you know, what what is

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Speaker 1: making people not have confidence in the Northern Territory housing

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Speaker 1: sector right now?

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Speaker 3: Because I've got a message last.

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Speaker 1: Week from a young a young bloke I'm assuming he's young.

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Speaker 1: He said that you know him and his partner, he's

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Speaker 1: about to finish a university degree and they're not going

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Speaker 1: to stay once he's finished that degree because of the

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Speaker 1: issues with crime. Like that's not something I've made up,

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Speaker 1: That's something that someone has messaged me last week to say.

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Speaker 1: Makes me feel bloody sad when people say things like that,

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Speaker 1: because the Northern Territory should be the land of opportunity, right.

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Speaker 1: It's a place where you can get an unbelievably good job.

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Speaker 1: It's a place where you can move up the ranks

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Speaker 1: quite quickly if you're young and dynamic and want to

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Speaker 1: give it a.

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Speaker 3: Red hot go. But even last week I'd.

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Speaker 1: Spoken to John Koenig, you know from John John's who's

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Speaker 1: closing down. He's going to be closing throughout the end

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Speaker 1: of the dry season because of the issues with crime,

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Speaker 1: Like what to you what aside from you know, getting

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Speaker 1: finance from the bank is having an impact on people's

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Speaker 1: confidence in the NT.

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Speaker 4: Well, i'd just before I go and answer that question

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Speaker 4: more fully, I'd also say the Chief Industry is right

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Speaker 4: again to say that start lending, but we would say

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Speaker 4: also that that comes down to confidence. I mean, banks,

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Speaker 4: financial institutions are reflectors of confidence. They're not going to

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Speaker 4: lending they don't have confidence in the territory economy. And yes,

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Speaker 4: as I said, there's strong in public investment, but we

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Speaker 4: need strong private investment.

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Speaker 2: To go to your point.

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Speaker 4: A number of these indicators, like the housing indicators, and

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Speaker 4: I just also say that in the March housing finance

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Speaker 4: figures there was only sixteen I think mortgages approved for

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Speaker 4: banks in the territory as well, So there's definitely a

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Speaker 4: lack of confidence by people who are to build homes

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Speaker 4: and by banks.

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Speaker 2: Now you have to say, in my.

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Speaker 4: Judgment that this is partly economy a key indicator economic

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Speaker 4: performance catching up with sentiment in the community due to

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Speaker 4: as you say, partly about crime and any social behavior,

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Speaker 4: and it goes to the issues that we that we

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Speaker 4: encounter here.

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Speaker 2: Where As you say there's amazing.

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Speaker 4: Opportunities, the territory should be should be just the most

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Speaker 4: amazing place to come and take up the opportunity, a

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Speaker 4: place of hope and opportunity. You can come as a

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Speaker 4: young person, a more mature person, any age. It should

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Speaker 4: be the easiest place, the easiest place to get a job,

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Speaker 4: the easiest place to have opportunity, easiest place to build

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Speaker 4: a home and put down roots. It should be those

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Speaker 4: things that should be for people from down South, and

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Speaker 4: it should be from overseas, but we need to tackle

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Speaker 4: some fundamental issues like liverability when it comes to any

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Speaker 4: social behavior and.

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Speaker 2: Crime.

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Speaker 4: And we know that despite it being obviously crime is everywhere,

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Speaker 4: but we also know from the dall and Major Business

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Speaker 4: Group report that levels of crime here are substantially higher

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Speaker 4: both against people and against property and that can't be good.

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Speaker 4: It's affecting confidence and economic unicators like the abs housing

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Speaker 4: a bilding approvals. I think you would have to say,

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Speaker 4: at least partially our reflection of that indicator that is

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Speaker 4: now indicating the impact of the problems that have been

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Speaker 4: built up and building up I made.

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Speaker 3: I agree, I totally agree.

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Speaker 1: And it's something we've spoken about, Like I speak about

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Speaker 1: it daily, and it's something that people raise with me daily. What,

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Speaker 1: like you know, from your sector, from the sector at

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Speaker 1: the moment, what are they saying to you needs to

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Speaker 1: happen to try and get things moving along and to

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Speaker 1: try and get people wanting to build a new home

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Speaker 1: or their first time or renovate or you know, have

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Speaker 1: confidence in the endt But what needs to.

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Speaker 4: Happen, Well, we need to keep the government need to

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Speaker 4: keep what it's doing in some areas, so for instance,

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Speaker 4: the Chief Benas deserves a lot of credit for what

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Speaker 4: she's been doing with energy around Tamboran and that agreement.

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Speaker 4: She's talking about bringing student accommodation into the CBD, and

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Speaker 4: that's a really good move. We've been calling for that,

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Speaker 4: and I know that the government has been focused on that,

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Speaker 4: and that's a really good strategy to make the CBD

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Speaker 4: a precinct for younger people or for students and for

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Speaker 4: younger people. But we also need more students coming here.

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Speaker 4: And the Chief says, she's written to Jason Claire, but

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Speaker 4: we need, you know, government advocacy to do that. We

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Speaker 4: need a place approach from the federal government. You know,

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Speaker 4: Luke Gosling is a great advocate for us. We would

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Speaker 4: hope that he would be saying to the federal government, Hey,

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Speaker 4: it's great to cap numbers down south, but we don't

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Speaker 4: have the pressures up here. We have lots of lots

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Speaker 4: of opportunity here, we have lots of space, no pressures

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Speaker 4: at all on population. We need a population growth, we

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Speaker 4: need it. The Chief again was talking last week, I

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Speaker 4: saw about her concern about getting lack of a lack

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Speaker 4: of workers for defense projects. Well, she should be saying

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Speaker 4: that and that's an absolutely legitimate thing for her to

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Speaker 4: be doing and we commend her for that. But there

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Speaker 4: needs to be an ecosystem. We need to have housing.

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Speaker 4: We need to have private sector housing. Now she mentioned

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Speaker 4: remote housing and there will be builders in Dalehue benefit

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Speaker 4: from that, but it's not going to be by any

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Speaker 4: stretch to the majority. Social housing is important for a

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Speaker 4: segment of the population, but the focus should be on

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Speaker 4: home ownership because home ownership brings people to the territory,

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Speaker 4: keeps them here, has them spending money in the economy,

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Speaker 4: has their family staying and growing up, and you have

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Speaker 4: a long term boost the economy. You have an opportunity

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Speaker 4: to have a longer term, stronger economy. That benefit's not

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Speaker 4: just out industry but the whole economy. So things like

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Speaker 4: those grants are absolutely essential because what they do is

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Speaker 4: they inspire confidence not just in the territory population but

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Speaker 4: also people around Australia. They say, this is what they

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Speaker 4: do is they signal in the quantum of the corps

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Speaker 4: announced and we would hope the government would respond, but

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Speaker 4: in that sort of quantum, what it does is it

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Speaker 4: signals to everybody this is the place to come. You'll

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Speaker 4: get fifty thousand dollars the first time buy, you get

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Speaker 4: thirty thousand as someone who's already owns the home if

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Speaker 4: you want to build it home here. So that's the

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Speaker 4: sort of thing that we need to see.

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Speaker 1: Ben Carter, CEO of Master Builders here in the Northern Territory,

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Speaker 1: really appreciate your time this morning.

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Speaker 3: Thanks so much for joining us anytime. Thank you