Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Matt Hepworth spoke with Opposition Leader Lia Finocchiaro

Transcript

Matt Hepworth spoke with Opposition Leader Lia Finocchiaro · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: But as we mentioned, Darwin Council's decision on whether to
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: allow a new RSL clubhouse on the Esplanade has been delayed.
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: Council was expected to vote on the proposal at their
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: meeting last night. Around two hundred people packed council chambers
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: for the announcement, but at the last minute Lord Mayor
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: convat Scals revealed he had received new information regarding the
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: proposal and the vote would be delayed. To talk more
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: about this and plenty more is the COLP opposition leader
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: Leo Finochiara lee A.
• 0:25
  Speaker 2: Good morning, Good morning Manning, Good morning to your listeners.
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: Lea, what did you make of this shock non decision
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: by council in the end last night.
• 0:32
  Speaker 3: Yeah, look, it's certainly interesting and I don't know what
• 0:34
  Speaker 3: information the council has that they need to go back
• 0:37
  Speaker 3: and consider further, but you know, clearly this is something
• 0:41
  Speaker 3: that has caught the attention of many Territorians and it'll
• 0:45
  Speaker 3: be interesting to see how it all plays out in
• 0:47
  Speaker 3: the end.
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: Do you support the RSL's proposal to build on that site.
• 0:51
  Speaker 3: Well, look, you know this really is a council and
• 0:54
  Speaker 3: planning matter. I mean, obviously it's extremely early days what
• 0:57
  Speaker 3: we have is a proposal. We have community support for it,
• 1:01
  Speaker 3: there's also a lot of community support against it. There's
• 1:04
  Speaker 3: Counsel's involvement in whether or not to support it, and
• 1:08
  Speaker 3: then of course there's all of the official processes that
• 1:11
  Speaker 3: would have to flow. So this proposal or concept is
• 1:14
  Speaker 3: not even anywhere near the development consent stage or rezoning
• 1:18
  Speaker 3: stage or any of these things. So I think it's
• 1:20
  Speaker 3: fair to say there's a lot of water to go
• 1:22
  Speaker 3: under this bridge, and you know, it's really about how
• 1:27
  Speaker 3: all of the stakeholders can come together to determine whether
• 1:30
  Speaker 3: it's the right fit in the right spot.
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: Have you been surprised at how divisive the issue has been?
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: Oh, look, not really.
• 1:37
  Speaker 3: I think whenever we talk about changes to the Esplanade,
• 1:39
  Speaker 3: or particularly development on the Esplanade, it's a hot topic.
• 1:43
  Speaker 3: I remember a few years ago, I think it might
• 1:45
  Speaker 3: have even been up to cyclone Marcus. You know, some
• 1:47
  Speaker 3: trees came down and you know that was a huge
• 1:49
  Speaker 3: issue as well. So it's one of those things. And
• 1:52
  Speaker 3: you know, we, you know, as leaders in our community,
• 1:55
  Speaker 3: we need to be responsive to people's concerns. You know,
• 1:57
  Speaker 3: we also need to support good develolopment, and I guess,
• 2:01
  Speaker 3: like I said, there's a lot of hurdles and processes
• 2:03
  Speaker 3: to go through and that will undoubtedly uncover all of
• 2:08
  Speaker 3: the pros and downsides to any such proposal.
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Look, we'll be catching up with Stephen Gloucester, James
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: Parker and convat Scarlets after ten and the other two
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: just around nine to forty five this morning to find
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: out more Leah. In other news, a second group of
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: mango pickers from Vanuatu touchdown in Darwin. We know they're
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: going to spend two weeks in quarantine before heading out
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: to help harvest, but there's renewed calls for them to
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: quarantine on farms instead of in the Howard Springs facility.
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: A war of words has erupted between the Commonwealth and
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: INTI government over who's responsible, Lea, whose decision is this?
• 2:44
  Speaker 3: Look, this is clearly the Chief Minister's decision. And of
• 2:47
  Speaker 3: course what we've got as a Chief Minister in hiding
• 2:49
  Speaker 3: once again, during the last term of the Gunner Labor government,
• 2:52
  Speaker 3: we saw the Chief Minister Awell, he's completely hidden away
• 2:57
  Speaker 3: from territorians. He popped out to be the COVID hero
• 3:01
  Speaker 3: right up to the lead up to the election and
• 3:03
  Speaker 3: now he's gone back into hiding because he lacks the
• 3:07
  Speaker 3: courage to be able to make decisions like a chief
• 3:09
  Speaker 3: minister should. Of course, we've had very strong words coming
• 3:13
  Speaker 3: from Minister a little Proud on this issue. The federal
• 3:15
  Speaker 3: government have been explicitly clear that this is a decision.
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: For the Gunner government.
• 3:20
  Speaker 3: And really what needs to happen now is Michael Gunner
• 3:22
  Speaker 3: needs to come out explain why he will or won't
• 3:25
  Speaker 3: make the decision. He's got to take territories on the
• 3:28
  Speaker 3: journey with him. It's not good enough for a chief
• 3:31
  Speaker 3: minister of a jurisdiction to just point the finger at
• 3:34
  Speaker 3: someone else, continue to play the blame game and not
• 3:37
  Speaker 3: have the courage to make the decisions he needs to,
• 3:40
  Speaker 3: whatever that decision might be. And what we've got at
• 3:42
  Speaker 3: the moment is just you know, he's just hiding away,
• 3:46
  Speaker 3: burying his head in the sand and hoping this issue
• 3:48
  Speaker 3: goes away.
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: You actually was a good cue there, those comments from
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: Minister little Proud. I've actually got those and we'll play
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: that for you now. Well that's embarrassing, isn't it. I
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: think the guy should maybe go back and have a
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: Yarando his chief of staff and just get an understanding
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: what happened in national cabinet.
• 4:02
  Speaker 2: Either he wasn't listening or he's incompetent.
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: I mean some strong rhetoric there though, But is that
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: a sentiment that you would echo.
• 4:09
  Speaker 3: Look, I think it's probably both. He probably wasn't listening
• 4:11
  Speaker 3: and he certainly is incompetent. I mean, this is just
• 4:14
  Speaker 3: becoming a joke. You cannot be a chief minister and
• 4:17
  Speaker 3: not take a position on things. I mean, all of
• 4:19
  Speaker 3: a sudden, even instead of having quotes from the Chief
• 4:23
  Speaker 3: Minister in the paper today, we've got.
• 4:24
  Speaker 2: Quotes from his spokesperson. Where is the man?
• 4:27
  Speaker 3: The election's over and you've got four years now to
• 4:29
  Speaker 3: govern on behalf of all Territorians. We've got an economy
• 4:32
  Speaker 3: in crisis that was in crisis prior to COVID. We've
• 4:36
  Speaker 3: got people out there right now who are desperately looking
• 4:38
  Speaker 3: for leadership from the Gunner government to get our mining
• 4:41
  Speaker 3: sector going, to get jobs flowing in the territory again,
• 4:44
  Speaker 3: to ensure that our agg industry is supported in the
• 4:47
  Speaker 3: way it needs to be, to support not only food
• 4:50
  Speaker 3: for the rest of our nation and export, but of
• 4:52
  Speaker 3: course all important jobs. So there's a lot writing on
• 4:55
  Speaker 3: these types of decisions, and I just think it's not
• 4:57
  Speaker 3: good enough not to explain two territories why you are
• 5:01
  Speaker 3: or are not.
• 5:01
  Speaker 2: Making a decision.
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: If you were the Chief Minister right now, would you
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: allow those workers from Vanuatu to quarantine on farm?
• 5:08
  Speaker 2: Well, look, I'd love to.
• 5:09
  Speaker 3: Be able to answer that, but I don't have the
• 5:10
  Speaker 3: information the Chief Minister does.
• 5:12
  Speaker 2: It's that simple.
• 5:13
  Speaker 3: He has access to all of the health advice, the
• 5:16
  Speaker 3: Chief Health Officer, all of the information from the Federal government,
• 5:19
  Speaker 3: all of the information from all of the agencies who
• 5:22
  Speaker 3: are really efficiently and doing a great job in managing COVID.
• 5:27
  Speaker 3: So I don't have access to that information. If the
• 5:29
  Speaker 3: Chief Minister wants to give it to me, then that's
• 5:32
  Speaker 3: absolutely fine, and I'll certainly let territorians know what I
• 5:34
  Speaker 3: would do. But it just circles back to the fact
• 5:37
  Speaker 3: that the only person who has that information is the
• 5:40
  Speaker 3: Chief Minister. It's his job to explain why things are
• 5:44
  Speaker 3: not a risk, what benefit or opposite not a benefit
• 5:49
  Speaker 3: there is to our community. We know we've got mangoes
• 5:51
  Speaker 3: on trees right now ready to be picked. We know
• 5:54
  Speaker 3: that we've got a huge demand. This is a really
• 5:57
  Speaker 3: high pressure point for our mango industry, and yet we've
• 6:00
  Speaker 3: got a chief Minister burying his head in the sand,
• 6:02
  Speaker 3: trying to run away, trying to deflect and blame everyone
• 6:06
  Speaker 3: else for his problems. Well, he needs to put his
• 6:09
  Speaker 3: big boy pants on, make a decision, communicate with territories
• 6:12
  Speaker 3: and start acting like a chief minister.
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: Staying with quarantine and Prime Minister Scott Morrison has flagged
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: the Howard Springs quarantine facility as a place for returning
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: Ossie's to quarantine. He's expected to discuss the plan with
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: the Chief Minister on Friday. Would you welcome this kind
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: of decision?
• 6:28
  Speaker 3: Yeah, Look, I mean we've shown time and time again,
• 6:30
  Speaker 3: right from when we took the first lot of people
• 6:34
  Speaker 3: off the cruise ships, you know that Howard Springs is
• 6:36
  Speaker 3: a very good facility for COVID management and that is
• 6:40
  Speaker 3: due to the exceptional work of our health professionals of course,
• 6:43
  Speaker 3: our National Critical Care Center and everyone involved, and the
• 6:48
  Speaker 3: support of the federal agency's police etc. As well. So
• 6:52
  Speaker 3: it's certainly an important discussion to have. We are part
• 6:55
  Speaker 3: of our nation, we do have a role to play,
• 6:57
  Speaker 3: of course that needs to be managed. Risk needs to
• 7:00
  Speaker 3: be managed, and again I'm not privy to that information,
• 7:03
  Speaker 3: but certainly Howard Springs has proven to be an excellent
• 7:06
  Speaker 3: facility and if there's a way in which we can
• 7:08
  Speaker 3: play our part without risking the health of safety of Territorians,
• 7:12
  Speaker 3: then we need to be engaging proactively in those discussions.
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: Lee. On Friday, we saw footage emerge of a supposed
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: ray at the Howard Springs quarantine facility. Have you seen
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: the footage and what did you make of it?
• 7:25
  Speaker 3: No, I haven't seen the footage, but I've certainly heard
• 7:28
  Speaker 3: a lot about it, and people are absolutely appalled. It's
• 7:32
  Speaker 3: called into question the government's controls around what is going
• 7:35
  Speaker 3: on inside that facility. Now, of course it is you know,
• 7:39
  Speaker 3: people aren't able to leave, which is very very important,
• 7:42
  Speaker 3: but equally the behavior on the inside needs to be
• 7:46
  Speaker 3: appropriate given the level of risk that people at the
• 7:49
  Speaker 3: facility have. They've obviously been determined as needing to be
• 7:54
  Speaker 3: in quarantine for very good reasons. So we certainly hope
• 7:57
  Speaker 3: this is a wake up called to the Health Minister
• 8:00
  Speaker 3: and Minister for National Resilience around not taking their foot
• 8:04
  Speaker 3: off the pedal and ensuring that robust controls are in place,
• 8:07
  Speaker 3: and if improvements need to be made, then so be it.
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: Are you worried that this could be a sign that
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: it's being mismanaged out there, whether that be the staff
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: that are there or the people that are in quarantine.
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: I mean, clearly this shouldn't have happened. So something's gone
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: wrong somewhere.
• 8:21
  Speaker 3: That's right, something's gone wrong, and again we're not hearing
• 8:24
  Speaker 3: from the Gunner government on what those issues are. They're
• 8:26
  Speaker 3: not being open and transparent with Territorians around where the
• 8:30
  Speaker 3: system failure was or what improvements they're going to make
• 8:33
  Speaker 3: to ensure it doesn't happen again. And this just circles
• 8:35
  Speaker 3: back to my comments earlier about the Chief Minister. I
• 8:38
  Speaker 3: mean what we've got at the moment is ministers are
• 8:41
  Speaker 3: pushing out public servants to speak on their behalf. We've
• 8:44
  Speaker 3: got ministers bearing their head in the sand. They're not
• 8:48
  Speaker 3: stumping up and taking responsibility for their portfolio areas and
• 8:51
  Speaker 3: that's not a good start to four more years of government.
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: Just finally, I spoke with Territory Alliance as Robin Lamley yesterday,
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: who says she's still weighing up her options with a
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: political future with Territory Alliance, she's been a former COLP member.
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: Would you welcome her back? Oh?
• 9:09
  Speaker 3: Look, we certainly aren't having any of those discussions. We've
• 9:13
  Speaker 3: got a fantastic opposition now with eight we can be
• 9:16
  Speaker 3: really effective and represent territories right across the territory.
• 9:20
  Speaker 2: Robin will need to make her own.
• 9:21
  Speaker 3: Decisions about what she's going to do with her future
• 9:25
  Speaker 3: and the fate of Territory Alliance.
• 9:27
  Speaker 2: I suppose it's in her hands, Mattie.
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: Would you welcome her back?
• 9:30
  Speaker 2: Oh look, we're not having those discussions.
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: And you know eight could go up to nine. It's
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: a good number.
• 9:37
  Speaker 2: You like the number nine, it's stronger for It's.
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: Just it's one more in the chamber for you guys.
• 9:43
  Speaker 3: Look, we work really well with all of the Independence
• 9:46
  Speaker 3: and of course you know that includes Kisier Puric and
• 9:49
  Speaker 3: Yingia Mark Goula, and we'll continue to do all of
• 9:52
  Speaker 3: that like we did in the last four years.
• 9:53
  Speaker 2: We had a good relationship with Independence.
• 9:55
  Speaker 3: We coordinated and worked well during Parliament and our focus
• 9:58
  Speaker 3: certainly always was and always will be to hold a
• 10:00
  Speaker 3: bad Labor government to account. That continues to be our focus.
• 10:04
  Speaker 3: And now with eight in the opposition, I think the
• 10:06
  Speaker 3: Gunner government is unnoticed that they'rein for a bit of
• 10:10
  Speaker 3: a ride in terms of our ability to be able
• 10:12
  Speaker 3: to scrutinize them more harder.
• 10:15
  Speaker 2: And really bring the issues to the front.
• 10:17
  Speaker 3: So I'm looking forward to the next four years and
• 10:19
  Speaker 3: certainly my team are working hard every day to ensure
• 10:21
  Speaker 3: we're across the issues, working with stakeholders, listening to territories
• 10:25
  Speaker 3: about what's important to them.
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: CLP leader Opposition leader Leah Finocchiara, thank you so much
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: for your time.
• 10:30
  Speaker 2: Sank you and take care everyone.