Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Lord Mayor Kon Vatskalis on Council's commitment to redevelop the Civic Centre into a modern, functional, state-of-the-art public and community building

Transcript

Lord Mayor Kon Vatskalis on Council's commitment to redevelop the Civic Centre into a modern, functional, state-of-the-art public and community building · 360 with Katie Woolf

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  Speaker 1: And joining me live in the studio right now is
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  Speaker 1: the Lord Mayor of Darwin Convat Scarlets.
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  Speaker 2: Good morning to you, con.
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  Speaker 3: Good morning Katy Corn.
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  Speaker 1: We have been talking this morning about this vision which
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  Speaker 1: has emerged on the on social media from Fanny bay
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  Speaker 1: IgA of Well, quite the scuffle. I think you'd have
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  Speaker 1: to call it. Outside the supermarket. Manual codis there trying
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  Speaker 1: to stop what was going on and defend his shop
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  Speaker 1: and keep his customers safe, keep his staff safe. Somebody
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  Speaker 1: with a big rock, somebody picking up a sign and
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  Speaker 1: threatening him. It's a mortifying situation that you see unfold. Corn,
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  Speaker 1: of you seen the vision and what was your reaction.
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  Speaker 4: It's not the only one I've seen, Kady. I've seen
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  Speaker 4: more than that in various occasions. I saw that one
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  Speaker 4: they're punching each other, turn up with a big rock,
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  Speaker 4: deck the sign, and five minutes later they're laying down together,
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  Speaker 4: cuddling each other. The issue is obviously they're drunk, and
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  Speaker 4: I had personal experience with my staff. They try to
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  Speaker 4: intern a specially of a woman's bitten up. The woman
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  Speaker 4: turns up and says, don't get involved. This is not
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  Speaker 4: one of your business, it's ours. Will sort it out.
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  Speaker 4: I mean, it's crazy. The other thing, of course, it
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  Speaker 4: is we've got a situations where the community is not
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  Speaker 4: being locked in people cannot go in or out, but
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  Speaker 4: unfortunately people there are where they were out can't go back.
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  Speaker 1: So just explain this to our listeners. So this is
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  Speaker 1: because of those biosecurity.
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  Speaker 4: Communities restrictions put by the federal minister. It's good enough
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  Speaker 4: to put the restriction, but what happened to the people
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  Speaker 4: can't go back and the people they want to go back,
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  Speaker 4: Like I remember a few days ago the woman from
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  Speaker 4: Theory said it cost me one hundred dollars a night
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  Speaker 4: to stay out because I can't go back to Tiory.
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  Speaker 3: There have to be some provisions for that. One. I
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  Speaker 3: know the.
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  Speaker 4: Place where people can find accommodation Marara, it's fully booked.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah.
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  Speaker 4: And then we had the situation that the old car
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  Speaker 4: dealership it was became an illegal camp until we stepped
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  Speaker 4: in and clean it up and set the bill to
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  Speaker 4: the owner. And we'll do it again if it happens again.
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  Speaker 4: But again, I think the government before makes these kind
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  Speaker 4: of decisions should consider the implications. And I'm talking about
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  Speaker 4: both territory and federal government.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, so con fundamentally at this point in time. You know,
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  Speaker 1: previously we would do things like a Laraki nation had
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  Speaker 1: the return to country program, but right now.
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  Speaker 4: That country because they're not allowed to go back to
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  Speaker 4: the country. I mean, I have input from my rangers
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  Speaker 4: that says they've been threatened. Larakian nation people, they've been threatened,
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  Speaker 4: and certainly they were not going to get involved. We're
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  Speaker 4: not the police. Now I understand there's no police in
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  Speaker 4: the airport, there's no police guarding the borders. Where are
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  Speaker 4: they They're supposed to be out in the streets. I
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  Speaker 4: have to say, I've seen police sometimes in the mall
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  Speaker 4: and patrolling on foot and I thought, great, but it's
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  Speaker 4: here and there.
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  Speaker 1: So corn, are you saying that you've had some of
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  Speaker 1: your council ranges threatened by people?
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  Speaker 4: Oh?
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  Speaker 3: Yes, we had the incidents.
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  Speaker 4: We record the incidents, and you know, people are drunk
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  Speaker 4: when we're trying to go in and say you can't
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  Speaker 4: come here, turn against us. We certainly have to find
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  Speaker 4: a better way to deal with it, and certainly the
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  Speaker 4: police and council and the Rakia Nation can work together.
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  Speaker 4: They've done in the past, can do it again.
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  Speaker 1: On what do we need to do here because you
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  Speaker 1: know right now, like we just should not have a
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  Speaker 1: situation with this behavior because except we will buy now.
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  Speaker 4: I one of my fellow mayors in Mataranka, she told
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  Speaker 4: me that when they had the COVID situation there, they
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  Speaker 4: had to prove to prove they were living in Mataranka
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  Speaker 4: to buy.
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  Speaker 2: Alcohol their hands and alcohol.
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  Speaker 4: It worked really well. The incidents of you know, unlawful behavior.
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  Speaker 4: When it went down, they had five or six called
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  Speaker 4: out for the ambulance every night. When this measure implemented,
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  Speaker 4: they had one every third or fourth night.
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  Speaker 3: So it seems to work. We might have to consider
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  Speaker 3: that one. The other thing is.
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  Speaker 1: We've already you don't have to prove for you're drinking
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  Speaker 1: to be able to buy alcohol in down.
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  Speaker 3: You can buy alcohol any what you like.
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  Speaker 4: I mean you if you provide your driving licensor, proof
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  Speaker 4: of idea and you're not in the bad red, so
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  Speaker 4: you can buy.
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  Speaker 3: But the other thing is.
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  Speaker 4: Can we find a way to identify how many people
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  Speaker 4: by quantities of alcohol? If somebody buys five bandy bottles
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  Speaker 4: a day, he's not going to drink themselves. Something happened
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  Speaker 4: and the police can follow it. That we have to
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  Speaker 4: find out who is the second supply. A lot of
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  Speaker 4: these people they get the alcohol not from the liquor store,
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  Speaker 4: from somebody who takes alcohol to them. Yeah.
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  Speaker 1: Look, I just feel as though it is it's such
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  Speaker 1: as it is a serious issue around the Northern Territory
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  Speaker 1: at the moment, particularly around Down and Palmerston. We've got
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  Speaker 1: a lot of people sleeping rough around the streets and
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  Speaker 1: drinking and then it's causing issues.
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  Speaker 3: Had the same problems with here.
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  Speaker 4: We don't hear about Parmeston a lot, but you hear
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  Speaker 4: about it because possibly people coming in and out.
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  Speaker 3: But again, I'm happy to.
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  Speaker 4: Sit down with the government, happy to sit down with
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  Speaker 4: the police and try to find a solution. Council reserves
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  Speaker 4: participating in the same by patrols and they seem to work,
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  Speaker 4: all right. We had the badilla bitch patrols. They seem
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  Speaker 4: to work all right. Okay, let's find out why they
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  Speaker 4: work there. How can we do that one in the
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  Speaker 4: rest of the municipality and in Palmerston. Yeah, I'm sorry
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  Speaker 4: thin I'm talking about Parmerson now, but we say the
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  Speaker 4: problem so I'm talking on behalf of Palmerston as well.
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  Speaker 1: So con do you think we need to realistically be
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  Speaker 1: looking at calling some kind of urgent meeting or something
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  Speaker 1: to make sure that we can try and sort through
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  Speaker 1: this issue sooner rather than later.
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  Speaker 4: Well, I had members of Parliament from the government side
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  Speaker 4: that came and complained to me about the problem with
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  Speaker 4: people doing and everything else, and I said, well, Council
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  Speaker 4: is doing whatever we can to address the issue. How
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  Speaker 4: about you talk to your other members the government do
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  Speaker 4: actless find a solution.
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  Speaker 1: Well, look, we've got to do something because I sort
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  Speaker 1: of feel like at the moment, people are just kind
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  Speaker 1: of going, Okay, well, this behavior is happening. There's biosecurity zones,
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  Speaker 1: there's this there's that we can't do a huge amount
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  Speaker 1: about it. And in the meantime, you know, there's businesses
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  Speaker 1: that are suffering, and there's people that are suffering, and
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  Speaker 1: and you know, even yesterday we'd heard about those domestic
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  Speaker 1: violence rates being through the roof from.
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  Speaker 2: The Northern Territory Police. Something's got to change here.
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  Speaker 1: I don't know what the answers are, but I reckon
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  Speaker 1: we all need to get our heads together and work
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  Speaker 1: something else.
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  Speaker 4: Council cannot provide a solution, but Council is prepared with
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  Speaker 4: part of the solution.
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  Speaker 2: Yeap, perfect corn.
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  Speaker 1: I know that there is a lot going on at
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  Speaker 1: the moment, and the City of Darwin's actually seeking expressions
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  Speaker 1: of interest in an effort to redevelop the Civic Center
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  Speaker 1: into what you'd like to see as a modern, functional,
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  Speaker 1: state of the art public and community building.
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  Speaker 2: What exactly do you want to say with the civic center, a.
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  Speaker 4: Proper modern civic center that would not cost me million
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  Speaker 4: dollars a year to keep it up the state it is,
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  Speaker 4: that would have a proper town hall, not one in
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  Speaker 4: ruins the old town hall, a place where people can
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  Speaker 4: come into their business, our employees can work safely, our
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  Speaker 4: elected members can comit safely with equipment that actually work,
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  Speaker 4: because let's not forget this about sixty seventy years old.
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  Speaker 4: It's reality and build in times where it doesn't comply with.
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  Speaker 3: A lot of the modern standards. For example, the.
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  Speaker 4: Only access for people with disability of re god is
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  Speaker 4: one lift that brings people to the upper level, and
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  Speaker 4: it's very very difficult for people with this ability to
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  Speaker 4: access our offices upstairs, and the rest is like.
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  Speaker 3: A rabbit work.
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  Speaker 4: I mean, people are here and there and everywhere, and
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  Speaker 4: COVID so as that the way we operate it was
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  Speaker 4: not very safe because we had open plan and ure
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  Speaker 4: COF in one place and.
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  Speaker 3: Everybody else can get COVID on the other side.
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  Speaker 4: So we need something to really modern built around the
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  Speaker 4: Tree of Knowledge in our yard, which is actually an
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  Speaker 4: iconic tree, very old tree, and it's not touch it
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  Speaker 4: under no circumstances. We want actually just want to be
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  Speaker 4: the set piece of the new development.
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  Speaker 3: The other thing we want to saw Kay.
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  Speaker 4: We know that the government is going to redevelop the
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  Speaker 4: waterfront and in my discussion with the Chief Minister was
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  Speaker 4: if you're going to redevelop the waterfront, a lot of people.
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  Speaker 3: Come down there.
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  Speaker 4: Where are you going to get these people pack their cars?
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  Speaker 4: So if we work with the government together, we'll be
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  Speaker 4: talking to the government and the gun We're talking to us.
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  Speaker 4: Part of the redevelopment to be more car park space
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  Speaker 4: so people can park there and don't forget their tunnels
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  Speaker 4: under underground that they can be used for us the
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  Speaker 4: waterfront if they're modified or a shuddle bus can bring
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  Speaker 4: people from the civic center area down to the waterfront.
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  Speaker 1: Corn. It all sounds expensive, but there is thirty million
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  Speaker 1: dollars which has already been committed by the council. Isn't
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  Speaker 1: there to redevelop the civic dixition.
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  Speaker 4: If you want to get something discent, something will last
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  Speaker 4: the time you have to put the money. If you
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  Speaker 4: make a Mickey mouse approach, we get a Mickey mouse outcome.
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  Speaker 3: Now we're not going to do that one. We're going
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  Speaker 3: to get something that's going to be a dual for us.
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  Speaker 1: If so, if where can people find out more about
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  Speaker 1: this expression of interest process?
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  Speaker 2: If they are, you know, if they've maybe got some
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  Speaker 2: ideas or.
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  Speaker 4: The advertisement that's in the newspaper, all the instruction which
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  Speaker 4: we website to go is there, feel free to go
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  Speaker 4: in talk to your local members. I want to point
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  Speaker 4: out it's not a procurement issue. So if use a procurement,
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  Speaker 4: your prohibit talk to elected members. It's an expression of interest,
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  Speaker 4: So feel free to approach your elected members, talk to
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  Speaker 4: them with your ideas. Because we want to have meeting places,
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  Speaker 4: the gallery to display all the artwork we've got in
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  Speaker 4: the council and what a town hall. If you've got
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  Speaker 4: to get married, you don't get married in a small
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  Speaker 4: room in the local court. You can marry somewhere that
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  Speaker 4: with a great view of the park area at the moment.
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  Speaker 4: I've been to weddings in the civil ceremonies. It's a
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  Speaker 4: small room, four walls, not a part of the picture
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  Speaker 4: of the queen. There's nothing else there. So'thing that people
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  Speaker 4: actually can remember that got married in a town hall.
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  Speaker 2: Corn just before I let you go. Today we know that. Well.
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  Speaker 1: The civic center, the Down civic Center that's currently there
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  Speaker 1: is it's been lit up with the colors blue and
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  Speaker 1: yellow in support of Ukraine. This is an important thing
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  Speaker 1: to do.
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  Speaker 2: It's nice.
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  Speaker 4: I think it's very, very important to actually show that
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  Speaker 4: we stand by an independent, sovereign country that's been invaded
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  Speaker 4: by Russia. I come from a place in Europe, Greece,
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  Speaker 4: like many other people in Down come from Europe. Myself
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  Speaker 4: and everybody else find it unbelievable than twenty twenty a
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  Speaker 4: country in Europe will invade another country. Have we learned
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  Speaker 4: our lessons from nineteen thirty nine when German invaded Czechoslovakia
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  Speaker 4: and Poland?
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  Speaker 3: Look what happened.
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  Speaker 4: Do we really want to go back to this savagery again?
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  Speaker 4: And we have to stand up and be counted. It's
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  Speaker 4: not going to help Ukraine, but what it sends a
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  Speaker 4: message the people in Ukraine and everywhere else. We are
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  Speaker 4: prepared to actually recognize that sovereign countries are sovereign countries
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  Speaker 4: and we stand by them. We support Ukraine, we do
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  Speaker 4: not support invasion of a country. For any news to
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  Speaker 4: any other country, they can sit down and talk to
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  Speaker 4: each other.
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  Speaker 3: I mean bombing civilians in the gardens. Come on, have
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  Speaker 3: we learned a lesson yet?
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  Speaker 2: It's honestly unbelievable.
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  Speaker 1: It's tragic to say that vision unfold and to see
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  Speaker 1: what's happening.
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  Speaker 3: Remember what happens to them today can happen to us tomorrow.
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  Speaker 1: Well, convat scholars, the Lord Mayor of Daarwen, we always
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  Speaker 1: appreciate your time. Thank you very much for coming in
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  Speaker 1: this morning.
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  Speaker 3: Thanks very much, matte, and have a good week.
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  Speaker 4: We're in the today and hopefully we're going to have
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  Speaker 4: another beautiful store moday.
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  Speaker 2: Well, let's waite and say good on your can. Thank
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  Speaker 2: you