Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Katie Woolf spoke with Sky News Matt Cunningham on ICAAC and Estimates

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Katie Woolf spoke with Sky News Matt Cunningham on ICAAC and Estimates · 360 with Katie Woolf

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  Speaker 1: Mix one O four point nine dot com for all
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  Speaker 1: the latest news and information. Now three sixty with Katie Wolf.
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  Speaker 1: Everyone is listening Mix one oh four point nine, one
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  Speaker 1: hundred percent.
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  Speaker 2: Now we know on the front page of the paper
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  Speaker 2: today the Territories Anti Corruption watch dog is being investigated
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  Speaker 2: over allegations it awarded lucrative contracts to a senior director's boyfriend.
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  Speaker 2: Now joining me on the line is the journalist who
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  Speaker 2: broke this story, Matt Cunningham. Good morning to you, Katie. Matt,
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  Speaker 2: talk us through exactly what's going on here.
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  Speaker 3: Well, we've been able to confirm Katie that the iach
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  Speaker 3: Inspector Bruce McClintock is investigating these allegations that these lucrative
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  Speaker 3: contracts were awarded to a company by the name of
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  Speaker 3: GAT Risk Management. Now that is a company that is
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  Speaker 3: owned by a former police officer from South Australia by
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  Speaker 3: the name of David mcinlay, and he is the sole
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  Speaker 3: employee of that company. Now domestic partner, a woman by
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  Speaker 3: the name of Kate Kelly, is the director of investigations
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  Speaker 3: at the ICAC. So obviously this raises a whole of
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  Speaker 3: questions about conflicts and interests and how they're being managed
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  Speaker 3: within the i CAAC. Now, remembering Katie that the IKAK
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  Speaker 3: is the body that's been set up to investigate these
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  Speaker 3: sorts of issues within other government departments. Just last December,
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  Speaker 3: the ICAQ Commissioner Ken Fleming at bud Estimates were saying
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  Speaker 3: that conflicts of interests were one of the biggest issues
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  Speaker 3: in the Northern Territory and one of the biggest issues
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  Speaker 3: his government had to deal with. So the inspector of
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  Speaker 3: the IKAK, Bristan Klintock, has confirmed that he's looking into
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  Speaker 3: this matter and to that conflict of interest and how
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  Speaker 3: it's been managed within the ica and so weird.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, how long are we expecting this investigation to
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  Speaker 2: take at this point, Matt, do we have any idea?
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  Speaker 3: Well, it's a good question because Bruce McLintock is not
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  Speaker 3: just the i CAAC inspector. He's also a high profile
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  Speaker 3: Sydney barrister and at the moment he's representing Ben Roberts
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  Speaker 3: Smith in his defamation action against the Nine Entertainment Group
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  Speaker 3: over a series of stories that they've run. I did
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  Speaker 3: ask Bruce m quintock about that, about the timing of
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  Speaker 3: these things, and he assured me that his role working
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  Speaker 3: as a barrister in Sydney would not impact his performance
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  Speaker 3: as the Iykak inspector, and he said that he expects
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  Speaker 3: to have a report prepared for the relevant minister, that's
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  Speaker 3: the Chief Minister, Michael Gunner soon. Exactly how soon, Katie,
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  Speaker 3: we don't know, but I would expect that to arrive
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  Speaker 3: in the.
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  Speaker 1: Coming league well.
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  Speaker 2: And we did ask the Health Minister a few questions
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  Speaker 2: about this. Asked her whether that whether that report would
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  Speaker 2: be made public. She said that, you know that she
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  Speaker 2: couldn't go into that detail at this point in time.
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  Speaker 2: But I also asked her whether she's still got confidence
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  Speaker 2: in the ikak at this point. She said that she
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  Speaker 2: does still have confidence in the process. So I asked
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  Speaker 2: her a couple of times whether she's got confidence in
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  Speaker 2: the ikak and she said, yes, that she does. But
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  Speaker 2: I tell you what it's you know, it is a
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  Speaker 2: situation here where the ikak really we would expect that
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  Speaker 2: standard to be incredibly high when it comes to those
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  Speaker 2: conflicts of interest.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, I think that there are some issues that have
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  Speaker 3: arisen within the IICAK over the past couple of years
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  Speaker 3: that are of concern to some people. I know the
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  Speaker 3: former Attorney General Daryl Manny has raised on a number
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  Speaker 3: of times he has concerns about the IKAK and the
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  Speaker 3: way it's operating, as have others. Of course, there was
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  Speaker 3: an incident in November twenty nineteen where the Commission of
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  Speaker 3: ten Pointment got up and spoke at that Black Lives
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  Speaker 3: Matter rally in our Springs and then had to be
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  Speaker 3: removed from any oversight role into the investigations into the
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  Speaker 3: police shooting of Kumdrai Walker. And there was also the
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  Speaker 3: incident last month where the IKAK put out a philly
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  Speaker 3: damning report about two people who worked to the Dahwen
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  Speaker 3: City Council and then later had to issue a globling
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  Speaker 3: apology because basically their response had landed in a junk
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  Speaker 3: mail voulder and then hadn't been included as part of
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  Speaker 3: their investigation. So I think there's been some pretty serious
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  Speaker 3: hiccups at the IKACH that have quite a few people
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  Speaker 3: quite concerned about the way it's operating at the moment.
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  Speaker 2: Well, Matt Cunningham, we will keep an eye on this one.
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  Speaker 3: Mate.
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  Speaker 2: Are you listening to estimates this morning?
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  Speaker 3: I'll tell you what Caddy, I was listening to the
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  Speaker 3: first half an hour or so. Yep, and there was
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  Speaker 3: I think there was some pretty explosive stuff that came
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  Speaker 3: out in the first thirty minutes of estimates in regard
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  Speaker 3: to the COVID nineteen financial statement that the government put
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  Speaker 3: out before the last election. Now, Julie Chris, the Order
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  Speaker 3: to General, was giving evidence, and she gave evidence as
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  Speaker 3: she had basically made public through reports previously, that she
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  Speaker 3: had some concerns that that COVID nineteen financial statement the
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  Speaker 3: government put out in July twenty nineteen was misleading. Now
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  Speaker 3: Leaf no Guiro, the leader of the opposition, asked quite
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  Speaker 3: a few questions of the Chief Minister about whether he
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  Speaker 3: or anyone in his office or anyone on the fifth
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  Speaker 3: floor had made change the content of that report when
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  Speaker 3: it was presented to them by Treasury before it was
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  Speaker 3: made public. Now, she tried several times to ask that question,
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  Speaker 3: and on no occasion did she get a direct yes
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  Speaker 3: or no answer. Instead, the Chief Minister basically turned it
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  Speaker 3: back on her, said she was grandstanding, accused her of
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  Speaker 3: her of attacking the public service. But I don't think
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  Speaker 3: that question has been definitively answered by the Chief Minister,
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  Speaker 3: and I'm sure more questions will be asked about this,
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  Speaker 3: about whether anyone in his office or anyone within the
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  Speaker 3: government changed that report, the draft report that was sent
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  Speaker 3: by Treasury before that report was made public. In the end,
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  Speaker 3: they had to put out a clarifying statement, and that
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  Speaker 3: statement was put out I think they said the ad August,
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  Speaker 3: so just four days before the Northern Territory election, and
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  Speaker 3: of course several days more than a week after pre
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  Speaker 3: early voting had occurred. And as we know, Katie, most
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  Speaker 3: people both early here in the Northern Territory. So I
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  Speaker 3: think that the government's got some serious questions to answer
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  Speaker 3: now about that report and about what changes it all
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  Speaker 3: didn't make before that report would make cover it well.
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  Speaker 2: Very interesting stuff and Matt Cunningham will keep a close
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  Speaker 2: eye on that situation. We'll be catching up with the
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  Speaker 2: opposition leader Leafanochieiro tomorrow morning as well in that regular spot,
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  Speaker 2: so we'll find out exactly what's unfolded in estimates today.
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  Speaker 3: Mate.
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  Speaker 2: Always good to catch up with you. Thanks so much
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  Speaker 2: for your time this morning, No, thankfully, thank you. That
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  Speaker 2: is Matt Cunningham there from Sky News, just giving us
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  Speaker 2: a bit further detail on that IK investigation, but also
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  Speaker 2: a bit further information on estimates. We know that Estimates
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  Speaker 2: is sitting over the coming days. It is the opposition
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  Speaker 2: and the Independence opportunity to put those questions to the
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  Speaker 2: government to really scrutinize the government over there spending in
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  Speaker 2: various departments. So we'll try our best to keep you
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  Speaker 2: up to date with that information as it unfolds.