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Katie Woolf spoke with Palmerston Mayor Athina Pascoe-Bell · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Three sixty with Katie wolf On mixed one oh four
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  Speaker 1: point nine thanks to Joyce Main Darwin. Well, if you
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  Speaker 1: hadn't heard, the Northern Territory Government is intending to expand
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  Speaker 1: the boundary of the City of Palmerston to include unincorporated
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  Speaker 1: land to the north of Palmerston, including the Wisharp Business
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  Speaker 1: Precinct as well as North Crest. Now joining us on
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  Speaker 1: the line to tell us a little bit more about
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  Speaker 1: this situation, where it is when it's potentially going to happen.
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  Speaker 1: Is the Palmerston mayor Athena Pasco Bell. Good morning to
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  Speaker 1: you Athena.
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  Speaker 2: Good morning Katie.
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  Speaker 1: Now what is the situation here Athena? When are we
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  Speaker 1: going to see the expanding of the boundary of the
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  Speaker 1: Palmerston the City of Palmerston.
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  Speaker 2: Oh, Look, the proposals still out for community consultation until
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  Speaker 2: the thirtieth of June and then the Minister will make
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  Speaker 2: a decision on whether that will go ahead, but it
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  Speaker 2: won't be for the immediate financial year or possibly even
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  Speaker 2: for next financial year. It will still be a while
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  Speaker 2: before it takes effect.
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  Speaker 1: And mayn how much land are we talking?
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  Speaker 2: Well, I haven't got the figure exactly in front of me.
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  Speaker 2: But as you mentioned, it covers the Wishark industrial estate
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  Speaker 2: right over to North Crest, so it is a substantial area.
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  Speaker 2: But it is where we're seeing development occurring. And currently
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  Speaker 2: it is unincorporated, which means there's no local government servicing
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  Speaker 2: the area and there's no local government representation for the
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  Speaker 2: community right now.
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  Speaker 1: How and I guess the next question is how big
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  Speaker 1: is that community? Is it a very populated area at
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  Speaker 1: this point? How many people are out that way.
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  Speaker 2: At the moment, we estimate around four hundred people have
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  Speaker 2: moved into North Crest, but that is expected to expand
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  Speaker 2: between ten and fifteen thousand people by the time the
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  Speaker 2: area is developed. So you can imagine an area that
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  Speaker 2: size with residential and then commercial and industrial area without
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  Speaker 2: community council services such as regulatory, dog management, parks, maintenance,
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  Speaker 2: road light all the work that council does is not
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  Speaker 2: going to be sustainable in the long term. Council are
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  Speaker 2: very excited to be able to have this opportunity to
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  Speaker 2: welcome North Crest into our community.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, I was going to say some people might have
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  Speaker 1: thought that it would have come into the Darwin municipality.
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  Speaker 2: Look, every council term, every council across the Northern Territory
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  Speaker 2: has a requirement under the local government to review its
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  Speaker 2: constitutional arrangements. So our council did that and we looked
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  Speaker 2: at that unincorporated area and said, this is an opportunity
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  Speaker 2: for Palmerston to expand, recognizing that the KOLI will be
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  Speaker 2: completely developed in the next few years and it is
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  Speaker 2: a good opportunity. It will allow us to provide a
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  Speaker 2: whole range of services to that area, so we intend
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  Speaker 2: on including events such as breaking in the park, flick nicks. Yeah,
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  Speaker 2: and you know, potentially even in the long term a
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  Speaker 2: library annex out that way as well. So we are
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  Speaker 2: thinking ahead. This is a very long term vision, it's
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  Speaker 2: even beyond the term of the next council. But we
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  Speaker 2: think this is a great opportunity for the residents of
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  Speaker 2: North Prest to be welcomed into our community.
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  Speaker 1: Well, I suppose if you're one of those residents, you'd
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  Speaker 1: be excited about the services, but they may be a
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  Speaker 1: little bit concerned about the rates and things like that.
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  Speaker 1: Have they been currently paying rates or those service fees?
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  Speaker 1: I'm assuming not. If they don't have any services.
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  Speaker 2: They do pay rates usually to the Nord Territory government
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  Speaker 2: for some areas they might be paying some money towards
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  Speaker 2: the North Crest developer as well. Currently right we're not
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  Speaker 2: planning on changing the rating strategy any in any significant way.
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  Speaker 2: It'll be the same as what they used to it
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  Speaker 2: at the moment for the properties that pay rates the
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  Speaker 2: Northern Territory Government. The Northern Territory Government applies a very
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  Speaker 2: similar system to what we use here in Palmerstan, so
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  Speaker 2: there shouldn't be much different.
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  Speaker 1: And so as you know, what can the people living
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  Speaker 1: in those areas sort of expect when and I know
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  Speaker 1: it is still a little way away, but what should
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  Speaker 1: they expect and what can they expect when they do
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  Speaker 1: eventually come under the municipality of Palmerston. They'll have the.
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  Speaker 2: Same access to everything that the current residents of Palmerston have,
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  Speaker 2: So regulatory services will have dog management in that area,
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  Speaker 2: their rubbish will be collected in accordance with council's current policies,
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  Speaker 2: which is twice a week for Palmerston. Will extend our
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  Speaker 2: events and social activities and programs like Activate Breck in
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  Speaker 2: the Park technics into those areas, so will feel like
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  Speaker 2: they're part of our community. I'll also have represent through
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  Speaker 2: the elected members of the council, so they'll have that
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  Speaker 2: ability to engage with elected members to further any of
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  Speaker 2: their concerns and a systems with anything that they need.
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  Speaker 1: Now, is there somewhere where people can go Athena to
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  Speaker 1: provide some feedback or if they want to have the
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  Speaker 1: say on this situation.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, there is and it's actually up on the Northern
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  Speaker 2: Territory Government website. So they are running this process. It's
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  Speaker 2: on their have your Say website the City of Parkerston
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  Speaker 2: Council boundary, so that's open until the thirtieth of June,
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  Speaker 2: and following that time the Minister for Local Government will
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  Speaker 2: make their final decision.
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  Speaker 1: Asena Pasco Bell, the Mayor of Palmerston, it's always good
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  Speaker 1: to catch up with you. Anything else going on in
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  Speaker 1: Palmerston that we should know about.
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  Speaker 2: Look, we always have a lot of exciting events and
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  Speaker 2: activities and you can check them out on our website.
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  Speaker 2: Coming up shortly we have Taming of the Shrew at
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  Speaker 2: Thanks Free Lake, so if you're into a bit of Shakespeare,
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  Speaker 2: you can get your tickets on council's websites. We just
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  Speaker 2: had a Brickie in the park Our Dog Park at
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  Speaker 2: Baseball has its grand opening this weekend, so lots lots
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  Speaker 2: of going on, and Plicnicks is also back very shortly
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  Speaker 2: as well, so and that's moving around now as well,
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  Speaker 2: so we'll have that at Durak Heights Sanctuary Lakes as
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  Speaker 2: well as we to Square.
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  Speaker 1: Oh good stuff. And it's the perfect weather to enjoy a.
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  Speaker 2: Movie, absolutely perfect, so grab a picnic, a picnic blanket
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  Speaker 2: and go out and enjoy the evening.
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  Speaker 1: Good stuff. For Sena Pasco Bell, always good to catch up.
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  Speaker 1: Thanks for your time this morning
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  Speaker 2: No worry, thankk you