Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Opposition Leader Lia Finocchiaro is calling for an full inquiry into fuel prices across the NT

Transcript

Opposition Leader Lia Finocchiaro is calling for an full inquiry into fuel prices across the NT · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Calls for fuel prices to come down of gone national.
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: As I mentioned just a short time ago, the federal
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: Treasurer Jim Charmits, obviously you know, come out and said
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: that those fuel companies and service stations need to do
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: the right thing. He's also spoken about the cost of
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: Brent oil, the international benchmark falling. So how are you know,
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: how are we looking here in the territory at the moment. Well,
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: we'll take a look in just a second at those
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: diesel and unleaded prices. But joining me in the studio
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: is the opposition leader, Leah fanocchiiro.
• 0:29
  Speaker 2: Good morning to you.
• 0:29
  Speaker 3: Lead, Good mining Katie in to your listeners.
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: Good to have you in the studio now, Leah. We
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: know that the cost of petrol, it's something that's been
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: on well, it's been a discussion for quite a while.
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: Those prices continue to go up. Despite the fact that
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: we have got that fuel excise in place, they continue
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: to stay really high here in the territory. Now, I
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: just want to take you through before we sort of
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: discuss more about what's going on. I want to take
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: you through the prices today. So when you look at
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: the in Darwin this morning, for your unlettered the term
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: gate price is sitting at a dollar fifty nine point six.
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: Now the average at the bowser a dollar ninety five.
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: When you go across to the diesel, the terminal gate
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: price is sitting at a dollar eighty three point two.
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: Well the average that you're going to find it around
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: and two dollars nineteen.
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: Leah, I understand.
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: That you've gone a step further this morning, or you're
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: planning to go a step further this morning, on these
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: petrol prices, and you actually want to see an independent inquiry.
• 1:28
  Speaker 3: We do so.
• 1:29
  Speaker 4: A couple of weeks ago in Parliament we gave notice
• 1:31
  Speaker 4: of legislation which would require fuel retailers to disclose their profits. Now,
• 1:35
  Speaker 4: the reason we did that is because the a Triple
• 1:38
  Speaker 4: C back in twenty fifteen recommended that to drive down
• 1:41
  Speaker 4: fuel prices, you've got to breathe some transparency into this,
• 1:45
  Speaker 4: and by forcing fuel retailers to publish their profits would
• 1:48
  Speaker 4: be a pretty clear sign to people whether or not
• 1:50
  Speaker 4: there's gouging at the bowser. Of course, government have not
• 1:54
  Speaker 4: been very receptive to that and don't seem to want
• 1:56
  Speaker 4: to take any action at all. So we're going to
• 1:58
  Speaker 4: take it a step further and call for a full
• 2:00
  Speaker 4: parliamentary inquiry into fuel prices in the territory and that
• 2:04
  Speaker 4: will allow us to then call witnesses, have testimony, have
• 2:08
  Speaker 4: public hearings and really ensure we drive down these prices.
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: Lea, are you just ground standing here? I mean obviously that.
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: Would take some time to really get happening and get moving.
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: And in the meantime the prices continue to go down
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: and we see no movements.
• 2:23
  Speaker 4: Well, we can't afford to do nothing, and I think
• 2:25
  Speaker 4: that's the problem. You know, the fact that fuel is
• 2:27
  Speaker 4: so high is crippling families, businesses. Those costs are being
• 2:31
  Speaker 4: passed on to consumers. So we're seeing, you know, the
• 2:33
  Speaker 4: price of vegetables, the price of goods go up.
• 2:35
  Speaker 3: I know myself.
• 2:36
  Speaker 4: You know, we went to buy some lawn fertilizer that
• 2:38
  Speaker 4: had gone up twenty dollars a bag this year and
• 2:42
  Speaker 4: they told us it was because of the shipping costs. So,
• 2:45
  Speaker 4: you know, these are having real tangible impacts on people's
• 2:48
  Speaker 4: cost of living. And while the Labor government want to
• 2:50
  Speaker 4: sit around and do nothing, we're not prepared for that.
• 2:53
  Speaker 4: We want to make sure that we're doing everything we
• 2:55
  Speaker 4: can to send that message to the fuel retailers that
• 2:57
  Speaker 4: it's not okay for territories to pay forty sends a
• 3:00
  Speaker 4: leader more than people into state.
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: So how would this happen?
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: How quickly could it actually get going, because presumably if
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: there was to be an inquiry, it would have to
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: be something that would be passed through Parliament and then
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: you'd have to decide who's going to be on the
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: inquiry panel or whatever however it's going to work. So really,
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: you know we're talking about months here. I would think, look,
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: it can be done really quickly. For an opposition to
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: do it, we have to wait until Parliament. If Natasha
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: Files wants to do it, she could do it tomorrow.
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: Obviously it's very quick.
• 3:30
  Speaker 4: All you have to do is get a couple of
• 3:32
  Speaker 4: people from government, a couple of people from the opposition.
• 3:34
  Speaker 4: We're willing and able, and I would encourage Independence to
• 3:37
  Speaker 4: be on it, and ad goes in the paper and
• 3:39
  Speaker 4: you're often running Katie, this does not need to be
• 3:41
  Speaker 4: a long protracted process.
• 3:43
  Speaker 2: But where can they can pull the lever right now?
• 3:46
  Speaker 4: Absolutely without question it can be pulled right now and
• 3:49
  Speaker 4: for the File's government to sit around and just sort
• 3:52
  Speaker 4: of say there's nothing they can do. This is all
• 3:53
  Speaker 4: about world all prices is just not true. We've seen
• 3:56
  Speaker 4: the disparity at the gate price to the price at
• 3:59
  Speaker 4: the bowser and also we've got a forty cent gap
• 4:01
  Speaker 4: between the rest of the country. Something is not working
• 4:05
  Speaker 4: and we don't think it's okay to just sit around
• 4:07
  Speaker 4: and do nothing. And that's why we've got legislation ready
• 4:09
  Speaker 4: to go and that's why we're calling for an inquiry.
• 4:11
  Speaker 4: And if Natasha Fars doesn't do it, we'll do it well.
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: I guess the problem is if it forms on the
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: COLP to do it, it is going.
• 4:18
  Speaker 2: To take some time.
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: So the reality here is that if we want something
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: to happen quickly, we've got to get the Northern Territory
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: government to come to the party. I've got to be honest,
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: I can't understand why they're dragging their heels on this one.
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: You know, we've now got the Federal Treasurer coming out
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: saying come on, people need to do the right thing.
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: I know that previously Kate Warden, the Minister for Police,
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: had joined us. On the week that was she said
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: she was going to write to the a Triple C,
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: the Chief Minister said last week when she was on
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: the show that she would be asking for a please
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: explain from those petrol companies.
• 4:49
  Speaker 2: But it doesn't seem to have happened.
• 4:51
  Speaker 4: No, it doesn't. And in the meantime all we get
• 4:53
  Speaker 4: is excuses. You know, the governor had a long time
• 4:56
  Speaker 4: to try and deal with this issue, and the clock
• 4:58
  Speaker 4: is ticking on that full exit. It's being piled back home,
• 5:01
  Speaker 4: which means people will be paying another twenty two cents
• 5:03
  Speaker 4: a leter on top.
• 5:05
  Speaker 3: I mean, this is this is crippling people.
• 5:07
  Speaker 4: I spoke to someone just the other day who stopped
• 5:10
  Speaker 4: driving to work started taking the bus. Realize how complicated
• 5:13
  Speaker 4: and difficult that is in the territory because our bus
• 5:15
  Speaker 4: networks just you know, don't have that volume going to
• 5:19
  Speaker 4: have the frequency of buses you'd like's this is a
• 5:22
  Speaker 4: really serious issue that's hitting people's bottom line and we're
• 5:25
  Speaker 4: not going to sit around and wait. Ultimately, Parliament is
• 5:28
  Speaker 4: just a couple of weeks away. If the colp have
• 5:30
  Speaker 4: to wait until then, we will make sure we're putting
• 5:32
  Speaker 4: territories first and we will get it done. But ultimately,
• 5:35
  Speaker 4: and Atasha Files, if she wants to do something about fuel,
• 5:38
  Speaker 4: she could back in our bill to force fuel price disclosure,
• 5:42
  Speaker 4: and she could also call a parliamentary inquiry.
• 5:44
  Speaker 2: Well, very keen to hear from our listeners this morning.
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: Zero four double nine seven double one three six zero
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: Do you want to see this inquiry happen? What would
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: you like to see when it comes to the petrol prices? Now, Leah,
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: I do want to move along because we know that
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: there is a pretty fierce campaign being run for this
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: to Fanny Bay right now. Interestingly, Robin Lamley is supporting
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: the CELP on the campaign. She told me that she
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: feels crime is such a serious issue that she thinks
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: that Labor needs to be sent a message. Are you
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: pleased to have the support of the independent member for
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: our launch?
• 6:15
  Speaker 2: Look?
• 6:15
  Speaker 4: I think it just shows how important the Fanny Bay
• 6:18
  Speaker 4: by election is and the people in Fanny Bay and
• 6:20
  Speaker 4: the Gardens and Ladmira, Ludmilla and Prap have you almost
• 6:25
  Speaker 4: a bigger obligation than just to pick their next local member.
• 6:28
  Speaker 4: This has to be a vote on behalf of the
• 6:30
  Speaker 4: whole territory because I guess, as Robin is saying, you know,
• 6:32
  Speaker 4: I vote for labor as a vote for more misery
• 6:34
  Speaker 4: and crime in Alice Springs. I mean, this is how
• 6:37
  Speaker 4: big an impact voting for Labor is at this by election.
• 6:40
  Speaker 4: So we've certainly been encouraging people. Now is the time
• 6:43
  Speaker 4: to send Labor a message. We've had enough of the
• 6:45
  Speaker 4: excuses and a vote for Ben Hosking is a vote
• 6:47
  Speaker 4: for change.
• 6:48
  Speaker 2: I mean, it is.
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: An incredibly large battle to win though for the CLP, Like,
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: aren't you talking about something like a seventeen percent swing
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: towards you?
• 6:57
  Speaker 3: There's no question, Katie, we go into this byol as
• 7:00
  Speaker 3: the underdogs.
• 7:01
  Speaker 2: Do I really think you can claw that kind of percentage?
• 7:04
  Speaker 2: I do?
• 7:04
  Speaker 3: I really do.
• 7:05
  Speaker 4: I mean, Labor have held that seat for twenty seven
• 7:07
  Speaker 4: years and taken it for granted. And I think that's
• 7:09
  Speaker 4: evidence by the pork barreling we're seeing from Natasha Files.
• 7:13
  Speaker 4: I mean, for them to just realize that Perrap Preschool
• 7:15
  Speaker 4: needs an upgrade all of a sudden, it's ridiculous, it's embarrassing.
• 7:18
  Speaker 4: You know, they've got a parachuted captain's pick candidate straight
• 7:21
  Speaker 4: off the fifth floor who's an advisor to Natasha Files.
• 7:25
  Speaker 4: There's relationships there between that candidate and her staff.
• 7:29
  Speaker 3: I mean, it's just an incestuous and look.
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: We will catch up with him in just a little while. Look,
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: I do want to ask you, do you think that
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: Robin Lamley should be rejoining the Seal.
• 7:39
  Speaker 4: Pay Robin Lamley is a fierce independent and she's obviously
• 7:43
  Speaker 4: been in politics for a very long time.
• 7:45
  Speaker 3: We work incredibly well with Robin in parliament.
• 7:47
  Speaker 4: Obviously, she's a strong voice in Alice Springs as my
• 7:50
  Speaker 4: team in Josh Bergo and Bill Yen and you.
• 7:53
  Speaker 3: Know, Robin will always do what Robin's going to do.
• 7:56
  Speaker 4: And I think it's great that she's realized, as have
• 7:59
  Speaker 4: other people, you know, another independence, that this by election
• 8:02
  Speaker 4: is so much bigger than just picking a local member
• 8:05
  Speaker 4: in Fanny Bay. It's time to send the government a message.
• 8:07
  Speaker 2: Would you look though, at.
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: The longevity of Conservative politics and when you look at
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: Conservative politics in the Northern Territory, wouldn't the COLP be
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: stronger with people like Robin Lamley and Kesiopuric part of
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: your party.
• 8:21
  Speaker 4: Look, they've both decided to be independence. I mean they
• 8:24
  Speaker 4: both used to be CLP. Now that's decisions they've made.
• 8:28
  Speaker 4: I'm not here to tell people who should join what
• 8:30
  Speaker 4: political party. What I know is that we work really
• 8:32
  Speaker 4: well together in parliament and their voices are important voices
• 8:36
  Speaker 4: in our democracy and I respect them both tremendously.
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: So has there been any discussions with them though about rejoining.
• 8:42
  Speaker 4: Not that I'm aware of, Katie, But well, look that's
• 8:46
  Speaker 4: entirely a matter for them. Really, it's you know, they
• 8:48
  Speaker 4: are independence. They've gone to elections and said where independence,
• 8:51
  Speaker 4: We were not aligned to a political party. So really
• 8:54
  Speaker 4: any independent will then have to justify any moves to
• 8:56
  Speaker 4: their five thousand constituents who elected them.
• 8:59
  Speaker 3: It's really got nothing to do with me.
• 9:01
  Speaker 4: But what I know is that it's important that people
• 9:04
  Speaker 4: do understand how critical this by election is. It is
• 9:06
  Speaker 4: a chance to send a message. It is a chance
• 9:09
  Speaker 4: to say no more excuses. Just like we talked about
• 9:11
  Speaker 4: with fuel, we hear it on crime. There's always a
• 9:14
  Speaker 4: reason why government can't do something and it's just not
• 9:16
  Speaker 4: good enough. We need to send them a message on
• 9:18
  Speaker 4: behalf of the whole territory. We've had a gutfull of
• 9:21
  Speaker 4: this now.
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: Robin Lamley is calling for the government at the moment
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: to step in when it comes to additional pokies in
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: Alice Springs Lea. Is this something you've been keeping an
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: eye on and do the government need to step in here.
• 9:32
  Speaker 4: Yeah, look, this is certainly something we've been watching obviously.
• 9:34
  Speaker 4: I've been speaking with Bill Yann and Josh Burgoyne about it.
• 9:38
  Speaker 4: There is a pokem machine cap and my understanding is
• 9:40
  Speaker 4: that there's no proposal to go over the cap. So
• 9:43
  Speaker 4: we certainly support that. Pokem machines are of course a
• 9:47
  Speaker 4: legal game for people to play. They do cause harm
• 9:50
  Speaker 4: and misery for some, but there's a lot of you know,
• 9:52
  Speaker 4: it's an extremely highly regulated industry, so you know, we're
• 9:56
  Speaker 4: certainly not wanting to exacerbate any of the issues in
• 9:59
  Speaker 4: Alice Springs that there are now. But I don't see
• 10:01
  Speaker 4: you know, it's not the pokem machine is not the
• 10:03
  Speaker 4: devil there. It's failed policy that's causing the problem. We'd
• 10:07
  Speaker 4: like to see each like.
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: You could be sitting on the fence the same as
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: Chancey Paikers apparently on this one.
• 10:11
  Speaker 4: No, no, we you know, poke machines are legal. We
• 10:14
  Speaker 4: support the cap. We wouldn't want to see machines going
• 10:16
  Speaker 4: over the cap. If there's excess machines to get to
• 10:20
  Speaker 4: the cap, well you know.
• 10:21
  Speaker 3: That's got to go through the approvals process.
• 10:23
  Speaker 4: Nothing has been sorted out yet, but I think what
• 10:26
  Speaker 4: the concern in Alice Springs is this is just going
• 10:28
  Speaker 4: to bring more misery to what already is a town
• 10:30
  Speaker 4: under siege. And what we've got is a government bearing
• 10:33
  Speaker 4: its head in the sand, not dealing with crime, anti
• 10:35
  Speaker 4: social behavior, all of the problems they're having. I mean,
• 10:37
  Speaker 4: the footage of the naked man on the taxi is
• 10:40
  Speaker 4: emblazoned in our minds, you know, like when is enough enough?
• 10:44
  Speaker 4: Like when is the government going to stop the excuses
• 10:46
  Speaker 4: and do something about it?
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: Well, the COLP Senator for the Northern Territory, just enter Price,
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: is calling for the Prime Minister to come to Ola
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: Springs after that spate of crime that we've seen over
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: the course of the weekend, including that video that you
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: speak of. Does the Prime Minister need to come to
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: Central Australia.
• 11:02
  Speaker 3: Without question.
• 11:03
  Speaker 4: This is the same prime Minister that wants to have
• 11:06
  Speaker 4: an Aboriginal voice to Parliament but doesn't listen to an
• 11:09
  Speaker 4: aboriginal voice like just Enterprise. I mean, she is an
• 11:12
  Speaker 4: incredibly passionate, powerful territorian who is calling out this type
• 11:17
  Speaker 4: of behavior that's plaguing our communities and absolutely support her.
• 11:21
  Speaker 4: You know, it's not okay for token gestures what we
• 11:25
  Speaker 4: need is genuine action. But you know, terrorI labor can't
• 11:28
  Speaker 4: get away with this either. It's their policy framework that's
• 11:31
  Speaker 4: led to this disaster. It's their winding back of youth
• 11:34
  Speaker 4: justice laws, winding back of powers for police, winding back
• 11:37
  Speaker 4: of all of these things you know that used to
• 11:40
  Speaker 4: work and now we've got total free fall with crime.
• 11:43
  Speaker 4: So you know, I think the Prime Minister should be
• 11:45
  Speaker 4: in Alie Springs and he can have a look for himself.
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: Well, Lea, we are going to have to leave it there.
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: We always appreciate your time. Thanks very much for having
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: a chat with us this morning.
• 11:52
  Speaker 3: Take care everyone,