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Katie Woolf spoke with Member for Araluen Robyn Lambley · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: You are listening to Mix one oh four point nine
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  Speaker 1: and joining me on the line right now, Robin Lamley,
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  Speaker 1: the Member Farara Lun good morning to you. Robin, Good morning, Katie.
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  Speaker 1: I'll tell you what here. I know it has been
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  Speaker 1: a little while. It's good to good to hear your
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  Speaker 1: voice now, Robin. Yesterday in Parliament, were you surprised by
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  Speaker 1: the government's move to well make these changes to the
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  Speaker 1: scrutiny committees and also cut back the number of questions
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  Speaker 1: that can be asked by opposition and independent members.
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  Speaker 2: No, I wasn't surprised, Katie. I had been given the
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  Speaker 2: heads up by a few of the government members that
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  Speaker 2: this was this distinct possibility. Look, it's a great shame
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  Speaker 2: for democracy in the Northern Territory. The scrutiny committees were
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  Speaker 2: set up in twenty seventeen and they really have transformed
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  Speaker 2: and improved the way we do business in the anti Parliament,
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  Speaker 2: but by providing another way of scrutinizing government and making
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  Speaker 2: sure that the legislation that we pass is the right legislation,
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  Speaker 2: so terra to in so yesterday them scrapping it with
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  Speaker 2: a mayor step back to the Northern Territory, very very disappointing, Robin.
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  Speaker 1: Is it just tough cookies for you and for you know,
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  Speaker 1: those others that are in opposition. I mean they've got
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  Speaker 1: the majority, they get to make the decisions on what happens.
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  Speaker 2: Oh, look it is. It's always tough cookies. You know,
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  Speaker 2: the government has the first and final say on everything.
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  Speaker 2: But you know, this was a government that came in
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  Speaker 2: in twenty sixteen with all these great ideas and commitment
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  Speaker 2: to integrity and allowing greater participation of the public in
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  Speaker 2: the parliament, opening up the Parliament to the people, and
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  Speaker 2: now they've just done this monumental backflip, demonstrating that you know,
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  Speaker 2: once you've been in government for a while, the arrogance
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  Speaker 2: just creeps in. So you know, it's a change in
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  Speaker 2: their approach. I think they're scared. I think that now
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  Speaker 2: you've got this strong eight member CLP opposition. I really
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  Speaker 2: think they're fearful of being scrutinized. They have a heck
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  Speaker 2: of a lot to hide, eight point two billion dollar
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  Speaker 2: debt with nothing to show for it. You've got the
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  Speaker 2: budget in November, estimates in December. I think the thought
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  Speaker 2: of being scrutinized by this wonderful Scrutiny committee structure that
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  Speaker 2: they put in place is probably just all too much
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  Speaker 2: for them. So they're running away, they're hiding and to
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  Speaker 2: the detriment of democracy in the Northern Territory. I really
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  Speaker 2: believe that Robin, there.
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  Speaker 1: Will be some people listening this morning who will just
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  Speaker 1: think to themselves, Okay, well, Leofanocchiro is the opposition leader.
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  Speaker 1: You are a member of Territory Alliance, so you're in
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  Speaker 1: opposition as well. You know, you guys are just unehappy
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  Speaker 1: because it means that you're taken off these committees or
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  Speaker 1: that you know that things are changing. But you know,
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  Speaker 1: to those out there who are really thinking, how does
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  Speaker 1: this impact my life, or how does this impact me
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  Speaker 1: as a Territori and how does it.
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  Speaker 2: So the Scrutiny committee structure was set up to allow
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  Speaker 2: people to anticipate basically every piece of legislation that came
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  Speaker 2: before the committees, and that was most ninety percent of
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  Speaker 2: legislation before the Parliament went to the committees, and most
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  Speaker 2: of those pieces of legislation, the committees invited the community
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  Speaker 2: to comment and to be a part of the process.
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  Speaker 2: I just read the annual Report of the Social Policy
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  Speaker 2: Scrutiny Committee, which was one of two of the committees
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  Speaker 2: that we had. It says that eighty nine percent of
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  Speaker 2: the committee's proposed amendments and recommendations were subsequently accepted by
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  Speaker 2: the government. So what these committees did was improved the legislation,
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  Speaker 2: made it better, made it more reflective of what territories
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  Speaker 2: want to meet. So it was really making our lives better,
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  Speaker 2: because laws make our lives better, or should make our
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  Speaker 2: lives better. So the Scrutiny Committee process added to that.
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  Speaker 2: The average person won't know to do ferends, but you know,
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  Speaker 2: our job is to make sure as legislators that the
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  Speaker 2: best possible laws come about. And without this process in place,
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  Speaker 2: there'll be a loss because it will all be about
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  Speaker 2: the government's the government and what they decide. Discrepeny committees
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  Speaker 2: were allowed to participate in changing the legislation. Robert would
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  Speaker 2: have happened?
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  Speaker 1: Would it means something like the you know, the pet
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  Speaker 1: legislation that was so controversial when they announced that they
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  Speaker 1: were going to make these changes to allow the presumption
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  Speaker 1: of a pet for a renter and a landlord to
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  Speaker 1: really have, you know, no ability to not have a
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  Speaker 1: tenant with a pet would it allows something like that
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  Speaker 1: to just, you know, to just kick into place without
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  Speaker 1: going through any kind of.
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  Speaker 2: Scrutiny potentially, And that's a great example. I mean that
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  Speaker 2: caused outrage right rather a Northern Territory people were very
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  Speaker 2: generally unhappy, got a lot of that legislation, and the
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  Speaker 2: government responded to that they had to. But if the
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  Speaker 2: scrutiny committees weren't in place looking at that, that might
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  Speaker 2: have gone straight through to the Keeper, just through Parliament
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  Speaker 2: and bang its law. So look, unlike most other parliaments
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  Speaker 2: in the Northern Territory, we have what just one chamber.
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  Speaker 2: Most other parliaments apart from Queensland and the Northern Territory
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  Speaker 2: have two chambers. They usually have an upper House and
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  Speaker 2: a lower house. So these scrutiny committees were in place
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  Speaker 2: of the fact that we only have one chamber. It
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  Speaker 2: was just an added layer of scrutiny. Now we're back
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  Speaker 2: to solely a single chae chamber, which is a great shame.
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  Speaker 2: Queensland is the other system that has a unicameral system
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  Speaker 2: one chamber. They have a very elaborate, very complex scrutiny
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  Speaker 2: system in place that they've had for many many years.
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  Speaker 2: They haven't thrown theirs out because it's got too hard.
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  Speaker 2: Only the Northern Territory has done this. Yeah, we step backwards, Katie.
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  Speaker 2: I know it's probably hard for people people who don't
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  Speaker 2: follow Parliament to understand, but this really provided an opportunity
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  Speaker 2: for another opportunity for legislation to be looked at very
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  Speaker 2: closely by not just the people on the committee, but
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  Speaker 2: the whole community. And it really did work well. It
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  Speaker 2: transformed the Parliament. It really really did rob and I
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  Speaker 2: think it's a great shame that this government has gone
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  Speaker 2: back on something that they were totally committed to three
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  Speaker 2: or four years ago.
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  Speaker 1: We are going to have to wrap up. We're very
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  Speaker 1: pressed for time, but I do want to ask you
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  Speaker 1: have you made a decision yet about whether you're going
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  Speaker 1: to stay with Territory Alliance.
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  Speaker 2: Look, I'm contemplating what my future is, Katie. It's a
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  Speaker 2: difficult decision. It took me a while to become a
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  Speaker 2: member of Territory Alliance and to decide to leave is
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  Speaker 2: another big decision. So I'm just taking a bit of
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  Speaker 2: time to make sure it's the right decision, particularly for
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  Speaker 2: the people of Alice Springs who are.
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  Speaker 1: What are they saying to you at the moment.
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  Speaker 2: Oh, look, I don't think many people voted for me
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  Speaker 2: because I was a member of Territory Alliance. In fact,
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  Speaker 2: I don't think many people at all vote for me
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  Speaker 2: for that reason. So I think they just want me
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  Speaker 2: to be a really strong representative for them. And you know,
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  Speaker 2: Territory Alliance really doesn't sort of factor into to their
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  Speaker 2: concerns generally. But you know, I still have to consider
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  Speaker 2: the whole party and the effort that was put into it.
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  Speaker 2: It did fil essentially in the election, and you know,
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  Speaker 2: there's not not a whole lot left in terms of
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  Speaker 2: momentum and energy. But you know, I just have to
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  Speaker 2: take in all the factors and make a decision at
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  Speaker 2: some point.
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  Speaker 1: Well, Robin, we will see you.
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  Speaker 2: That's right.
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  Speaker 1: Well, we'll see you on Friday morning for the week
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  Speaker 1: that was, so we might talk to you a bit
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  Speaker 1: more about it.
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  Speaker 2: Then.
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  Speaker 1: Good on, Rob, good to catch up. Thank you. That's
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  Speaker 1: Robin Lanley there, who is the member for ra luin
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  Speaker 1: still Territory Alliance at this point in time, but who
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  Speaker 1: knows for how long