Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Katie spoke with Opposition Leader Lia Finochiarro

Transcript

Katie spoke with Opposition Leader Lia Finochiarro · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: It is just on a quarter past nine eight nine
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: one four nine, if you'd like to call through now.
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: As we know, Parliament obviously sitting at the moment, and
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: the Deputy Chief Minister Nicole Manison has revealed the Northern
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: Territory government recorded an eyewatering deficit of more than one
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: billion dollars last financial year, but delivering a speech in
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: Parliament last night, the Deputy Chief Minister had said that
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: the one point one to three billion dollar shortfall in
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: the twenty twenty twenty twenty to twenty twenty one financial
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: year was actually less than the gloomy forecast made during
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: the pandemic. Now joining me to speak about this and
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: plenty more is the Opposition leader Lea Fanocchiaro. Good morning
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: to you, Leah.
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: Good morning Katie and to your listeners. Lea.
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: Obviously the government saying that you know that there is
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: actually a bit of a saving here or maybe not
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: as much deficit as what we'd anticipated, but this was
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: all part of their forecasting. What did you make of
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: that speech so that she'd delivered in Parliament last.
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: Night, Well, I thought it was interesting that Nicole Manison
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: delivered the Chief Minister's speech. I'm not sure whether to
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: read much into that, Katie or not, But in any event,
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: the two biggest takeaways for me coming out of the
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: financial report is that we're still spending eight hundred and
• 1:18
  Speaker 2: thirty three million dollars a year more than what the
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: territory brings in. So we're still spending more than what
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: we earn, which is mums and dads and territorians out there.
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: No is completely unsustainable and just not how you run
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: a household or a business. And of course that policy
• 1:34
  Speaker 2: changes resulted in no improved position to our budget. So
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: this has really happened by accident, Katie. It's good fortune
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: rather than good financial management. I'm grateful for it, don't
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: get me wrong. Any improved position to our atrocious budget
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: is good, but it shows the Gunner government aren't being
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: proactive to tackle this issue of hideous debt that they've
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: created over the last five years.
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: Well we know in that space, she said. The final
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: outcome for the twenty twenty to twenty twenty one year
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: is a fiscal balanced deficit of one point one to
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: three billion dollars. It represents an improvement of about seven
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: hundred and forty six million dollars since the revised figure
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: in the twenty twenty one budget and a one point
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: three billion dollar improvement from the original figure in the
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: twenty twenty budget from November last year. Yes, there is
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: definitely an improvement, but when you look at it, the
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: numbers are still pretty eyge watering.
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: Oh, they're ridiculous. It's really obscene, Katie. And what's most disappointing,
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: I think, particularly for the construction industry and the so
• 2:38
  Speaker 2: many businesses in the territory that rely on that industry.
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: Of those seven hundred and forty six million dollars in savings,
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: five hundred and eighty nine million dollars of that is
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: just government shuffling the deck chairs around. They've literally kicked
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: construction projects and other projects of that magnitude of nearly
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: six hundred million dollars down the road. So it's really
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: just tricky, you know, budget maneuvers. It's just manipulating the
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: books essentially. But what that actually means, you know, is
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: a government that talks about their favorite chance is jobs, jobs, jobs,
• 3:11
  Speaker 2: but that's six hundred million dollars worth of jobs to
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: locals that's now not going to happen in the coming years.
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: So I think that's a huge blow in an attempt
• 3:20
  Speaker 2: to try and make it look like there's an actual
• 3:22
  Speaker 2: improved budget figure.
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: I mean, Leah, does these numbers, though, give you any
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: confidence or any more confidence set the government sort of
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: managing that budget a bit better?
• 3:34
  Speaker 2: No, because ultimately all they've done is shifted six hundred
• 3:37
  Speaker 2: million dollars in different activities. Their own document shows that
• 3:41
  Speaker 2: policy changes haven't resulted in any improvement to the budget position,
• 3:45
  Speaker 2: and in actual fact, they've hidden the thirty five million
• 3:48
  Speaker 2: dollar don Dale payout and just sort of dress that
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: up as a facilitated legal settlement, which would have been
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: the only thing in the policy changes. Had we not
• 3:59
  Speaker 2: have to pay out that money to youth offenders, that
• 4:02
  Speaker 2: would have seen a slight improvement within government's control. A
• 4:06
  Speaker 2: big takeaway for me was also the fact that we
• 4:08
  Speaker 2: only received one million dollars in extra mining royalty and
• 4:12
  Speaker 2: taxation than what was predicted, and that again just reinforces
• 4:16
  Speaker 2: the fact that we're not supporting our mineral sector like
• 4:19
  Speaker 2: we should be. We don't have the right regulatory and
• 4:22
  Speaker 2: taxation environment to ensure that those big projects and minds
• 4:27
  Speaker 2: are coming online. They create hundreds and thousands of jobs
• 4:32
  Speaker 2: across the territory and the flow and effect from mining
• 4:35
  Speaker 2: is really profound, Katie. It's a big part of our
• 4:38
  Speaker 2: economic story and to only have an additional one million
• 4:42
  Speaker 2: in that pile of royalties from mining shows that again
• 4:45
  Speaker 2: the government is all talk on this issue and no
• 4:48
  Speaker 2: action and it's just not good enough.
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: Well look, I do want to point out that we
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: had certainly put in a request to have the Deputy
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: Chief Fittisten Nicole Madison on the show. Unfortunately that's not possible.
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: We have got that whole speech sent through to us
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: and I will read parts of that out throughout the morning.
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: But let's move along, Leah, because we know that it
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: was a very busy day in Parliament yesterday and things
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: really blew up. I think when the Chief Minister claimed
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: that the Opposition spokesperson for Health Bill Yan attended a
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: rally against mandatory vaccination on the weekend, Lea. Bill provided
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: a personal explanation, but was he actually at that rally?
• 5:24
  Speaker 2: So Bill made a personal statement. He absolutely denied that
• 5:28
  Speaker 2: he'd attended and participated in the rally. He's staying in
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: a hotel in the city, was in the vicinity after
• 5:37
  Speaker 2: heading out to get some supplies for the week. So
• 5:41
  Speaker 2: you know, this is the government just trying to scare Manger,
• 5:44
  Speaker 2: trying to shift focus and trying to incite division in
• 5:48
  Speaker 2: our community. And this type of rhetoric and language we're
• 5:51
  Speaker 2: seeing from the Chief Minister is really upsetting people, Katie.
• 5:55
  Speaker 2: And it's not good enough. It's not good enough for
• 5:57
  Speaker 2: the Gunner government to use a parla as some sort
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: of grand stand to just try and throw as much
• 6:04
  Speaker 2: mud as possible to distract from their own failures. But
• 6:07
  Speaker 2: we're just getting on with the job. You know. They
• 6:09
  Speaker 2: can call us whatever they like, they can do whatever
• 6:12
  Speaker 2: ridiculous stunts they like. At the end of the day,
• 6:15
  Speaker 2: our health care system is in a terrible crisis and
• 6:18
  Speaker 2: we don't have COVID crime is completely and utterly out
• 6:23
  Speaker 2: of it.
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: I'll get I will get to that healthcare crisis in
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: just a moment, But I do just want to ask you,
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: has Billiyan made any comments about being against the vaccine,
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: because I know that that is also something that the
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: government has raised.
• 6:37
  Speaker 2: No, absolutely not. We've said right from the start when
• 6:40
  Speaker 2: they announced the mandated vaccine position. We asked for a briefing.
• 6:44
  Speaker 2: Government refused to give us a briefing for three weeks.
• 6:47
  Speaker 2: When they did, they gave us a half an hour meeting.
• 6:50
  Speaker 2: Now the Deputy Chief Health Officer said that this is
• 6:52
  Speaker 2: the best health advice and we've always said we would
• 6:55
  Speaker 2: support the best health advice and always put the health
• 6:58
  Speaker 2: and safety of territorians first. We've supported the mandatory vaccination position.
• 7:03
  Speaker 2: We've been critical of government for their vaccine rollout which
• 7:05
  Speaker 2: has been too slow, particularly in remote northern parts of
• 7:09
  Speaker 2: Northern Territory, but we do support that mandatory vaxed position.
• 7:13
  Speaker 2: We've always been very clear about that and the Government
• 7:16
  Speaker 2: is just trying to stir trouble, all right.
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: So we also know that obviously the Opposition sought to
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: declare that state of the Northern Territories healthcare system a
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: matter of public importance in Parliament yesterday. It does follow
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: on from those four Code yellows being declared at Urdh
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: Royal Darwin Hospital over the past year and that decision
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: to close parts of the emergency beds at the Palmerston
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: Regional Hospital. Leah, what happened yesterday on this matter of
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: public importance, Well, we.
• 7:44
  Speaker 2: Think it's really critical that Territorians, no matter where you live,
• 7:47
  Speaker 2: are supported by a strong health system and of course,
• 7:50
  Speaker 2: we have terrific medical professionals right across the territory working
• 7:54
  Speaker 2: in extremely complicated and difficult environments. Now we haven't said
• 8:00
  Speaker 2: COVID like other jurisdictions have, and yet this year alone,
• 8:04
  Speaker 2: the Royal Darwin Hospital has suffered four Code yellows, which
• 8:07
  Speaker 2: means critical levels of bed block and staffing shortages. So
• 8:10
  Speaker 2: we really felt it was important to highlight to government
• 8:13
  Speaker 2: that it's not okay to be canceling elective surgeries four
• 8:17
  Speaker 2: times this year. It's not okay to have staff shortages
• 8:20
  Speaker 2: in hospitals when our staff is sitting at the Howard
• 8:24
  Speaker 2: Springs quarantine facility. You know, the government took on that
• 8:28
  Speaker 2: quarantine facility knowing they had to find four hundred people
• 8:31
  Speaker 2: from somewhere, and I think that's put tremendous strain on
• 8:34
  Speaker 2: our health system and they should never have thought they
• 8:37
  Speaker 2: were able to take that on and it should be
• 8:39
  Speaker 2: given back to the Commonwealth to run properly like they
• 8:42
  Speaker 2: were doing right from the start. But unfortunately the government
• 8:45
  Speaker 2: just it was just arrogance that we received back. They
• 8:48
  Speaker 2: just continued to talk about the previous Colp government instead
• 8:52
  Speaker 2: of the five years of labor we've had and the
• 8:55
  Speaker 2: seventeen out of the last twenty years has been labor governments,
• 8:58
  Speaker 2: and so our health system is an absolute crisis and
• 9:01
  Speaker 2: all we're getting is political rhetoric from the Gunner government
• 9:05
  Speaker 2: around this somehow being the CLP's fauld it really it
• 9:08
  Speaker 2: begged believe.
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: Now, Leah. Obviously we know at this point in time
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: we've not had to deal with COVID being in our
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: health system. We obviously haven't had that community spread that
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: we've seen in other states and territories and the same
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: level of you know, of COVID in the community. The
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: Chief Minister, Michael Gunner earlier this week obviously announced those
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: plans when it comes to opening the territory up once
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: we reach the eighty percent vaccination rate. Lea, are you
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: satisfied that those plans are the safest way forward or
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: do you think that we need to be a little
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: bit more realistic here and give a definitive date as
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: to exactly when we're going to be opening up.
• 9:46
  Speaker 2: Well, I think the reality is because of the way
• 9:48
  Speaker 2: the government have mishandled the vaccine rollout, it's created a
• 9:52
  Speaker 2: huge amounts of uncertainty for government in being able to
• 9:55
  Speaker 2: put a pathway forward. I think whatever decision government come to,
• 9:58
  Speaker 2: it needs to be really articulated. People want certainty. They're
• 10:03
  Speaker 2: happy to work within the rules, but they need to
• 10:05
  Speaker 2: know exactly what the rules are. And with Christmas coming,
• 10:08
  Speaker 2: people are really needing to finalize their plans and make
• 10:11
  Speaker 2: those decisions about are we going away or is mum
• 10:14
  Speaker 2: and dad coming up this year and all of those
• 10:16
  Speaker 2: types of normal conversations we all have as a family,
• 10:19
  Speaker 2: and the Chief Minister himself has family into say so, in.
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: Your opinion, did that plan provide that clarity or not?
• 10:26
  Speaker 2: I think it was very complicated, and when there's complication,
• 10:30
  Speaker 2: it always brings uncertainty. And of course over the last
• 10:33
  Speaker 2: forty eight hours we've kind of had changes or variances
• 10:36
  Speaker 2: in the government's position on that program. So all we're
• 10:39
  Speaker 2: asking is for the government to come out be explicitly
• 10:42
  Speaker 2: clear with territories about what is going to happen over
• 10:45
  Speaker 2: the next couple of months so that people can work
• 10:47
  Speaker 2: within the rules and start to make their plans or
• 10:50
  Speaker 2: not make plans.
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: Lea Finocchio, the opposition leader, good to speak with you
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: this morning. We'll talk to you again soon.
• 10:56
  Speaker 2: Thanks everyone, take care, Thank you,