Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Katie spoke with Opposition Leader Lia Finochiarro about impacts of the NT border reopening rules, and an the CLP bringing an ICAC referral

Transcript

Katie spoke with Opposition Leader Lia Finochiarro about impacts of the NT border reopening rules, and an the CLP bringing an ICAC referral · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: But joining me in the studio right now is the
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: opposition leader the Colps, Leah fanocchi Aro. Good morning to you,
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: Good morning Katie, and to your lovely listeners out there.
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: Thank you so much for your time this morning. Now, Leah,
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  Speaker 1: we know that last week, obviously the government changed this
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  Speaker 1: roadmap when the border is open on December twenty. As
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  Speaker 1: we've extensively covered here on the show, these changes are
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: debilitating for many in the tourism sector, as well as
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  Speaker 1: hospitality and essential workers and indeed boarding school students trying
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  Speaker 1: to get home to their families. Leah, what are Territorians
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  Speaker 1: telling you at the moment about these changes.
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  Speaker 2: It's a total mess, Katie. People are very, very confused
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  Speaker 2: and very disappointed. Of course, for a number of weeks
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  Speaker 2: the Gunner government had been building up people's hopes and
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  Speaker 2: expectations around the December twenty milestone. I was at Carroll's
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  Speaker 2: by candle line and watched the Chief Minister, you know,
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  Speaker 2: profess to the crowd how wonderful that was going to be.
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  Speaker 2: And then people feel like they've been dealt a really
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  Speaker 2: big blow this week. The details of it are just
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  Speaker 2: so complex and confusing.
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  Speaker 3: It's really unworkable.
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  Speaker 2: We've seen every industry just about come out against it,
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  Speaker 2: and people. The saddest thing for me, Katie, is when
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  Speaker 2: I'm out and about, people are just canceling all their
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  Speaker 2: plans left right and center because they just feel like
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  Speaker 2: it's too hard, it's too confusing, it's too understand real uncertainty.
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  Speaker 1: I think that's got a lot of people really worried.
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  Speaker 1: Like I'm getting pulled up about this absolutely everywhere.
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  Speaker 3: That I go.
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  Speaker 1: What do you think needs to happen though? Do you
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  Speaker 1: think that they need to relook at biosecurity zones? Do
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  Speaker 1: you think that there needs to be some tourism bubbles established?
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  Speaker 3: What needs to happen here?
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  Speaker 2: I think whenever happens, it has to be really simple.
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  Speaker 2: I think what we've got now is the government on
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  Speaker 2: the back foot. They're starting to talk about exemptions for
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  Speaker 2: some people and bubbles for this and bits and pieces.
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  Speaker 2: I think that's just going to add to the complexity now.
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  Speaker 2: Of course, we will support it if it happens, because
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  Speaker 2: if that means people can come and visit Lichfield like
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  Speaker 2: we were saying, or boarding school students can come home,
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  Speaker 2: or nurses and teachers can come back to work.
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  Speaker 3: You know, we're not going to be against that.
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  Speaker 2: But I think what this has shown is that the
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  Speaker 2: practical reality of their plan isn't working, and I'd like
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  Speaker 2: to see them go back to the drawing board and
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  Speaker 2: really look at a way that we can do this safely.
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  Speaker 2: But to me that there's sort of a very simplified
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  Speaker 2: system of rules that apply to everyone across the territory.
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  Speaker 1: I mean, they are saying that this is all about
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  Speaker 1: making sure that we've got measures in place, though to
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  Speaker 1: protect those in remote communities. I would assume that you
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  Speaker 1: know that you indeed think that they do need to
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  Speaker 1: be protected as well, but you know at what cost
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  Speaker 1: I guess, to the rest of the Northern Territory population.
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  Speaker 2: But people in remote communities want to travel as well,
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  Speaker 2: and a lot of remote communities have got extremely high
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  Speaker 2: vaccination rates. So it really is a mixed bag depending
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  Speaker 2: on where you go. But it's really the fact that
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  Speaker 2: the application of these rules have not been looked at practically.
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  Speaker 2: So in Catherine, for example, they've literally picked a few
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  Speaker 2: streets and it's like, if you live.
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  Speaker 3: Within these streets, then you're okay.
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  Speaker 2: But if you live outside of those streets, then you're
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  Speaker 2: going to have to stay in a hotel.
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  Speaker 3: In your own town. That one's quite unbelievable. It's arbitrary,
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  Speaker 3: It's really arbitrary.
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  Speaker 2: It makes no sense of course people in the entire
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  Speaker 2: Barkley region. I mean, if you live in TenneT Creek
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  Speaker 2: and have gone to Mount Isa for holidays, you will
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  Speaker 2: have to literally drive back past your house and drive
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  Speaker 2: another five hundred kilometers to Alice Springs and stay there
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  Speaker 2: for two weeks, or another four hundred kilometers up to Castromin.
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  Speaker 2: It just doesn't make any sense, and people are just
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  Speaker 2: you know, why have we gone from rapid antigen testing
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  Speaker 2: to PCR testing And there's a number of broken promises
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  Speaker 2: and people just feel deflated by the whole thing.
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  Speaker 3: Leah, if you were in charge, what would you be
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  Speaker 3: doing today?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, so we would not be in this situation in
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  Speaker 2: the first place, Katie. But it's about consultation. I think
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  Speaker 2: what needs to happen now, And of course we've all
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  Speaker 2: heard very loud and clear, but government needs to do
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  Speaker 2: a round table with every industry body even well, I mean,
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  Speaker 2: how hard is it you grab a get on a
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  Speaker 2: team's meeting or a zoom meeting. It could be called
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  Speaker 2: in an hour If you want in, you better clear
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  Speaker 2: your diary. If you don't, don't win from the sidelines.
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  Speaker 2: It's pretty simple. Cooler teams meeting. Have everyone in the room,
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  Speaker 2: what are the about, you know, get some clear goals
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  Speaker 2: and aims, have the chief Health officer there and not
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  Speaker 2: out a plan, roll out for your press conference at
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  Speaker 2: one o'clock, and we can all move on with our
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  Speaker 2: lives no matter.
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  Speaker 3: What they do.
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  Speaker 1: Though some people are still going to be upset for sure,
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  Speaker 1: for sure, like, really, how do we balance this? How
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  Speaker 1: do they realistically balance this? Because I guess it's all
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  Speaker 1: fine for us to throw these firing shots from the sidelines,
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  Speaker 1: but like, at the end of the day, there's a
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  Speaker 1: lot of people that are affected here. And you know,
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  Speaker 1: when you talk about boarding school students not being able
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  Speaker 1: to come home, when you talk about essential workers not
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  Speaker 1: being able to go on holidays, when you talk about
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  Speaker 1: people living between Catherine and Tindall having to quarantine and
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  Speaker 1: Catherine rather than their home, I mean some of these
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  Speaker 1: decisions there needs to be some second thought on it.
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  Speaker 2: Does I think it would be much simpler to bring
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  Speaker 2: everyone together, look at it across the board and try
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  Speaker 2: and find another way where we can obviously, have the
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  Speaker 2: right restrictions in place, but have them uniform, have them simple.
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  Speaker 2: If things aren't s simple, people won't comply. That's the
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  Speaker 2: other problem. If you make it too complicated, people will
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  Speaker 2: miss things, and then we're just going to see more
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  Speaker 2: trouble than it's worth. The government should have consulted in
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  Speaker 2: the first place, but it hasn't. Fine, draw a line
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  Speaker 2: in the sand, work out what works and what doesn't,
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  Speaker 2: and then and now it's one plan for everyone.
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  Speaker 3: Do we need to just go back.
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  Speaker 1: To biosecurity zones for those communities that aren't up to
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  Speaker 1: ninety percent or eighty percent vaccination? Right?
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  Speaker 2: I mean, I don't know that that's necessarily the answer,
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  Speaker 2: but it might be part of the picture. Again, you know,
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  Speaker 2: we don't have that all important health advice. But what
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  Speaker 2: we do know is that when you make rules and
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  Speaker 2: expect a society to comply, you have to think through
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  Speaker 2: the practicalities. You can't just sit in an office and
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  Speaker 2: decide all these arbitrary things and then expect everyone to
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  Speaker 2: be able to deal with it, you know, And it's
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  Speaker 2: really important that the government do listen. It's not about
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  Speaker 2: just wanting to travel for Christmas. This is about getting
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  Speaker 2: workers into the territory to support the cattle industry, the
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  Speaker 2: farming industry. You know, this is about tea which is
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  Speaker 2: not being back in schools in times. This is about
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  Speaker 2: the pressure on nurses and staff and ardi h I
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  Speaker 2: mean with patient travel and all of these different types
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  Speaker 2: of things. I mean, no one is left unscathed by
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  Speaker 2: this decision. They've managed to upset everyone. You know, no
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  Speaker 2: one is happy. So they need to rework this. There's
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  Speaker 2: still time. Just knuckle down, get it done and spit
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  Speaker 2: out a good result.
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  Speaker 1: Now, Leah, I know that the COLP say, well that
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  Speaker 1: you've referred a four point three million dollar contract which
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  Speaker 1: was awarded to Ernst and Young Consultancy by nt Health
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  Speaker 1: to the Independent Commissioner against Corruption after the Territories Order
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  Speaker 1: to General found it was against procurement rules. What rules
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  Speaker 1: has this contract broken?
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  Speaker 2: So we've been very suspicious about this contract right back
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  Speaker 2: from May, Katie. So we asked questions back in May,
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  Speaker 2: asking the Health Minister when this secret report would be
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  Speaker 2: made public. Of course, it was pitched to territorians to
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  Speaker 2: be about a seven hundred thousand dollar report and it
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  Speaker 2: was meant to look specifically at our response to COVID
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  Speaker 2: back him. In May, we got the ring around by
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  Speaker 2: the Minister for Health, of course, saying oh no, this
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  Speaker 2: is Cabinet and confidence, you're not going to get your
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  Speaker 2: hands on it. And now we've had our Order to General,
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  Speaker 2: who is the person who looks at the books of
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  Speaker 2: the government, come out and say that some of the
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  Speaker 2: forty three procurement rules have not been followed and that
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  Speaker 2: that original seven hundred thousand dollars contract has been varied
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  Speaker 2: so much four hundred and thirty percent, that it ended
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  Speaker 2: up being a four point three million dollar contract.
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  Speaker 3: So there's it. Yeah, it's a big difference.
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  Speaker 2: We started with one project that costs seven hundred and
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  Speaker 2: we ended up paying four point three and the scope
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  Speaker 2: of that report ended up being much bigger than was
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  Speaker 2: originally intention and just.
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  Speaker 1: The CLP here is sort of going, alright, it's blown out.
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  Speaker 1: This is the Order to General has actually gone through
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  Speaker 1: this and found well that the agency didn't comply with
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  Speaker 1: the procurement rules, including forty two of the required criteria.
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  Speaker 3: How has this happened? How is this allowed to happen?
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  Speaker 2: Well, it's not allowed to happen, and it's good that
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  Speaker 2: we have in Order to General to provide that level
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  Speaker 2: of scrutiny. Of course, like I said, we've been asking
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  Speaker 2: questions about it since May and now the government are
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  Speaker 2: exposed on this issue, but still haven't come forward with
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  Speaker 2: any explanation as to why that was allowed to happen.
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  Speaker 2: We still don't know if and when the report's going
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  Speaker 2: to be made public, why it went from seven hundred
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  Speaker 2: thousand dollars to four point three million dollars, and why
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  Speaker 2: the rules of procurement weren't.
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  Speaker 1: Followed right from the outset. What exactly was this consultancy
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  Speaker 1: firm hired to do it?
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  Speaker 2: So my understanding was originally it was hired to review
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  Speaker 2: our response to COVID right in those early days. So
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  Speaker 2: going back to last year, it's since blown out to
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  Speaker 2: have covered.
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  Speaker 3: I don't know a number of things. Of course we
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  Speaker 3: don't have.
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  Speaker 2: It's a secret report, so no one's got it, but
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  Speaker 2: certainly Territorians deserve to know what's what it's about. I mean,
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  Speaker 2: if it's gone into looking at how our health system's working, well,
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  Speaker 2: I'd love to see it because we've had four yellows
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  Speaker 2: this year. Of course, we've got nurses working extraordinary amounts
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  Speaker 2: of overtime under pressure we've had a failed remote vaccine rollout,
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  Speaker 2: So I think Territorians are really keen to see what
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  Speaker 2: this assessment of our health system is because certainly it's
• 9:15
  Speaker 2: been suffering under this government.
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: Well we will wait and here I know, like you said,
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: it has now been referred to the ikak leah. Before
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: I let you go, just very quickly, we're about to
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: catch up with K Densely from the CPSU. And we
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: know that Northern Territory public sector workers at Power and
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: Water and also Jacana Energy have both once again voted
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: no to the gunn of government's pay bonus.
• 9:38
  Speaker 3: What does this say?
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  Speaker 2: It shows that people want job security, it shows they're
• 9:43
  Speaker 2: not buying the government's bogus bonus.
• 9:46
  Speaker 3: I mean, it's just a joke.
• 9:47
  Speaker 2: Government have completely walked away from budget repair and a
• 9:50
  Speaker 2: punishing public servants for that. We've been very clear that
• 9:53
  Speaker 2: people should have real wages growth. We think that cap
• 9:57
  Speaker 2: on one thousand dollars per years of a genuine pay
• 10:00
  Speaker 2: eyes is.
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  Speaker 3: Enough.
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  Speaker 2: It gives people opportunity for growth in their employment, but
• 10:05
  Speaker 2: also that budget restraint that we need. And instead the
• 10:09
  Speaker 2: government have claimed we've lost four hundred public servants for
• 10:13
  Speaker 2: people who won't get vaccinated, and instead of putting that
• 10:16
  Speaker 2: money back on the dead or doing something more positive
• 10:18
  Speaker 2: with it, like our health system, they've dispersed it or
• 10:21
  Speaker 2: want to disperse it amongst the remaining public servants.
• 10:24
  Speaker 3: And I think public servants are.
• 10:25
  Speaker 2: Turning around as saying, we've had enough of your garbage
• 10:28
  Speaker 2: chief minutes.
• 10:28
  Speaker 3: So this isn't what we want.
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: Well, we'll find out exactly what the public service are
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: saying when we catch up with Kate Densley in a
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: couple of minutes. Lea Fanocchiaro, the opposition leader, good to
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: speak with you. Will we see you Friday.
• 10:38
  Speaker 3: You will see me frid and very excited. Is it
• 10:40
  Speaker 3: our last one? For the last time, I'll.
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: Unfortunately this year, unlike other years where we've been able
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: to sort of go back over issues throughout the year,
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: there's still so many issues flowing this year that.
• 10:53
  Speaker 3: We've got to just well, Robbie, see you Friday. Thank you,