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Katie Woolf spoke with Lord Mayor Kon Vatskalis · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: If you want to know what's happening on the local
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: political landscape, Katy Wolf has it covered on three sixty.
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: Everyone is listening mixed one oh four point nine.
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  Speaker 2: We are You.
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: May have just heard the Lord May. Then combat Scarlus
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  Speaker 1: joins me in the studio, good morning to you are not.
• 0:17
  Speaker 2: Quick to put the microphone off.
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: Jesus had it all ready and then you yelled.
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  Speaker 2: At you want to talk about?
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  Speaker 1: Well, Corn, what don't I want to talk about this morning? Hey,
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: let's start with yesterday. Mattie Hepworth spoke fairly extensively about
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: this proposal. Let's been put forward for a stadium in
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  Speaker 1: the CBD. What are your thoughts, as the Lord.
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  Speaker 2: Mayor don't we have one already? We call it TiO Stadium.
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  Speaker 3: Now okay, I thought about it extensively and I thought,
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  Speaker 3: Jesus Sir, a good idea, But how many times will
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  Speaker 3: we be using it? How many people would be attracting?
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  Speaker 3: And peoples are But in Queensland, yeah, but if you
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  Speaker 3: look at.
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  Speaker 1: Queensland, also Queensland in Townsville they actually have an NRL team.
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  Speaker 3: But also if you look at the distance between cities
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  Speaker 3: and Queenslands, about the hundre kilometers hundred three. Our next
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  Speaker 3: biggest city is Catherine three hundred and fifty kilometers to
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  Speaker 3: seven thousand people. We've got one hundred ten thousand people here.
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  Speaker 3: How many people would come here towards in the middle
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  Speaker 3: of the city again three four times a year? And
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  Speaker 3: what how were we do with Marari will become a
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  Speaker 3: ghost down? How about we save two hundred and fifty
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  Speaker 3: million dollars. We can spend them somewhere else, like the
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  Speaker 3: government can put it in underground parlor or upgrade royal
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  Speaker 3: down hostel and put fifty million dollars in Mara to
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  Speaker 3: make it stead.
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  Speaker 2: Of the art.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, look, I get the argument. You know that it
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  Speaker 1: would be a great thing obviously to attract people into
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  Speaker 1: the city, and that other other locations have a similar
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  Speaker 1: similar stadiums, that they do good things in terms of activating.
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  Speaker 1: But look for me, first and foremost is do we
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  Speaker 1: have the money and where do we get the money?
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  Speaker 1: Has the landholder in the location we were actually talking about,
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  Speaker 1: are they for it? You know, what's the what's the
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  Speaker 1: go in that sense? But also we don't have an
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  Speaker 1: NRL team or we don't have an AFL team, so
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  Speaker 1: as you've rightly pointed out that I have time.
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  Speaker 3: It's going to be here from our to come here
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  Speaker 3: to play, and that will happen probably about three or
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  Speaker 3: four times a year. Three hundred million dollars for three
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  Speaker 3: four times a year. I think it's a very big
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  Speaker 3: spend and quite right, who is going to pay for it?
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  Speaker 3: Because if the government decides to put the money, boy,
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  Speaker 3: they're going to be very brave government when they can't
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  Speaker 3: find money for other essential things.
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  Speaker 2: Look, I don't think the government's very keen to find
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  Speaker 2: three hundred million dollars.
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  Speaker 1: I don't think they've got three hundred million dollars.
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  Speaker 3: And to be fair, to be fair, they've got other
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  Speaker 3: things to address at the moment. And how many house
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  Speaker 3: can you build in a remote community with three hundred
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  Speaker 3: million dollars?
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, And look, this is the thing I you know,
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  Speaker 1: I always admire people thinking outside the box, and I
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: always admire coming up with different ideas. But for me,
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  Speaker 1: there's a lot of questions there that still need to
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: be answered.
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  Speaker 3: If you look at it the way the land falls,
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  Speaker 3: you can actually put a beautiful resort there to actually
• 2:51
  Speaker 3: attract tourists in the city which they come.
• 2:53
  Speaker 2: Then we know they will come because they're already here now.
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: Connor, I want to talk about these old fresco dining
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: I know that it's something that we spoke about last
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: week when the council handed down the proposed budget, but
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: I read in the paper over the weekend the Darwen
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  Speaker 1: Council Alderman hopes to build an incentive for cafes and
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  Speaker 1: restaurants to adopt these elfresco dining fees across the municipality
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  Speaker 1: in the wake of the proposed reintroduction. So in response
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  Speaker 1: to the council's twenty twenty one twenty two draft budget
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  Speaker 1: and municipal plan proposed to bring back these elfresco dining
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  Speaker 1: fees costing CBD venues seven dollars per table per week
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  Speaker 1: and suburban venues four dollars per table per week, Alderman
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  Speaker 1: Paul Arnold set a spin off of the successful My
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  Speaker 1: Darwin scheme could offset the fees and be run from
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  Speaker 1: funds raised through that levee. Is this a good idea?
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  Speaker 3: What do you think if we are going to subsidize
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  Speaker 3: on fresco or what happened to all the other retailers
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  Speaker 3: that people they sell shoes or bags or books? How
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  Speaker 3: are we going to help them? And if we're going
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  Speaker 3: to help all these people, we have to find the
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  Speaker 3: money somewhere. Are you agreeing to increase to increase your
• 4:03
  Speaker 3: rate to subsidize a business.
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  Speaker 1: Look for me, I'm not a big fan of the
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  Speaker 1: Elfresco dining fees going up. I actually think we should
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  Speaker 1: be just trying to get people into the city, get
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  Speaker 1: people using those Elfresco dining areas. But I know that
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  Speaker 1: this is all open to, you know, to people actually
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  Speaker 1: putting forward their submissions.
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  Speaker 3: At this point, you just said you don't agree with
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  Speaker 3: our freshcrow fear has been put up. Let me tell
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  Speaker 3: you that our freshco fee has come down fifty percent.
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I understand, I get all that we spoke about it.
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  Speaker 3: Last thing is a table a dollar a day In
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  Speaker 3: a table you can put four people, that's twenty five
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  Speaker 3: cents of person.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, But if you're talking about a small business that
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: maybe has a few tables, it's obviously going to have
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: an impact on them over the course of the year.
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  Speaker 1: I understand why you guys are doing it, and I
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  Speaker 1: understand all the things that you told us last week.
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  Speaker 1: But for them, for those businesses, they might be going
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  Speaker 1: through a good time at the moment, but we don't
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: know what's going to happen in the web season, and
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  Speaker 1: I just think it's a weird time to be putting
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: up these faces.
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  Speaker 3: Somebody point out people actually prepared to pay the landlord
• 5:02
  Speaker 3: a rent to hire a property. What people doing now
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  Speaker 3: is actually paying a fee to hire a public property
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  Speaker 3: from the council.
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  Speaker 1: It belongs to a sign council that says that I
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: want to activate.
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  Speaker 2: It happens everywhere, and the cost is so minimal.
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  Speaker 3: And not only that, but the cost actually tutroductible because
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  Speaker 3: it's actually running business. So in reality, if you if
• 5:23
  Speaker 3: you think how much people will be paying, not to
• 5:26
  Speaker 3: mention of course they never pay because they passity to
• 5:28
  Speaker 3: you and to me. Every time I get a coffee,
• 5:29
  Speaker 3: my cost probably will go about twenty says up to
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  Speaker 3: cover the cost.
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  Speaker 2: And I can understand that one.
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  Speaker 3: So you pay to hire a public place that belongs
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  Speaker 3: to the public, not to the council. It belongs to
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  Speaker 3: the public, and we collect this money on behalf of
• 5:40
  Speaker 3: the public. And that's why rage can be kept to
• 5:43
  Speaker 3: two point fiber tendency insteads two point six.
• 5:45
  Speaker 2: Or two points.
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  Speaker 1: Well, look, I guess you and I could talk to
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  Speaker 1: we're blue in the face about the old Fresco dining fees.
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  Speaker 1: But at the end of the day, you don't think
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  Speaker 1: that this is a good idea. This uh, this you know,
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  Speaker 1: reintroduction of it of a different voucher scale.
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  Speaker 2: The market is prepared.
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  Speaker 3: To put anything they want the council to be debated,
• 6:02
  Speaker 3: to be discussed, and the other twelve oldermen will make
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  Speaker 3: a decision of that one. But again, as the year before,
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  Speaker 3: why only the Alfresco, Why we stop there? We don't
• 6:10
  Speaker 3: go to the bookshops, the placers will sell clothes, the participlaces,
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  Speaker 3: we're actually selling shoes because they're not doing as well
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  Speaker 3: as the hospitality does.
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  Speaker 1: SoCon Is it just a matter of you know, like
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  Speaker 1: the businesses do just need to suck it up, just
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  Speaker 1: sort of go well, you know, look, give you've got
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  Speaker 1: to accept that sometimes these face have to go up.
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  Speaker 3: Well, the same business complained here about Alfresco. They're prepared
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  Speaker 3: to pay a per square meter rate in the waterfront
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  Speaker 3: because when they actually rent a property in the waterfront,
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  Speaker 3: they rent the whole package, both inside and outside.
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  Speaker 2: So and in.
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  Speaker 3: Some cases the cost to rent properties in the waterfront's
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  Speaker 3: much much higher that one they pay here for Al Fresco.
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  Speaker 1: It's going to be bugger all in terms of revenue
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  Speaker 1: rising though for you guys, isn't well.
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  Speaker 3: The thing again is that money that we actually forgive
• 6:55
  Speaker 3: to may have to come from somewhere else. And the
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  Speaker 3: council budget, as to you before, it has to be balanced.
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  Speaker 2: We can't go into deficit. That's what the law requires.
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  Speaker 3: So if we actually take money from one place, we
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  Speaker 3: have to get from somewhere else. The voucher the money
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  Speaker 3: came from a parking levee, so we had to take
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  Speaker 3: money out of the parking levee. At the time we
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  Speaker 3: had also forgiven the parking fees.
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: It does sound like the council has really made up
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  Speaker 1: its mind on these El Fresco dining fees. Though you know,
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  Speaker 1: I know that you've said that. You still people can
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  Speaker 1: still give that feedback, but it sounds like you've made
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  Speaker 1: up your mind like it's going up.
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  Speaker 3: Well, answer to you before, again, the council has a budget,
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  Speaker 3: we allocated it might of different areas. If I take money,
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  Speaker 3: even a thousand dollars somewhere, I have to take it
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  Speaker 3: from somewhere else. And again I said to you has
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  Speaker 3: pointed out quite rightly the other day on the radio,
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  Speaker 3: why only the hospitality industry about the rest of the
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  Speaker 3: industry in the territory that's not doing as well as
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  Speaker 3: the hospitality industry. And I think that's a valid argument.
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  Speaker 1: Council. Is there another meeting tonight.
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  Speaker 3: Yes, there is a number of issues. Well, renaming the
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  Speaker 3: Chinatown cup pack. We had consultations with the people from them.
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  Speaker 3: The I said, well, guys, why we call it Chinatown?
• 8:06
  Speaker 3: He says, well, we don't know. It was an original
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  Speaker 3: idea from the original proponents here has nothing to do
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  Speaker 3: with Chinatown. Chinatown was in Kavanagh Street, not in Smith Street.
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  Speaker 3: Namely what you like it. So the proposal is actually
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  Speaker 3: to call it the Dragonfly car pack, which the symbol
• 8:20
  Speaker 3: of the city of Darwin. We're talking about the Natal
• 8:23
  Speaker 3: Places temporary closure. The owner of Monsoon they ask us,
• 8:27
  Speaker 3: because of a lot of people going through, they want
• 8:29
  Speaker 3: to put some ballarts temporarily from Thursday to Sunday between
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  Speaker 3: eight pm and four am, just for security of people
• 8:37
  Speaker 3: quelling to.
• 8:38
  Speaker 2: Scan the you know, the Q code where they get.
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  Speaker 2: It's a good idea.
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  Speaker 3: We had a couple of property owners says oh no,
• 8:45
  Speaker 3: it's going to be permanent, and I said, no, no,
• 8:47
  Speaker 3: it's going to be temporarily. Oh no, we don't like
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  Speaker 3: it matter effect our future future development. It's not going
• 8:53
  Speaker 3: to affect it's development. It's eight pm to four am
• 8:58
  Speaker 3: theresday to Sunday public safety.
• 9:01
  Speaker 2: I mean, it's not the bigause.
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: And I reckon so long as it is just between
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: those days and those times, it'll be fine. You know
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: a lot of people do use it throughout the day,
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: but it is about that patron safety. And I think
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: that you're talking about people who in a lot of
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: cases have been drinking as well. You've got to make
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: sure that the people are saying.
• 9:16
  Speaker 2: Ruth Palmer's jumping up and down. Ruth usually does that.
• 9:19
  Speaker 3: One obviously does like it because he reckons that we
• 9:22
  Speaker 3: are against property owners.
• 9:24
  Speaker 2: I mean, Ruth, come down, it's for public shelf.
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: We will give Ruth the opportunity to respond to that,
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: because it's.
• 9:29
  Speaker 3: The first time me and Ruth getting along really well.
• 9:31
  Speaker 3: But we have our argument because he represents a good
• 9:34
  Speaker 3: that council.
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: Absolutely anyway, regardless of what she said, why do you
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: think it's a good idea that this closes?
• 9:39
  Speaker 3: Because if I save a person's life from injury or
• 9:43
  Speaker 3: death because something can go wrong.
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: I think it's a good idea, and so tonight it
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: will go to a vote.
• 9:48
  Speaker 2: It goes through what tonight to discuss about it, and.
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: So between the hours of just tell us again the
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: hour eight pm.
• 9:53
  Speaker 2: And four am Thursday to Sunday.
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: Yeah, look, I don't have an issue with it. I
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: think if we can keep people safe between those hours.
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: It's been a long time since I've frequented any any
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: venue at that time.
• 10:06
  Speaker 3: You kids, kady As, you probably know you don't go
• 10:09
  Speaker 3: to this kind of place at that time.
• 10:12
  Speaker 2: Where are you going, ma'am?
• 10:13
  Speaker 3: The other thing, of course, tonight we're discussing in a
• 10:16
  Speaker 3: proposal to have a new friends reach friendly city with
• 10:19
  Speaker 3: den Pasa. We're approached by them Passa, which is really
• 10:22
  Speaker 3: interesting because the lord, the mayor of proposed to me
• 10:25
  Speaker 3: that the den Persa city is prepared to pay the
• 10:28
  Speaker 3: quarantine expenses for workers to come from Bali to Darwin
• 10:32
  Speaker 3: because they're really desperate.
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: Right there is the proposals.
• 10:36
  Speaker 3: I need to discover that with the government, because of
• 10:37
  Speaker 3: course there has to be space to quarantine.
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: Them in what type of in what type of jobs
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: are we talking about hospitality, right, so that put for this.
• 10:46
  Speaker 3: They want to do that one. That's the momentary informal proposal.
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  Speaker 3: We have to do a lot of work to find
• 10:50
  Speaker 3: out if we can do it. Who wants these workers,
• 10:52
  Speaker 3: how are they're going to pay them? Where are we
• 10:54
  Speaker 3: going to quarantine them? But then that shows you have
• 10:57
  Speaker 3: desperate the industry in Bali is and course nobody goes
• 11:00
  Speaker 3: there anymore.
• 11:01
  Speaker 2: And can't go there anymore.
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: So who's that informal proposal come from?
• 11:04
  Speaker 2: The mayor of them persides?
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: Well, yeah, they'd be doing it tough, there's no doubt.
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: And we've got to work a shortage. So you sort
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: of think if there's one that we can marry these
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: things up.
• 11:14
  Speaker 3: You have to take the public safety to consideration. If
• 11:17
  Speaker 3: they're going to come, they have to be quarantined. At
• 11:19
  Speaker 3: the moment, I think we're struggling with the impacts. We've
• 11:21
  Speaker 3: got too many people come from India yesterday to another
• 11:23
  Speaker 3: airplane from Turkey, so we've got a problem.
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: The other problem I can point back on the agenda.
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: I know it's for quite some times.
• 11:30
  Speaker 3: But I believe that there are actually the defense heav
• 11:32
  Speaker 3: We had the moment and then of course, some people
• 11:34
  Speaker 3: are working for impacts, so we have to find out
• 11:37
  Speaker 3: whether it's going to be empty.
• 11:39
  Speaker 2: The other thing, of course, we've got is the.
• 11:41
  Speaker 3: People not taking up vaccination, and that really concerns me.
• 11:44
  Speaker 3: And the one that conserves is a lot is the
• 11:47
  Speaker 3: added vaxers have managed to find their way into the
• 11:49
  Speaker 3: digitous communities. They have talked a lot of FIBs to
• 11:53
  Speaker 3: the digitous people, scare the settlers and people in the
• 11:57
  Speaker 3: communites don't do the vaccine anymore.
• 11:59
  Speaker 2: Some of them they said, it's a white.
• 12:00
  Speaker 3: Man's disease going to affect us the problem if it comes.
• 12:04
  Speaker 2: If by any chance hopefully not comes in our community.
• 12:08
  Speaker 3: The ones we're really going to copy big time are
• 12:10
  Speaker 3: people from indigenous communities because they're the ones where the commobilities.
• 12:14
  Speaker 3: I had Indigenous mayors pleading with me to talk to
• 12:17
  Speaker 3: the health department, which I have. I've had people Indigenous
• 12:20
  Speaker 3: people telling me they're really, really worried, which I have.
• 12:22
  Speaker 3: But I had people hear and down telling me they're
• 12:24
  Speaker 3: really worried if something goes wrong. And my answer is,
• 12:28
  Speaker 3: you're offered a vaccine, why you don't do it?
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: I asked Michael Ganna last week with we just need
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: to make the vaccine open to everybody over the age
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: of sixteen in the Northern Territory right now. Rather than
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: doing it in these tiers, let's just get everyone done.
• 12:40
  Speaker 3: They started in another Springs, but it needs to be expanded.
• 12:42
  Speaker 3: The problem we've got is we have to counteract this
• 12:46
  Speaker 3: untruth by the anti vaxers. They re are, oh they're
• 12:49
  Speaker 3: getting throng bosses. Well, twenty four people in two and
• 12:54
  Speaker 3: a half million is about one tenth of what women
• 12:57
  Speaker 3: get that take contraceptive pills. Yeah, and nobody mentioned that,
• 13:00
  Speaker 3: but everybody measure what the vaccine Court is.
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: Lord Mayor Convat Scarla's always good to chat with you,
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: spirited this morning as always. Thank you.
• 13:08
  Speaker 3: Sorry about that, but my public health background comes into
• 13:11
  Speaker 3: the surface.
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: Good on you, con thank you. That's the Lord Mayor
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: of Darwin, Convat Scarlas on Mix