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

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  Speaker 1: The Opposition leader, Leah fanokii O. Good morning, Leah, Good
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  Speaker 1: morning Katie and to your listeners.
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  Speaker 2: Now, Leah, there is always plenty happening when sittings are underway,
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  Speaker 2: and yesterday we broke down the budget. So this morning
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  Speaker 2: we'll obviously get a bit more detail on the opposition's
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  Speaker 2: budget reply, but I'm also keen to find out a
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  Speaker 2: bit more about the situation with the Blaine MLA Mark
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  Speaker 2: Turner being referred to the Privileges Committee and the government's
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  Speaker 2: decision to cut the number of Opposition members on the
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  Speaker 2: Estimates Committee as well.
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  Speaker 1: Leah.
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  Speaker 2: Firstly, yesterday that report was due to be handed down,
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  Speaker 2: as I understand it, in parliament today regarding Blaine MLA
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  Speaker 2: Mark Turner.
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  Speaker 1: Why has that been delayed?
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  Speaker 3: Look, government popped that into the Parliament yesterday without you know,
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  Speaker 3: as they do with their numbers. They've got the numbers
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  Speaker 3: and they got leave to make that extension. It's a
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  Speaker 3: great question for you to ask Natasha Files, the chair
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  Speaker 3: of the Privilegess Committee, when you have her on a
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  Speaker 3: bit later on this morning, Kit. But I'll certainly be
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  Speaker 3: putting to the committee that the committee should be making
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  Speaker 3: a public statement to explain why that happened yesterday.
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  Speaker 2: So no real understanding or background at this point in
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  Speaker 2: time as to why that's happened.
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  Speaker 3: No, certainly, it just happened very quickly in the Parliament
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  Speaker 3: and the chair is responsible for public comments around what
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  Speaker 3: the Privileges Committee does, So I think that's an important
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  Speaker 3: one for the media to be approaching. Natasha files and
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  Speaker 3: I'll certainly put to the committee that they make of
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  Speaker 3: public statements that people understand what happened there.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I'd be interested to know, that's for sure. I'm
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  Speaker 2: sure that there'll be plenty of Territorians interested to know
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  Speaker 2: as well. Now, anyone who listens to this show knows
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  Speaker 2: that I'm pretty passionate about scrutiny of government, no matter
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  Speaker 2: who's in power, and yesterday it seems that the ability
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  Speaker 2: well to scrutinize took a bit of a blow. A
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  Speaker 2: decision has been made to cut the number of Opposition
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  Speaker 2: members on the Estimates Committee. As I understand it, Leah
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  Speaker 2: is what's the current situation, how many members of Opposition
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  Speaker 2: and independence are all that committee and what exactly do
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  Speaker 2: they do well?
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  Speaker 3: This was astonishing, Katie again, just came out of nowhere.
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  Speaker 3: The government and all their arrogance and all their superiority
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  Speaker 3: just decided to change how estimates works once again. And
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  Speaker 3: we've seen this erosion of scrutiny and transparency from the
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  Speaker 3: Gunner government over and over a long period of time now,
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  Speaker 3: but this really takes the cake. So the Estimates Committee
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  Speaker 3: is the committee of the Parliament that sits down and
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  Speaker 3: scrutinizes the budget. We sit down with every single minister
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  Speaker 3: for hours and hours and hours and go through line
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  Speaker 3: by line every bit of spending that the government makes.
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  Speaker 3: It's a very very important part of our democratic process
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  Speaker 3: and a very very important part of scrutiny and things
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  Speaker 3: like you know, last year in estimates we yielded information
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  Speaker 3: like that fifty percent of all youth arrested last year
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  Speaker 3: were on bail at the time of their arrest. So
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  Speaker 3: important information, critical information comes out of the estimates process.
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  Speaker 1: So what's that now?
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  Speaker 2: You know?
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  Speaker 1: What's what have you been told as to why that's
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  Speaker 1: being cut?
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  Speaker 3: So what's happened is because Mark Turner has been banished
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  Speaker 3: from the Labor Caucus, they no longer have four backbenches now. Traditionally,
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  Speaker 3: Katie and the Territory, the Estimates Committee has comprised of
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  Speaker 3: three government members with the chair having the casting vote,
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  Speaker 3: so it's a government controlled committee, make no mistake about that.
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  Speaker 3: And then two opposition members and one independent member. Now
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  Speaker 3: we've done a bit of a look around the country
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  Speaker 3: and at this point in time, no other jurisdiction only
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  Speaker 3: has one opposition member on their estimates as part of
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  Speaker 3: their estimates process. And that's exactly what this government is proposing.
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  Speaker 3: So they've cut our numbers in half. They've said no,
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  Speaker 3: instead of having two opposition members undertaking that scrutiny of
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  Speaker 3: ministers on the budget, they're going to slash us in
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  Speaker 3: half to one. And that's all because they are so
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  Speaker 3: afraid to lose control and lose power because Mark Turner
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  Speaker 3: is no longer able to sit as part of that estimate.
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  Speaker 2: Do you really need more than one person on those committees?
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  Speaker 2: I mean, if like you've said, the government has the
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  Speaker 2: casting vote anyway, and if you've got the shadow of
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  Speaker 2: spokesperson I'm assuming, or if you've got you know, if
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  Speaker 2: you've got one person there on that committee, surely you'd
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  Speaker 2: be able to get the questioning and scrutinizing required done.
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  Speaker 1: Anyway.
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  Speaker 3: Well, we will still holding the government to account. But
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  Speaker 3: this is an opposition led process, so the government is
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  Speaker 3: so fragile, they're so afraid of being exposed that even
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  Speaker 3: though they were still have three and even though they
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  Speaker 3: were still have the casting vote and all the power
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  Speaker 3: wielded in that committee, they still want to crush us
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  Speaker 3: down and push us to the side so that we
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  Speaker 3: can't ask questions. When you have two people in there,
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  Speaker 3: you can bounce off one another. You know, one person
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  Speaker 3: asked the question, the other person might think of a
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  Speaker 3: follow on from that question, and it's a really good
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  Speaker 3: way to ensure that you're coming out the ministers from
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  Speaker 3: all sides. And that's exactly what estimates are supposed to be.
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  Speaker 3: It's not meant to be a walk in the park
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  Speaker 3: for the government. This is the one time where they
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  Speaker 3: have to front up, face up, and really stare us
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  Speaker 3: in the eye and answer some serious questions that we,
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  Speaker 3: of course create and of course come from members of
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  Speaker 3: the Parloak public and an industry.
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  Speaker 1: And so to cut.
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  Speaker 3: Us down like that means they want to give us
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  Speaker 3: as limited opportunity as possible to scrutinize. They don't want
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  Speaker 3: us to get on a roll. They don't want us
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  Speaker 3: to bounce off each other. They don't want us to
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  Speaker 3: have momentum. But the fear they have, the fear they
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  Speaker 3: have of losing control is just unbelievable. I mean, to
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  Speaker 3: have three and still have to cut us down to
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  Speaker 3: one is really appalling. And we've just seen this time
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  Speaker 3: and time again for a government that came in on
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  Speaker 3: a platform of open and transparent government. They couldn't be
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  Speaker 3: further from the truth. They're arrogances that all time hires
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  Speaker 3: at the moment and just a Discraene.
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  Speaker 2: All right, let's move along, Leia, and you have slammed
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  Speaker 2: the government's budget, particularly the level of debt that the
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  Speaker 2: Northern Territory is in. You said yesterday the only way
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  Speaker 2: forward is to grow the population and our own source revenue.
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  Speaker 1: How would the opposition do that?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, we've been very critical of gouvernment and of course
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  Speaker 3: we've got a nine point one billion dollar debt. Now
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  Speaker 3: we borrow three point seven million dollars every day just
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  Speaker 3: to keep the lights on, and we're paying one point
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  Speaker 3: one five million dollars every single day on the interest
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  Speaker 3: on that debt, and that means we can't send money
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  Speaker 3: on other things. Hence the first home owner grant is
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  Speaker 3: on the chopping block because the government can't afford it anymore.
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  Speaker 3: We have said very clearly that cutting our way to
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  Speaker 3: save this budget is not the solution. Our economy is
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  Speaker 3: too fragile. But we do have an incredible opportunity to
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  Speaker 3: grow our economy and that's where the stuff that you
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  Speaker 3: can do with the stroke of a pen. It doesn't
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  Speaker 3: cost government anything to unleash the private sector and that's
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  Speaker 3: where all our policy focus is. Katie. The only thing
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  Speaker 3: we will cut is crime and everything else is about
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  Speaker 3: growing the economy.
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  Speaker 2: So also it's about sort of speeding up those policies,
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  Speaker 2: you know, just to give give us a bit more detail,
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  Speaker 2: is it about speeding those policies up?
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  Speaker 1: How would you change things that you know that they're doing.
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  Speaker 3: So we would have the Territory Coordinator in place, which
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  Speaker 3: we tried to do last sittings, which has a decision
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  Speaker 3: making powers to fast track and facilitate development. We would
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  Speaker 3: create the Approvals Fast Tracked Task Force, of course, slashing
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  Speaker 3: all approvals across government by fifty percent as a minimum.
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  Speaker 3: We believe people need to be able to spend their
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  Speaker 3: money faster, and that goes from big minds wanting to
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  Speaker 3: do mining projects to the mum and dad who want
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  Speaker 3: to set up a cafe. You know, any approvals you
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  Speaker 3: have to interface as a territorian. We want your experience
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  Speaker 3: to be with government to be as fast and efficient
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  Speaker 3: as possible. That allows people to spend their money faster.
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  Speaker 3: We also would give stronger powers to the buy local
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  Speaker 3: advocates so that that position has some real teeth and grit.
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  Speaker 3: We want to bring back the Local Advisory Procurement Panel,
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  Speaker 3: and all of our policies really are focused around unleashing
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  Speaker 3: the private sector, getting government working hand in hand with
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  Speaker 3: the private sector to achieve their aspirations. It's not the
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  Speaker 3: government who's going to bail us out of this and
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  Speaker 3: create jobs, it is the private sector. And here in
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  Speaker 3: the Tear we have the sore hill, we have the sun,
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  Speaker 3: we have the minerals, we have the rare earth, we
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  Speaker 3: have the gas, we have the water. We have the people,
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  Speaker 3: the culture and the can do attitude to get this done.
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  Speaker 3: We does have the wrong people in government who have
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  Speaker 3: no idea how to deliver le Let's.
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  Speaker 1: Move along to this bail legislation.
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  Speaker 2: Obviously, the proposal that you guys have put forward was
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  Speaker 2: voted down yesterday. We know that the government is going
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  Speaker 2: to introduce their own measures next week. They have sort
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  Speaker 2: of issued or sent out I guess you'd say some
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  Speaker 2: of that proposal to the public to be able to
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  Speaker 2: look at and comb through.
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  Speaker 1: Have you had much of an opportunity to look through
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  Speaker 1: that yet?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, we're going through it as we speak. Of course,
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  Speaker 3: the first time we got that legislation was yesterday, and
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  Speaker 3: it's quite complicated, I'll put it that way, and that
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  Speaker 3: sends alarm bells to me. When things are very layered
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  Speaker 3: and overlapped, it often means that the endpoint isn't a
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  Speaker 3: good one. But we'll certainly be looking at that. We've
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  Speaker 3: been very clear that we will support any legislation that
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  Speaker 3: puts victims not offenders first. So even though this legislation
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  Speaker 3: might not be as good as we hoped it would be,
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  Speaker 3: we were still supported even if it just goes a
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  Speaker 3: little bit further than where we already are. But you know,
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  Speaker 3: the government has been dragged, kicking and screaming to this debate.
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  Speaker 3: They gunned down our BAO bill last night. They wouldn't
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  Speaker 3: pass it two months ago when we had the opportunity
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  Speaker 3: to stop those repeat offenders. So the government's on the
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  Speaker 3: back foot right from the start on this one. I'm
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  Speaker 3: glad on behalf of every victim and every territory who's
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  Speaker 3: concerned about crime that finally they're doing this. But certainly
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  Speaker 3: their approach is a political one. This is a political
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  Speaker 3: issue for them, not a genuine issue that they're trying
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  Speaker 3: to fix something. It's very sad for the territory.
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  Speaker 2: Do you know, like they have said that there's going
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  Speaker 2: to be a change to you know, to some of
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  Speaker 2: those prescribed defenses, and that's going to be expanded. Do
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  Speaker 2: you have much detail from what you can see at
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  Speaker 2: this point in time as to how that's going to
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  Speaker 2: be expanded.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah.
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  Speaker 3: So what they've done is we had to when they
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  Speaker 3: create when they weakened laws two years ago, they created
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  Speaker 3: two types of offending a non prescribed and are prescribed now.
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  Speaker 3: That all sounds reboring, but it's basically two columns. One
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  Speaker 3: that's they perceived as less bad and one that they
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  Speaker 3: perceived as bad. Now. In the less bad column was
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  Speaker 3: horrific offenses like recklessly endangering serious harm, driving a motor
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  Speaker 3: vehicle causing death, hit and run, dangerous driving, like all
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  Speaker 3: these types of things which I think anybody on the
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  Speaker 3: street would have said, hmm, I think that's actually a
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  Speaker 3: really serious offense and should be in the prescribed list.
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  Speaker 3: So we've been banging on about this for more than
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  Speaker 3: two years, and finally they are moving some of those
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  Speaker 3: very serious offenses from the not so serious list into
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  Speaker 3: the serious list. So thank goodness for that, is all
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  Speaker 3: I can say. But again, the devil will be in
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  Speaker 3: the detail about how that's going to be implemented, because
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  Speaker 3: of course what attached to those two different columns was
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  Speaker 3: presumptions of bail or not, and so I need to
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  Speaker 3: look at the detail on that because how the law
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  Speaker 3: was is that if you did one of those non
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  Speaker 3: serious offenses, you had a presumption in favor of baal,
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  Speaker 3: and if you did a serious offense, you had a
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  Speaker 3: neutral presumption. So I need to look at whether or
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  Speaker 3: not that's changed. If it hasn't, then the government still
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  Speaker 3: doesn't understand what's really important when it comes to offending.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm going to be very interested to see where
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  Speaker 2: this all lands, as you know, as the government really well,
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  Speaker 2: i'd have to know now, and we've been banging on
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  Speaker 2: about it on this show for a long time. This
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  Speaker 2: issue of crime, particularly youth crime is one which has
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  Speaker 2: plagued a lot of Territorians for an awfully long time. Leah,
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  Speaker 2: it is going to be a juggle though for the government.
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  Speaker 2: You know, you've got indigenous groups and youth advocacy groups
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  Speaker 2: saying that this is a step backwards. What would you
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  Speaker 2: say to those groups.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, well, look, we haven't really received, you know, a
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  Speaker 3: lot of feedback on our bill. We've certainly received opposition
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  Speaker 3: to what the government is trying to propose. We really
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  Speaker 3: need to be putting the balance back in and this
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  Speaker 3: government just went way too far in protecting offenders and
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  Speaker 3: that is just not acceptable. The government's first responsibility is
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  Speaker 3: to keep people safe and yes, well no one wants
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  Speaker 3: to see young people in jail. We also have a
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  Speaker 3: responsibility to stop people being repeatedly victimized. And what we
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  Speaker 3: want to target is those repeat offenders. And the difference
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  Speaker 3: between us and Labor is our legislation targeted adults and use.
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  Speaker 3: There's only targets use. But in any event, if we
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  Speaker 3: know that fifty percent of all youth arrested last year
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  Speaker 3: were on bail when they were arrested, that is a
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  Speaker 3: big problem. If we know that seventy five percent of
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  Speaker 3: all people arrested by Strikeforce Viper were repeat offenders. Then
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  Speaker 3: it's very very clear where a problem is that needs
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  Speaker 3: to be fixed, and the law can fix that if
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  Speaker 3: the government has the will to do it, and that
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  Speaker 3: we won't hold back, we won't apologize for wanting to
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  Speaker 3: put victims not offenders first.
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  Speaker 2: Leah Finocchiaro, we are going to have to leave it there,
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  Speaker 2: Opposition leader.
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  Speaker 1: Good to speak with you this morning.
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  Speaker 2: Thanks so much for your time, and we'll see you
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  Speaker 2: tomorrow for the week that was, I'll be there.
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  Speaker 1: Thank you.