Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Katie Woolf spoke with Opposition Leader Lia Finocchiaro
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: Now joining me on the line right now is the
- 0:02Speaker 1: opposition leader Lea Fanocchiaro. Good morning to.
- 0:05Speaker 2: You, Good morning Katie, to your listeners. I'm actually calling
- 0:08Speaker 2: in live from the Dundee voting center. We are here
- 0:11Speaker 2: into ten forty five and so if you're in Dundee
- 0:14Speaker 2: and you're listening, come out. We're all here and back
- 0:16Speaker 2: for sivituries, for a strong opposition and a strong boy.
- 0:19Speaker 1: All right, Well, I know I'll always always happy to
- 0:22Speaker 1: hear where you are, Leah, but let's hold off on
- 0:24Speaker 1: the on the election slogans.
- 0:26Speaker 2: Now.
- 0:28Speaker 1: Firstly, I do want to actually ask you about a
- 0:30Speaker 1: situation that I've been made aware of this morning, which
- 0:33Speaker 1: saw a young boy and his little sister mugged at
- 0:35Speaker 1: a park in Palmerston earlier in the week. Now on Facebook,
- 0:38Speaker 1: a parent shared a post which read my son turned
- 0:41Speaker 1: fourteen today and decided to go to the park behind
- 0:44Speaker 1: us with his little sister and a school friend to
- 0:46Speaker 1: hang out. The post says a little scumbag decided he'd
- 0:50Speaker 1: hold a knife to this lady's son and his friend,
- 0:53Speaker 1: demanding their possessions. Now, according to the mum, her son
- 0:57Speaker 1: urged his sister to run home. The other kid then
- 1:01Speaker 1: stole the teen's necklace and hat. They got home and
- 1:04Speaker 1: as you'd imagine, they were pretty shaken and in tears. Leah,
- 1:08Speaker 1: has this been raised with you or your office at
- 1:11Speaker 1: this stage.
- 1:12Speaker 2: Yeah, I've certainly been made aware of it, Katie. And
- 1:15Speaker 2: isn't it just horrific? I mean, what kind of place
- 1:18Speaker 2: have we come to live in where our children can't
- 1:20Speaker 2: even go to the park? You know, it's just disgusting
- 1:24Speaker 2: and holds back to this government being stopped on crime,
- 1:27Speaker 2: not dealing with the issues we've got in the community,
- 1:29Speaker 2: not listening to the voice of victims and territory and
- 1:31Speaker 2: through number one concern is community safety. And in the meantime,
- 1:35Speaker 2: the government are just bearing its head on the zand
- 1:37Speaker 2: on this issue and pretending like they're making laws that
- 1:40Speaker 2: are dealing with it when they're absolutely not.
- 1:42Speaker 1: Leah, is there a problem, Well, let's just talk about
- 1:45Speaker 1: Palmerston to begin with. Is there a problem in Palmerston
- 1:47Speaker 1: at the moment? Is this a one off or is
- 1:49Speaker 1: this something that you've heard, you know, a situation similar before.
- 1:54Speaker 2: No, I mean we're hearing more and more about it.
- 1:56Speaker 2: Of course, there's been a state of these type of
- 1:58Speaker 2: violent attacks in Agarina, we hear about them in Palmerstan.
- 2:02Speaker 2: People are being broken into every single day of court.
- 2:05Speaker 2: Businesses are being repeatedly attacked. It's just not okay. You know,
- 2:10Speaker 2: people need to be able to live their life freely
- 2:13Speaker 2: and in safety. And that's what the government's job is.
- 2:16Speaker 2: It's to support our police, resource them as they're needed,
- 2:19Speaker 2: have strong enough laws to ensure that people who do
- 2:22Speaker 2: crime do face those consequences. You know, this is not okay,
- 2:26Speaker 2: and I'd love to know what happens to these perpetrators
- 2:30Speaker 2: when they're caught and put through the gunner government's weak system.
- 2:33Speaker 2: I'd love to know what the end result is for
- 2:36Speaker 2: these people who've done this horrendous crime on these young kids.
- 2:39Speaker 1: Leah, I'm being told by some parents of teenagers that
- 2:43Speaker 1: it's become fairly common knowledge that there is a small
- 2:47Speaker 1: group of young people out there getting around with knives.
- 2:50Speaker 1: So essentially, you know the other kids well as if
- 2:53Speaker 1: you know, you wouldn't want to stand up to the
- 2:55Speaker 1: to the to the ones with knives because you'd be
- 2:57Speaker 1: worried about what the outcome could Again, I'll ask, is
- 3:02Speaker 1: this something that's been raised with you in your office?
- 3:05Speaker 2: Yeah? Absolutely, and you know what's been happening, Katie. This
- 3:07Speaker 2: has actually been happening for a long time. We will
- 3:09Speaker 2: remember a couple of years ago when complete angler got
- 3:11Speaker 2: broken into and about fifty knives of various sizes were stolen,
- 3:16Speaker 2: and of course we heard back then that those knives
- 3:19Speaker 2: obviously all went out into the community. So we've got
- 3:22Speaker 2: young people running sophisticated criminal operations here. You just look
- 3:25Speaker 2: at the CCTV, I mean recently, celebrations and Zacoli was
- 3:29Speaker 2: done for a second time. They basically only just replaced
- 3:32Speaker 2: their glass from the first time. And you can see
- 3:35Speaker 2: that these offenders, they've got gloves on, they've got masks on,
- 3:38Speaker 2: They're organized. Is premeditated, pre planned. And the fact that
- 3:42Speaker 2: we've got this situation now we're in our community, there
- 3:45Speaker 2: are people walking around with knives and weapons and ready
- 3:48Speaker 2: to use them on children as young as this fourteen
- 3:51Speaker 2: year old in the park the other day. I mean
- 3:53Speaker 2: it's terrifying as a parent myself. I mean, my kids
- 3:56Speaker 2: aren't old enough to go to the post on their
- 3:57Speaker 2: own yet, Katie. But I think parents and peace people
- 4:00Speaker 2: out there are just thinking, what are we supposed to do?
- 4:03Speaker 2: Do we have to lock ourselves in our home, barricade
- 4:05Speaker 2: ourselves in our businesses. Like when is the government going
- 4:08Speaker 2: to crack down on this and crack down on at
- 4:10Speaker 2: heard Leah.
- 4:11Speaker 1: I mean some people out there listening will be thinking, okay,
- 4:14Speaker 1: it's just that we can see everything on social media now.
- 4:16Speaker 1: The opposition is beating this up to try and make
- 4:19Speaker 1: it a political issue. Is that what you're doing?
- 4:22Speaker 2: Oh? Absolutely not. You know, I can't go a day
- 4:25Speaker 2: without hearing some issue about crime in our community. Of
- 4:29Speaker 2: course we're seeing over and over again. Just yesterday there
- 4:31Speaker 2: was police were even reporting more arrests of people preaching
- 4:35Speaker 2: their bail. You know, this issue of repeat offending and
- 4:37Speaker 2: breach of bail is a big one. The government came
- 4:39Speaker 2: into parliament past laws that barely make any difference, and
- 4:44Speaker 2: they just don't crack down on that repeat offending enough.
- 4:46Speaker 2: And if you're out on bail and continuing to offend
- 4:49Speaker 2: while you're on bail, you should not be allowed back
- 4:52Speaker 2: out into the community. And that should be the position.
- 4:55Speaker 2: You know, bail is a privilege and if you're going
- 4:57Speaker 2: to continue to repeat offend whilst I'm bail, then the
- 5:00Speaker 2: community expectation is that that person is not allowed out
- 5:04Speaker 2: in the community. But labor don't see it this way.
- 5:07Speaker 2: They don't want to talk about it because they're failing
- 5:09Speaker 2: in this regard and they're not prepared to do anything differently.
- 5:12Speaker 2: We've tried to bring our own laws, Katie into the parliament.
- 5:15Speaker 2: Government voted those down. We're doing everything we can to
- 5:18Speaker 2: be the voice of victim and the voice of people
- 5:20Speaker 2: concerned about crime. But at the end of the day,
- 5:23Speaker 2: this government needs to wake up and smell the roses
- 5:25Speaker 2: because people are suffering out there and they will continue
- 5:27Speaker 2: to suffer while this government of offenders right above the
- 5:30Speaker 2: right to victim Lea.
- 5:32Speaker 1: I do want to ask about these bus assaults or
- 5:35Speaker 1: the situation on our buses at the moment. I know
- 5:37Speaker 1: that the Opposition has obviously written a number of questions
- 5:41Speaker 1: to the government. Those written questions and they've come back
- 5:44Speaker 1: with a response seven six hundred and fifty anti social
- 5:47Speaker 1: incidents on the public transport network. I believe that that's
- 5:51Speaker 1: over a bit over well from the first of July
- 5:54Speaker 1: twenty twenty until the thirty first of May twenty twenty one.
- 5:58Speaker 1: What other information did you obtain for these questions that
- 6:00Speaker 1: you'd put to government.
- 6:03Speaker 2: Well, we've put We obviously asked thousands of questions during
- 6:06Speaker 2: estimates and then subsequent to that, and to get the
- 6:09Speaker 2: result that over seven thousand assaults on buses had taken
- 6:12Speaker 2: place just shows how little action this government's having. Of course,
- 6:16Speaker 2: we've got our really hard working bus staff, we've got
- 6:19Speaker 2: the Public Transport Safety offices, but their hands are tired
- 6:22Speaker 2: as well. You know, if we don't have a strong
- 6:24Speaker 2: legislative framework that means if you are committing offenses whilst
- 6:27Speaker 2: on public transport, you're being dealt with in the harshest
- 6:30Speaker 2: possible term. Then this will keep happening and it's just
- 6:33Speaker 2: going to drive people away from using the service. It's
- 6:36Speaker 2: going to drive people to not want to engage anymore.
- 6:40Speaker 2: And it's not okay like we're having to change our
- 6:43Speaker 2: entire way of life to avoid becoming victims of crime.
- 6:47Speaker 2: And we've certainly asked a number more questions, Katie, going
- 6:50Speaker 2: to your point around how the governments about our laws
- 6:54Speaker 2: are working. We got told a few months ago by
- 6:56Speaker 2: the Territory Families Minister that we'd have to wait eighteen
- 6:59Speaker 2: months to see they're working. Well, I suggest you just
- 7:02Speaker 2: look at what the police are putting out and every
- 7:04Speaker 2: time someone's been arrested whilst on bail equal the failure
- 7:08Speaker 2: of those laws. So we're waiting for those answers to
- 7:10Speaker 2: come back, and we'll keep asking the questions that are
- 7:12Speaker 2: important to people and holding this government to account because
- 7:15Speaker 2: it's shocking. I mean, seven and a half of one
- 7:17Speaker 2: thousand assaults in that length of period is just I mean,
- 7:21Speaker 2: it's mind boggling.
- 7:22Speaker 1: Leah, I have just received a message from one of
- 7:24Speaker 1: our listeners that says, good morning Katie. I think Lea
- 7:26Speaker 1: is making this a political issue. What's the opposition going
- 7:29Speaker 1: to do instead of just blaming the Gunner Party.
- 7:33Speaker 2: Well, the gun and Government are the government, so when
- 7:35Speaker 2: we go into Parliament, they have the numbers. They're the
- 7:37Speaker 2: ones who vote things in or vote things down. We've
- 7:40Speaker 2: actually put up our own legislation that says we should
- 7:43Speaker 2: bring back breach of bail condition as an offense. We
- 7:46Speaker 2: think that if you're out on bound and you breach
- 7:48Speaker 2: that bail, then the conditions around that that you should
- 7:51Speaker 2: be able to be charged. The government voted that down.
- 7:54Speaker 2: We said that if you're a repeat offender, you should
- 7:57Speaker 2: no longer be bailed. That you know, you might get
- 7:59Speaker 2: one chance, but anything after that you should be reminded
- 8:02Speaker 2: in custodies so that the community is safe. These are
- 8:05Speaker 2: all the types of things we've been proactive about. But
- 8:08Speaker 2: at the end of the day, if you've got a
- 8:09Speaker 2: government who wants to shut down democracy by canceling parliament
- 8:13Speaker 2: and shut down legislation, then all we can do is
- 8:16Speaker 2: continue to lead lob pressure on government to be better.
- 8:20Speaker 2: But an area is a completely switched off on this one.
- 8:23Speaker 2: Their heads in the ground. But nothing is going to
- 8:25Speaker 2: stop us from putting the rights of victim above the
- 8:28Speaker 2: right to offenders.
- 8:28Speaker 1: Look, we'll talk about Parliament in just a moment. Before
- 8:31Speaker 1: we get there, though we know the federal government has
- 8:33Speaker 1: released that vaccine data for the first time. It broke
- 8:36Speaker 1: down the rates of vaccination in various suburbs and regions
- 8:39Speaker 1: around the Northern Territory. It showed more than eighty one
- 8:42Speaker 1: percent of people living in Darwin's inner suburbs have had
- 8:45Speaker 1: their first vaccine dose, but less than thirty percent of
- 8:49Speaker 1: those living in remote areas across the well the likes
- 8:51Speaker 1: of the Barkley Daily, Tiwi and West Arnham regions have
- 8:56Speaker 1: had a single single dose of the vaccines and less
- 8:59Speaker 1: than thirty Now we spoke to the Health Minister about
- 9:02Speaker 1: this yesterday, she gave us quite different figures. The Chief Minister,
- 9:06Speaker 1: Michael Gunner, has reportedly gone a step further, and, according
- 9:09Speaker 1: to the NT News, Well launched into a war of
- 9:12Speaker 1: words against the federal government over what he sees is
- 9:16Speaker 1: flat out wrong vaccine rollout data. Do you think that
- 9:20Speaker 1: we should have a situation here with this data where
- 9:22Speaker 1: we're not actually relying on that medicare those Medicare addresses
- 9:26Speaker 1: and we're actually talking about those who step in and
- 9:30Speaker 1: we're counting it through the COVID clinics.
- 9:33Speaker 2: Well, I think what we need is consistency, and I
- 9:35Speaker 2: would not put it past the Gunner government to be
- 9:38Speaker 2: budging the numbers on this one. Katie, I mean, it
- 9:40Speaker 2: raises a question for me about government wanting to count
- 9:43Speaker 2: locations of where the vaccine is given. But let's not
- 9:46Speaker 2: forget we've had a lot of tourists coming through and
- 9:48Speaker 2: accessing vaccines for territory, and so the Gunner government probably
- 9:52Speaker 2: aren't really keen to count the location. For example, in Catherine,
- 9:56Speaker 2: I know a lot of people who receive the jabbing
- 9:59Speaker 2: Catherine are not te Ritorium, and that's a pretty big
- 10:01Speaker 2: callot in that number.
- 10:03Speaker 1: It's a pretty big call to say that they're fudging
- 10:05Speaker 1: the numbers.
- 10:06Speaker 2: Well, what I'm saying is, and by their own admission,
- 10:09Speaker 2: they're saying that they want the numbers counted in locations.
- 10:11Speaker 2: For example, if ten thousand jobs have been given encounterance,
- 10:15Speaker 2: they want that to be the figure. But if two
- 10:17Speaker 2: thousand of those people are tourists, should that number be counted?
- 10:21Speaker 2: And I think that's where greater transparency around this issue
- 10:24Speaker 2: needs to be. People are being told one thing by
- 10:26Speaker 2: the federal government, one thing by the government, and they
- 10:30Speaker 2: don't match up. So somewhere in between their lives the truth.
- 10:33Speaker 1: How I mean, how important do you think it is
- 10:35Speaker 1: that we get this vaccination rate up. I mean, I've
- 10:38Speaker 1: spoken to the Chief Minister on Monday. He said that
- 10:40Speaker 1: we're still going to be going through lockdown, so we're
- 10:42Speaker 1: still going to obviously be in the situation that we're
- 10:45Speaker 1: in until those vaccination rates right across the board are
- 10:49Speaker 1: up to eighty percent. But then we've learned over the
- 10:51Speaker 1: last couple of days that you know, we're not even
- 10:54Speaker 1: close in some of our remote communities. I know it's
- 10:56Speaker 1: a tough one and there's still vaccine hesitancy out there.
- 10:59Speaker 1: But the reality of it is, if we're going to
- 11:01Speaker 1: open up, we've got to make sure that this vaccine
- 11:03Speaker 1: is rolling out to every remote and regional area around
- 11:07Speaker 1: the territory. How concerned are you that at the moment
- 11:12Speaker 1: those rates are fairly low in some locations.
- 11:15Speaker 2: Yeah, they are, Katie, We're really concerned. Of course. We're
- 11:18Speaker 2: doing everything we can to encourage people and spread the
- 11:21Speaker 2: word about the vaccine. We've pushed government to enhance its
- 11:24Speaker 2: COVID vaccine portal so that it's much easier for people
- 11:27Speaker 2: to get the vaccine. We think you should just go
- 11:29Speaker 2: to one spot, be able to make a booking and
- 11:33Speaker 2: off you go. You know that access to a vaccine
- 11:35Speaker 2: is really important. The education in the community right across
- 11:38Speaker 2: the territory is critical, particularly for those who might still
- 11:42Speaker 2: be a little bit concerned. But you know, our numbers
- 11:44Speaker 2: are still really low. We really need people to get
- 11:47Speaker 2: on board and that means there needs to be a
- 11:49Speaker 2: lot of community confidence and certainly as an opposition, we're
- 11:52Speaker 2: doing everything we can to reinforce and spread the word
- 11:55Speaker 2: that the best vaccine is the best way to protect yourself,
- 11:58Speaker 2: your family and your community.
- 12:00Speaker 1: Earlier in the week the Chief Minister was on the show,
- 12:02Speaker 1: we asked him about whether those parliamentary sitting dates are
- 12:05Speaker 1: going to be rescheduled. Take a listen to what he
- 12:07Speaker 1: had to say.
- 12:08Speaker 3: Well, we've got sittings at September, October, November and December.
- 12:11Speaker 3: We can get done in the days we've got left.
- 12:13Speaker 1: So is that because you didn't have, from the government's
- 12:15Speaker 1: perspective much to actually present in parliament last time you're sat.
- 12:19Speaker 2: No.
- 12:19Speaker 3: No, I think we just manage our workload. So it
- 12:21Speaker 3: might mean working a couple of late nights, but we
- 12:23Speaker 3: can do it.
- 12:23Speaker 1: So you'd prefer to do those longer nights rather than
- 12:26Speaker 1: actually reschedule those days.
- 12:28Speaker 3: Well, if it is longer nights, I'm just saying we
- 12:29Speaker 3: can do longer nights, but we can get the work done.
- 12:31Speaker 1: Can you understand, though, how some people might think that's
- 12:33Speaker 1: a bit rich, given the fact that then you shut
- 12:35Speaker 1: down that discussion obviously when the center motion was put
- 12:37Speaker 1: forward on the grandstand, for example, I know there's still
- 12:40Speaker 1: lots of people in the community who feel that these
- 12:42Speaker 1: questions that need to be answered in that space.
- 12:44Speaker 3: I have answered a lot of questions on the Grandstand
- 12:46Speaker 3: and we don't have to agree with the oppition on
- 12:48Speaker 3: center motions. They're saying we're bad, we say we're good,
- 12:50Speaker 3: we will move on.
- 12:51Speaker 1: It's pretty extraordinary, though, to shut down a center motion,
- 12:53Speaker 1: isn't it.
- 12:53Speaker 3: No, that's pretty regular really, yeah, under the lass I've
- 12:57Speaker 3: been in Parliament for what fourteen to fifteen years? Center
- 12:59Speaker 3: e motions get shut down?
- 13:00Speaker 1: Oh yeah, but not very often.
- 13:02Speaker 3: I wouldn't. I wouldn'tcessarily agree with that.
- 13:04Speaker 1: Honestly, I would say not very often. I know when
- 13:06Speaker 1: the COLP was in power, it didn't happen very often.
- 13:09Speaker 3: Okay, I know I disagree. We don't fail complete accepts
- 13:14Speaker 3: into emotions.
- 13:15Speaker 1: A bit of awkward radio. I think you'd have to say, there,
- 13:18Speaker 1: Leah with those questions. But it doesn't look as though
- 13:20Speaker 1: those days are going to be made up.
- 13:23Speaker 2: I mean, how arrogant is this chief minis at number one?
- 13:25Speaker 2: It is extraordinary to shut down bench emotions And the
- 13:28Speaker 2: reason he shut it down is because he didn't want
- 13:29Speaker 2: to face the music. We are solidly questioned. We put
- 13:34Speaker 2: up debates. People want to know why he took a
- 13:36Speaker 2: twelve million dollar deal under his arm into cabinet without
- 13:39Speaker 2: following proper process. People want to know why crime is
- 13:42Speaker 2: out of control and what it is they're doing about it.
- 13:44Speaker 2: And these guys just duck and hide for cover at
- 13:47Speaker 2: every chance they can get. You know, it's not about
- 13:50Speaker 2: working extra night on extra nights. The opposition of independent
- 13:54Speaker 2: members only have so many opportunities to scrutinize government in Parliament.
- 13:58Speaker 2: And the reason Government I will not put these three
- 14:01Speaker 2: days back into the schedule is because I don't want
- 14:04Speaker 2: to face three days of question time and a barrage
- 14:07Speaker 2: from us about all of their failure.
- 14:08Speaker 1: So, Lenda, what was from your perspective, From your perspective,
- 14:12Speaker 1: what was going to be on the agenda for those
- 14:14Speaker 1: three days? And if these three days were to be
- 14:16Speaker 1: made up, what was the opposition planning on focusing on?
- 14:20Speaker 2: Yeah, and it's not just us, can I really stress,
- 14:23Speaker 2: it's Yina Gayola, it's Kesier Purity, it's Robin Lanley. These
- 14:27Speaker 2: are their opportunities to represent their community as well. And
- 14:30Speaker 2: it's not about sitting late. It's about having the extra
- 14:32Speaker 2: question time and the opportunities for debate. So for us
- 14:35Speaker 2: on the agenda, we had emergency shelters, a debate around
- 14:38Speaker 2: emergency shelters, which is very topical and critical at this
- 14:41Speaker 2: time of year. Of course they're going into cyclone season
- 14:44Speaker 2: and particularly people you know, I'm out here at Dundee.
- 14:46Speaker 2: Doesn't matter where you are, if you're in the bush,
- 14:48Speaker 2: this is a front of mind issue. Of course. Crime,
- 14:51Speaker 2: we've got heaps of questions around police resourcing, around the
- 14:55Speaker 2: numbers of people breaching their bail, around people committing crimes,
- 14:59Speaker 2: about youth crime, all of those types of figures. Of course,
- 15:02Speaker 2: we've got questions around road spending, about health spending. Of
- 15:06Speaker 2: course we've had a Code yellow and a COVID lockdown,
- 15:09Speaker 2: so there's a lot of concern in the community about
- 15:11Speaker 2: ROLDO and hospital and how it's tracking. I mean, these
- 15:14Speaker 2: are just some of the issues we were going to raise,
- 15:16Speaker 2: let alone the issues that the independence were raised. And
- 15:19Speaker 2: we only sit in Parliament about thirty days a year, Katie,
- 15:22Speaker 2: So for the governments just get rid of ten percent
- 15:24Speaker 2: of our total sitting date just shows how much they
- 15:28Speaker 2: are willing to destroy our democracy to save their own skin.
- 15:32Speaker 2: And they've gotten just because they've got no business. Fine,
- 15:35Speaker 2: doesn't mean we don't have business. We're ready to rock
- 15:36Speaker 2: and roll, we're ready to go, we're ready to fight,
- 15:39Speaker 2: and they need to stump up and start defending their failures.
- 15:41Speaker 1: Well Leaf Andochiro, the opposition leader. Always good to catch
- 15:45Speaker 1: up with you. Thank you so much for your time
- 15:46Speaker 1: this morning.
- 15:48Speaker 2: Thank you Katie, take care everyone.
- 15:49Speaker 1: Thank you,