Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Opposition Leader Lia Finnochiaro talks tourism support and the proposed Darwin to London flight on 360 with Katie Woolf

Transcript

Opposition Leader Lia Finnochiaro talks tourism support and the proposed Darwin to London flight on 360 with Katie Woolf · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Joining me on the line right now is the Opposition
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: leader Leah finocchi A. Oh good morning to you, Leah.
• 0:05
  Speaker 2: Good morning Katie and to your listeners Lea.
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: We know that today is such an important day in
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: terms of remembering those police officers that we've lost, but
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: it's also I see there is bipartisan support obviously to
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: light up Parliament House, to mark well, to market blue,
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: make it blue. I guess for the National Police Remembrance Day.
• 0:26
  Speaker 2: Without question, and today is National Police Remembrance Day, and
• 0:29
  Speaker 2: of course it's a time to pay our respects to
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: foreign police officers and also thank our current serving police.
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: You know, they go to work every single day and
• 0:38
  Speaker 2: put their lives on the line to protect Territtorians and
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: their families pay a huge price for that. So it's
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: a very somber day. And I was very proud to
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: have been able to pledge my support to anti police
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: at the Police Association conference around lining up Parliament House blue,
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: I wrote to the Speaker, And of course the Legislative
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: Assembly is making sure that Parliament hos is lit up
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: and it would be a beautiful and touching reminder.
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it really will be, and I think it's such
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: an important thing for us to do and to make
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: sure that our officers know how much we respect that
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: hard work that they do and that we understand that
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: they do put themselves in very dangerous situations each and
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: every day. And I like the fact that there is
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: this bipartisan support for this. It's a no brainer, really.
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely, without question. It's just the right thing to do,
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: and I really hope that police and their families find
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: it a fitting tribute. It will look absolutely spectacular, and
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: I think it's just one of those nice, important, you know,
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  Speaker 2: signifize and those reminders to each and every one of us.
• 1:43
  Speaker 2: You know, people will go past and perhaps not realize
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: the significance of the day, and they'll see the blue
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: and they'll ask questions and it will then filter through
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: the community how important this is. But you know, our
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: police are doing more with less, Katie. We've got serious
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: crime issues across the territory and so at a time
• 1:59
  Speaker 2: when they're doing it really tough, you know, it's really
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: important that the territory community wraps around them. And you know,
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  Speaker 2: I'm proud to be an Alice Springs today to show
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  Speaker 2: my support to police down here in attendor service this morning.
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: And Leah, we'll talk more about your trip to Alis
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: in just a moment, but I do want to know, well,
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: one thing that the government and the opposition don't seem
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: to be an agreement or bipartisan support on is this
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: mandatory vaccination stance. Firstly, do you know if there's going
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: to be a rescheduling of that meeting and are you
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: going to be able to meet with the chow to
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: get the information that you say that you need.
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: Yes, So we've been asking for a briefing since the
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: Chief Minister's announcement on the fifteenth of September, which is
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: a long long time ago. Now we don't want a
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: briefing from the Chief Minister on his policy position. We
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: want to hear the best health advice from doctor Hegey
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: or the Deputy Chief Health Officer. Yesterday afternoon we will
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: finally receive confirmation from the Health Minister that we would
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: be able to meet with the Deputy Chief Health Officer
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: and so Billian, our Shadow Minister for Health, will be
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: meeting with the Deputy Chief Health Officer today.
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: So meeting with the Deputy Chief Health Officer today and
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: is that going to then really help you to form
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: your opinion or form your stance when it comes to
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: mandatory vaccinations.
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: Yeah, without question. You know, it's a really big policy change.
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  Speaker 2: Of course, we've been very very much pushing the message
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  Speaker 2: show whole opposition team, our staff, our friends, and our
• 3:31
  Speaker 2: family are vaccinated and we want every territory to get
• 3:34
  Speaker 2: the job. So this is a it's absolutely an important
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  Speaker 2: message for us that people go and get vaccinated. It's
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  Speaker 2: the best way we know to protect yourself, your family
• 3:43
  Speaker 2: and the community. But really on such a huge policy
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  Speaker 2: change that it's going to impact a lot of people,
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  Speaker 2: and it's been a very divisive issue in the community.
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  Speaker 2: Some people are very upset, some people are thrilled, and
• 3:54
  Speaker 2: so we're being very respectful of all of those, you know,
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  Speaker 2: divergences of views. Want to get the best health advice
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  Speaker 2: and we think as an opposition it's really important to
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  Speaker 2: hear from the chief Health Officer. In this case, we're
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  Speaker 2: going to be able to hear from the Deputy Chief
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  Speaker 2: Health Officer.
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  Speaker 1: Leah, was it a bit petty of the colp to
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  Speaker 1: not attend that briefing last week though we see with
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  Speaker 1: the head of the Health department.
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  Speaker 2: Oh, absolutely not. We asked on the fifteenth of September
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  Speaker 2: for a meeting with the Chief Health Officer. The government
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  Speaker 2: then scheduled a meeting with some bureaucrats, which is great,
• 4:27
  Speaker 2: but not what we were after we repeatedly asked, could
• 4:30
  Speaker 2: we meet with the Chief Health officer. We want the
• 4:32
  Speaker 2: health advice, not the policy advice. And so when that
• 4:35
  Speaker 2: was not forthcoming, we said, well, let's not waste anybody's
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  Speaker 2: time with a meeting we didn't call and we don't
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  Speaker 2: need We'll wait for a meeting with the Chief Health Officer.
• 4:43
  Speaker 2: And so finally that meeting with the Deputy Chief Health officers.
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  Speaker 1: Today And so how soon will territorians then know whether
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: you do or do not support mandatory vaccination?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, well, you know, I guess over the coming days.
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  Speaker 2: We'll discuss it as a team. It obviously depends what
• 4:58
  Speaker 2: happens in that eating today as well, Katie. So you know,
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  Speaker 2: what territories can rest assured is that we want everyone
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  Speaker 2: to get the job, you know, particularly if you are
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  Speaker 2: dealing with vulnerable people, you know, children, working in remote communities,
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  Speaker 2: all of those things. We've been calling for the government
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  Speaker 2: to put more effort into the vaccine roll out right
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  Speaker 2: from the start, and I think it's really interesting, Katie.
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  Speaker 2: You know, as early as May I was talking about
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  Speaker 2: the low vaccination rates in remote community after a trip
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  Speaker 2: I did to the Central Desert, and at that time, government,
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  Speaker 2: you know, trying to shut me down and say I
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  Speaker 2: was being ridiculous. But here we are, many months in May,
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  Speaker 2: and the vaccine rollout in the bush is nowhere near
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  Speaker 2: where it should be. And I just think, you know,
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  Speaker 2: this government have used COVID as a shield for a
• 5:43
  Speaker 2: lot of things, but the vaccine rollout has not been
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  Speaker 2: attended to as good as it should have been, and
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  Speaker 2: now we're sort of playing catch up to make sure
• 5:51
  Speaker 2: people are vaccinated. And what we really need to know
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  Speaker 2: and what we'll be asking in this briefing, of course,
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  Speaker 2: is that this eighty percent that the Achievement of is
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: talking about, we want to make sure that's eighty percent
• 6:02
  Speaker 2: of Territorians, not just eighty percent jobs delivered in the territory.
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  Speaker 2: And there's a big difference. Of course, any job that's
• 6:09
  Speaker 2: counting the territory will include five fos and tourists. And
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  Speaker 2: we know a lot of turists have been coming through
• 6:14
  Speaker 2: getting the job whilst they've been in the territory over
• 6:17
  Speaker 2: the dry season. So we need to make sure and
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  Speaker 2: we will be asking the Deputy Chief Health Officer whether
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  Speaker 2: the data, you know, when we get to this magical
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  Speaker 2: line of eighty percent, is going to be eighty percent
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  Speaker 2: of territory.
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  Speaker 1: Well, I thought though that we had determined through those
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: federal numbers that they're linked to the Medicare card.
• 6:36
  Speaker 2: Well, the federal numbers are linked to the Medicare card,
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  Speaker 2: but the territory government numbers are just jobs delivered in
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  Speaker 2: the territory. So there's a big difference, and that's why
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  Speaker 2: the Commonwealth numbers are lower because there's based on people
• 6:48
  Speaker 2: who live here and we know when we spoke, we
• 6:51
  Speaker 2: heard in the media from the Parmesan super Clinic they
• 6:54
  Speaker 2: twenty percent of all of their job they're delivered to
• 6:56
  Speaker 2: people who don't live inside the territory. So there's a
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  Speaker 2: big deparity between the way the Gunner government counts jabs
• 7:02
  Speaker 2: in arms and the way the Commonwealth do. And that's
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  Speaker 2: why we as an opposition need to be better informed
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  Speaker 2: by the Deputy Chief Health Officer around how they are
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  Speaker 2: counting jabs in arms because since we hit an eighty
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  Speaker 2: percent target, but we're including tourists in that number, it
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  Speaker 2: means it isn't eighty percent of territory, it's for vaccinated,
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  Speaker 2: so well, we want to get the facts from the
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  Speaker 2: horses now well.
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  Speaker 1: And I think at the end of the day, we've
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  Speaker 1: reached a point now where people just want to know
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  Speaker 1: what is going to happen exactly when we get to
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  Speaker 1: the eighty percent mark. We spoke to Tourism Central Australia's
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: Daniel Rochford earlier this week. Can I tell you what
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: they're doing? It very tough there at the moment. Take
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: a listen to what he had to say to us
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  Speaker 1: a little bit earlier in the week. Daniel, how many
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: businesses are you talking about here that have either gone
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: into hibernation or have been forced to shut up shop.
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  Speaker 3: We're working very closely with thirty businesses at the moment.
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  Speaker 3: We're just working through what the statistics look like, but
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  Speaker 3: certainly we're seeing a significant number of business is facing
• 8:00
  Speaker 3: a massive hardship. The latest round of the Tourism Survival
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  Speaker 3: Fund this is as of last week, has seen around
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  Speaker 3: about twenty to thirty operators apply for that director funding
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  Speaker 3: support of between five and thirty thousand. Those thirty operators
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  Speaker 3: are the ones that we're particularly worried about and we're
• 8:23
  Speaker 3: working with them almost on a daily basis. The funding
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  Speaker 3: support that was announced recently was welcomed, but that only
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  Speaker 3: was a short term fix. We really need to get
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  Speaker 3: support to get us to the other side. And I've
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  Speaker 3: been calling for funding for months now. I'm not calling
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  Speaker 3: for it, we're begging for it. It's got to that extent, Katie,
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  Speaker 3: where our industry is on its knees.
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  Speaker 1: Leah, I know that obviously you are in Central Australia
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  Speaker 1: at the moment. Have you had the opportunity to catch
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: up with tourism Central Australia and what needs to happen here. Yes.
• 8:58
  Speaker 2: I caught up with Daniel and Patrick yesterday and they're
• 9:01
  Speaker 2: hugely concerned. Of course the Gunner government having now it's
• 9:04
  Speaker 2: a couple of buckets of funding, which is welcome, but
• 9:07
  Speaker 2: it just doesn't have the impact down here like it
• 9:09
  Speaker 2: does in the top end. And I think what we've
• 9:11
  Speaker 2: got is a cookie cutter approach Central Australia. And I'm
• 9:15
  Speaker 2: sure the barklay is well, Katie. Need need a tailored solution.
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  Speaker 2: So the impact is just so different down here than
• 9:23
  Speaker 2: it is in Dawn and surrounding areas, So that bucket
• 9:25
  Speaker 2: of money that they've allocated, for example, for the tourism vouchers.
• 9:29
  Speaker 2: We know that in Central Australia only about ten percent
• 9:32
  Speaker 2: of vouchers are used down here, which is an extraordinarily
• 9:35
  Speaker 2: low amount. And in terms of that survival funding, what
• 9:39
  Speaker 2: really needs to happen is that a portion of the
• 9:42
  Speaker 2: total is carved off to Central Australia and then that
• 9:45
  Speaker 2: can be distributed in a way that's genuinely going to
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  Speaker 2: help businesses survive LEA.
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: Does it just come down to territory funding goal or
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: do we realistically need the federal government to step in
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: here and help out with those businesses you know that
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: are struggling through because other states are closing off their
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: borders and we know why obviously they are riddled with
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: COVID at this point in time. But do you reckon
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: the federal government needs to step in here?
• 10:09
  Speaker 2: Well, I think the federal government has changed its rules
• 10:12
  Speaker 2: around when you go into lockdown. Then they're doing that
• 10:14
  Speaker 2: top up funding, which is fantastic, and we saw that
• 10:17
  Speaker 2: last lockdown. But I guess what I'm talking about is
• 10:20
  Speaker 2: that this is money the government's already allocated. So the
• 10:22
  Speaker 2: government have done the right thing. They've put a bucket
• 10:25
  Speaker 2: of money aside, but what they haven't done is worked
• 10:28
  Speaker 2: out whether or not that's working for everyone. So something
• 10:30
  Speaker 2: that's working in Darwin is just not working down here,
• 10:33
  Speaker 2: and so I think what we need to be doing
• 10:35
  Speaker 2: is having closer look at how that money can be
• 10:38
  Speaker 2: better distributed. Because if we've got ten million dollars, for example,
• 10:42
  Speaker 2: for tourism vouchers, and only ten percent of that is
• 10:45
  Speaker 2: being spent in Central Australia, and we've got a huge
• 10:47
  Speaker 2: problem that virtually all of that money then is bolstering
• 10:50
  Speaker 2: the top end. So we need to be looking at
• 10:52
  Speaker 2: carving off money separately for Central Australia and working out
• 10:56
  Speaker 2: different innovative ways that that's going to support the industry
• 10:59
  Speaker 2: down here.
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: Yeah, we are running out of time, But obviously earlier
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: in the week we discussed more about these Quantus flights.
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: We know that Quantus is seriously considering that Darwin London route.
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: It's not the first time that we've heard about it,
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: but that discussion really heated up yesterday when we learned
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: that person's definitely been crossed off the list. Do you
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: think that we're going to be able to do what's
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: required here to be able to make those flights happen.
• 11:26
  Speaker 2: Well, I think it's really exciting news. I mean it's
• 11:28
  Speaker 2: just unimaginable really that they'd be a direct flight from
• 11:31
  Speaker 2: Darwin to London, and certainly long term Terria to residents
• 11:35
  Speaker 2: will be very familiar with airline services making all sorts
• 11:38
  Speaker 2: of promises and coming and going. But you know, this
• 11:40
  Speaker 2: is great news, But I guess it's complicated. We obviously
• 11:43
  Speaker 2: don't have the population in the territory to be able
• 11:46
  Speaker 2: to sustain London flights direct from our own base, which
• 11:50
  Speaker 2: means we've got to be a conduit for the rest
• 11:52
  Speaker 2: of the nation. And if Victoria and New South Wales
• 11:54
  Speaker 2: and those other big jurisdictions are locked out and require
• 11:58
  Speaker 2: fourteen days are not allowed in at all, the territory
• 12:02
  Speaker 2: government is going to have to work out some sort
• 12:04
  Speaker 2: of I don't know, I mean, I just don't know
• 12:06
  Speaker 2: how under the current regime it's going to be physically possible.
• 12:10
  Speaker 2: If you are, if there are two hundred people in
• 12:12
  Speaker 2: Sydney who want to get to London, they've got to
• 12:14
  Speaker 2: come to Darwin. Well, currently they're not allowed to come
• 12:16
  Speaker 2: here at all, So how logistically how is that going
• 12:20
  Speaker 2: to work. I don't know what the government's plans are
• 12:22
  Speaker 2: for that, but as it currently stands, it's not going
• 12:25
  Speaker 2: to work under the current system. So there's either going
• 12:28
  Speaker 2: to have to be some sort of exemptions or the
• 12:30
  Speaker 2: government's going to have to change how it does things
• 12:33
  Speaker 2: to facilitate that flight. Interesting times, very exciting, but certainly
• 12:37
  Speaker 2: I think there's a bit of logistical work to under well.
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: We were saying yesterday lots of questions which remain unanswered.
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: I think is probably the way of putting it, Leah,
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: very quickly. Obviously you are in Alice Springs at the moment.
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: What is on the agenda for locals down in Alice?
• 12:53
  Speaker 2: Oh, definitely, crime has been the number one issue. I
• 12:56
  Speaker 2: mean I was on the side of the road yesterday
• 12:58
  Speaker 2: morning and people were just pulling over telling me about
• 13:00
  Speaker 2: the events that had happened the night before at their home.
• 13:03
  Speaker 2: The level of violation that the community feel. You know,
• 13:07
  Speaker 2: alcohol is clearly still an issue, and you know, I'm
• 13:10
  Speaker 2: looking at the policing numbers down here obviously, you know
• 13:14
  Speaker 2: we've got pallies on bottle shops in Central Australia, but
• 13:19
  Speaker 2: it seems to be all comfortables at the moment, Katie.
• 13:21
  Speaker 2: So there's some serious issues around the government not delivering
• 13:24
  Speaker 2: the number of pallies they need on bottle shops in
• 13:26
  Speaker 2: Alice Springs, which has been putting even greater pressure on
• 13:29
  Speaker 2: our police sports who are already dealing with major issues,
• 13:33
  Speaker 2: particularly around youth crime. So yeah, crime front and center
• 13:37
  Speaker 2: on people's minds down here, Katie.
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: Well, leoth and Okio, will we see you Friday for
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: the week that was or someone else?
• 13:44
  Speaker 2: I think you'd be seeing Jared or Murray Claire on Friday?
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: Good stuff.
• 13:48
  Speaker 2: Yeah, well, let me to order a coffee for me.
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: Well, we will catch up with you again very soon.
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: Leath and Oki the opposition leader, Thanks for your time.
• 13:56
  Speaker 2: Take care everyone,