Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / The Week That Was - June 17 2022

Transcript

The Week That Was - June 17 2022 · 360 with Katie Woolf

0:00
Speaker 1: And if you're wondering what that noise is, we are
0:02
Speaker 1: coming to you live today from the Merlin Darwin Triple
0:05
Speaker 1: Crown and the twenty twenty two program promises to be
0:08
Speaker 1: bigger and better than ever before, with not only the supercars,
0:12
Speaker 1: but I'm pretty sure that's the Australian superbikes that we
0:14
Speaker 1: can hear cruising around right now. There is so much
0:18
Speaker 1: going on, but we are broadcasting live with the week
0:21
Speaker 1: that was and joining me this morning, I have got
0:24
Speaker 1: well Josh Burgoyne from the COLP, Good morning.
0:26
Speaker 2: To you, Good morning, Katie, Good morning to your listeners.
0:29
Speaker 1: And we've got the Independent Member for ORALU and Robin Lamley,
0:32
Speaker 1: good morning to you, Good morning Katie. And we've got
0:34
Speaker 1: well the Minister for Major Events, Paul Kirby. Good morning
0:37
Speaker 1: to you.
0:38
Speaker 3: Good morning everyone. It's pretty nice to be out here,
0:40
Speaker 3: isn't it.
0:41
Speaker 1: It's absolutely spectacular. Lucky we're in probably one of the
0:44
Speaker 1: only closed off rooms, otherwise those those motorbikes will be
0:48
Speaker 1: even louder. But it is fantastic to be out here
0:52
Speaker 1: and fantastic to see really Darwin absolutely bustling at the
0:56
Speaker 1: moment to us all around the place, people everywhere and
0:59
Speaker 1: good weather as well.
1:01
Speaker 4: Yeah, the drivers and the whole teams really love coming
1:04
Speaker 4: up here and from the view that we.
1:05
Speaker 3: Get of the pit area, you do get an.
1:09
Speaker 4: Appreciation of what an absolute conglomeration and circus it is.
1:13
Speaker 4: It's a massive event. It brings a lot of people
1:16
Speaker 4: to Darwin. We had a beautiful smoking ceremony. This is
1:18
Speaker 4: the first indigenous round that we've ever done that the
1:21
Speaker 4: supercar round has ever been locked into, so lovely acknowledgment
1:27
Speaker 4: for the larochie of people.
1:28
Speaker 3: And the track just looks amazing. They've done such a
1:31
Speaker 3: great job.
1:32
Speaker 4: Used to be a bit of a dust bowl twenty
1:33
Speaker 4: odd years ago and it used to be pretty hot
1:35
Speaker 4: out here. There's a lot of shade, a lot of marquees, yeah,
1:37
Speaker 4: a lot of corporate areas. That is a fantastic event
1:41
Speaker 4: these days, it really is.
1:42
Speaker 1: I think the last time that you and I might
1:44
Speaker 1: have done a broadcast out here, Robin Lamley, about eight
1:46
Speaker 1: years ago.
1:47
Speaker 5: You recond it was some time ago, Katie, and it
1:49
Speaker 5: has changed.
1:50
Speaker 6: It's nice to be back.
1:52
Speaker 5: I have to admit I haven't been Makee since so
1:54
Speaker 5: this is a bit of an experience for me.
1:56
Speaker 1: No, it's fantastic and good to have you here as well,
1:59
Speaker 1: Josh from our us obviously, and all here right now
2:03
Speaker 1: because parliamentary estimates have been on and they all kicked
2:06
Speaker 1: off on Tuesday. Now, I tell you what, there's been
2:08
Speaker 1: quite a few concerns raised right off the bat about
2:11
Speaker 1: the government's decision to cut funding to the anti corruption
2:14
Speaker 1: watchdog and the impact that it's going to have on
2:17
Speaker 1: its ability to perform its duties. Now, Robin, you and
2:19
Speaker 1: I spoke quite extensively about this earlier in the week.
2:22
Speaker 1: We know that the IKAK boss, Michael Riches has one
2:25
Speaker 1: of the well he was one of the first up
2:27
Speaker 1: obviously to answer question questions during the process, and he
2:30
Speaker 1: said that he was disappointed that the government had rejected
2:34
Speaker 1: a bid to increase funding. Robin. It is a concern,
2:39
Speaker 1: isn't it.
2:39
Speaker 6: It is.
2:41
Speaker 5: It was very clear from mister Rich's contribution to the
2:47
Speaker 5: budget estimates hearings on Tuesday that they are embattled that office.
2:52
Speaker 5: They're they're under a lot of pressure from all directions
2:57
Speaker 5: and quite frankly, I don't think the model that where
3:00
Speaker 5: using in the Northern Territory is working and from what
3:04
Speaker 5: he said it sort of reinforced that to me.
3:06
Speaker 1: Yeah, I know you howny to question is whether we're
3:09
Speaker 1: actually in a situation now where we need to be
3:11
Speaker 1: looking at outsourcing this to another state.
3:14
Speaker 5: I think we always should have been outsourcing it to
3:17
Speaker 5: another state. Because we are so small two hundred and
3:21
Speaker 5: forty five thousand people, trying to sustain an independent office
3:25
Speaker 5: of Akak is almost impossible. And just recently we had
3:29
Speaker 5: the executive assistant of the Iikak Commissioner being referred to
3:34
Speaker 5: the police for various breaches.
3:39
Speaker 6: The potential.
3:41
Speaker 5: For people to have conflicts of interest is enormously high
3:44
Speaker 5: in the Northern Territory and I think it's insurmountable. So
3:47
Speaker 5: that's why I think it should be outsourced.
3:49
Speaker 7: Yeah, it's certainly very interesting. When we sat down and
3:52
Speaker 7: we're obviously listening to the AIKK commissioner, he basically said,
3:55
Speaker 7: you know, a cut of twenty percent in the Ikak's budget.
3:58
Speaker 2: I mean, this is a very.
4:00
Speaker 7: Important office that has now had its budget cut whilst
4:05
Speaker 7: it is looking into, you know, alleged defenses that have
4:08
Speaker 7: occurred within government departments, and mister Richards spoke about some
4:12
Speaker 7: of that, and some of that has come out through
4:14
Speaker 7: the estimates questioning. So it's really interesting that at a
4:17
Speaker 7: time when this Labor government came into power saying they
4:20
Speaker 7: were going to be open and transparent, we've now seen
4:22
Speaker 7: a cut to the EYICACK budget of twenty percent gurbs.
4:25
Speaker 1: Is it a situation here because I know that it
4:27
Speaker 1: was also said by the Chief Minister that if there
4:29
Speaker 1: is more funding required, that they're able to request that
4:33
Speaker 1: through trusury. But is it really appropriate then to have
4:36
Speaker 1: the IYICACK sort of going to treasury cap in hand. Oh?
4:39
Speaker 4: Look, we know the Labor government did set the eye
4:42
Speaker 4: CACK up. There was plenty of opportunities to set up
4:44
Speaker 4: icacs before that. It was our government that did put
4:47
Speaker 4: it in place. We have said from the start that
4:50
Speaker 4: it would take an amount of money to get it
4:52
Speaker 4: off the ground, get it up and running, and then
4:54
Speaker 4: that funding would be tapered off.
4:55
Speaker 3: As it went forward.
4:57
Speaker 4: There's always opportunities for them to request extra funding if
5:01
Speaker 4: they need to. But absolutely we're committed to the IKAC.
5:04
Speaker 4: We are the ones that brought it in. We're committed
5:06
Speaker 4: to making sure that it has the resources to do
5:09
Speaker 4: exactly what.
5:10
Speaker 3: It needs to do.
5:11
Speaker 5: I don't think it's working well though, and the fact
5:14
Speaker 5: that there's an outstanding review of IKAK that was commissioned
5:17
Speaker 5: by the now Chief Minister over twelve months ago.
5:20
Speaker 6: That hasn't been made public.
5:22
Speaker 5: We've had a discussion paper put out, but there needs
5:26
Speaker 5: to be reform within IKAK. Yes, labor set it up
5:29
Speaker 5: and that's great, but it's time to really look at
5:32
Speaker 5: these problems that the AKAC Commissioner outlined very clearly on.
5:37
Speaker 6: Tuesday to budget estimates hearings.
5:40
Speaker 5: There are problems from top to bottom, least of all
5:44
Speaker 5: the funding of KAC. So it's time to do things differently.
5:48
Speaker 1: I really did think that that report was going to
5:50
Speaker 1: be made public. I thought that that had been what Yeah,
5:53
Speaker 1: I actually thought that that was what the former Chief
5:55
Speaker 1: Minister had said.
5:57
Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm not one hundred percent sure.
5:58
Speaker 4: Yeah, I'd have to go back and the transcripts on
6:02
Speaker 4: on what you were talking.
6:03
Speaker 6: There was certainly an assumption that it would be made yah.
6:06
Speaker 7: And it's all well and good for the Minister to
6:07
Speaker 7: say that the k commissioner go cap in hand back
6:10
Speaker 7: to Treasury, but mister Richards made a submission against that
6:15
Speaker 7: funding cut and it was basically just refuted, you know,
6:17
Speaker 7: it was refused.
6:18
Speaker 4: So well, maybe one day, Josh, you will get the
6:21
Speaker 4: opportunity to sit in in cabinet and sit in in
6:23
Speaker 4: Treasury meetings and have the opportunity to draft up a
6:26
Speaker 4: budget for the Northern Territory.
6:28
Speaker 3: But I can.
6:28
Speaker 6: Guarantee that experience I can get well.
6:31
Speaker 7: Very well know, Robert, the first thing you do is
6:33
Speaker 7: cut ICA funding. Is that the first thing you look
6:35
Speaker 7: for is that the last thing.
6:36
Speaker 3: That every department comes with their asks.
6:39
Speaker 4: Every department comes ver So you make the best assessments
6:43
Speaker 4: that you can to make sure that people are adequately funded.
6:46
Speaker 3: And through the course.
6:47
Speaker 1: Of the budgets that some people would be listening and
6:50
Speaker 1: thinking to themselves is you know, we've got a situation
6:53
Speaker 1: here where obviously the k Commissioner had said as well
6:55
Speaker 1: throughout that intimate's process that he was forced to drop
6:58
Speaker 1: an investigation into sarious allegations of misleading cabinet because he
7:02
Speaker 1: couldn't access specific documents under the current legislation. So you know,
7:06
Speaker 1: you've got that, and then you've also got a situation
7:09
Speaker 1: where there has been different complaints, as I understand it,
7:11
Speaker 1: made about different departments. But then you've got that funding
7:15
Speaker 1: being cut. So how you know, how are we expecting
7:19
Speaker 1: that the KAC commissioner is going to be able to
7:22
Speaker 1: do the investigations that he is required to do and
7:24
Speaker 1: that are expected of him without that funding.
7:27
Speaker 5: What you've just described, then Katie is an AKAC Commissioner
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Speaker 5: that is completely hamstrung by government. He is being controlled
7:35
Speaker 5: by government and that's not what KAC should be about,
7:39
Speaker 5: and he shouldn't have to go begging to government, to
7:43
Speaker 5: the Chief Minister for more funding.
7:45
Speaker 1: Well. Look, speaking of funding, another area that was discussed
7:48
Speaker 1: throughout the estimates process earlier in the week was health.
7:51
Speaker 1: It was a really major focus and there was a
7:54
Speaker 1: revelation made that there have been fourteen hundred staff health
7:58
Speaker 1: staff that have resigned. Sixty five those sacked, one person
8:01
Speaker 1: was made redundant, and that's between that period of July first,
8:04
Speaker 1: twenty twenty one and March this year. Now, I know
8:08
Speaker 1: that there had been discussion that some of those staff
8:11
Speaker 1: were actually people who were based out at the Center
8:13
Speaker 1: for National Resilience, so out there at Howard Springs. I
8:16
Speaker 1: don't know exactly where the staff have gone from or
8:20
Speaker 1: whether that context was provided, but what I do know
8:23
Speaker 1: is that you know, we're not in a situation where
8:26
Speaker 1: we can be affording to leave to lose health staff.
8:29
Speaker 1: We know that there's a staff shortage right across the
8:32
Speaker 1: board in so many different industries, and we've got to
8:34
Speaker 1: do anything we can to keep our health stuff.
8:36
Speaker 2: It's really interesting, Katie.
8:37
Speaker 7: I've had a little baby in the last twelve months,
8:39
Speaker 7: and I can tell you that the midwives were absolutely incredible.
8:42
Speaker 7: But it was really concerning to hear in the Alla
8:44
Speaker 7: Springs Hospital a large number of those midwives leaving right
8:47
Speaker 7: around this vax mandate.
8:48
Speaker 2: So it's so interesting.
8:49
Speaker 7: You know, we've been told, I know there's not a
8:51
Speaker 7: lot of people leaving, but when we get these statistics
8:55
Speaker 7: about fourteen hundred health staff resignations, had those people seen
8:59
Speaker 7: the writing in the wall and left? I mean, the
9:02
Speaker 7: whole reason we were doing this was to keep people safe,
9:04
Speaker 7: and as a result, we've got a lot less health
9:06
Speaker 7: professionals in our hospitals.
9:08
Speaker 6: And so much for boundless Possible.
9:10
Speaker 5: I mean, wasn't that meant to keep people here and
9:12
Speaker 5: attract more people.
9:15
Speaker 3: We've got from my perspective, with our.
9:20
Speaker 4: Worker attraction, we've got twelve point eight million dollars on
9:22
Speaker 4: the table now for businesses to come in to work
9:25
Speaker 4: with companies from overseas and migration agents and also to
9:29
Speaker 4: train more territories. But look, we know that over the
9:32
Speaker 4: last couple of years of COVID it has been really tough.
9:35
Speaker 4: There has been people that would traditionally go back down
9:38
Speaker 4: south see their parents as they're aging, and for a
9:41
Speaker 4: range of different reasons, have stayed in the Northern territory.
9:44
Speaker 3: It is always a transient place.
9:46
Speaker 4: We probably are seeing some bigger numbers now than we
9:48
Speaker 4: have done for a while and it's not easy for
9:51
Speaker 4: anybody around the nation.
9:53
Speaker 1: The region it's going to be though, is getting them back. Hey,
9:55
Speaker 1: that's the thing that I wonder about, and I will
9:57
Speaker 1: talk about this a little bit later this morning too
10:00
Speaker 1: that work for shortage, but getting those people back that
10:03
Speaker 1: have left, or trying to get people to move here
10:05
Speaker 1: comparatively to other states and some of the different initiatives
10:08
Speaker 1: that those other states have now got in order to
10:11
Speaker 1: try and lure people to their location. So I to
10:15
Speaker 1: you know obviously to work and the different things that
10:17
Speaker 1: they are doing to try to get them to work there.
10:19
Speaker 1: So I just wonder, you know, how are we going
10:21
Speaker 1: to be able to do that, particularly when we know
10:23
Speaker 1: within the healthcare sector across Australia.
10:26
Speaker 4: There's a shortage of staff and other other areas, Other
10:29
Speaker 4: jurisdictions have massive budgets compared to what we've got to
10:32
Speaker 4: work with here in the territory. It's always been the
10:35
Speaker 4: case in the territory that we have to try and
10:37
Speaker 4: offer the other great initiatives and great things that we
10:41
Speaker 4: can as a territory, like exactly what we're seeing here
10:43
Speaker 4: today ten minutes from town and a wonderful setup like this,
10:47
Speaker 4: or the outdoor type of living or whatever it does
10:50
Speaker 4: attract people to the Northern Territory.
10:52
Speaker 3: We do have to plug that hard. We do have
10:53
Speaker 3: to continue to work.
10:54
Speaker 4: But it is every state and territory around the nation
10:57
Speaker 4: that's in this trouble at the moment.
10:58
Speaker 7: And when we've got a pay freeze, crime levels out
11:01
Speaker 7: of control, there's no surprise that there's four hundred and
11:03
Speaker 7: fifty additional resignations compared to last year.
11:06
Speaker 2: When we look at health.
11:07
Speaker 1: Yeah, I wonder how we you know, like, with that
11:09
Speaker 1: pay freeze, does it impact our health workers? And I
11:13
Speaker 1: do wonder what kind of impact it's going to have
11:15
Speaker 1: across the board ongoing, particularly with the cost of living.
11:19
Speaker 1: And again, you know, we'll talk a little bit more
11:21
Speaker 1: about that in a few minutes, but that cost of
11:23
Speaker 1: living is having such an impact, So I do wonder
11:26
Speaker 1: whether we're in a situation where that pay freeze needs
11:28
Speaker 1: to be looked at. But I just want to stay
11:30
Speaker 1: on the estimates process for a moment because I know
11:32
Speaker 1: that there was also some discussion around well, it just
11:36
Speaker 1: doesn't seem to be disappearing, this discussion about the grandstand
11:39
Speaker 1: and the twelve million dollars that the government's still are
11:42
Speaker 1: wanting to claw back, and also the budget more generally,
11:45
Speaker 1: and how we're going to get back to that surplus.
11:48
Speaker 1: But the grandstand situation, I mean, Curves, is it time
11:51
Speaker 1: to just let it go? And you know, the grandstands there. Look,
11:53
Speaker 1: I was one of the people who was saying we
11:56
Speaker 1: should not be building this grandstand. It shouldn't be happening.
11:59
Speaker 1: But the fact is it's there now. If you tried
12:01
Speaker 1: to build it again, you wouldn't be able to do
12:02
Speaker 1: it for that same amount of money. Is it time
12:05
Speaker 1: to just let it go and let the racing industry
12:07
Speaker 1: try to get back on their feet.
12:08
Speaker 4: You're dead right, and the racing industry does bring a
12:12
Speaker 4: lot to the territory. The grandstand is there, it has
12:14
Speaker 4: been built I know that a Chancey as a new
12:17
Speaker 4: Minister for Racing and Gaming has met with their board.
12:20
Speaker 3: He'll be working pretty hard with him.
12:22
Speaker 4: He'll bring some recommendations back in for us to look
12:24
Speaker 4: at about whether there's a different way to work through
12:27
Speaker 4: it or whether it has to stay the way that
12:29
Speaker 4: it is. But we're happy to work with people. We're
12:32
Speaker 4: happy to keep those conversations.
12:33
Speaker 1: So is an option that they no longer like that
12:37
Speaker 1: you actually go or they're not actually going to have
12:39
Speaker 1: to pay this back.
12:40
Speaker 4: I'm not sure what level of detailed chance he has
12:42
Speaker 4: got into with them, but I know that he's really
12:44
Speaker 4: keen to work with him.
12:46
Speaker 3: It would be like motor racing.
12:48
Speaker 4: You wouldn't want to strip a big bunch of funding
12:51
Speaker 4: out of them.
12:52
Speaker 3: And put their industry at risk with.
12:53
Speaker 5: It's a monumental cover up. The government gave this funding
12:59
Speaker 5: in good faith, they did their due diligence and it
13:02
Speaker 5: came back and hit them in the face. And now
13:05
Speaker 5: we've got this situation where they want the money back again.
13:08
Speaker 5: I mean that's all. This is nothing more, nothing less,
13:11
Speaker 5: a big cover up of government. Michael Gunner got caught
13:16
Speaker 5: with his pants down, got rid of ath Leonardi and
13:19
Speaker 5: said you've got to pay the money back because it's
13:21
Speaker 5: going to make me look bad if you don't. That's
13:22
Speaker 5: my interpretation of what happened. And I might add I
13:25
Speaker 5: no longer have the conflict of interest in the racing industry.
13:28
Speaker 5: My husband's no longer the chairman of the Alae Springs
13:30
Speaker 5: Turf Club or on the TRNT.
13:33
Speaker 6: So the bloody say what I want now?
13:35
Speaker 1: And look.
13:35
Speaker 5: I watched Nature Strip one, that big race in Ascott,
13:40
Speaker 5: and I thought to myself, I looked at the amazing
13:42
Speaker 5: facilities at Ascott and I thought Breg Dixon had vision.
13:47
Speaker 5: That grandstand at the Darwin Turf Club is beautiful. Now
13:52
Speaker 5: to make it, to spin it in any other way
13:55
Speaker 5: apart from being a good investment, is wrong and due
13:59
Speaker 5: diligence was followed. Okay, it didn't pass the pub test.
14:02
Speaker 5: I remember when my husband said Brett Dixon got the contract.
14:05
Speaker 5: I was absolutely horrified. Everybody's watory government. It went through
14:10
Speaker 5: all the processes and now to ask for that money
14:13
Speaker 5: back is just fundamentally wrong and it reflects so poorly
14:17
Speaker 5: on this government. I was disappointed in Natasha Files. She
14:21
Speaker 5: had every opportunity to reset the agenda on this and
14:24
Speaker 5: she didn't. Not at any point did she tell us
14:26
Speaker 5: what she would do differently. And I was expecting at
14:28
Speaker 5: this point during the week when this issue was raised,
14:31
Speaker 5: she would give us something new and different, but she didn't.
14:34
Speaker 6: She squandered that opportunity.
14:35
Speaker 7: I was that a bit of an admission by you today,
14:37
Speaker 7: Minister that it wasn't the turf Club that got it wrong,
14:39
Speaker 7: it was the government.
14:40
Speaker 4: I think you've just haired Robin layout exactly what happened.
14:44
Speaker 4: That there was funding that had been allocated through a
14:48
Speaker 4: legitimate process, that perhaps the people that did.
14:51
Speaker 2: The process can't be looked into, but.
14:53
Speaker 4: That perhaps that that's the covet. The procurement process is
14:59
Speaker 4: an open and public process, and there has been some
15:03
Speaker 4: questions raised around that procurement process. So I think you're
15:07
Speaker 4: right that is done and dusted. We can't go back
15:09
Speaker 4: and change that. I think if anybody could go back
15:10
Speaker 4: and change it, they probably would reckon fact. The fact
15:13
Speaker 4: of the matter is the fact of the matter is
15:16
Speaker 4: that you know we're coming into the the race carnival.
15:19
Speaker 4: It's the track is looking wonderful, the facilities look wonderful.
15:22
Speaker 5: It is I've been to a few and enjoy racing
15:25
Speaker 5: in the Northern Territory.
15:26
Speaker 3: For I'd say I'm more than happy to do that.
15:28
Speaker 3: And I know that Chancey.
15:29
Speaker 4: I know that people sometimes seek when there's a change
15:32
Speaker 4: of leadership, there's going to be a whole new you know,
15:34
Speaker 4: clean broom and sweep a bunch of different initiatives. But
15:39
Speaker 4: I can tell you that Chance he's in constant discussions
15:42
Speaker 4: and he will continue to.
15:43
Speaker 1: Work with Are you all going to the race Carnival
15:45
Speaker 1: this year?
15:45
Speaker 4: I'm certainly going to the race Carnival. Perhaps I've been
15:47
Speaker 4: to declare a conflict of interest that.
15:49
Speaker 6: Would be in the public section this year.
15:53
Speaker 4: I like my lovely wife and I have got an
15:55
Speaker 4: interest in a in a horse with a bunch of
15:57
Speaker 4: the other Banks footballers.
15:59
Speaker 2: That yeah, so I'll be deffinitely what's the name?
16:03
Speaker 1: Look, we are going to take a very short break.
16:06
Speaker 1: You are indeed listening to the Week that was on
16:08
Speaker 1: Mix one oh four nine and we are coming to
16:11
Speaker 1: you live today with the fantastic Bike's going on in
16:15
Speaker 1: the background. But we're coming to you live today from
16:16
Speaker 1: the Merlin Darwin Triple Crown. And we are coming to
16:20
Speaker 1: you live today from the Merlin Darwin Triple Crown. The
16:23
Speaker 1: twenty twenty two program, of course promising to be bigger
16:26
Speaker 1: and better than ever. We've got the Australian superbikes out
16:29
Speaker 1: there on the track right now. But of course the
16:31
Speaker 1: week that was coming to you live from here on
16:35
Speaker 1: the track, all right next to the track. I guess
16:37
Speaker 1: you'd say, above the pits. So we've got a great spot.
16:40
Speaker 1: And with us is Josh Bergoy and Robin Lamley and
16:42
Speaker 1: Paul Kirby. Now it's been an interesting week. There has
16:45
Speaker 1: been a lot to cover off obviously in estimates, but
16:48
Speaker 1: outside of that estimates process, we also saw a situation
16:52
Speaker 1: nationally where the minimum wage went up. So it's going
16:55
Speaker 1: to be lifted by a dollar five an hour from
16:57
Speaker 1: its twenty dollars and thirty three cent base from July one.
17:00
Speaker 1: It is an increase of five point two percent to
17:03
Speaker 1: twenty one dollars thirty eight an hour. The Fair Work
17:06
Speaker 1: Commission obviously said that the decision would affect more than
17:09
Speaker 1: two point seven million workers as well as other employees
17:12
Speaker 1: on enterprise agreements and other pay settings. Now it is
17:16
Speaker 1: good news for those low income owners. It is tough
17:19
Speaker 1: going for some of our business owners around the Northern
17:21
Speaker 1: Territory at the moment, and I know it's tough going
17:24
Speaker 1: for business owners or for people who run businesses right
17:26
Speaker 1: around the country, but it's been a really tough couple
17:29
Speaker 1: of years. And I know that for some that wage increase,
17:32
Speaker 1: you know, obviously they want to see their employees paid more,
17:36
Speaker 1: but they're wondering how they're going to find that money there.
17:38
Speaker 7: We do have to acknowledge it. People have been doing
17:40
Speaker 7: it very tough over the last couple of years. I
17:42
Speaker 7: was speaking for a mango grower just the other day
17:45
Speaker 7: and it was it was very evident from what he
17:47
Speaker 7: said he'd heard this announcement and he said, Josh, Unfortunately
17:50
Speaker 7: for me, this isn't going to mean I employ more people.
17:52
Speaker 7: If anything, it means I'm going to employ less with
17:54
Speaker 7: the money I have, and that's going to be the
17:57
Speaker 7: very real hit. I think they were going to see
17:58
Speaker 7: through this. So the minimum wage is increasing, that's great
18:00
Speaker 7: for those people that are on those low incomes. It
18:03
Speaker 7: means that they can obviously afford to buy more groceries
18:05
Speaker 7: and we've seen the price of letters.
18:07
Speaker 2: Everyone keeps chatting about that going up.
18:09
Speaker 7: But yeah, for those business owners, we really do have
18:11
Speaker 7: to sit back and realize that increase in wages is
18:15
Speaker 7: generally going to be passed onto the consumer.
18:17
Speaker 5: I think it's good. It's only there that people on
18:22
Speaker 5: low incomes have enough money to make ends meet. I'm
18:25
Speaker 5: a business owner twenty two years.
18:27
Speaker 6: That affects us.
18:28
Speaker 5: But I think a lot of businesses in the territory
18:30
Speaker 5: pay above the award anyway, so that's a bit of
18:34
Speaker 5: a I.
18:34
Speaker 3: Think Robin's right.
18:35
Speaker 4: A lot of people acknowledge that they have to pay
18:37
Speaker 4: above ward in the territory to attract people and to
18:40
Speaker 4: keep people, and without doubt, the work assured. It is
18:43
Speaker 4: the main thing that businesses say to us when we
18:46
Speaker 4: get around and talk to them, when we meet with
18:48
Speaker 4: the peak bodies. It's absolutely about trying to have more
18:51
Speaker 4: workers here. So there's a spread of stuff that we're doing,
18:54
Speaker 4: from training more territories to trying to attract people from
18:58
Speaker 4: in the state, and also speak with the new federal
19:01
Speaker 4: government about different visa arrangements. The mango industry is a
19:05
Speaker 4: great example where you know that young territories probably aren't
19:08
Speaker 4: going to take that up as a career option.
19:09
Speaker 3: We know that they rely heavily on visa.
19:12
Speaker 4: Workers from overseas, so the ability to get more workers.
19:15
Speaker 3: In for those people are going to make a big difference.
19:17
Speaker 1: Yeah, and this is where you know, the cost of
19:19
Speaker 1: living is so incredibly high at the moment. We spoke
19:21
Speaker 1: about this last week as well, on the week that
19:23
Speaker 1: was after speaking to dev de Nataly from MT Costs
19:27
Speaker 1: and that cost of living is so incredibly high right now.
19:29
Speaker 1: We're seeing rents going up, We're obviously seeing you know,
19:32
Speaker 1: the cost of petrol. I know that it's high everywhere,
19:35
Speaker 1: but here it is just unbelievable right now. I can't
19:38
Speaker 1: imagine is it more expensive in Alice Springs than what
19:41
Speaker 1: it is is now?
19:42
Speaker 5: I paid two almost two dollars thirty a liter for
19:45
Speaker 5: diesel during last weekend. Think wow, the biggest weekend in
19:49
Speaker 5: Alice Springs.
19:50
Speaker 2: Yeah.
19:50
Speaker 7: I think everyone's feeling it at the moment. Doesn't matter
19:53
Speaker 7: who you talk to or where you go, prices of
19:55
Speaker 7: everything are going up. So it's really important to recognize that.
19:58
Speaker 7: And I would be interested to hear, you know, what
20:00
Speaker 7: the Antique government are doing to try and lower that
20:02
Speaker 7: cost of living for everyday territorians.
20:05
Speaker 3: Yeah, obviously there's.
20:06
Speaker 4: A few levers that we can pull fuel prices and
20:10
Speaker 4: rent prices across the board. You know, they're dictated by
20:13
Speaker 4: a range of different factors, and the majority of those
20:16
Speaker 4: that government can't control. But we certainly understand that having
20:20
Speaker 4: people here working in the Northern Territory. There was a
20:23
Speaker 4: number of retailers that were interviewed through the course of
20:25
Speaker 4: the week that spoke really highly as Robin just has about,
20:29
Speaker 4: you know, the necessity to pay people more, particularly those
20:32
Speaker 4: really low paid people, to make sure they can afford
20:35
Speaker 4: to have food on the table, they can afford to
20:36
Speaker 4: stay in the territory, they can afford to meet those
20:39
Speaker 4: rents if they have gone up recently.
20:41
Speaker 3: But yeah, it will be a tight time, well, I know.
20:43
Speaker 1: As will in other states. So in Can's my understanding
20:46
Speaker 1: is at the moment that they're sort of offering first
20:48
Speaker 1: class flights to try and get people to come across
20:50
Speaker 1: from other you know, from other countries to come and
20:53
Speaker 1: work and some other different you know, like different bits
20:56
Speaker 1: and pieces to try and get them and then they've
20:58
Speaker 1: got to obviously stay for a certain period of time.
21:01
Speaker 1: I know at different times we've looked at things like this,
21:03
Speaker 1: but is that what we need to look at here?
21:05
Speaker 1: Do we need to sort of go you know, if
21:07
Speaker 1: we're trying to get people to work in the Northern Territory,
21:10
Speaker 1: we've got to give them some kind of bonus to
21:12
Speaker 1: get here in the first place.
21:13
Speaker 4: Yeah, we've absolutely recognized that quite some time ago. We've
21:17
Speaker 4: set up a worker attraction group with a lot of
21:20
Speaker 4: peak bodies and a lot of Darwin's very well respected
21:23
Speaker 4: business people on there that do look overseas. As I said,
21:26
Speaker 4: absolute passion to train more territories, that's always going to
21:29
Speaker 4: be our first option.
21:31
Speaker 3: But for a range.
21:32
Speaker 4: Of different industries that do always look overseas, there's a
21:35
Speaker 4: twelve point eight million dollar package for people to come
21:38
Speaker 4: to us to look at how they can get assistance
21:40
Speaker 4: to go overseas to work in areas that we do
21:43
Speaker 4: traditionally already.
21:44
Speaker 3: Working to bring workers back.
21:46
Speaker 4: The visa process that's orchestrated federally, it can be convoluted
21:51
Speaker 4: to work through. So we'll be certainly working with Andre
21:53
Speaker 4: Giles and new federal Immigration Minister to try and make
21:55
Speaker 4: that as easy as possible.
21:57
Speaker 7: What's going to happen with the first home builders grant
21:59
Speaker 7: because Mother Territory used to be one of the most
22:03
Speaker 7: you know, it used to be a great place to
22:04
Speaker 7: come and build your first home because there were so
22:06
Speaker 7: many grants available. I think now we've gone from one
22:08
Speaker 7: of the best in the country to one of the worst.
22:09
Speaker 7: Is the anti Labour government looking to bring those incentives
22:12
Speaker 7: back so that we can actually build more homes and
22:15
Speaker 7: take the pressure off that rental space.
22:17
Speaker 4: There's a range of levers that you pull as the
22:19
Speaker 4: economy changes through the course of time, and certainly there
22:23
Speaker 4: was a time when we first came into power there
22:25
Speaker 4: was plenty of people that were leaving the territory on
22:27
Speaker 4: the back of the Impacts project. There was eight thousand
22:30
Speaker 4: workers that were no longer going to have jobs there,
22:33
Speaker 4: so we had to put a lot of money into
22:35
Speaker 4: into Darwin and Northern Territory based projects and infrastructure projects,
22:40
Speaker 4: and certainly having a big amount of assistance for people
22:43
Speaker 4: to build their own houses was an initiative that we
22:46
Speaker 4: had to lock in behind. As things have freed up
22:49
Speaker 4: and more people were staying in the territory and more
22:51
Speaker 4: people were looking to build.
22:53
Speaker 3: Houses, we were able to release that slightly.
22:55
Speaker 4: But they're all levers that you look to over the
22:57
Speaker 4: course of when you do your budget, when you set
22:59
Speaker 4: your budget and when you reviewer every year of what
23:02
Speaker 4: money you're putting into the public domain.
23:04
Speaker 3: And how it can help.
23:05
Speaker 1: Yeah, one of the I mean the real difficulty is
23:07
Speaker 1: as well, isn't it Like if we do get workers
23:09
Speaker 1: to come to the Northern Territory, it is tough for
23:11
Speaker 1: them to find somewhere to live. You know, that's a
23:14
Speaker 1: really like that's going to be the really difficult part
23:16
Speaker 1: at the moment. And the rents are incredibly high. We
23:20
Speaker 1: all understand that. I mean you've just touched on the
23:22
Speaker 1: first home buyers or the first time builders as well.
23:25
Speaker 1: But if you you know, if you are somebody that's
23:27
Speaker 1: maybe traveling around Australia, you're wanting to spend some time
23:30
Speaker 1: in the territory, it'd be tough to find somewhere to
23:33
Speaker 1: stay right now, and to be able to find somewhere
23:35
Speaker 1: affordable to stay.
23:36
Speaker 5: It really amazes me, Katie, because during the IMPECX boom
23:41
Speaker 5: period there was a lack of housing, there were rents
23:44
Speaker 5: were astronomically high, and here we are again entering another
23:48
Speaker 5: phase like that. I mean, everything that we said we
23:51
Speaker 5: wouldn't do, we're doing again.
23:54
Speaker 4: The six years in between those have been remarkably different times.
23:57
Speaker 4: There was absolutely well, that's.
24:01
Speaker 1: Right, I was bloody, you know, I was slamming the
24:03
Speaker 1: government for not doing it enough to get the economy going.
24:06
Speaker 1: And you know, I think we all get that that
24:08
Speaker 1: those times do change and we don't want to see
24:10
Speaker 1: sort of so, you know, we don't want to see
24:12
Speaker 1: such an influx of you know, housing that then you've
24:15
Speaker 1: got everybody with empty homes. That's some you know at
24:17
Speaker 1: any point. But I guess the thing is we're trying
24:19
Speaker 1: to build industry as well, aren't we, so that we're
24:21
Speaker 1: not in this situation. We're trying to diversify the economy
24:24
Speaker 1: as well, so that we're not just reliant on one
24:26
Speaker 1: particular industry. And it is such an interesting time, but
24:30
Speaker 1: there are so many factors at play. I guess the
24:32
Speaker 1: problem though, like we've said right now, is that you know,
24:35
Speaker 1: we need workers, but don't necessarily have somewhere that's affordable for.
24:40
Speaker 5: We haven't had any new land for sale and Alice
24:42
Speaker 5: Springs for years now, and the government keeps promising and
24:46
Speaker 5: promising but not delivering.
24:47
Speaker 7: It's something that's frustrated. Like the Kilgarith of State. You know,
24:50
Speaker 7: there's so many blocks of land there that should be.
24:52
Speaker 2: Ready to go.
24:53
Speaker 7: We're basically at stage two A and there's been another
24:57
Speaker 7: delay because there's been a crack and a sewer pipe
24:58
Speaker 7: out there. So now people that were told they were
25:00
Speaker 7: going to get their block aline in December have had
25:02
Speaker 7: to wait till March or no, it's going to be
25:04
Speaker 7: delayed again. And we've just asked in estimates that's going
25:07
Speaker 7: to be delayed by another two months. So you've got
25:09
Speaker 7: you know, people wanting to come here, wanting to come here, Caddy.
25:12
Speaker 2: You know, there's a good news story.
25:13
Speaker 7: But like you said, they come here, where are they
25:15
Speaker 7: going to live and where are they're going to rent?
25:17
Speaker 7: Because at the moment, you know, the options are prelimited and.
25:20
Speaker 5: The circumstances are different between Darwin and everywhere else. I
25:25
Speaker 5: think there needs to be a Darwin policy of economic
25:29
Speaker 5: growth and generating housing and all the things that we
25:33
Speaker 5: need to survive, but also a different policy for the regions,
25:36
Speaker 5: which is happening in other states.
25:38
Speaker 1: Yeah right. One good thing that did happen throughout the
25:41
Speaker 1: week for a lot of Territorians was the fact that
25:43
Speaker 1: the Northern Territories Public Health emergency declaration of course ceased
25:47
Speaker 1: on Wednesday. We also know that masks, well, you've still
25:50
Speaker 1: got to wear them on the plane but I think
25:52
Speaker 1: it's as of tomorrow, you don't need to wear them
25:55
Speaker 1: inside the airports.
25:56
Speaker 6: Side the airport.
25:57
Speaker 1: Yeah, so I think a lot of people quite happy
26:00
Speaker 1: with that, you know, quite happy that they're sort of
26:02
Speaker 1: feeling as though, dare I say it, we're moving back
26:04
Speaker 1: towards normal normal.
26:07
Speaker 2: I can tell you it's someone with a young baby.
26:08
Speaker 7: Whenever I walk in that airport and put the mask on,
26:11
Speaker 7: Lily just thinks it's her job to rip it off.
26:14
Speaker 7: And I tell you what, I do my absolute best
26:15
Speaker 7: to put it back on. But yeah, she does think
26:17
Speaker 7: it's a bit of a game. So I'm glad to
26:18
Speaker 7: hear that we are moving back to that, that new normal.
26:22
Speaker 7: I don't know how many new normals we've had CADI,
26:24
Speaker 7: but we've been through a few. But obviously this is
26:27
Speaker 7: what we need to be moving towards now, you know,
26:29
Speaker 7: living with COVID, we've seen that the flu has now
26:32
Speaker 7: come on and I was knocked down by it myself.
26:34
Speaker 2: You know, it was just incredible.
26:35
Speaker 7: I was doing that many rats, thinking surely I've got
26:37
Speaker 7: COVID note knocked down by the flu and Antley the
26:40
Speaker 7: man flu exactly curves and it it took it out
26:43
Speaker 7: of me exactly right, And I've had mates that have
26:46
Speaker 7: done the same thing. So you know, obviously we've been
26:47
Speaker 7: sort of locked up for two years. Now we're being
26:49
Speaker 7: exposed to these things again. It's knocking us around a bit.
26:52
Speaker 7: We need to get back on with it.
26:53
Speaker 4: Yeah, certainly the health professionals told us that that there
26:56
Speaker 4: would be a couple of really bad flu seasons once
26:58
Speaker 4: people did start traveling around it, and I guess.
27:01
Speaker 3: All of those those.
27:02
Speaker 4: Health restrictions that had been in place started to lift.
27:05
Speaker 4: So we certainly do want to see people look after themselves.
27:07
Speaker 4: If you do need to stay home to look after yourself,
27:10
Speaker 4: please do continue to do that because we don't want
27:12
Speaker 4: to spread the flu anymore.
27:14
Speaker 3: And we have to, but it is. It is the
27:15
Speaker 3: new way of living with COVID in the Northern Territory.
27:18
Speaker 4: But it is great to see people out and about
27:20
Speaker 4: people being able to come to events like this.
27:21
Speaker 3: It's going to be a cracking weekend.
27:23
Speaker 4: I guess in the top end or right through the
27:25
Speaker 4: territory you've just had basing the grass, then the footy
27:28
Speaker 4: weekend the feet down south. So it really is getting
27:31
Speaker 4: back to people being able to come to the territory
27:33
Speaker 4: and do exactly what we love doing.
27:34
Speaker 1: We're going to take a very short break. You are,
27:36
Speaker 1: of course listening to Mix one O four point nine's
27:39
Speaker 1: three point sixty. It is the week that was coming
27:41
Speaker 1: to you live from the Merlin Darwin Triple Crown. Well
27:44
Speaker 1: we are coming to you live today from the Merlin
27:47
Speaker 1: Darwin Triple Crown. And with me it's Josh Burgoyne, Robin
27:50
Speaker 1: Lamley and Paul Kirby. Now there is a bit to
27:53
Speaker 1: cover off. I know that that Channel nine they got
27:56
Speaker 1: their hands on the latest crime statistics yesterday and I
28:00
Speaker 1: think they're going to be officially launched or released I
28:02
Speaker 1: should say a little bit later today. But the numbers
28:05
Speaker 1: are pretty eygh watering. Commercial break ins well upper staggering
28:09
Speaker 1: eighty seven percent in Darwin, five businesses broken into in
28:12
Speaker 1: one night, reportedly according to Channel nine last night at
28:16
Speaker 1: Fanny Bay, a ninety four percent increase in Catherine. When
28:20
Speaker 1: it comes to commercial break ins, now, house breakin's up
28:23
Speaker 1: sixty four percent in Darwin, seventeen percent in Palmerston, up
28:28
Speaker 1: forty five percent across the Northern Territory. Now, Josh and
28:31
Speaker 1: Robin Alice Springs where you guys are from, I don't
28:34
Speaker 1: have those stats at this point, but hopefully we'll have
28:36
Speaker 1: those at midday to day. I think it's probably safe
28:38
Speaker 1: to assume that it's a trend that has continued in
28:41
Speaker 1: Central Australia.
28:43
Speaker 6: They're shocking statistics.
28:45
Speaker 7: They are, and we've just dar we've just recently seen
28:48
Speaker 7: in Ella Springs a local business owner who's really been
28:50
Speaker 7: pushed to the edge. And I do want to mention
28:52
Speaker 7: Garth Thompson. He owns the local Jet Corps motorcycle shop
28:55
Speaker 7: and Ella Springs he's recently had his shop run into
28:58
Speaker 7: by a vehicle. He's just finished putting up bollard's up
29:00
Speaker 7: the front and he's now been broken into again. And
29:03
Speaker 7: it's really pushing business owners to the edge. Katie, and
29:05
Speaker 7: I think we see this right across the Northern Territory.
29:08
Speaker 7: You know we talked I think you spoke about the
29:09
Speaker 7: Funny Bay supermarket earlier or I was certainly mentioned last
29:12
Speaker 7: night on nine News. Business owners are just being pushed
29:15
Speaker 7: to the ed by this endless crime and we do
29:18
Speaker 7: have to ask when is it going to end? When
29:19
Speaker 7: is the government finally going to wake up and change
29:22
Speaker 7: your current settings, because that's what we need. We've had
29:24
Speaker 7: the Chief Minister. Change, she's come now the Springs and
29:26
Speaker 7: I heard the mayor of Alice Springs on radio say, look,
29:29
Speaker 7: you've got two weeks, Chief Minister. Things need to change.
29:32
Speaker 7: Otherwise we will be writing more letters, we will be
29:34
Speaker 7: seeking more help from other people who can help us
29:37
Speaker 7: in regards to this crime crisis that we're facing, Katie.
29:41
Speaker 5: More can be done, that's the bottom line. More can
29:45
Speaker 5: be done. Just this morning I was reading about New Zealand.
29:48
Speaker 5: They're having a bit of a crime wave over there, right,
29:51
Speaker 5: gang violence, really extreme, an increase in extreme violent behavior,
29:56
Speaker 5: and they are taking measures. This is a labor New
29:59
Speaker 5: Zealand government. They're taking very strong measures to try and
30:03
Speaker 5: crack down.
30:03
Speaker 1: Right, what are they trying to do?
30:05
Speaker 5: Well, I don't know. That's the next step of my investigation.
30:08
Speaker 5: And in fact I read it this morning and thought
30:09
Speaker 5: I need to probably go over there and have find
30:11
Speaker 5: out we need to do more and we can do more.
30:15
Speaker 5: I just don't accept this line that you get, these
30:18
Speaker 5: motherhood statements, these platitudes saying absolutely nothing. Yes, we care
30:24
Speaker 5: about people, we know it's really bad, but nothing happens.
30:28
Speaker 1: Well, I think the difference that we've got at the
30:30
Speaker 1: moment is that, you know, the current government, Natasha Philes
30:34
Speaker 1: as the Chief Minister, has got the good will of
30:36
Speaker 1: the territory behind her. People actually really want to see
30:39
Speaker 1: the government do well. I haven't seen this, you know,
30:42
Speaker 1: I haven't seen such a sort of you know, that
30:44
Speaker 1: kind of change in attitude territories. They're so hopeful and
30:48
Speaker 1: I think that that is such an advantage that the
30:51
Speaker 1: government's got right now, where you really have the good
30:54
Speaker 1: will of territorians behind you. People want to see you
30:56
Speaker 1: do well because they want the Northern Territory to succeed.
30:59
Speaker 1: But you know, the area that they really need to
31:02
Speaker 1: see some action in is crime. I know it's not
31:05
Speaker 1: an easy fix. I know that the you know that
31:07
Speaker 1: what we have heard is how many times we could
31:11
Speaker 1: you know, if there was an easy fix, it would
31:12
Speaker 1: be happening already. But you know, fundamentally, people need to
31:17
Speaker 1: feel safe. They need to feel as though they're able
31:19
Speaker 1: to run a business without having to worry about being
31:22
Speaker 1: broken into. We understand that these kinds of things can't
31:25
Speaker 1: be stopped one hundred percent of the time all of
31:28
Speaker 1: the time. But what's happening now? You know these numbers,
31:32
Speaker 1: I mean a ninety four percent increase the stats sort
31:35
Speaker 1: of speak for themselves.
31:36
Speaker 4: Understand and acknowledge everything that everybody's said. We've got a
31:40
Speaker 4: different round of cars on the track is going to
31:42
Speaker 4: make it a bit harder to year. But these numbers
31:45
Speaker 4: are from a little earlier in the year, so understanding
31:48
Speaker 4: what people are saying that things need to change. Some
31:50
Speaker 4: things have changed our return to country programs. If you
31:53
Speaker 4: move around Darwin at the moment, you see a lot
31:56
Speaker 4: less people sleeping rough in the town that the that
32:00
Speaker 4: there was back at the time when these figures come through.
32:02
Speaker 4: But there is no excuse for businesses. It is so
32:06
Speaker 4: tough to run a business in the Northern Territory. We
32:09
Speaker 4: are putting together a range of different assistants through the
32:12
Speaker 4: BEES Secure programs.
32:14
Speaker 1: So new new stuff.
32:16
Speaker 4: New opportunities for people, whether it's through better funding arrangements
32:22
Speaker 4: for some of the facilities, for some of the programs
32:25
Speaker 4: for securing businesses, whether that be through shutters, whether it
32:30
Speaker 4: be to assist with bollards, whether it be to assist
32:33
Speaker 4: with other arrangements that people need to put in place
32:37
Speaker 4: to try and make sure their businesses are secure.
32:39
Speaker 1: But it's one of those things. So we're you know,
32:42
Speaker 1: we're sort of not stopping the behavior before it reaches
32:45
Speaker 1: that point. And I get that that's not an easy
32:48
Speaker 1: thing to be able to do, But we are still dealing,
32:51
Speaker 1: you know, like we're still dealing with the issue. I
32:54
Speaker 1: know that you you know, everybody that's sitting here must
32:57
Speaker 1: be incredibly frustrated by it the way that anybody wants
33:01
Speaker 1: as going on.
33:02
Speaker 5: Understanding, I wake up every morning and think about crime
33:06
Speaker 5: and wonder what's happened in Alice Springs overnight, who's been
33:10
Speaker 5: ripped off or assaulted. It's front and center. Josh, you
33:14
Speaker 5: would be the same.
33:15
Speaker 7: It's incredible. It's definitely the number one thing that comes
33:18
Speaker 7: through the office. And what frustrates me so much is
33:20
Speaker 7: that we see all this happening, yet we don't see
33:22
Speaker 7: any large, large scale changes. This must be costing the
33:26
Speaker 7: economy millions of dollars, yet we're not spending those same
33:29
Speaker 7: millions of dollars to stop it happening. We've got but
33:32
Speaker 7: Bernie Shakeshaft, who's been mentioned a few times in Ola Springs,
33:35
Speaker 7: coming to Alice Springs on the twenty fourth.
33:37
Speaker 2: I'm trying to get a meeting with him.
33:38
Speaker 7: This is a guy that's got the backtracks program happening
33:41
Speaker 7: in Armidale, which has seen huge reductions in crime in
33:45
Speaker 7: that city.
33:45
Speaker 2: So why aren't we going to this bloke. Let's sit
33:47
Speaker 2: down with him and say what do we need to
33:49
Speaker 2: do in our community. Let's all work together.
33:51
Speaker 7: On this to actually see a serious change. We need
33:55
Speaker 7: to stop what we're doing because it's not working. That's
33:57
Speaker 7: the harsh reality. All the money we're spending right now
34:00
Speaker 7: is getting us no results. That is the harsh reality.
34:02
Speaker 7: Gating things are getting worse.
34:04
Speaker 2: So let's stop what we're doing.
34:05
Speaker 7: Let's invest in a new program, and let's really push
34:08
Speaker 7: to make these things happen.
34:09
Speaker 1: We king to have a chat to that bloke if
34:11
Speaker 1: you do end up getting in contact with him, to
34:13
Speaker 1: find out more about that program. But I do want
34:14
Speaker 1: to take you across to a story which is being
34:16
Speaker 1: reported this morning by the ABC Online by reporter Oliver Gordon. Now,
34:20
Speaker 1: the ABC has obtained a letter which has been signed
34:23
Speaker 1: by all teachers at Tenant Creek High School in the
34:26
Speaker 1: Northern Territory of Course, stating every single one of them
34:29
Speaker 1: feels unsafe at work. Now. This letter reflects the school
34:33
Speaker 1: at breaking point, describing an increase in violence towards teachers,
34:37
Speaker 1: low attendance rates, and crippling staffing shortages. In the letter,
34:42
Speaker 1: teachers at that school, obviously, which as we all know,
34:44
Speaker 1: SIT's about five hundred kilometers north of Vallas, they've said
34:48
Speaker 1: that they need urgent help to go on teaching. One teacher,
34:52
Speaker 1: who provided a statement to the ABC on the condition
34:54
Speaker 1: of being anonymous, said that the school was traumatizing for
34:58
Speaker 1: students and staff. I mean, that is bloody scary, Katie.
35:04
Speaker 5: I heard that report on ABC radio this morning, and
35:07
Speaker 5: quite frankly, I was not surprised. We hear this sort
35:10
Speaker 5: of stuff every day. Yeah, Paul, it's your government.
35:15
Speaker 7: It's the escalator, the power, it's the escalator. It's the
35:18
Speaker 7: escalation that I we really worry about, Katie. And you're
35:20
Speaker 7: right when you chat to principles, when you chatter school teachers.
35:24
Speaker 2: This wasn't a surprise, Robin.
35:25
Speaker 7: You're one hundred percent right when you wake up And
35:27
Speaker 7: this was on a federal ABC morning you know slot
35:32
Speaker 7: this morning that this story has been broadcast to the
35:34
Speaker 7: nation about what's happening in the Northern Territory. And we
35:37
Speaker 7: talk about trying to attract more people here, teachers, health workers, gee,
35:41
Speaker 7: things like this, they really work again.
35:43
Speaker 5: Ultimately, this is about the behavior of children at school.
35:47
Speaker 6: Well, but they're being traumatized.
35:49
Speaker 1: It's pretty it's pretty terrible.
35:51
Speaker 4: It actually goes, as I'm sure all of us will acknowledge,
35:54
Speaker 4: it goes well beyond the behavior of the children at school.
35:57
Speaker 4: One of the things, and I haven't heard or seen
35:59
Speaker 4: this report, that one of the things that you mentioned, Katie,
36:02
Speaker 4: was about attendance. Now that's a community and a parental
36:06
Speaker 4: issue that we're certainly trying to address, Kate Warden, working
36:10
Speaker 4: closely with the Education Minister. We've seen evil law ago
36:14
Speaker 4: back as education minister. There's not a person in the
36:16
Speaker 4: territory that knows more about education than even But kids
36:20
Speaker 4: behaving at school obviously not a new issue, but ten
36:23
Speaker 4: and Creek is a significant issue. We know that there's
36:27
Speaker 4: concerns in that town, but it's not just a school issue.
36:31
Speaker 4: Having attendants, having the support around those families to make
36:35
Speaker 4: sure kids can get the sleep that they need, that
36:37
Speaker 4: the parents have got the support that they need to
36:39
Speaker 4: get their children a decent education. Otherwise the next time
36:43
Speaker 4: that there's a generational change, these kids will be.
36:46
Speaker 1: In this world. And the problem that you've got as
36:48
Speaker 1: well though, and I think that this is probably the
36:50
Speaker 1: case in Ella Springs too, is if you've got teachers
36:53
Speaker 1: then that don't feel safe teaching at the school, how
36:56
Speaker 1: do the other kids that are trying to attend the school,
36:58
Speaker 1: that are behaving well and actually want to get an education,
37:02
Speaker 1: how they going, And then how their families feeling. You've
37:05
Speaker 1: reached the toil too well, but you've reached the point
37:08
Speaker 1: where you'd be thinking, Okay, we need to actually move
37:10
Speaker 1: our family somewhere else or we can't deal with it.
37:12
Speaker 1: So that's a really big concern.
37:15
Speaker 6: So it's interesting.
37:17
Speaker 5: Yesterday in budget estimates, the Minister for Mining, Nicole Manister
37:21
Speaker 5: Manison was saying about how there's all these potential minds
37:25
Speaker 5: about to come on board in the Barkley and my
37:28
Speaker 5: question to her was, how do you expect people to
37:32
Speaker 5: move to the Barkway to staff these minds when you've
37:35
Speaker 5: got crime completely out of control? And her response was, well,
37:39
Speaker 5: there's crime everywhere. There's crime in Spain, there's crime, pickpockets
37:44
Speaker 5: around the Eiffel Tower in Paris.
37:45
Speaker 1: She said, Look, I didn't hear that yesterday, but I
37:48
Speaker 1: did hear earlier in the week a discussion and a
37:51
Speaker 1: line that I have heard from the government at different times,
37:53
Speaker 1: and that is stopped talking the territory down question is
37:56
Speaker 1: asked about about crime. Now, I've said it before and
37:58
Speaker 1: i'll say it again. I just think it's a really
38:01
Speaker 1: disrespectful thing to say, because it's the people who are
38:03
Speaker 1: then impacted by crime that feel like you're gas lighting them.
38:06
Speaker 1: You know, they feel as though they're being sort of
38:09
Speaker 1: ignored and like it's not an issue when it is
38:11
Speaker 1: an issue. Look, you know we've spoken about this issue
38:15
Speaker 1: so many times on this show, Kurves. You know I've
38:19
Speaker 1: interviewed you so many times about it as well. I've
38:22
Speaker 1: interviewed all of the government ministers about it on so
38:24
Speaker 1: many occasions. All I will say, and I'll say it again,
38:27
Speaker 1: is we've got to do something in this space. There
38:30
Speaker 1: has to be a.
38:30
Speaker 5: Change, Katie. Disadvantage does not mean crime. I speak to
38:36
Speaker 5: disadvantage families in Alice Springs all the time, who are
38:41
Speaker 5: just as angry and as desperate and as disappointed as
38:45
Speaker 5: the rest of us. When it comes to crime. You're
38:47
Speaker 5: not talking about the whole community. You're not talking about
38:50
Speaker 5: every disadvantage family in the territory having generating this crime.
38:56
Speaker 6: It is not on that scale.
38:58
Speaker 1: Well, look, we are going to have to take a
38:59
Speaker 1: short break. You are indeed listening to the week that
39:03
Speaker 1: was coming to your live today from the Hidden Valley Raceway.
39:05
Speaker 1: We are broadcasting from the Merlin Darwin Triple Crown right
39:09
Speaker 1: here on mixed one oh four nine. Well, hearts certainly
39:12
Speaker 1: are racing down here at Hidden Valley. It is pretty loud.
39:15
Speaker 1: It's wonderful. We love being here broadcasting from the Merlin
39:18
Speaker 1: Darwin Triple Crown. And of course we have got Josh
39:21
Speaker 1: Burgo and Robin Lambley and Paul Kirby here. Now before
39:24
Speaker 1: we wrap up this morning, I did just want to
39:26
Speaker 1: make mention of a really great story that I'd seen
39:28
Speaker 1: in the Northern Territory News that Cam Smith, I believe
39:31
Speaker 1: had written. It said, Salvaging hope from the ashes of
39:34
Speaker 1: a fire that destroyed his thirty year business has been
39:37
Speaker 1: quicker than expected for Carcom owner Tony Copley. Now, hours
39:41
Speaker 1: after locking up his Bishop Street location in Woolner, his
39:46
Speaker 1: auto electrical business, he answered the phone and he found
39:49
Speaker 1: out that his building was in flames. You might recall
39:52
Speaker 1: this happened just you know, about a week ago. It
39:54
Speaker 1: was a terrible situation. Now, what is absolutely wonderful is
39:58
Speaker 1: that you know, essentially territorians are banded around him to
40:02
Speaker 1: help him. So he said, you know that people have
40:06
Speaker 1: been awesome across the board. The community response has been insane,
40:09
Speaker 1: with people ringing up office of furniture and sheds and
40:12
Speaker 1: tools and space parts from our friends and the general public.
40:17
Speaker 1: My understanding is that he also received really significant contribution
40:21
Speaker 1: from Cafe twenty one. Are the wonderful owners there who
40:24
Speaker 1: own a building very nearby, and he's been able to
40:28
Speaker 1: move in there. And what I love is I think
40:30
Speaker 1: it just shows the way that Territorians absolutely support each other.
40:33
Speaker 1: You know, when the chips are down, that's when our
40:35
Speaker 1: spirit comes through.
40:36
Speaker 3: I think you're right that territory spirit is alive.
40:39
Speaker 4: And well that must have been GENNI um, that has
40:42
Speaker 4: been very graciously yes, yes, yes, but an amazing story.
40:46
Speaker 4: I guess if you've spent some time in the territory,
40:49
Speaker 4: you know the history of the territory, you know that
40:50
Speaker 4: whenever our backs are to the wall, whether that's from
40:53
Speaker 4: the bombing of Darwen through to the cyclone suit or
40:55
Speaker 4: the other catastrophes that happen from time to time, it's
40:59
Speaker 4: when people dig in behind each other, is when our
41:01
Speaker 4: community comes to the fore.
41:02
Speaker 5: I think we're a small community, and I think at
41:05
Speaker 5: the essence, we do care about each other. Despite all
41:08
Speaker 5: our problems, despite this monumental crime problem we're facing, we
41:13
Speaker 5: care and we're willing to extend ourselves and help each other.
41:18
Speaker 7: It's a wonderful story, Katie. I mean, right before, I
41:20
Speaker 7: think we had a young guy who got his motorbike stolen,
41:23
Speaker 7: and again everyone pitched in. He got his motorbike, but
41:25
Speaker 7: came up dew List and had a great thinking. You know,
41:28
Speaker 7: in this story here, it's good to hear that everyone's
41:30
Speaker 7: reaching out. And that's what we love about the territory.
41:32
Speaker 7: It's why we love I love living here. It's the
41:34
Speaker 7: people that are so warm and we're going to help
41:36
Speaker 7: one another out.
41:37
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's so true. Well, that's been the week that
41:40
Speaker 1: was for this week. What an incredible what an incredible
41:43
Speaker 1: location to be broadcasting from here at the Supercars. It
41:46
Speaker 1: has been absolutely amazing. Quite noisy, but not for our listeners. Apparently,
41:50
Speaker 1: I'm told that they can hear everything we're saying.
41:53
Speaker 3: We're actually for the listeners.
41:54
Speaker 4: We're actually sitting at a table we're headphones on shouting and.
41:58
Speaker 6: We can't hear each other. A good thing.
42:01
Speaker 2: So who we got for the weekend? Who we reckon?
42:03
Speaker 2: Is going to take it out than Gisby.
42:05
Speaker 3: He's traveling really really well.
42:07
Speaker 4: Obviously, I think everybody would love to see Brice Fall
42:09
Speaker 4: would do really well on his on his home track.
42:13
Speaker 4: But yeah, Bean, Gisbeen is running really really hot at
42:16
Speaker 4: the moment.
42:16
Speaker 3: That's where all the money's at.
42:18
Speaker 2: Absolutely, he's certainly been looking good.
42:19
Speaker 7: Look, I'm a bit of a ford Man, so I'm
42:21
Speaker 7: going to throw my weight behind dear Pascali. Hopefully he
42:24
Speaker 7: can come home and the Mustang and yeah, get a
42:27
Speaker 7: win for Ford.
42:27
Speaker 3: He's been traveling well.
42:28
Speaker 4: But I'm trying to get Katie into one of the
42:30
Speaker 4: cars where I heart that this afternoon she's just shaking
42:32
Speaker 4: her head saying absolutely, Oh he's.
42:35
Speaker 1: So scared on the biggest scaredy cat on the worst
42:38
Speaker 1: for something like that. I drive very slowly driving his days. Yeah,
42:43
Speaker 1: well that has been the week that Well, it's Josh Burgoin.
42:45
Speaker 1: Thank you so much for your time this morning.
42:47
Speaker 7: Thank you so much, Katie, and good good night everyone
42:50
Speaker 7: back home and Alice.
42:50
Speaker 1: Burg absolutely Robin Lamley thank you so much for your
42:53
Speaker 1: time this morning, and Paul Kirby, thank you.
42:55
Speaker 3: Being do you have a great weekend. Everybody