Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Opposition Leader Lia Finochiarro says the new changes to Covid close contact guidelines are a step in the right direction

Transcript

Opposition Leader Lia Finochiarro says the new changes to Covid close contact guidelines are a step in the right direction · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Now the opposition leader Leah Finocchiaro joins me on the
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: line right now.
• 0:04
  Speaker 2: Good morning to you, Leah.
• 0:06
  Speaker 3: Good morning Katie, in to your listeners, Lea.
• 0:08
  Speaker 2: Are these changes a step in the right direction?
• 0:11
  Speaker 3: Oh? Without question? And you know it could have been
• 0:14
  Speaker 3: done a while ago. Katie, we've been talking about this
• 0:17
  Speaker 3: for a few weeks now that we're dragging our heels
• 0:19
  Speaker 3: when it comes to removing COVID restrictions that are not
• 0:22
  Speaker 3: necessary anymore. So I think this comes as welcome relief
• 0:25
  Speaker 3: to families and particularly businesses who've really been struggling with
• 0:29
  Speaker 3: workforce shortages, you know, and having well healthy COVID negative
• 0:34
  Speaker 3: people sitting at home for no reason.
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: Now, what did you think of the fact that the
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: definition of fully vaccinated has also changed?
• 0:44
  Speaker 3: So that was sort of always on the cards when
• 0:47
  Speaker 3: the vaccine mandate came in. It was worded wishy washy
• 0:50
  Speaker 3: enough to have include that third booster shot, which I
• 0:54
  Speaker 3: know has really annoyed a lot of people, excuse me,
• 0:58
  Speaker 3: but ultimately, as the Ministry has said, our vaccination rates
• 1:01
  Speaker 3: are very very high, and so it again begs the question,
• 1:05
  Speaker 3: as all of these restrictions loosen up and remove as
• 1:08
  Speaker 3: our vax rates that are very, very high. Why is
• 1:11
  Speaker 3: the government in a couple of weeks time going to
• 1:13
  Speaker 3: walk into Parliament and give the Chief Health Officer two years'
• 1:18
  Speaker 3: worth of power and at the same time remove the
• 1:21
  Speaker 3: state of emergency. I mean, it just doesn't stack up,
• 1:24
  Speaker 3: CATERI that in one hand, we can be moving to
• 1:26
  Speaker 3: live with COVID. We could be COVID is moving to
• 1:29
  Speaker 3: an endemic, not a pandemic anymore, and on the other hand,
• 1:33
  Speaker 3: the government are going to remove scrutiny of the chow
• 1:36
  Speaker 3: and give him two years worth of unpreded power. It
• 1:39
  Speaker 3: doesn't make any sense.
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: Leah, you and I have spoken about that on numerous occasions,
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: about the cho's powers being extended for two years. I
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: know that some people listening this morning will just be
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: thinking to themselves, why does it matter?
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: You know, shouldn't we.
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: Allow him to have those powers for the next two
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: years so that we're able to manage things with COVID.
• 1:58
  Speaker 3: Look, it really does matter, and it's a great question,
• 2:01
  Speaker 3: and people will be thinking it. It's nothing about Hugh Heggy.
• 2:03
  Speaker 3: It's not that Huugh Hegg is not a good glow
• 2:05
  Speaker 3: and you can trust him. I know some people think oh,
• 2:08
  Speaker 3: and he's decent and you can trust him. It's not
• 2:10
  Speaker 3: about that at all. And you know, if Hugh Hagg's
• 2:12
  Speaker 3: not tomorrow, is it going to be. What we've got
• 2:15
  Speaker 3: is a government. The only reason Hugh Heggy has any
• 2:18
  Speaker 3: power is because of the state of emergency, and that
• 2:20
  Speaker 3: is reserved for the most serious serious emergency. Cyclone, bloods
• 2:24
  Speaker 3: obviously pandemic. Now, if the government are going to say, okay,
• 2:28
  Speaker 3: there is no more state of emergency, we are not
• 2:30
  Speaker 3: at that higher level of threat, then all of the
• 2:33
  Speaker 3: power that came with that state of emergency should die
• 2:36
  Speaker 3: with it. Now, what the government are doing is trying
• 2:39
  Speaker 3: to have their cake and eat it too. They want
• 2:41
  Speaker 3: to be able to pass themselves on the back and say, look, everyone,
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  Speaker 3: the state of emergency's gone, aren't we wonderful? We saved
• 2:46
  Speaker 3: your jobs, we saved your lives, We threw you a
• 2:48
  Speaker 3: kitchen sink. But at the same time giving the Chow
• 2:52
  Speaker 3: all of that power that should only be reserved for
• 2:55
  Speaker 3: those most serious states of emergency, giving it to him
• 2:58
  Speaker 3: for two whole years without any reporting requirement to Parliament.
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: Is there going to be opportunity when Parliament sits in
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: the next couple of weeks.
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: I believe it's it's sort of mid May.
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: Is there going to be the opportunity for this legislation
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: to be debated and any opportunity for there to be
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: changes made with this? Oh?
• 3:17
  Speaker 3: Absolutely so. This legislation will be debated and we will
• 3:20
  Speaker 3: be fiercely contesting it. Katie. We've had a lot of
• 3:22
  Speaker 3: feedback from people who just think it's a bridge too far,
• 3:25
  Speaker 3: as unnecessary. It has not been justified by the government. Ultimately,
• 3:29
  Speaker 3: if COVID comes back, or there's a new variation, or
• 3:32
  Speaker 3: if something terrible happens, the government can just reinstate the
• 3:35
  Speaker 3: state of emergency immediately, just like they have been doing
• 3:39
  Speaker 3: purposely well for two years, and bangs, the show gets
• 3:42
  Speaker 3: all the power they need. Our issue is not with
• 3:44
  Speaker 3: not responding to COVID. Our issue is you cannot just
• 3:48
  Speaker 3: take away all of that power that our jurisdiction has
• 3:51
  Speaker 3: said should be reserved only for the most serious circumstances
• 3:55
  Speaker 3: and just give it to an unelected official for two
• 3:57
  Speaker 3: years without even requiring them to report the Parliament on
• 4:00
  Speaker 3: why they're making the decisions and on what basis they're
• 4:03
  Speaker 3: making those decisions. So it doesn't stack up it doesn't
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  Speaker 3: pass the pub test. There's you know, it's worked well
• 4:08
  Speaker 3: for two years, why can't we keep following that same model?
• 4:12
  Speaker 3: So you know, people can tune in. There's a petition
• 4:15
  Speaker 3: going around pushing back against this change. It's completely unnecessary
• 4:20
  Speaker 3: and unjustified and it's it's really an abhorrent abuse of power.
• 4:25
  Speaker 2: All right, So there is a petition. Who has that
• 4:27
  Speaker 2: been set up by?
• 4:29
  Speaker 3: I don't know, Actually I've seen it going around and
• 4:31
  Speaker 3: the wording I think is bang on. It's very very accurate.
• 4:35
  Speaker 3: It's basically says that this is this goes too far,
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  Speaker 3: This is too much power for one unelected official to have.
• 4:42
  Speaker 3: They're not accountable to the people. They're not they can't
• 4:44
  Speaker 3: be scrutinized by the Parliament. And that the current status
• 4:48
  Speaker 3: quosystem has saved our lives and saved our job so far, Katie.
• 4:52
  Speaker 3: So why you know, if it ain't broken, don't fix it.
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  Speaker 3: Why all of a sudden this government needs to do this?
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  Speaker 3: So get online? Change dot org gets on there somewhere.
• 5:00
  Speaker 3: I don't know what it's called, and I don't know
• 5:01
  Speaker 3: what the person's name is, but it shouldn't be too
• 5:03
  Speaker 3: hard to find.
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: Well, I'll have a look at it and try and
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: suss out how many people have signed that petition as well. Now, Leah,
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: one of the other concerns obviously in the territory right
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: now is this state of the economy and indeed the
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: state of our population. We know the latest COMSEXT State
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: of the State report has ranked the Northern Territory in
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: last place out of all Australian states and territories for
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: the fourteenth consecutive quarter. Now, the Northern Territory government told
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: nine News last night the report's nonsense. However, you look
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: at that the quarterly reports showed that indicators such as
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: retail spending, population growth and housing finance commitments were on
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: a downward trajectory in the Northern Territory for April for
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: that April twenty twenty two edition. Now, although obviously general
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: economic activity spiked compared to the last decade average, the
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: territory's economy does remain the weakest in the nation. Leah,
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: is this report nonsense? Like the acting Chief Minister has
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: publicly suggested.
• 6:02
  Speaker 3: I am gobsmacked at the way in which the Labor
• 6:05
  Speaker 3: government have approached this. To call a concept report misleading
• 6:09
  Speaker 3: nonsense just shows how out of their depth there are
• 6:12
  Speaker 3: and this comes from our worst performing treasurer in our history, Katie,
• 6:15
  Speaker 3: followed by our worst performing government. I mean the modeling,
• 6:18
  Speaker 3: the concept use is very similar modeling to what the
• 6:21
  Speaker 3: Reserve Bank use is and what the acting Chief Minister
• 6:24
  Speaker 3: and the cause when she was treasurer and the chief
• 6:27
  Speaker 3: Minister he is the treasurer continuously ignore concept. What they
• 6:31
  Speaker 3: forget is that Deloitte Access Economics put out their data
• 6:34
  Speaker 3: yesterday as well. Matt's data was actually emailed around to
• 6:38
  Speaker 3: everyone by the Northern Territory Department of Treasury. They use
• 6:41
  Speaker 3: Department of Treasury figures and statistics. It very clearly shows
• 6:46
  Speaker 3: that our inflation in the territory is almost double other states.
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  Speaker 3: We've got the lowest economic growth and compared to our nation,
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  Speaker 3: our growth is point two percent, Australia's tracking at three
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  Speaker 3: point three percent, Katie. I mean it is appalling that
• 6:58
  Speaker 3: for fourteen sent kive quarters or three and a half years,
• 7:01
  Speaker 3: we have ranked dead lass every single time.
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  Speaker 2: Please you can he do these indicators matter?
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: Like?
• 7:08
  Speaker 2: Why do these reports matter?
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: Because to a lot of people listening this morning, they
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: might be thinking, oh, I don't really know what that means.
• 7:14
  Speaker 2: Why does it matter.
• 7:17
  Speaker 3: It matters because it shows us that this is a scorecard,
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  Speaker 3: you know, is how is our economy going? Are we
• 7:22
  Speaker 3: creating jobs, are we creating investment? Are we making the
• 7:25
  Speaker 3: territory a great place to live and work? And so
• 7:27
  Speaker 3: this scorecard has put a big F on the front
• 7:31
  Speaker 3: of the Gunner government and it's been an F for
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  Speaker 3: fourteen quarters or three and a half years. So when
• 7:36
  Speaker 3: you compare when you look at our population growth, for example,
• 7:39
  Speaker 3: which is critical to people being in shops, spending money,
• 7:43
  Speaker 3: kids being in schools, people building and buying houses, all
• 7:46
  Speaker 3: of these types of things. You know, businesses having enough
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  Speaker 3: people to employ. We've got ondred. Our population is one
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  Speaker 3: hundred and forty percent down on the ten year average.
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  Speaker 3: You know, when inflation is doubled out of other states,
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  Speaker 3: it means people can't afford to here. That directly hits
• 8:01
  Speaker 3: the pockets of mums and dads in terms of having
• 8:04
  Speaker 3: a higher cost of living. So it's really critically important
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  Speaker 3: report card stuff and it shows territory and that, you know,
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  Speaker 3: Michael Gunner's rhetoric around being the comeback capital is absolutely
• 8:15
  Speaker 3: wrong and the only thing that keeps coming back is
• 8:17
  Speaker 3: the criminals. Our economy is not on the ups. It
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  Speaker 3: is on the down, and it's appalling, and it's territory
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  Speaker 3: and to suffer.
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  Speaker 1: What do you think could be done differently to try
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: to turn things around.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, well, this government commission the Turk Report. They've done
• 8:31
  Speaker 3: absolutely nothing with it. It's been a total joke. We
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  Speaker 3: have tried to put our own legislation forward around having
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  Speaker 3: a Territory Coordinator, which would see the way in which
• 8:41
  Speaker 3: we approach major projects just completely reformed and done completely differently.
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  Speaker 3: We would create an Approval of fast Track Task Force
• 8:49
  Speaker 3: to make sure that approval times across government are half.
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  Speaker 3: You know, we want to make sure that our mining
• 8:56
  Speaker 3: industry is an attractive that the territory is an attractive
• 8:59
  Speaker 3: place in the mind industry to invest, and so we
• 9:01
  Speaker 3: would scrap the government's very complicated hybrid mining tax and
• 9:05
  Speaker 3: replace it for an ad the law and model. You know,
• 9:07
  Speaker 3: there's a number of things that can be done very
• 9:10
  Speaker 3: very quickly. There are things that we've tried to push
• 9:12
  Speaker 3: forward and the government have shut us down on. But
• 9:15
  Speaker 3: ultimately these scorecards from both Deloitte and from Consext are
• 9:19
  Speaker 3: a damning indictment of the way this government has led
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  Speaker 3: the territory. We've got eight billion dollars debt and nothing
• 9:25
  Speaker 3: to show for it but a grand stand and a
• 9:27
  Speaker 3: thirty five million dollar payout to use criminals. I mean,
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  Speaker 3: the whole place is burning to the ground, Katie, and
• 9:33
  Speaker 3: it's an absolute tragedy because this is the best place
• 9:36
  Speaker 3: in the world. Our economy could be booming if this
• 9:39
  Speaker 3: government just cared a little bit more and did something different.
• 9:43
  Speaker 3: You know, Ultimately, it's a big f on this report card,
• 9:46
  Speaker 3: Katie Eleia.
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: One of the areas where people are certainly calling for
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: more action is when it comes to the issues that
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: we've got with anti social behavior and crime around the
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: place right now. The police Minister was on the show
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: last week and said that there would be some announcements
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: made Lea. I mean, are you like the rest of
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: us and wondering exactly when they're going to make some
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: announcements or when they're going to make some change in
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: this space and what do you think should be happening?
• 10:13
  Speaker 2: Oh, I mean, what is.
• 10:15
  Speaker 3: It going to take. What level of crime is going
• 10:17
  Speaker 3: to be high enough, abhorrent enough, obscene enough for them
• 10:22
  Speaker 3: to do something? To me, we will and to truly
• 10:25
  Speaker 3: have passed that limit. We've tried to bring legislation to
• 10:28
  Speaker 3: reform bail, to toughen the way in which this government
• 10:32
  Speaker 3: has weakened laws. We've currently got legislation to be debated
• 10:37
  Speaker 3: in a couple of weeks to strengthen laws around assaults
• 10:39
  Speaker 3: on territory workers. We want government to support us on
• 10:42
  Speaker 3: that and send a message to workers, police and bos
• 10:45
  Speaker 3: at assaulting someone in their job is not okay. But
• 10:48
  Speaker 3: you know, I mean even over the weekend and that
• 10:50
  Speaker 3: weekend and mate of them mate that in Parmesan had
• 10:53
  Speaker 3: their windows smashed, you know, I mean the kids were
• 10:56
  Speaker 3: lining up out front of the old Bunnings in Parmesan
• 10:58
  Speaker 3: ready for the Antic March and they were all standing
• 11:01
  Speaker 3: in glass. There were children picking up pieces of glass
• 11:04
  Speaker 3: katie on end Ack Day while they waited to march.
• 11:07
  Speaker 3: This is not the territory I grew up in that
• 11:10
  Speaker 3: I want my children to grow up in. And this
• 11:12
  Speaker 3: government needs to shake themselves and come to terms with
• 11:16
  Speaker 3: the fact that we are in a crime crisis and
• 11:18
  Speaker 3: it's people's lives they are destroying as a result of it,
• 11:21
  Speaker 3: and our population to crime in these economic reports show
• 11:25
  Speaker 3: that people are leaving in drove and a big part
• 11:27
  Speaker 3: of that reason is not just economy, it's because of.
• 11:30
  Speaker 2: Crime, Leah.
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: One of the other issues is obviously alcohol in communities,
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: not just here in the larger town centers, but in
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: those remote communities.
• 11:39
  Speaker 2: It continues to be discussed.
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: On the show yesterday we heard from both the Police Association,
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: the CEO and also the CEO of am SAND about
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: their concerns around this legislation changing, Leah. This legislation, as
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: I understand it, it's going to be introduced into parliament
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: next month. Should this pass or does there need to
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: be some consultation before we see licenses in remote communities?
• 12:06
  Speaker 3: Well, you know, this is a really very frustrating situation
• 12:10
  Speaker 3: because the reason that this legislation has been in place
• 12:14
  Speaker 3: for ten years, so that from the very day that
• 12:16
  Speaker 3: it started ten years ago, we knew it was going
• 12:18
  Speaker 3: to expire on the thirtieth of June. We as a
• 12:21
  Speaker 3: community and I know us as an opposition, have been
• 12:23
  Speaker 3: talking about the expiration coming for at least two years,
• 12:27
  Speaker 3: and we've been saying there needs to be meaningful consultation
• 12:30
  Speaker 3: with communities. It needs to be community led on whether
• 12:32
  Speaker 3: or not they want to have community social clubs or
• 12:35
  Speaker 3: licenses or whatever that situation as we transition back to
• 12:39
  Speaker 3: normalizing alcohol is. And yet instead what we've had is
• 12:43
  Speaker 3: two months out from the deadline, the government just introduced legislation.
• 12:48
  Speaker 3: There's been no meaningful consultation, no frameworks. The community needs
• 12:52
  Speaker 3: to operate within to be able to determine whether or
• 12:54
  Speaker 3: not they actually want alcohol back in their communities, and
• 12:58
  Speaker 3: no one is prepared.
• 12:59
  Speaker 2: So so do they need to hold this legislation?
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: I mean, do they need to actually go all right,
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: we're not going to be able to introduce this in mail,
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: We're not going to Is it being introduced or is
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: it being debated in May?
• 13:09
  Speaker 2: But either way be debated.
• 13:11
  Speaker 3: Yeah, it'll be debated and passed in mate, because that's
• 13:13
  Speaker 3: what they want to do.
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: So do you think they need to hold Yeah, well,
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: you know, I just don't have confidence.
• 13:20
  Speaker 3: I Mean the reason I wouldn't put a hard and
• 13:23
  Speaker 3: fast it should be halted is because I've got no
• 13:25
  Speaker 3: confidence that if they kick the can down the road,
• 13:28
  Speaker 3: there's going to be any better outcome. I mean, I
• 13:30
  Speaker 3: think what is so frustrating about this is it just
• 13:33
  Speaker 3: shows how little they actually care about this. I mean
• 13:36
  Speaker 3: that as a way, alcohol feels violent and harm is
• 13:40
  Speaker 3: destroying our community. Is just something this government can't seem
• 13:45
  Speaker 3: to grapple with and come to terms. They'd rather have
• 13:47
  Speaker 3: minimum law prices and put more money in the pockets
• 13:50
  Speaker 3: of bottle os and you know, make cops stand on
• 13:53
  Speaker 3: bottle shops than actually speak to people, have programs in
• 13:57
  Speaker 3: place to live with alcohol, have mandatory rehabilitation for people,
• 14:01
  Speaker 3: and prepare people for living with alcohol, not having a
• 14:05
  Speaker 3: prohibition approach.
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: So yeah, I tell you we've got to do something differently.
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: We certainly have to do something differently at the moment
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: because whatever is you know, whatever's happening is is not
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: working at this point. And all you need to do
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: is go for a walk down the street to see
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: the concerns that a lot of people have got. Leah Finocchiaro,
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: we are going to have to leave it there. As always,
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: thank you very much for your time this morning.
• 14:28
  Speaker 3: Thank you. Take care of me.
• 14:29
  Speaker 2: Thank you,