Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / The Week That Was – 3rd March 2023

Transcript

The Week That Was – 3rd March 2023 · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: It is time for the week that was, and with
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: us this morning, we've got the Colps, Mary Claire Boothby,
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: good morning.
• 0:05
  Speaker 2: To you, Good morning Katie, and to your listeners.
• 0:07
  Speaker 3: Nine News, Darwin's Kathleen Gazola.
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: Good morning, Kathleen, Independent, Kezia Puric, good morning to.
• 0:14
  Speaker 3: You, morning Katie, Morning Bush people.
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: And we've got Nicole Madison from the Labor Party and
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: the Deputy Chief Minister.
• 0:20
  Speaker 3: Good morning, Good.
• 0:21
  Speaker 4: Morning Katie, good morning, Happy.
• 0:23
  Speaker 3: Friday, Friday, all the girls.
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: And it's not even International Women's Day yet.
• 0:28
  Speaker 3: It's where in early Yes.
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: That's right, So what a fantastic time, What a fantastic time.
• 0:34
  Speaker 3: Really for all the women to be on the panel.
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: Now let's talk about Let's talk about the flooding firstly,
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: and we know that the Australian Defense Force is going
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: to be providing aircraft and personnel. Well that was a
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: little bit earlier in the week to assist with the
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: evacuation of hundreds of residents from flooded remote communities in
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: the Northern Territory. Matter, how are things going at this point.
• 0:55
  Speaker 4: Yeah, it's been a hell of a lot of work.
• 0:58
  Speaker 5: So a big thanks to all of our amazing place
• 1:01
  Speaker 5: the Education Staff, the Defense Forces, our Territory Families Team
• 1:06
  Speaker 5: because they coordinate a lot of the welfare response, the
• 1:09
  Speaker 5: shelters on the ground. We've had the Department of Infrastructure
• 1:14
  Speaker 5: trying to get on the ground.
• 1:15
  Speaker 4: To assess houses, para and water.
• 1:18
  Speaker 5: They always play a big part in these things too,
• 1:20
  Speaker 5: and we've had some private mustering services as well played
• 1:25
  Speaker 5: an amazing role in assisting with the response. But it's
• 1:28
  Speaker 5: pretty tough for people. I mean, we've seen floodwaters come through.
• 1:32
  Speaker 5: We're talking about six hundred people from kal Karingi, Dargaragi,
• 1:36
  Speaker 5: Pigeonhole who are having to come into Darwin that have
• 1:41
  Speaker 5: had their houses severely affected, their livelihood severely affected, and
• 1:45
  Speaker 5: we'll be working with them to try to get them
• 1:48
  Speaker 5: back on their feet as quickly as possible.
• 1:50
  Speaker 4: But so far everyone's been very cooperative.
• 1:53
  Speaker 5: We've seen all tiers of government working together well and
• 1:57
  Speaker 5: I just thank everybody for all their hard work on
• 1:59
  Speaker 5: the ground.
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: And at this point in time are staying at the
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: Fosky Pavilion but also out at Howard Springs.
• 2:04
  Speaker 3: How's it determined sort of who's where?
• 2:06
  Speaker 5: Yeah, we're the we're going to be putting everybody out
• 2:09
  Speaker 5: to Howard Springs because we have the facility there, but
• 2:12
  Speaker 5: you always need to have in emergency response management contingency,
• 2:17
  Speaker 5: so if something goes wrong there, you've got somewhere else
• 2:19
  Speaker 5: also to take people to. We have done upgrades to
• 2:23
  Speaker 5: Foski's over the years, but I think we can all
• 2:25
  Speaker 5: appreciate that. You know, if you've lost everything and you
• 2:30
  Speaker 5: know you're going to be in Darwin for a few weeks,
• 2:34
  Speaker 5: if you've ever been out to Fosky's or Marara during
• 2:37
  Speaker 5: these situations, you literally see a whole bunch of people
• 2:41
  Speaker 5: on swags on some pretty you know, the conditions where
• 2:47
  Speaker 5: you know you just need you'd like to take care
• 2:49
  Speaker 5: of people in temporary conditions, you know. So and everybody's
• 2:52
  Speaker 5: in there together, you know, and so so this way
• 2:56
  Speaker 5: we've got Howard Springs there, so we're taking people in
• 2:58
  Speaker 5: there and you know, trying to get their homes back
• 3:02
  Speaker 5: as quickly as possible so they can get back to
• 3:04
  Speaker 5: community as as quickly as possible. But it was a
• 3:07
  Speaker 5: great seed defense in there out there. I don't if
• 3:10
  Speaker 5: anybody seeing the photos of everybody going on to the
• 3:12
  Speaker 5: aircraft yesterday.
• 3:13
  Speaker 4: So it's great to be working with defense.
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: Absolutely and look at is it's good to see the
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: federal and the territory government's working together on this. Any
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: idea though, I suppose at this point, because we know
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: that Howard Springs was quite expensive to have people staying
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: there throughout the COVID pandemic, are we expecting it to
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: be that expensive to have the flood?
• 3:32
  Speaker 3: You know, the flood evacuees there.
• 3:34
  Speaker 5: I haven't got the costings here, but of course there's
• 3:37
  Speaker 5: got to be a cost to it.
• 3:37
  Speaker 4: But that's part of being in government.
• 3:41
  Speaker 5: You've got to take care of people in emergency response
• 3:43
  Speaker 5: situations and make sure that they are cared for because
• 3:47
  Speaker 5: they are vulnerable. They have lost their possessions, have lost
• 3:51
  Speaker 5: everything through their houses, So you know, we've got to
• 3:53
  Speaker 5: I think every territory and expects us to take care
• 3:56
  Speaker 5: of them if they lose their positions in an emergency.
• 3:58
  Speaker 4: Would that be cover bait and g or the fence?
• 4:01
  Speaker 5: Generally, it depends on the situation with the emergency. We
• 4:06
  Speaker 5: do have emergency management agreements in place the whole country
• 4:10
  Speaker 5: does with the federal government, where depending on the nature
• 4:13
  Speaker 5: of the emergency that the fence will come in, they
• 4:15
  Speaker 5: will pay a portion of it, just depending on the
• 4:18
  Speaker 5: status of the actual emergency. So the Chief Minister has
• 4:22
  Speaker 5: been in contact with Murray Watt and been having conversations
• 4:26
  Speaker 5: with him a clearly will continue working with the federal
• 4:29
  Speaker 5: agencies as well.
• 4:31
  Speaker 3: Katie.
• 4:31
  Speaker 6: The other thing too about it, apart from evacuating people,
• 4:33
  Speaker 6: which is the priority, is the cattle stations right near
• 4:37
  Speaker 6: their VRD is flooded. That's a massive cattle station and
• 4:40
  Speaker 6: I know the managers out there and they've got a
• 4:43
  Speaker 6: huge task ahead and apart from the staff that they've
• 4:45
  Speaker 6: got to make sure it's safe, I'm not sure how
• 4:46
  Speaker 6: any staff they've got probably got about into up to thirty.
• 4:49
  Speaker 5: And they have been speaking to the caves stations to
• 4:51
  Speaker 5: the emergency responses as well.
• 4:53
  Speaker 6: And it's about moving the cattle around getting too high
• 4:55
  Speaker 6: ground or getting to the dry grounds away red from
• 4:57
  Speaker 6: the rivers. So I think it's I think, I mean
• 5:00
  Speaker 6: over the years, I mean perhaps Australias were a little
• 5:02
  Speaker 6: bit slow sometimes, but I think with regards to floods
• 5:05
  Speaker 6: of late, we're incredibly fortunate to have learnt from mistakes
• 5:08
  Speaker 6: in the past and not repeating them.
• 5:09
  Speaker 5: And just the other thing is I haven't had the
• 5:11
  Speaker 5: briefing this morning generally our emergency groups will meet mid
• 5:16
  Speaker 5: morning with the Bureau of Meteorology to see.
• 5:19
  Speaker 4: What's going on.
• 5:20
  Speaker 5: But we have also been keeping an eye on the Barkley, yeah,
• 5:25
  Speaker 5: because the weather system was expected. Basically, this was yesterday's
• 5:29
  Speaker 5: last briefing. Lik said, my apologies, haven't got the latest,
• 5:31
  Speaker 5: but just to assure people that we have got emergency
• 5:35
  Speaker 5: groups that have been established, that we had them in
• 5:37
  Speaker 5: the Barkley. We also had one over in Borola because
• 5:40
  Speaker 5: we're keeping an eye on the MacArthur River too. But basically,
• 5:43
  Speaker 5: you know, we expect that the rain was going to
• 5:46
  Speaker 5: move down and head towards the east, towards the Gulf,
• 5:49
  Speaker 5: so we're just keeping an eye on that as well.
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: And we're also speaking yesterday to Louise Blato from the
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: Road Transport Association here in the Northern Territory, who had
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: said that they are indeed keeping a very very close
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: on things as well, because as we see that wet.
• 6:03
  Speaker 3: Weather around the place.
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: Well last year the beginning of last year, we saw
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: the supermarket shells pretty well bear as we had a
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: situation where the roads were cut off.
• 6:13
  Speaker 5: And look at the situation up in the Kimberly at
• 6:15
  Speaker 5: the moment, they're still having real big issues with access
• 6:18
  Speaker 5: up there to some significant areas. But we live in
• 6:22
  Speaker 5: a very remote and isolated part of the Northern Territory.
• 6:24
  Speaker 5: We do our best to plan and if we do
• 6:26
  Speaker 5: get those roads cut off, we work closely with people
• 6:30
  Speaker 5: like the trucking agencies because we don't want to make
• 6:33
  Speaker 5: sure that we cause any more damage to the.
• 6:35
  Speaker 4: Roads to make it longer.
• 6:37
  Speaker 5: Sometimes you need to leave it just that little bit
• 6:38
  Speaker 5: longer so you don't send a truck through, tear up
• 6:40
  Speaker 5: the road and then everybody suffers for longer.
• 6:43
  Speaker 7: I just want to raise a couple of questions on
• 6:45
  Speaker 7: that because and my heart goes out to these people
• 6:48
  Speaker 7: that are evacuees of a flood region, Like it's devastating
• 6:52
  Speaker 7: to see the images that we've seen, and we have
• 6:55
  Speaker 7: seen the emergency response stood up, and I mean some
• 6:59
  Speaker 7: have said to me it was probably a little bit slow,
• 7:00
  Speaker 7: like we've seen as weather coming through for days now.
• 7:03
  Speaker 2: But besides that point, I just.
• 7:05
  Speaker 7: Wonder we have a lot of emergency crisises at the moment,
• 7:10
  Speaker 7: and we've seen Howard Springs facilities stood up in this emergency,
• 7:14
  Speaker 7: and yet we have a crime crisis or a rough
• 7:18
  Speaker 7: sleeping crisis as well as a domestic violence crisis. We
• 7:21
  Speaker 7: have all these different crisises that are happening in the
• 7:23
  Speaker 7: territory which are really hurting people, but we haven't seen
• 7:26
  Speaker 7: the same response for those kind of really terrible incidents
• 7:30
  Speaker 7: that are happening all the time. So if the Natasha
• 7:32
  Speaker 7: files and the government can step up to help our evacuees,
• 7:35
  Speaker 7: why can't we have the same response for these kind
• 7:38
  Speaker 7: of crime crisis. Where can those people go and live
• 7:42
  Speaker 7: in that area at Howard Springs?
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: Well, I guess you know, it's after the situation in
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: Alla Springs. A lot of people were questioning why the
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: government wasn't dealing with that crime crisis in the same
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: way that you know that they did throughout the COVID crisis.
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: So I certainly, you know, I take on board the
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: point that you're making. I don't know who we would
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: sort of have going out there at this point in
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: time to the Howard Springs facility.
• 8:07
  Speaker 3: Though in that sense.
• 8:09
  Speaker 7: In my lecture A, in Palmerston, there is rough sleepers
• 8:11
  Speaker 7: all through the CBD, in the Darwin City, there's rough
• 8:14
  Speaker 7: sleepers in perap in Catherine, and this is where people
• 8:18
  Speaker 7: become really vulnerable, and we've heard the government say that
• 8:20
  Speaker 7: there's nowhere for them to go and that is why
• 8:23
  Speaker 7: they're there. So the rough sleepers are obviously vulnerable themselves.
• 8:28
  Speaker 7: I know of organizations who have been approached by women
• 8:32
  Speaker 7: and children fleeing a rough sleeping experience and needing to
• 8:36
  Speaker 7: take shelter in those businesses.
• 8:38
  Speaker 2: That's one part of it.
• 8:38
  Speaker 7: The other part of it is that they do cause
• 8:40
  Speaker 7: a lot of angst because they end up sleeping out
• 8:43
  Speaker 7: there for a long time and almost living in these environment.
• 8:46
  Speaker 7: They start to consume alcohol, they start to become antisocial,
• 8:50
  Speaker 7: and it's the businesses and the community they're wearing the
• 8:52
  Speaker 7: brunt of that, and everywhere they go. Government are saying, well,
• 8:55
  Speaker 7: this is a really complex problem and we need to
• 8:57
  Speaker 7: deal with deal with it differently, and yet the same breath,
• 9:00
  Speaker 7: we have a facility where rough sleepers could go.
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: Is it something that the government's ever considered matter? I
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: mean having some of those some of that facility utilized
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: for people to be able to stay.
• 9:10
  Speaker 5: So firstly, I just want to give people assurances that
• 9:13
  Speaker 5: we do have places for rough sleepers. Have we got
• 9:16
  Speaker 5: enough though, we have got high demand, but we have
• 9:21
  Speaker 5: put in extra beds in our time and government, particularly
• 9:23
  Speaker 5: when you have a look at what we've got out
• 9:25
  Speaker 5: there over in Burmah, there's been a lot of work
• 9:28
  Speaker 5: there to get short stay accommodation, accommodation with wrap around
• 9:32
  Speaker 5: services for people who are rough sleepers.
• 9:35
  Speaker 2: But there are some rough sleepers now than ever before.
• 9:37
  Speaker 5: Okay, so we've got that accommodation there and it is
• 9:41
  Speaker 5: really a service we didn't have until we got into government.
• 9:44
  Speaker 5: We've also worked with other non government organizations. We do
• 9:48
  Speaker 5: have other places that do provide accommodation. With regards to
• 9:51
  Speaker 5: Howard Springs, we had a really good look at it
• 9:54
  Speaker 5: prior to COVID about what we could do with it.
• 9:56
  Speaker 5: It is a very very big facility. As we know,
• 10:00
  Speaker 5: it's huge. We didn't find that there were many organizations
• 10:04
  Speaker 5: or groups or businesses that actually presented that that have
• 10:08
  Speaker 5: the capacity to be able to handle just this year's
• 10:10
  Speaker 5: size and scalelement we saw it COVID. It stepped up
• 10:14
  Speaker 5: to become our center for national resilience, and I think
• 10:16
  Speaker 5: we were the envy of the absolute nation that we
• 10:18
  Speaker 5: had it there at this stage. No, we're not looking
• 10:21
  Speaker 5: at as a place for rough sleeping because we've seen
• 10:23
  Speaker 5: that this has got important uses in emergency management but
• 10:27
  Speaker 5: also for short term accommodation when we have, for example,
• 10:32
  Speaker 5: working with Defense about possibilities there as well, because in
• 10:37
  Speaker 5: the dry season we want to have as many free
• 10:39
  Speaker 5: hotel rooms as possible to make the most of it
• 10:41
  Speaker 5: for our tourists as well. But at this stage we're
• 10:43
  Speaker 5: not looking at as a rough sleeping solution. We're working
• 10:46
  Speaker 5: with ngngos to look at other available options as well.
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: All Right, we are going to move along because there
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: is a lot to cover off on this morning, and
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: I am very keen to speak about the fact that
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: the Northern Territory Police Association is calling for the Northern
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: Territory Government to urgently to the additional three hundred police
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: officers needed to meet policing demands, as outlined by the
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: Deputy Commissioner Murray small Page during the coronial proceedings in
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: Alice Springs throughout the week. Now, the Northern Territory Police
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: Association President Paul McHugh said that the Deputy Commissioner confirmed
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: what members have been telling us for years that the
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: Northern Territory Police Force is critically understaffed and struggling to
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: deal with the staggering levels of crime, harm and violence
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: in our community. So we know that this is on
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: the back of that survey being released which showed that
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: ninety eight percent of officers said that there aren't enough
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: police to do the jobs that are expected of them. Now,
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: Paul McHugh has said that police staffing is in crisis.
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: He said that recruitment is struggling to keep up with
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: attrition which is skyrocketed to more than ten percent, and
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: we're hamorrhaging officers due to fatigue, low morale, chronic resource
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: neglect by the government and the territory at both the
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: territory and federal level, as well as dealing with that
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: thirty percent increase in total crime, one hundred and twenty
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: six percent increase in domestic and family violence, and fifty
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: two percent increase in unlawful entries over the past decade.
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: I mean, this is something that the Police Association has
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: really been raising for quite a long period of time.
• 12:23
  Speaker 3: They had their last.
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: Survey towards the middle of last year, I believe it
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: was the most recent survey has really reaffirmed the concerns
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: that they've got. And then we know that the Deputy
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: Commissioner obviously giving that evidence throughout the coronial proceedings really
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: confirmed what people were worried about.
• 12:41
  Speaker 5: And firstly, I just want to say a big thanks
• 12:44
  Speaker 5: to our police.
• 12:44
  Speaker 4: They do an amazing job and a big thanks to Paul.
• 12:46
  Speaker 5: I understand Paul will be leaving the NTPA and I
• 12:49
  Speaker 5: know in my time as Police Association Police Minister, I
• 12:52
  Speaker 5: really enjoyed working with the NTPA.
• 12:55
  Speaker 4: Got a great group of police officers who are very.
• 12:57
  Speaker 5: Passionate about what they do, and the wonderful North Territory
• 13:00
  Speaker 5: Police Force. I just want to assure people that we
• 13:03
  Speaker 5: listen to the NTPA concerns, we do take them seriously.
• 13:07
  Speaker 5: Since we have come to government, we have made sure
• 13:09
  Speaker 5: that we've put in extra police numbers, that.
• 13:12
  Speaker 4: We've boosted the budget by one hundred and twenty million dollar.
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: Are they then, manow because we keep hearing this over
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: and over again from the Northern Territory government. More police
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: than ever before, greater budget than ever before. But everybody's going,
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: well where are they? And now if you've got the
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: Deputy commissioner, well, the chief is to confirm that through
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: the way that they are on sick leave. But well
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: that's that is the comment that she made. The Police
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: Association president didn't agree with that.
• 13:37
  Speaker 5: So so but what I will say is that we
• 13:39
  Speaker 5: have put on extra numbers, we have boosted the budget.
• 13:42
  Speaker 5: We keep working at looking at our resourcing to go
• 13:44
  Speaker 5: how can we give further support to the police. But
• 13:46
  Speaker 5: I just want to assure those hard working members out
• 13:49
  Speaker 5: there that the government does support them, that we absolutely
• 13:52
  Speaker 5: want to make sure that they.
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: Get these the police saying that they need three hundred
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: extra of their officers, and so what is going to happen?
• 14:00
  Speaker 8: I mean, we estimary admission for so long we've put
• 14:03
  Speaker 8: those questions to police asking if they had enough resources,
• 14:05
  Speaker 8: and they said that they did. So now we're hearing
• 14:07
  Speaker 8: a three hundred person figure is a massive when for
• 14:12
  Speaker 8: how long you and I had talked and put it
• 14:15
  Speaker 8: to the government about how many extra resources and they
• 14:17
  Speaker 8: were told in twenty extra police, which comes from a
• 14:20
  Speaker 8: review in twenty eleven. And the advice I've got is
• 14:23
  Speaker 8: that we've also got We've just had a graduating squad,
• 14:26
  Speaker 8: We've got two more squads that are going through the
• 14:28
  Speaker 8: college at the moment. So catch up though, man it
• 14:33
  Speaker 8: because I mean, wasn't there a figure that Paul said
• 14:35
  Speaker 8: to you the other day, Katie, that for a whole
• 14:38
  Speaker 8: twelve months or something there was not a single officer recruited.
• 14:41
  Speaker 5: There's been a huge amount of recruitment through that time,
• 14:44
  Speaker 5: and I've physically stood there at multiple graduations.
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: I mean, that's a good thing, Like that's obviously a
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: good thing that we've got those constables being recruited. But
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: we are losing offices, there is no.
• 14:58
  Speaker 4: Doubt about that.
• 14:59
  Speaker 5: I just listen and to mister McHugh on another station
• 15:02
  Speaker 5: on my way in having a chat to them about
• 15:04
  Speaker 5: that as well. They're finding that nationally there is an
• 15:08
  Speaker 5: issue with people getting police officers, there is.
• 15:11
  Speaker 3: No doubt about that.
• 15:12
  Speaker 5: But they are going to be coming together to have
• 15:14
  Speaker 5: a national forum, he was saying very soon to look
• 15:18
  Speaker 5: at this very challenging issue of recruitment and retention.
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: So are you saying we don't need an extra three
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: hundred police.
• 15:25
  Speaker 5: We will always work to give police the resources that
• 15:28
  Speaker 5: they need, so you know, we will be looking carefully
• 15:31
  Speaker 5: at what police resourcing is needed.
• 15:34
  Speaker 4: We've got.
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: Do you think that the Northern Territory government's got their
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: policy settings right? If we're in a sitution, we're over situation,
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: We're over the last decade, you've seen a thirty percent
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: increase in total crime, one hundred and twenty six percent
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: increase in domestic and family violence, and a fifty two
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: percent increase in unlawful entries. Do you think that we've
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: got the policy settings right in terms of supporting the
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: Northern Territory Police on the back of those figures that
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: came out of the survey where they have said that
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: they don't feel they've got the tools that they need
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: to do their jobs.
• 16:07
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 16:09
  Speaker 5: The whole time we've been in government, we've backed them
• 16:11
  Speaker 5: in with budget, with numbers, with legislative changes, and we
• 16:15
  Speaker 5: sit down and we listen. The job of policing in
• 16:17
  Speaker 5: the Northern Territory is, without a doubt, probably the hardest
• 16:21
  Speaker 5: in the nation. We do have the highest number of
• 16:24
  Speaker 5: police officers per capita in the nation when you look
• 16:27
  Speaker 5: at the proportion of people of police that we have
• 16:29
  Speaker 5: to people. But we still listen to them because look
• 16:31
  Speaker 5: at the level of disadvantage that they deal with.
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: So are you going to listen to them now when
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: they're saying that they need three hundred extra Katie.
• 16:38
  Speaker 5: I have always sat down and listened to our police
• 16:40
  Speaker 5: force and listened to them and tried to make sure
• 16:42
  Speaker 5: that we give them the resources that they need. So
• 16:45
  Speaker 5: we take on board their feedback very seriously in the
• 16:47
  Speaker 5: NTPA feedback very seriously, and we keep working with them.
• 16:50
  Speaker 7: Nicole, you say that you've given them, you know, the budget,
• 16:53
  Speaker 7: the resources, the legislation. I mean you were the former
• 16:56
  Speaker 7: police minister and it failed under your watch, and it's
• 16:59
  Speaker 7: now failing under the new police minister. It was labor
• 17:02
  Speaker 7: that broke up the relationship between the Territorians and the
• 17:05
  Speaker 7: Territory police. I mean you raised the age of criminal responsibility.
• 17:09
  Speaker 7: You scrapped mandatory sentencing, you rejected the breach of bail
• 17:13
  Speaker 7: as an offense. I mean you also failed to protect
• 17:15
  Speaker 7: the police. You banned spit hoods, you rejected mandatory mandatory
• 17:20
  Speaker 7: sentencing against an officer, and only last month you rejected
• 17:23
  Speaker 7: the law against offending with a weapon. You know, sorry, sorry,
• 17:27
  Speaker 7: you rejected a law against offenders controlling an officer's weapon.
• 17:31
  Speaker 7: So you have literally dismantled the police force one step
• 17:36
  Speaker 7: at a time. They're leaving at a rate of knocks.
• 17:38
  Speaker 7: The Police Minister's position now is untenable. I mean the
• 17:41
  Speaker 7: government's relationship with Territory police is beyond repair.
• 17:46
  Speaker 6: I don't necesarily discreet with you, Mark Chair, but I
• 17:48
  Speaker 6: think we're missing We're missing a couple of key points here.
• 17:51
  Speaker 6: One is it's one thing to say for the assistant
• 17:54
  Speaker 6: or deputy comissioner, so we need three hundred officers. The
• 17:58
  Speaker 6: question is, or these that should be noticed? Why why
• 18:01
  Speaker 6: do we need those extra police officers? Why are we
• 18:03
  Speaker 6: the highest police per population ratio in the whole country.
• 18:06
  Speaker 6: And the reason is quite simply, we have such a
• 18:08
  Speaker 6: high level of crime across the board. Doesn't matter what
• 18:10
  Speaker 6: kind of crime it is, it's there. So it's all
• 18:13
  Speaker 6: very well to say we need the three hundred officers.
• 18:15
  Speaker 6: And Nicole's quite right. I heard at the interview also
• 18:18
  Speaker 6: about the Army is going to go on a massive recruitment. Now,
• 18:21
  Speaker 6: the kind of person my understanding, who joins a police
• 18:24
  Speaker 6: force or an emergency force with a uniform also tends
• 18:27
  Speaker 6: to be attracted to the army. Now, the Army has
• 18:29
  Speaker 6: got a lot of money at their disposal to run
• 18:31
  Speaker 6: very attracted at Katie, and we will never start.
• 18:33
  Speaker 2: The outcomes are just not there though, and people know that.
• 18:36
  Speaker 2: I agree with Katie.
• 18:37
  Speaker 7: It feels like you've just given up because you run
• 18:39
  Speaker 7: out of its.
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: With the five hundred million dollar infrastructure spend the Deputy
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: Commissioner has also said is required. So that's the other
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: part of it, And he's said that there's old dilapidated structure.
• 18:52
  Speaker 6: I haven't seen any firsthand, but I'm sure there is
• 18:54
  Speaker 6: with all those remote police stations. They're probably still in
• 18:56
  Speaker 6: the bloody silver bullet vans.
• 18:58
  Speaker 9: It goes to the Marale too, you knowpmen out bush.
• 19:01
  Speaker 6: But there probably is a big need to improve the
• 19:05
  Speaker 6: infrastructure out in I think the remote and the regional areas,
• 19:08
  Speaker 6: whether it be the housing for police, all this data.
• 19:10
  Speaker 9: I mean, we've just.
• 19:10
  Speaker 8: Seen that multimillion dollar police station at Nightcliff built that
• 19:15
  Speaker 8: is an open twenty four to seven when some of
• 19:17
  Speaker 8: that money could have been spent on improving our grades.
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: Well, the same thing is is that at the moment
• 19:22
  Speaker 1: we've got that two hundred and fifty million dollars that's
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: due to go into Central Australia, right, we've got our
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: police officers surge to Central Australia as well. I believe
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: it was forty. I'm not sure if there is still
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: the forty there. But then if we're three hundred officers
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: down well, we can see that the forty additional police
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: in Alice Springs is helping. So is there a way
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: that some of that, some of that investment that two
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: hundred and fifty million dollars can be put towards that
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: surge within the Alice Springs region permanently. It hasn't been,
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: it won't be different towards police.
• 19:52
  Speaker 5: So what we do have with the federal government though,
• 19:56
  Speaker 5: is the nt RAY Agreement, and part of that is
• 20:00
  Speaker 5: a remote policing element to it, which Central Australia certainly
• 20:03
  Speaker 5: gets some of that from. I have been very frustrated,
• 20:07
  Speaker 5: you know, going from the Morrison government and now we're
• 20:10
  Speaker 5: with the new government here with Albanezi. We want to
• 20:13
  Speaker 5: make sure that we get long term outcomes with NTRAY
• 20:16
  Speaker 5: because that was a stronger futures post intervention agreement where
• 20:22
  Speaker 5: we had a raft of I think it's about up
• 20:24
  Speaker 5: to about seventy extra police officers that are funded through
• 20:27
  Speaker 5: that for the remote areas. And again we've been going
• 20:30
  Speaker 5: pretty much so year to year with that agreement. It'd
• 20:33
  Speaker 5: be nice to get some long.
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: Term set around one in time we are going to
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: have to go to a break but at this point
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: in time. It doesn't sound as though there are any
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: plans from the Northern Territory government to boost the police
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: force by three hundred or five hundred million dollars in infrastructure.
• 20:47
  Speaker 5: I tell you what, we always look at what we
• 20:49
  Speaker 5: can do and looking at how we can improve them.
• 20:51
  Speaker 3: But do you be fighting for the police in the
• 20:52
  Speaker 3: cabinet room.
• 20:53
  Speaker 5: I think everybody knows my position on that, Katie. They
• 20:55
  Speaker 5: know that I'm very passionate about the Northern Territory Police Force.
• 20:58
  Speaker 5: I'm the daughter of somebody you served thirty years in
• 21:01
  Speaker 5: the Northern Territory Police and I will always back in
• 21:03
  Speaker 5: our place.
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: Do the other cabinet members feel the same, yes, I hope.
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: So all right, let's take a bit of a break.
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: You are listening to Mix one O FORTNIGHTE. We've just
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: joined us. It is an all female lineup this morning.
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: We've got Murray Claire Boothby, Kathleen Gazola, Kezia Puric and
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: Nicole Manison. And I won't turn on Kezy as microphone
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: yet because I can see her chatting away still over there.
• 21:23
  Speaker 5: Now.
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: I do want to just talk about the fact that
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: we learned earlier in the week that Quantus is cutting
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: seats in Alice Springs or for the Central Australia region.
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: We've spoken to the CEO of Tourism Central Australia, Daniel
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: Rochford earlier in the week who confirmed thirty thousand seats
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: across a period of time. We also know that he'd
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: said that you know, their concerns in as well about
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: the cost affairs, and he is really calling on Mano
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: and I know you are the Tourism Minister for there
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: to be talks with either Rex or Bonzer.
• 21:59
  Speaker 4: But there are talks with and bonds are.
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: So we sat down with Bonza since since Quanta's made
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: that announcement.
• 22:04
  Speaker 5: So we've been talking to Bonza and Rex for some time, Katie.
• 22:09
  Speaker 5: So we've got dedicated public servants within our department that
• 22:14
  Speaker 5: are there about airline attraction, so as well as Rex
• 22:17
  Speaker 5: and BONSA. Of course we've kept the conversations going in
• 22:19
  Speaker 5: about Singapore and replacement lines there, and when we get
• 22:23
  Speaker 5: interests shown by other airlines, we go in and we
• 22:26
  Speaker 5: have good talks to them. But again I always say Quantus,
• 22:29
  Speaker 5: you know fair go the northern territories in your name,
• 22:32
  Speaker 5: territories deserve good service. I do welcome the fars that
• 22:37
  Speaker 5: they've done for the people of Central Australia to die
• 22:40
  Speaker 5: and end to Adelaide, because we know that Centralians have
• 22:42
  Speaker 5: a very close relationship with Adelaide and Virgin's got the
• 22:44
  Speaker 5: same thing going. However, when they reduce capacity significantly for us,
• 22:53
  Speaker 5: so for us, what that means is that it has
• 22:57
  Speaker 5: a bigger impact here. And at the moment, he does
• 22:59
  Speaker 5: know that they're international. They're telling us it because international
• 23:04
  Speaker 5: visitors have not gone back to what they used to be.
• 23:06
  Speaker 5: They're telling us all up capacity when we can see
• 23:08
  Speaker 5: that happening. But from what I can see about the
• 23:10
  Speaker 5: quantus priorities at the moment and Virgin is that they're
• 23:13
  Speaker 5: very focused on the East Coast. They're focused on competing
• 23:16
  Speaker 5: with Rex, they are focused on trying to get more
• 23:20
  Speaker 5: of their planes out onto the international markets and of
• 23:23
  Speaker 5: course the big Golden triangle of Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: I guess something is though they can't fly empty, you know.
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: And the whole point is is that we need people
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: back to go to Alice Springs and the crime crisis
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: has not helped.
• 23:34
  Speaker 8: When it costs as much to fly from Darwin Alice
• 23:36
  Speaker 8: Springs as it is to go to Europe.
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: What like, Well, that's exactly right at the moment, it's
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: appalling the cost. But I do want to just say
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: that we also know that one of Australia's largest charter
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: and tour bus companies operating in Central Australia's pulled its
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: business out of Alla Springs as well. So ATG down
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: Under is going to cease operating in Central Australia and
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: relocate its assets to Darwin.
• 23:58
  Speaker 3: We are due to catch up with the couple of operators.
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: Out of Central Australia after ten o'clock this morning.
• 24:04
  Speaker 3: But thought there was all these bookings, Yes.
• 24:08
  Speaker 5: And you know that is the feedback that we're getting
• 24:10
  Speaker 5: on the ground is happening, the feedback from that company.
• 24:13
  Speaker 5: It's actually a range of different factors that have led
• 24:17
  Speaker 5: to that decision, and including some other matters that they've got,
• 24:21
  Speaker 5: but not a.
• 24:22
  Speaker 3: Very included quantus decision.
• 24:24
  Speaker 5: All the prime No, so that's not the advice I had.
• 24:28
  Speaker 5: So we're also very confident that the work that they
• 24:31
  Speaker 5: were doing will be picked up by some of the
• 24:33
  Speaker 5: other strong operators that we've got in Central Australia, so
• 24:35
  Speaker 5: that will help build their businesses as well. But again
• 24:39
  Speaker 5: like we've just had. I just caught up with Pachma
• 24:41
  Speaker 5: this week. They're really looking forward to the big show
• 24:44
  Speaker 5: that they will be putting on. Of course, we've got
• 24:47
  Speaker 5: that new world class drone show that will be starting
• 24:50
  Speaker 5: on the first of May out at Ularoo. We've got
• 24:53
  Speaker 5: the Bruce Munroe light installation at King's Canyon that's coming in,
• 24:57
  Speaker 5: so there's some really great product coming into the market.
• 25:00
  Speaker 3: Bonds are and Rex. Have you met with them yourself.
• 25:03
  Speaker 5: I have not had a direct meeting with BONSA and Rex.
• 25:06
  Speaker 5: We have because I've got my public servants that are
• 25:08
  Speaker 5: in there having those conversations.
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: Don't you reckon it potentially push them along to have
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: the Tourism Minister go maybe.
• 25:16
  Speaker 5: You know it's my intention to sit down with them,
• 25:18
  Speaker 5: But at the moment I've absolutely had the whip out
• 25:20
  Speaker 5: to the department to say go hunt down these people.
• 25:23
  Speaker 4: Make sure that we're putting the case them.
• 25:25
  Speaker 5: The Airport Development Group have also been putting the case
• 25:28
  Speaker 5: to them, and so has Tourism Central Australia. And of
• 25:31
  Speaker 5: course we've also seen the old Springstown Council have those
• 25:36
  Speaker 5: conversations with them. But we were very keen to see
• 25:39
  Speaker 5: some new entrants into the market and more competition.
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: How far advanced are the talks with the likes of
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: bonds are and rexs Because you'd said to me just
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: a moment ago that the public servants have met with them,
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: how far advanced are these talks.
• 25:51
  Speaker 5: We've had some interesting discussions with them about what they're
• 25:56
  Speaker 5: looking to do. Clearly they're more East Coast focused, but
• 26:00
  Speaker 5: we're putting the case to them about why we think
• 26:02
  Speaker 5: they should come to the Northern Territory and you know,
• 26:05
  Speaker 5: trying to make sure that we look at it make
• 26:07
  Speaker 5: it look as attractive as possible for them. So we're
• 26:10
  Speaker 5: certainly having those conversations. And as to other important stakeholders
• 26:13
  Speaker 5: as well.
• 26:14
  Speaker 7: Katie Bonza was quoted in the Anti News that and
• 26:17
  Speaker 7: their quote is we need commercial terms in place with
• 26:19
  Speaker 7: Territory airports that allow us to support the wider community
• 26:22
  Speaker 7: and the tourism industry. And we know that if for
• 26:26
  Speaker 7: Territory Airports to be able to provide that, they need
• 26:29
  Speaker 7: a growing economy here in the Northern Territory. They need
• 26:32
  Speaker 7: a population which is growing and thriving, not decreasing, and
• 26:36
  Speaker 7: they need major projects to be underway, not just the
• 26:38
  Speaker 7: futuristic talk. So I like with Quantas pulling out all
• 26:42
  Speaker 7: those flights like that, it's incredibly disappointing, incredibly frustrating, But
• 26:47
  Speaker 7: I actually understand why that is happening. I mean, they
• 26:50
  Speaker 7: are a corporate like other corporates like Bonzai and the
• 26:53
  Speaker 7: others that want to come here. But we need to
• 26:55
  Speaker 7: be able to give them an environment in which they
• 26:56
  Speaker 7: can sustain the flights in and out.
• 26:59
  Speaker 8: Yeah, and it all goes to supply and demand, doesn't
• 27:02
  Speaker 8: it If there's no one that really wants to go
• 27:03
  Speaker 8: to Alice Springs partly because of the issues that.
• 27:05
  Speaker 9: Are on the ground.
• 27:06
  Speaker 8: I mean, you will all our springs and you see
• 27:10
  Speaker 8: all that national coverage of the issues that face down there.
• 27:13
  Speaker 8: I mean, yes, that alcohol bands have come back, and
• 27:15
  Speaker 8: there's that investment coming from the federal government, but at
• 27:17
  Speaker 8: the end of the day, there's still that crime issue
• 27:19
  Speaker 8: that was there prior to stronger futures ending.
• 27:21
  Speaker 5: And we're marketing hard. I've announced a range of other
• 27:24
  Speaker 5: missions to go into that.
• 27:26
  Speaker 3: It's about making sure people are safe when they.
• 27:28
  Speaker 5: Get there, but I'm also going to tell the good
• 27:30
  Speaker 5: stories because it can tell you now that most people
• 27:32
  Speaker 5: that go to Ali Springs and go to Central Australia
• 27:34
  Speaker 5: are going to have a magnificent experience and things.
• 27:39
  Speaker 9: But obviously the bad things are to be the pressure.
• 27:41
  Speaker 5: We have announced extra marketing money, extra events money. We're
• 27:46
  Speaker 5: going in harder on top of our other campaigns that
• 27:48
  Speaker 5: we've got there.
• 27:48
  Speaker 7: But in our cloring back a reputational damage, I mean,
• 27:51
  Speaker 7: Alice Springs was in the headlines for all the wrong
• 27:53
  Speaker 7: reasons right across Australia for weeks.
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: You know, like the damage Telegraph had a huge campaign
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: even earlier this week.
• 27:59
  Speaker 5: So it's still eat But again this is why we've
• 28:01
  Speaker 5: gone out. We're putting in extra resources in there when
• 28:04
  Speaker 5: it comes to tourism marketing there because again we want
• 28:07
  Speaker 5: to make sure that tourism is a really important part
• 28:09
  Speaker 5: of the economy there and that we keep that going.
• 28:12
  Speaker 3: Kiz, you haven't had a good chance to get on
• 28:14
  Speaker 3: the mind jet.
• 28:15
  Speaker 6: It's cole Minister microphone.
• 28:19
  Speaker 10: Not only sorry, not only did I lose pinch, I've
• 28:27
  Speaker 10: been devastated ever since in January.
• 28:30
  Speaker 6: And when you pinch punch, it's.
• 28:37
  Speaker 3: This on this situation with with Quantus.
• 28:40
  Speaker 6: Well, look, Quantus is a commercial company. They're a publicly
• 28:43
  Speaker 6: listed company. They have to do what's good for their
• 28:45
  Speaker 6: shareholder's bottom line. So if they're pulling out flights or
• 28:49
  Speaker 6: seats from going to our springs or going via our springs,
• 28:51
  Speaker 6: well it's done on commercial basis. But I think again,
• 28:54
  Speaker 6: apart from the people being moved around and coming in
• 28:56
  Speaker 6: and out of the territory, there's a whole lot of
• 28:58
  Speaker 6: freight that comes in and out on those planes, and
• 29:00
  Speaker 6: that's that concerns me because that can be disadvantaged. Now
• 29:03
  Speaker 6: Alice wouldn't have probably fresh produce.
• 29:05
  Speaker 5: We get that conversation with you on the say that
• 29:08
  Speaker 5: it's also the fate that makes it less attractive as well.
• 29:10
  Speaker 6: Yeah, because it's a business, but it's behold upon the government,
• 29:14
  Speaker 6: and obviously they're starting to do things with this. I
• 29:16
  Speaker 6: just google this Bonzo mob Bonza who calls areline bonsa Seriously.
• 29:21
  Speaker 3: Well, they're so. I was in Cans when they first
• 29:23
  Speaker 3: took off.
• 29:24
  Speaker 1: So when they first their first flight took off, which
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: was just earlier this year, and and it was so
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: cheap to be able to You can fly from Cans
• 29:32
  Speaker 1: to Mackay for like sixty seventy bucks.
• 29:36
  Speaker 3: It's very cheap.
• 29:37
  Speaker 1: And look, I don't it's certainly yes, and we certainly
• 29:41
  Speaker 1: not high brow flying. But do you know if get
• 29:44
  Speaker 1: you there and you're safe, who cares the sunshine?
• 29:48
  Speaker 3: Well it will be good to well.
• 29:50
  Speaker 6: Government's in discussion with that kind of airline is get
• 29:52
  Speaker 6: them to bunny Hop down. The Milk Run again to
• 29:54
  Speaker 6: the peraps Os Null and boy Ye Jebry is probably
• 29:58
  Speaker 6: a bit too small, but some of those place to
• 30:00
  Speaker 6: get a package.
• 30:01
  Speaker 8: And I mean initially with the Milk Run when it
• 30:03
  Speaker 8: first came back with that was subsidized by the Colp government.
• 30:07
  Speaker 8: So I mean the Tourism Central Australia came up with
• 30:10
  Speaker 8: that strategy of where south Western Australia currently does a
• 30:13
  Speaker 8: subsidy program, So what was it.
• 30:16
  Speaker 9: About that that the government's not key on.
• 30:18
  Speaker 5: So it is a very expensive model, but we know
• 30:23
  Speaker 5: it's something that is a big cost of living issue
• 30:25
  Speaker 5: for people in Central Australia, so you know, we keep
• 30:28
  Speaker 5: having a look at ways we can do it. It
• 30:29
  Speaker 5: would be something where I think you'd have to look
• 30:32
  Speaker 5: at all remote communities in the Northern Territory to acknowledge that.
• 30:36
  Speaker 5: But with the with the Milk Run, we still do
• 30:40
  Speaker 5: subsidize that and that unfortunately, you know it's been a
• 30:44
  Speaker 5: model that we've really struggled to see commercialize. But it's
• 30:47
  Speaker 5: still a really important service to have available to people.
• 30:50
  Speaker 7: When you have a giant billion, there's not much there
• 30:52
  Speaker 7: left to be able to fund this sort of thing
• 30:54
  Speaker 7: makes it very difficult.
• 30:55
  Speaker 6: Well, you said earlier, I know you look like you
• 30:58
  Speaker 6: want to go to a breakles stuff. So I was
• 31:00
  Speaker 6: just going to say, you know, like you said earlier
• 31:03
  Speaker 6: in the piece, Quantus was obviously Queensland and Northern Territory Airway.
• 31:06
  Speaker 6: So if Quantus is not going to really have much
• 31:09
  Speaker 6: to do with the if we take the NT out
• 31:10
  Speaker 6: of Quantus, you left with q AS. Now, I don't
• 31:15
  Speaker 6: think mister Joyce would want that.
• 31:17
  Speaker 3: I was worried it was going to be something else.
• 31:21
  Speaker 3: I'm to take a very short break. You are listening
• 31:25
  Speaker 3: to Mix one O four nines three sixty. It is
• 31:28
  Speaker 3: the week that was.
• 31:29
  Speaker 1: You are listening to Mix one O four nines three sixty,
• 31:31
  Speaker 1: and it is indeed the week that was with us
• 31:33
  Speaker 1: this morning, we've got Nicole Madison, Keesy Epuric, Kathleen Gazola
• 31:37
  Speaker 1: and Marie Claire Boothby. Now we know that the Hora
• 31:40
  Speaker 1: if you're a by election is obviously just a couple
• 31:43
  Speaker 1: of weeks ago. I understand that the Electoral Commission obviously
• 31:46
  Speaker 1: drew the ballots.
• 31:48
  Speaker 3: Is that the correct way of saying it's.
• 31:50
  Speaker 8: Kathleen promasion of nominations?
• 31:53
  Speaker 1: Yep.
• 31:53
  Speaker 3: So that all happened yesterday.
• 31:55
  Speaker 1: On the same day, we also know that Territory's the
• 31:58
  Speaker 1: Territory Labor candidate for the upcoming araf You're a by election,
• 32:02
  Speaker 1: had revealed that demons do continue to haunt him almost
• 32:06
  Speaker 1: fourteen years on from a fatal crash. Manuel Brown, the Government,
• 32:11
  Speaker 1: well the Labour Party's contender, i should say for the
• 32:13
  Speaker 1: Tewee Islands and the West Arnham seat, did release a
• 32:16
  Speaker 1: statement on his involvement in a crash which occurred in
• 32:20
  Speaker 1: Catherine quite.
• 32:21
  Speaker 3: A few years back.
• 32:22
  Speaker 1: It was after there had been a fairly explosive report
• 32:26
  Speaker 1: on the Anti Independent about this situation and he then
• 32:30
  Speaker 1: sent a statement. We got a statement from the Labor
• 32:32
  Speaker 1: Party through to the show yesterday. Now I know that
• 32:36
  Speaker 1: it does sort of raise some questions or you certainly'd
• 32:38
  Speaker 1: asked a question, Kathleen, I believe, at a press conference
• 32:40
  Speaker 1: yesterday to the Chief Minister about whether it raises questions around.
• 32:46
  Speaker 8: Integrity questions a post and public interest and the disclosure
• 32:50
  Speaker 8: of certain matters if someone has had to go through
• 32:54
  Speaker 8: court or has had those historical matters. So the Chief
• 32:57
  Speaker 8: Minister was asked whether she was a where of it
• 33:00
  Speaker 8: and whether mister Brown had declared it to the party,
• 33:03
  Speaker 8: which she confirmed both, and that she had been made
• 33:06
  Speaker 8: aware fully of the incident the day before when when
• 33:10
  Speaker 8: the report came out. But you know, she she had
• 33:13
  Speaker 8: a dig about the timing of that report coming out
• 33:15
  Speaker 8: because it was on the day of the state funeral
• 33:18
  Speaker 8: and obviously a very sensitive time for the families.
• 33:22
  Speaker 9: And you know that kind of stuff.
• 33:24
  Speaker 8: But then it goes to, well, then, why wasn't the
• 33:26
  Speaker 8: public told of this from day dot? Could have been
• 33:29
  Speaker 8: dealt with, could have been done and dusted, explained, and
• 33:32
  Speaker 8: all that kind.
• 33:32
  Speaker 3: Of stuff exactly.
• 33:34
  Speaker 8: So it goes to the whole thing of you know,
• 33:35
  Speaker 8: politicians hate media doing gotcha moments, and well, but did
• 33:40
  Speaker 8: I not come out and say it initially when he
• 33:41
  Speaker 8: was announced as a candidate, address it if he expected
• 33:44
  Speaker 8: it was going to come up, do it then.
• 33:46
  Speaker 1: And it's a really difficult situation because from all accounts,
• 33:49
  Speaker 1: so I'm told that he's a really good bloke. I
• 33:53
  Speaker 1: you know, I've got family that live in mad and
• 33:54
  Speaker 1: Greeta obviously, and I'm told that he's a really decent
• 33:57
  Speaker 1: candidate and a really good member of the community.
• 33:59
  Speaker 9: And clearly owned up to it has absolutely you know, yeah.
• 34:02
  Speaker 1: But I think it's it sort of goes to the
• 34:04
  Speaker 1: heart of light you've touched on there, Kathleen, when candidates
• 34:07
  Speaker 1: are announced and you know, and some of those different
• 34:11
  Speaker 1: you know, checks and balances when it comes to integrity,
• 34:14
  Speaker 1: and this is not something that is only that you know,
• 34:16
  Speaker 1: it's only in this situation.
• 34:18
  Speaker 3: We've seen it time and time again.
• 34:19
  Speaker 8: Something we have to go to a press conference when
• 34:21
  Speaker 8: a candidate's announced and gone, have you gone through court,
• 34:24
  Speaker 8: have you been charged, have you got a conviction?
• 34:26
  Speaker 9: Have you done this? And oh, well, now that you
• 34:28
  Speaker 9: ask that question, yes or no, I mean, well.
• 34:32
  Speaker 1: And you're sort of it's a really hard one in
• 34:34
  Speaker 1: the sense that there's never a good time to sort
• 34:36
  Speaker 1: of reveal any of that kind of info.
• 34:38
  Speaker 3: But what I will say is that, you know.
• 34:40
  Speaker 1: Both sides of politics do like to kick the boot
• 34:43
  Speaker 1: into each other in these situations. So in this situation,
• 34:47
  Speaker 1: it's something that obviously we're looking at a Labor candidate.
• 34:50
  Speaker 3: But it is not the first time that it's happened.
• 34:52
  Speaker 3: I know, before the.
• 34:53
  Speaker 1: Last Northern Territory election there's you know, it was sort
• 34:57
  Speaker 1: of the shoe was on the other foot. We've seen
• 35:00
  Speaker 1: it's even in prior.
• 35:02
  Speaker 8: Election guaranteed, So whenever a candidate is announced, both parties
• 35:06
  Speaker 8: go and have a little do as to what they
• 35:08
  Speaker 8: can uncover on either side.
• 35:10
  Speaker 3: Yeah, that's exactly right.
• 35:11
  Speaker 5: So what I will say about Manual and what I'd
• 35:16
  Speaker 5: ask people to consider is that he was involved in
• 35:19
  Speaker 5: a terrible accident, a terrible accident almost fifteen years ago,
• 35:24
  Speaker 5: a multi car accident where unfortunately he rendered assistance to
• 35:31
  Speaker 5: the person who ended up getting taken to hospital and
• 35:34
  Speaker 5: passed away in the hospital later on that day. A
• 35:38
  Speaker 5: terrible accident that had a big impact on him for
• 35:42
  Speaker 5: the rest of his life that he still lives with.
• 35:44
  Speaker 5: And I don't know if there have been many of
• 35:46
  Speaker 5: us in this room that haven't known someone who's gone
• 35:47
  Speaker 5: through a terrible accident in their life that hasn't had
• 35:50
  Speaker 5: a big impact on their life. And instead, the pathway
• 35:55
  Speaker 5: that Manuel's chosen to take in life has been to
• 35:58
  Speaker 5: make the most of every day, to be a good
• 36:01
  Speaker 5: person and to work hard, and he's put his hand
• 36:04
  Speaker 5: up for public life to do just that. He's had
• 36:08
  Speaker 5: to live with this for a very long time, and
• 36:11
  Speaker 5: like I said, I don't think that many of us
• 36:12
  Speaker 5: here that don't know someone who's been in a terrible
• 36:15
  Speaker 5: life changing accident. And I think Manuel has shown just
• 36:18
  Speaker 5: the grit and strength that he's got, the fact that
• 36:20
  Speaker 5: he is pursuing a public life and he has tried
• 36:23
  Speaker 5: to be a good person.
• 36:25
  Speaker 1: Were you were you're aware of it that name before
• 36:27
  Speaker 1: yesterday when the Chief Minister had found out or the
• 36:30
  Speaker 1: day before.
• 36:31
  Speaker 5: I was aware of it on the day of the
• 36:32
  Speaker 5: funeral as well, and I know Manuel had discussions with
• 36:36
  Speaker 5: people through a pre selection process, through that with the party.
• 36:39
  Speaker 3: So he was upfront about it through the process with
• 36:41
  Speaker 3: the party. Yet he had conversations Katie.
• 36:45
  Speaker 7: It's not the CLP's position to judge the candidate at all,
• 36:48
  Speaker 7: and I definitely don't want to do that, especially you know,
• 36:50
  Speaker 7: judging his criminal record as such, because it is up
• 36:53
  Speaker 7: to the people of Barraferia to make that decision. But
• 36:56
  Speaker 7: Territorians are rightly concerned and it's about the judgment of
• 36:59
  Speaker 7: the Chief Minister and the government like Kathleen touched on,
• 37:03
  Speaker 7: I mean, Natasha Files did know about this, and she
• 37:06
  Speaker 7: still backs the candidate, and it was clearly a choice
• 37:10
  Speaker 7: to be not like not to be upfront with the voters,
• 37:13
  Speaker 7: and like I think the chief Minister of the Labor
• 37:15
  Speaker 7: Party and the Labor candidate, we're all hoping hoping this
• 37:17
  Speaker 7: wouldn't come out, and of course now it has and
• 37:20
  Speaker 7: there are lots of questions about it.
• 37:21
  Speaker 4: You a multi car accident.
• 37:24
  Speaker 1: I don't know the ins and outs of the accident,
• 37:26
  Speaker 1: and I'm very aware that yesterday we received a phone
• 37:28
  Speaker 1: call to the show of a family member of the
• 37:30
  Speaker 1: victim of the victim of that accident. So I'm very
• 37:33
  Speaker 1: aware that there's people listening to the show who are
• 37:35
  Speaker 1: actually family members of the victim. So I want to
• 37:39
  Speaker 1: be really careful about what gets said here.
• 37:41
  Speaker 3: Because I don't know the ins and outs of that accident.
• 37:44
  Speaker 3: That's all that.
• 37:44
  Speaker 6: Crash, and that's fair enough, and I accept that, and
• 37:46
  Speaker 6: I think everyone would accept that. You know, a person's
• 37:49
  Speaker 6: lost their life and the impact on the loved ones
• 37:51
  Speaker 6: and families will be for you forever. But I think
• 37:55
  Speaker 6: the key is I think that Kathleen, in You're raising
• 37:57
  Speaker 6: is the processes when political party pre select their candidates exactly.
• 38:02
  Speaker 6: And I know from my past experience with the CLP,
• 38:05
  Speaker 6: when you put your hand up, you do a criminal check,
• 38:07
  Speaker 6: you pay for it, and you provide the data to
• 38:09
  Speaker 6: the party the ring, or you attach it to your
• 38:12
  Speaker 6: pre selection form whatever, And presumably the Labor Party has
• 38:15
  Speaker 6: something similar so and all the other parties probably do so.
• 38:19
  Speaker 6: But I think it's it's a tricky situation because it's
• 38:22
  Speaker 6: how much does the political party go out and say, yes,
• 38:24
  Speaker 6: this is what happened in the past of this person,
• 38:26
  Speaker 6: It's happened to CLP candidates in the past. I think
• 38:28
  Speaker 6: there was a fellow on the TV Islands who was
• 38:30
  Speaker 6: naughty in his past, and you know, there's there's other
• 38:32
  Speaker 6: ones that I can record but won't go into. So
• 38:35
  Speaker 6: it's but it's at what stage do you have open
• 38:38
  Speaker 6: and honest and transparent conversation not only with your would
• 38:41
  Speaker 6: be electric but with the community so they can get
• 38:43
  Speaker 6: to know that candidate.
• 38:45
  Speaker 1: So you in some instances, like in some instances, I
• 38:48
  Speaker 1: actually think that people do want their candidates to you know,
• 38:52
  Speaker 1: to have lived their lives and to and to have
• 38:55
  Speaker 1: made people tough decisions and.
• 38:56
  Speaker 3: That's exactly right. You're really very much.
• 38:58
  Speaker 6: So wells are just humans like everyone else.
• 39:01
  Speaker 3: That's exactly right.
• 39:02
  Speaker 6: I mean, our job is not special, it's just different.
• 39:05
  Speaker 6: And the people who come into this kind of job
• 39:08
  Speaker 6: come from all walks in life, all backgrounds, all experiences
• 39:10
  Speaker 6: good and bad. You know, from being expelled at high
• 39:13
  Speaker 6: school through to you. I didn't say I was.
• 39:19
  Speaker 3: From just reading between the lines.
• 39:23
  Speaker 6: You know, it's a fact that lots of territory kids
• 39:25
  Speaker 6: who go away to boarding school have a high percentage
• 39:27
  Speaker 6: of being expelled.
• 39:27
  Speaker 3: Oh goodness, may that's interest urgic.
• 39:30
  Speaker 6: Kids are naughty.
• 39:30
  Speaker 2: Oh we are not.
• 39:33
  Speaker 3: You're not sneaky self kezier puric.
• 39:36
  Speaker 6: But it's a it's a tricky balancing act. Yeah, you
• 39:39
  Speaker 6: know for all political parties.
• 39:40
  Speaker 1: Absolutely, We're going to take a really short break. You
• 39:42
  Speaker 1: are listening to Mix one O four ninees three sixty.
• 39:45
  Speaker 1: It is the week that was. Before we wrap up
• 39:47
  Speaker 1: this morning, let's have a bit of a chat about
• 39:49
  Speaker 1: the Tiger Brendan Overpass, because the cost to build that
• 39:52
  Speaker 1: overpass over well a Darwin intersection has nearly tripled in
• 39:56
  Speaker 1: just a couple of years to one hundred and sixty
• 39:59
  Speaker 1: five million prompting the opposition to call for more transparency
• 40:04
  Speaker 1: around the project.
• 40:06
  Speaker 3: It has certainly blown out, hasn't.
• 40:08
  Speaker 5: It's cost escalation. We're seeing it all around Australia. We're
• 40:12
  Speaker 5: seeing it around the world and unfortunately this is one
• 40:16
  Speaker 5: where we have seen. You know that the prices have
• 40:18
  Speaker 5: gone up in that time. But it is a big project, Katie,
• 40:21
  Speaker 5: and it much. It's going to future proof I think
• 40:23
  Speaker 5: the greater Darwen area. We know that lots of people
• 40:26
  Speaker 5: from Darwen and Palmerston and the rural.
• 40:28
  Speaker 4: Area haven't forbid. I don't mention the rural areas right
• 40:31
  Speaker 4: down on that.
• 40:31
  Speaker 5: Road and it intersects with our port and a very
• 40:35
  Speaker 5: heavily industrialized areas is fired up, Katie.
• 40:39
  Speaker 6: The issue, well, there's a couple of issues. Yes, costs
• 40:41
  Speaker 6: have gone up particularly still, but concrete and gravel and
• 40:45
  Speaker 6: dirt and sand haven't gone up that much. And you
• 40:47
  Speaker 6: can't keep blaming the cost of prices going up for
• 40:49
  Speaker 6: a blowout of sixty one million to one hundred and
• 40:51
  Speaker 6: thirty million. Yes, that's his project was design and construct,
• 40:55
  Speaker 6: keyword being design. Now you can't tell me that well
• 40:59
  Speaker 6: known company that got the tender.
• 41:00
  Speaker 3: Doesn't know it's very kind.
• 41:03
  Speaker 6: It is a good, good company. This is a good company.
• 41:05
  Speaker 6: But you can't tell me that in that company they
• 41:07
  Speaker 6: didn't do geotechnical work. They don't know or shouldn't know,
• 41:11
  Speaker 6: what the kind of ground is. We're on an ironstone ridge,
• 41:13
  Speaker 6: for goodness sake, with a certain level of clay. In
• 41:15
  Speaker 6: our source. They know exactly what they're getting themselves in
• 41:18
  Speaker 6: for because they designed the project. So if they've designed
• 41:21
  Speaker 6: it and now they're saying, oh, we need X more million,
• 41:24
  Speaker 6: how come from thirty one million to one hundred and
• 41:26
  Speaker 6: sixty minion It didn't go out for more tender work?
• 41:28
  Speaker 6: That's my question.
• 41:29
  Speaker 1: So Mana, So what has the government been told at
• 41:33
  Speaker 1: this point, because I would imagine that as you're sort
• 41:35
  Speaker 1: of tracking along keeping on a project of this scale
• 41:38
  Speaker 1: and magnitude, particularly as that cost goes up and up,
• 41:41
  Speaker 1: that you've been asking some questions.
• 41:43
  Speaker 5: Yeah, we've had regular briefings through the life cycle of
• 41:45
  Speaker 5: this project so far. Clearly, you know, it started at
• 41:49
  Speaker 5: a budget that was a bit different. We go fifty
• 41:52
  Speaker 5: to fifty with the FEDS on these things. We had
• 41:54
  Speaker 5: to make sure that we put in a good application
• 41:56
  Speaker 5: to the FEDS to get the money and Unfortunately, as
• 41:59
  Speaker 5: it has progressed, because we have tried to get it
• 42:01
  Speaker 5: out with pace. This is a project that was initiated
• 42:05
  Speaker 5: through the COVID period when we're looking for economic stimulus
• 42:07
  Speaker 5: around the nation, and this is what the FEDS. We're
• 42:09
  Speaker 5: looking for good projects in terms of our cities of
• 42:14
  Speaker 5: making sure that we future proof them and we deal
• 42:16
  Speaker 5: with issues.
• 42:17
  Speaker 4: So we got the funding in there.
• 42:19
  Speaker 5: But as the project has progressed, we've seen costs go
• 42:21
  Speaker 5: up around the world with workforce, steel.
• 42:24
  Speaker 9: Material seen, we have seen this escalate and PUDGE is.
• 42:31
  Speaker 4: A complex project.
• 42:33
  Speaker 1: I did talk to the to the person over seeing
• 42:35
  Speaker 1: the project a little bit earlier in the week from
• 42:37
  Speaker 1: the Department, and they did say that there were some
• 42:39
  Speaker 1: concerns in terms of the heavy you know, the heavy
• 42:42
  Speaker 1: traffic that's going through there, or some changes I thought,
• 42:45
  Speaker 1: or some you know, some modifications design and construct.
• 42:49
  Speaker 6: They should have checked what kind of traffic was going
• 42:51
  Speaker 6: on those roads. We know triples go on it, we
• 42:53
  Speaker 6: road trains go on it. They should have known that
• 42:55
  Speaker 6: when the design phase was underwell.
• 42:57
  Speaker 3: So look, certainly not an expert on this kind of.
• 42:59
  Speaker 6: Stuff, thing that Dipple's not doing properly, like I've had
• 43:02
  Speaker 6: issues with Dipple in the past, with the Culton tracks.
• 43:04
  Speaker 6: They get on behalf of government, so I think something
• 43:07
  Speaker 6: really needs to be looked at. He very carefully sixty
• 43:09
  Speaker 6: one to one hundred and thirty million and no scrutiny
• 43:12
  Speaker 6: and no going back out to tender, whether it be phase.
• 43:15
  Speaker 6: It's not a complex job. It's an engineering job. It's
• 43:18
  Speaker 6: just big. And this is a different.
• 43:21
  Speaker 5: It's another and say road projects are complex, especially when
• 43:24
  Speaker 5: to project another intersection the Tasha file, so that would
• 43:28
  Speaker 5: be about thirty to forty percent over the construction costs,
• 43:31
  Speaker 5: but we're actually looking at one hundred and seventy five percent.
• 43:34
  Speaker 7: I mean this, this is like an overpass that's over
• 43:36
  Speaker 7: budget under files well.
• 43:37
  Speaker 1: And the other thing though that I reckons worth making
• 43:40
  Speaker 1: note of, is I'd interviewed Dennis Steadman just a few
• 43:42
  Speaker 1: weeks ago about the Bilocal campaign. He is the Bilocal advocate,
• 43:46
  Speaker 1: and he had raised a concern in that report that
• 43:49
  Speaker 1: had come out in relation to tendering. And when there
• 43:53
  Speaker 1: is you know, when there is somebody that goes over
• 43:55
  Speaker 1: with the tenders.
• 43:56
  Speaker 3: Now I don't mean this project.
• 43:57
  Speaker 1: You can be talking about any project, whether there is
• 44:00
  Speaker 1: sort of and look, I am paraphrasing here, so I
• 44:03
  Speaker 1: don't want to get it wrong, but whether there is
• 44:05
  Speaker 1: that scrutiny then when you go back over the project
• 44:08
  Speaker 1: afterwards and taking a look at the way in which
• 44:12
  Speaker 1: the contract has sort of gone through, and whether there
• 44:15
  Speaker 1: is room for improvement for the next time round, for
• 44:17
  Speaker 1: another project, you know, so that we're not winding up
• 44:20
  Speaker 1: in a situation where we've learn from Yeah, that's.
• 44:22
  Speaker 4: Right, of course.
• 44:23
  Speaker 6: I mean whether the project or the other pass is
• 44:27
  Speaker 6: needed or not needed, that's a separate agment. I personally
• 44:30
  Speaker 6: don't have an issue with it. But don't blame the
• 44:32
  Speaker 6: roads for mistakes that human makes, That's what I would say.
• 44:35
  Speaker 6: But it does call into question how this project has
• 44:38
  Speaker 6: been overseen or managed by Dipple, because I'll raise the
• 44:42
  Speaker 6: issue again about the TIMM Block fifteen. They got C
• 44:46
  Speaker 6: divitive compliance to start to use that block, and the
• 44:49
  Speaker 6: air conditioners didn't work, and their answer to that was
• 44:52
  Speaker 6: put in portable air conditioners. But there's no windows to
• 44:54
  Speaker 6: let the hot air out. So I would like to
• 44:57
  Speaker 6: see some Yeah, I know it's been a disaster. Apart
• 45:00
  Speaker 6: taking fifteen months to read furbish one block, one classroom.
• 45:03
  Speaker 6: Now Dipples overseeing this multimillion dollar project, So I think
• 45:07
  Speaker 6: there needs to be some questions asked of the management
• 45:09
  Speaker 6: of the project. Apart from the fact that it's gone
• 45:11
  Speaker 6: from sixty one million two one hundred and thirty million,
• 45:15
  Speaker 6: there's two. There's some pretty key issues here. Yeah, I
• 45:17
  Speaker 6: get it, Nicole, it is It is a complex, it's
• 45:19
  Speaker 6: a big job. It's a massive job.
• 45:20
  Speaker 2: But how can Territorians have confidence in the.
• 45:23
  Speaker 7: Government and the government manages that when they operate in
• 45:25
  Speaker 7: such secrecy, Like We've asked the questions about this as well,
• 45:28
  Speaker 7: and we're getting nothing back either.
• 45:29
  Speaker 2: It's just total secrecy.
• 45:31
  Speaker 1: Look, we are going to have to wrap up for
• 45:32
  Speaker 1: the morning. I know that there is never enough words
• 45:35
  Speaker 1: on a Friday, just getting on a Friday, but that
• 45:40
  Speaker 1: is all we've got time for this morning.
• 45:41
  Speaker 3: Mary Clare Boothby from the COLP, thanks so much for
• 45:44
  Speaker 3: your time.
• 45:44
  Speaker 7: And I want to say a big happy fiftieth Golden
• 45:46
  Speaker 7: Winning an anniversary to my parents. Yes, they're having a
• 45:51
  Speaker 7: partier special.
• 45:55
  Speaker 3: That is amazing.
• 45:57
  Speaker 1: Nine News Darwin's Kathleen Gazola, thank you.
• 46:00
  Speaker 3: Kezier Puric the Independent Man for Good thank you.
• 46:03
  Speaker 6: If even if it's interested, there's a native sale, native
• 46:06
  Speaker 6: plant sale at the Village Green tomorrow morning, eight o'clock
• 46:08
  Speaker 6: for you bushes, want to get it in.
• 46:09
  Speaker 1: Love It Love Itesy. Just a quick mention as well.
• 46:12
  Speaker 1: You did end up beating Crystal in the step challenge.
• 46:15
  Speaker 3: She won't be happy about that. I don't know if
• 46:17
  Speaker 3: she's listening to.
• 46:20
  Speaker 6: Paddick walks Crystal around the paddicks.
• 46:24
  Speaker 5: Anybody can see Kesi's bloody shoes, we'll take a photo.
• 46:29
  Speaker 3: Nicole Madison, the Deputy Chech Minister, thank.
• 46:32
  Speaker 5: You, Thank you Katie, and just reminding everybody if we
• 46:35
  Speaker 5: don't get rained out. International Women's Day March in the
• 46:38
  Speaker 5: City tomorrow takes off at nine wonderful stuff.
• 46:43
  Speaker 3: Thank you all so very much for your company this morning.