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Katie Woolf spoke with Lord Mayor Kon Vatskalis · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Joining us live in the studio slightly lighter than usual.
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: The Lord Mayor of Darwin convat scarlets good morning.
• 0:06
  Speaker 2: Good morning kid apologized, but the weather actually played hihock
• 0:10
  Speaker 2: this morning. I was supposed to be in Alo opening
• 0:12
  Speaker 2: the new dog park there this morning, but we're waiting
• 0:16
  Speaker 2: for the weather to clear up.
• 0:17
  Speaker 3: I look at my bomb rather as a humans be kidding.
• 0:20
  Speaker 3: We're not going anywhere by that time would change your time.
• 0:23
  Speaker 2: So that's a beautiful dog park in Alowa, fully fenced,
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: special fence for big dogs, special offends or small dogs,
• 0:31
  Speaker 2: with watering areas, with play areas for the dogs.
• 0:35
  Speaker 3: Because the best way.
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: To get the dog out of board I'm sitting in
• 0:38
  Speaker 2: the beard of the time is taking them out there
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: introducing to other dogs. They get too used to it
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: and they don't go for the jugular. Sometimes dogs can
• 0:46
  Speaker 2: be very aggressive, especially if they don't know other dogs.
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: Well, so what was that park previously? Was it just
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: like a block of light?
• 0:53
  Speaker 3: It was actually a novel that nobody used it.
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: Nobody used it because there was some complaints about the
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: midges coming up and everything else. But again it is
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: a very very very good idea having an area like
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: that Let's not forget a lot of people now living
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: units and they don't have anywhere to take their dogs.
• 1:10
  Speaker 3: That give an opportunity for people to take their.
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: Dogs out and the dog they're not bored, they don't yep,
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: they don't bark, they don't drive the naborscration.
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: What's a good thing to do? I think you need
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: dog parkstion et places that are friendly for our animals. Whereabouts?
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: Is it in Ala?
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: It's if you go to the newly fully constructed Clakes
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: I drive that we just finished this year on your
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: left hand side, just after you pass the community garden.
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: Okay, so just say and how long go to the open?
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: I reckon it? Or it's today the official.
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: Learning yesterday, excellent open yesterday, beautiful weather today a bit muddy.
• 1:43
  Speaker 2: So you're not taking your dog today. Let's drive for
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: a while and take it out there for Christmas.
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: Well, unless your dog enjoys a round in the in
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: the weather, it which smell afterwards in the car that
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: bothers exactly exactly. Well, that's good news. Con sounds like
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: i'd a good initiative. Was it an expensive initiative?
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: No, no it was not. It was a less than
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: two hundred thousand dollars something like that. But again, and
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: it's most of the area was there that most of
• 2:07
  Speaker 2: it was actually put the fencing on and the other equipment.
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: It's not an expensive one because this is going to
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: last for the next ten to twenty years, so if
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: you amortize it, it's a very little expense for a
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: very very big game.
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: Yeah, no doubt people in the northern suburbs, particularly around
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: that area, will big plays. That is happening Corne. It's
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: been a busy year, There's no doubt about it. So
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: you've been in every week. It has to catch up
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: with us and.
• 2:29
  Speaker 3: In a different year.
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: I remember last year this time actually I was visiting
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: my mother in Greece, and of course we flew into
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: this perfect storm. We flew to China watching what happened
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: in Wuhana, and then we came here and the world
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: changed as we know it. And of course here that
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: we were safe, but we actually faced the problems the
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: other states faced.
• 2:49
  Speaker 3: You remember very well, went to a lockdown. We remember
• 2:51
  Speaker 3: very well that we had.
• 2:53
  Speaker 2: Soops closed and we first situation we had a we
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: do you know what was happening? When things will go
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: back to normal and they belong took we realized was
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: not going back to normal and counsel. To our credit,
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: they did a tremendous job. First of all, we realized
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: that people were losing their jobs here and there and everywhere,
• 3:09
  Speaker 2: so we did everything possible to keep that alive. We
• 3:11
  Speaker 2: brought the first time ever they might down vouchers that
• 3:15
  Speaker 2: pumped about six million dollars with the economy, which actually
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: very welcome for the small business. We had the Green
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: Army employing people that lost their jobs. They were entitled
• 3:24
  Speaker 2: to the job start and that was great. With suspending
• 3:28
  Speaker 2: payments to all the owners that they had business on
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: council property, then we went back and had the look
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: how people are going to pay rates, all the professional
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: owners that they had tenants their own business in their
• 3:43
  Speaker 2: business if they actually relieved them from the paying the rent.
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: We said, okay, if you do that to them, we
• 3:48
  Speaker 2: will do something for you, and we relieve the payment
• 3:51
  Speaker 2: of rates for a quarter.
• 3:53
  Speaker 3: For residential we kept.
• 3:54
  Speaker 2: Rates at the same level likes year zero percent, and
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: then we thought we have to do something about it,
• 3:59
  Speaker 2: so we actually put a lot of money in the economy.
• 4:02
  Speaker 2: We'll put about fifty million dollars incentive altogether out of
• 4:06
  Speaker 2: the economy.
• 4:07
  Speaker 3: And you've seen what we've done. I mean, look at
• 4:09
  Speaker 3: daily streets, million dollars.
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: It's been done great an.
• 4:12
  Speaker 2: Absolutely, we put four toilets, public toilets. Everybody talks about
• 4:16
  Speaker 2: public toolange Jinglely Calum Bay in the rapid cricket foreshow
• 4:22
  Speaker 2: the one in the explanet here with t tremendous jobs.
• 4:26
  Speaker 3: And we will continue to so because you know, you can't.
• 4:30
  Speaker 2: Say, oh, things will get better, Well, what if we're
• 4:33
  Speaker 2: still locked next year? And from what we see is
• 4:36
  Speaker 2: the vaccine will come, but we would not know for
• 4:38
  Speaker 2: sure until the middle of the next year.
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: And the Council is, I suppose in a better financial
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: state than what the Northern Territory government is. I mean,
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: we know the Northern Territory government's in a pretty tough
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: financial state and that's been well documented over the years.
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: But the Council is actually in a pretty good financial state.
• 4:55
  Speaker 3: Well, look, the reality is we've got good reserves.
• 4:58
  Speaker 2: Now. The problem I had all these year years we
• 5:00
  Speaker 2: actually the previous countries keep putting money in the bank
• 5:03
  Speaker 2: and they didn't spend any money for public infrastructure. My
• 5:06
  Speaker 2: question is, okay, you have the money in the bank.
• 5:08
  Speaker 2: But what do you do with that money in the
• 5:10
  Speaker 2: bank means nothing, So what we decided says okay. First
• 5:13
  Speaker 2: of all, we look in our function. Our CEO found
• 5:16
  Speaker 2: out about three million dollar savings from within the organization.
• 5:20
  Speaker 2: We use these savings to do some of the public work.
• 5:22
  Speaker 2: So we didn't touch our resources. Even with the forgiving
• 5:25
  Speaker 2: rates for a year still we didn't touch our savings.
• 5:29
  Speaker 3: But the savings are there.
• 5:30
  Speaker 2: We're going to use some of the savings now for
• 5:31
  Speaker 2: the Casurina swimming pool reconstruction and for the Civic center reconstruction.
• 5:37
  Speaker 2: We have some major problems. We've got publies burst in
• 5:40
  Speaker 2: Casina every second week. We've got problems with the polls
• 5:43
  Speaker 2: that don't.
• 5:43
  Speaker 3: Comply with the national standards because.
• 5:45
  Speaker 2: When they were built, were built with the Imperial system,
• 5:48
  Speaker 2: so the fifteen minute poll is forty seventy. Our civic center,
• 5:53
  Speaker 2: we can't actually protect our people. Intruders can work in
• 5:56
  Speaker 2: any time. During the COVID we find out that everybody
• 5:59
  Speaker 2: was on top of each other. We couldn't even provide
• 6:02
  Speaker 2: this protection and duty of care to our staff.
• 6:04
  Speaker 3: And we had people coming through the roof.
• 6:07
  Speaker 2: We don't comply with some of these standards of todays
• 6:09
  Speaker 2: and we really we have to seriously look, what are
• 6:12
  Speaker 2: we're going.
• 6:12
  Speaker 3: To do today?
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: When do you reckon you're going to start that work
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: on the civic center or on the civic precinct.
• 6:16
  Speaker 2: Well, we actually are now for public consultation. We want
• 6:19
  Speaker 2: to actually ask people what they want with regards to
• 6:22
  Speaker 2: public forums, Like for public facilities, do they want a
• 6:26
  Speaker 2: town hall.
• 6:26
  Speaker 3: We don't have a townhold in down believe it or not.
• 6:29
  Speaker 2: A library there, or a facility to display all the objects.
• 6:33
  Speaker 3: We've got a gallery.
• 6:34
  Speaker 2: So we will ask to them because there's certain thing
• 6:36
  Speaker 2: we have to do for our stuff which we have
• 6:38
  Speaker 2: to and other things that the public wants. You won't
• 6:41
  Speaker 2: have a wedding, a civil wedding. Where are you going
• 6:43
  Speaker 2: to do it? You can only do it at the registrar.
• 6:45
  Speaker 2: Why can we do it in a beautiful area in
• 6:47
  Speaker 2: the council overlooking the new stage square. So we're going
• 6:50
  Speaker 2: to the public to see what they want, the same
• 6:51
  Speaker 2: way we went we went for the casual Ina pool color.
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: I've got a message to one of our listeners that
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: says less than two hundred thousand for a dog park,
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: says the Lord and a cheerful voice. Please remind con
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: that some people are having a hard time paying.
• 7:04
  Speaker 2: Their rates and that's a little what we kept them
• 7:07
  Speaker 2: a zero percent increase, and that's the reason what we
• 7:10
  Speaker 2: said to people, if you've got a problem with your age,
• 7:13
  Speaker 2: come and talk to us. We're very very happy to
• 7:15
  Speaker 2: discuss a payment plan or suspension of that one. Yes,
• 7:18
  Speaker 2: we know people there they've got problems paying their age,
• 7:20
  Speaker 2: but at the same time they've got people out there
• 7:22
  Speaker 2: they're fed up with dogs barking because people have no
• 7:24
  Speaker 2: way to take their dogs. Also dogs being aggressive or attacking.
• 7:28
  Speaker 2: I know some people think that it's a waste of money,
• 7:30
  Speaker 2: but I'll tell you what you talk to some of
• 7:31
  Speaker 2: the people they actually have to put up with these
• 7:33
  Speaker 2: dogs is thank.
• 7:34
  Speaker 3: God for that.
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: Well, you do need to have those public facilities as well,
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: and I think that very often it's easy for us
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: all to be very critical of where money is being spent,
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: but at the end of the day, money does need
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: to be invested into different things to deliver for the community.
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: And you know, much like the toilets last week, obviously
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: we had a big discussion about that. The amount of
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: money that it costs for those toilets. Plenty of us,
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: you know, quite critical of how expensive it is. But
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: I tell you what, I never realized that it costs
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: three hundred thousand dollars to have one of those self
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: cleaning toilets. It's a phenomenal amount of money. But then
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: if we didn't have those toilet facilities, we'd all be
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: up in arms.
• 8:08
  Speaker 2: Well, people all the time asking me why you don't
• 8:10
  Speaker 2: have more toilets in the CVD. The only tourlets we've
• 8:12
  Speaker 2: got to the CBD is inside the underground the car park,
• 8:16
  Speaker 2: so we put toilets in the CVD. But the thing
• 8:18
  Speaker 2: you have to remember, it's not only about putting a
• 8:20
  Speaker 2: toilet just drow a toilet somewhere. You have to bring power,
• 8:23
  Speaker 2: water shurts if it's not there. That's an add on cost.
• 8:27
  Speaker 2: It is expensive to do business in Darwin, especially when
• 8:29
  Speaker 2: there are no services. At the same time, think about
• 8:32
  Speaker 2: yourself being caught out wanted to go to the toilet
• 8:35
  Speaker 2: and there's no public toilet. I'll bet you you're going
• 8:37
  Speaker 2: to curse me overweight home because when you have to
• 8:42
  Speaker 2: go you have to go similar sight well.
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: But also you know, places like Culumba, we do actually
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: need facilities down there, There's no doubt about it. If
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: you're down there with your family enjoying fish and chips,
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: you've got to make sure that you're able to or anything, really,
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: anything that you're eating. You've got to make sure that
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: there's somewhere to go to the toilet.
• 8:57
  Speaker 2: The government spent that million dollars upgrading the colum and certainly,
• 9:01
  Speaker 2: if you're going to attract people by beautifying the place
• 9:04
  Speaker 2: and they're not public toilets, a waste of time and
• 9:06
  Speaker 2: a waste of money. People will go once, they will
• 9:08
  Speaker 2: not go again. The other thing I know, people say, oh,
• 9:11
  Speaker 2: why cal And Bay Calan Bay. Actually, Calm Bay is
• 9:13
  Speaker 2: not like the water front Colum Bay. Actually it is
• 9:16
  Speaker 2: part of Dowen City Council. The vote in the elections
• 9:19
  Speaker 2: and the pay rates. Yes, they've got their own little
• 9:21
  Speaker 2: area because it was created like that. But at the
• 9:23
  Speaker 2: same time they do contribute to the coffers of the
• 9:26
  Speaker 2: Dowensity Council and I think they deserve a toilet.
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: Well, combat scarluts. We are going to have to wrap
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: up at Merry Christmas and we'll catch up with you
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: again in January.
• 9:38
  Speaker 2: Just make sure that they don't do you drive, don't
• 9:40
  Speaker 2: do anything say we want you back here in our community.
• 9:43
  Speaker 2: We love you, we need you, and certainly enjoy your family.
• 9:46
  Speaker 2: And hopefully twenty twenty one will be much much better
• 9:49
  Speaker 2: and different than twenty twenty.
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: Yes, let's hope so, Combat Scarluts, good to speak with you,
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: Thanks for your time this year.
• 9:55
  Speaker 2: Good morning, Katie, you too,