Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Chief Minister Natasha Fyles says a knife crime strategy for the NT will not be unveiled until the end of August

Transcript

Chief Minister Natasha Fyles says a knife crime strategy for the NT will not be unveiled until the end of August · 360 with Katie Woolf

0:00
Speaker 1: I mentioned before, thousands hit the pavement yesterday to take
0:03
Speaker 1: part in the fiftieth City to serve. One of those
0:06
Speaker 1: was the Chief Minister, Natasha Files, who joins me in
0:08
Speaker 1: the studio.
0:09
Speaker 2: Good morning to your Chief Minister.
0:10
Speaker 3: Good morning Katie, Good morning listeners.
0:12
Speaker 2: Well should I ask how's the legs this morning?
0:14
Speaker 3: Yeah, Katie, it's a bit difficult to bend over and
0:16
Speaker 3: feeling a bit sol but what a great event. Record
0:19
Speaker 3: number of entries. Well done to the volunteers and everyone involved.
0:23
Speaker 3: Just great to see the community coming together, not just
0:26
Speaker 3: people that were running in the different distances walking, but
0:29
Speaker 3: also just along the path cheering people on, the volunteers
0:33
Speaker 3: providing water. So well done, and how wonderful to see
0:36
Speaker 3: all the young people taking part as well, you know,
0:38
Speaker 3: whether they were running in the twelve k, the four k,
0:41
Speaker 3: or even the one point ninety five the little kids race.
0:44
Speaker 3: It was a fantastic thing to see so many of
0:46
Speaker 3: our young people out there taking part. And a lot
0:48
Speaker 3: of the schools got behind the event. I noticed that
0:51
Speaker 3: clearly different school groups had encouraged families to attend and
0:54
Speaker 3: do the shorter distances and just participate. And we want
0:58
Speaker 3: people to have that you know, life long love of
1:01
Speaker 3: exercise and looking after your health and your mental health,
1:04
Speaker 3: and so it was just a great event to see
1:05
Speaker 3: everyone out and about and well done for your time.
1:08
Speaker 2: A little bit fast there, Oh, I was running with
1:10
Speaker 2: mister Batement too.
1:11
Speaker 1: I'm sure you've heard do the maths challenge, so he
1:13
Speaker 1: pushed me along and made me run a bit faster.
1:15
Speaker 2: But well done to you as well.
1:16
Speaker 1: Taking secret is it, Katie, is to run with someone
1:19
Speaker 1: who's faster than you. Now let's get on to some
1:23
Speaker 1: of the serious issues of the last week or so.
1:26
Speaker 1: There has been, like we've said, some fantastic events coming
1:29
Speaker 1: up right around the Northern Territory. We know the Think
1:31
Speaker 1: Desert Race is coming up this weekend. But there are
1:34
Speaker 1: some serious concerns once again being raised around safety in
1:37
Speaker 1: Central Australia. Now, last Thursday we saw a man stabbed
1:41
Speaker 1: to death in broad daylight about three pm in the
1:44
Speaker 1: Todd Mall. There was also two cars stolen and recovered
1:47
Speaker 1: an eight youths in custody after two separate incidents in
1:51
Speaker 1: Alice over the weekend.
1:53
Speaker 2: Chief Minister, what work is being done.
1:55
Speaker 1: To try and sort the crime issue in Alice Springs
1:57
Speaker 1: right now?
1:58
Speaker 3: So Katie, those incident should not have happened, and that
2:00
Speaker 3: incident involving the gentleman that was stabbed is under police investigation,
2:04
Speaker 3: so I'll be careful with my comments. But Katie, we're
2:07
Speaker 3: working across the spectrum to tackle these issues. We know
2:11
Speaker 3: that supporting our police and giving them increased resources is important,
2:16
Speaker 3: but we also know that we need to work in
2:17
Speaker 3: other areas and make sure that we've got adequate housing,
2:21
Speaker 3: that we've got kids going to school, and your listeners
2:23
Speaker 3: know the enormous amount of work that we're doing right
2:25
Speaker 3: across the spectrum.
2:26
Speaker 1: Now, there was also a paramedic assaulted who'd gone to assist.
2:32
Speaker 2: At that situation.
2:33
Speaker 1: So a female paramedic is assaulted again in broad daylight
2:37
Speaker 1: after somebody has been stabbed. I mean, like, I'm at
2:41
Speaker 1: the point where I don't even know what to say,
2:42
Speaker 1: because some of these incidents are so mortifying and unbelievable that, like,
2:46
Speaker 1: you can't believe he's still talking about them.
2:48
Speaker 3: To assault a paramedic who is their assisting is disgusting.
2:52
Speaker 3: It is not our community standard. It is offensive, and Katie,
2:56
Speaker 3: it's just unacceptable. These paramedics and our police officers and ours,
3:00
Speaker 3: they go into situations that most of us would be
3:02
Speaker 3: running away from. We call on them to help us
3:05
Speaker 3: when we're most vulnerable, and then we make them vulnerable
3:08
Speaker 3: and attack them. That is discussing behavior. We have strong
3:11
Speaker 3: penalties and it is not our communities expectation.
3:14
Speaker 2: Are those penalties really strong enough?
3:16
Speaker 1: Because if we're not actually deterring people, because let's be
3:18
Speaker 1: honest about it, we've had a number of situations throughout
3:21
Speaker 1: this year where we have seen frontlines, frontline workers assault it.
3:25
Speaker 1: So are those penalties actually strong enough?
3:28
Speaker 3: So, Katie, we will act if we need to do more.
3:30
Speaker 3: There is strong penalties. We've also got campaigns which is
3:33
Speaker 3: hands off, give our paramedics the space to do their job.
3:37
Speaker 3: And we know that it can be stressful for families
3:40
Speaker 3: or friends when there is paramedics rendering assistant, but you
3:43
Speaker 3: need to give them space so that they can do
3:45
Speaker 3: their job to help those when they're at their most vulnerable.
3:48
Speaker 1: Now, the stabbing Dess follows the fatal stabbing just months
3:51
Speaker 1: ago of deck Lan Lavity and a number of other
3:54
Speaker 1: violent deaths of Territorians this year. The Deputy leader of
3:57
Speaker 1: the Opposition, Jared Maylee said, when Territory here of these
4:00
Speaker 1: horrific deaths. They want action, they want answers and they
4:04
Speaker 1: want change. He says, you need to do your job
4:07
Speaker 1: and take immediate action. What immediate action is the Northern
4:11
Speaker 1: Territory government taking right now?
4:13
Speaker 3: So Katie, we took immediate action at that time. And
4:16
Speaker 3: there is also the work underway. And I've got an
4:18
Speaker 3: update for you because we spoke about this last time
4:20
Speaker 3: I caught up with you.
4:22
Speaker 2: But we've got that review of the.
4:23
Speaker 3: Bail and Weapons Task Force, so they're looking at those
4:26
Speaker 3: specific issues. We've got that knife crime strategy which is
4:30
Speaker 3: being developed, and we're also looking at the work that
4:33
Speaker 3: Queensland's done in terms of the wanding, so having that
4:36
Speaker 3: precinct areas.
4:37
Speaker 2: So what update is it?
4:38
Speaker 1: Because they are all things that you've spoken.
4:40
Speaker 2: To us about before.
4:41
Speaker 3: So Katie, we're expecting a report later this month on
4:44
Speaker 3: that Bail and Weapons Task Force from that group and
4:48
Speaker 3: any legislative changes will work through for that July sitting,
4:51
Speaker 3: so the next time the Parliament comes back together after
4:54
Speaker 3: the estimates, will make any legislative changes that are recommended.
4:58
Speaker 1: So that is into the edge weapon. So later this month,
5:02
Speaker 1: you're expecting that report back.
5:03
Speaker 3: I've asked for an update to give us an indication
5:07
Speaker 3: of that work. So we're trying to do things concurrently
5:09
Speaker 3: so they can give us an update in the next
5:11
Speaker 3: few weeks, and then the legislative changes that may need
5:14
Speaker 3: to be brought forward, Katie, we can identify those and
5:16
Speaker 3: start that work so that we can go into that
5:18
Speaker 3: July sittings, not just wait for the report to be
5:20
Speaker 3: dropped and then start drafting legislation.
5:23
Speaker 2: What do you anticipate's going to be in that report?
5:25
Speaker 3: So we're looking, Katie in that space around whether we
5:27
Speaker 3: need to strengthen the penalties for weapons offenses and whether
5:31
Speaker 3: any additional weapons should be included in the list of
5:34
Speaker 3: prohibited and controlled weapons.
5:36
Speaker 1: Why is it taking so long? Because you know, I
5:38
Speaker 1: take on board what you're saying. You are saying that
5:40
Speaker 1: you're taking that action and that it is immediate action.
5:43
Speaker 1: But can you understand how your idea of immediate might
5:46
Speaker 1: be quite different to others because they're thinking, well, you're
5:49
Speaker 1: saying exactly the same thing as you told us last time.
5:51
Speaker 2: Katie.
5:52
Speaker 3: I can assure your listeners we are acting with urgency
5:55
Speaker 3: and we want to do this as quickly as possible,
5:57
Speaker 3: but we need to make sure that we get it right,
5:59
Speaker 3: that we don't make inadvertent changes that make our community
6:02
Speaker 3: less safe, and that we actually target what we're trying
6:06
Speaker 3: to achieve.
6:07
Speaker 1: So that's around the knife crime strategy that you're talking about.
6:11
Speaker 3: Separate, Katie. So there's a number of things happening. So
6:14
Speaker 3: that's around the Bail and Weapons Task Force. We've also
6:18
Speaker 3: we've seen around the world, Katie, communities have to tackle
6:21
Speaker 3: knife crime as an issue and I acknowledge knife crime
6:25
Speaker 3: is unacceptable in our community and so developing a knife
6:28
Speaker 3: crime strategy for the Northern Territory is also underway.
6:32
Speaker 1: So again I'll ask, can you see how people are
6:35
Speaker 1: getting incredibly frustrated because you're still working on this strategy.
6:38
Speaker 1: Yet on Thursday last week there's another Territorian who has
6:42
Speaker 1: lost their life because they were stabbed.
6:46
Speaker 3: So Katie, we are making we have made changes. We're
6:50
Speaker 3: working in areas urgently in terms of knife crime. We've
6:54
Speaker 3: seen this as an approach almost like a public health response,
6:57
Speaker 3: so treating a disease, trying to vented and curate at
7:01
Speaker 3: the same time. So there was enormous amount of work.
7:03
Speaker 3: It started off in Scotland initially, and then you've seen
7:05
Speaker 3: other jurisdictions develop knife crime strategy, so that is a
7:08
Speaker 3: more medium term.
7:09
Speaker 1: Piece of work. So I just want to make it
7:11
Speaker 1: really clear for our listeners. So where we're at right
7:13
Speaker 1: now is around the knife crime strategy. When are we
7:18
Speaker 1: expecting the outcome of that and when are we expecting
7:21
Speaker 1: some changes?
7:21
Speaker 2: Katie.
7:22
Speaker 3: I think that we would expect to see a draft
7:24
Speaker 3: version of that knife crime strategy. And this is not
7:26
Speaker 3: just sitting with police, Katie. This involves education, This involves
7:31
Speaker 3: public health in terms of warning of the injury mental health,
7:35
Speaker 3: so it's quite comprehensive. I think by the end of
7:37
Speaker 3: August is when I would expect it to have that document.
7:40
Speaker 2: End of August. That doesn't sound very immediate, but.
7:43
Speaker 3: Katie, we've made changes already. We're working to make those
7:48
Speaker 3: recommendations from the Bail and Weapons Task Force as efficient
7:51
Speaker 3: as possible. So there is a number of things happening.
7:54
Speaker 3: It's not just waiting on one thing.
7:55
Speaker 1: So that with the changes then to bail and Task
8:00
Speaker 1: with the Bail and Weapons task or so I'm just
8:02
Speaker 1: trying to make it really understandable for our listeners. So
8:05
Speaker 1: that update you're expecting at the end of July and
8:09
Speaker 1: potentially going to Parliament for legislative changes that same months. Correct, okay,
8:15
Speaker 1: or it was at the end of this month.
8:16
Speaker 2: Sorry, the report.
8:17
Speaker 3: I've asked for an update report by the end of
8:19
Speaker 3: this month so that we can understand what's been identified
8:23
Speaker 3: and then issue the directive if it needs legislative change,
8:26
Speaker 3: that we can start that work to take into those
8:28
Speaker 3: July sittings.
8:29
Speaker 1: And Look, the reason I want to get those sort
8:31
Speaker 1: of timelines is because I think that that is what
8:33
Speaker 1: the community is screaming out for right now.
8:35
Speaker 2: They are saying, hang on a second.
8:37
Speaker 1: You know, the Chief Finister saying that she's taking this,
8:39
Speaker 1: she wants this to change immediately, she wants action.
8:42
Speaker 2: That's you know, that is going to have an impact.
8:44
Speaker 1: But a lot of people really thinking to themselves, it
8:47
Speaker 1: does still.
8:47
Speaker 2: Seem like it's all quite a while away.
8:49
Speaker 3: Katie, absolutely not. I acknowledge that there is a problem.
8:52
Speaker 3: We are working across government to tackle these issues. We
8:55
Speaker 3: had urgent bail changes. There is potentially more to come.
8:58
Speaker 3: I've asked for the updates so I've got the information
9:01
Speaker 3: based on evidence around what needs to be done. We've
9:03
Speaker 3: got that knife crime strategy under development, and we're also
9:06
Speaker 3: looking at that wanding and we've already had police come
9:09
Speaker 3: back from Queensland where they have implemented that around how
9:12
Speaker 3: we can look So you feel as though those two
9:14
Speaker 3: bodies of work are going to make a big impact
9:17
Speaker 3: on the very serious issues that we've got with crime
9:20
Speaker 3: right now. The evidence from around the world shows us, Katie,
9:23
Speaker 3: with knife crime. Yes, if you get it right, it
9:25
Speaker 3: does make a difference and we absolutely need to do that.
9:28
Speaker 2: Okay.
9:29
Speaker 1: On Friday, during the week that wallis, Brent Porter said
9:31
Speaker 1: that additional police and getting police back to work is
9:35
Speaker 1: part of the answer. When is the review into the
9:38
Speaker 1: police force going to get underway?
9:40
Speaker 3: So, Katie, in terms of our police force, we've been
9:42
Speaker 3: working with the Acting Commissioner around ensuring that they've got
9:45
Speaker 3: the resources to do their job. It's a significant part
9:48
Speaker 3: of the Northern Territory government budget. He's been working and
9:51
Speaker 3: we've spoken about this around making sure that everyone is
9:55
Speaker 3: out on the beat, everyone is working together. And I
9:57
Speaker 3: think that there has certainly been pro ressmade.
10:00
Speaker 2: But as part of.
10:01
Speaker 1: The EBA negotiations, I know that it was agreed that
10:04
Speaker 1: there was going to be a review. Is that review
10:06
Speaker 1: getting underwagh yet? When's that going to happen.
10:08
Speaker 3: So, Katie, that was my understanding was the electronic rostering
10:11
Speaker 3: was a key component to that, So understanding the rostering system,
10:14
Speaker 3: but I'd have to get some more specific information, which
10:16
Speaker 3: I'm happy to do.
10:17
Speaker 1: That'd be good to find out exactly what the situation
10:20
Speaker 1: is and when that review is going to get underway,
10:22
Speaker 1: because I think that if we are talking about police
10:25
Speaker 1: and making sure that we've got enough of them, we
10:27
Speaker 1: need to really see what, you know, what that review finds.
10:31
Speaker 1: We are getting a lot of concerns out of Catherine
10:33
Speaker 1: right now.
10:34
Speaker 2: Good hard working Territorians.
10:36
Speaker 1: Have spoken with us on the show about the spiking
10:38
Speaker 1: crime that they're experiencing and their serious concerns. What is
10:42
Speaker 1: the government's response to the spiking crime.
10:44
Speaker 3: In Catherine, So, Katie, there is significant police resources in Catherine,
10:48
Speaker 3: so more police on the beat than ever before, and
10:50
Speaker 3: additional resources have been deployed into Catherine, including the Mounted Police,
10:54
Speaker 3: is my understanding, Katie. We've also got a number of
10:59
Speaker 3: pieces of work happening, particularly targeted that youth. I'm not
11:02
Speaker 3: saying all of the crimes or anti social behavior caused
11:05
Speaker 3: is by youth, but there's specific projects in the Catherine region.
11:08
Speaker 3: But I acknowledge the concerns. I've spoken to their mayor
11:11
Speaker 3: and local business owners down there, the absolute real concerns
11:14
Speaker 3: coming out of Catherine.
11:15
Speaker 1: When are you going to head to Catherine and speak
11:17
Speaker 1: to some of those business owners?
11:18
Speaker 3: As I said, Katie, I've already spoken to people from
11:21
Speaker 3: Catherine last week. Just because I can't be in a
11:24
Speaker 3: location doesn't mean I can't listen to the community directly.
11:27
Speaker 3: Did you speak though two business owners who were impacted
11:31
Speaker 3: by crime?
11:32
Speaker 2: Yes, Katie, because I've got to I do.
11:33
Speaker 1: Want to just read out a couple of questions that
11:35
Speaker 1: we got from listeners last week.
11:37
Speaker 2: From Catherine so Beck at Willow Blue.
11:39
Speaker 1: She'd said, is it true that even when with the
11:43
Speaker 1: high crime rates at the moment, that the government have
11:45
Speaker 1: reduced the funding to the Resecure Grant through Victims of
11:48
Speaker 1: Crime in the next budget. This is what we use
11:51
Speaker 1: to help with broken windows as a result of crime.
11:54
Speaker 1: There is a current limit of three claims within twelve months.
11:58
Speaker 1: A lot of businesses have already use those three claims
12:01
Speaker 1: within just a few months. It's so disappointing to hear
12:05
Speaker 1: that we had the Finance Minister, so the Treasurer and
12:09
Speaker 1: Catherine to talk about the upcoming budget. Yeah, she couldn't
12:12
Speaker 1: be bothered facing up to any of the small businesses
12:14
Speaker 1: that have been so impacted by crime and that will
12:18
Speaker 1: be impacted in the future by this reduction of that funding,
12:22
Speaker 1: Chief Minister, is that the case is there a reduction
12:25
Speaker 1: when it comes to those businesses with that be secure?
12:30
Speaker 3: No, Katie. So we provided two million dollars additional to
12:33
Speaker 3: victims of crime. The question you raised around three claims
12:38
Speaker 3: within a year. I've asked for information on that because
12:40
Speaker 3: we've provided the additional resources to victims of crime to
12:44
Speaker 3: support the community. We've also got the bi Secure program
12:47
Speaker 3: and the Alcohol Secure grants. But in terms of that
12:49
Speaker 3: three times within a year period, I've asked for information
12:52
Speaker 3: on that because if that needs to be changed, that
12:55
Speaker 3: we're very open to that.
12:56
Speaker 1: Isn't it a bloody embarrassing situation for us to be
12:59
Speaker 1: in though, even having to change that policy to enable
13:04
Speaker 1: a business to be able to access.
13:06
Speaker 2: More than three times.
13:06
Speaker 1: I mean a business shouldn't be getting broken into, correct,
13:09
Speaker 1: there's three times.
13:10
Speaker 2: They shouldn't be getting broken into once, Katie.
13:12
Speaker 3: It's absolutely unacceptable, but we've got support there when it
13:15
Speaker 3: does happen. But also those big Secure programs allow businesses
13:19
Speaker 3: to make permanent security improvements so that they can, through
13:23
Speaker 3: that environmental design, protect their businesses. So at this point
13:27
Speaker 3: in time, you are looking into increasing that three claims
13:31
Speaker 3: per year. I'd heard that directly from Catherine last week,
13:34
Speaker 3: and I've asked for advice around why that's there and
13:37
Speaker 3: can it be shaping off the back of us providing
13:40
Speaker 3: additional funding to victims of it?
13:42
Speaker 2: Should it be increased?
13:43
Speaker 1: I mean, realistically, if someone's broken into five times or
13:46
Speaker 1: they should be able to access it, shouldn't they.
13:48
Speaker 3: So, Katie, I'm not going to disagree with the comment
13:50
Speaker 3: that you just made, but we've also got that biz
13:52
Speaker 3: secure where we provide support to businesses so that they
13:56
Speaker 3: can permanently make changes, which Katie, we shouldn't broken windows,
14:01
Speaker 3: we shouldn't see crime, but around the world people have
14:03
Speaker 3: to put in place measures to protect their homes and businesses.
14:06
Speaker 2: Now, I'm just.
14:07
Speaker 1: Very I'm just very aware that we're running out of
14:09
Speaker 1: tom I've got another listener question though, and this person says,
14:12
Speaker 1: I want the relevant politician to come on air and
14:14
Speaker 1: tell us, Katie, the strategy by strategy, what territory families
14:18
Speaker 1: are doing productively to address the Catherine situation. We're here
14:22
Speaker 1: from the poor police, but I want to know what
14:24
Speaker 1: other departments are doing.
14:26
Speaker 2: Question Scrubby. Excellent question, Katie.
14:28
Speaker 3: So the Catherine Youth Coordination Meeting is held bi weekly
14:31
Speaker 3: and that brings together government, police and community service providers
14:34
Speaker 3: to review and coordinate the service delivery responses to young
14:38
Speaker 3: people who are engaging it at risk behavior. Further, we've
14:41
Speaker 3: got the Youth Outreach and Engagement Center which is near
14:45
Speaker 3: the Catherine High School and forty young people visit that facility.
14:48
Speaker 3: We've also got programs such as Youth Bus to transport
14:51
Speaker 3: people home safely. So there is absolutely work being done
14:54
Speaker 3: away from just police.
14:55
Speaker 1: So from your perspective, you know, the week before last
14:58
Speaker 1: and we had a situation where there's literal ten and
15:00
Speaker 1: eleven year old kids on the streets throwing rocks at cars,
15:05
Speaker 1: throwing rocks at windows, breaking into businesses.
15:08
Speaker 2: Where are they going? Why are they on the street,
15:11
Speaker 2: and why are they not at school when it is
15:12
Speaker 2: during the day.
15:13
Speaker 3: Absolutely, Katie, they should be at school because kids at
15:16
Speaker 3: school don't commit crime. We also have to understand if
15:20
Speaker 3: they're not committing a crime, but it's risky behavior, where
15:22
Speaker 3: are the parents because the Care and Protection Acts says
15:25
Speaker 3: that young people should be in a safe environment and
15:28
Speaker 3: being out on the streets late at night is not safe.
15:31
Speaker 3: So there is a number of initiatives, both NGO and
15:34
Speaker 3: government working to identify these young people and ensure that
15:38
Speaker 3: they have a safe place and that they are not
15:40
Speaker 3: participating in at risk behavior that then leads to those
15:43
Speaker 3: types of activities.
15:44
Speaker 1: I mean, it just seems unbelievable to me that it
15:47
Speaker 1: continues to happen. And we all understand that this is complex,
15:50
Speaker 1: but it's just reached the point where people have absolutely
15:53
Speaker 1: had enough.
15:53
Speaker 3: Oh, I completely understand they're frustrated. I'm frustrated, but I
15:57
Speaker 3: acknowledge the issues and we are working across the board
16:02
Speaker 3: to stop this from happening within our communities.
16:04
Speaker 1: Okay, finally this morning onto something very different. But the
16:08
Speaker 1: Competition Watchdog has called for airlines to pass on falling
16:12
Speaker 1: fuel costs via ticket prices, as it's worn that consumers
16:16
Speaker 1: are not being served well enough by domestic airlines. So
16:19
Speaker 1: in its final airline monitoring report, the A Triple C
16:23
Speaker 1: said there was evidence market domination by Quantus and Virgin
16:26
Speaker 1: Australia was hurting customers with service reliability worse and fares
16:31
Speaker 1: higher than in twenty nineteen, Chief Minister, do you think
16:35
Speaker 1: it's time for these airlines to get a bit fairer?
16:38
Speaker 2: Yes, Katie.
16:39
Speaker 3: We need competitive flights because it's lower costs for Territorians
16:42
Speaker 3: who might need to go back to the East Coast
16:45
Speaker 3: or down south for family or friend commitments. But also
16:48
Speaker 3: it means that tourists can get into the territory. So
16:51
Speaker 3: we work with domestic aviation to lift capacity and bring
16:54
Speaker 3: competition to the territory. But absolutely they need to listen
16:56
Speaker 3: to the A Triple c's calls.
16:58
Speaker 1: Have we had any movement in terms of the Northern
17:00
Speaker 1: Territory bringing in that more competition. I know we've spoken
17:03
Speaker 1: about other airlines, any movement to this stage.
17:06
Speaker 3: There's nothing public yet Katie, but we're absolutely as I
17:09
Speaker 3: just said, working with different carriers to bring competition into
17:12
Speaker 3: the territory. Who are you talking to King to keep
17:15
Speaker 3: those commercial in confidence? But the Minister for Tourism, which
17:18
Speaker 3: encompasses the aviation, is working really hard because we know
17:22
Speaker 3: that we want to see the recommendations from the A
17:24
Speaker 3: Triple C. Like the airlines that are here now passing
17:26
Speaker 3: on those cost savings, but at the same time, we
17:29
Speaker 3: know more carriers into the territory brings competition and drives prices.
17:32
Speaker 3: We are struggling a bit though at the moment, aren't
17:33
Speaker 3: we in terms of those tourism numbers. I mean, we're
17:35
Speaker 3: about to catch up with somebody in tourism talking about
17:38
Speaker 3: the vacancy rates within those hotel rooms.
17:40
Speaker 1: We are struggling at the moment, Katie.
17:42
Speaker 3: We've invested an additional thirty five point five million in
17:45
Speaker 3: the budget to tourism we had the Summer Start's early campaign.
17:48
Speaker 3: We continue to work with this sector. But yes, we're
17:50
Speaker 3: seeing occupancy rates for May lower than we would like
17:55
Speaker 3: to see them, and so we'll continue in that space
17:57
Speaker 3: to work hard.
17:58
Speaker 1: Chief Minister of the Northern Territory Natasha Files, we're gonna
18:01
Speaker 1: have to leave it there.
18:01
Speaker 2: Thanks for your time this morning. Take care,