Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Member for Namatjira Bill Yan says Lia Finocchiaro has the support of the parliamentary wing amid plans for a vote of no confidence in her leadership by a CLP branch

Transcript

Member for Namatjira Bill Yan says Lia Finocchiaro has the support of the parliamentary wing amid plans for a vote of no confidence in her leadership by a CLP branch · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Yesterday, the leader of the opposition, Lea Finocchiaro, delivered her
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: budget in reply and in an unexpected move and announced
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: Bill Yan, the Member for Aamajira, is going to take
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: over the opposition's treasurer portfolio and become the Treasurer if
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  Speaker 1: the CLP were to be elected. Now Bill Yan joins
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  Speaker 1: me on the line. Good morning to you, Bill, Good
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  Speaker 1: morning Katie, how are you really well?
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  Speaker 2: Thanks so much for your time, Bill.
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  Speaker 1: Before we get into the budget reply, I understand there
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  Speaker 1: was a debate about crime overnight after emotion was brought
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  Speaker 1: on by Robin Lamley, the Member Farara lun.
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  Speaker 2: What happened.
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  Speaker 3: Well as usual with Labor, Katie. Robin bought her motion
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  Speaker 3: which was about crime in al Springs and what Labor
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  Speaker 3: a not doing to address crime down Ericles. Labor changed
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  Speaker 3: the motion so they could pat themselves on the back
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  Speaker 3: and say how much the government's doing to reduce crime
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  Speaker 3: in the area. So we changed the motion back again
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  Speaker 3: so we could speak about the lack of action by
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  Speaker 3: Labor on what they're specifically doing in our springs. But
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  Speaker 3: it's usual form Forulay, but they don't like being criticized
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  Speaker 3: about what they're not doing, and they change the emotions
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  Speaker 3: as they can to talk about all the good things
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  Speaker 3: that they think they're doing in the area, and that's
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  Speaker 3: certainly not the case, particularly for our springs, that's for sure.
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  Speaker 1: Well, I tell you what, it's high time that they
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  Speaker 1: started listening to territories because today we know that there's
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  Speaker 1: going to be another rally outside of Parliament House. We
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  Speaker 1: also know overnight a number of vehicles stolen. My understanding
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  Speaker 1: is that seven youths are now in custody as a
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  Speaker 1: result of those vehicles being stolen overnight. I just don't
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  Speaker 1: understand what else needs to happen for this government to
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  Speaker 1: open their eyes and take notice.
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  Speaker 3: Well, and that's the thing just keeps escalating and escalating
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  Speaker 3: and escalating, and it comes down to no consequence for actions.
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  Speaker 3: I was shown a video on TikTok just last week
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  Speaker 3: before I came up. This way, young kids in a
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  Speaker 3: stolen product. They can barely see over the wheel. They're
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  Speaker 3: actually chasing the police in the stolen legle. This stuff
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  Speaker 3: is mad and was it going to take. It's going
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  Speaker 3: to take another death of an innocent person just being
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  Speaker 3: somewhere that they shouldn't be, or is going to put
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  Speaker 3: it in the wrong place at the wrong time, or
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  Speaker 3: one of these kids that have stolen the vehicle crashing
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  Speaker 3: it because they can't control the vehicle. What's going to
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  Speaker 3: take for the government to really stand up and take
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  Speaker 3: a long, hard look at this and actually takes an action.
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  Speaker 2: I really don't know. I mean, it was.
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  Speaker 1: It became pretty clear to me on Tuesday when I
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  Speaker 1: interviewed the Chief Minister that she feels as though what
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  Speaker 1: they are doing right now is the path that they
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  Speaker 1: need to continue on. I'm beginning to wonder, though, you know,
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  Speaker 1: whether her parliamentary colleagues feel the same, because surely they
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  Speaker 1: are listening to normal people at this point in time.
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  Speaker 2: Who are saying that they've had enough.
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  Speaker 1: But Bill, I'll move along because we know that that
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  Speaker 1: budget reply, well, it was delivered yesterday, and you've got
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  Speaker 1: a promotion in that speech and now you're the opposition
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  Speaker 1: spokesperson for treasury. Are you surprised that this move was
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  Speaker 1: made by Leah Fanocchiaro.
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  Speaker 3: We had the discussion early in the week about it,
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  Speaker 3: and it's always been a plan of le'z not to
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  Speaker 3: be the Treasurer leading into twenty twenty four. She picked
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  Speaker 3: up the portfolio when we after twenty twenty election, of course,
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  Speaker 3: because I said, we're all a little bit green and
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  Speaker 3: sort of learning the ropes, and I said, now we're
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  Speaker 3: we're coming up to three years in, so it was
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  Speaker 3: good time to make that change. Of course, it diversifies
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  Speaker 3: and strengthens the team leading into twenty twenty four. And
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  Speaker 3: I'm really quite proud to be asked to take on
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  Speaker 3: the role. I have no doubt it's going to be
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  Speaker 3: a hell of a challenge and a steep learning curve,
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  Speaker 3: I have no doubt about that. But I'm really looking
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  Speaker 3: forward to it actually to making sure that we look
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  Speaker 3: at the money that is coming into the territory. Territory
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  Speaker 3: is money, how it's spent, and make sure that we
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  Speaker 3: spend in a way that's certainly going to benefit every
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  Speaker 3: territory in the best way we possibly can.
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  Speaker 1: Bill In that speech delivered by Leah, she said that
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  Speaker 1: the COLPS planned for the territory will take control of
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  Speaker 1: our straights, rebuild our reputation, and get our economy moving forward.
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  Speaker 2: Again, what exactly is that plan?
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  Speaker 3: Well, first and foremost is investment in our police. And
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  Speaker 3: there's one thing it's really quite interesting that's happened just
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  Speaker 3: this week. If you look at the Queensland budget, they're
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  Speaker 3: throwing out twenty thousand dollars incentives to get police to
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  Speaker 3: come across the Queensland. And if that's not an open
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  Speaker 3: poaching method to take probably some disillusioned Northern Territory police
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  Speaker 3: officers who I'm not happy with what's taking place here
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  Speaker 3: across the Queensland, then I don't know what is. It's
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  Speaker 3: a missed opportunity by the files government to probably try
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  Speaker 3: and attrack some police back across the territory and restore
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  Speaker 3: some confidence in territories about how they're going to tackle
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  Speaker 3: crime by increasing the number of police that we have
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  Speaker 3: and giving the resources that they need. So that's probably
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  Speaker 3: the number one thing that we're focused is making sure
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  Speaker 3: that our police are resourced properly to be able to
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  Speaker 3: do their job and cut down some of that red
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  Speaker 3: tape that's a barrier to industry and to business. We
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  Speaker 3: see it every time under a labor government, the red tape,
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  Speaker 3: and now it's called beige tape. It just keeps cropping
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  Speaker 3: up and it's a barrier to people getting in and
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  Speaker 3: developing the territory. So we still leave the checks and balances,
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  Speaker 3: but we can get there a lot easier and a
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  Speaker 3: lot quicker if we make some of those processes easier
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  Speaker 3: and get our public service working with business and working
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  Speaker 3: with them well to develop the territory in the future.
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  Speaker 1: Bill, how much is it going to cost to fulfill
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  Speaker 1: some of those promises i e. You know, getting more
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  Speaker 1: boots on the ground for the police. Has the CRP costed.
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  Speaker 3: This, No, Look, we haven't costed this at this stage, Katie,
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  Speaker 3: And that's something we'll be doing leading into twenty twenty
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  Speaker 3: four to look at police numbers and how those resources
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  Speaker 3: are are best used across the territory. Will take some
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  Speaker 3: number crunching. We haven't done that at this stage.
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  Speaker 1: But is it I mean, is it irresponsible to make
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  Speaker 1: those promises without doing that.
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  Speaker 3: Well, we need to make the call. We need to
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  Speaker 3: resource the police because at the end of the day,
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  Speaker 3: we need to make sure that people in the territory
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  Speaker 3: feel safe in our own homes, at work and just
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  Speaker 3: going about their day day lives. Because at the moment, Katie,
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  Speaker 3: as we know, people don't. You've only had to look
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  Speaker 3: at what's happened overnight with those the ram rage and
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  Speaker 3: the Solemn vehicles and the home invasions. People are not
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  Speaker 3: safe it seems anywhere anymore. So we have to resource
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  Speaker 3: our police to do their job effectively and give them
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  Speaker 3: back the tools they need to do their job. Yes,
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  Speaker 3: it will cost money. We need to have a look
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  Speaker 3: at how we're going to do that. We need to
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  Speaker 3: crunch numbers to see what that's going to look like.
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  Speaker 3: But it's certainly something that where's the CEOP are committed
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  Speaker 3: to doing to making sure that they said the people
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  Speaker 3: of the territory are safe again.
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  Speaker 1: Bill, There is no doubt that crime is the number
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  Speaker 1: one issue right now across the Northern Territory. But people
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  Speaker 1: also want to see the economy boosted and they want
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  Speaker 1: that budget to be managed responsibly.
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  Speaker 2: How would the CLP get the.
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  Speaker 1: Economy moving You mentioned just a moment ago cutting that red.
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  Speaker 3: Tape, Well said, we need to start backing in our mining,
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  Speaker 3: whether that's onshore gas minerals and our partial and our
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  Speaker 3: tourism industries. There it's our own source revenue that is
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  Speaker 3: going to boost the territory economy. Whilst it's great to
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  Speaker 3: get those large numbers of GST from the federal government,
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  Speaker 3: well it only takes a slight recession and the Federal
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  Speaker 3: treasure I mentioned this in his budget just the other
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  Speaker 3: day that it's possible that the Australian economy could go
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  Speaker 3: into a small recession. Now we go into a small recession, also,
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  Speaker 3: those GSC numbers for us here in a territory will drop,
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  Speaker 3: so we'll see that level of debt increase. We're already
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  Speaker 3: at nine point nine to eight billion now, which is
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  Speaker 3: what is at one point three million dollars in interest
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  Speaker 3: repayments every day, and that's like it's sixty thousand dollars
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  Speaker 3: debt to every adult and territory. We can't sustain that
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  Speaker 3: longer term because it will be our kids and our
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  Speaker 3: grandkids that are paying back our debt or Labour's debt
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  Speaker 3: from this point in time. So we need to be
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  Speaker 3: boosting and working with industry to develop our own source revenue.
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  Speaker 3: It would seems sadly that if you get a major
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  Speaker 3: project status with the Labor government, it's like it's the deathnel.
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  Speaker 3: Every time a grant major project status, the project falls
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  Speaker 3: over one of.
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  Speaker 1: The lines that the Labor Party always pulls on the
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  Speaker 1: COLP And you know it's fair enough because the last
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  Speaker 1: time you guys were in you did cut public service jobs.
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  Speaker 1: Are you guys going to be cutting public service jobs
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  Speaker 1: to rain in the budget?
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  Speaker 3: Leia said yesterday in our budget replied, we won't be
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  Speaker 3: cutting any public service jobs. We need to support our
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  Speaker 3: public service and we need our public service there to
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  Speaker 3: support territories and support those all important projects and industries
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  Speaker 3: that are gain to grow our economy into the future.
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  Speaker 3: So that's a commitment from Lea yesterday and we'll certainly
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  Speaker 3: be sticking to that. We need said we need our
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  Speaker 3: public service, but at the end of the day, we
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  Speaker 3: need to make sure that our public service is supporting
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  Speaker 3: those growth industries and working closely with them for that
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  Speaker 3: development so we can grow our own source revenue.
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  Speaker 2: Here to Territory Bell before I let you go.
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  Speaker 1: A couple of weeks ago, there was information circulating that
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  Speaker 1: the Alice Springs branch of the CLP was set to
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  Speaker 1: move a vote of no confidence in Leafanochi Ao. Now
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  Speaker 1: it's the Litchfield branch. Does the rank and file of
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  Speaker 1: the CLP have the confidence in Leafanochi Aro.
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  Speaker 3: Well, it seems to be some discontent amongst it seems
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  Speaker 3: a particular branch. I can categorically say it's not the
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  Speaker 3: Alice Springs branches, it's not the one that I'm a
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  Speaker 3: member of.
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  Speaker 1: So did that So did that vote of no confidence
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  Speaker 1: in Alice go ahead?
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  Speaker 3: No, it didn't. No, categorically not Katie. It didn't happen
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  Speaker 3: in Alice Springs. So they said, it's happened from the
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  Speaker 3: or it's come from the Litchfield branch. But the end
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  Speaker 3: of the day, said with that, discontent is just sort
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  Speaker 3: of trying to detract from the things that we need
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  Speaker 3: to do as ce LP that there's so many pressing
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  Speaker 3: issues at the moment around crime and the economy that
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  Speaker 3: are affecting everyday territories. Sadly, this is a little bit
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  Speaker 3: of a distraction as to what we're trying to do.
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  Speaker 3: But I can tell you now that I'm focused and
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  Speaker 3: the team certainly focused on doing that work to represent territories,
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  Speaker 3: particularly around those hot topics. As you said, crime, it's
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  Speaker 3: just a hither out of control and where we're trying
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  Speaker 3: to hold the government to accountman, And sadly, the distractions
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  Speaker 3: from some of the rank control members again just a distraction. Bill.
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  Speaker 1: Are you annoyed by that side show that seems to
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  Speaker 1: be going on at the moment. Honestly, I think to myself,
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  Speaker 1: what happened to the COLP back in twenty twelve is
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  Speaker 1: that they would decimated and it was because, you know,
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  Speaker 1: for a lot of reasons, but a lot of this
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  Speaker 1: kind of garbage was going on. I mean, are you
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  Speaker 1: annoyed that this kind of thing is continueing to happen
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  Speaker 1: within the party? Oh?
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  Speaker 3: I certainly am, Katy. It really annoys me because at
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  Speaker 3: the end of the day, I said, I'm focused to
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  Speaker 3: delivering for the people of my electric representing the people manager,
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  Speaker 3: but also focused on representing the bigger picture stuff for
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  Speaker 3: all territories. And that's what my focus is, and that's
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  Speaker 3: what the team's focus is. And sadly, I said, this
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  Speaker 3: is a distraction sitting behind the SEALP at the moment.
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  Speaker 3: But again it's it's like any party and any group.
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  Speaker 3: You always have some people agree and some people that
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  Speaker 3: won't agree. And that look, that's the great thing I
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  Speaker 3: suppose about the CELP in some respects as of the
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  Speaker 3: diversity of the members. But yeah, I said, it annoys me.
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  Speaker 3: I said, I just want to get on with focusing
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  Speaker 3: on delivering for people here in the territory, and we
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  Speaker 3: have this sitting in the background and I said, it's
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  Speaker 3: just a distraction, which is really really unfortunate.
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  Speaker 1: So, Bill, from your perspective, is Lea fanok Ao safe
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  Speaker 1: as the leader of the CLP?
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  Speaker 3: Certainly is Katie, absolutely no doubt.
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  Speaker 2: And she has the support of the Parliamentary Wing.
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  Speaker 3: Yes she does. Yeah, absolutely, support of all the members
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  Speaker 3: of the wing.
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  Speaker 1: And so so do you think this is just a
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  Speaker 1: few trouble makers.
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  Speaker 3: Oh, there's just some people who who I said, may
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  Speaker 3: have some differences with Leah, and that's maybe all of these.
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  Speaker 3: I said, I'm not privy to what takes place in
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  Speaker 3: the Litchfeld branch, probably though I haven't actually read the
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  Speaker 3: motion yet, so I'm probably one of those people that
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  Speaker 3: are in the dark and I only hear, yeah, what
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  Speaker 3: I'm getting through on media and some of the stuff
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  Speaker 3: on social media. But yeah, look, it's it's just look,
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  Speaker 3: at the end of the day, it's a distraction, but
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  Speaker 3: we're focused on delivering those key things for territories that
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  Speaker 3: are affecting us all at the moment.
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  Speaker 1: Bill, just very quickly, we are hearing that the galleries,
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  Speaker 1: the open gallery there at Parliament is going to be
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  Speaker 1: closed today around question time. Do you know anything about this?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, I just heard about this probably about half an
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  Speaker 3: hour ago, Katie, and it's it's obviously a decision of
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  Speaker 3: government to close gallery and it's quite unfortunately. I think
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  Speaker 3: there'll be a lot of people that are disappointed who
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  Speaker 3: may have liked to come in to question time today
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  Speaker 3: and have a listen to what goes on, because again
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  Speaker 3: we'll be focusing on some of those crime issues and
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  Speaker 3: those things that are affecting territories and people might have
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  Speaker 3: wanted to come in and have a bit of a
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  Speaker 3: look and have a little bit of listen about me
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  Speaker 3: what the parliamentary process looks like and what goes on
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  Speaker 3: and they won't get that opportunity today, which is probably
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  Speaker 3: going to upset a lot of people and it's quite unfortunate.
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  Speaker 1: Well, we'll see what we can find out. Bill Yan,
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  Speaker 1: the Member foranma Jira. Always appreciate your time. Thanks so
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: much for joining us this morning.
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  Speaker 3: Cheers Katie, so thank you.