Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Minister Eva Lawler covers topics across her Government Portfolios, including answering questions about NT building codes, dead dolphins on Darwin beaches, and the Richardson Park revitalisation

Transcript

Minister Eva Lawler covers topics across her Government Portfolios, including answering questions about NT building codes, dead dolphins on Darwin beaches, and the Richardson Park revitalisation · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: OK. Well, we have had a few questions over the
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: Christmas break and also in the last couple of weeks
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: about some of these changes which came into play for
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: territory houses in line with the National Code. And joining
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: us on the line to talk more about that and
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: plenty of other things is the Minister for Renewables and Energy,
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: also Infrastructure Planning and Logistics and Environment, Eva Laula. Good
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: morning to you.
• 0:23
  Speaker 2: Good morning, Katie Minister.
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: Before we get into that, I do want to just
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: raise with you an issue which has got a lot
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: of people very concerned. On the show this morning, we
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: did all sort of see this vision which emerged I
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: think late yesterday that actually was filmed on that security
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: vision from the Fanny bay IgA on Monday afternoon of
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: a fight erupting out the front, people fighting with each other,
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: Manual the owner and others trying to protect the shop,
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: trying to make sure that the customers were okay. A
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: big rock, you know, being picked up by one of
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: the people involved in that fight, along with the sign either.
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: I don't know if you've seen the vision, but what
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: was your reaction?
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I have seen the vision and I actually often
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: go to the Fanny bay Ida. My mother's in the
• 1:10
  Speaker 2: Pearl Nursing Home and so on the way home I'll
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: often call in there to grab something for tea. So, yeah,
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  Speaker 2: it's shocking, vision terrible and as I said, absolutely unacceptable behavior.
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  Speaker 2: And you know what, we do not want to see
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  Speaker 2: in Darwin or anywhere in the territory. So you know
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: current behavior, it really is.
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: I know that there's been a lot of discussion, and
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: I know this is not your portfolio, but there has
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: been a lot of discussion over the last couple of
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: weeks about the increased number of people we've got in
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: Darwin right now from various communities and how those biosecurity
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: zones are potentially meaning that there's an increase in those numbers. Minister,
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: do we need to have a bit of a sit
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: down here and look at where those biosecurity zones are
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: in place in some situations, whether we need to try
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: to help people get back to country.
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: Yes, So, I mean, Katie, as you say, it's not
• 2:02
  Speaker 2: my portfolio, and I'm probably know as much and as
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: an expert as much as anybody else around it, but
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: it is we are seeing large numbers of itinerants in
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: the greater day in area. I'm also seeing that in Parmesan.
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: When I have conversations with the Department of Chief Minister,
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  Speaker 2: the regional directors, I discuss the issue of itinerants. In Parmesan,
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  Speaker 2: for example, there are things in place such as Baton
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: Road which provide accommodation for people so they don't need
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: to necessarily live in the long grass. But it is
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: about coordination of services, and it is about people like
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: larak here Nation returning those people to country, returning them home.
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  Speaker 2: But I don't know why it's escalated. There's lots of theories,
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: as you say, whether it's biosecurity, whether it's the concerns
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: about being stuck out and remote, or whether it's people
• 2:50
  Speaker 2: in town for medical and then staying in here. Those
• 2:53
  Speaker 2: issues are complex, but there are areas of government that
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: are doing the research and doing work to address these things.
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: But you can be in town, you know that, absolutely,
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: you can be in town, but behave if you're in town,
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: don't get drunk. And if you are going to get drunk,
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: you know, behave yourself. And so that behavior of actually
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: fighting and things like that in public spaces is just
• 3:16
  Speaker 2: not on. And I hope the police were called and
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: those people were arrested.
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: Yeah, well even we will talk more about it throughout
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: the week and I will make sure that we do
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: get the appropriate minister on at some point. Now, the
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: reason we got you on this morning is because I've
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: had a few calls over the new year. I suppose
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: you'd say, since we're returned back to work about this
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: new legislation which was brought in over the Christmas break
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: that's going to bring the territory will Our houses in
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: line with a national code. Now, one of our listeners
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: got in contact and he was really quite concerned that
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: with the elevated homes, the existing elevated homes, that they
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: were going to need new toilet and bathroom facilities downstairs
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: as well as upstairs. He was also worried about ramps,
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: needing ramps for the outer of the building. Minister, can
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: you talk us through these changes and what exactly it's
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  Speaker 1: going to mean for those that have already got pre
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  Speaker 1: existing homes?
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  Speaker 2: All right, So probably the first thing just to say
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  Speaker 2: if you also, if you already have a pre existing home,
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  Speaker 2: it means nothing. There is no changes that you need
• 4:20
  Speaker 2: to make at all. So the Australian Building and Construction
• 4:23
  Speaker 2: Board is a board that is made up of all
• 4:26
  Speaker 2: the ministers across Australia as well as the Federal Minister
• 4:29
  Speaker 2: around building and construction. What they do is they developed
• 4:33
  Speaker 2: the National Construction Code. The National Construction Code provides the
• 4:37
  Speaker 2: details to builders around what do they have to do
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  Speaker 2: when they build a new home or a new structure,
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  Speaker 2: and that's across Australia. Once it's adopted, everybody follows that.
• 4:49
  Speaker 2: And so what happened last year. So what happened last
• 4:52
  Speaker 2: year was all the ministers got together. There had been
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  Speaker 2: these discussions for a very long time around this. There'd
• 4:58
  Speaker 2: been considerable a lot being from the disability sector and
• 5:03
  Speaker 2: as you said, changes to the code that come into
• 5:06
  Speaker 2: place this year which mean that there has to be
• 5:09
  Speaker 2: increased accessibility for homes into the future. So what it
• 5:14
  Speaker 2: says is that there has to be at least one
• 5:16
  Speaker 2: entrance that can be accessible from with someone in a wheelchair.
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  Speaker 2: So it doesn't have to be a front door, it
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  Speaker 2: can be a back door, it can be a door
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  Speaker 2: coming from a garage, but it has to have a
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  Speaker 2: small ramp or it has to have an ability for
• 5:31
  Speaker 2: someone in a wheelchair to enter that. So with elevated homes.
• 5:35
  Speaker 2: Obviously that's totally unrealistic to have a ramp to a
• 5:39
  Speaker 2: high level building, so you can get exemptions. Of course,
• 5:43
  Speaker 2: you can get exemptions if there are steep sloping blocks
• 5:46
  Speaker 2: as well. You can get exemptions if the space is
• 5:49
  Speaker 2: too small, So there are exemptions around all of those things.
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  Speaker 2: But what it is about is you know, if you
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  Speaker 2: have to retrofit, it's expensive. The cost for this seen
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: as about one percent of a building cost to put
• 6:02
  Speaker 2: it in now or when you're building a building, retrofit
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: fitting obviously it's more expensive. So what Australians are all
• 6:11
  Speaker 2: realizing is that into the future we have an aging population.
• 6:15
  Speaker 2: All of us baby boomers are getting older and so
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  Speaker 2: there is a greater need or there will need to
• 6:20
  Speaker 2: be more accessible buildings for people to be able to
• 6:23
  Speaker 2: age at home. We've seen the overcrowding, the inability to
• 6:27
  Speaker 2: get age care facilities or for people to be able
• 6:30
  Speaker 2: to get into age care. So it is also about
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  Speaker 2: making sure that older Australians, older Territorians can age in
• 6:37
  Speaker 2: their home. So if you get to the stage where
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  Speaker 2: you have a wheelly walker or where you need to
• 6:42
  Speaker 2: be in a wheelchair, you'll be able to stay in
• 6:44
  Speaker 2: your own home and have your care packages. So that's
• 6:47
  Speaker 2: the big picture. But just to assure people absolutely if
• 6:51
  Speaker 2: you've got a current upstairs house, you don't need to
• 6:54
  Speaker 2: do anything. But the thing is also if you want
• 6:57
  Speaker 2: to age in that upstairs house, I guess they're the
• 6:59
  Speaker 2: decision and you then have to make. But one of
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  Speaker 2: the things around an elevated home is into the future
• 7:05
  Speaker 2: there will have to be a toilet downstairs.
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: Yeah right, okay. Now one of the other ones that
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  Speaker 1: was raised with us on a few occasions is about
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  Speaker 1: the lovers and that being another change that's going to
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: come into play, which you know plenty of people are
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: feeling like it's a really bad decision for the tropics.
• 7:22
  Speaker 2: So that yes, so that's two different issues totally. So
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  Speaker 2: liveability is one. This is another more work of the
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  Speaker 2: National Construction Code and that is around energy efficiency. That
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  Speaker 2: one the decision around getting houses to seven star rating.
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  Speaker 2: At the moment in the territory hours are only five
• 7:42
  Speaker 2: star rating, but it is so that's the changes that
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  Speaker 2: they're out for consultation at the moment to get housing
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  Speaker 2: and across Australia to a seven star energy efficiency rating.
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  Speaker 2: But again we can get exemptions, we can get deletions,
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  Speaker 2: we can get additions. You would absolutely continue to be
• 8:02
  Speaker 2: able to have louvers in your home, so you'd work
• 8:05
  Speaker 2: with your builder around that, but you would be able
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  Speaker 2: to continue to have louvers because we know cross ventilation,
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  Speaker 2: you know broad eaves, all of those things are important.
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  Speaker 2: So no, you know that, I think, And I did
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  Speaker 2: meet with Hia, I met with Lewis recently about this,
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  Speaker 2: and I think there was some confusion. But no, it's
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  Speaker 2: out for consultation around energy efficiency. But you will absolutely
• 8:29
  Speaker 2: be able to continue to build elevated homes and also
• 8:33
  Speaker 2: have louvers in your homes in Darwin.
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  Speaker 1: So this is not the end for louvers in the
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  Speaker 1: Northern Territory.
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  Speaker 2: No, no, no, no, no, not because I know in
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  Speaker 2: my home, I think we all love we all love losing.
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  Speaker 2: But I mean that said, when people build a home,
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  Speaker 2: I mean there are lots of things such as costs
• 8:51
  Speaker 2: as well that impacts what people build. And I often
• 8:53
  Speaker 2: hear that people saying, my first home is going to
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  Speaker 2: be a place, which you might be in that you know,
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  Speaker 2: four hundred fifty range. I may not have louvers, it
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  Speaker 2: might be a smaller place, but My dream is one
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  Speaker 2: day to have a more tropical home, and you know,
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  Speaker 2: absolutely that's what people do. Yeah, but it is a
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  Speaker 2: cost as well around elevated homes and louvers are more expensive.
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  Speaker 1: Well, and I guess it's that real sense from a
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  Speaker 1: lot of Territorians as well, is that they're worried that
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  Speaker 1: there's going to be changes, these national changes put in
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  Speaker 1: place that are fine if you're living in Melbourne or
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  Speaker 1: if you're living in Sydney, but maybe don't suit us
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  Speaker 1: here in the tropics.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, and I mean even I mean Darwin's very different
• 9:36
  Speaker 2: Tallis Springs, you know, at very different homes as well.
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  Speaker 2: So but yeah, these things, they're realistic about them. This
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  Speaker 2: is a national construction Code, but you can get exemptions.
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  Speaker 2: You know. The people that provide ministers with advice around this,
• 9:51
  Speaker 2: you know, they actually have under common sense and they
• 9:53
  Speaker 2: actually do understand that North Queensland and you know, the
• 9:57
  Speaker 2: Kimberley is very very different to Tasmania. So you know,
• 10:01
  Speaker 2: I think sometimes people get anxious around when they hear
• 10:03
  Speaker 2: these things, but it's often Southern media that's talking about it,
• 10:06
  Speaker 2: and it's just them doing these broad generalizations that applied
• 10:09
  Speaker 2: to the population in Sydney and Melbourne. But no, we
• 10:13
  Speaker 2: won't have and we will continue to have louvers in
• 10:15
  Speaker 2: the northern Turtin Well.
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: I reckon, there's definitely going to be quite a few
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: people that are pleased to hear that, Minister you said
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: that some of that is out for consultation at the moment.
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: Is that something that the general public can get involved
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: in or is it more something that industry is involved in?
• 10:30
  Speaker 2: No, general public. They can go to the Australian Building
• 10:33
  Speaker 2: and Construction Boards website and there'd be information on that.
• 10:37
  Speaker 2: So I mean, I can always get the website. I
• 10:39
  Speaker 2: haven't got that much the ABCB probably, Yeah, Salve dot
• 10:44
  Speaker 2: Au or something like that.
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: We can chase that up now, Australian Building that's all right, Yeah,
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: we can chase that up now. Another thing that obviously
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: happened yesterday is we know that the contractors have been
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: have been determined for the redevelopment of Richardson Park. I reckon,
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: you can probably anticipate what I'm going to say here.
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: Are people going to be able to play Rugby League
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: games there? Yes?
• 11:07
  Speaker 2: They are. So this has been a long, long journey
• 11:12
  Speaker 2: Richardson Park. But there will be a rugby league field.
• 11:15
  Speaker 2: There will be also besides that rugby league field, it's
• 11:18
  Speaker 2: almost the same size a green space for people to
• 11:23
  Speaker 2: walk their dogs and have community spaces of somebody wants
• 11:26
  Speaker 2: to do CrossFit or have other activities, run laps or
• 11:29
  Speaker 2: you do sprints, there is a space there for that too,
• 11:32
  Speaker 2: so it will look fantastic. I can assure people when
• 11:35
  Speaker 2: it's finished. I've seen the design work. So it is
• 11:38
  Speaker 2: about making sure first of all that road extension goes
• 11:42
  Speaker 2: through for luod Miller Primary School. Ludmiller Primary schools numbers
• 11:45
  Speaker 2: are low compared to Larich Here and Perrap and Stuart Park,
• 11:51
  Speaker 2: so we want to grow the numbers at lud Miller.
• 11:54
  Speaker 2: But it's always been an issue trying to get a
• 11:56
  Speaker 2: cross bag at road of a morning, and that's been
• 11:57
  Speaker 2: an issue for fifty years. This is a really good
• 12:00
  Speaker 2: solution to, as I said, increase the usage at Ludmiller.
• 12:05
  Speaker 2: But it will be a rugby field. It will also
• 12:08
  Speaker 2: have a memorial area there for shadow because I think
• 12:12
  Speaker 2: again we do want to preserve rich O Park and
• 12:15
  Speaker 2: some of the heritage there. But there will then also
• 12:18
  Speaker 2: be like a barbecue space, shade area, a blution block,
• 12:23
  Speaker 2: change room, so it will be a lovely, lovely space.
• 12:26
  Speaker 2: There's a fence that's at the back of the properties
• 12:29
  Speaker 2: that back on to Wells Street. There. That fence will
• 12:32
  Speaker 2: come down so it will be open to the community.
• 12:35
  Speaker 2: It will be an accessible space for people to go
• 12:38
  Speaker 2: in there. There'll be more car parking and I think
• 12:41
  Speaker 2: a lot of people actually don't even know where Richardson
• 12:44
  Speaker 2: Park is. A lot of territories drive past and have
• 12:47
  Speaker 2: no idea, So you know, we'll make sure it's promoted well.
• 12:51
  Speaker 2: It will be a lovely space for the community, and
• 12:53
  Speaker 2: not just a Luod Miller community but all of Darwin
• 12:56
  Speaker 2: to use.
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: And so is there an agreement in place with any
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: of those rugby leagues as well for them to be
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: able to use it for training and to be able
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: to use it for those games.
• 13:05
  Speaker 2: So it's been Brothers and Nightcliff. We're the ones that
• 13:09
  Speaker 2: were interested in using as a training facility and you know,
• 13:13
  Speaker 2: as I said that that's the matter for them to
• 13:15
  Speaker 2: work through. But the issue around games there again that
• 13:20
  Speaker 2: will be up to them to work through with NRL.
• 13:23
  Speaker 2: So NRL they do their fixtures and obviously there's rugby
• 13:26
  Speaker 2: league fields at Fred's Pass there's you know, we have
• 13:28
  Speaker 2: mold and oval that you know, there's a whole heap
• 13:31
  Speaker 2: of ovals that can use for rugby league. So but
• 13:34
  Speaker 2: you know, absolutely it could be used. It will be
• 13:37
  Speaker 2: a regulation size and have goalposts and all those things.
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: Yeah. On look, I know that there's a lot of
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: people that you know, that want to make sure that
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: it is still utilized and it is still able to
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: be used for rugby league. But Minister, I want to
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: ask you as well. I know got lots of hats
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: on today and I want to ask you about this
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: situation that we spoke to the Environment Center about a
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: little bit earlier in the week, and that was multiple
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: reports of dead dolphins washing up on beaches around Darwin.
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: My understanding is that the Environment Center, well they had
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: I think that they were doing a bit of investigating themselves,
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: but they wanted to make sure that the Department was
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: obviously looking into this and looking into whether there was
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: any issue with the water quality. Is this something that
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: has now been looked into.
• 14:24
  Speaker 2: Yeah, So I obviously got a briefing from the department
• 14:28
  Speaker 2: about it. When I mean I obviously received emails about
• 14:31
  Speaker 2: it and saw it on Facebook. But just to assure
• 14:33
  Speaker 2: territories our harbor is pristine, our harbor and the water
• 14:37
  Speaker 2: quality is exceptional in the Darwin Harbor. So when I
• 14:42
  Speaker 2: asked about the dolphins, they said that I think there
• 14:44
  Speaker 2: were two possibly, and they're saying often this or it
• 14:48
  Speaker 2: is around a boat strike or some other way that
• 14:51
  Speaker 2: the dolphins injured. It's nothing to do with the water
• 14:54
  Speaker 2: quality at all, because you know, our harbor is a beautiful,
• 14:57
  Speaker 2: pristine harbor. There are on going water quality and I
• 15:01
  Speaker 2: think that information is available online. So the water quality
• 15:05
  Speaker 2: in the Darwen Harbor is monitored very very closely. That
• 15:08
  Speaker 2: continues to be assessed. There was also, I think from
• 15:12
  Speaker 2: about twenty eleven to twenty nineteen, a large study done
• 15:16
  Speaker 2: of the dolphin population in the harbor and it said
• 15:19
  Speaker 2: there's a small population, but it's quite mobile, so it
• 15:22
  Speaker 2: moves around. So you know, I think that was some
• 15:24
  Speaker 2: of the reporting saying we don't see many dolphins. Well,
• 15:27
  Speaker 2: they do move around. We often see them from Parliament House.
• 15:31
  Speaker 2: Actually we see them in the harbor. So just to
• 15:34
  Speaker 2: assure territories and Darwin people that, you know, why these
• 15:38
  Speaker 2: two dolphins died, I don't know, but the more instances
• 15:43
  Speaker 2: it's around a boat strike or some other injury. But
• 15:46
  Speaker 2: you know, if people do see a dolphin that's passed away,
• 15:48
  Speaker 2: they can report that to parks and wildlife. But our
• 15:52
  Speaker 2: water is absolutely pristine in the darn harbor and that
• 15:55
  Speaker 2: is reported and that's available online too, so.
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: You can assure territori ins today that there is not
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: an issue with that water being polluted and that being
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: the cause of the death of these dolphins.
• 16:06
  Speaker 2: Absolutely not. Our water is pristine in the harbor, and
• 16:09
  Speaker 2: as I said, that is reported all the time. So
• 16:12
  Speaker 2: there's I think every it gets to an a, there's
• 16:16
  Speaker 2: abc U D. The only issue is around Buffalo Creek
• 16:20
  Speaker 2: and we know that that's where the sewerage outletty area is.
• 16:23
  Speaker 2: But the rest of the harbor is absolutely pristine and
• 16:26
  Speaker 2: the water quality is perfect.
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: Well, Minister Eva Laula, we will leave it there. We've
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: just about asked you a question for every portfolio this morning.
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: We appreciate your time.
• 16:35
  Speaker 2: Thanks very much, Ladie, Thank you