Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Opposition Leader Lia Finochiarro says the Gunner Government has no plan for budget repair, and are instead punishing public sector workers with its wage freeze

Transcript

Opposition Leader Lia Finochiarro says the Gunner Government has no plan for budget repair, and are instead punishing public sector workers with its wage freeze · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Now we know that obviously, the Reserve Bank has increased
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: the interest rates for the first time in more than
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: eleven years with a twenty five basis point hike. It's
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: taking that cash rate target to zero point three five percent.
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: Now it is going to be passed on in full
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  Speaker 1: by the look of things by most banks. That rate
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  Speaker 1: rise will add about sixty five dollars a month to
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  Speaker 1: repayments on a five hundred thousand dollars mortgage and double
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  Speaker 1: that depending.
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  Speaker 2: On well if you've got a million dollar loane.
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  Speaker 1: Now joining me in the studio to talk a little
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  Speaker 1: bit further about this and plenty of other local issues,
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  Speaker 1: is the opposition leader LEAFANOCHI are oh, good morning to you.
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  Speaker 3: Lady, morning Katie, and to your listeners.
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  Speaker 1: Now, Leah, what kind of impact do you think that
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  Speaker 1: this rate rise is going to have on us here
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  Speaker 1: in the Northern Territory.
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  Speaker 4: Look, I think we all knew it was coming, but
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  Speaker 4: unfortunately for Territorians, we suffer the highest inflation in the
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  Speaker 4: nation and that means our cost of living is simply high.
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  Speaker 4: You add on top of that fuel prices at the moment,
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  Speaker 4: and I know that's a whole other story, but it means,
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  Speaker 4: you know, Mum and Dad, everyday territorians are really going
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  Speaker 4: to a far under these rate rises. Now, what's important
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  Speaker 4: from a territory government perspective is that we're making sure
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  Speaker 4: we're driving a strong economy locally so that people can
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  Speaker 4: weather these storms.
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  Speaker 3: You know, rate rises will come and.
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  Speaker 4: Go, fuel prices will fluctuate, and things happen at a
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  Speaker 4: global scale none of us can control. But what we
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  Speaker 4: can control is in our own backyard. We can make
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  Speaker 4: sure our cost of living is as low as possible,
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  Speaker 4: our economy is as strong as possible. And I think
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  Speaker 4: this is just another reinforcement of the Gunner government completely
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  Speaker 4: dropping the ball and that you can't always see the
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  Speaker 4: consequences that flow from that. But this is just another
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  Speaker 4: example of pain that will be dealt to the everyday territory.
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  Speaker 1: It is going to be tough and there is no
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  Speaker 1: doubt that living in the Northern Territory right now is expensive.
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  Speaker 1: I guess the payoff for a lot of people is
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  Speaker 1: that you get quite a reasonable wage. You're they're not traveling,
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  Speaker 1: you know, huge distances like you might be in a
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  Speaker 1: capital city like Sydney to get to work each and
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  Speaker 1: every day. But right now we also know that on Monday,
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  Speaker 1: obviously we had public servants strike over that proposed wage freeze.
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  Speaker 1: This is something that I think previously Territorians might have
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  Speaker 1: sort of been more supportive of that wage freeze. They
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  Speaker 1: may have said, all right, well, none of us got
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  Speaker 1: to pay rise during the pandemic, why should public servants.
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  Speaker 1: But now with this interest rate rise, I do wonder
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  Speaker 1: what impact that freeze is going to have on our
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  Speaker 1: public servants and ultimately on a lot of territory families.
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  Speaker 3: That's exactly right.
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  Speaker 4: And of course we had nurses and corrections officers striking
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  Speaker 4: both around resourcing. You know, we've got prisoners and being
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  Speaker 4: stacked up in prisons. We've got five code yellows at
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  Speaker 4: Royal dhen Hospital and all the issues that our nurses
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  Speaker 4: and health professionals are facing.
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  Speaker 3: But this pay freeze is a really big deal. Now.
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  Speaker 4: Territorians paid handsomely for the Langolante Report into Budget Repair.
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  Speaker 4: That was a report heralded and commissioned by the Gunner
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  Speaker 4: government on behalf of the taxpayer to provide a pathway
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  Speaker 4: of how we're going to be able to continue to
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  Speaker 4: pay our important public service and reign in reckless spending.
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  Speaker 4: Now that set a pathway of one thousand dollars a
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  Speaker 4: year pay rise, which is genuine real wages growth. It
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  Speaker 4: comes with superannuation and you'll leave entitlements sustainable level of growth.
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  Speaker 4: This government have completely backed away from that plan for
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  Speaker 4: budget repair. It has no plan at all other than
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  Speaker 4: to punish the very people who we ask to go
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  Speaker 4: and protect us every single day, to punish them for
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  Speaker 4: the Labor government's.
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  Speaker 3: Own fiscal and economic mismanagement. And that's not okay.
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  Speaker 4: I mean, we don't have buckets of money, that is
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  Speaker 4: for sure, but it's certainly not nurses at Royal Dalen
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  Speaker 4: Hospital or Alice Springs Hospital, whose fault it is for
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  Speaker 4: building a twelve million dollar grandstand or giving a thirty
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  Speaker 4: five million dollar payout.
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  Speaker 3: To youth criminals.
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  Speaker 2: So what needs to happen.
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  Speaker 1: Do you think that the government needs to seriously relook
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  Speaker 1: at this wage phrase?
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  Speaker 2: Oh?
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  Speaker 3: Absolutely, we think the wage freeze is ridiculous.
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  Speaker 4: It comes with these bogus bonuses that people can get
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  Speaker 4: as one of payments.
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  Speaker 3: It's designed to essentially trick people.
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  Speaker 4: I mean this the labor government are trying to trick
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  Speaker 4: our public service into accepting a bonus instead of taking
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  Speaker 4: genuine wages growth. It means in four years time, if
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  Speaker 4: you're a public servant out there, in four years time,
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  Speaker 4: your salary is going to be exactly the same as
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  Speaker 4: it is today, exactly the same. But inflation is at
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  Speaker 4: six percent, that's continuing to go up. Mortgage prices are
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  Speaker 4: going to go up because as we've just heard, the
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  Speaker 4: Reserve Bank is obviously having rate rises. And so in
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  Speaker 4: four years time, what position are these people going to
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  Speaker 4: be left in. They're going to be left negotiating a
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  Speaker 4: pay rise based on twenty twenty two levels.
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  Speaker 3: Its craziness.
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  Speaker 1: Well, and the other difficulty is said, of course, trying
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  Speaker 1: to recruit people to some of the dispositions from other states. Leah,
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  Speaker 1: we know that the Northern Territory budget is being handed down,
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  Speaker 1: I believe Tuesday next week. What are you expecting to
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  Speaker 1: see in that budget? Do you think that we are
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  Speaker 1: going to see the government maybe backflip on this wage freeze.
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  Speaker 1: Do you think that we are going to see excessive
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  Speaker 1: spending or are we going to see a pretty tight budget.
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  Speaker 3: I don't think it's going to be a responsible budget.
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  Speaker 4: I think we're going to hear lots of terms like
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  Speaker 4: largest infrastructure spend, largest health budget, large at this and
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  Speaker 4: largest that I think it's going to mean absolutely nothing
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  Speaker 4: to the average punter. I think our debt is going
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  Speaker 4: to be eight nine billion dollars, bearing in mind when
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  Speaker 4: they came to government, our debt was one point eight
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  Speaker 4: billion dollars, So the contrast is huge, and I think,
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  Speaker 4: you know, these this government heralding maximum budgets isn't impressing
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  Speaker 4: anyone because the on the ground you can't see it.
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  Speaker 4: You know, when you have a record infrastructure spending yet
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  Speaker 4: our roads have never been worse, or there's no new
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  Speaker 4: anything in sight other than the grand standards I mentioned before,
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  Speaker 4: you know, people start to really question what on earth
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  Speaker 4: is going on. So we certainly hope it will be
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  Speaker 4: more fiscally responsible. We don't want to see things tighten
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  Speaker 4: up too much because of course, you know, repairs and
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  Speaker 4: maintenance provide important work to the construction sector and many
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  Speaker 4: stubby's and you know, there's a lot of important there's
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  Speaker 4: a lot of people who really rely on the Northern
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  Speaker 4: Territory government to keep moving along and of course deliver
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  Speaker 4: important services. But ultimately we can't keep chasing pet projects
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  Speaker 4: of the Chief Minister. We can't keep running up debt
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  Speaker 4: like there's no tomorrow. There is no money tree, and
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  Speaker 4: it's our kids and their kids who are paying this
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  Speaker 4: stuff back Gahiti, not us.
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  Speaker 1: Now, Lea, I want to talk to you about a
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  Speaker 1: situation which was raised on the show yesterday and one
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  Speaker 1: which a lot of canons have been raised about over
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  Speaker 1: the weekend around the Northern Territory, and that is the
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  Speaker 1: Northern Territory's police force. The Police Association president Paul Mcheu
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  Speaker 1: was on the show yesterday saying that the force is
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  Speaker 1: incredibly unwell. Right now, take a bit of a listen
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  Speaker 1: if you miss that interview yesterday.
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  Speaker 2: Are we in crisis point here?
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  Speaker 5: It's pretty difficult to tell, but certainly know the feedback
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  Speaker 5: we're getting is they're unwell. The police force is unwell.
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  Speaker 5: It's struggling to keep up with day to day requirements.
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  Speaker 5: The expectations put on them over the last couple of
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  Speaker 5: years has been more than I've ever seen over thirty years.
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  Speaker 5: And I know we still hear the government say we've
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  Speaker 5: got more budget than ever before and more resources than
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  Speaker 5: ever before. That is simply not reflecting on the front line, Lea.
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  Speaker 1: Are you concerned about the station of the Northern Territory
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  Speaker 1: Police Force right now.
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  Speaker 4: I am hugely concerned, and you know, it's funny that
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  Speaker 4: Paul mentioned that.
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  Speaker 3: You know, we're sick of hearing about biggest ever budget.
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  Speaker 4: Like what I said before, it's what happens on the
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  Speaker 4: ground that's so important. Our police force are heartbroken.
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  Speaker 2: You know.
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  Speaker 4: There has been absolute tragedy this year impacting our police.
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  Speaker 4: Of course, we've had the long effects of the Rolf
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  Speaker 4: trial and everything, the pressures and the anguish that that
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  Speaker 4: has caused our police, and now with the IKQ investigation underway.
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  Speaker 4: You know, really that is an important piece of work
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  Speaker 4: that the KAC Commissioner is doing because it's going to
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  Speaker 4: provide healing for some, answers for others and raise more questions.
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  Speaker 4: And it's a terrible time for our police. They need
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  Speaker 4: our absolute support, and the Gunner government just keep heaping
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  Speaker 4: pressure and work on them without recognizing that as wonderful
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  Speaker 4: as our police are, they can't solve all of the
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  Speaker 4: government's problems. The government have to get up and start
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  Speaker 4: making sure that other areas are carrying some of that load.
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  Speaker 1: There are a few aspects to this that I want
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  Speaker 1: to talk about. We know that a highly respected and
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  Speaker 1: much loved officer took his life just days ago, so
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  Speaker 1: many many people taking to social media to express their sorrow.
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  Speaker 1: It is the third officer, as I understand it, two
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  Speaker 1: serving and one who'd left the force who've taken their lives.
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  Speaker 1: This is something which I'm not interested in politicizing in
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  Speaker 1: any way.
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  Speaker 2: I want to.
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  Speaker 1: Ensure that we have support for our police officers now.
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  Speaker 1: The Northern Territory Police Association president said on the show
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  Speaker 1: yesterday that they lobbied for an independent review into the
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  Speaker 1: health and wellbeing services for employees. With that survey held
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  Speaker 1: last month. He said on the show that the results
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  Speaker 1: now sit with the Northern Territory Police and we're eagerly
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  Speaker 1: awaiting the findings of the review.
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  Speaker 2: Leah, what do you think needs to happen in this space?
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  Speaker 2: Is that review enough?
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  Speaker 3: Look, we need to know what Minister Manison is doing.
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  Speaker 4: About this situation. At the end of the day, the
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  Speaker 4: buck stops with her. The review has been done, it's
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  Speaker 4: sitting with police. You know what is she doing to
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  Speaker 4: make sure that some form of implementation happens as soon
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  Speaker 4: as possible.
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  Speaker 3: Honestly, Katie, that could not happen quick enough.
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  Speaker 4: We need to do something extremely urgent to make sure
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  Speaker 4: that the wealth and well being of our force is
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  Speaker 4: understood and dealt with. I mean, we've got attrition rates
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  Speaker 4: that are through the roof, just the discontent, the morale,
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  Speaker 4: all of these things are compounding and getting worse and
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  Speaker 4: worse and worse.
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  Speaker 3: And where does this leave us.
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  Speaker 4: You know, we need to make sure that our police
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  Speaker 4: have everything available to them. Mental health is critical, particularly
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  Speaker 4: at this time where there's been so many things happening
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  Speaker 4: that are causing a lot of stress for a lot
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  Speaker 4: of people. And you know, we've just seen a spectacular
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  Speaker 4: lack of leadership at the top from the Gunner government
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  Speaker 4: who are happy to dish out the jobs to police,
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  Speaker 4: but are not there for them in their darkest days.
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  Speaker 1: Well, there is obviously some within the force as well
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  Speaker 1: that feel the need there needs to be stronger leadership
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  Speaker 1: from the Commissioner of Police. Also, now we know on
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  Speaker 1: the weekend Sergeant Casey was suspended without pay after writing
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  Speaker 1: an opinion piece in the NT Independent.
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  Speaker 2: Do you think that he.
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  Speaker 1: Should have been suspended without pay for speaking up on
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  Speaker 1: issues that seem to be a concerned for a lot
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  Speaker 1: of police officers at the moment. Well, look, the disciplinary
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  Speaker 1: system of our police force is a major issue now.
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  Speaker 1: Every year I go to the Police Association conference and
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  Speaker 1: every year government promise to review how discipline is dold
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  Speaker 1: out in the police force, and that has still not
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: been done.
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  Speaker 3: It's a critical body of work. Now.
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  Speaker 4: Mark Casey is an incredible officer. I can't speak to
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  Speaker 4: the disciplinary that's actually that's been taken. I just don't
• 10:24
  Speaker 4: have that level of detail. But I think what it
• 10:26
  Speaker 4: shows is that people are at breaking point. I mean,
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  Speaker 4: you know, a senior, senior veteran police officer such as Mark,
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  Speaker 4: and we're seeing it in other quarters as well, coming
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  Speaker 4: out expressing their concerns shows that there is something wrong.
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  Speaker 3: We can't have this facade.
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  Speaker 4: From the government anymore like oh no, everything's rosy. Police
• 10:45
  Speaker 4: are fantastic. You know, police don't walk around every day
• 10:48
  Speaker 4: high fiving each other.
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  Speaker 1: You know. There has been three regions which have now
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: voted for the Northern Territory Police Association to hold a
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: territory wide vote of confidence or no confidence in the
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  Speaker 1: Commissioner Jamie Chalker and Deputy Commissioner Murray small Page.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, do you think that needs to happen?
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  Speaker 1: We've got the Police Association said on the show yesterday
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  Speaker 1: that something like that if it was going to happen,
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  Speaker 1: it would have to happen at the conference, which I
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  Speaker 1: believe is August.
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  Speaker 2: But are we in a situation right now with.
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  Speaker 1: The force unwell to use his words, where it can
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  Speaker 1: wait that long?
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  Speaker 2: I don't know.
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  Speaker 4: Well, look, you know that's a matter for the Police
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  Speaker 4: Association to decide and their membership. Obviously they represent ninety
• 11:25
  Speaker 4: eight percent of sworn police officers and if three regions
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  Speaker 4: have expressed that concern, then again it's something to be
• 11:30
  Speaker 4: looked at. But where is Minister Madison on this issue?
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  Speaker 4: I think it's just systematic of like Paul said, an
• 11:37
  Speaker 4: unwell forced that needs to be looked at him and
• 11:40
  Speaker 4: whatever measures need to be taken to make sure that
• 11:42
  Speaker 4: people's concerns are heard and addressed has to be done
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  Speaker 4: as a matter of absolute priority.
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  Speaker 2: Well, look, we might put in.
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: A request to see if we're able to get the
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: Minister on the show, because I think it's right we
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: do need to make sure that we're hearing from her.
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  Speaker 1: I don't think it's about me hearing from her.
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  Speaker 2: I think it's.
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  Speaker 1: About the police force actually hearing from her. So we'll
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: see what we can do, but Leo, we better leave
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: it there. We appreciate your time, and next week will
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: no doubt be an incredibly busy one with the budget
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: being handed down. So what's the go So the Chief
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: Minister hands he is down Tuesday and then do you
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: do the reply the following day.
• 12:14
  Speaker 4: Yeah, that's normally how it works, but never say never
• 12:16
  Speaker 4: with this government. They change the rules all the time,
• 12:18
  Speaker 4: so who knows. I might not even get to do one.
• 12:20
  Speaker 4: It depends definitely how the dictatorship of feeling at the top.
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: I think you'll have to Leah fan chi Aro, thank you,
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: We appreciate your time this morning.
• 12:29
  Speaker 3: Here everyone