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Katie Woolf spoke with Opposition Leader Lia Finocchiaro · 360 with Katie Woolf

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  Speaker 1: Three sixty with Katie wolf On mixed one oh four
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  Speaker 1: point nine thanks to Joyce Main Darwin. Now, we have
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  Speaker 1: absolutely done our best not to name any names in
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  Speaker 1: any way, shape or form, and look, I think at
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  Speaker 1: the end of the day, what we're trying to do
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  Speaker 1: here is get to the bottom of exactly what's gone on,
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  Speaker 1: to make sure that the people that represent us here
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  Speaker 1: in the Northern Territory are well engaged in activities and
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  Speaker 1: not engaged in anything illegal. To talk more about it
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  Speaker 1: right now is the opposition leader Leah Fanocchiaro.
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  Speaker 2: Good morning to you, Leah, Good morning Kaden to your listeners.
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  Speaker 1: Now, I'm sorry we had to push your regular spot
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  Speaker 1: back a little bit, but I did feel that it
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  Speaker 1: was very important that we caught up with the woman
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  Speaker 1: at the center of the alleged cocaine and sex scandal.
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  Speaker 1: She says that no MLA has been involved in the
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  Speaker 1: use of cocaine. Does that mean that there's really nothing
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  Speaker 1: more to see here, Leah?
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  Speaker 2: Look, I think what this has shown is that the
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  Speaker 2: Chief Minister must conduct an investigation. It has been four
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  Speaker 2: days since the news broken the newspaper. Since the allegations
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  Speaker 2: were put in the newspaper, and the Chief Minister has
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  Speaker 2: not denied them nor investigated them. Yesterday in Parliament, I
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  Speaker 2: clearly asked him to deny that it involved a member
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  Speaker 2: of his parliamentary team and his staff, whether they were
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  Speaker 2: involved in the labor cocaine sex scandal. He did not
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  Speaker 2: deny it. Katie I then asked him what had he
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  Speaker 2: done to investigate it, and he essentially responded by saying, well,
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  Speaker 2: you prove it or I'm going to do nothing about it.
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  Speaker 2: And Katie, that is a cover up. An investigation by
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  Speaker 2: the Chief Minister would reveal if it's true or not.
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  Speaker 2: No investigation, no denial equals a cover up, plain and simple.
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  Speaker 1: But Lea, this woman says that that the MLA did
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  Speaker 1: not use an illicit substance and that the police have
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  Speaker 1: looked at it and that they're you know that really
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  Speaker 1: there's there's nothing to suggest the use from an MLA
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  Speaker 1: of an illicit substance. So I mean, what else do
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  Speaker 1: we need to look at? Here? Are we're more looking
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  Speaker 1: at whether morally something wrong has happened?
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  Speaker 2: Well, I'm not sure, Katie, what the biggest scandal is.
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  Speaker 2: Is it the sex and drug allegations or is it
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  Speaker 2: the Chief Minister's cover up. Any employer, manager, CEO, a
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  Speaker 2: board faces serious sex and drug allegations about their own
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  Speaker 2: organization has an obligation to investigator. And I want to
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  Speaker 2: just make a little quote from the Australian Institute of
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  Speaker 2: Company Directors and they say, and I quote, the board
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  Speaker 2: plays an important role in this, particularly driving a culture
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  Speaker 2: of reporting and not turning a blind eye. Bad news
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  Speaker 2: should travel quickly and easily through the appropriate parts of
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  Speaker 2: organizations so that it can be responded to at the
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  Speaker 2: earliest opportunity. If this happened in any other office, it
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  Speaker 2: would not be tolerated that the boss turns a blind eye.
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  Speaker 2: What message is the Chief Minister's sending to vulnerable employees.
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  Speaker 2: This is the worst kind of corporate cover up. I
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  Speaker 2: mean the newspaper is reporting it is a fifth fourth
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  Speaker 2: staffer that's caught up in this scandal. We've heard that
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  Speaker 2: a woman has come forward. We now know that there
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  Speaker 2: is an MLA who is married with children involved in
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  Speaker 2: a relationship. The Chief Minister has to front up and
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  Speaker 2: investigate this. He cannot hide This is a fundamental breach
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  Speaker 2: of community standard. And if he doesn't address this scandal,
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  Speaker 2: that implicates his staff and other male members of Parliament,
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  Speaker 2: his colleagues. Then his legacy will be crime, cocaine and
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  Speaker 2: cover up.
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  Speaker 1: But lea, if an MLA has not used an illicit substance,
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  Speaker 1: that's what this woman has seen. And if we're then
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  Speaker 1: just talking about you know, a potentially a relationship you
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  Speaker 1: know where like what you know, what evidence do you
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  Speaker 1: have I guess to support that there is cocaine use
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  Speaker 1: or that there's anything else to sort of be concerned
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  Speaker 1: about in this space.
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  Speaker 2: Well, what I know, Katie is for four days the
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  Speaker 2: media have been reporting about a labor cocaine in sex scandal,
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  Speaker 2: and that in and of itself requires explanation. I came
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  Speaker 2: out immediately and clarified that the scandal did not involve
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  Speaker 2: the COLP. The Chief Minister has not been able to
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  Speaker 2: do the same, and for four days he has skirted
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  Speaker 2: around this issue, buried his head in the sand and
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  Speaker 2: turned a blind eye. No leader of any organization is
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  Speaker 2: able to turn a blind eye when allegations serious nature
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  Speaker 2: like they are, and just not do anything about it.
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  Speaker 2: It doesn't pass any community standard, it doesn't pass the
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  Speaker 2: pub deak. It's not acceptable and unfortunately it's the Chief
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  Speaker 2: Minister's approach to everything, whether it's crime or our economy
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  Speaker 2: or serious allegations, he must be forced to investigate it
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  Speaker 2: and clear the air.
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  Speaker 1: So you obviously were not satisfied with the response regarding
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  Speaker 1: a staff member on the fifth floor.
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  Speaker 2: Well, we didn't receive any satisfactory response from the Chief Ministry.
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  Speaker 1: But I mean during that interview this morning, you obviously
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  Speaker 1: weren't satisfied this. You know that what the woman had
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  Speaker 1: seed past the pub test.
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  Speaker 2: Look, you know, I'm not here to comment or interrogate
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  Speaker 2: the woman who's made her comments. But what is clear
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  Speaker 2: is that there are now more questions than there are answers.
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  Speaker 2: We have a chief Minister in hiding. We have serious
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  Speaker 2: I mean, this is the worst kind of corporate corruption
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  Speaker 2: that we used to see from thirty years ago. The
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  Speaker 2: Chief Minister has to run up and investigate it. He
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  Speaker 2: has to clear the air whether or not the allegations
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  Speaker 2: are true or false. He's never going to know if
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  Speaker 2: he doesn't investigator. And by simply covering his hands over
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  Speaker 2: his ears and saying I don't want to know about
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  Speaker 2: this is not good enough. People expect form now, any organization,
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  Speaker 2: anybody working right now listening will know that if a
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  Speaker 2: serious allegation is brought to their boss, it has to
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  Speaker 2: be investigated and this just doesn't pass the pub test.
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  Speaker 1: Leah, just taking a step back. Obviously, when the COLP
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  Speaker 1: was in power and Adam Giles was the Chief Minister,
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  Speaker 1: there was a fairly salacious scandal which involves in MLA
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  Speaker 1: at the time. We don't need to go back into
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  Speaker 1: the details of it. I think that that person's already
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  Speaker 1: lived through it. But we all know what I'm talking about.
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  Speaker 1: You know that involved. Really what many would say is,
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  Speaker 1: I guess, you know, improper conduct you might call it
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  Speaker 1: from an MLA. If we now have a situation where
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  Speaker 1: we do indeed have an MLA who and I don't
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  Speaker 1: know for sure who it is, but if we do
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  Speaker 1: now have an MLA who's involved in extra marital affairs,
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  Speaker 1: I mean, is that anyone's business.
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  Speaker 2: Well, let me quote to you from what Michael Gunner,
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  Speaker 2: who was then the opposition leader said about that incident.
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  Speaker 2: He said that was a fundamental breach of community standard.
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  Speaker 2: He said, the behavior is an unforgivable breach of parliamentary
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  Speaker 2: standards and he should resign immediately and not take his
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  Speaker 2: seat in parliament. So you know, I'll let territorians be
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  Speaker 2: the judge. But this does not stack up. The Chief
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  Speaker 2: Minister has many questions to answer. He cannot not investigate
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  Speaker 2: this issue. He cannot bury his head in the sand
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  Speaker 2: any longer. This is a test of his leadership. It
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  Speaker 2: has questioned the integrity of himself, of his entire team.
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  Speaker 2: You now have every male member of the parliamentary Labor
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  Speaker 2: team you know, being looked at. Is it them? He
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  Speaker 2: cannot walk into Parliament today with this cloud over the
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  Speaker 2: Labor government.
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  Speaker 1: Lea. I've just received a message from one of our
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  Speaker 1: listeners that says, hey, Katie, if an MLA is having
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  Speaker 1: an affair, who cares. That's his private life, not ours.
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  Speaker 1: If drugs are involved, sure, but Leah has nothing to
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  Speaker 1: stand on because, let's face it, gonna won't do anything.
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  Speaker 2: Well, Michael Gunner has to do something and we're never
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  Speaker 2: going to know the truth about the sex cocaine scandal.
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  Speaker 2: If the Chief Minister doesn't take leadership and investigate this matter.
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  Speaker 2: He has an obligation not only to territories, but to
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  Speaker 2: his staff, to his parliamentary team, and it is unacceptable
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  Speaker 2: to turn a blind eye to allegations of this serious nature.
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  Speaker 1: All right lea fanokiiro. We will leave it there for now.
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  Speaker 1: I know that there's plenty of other things happening in
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  Speaker 1: Parliament today, but we will leave it there for now.
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  Speaker 1: Thank you very much for your time.
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  Speaker 2: Thank you, Take care,