Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / The Week That Was - February 18th 2022

Transcript

The Week That Was - February 18th 2022 · 360 with Katie Woolf

0:00
Speaker 1: And it is Friday morning. It is time for the
0:02
Speaker 1: week that was. I'm very excited bit of a different
0:04
Speaker 1: lineup this morning. We've got Bill Yan, the Opposition spokesperson
0:07
Speaker 1: for Health.
0:08
Speaker 2: Good morning to you, very well. We've got Robin Lamley,
0:11
Speaker 2: the Independent Member for a Loan. Good morning to you, Robert.
0:14
Speaker 3: Good morning, Katie.
0:15
Speaker 1: We've got Thomas Morgan, the Northern Territory News Political Editor.
0:19
Speaker 1: Good morning to you, Tom Lovely. I better turn your
0:22
Speaker 1: microphone on that morning again. And Selena Rubo, the Attorney
0:26
Speaker 1: General here in the Northern Territory, Good morning to you.
0:29
Speaker 4: Wanting Katie shout out to Catherine twenty nine degrees.
0:31
Speaker 1: They must be cold down there. Oh yeah, I reckon,
0:34
Speaker 1: it's been hot in Catherine. It looks like this week
0:36
Speaker 1: it's also been hot inside Parliament House by the look
0:38
Speaker 1: of things.
0:39
Speaker 2: A very interesting week.
0:40
Speaker 1: But I want to kick off with the situation where
0:44
Speaker 1: the health system is in at the moment. We know
0:46
Speaker 1: that a code yellow has now been called for Royal
0:49
Speaker 1: Darwin and Palmerston Regional Hospitals now. The AMA and the
0:52
Speaker 1: Nurses Federation called for a Code Brown earlier in the
0:55
Speaker 1: week after outlining serious concerns at the Northern territories, hospitals,
1:00
Speaker 1: COVID rolls through the Northern Territory and hospital beds fill
1:03
Speaker 1: with those cases. Here is a little bit, firstly of
1:07
Speaker 1: what kath Hatcher had to tell us on the show.
1:10
Speaker 1: A little bit earlier in the week, the Chief Minister
1:12
Speaker 1: on the show had said that, you know, the COVID
1:15
Speaker 1: numbers that we're getting at the moment are quite manageable,
1:18
Speaker 1: but then you know when we hear from staff, it
1:21
Speaker 1: really doesn't seem like it's very manageable at the moment.
1:25
Speaker 5: No, it's not manageable. There's three full COVID wards at
1:29
Speaker 5: Royal Dalen Hospital, few in Katherine and in gov They're
1:35
Speaker 5: all understaff. They're all overworked, overtime double ships twelve twelve
1:42
Speaker 5: hour shifts or if not eighteen our ships. They're exhausted,
1:47
Speaker 5: they're getting towards burnout, and we wanted the Health Minister
1:52
Speaker 5: and the Chief Minister and to stand up and pay
1:55
Speaker 5: attention that they might think it's being okay, but it's not.
2:00
Speaker 1: We'd also heard from the AMA doctor Robert Parker telling
2:03
Speaker 1: us on the show that one doctor had told him
2:06
Speaker 1: that he was actually hoping to get COVID, so that
2:09
Speaker 1: he could have some downtime and I think that if
2:12
Speaker 1: that really doesn't show you just how exasperated some of
2:15
Speaker 1: our healthcare professionals are at this point, nothing will. There
2:19
Speaker 1: is no doubt that it is a really tough time
2:22
Speaker 1: at the moment right across our health system.
2:25
Speaker 6: Certainly is Katie. When you look at the fact that
2:28
Speaker 6: we've had Robert Parker, the head of the AMA here
2:30
Speaker 6: at Territory in Cathatcher from the Nurses Federation have to
2:33
Speaker 6: come out and actually ask the government to institute a
2:38
Speaker 6: Code Brown to make sure that they're protecting the staff
2:41
Speaker 6: and protecting patients in our hospitals. That speaks volumes for
2:45
Speaker 6: where our health system is at for government not to
2:49
Speaker 6: act on that, and then we end up in a
2:51
Speaker 6: Code Yellow a few days later, and of course that
2:53
Speaker 6: was leaked to the media and government didn't actually come
2:55
Speaker 6: out and be proactive and announce that. It shows a
2:59
Speaker 6: very very large connect between the people on the ground
3:01
Speaker 6: and certainly the minister. And you've got to wonder who
3:04
Speaker 6: do we believe. Do we believe the people on the
3:06
Speaker 6: ground working and living this every day, or do we
3:08
Speaker 6: believe the people sitting in Parliament House.
3:12
Speaker 1: Yeah, look, I think at the end of the day,
3:13
Speaker 1: if you've got nurses and doctors, you've got healthcare professionals
3:16
Speaker 1: saying we need help. You know, both cath Hatcher and
3:19
Speaker 1: also Robert Parker had said to me through the week
3:22
Speaker 1: as well, you know, maybe we need to call in
3:24
Speaker 1: for federal assistance, Maybe we need the National Critical Care
3:27
Speaker 1: and Trauma Response Center to provide some assistance or the ADF.
3:32
Speaker 1: When you're in a situation where that kind of discussion
3:34
Speaker 1: is even happening, I think it goes to show you
3:37
Speaker 1: how much stress they're under.
3:38
Speaker 2: But the irony here is that we've known.
3:41
Speaker 1: For really quite some time that the healthcare system was
3:44
Speaker 1: going to be under stressed, because we were under stressed
3:46
Speaker 1: before we had COVID cases.
3:48
Speaker 3: Yeah. Look what I find bizarre, Katie, is we've just
3:53
Speaker 3: been a week in Parliament hearing from the government about
3:56
Speaker 3: how good, how well they've managed COVID, how great they are,
4:02
Speaker 3: and this flies in the face of all that. I
4:05
Speaker 3: think the government needs to just take a step back
4:08
Speaker 3: and perhaps take some responsibility for some of the problems
4:11
Speaker 3: that they're experiencing. Look that they were foreseeable staff, health staff,
4:17
Speaker 3: hospital staff all around the country are doing it extremely tough,
4:21
Speaker 3: so we're not unique there, but I think it's time
4:24
Speaker 3: for the government to actually maybe take some responsibility.
4:29
Speaker 2: Selena Katie.
4:30
Speaker 4: Something that we have never shied away from is the
4:33
Speaker 4: pressure that our health system and our other frontline services
4:37
Speaker 4: are under throughout this global pandemic. Of course, we've been
4:41
Speaker 4: in this state of emergency for over two years now
4:46
Speaker 4: and we've had the mechanisms in place. When we're talking
4:51
Speaker 4: about the pressure, particularly on our hospitals here in the
4:54
Speaker 4: Northern Territory, some of those operational decisions are made by
4:57
Speaker 4: the experts that it's not something that's been thought of
5:00
Speaker 4: it as a last minute. These are daily conversations that are
5:03
Speaker 4: happening within our care facilities and our hospitals right across
5:07
Speaker 4: the Northern Territory. So it's not something that necessarily is
5:11
Speaker 4: going to be a public release or a media release
5:14
Speaker 4: on day in, day out.
5:16
Speaker 1: We know the pressures are there embarrassing come Wednesday or
5:20
Speaker 1: whenever it was, after the IMA and the Nurses Union
5:24
Speaker 1: had been saying, oh, look we need desperate help, we
5:26
Speaker 1: want to code brown and then you know, for it
5:29
Speaker 1: to come out late that afternoon in the media, Tom
5:31
Speaker 1: it was was it through.
5:32
Speaker 2: You that that eventually came out.
5:34
Speaker 7: I wasn't the one who broke that story. It was
5:36
Speaker 7: a colleague of mine.
5:37
Speaker 8: But what I want clarification on is the Chief Minister
5:41
Speaker 8: came out a couple of weeks ago and said we're
5:44
Speaker 8: counseling elective surgeries for a few weeks, and then now
5:47
Speaker 8: there's been a declaration of a code yellow, which is
5:49
Speaker 8: effectively the same thing counceling elective surgeries and putting all
5:53
Speaker 8: of the resources into the ED into the COVID boards essentially.
5:58
Speaker 8: So why is the government decided to effectively declare a
6:02
Speaker 8: code yellow in orbit name and then decided to call
6:06
Speaker 8: a code yellow.
6:07
Speaker 9: Again, Katie.
6:08
Speaker 4: Those decisions are made basically on a day by day basis,
6:13
Speaker 4: and so the resources that do go in and out
6:16
Speaker 4: of our hospitals are monitored on that daily basis, and
6:20
Speaker 4: more than once a day, it's happening two or three
6:22
Speaker 4: times on.
6:22
Speaker 9: A daily basis.
6:23
Speaker 4: So those decisions are made to call where the resources
6:28
Speaker 4: resources should be diverted to to ensure that the highest
6:32
Speaker 4: care of need and support is provided and that Territorians
6:35
Speaker 4: still get the healthcare that they.
6:37
Speaker 1: I reckon the biggest thing that a lot of Territorians
6:40
Speaker 1: will be saying right now listening to this this morning,
6:42
Speaker 1: is we've known for quite some time that COVID's going
6:45
Speaker 1: to be on the cards. You know, Robert Parker and
6:46
Speaker 1: Cathatcher have joined me on the show before and said, look,
6:49
Speaker 1: COVID is going to arrive and when it does, it's
6:51
Speaker 1: going to have a massive impact. We're just having a
6:53
Speaker 1: microphone malfunction there. When it does, it's no doubt going
6:56
Speaker 1: to have a massive impact. So we know that, we
7:00
Speaker 1: know and have known that it's going to be on
7:02
Speaker 1: the cards for quite some time. So a lot of
7:04
Speaker 1: people questioning why hasn't there been Why hasn't there been
7:08
Speaker 1: you know those operational sort of you know, that input
7:13
Speaker 1: down the track or back, you know, down the track
7:16
Speaker 1: to make sure we had more staff and make sure
7:18
Speaker 1: we had more nurses and make sure.
7:19
Speaker 2: That we had what we were required. Once COVID hit.
7:22
Speaker 6: Well, that's that's the key to it, Katie, It really
7:25
Speaker 6: really is. I said two years we've known COVID is coming,
7:29
Speaker 6: and cath and Rob Parker have been out on the
7:32
Speaker 6: front foot talking about this, crying out for resources. And
7:36
Speaker 6: I said it yesterday in Parliament. I'll give for the
7:38
Speaker 6: Victorian government one thing. They put their pride aside, actually
7:41
Speaker 6: called the Code Brown for their health system, knowing the
7:44
Speaker 6: issues that they were going to face. And here we
7:47
Speaker 6: have the two leading organizations representing our health professionals asking
7:52
Speaker 6: for that assistance, pleading for their assistants, and the government
7:55
Speaker 6: decided that no, no, there's nothing to see here.
7:57
Speaker 2: We won't worry about it.
7:58
Speaker 6: And then we said, Cody Low a few days I go,
8:01
Speaker 6: I go back to who do we believe?
8:02
Speaker 8: And Bill, you were talking in Parliament last night about
8:04
Speaker 8: an anecdote and this goes to a sort of broader
8:06
Speaker 8: issue of communication within between government and health organizations. You
8:11
Speaker 8: were talking about an anecdote you heard from an archo,
8:14
Speaker 8: an Aboriginal controlled community health organization about you know that
8:18
Speaker 8: have one person watching the Facebook stream, one person watching
8:21
Speaker 8: the Chief Minister's Facebook, one person on the Securit and
8:24
Speaker 8: Tey website, you know, watching when the Chief Minister was
8:27
Speaker 8: making an announcement, and then they all come together at
8:30
Speaker 8: the end of end of the announcement and try to
8:32
Speaker 8: work out what the government's changes were on the front
8:35
Speaker 8: line or in terms of COVID restrictions and how they.
8:37
Speaker 6: Were trying to figure out how these announcements are going
8:40
Speaker 6: to affect what they provide every day. And because it
8:43
Speaker 6: wasn't clear, imagine trying to tie up three of the
8:47
Speaker 6: chief executives to figure out a nice, simple message that
8:50
Speaker 6: time could be far better spent doing other things if
8:53
Speaker 6: we could get some nice, clear, simple messaging out to
8:56
Speaker 6: the people's territory.
8:57
Speaker 2: Well, look, we might take a very short break.
8:59
Speaker 1: I'm just going to sort out this microphone issue, and
9:02
Speaker 1: when we come back there is plenty more to discuss
9:04
Speaker 1: on the week that was.
9:05
Speaker 2: You are listening to Mix one O four point nine.
9:07
Speaker 1: But like I said, it certainly has been an interesting
9:10
Speaker 1: and busy week. And one of the other stories which
9:13
Speaker 1: did flow through earlier in the week and raised a
9:15
Speaker 1: lot of eyebrows was the one hundred and thirty million
9:18
Speaker 1: dollar tender which was issued for the rapid antigen tests. So,
9:22
Speaker 1: Bill Yan, I know that you obviously raised some serious
9:26
Speaker 1: questions and said that the government had questions to answer
9:28
Speaker 1: over White was spending one hundred and thirty million dollars,
9:31
Speaker 1: which is more than ten percent of the Northern Territory's
9:33
Speaker 1: hospital budget on rapid antigen tests. Now, I understand Tom
9:38
Speaker 1: that obviously the Health Minister then did seek to sort
9:42
Speaker 1: of clarify the situation and said that it was the
9:46
Speaker 1: option of a.
9:46
Speaker 2: Year plus a year plus a year. Nonetheless, still an
9:49
Speaker 2: awful lot of money on rats.
9:51
Speaker 8: A lot of money, and that's still an argument being
9:54
Speaker 8: had between the cop and labor. Yes, whether it is
9:56
Speaker 8: over twelve months or three years, so that question hasn't
10:00
Speaker 8: truly been answered yet. But yes, a lot of rats.
10:03
Speaker 8: I think someone did the maths and said it would
10:05
Speaker 8: be thirty thousand rat tests today.
10:07
Speaker 6: And that's conservative. That's buying at retail prices at twelve
10:11
Speaker 6: dollars each. That's thirty six thousand dollars for sorry, thirty
10:14
Speaker 6: six staersand kits. Yeah, preey man, woman and child every day.
10:18
Speaker 1: And look, I do think that it's incredibly important to
10:20
Speaker 1: point out that we do need to make sure that
10:22
Speaker 1: those rats are secure.
10:23
Speaker 2: We've got to make sure that we've got them.
10:25
Speaker 1: But I think what most people thinking was, wow, that
10:28
Speaker 1: is so much money.
10:29
Speaker 4: Yeah, so, Katie, definitely the twelve months plus twelve months
10:35
Speaker 4: plus twelve months, and if you do your math, that
10:37
Speaker 4: is up to three years. And it's quite insane that
10:40
Speaker 4: the COLP will say you're not doing enough to supply
10:43
Speaker 4: and to protect territorians. And then apparently we're doing too
10:46
Speaker 4: much because now we're being a responsible government and looking
10:48
Speaker 4: at how we can get that supply chain secured for
10:50
Speaker 4: the northern territory. So you can do too much or
10:53
Speaker 4: you can't do enough, and then somewhere in between we've.
10:55
Speaker 9: Actually got to do our duelgree with you now.
10:58
Speaker 3: I don't agree with Labor very often that the criticism
11:03
Speaker 3: has been waged at the Labor government that they haven't planned.
11:07
Speaker 3: This is good planning. Actually, yeah it is.
11:10
Speaker 2: But it's not so much money.
11:11
Speaker 1: I just think to myself, are we going to get
11:13
Speaker 1: to a point though, where these rat tests you can
11:15
Speaker 1: actually buy them for like two bucks as the years
11:17
Speaker 1: go on.
11:17
Speaker 6: You know the question I suppose, Katie, is that the
11:19
Speaker 6: actual tender documentary when you go into the tender system,
11:22
Speaker 6: you look at the tender documents, it says twelve months,
11:26
Speaker 6: twelve months, okay, then supply for twelve months. So if
11:28
Speaker 6: you're a business looking to supply, oh, well, I'm looking
11:31
Speaker 6: at supplying one hundred and thirty million dollars worth in
11:33
Speaker 6: twelve months. Oh I'll hang on. Now, I'll go and
11:35
Speaker 6: read the fine print that might be over three years.
11:39
Speaker 6: But is that saying look, and I agree, we've got
11:41
Speaker 6: a plan. I have no issues with planning because without
11:45
Speaker 6: is that old analogy, pretty poor planning equals pretty poor performance.
11:51
Speaker 6: So yes, we need those rat kits. But we've got
11:53
Speaker 6: to look at three years now, where's the government says
11:57
Speaker 6: that things are changing because of COVID. I get that,
11:59
Speaker 6: and we need to change that with it. Are we
12:02
Speaker 6: saying that COVID is going to be at this level
12:05
Speaker 6: in three years time? We're going to be a little
12:06
Speaker 6: bit more prudent and to say all right, let's supply
12:08
Speaker 6: twelve months, secure twelve months worth and then sort of
12:12
Speaker 6: figure out where we're going to be in another six,
12:14
Speaker 6: twelve eighty months, two years because to blow that sort
12:18
Speaker 6: of money straight up.
12:19
Speaker 4: Cool When we're talking about protecting the lives of territories
12:24
Speaker 4: and preserving the jobs that we have as well as
12:26
Speaker 4: the future jobs that we're anticipating here in the territory,
12:29
Speaker 4: and we do have a very bright future over the
12:30
Speaker 4: next few years.
12:32
Speaker 9: This is responsible government.
12:33
Speaker 4: To have that planning. And remember, for Alwin, with Robin
12:36
Speaker 4: Lambley agreeing, you've.
12:37
Speaker 9: Got to be sensory, rare much, very we can, very much.
12:41
Speaker 4: We can say that publicly, but this is very much
12:44
Speaker 4: about being sensible and planning stage and I just think
12:47
Speaker 4: it's absolutely ridiculous for the COLP to just be opposition
12:51
Speaker 4: for oppositions sake.
12:52
Speaker 9: Especially with Bill. You know you're the shadow Health Minister.
12:55
Speaker 4: Bill, you think you'd get on board and support this
12:57
Speaker 4: rather than actually lined.
13:00
Speaker 3: It could have got another way.
13:02
Speaker 1: The thing is, the worry is this week is it's
13:05
Speaker 1: more a situation where when you've got your doctors and
13:07
Speaker 1: nurses saying we need help, we need more staff, and
13:10
Speaker 1: then you see one hundred and thirty million dollars being
13:12
Speaker 1: spent on rat tests.
13:13
Speaker 2: We all understand that there needs to be that planning for.
13:15
Speaker 1: The future, but I guess you know, the perspective that
13:18
Speaker 1: a lot of our listeners had throughout the week is
13:21
Speaker 1: what would happen if we actually invested that money into
13:24
Speaker 1: making sure that our healthcare system was able to cope
13:27
Speaker 1: with COVID and able to, you know, to manage the
13:30
Speaker 1: situation that we're currently in.
13:31
Speaker 3: Katie, I just.
13:32
Speaker 6: Wanted to point out for last week actually, and this
13:35
Speaker 6: goes to that whole planning thing. If you went to
13:37
Speaker 6: the hospital last week and went to one of your
13:39
Speaker 6: out patients' appointments and you went to RDH you weren't
13:43
Speaker 6: able to get a rat test. They'd run out, you
13:45
Speaker 6: were turned away, you couldn't access the hospital, so.
13:49
Speaker 2: You need the test.
13:49
Speaker 6: Yeah, well, we definitely know it's planning, but maybe planning
13:52
Speaker 6: a little bit too late.
13:53
Speaker 3: It isn't this just the same as ordering PPE and
13:56
Speaker 3: all the other things that we require to deal with
13:59
Speaker 3: co it I don't want.
14:01
Speaker 2: Does PPA cost that much?
14:03
Speaker 3: Well, it's cost something dollars ordered in PPE. Well, I mean,
14:10
Speaker 3: what's the context of this? Who knows?
14:12
Speaker 4: But Kadia will say something that we pride ourselves off
14:16
Speaker 4: in the Northern Territory are people and the people in
14:19
Speaker 4: the territory are our biggest assets. So if we're protecting
14:21
Speaker 4: the people in the Northern Territory our health system we
14:24
Speaker 4: have said constantly, yes we know we're under pressure, but
14:27
Speaker 4: so is the rest of Australian health professions. When we
14:31
Speaker 4: see people coming to the territory, it is fantastic that
14:34
Speaker 4: they choose the territory to live.
14:35
Speaker 9: And work and to stay.
14:37
Speaker 4: But we are seeing the health profession stretched and under
14:40
Speaker 4: pressure right across the country. And unfortunately it's not just
14:43
Speaker 4: a Northern territory experience. It's an Australian spirits experience currently
14:47
Speaker 4: under our health staff pressure.
14:49
Speaker 3: As oppose to all question is where is the money
14:51
Speaker 3: coming from? But you know it once from thin air, but.
14:54
Speaker 6: On the credit card.
14:55
Speaker 8: On the credit card, the government hits it reduced the
14:58
Speaker 8: reasons like the number of reasons why you need a
15:01
Speaker 8: rat test. So when I came into the territory from
15:03
Speaker 8: Queensland in January, I was given three rats at the
15:07
Speaker 8: airpil but then they remove that requirement. You don't need
15:10
Speaker 8: to get tested anymore when you arrive. So why are
15:13
Speaker 8: we buying all these rats when it seems like.
15:15
Speaker 2: The testing's waning.
15:16
Speaker 7: Yeah, getting we.
15:18
Speaker 3: Got four when we entered Parliament on Monday, which I
15:21
Speaker 3: have in you. So if anyone wants a rat test,
15:23
Speaker 3: give you a call.
15:29
Speaker 4: Over the last eighteen to twenty four months, is health
15:32
Speaker 4: advice does change?
15:33
Speaker 9: It does adapt.
15:34
Speaker 4: Obviously we know more and more about the virus week
15:37
Speaker 4: to week, month to month, and then the guidelines around
15:39
Speaker 4: what it is that we need to do to protect
15:41
Speaker 4: ourselves and our families and our colleagues and the general
15:45
Speaker 4: community changes under those guidelines. And again when people have
15:49
Speaker 4: the opportunity to be able to do a test at
15:51
Speaker 4: home for themselves, for their family members, for their children
15:55
Speaker 4: and get that certainty on understanding what are the sort
15:57
Speaker 4: of care that they may need to implement for themselves
16:00
Speaker 4: at home or adding that acute care.
16:03
Speaker 3: Well.
16:03
Speaker 1: Look, it wasn't just rats that were discussed inside Parliament House,
16:06
Speaker 1: we know that. Earlier in the week, there were reports
16:09
Speaker 1: that the president of Territory Labour's youth wing had resigned
16:12
Speaker 1: from his job in Federal MP Luke Gosling's office after
16:15
Speaker 1: a social media video surfaced showing him allegedly snorting a
16:19
Speaker 1: white substance. Now, the video, which had been shared by
16:23
Speaker 1: the NT Independent, was reportedly posted to Snapchat last October,
16:27
Speaker 1: and it showed the Northern Territory Young Labour president with
16:30
Speaker 1: the white substance on the table and cut into lines
16:34
Speaker 1: which then appeared to be snorted through a fifty dollar note.
16:37
Speaker 1: It is understood or certainly the member for Solomon's office.
16:40
Speaker 1: I'd contacted them earlier in the week and the spokesperson
16:44
Speaker 1: for Luke Gosling's office had said that the alleged incident
16:47
Speaker 1: took place almost eighteen months ago and predates the part
16:50
Speaker 1: time staff as employment in the Solomon electorate office and
16:53
Speaker 1: the Member for Solomon was made aware of the alleged
16:55
Speaker 1: incident earlier in the week and the staff member since resigned.
17:00
Speaker 1: You know, it was certainly an interesting time inside Parliament.
17:04
Speaker 1: I know that the opposition sought to really you know,
17:07
Speaker 1: to really make it come across that the Labor Party
17:10
Speaker 1: had an issue with with you know, with this type
17:13
Speaker 1: of thing within the party.
17:14
Speaker 2: I thought it was a misstep from the CELP.
17:16
Speaker 1: I've got to say throughout the week really going hard
17:19
Speaker 1: on that rather than going hard on the situation with
17:22
Speaker 1: health when that I know for me, and I know
17:24
Speaker 1: I'm very privileged because I get to talk to a
17:26
Speaker 1: lot of normal people every single day in this show.
17:28
Speaker 1: But that was by far and large the biggest issue
17:31
Speaker 1: for Territorians this week. The healthcare system and the issues
17:34
Speaker 1: around health.
17:35
Speaker 2: Not so much this young Labor staffer.
17:41
Speaker 8: I just just try to average punter out there is
17:43
Speaker 8: going to not that I can claim to be one,
17:45
Speaker 8: but would look at that and think, well, everyone makes
17:47
Speaker 8: a mistake when they're eighteen.
17:48
Speaker 7: Everyone does something silly.
17:50
Speaker 8: We live in an environment now where you know, you
17:53
Speaker 8: can get recorded doing something and it's online forever, and
17:56
Speaker 8: I don't know, I think that the coop trying to
17:59
Speaker 8: use that as something to bludgeon labor within in parliament
18:02
Speaker 8: was I don't know.
18:04
Speaker 7: I don't think it really landed.
18:05
Speaker 2: I don't think it did either.
18:06
Speaker 1: I don't think it hit the mark in the way
18:08
Speaker 1: that the CLP might have hoped that it would be.
18:10
Speaker 6: Well, what it came back to was the Chief Minister
18:14
Speaker 6: condaining and effectively a drug culture within labor. And that's
18:18
Speaker 6: what it comes down to.
18:19
Speaker 4: Now, Oh, that's absolutely rubbish bill, And you know that that.
18:22
Speaker 6: Drug use is cocaine used simply is legal and that's
18:27
Speaker 6: the simple point of it. Now the Chief Minister call
18:31
Speaker 6: a for an inquiry into his own office. We had
18:33
Speaker 6: the cocaine labor sex scandal as well. This stuff needs
18:39
Speaker 6: to be addressed. We sitting in Parliament make the laws
18:43
Speaker 6: and pass laws for the territory and we raised the
18:46
Speaker 6: issue about drug testing for parliamentarians and staffers.
18:49
Speaker 2: In the building.
18:50
Speaker 6: Again, I don't think that's out of line. We expect
18:54
Speaker 6: that the highest privatey of our police and some of
18:56
Speaker 6: our public servants. Why shouldn't we see that probity within
18:59
Speaker 6: our parliamentarians? And the start was it well, making the
19:02
Speaker 6: laws for the people to terrorism.
19:05
Speaker 1: I totally get what you're saying, and I understand and
19:08
Speaker 1: and you know, certainly last year, I think it was
19:10
Speaker 1: a very different scenario that we were talking about. So
19:13
Speaker 1: I understand what you're saying. But but I do think
19:16
Speaker 1: that it was maybe a little bit a little bit
19:19
Speaker 1: more of a you know, stretch to try and insinuate
19:24
Speaker 1: that this, you know, that this young bloke was some
19:26
Speaker 1: kind of heavy hitter within the within the Labor party,
19:30
Speaker 1: you know, and and that it meant that there was
19:32
Speaker 1: a culture of cocaine use.
19:34
Speaker 8: It's important to note, and I saw clarification from the
19:38
Speaker 8: Labor executive about this that he wasn't a member of
19:41
Speaker 8: the party when this video was taken. He wasn't He
19:45
Speaker 8: hadn't registered as a formal member of Territory Labor and
19:48
Speaker 8: it was not yet working in Gosling's office. So it
19:52
Speaker 8: to sort of tie this back to a wider culture
19:55
Speaker 8: within labor.
19:56
Speaker 7: It does feel like a bit of a stretch.
19:58
Speaker 1: And is he still a member of the party and
20:01
Speaker 1: is he still the president of is he still the
20:03
Speaker 1: president of Young Labor?
20:04
Speaker 4: Yes?
20:05
Speaker 2: Mine that I think is that I think they need
20:07
Speaker 2: to relook at well.
20:08
Speaker 8: I think because the alleged incident happened, happened before he
20:13
Speaker 8: was a member of Labor, before he was president of
20:15
Speaker 8: Young Labor. I think the party have sort of happy
20:19
Speaker 8: to be corrected, but I think that they're not going
20:22
Speaker 8: to look into it.
20:23
Speaker 2: Is that I think they need to look at around.
20:25
Speaker 6: Let's say if it was someone from the seal P
20:28
Speaker 6: who was from snorting.
20:31
Speaker 1: Could you imagine screamed from the Labor It is a
20:34
Speaker 1: very good place the Seal Tree were caught snorting cocaine,
20:37
Speaker 1: it would be a different story.
20:39
Speaker 2: Absolutely.
20:40
Speaker 3: Look, we've had the Labor Gunner government taking the higher
20:44
Speaker 3: moral ground for many many years. There's a there's a
20:47
Speaker 3: case here, an alleged case of the use of cocaine
20:52
Speaker 3: by a Labor Party member. I think you can't brush
20:55
Speaker 3: it under the carpet. It is an issue. There seems
20:59
Speaker 3: to be a bit of a drug culture within the
21:01
Speaker 3: Labor Party. If you put the cocaine sex scandal together
21:04
Speaker 3: with this latest incident, I think it probably took up
21:08
Speaker 3: too much time in Parliament this week. There are more
21:11
Speaker 3: important things, but it still is an issue that should
21:14
Speaker 3: be reported. I think blaming the COLP for somehow bringing
21:20
Speaker 3: it up and misusion I think that's a bit rich.
21:23
Speaker 3: I think it should just be reported on its own
21:26
Speaker 3: as an issue. You look, cocaine, cocaine and cocaine, Labor Party,
21:31
Speaker 3: Labor Party, Labor Party. We've been hearing about this for
21:33
Speaker 3: the last couple of years. It's an issue.
21:35
Speaker 4: I do want to respond to that, because Bill knows
21:38
Speaker 4: and Robin knows very much. So this week the Chief
21:42
Speaker 4: Minister stood up in Parliament and said the Labor Party
21:45
Speaker 4: and particularly the Labor Government do not condone illegal or
21:50
Speaker 4: drug activity.
21:50
Speaker 9: And you know that, Billain, you know that, Robin. Okay,
21:52
Speaker 9: that's very clear.
21:54
Speaker 4: What I would like to say is what they're saying
21:57
Speaker 4: right now is absolutely an insult to all of the
22:02
Speaker 4: hard working Labor Party members and supporters. And saying there's
22:06
Speaker 4: a drug culture within the party, I think is an
22:10
Speaker 4: absolute slight on all of those hard working Labor Party
22:14
Speaker 4: members who work day in and day out of support
22:16
Speaker 4: the Labor Party principles across the Northern temriture.
22:18
Speaker 9: I think it's a real shame that.
22:19
Speaker 2: They've to be made.
22:20
Speaker 1: Is if he's done nothing wrong, then why is he
22:23
Speaker 1: no longer working in the Member for Solomon's office.
22:25
Speaker 9: But what I think, and that's a question for the
22:28
Speaker 9: Member for Solomon.
22:29
Speaker 7: Yeah, I think he's paid the price.
22:30
Speaker 8: But then there is an argument to be made that
22:33
Speaker 8: you know, now that he has paid the price, he's
22:36
Speaker 8: probably suffering now.
22:37
Speaker 1: Absolutely, it would be no doubt about that. That is
22:42
Speaker 1: no doubt about that. The issue I've got now is
22:44
Speaker 1: is it actually the way that young Labor wants to
22:48
Speaker 1: be represented at this point in time. And I think
22:50
Speaker 1: that that's the question that they need to be asking
22:53
Speaker 1: if young Labor does want to you know, if they
22:56
Speaker 1: really want to try to reflect, you know, a highest
23:00
Speaker 1: standard within the community and want young people joining the
23:03
Speaker 1: party of that standard. I think it's I don't think
23:07
Speaker 1: keeping him in as president is the right move at
23:09
Speaker 1: this point.
23:10
Speaker 3: Absolutely not. You know, it's a party issue. If this
23:14
Speaker 3: happened in the CELP, it would be a party issue
23:17
Speaker 3: and the party would be held to account. You can't
23:19
Speaker 3: just say, oh, well, the Chief Minister it doesn't agree
23:23
Speaker 3: with the use of illicted drugs and the Member for
23:26
Speaker 3: Solomon has to deal with it in his own way.
23:28
Speaker 3: It's a Labor party issue. This is a theme that's
23:31
Speaker 3: come up time and time again over the last couple
23:33
Speaker 3: of years, and you can't hide from that.
23:36
Speaker 8: Didn't Lea say when what's his name was that anti
23:40
Speaker 8: mandate rally recently.
23:42
Speaker 7: Oh, yes, that was a matter for the party.
23:44
Speaker 8: That wasn't that, That wasn't her responsibility because she was
23:49
Speaker 8: the legita.
23:50
Speaker 3: She's the leader of her party and she needs to
23:52
Speaker 3: step up and take responsibility for what happens in her party.
23:56
Speaker 3: And that's how politics work.
23:57
Speaker 2: It is.
23:58
Speaker 1: Well, another interesting thing though that opened throughout the week, Robin.
24:01
Speaker 1: You obviously called for alcohol. It's going to be a
24:03
Speaker 1: piece of legislation, as I understand that it's going to
24:06
Speaker 1: be pushed next sittings.
24:08
Speaker 2: If I've got that correct.
24:09
Speaker 1: You want alcohol to potentially be banned from Parliament house.
24:13
Speaker 3: Now.
24:13
Speaker 2: You told me during the week that you're know wawser.
24:15
Speaker 3: I'm no wawser, but not at work. Not at work.
24:20
Speaker 3: It's not legislation. I just moved. I gave notice of
24:23
Speaker 3: emotion to be discussed in general business. And to be honest,
24:27
Speaker 3: it probably won't happen until the end of the year.
24:29
Speaker 3: But I think this is an important thing that we
24:31
Speaker 3: lead by example as members of Parliament. We shouldn't be
24:35
Speaker 3: sipping on a wine or a beer while we're at work.
24:38
Speaker 3: And I'm not suggesting that the function areas within Parliament
24:41
Speaker 3: House big grog free. It's just the work areas, the
24:43
Speaker 3: ministerial suites, the members suites, the work areas. I think
24:47
Speaker 3: it's a very reasonable and responsible thing to do, particularly
24:50
Speaker 3: given what's happened in the Federal Parliament with the Jenkins
24:53
Speaker 3: Report into cultural issues around the use of alcohol. We
24:58
Speaker 3: know that alcohol is the root of all evil in
25:00
Speaker 3: in the Northern Territory.
25:01
Speaker 1: So grog free, Oh, I'd have no issue with being,
25:04
Speaker 1: you know, grog free in my workplace where I am. Anyway,
25:06
Speaker 1: we have to be in here and there's no way
25:08
Speaker 1: I'd be able to get aware.
25:11
Speaker 2: Also, had the time to sit down.
25:12
Speaker 3: And have a war work up here, I can tell
25:15
Speaker 3: you people do what they have indeed in the past.
25:17
Speaker 3: I'm not sure what people are doing at the moment.
25:18
Speaker 3: I mean, we wiped up a massive bill the former
25:22
Speaker 3: Speaker easy appearing buying alcohol thousands of dollars.
25:26
Speaker 1: She does have she hosts different events and things like
25:29
Speaker 1: that down there.
25:29
Speaker 3: I guess I had the lot of events.
25:31
Speaker 1: Well, there is also what about those some of those
25:34
Speaker 1: other events that do happen inside Parliament House? Would you
25:37
Speaker 1: still be able to have Falcals. Yeah, okay, that's Selena.
25:41
Speaker 1: What do you do think about this call?
25:42
Speaker 4: We obviously recognize that alcohol reform in the Northern Territory
25:46
Speaker 4: is absolutely important, so we'll be interesting to discuss Robin's
25:49
Speaker 4: motion when it comes into the Parliament. That's why we've
25:52
Speaker 4: been doing this work for five six years in alcohol reform.
25:55
Speaker 4: We know that alcohol causes a majority of the harm
25:59
Speaker 4: to territory and we see alcohol fuel violence, alcohol alcohol
26:03
Speaker 4: fueled crimes, and this is an unfortunately community and systematic
26:07
Speaker 4: issue across the Northern Territory.
26:09
Speaker 9: So it is an important conversation to have.
26:11
Speaker 6: I'm really looking forward to the debate. Actually, I think
26:13
Speaker 6: it's going to be a very very interesting and very
26:15
Speaker 6: very robust debate. Imparlierment personally, and I'm only speaking personally,
26:19
Speaker 6: I don't have an issue with it. I don't need
26:20
Speaker 6: beer in my fridge in my office and I don't
26:22
Speaker 6: think I've got any beer marketany And you're talking.
26:24
Speaker 4: About individuals, but when we're talking about what will make
26:27
Speaker 4: an impact on the communities that we represent, it's about
26:30
Speaker 4: supporting the alcohol reform and the work that we're doing,
26:33
Speaker 4: and unfortunately we haven't seen that in the CLP. I
26:35
Speaker 4: don't intend that we'll see it in the future, but
26:37
Speaker 4: it is something that we as Labor will continue to
26:40
Speaker 4: do the alcohol reform across the NT Government.
26:42
Speaker 8: Ministers though, do demand a lot of sort of regulations
26:45
Speaker 8: around alcohol, you know, the purchasing of alcohol, where alcohol
26:48
Speaker 8: can be taken in the Northern Territory. I think that
26:51
Speaker 8: you know, a reasonable step would be that you ask
26:53
Speaker 8: ministers to maybe not be able to drink.
26:55
Speaker 6: More as song as we see it down Elst restricted. Yes,
27:00
Speaker 6: premises we may be able to put those up at
27:02
Speaker 6: the front of Parliament House.
27:04
Speaker 4: Yes.
27:04
Speaker 3: And also you know you could extrapolate this to government
27:08
Speaker 3: government buildings too, I mean the public service. I don't
27:12
Speaker 3: think there's an alcohol ban within based government building.
27:16
Speaker 6: So I don't the alcohol in the workplay. I don't
27:18
Speaker 6: support alcohol.
27:19
Speaker 2: In the work yeah.
27:21
Speaker 1: Well, and the other you know, the other part of
27:24
Speaker 1: this something that we did talk about earlier in the week.
27:26
Speaker 1: I had the Deputy Police Commissioner Michael Murphy on the
27:29
Speaker 1: show and we were talking about some of the public
27:31
Speaker 1: drunkeness that we are seeing around Darwin at the moment
27:34
Speaker 1: and had spoken about the fact that we've got usually
27:38
Speaker 1: about seven hundred people sleeping rough in the Greater Darwin
27:40
Speaker 1: and rural area. At the moment there are around two thousand.
27:44
Speaker 1: We know that, you know that there is really a
27:48
Speaker 1: multi level approach that is going to be needed in
27:51
Speaker 1: this space.
27:52
Speaker 3: Now.
27:52
Speaker 1: I know that the discussion about alcohol inside Parliament House
27:55
Speaker 1: is a very different discussion to that of alcohol being
27:59
Speaker 1: drunk or assumed on the streets and people sleeping raf
28:04
Speaker 1: but there's no doubt at the moment that this is
28:06
Speaker 1: something that we're seeing around around Darwin.
28:09
Speaker 8: Well, you know, there was a Jenkins Report which Robin
28:13
Speaker 8: mentioned in her speech about introducing this debate to Parliament,
28:19
Speaker 8: which was you know, the report was about a really
28:21
Speaker 8: horrific series of incidents that happened in Canberra. Now, I
28:25
Speaker 8: think that it is probably reasonable to have a similar
28:28
Speaker 8: investigation here into whether there is a culture of drinking
28:31
Speaker 8: in Parliament House in Darwin, not because there is one,
28:34
Speaker 8: but because it needs to be looked into, as you know,
28:38
Speaker 8: as part of good you know, I guess baseline assessment.
28:43
Speaker 8: Almost it's something that I think people need to look
28:45
Speaker 8: into because it is an issue that we've seen pop
28:49
Speaker 8: up right across the country and I don't think the
28:51
Speaker 8: territory is immune from it.
28:52
Speaker 1: No, And then when you look at then the issues
28:54
Speaker 1: that we do have, which are much broader around the
28:57
Speaker 1: Northern Territory with the misuse of alcohol, I suppose some argue,
29:00
Speaker 1: you know that it starts from the top.
29:01
Speaker 2: In terms of that example setting.
29:03
Speaker 3: You have to lead by example. You mentioned public drunkenness
29:07
Speaker 3: on the streets of Darwin. The former Colp government that
29:11
Speaker 3: I was a part of addressed public drunkenness years ago
29:14
Speaker 3: in twenty twelve, and when we introduced alcohol mandatory treatment.
29:19
Speaker 3: In those days, the streets right throughout the territory were
29:22
Speaker 3: teeming with drunks and this particular strategy cleaned it up
29:27
Speaker 3: and took them into rehab and gave them an opportunity
29:30
Speaker 3: to change their lives. And since that was scrapped by
29:35
Speaker 3: the Labor government back in twenty sixteen, you've seen this
29:40
Speaker 3: creepback of people drunken, people drunk on the streets right
29:44
Speaker 3: throughout the Northern Territory and they're not being helped in
29:47
Speaker 3: any way, shape or form, apart from the emergency relief programs,
29:51
Speaker 3: the shelters and the you know, the people that sort
29:54
Speaker 3: of look after destitute people on the streets. It has
29:58
Speaker 3: to be addressed, Katie, because it is I was driving
30:01
Speaker 3: around Alice Springs the other day and I thought exactly
30:04
Speaker 3: what you said. It's increased that the number of people
30:08
Speaker 3: that are destitute and drunk is a problem. Again, it's
30:12
Speaker 3: a big.
30:12
Speaker 1: Problem, Selenda. It's obviously something that the government is keeping
30:15
Speaker 1: a close eye on, I would imagine at the moment.
30:17
Speaker 4: Absolutely, Katie. But it's also something that we're looking at.
30:20
Speaker 4: We did the Riley Review and one hundred and twenty
30:23
Speaker 4: recommendations came. Government agreed to one hundred and nineteen of
30:27
Speaker 4: those recommendations. The only one wasn't the sale banning the
30:30
Speaker 4: sale of alcohol on Sunday, So that was the only
30:32
Speaker 4: one that we didn't agree to as a government, and
30:34
Speaker 4: we are implementing that one hundred and nineteen of those
30:37
Speaker 4: one hundred and twenty recommendations from the Riley Review.
30:39
Speaker 9: But you know.
30:40
Speaker 4: Robin's talking about scrapping different programs and initiatives that she
30:45
Speaker 4: was part of a COLP government who overnight scrapped the
30:48
Speaker 4: band drinkers Register.
30:49
Speaker 3: Which we brought about working here in a northern terror chase.
30:52
Speaker 3: Why you brought it.
30:53
Speaker 4: But we're looking at initial supply of alcohol and making sure,
30:56
Speaker 4: there's restrictions on people who can't handle our cohole, but
30:59
Speaker 4: there's also second and there is supply issues, which again
31:02
Speaker 4: is as a range of targeted measures. And when we're
31:04
Speaker 4: talking about the current situation, particularly here in Darwin, with
31:08
Speaker 4: what there's already been discussed, there are other ways to
31:11
Speaker 4: be dealing with those issues and often they're issues of poverty.
31:15
Speaker 4: There are often issues of homelessness. There are often issues
31:19
Speaker 4: of family's extreme social disadvantage, financial disadvantage, and they're all
31:25
Speaker 4: of those areas. And if it was a quick fix,
31:27
Speaker 4: it would be done already. We would have done it
31:28
Speaker 4: governments ago. But it's not, unfortunately, and that's the work
31:31
Speaker 4: that we've got to continue to do.
31:32
Speaker 3: The problem this government is facing is that your alcohol
31:35
Speaker 3: strategies are not working anymore.
31:37
Speaker 6: We've had the rollerye.
31:38
Speaker 3: There's been no tweaking or changing or improving or modifying
31:42
Speaker 3: of any alcohol strategies at all over the last twelve
31:46
Speaker 3: to eighteen months. And in Alice Springs you can see
31:48
Speaker 3: the effect of that. It's time the Alcohol Minister either
31:52
Speaker 3: flip her portfolio to someone else because she's so busy
31:55
Speaker 3: with health and COVID, or she get back to work
31:59
Speaker 3: and look at what's happening in terms of alcohol strategies.
32:03
Speaker 3: They are no longer working in Alice Springs and they're
32:05
Speaker 3: probably no longer working anywhere else.
32:08
Speaker 6: Well, we look at the Royal Review and all those
32:10
Speaker 6: recommendations that have been supported, and yet we're seeing increases
32:13
Speaker 6: in alcohol fuel violence and domestic violence right across the territory.
32:17
Speaker 6: So something is not working. There needs to be a
32:20
Speaker 6: fundamental shift in how we approach the management of alcohol
32:25
Speaker 6: and access to it and what happens with you.
32:27
Speaker 1: Well, look, we are going to have to take a
32:29
Speaker 1: very short break. You are listening to Mix one oh
32:31
Speaker 1: four point nine three sixty. It is the week that was.
32:35
Speaker 2: It is just fifteen minutes away from ten o'clock.
32:37
Speaker 1: We've got a very busy coming your way after ten
32:40
Speaker 1: this morning as well. We will have Scott Morrison, the
32:42
Speaker 1: Prime Minister, on the show and after eleven the Opposition
32:45
Speaker 1: leader Anthony Albanezi. But in the studio with me this
32:48
Speaker 1: morning of course, Bill Yan, Robin Lamley, Thomas Morgan and
32:52
Speaker 1: Selina Rubo. And we know that earlier in the week,
32:54
Speaker 1: on Monday, the Chief Minister, Michael Gunner had outlined his
32:59
Speaker 1: plan for the Northern Territory. In that year Ahead speech,
33:03
Speaker 1: he said that the vision for the future is a
33:05
Speaker 1: forty billion dollar Northern Territory economy, telling the room of
33:09
Speaker 1: industry that well, his goal was to create that forty
33:12
Speaker 1: billion dollar territory economy by twenty thirty. By looking beneath
33:17
Speaker 1: the sea, towards the stars, to infinity and beyond.
33:20
Speaker 2: Buzzl yis it is? Well, this is the thing. I
33:27
Speaker 2: guess you know.
33:28
Speaker 1: There is a lot on the cards that makes you go, okay, Well,
33:31
Speaker 1: we have got some good times ahead, hopefully in the
33:34
Speaker 1: Northern Territory, and we are certainly going to see money
33:37
Speaker 1: invested in the Northern Territory. But I suppose that it
33:40
Speaker 1: has been such a tough time for so many in
33:43
Speaker 1: various different industries.
33:45
Speaker 2: That sometimes until you actually see.
33:49
Speaker 1: That rubber hitting the road, it's hard to believe it's
33:51
Speaker 1: going to happen until you actually see it happening.
33:54
Speaker 6: Well, there's a very old analogy, Katie. The empty cart
33:58
Speaker 6: rattles the most. So on Monday, we heard a lot
34:04
Speaker 6: of rattling because I think the cart was a little
34:06
Speaker 6: bit empty.
34:07
Speaker 2: I was waiting for an explanation there, Bill, Well, we.
34:10
Speaker 6: Heard a lot of stuff that has already been announced.
34:12
Speaker 6: Some of this stuff was announced last year, was announced
34:14
Speaker 6: back in January. It was rehashing of stuff that has
34:18
Speaker 6: already been trotted out to the public. And there's a
34:21
Speaker 6: number of things that the governor claiming as there's a
34:26
Speaker 6: few resources I was talking to a few resources ten
34:29
Speaker 6: years ago down in our area, and to claim that
34:32
Speaker 6: as a success for this government, it's like, I.
34:35
Speaker 9: Just don't get it.
34:35
Speaker 6: And there's another thing that I've not spoken about this
34:38
Speaker 6: before because I was sworn to secrecy, but I reckon
34:40
Speaker 6: I can talk about it now. I was driving a
34:45
Speaker 6: former Attorney general out to Love's Creek, the facility for
34:50
Speaker 6: youth right down in our area, and I had to
34:53
Speaker 6: stop on the side of the ray while he took
34:55
Speaker 6: a phone call from a space agency in the US
34:59
Speaker 6: who were looking to come and do business here and
35:01
Speaker 6: nam Land. Yeah, all right, and that was probably six
35:04
Speaker 6: to eight years ago. So for this government to come
35:07
Speaker 6: and claim responsibility and success for that doesn't quite job.
35:13
Speaker 6: We'll be pretty happy that I've actually broken that secrecy
35:16
Speaker 6: and brought that out today.
35:17
Speaker 1: Well, look, it does happen across the board, though, I
35:19
Speaker 1: think that you know, that's a pretty normal thing to happen.
35:22
Speaker 1: Whoever's in government's going to claim it as a win.
35:24
Speaker 1: You know, same thing happened with IMPEX. I'm pretty sure
35:26
Speaker 1: that you know everybody was claiming that one as well.
35:29
Speaker 1: But at the end of the day, you know, when
35:31
Speaker 1: you're talking about things like land release and you know
35:34
Speaker 1: new suburbs being fast tracked to make sure that we've
35:37
Speaker 1: got enough housing. Again, I think that that's all good stuff.
35:40
Speaker 1: It is all stuff that we need to be looking towards.
35:42
Speaker 1: But for a lot of those different businesses and industries,
35:46
Speaker 1: until you actually see it happening, you aren't going to
35:50
Speaker 1: be prepared to put your money out there and to
35:52
Speaker 1: be investing a huge amount of your money until you
35:56
Speaker 1: can see that the population is going to grow.
35:58
Speaker 4: Katie, I think that what you've said is absolutely correct,
36:01
Speaker 4: and it's like the same thing in my electric We
36:04
Speaker 4: can have some really great policies and programs and initiative,
36:07
Speaker 4: but and tell people see that there's something that's concrete,
36:11
Speaker 4: you know, something you can see, something you can hold,
36:13
Speaker 4: something you can touch, then you really start to believe.
36:16
Speaker 4: But again, the Chief Minister's speech on Monday is about
36:18
Speaker 4: outlining and updating the Northern territory on the work that's happening,
36:23
Speaker 4: the work that hasn't stopped, the work that has obviously
36:26
Speaker 4: ridden the waves of COVID in the last two years
36:28
Speaker 4: as well, But to reassure particularly industry and business that
36:32
Speaker 4: there are some really great things happening, and of course
36:34
Speaker 4: there's things that are happening out of the public limelight
36:37
Speaker 4: that have been worked on in the background in the
36:40
Speaker 4: quot and are you know, twenty percent completed with some
36:43
Speaker 4: of our projects so far, some of those really really
36:45
Speaker 4: big investments.
36:46
Speaker 9: So it is exciting.
36:48
Speaker 4: But again, the CLP loves to rubbish the territory, love
36:50
Speaker 4: to rubbish the investment, love to rubbish the aspirations of
36:53
Speaker 4: territory businesses and the future that we have. That's what
36:56
Speaker 4: they'll always do because they're in opposition. But we are
36:59
Speaker 4: very confident that businesses know that the work is happening
37:01
Speaker 4: and will continue to shine your.
37:03
Speaker 1: Instance, so I know that I've had an industry leader
37:06
Speaker 1: say to me throughout the week, Katie, how many jobs
37:08
Speaker 1: have been created in the last six years?
37:10
Speaker 2: Not a lot, so it's hard to believe it right now.
37:12
Speaker 8: A lot of the things that Gunner is coming out
37:14
Speaker 8: and announcing aren't government projects spending. They're not spending billions
37:19
Speaker 8: of dollars investment private sector, you know pretty much, and
37:24
Speaker 8: NASSA launchers, and that's not something the government they're actually
37:27
Speaker 8: putting anything.
37:27
Speaker 3: Your Nitor General came out with a report last year
37:31
Speaker 3: and she looked into the claims by government of job creation.
37:35
Speaker 3: Can you remember this, and she refuted what the government
37:38
Speaker 3: was saying. She went through and all the claims that
37:41
Speaker 3: this particular project created three hundred jobs and this particular
37:44
Speaker 3: project created one hundred jobs, that those figures were actually
37:49
Speaker 3: not accurate at all. So jobs, jobs, jobs, You know,
37:52
Speaker 3: you can almost guarantee that that's not.
37:54
Speaker 1: Exactly hard battle, I think, because you certainly want.
37:58
Speaker 2: To rebuild the confidence to OANs.
38:00
Speaker 1: You know, we have had a tough time even prior
38:02
Speaker 1: to COVID, we were having a very tough time economically.
38:05
Speaker 2: Then COVID struck.
38:06
Speaker 1: You know, you've got some of our different some of
38:08
Speaker 1: our different businesses that have just been.
38:10
Speaker 2: Really you know, doing their best to try.
38:13
Speaker 1: To keep those doors open and to keep things moving.
38:16
Speaker 1: So I do understand that you've really got to keep
38:18
Speaker 1: the confidence up and try your best to you know,
38:20
Speaker 1: to have that confidence from the Northern from the Northern
38:23
Speaker 1: Territory's leader, from the Chief Minister wanting people to invest here.
38:27
Speaker 2: But again, I do.
38:29
Speaker 1: Think that there really needs to be people able to
38:33
Speaker 1: see some of that action and able to really see
38:35
Speaker 1: the population starting to grow before they shign.
38:38
Speaker 6: From a Chief minister's speech is what is going to
38:41
Speaker 6: do to build a confidence for business and investors in
38:44
Speaker 6: the territory. A couple of really really big issues we've
38:47
Speaker 6: got to fix to attract those people and that investment
38:50
Speaker 6: in the territory.
38:50
Speaker 9: We need to fix our economy.
38:52
Speaker 6: We need those businesses to come and do that. We
38:54
Speaker 6: need to fix our health system. We need to address
38:56
Speaker 6: the crime issue, the crime Ischine's driving people away.
39:01
Speaker 9: They're the big things.
39:02
Speaker 6: They're the big ticket items that should have been spoken about.
39:05
Speaker 6: What are we going to do to fix this to
39:07
Speaker 6: attract people to the territory. We didn't get any of that.
39:09
Speaker 3: Look, I looked at his speech in terms of Alice Springs,
39:13
Speaker 3: and I wasn't sensing there was a lot of honesty there.
39:16
Speaker 3: I mean, these speeches are aspirational as you just said,
39:19
Speaker 3: and all leaders make these speeches to sort of lift
39:23
Speaker 3: people's spirits and give them some optimism and some confidence.
39:26
Speaker 3: But I read what he said about Alice Springs and
39:29
Speaker 3: one of the things he said is that we are
39:31
Speaker 3: building an accommodation facility for health professionals in Alice Springs.
39:36
Speaker 3: The Northern Territory government is not building that building. They
39:40
Speaker 3: don't own it, and they're not building it. They're leasing it.
39:43
Speaker 7: You know.
39:43
Speaker 3: And I just looked at that and I thought, that's
39:46
Speaker 3: not true. That's essentially a lie. And after that point,
39:50
Speaker 3: I just thought, well, it's just rubbish. It's just you know,
39:52
Speaker 3: political rehtoric and crap.
39:55
Speaker 8: Well, it's one thing to have, you know, all these
39:57
Speaker 8: billion dollar announcements and lots of hundreds of jobs doesn't
40:00
Speaker 8: matter though, of all the jobs of Firefox workers.
40:03
Speaker 7: Yeah.
40:03
Speaker 2: Well, and that was something that he touched on.
40:05
Speaker 1: He certainly, you know, I said that he didn't want
40:07
Speaker 1: that to be happening this time round. But yeh, you
40:09
Speaker 1: make a very good point, Tom, something that we've seen
40:11
Speaker 1: in the past.
40:12
Speaker 4: Definitely take Tom's point, But the conversations have shifted in
40:15
Speaker 4: regards to those big businesses who are investing here in
40:19
Speaker 4: the territory or want to invest here in the territory.
40:22
Speaker 4: And the criteria that we now have is making sure
40:25
Speaker 4: that we don't rely on FIFO or drive in drive
40:28
Speaker 4: out workers and that we do have local employees or
40:33
Speaker 4: traineeships that then feed into those jobs and then being
40:36
Speaker 4: able to count those numbers. What impacts the current population,
40:40
Speaker 4: what impacts our future population here in the territory.
40:43
Speaker 9: That work is being done by government?
40:46
Speaker 4: Does an investor doesn't just go I'm want to go
40:48
Speaker 4: to do business in Darwin and then what happens? There
40:50
Speaker 4: is a lot of work that happens to be able
40:52
Speaker 4: to have those conversations and then to build it into fruition.
40:56
Speaker 1: Very busy morning in here today and it is just
40:58
Speaker 1: about time for us to wrap up. We have got
41:00
Speaker 1: Bill Yann, Robin Lamley, Thomas Morgan and Selena Rubou in
41:03
Speaker 1: the studio. But before we do, we know that the
41:06
Speaker 1: Prime Minister Scott Morrison in Alice Springs today.
41:10
Speaker 2: Robin and Bell, I know.
41:11
Speaker 1: That there has been a lot of discussion about crime
41:14
Speaker 1: and the issues that you've got in Alice Springs right now.
41:16
Speaker 1: Are you hopeful that following on from that letter that
41:19
Speaker 1: was sent from the mayor of Alice Springs, that maybe
41:22
Speaker 1: the Prime Minister's going to be sort of making some
41:24
Speaker 1: announcement that can help you.
41:26
Speaker 3: Hopeful, always hopeful, Katie, given that the Chief Minister denies
41:29
Speaker 3: as even our crime problem in Alice Springs, I'm hopeful
41:32
Speaker 3: the Prime Minister looks at us and help you.
41:34
Speaker 6: Yes, it'll be good interesting to see if the if
41:36
Speaker 6: Scott Morrison are promised to catch it up with a
41:38
Speaker 6: mayor or is it all Springs day, It's possible, who knows.
41:42
Speaker 6: We can only hope, but at least he's the Prime
41:45
Speaker 6: Minister's there. He's having a bit of a look and
41:46
Speaker 6: he's obviously having a listen, and we'll see what comes
41:50
Speaker 6: of it.
41:50
Speaker 7: I'll find out.
41:52
Speaker 1: I'll ask asks at today tom I've got him on
41:55
Speaker 1: the show in a little while, so we'll find out.
41:58
Speaker 2: See if he read it.
41:59
Speaker 7: Just surprising, ask him if he even knows the letter.
42:03
Speaker 3: You read that letter?
42:03
Speaker 2: You read it?
42:04
Speaker 1: Well, we'll wait and see. Well, we'll wait and see.
42:06
Speaker 1: Let's hope he has Well. That's just that's it for
42:09
Speaker 1: us this morning. I always appreciate all of you coming
42:11
Speaker 1: into the studio. Billy and the Opposition.
42:13
Speaker 6: Spokesperson to help pleasure is always keep the fit going.
42:17
Speaker 6: Oh yeah, as soon as I'm home tomorrow, I said.
42:20
Speaker 2: I also on Sunday. I'm back into it, but you
42:22
Speaker 2: suffered an injury. I know, I know, but I'll.
42:24
Speaker 6: Push through that injury. I've got to get back into
42:26
Speaker 6: that top ten spot.
42:27
Speaker 1: You have to in the Step Challenge. I'm not in
42:29
Speaker 1: the top ten despite sometimes running ten kilometers. Apparently you've
42:33
Speaker 1: got to do a lot to get in the top
42:34
Speaker 1: ten and stick. Robert Ladley, always great to have.
42:39
Speaker 2: You on the show.
42:39
Speaker 3: Thanks so much.
42:40
Speaker 1: Tom Morgan from the NT News, thanks so much for
42:43
Speaker 1: your time this morning. Thanks and Attorney General Selena Rubo,
42:46
Speaker 1: thank you so much for your time time to be here.
42:48
Speaker 1: And Darwin, we'll talk to you again very soon. You
42:50
Speaker 1: are listening to Mix one oh four point nine.