Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Katie Woolf spoke with Opposition Leader Lia Finocchiaro
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: The big news making headlines yesterday was that an internal
- 0:03Speaker 1: rouse broken out within the CLP amid a push to
- 0:06Speaker 1: replace incumbent Senator Sam McMahon. In a report by Matt Cunningham,
- 0:11Speaker 1: it is being reported that several high profile party figures
- 0:14Speaker 1: are considering a run at the number one position on
- 0:17Speaker 1: the COLP Senate ticket ahead of the new full ahead
- 0:20Speaker 1: of the next federal election. They include Alice Springs mayor
- 0:23Speaker 1: Damian Ryan and Darwin businesswoman Linda Fazildin is what's being reported,
- 0:28Speaker 1: but apparently the party is split, with some Darwin members
- 0:32Speaker 1: claiming that dirty tricks are being used by Alice Springs
- 0:35Speaker 1: branches in a bit to get their preferred candidate over
- 0:39Speaker 1: the line. Now that claim is being strenuously denied by
- 0:44Speaker 1: the President Jamie de Brenny. But joining me on the
- 0:46Speaker 1: line is the COLP opposition leader Lea Fanocchiaro. Good morning
- 0:50Speaker 1: to you, Leah.
- 0:51Speaker 2: Good morning Katie. Congratulations on your order of Australia. Very
- 0:54Speaker 2: very well deservedive family, undoubtedly extremely proud of you.
- 0:58Speaker 1: Oh thank you, Leah. I appreciate that and welcod to
- 1:01Speaker 1: have you back on the show for twenty twenty one.
- 1:04Speaker 2: To be back I just dropped the kids at school
- 1:06Speaker 2: for the first time this year, and a few tears
- 1:08Speaker 2: and I thought I'd never been one of those bluddering mothers.
- 1:11Speaker 2: But there you go.
- 1:11Speaker 1: Oh no, so it was tears from you, not the kids,
- 1:15Speaker 1: may not them. Oh don't worry. It gets easier as
- 1:18Speaker 1: they get older. I can assure you of that, Yes
- 1:21Speaker 1: it does. Now, look, let's get into this story that's
- 1:24Speaker 1: being reported. LA Darwin members are reportedly upset that they
- 1:29Speaker 1: were told some top end branches might not be allowed
- 1:32Speaker 1: a vote at pre selection. This is for the Senate
- 1:35Speaker 1: due to outstanding fees.
- 1:37Speaker 2: Is this appropriate? Look, I'm not aware of any of
- 1:42Speaker 2: these issues that have been reported. It smags to me
- 1:44Speaker 2: is a bit of a slow newsweek. But certainly, you know,
- 1:47Speaker 2: if people are very interested in running for the Country
- 1:50Speaker 2: Liberal Party, then we welcome that. We have a very
- 1:53Speaker 2: open process. And you know, whether it's the Senate, whether
- 1:56Speaker 2: it's the House of Reps, whether it's the Northern Territory members,
- 1:58Speaker 2: pre selections open to everybody, and just because you're an
- 2:02Speaker 2: incumbent doesn't mean other people don't have the opportunity to
- 2:06Speaker 2: have a crack add it. So it's a sign of
- 2:08Speaker 2: a healthy party and a healthy process, and certainly for us,
- 2:11Speaker 2: the seats of Linkeiary and Solomon are open for pre selection.
- 2:14Speaker 2: So if you want to be as strong representative in Canberra,
- 2:17Speaker 2: come and talk to us.
- 2:18Speaker 1: Well, Leah, I guess many would argue that it's actually
- 2:20Speaker 1: a sign of a party that he's internally bickering. Is
- 2:25Speaker 1: there a situation here where the COLP is looking to
- 2:27Speaker 1: replace Senator Sam mcmat no, not at.
- 2:30Speaker 2: All, and the Senator certainly has my full support. This
- 2:34Speaker 2: is just a very normal, routine process. Like I said,
- 2:37Speaker 2: we all have to go up for pre selection no
- 2:39Speaker 2: matter what level we're at. We're very different to labor
- 2:42Speaker 2: in that we have a very democratic process. We open
- 2:45Speaker 2: it up to the whole Northern Territory and everyone gets
- 2:48Speaker 2: an opportunity to put their case about why they'd be
- 2:50Speaker 2: the best person for the job. And that's important. You know,
- 2:53Speaker 2: we need strong representatives in Canberra, we need strong representatives
- 2:56Speaker 2: at a territory level, and this is all part of
- 2:58Speaker 2: that process.
- 2:59Speaker 1: So is there a situation here where some members of
- 3:02Speaker 1: the party and some branches are being told that they're
- 3:05Speaker 1: not going to be able to vote though on that
- 3:08Speaker 1: pre selection because their fees aren't paid up.
- 3:11Speaker 2: Look, I'm not aware of any internal issues with the party.
- 3:15Speaker 2: I think, you know, the President has made comments and
- 3:18Speaker 2: those matters are certainly matters for the party. But in
- 3:20Speaker 2: terms of healthy preselection processes, I certainly wouldn't have it
- 3:24Speaker 2: any other way, I guess.
- 3:25Speaker 1: So what I'm getting asked, Leah is as you've worked
- 3:28Speaker 1: incredibly hard, obviously as the leader of the COLP to
- 3:32Speaker 1: really claw back the respect from the public at the
- 3:35Speaker 1: last election, and this kind of internal bickering it really
- 3:39Speaker 1: doesn't look good. It must be frustrating for you. Oh.
- 3:43Speaker 2: Look, you know, if people are thinking about pre selection processes,
- 3:47Speaker 2: we've had a very important federal election coming up then
- 3:49Speaker 2: that's important and of course, like with anything, people will
- 3:53Speaker 2: be asking people, are you interested in running, would you
- 3:55Speaker 2: like to run? Or I think you'd be great at that.
- 3:57Speaker 2: And it's just a normal part of any pre selection
- 4:00Speaker 2: process for any tier of government. So I think it's
- 4:04Speaker 2: been sort of you know, blown up, a little bit,
- 4:07Speaker 2: exaggerated a little bit, but it's certainly just an ordinary,
- 4:10Speaker 2: healthy part of a very normal process. Have people resigned though, Oh,
- 4:15Speaker 2: I'm not aware of any resignations or any other issues.
- 4:19Speaker 2: Katie it's you know, we've got pre selection open for
- 4:22Speaker 2: Lingiari and Solomon, which is super exciting, and that's open
- 4:25Speaker 2: for another couple of weeks. And we'd certainly like to
- 4:28Speaker 2: see a Country Liberal member join the Scott Morrison team
- 4:31Speaker 2: and Canberra and put a strong voice down there for
- 4:33Speaker 2: the territory. We need it more than ever.
- 4:35Speaker 1: Look, my understanding is that Rowan Kelly, a former candidate
- 4:38Speaker 1: and long standing member of the party, has resigned. My
- 4:41Speaker 1: understanding is that it's for a number of reasons. But
- 4:45Speaker 1: there is internal jostling. Are there members of the party
- 4:49Speaker 1: who are more interested in themselves, in their own positions
- 4:52Speaker 1: than really what the COLP stands for or what your
- 4:56Speaker 1: party's trying to achieve.
- 4:58Speaker 2: Absolutely not. Katie Rowan's a great member of our party.
- 5:02Speaker 2: He's been a great candidate and a long term contributor.
- 5:04Speaker 2: I'm not aware of that situation at all, if indeed
- 5:07Speaker 2: it's true. But you know, we are a strong party
- 5:11Speaker 2: that is going from strength to strength. Last year we
- 5:14Speaker 2: showed Territorians that we care about the issues that mattered
- 5:16Speaker 2: to them. You know, we read a very strong campaign
- 5:19Speaker 2: on crime, law and order issues and on the strength
- 5:21Speaker 2: of our economy and needing to turn that around to
- 5:24Speaker 2: support Territorians to stay in jobs and stay in the territory.
- 5:27Speaker 2: And people respected that, and we will continue to move
- 5:30Speaker 2: forward and ensure that our voice reflects the voice of
- 5:33Speaker 2: the concern of the community, and that's our absolute focus.
- 5:36Speaker 1: I mean, are you worried though, that there's members of
- 5:38Speaker 1: the party who, like I said earlier, are more interested
- 5:41Speaker 1: in their own positions rather than what is the best
- 5:44Speaker 1: thing for the political party that you lead.
- 5:47Speaker 2: Absolutely not. The country of the Riparty is focused on
- 5:50Speaker 2: one thing and one thing only, and that is the
- 5:52Speaker 2: best interest of Territorians. That's why we're here, that's why
- 5:55Speaker 2: we've got representation right across the territory in our regions.
- 5:59Speaker 2: In the Bush, we our major centers because we believe
- 6:02Speaker 2: in one thing and that's the future of this place
- 6:03Speaker 2: and the power of the everyday territory. And that's why
- 6:07Speaker 2: we get out of bed every day, and that's why
- 6:08Speaker 2: we volunteer and that's why we do everything that we
- 6:11Speaker 2: do because we believe in a strong Northern territory and
- 6:14Speaker 2: that that needs a strong economy, it needs strong leadership
- 6:17Speaker 2: at the top, and a need action on law and order,
- 6:19Speaker 2: and that's our focus.
- 6:20Speaker 1: All right, well, let's talk about some of those issues
- 6:23Speaker 1: which do continue to burn here in the territory. Youth
- 6:27Speaker 1: crime Now in Queensland, a number of measures are being
- 6:30Speaker 1: called for by the Police Union. They're in Queensland in
- 6:34Speaker 1: an effort to try and sort the community's concerns around
- 6:36Speaker 1: youth crime now. They include strengthening youth bail laws and
- 6:40Speaker 1: having longer prison sentences for juveniles. You've been calling for
- 6:44Speaker 1: this to happen in the Northern territory for some time now.
- 6:48Speaker 1: The Chief Minister had this to say when we asked
- 6:50Speaker 1: him about it last week. So do those bail laws
- 6:53Speaker 1: need to be strengthened with a presumption against bail for
- 6:57Speaker 1: repeat offenders and those arrested while already on bail.
- 7:00Speaker 3: So we've extremely strong bail laws and I think we've
- 7:03Speaker 3: got a seventy five percent success rate in terms of
- 7:06Speaker 3: not breaching bail, and we've put in supported bail accommodation
- 7:10Speaker 3: which has gone a long way towards make sure we
- 7:13Speaker 3: get that result.
- 7:14Speaker 1: So, so yes or no, will those bail laws change?
- 7:16Speaker 3: I know I don't think that's the issue.
- 7:19Speaker 2: Leah.
- 7:19Speaker 1: Would this really make a difference or are you just
- 7:22Speaker 1: playing politics?
- 7:24Speaker 2: It will absolutely make a difference and it just shows
- 7:26Speaker 2: how out of touch the Chief Minister really is. We
- 7:30Speaker 2: have been screaming from the rooftops on behalf of territories
- 7:33Speaker 2: about the changes to the youth justice and bail like
- 7:36Speaker 2: this has been going on for a couple of years
- 7:38Speaker 2: now and things are spiraling worse and worse out of control.
- 7:42Speaker 2: Queensland have taken a strong lean and you know we
- 7:44Speaker 2: saw the Police Association come out yesterday and call our
- 7:48Speaker 2: bail laws week. They're demanding real action. They've said the
- 7:51Speaker 2: government's asleep at the wheel and we are one hundred
- 7:53Speaker 2: percent endorse the Police Association on those comments. The Chief
- 7:57Speaker 2: Minister has promised to take tartaraction on crime, that to
- 8:01Speaker 2: look at the bowl laws and all of these things,
- 8:03Speaker 2: and of course is not delivering because you know, we're
- 8:06Speaker 2: on the other side of the election now and we're
- 8:08Speaker 2: seeing this backslip and this backpedal away from what's actually needed.
- 8:12Speaker 2: We will always stand firm on the fact that offenders
- 8:16Speaker 2: need actual consequences and needs to be escalating penalties for
- 8:19Speaker 2: repeat offenders. And for the Chief Minister to say that
- 8:22Speaker 2: they have a seventy five per cent success rate just
- 8:25Speaker 2: boggles the mind, Katie, because questions that we ask during
- 8:28Speaker 2: estimates revealed that half of all the youth who were
- 8:31Speaker 2: arrested last financial year were on bail and half is
- 8:35Speaker 2: fifty not seventy five. So you know, the Chief Minister
- 8:37Speaker 2: has got some serious work to do.
- 8:38Speaker 1: So are you saying that he has used the wrong
- 8:41Speaker 1: figures to try and get his point across.
- 8:43Speaker 2: I think he has no idea what he's talking about.
- 8:46Speaker 2: And when he says we've got the toughest bowl laws
- 8:48Speaker 2: in the country, what does that mean. Is he talking
- 8:50Speaker 2: about uth offenders or is he talking about adult offenders.
- 8:53Speaker 2: I think this is the government scrambling from its inability
- 8:56Speaker 2: to deal with this issue. In the meantime, we have
- 8:59Speaker 2: no ninety two year old victims. We have businesses and
- 9:03Speaker 2: people in Alice Springs under siege. You know, I know
- 9:06Speaker 2: when I talk to my colleagues Bill jen and Josh
- 9:09Speaker 2: Burg going down in the center. You know, Alice Springs,
- 9:11Speaker 2: people in Centralians are hurting. They're desperately crying out for
- 9:14Speaker 2: the Chief Minister to come down to front them, to
- 9:17Speaker 2: explain to them what his government is going to do
- 9:20Speaker 2: to show some leadership, and instead they get nothing. You know,
- 9:23Speaker 2: and this is just going on and on and it
- 9:25Speaker 2: is not good enough, Leah.
- 9:27Speaker 1: In Queensland they are looking at a few different things.
- 9:30Speaker 1: One of those is a national Summit on Youth Crime.
- 9:32Speaker 1: Well that's what the Queensland Police Union's calling for. They
- 9:35Speaker 1: also want to target the juvenile offended demographic and look
- 9:39Speaker 1: at different types of technology. Are these some of the
- 9:42Speaker 1: measures that we need to be looking at in the
- 9:44Speaker 1: Northern Territory.
- 9:46Speaker 2: Oh, without question. We've always said that that presumption, you know,
- 9:49Speaker 2: if you're a repeat offender, offender, you should not have
- 9:52Speaker 2: a presumption in favor of bail. They should be escalating
- 9:55Speaker 2: penalties if you repeat offend, then the consequences is longer tougher.
- 10:01Speaker 2: You know. We need to ensure that we're giving young
- 10:03Speaker 2: people the opportunity to change their lives through this suit,
- 10:06Speaker 2: through you know, sentenced skills training. Of course, we've had
- 10:10Speaker 2: this fiasco at the moment about the Chief Minister talking
- 10:12Speaker 2: tough about sentencing kids to boot camps when again, through
- 10:17Speaker 2: questioning an estimate, no use has been sentenced to a
- 10:20Speaker 2: boot camp and in fact you cannot be sentenced to
- 10:22Speaker 2: a boot camp. So this is a government that doesn't
- 10:26Speaker 2: want to deal with this issue, doesn't know what it's
- 10:28Speaker 2: talking about, is incapable of making the change that's required,
- 10:32Speaker 2: and we certainly support all measures such as electronic monitoring
- 10:36Speaker 2: whilst on bail and other types of engagement. We really
- 10:40Speaker 2: need a range of measures to deal with a widespread issue.
- 10:43Speaker 1: Lea to put the shoe on the other foot, though
- 10:45Speaker 1: obviously we had a Royal Commission that said we needed
- 10:48Speaker 1: to change the way that we were doing things in
- 10:50Speaker 1: the Northern Territory when it comes to youth offending. We
- 10:53Speaker 1: also know that when we talk about these situations, some
- 10:56Speaker 1: of them are incredibly complex. You know, even in Ollie
- 10:59Speaker 1: Springs a couple of ago, the Police Commissioner revealed on
- 11:01Speaker 1: the show yesterday two of the alleged defenders in some
- 11:05Speaker 1: of those break ins were eight years old. I mean,
- 11:08Speaker 1: we have obviously got an issue here that is broader
- 11:11Speaker 1: than just the bail laws. But the problem we've got
- 11:14Speaker 1: right now is that Territorians are just crying out for
- 11:17Speaker 1: something to change, to try and sort this issue out.
- 11:21Speaker 2: That's exactly right, and it's terribly sad. You know, an
- 11:24Speaker 2: eight year old being arrested for committing crimes. We need
- 11:27Speaker 2: to be dealing with that offending at that point end
- 11:29Speaker 2: and we need all the work done behind it, and
- 11:31Speaker 2: I think it goes to the heart of child protection.
- 11:34Speaker 2: You know, Territory Families has taken on board Youth Justice
- 11:37Speaker 2: and in my view it's been an absolute disaster. Those
- 11:41Speaker 2: people working in that agency do everything they can with
- 11:44Speaker 2: what they have, but it is a misplaced ideological decision
- 11:48Speaker 2: that the government made when they won in twenty sixteen.
- 11:51Speaker 2: You know, Youth Justice needs to be split back off
- 11:53Speaker 2: Territory Families. It needs to go into corrections and care
- 11:56Speaker 2: and protection of children needs to be enhanced and looked
- 11:59Speaker 2: at because if an eight year old is out committing crimes,
- 12:02Speaker 2: what is going on at home and what are all
- 12:04Speaker 2: the other issues that might be taking place. You know,
- 12:07Speaker 2: we had a inquiry into fas D and other types
- 12:11Speaker 2: of issues which may be at play with some of
- 12:14Speaker 2: these youths who are doing the wrong thing, and yet
- 12:16Speaker 2: support for children with fas D just isn't there in
- 12:19Speaker 2: our community. There's a lot of work that needs to
- 12:21Speaker 2: be done, but what's not okay is for the government
- 12:23Speaker 2: to bury its head in the sand, to continue to
- 12:26Speaker 2: create victims right across the territory and do nothing about it.
- 12:30Speaker 1: Well, I'll tell you what. There's some territorianess who are
- 12:32Speaker 1: taking matters into their own hands. They've created a change
- 12:35Speaker 1: dot org petition. More than eight thousand people have signed
- 12:39Speaker 1: that petition. From what I can gather, LEA, is that
- 12:43Speaker 1: something that you will then be presenting to Parliament? Have
- 12:45Speaker 1: you spoken to the organizers? I mean, is it something
- 12:49Speaker 1: that should be presented to Parliament?
- 12:51Speaker 2: It absolutely should, and I commend the community. You know,
- 12:54Speaker 2: the most powerful thing the community can do is stand
- 12:57Speaker 2: together and put to its elected members it wants and
- 13:00Speaker 2: we support that one hundred percent. I know that Bill
- 13:04Speaker 2: Yan and Josh Bergoin will certainly be making contact with
- 13:08Speaker 2: the gentlemen who started that position. We are very happy
- 13:11Speaker 2: to table that in Parliament on behalf of the eight
- 13:13Speaker 2: thousand Territorians who have signed it. We believe this shows
- 13:16Speaker 2: the community is there. It rallied together to say please,
- 13:20Speaker 2: we've had enough, we can't do this anymore. And of
- 13:23Speaker 2: course this goes to the heart not just of people's
- 13:25Speaker 2: safety and well being of living in the territory, but
- 13:28Speaker 2: to our economy. We have had such a hit from COVID,
- 13:31Speaker 2: We've had a wet season where obviously things have been
- 13:34Speaker 2: different this year. But as we go into the dry
- 13:36Speaker 2: we really want the interstate tourism market and if people
- 13:40Speaker 2: are too scared to come to the territory, you know,
- 13:43Speaker 2: this is going to have a devastating impact on business,
- 13:45Speaker 2: which means people do not have jobs. I mean, the
- 13:49Speaker 2: reality is every business that closes is however many jobs
- 13:52Speaker 2: that go along with it, and then that's people who
- 13:55Speaker 2: may very well leave. So the cascading effect of not
- 13:57Speaker 2: dealing with this crime issue is profane.
- 14:00Speaker 1: Leah, We're going to have to move along. I do
- 14:02Speaker 1: want to ask you quickly. We're running out of time.
- 14:05Speaker 1: The alcohol obviously in Tenant Creek there is obviously the
- 14:08Speaker 1: Alcohol Review which is happening at the moment, or they've
- 14:11Speaker 1: got the commission down there, I believe sitting there are
- 14:14Speaker 1: concerns from hospitality into that the BDR is going to
- 14:17Speaker 1: be rolled out further and into pubs. Should this be happening.
- 14:23Speaker 2: Well, we're really critical of the government on this issue
- 14:25Speaker 2: because of course the Barkley is long forgotten by the
- 14:29Speaker 2: Gunner government. They promised the people of the Barkley a
- 14:32Speaker 2: review into this issue two years ago, two years ago,
- 14:35Speaker 2: and it is only just happening now. Of course, we've
- 14:38Speaker 2: seen enormous increases in secondary supply. Domestic violence is horrific.
- 14:43Speaker 2: There's clearly something not working, and the fact that now
- 14:46Speaker 2: two years past the date, they're now looking at more
- 14:49Speaker 2: measures like having the BDR in pubs and clubs just
- 14:53Speaker 2: shows a lack of consultation, a lack of will from
- 14:55Speaker 2: the government to work with the people of the Barkley
- 14:57Speaker 2: to find solutions that aren't going to create other problems
- 15:01Speaker 2: like drive up secondary supply.
- 15:03Speaker 1: I guess that you know, we have just spoken though
- 15:05Speaker 1: arlier about some of the issues that we're seeing with youths,
- 15:07Speaker 1: and you know, we cannot deny that that alcohol, in
- 15:10Speaker 1: many cases has a huge impact on family units. I mean,
- 15:15Speaker 1: do you think that rolling out some of these additional
- 15:17Speaker 1: measures would make a difference in more than just the
- 15:20Speaker 1: space of alcohol abuse.
- 15:22Speaker 2: What I think is that the government has set its
- 15:25Speaker 2: alcohol policies and forgotten about it. We were promised when
- 15:28Speaker 2: the BDR came back in that the BDA would be
- 15:30Speaker 2: reviewed and then it would be appropriately changed and strengthened
- 15:33Speaker 2: as required. That has never happened. Obviously, secondary supply has
- 15:38Speaker 2: gotten out of control and police are desperately calling for
- 15:42Speaker 2: different rafts of measures around the territory to try and
- 15:45Speaker 2: help them deal with that issue when they're already understrained.
- 15:47Speaker 2: You know, alcohol is a big issue and it's clear
- 15:50Speaker 2: that the government's alcohol policies aren't working. So instead of
- 15:53Speaker 2: just continuously tacking on the top new measures, they need
- 15:56Speaker 2: to go back and look at what's worked, what hasn't,
- 15:59Speaker 2: and they need to seriously putting some form of mandatory
- 16:02Speaker 2: treatment back on the table because people who have chronic
- 16:07Speaker 2: addiction to alcohol need significant levels of support.
- 16:11Speaker 1: All right, Leah, we are going to have to leave
- 16:12Speaker 1: it there. We've got such a busy morning ahead of us.
- 16:14Speaker 1: Thanks so much for your time. Hey, I'm going to
- 16:16Speaker 1: be out well obviously you're going to be on Friday
- 16:18Speaker 1: for the week that was, but I'm going to be
- 16:20Speaker 1: doing park run in your neck of the woods in
- 16:22Speaker 1: Palmerston on Saturday. Want to come along?
- 16:25Speaker 2: Oh God, no caring for you from my bed.
- 16:31Speaker 1: Okay, thanks Leah. Leah Finocchio there the Opposition leader