Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Opposition leader Lia Finocchiaro on Fannie Bay by-election, anti-social behaviour, ICAC and an Indigenous voice to parliament

Transcript

Opposition leader Lia Finocchiaro on Fannie Bay by-election, anti-social behaviour, ICAC and an Indigenous voice to parliament · 360 with Katie Woolf

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  Speaker 1: We know that both the COLP and the ALP of
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  Speaker 1: put forward candidates for the seat of Fanny Bay by
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  Speaker 1: election who don't actually live in the electorate. Now the
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  Speaker 1: move has left many questioning if either party is serious
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  Speaker 1: about truly representing the electorate. The opposition leader Leah Fanocchiaro
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  Speaker 1: joins me in the studio right now. Good morning to you, Leah.
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  Speaker 2: Good morning Katie to your wonderful listeners.
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  Speaker 1: Now, Lea. Obviously the candidate for Fanny Bay that the
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  Speaker 1: COLP has announced is been Hosking. And look from all accounts,
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  Speaker 1: both Brent Kotcher, who the ALP's announced and also been
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  Speaker 1: Hosking in Nice Blokes. But that's not the concern here,
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  Speaker 1: I guess the concern is that neither of them live
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  Speaker 1: in the electorate. Why has the CLP chosen someone who
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  Speaker 1: doesn't live there?
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  Speaker 3: So the CLP have gone through an exhaustive process and
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  Speaker 3: picked the best person for the job, and that, without
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  Speaker 3: a doubt is Ben Hosking.
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  Speaker 2: He actually grew up in lud Miller.
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  Speaker 3: And started his early years of schooling at primary school,
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  Speaker 3: so he's got those deep connections to that community. He's
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  Speaker 3: a fantastic guy. Former TRG Police officer with the Northern
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  Speaker 3: Territory Police. Of course, runs two small businesses here in
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  Speaker 3: the Darwin area at the moment. You know, has a
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  Speaker 3: lovely young family with two daughters, and he's going to
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  Speaker 3: be a fierce representative for people in Vanny Bay.
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  Speaker 1: So where does he live?
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  Speaker 2: Oh? Look, I don't know exactly what his address, we.
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  Speaker 1: Got that level of detail. But does he live in Palmiston?
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  Speaker 3: Look, I know he's certainly lived in Parmestan in the past.
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  Speaker 3: When he came back up from Tenant Creek with the police,
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  Speaker 3: they post you to Palmerston, So I assume that's the case.
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  Speaker 3: But ultimately, the difference between the labor candidate who's an
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  Speaker 3: import from Parmestan straight off the fifth floor working for government,
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  Speaker 3: and Ben Hoskin, who is a local lad Miller bred person,
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  Speaker 3: is that he cares deeply about that communion ultimately anti
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  Speaker 3: social behavior and crime. With his police background, his small
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  Speaker 3: business ground, understanding how a strong economy is so important,
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  Speaker 3: he's going to put him in good stead to winning
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  Speaker 3: the hearts of life.
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  Speaker 1: Can anyone who lives in the electorate put their hand up?
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  Speaker 3: Oh? Look, in the CLP, we don't do Captain's pick
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  Speaker 3: so I'm not involved. Neither are the MLAs in that process.
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  Speaker 3: That's a full process by the party. It's confidential to
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  Speaker 3: preserve the integrity of all the people who put up
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  Speaker 3: their hand. That's a really important process for us that
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  Speaker 3: anyone can put their hand up and have that chance.
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  Speaker 3: So the party decided yesterday that it would be Ben Hosking.
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  Speaker 3: He's got my full support and I know he's hit
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  Speaker 3: the ground running, so we're looking forward to running a
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  Speaker 3: fierce campaign against labor.
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  Speaker 1: Would you have preferred to have somebody though, who actually
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  Speaker 1: lives in the electorate, Like, I get what you're saying
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  Speaker 1: that obviously he's grown up there. But you know, I
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  Speaker 1: could say the same and run in Mount Isa, But
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  Speaker 1: I haven't lived there for you know, thirty years, Katie.
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  Speaker 1: But it doesn't really matter, you know, And I do, like,
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  Speaker 1: I genuinely believe that if you want to understand exactly
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  Speaker 1: what's going on in a community, then you live in
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  Speaker 1: a yeah, look for sure.
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  Speaker 3: And you know what I do know is that Ben
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  Speaker 3: and his wife have been looking in the perap and
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  Speaker 3: Vanny Bay area for some time, looking to relocate their family.
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  Speaker 3: But ultimately he's from that electorate. He runs businesses in
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  Speaker 3: that electorate and has hit the ground running, and the
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  Speaker 3: feedback on the doors and at the markets has been
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  Speaker 3: that antisocial behavior is absolutely plaguing the beautiful public spaces
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  Speaker 3: in that electorate. You know, the fact that we've got
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  Speaker 3: such a stagnant economy is driving people to leave. And
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  Speaker 3: so these are really key issues at a front of
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  Speaker 3: mine and people want I think people see the excitement.
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  Speaker 2: Of the opportunity.
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  Speaker 3: You know, you've got a fresh face, You've got a
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  Speaker 3: new chance to send a message to the government and
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  Speaker 3: start to build that momentum and that team for twenty
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  Speaker 3: twenty four where we can finally change government and build
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  Speaker 3: a better territory together. So I think that's what's exciting
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  Speaker 3: about this by election.
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  Speaker 1: Is this by election going to be a test of
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  Speaker 1: your leadership?
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  Speaker 3: Look, I think people will speculate around that. Of course,
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  Speaker 3: every day is a test of my leadership, Katie. That's
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  Speaker 3: what comes with being the top job, and I take
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  Speaker 3: full responsibility for my parliamentary team. We're going to give
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  Speaker 3: this a red hot crack. I mean, the Coop goes
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  Speaker 3: into this by election the underdog. We haven't held that
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  Speaker 3: seat since nineteen ninety five, so it's been a very
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  Speaker 3: long time between drinks.
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  Speaker 2: Katie, But we're ready.
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  Speaker 3: We'll certainly be taking any of the feedback. You know,
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  Speaker 3: if it goes well, whatever ends up happening, we'll look
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  Speaker 3: at that and obviously adjust what needs to be adjusted.
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  Speaker 3: But ultimately, we've got a great candidate in Ben Hosking,
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  Speaker 3: We've got the messages that resonate with that community, and
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  Speaker 3: people have a chance to send Labor a message that
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  Speaker 3: for six long years, this anti social behavior, the crime,
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  Speaker 3: the stagnant economy is just it's not good enough, and
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  Speaker 3: Labor simply just they've given up, they don't care anymore.
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  Speaker 1: Well, look, I guess you know there are going to
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  Speaker 1: be people that will be saying it's a test of
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  Speaker 1: your leadership. The last by election in Daily really didn't
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  Speaker 1: go overly well. It was another situation where neither of
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  Speaker 1: the candidates actually lived in the electorate. I believe that
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  Speaker 1: the Labor Party, you know, the member now Duran Young
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  Speaker 1: does live in the electorate, but neither of the candidates
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  Speaker 1: lived in the electorate. I mean, do you look, are
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  Speaker 1: you concerned that this is going to go badly for you?
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  Speaker 2: No, not at all, Katie.
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  Speaker 3: I mean, ultimately, these elections are team efforts. There's not
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  Speaker 3: one single person that can can make or break it.
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  Speaker 3: Like I said, we you know, depending on how things go,
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  Speaker 3: and you live and learn every single day, and ultimately,
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  Speaker 3: we want to make sure we're resonating with people about
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  Speaker 3: what's important to them. So we've you know, the party
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  Speaker 3: have gone and picked the best candidate for the job.
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  Speaker 3: Ben's out there, he's been out on the doors for
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  Speaker 3: days now. He's out connecting with that community. We've put
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  Speaker 3: forward our policy platform to pitch to those people and say, look,
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  Speaker 3: this is what we care about. You know, if you
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  Speaker 3: care about it, join us in our fight against a
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  Speaker 3: bad government. So it's really a rally call to people
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  Speaker 3: to get on board and let's see something different with bab.
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  Speaker 1: Let's talk about one of those issues, which is certainly
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  Speaker 1: something that we've been talking about and hearing about very
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  Speaker 1: loudly and clearly it's antisocial behavior. There is no doubt
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  Speaker 1: it's going to have an impact at this by election.
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  Speaker 1: We've spoken at length about this issue this whole year,
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  Speaker 1: and you know, it really to a hit. I think
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  Speaker 1: you'd have to say last Tuesday afternoon and that incident
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  Speaker 1: will worth CBD. What immediate steps would the COLP be
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  Speaker 1: taking and do you think need to be taken in
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  Speaker 1: order to fix this issue. Yeah.
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  Speaker 3: The most immediate step we would do, which is actually
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  Speaker 3: something we have legislation prepared for, is to empower police
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  Speaker 3: to be able to deal with problem drunks. What this
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  Speaker 3: government did a couple of years ago was take the
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  Speaker 3: power away from police. All police can do is basically
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  Speaker 3: tip grog out. We want to give police the power
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  Speaker 3: back so they can find people, they can arrest people,
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  Speaker 3: they can move people on. And we know that the
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  Speaker 3: grog is causing so much harm across our community.
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  Speaker 2: It's involved in almost every.
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  Speaker 3: Bad thing that happens, and yet we haven't given police
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  Speaker 3: the tools they need to deal with it. So if
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  Speaker 3: I was Chief Minister, that would be the number one
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  Speaker 3: thing I would do. And in any event, I'm opposition
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  Speaker 3: leader and we're trying to do it anyway.
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  Speaker 2: We just need government support.
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  Speaker 1: Should there be more police on the beat, Oh.
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  Speaker 3: We'd love to have more police, but of course this
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  Speaker 3: government a few years ago stopped recruiting. Of course, we've
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  Speaker 3: got eleven percent police attrition, which means more police are
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  Speaker 3: leaving than we can even recover. You know, there's so
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  Speaker 3: many things we need to do differently to support our
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  Speaker 3: police better and diet and you know, this escalation in
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  Speaker 3: crime just means our police are so thin on the ground.
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  Speaker 3: It's a terrible situation without a plan from this government.
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  Speaker 3: And you know the labor candidate was the Police Minister's
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  Speaker 3: police advisor for many years, so I'd love to know
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  Speaker 3: what he's got to say about a broken police force
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  Speaker 3: and the high levels of antisocial behavior.
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  Speaker 1: Well, look, we are going to be speaking to the
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  Speaker 1: Chief Minister in just a couple of minutes about these
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  Speaker 1: very issues. But as we've heard over the course of
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  Speaker 1: the weekend, the former Chief Minister Michael Gunner rejected a
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  Speaker 1: request for information from the Territories Corruption watchdog about a
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  Speaker 1: serious allegation regarding a cabinet submission. Now the Independent Commissioner
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  Speaker 1: against Corruption, Michael Riches, made this revelation in a report
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  Speaker 1: that was tabled in Parliament last Thursday night, saying that
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  Speaker 1: mister Gunner's refusal was based on an exemption for cabinet
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  Speaker 1: documents under the Eye Act. Do you, firstly, do you
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  Speaker 1: think it's appropriate for the former Chief Minister to refuse
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  Speaker 1: that request.
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  Speaker 2: I don't think he should have.
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  Speaker 3: You know, the IKAK has come to the Labor government
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  Speaker 3: and said, I'm investigating a potential I think it was
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  Speaker 3: potential misleading cabinet, which is just a terrible thing. It
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  Speaker 3: cannot happen.
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  Speaker 1: So basically submission being edited by a public officer so
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  Speaker 1: as to be misleading as to the true state of affairs.
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  Speaker 3: Yes, exactly, So the ik wanted to investigate that, and
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  Speaker 3: the Labor government have knocked it back.
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  Speaker 2: Now.
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  Speaker 3: You know, Michael Gunner is no longer the Chief Minister,
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  Speaker 3: but Natasha files is and she now needs to be
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  Speaker 3: the one to show some leadership and integrity in this
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  Speaker 3: government which has lacked scrutiny for a very long time,
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  Speaker 3: and provide the information that the KA Commissioner needs. I mean,
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  Speaker 3: this government has already cut the funding to the IKAK.
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  Speaker 3: They've had to spend extraordinary amounts of their budget fighting
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  Speaker 3: legal battles in the Supreme Court without any additional funding
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  Speaker 3: from the government. And now we've got a situation where
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  Speaker 3: the government aren't even cooperating with the Eyeka so he
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  Speaker 3: can investigate you know, inappropriate behavior, corruption, whatever you want
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  Speaker 3: to call it, that is happening to cabinet.
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  Speaker 1: So it's a big issue, all right, I want to ask.
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  Speaker 1: I'm going to ask you, and I'm also going to
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  Speaker 1: ask the Chief Finess to this. Last month in queens
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  Speaker 1: And the government announced that they would release cabinet papers
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  Speaker 1: within thirty days instead of thirty years. In what the premiere,
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  Speaker 1: Anastasia Palichet says is a revolutionary response to an integrity
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  Speaker 1: review which was handed down. Do you think that we
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  Speaker 1: should be doing the same in the territory.
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  Speaker 3: It's funny you say that, Katie. I actually had a
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  Speaker 3: chat with my team about that yesterday. It's something we're
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  Speaker 3: looking very closely at, you know, these old ways of
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  Speaker 3: doing things, and I think the lack of transparency with
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  Speaker 3: government is something that's undermining the institution of government and
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  Speaker 3: undermining our democracy.
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  Speaker 2: And we've certainly got nothing to hide.
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  Speaker 3: We can't understand why, particularly this labor governmentor do everything
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  Speaker 3: they can to block information. So we're actually combing through
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  Speaker 3: the detail to breathe some life back into the territory
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  Speaker 3: and get some trust back from the community and the
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  Speaker 3: very people they entrust to look after them all.
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  Speaker 1: Right now. Over the weekend, it was a massive weekend
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  Speaker 1: at Barunga. As we all know, we had politicians here
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  Speaker 1: from all over Australia and the Prime Minister announced to
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  Speaker 1: referendums going to take place, asking the question do you
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  Speaker 1: support an alteration to the Constitution that establishes an Aboriginal
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  Speaker 1: and Torres Strait island of voice. Lea Fanocchiaro do you so?
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  Speaker 3: I'm very keen to see the detail, obviously, just enterprise.
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  Speaker 3: The CLP senator has been very strong on this issue.
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  Speaker 3: She is absolutely opposed to any sort of tokenistic gestures.
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  Speaker 3: You know, we need to be making policy and making
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  Speaker 3: decisions that advance our most vulnerable. By adding layers of
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  Speaker 3: bureaucracy is not something that the CLP would support, but
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  Speaker 3: you know, we don't oppose it just blanket. But I
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  Speaker 3: think the question that needs to be put to the
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  Speaker 3: community is the detail around it. And what the Albanezi
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  Speaker 3: government are trying to do is have their cake and
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  Speaker 3: eat it too, and essentially, you know, trick people into it,
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  Speaker 3: and I think that's not fair when you talk about
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  Speaker 3: a referendum and amending the constitution, you need to give
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  Speaker 3: the whole package to people.
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  Speaker 1: I guess the way that they have sold it though,
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  Speaker 1: is that that is why they're asking that very simple
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  Speaker 1: question first, and then that detail will follow do you
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  Speaker 1: not agree with it happening that?
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  Speaker 3: Well, no, because once you ask this simple question, the
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  Speaker 3: detail then can be whatever the government wants, you know,
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  Speaker 3: and so people aren't. So in principle, probably a lot
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  Speaker 3: of people will say yes, you know, oh yes, sure,
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  Speaker 3: like let's look at that. But what they don't know
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  Speaker 3: is the how that's going to work. Is it going
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  Speaker 3: to be I don't know, an entire new level of parliament.
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  Speaker 3: I think what's really important is about indigenous representation in parliament.
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  Speaker 3: And I'll tell you what my biggest issue about the
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  Speaker 3: Voice is is that it's not going to have adequate
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  Speaker 3: territory representation, and then what's the point, you know, to
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  Speaker 3: be honest, that's really what I care about. We have
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  Speaker 3: some of the most disadvantaged people in our nation and
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  Speaker 3: if this is going to be a body made up
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  Speaker 3: of people from interstate, then how's that going to serve
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  Speaker 3: our interests?
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  Speaker 1: Well, opposition lead to Leofanocchiaro. We will leave it there.
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  Speaker 1: Thank you very much for your time this morning.
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  Speaker 2: Take care everyone,