Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Minister for Fishing Paul Kirby says firming up fishing access and working with traditional owners are among the priorities of a 10-year recreational fishing plan

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Minister for Fishing Paul Kirby says firming up fishing access and working with traditional owners are among the priorities of a 10-year recreational fishing plan · 360 with Katie Woolf

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  Speaker 1: I know that Territorians are being urged to have their
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  Speaker 1: say on a draft ten year recreational fishing plan. It's
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  Speaker 1: been released by the Northern Territory government and as we
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  Speaker 1: all know, recreational fishing is a huge part of the
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  Speaker 1: Northern Territory lifestyle and does generate significant economic contributions into
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  Speaker 1: the economy. It also has its social, cultural and well
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  Speaker 1: being benefits. And joining me on the line to talk
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  Speaker 1: further about this is the Minister for Fishing and also
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  Speaker 1: Small Business, Paul Kirby.
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  Speaker 2: Good morning to you.
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  Speaker 3: Good morning Katie. First up, Happy International Women's Day, to yourself,
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  Speaker 3: to my lovely wife, to my daughter, and to all
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  Speaker 3: the other wonderful women through the Northern Territory.
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  Speaker 2: Oh thanks mate.
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  Speaker 1: We are getting lots of lovely messages as well for
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  Speaker 1: inspirational and wonderful women, and don make sure that I
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  Speaker 1: read all of those out. It's been such a busy
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  Speaker 1: morning we've hardly had the chance to talk about International
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  Speaker 1: Women's Day, but we have had a focus on it
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  Speaker 1: throughout the week.
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  Speaker 3: Curbs yeah, yeah, not really brought. We had a great
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  Speaker 3: march through the city weekend that we all attended, and
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  Speaker 3: a bunch of the labor in LA's and obviously my
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  Speaker 3: cabinet colleagues and majority of those are women, and it
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  Speaker 3: just does highlight that in the Northern Territory, as blokey
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  Speaker 3: as we can be and asody behind the times as
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  Speaker 3: we sometimes think we are, and particularly with conversations like
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  Speaker 3: doctor Bopper was just having, but there are times that
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  Speaker 3: we're in front of the pack as well, and getting
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  Speaker 3: women into some of those top jobs is really one
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  Speaker 3: of the areas that we do do a great job.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, we most certainly do.
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  Speaker 1: Now, Minister, let's talk about this Recreational Fishing Development Plan.
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  Speaker 2: What's the aim of us.
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  Speaker 3: The aim of it is to have a really clear
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  Speaker 3: snapshot for the next ten years. It'll be revamped of
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  Speaker 3: course over those ten years. But just we put some
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  Speaker 3: people together last year there was some workshops done. We
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  Speaker 3: work really closely with David and the ass and team.
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  Speaker 3: They do a great amount of work in this space
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  Speaker 3: and now's the time and often use that terminology and
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  Speaker 3: that's what the website's called about. Have your say. This
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  Speaker 3: is when we really want to hear the public. We
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  Speaker 3: really want to hear from the mums and dads that
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  Speaker 3: go fishing. We want to hear what's important to them.
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  Speaker 3: You know, where they like to go, how they go
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  Speaker 3: about their fishing, you know what they think, they invest
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  Speaker 3: in it each year and just really use that to
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  Speaker 3: develop this ongoing plan for the next teen years to
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  Speaker 3: make sure it will get all of our policy settings
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  Speaker 3: as right as they possibly campaigns. Interestingly, Lot you touched
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  Speaker 3: on how much how important it was for the Northern Territory,
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  Speaker 3: and what David Taravola spoke about yesterday when we were
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  Speaker 3: doing some media was that there's been a national Social
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  Speaker 3: and Economic survey.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, we had him on about that one last week.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, it's amazing really, so they have delved down into
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  Speaker 3: not just what somebody might spend at a tackle shop
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  Speaker 3: or out on the fishing tour operator, but what that does,
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  Speaker 3: that money through the town, that money through the regions,
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  Speaker 3: and they've estimated up to two hundred and seventy million dollars.
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  Speaker 3: And the book of was boys from Fishing and Outdoor
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  Speaker 3: World that we're talking to yesterday day. So sometimes you
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  Speaker 3: would been even that shy of the mark of what
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  Speaker 3: it brings in Northern Territory. So they're all really excited
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  Speaker 3: at the moment because the longer that it range for
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  Speaker 3: the weather that it gets, the longer that our runoffs
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  Speaker 3: and our really good fishing seasons go for. So they're
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  Speaker 3: really excited. They know that the next few months are
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  Speaker 3: going to be a boom time help for the top end.
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  Speaker 3: So everybody's really really excited about that.
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  Speaker 1: And now just on that, obviously two hundred and seventy
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  Speaker 1: million dollars contributed to our economy directly and indirectly. That
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  Speaker 1: was over twenty eighteen and nineteen financial year. Taking that
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  Speaker 1: into account, and also you know, as you get some
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  Speaker 1: of this feedback that you're no doubt going to get
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  Speaker 1: from reck Fishes when it comes to the Northern Territory
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  Speaker 1: fishing industry and the way in which it's all happening,
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  Speaker 1: what do you reckon we could be doing to improve
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  Speaker 1: reck fishing. Is there some work that the government feels
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  Speaker 1: as though could be happening to try and improve things.
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  Speaker 3: Well, we know that we've got to continue to concentrate
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  Speaker 3: on access for people right across the top end and
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  Speaker 3: working with traditional owners. We'd absolutely love to have more
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  Speaker 3: traditional owners involved in our fishing industry and our red
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  Speaker 3: fishing industry. You know what would be better for people
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  Speaker 3: that come up from down south and have an indigenous
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  Speaker 3: tour guide taking them out to putting them right on
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  Speaker 3: the spot on the best of the barrel Monday. We
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  Speaker 3: need to continue to upgrade our infrastructure and our facilities
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  Speaker 3: to make sure that we've got the best intel I guess,
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  Speaker 3: to make sure those abundant catches stay a possibility and
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  Speaker 3: a probability for everybody, and then to continue to expand it.
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  Speaker 3: There's other ways that we can expand the direction of
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  Speaker 3: the red fishing industry, whether it's into the billfish and
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  Speaker 3: selfish industries that bring less people but bigger money. Whether
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  Speaker 3: there's better ways that we can continue to invest in
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  Speaker 3: all of our infrastructure. Yeah, it's a very broad brush
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  Speaker 3: that will take with the approach to try and do
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  Speaker 3: as much as we possibly can across the territory with.
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  Speaker 2: Those access agreements.
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  Speaker 1: How are things going with that, I mean, has there
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  Speaker 1: been much of an update in the in the recent weeks.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, So people from my office don't don't lead those
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  Speaker 3: discussions with traditional owners. That's done through the Chief Minister's office.
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  Speaker 3: I know that they have had trips planned over the
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  Speaker 3: last few weeks to get out to some of those
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  Speaker 3: top end communities because you have to have those conversations
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  Speaker 3: face to face and you have to sit down and
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  Speaker 3: discuss what the opportunities are for traditional owners. They just
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  Speaker 3: haven't been able to get out there over the last
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  Speaker 3: couple of months since last year. So we know that
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  Speaker 3: that is a priority for us. We know that people
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  Speaker 3: will get out and begin those discussions again as quickly
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  Speaker 3: as we can, and like I said, a real priority
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  Speaker 3: for us to make sure we can improve things for
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  Speaker 3: traditional owners and whether that's through ranger stations, whether it's
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  Speaker 3: through better managing of grasses and different weeds on their lands,
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  Speaker 3: is a range of different things that we can do
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  Speaker 3: and included and getting them involved into the wreck and
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  Speaker 3: professional industries would be a real passion of airs as well.
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  Speaker 1: Now just on the on the survey or the plan,
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  Speaker 1: where can people go if they do want to have
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  Speaker 1: their say on that one?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, certainly under that government have your say website. It
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  Speaker 3: does close on the eighth of April, so we do
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  Speaker 3: need people to get on there sooner rather than later
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  Speaker 3: before they forget about it. I know that sometimes when
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  Speaker 3: it's weather like this, fishing is not front of mine
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  Speaker 3: for people. But as the guys are saying in the
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  Speaker 3: in the interview yesterday. Sometimes this time of the year
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  Speaker 3: when it's not raining, people are already out doing their
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  Speaker 3: run off fishing. The fact that they're not doing that yet,
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  Speaker 3: they're still getting prepared for it. The longer that you
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  Speaker 3: prepare for, the more rain that we've had, the more
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  Speaker 3: time that people are going to have out fishing. So
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  Speaker 3: people have got the time at the moment, certainly get
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  Speaker 3: on do that have your say. I know that some
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  Speaker 3: people don't want to tell their wives how much they
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  Speaker 3: spend on on fishing equipment. I can understand that, but
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  Speaker 3: I'm very lucky that mine normally bought buys me equipment
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  Speaker 3: through well through birthdays and Christmases and stuff like that.
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  Speaker 1: But people, I'm sure that your wife isn't going to
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  Speaker 1: be able to well, most people's wives surely isn't going
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  Speaker 1: to be going to be looking over their shoulders as
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  Speaker 1: they fill in that have you say surveys, So jump
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  Speaker 1: online and make sure that you do make your voice heard. Now, Minister,
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  Speaker 1: I do want to ask you Easter Sunday. We know
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  Speaker 1: that we learned earlier this week that the government has
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  Speaker 1: declared that Easter Sunday is going to be a public
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  Speaker 1: holiday for twenty twenty three. So this is obviously, with
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  Speaker 1: your business minister's hat on, no doubt welcome news for
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  Speaker 1: workers who are going to be heading in for a
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  Speaker 1: shift on Easter Sunday. Will there be an impact do
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  Speaker 1: you think for local businesses though, who may become too
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  Speaker 1: expensive for them to be able to operate.
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  Speaker 3: In a small jurisdiction, like there's some places that might
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  Speaker 3: not get much foot traffic on an Easter Sunday that
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  Speaker 3: they might make decisions like that. They're also a range
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  Speaker 3: of other businesses, particularly through the top end area around
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  Speaker 3: the Darwin area. But know that on a Sunday there
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  Speaker 3: are absolutely on a long weekend that there is to
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  Speaker 3: be more people around and more capacity for them to
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  Speaker 3: make more money that you know, I understand what some
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  Speaker 3: of the retailers have said recently that they don't get
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  Speaker 3: the opportunity to put a surcharge on as some of
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  Speaker 3: the hospitality venues do. We completely understand that this is
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  Speaker 3: one of those balancing acts when you try and get
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  Speaker 3: it right so that you know that it's not going
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  Speaker 3: to be one hundred percent right for anybody, but we
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  Speaker 3: try and do the best that we can. We need
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  Speaker 3: working in the top end, we can't always paying what
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  Speaker 3: we want in the top end or right through the territory.
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  Speaker 3: We know that them having people having time off or
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  Speaker 3: those correct penalty rates when they are working is a
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  Speaker 3: big part of what makes people stay here. So it
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  Speaker 3: is a real balancing act. So and make sure that
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  Speaker 3: we do encourage people to stay in the top end,
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  Speaker 3: encourage workers to keep staying on here, and hopefully businesses
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  Speaker 3: to keep opening the doors.
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  Speaker 1: Is it going to be something that the government does
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  Speaker 1: permanently deosses with cs to Sunday public holiday and should
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  Speaker 1: it be certainly.
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  Speaker 3: OK, we've had discussions around that for some time and
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  Speaker 3: we are putting some legislation together. Certainly just wasn't going
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  Speaker 3: to be ready in time for Easter, but certainly something
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  Speaker 3: that we're going through negotiations and consultations about getting out
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  Speaker 3: to people and having those conversations now so that we
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  Speaker 3: can put some surety into it for businesses going forward,
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  Speaker 3: so they can do their planning. When people are doing
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  Speaker 3: their rostering, they know exactly what's going to be on
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  Speaker 3: the table, and it will be on the table, yeah,
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  Speaker 3: many months out.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, that was one of the things that we've heard
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  Speaker 1: yesterday from both the Chamber of Commerce and also from
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  Speaker 1: the SDA, but from the Chamber, you know, just having
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  Speaker 1: that certainty in place. So it does sound as though
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  Speaker 1: it is something that you guys are looking at curbs.
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  Speaker 1: While I've got you, I do want to ask you though,
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  Speaker 1: the impact of interest rates. We know that once again
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  Speaker 1: those interest rates rose yesterday. We caught up with the
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  Speaker 1: Saint Vincent de Paul Society a little bit earlier this
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  Speaker 1: morning for here in the Northern Territory their CEO, and
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  Speaker 1: he had said that there had been a thirty percent
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  Speaker 1: rise in the last four to five months of people
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  Speaker 1: seeking their services just here in the Northern Territory. There
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  Speaker 1: is no doubt that the impact of interest rates is
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  Speaker 1: having a well, it's having its effect on locals and
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  Speaker 1: on mortgage shoulders. But what kind of impact do you
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  Speaker 1: think it's having on businesses.
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  Speaker 3: I think there's absolutely no doubt that the more expendable
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  Speaker 3: income that people have got, the better that business does.
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  Speaker 3: Everybody knows and can understand that. We do know that
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  Speaker 3: a lot of people, even in permanent wherek do still
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  Speaker 3: live from week to week. I hadn't heard those figures
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  Speaker 3: around the thirty percent from increase for some of those
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  Speaker 3: support services, and yeah, that is an astonishing amount. So yeah,
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  Speaker 3: as a government, yes, we know that we do have
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  Speaker 3: to try and put from my perspective, and I've heard
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  Speaker 3: the conversations this morning around the nurses' unions and we
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  Speaker 3: have got people working really really hard on trying to
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  Speaker 3: get the best deals in front of them, as we
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  Speaker 3: have with teachers and police, and hopefully continuing to finish
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  Speaker 3: off the drafting for the correction BBA as well. We
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  Speaker 3: know that, as you've said earlier, it's not about increasing
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  Speaker 3: our debts beyond the sustainable level. It's about trying to
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  Speaker 3: put realistic passages in front of people that does increase
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  Speaker 3: their take home pay enough to keep them, but also
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  Speaker 3: increases the conditions that they work in and around to
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  Speaker 3: encourage them that this is one of the best places
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  Speaker 3: in the nation to bring your families up to live,
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  Speaker 3: to work, to play, and giving them the opportunity to
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  Speaker 3: do that. But yeah, absolutely, with those rate rises that
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  Speaker 3: it's made things tight for people right across the country.
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  Speaker 2: It's bloody hard.
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  Speaker 3: One of the most expensive places still live, we know.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, to put it bluntly, it is bloody hard. It's
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  Speaker 1: so hard for so many people right around the nation,
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  Speaker 1: but g I feel for everybody as those rates go
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  Speaker 1: up and then as you do see more and more
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  Speaker 1: people seeking those services. As we'd said with Saint Vincent
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  Speaker 1: de Paul, for example Curves before I let you go
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  Speaker 1: this morning. We know that you know that there's always
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  Speaker 1: the concern around anti social behavior and some of the
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  Speaker 1: issues that are associated a lot that we don't yet
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  Speaker 1: know really about this situation from overnight, but we certainly
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  Speaker 1: have received information from the Northern Territory Police that they
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  Speaker 1: are investigating a death after receiving reports of an unconscious
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  Speaker 1: adult man in a car park at a shopping precinct
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  Speaker 1: to Entreale Road in Milner last night. Is like I said,
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  Speaker 1: I don't know that there's a huge amount that you
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  Speaker 1: can say about this death, which is now being treated
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  Speaker 1: as suspicious by the Northern Territory Police, but we have
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  Speaker 1: had reports and there's certainly been witnesses say that there
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  Speaker 1: was fighting going on beforehand. It's something in terms of
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  Speaker 1: that fighting and anti social behavior that I know you
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  Speaker 1: as the Business Minister must have been raised with you
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  Speaker 1: pretty often.
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  Speaker 3: Extremely often, and she was, you know, as a family member.
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  Speaker 3: As you know, I know whenever you go anywhere you
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  Speaker 3: will be the same. You're a very public person and
• 13:02
  Speaker 3: people feel, you know, the passion to come in and
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  Speaker 3: speak to you about it. What was really interesting for
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  Speaker 3: me I went to Queensland for a training minister's meeting.
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  Speaker 3: Really a couple of weeks ago. Front page of their
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  Speaker 3: newspapers over there was about anti social behavior, about violence,
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  Speaker 3: and about enacting the Northern Territory style of grog wars
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  Speaker 3: to try and curb behaviors over there. So it's horrible
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  Speaker 3: to think it, but it is happening right across the nation.
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  Speaker 3: Were are problems in in Western Australia as well. But
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  Speaker 3: obviously thoughts go out to the people that are involved
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  Speaker 3: in that very recent incident. Nobody likes to hear of
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  Speaker 3: things like that going on, and you know, will continue
• 13:40
  Speaker 3: to work with police, will continue to do the best
• 13:42
  Speaker 3: we can through big secures to have areas lit up
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  Speaker 3: and as safe as possible, and trying to get security
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  Speaker 3: and make spaces as safe for people to come out
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  Speaker 3: through as they possibly are. Will continue to work with
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  Speaker 3: our screens. We've got some good events playing down there for.
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  Speaker 2: Your course of the year, Minnesota. We are going to
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  Speaker 2: have to leave it there.
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  Speaker 1: I will try and catch up with you as soon
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  Speaker 1: as possible to find out a little bit more of
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  Speaker 1: an update on the EBAs.
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  Speaker 2: Thank you very much for your time this morning, much appreciated.
• 14:07
  Speaker 3: Happy to come on again next week.
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  Speaker 2: Thanks Katie, thank you