Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / The Big Issues - Tuesday 27 April 2021

Transcript

The Big Issues - Tuesday 27 April 2021 · 360 with Katie Woolf

0:00
Speaker 1: Hello, Katie Wolf and three sixty online at Mixed one
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Speaker 1: O four nine dot com.
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Speaker 2: You are listening to Mix one O four point nine's
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Speaker 2: three sixty and it is well that time on a
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Speaker 2: Tuesday morning, joining us live in the studio for the
0:14
Speaker 2: big issues We've got Dave Tolner, Good morning, Dive.
0:17
Speaker 1: Great to be with you, Katie Well.
0:19
Speaker 2: I thought we had Matt Cunningham, but he is out
0:21
Speaker 2: at Howard.
0:21
Speaker 1: Springs, so she's obviously looking very sick.
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Speaker 2: If you do you, Maddie Headworth, emergency sub.
0:33
Speaker 3: The emergency sub rule, the twenty third man.
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Speaker 4: You got a baptism off the other day.
0:44
Speaker 2: I heard, oh, and you guys wouldn't let him get off.
0:47
Speaker 1: Get to the news, get out.
0:53
Speaker 2: Of The big issues are brought to you by Kolano
0:55
Speaker 2: Community Organization Association, I should say an aborage, a line
1:00
Speaker 2: operated and community led organization from the top end to
1:03
Speaker 2: Tenant Creek. Now, the thing that I want to talk
1:06
Speaker 2: about first this morning is well is the repatriation flights
1:10
Speaker 2: still coming to the Northern Territory, still coming to Darwin
1:13
Speaker 2: from India. Now it is being reported on the Northern
1:17
Speaker 2: Territory News at the top end will now bear the
1:19
Speaker 2: brunt of COVID nineteen cases from India after Sydney's direct
1:23
Speaker 2: flights from the virus stricken country were canceled on Tuesday morning.
1:28
Speaker 2: Now Sky News so it could be our good mate
1:30
Speaker 2: Matt Cunningham out there at Howard Springs reporting that all
1:34
Speaker 2: commercial flights from India to Australia will be halted, but
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Speaker 2: that limited repatriation flights to Howard Springs will continue. Now
1:43
Speaker 2: it is being reported that an additional flight from the
1:46
Speaker 2: subcontinent could be scheduled for May sixth, in an apparent
1:49
Speaker 2: backflip on last week's announcement to defer all those Indian
1:53
Speaker 2: flights to June. So sky News is reporting that all
1:56
Speaker 2: returning Australians from India will go to the Howard Springs
2:00
Speaker 2: facility in the Northern Territory for quarantine. So, as I said,
2:04
Speaker 2: just to give you a bit of context, we here
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Speaker 2: in the territory at the moment have now got fifty
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Speaker 2: three total active cases. They are all out at Howard Springs.
2:12
Speaker 2: Natasha Fhiles did say on the show earlier this morning.
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Speaker 2: Will she alluded to the fact that we can expect
2:17
Speaker 2: more later today. I feel comfortable that they are out
2:21
Speaker 2: there at Howard Springs under the care of the OSMAT team,
2:24
Speaker 2: under the care of the National Critical Care and Trauma
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Speaker 2: Response Crew. But just to give you some context, in
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Speaker 2: New South Wales they now have ninety two active cases.
2:36
Speaker 2: In Victoria they've got twenty three active cases. So this
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Speaker 2: is the highest number of active cases that we have
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Speaker 2: ever had in the Northern Territory out there at Howard Springs.
2:47
Speaker 2: And we are handing over the rains next week to
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Speaker 2: the Northern Territories Health Department.
2:52
Speaker 1: This is just fantastic pandemic pawn.
2:57
Speaker 4: This is something for all the friends out there now
3:00
Speaker 4: get their jollys from this.
3:02
Speaker 1: We've got.
3:04
Speaker 2: Us that you do think that out there at Howard Springs,
3:07
Speaker 2: that you know that the Ozmat team our best place
3:10
Speaker 2: to be managing things.
3:11
Speaker 4: Out They look without a doubt there they're the front
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Speaker 4: line of our of our critical and Trauma Response center.
3:19
Speaker 4: You know that that is the front line of Australia's
3:22
Speaker 4: health system in a lot of ways. And and they're
3:26
Speaker 4: specially skilled at this sort of stuff and they've been
3:28
Speaker 4: doing a great job. And Lenda Taras runs a very
3:31
Speaker 4: slick team out there. When you look at sort of
3:34
Speaker 4: what's with other state governments around the country and the
3:38
Speaker 4: way they've managed quarantine it hasn't been particularly uh, you know,
3:43
Speaker 4: it's not coven and glory.
3:45
Speaker 2: It's so Dave, do you reckon that we just keep
3:47
Speaker 2: flights coming in from India at this point or do
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Speaker 2: you think they're.
3:52
Speaker 4: Well? Lenda Taras and his team are at the helm
3:54
Speaker 4: and looking after the show, you know, providing their comfortable
4:00
Speaker 4: doing what they're doing. I think there's no problems.
4:03
Speaker 2: But then when it turns over next week, because that's
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Speaker 2: due to happen next week, Well that's a big.
4:08
Speaker 1: If, isn't it. You know.
4:10
Speaker 4: I got to say, having been a health minister, I
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Speaker 4: know the people in our health departments here and the
4:14
Speaker 4: doctors and the nurses are incredibly efficient and they do a.
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Speaker 2: Wonderful, joonderful job, no doubt.
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Speaker 1: A lot is.
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Speaker 4: Left to desire by the department itself, more often than not,
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Speaker 4: will get in the way of doctors and nurses doing
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Speaker 4: their job. So that's certainly not a problem with the
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Speaker 4: National Critic Care and Trauma Center. They're a much leaner
4:37
Speaker 4: organization and the right people are making the calls. But
4:42
Speaker 4: I suppose it's sort of a bit up in the air.
4:44
Speaker 4: What could happen.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, And I just feel like it's a risky time
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Speaker 2: to be changing the management of Howard Springs now when
4:52
Speaker 2: we've got more cases out there at Howard Springs than
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Speaker 2: we've ever had before. And Dave, I know, you know, look,
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Speaker 2: I know you're making fun of me at the start
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Speaker 2: there about it being COVID porn. But at the end
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Speaker 2: of the day, you know, we are talking more cases
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Speaker 2: than we've ever had, and then to change over the
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Speaker 2: management in the middle of that, I feel worried about.
5:10
Speaker 4: Well, I mean, just because we've got cases doesn't necessarily
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Speaker 4: there's a great threat. You know, it depends on who's infected.
5:17
Speaker 4: I suppose the great worry is that it gets into
5:20
Speaker 4: the community and into particularly the age care sector. That's
5:24
Speaker 4: a real worry. And you've sort of seen how state
5:27
Speaker 4: governments have managed that around the country, and they haven't
5:29
Speaker 4: done a particularly good job of it. Where it's you know,
5:33
Speaker 4: in the Northern Territory, we've been very fortunate. We've got
5:36
Speaker 4: that National Critical Care and Trauma Center based up here,
5:39
Speaker 4: and we have that Howard Springs facility that seems to
5:42
Speaker 4: be well managed at the moment.
5:45
Speaker 3: And I guess the fifty three the Health Minister seemed
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Speaker 3: comfortable with at the moment as well, pressed to give
5:51
Speaker 3: a figure at what point they could no longer accept
5:54
Speaker 3: those repatriation flights if another flight came in May, which yeh,
5:57
Speaker 3: I did think the news that we heard last week
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Speaker 3: was that all May flights were going to be deferred
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Speaker 3: until June. I think it was. But it's only a
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Speaker 3: fifty three is okay, provided they're all within quarantine there.
6:09
Speaker 3: But what we've saent in other states and territories is
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Speaker 3: it gets into the community through whether it be security guards,
6:16
Speaker 3: workers not wearing the right PPE, and then there's community
6:20
Speaker 3: transmission that way. So obviously, as this transition continues, and
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Speaker 3: it's something that the government, despite criticism, have said that
6:26
Speaker 3: they're going to keep pressing on with, it does raise
6:30
Speaker 3: the question, well, if they are going to do this handover,
6:32
Speaker 3: and it was going to be May four, I think
6:34
Speaker 3: it was the initial May third was going to be
6:37
Speaker 3: the initial handover, you want to make sure that every
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Speaker 3: box that the National Critical Care and Trauma Response enter
6:42
Speaker 3: the Osmack team you do at the moment that the
6:45
Speaker 3: PPE and everything like that nothing is missed because at
6:48
Speaker 3: the time where there are a lot of cases there
6:50
Speaker 3: At the moment, the link between quarantine and community transmission
6:55
Speaker 3: has been those workers that are working within.
6:58
Speaker 1: Those quarantine facilities.
7:00
Speaker 3: So you want to make sure it's part of that
7:01
Speaker 3: handover that every box is ticked because now it's a
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Speaker 3: risk time.
7:05
Speaker 2: Let's not forget four hundred staff is what we're trying
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Speaker 2: to recruit. We're at seventy. You know, like the Health
7:11
Speaker 2: minister did say that we are lit. She's hoping to
7:14
Speaker 2: give an update, but it's sort of it does make
7:16
Speaker 2: him right, And let's.
7:17
Speaker 4: Not get things out of context here. I mean, the
7:19
Speaker 4: reality was you wind the clock back twelve months ago
7:22
Speaker 4: when this pandemic started. The great burry was that our
7:25
Speaker 4: hospitals are not going to be able to cope. Now,
7:28
Speaker 4: no one's in a hospital at the moment, they're in
7:30
Speaker 4: quarantine centers. We have no dramas with our hospitals coping.
7:35
Speaker 4: And like I said at the start, you know there
7:37
Speaker 4: is a more pandemic pawn and you can see why
7:41
Speaker 4: people concerned about it. There's nut job in wa just
7:45
Speaker 4: shut his borders down for three days because.
7:49
Speaker 2: Gown and I wasn't sure who you were talking about.
7:51
Speaker 4: Yeah, well, but you've got to sit there and think,
7:55
Speaker 4: you know, all right, the hospitals can't cope because he's
7:57
Speaker 4: found one case or two cases of community transitions. So
8:01
Speaker 4: you've got to shut an entire state down. You know,
8:04
Speaker 4: That's that's what we've got to now in this country.
8:06
Speaker 4: No longer it's about the hell system closing. It's about
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Speaker 4: trying to completely eradicate the virus from the community. And
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Speaker 4: you know, like I say, I think it's all just gone.
8:16
Speaker 1: I overboard. The Frettings just got out of hand.
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Speaker 2: Well, there are a lot of territories who are pretty
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Speaker 2: concerned about.
8:22
Speaker 1: The people getting very concerned every time you.
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Speaker 2: Pick well, it's more management. I think of that Howard
8:29
Speaker 2: Springs facility. People are a bit concerned about that changeover happening.
8:32
Speaker 1: Right.
8:33
Speaker 4: Well, look, you know that's the case, and I mean
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Speaker 4: Lenda Taris and his team are very efficient. They do
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Speaker 4: a remarkably good job. And you know, any change is there.
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Speaker 2: But tell you what, it's going to be a busy
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Speaker 2: week next week. You know, the change over obviously at
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Speaker 2: Howard Springs, and also the budget being handed test budget
8:48
Speaker 2: week next week, week next week.
8:50
Speaker 1: I'm not ready for that.
8:51
Speaker 4: I don't know that anybody's ready for that. More horror
8:56
Speaker 4: stories to more horror stories. Look, the question I suppose
9:04
Speaker 4: with that National Critical Care and Trauma Center is who
9:07
Speaker 4: picks up the tab, you know, because currently that tab
9:12
Speaker 4: is being picked up by the Commons with all the
9:15
Speaker 4: territory health system pick up the tab after this and
9:18
Speaker 4: or will the COMA wolfs I.
9:19
Speaker 2: Think you're continue to meet their bills. Do you think
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Speaker 2: that that's why the government wants it? Like I kind
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Speaker 2: of just can't understand why they're wanting to transition ash,
9:29
Speaker 2: you know, And I suppose that's what I keep asking that.
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Speaker 3: Being to free up those staff for other tout the
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Speaker 3: OSMAT team for other areas as part of the National
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Speaker 3: Critical Care and Trauma Response Center, should they get deployed
9:41
Speaker 3: to another task tomorrow that they're there and they're available
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Speaker 3: and they're ready, that's the line from the government.
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Speaker 2: Let's head across to another story which is certainly being
9:52
Speaker 2: reported all around Australia at the moment, and I'm just
9:54
Speaker 2: reading from the Australian that reads one of the nation's
9:57
Speaker 2: most powerful national security leaders has declared the drums of
10:01
Speaker 2: war are beating and Australia must be prepared to send
10:05
Speaker 2: off yet again our warriors to fight. Home Affairs Secretary
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Speaker 2: Michael Pizzullo, who is tipped to take the job at Defense,
10:15
Speaker 2: said he's said in his ANZAC Day message to staff
10:18
Speaker 2: that Australia must strive for peace, but not at the
10:21
Speaker 2: cost of our precious liberty. It is a mere growing
10:25
Speaker 2: tensions between the West and China, with Taiwan a potential
10:29
Speaker 2: flash point. Mister Pizzola said free nations continued to face
10:34
Speaker 2: the sorrowful challenge of being armed, strong and ready for war.
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Speaker 1: Jeez, that's speech apparently to stay not reassuring it.
10:48
Speaker 2: Dawn Service, noting this year's ANZAC Day fell on obviously
10:52
Speaker 2: the seventeenth year of the A and Z US alliance
10:56
Speaker 2: and alliance, I think I've said that back to front.
10:59
Speaker 2: He cited the two of the US most revered military figures,
11:04
Speaker 2: General Douglas MacArthur and President Dwight Erkinshower, for whom for
11:12
Speaker 2: whom was a last resort Eisenhower, what do you reason
11:17
Speaker 2: about this time besides my pronunciation.
11:20
Speaker 4: Look, I think it's it's a little bit over blow.
11:25
Speaker 4: You know that the reality is China is still our
11:27
Speaker 4: single largest trading partner and a lot of the wealth
11:30
Speaker 4: that we have in the prosperity of this country is
11:34
Speaker 4: complements of that relationship.
11:35
Speaker 2: And seem like there's tension growing, though.
11:38
Speaker 4: Without a doubt there's a tension, But you know, I
11:40
Speaker 4: think times like this is when we really need to
11:42
Speaker 4: crank up a diplomatic efforts, particularly coming off the back
11:47
Speaker 4: of Inzact. Though you know, the thought of going into
11:49
Speaker 4: another war again is horrifying for a lot of people.
11:53
Speaker 3: That was quite fear amongering what he said there. I
11:55
Speaker 3: found a lot of those those comments to be exactly that.
11:58
Speaker 3: And what's tensions are increasing? Yeah, I think no one's
12:01
Speaker 3: under the illusion that we're going to war tomorrow. So
12:04
Speaker 3: those comments, particularly on ans A Day as well, quite
12:07
Speaker 3: fear among it.
12:07
Speaker 2: And there, I mean, there's been a lot of discussion
12:10
Speaker 2: about our relationship with China. I note that the port
12:12
Speaker 2: has come up again. It feels like it's a roundabout
12:15
Speaker 2: that we continue to go on. It does seem as
12:18
Speaker 2: though it's getting sort of a bit of extra scrutiny
12:22
Speaker 2: at this point in time. I mean, Dave, would you reckon.
12:24
Speaker 1: Well, there's support.
12:25
Speaker 4: There's also that big water license in Central Australia that's
12:29
Speaker 4: been talked about. But I've got to say, I feel
12:32
Speaker 4: sorry for these investors, you know, the port. I'd be surprised,
12:37
Speaker 4: you know, when they bought into the port, the economy
12:40
Speaker 4: was bubbling along at ten and a half percent growth.
12:43
Speaker 4: It was the strongest growth we had in the nation
12:45
Speaker 4: and in the developed world. And they paid I think
12:49
Speaker 4: twenty five times what the port was worth at the time,
12:52
Speaker 4: thinking that there's going to be a strong relationship with
12:56
Speaker 4: China and we'd be creating new trade routes and the
12:59
Speaker 4: Rahway line finally be working and all of that sort
13:02
Speaker 4: of stuff, and the world has changed dramatically, and you
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Speaker 4: sort of struggle to see how the Chinese can possibly
13:09
Speaker 4: make a go of that port now that sorry land bridge,
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Speaker 4: not the Chinese land bridge, the company can make a
13:15
Speaker 4: go of that considering the way that the world has
13:17
Speaker 4: changed from since they did the deal. And the other
13:21
Speaker 4: one with the water licenses and that sort of stuff. Yeah,
13:24
Speaker 4: well maybe they might have a license, but you know,
13:26
Speaker 4: you know, and I know that nothing happens easily in
13:29
Speaker 4: the territory, and I can't imagine, you know, it's a
13:32
Speaker 4: long way from market for anything that they grow in
13:35
Speaker 4: Central Australia. There's a lot of logistic problems and if
13:38
Speaker 4: anybody thinks that the Chinese are going to just walk
13:41
Speaker 4: in and rape Australia in central Australia, they've got another
13:45
Speaker 4: thing coming.
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Speaker 1: I think.
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Speaker 2: Do you still reckon that that port lease was a
13:48
Speaker 2: good idea?
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Speaker 4: Oh, without a doubt, without a doubt, that we had
13:53
Speaker 4: more than a billion dollars of bills occurring at that port.
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Speaker 1: You know.
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Speaker 4: You might recall the crane had fallen off, but we
14:00
Speaker 4: couldn't even afford to replace the crane on the port.
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Speaker 2: And was sort of situation as well where the government
14:07
Speaker 2: at the time, and I know you were part of
14:08
Speaker 2: the government at the time that you actually asked the
14:10
Speaker 2: federal government for some support in the.
14:13
Speaker 4: First around everywhere. And of course the previous government had
14:17
Speaker 4: made big song and dance about it, you know, asking
14:21
Speaker 4: Infrastructure Australia for money, and anthan the Albanezi at the
14:24
Speaker 4: time was the Infrastructure Minister, and I recall him sitting there,
14:28
Speaker 4: Oh no, you can't. You know, that's just a waste
14:31
Speaker 4: of money. You know, we won't be putting money into
14:32
Speaker 4: the narw And port. You know. So the Australian government
14:36
Speaker 4: had been put up or asked several times. The Americans
14:41
Speaker 4: they've got no real trade or interest here in the
14:44
Speaker 4: Northern Territories apart from a military outpost. So you know,
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Speaker 4: our view was, how do we get the port working,
14:51
Speaker 4: where's the trade happening, and the trade is happening in
14:53
Speaker 4: our very near north, and to create trade routes it
14:59
Speaker 4: was something that we're very keen on. So we were
15:01
Speaker 4: particularly looking to China, to Singapore, to the Emirates to
15:07
Speaker 4: see where we could break into those trading routes. And
15:11
Speaker 4: you know, the Belton Road initiative. Now it's become a
15:14
Speaker 4: bad word, but at the time, a new trade route
15:17
Speaker 4: running past the front door of Darwin looked pretty appealing
15:20
Speaker 4: to us in the Northern Territory government.
15:23
Speaker 2: I mean, Dave, do you find it like, do you
15:25
Speaker 2: find it interesting?
15:26
Speaker 3: Now?
15:26
Speaker 2: Then when you do have some of our federal ministers
15:29
Speaker 2: come out and go all right, well it was a
15:30
Speaker 2: bad idea, but at that point in time there sort
15:33
Speaker 2: of wasn't that.
15:34
Speaker 4: I think there's a lack of understanding about North Australia.
15:39
Speaker 4: Generally in Australia they don't actually understand how much of
15:42
Speaker 4: the money they're pouring into this joint anyhow, and what
15:45
Speaker 4: a drag it is on the whole national economy. The
15:48
Speaker 4: reality though is, you know, the Northern Territory there's only
15:52
Speaker 4: two hundred and forty thousand of us. We've got access
15:55
Speaker 4: to minerals, oil and gas, a whole range of different opportunities,
16:02
Speaker 4: you know, clean clean sky, clear water, markets of billions
16:07
Speaker 4: of people to our knee and north. There's an enormous
16:10
Speaker 4: lot of things that the territory has going for us.
16:13
Speaker 4: You know, we should be the ones that are providing
16:15
Speaker 4: the support to the rust bucket states down south, rather
16:19
Speaker 4: than the other way around, living off the taxes of
16:21
Speaker 4: other Australians. And to me, that's that's always been a
16:27
Speaker 4: motivating factor when I was in government. How do we
16:29
Speaker 4: turn the territory around to the point where we provide
16:32
Speaker 4: the welfare for the rest of the country, not the
16:35
Speaker 4: other way around. We seem to see ourselves up here
16:37
Speaker 4: as victims of remoteness, of all sorts of social problems
16:43
Speaker 4: and the like. I tend to think that it's a bit,
16:46
Speaker 4: you know, that the opportunity is far out weighither.
16:49
Speaker 2: Well. We've got a lot of messages coming through this morning,
16:51
Speaker 2: quite a few of them about how it springs. I've
16:53
Speaker 2: got one here though, one of our texters asking are
16:56
Speaker 2: there strategic security implications of the portland?
17:01
Speaker 4: Well, this is a good question. Everyone's got, oh it's
17:04
Speaker 4: a strategic disaster. But do you sit there the very
17:08
Speaker 4: next question you sit there and say, all right, well
17:10
Speaker 4: what are they? What are these defend strategic issues that exist?
17:17
Speaker 4: I mean, the reality is nothing comes over the port
17:20
Speaker 4: without aquisty and and a whole range of other government
17:25
Speaker 4: bureaucracies involved. Every single container that comes across the port
17:29
Speaker 4: in Darwin is cracked open. That's not the case in
17:32
Speaker 4: any port, any other port in Australia. You know, I
17:37
Speaker 4: seriously struggle to understand where. You know, the port itself
17:41
Speaker 4: is regulated by the by the Utilities Commission. It's not
17:47
Speaker 4: regulated by land Bridge or some Chinese organization. So you know,
17:51
Speaker 4: where are the strategic issues? I can't see any at all.
17:55
Speaker 4: The strategic issue, overwhelming strategic issue in my mind, is
18:00
Speaker 4: the fact that there's no industry in the Northern Territory.
18:02
Speaker 4: There's very little industry indeed, and if we want to
18:06
Speaker 4: base military up here and we want ships and military
18:10
Speaker 4: equipment and all of that sort of stuff, the only
18:13
Speaker 4: way to get that is to grow industry. And we're
18:16
Speaker 4: not going to have strong industry here unless we develop it,
18:20
Speaker 4: and trade is one of those ways of developing industry.
18:24
Speaker 4: If you have a look at the Economic Reconstruction Commission
18:26
Speaker 4: and everything that they've put out, they want to see
18:29
Speaker 4: the economy grow. They want to see more industry here.
18:33
Speaker 4: Downstream processing of gas is a whole range of things
18:37
Speaker 4: that would see us grow industry to the point where
18:41
Speaker 4: we can maintain and service military equipment. The fact is
18:44
Speaker 4: everything that comes here has to go either Singapore or
18:47
Speaker 4: Keynes for servicing. If it's a ship, the tanks have
18:50
Speaker 4: moved to South Australia for servicing. Very little happens here
18:54
Speaker 4: because we don't have the industry.
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Speaker 2: You are listening to the Big Issues and Dave Toller
18:58
Speaker 2: and Matti Hipworth in the studio with us this morning,
19:01
Speaker 2: and the Big Issue is brought to you by Kolano
19:03
Speaker 2: Community Association.
19:05
Speaker 3: Three sixty with Katie wolf On Mixed one oh four
19:08
Speaker 3: point nine.
19:09
Speaker 1: Thanks to Joyce Main Darwin joining.
19:11
Speaker 2: Us in the studio for the Big Issues. He is
19:13
Speaker 2: Dave Tolner and Mattie Hepwork. Because Matt Cunningham is out
19:25
Speaker 2: at Howard Springs. I'm not too sure what he's doing,
19:27
Speaker 2: we might have to quarantine any quarantined No, I think
19:31
Speaker 2: he's out there doing a story. But of course a
19:34
Speaker 2: big issues brought to you by Kolano Community Association. Now,
19:37
Speaker 2: do just want to take your cross actually to a
19:39
Speaker 2: message that we've just received from a listener, and it says, Hi, Katie,
19:42
Speaker 2: the word is that the budget will be delivered by
19:45
Speaker 2: Gunner next week with no room for questioning or input
19:49
Speaker 2: from an objective third party. This is the same as
19:52
Speaker 2: last year, which was a disgrace. When will they be
19:55
Speaker 2: held accountable? Assist Texter. It says that a few industry
19:59
Speaker 2: bought boycotting the budget breakfast, so I don't know whether
20:04
Speaker 2: that's the case, Dave. I do want to ask you, though, when,
20:07
Speaker 2: because you have beat you with how many budgets? Did
20:09
Speaker 2: you had four budgets? Gee whiz, so you had four
20:13
Speaker 2: budgets as the former treasurer of the Northern Territory, did
20:16
Speaker 2: you always have a budget breakfast the next morning? And
20:19
Speaker 2: were people afforded the opportunity to ask questions?
20:21
Speaker 4: Of course, Yeah, of course it's a bit hard to
20:24
Speaker 4: imagine that. Well, it's not a bit hard to imagine
20:27
Speaker 4: it all. It's just it's just what.
20:29
Speaker 1: They do in Labor. I'll go back a couple of
20:32
Speaker 1: years and.
20:34
Speaker 4: Nearly Laurie created the Fiscal Integrity and Transparency Act, which
20:41
Speaker 4: you know, Labour said, oh, this was going to introduce
20:44
Speaker 4: a new year of transparency and fiscal rigor and all
20:50
Speaker 4: about that was all about, you know, being transparent, upfront
20:53
Speaker 4: and honest.
20:54
Speaker 1: And the like.
20:55
Speaker 4: And it outlined a couple of big non as. One
20:58
Speaker 4: was intergenerational. They were totally this is where you leave
21:03
Speaker 4: debt to your kids and your grandkids and your great
21:05
Speaker 4: great grandkids and that sort of stuff. Now, I think
21:09
Speaker 4: in the very first budget I revealed that Labor had
21:13
Speaker 4: breached their own Fiscal Integrity and Transparency Act because they
21:18
Speaker 4: just didn't care about the debt and they were creating
21:22
Speaker 4: into generational debt. And that's why we're so keen to
21:25
Speaker 4: reduce the debt when we were in government. But you know,
21:30
Speaker 4: the interesting thing about the FITTER Act is that there's
21:33
Speaker 4: all of these things that it says that you shouldn't
21:35
Speaker 4: do and the ways that you should act and that
21:37
Speaker 4: sort of stuff, But any breach of the course, there's
21:40
Speaker 4: no penalty, So you've got you've basically got a guideline
21:44
Speaker 4: of how you've got to act, and you know, if
21:46
Speaker 4: you break the rules doesn't matter, No one cares. I
21:50
Speaker 4: just think it's par for the course. And you're seeing
21:53
Speaker 4: exactly the same thing now. Michael Garner, you might recall,
21:56
Speaker 4: came in saying, oh, you know, we need transparency, open
22:00
Speaker 4: and accountability and all of these things. And he went
22:03
Speaker 4: on a listening to her, and you know, it was
22:06
Speaker 4: all about communicating better with territories. But of course the
22:10
Speaker 4: reality is all that stuff just goes out the window.
22:13
Speaker 4: And I've always said, don't listen to what they say,
22:16
Speaker 4: look at what they do, because what they do is
22:19
Speaker 4: completely opposite of what they say.
22:21
Speaker 2: And that goes for both sides of politics. Does It
22:24
Speaker 2: does go for both sides. Both sides are doing bessaged.
22:29
Speaker 4: But you've got to actually observe the facts, Katie. The
22:32
Speaker 4: facts are that labor never balanced and they never changed.
22:38
Speaker 4: What you would say that, But I'm just being honest
22:41
Speaker 4: with you and straight up, the reality.
22:43
Speaker 2: Is no matter who the budget, there is no doubt that,
22:47
Speaker 2: no matter who is in power, when you're handing down
22:50
Speaker 2: a budget, there should be the opportunity for people to
22:52
Speaker 2: be able to question it. I can't confirm that we
22:54
Speaker 2: will have the Chief Minister on the show the morning
22:57
Speaker 2: after the budgets delivered. Dave, what do you reckon? We
22:59
Speaker 2: might need to change the Big Issues back to Wednesday
23:02
Speaker 2: next week so you and and Damien can come in
23:04
Speaker 2: after the budgets.
23:07
Speaker 4: We could come in and question the treasurer can They're
23:18
Speaker 4: not up to scrutiny. That's just the reality. They never
23:21
Speaker 4: have been, they never will be. It's par for the course,
23:24
Speaker 4: you know, duck and weave and dodge questions, do everything
23:27
Speaker 4: you can and just keep racking up debt.
23:29
Speaker 2: Well, goodness, may you've heard it there from from Dave. Hey, Dave,
23:33
Speaker 2: what do you reckon?
23:34
Speaker 3: Though?
23:34
Speaker 2: Wednesday maybe next week rather than Tuesday. We'll check with
23:36
Speaker 2: Damien for that.
23:37
Speaker 1: It's a fuller that's always surprised.
23:42
Speaker 2: Maddie ever, thank you for stepping in as well. Good
23:45
Speaker 2: on you both. Thank you you are listening to Mix
23:49
Speaker 2: one O four point nine three point sixty. That was
23:52
Speaker 2: the Big Issues proudly brought to you by the Kolaro
23:55
Speaker 2: Community Association and Aboriginal OANED operated and community lead organization.
24:00
Speaker 2: From the top end to tennant Craig