Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Darwin Lord Mayor Kon Vatskalis explains why residents will see a 4.5% rate rise this year

Transcript

Darwin Lord Mayor Kon Vatskalis explains why residents will see a 4.5% rate rise this year · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: But joining me in the studio right now is the
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Lord Mayor of Darwin, convat Scalas.
• 0:05
  Speaker 2: Good morning to Kon.
• 0:06
  Speaker 3: Good morning kid in the beautiful dry season day out there.
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: Oh it's still a little bit warm, but it's.
• 0:12
  Speaker 3: It was gorgeous, but probably by four o'clock will be humid.
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: Now Corn, the City of Darwin has delivered the first
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: post pandemic budget and it's headlined by a sixty point
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: five million dollar capital program. It has also seen that
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: those rates are going to go up somewhat four point
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  Speaker 1: five percent on average.
• 0:31
  Speaker 2: Talk us through firstly that capital program.
• 0:34
  Speaker 3: I'll talk to you first through the rags and there's
• 0:36
  Speaker 3: a couple of program. Now we'll get to buy our
• 0:38
  Speaker 3: rags every year. We actually wanted to increase by three percent.
• 0:42
  Speaker 3: In the past three or four years in the pandemic,
• 0:45
  Speaker 3: we didn't increase the rates at talk the year before
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  Speaker 3: the year before this one we increased by twenty a
• 0:50
  Speaker 3: half percent. Unfortunately, we can't keep the raids lot. I
• 0:54
  Speaker 3: mean another cost of living is going up. Unfortunately because
• 0:57
  Speaker 3: of living go up for the council too. Concrete cost
• 1:00
  Speaker 3: to use still cost much to use. We've got level pressures,
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  Speaker 3: so who have to increase the rates because we have
• 1:06
  Speaker 3: to present a balanced budget as required by the legislation.
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  Speaker 1: What does it mean coin in terms of the average
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: amount that it will go up for the everyday Darwin residents, Well, it's.
• 1:17
  Speaker 3: Not good to mean much about a dollar fifty a
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  Speaker 3: week ninety three dollars a year, so it's not a
• 1:24
  Speaker 3: significant amount of money. But you make a difference because
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  Speaker 3: I'm pretty sure that if I close one of the
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  Speaker 3: libraries to save money, people would be up in arms,
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  Speaker 3: especially if I close one of the child Yes, and
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  Speaker 3: that's well, I don't want to do that one.
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  Speaker 1: Look, I think people understand that, particularly given the fact
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  Speaker 1: that for the last couple of years there hasn't been
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  Speaker 1: that rate increase during the pandemic, that there would be
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  Speaker 1: a rate increase.
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  Speaker 2: But I just wonder what.
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: Kind of impact it's going to have on some that
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: ninety three dollars a year. Are there sort of are
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: there discounts or are there different ways that for our
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  Speaker 1: pensioners and some of those people that are maybe doing
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  Speaker 1: it a little bit tougher. Are there are there rebates
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  Speaker 1: for them or what's to go over them?
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  Speaker 3: Have if people got difficultly paying their rags. They come
• 2:03
  Speaker 3: to us and we discuss with them whether they can pay.
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  Speaker 3: We create a plan. Believe it or not, we never
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  Speaker 3: had a problem. Never ever, very few people mister and
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  Speaker 3: missus average does not yet prob with the rage. It's
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  Speaker 3: sometimes the big developers they're behind paying their rates rather
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  Speaker 3: than you and me because people they're planning and the
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  Speaker 3: budgeting and they're paying. You can pay upfront, or we
• 2:23
  Speaker 3: can pay in installments, or even better what I do
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  Speaker 3: every fortnight, I put money towards my rates. End of story.
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: Con let's talk about this Capital Works program. So sixty
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: point five million dollar capital program. What is that money
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  Speaker 1: going to be invested on.
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  Speaker 3: It's going to be invested in really everything around town
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  Speaker 3: if you look. The plan will go out today. I've
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  Speaker 3: got four pages from page forty six, forty five to
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  Speaker 3: fifty with Capital Works and on top of it is
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  Speaker 3: the cas Areina swimming pool, which is twenty five million dollars.
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  Speaker 3: Yesterday we had a presentation by the three tenders what
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  Speaker 3: they want to deliver with this money. Casuarina. Yes, it
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  Speaker 3: takes time, but it's not something you go and pick
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  Speaker 3: up in Ikea and you put together. It has to
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  Speaker 3: be planned. He has to be constructed, it has to
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  Speaker 3: be done properly. It's a lot of money. We've got
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  Speaker 3: a lot of money spend duplicating Lip Point Road, spending
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  Speaker 3: money on the suburbs. My focus at the moment is yes,
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  Speaker 3: we spend a lot of money the CBD previous councils.
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  Speaker 3: But mister and missus average living in Nakara Rapid Creek, Caarama,
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  Speaker 3: what do they get back. Well, this time they're going
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  Speaker 3: to get upgrades in their facilities. They're going to get
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  Speaker 3: better lighting, they're going to get more trees in the gardens,
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  Speaker 3: they're going to get infrastructure. We're going to look after
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  Speaker 3: two hundred and twenty two parks we've got and four
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  Speaker 3: hundred and sixty hectores of green space, not to mention
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  Speaker 3: all these sporting facilities which actually significant, and we maintain
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  Speaker 3: them because people want to play sports and they like
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  Speaker 3: playing sports.
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  Speaker 2: We love sport. I love sports.
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  Speaker 1: But coin, I'm sure that we'll have plenty of listeners
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  Speaker 1: get in contact with us with their feedback when it
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  Speaker 1: comes to comes to the budgets.
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  Speaker 2: So we'll take those callsages.
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  Speaker 3: Twenty one days for public consultation. People can write to counsel.
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  Speaker 3: Email to counsel, we read all the emails, we take
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  Speaker 3: into account and then we'll come back to council to
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  Speaker 3: be accepted.
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  Speaker 1: Con I've got a couple of questions from listeners here.
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  Speaker 1: There's one here Shane called in for you. He said
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  Speaker 1: in Geelong, landlords get prosecuted if there's graffiti on their building.
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  Speaker 1: He says it took tourists around. He took tourists around
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  Speaker 1: down and graffiti's everywhere.
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  Speaker 2: Should we be doing.
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  Speaker 1: What Gelong does and actually prosecuting people if they don't
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  Speaker 1: get it cleaned up.
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  Speaker 3: Well, we have a program with the government, an alteratory government,
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  Speaker 3: and thanks very much for that. Provide the grunting. Now
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  Speaker 3: if we see graffiti, we go and clean it up quickly,
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  Speaker 3: and we will continue to do so. And I already
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  Speaker 3: spoke with the government that if the government provides us
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  Speaker 3: extra money we can create the clean army that we'll
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  Speaker 3: go around and clean the area from rubbish and graffiti
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  Speaker 3: and everything else. And I got a really good positive
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  Speaker 3: response from the government.
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  Speaker 1: There's one here that says good morning and hello. Please
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  Speaker 1: ask the Lord Mayor when the two old countable so
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  Speaker 1: going to be cleaned up from the long grass's opposite
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  Speaker 1: Kerry Holden, adjacent to Juke Straight in Stuart.
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  Speaker 3: Park that's on by Kerry Holdens. From my understanding, Hock,
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  Speaker 3: the landlord is suposibility to clean them up. However, are
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  Speaker 3: followed up and we do exactly what we did the
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  Speaker 3: other Send a letter to the landlord Clint Or if
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  Speaker 3: you don't clean the weiklans for you, and we'll send
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  Speaker 3: you the bill. I'm pretty sure after that they will
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  Speaker 3: clean very quickly. Corn.
• 5:24
  Speaker 2: Lots of messages for you this morning. There's another one here.
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  Speaker 1: It says a couple of weeks ago the Lord Mayor
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  Speaker 1: said that they were cutting down trees at Jingly Park.
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  Speaker 1: They closed the Freshwater Road off for two days a
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  Speaker 1: week about a week ago, trim down a few branches
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  Speaker 1: and the mahogany trees right on the side of.
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  Speaker 2: The road, and then packed up. The trees are still remaining.
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  Speaker 1: They are a large danger to the houses on the
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  Speaker 1: opposite side of the road and anyone using the park.
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  Speaker 1: It's only a matter of time before a cyclone takes
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  Speaker 1: them out.
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  Speaker 2: Says that text.
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  Speaker 3: As I said, before we clean the trees and we
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  Speaker 3: cut the trees down that we dim bead to be
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  Speaker 3: dangerous are arbor is going there? Hea, But look at
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  Speaker 3: it now. If they're heavily trimmed, probably would not come
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  Speaker 3: down and cyclone. But I will go back follow up
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  Speaker 3: why it's been trimming there being been removed, and I
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  Speaker 3: will let you know.
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: Con we know that throughout the week we've obviously seen
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: a change in chief minister. We are anticipating that there's
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: potentially going to be a change in some of those
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  Speaker 1: portfolios as well. Do you think that it's a positive
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  Speaker 1: move for the Northern Territory.
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  Speaker 3: I have the pleasure of knowing Natasha very very well.
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  Speaker 3: Actually Natasha worked for nearly four years in my office
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  Speaker 3: when I was a minister. There is a person who
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  Speaker 3: actually listens to people, take into account what they tell her.
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  Speaker 3: As she quickly reacts. Is not never never. And I
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  Speaker 3: have to say that after my spell about crime, I
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  Speaker 3: received a phone called yesterday from Natasa. They told me
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  Speaker 3: that she wants to meet with me and the other
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  Speaker 3: mayors to to discuss the crime situation. And it's a
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  Speaker 3: good sign that me and somebody realizes there's a problem
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  Speaker 3: and she wants to find a solution. And I really
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  Speaker 3: appreciate that.
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  Speaker 1: So obviously the Mayor's aga to be mationing with the
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  Speaker 1: new Chief Minister about the sounds of it.
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  Speaker 3: Oh, yes we will, and we actually already did written
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  Speaker 3: to hear about the situation and highlighted some of the
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  Speaker 3: issues here and Nalie brigs and every whells listen. We've
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  Speaker 3: got a problem. Let's face it, we've got a problem. Crime,
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  Speaker 3: petty crime. Well, I don't know if you call it
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  Speaker 3: the crisis, because I remember the same thing happened with
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  Speaker 3: Casurina a gang many years ago until the then police
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  Speaker 3: commissioner stepped in and kicked their ass. Sorry about the expression,
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  Speaker 3: but that he did that and were resolved. So we
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  Speaker 3: need police action. But at the same time we need
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  Speaker 3: the police needs the backing of the government. A lot
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  Speaker 3: of people say others crime. Yes there is crime, petty crime. Again.
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  Speaker 3: Met with the Casurina owners, the new casino owners. We
• 7:43
  Speaker 3: walked together now to see how can we help them
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  Speaker 3: to minimize crime, throwing stones and everything else. I hear
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  Speaker 3: the grapevine they want to move the bus exchange to
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  Speaker 3: the trial road. Cupid idea, because myself and the new
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  Speaker 3: owners think, why you want to put it but exchanged
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  Speaker 3: next to the licensed premises because you're in a club.
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  Speaker 3: It doesn't make any sense.
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  Speaker 1: Look, I think at the moment as well, what we're
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  Speaker 1: experiencing when it comes to crime is it's sort of
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  Speaker 1: easy for us to go it's petty crime, or it's
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  Speaker 1: you know, it's it's some of it's not hugely terrible,
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  Speaker 1: but it's stuff that's impacting, you know, people say every
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  Speaker 1: day life. Like yesterday we spoke to a we spoke
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  Speaker 1: to the Northern Territory Police.
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  Speaker 2: They confirmed that one.
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  Speaker 1: Of our listeners who we'd spoken to the day before,
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  Speaker 1: she'd had a vehicle stolen, wound up that a twelve
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  Speaker 1: year old was arrested after driving it off an embankment.
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  Speaker 2: You go, that's actually like it's it is terrible. It's
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  Speaker 2: a terrible situation.
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  Speaker 1: But then you know you add to that, even people
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  Speaker 1: getting in contact saying Katie, I went to put petrol
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  Speaker 1: in my car, you know, had three girls approach them
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  Speaker 1: and threatened to bash them. Things like that that we
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  Speaker 1: just do not need. It's changing our lifestyle in the
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  Speaker 1: territory for the sure.
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  Speaker 3: Agree with you, and I think we sometimes we might
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  Speaker 3: have to get tought. Bekind I would suggest that actually
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  Speaker 3: the government should have a look really because the crime
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  Speaker 3: committed by young kids. What is young tick kids doing
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  Speaker 3: out there? What their parents doing out there? Where do
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  Speaker 3: they live? And the other thing is the young kids
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  Speaker 3: it seems not to have a future. We lock them
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  Speaker 3: in dawn Dale. Is this the best solution? How about
• 9:12
  Speaker 3: we create a system where all these young kids if
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  Speaker 3: they break the law, instead of doing be locked in
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  Speaker 3: watching television, they actually have to attend the school. And
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  Speaker 3: if they attend the school and they get and they pass,
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  Speaker 3: then they can get out earlier than the sentence. So
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  Speaker 3: give them something in future. How about some of the
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  Speaker 3: young boys go to like apprenticeship, they learn to do something,
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  Speaker 3: get some future in their lives. You can't just sit
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  Speaker 3: there and says, oh, well they're young pig kids. So
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  Speaker 3: these are actually young kids. Now they're going to be
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  Speaker 3: the young criminals of tomorrow.
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: Con if you had a wish list when it comes
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: to some of the crime and anti social behavior that
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: we are saying right now, what would you like to
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  Speaker 1: see changed or what would you like to see happening.
• 9:53
  Speaker 3: I would like to see more police on the street.
• 9:55
  Speaker 3: I would like to see the police station back in
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  Speaker 3: caser in a shopping square like it was before would
• 10:00
  Speaker 3: like to see, you know, not tolerate two, three, four,
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  Speaker 3: five times bailed two strike, Sure you're out. I can't
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  Speaker 3: see it. Yeah, you make a mistake. We accept that one.
• 10:10
  Speaker 3: But if you make it again, you don't get bailed.
• 10:12
  Speaker 3: You go somewhere. But as I do you before, don't
• 10:14
  Speaker 3: lock them up. Give them something to do. People talk
• 10:16
  Speaker 3: about boot camps. Boot camps are right, but they can't
• 10:19
  Speaker 3: even already write how they're going to get the future.
• 10:22
  Speaker 3: Let's give them an opportunity. And I had to say
• 10:24
  Speaker 3: that Alfred was on the other side of politics many
• 10:28
  Speaker 3: ways ago, but he did one good thing sentence to
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  Speaker 3: a job that was a brilliant plan. This is something
• 10:35
  Speaker 3: we should bring back online for the older criminals, but
• 10:38
  Speaker 3: the young kids that actually they don't have a future.
• 10:40
  Speaker 3: Send them to school, make them sit there and tell
• 10:43
  Speaker 3: them if you pass the mark, then instead of sitting
• 10:46
  Speaker 3: there six months, you might come out a month earlier.
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  Speaker 3: Something to give them a future.
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  Speaker 1: Well, Colin, let's wait and see how it all goes
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: under the new Chief Finister's leadyship. We appreciate your time
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: this morning, Thanks for having you very soon.
• 11:00
  Speaker 3: I'm very passionate about US city and if I say
• 11:02
  Speaker 3: something is yes my plans. I'm not perfect, but at
• 11:05
  Speaker 3: least somebody comes up with ideas well.
• 11:08
  Speaker 2: Con we appreciate you coming in and having a chat
• 11:10
  Speaker 2: to us about