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Katie Woolf spoke with Opposition Leader Lia Finocchiaro · 360 with Katie Woolf

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  Speaker 1: The leader of the Opposition, Lea Finocchio.
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  Speaker 2: Good morning, Good morning Katie, and good morning to your listeners.
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  Speaker 3: Now, Leah, the Gunner Government's been criticized for eroding accountability
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  Speaker 3: after surprise changes in parliament yesterday to abolish the Legislative
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  Speaker 3: Scrutiny Committee and reduce the number of questions which the
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  Speaker 3: opposition and independent members can ask in parliament. Now, you
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  Speaker 3: say the move stinks of arrogance and hubris, with the
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  Speaker 3: Gunner Labor government deciding to shut down the Parliament's Legislative
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  Speaker 3: Scrutiny Committee as a priority order of business in the
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  Speaker 3: new Territory parliament. Leah, when did you find out that
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  Speaker 3: this was all going to be happening.
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  Speaker 2: Look, we're absolutely disgusted at this move. It is arrogant,
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  Speaker 2: it is smug and it breaks an election promise from
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  Speaker 2: the Gunna Labor government. When the sessional orders were tabled yesterday,
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  Speaker 2: we absolutely oppose the changes. And let's not forget this
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  Speaker 2: is from a Gunner Labor government who in twenty sixteen
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  Speaker 2: came into power on a promise of being open, transparent
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  Speaker 2: and accountable. They all created an opportunity for Territorians to
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  Speaker 2: participate in our parliamentary process. They sung the praises of
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  Speaker 2: the scrutiny committee, They sung the praises of having Wednesday
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  Speaker 2: as non government question time to ensure that there was
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  Speaker 2: even greater opportunity for scrutiny. And now what we've seen
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  Speaker 2: is a complete and utter backflip from the Labor government
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  Speaker 2: on two of these really fundamental and important changes that
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  Speaker 2: they made, which should be continuing on it. Now.
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  Speaker 3: Leah, let's just to really sort of break this down
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  Speaker 3: for our listeners because there will be people who are
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  Speaker 3: listening right now thinking, oh, well, you know, if changes
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  Speaker 3: are made. Of course she's going to complain because she's
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  Speaker 3: the opposition later, but I want to make it really
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  Speaker 3: clear to listeners exactly what these changes mean.
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  Speaker 1: So firstly, talk us through what.
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  Speaker 3: These scrutiny committees do and how this is going to
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  Speaker 3: impact everyday territorians.
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  Speaker 2: Absolutely, Katie. So what happened in twenty sixteen is the government,
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  Speaker 2: in recognizing that the previous government had lost its way
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  Speaker 2: and they wanted to reform the parliament and reform the
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  Speaker 2: democratic process. They created a committee made up of all
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  Speaker 2: different members of Parliament and they looked at how we
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  Speaker 2: could open the parliament up to the people. Now that
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  Speaker 2: was a government led committee to try and work out
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  Speaker 2: what to do. One of the key recommendations of the
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  Speaker 2: work done by that committee was to create a legislative
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  Speaker 2: Scrutiny Committee, which meant that when government brought or anyone
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  Speaker 2: brought legislation into the Parliament, it would go off to
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  Speaker 2: a committee which is made up of the gain all
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  Speaker 2: members of the Parliament to not just government, and then
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  Speaker 2: that committee would seek expressions from the public. They would
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  Speaker 2: be able to the public would be able to make
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  Speaker 2: submissions to the committee. There was a process where the
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  Speaker 2: committee could hold public hearings so that people who were
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  Speaker 2: concerned or wanted to see some slight changes or who
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  Speaker 2: raised unintended consequences of legislation could provide that information to
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  Speaker 2: the committee. So comity would then report back what a.
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  Speaker 3: Good example of this has been under the last government.
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  Speaker 3: Would the changes to sex workers be an example?
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  Speaker 1: Do you think?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, Look, that's one example. We had a piece of
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  Speaker 2: domestic violence legislation where the committee recommended that the government
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  Speaker 2: go back to consultation and not go forward with that legislation.
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  Speaker 2: So there was a lot of legislation that went through
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  Speaker 2: the Scrutiny committee process. It would recommend to the government
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  Speaker 2: what it should or shouldn't change. That was government's prerogative
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  Speaker 2: whether or not to take the advice of the Scrutiny Committee,
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  Speaker 2: and there were a number of occasions where the government
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  Speaker 2: didn't accept the recommendations of the committee, but it was
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  Speaker 2: a very open process. Now the government's being a bit
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  Speaker 2: cute trying to say that my objection to removing this
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  Speaker 2: committee is because I don't have a confidence in my team,
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  Speaker 2: which is an absolute load of rubbish. It doesn't do
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  Speaker 2: away with the need for members of Parliament to engage
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  Speaker 2: in their own stakeholder consultation, in their own review of
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  Speaker 2: the legislation. But what it did is provide a formal
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  Speaker 2: pathway for territories to engage in the process, and it
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  Speaker 2: was a key plank of their election promise. It was
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  Speaker 2: a key part of their you know, renewing democracy and
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  Speaker 2: the territory. And we've just seen a total backflip and
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  Speaker 2: any excuse around from the government saying that this was
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  Speaker 2: created because the opposition was inadequate is absolutely rubbish. There's
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  Speaker 2: no evidence that the government created scrutiny committees because of
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  Speaker 2: the makeup of our last parliament. It was all because
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  Speaker 2: of their vision to ensure that they reform the parliament
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  Speaker 2: and you know, engage Territorians in the process.
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  Speaker 1: Now, Leah, what about question time? What is going to
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  Speaker 1: be happening now with question time?
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  Speaker 3: Because on Wednesdays, over the last four years, it's been
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  Speaker 3: a situation where the opposition and the independents have the
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  Speaker 3: opportunity to run the agenda around question time and ask
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  Speaker 3: the questions that you know, the raise issues that are
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  Speaker 3: being raised with you by everyday territorians. Is that continuing
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  Speaker 3: to happen.
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  Speaker 2: Well, this is again another step in avoiding scrutiny. And
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  Speaker 2: we know the Gunner government are clearly don't like accountability
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  Speaker 2: and we've seen you know, it's incredible that the first
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  Speaker 2: thing they have done in Parliament is abolish a legislative
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  Speaker 2: Scrutiny Committee and shrink the number of questions they can
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  Speaker 2: be asked by the opposition on a Wednesday. So under
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  Speaker 2: the previous parliament, Wednesday question time was only non government
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  Speaker 2: members asking questions, so that was the opposition and independent
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  Speaker 2: members could fire away for the whole hour. Now what
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  Speaker 2: they've done, because they're hiding and running from scrutiny, is
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  Speaker 2: made sure that they've harmed the number of questions the
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  Speaker 2: non government members can ask, and in their place, they're
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  Speaker 2: going to allow government backbenchers to ask themselves questions so
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  Speaker 2: that they can all pat each other on the back.
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  Speaker 2: That is not what our democracy is for. That is
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  Speaker 2: not what our Parliament's for. And again it's just another
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  Speaker 2: measure that they're taking to erode the territory's ability to
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  Speaker 2: scrutinize the government.
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  Speaker 3: Leah, is this just bad luck for the opposition? I mean,
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  Speaker 3: you guys didn't win at the election and the government
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  Speaker 3: can realistically do whatever they want. They've got the majority.
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  Speaker 3: This is the way that part works in other states.
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  Speaker 3: Are you just being a spoiled sport?
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  Speaker 2: Absolutely not, Katie. This is a government who promised to
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  Speaker 2: be open, transparent and accountable. They've operated under this model
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  Speaker 2: in the pursuit of greater transparency, in the pursuit of
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  Speaker 2: reforming out and improving our democracy. And now what we've seen,
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  Speaker 2: as soon as it going gets a bit tough, is
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  Speaker 2: them run away from the opportunity to have the level
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  Speaker 2: of scrutiny. We're running scared. They've got an eight strong
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  Speaker 2: opposition and now they're shutting down any other mechanism they can,
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  Speaker 2: which is going to put them under the blow torch.
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  Speaker 3: Now very quickly, Leah, what's going to happen today then
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  Speaker 3: in question time? So you're not going the opposition and
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  Speaker 3: independents aren't going to have the opportunity to ask as
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  Speaker 3: many questions as you'd like, as you usually would on
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  Speaker 3: a Wednesday only I want to add, you're not going
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  Speaker 3: to have the opportunity to do that.
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  Speaker 2: That's correct. So today during question time we will have
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  Speaker 2: half the number of questions as normal. Excuse me, So
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  Speaker 2: there will be a lot of questions that are going
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  Speaker 2: to be asked by the government to the government so
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  Speaker 2: that they can high five each other and pat each
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  Speaker 2: other on the back and tell each other what a
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  Speaker 2: wonderful job they're doing. Really, what question time is for
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  Speaker 2: is scrutinizing the government and ensuring that we hold them
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  Speaker 2: to account.
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  Speaker 3: And look, I think that this, you know, for me,
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  Speaker 3: this is disappointing. I know that obviously you've got your
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  Speaker 3: political lines that you'll run about the Labor Party. The
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  Speaker 3: Labor Party's got their political lines that they'll run about
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  Speaker 3: you from the COLP. But as an everyday territorian who
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  Speaker 3: watches Parliament, fairly closely and understands how things happen.
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  Speaker 1: I just think that this is a really it's not
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  Speaker 1: a good move.
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  Speaker 3: It does not look good and there are real issues
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  Speaker 3: around the territory at the moment that need to be
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  Speaker 3: dealt with. What are you going to be focusing on
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  Speaker 3: today in that question time, even though you're not going
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  Speaker 3: to have the same number of questions to be able
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  Speaker 3: to ask.
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  Speaker 2: So crime will be a big part of our questioning today.
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  Speaker 2: Of course, crime remains a huge issue across the territory,
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  Speaker 2: particularly in Alice Springs. But just going back to this
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  Speaker 2: issue around government scrutiny, Katie, they haven't stopped there, of course.
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  Speaker 2: A couple of weeks ago we saw the astonishing move
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  Speaker 2: by government to cut estimates from six days down to
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  Speaker 2: four days and cram it all into four days, again
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  Speaker 2: avoiding scrutiny. We've also seen the government today will.
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  Speaker 3: You take part in estimates? Of course, so you'll still
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  Speaker 3: do it even though they're doing that.
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  Speaker 2: Oh, absolutely, there's no question we will be there during
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  Speaker 2: estimates grilling the government on how it intends to spends
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  Speaker 2: territory AND's money over the next twelve months, and of
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  Speaker 2: course how they're going to deal with our eight point
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  Speaker 2: two billion dollar dead I mean, there's a lot of
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  Speaker 2: work to be done by the Territory government. They've had
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  Speaker 2: four years of dilly dilling and just not being able
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  Speaker 2: to get any runs on the board, and now they're
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  Speaker 2: hampering every opportunity. We have to hold them to account
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  Speaker 2: because they don't want that level of scrutiny, but anticipate
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  Speaker 2: in everything we can.
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  Speaker 1: Well, we're going to have to just push along.
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  Speaker 2: Now.
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  Speaker 3: I have got a message here from one of our listeners.
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  Speaker 3: It says, Hi, Katie, you asked Lea at the beginning,
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  Speaker 3: when did she know that they were going to do
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  Speaker 3: this to the Scrutiny Committee.
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  Speaker 1: She didn't answer your question.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, so we found we got the sessional orders, you know,
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  Speaker 2: just before two o'clock. So that's where we can clearly
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  Speaker 2: see where what the government intends to do, and that
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  Speaker 2: Scrutiny Committee was not in there.
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  Speaker 1: Wow, you must have been shocked when you saw that
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  Speaker 1: that was the case.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's appalling. It's absolutely appalling. And the question time
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  Speaker 2: changes on a Wednesday were truly shocking as well, and
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  Speaker 2: it just shows what's going to come with this government.
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  Speaker 2: We're going to see four years of arrogance and we're
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  Speaker 2: going to see four years of them avoiding scrutiny.
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  Speaker 3: Lea. We are going to have to get ready to
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  Speaker 3: wrap up. But I do want to ask you this
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  Speaker 3: morning about Robin Lamley. Will you have it back in
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  Speaker 3: the Clpece team. Oh.
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  Speaker 2: Look, Robin Lamley is a terrific member of Parliament. She's
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  Speaker 2: obviously a member of Territory Alliance. We're moving forward with
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  Speaker 2: our eight strong opposition team. Our seven new members made
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  Speaker 2: their maiden speeches yesterday, so they'll be raring to go today, Katie.
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  Speaker 2: So it's a very exciting time.
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  Speaker 3: And if she leaves Territory Alliance, will you boost your numbers.
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  Speaker 2: Look, I'm not going to deal in hypotheticals. There's certainly
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  Speaker 2: be no conversations to that effect. And I'm thrilled to
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  Speaker 2: have the support of a strong team and we're looking
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  Speaker 2: forward to holding the Gunner government to account.
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  Speaker 1: All right, we'll make sure that we catch up with Robin.
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  Speaker 3: She's going to be in here on Friday as well,
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  Speaker 3: during the week that was, so maybe we can ask her.
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  Speaker 3: We can ask you both then and you can sort
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  Speaker 3: something out.
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  Speaker 2: Sounds good.
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  Speaker 3: Good on you, Leah, Thanks for your time. This morning
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  Speaker 3: Leah and Okio. There, the opposition leader