Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / The Week That Was – 28th April 2023

Transcript

The Week That Was – 28th April 2023 · 360 with Katie Woolf

0:00
Speaker 1: And joining us in the studio for the week that
0:02
Speaker 1: was on this fine Friday morning. Well, we've got the
0:04
Speaker 1: opposition leader, Leo Fanocchiaro, Good morning.
0:07
Speaker 2: Morning, it's great to be back. Thank you for keeping
0:09
Speaker 2: my chair for me.
0:10
Speaker 3: Well it's been the Tory.
0:12
Speaker 1: Corner free you got my name on it, Thank you.
0:16
Speaker 3: Feel good. We've got Kathleen Gazola from nine News Darwin.
0:20
Speaker 4: Good morning to you, and would you call this the
0:23
Speaker 4: naughty corner over here with my comrade easy if good
0:30
Speaker 4: morning and of course Paul Kirby who is the Member
0:34
Speaker 4: for Port Darwin and the Minister for Small Business and
0:36
Speaker 4: Major Events and various other portfolios.
0:38
Speaker 5: And between the thorns this morning.
0:42
Speaker 4: Lucky bastard, lucky, good luck mate.
0:49
Speaker 1: Ahead, all right, let's get into it, because there has
0:52
Speaker 1: been so much happened. I feel like I say that
0:54
Speaker 1: every single week, and every single week there is a
0:56
Speaker 1: lot to talk about, and unfortunately, the ongoing issues with crime,
1:01
Speaker 1: it is something that we continue to have to speak
1:03
Speaker 1: about because those concerns continued to be raised right across
1:07
Speaker 1: the Northern territory. I know that even overnight there was
1:10
Speaker 1: an incident where a vehicle was stolen. As I understand
1:12
Speaker 1: it and then crashed. We will get that further detail
1:15
Speaker 1: when we get the latest in local news with our
1:17
Speaker 1: very own Crystal Gordon a little bit later this morning.
1:21
Speaker 1: But we also know well yesterday, I believe Kathleen on
1:24
Speaker 1: nine News, Darwen police had released that body cam footage
1:28
Speaker 1: of a terrible incident that had occurred earlier in the
1:30
Speaker 1: week in the rural area where an alleged defender was
1:33
Speaker 1: trying to flee and after going on a crime spreen
1:35
Speaker 1: which started in Catherine, then culminated in him lighting the
1:40
Speaker 1: stolen vehicle on fire.
1:42
Speaker 6: Yeah, that's right, So there had been vision that emerged
1:45
Speaker 6: with him lighting the counter on firestron at a service
1:49
Speaker 6: station there. He'd allegedly stolen a vehicle. I think it
1:53
Speaker 6: was actually from Darwin. He's allegedly stolen that vehicle, headed
1:55
Speaker 6: down to Catherine and done that and then headed back
1:58
Speaker 6: into Darwin after stealing another vehicle, and police deployed I
2:03
Speaker 6: think we counted it with six different units and had
2:06
Speaker 6: some vision sent to us of them chasing him through
2:10
Speaker 6: the rural area before he crashed into a tree and
2:12
Speaker 6: then ran off and tried to hide from police.
2:15
Speaker 7: So a good response from the cop sea when he
2:18
Speaker 7: does to get.
2:18
Speaker 1: Him to the Northern Territory Police on that very hard
2:20
Speaker 1: work and as you said, the dog scored and everybody deployed.
2:23
Speaker 1: We also know then yesterday we'd heard from John Koenig,
2:26
Speaker 1: who is the owner of John John's, about the impact
2:29
Speaker 1: that the situation of crime is having on him and
2:32
Speaker 1: his staff. He'd spoken to us on the show yesterday.
2:35
Speaker 1: They're closing for a few days. He wanted to give
2:37
Speaker 1: his staff a few days break due to, you know,
2:41
Speaker 1: the concerns that they have got, those ongoing concerns that
2:43
Speaker 1: they've gotten, and it is one of those things like
2:46
Speaker 1: even last night we were in the city for dinner,
2:48
Speaker 1: and three times in our short drive home, you know,
2:52
Speaker 1: we had to stop. There was people who were intoxicated
2:54
Speaker 1: on the road. You know, we understand that there's a
2:57
Speaker 1: lot of people in town at the moment. I get that,
2:59
Speaker 1: but there is you know, there is just there's a
3:04
Speaker 1: lot of antisocial behavior and a lot of crime going on.
3:07
Speaker 1: And I think everybody's I've said it, you know, for
3:10
Speaker 1: several weeks in a row, we've all sort of just
3:13
Speaker 1: had enough.
3:14
Speaker 7: Definitely, I mean at John John's, I mean he has
3:16
Speaker 7: young staff.
3:17
Speaker 3: Yeah, so you.
3:18
Speaker 6: Definitely can forgive any parent for not wanting their children
3:21
Speaker 6: to have a job in the city that goes past.
3:23
Speaker 3: Which is I you shouldn't have to worry about it.
3:26
Speaker 2: And this is the point that things have gotten to.
3:29
Speaker 2: It's impacting on everybody's well being and everyone's state of
3:33
Speaker 2: mind and everyone's lives. I'm talking to countless parents whose
3:37
Speaker 2: children are fifteen, sixteen, seventeen. They're wanting to get into
3:41
Speaker 2: work and the parents are too afraid to let them
3:44
Speaker 2: do that. There are older people who are doing, you know,
3:47
Speaker 2: they're twenty hours a week whatever it might be, in
3:49
Speaker 2: their semi retirement, and they're really genuinely afraid. People are
3:53
Speaker 2: too scared to catch the buses. People are thinking about
3:56
Speaker 2: which shop am I going to go to, what time
3:58
Speaker 2: am I going to go there? Where am I going
3:59
Speaker 2: to path my car? It's literally every life decision, just
4:03
Speaker 2: ordinary daily activities are becoming one that requires careful planning,
4:07
Speaker 2: and it's impacting on the morale of our community, which
4:10
Speaker 2: is incredibly low at the moment.
4:13
Speaker 1: I've been the Chief Minister obade these comments during the
4:15
Speaker 1: week and I've got to tell you, it fired people
4:19
Speaker 1: right up. They were pretty upset about it. If you
4:21
Speaker 1: miss this a little earlier in the week, take a listen.
4:23
Speaker 8: If you look around the world post COVID, people's behaviors
4:27
Speaker 8: have changed.
4:27
Speaker 1: We see so what we're seeing in the Northern Territory
4:31
Speaker 1: right now is a phenomenon that's being seen all around
4:33
Speaker 1: the world.
4:33
Speaker 3: That is what evidence is showing us.
4:35
Speaker 1: I'm going to be honest, I think that that's a
4:37
Speaker 1: really embarrassing thing for the government to say. And so
4:40
Speaker 1: do you think what we're seeing around the streets of
4:42
Speaker 1: the Northern Territory right now is okay? No?
4:44
Speaker 3: So what are you doing to fix it?
4:45
Speaker 8: So we're working incredibly hard, giving police resources, also making
4:50
Speaker 8: sure that we've got resources to back up territory families.
4:53
Speaker 3: So, as I said, people were pretty fired up.
4:55
Speaker 1: I mean I was pretty disappointed, to be honest with you,
4:58
Speaker 1: because I think that we, like ever everybody lives in
5:00
Speaker 1: this town, we all live here. We all live here
5:03
Speaker 1: because we want to see this place thrive. We want
5:05
Speaker 1: to see not only Darwin, but the whole of the
5:07
Speaker 1: Northern Territory. And whether it's Alla Springs that you're talking about,
5:11
Speaker 1: whether it is Catherine, they seem to be having a
5:13
Speaker 1: really hard spot at the moment, we're all quite simply
5:17
Speaker 1: sick of excuses.
5:19
Speaker 5: Look, I'm happy to put a bit of context. I
5:21
Speaker 5: didn't hear what the Chief Minister said. I do understand,
5:25
Speaker 5: and I think people would understand that the types of
5:27
Speaker 5: crime that we've seen over the last couple of years
5:30
Speaker 5: have changed, Like the demographic of people that are doing
5:34
Speaker 5: crimes and types of crimes that are happening are things
5:36
Speaker 5: that we haven't seen in society, in the territory before
5:39
Speaker 5: and interstate, and I think that's the point that the
5:41
Speaker 5: Chief Minister was trying to make. I did go to
5:43
Speaker 5: Catherine the other day and stopped and spoke to a
5:46
Speaker 5: lot of different people in There is a lot of
5:47
Speaker 5: work that we need to do there, and there are
5:50
Speaker 5: some kids that are still on the street that absolutely
5:52
Speaker 5: shouldn't be on the street, and sometimes that leads to
5:55
Speaker 5: things going wrong. Sometimes it's other people that have come
5:57
Speaker 5: in from out of town. But there is a mountain
5:59
Speaker 5: of work going on. I'm happy to talk through that,
6:01
Speaker 5: but I'm guessing everybody here is going to want to
6:03
Speaker 5: have something to say about it.
6:05
Speaker 1: I guess if we're hearing something new, then people might
6:08
Speaker 1: be more you know, all ears, but it just feels
6:10
Speaker 1: like we're constantly hearing the same thing. It's the same rhetoric.
6:14
Speaker 1: Now I did I heard it in a replay.
6:16
Speaker 9: What the chieftains have said about COVID is to blame
6:19
Speaker 9: for this type of level of crime, and then that's
6:21
Speaker 9: just rubbish. I mean, COVID did lots of things in
6:23
Speaker 9: our society, did lots of things to us as humans,
6:26
Speaker 9: you know, given the isolation, the lockdown, so there was
6:28
Speaker 9: a lot of soul searching that went on, you know,
6:30
Speaker 9: across the country, if not across the world. So to
6:33
Speaker 9: say COVID is because because we've now got this violent
6:37
Speaker 9: level of humans in our society, therefore COVID you know,
6:40
Speaker 9: came before it. Therefore COVID course, that is just completely illogical. Wait,
6:46
Speaker 9: completely illogical, Okay that aside, I do agree with you,
6:49
Speaker 9: Paul the and I've said this before on this show.
6:51
Speaker 9: The level and the type of violence is escalating. It's
6:55
Speaker 9: violence with weapons, it's violence with knives, machetes, all of
6:59
Speaker 9: that stuff, and things that are readily available to anyone
7:02
Speaker 9: from a supermarket or any kind of corner store to
7:04
Speaker 9: get something. Perhaps not machetes, but there's a couple of
7:06
Speaker 9: shops in town that sell machetes and hardware and the
7:09
Speaker 9: Bunnings kind of places, so they're readily accessible. So it's
7:13
Speaker 9: just this wanton and good children's violence, and it's coming
7:16
Speaker 9: from people who come from the communities predominantly, but not exclusively.
7:20
Speaker 9: There's lots of other people around town that engage in
7:22
Speaker 9: violent and criminal activity. So well, if they're coming to
7:26
Speaker 9: town and becoming violent here, that means they're violent at their.
7:28
Speaker 1: Home, so it's not okay, no matter, and sometimes they
7:33
Speaker 1: get booted out.
7:33
Speaker 9: Of their communities because they're violence. So the problem just
7:35
Speaker 9: comes into the city.
7:36
Speaker 1: I mean, we've got a situation from overnight, so yes,
7:38
Speaker 1: two youths have been arrested following a break in at
7:41
Speaker 1: the Palmerston Council. It's alleged that the pairs stole a
7:43
Speaker 1: set of keys and took off in the vehicle at
7:46
Speaker 1: about nine fifty last night. The car has since been
7:49
Speaker 1: recovered and the duo are assisting police with their inquiries.
7:53
Speaker 1: From the information that I've got there, I don't know
7:55
Speaker 1: the ages of that pair or anything at this point,
7:58
Speaker 1: but it is two youths by the sounds of things,
8:01
Speaker 1: and there seems to.
8:01
Speaker 6: Be two different types going on, like the really violent
8:05
Speaker 6: one with the weapons, and then you know kids like
8:08
Speaker 6: that doing stupid crap going and stealing things, and you
8:13
Speaker 6: know which is causing financial and just ping ask for people, you.
8:18
Speaker 7: Know what I mean.
8:19
Speaker 6: But I mean it is incumbent on government to find
8:22
Speaker 6: what actually is going to have those consequences because there
8:25
Speaker 6: just doesn't seem to be that care factor.
8:27
Speaker 7: You know, we saw those.
8:28
Speaker 6: Kids in Catherine, I believe that went in faces covered
8:33
Speaker 6: with machetes, threatening that poor shop attendant who had already
8:36
Speaker 6: been assaulted on the way home from a previous incident.
8:39
Speaker 7: And they're carrying the edge.
8:40
Speaker 6: Weapons that I think are covered under those recent bail changes, right,
8:44
Speaker 6: which clearly doesn't matter to.
8:46
Speaker 2: Them because they're lawless because our laws are two weak.
8:50
Speaker 2: Our laws don't provide the support that police need to
8:53
Speaker 2: be able to do their job. And what we're seeing
8:55
Speaker 2: seven years after labor have come in and disempowered police
8:59
Speaker 2: and weakened out laws is young people knowing what they
9:02
Speaker 2: can do to basically wrought the system.
9:05
Speaker 10: They know what they're allowed to do and not allowed
9:07
Speaker 10: to do.
9:07
Speaker 2: It shows that the Boo reform government did after Declan
9:11
Speaker 2: Lavity's death was nothing more than window dressing. It hasn't
9:14
Speaker 2: been a deter and it hasn't had that impact on
9:17
Speaker 2: downward pressure on crime, and it's destroying people's lives.
9:20
Speaker 10: Katie.
9:21
Speaker 2: I've been outdoor knocking for the last week or so
9:23
Speaker 2: in my electorate. The number of people I've spoken to
9:25
Speaker 2: who've had cars stolen, how that's impacting their life, not
9:29
Speaker 2: only their ability to go to work and function as
9:31
Speaker 2: normal human beings, but the cost, the anguish, the violation
9:35
Speaker 2: they feel about having people in their homes.
9:38
Speaker 10: It's not okay.
9:39
Speaker 2: And people want action, they want the government to lead them,
9:43
Speaker 2: and they've just completely given up. The feeling of hopelessness
9:46
Speaker 2: is so profound at the moment, no matter where you
9:48
Speaker 2: are in the territory, they're fighting over the market those
9:52
Speaker 2: If you're listening.
9:53
Speaker 9: Lee, I agree with you, and I didn't agree with
9:57
Speaker 9: the Boiol laws of the government board in because I
9:59
Speaker 9: don't think they went far enough, and like you said,
10:00
Speaker 9: they did interesting. But the other thing too, is this
10:02
Speaker 9: whole group of people, this whole cold cohort in the
10:05
Speaker 9: territory who are committing these crimes. They're not reading legislation, No,
10:08
Speaker 9: they don't know that what has changed. So the only
10:10
Speaker 9: way that's going to happen is if the government has
10:12
Speaker 9: some kind of program or some kind of direction or
10:15
Speaker 9: goes to communities, goes to the towns, goes across the church.
10:18
Speaker 9: You said, right, these are the laws if you commit crimes,
10:20
Speaker 9: this is what's going to happen. So you know, I
10:23
Speaker 9: know it's a cliche to say you've got to get
10:25
Speaker 9: tougher on crime, but we're at this stage in our
10:27
Speaker 9: community where we have to be much much. It has
10:29
Speaker 9: to do good as put wrap around services around all
10:33
Speaker 9: these criminals.
10:34
Speaker 3: It's a thing. You can do.
10:36
Speaker 1: Those things you can actually you can do early and
10:38
Speaker 1: you can do those things, but you actually need to
10:41
Speaker 1: stop criminal behavior, you know, and you need to support
10:43
Speaker 1: the Northern Territory place. And I know that Paul Kirby's
10:46
Speaker 1: going to tell us that they do support the police.
10:48
Speaker 1: But we're still seeing terrible behavior.
10:51
Speaker 5: Amonstrates, Yep, absolutely no lack of acknowledgment for us from
10:55
Speaker 5: us that the behavior that we're seeing at the moment
10:57
Speaker 5: isn't good enough.
10:57
Speaker 10: Cat is right.
10:58
Speaker 5: There are a different element to this if you consider
11:01
Speaker 5: the youth element to it and the very young children.
11:04
Speaker 5: We do know that you don't want to lock them
11:06
Speaker 5: up and introduce them to a life of dealing and
11:10
Speaker 5: associating with hardened criminals. But there has to be consequences,
11:13
Speaker 5: and we have got areas and you heard just before
11:16
Speaker 5: Christmas of people being taken or encouraged and dropped off
11:22
Speaker 5: to safe sleeping accommodation down in Alice Springs, and I
11:25
Speaker 5: think there's something that we have to do much much
11:27
Speaker 5: more of. It's not safe for some of these young
11:30
Speaker 5: kids to be out now. They are completely different problems
11:33
Speaker 5: to the mature age people that we see in their
11:36
Speaker 5: edged weapons. But to say that there is nothing happening
11:39
Speaker 5: when every one of our jails through the.
11:41
Speaker 1: Territory is over people, what you're doing is not working, Yeah,
11:45
Speaker 1: I think that's more the argument at this.
11:46
Speaker 6: Point of feeling of mixed messages almost like I mean,
11:50
Speaker 6: there is a lot of kids that are unfortunately doing
11:53
Speaker 6: those very serious crimes, carrying those weapons because they.
11:56
Speaker 7: Feel like they can get away with it.
11:58
Speaker 6: But then also on the flip side, the government raised
12:01
Speaker 6: the age of criminal responsibility, which we hear evidence shows
12:04
Speaker 6: we shouldn't be locking up kids, and no one wants
12:06
Speaker 6: to see kids being locked up, but it was promised
12:08
Speaker 6: that that wouldn't happen until those services supporting those younger
12:12
Speaker 6: cohort would be in place, and we're hearing constantly that
12:15
Speaker 6: it doesn't seem to be enough.
12:17
Speaker 1: That's right, they don't exist, because the thing is like,
12:20
Speaker 1: how can you make those moves at this point when
12:22
Speaker 1: we've got the issues that we are seeing on the
12:24
Speaker 1: streets and you know, if we've got kids that are unsafe,
12:27
Speaker 1: then you know, then we've got to make sure that
12:29
Speaker 1: they are safe.
12:30
Speaker 3: But that doesn't give.
12:31
Speaker 1: Them a right to go out there and break the law.
12:32
Speaker 1: It doesn't give anybody right to break the law. And
12:35
Speaker 1: I know that there's you know, we hear it time
12:37
Speaker 1: and time again from the government that it's a complex situation.
12:40
Speaker 1: We all understand that, but you know, just to sort
12:42
Speaker 1: of step down to two houris Springs for a second,
12:45
Speaker 1: because we caught up with earlier in the week and
12:47
Speaker 1: we'd also spoken to him about a week and a
12:49
Speaker 1: half ago, Gavin Morris, who's the principle of you Purna School.
12:53
Speaker 1: Now we know that Yapriynya is indeed really trying to
12:56
Speaker 1: get the boarding.
12:57
Speaker 3: Element of the school up and running.
13:00
Speaker 1: You know, we're talking about a school that actually he
13:03
Speaker 1: has been really honest and said that there are kids
13:06
Speaker 1: that go to that school that are out on the
13:08
Speaker 1: streets at night.
13:09
Speaker 3: There are kids that have been locked up.
13:10
Speaker 1: There are kids that have been sexually abused, abused all
13:14
Speaker 1: sorts of different scenarios. Yet they're still going to school
13:18
Speaker 1: the next day, which demonstrates it's a safe space to God.
13:21
Speaker 6: And how hasn't he received that funding already? I don't know,
13:24
Speaker 6: mind that he's having to fight so hard for it
13:27
Speaker 6: when there is clearly an example of what he's offering
13:30
Speaker 6: is working for those kids.
13:31
Speaker 2: Yeah, because a lot of what's happening, unfortunately from the
13:34
Speaker 2: labor government is ideologically driven, and that's not making anyone's
13:39
Speaker 2: lives safer. You know, we've got a situation where young
13:42
Speaker 2: people are clearly requiring care and protection and a different
13:45
Speaker 2: type of response and intervention in their lives to support
13:49
Speaker 2: their rights as young people to live and be happy
13:52
Speaker 2: and safe and nurtured. And then you've got kids who
13:55
Speaker 2: are having severe offending destroying other people's lives to this government,
14:00
Speaker 2: you know, really refuses to deal with in a punitive way.
14:03
Speaker 2: But the therapeutic support is not working either, so these
14:06
Speaker 2: kids just continue to go undealt with effectively, and then
14:10
Speaker 2: you have the adults and we're in the same position.
14:12
Speaker 2: You just look at how our police are so unable
14:15
Speaker 2: to deal with problem drunks.
14:16
Speaker 10: Because the powers for police aren't there.
14:18
Speaker 2: And you know, you can say it's complex, and a
14:21
Speaker 2: lot of it is, but also there are some really
14:23
Speaker 2: simple things you can do to make our community safer.
14:26
Speaker 2: It just needs to be the number one focus of
14:28
Speaker 2: this government. It should be keeping people safe, not protecting
14:31
Speaker 2: the rights of.
14:32
Speaker 10: Criminals to continue to destroy people's lives.
14:34
Speaker 5: Absolutely is the number one priority of our government. And
14:37
Speaker 5: there's always a balance between your long term visions and
14:40
Speaker 5: making sure that your laws and your policies are set
14:43
Speaker 5: right and the short term reactions to the things that
14:46
Speaker 5: are happening on our streets. As I said, if our
14:49
Speaker 5: watch houses and every one of our jail cells are
14:51
Speaker 5: for that jail that we only opened a few years
14:54
Speaker 5: ago is full. You look into State, Townsville and different
14:56
Speaker 5: places that Katie, you've got family in Townsville. You must
14:59
Speaker 5: hear the thoughts from over there as well.
15:01
Speaker 3: So it's not as bad as it is here.
15:03
Speaker 1: And I think it's really quite you know, like it
15:05
Speaker 1: actually makes me a bit angry when the likes of
15:08
Speaker 1: cans and towns were used as as examples. And I
15:12
Speaker 1: know that they've definitely got youth crime issues, but I
15:14
Speaker 1: tell you what, you don't feel unsafe getting up and
15:17
Speaker 1: going for a run in the morning in cans or
15:19
Speaker 1: Townsville because there's not people that are intoxicated around the
15:22
Speaker 1: place that you're not sure what's going to happen. I
15:25
Speaker 1: know that the youth issue and obviously the public intoxication
15:28
Speaker 1: issue are two very different things, but public safety is
15:32
Speaker 1: at the heart of all of that, and I think
15:35
Speaker 1: that that's, you know, if I could get one message
15:37
Speaker 1: across to the government that is really I think what
15:39
Speaker 1: it is is that it's that public safety element where
15:43
Speaker 1: people are no longer feeling like they're safe to go
15:46
Speaker 1: out and do their usual things that they ordinarily want
15:49
Speaker 1: to think, you know, and it's not like I guess
15:53
Speaker 1: the other thing is that like for me, it's reached
15:56
Speaker 1: a point where it's not like I just want to
15:58
Speaker 1: have a goal at the government about it, or I
15:59
Speaker 1: want to have at the opposition about it. It's actually
16:01
Speaker 1: more reached to point now where I just actually really
16:04
Speaker 1: want Territorians to get together and try somehow for all
16:10
Speaker 1: of our politicians to sort it out, because we actually.
16:13
Speaker 3: Can't continue on in the way that we're going.
16:16
Speaker 1: We can't have a situation where a gelado shop is
16:19
Speaker 1: closing for the weekend because they don't feel safe.
16:21
Speaker 2: As we come into our peak season as well, and
16:24
Speaker 2: this is the problem. Peak businesses are having to make
16:26
Speaker 2: really difficult decisions. They're closing earlier to try and protect
16:30
Speaker 2: their staff, They're spending a lot of money reinforcing their business,
16:33
Speaker 2: or they're shutting. You've then got the situation where people
16:36
Speaker 2: are making decisions not to go here, not to go there,
16:39
Speaker 2: not to do this. It's impacting everyone's daily lives. But
16:43
Speaker 2: you know, there are solutions, Katie. We can stop the
16:46
Speaker 2: revolving door of bail by dealing with repeat and violent offenders.
16:49
Speaker 2: We can make breach of our condition and offense. You
16:51
Speaker 2: can re empower police to be able to deal with
16:54
Speaker 2: problem drugs.
16:55
Speaker 1: How do we deal with though, you know the point
16:57
Speaker 1: that Paul Kirby's made there that the jails are like,
17:00
Speaker 1: how do we deal.
17:01
Speaker 9: With people have committed crimes, that's why they're full. Let's
17:04
Speaker 9: not be around the bush.
17:05
Speaker 3: What do you do? Do you build another one?
17:07
Speaker 9: Well, yeah, build another jail if you've got if your
17:09
Speaker 9: jails are overflowings because because they've got.
17:11
Speaker 7: A few billion dollars just in the side pocket, keys.
17:14
Speaker 10: Build shade structures and you might have more money.
17:18
Speaker 5: Be really the types of money that we're talking about.
17:20
Speaker 5: I think the last one that we opened a few
17:22
Speaker 5: years ago was half a billion with everything. The costs
17:25
Speaker 5: that have gone up with construction p eight billions just
17:28
Speaker 5: for the record, so that'll be closer to two billion
17:31
Speaker 5: dollars to build the next one. So yeah, we haven't
17:33
Speaker 5: got that type of money sitting in our back pocket,
17:35
Speaker 5: but certainly they need to speak.
17:37
Speaker 3: You can't leave people on the street, can you're doing
17:39
Speaker 3: the right thing?
17:40
Speaker 10: Just what's happening.
17:42
Speaker 5: So if you look at Darwin as an example, we
17:44
Speaker 5: certainly have opened up bat and Road in a range
17:47
Speaker 5: of different facilities that haven't previously been so we have identified, Yes,
17:50
Speaker 5: we do need different places, more places, reinvest in Larichie patrols,
17:54
Speaker 5: the blue shirt patrols around the street, lighting and activation,
17:57
Speaker 5: making sure that the sobering up shielder is a well resourced.
18:01
Speaker 5: So there is a range of stuff that's going on.
18:03
Speaker 5: But yes, there are a host of people in town
18:06
Speaker 5: that might not normally have access to the alcohol that
18:08
Speaker 5: they've got access to in darn and it does create
18:11
Speaker 5: some problems and we'll continue to work on that.
18:13
Speaker 2: But we're seeing escalation in the type of crime because
18:16
Speaker 2: the consequences aren't there.
18:18
Speaker 10: That is what is happening.
18:20
Speaker 2: People are doing knife crime, edge weapon crime, violent assaults,
18:23
Speaker 2: all of these things because the consequences aren't there. People
18:27
Speaker 2: are lawless. There is these brazen It's not even at
18:29
Speaker 2: nighttime anymore. These are daylight brazen attacks in full public.
18:34
Speaker 10: You know, I just literally had and you've.
18:36
Speaker 6: Got a federal MP having to call the police commissioner directly.
18:39
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, look it's broken. Yeah, we are going to
18:43
Speaker 1: take a very short break. You are listening to Mix
18:45
Speaker 1: one O four nine's three sixty. It is the week
18:48
Speaker 1: that was. Now we have spoken a little bit about
18:50
Speaker 1: the situation in Alice Springs, of course around well we've
18:54
Speaker 1: spoken a lot about the situation around crime in Alice Springs,
18:57
Speaker 1: but we've spoken a little bit about the situation with
18:59
Speaker 1: the footy, and earlier in the week we spoke to
19:03
Speaker 1: the mayor of Alice Springs about the fact that well,
19:08
Speaker 1: the dispute is really taken another step. I think you'd
19:12
Speaker 1: have to say, well, it's taken too probably since Monday.
19:15
Speaker 1: But earlier in the week, the ABC had reported that
19:17
Speaker 1: the AFL had said that it was considering pulling the
19:20
Speaker 1: annual Melbourne Demons match from Alice Springs unless the town
19:23
Speaker 1: council reverses its decision to bar community football from Trager Park. So,
19:28
Speaker 1: according to the report, in an email to the council,
19:31
Speaker 1: the league said that it would review the viability of
19:33
Speaker 1: holding the Round sixteen match between the Melbourne Demons and
19:36
Speaker 1: GWS Giants in.
19:37
Speaker 3: Alice In June.
19:39
Speaker 1: The Alice Springs Mayor Matt Patterson had told us on
19:41
Speaker 1: the show that you know they weren't going to be
19:43
Speaker 1: held hostage to the AFL and their bullying attitude is
19:47
Speaker 1: what he'd said. I mean, it's a this is a
19:49
Speaker 1: really difficult situation. I think.
19:51
Speaker 9: I think it's just from what I've listened to and
19:54
Speaker 9: what I've read. If AFL management and TEA has done
19:58
Speaker 9: that or said that to the Alice Been counsel, that's disgraceful.
20:01
Speaker 9: How do we friends and influence people, not you know,
20:04
Speaker 9: like the as best I understand it, the Country League
20:07
Speaker 9: Football Carnival that's held in Ollie springs that has been
20:11
Speaker 9: Council says, no, you can't use our grounds. We need
20:12
Speaker 9: a break from all the people coming into town and
20:14
Speaker 9: staying into town and some of them creating the problems
20:16
Speaker 9: we've got. That's one issue. Having the AFL match between
20:19
Speaker 9: the Demons and the Suns is a completely different matter,
20:22
Speaker 9: and that's between the Anti Government AFL. So exactly, I'm
20:25
Speaker 9: buggered why they think they can use that as a
20:27
Speaker 9: bargaining tool to force the Council to do something.
20:29
Speaker 10: Actually, Paul, I see them.
20:31
Speaker 2: You're the Minister for Major Events, so really this is
20:33
Speaker 2: your call. You could say to AFL you have to
20:36
Speaker 2: play this game.
20:37
Speaker 5: Look, we're in negotiations. I spoke with Matt yesterday and
20:41
Speaker 5: Sean Bowden and not dropping down into distinct and prescriptive detail,
20:47
Speaker 5: but I did say to them, have a think over
20:49
Speaker 5: the weekend. It's a long weekend obviously on Tuesday, or
20:53
Speaker 5: get in touch with them and try and see if
20:54
Speaker 5: we can find some common ground that we can all
20:56
Speaker 5: move forward from. I think everybody acknowledges that they they
21:00
Speaker 5: really want that Demon's game to go ahead. Talking to
21:02
Speaker 5: the Demon's hierarchy, the Melbourn Footy Club hierarchy. They love
21:06
Speaker 5: going to Alice Springs. It's so important for the town.
21:09
Speaker 5: So we absolutely want that to happen. So without getting
21:13
Speaker 5: too positional about it, I know that Susanna from major
21:16
Speaker 5: events and you see of the major events, Court was
21:19
Speaker 5: down in Melbourne today talking with people down there. She's
21:22
Speaker 5: doing a great job and she's very very keen to
21:24
Speaker 5: make sure that still goes ahead. So we'll work with
21:26
Speaker 5: everyone and try and make sure.
21:28
Speaker 3: We can work out.
21:29
Speaker 10: It's taxpayer.
21:29
Speaker 2: They're like, it's contracted, the taxpayer pays for it. This
21:32
Speaker 2: is not a gift from territory labor. This is a
21:36
Speaker 2: territory funded, taxpayer funded football match that happens in Alice
21:40
Speaker 2: Springs and those people in that community deserve the economic
21:43
Speaker 2: driver that it is. They deserve the lifestyle opportunity it presents.
21:47
Speaker 9: And also don't forget lea, it's good for the football
21:50
Speaker 9: clubs because they do recruitment. Yes, the people are there's
21:53
Speaker 9: a young fellow out youth activities.
21:56
Speaker 10: We need to keep an eye on him for future
21:58
Speaker 10: absolute scout.
22:00
Speaker 5: You know, the Sons have got a young lad that
22:02
Speaker 5: they identified last year that's still in their training programs.
22:05
Speaker 5: To have Maddie Wheel and leem Jarra and people like
22:09
Speaker 5: that from Central Australia come back to Central Australia and
22:11
Speaker 5: get out and do some of those programs and events
22:14
Speaker 5: with kids. Nobody's denying it's a special event. We had
22:18
Speaker 5: Parchment just last week that there was almost record numbers
22:21
Speaker 5: there apart from a couple of nights at cops and rain.
22:23
Speaker 5: So people will still turn out for those big events.
22:26
Speaker 5: It's a massive part.
22:27
Speaker 10: If we don't exist, it's a massive.
22:29
Speaker 5: Part of what we need to continue to do and
22:31
Speaker 5: we'll continue to do that. We'll try and keep people
22:33
Speaker 5: together and find some common ground next week and work
22:36
Speaker 5: away through it.
22:36
Speaker 6: I think it's more reflective of the AFL threatening to
22:39
Speaker 6: take this away from that with over a Stawstrever community
22:42
Speaker 6: football with the counts, I mean, but on the council
22:45
Speaker 6: for sticking to their guns if they believe that it's
22:47
Speaker 6: going to improve their town, not encourage extra anti social
22:51
Speaker 6: behavior given the issues that we're seeing. They're good on them,
22:54
Speaker 6: and I mean I can't see there being anything wrong
22:56
Speaker 6: with the rest of the community football traveling around different
22:59
Speaker 6: communities might even lead to some upgrades of those ovals
23:02
Speaker 6: in those areas and the amenity in the community. Maybe
23:04
Speaker 6: the AFL should be investing that well.
23:06
Speaker 1: And that's I guess the other side of the argument.
23:08
Speaker 1: And then there is the argument that you know that
23:11
Speaker 1: it is to the detriment of the wider football and community,
23:13
Speaker 1: and that football does obviously do a lot in terms
23:16
Speaker 1: of promoting that healthy lifestyle, and you know, and what
23:20
Speaker 1: do they say, get the kids in sport and out
23:23
Speaker 1: of court, which.
23:24
Speaker 6: I obviously thoroughly agree with the responsibility the L has
23:27
Speaker 6: a responsibility to encourage that lifestyle and.
23:29
Speaker 7: To get some of those kids who are causing issue.
23:31
Speaker 5: You look at quantaft programs and all the wonderful things
23:33
Speaker 5: the Stars programs. I don't think there's any denying that
23:36
Speaker 5: that AFL can be a big part of how we
23:38
Speaker 5: move forward in Central Australia. And we just need to
23:42
Speaker 5: continue to work, make sure that game does go ahead
23:45
Speaker 5: and make sure that we put all the support.
23:46
Speaker 2: Can't make that call, it's government, So ultimately the leadership
23:51
Speaker 2: needs to be coming from you, Paul as a minister
23:53
Speaker 2: and Attah of Bars as a chief minister to say hey, sorry, SOFL,
23:57
Speaker 2: this is out of your control. You're doing it. But
24:00
Speaker 2: it speaks to a bigger, broader problem for towns like
24:02
Speaker 2: Alice Springs where major events are under threat because of crime.
24:07
Speaker 2: We saw Parcherma move out of the mall and now out.
24:10
Speaker 10: Into the desert Park.
24:11
Speaker 2: There used to be activities for Parchmer in the CBD
24:14
Speaker 2: that had to get moved a couple of years ago
24:16
Speaker 2: due to crime. This whole discussion around the AFL game
24:19
Speaker 2: is because of the fact that of crime.
24:22
Speaker 10: So it's a bigger problem.
24:24
Speaker 2: Crime is literally impacting every facet of our lives and
24:27
Speaker 2: the big decisions like this.
24:30
Speaker 9: That's quite creck kate because poor Alic Springs they lost
24:33
Speaker 9: about four or five major conferences for this year and
24:37
Speaker 9: next year because of the perception that it is unsafe
24:39
Speaker 9: motorbike events for their visitors. So you know this, I
24:43
Speaker 9: agree with Li. This is an empty government matter. They
24:46
Speaker 9: are funding it, They are underfunded. They are the ones
24:48
Speaker 9: who have contracts with clubs, and it's just a bit
24:52
Speaker 9: of leadership.
24:53
Speaker 3: Just commit.
24:53
Speaker 9: It's a bit like sometimes I get the distinct impression
24:56
Speaker 9: this ENTI goverment just can't call a spade a big
24:58
Speaker 9: bloody shovel, you know, just tell them.
25:01
Speaker 3: Well, we'll get to one of those in a moment.
25:03
Speaker 9: Tell them the match is going ahead.
25:04
Speaker 1: How it springs bull days. I mean, look, I totally agree,
25:12
Speaker 1: and I do think that you know that I agree.
25:15
Speaker 1: I think the government needs to stand up and goes
25:16
Speaker 1: do you know what, this match is going ahead. We've
25:20
Speaker 1: paid good money to make sure that this partnership goes ahead,
25:23
Speaker 1: and there are other benefits to this partnership.
25:25
Speaker 3: I mean, we saw it with the NRL just.
25:27
Speaker 1: A week or so ago and Alice Springs, you know,
25:30
Speaker 1: they deserve that. The people of Alice Springs, the people
25:33
Speaker 1: you know, the surrounding areas deserve that.
25:35
Speaker 3: They deserve to be able to have that footy match
25:37
Speaker 3: go ahead.
25:37
Speaker 1: Kirby, and I'm hoping that we're.
25:41
Speaker 3: Going to make it happen.
25:42
Speaker 5: Look, it's it's a lovely spot to be in in
25:45
Speaker 5: opposition and as an independent to say this is absolutely
25:48
Speaker 5: the hard line that you need to take. The truth
25:50
Speaker 5: of governing is that you always have to find some
25:52
Speaker 5: common ground in the middle. These two bodies have got
25:55
Speaker 5: opposing positions about a particular thing, and I've hadsolutely guaranteed
26:00
Speaker 5: that I will assist them to mediate through it next week.
26:03
Speaker 3: Essentially used as a.
26:07
Speaker 1: Pawn in the in the discussions about the Central Australian
26:10
Speaker 1: Football League and other games.
26:12
Speaker 9: If I was a fedting terroristle, which I'm not not
26:18
Speaker 9: by the way, I did win on the Collingwood win
26:23
Speaker 9: it up, but I did win money on that match
26:26
Speaker 9: for Collingwood to win, even though I don't support them.
26:28
Speaker 9: I would say IFL say let's take the game to Darwin.
26:33
Speaker 10: But the counsel have made a decision.
26:34
Speaker 2: About community football is distinct from the fact that the
26:38
Speaker 2: Northern Territory Government has a contract for AFL games to
26:41
Speaker 2: be played in Alice Springs. They are totally fundamentally different things,
26:45
Speaker 2: and for your government to then be conflating the two
26:49
Speaker 2: and trying to be some sort of peacemaker is ridiculous.
26:52
Speaker 2: You have a contract, territories are paying for it. The
26:55
Speaker 2: community in Alice Springs deserve to have that game, need
26:58
Speaker 2: to have that game when you are equally seems like
27:01
Speaker 2: the Northern Territory government wants this to be a leverage
27:04
Speaker 2: point to push counsel around.
27:06
Speaker 10: I mean there really is. They're completely separate issues.
27:09
Speaker 2: So you're either not willing to back in the game
27:12
Speaker 2: and tell AFL what their contractual responsibility is, or you
27:15
Speaker 2: like the fact that you can use this to push
27:18
Speaker 2: the Alice Springs Council to make a different decision on
27:20
Speaker 2: community games.
27:21
Speaker 5: It's not about pushing anybody if you step into the
27:24
Speaker 5: debate properly, and I won't drop down here in the
27:27
Speaker 5: absolute specifics, but we know that facilities and communities for
27:31
Speaker 5: community based football to go ahead to the level that
27:34
Speaker 5: a lot of people would like. That debate's been going
27:36
Speaker 5: on for a long time. They're really expensive facilities to upgrade.
27:41
Speaker 5: So we're happy to have that debate, but that's not
27:44
Speaker 5: something that we're going to fix overnight. What I'm saying
27:47
Speaker 5: is that we will absolutely step into the space. We
27:49
Speaker 5: will try and mediate between these two different organizations that
27:53
Speaker 5: have taken pole or opposite positions at the moment.
27:55
Speaker 10: And work away through it.
27:56
Speaker 5: If there needs to be variations work three, absolutely do that,
28:01
Speaker 5: but our prime focus is to find some common ground.
28:03
Speaker 5: Everybody knows that that game is really important to Central
28:05
Speaker 5: Australia and will continue to try and work through to that.
28:08
Speaker 1: Well, look, we are going to have to take a
28:09
Speaker 1: bit of a break. You are listening to Mix one
28:11
Speaker 1: oh four nine's three six stick now one of the
28:13
Speaker 1: other big announcements throughout this week.
28:15
Speaker 3: But well, if you've just joined us.
28:16
Speaker 1: Let me just remind you who's in the studio with us,
28:18
Speaker 1: versely Paul Kirby, Geezier Puric, Kathleen Gazola and Leofanocchiaro. Now
28:24
Speaker 1: I do want to just talk about the Northern Territory
28:27
Speaker 1: and the impact of the Defense Strategic Review. Now, this
28:31
Speaker 1: is obviously a huge announcement that was made earlier in
28:33
Speaker 1: the week by the federal government and the territory's defense
28:36
Speaker 1: capabilities and well it's looking as though they're going to
28:39
Speaker 1: be bolstered well more than three point eight billion dollars
28:43
Speaker 1: in federal funding to harden Australian bases. So Robertson Barracks
28:48
Speaker 1: is going to share one billion dollars with Townsville's Laverick
28:51
Speaker 1: Barracks as well as THEBAF Tindall has also been identified
28:55
Speaker 1: as a critical base in the Defense Strategic Review. There
29:00
Speaker 1: is no doubt that this was really interesting, really interesting situation.
29:04
Speaker 1: I think that a lot of people were sort of
29:05
Speaker 1: reading through and starting to learn more about on Anzac
29:09
Speaker 1: Eve when the Prime Minister came out with this announcement,
29:12
Speaker 1: and the big question from territorians is what does it
29:15
Speaker 1: mean for the Northern Territory.
29:16
Speaker 3: Richard Miles obviously.
29:17
Speaker 1: Here yesterday and I'm sure meeting with the Northern Territory
29:22
Speaker 1: government it seems as though there is going to be
29:24
Speaker 1: quite a large defense spent well in the territory.
29:27
Speaker 10: I'm not so sure, Katie.
29:29
Speaker 2: So I think what's important to know is there was
29:31
Speaker 2: eight billion dollars put aside for the territory, eight billion
29:36
Speaker 2: just for us, not shared with anyone. You've got the
29:39
Speaker 2: Labor government coming to town yesterday saying that there's three
29:42
Speaker 2: point eight shared across Queensland, Northern Territory and Western Australia.
29:46
Speaker 2: There was no breakdown given of how much of the
29:49
Speaker 2: three point eight the territory was going to get, and
29:53
Speaker 2: it was also not made clear whether that three point
29:56
Speaker 2: eight is actually being taken from our eight billion, which
30:00
Speaker 2: in our it.
30:00
Speaker 10: Should be entirely just for us.
30:03
Speaker 2: So I'm very concerned about the level of commitment and
30:06
Speaker 2: whether there is a shift to Queensland and Western Australia
30:09
Speaker 2: for this.
30:09
Speaker 1: He can be I think, honestly, when you look at
30:12
Speaker 1: at the Northern Territory strategic importance, I don't think they
30:15
Speaker 1: can be.
30:15
Speaker 3: We are the only it's been bombed.
30:18
Speaker 1: We are the only we're the only location you realistically
30:22
Speaker 1: to the north.
30:23
Speaker 2: Yeah, but the review raised some serious challenges with the territory,
30:27
Speaker 2: which is why I questioned the commitment. So it raised
30:29
Speaker 2: logistical challenges around the Stuart Highway. It's said that there
30:32
Speaker 2: was not security of supply, and it also said that
30:36
Speaker 2: our aviation regiment would be moved to Townsville. So we're
30:39
Speaker 2: going to lose up to another three hundred people out
30:42
Speaker 2: of Darwin, so there's a definite shift. We're also losing
30:45
Speaker 2: manufacturing to Adelaide.
30:46
Speaker 3: But then mass was.
30:47
Speaker 1: Saying yesterday that we'll go out that the defense force
30:49
Speaker 1: was going to grow, but I can't remember the exact number.
30:51
Speaker 6: Do you significant He didn't have a specific number as
30:55
Speaker 6: to how much, but he said that there would be
30:56
Speaker 6: growth over the ten years, and he acknowledged that there
30:58
Speaker 6: would be movement, yes, depending on what units and the
31:02
Speaker 6: like are based here.
31:03
Speaker 7: And I mean that the topic around supply chains.
31:06
Speaker 6: Just shows that years of failure from federal governments of
31:09
Speaker 6: both strives, failing to actually deliver on their promises to
31:13
Speaker 6: upgrade roads and rail and all the rest of that.
31:16
Speaker 6: You know, that's that's both sides from federal government.
31:18
Speaker 9: That's over decades. I mean we've I can recall a
31:21
Speaker 9: year where all three highways were out because of flooding.
31:24
Speaker 9: No I know, the bridge on the Western Australian side
31:26
Speaker 9: was meant to be built to sustain one hundred year
31:29
Speaker 9: kind of flood and it hasn't.
31:31
Speaker 6: And every time there's a promise, it's always passed forward estimates.
31:34
Speaker 9: And yeah, that's one of our most vulnerable points for
31:38
Speaker 9: the well for the topics the Stuart Highway is the
31:41
Speaker 9: fact that water will take out our roads and our railway.
31:44
Speaker 9: So somehow, if we're going to be such a major
31:48
Speaker 9: hub and military destination, then somehow those weaknesses have to
31:52
Speaker 9: be addit.
31:53
Speaker 2: But that's why I'm really worried about this because we've
31:55
Speaker 2: seen words sort of talking around the commitment to the territory,
31:58
Speaker 2: nothing solid. And if we we have infrastructure deficits that
32:01
Speaker 2: Western Australia and Queensland don't have, we will see an
32:05
Speaker 2: increasing capability in places like Townsville because they don't have
32:08
Speaker 2: to put the investment in to secure those supply roots.
32:11
Speaker 10: They already exist.
32:12
Speaker 2: And so I think there's some serious explaining to do
32:15
Speaker 2: around is our eight billion still on the table, Is
32:18
Speaker 2: there going to be the federal money to upgrade the
32:20
Speaker 2: Stuart Highway and sure up those routes, or are we
32:23
Speaker 2: just going to continue to see troops moved out of
32:25
Speaker 2: Darwin and of course that money moved elsewhere.
32:29
Speaker 5: Absolutely spoke with Richard Mirles yesterday a commitment from him
32:32
Speaker 5: that this is just the tip of the iceberg, not
32:34
Speaker 5: the end of the endgame. I think only the corp
32:37
Speaker 5: could look at three point eight million dollars at billion
32:39
Speaker 5: dollars and call that bad news.
32:41
Speaker 10: Is our eight still there? Because that's three point eight is.
32:44
Speaker 5: Not for us. The Fedroom Minister absolutely committed yesterday that
32:48
Speaker 5: this is the start of some very very long relationships.
32:50
Speaker 5: We have seen the north of Australia be really found
32:54
Speaker 5: out with those flood events over recent months, so absolutely
32:58
Speaker 5: needs to be something that will keep an eye on,
33:00
Speaker 5: will continue to work on. We absolutely know that not
33:04
Speaker 5: everything can be based in Townsville because there's a lot
33:06
Speaker 5: of space to the north here in Darwin and across
33:09
Speaker 5: of northwestern Australia and there's some big expanses of land
33:13
Speaker 5: to cover and will certainly be hand in hand with
33:15
Speaker 5: the federal government doing all that.
33:17
Speaker 1: The other thing that obviously we spoke about with Richard
33:19
Speaker 1: Miles yesterday as well on the show. I know that
33:21
Speaker 1: it was also raised throughout the press conference. Is the
33:24
Speaker 1: port and that review that's underway into the port at
33:26
Speaker 1: this point in time, because when you talk about you know,
33:30
Speaker 1: our logistics, and certainly when you talk about infrastructure, which
33:33
Speaker 1: is important, the port is a piece of that infrastructure.
33:37
Speaker 6: Yeah, and there's a separate review around that, which is
33:39
Speaker 6: what Richard Mass said will be coming out. He basically
33:43
Speaker 6: alluded to it being imminent really, so you'd imagine you'd
33:47
Speaker 6: expect over the next couple of weeks or.
33:48
Speaker 3: So that he said he couldn't tell me how many weeks,
33:51
Speaker 3: but he.
33:51
Speaker 7: Said very soon.
33:52
Speaker 6: Yeah, So he did acknowledge just how strategically valuable that
33:56
Speaker 6: asset will be, obviously in relation to the defense review.
34:00
Speaker 6: And it goes to the question of well, how do
34:01
Speaker 6: you take it back? And the money I mean that
34:04
Speaker 6: money that have to be compensated to Landbridge to get
34:08
Speaker 6: it back, like money it could be better spent elsewhere
34:12
Speaker 6: in the issues of the Northern Territory.
34:13
Speaker 2: And then on top of that, are they going to
34:15
Speaker 2: put the investment into the port that it requires. I mean,
34:18
Speaker 2: this is really serious and Paul you know, you tried
34:20
Speaker 2: to make it sound like that three point eight billion
34:22
Speaker 2: is for the territory.
34:23
Speaker 3: It is not.
34:24
Speaker 10: It is for three states. What is our share? That
34:27
Speaker 10: was not made clear yesterday and you have not been
34:30
Speaker 10: able to say that our eight billion.
34:32
Speaker 2: Is still on the table. I mean this is this
34:33
Speaker 2: is how people are putting food on their table. Let's
34:36
Speaker 2: not muck around. Besides the strategic importance of it, tradees,
34:41
Speaker 2: defense is the only game in town, the only game
34:43
Speaker 2: in town because your government has failed on major projects
34:46
Speaker 2: and if this dries up, people will literally be out
34:49
Speaker 2: of work and aren't able to stay here.
34:52
Speaker 5: There's a range of other projects that are going on
34:54
Speaker 5: outside of defense, but if we just concentrate on if
34:57
Speaker 5: we just concentrate on defense alone, through our procurement and
35:02
Speaker 5: making sure that our bilocal programs. We've absolutely worked really
35:05
Speaker 5: closely with Defense and their major contractors to make sure
35:08
Speaker 5: that those massive contracts that come, whether it's Larachie or
35:12
Speaker 5: into the Darwin specific areas, get broken down. You look
35:15
Speaker 5: at Larika at the tinder layer base and the work
35:17
Speaker 5: that's going on there a majority of local contractors that
35:20
Speaker 5: are now able to do that work because we've worked
35:22
Speaker 5: with Defense we've worked with the senior contractors to get
35:25
Speaker 5: those programs and those big areas of funding broken down
35:28
Speaker 5: so that local contractors can use it. So we absolutely
35:31
Speaker 5: know they're going to continue to invest in the in
35:33
Speaker 5: the Northern Territory and it won't be a fi FA workforce.
35:35
Speaker 5: There'll be locals that have.
35:36
Speaker 10: That work well.
35:37
Speaker 1: I think it's very important that that work is local,
35:39
Speaker 1: keys very quick con before we move on.
35:41
Speaker 9: A couple of years ago I went to a briefing
35:43
Speaker 9: buy the Army people because at that stage they had
35:46
Speaker 9: approval through the Senate Committee Estenate Committee for seven hundred
35:49
Speaker 9: million to be invested into the territory. And the reason
35:51
Speaker 9: I went to it because a lot of the money
35:52
Speaker 9: was going to Robertson Army barrackses close to where I live,
35:54
Speaker 9: and that works underway now I can see it happening.
35:57
Speaker 9: And also they were doing things out at Bradshaw for
35:59
Speaker 9: something seal the airstrip out there about one point two
36:02
Speaker 9: kilometers of airstript beings seld s would be a massive job,
36:04
Speaker 9: and doing some stuff at Tindall, but for example the
36:07
Speaker 9: Robinson Army Barracks area across the road from them, they're
36:10
Speaker 9: they're developing a firing range, and they're also developing a
36:13
Speaker 9: large course where people go and practice driving whatever tanks
36:16
Speaker 9: or big trucks or something.
36:17
Speaker 10: So there is that I know that's work way, but
36:20
Speaker 10: is the rest of it coming through?
36:22
Speaker 9: So that's a seven hundred million dollar commitment just for
36:24
Speaker 9: the territory. But I haven't seen the reports. So I'm
36:27
Speaker 9: going to get the report and try and track down
36:29
Speaker 9: and get some sense out of this funding commitment, like
36:31
Speaker 9: is it really coming to us or we've.
36:33
Speaker 1: Got to share going into share well, and it is
36:36
Speaker 1: something that we do need to make sure that we're
36:38
Speaker 1: clear on now. I do want to move on because
36:40
Speaker 1: there is so much to discuss this week, and obviously
36:42
Speaker 1: Howard Springs it has been a really.
36:48
Speaker 3: I'm a bit of a the other way to put it,
36:50
Speaker 3: I don't think.
36:51
Speaker 1: And after weeks of saying that there was only wear
36:53
Speaker 1: and tear out of Howard Springs, the Chief Minister had
36:55
Speaker 1: to admit throughout the week that there were other issues
36:59
Speaker 1: that led to damage out.
37:01
Speaker 3: At Howard Springs.
37:03
Speaker 1: We know that you know Howard Springs fair enough that
37:07
Speaker 1: it has been utilized to evacuate people from those flood zones,
37:11
Speaker 1: and nobody is suggesting that you know that that is
37:14
Speaker 1: not should not be the case. But the problem here
37:17
Speaker 1: is is that there's been a small number of people
37:19
Speaker 1: that have done the wrong thing, and really very much
37:22
Speaker 1: done the wrong thing by the sounds of it. I
37:24
Speaker 1: don't understand realistically why the Chief Minister went down the
37:27
Speaker 1: path of saying that it was just wear and tear.
37:28
Speaker 1: I think that if she'd come out straight from the
37:31
Speaker 1: get go and said we've got some people that have
37:34
Speaker 1: vandalized the area or broken windows or done whatever, there
37:38
Speaker 1: would not be so much egg on her face at
37:40
Speaker 1: this point in time.
37:41
Speaker 10: And that's coming.
37:42
Speaker 7: You and I have talked about Katie, like what was
37:44
Speaker 7: the strategy behind it? I understand her.
37:47
Speaker 6: I think maybe she was trying to ensure that all
37:50
Speaker 6: the people that were staying there weren't going to be
37:51
Speaker 6: painted with the same brush. But I don't think anyone
37:54
Speaker 6: that would have done that if I'd said that there's
37:56
Speaker 6: a small group of people causing issues, because I mean,
37:59
Speaker 6: that's just society.
38:00
Speaker 3: To cover up another cover up.
38:01
Speaker 9: It can't be that difficult to narrow down who the
38:04
Speaker 9: perpetrators were, Like, let's say six hundred.
38:07
Speaker 7: People security vision.
38:09
Speaker 9: Let's those six hundred people all have names, and they
38:11
Speaker 9: all would have been given a room. They just didn't
38:13
Speaker 9: arrive on a bus and were told go find a room,
38:15
Speaker 9: they would have been allocated room. There'll be names attached
38:18
Speaker 9: to rooms, I would suspect, I would hope. And then
38:21
Speaker 9: if there's damaged to individual rooms, surely then you know,
38:24
Speaker 9: if it's not the family who was staying in that room,
38:26
Speaker 9: then they sure as hell can tell the authorities who
38:29
Speaker 9: was the fire extinguishers, who broke the toilets, who trashed
38:32
Speaker 9: the mattresses, who trashed windows? Those? And why is it
38:35
Speaker 9: that you need a thirty thousand dollars contract from what
38:37
Speaker 9: I believe to be I suspecting a quantity surveyor would
38:40
Speaker 9: do that work to assess the level of damage. Thirty
38:43
Speaker 9: thousand dollars consultancy.
38:45
Speaker 2: For a construction company to a construction company who won
38:49
Speaker 2: that he won that tend up?
38:50
Speaker 3: Was it?
38:51
Speaker 1: Yeah?
38:52
Speaker 10: Yes, but it means there are major structural problems.
38:57
Speaker 9: Struct problem so then you're going to have to get
38:59
Speaker 9: engineers in to work out if you've got to fix things.
39:01
Speaker 9: But we're talking about electrical mechanical apart from the physical
39:05
Speaker 9: lass And I've told you before, I think Katie on
39:06
Speaker 9: this show. There were skip bins out there, just stuff
39:09
Speaker 9: being loaded up. And also, so don't forget these people,
39:14
Speaker 9: apart from getting funding, I don't know what it was
39:16
Speaker 9: the payments to be there, and that's okay because they've
39:19
Speaker 9: lost all their home and possessions. But there was also
39:22
Speaker 9: full catering. There was full catering out of that site
39:24
Speaker 9: for three meals a day for every individual. Now I
39:28
Speaker 9: will be doing some questions on notice to get to
39:30
Speaker 9: the bottom of the cost of rebility.
39:32
Speaker 7: No doubting or appearance estenates.
39:35
Speaker 9: I'll get I'll get a crappy thing back saying, oh,
39:37
Speaker 9: we're getting ready for estimates. You can ask your questions.
39:40
Speaker 7: That's a week.
39:40
Speaker 3: I mean, it's become it's brought a political issue. I
39:44
Speaker 3: think it has been Minister.
39:45
Speaker 6: You know, it's an image situation when her deputy comes
39:49
Speaker 6: out first and admits that there's damage, and then the
39:52
Speaker 6: Territory Families Minister a few days later does it, and
39:55
Speaker 6: still again she says it's where and tear to Then
39:58
Speaker 6: finally a week after the yes, now I've got the advice.
40:02
Speaker 9: It just doesn't make sense.
40:04
Speaker 1: It makes people think that you're being dishonest. It really
40:07
Speaker 1: makes people think that you're being dishonest. But I think
40:09
Speaker 1: for me, at the heart of this is and I
40:11
Speaker 1: think that sometimes what happens, you know, with our politicians
40:15
Speaker 1: and three of you in the studio this morning, is
40:17
Speaker 1: that sometimes people focus so much on their opposition, whether
40:21
Speaker 1: you're in labor or whether you are in the CLP
40:23
Speaker 1: or whether you're an independent, that you forget that it's
40:25
Speaker 1: real people that actually want to know the answers to
40:27
Speaker 1: these questions, and so forget, well, that's good Keysier, the
40:31
Speaker 1: real people get that's the thing. It's real people that
40:35
Speaker 1: were saying, hang on, I'm concerned about what's going on
40:38
Speaker 1: out there. And you know, the Chief Minister had said
40:41
Speaker 1: to us on the show, it is wear and tears.
40:43
Speaker 1: She then doubled down when she was interviewed on the
40:45
Speaker 1: ABC and said that it was wear and tear. And
40:47
Speaker 1: then I think it was a day later, Kathleen, you
40:49
Speaker 1: had the Deputy Chief Minister on nine News saying that
40:52
Speaker 1: it was more, you know, it was more than just.
40:54
Speaker 6: Wear in tear, and don't think into the impression that's
40:57
Speaker 6: what was going to come from that press conference all
41:00
Speaker 6: of a sudden, very much in.
41:01
Speaker 2: Light and we had two tenders come out prior to that,
41:04
Speaker 2: So prior to the Chief Minute, prior to even the
41:06
Speaker 2: Deputy Chief Minister coming out, there was the thirty thousand
41:10
Speaker 2: dollars tender two days before that, and a week or
41:12
Speaker 2: two before that was the one hundred thousand dollars tender.
41:15
Speaker 2: The Mattresses and Natasha Files continued to cover this issue up,
41:19
Speaker 2: continued to be dishonest with the community.
41:21
Speaker 9: Badly managed, Katie. If the Chief Minister believes that that
41:25
Speaker 9: damage is where in Tear, what the hell are those
41:28
Speaker 9: people doing out in their Aboriginal communities with their houses?
41:31
Speaker 9: Is that why we've got the problem with Aboriginal housing
41:33
Speaker 9: in the bush being wrecked and trashed the way it
41:34
Speaker 9: is where in Tear.
41:37
Speaker 1: Now, I don't know why, Honestly, I don't know what
41:39
Speaker 1: she was thinking when she'd said that, and I don't
41:42
Speaker 1: know whether the advice was bad. She had said to
41:44
Speaker 1: me that was the advice that she'd been given.
41:47
Speaker 9: Just bad advice.
41:48
Speaker 3: But yeah, the other thing too, she said.
41:49
Speaker 10: You can't blame bad advice, you make up your own.
41:52
Speaker 10: She is the Chief Minute. Sorry.
41:55
Speaker 9: Well, one thing I saw them press release from government.
41:58
Speaker 9: They've taken out these commendation pods to I think maybe Darga,
42:02
Speaker 9: argu and Coquering. Youll all of them, all of the
42:04
Speaker 9: above for temporary until they get their proper houses fixed.
42:08
Speaker 9: I will put money on it now. Those temporary prods
42:10
Speaker 9: will not be able to reuse once I've been out
42:12
Speaker 9: in those communities. That will be a cost that would
42:14
Speaker 9: have to be written off.
42:15
Speaker 1: Well, look, and that is not good at all, Curbs,
42:19
Speaker 1: I mean, what do you make of this whole situation?
42:21
Speaker 3: Did the Chief finishter get bad advice? What's happened?
42:24
Speaker 5: Well, I was actually over the last couple of weeks
42:26
Speaker 5: been in Catherine Tennant and Alice Springs, so haven't had
42:30
Speaker 5: the opportunity. We know the Chief Minister is down in
42:32
Speaker 5: camera today at National Cabinet, so I haven't spoken with
42:34
Speaker 5: her directly about the advice that she was getting on
42:38
Speaker 5: the infrastructure. Minister had been out with some different people
42:41
Speaker 5: at Howard Spring so obviously the advice was conflicting that
42:46
Speaker 5: the Chief was getting at the time. Look, we know
42:48
Speaker 5: that anytime we have to evacuate people at really really
42:51
Speaker 5: short notice, there's going to be a cost no matter
42:54
Speaker 5: what or where we have to try and house these
42:56
Speaker 5: people at really short notice. Over the line period of time,
43:01
Speaker 5: there won't be the capacity to house people here. There'll
43:03
Speaker 5: be there's other contractoral arrangements that the government will try
43:06
Speaker 5: and into into for this facility, and we'll be back
43:09
Speaker 5: to the stage of whether we have to put tents
43:11
Speaker 5: up at Robson or show grounds, at the showgrounds or
43:15
Speaker 5: anywhere else to try and house people. So we'll certainly
43:18
Speaker 5: work through Obviously, if they have to be repairs done
43:20
Speaker 5: out there, we will work through that and make sure that.
43:23
Speaker 10: It is up to speed.
43:25
Speaker 5: Those pods or the accommodation coreters out there that were
43:29
Speaker 5: built for workers to work in out there right from
43:32
Speaker 5: the get go, like they were, they're not temporary, but
43:35
Speaker 5: they're you know, they're they're not massive, they're not brick buildings.
43:39
Speaker 5: They're certainly small, little accommodation units for individuals to stay in.
43:45
Speaker 5: So I can understand how they would be damaged if
43:48
Speaker 5: some people have gone.
43:50
Speaker 7: I think anyone.
43:51
Speaker 6: I don't think anyone is against housing these people at
43:54
Speaker 6: how it's not what's going to be a longer period
43:57
Speaker 6: of time.
43:58
Speaker 7: I mean, they shouldn't be stuck.
43:59
Speaker 6: Actually, the respect of the facility that is paid for
44:06
Speaker 6: by tax payers, and I mean there's there's vision been
44:09
Speaker 6: posted online by Action for Alice of someone walking through
44:12
Speaker 6: the facility, bordered up windows, graffiti on doors, mattresses flung
44:17
Speaker 6: out at the front of the buildings.
44:20
Speaker 7: It looks like an absolute mess.
44:24
Speaker 1: Fundamentally, it is a it's a territory asset. It is
44:29
Speaker 1: a Northern Territory asset. It is everybody's asset. It costs
44:33
Speaker 1: a lot of money to maintain every single year. You know,
44:36
Speaker 1: when the government made the decision that they were going
44:38
Speaker 1: to take it on after it was handed over by
44:41
Speaker 1: impects people going is this the right move for us?
44:43
Speaker 1: You know, can the Northern Territory continue to sort of
44:46
Speaker 1: to pay for it.
44:48
Speaker 3: It's ended up being a really great asset.
44:50
Speaker 1: So, you know, good on the government for having the
44:52
Speaker 1: foresight to take it on and think, all right, we
44:55
Speaker 1: might be able to use this as something because it's
44:57
Speaker 1: been incredibly beneficial over recent years. But I just think
45:01
Speaker 1: that at the end of the day, what we expect
45:03
Speaker 1: from our politicians, and I don't think that it's too much,
45:06
Speaker 1: is for people to be honest and to be open
45:08
Speaker 1: and to be transparent.
45:09
Speaker 6: And you know, they have caused damage that small group
45:12
Speaker 6: of people because it's not the majority they are exactly.
45:16
Speaker 2: But for the Deputy Chief Minister to have to come
45:18
Speaker 2: out and admit it, and the Chief Minister to continue
45:21
Speaker 2: to pretend it wasn't happening was astonishing.
45:23
Speaker 10: And you know what, one week later, where's Nicole Madison
45:26
Speaker 10: on the other side of the world. I don't know
45:28
Speaker 10: if that's a.
45:30
Speaker 3: I don't know, but interesting.
45:34
Speaker 10: Quickly she was out of there.
45:36
Speaker 5: I think you know from your experience those overseas trips
45:39
Speaker 5: take a long time to put together. They can be
45:41
Speaker 5: canceled at short notice, but they do take.
45:43
Speaker 1: A long time.
45:44
Speaker 10: We are going to have to tell you what they're canceling.
45:46
Speaker 3: We're going to have to take a very short break.
45:47
Speaker 1: You are listening to Mix one O four nine's three
45:49
Speaker 1: sixty Before we wrap up, though, we know that we've
45:53
Speaker 1: got a situation with the Children's Commissioner, and the Northern
45:57
Speaker 1: Territory Children's Commissioner is indeed seeking compensation over the misconceived
46:01
Speaker 1: attempt to prosecute her. We also have a situation where
46:06
Speaker 1: we are waiting for an outcome when it comes to
46:09
Speaker 1: the Northern Territory Police Commissioner. So, according to The Australian
46:12
Speaker 1: newspaper earlier in the week, the Northern Territory Police Commissioner
46:15
Speaker 1: Jamie Chalker is holding off on filing his evidence against
46:19
Speaker 1: the Chief Minister for another week, in a move that
46:22
Speaker 1: suggests the parties might be negotiating an imminent settlement in
46:26
Speaker 1: the costly case. That is what was reported by the
46:29
Speaker 1: Australian newspaper Paul Kirby, Is there any update on that situation?
46:34
Speaker 5: Oh, look, at any stage you're in negotiations, there are
46:36
Speaker 5: tender times when you don't want to be speaking about
46:39
Speaker 5: them and upset the negotiation. So they are absolutely progressing.
46:43
Speaker 5: But yeah, I won't add any commentary to that because
46:46
Speaker 5: they are at a very tender stage and we're absolutely
46:49
Speaker 5: committed to continue to work through that.
46:51
Speaker 2: Well, what Territorians want is this to be resolved, because
46:53
Speaker 2: while Natasha Farz is spending her time preparing her for
46:56
Speaker 2: her cross examination in the Supreme Court, who is leading
47:00
Speaker 2: the territory out of this crime crisis? And that's what
47:03
Speaker 2: people are so disappointed about. Our poor police are now
47:07
Speaker 2: in a holding pattern until this is resolved. And at
47:09
Speaker 2: a time when we have a crime and police crisis,
47:12
Speaker 2: this bungle by Natasha Farz couldn't have come at a
47:15
Speaker 2: worse time.
47:16
Speaker 5: I think the person that's leading the chief Minister the
47:19
Speaker 5: Northern Territory is the chief Minister. She's down in National
47:21
Speaker 5: Cabinet at the moment, so there's absolutely no doubts there.
47:24
Speaker 9: Well where I just think the government just better have
47:27
Speaker 9: a big purse. I've got quite a few payouts coming.
47:31
Speaker 9: Why does missioners and commissioners and commissioners. Then they've got
47:34
Speaker 9: a massive bill to clean up Howard Springs. So budget's
47:36
Speaker 9: coming up to most So it'll be interested to see
47:39
Speaker 9: where these bits get. How much to pay out this commissioner,
47:42
Speaker 9: how much to pay out that it won't be known, well,
47:45
Speaker 9: it won't be I know that we died all settlements,
47:47
Speaker 9: I get all that, but you know how much to
47:48
Speaker 9: tidy up Howard Springs? How much to fix this up?
47:50
Speaker 9: How much for the pods that are going out to
47:52
Speaker 9: Dagga Argue.
47:52
Speaker 1: They're all very good questions, Caiz, Yeah, very good questions. Indeed,
47:56
Speaker 1: we might have to get in here to help out sometimes.
48:00
Speaker 3: And now a quick message from Jerry Wood. He likes
48:03
Speaker 3: to get in contact. Jerry.
48:04
Speaker 1: He's messaged and said single workers' quarters would never go
48:07
Speaker 1: in to be suitable for Aboriginal families out at Howard
48:10
Speaker 1: Springs weedyit of all family should have take with Catherine Showgrounds.
48:13
Speaker 1: Hey Jerry, well that is it for the week that
48:17
Speaker 1: was this morning.
48:18
Speaker 3: Opposition leader Leothan Oki are always good to have you
48:20
Speaker 3: on the show. Thank you.
48:21
Speaker 10: Great to be back. I just wanted to do a
48:23
Speaker 10: quick shout out to Autism and Tee.
48:24
Speaker 2: They have their annual Autism Walk tomorrow morning at Sunset
48:28
Speaker 2: Park from eight thirty am Sunset Parks in Nightcliffe. Do
48:31
Speaker 2: you want to come down spend money on the barbecue,
48:33
Speaker 2: raise money for Autism and Tee.
48:34
Speaker 10: I know they'll appreciate it.
48:35
Speaker 3: Wonderful stuff.
48:36
Speaker 1: Nine News Darwin's Kathleen Gazzola, thank you for your time
48:39
Speaker 1: this morning.
48:45
Speaker 3: Easier, Thank you, Paul.
48:48
Speaker 5: Kirby, thank you very much. Ty Festival tomorrow down at
48:52
Speaker 5: the waterfront, the Kids Barrow Classic for anybody that's down
48:55
Speaker 5: at the Daily and May Day on Monday, Happy Union
48:59
Speaker 5: Christmas to all that homrade out there.
49:01
Speaker 3: Cathen you're going fishing at you this summer. We'll be
49:05
Speaker 3: at the Daily Monday Tuesday.
49:08
Speaker 6: Hostfully getting to wed a line, so make sure people
49:11
Speaker 6: aren't in the boats, aren't running away from me, please, Good.
49:14
Speaker 3: Stuff thank you all so much for your time this morning,
49:17
Speaker 3: and we will catch
49:17
Speaker 1: You again next well next week actually I'll be away,
49:20
Speaker 1: but we'll have a week that was when I get
49:22
Speaker 1: back the following week