Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Katie Woolf spoke with New Federal Agriculture and Northern Australia Minister David Littleproud

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Katie Woolf spoke with New Federal Agriculture and Northern Australia Minister David Littleproud · 360 with Katie Woolf

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  Speaker 1: Mix one at four point nine dot com for all
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  Speaker 1: the latest news and information. Now three sixty with Katie Wolf.
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  Speaker 1: Everyone is listening Mixed one oh four point nine one
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  Speaker 1: hundred percent.
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  Speaker 2: Joining us on the line is the Minister for Federal Well,
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  Speaker 2: the Federal Minister for Agriculture and Northern Australia, David Little Proud.
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  Speaker 3: Good morning to you, Oh, good morning, good to be
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  Speaker 3: with you.
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  Speaker 2: Great have you on the show, Minister, and good to
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  Speaker 2: hear that you've been announced as the Minister for Northern Australia.
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  Speaker 2: Were you pretty pleased when you found out that you'd
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  Speaker 2: been appointed to that role? Oh?
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  Speaker 3: I am, it's been quite exciting. I did have Agricultural
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  Speaker 3: Emergency Management and I've seen a lot of trauma over
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  Speaker 3: the last couple of years. It's been great to be
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  Speaker 3: part of that. But it's now good to be part
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  Speaker 3: of something's exciting, that's fresh, that's new, and the opportunities
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  Speaker 3: in the North have been untapped and I think it's
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  Speaker 3: now particularly since COVID australnger waking up to the fact
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  Speaker 3: that living in capital cities in the South isn't all
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  Speaker 3: of us cracked up to me and the opportunities that
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  Speaker 3: are up here are ones that I think we'll get
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  Speaker 3: that entrepreneurial spirit in Australia that built Australia back on
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  Speaker 3: track and being able to have that opportunity to be
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  Speaker 3: the Minister of Northern Australia is a great honor.
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  Speaker 2: Well, it's certainly one that we're here in the territory
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  Speaker 2: think is incredibly important. So, you know, making sure that
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  Speaker 2: Northern Australia, particularly the Northern Territory, is high on the agenda.
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  Speaker 2: We now know that the newly appointed chair of the
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  Speaker 2: KNAFE for the first time ever a territory in Tracy Hayes.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, are we going to finally really see a
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  Speaker 2: real push for the territory.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, definitely. I actually met with Tracy yesterday and have
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  Speaker 3: a great deal of conference in some of the reforms
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  Speaker 3: we put through that she'll be able to drive them,
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  Speaker 3: and she's very energetic and enthused about the opportunities that
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  Speaker 3: are here. There's been over seven hundred million committed through
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  Speaker 3: the NAPE to the Northern Territory, about one point two
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  Speaker 3: and about one point three for Queensland WA. And that's
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  Speaker 3: why I'm up here is that obviously the main Office
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  Speaker 3: of Northern Australias here in Darwin. I want to make
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  Speaker 3: sure that those guys are working with the NAITH and
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  Speaker 3: also the Northern Australia Research Center to make sure we're coordinating.
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  Speaker 3: I think there's been a lot of silos and now
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  Speaker 3: the opportunity to bring it all together and really have
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  Speaker 3: a strategic direction that they get a return on an
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  Speaker 3: investment to the Israil taxpayer, which I know will. So
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  Speaker 3: there's been three point one billion dollars worth of commitments
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  Speaker 3: through the NATH about twenty projects. But we think obviously
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  Speaker 3: now there's another two billion that we will have some
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  Speaker 3: commitments over the next twelve months, and I think the
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  Speaker 3: territory is looking to play a role in that. I'm
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  Speaker 3: trying to catch up with the Northern Territory government as
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  Speaker 3: well while i'm here, because they also have a role
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  Speaker 3: to play. But it's going to take some encouraging conviction
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  Speaker 3: from our state and territory governments as well. They own
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  Speaker 3: the resources such as water and the minerals that are
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  Speaker 3: in the earth, and so we need them to have
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  Speaker 3: some courage and conviction to think outside of the square
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  Speaker 3: a little bit, because that can sometimes be a barrier.
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  Speaker 3: We've got the checkbook. We just need them to work
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  Speaker 3: with us because that's where the opportunities are and I
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  Speaker 3: think that's what will not just drive this is what
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  Speaker 3: will drive our nation's economy. Is Lord in Australia if
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  Speaker 3: we get it right, and having someone like Tracy there
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  Speaker 3: is a big advantage to make sure that you have
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  Speaker 3: a strong voice at the table in those investment decisions.
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  Speaker 2: Minister, what is top of the agenda for you upon
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  Speaker 2: taking that role of the Northern Australia Portfolio.
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  Speaker 3: Well, the simple is getting stuff done. I mean, the
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  Speaker 3: NAFE had been sitting there languishing for a long time
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  Speaker 3: and now we're getting some real commitments and some real approvals.
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  Speaker 3: We've got it up to three point one billion. I
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  Speaker 3: want the other two billion dollars committed as quickly as
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  Speaker 3: we can with projects so that we can give investment
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  Speaker 3: conferences the business to come up and to continue invest
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  Speaker 3: But it's more than just the NATHE and I think
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  Speaker 3: we've just had that as a signature piece. What we've
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  Speaker 3: also done is we've moved Northern Australia into the Department
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  Speaker 3: of Infrastructure. Because the KNAFE is just one program about
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  Speaker 3: the developing Northern Australia. If we use some of the
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  Speaker 3: other infrastructure programs that the federal government puts out to
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  Speaker 3: compliment and supplement the NAFE, then we actually get a
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  Speaker 3: better bang for buck and we can actually get a
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  Speaker 3: better coordinated approach in building the supply chains and the
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  Speaker 3: infrastructure to support those supply chains quicker. And this is
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  Speaker 3: about speed to market. And I think this is our
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  Speaker 3: window of opportunity. So you know, I'm going line by
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  Speaker 3: line with the NAPE as we speak, as well as
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  Speaker 3: the Office in Order Australia, sitting down expectations and making
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  Speaker 3: sure that I'm inspecting what I expect in terms of delivery.
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  Speaker 3: Getting stuff done is just so important at the moment,
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  Speaker 3: and that means delivera those NAFE, delivera the infrastructure programs.
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  Speaker 3: So there's something being built, and we're building infrastructure creating
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  Speaker 3: jobs not just in building infrastructure, but we're creating jobs
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  Speaker 3: in the operation of that infrastructure. We don't want to
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  Speaker 3: just build infrastructure that just sits there and doesn't create
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  Speaker 3: jobs or productivity or profitability. That helps nobody. And that's
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  Speaker 3: why we need some smart decisions, quick decisions that gives
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  Speaker 3: a return and investment. And that's what Tracy's job is.
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  Speaker 2: To do, Minister, we are fast running out of time.
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  Speaker 2: We've got an incredibly busy show on the agenda this morning. Hey,
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  Speaker 2: just a couple quick though. We know that farmers and
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  Speaker 2: t or certainly here in the territory, we've been having
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  Speaker 2: real issues when it comes to picking and packing heading
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  Speaker 2: into the mango season. Our farmers are really struggling to
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  Speaker 2: make sure that they've got that workforce in order to
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  Speaker 2: get these jobs done. It's something that we've been talking
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  Speaker 2: about for such a long period of time across this show.
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  Speaker 2: Are we going to see some movement in this space?
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  Speaker 2: And he says something that the federal government can do
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  Speaker 2: to try and make sure that they're able to get
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  Speaker 2: the workforce that is required to ensure that those mangoes
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  Speaker 2: don't rot on the ground.
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  Speaker 3: Well, we've already done it. We've made twenty five thousand
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  Speaker 3: men and women available in ten Pacific countries that the
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  Speaker 3: states and territories can bring across now some states, and
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  Speaker 3: what we've also done is not just bring them across
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  Speaker 3: and quarantine here in Australia. We now open up the
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  Speaker 3: opportunity in country quarantining in Figi and Vanilatu, South Australia's
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  Speaker 3: taking it up. The territory hasn't. They still want to
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  Speaker 3: use the facilities here, so that's great, they can do that,
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  Speaker 3: but we can only stamp the v is once they
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  Speaker 3: give the health approval, so the territory government in fact
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  Speaker 3: can solve this with the twenty five thousand men and
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  Speaker 3: women that are sitting in the Pacific. We've also just
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  Speaker 3: fine lines in the new agriculture of visa that will
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  Speaker 3: extend to ten as yarm countries and maybe even beyond that.
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  Speaker 3: So we're actually putting in all the opportunity to bring
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  Speaker 3: men and women in to do the work. But we
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  Speaker 3: need the health tics approval by each state and that's
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  Speaker 3: the only impediment of us bringing in new people. In
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  Speaker 3: every state and territory our own sovereign government, they have
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  Speaker 3: their ownership of the health protocols in the quarantine and
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  Speaker 3: how they want it done, and if they make that decision,
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  Speaker 3: we'll back them. We'll stand for visas. So we're just
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  Speaker 3: saying the NTE government, here's your opportunity. That's get the
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  Speaker 3: man goes off and then you know, once you finished
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  Speaker 3: our pre you can move across the bowl and we
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  Speaker 3: can leave these workers around into state and across the
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  Speaker 3: country as well once they finished up here. So there's
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  Speaker 3: just some common sense needed, some coordination and we just
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  Speaker 3: need the states and territories to come with us.
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  Speaker 2: David Little Prie, we are going to have to leave
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  Speaker 2: it there. Thanks so much for your time.
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  Speaker 3: This morning, Thanks for having me. Great to be in Darwin.
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  Speaker 2: Thank you. That is the Federal Agriculture and also Minister
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  Speaker 2: for Northern Australia there, David Little Proud