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Katie Woolf spoke with Senator Sam McMahon · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: You may have read in the paper today in the
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  Speaker 1: Northern Territory News that the controversial ninety nine year lease
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: of Darwin's Port to Chinese owned company Lambridge is going
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  Speaker 1: to be scrutinized by a parliamentary inquiry, as senators for
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  Speaker 1: both sides of politics call for the deal to be
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  Speaker 1: examined under the coalition's new Foreign VSHO power legislation. Now
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  Speaker 1: joining me on the line to talk a little bit
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  Speaker 1: more about this and also the federal budget being delivered
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  Speaker 1: and what we can expect is Senator for the Northern
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  Speaker 1: Territory CLP. Senator for the Northern Territory, Sam McMahon.
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  Speaker 2: Good morning, Good morning Katie. How are you yeah? Really well? Sam?
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  Speaker 1: We know, as I mentioned this, the lease over the
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  Speaker 1: Darwin Port, it's something that we've spoken about on many occasions.
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  Speaker 1: It's something that gets raised quite regularly. But the Northern
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  Speaker 1: Territory News is reporting today that they understand both Liberal
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  Speaker 1: and Labor senators plan to raise the issue next week
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  Speaker 1: when the Senate's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee begins an
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  Speaker 1: inquiry into a bill that would give the Commonweald It's
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  Speaker 1: the power to veto international agreements reached by states and
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  Speaker 1: territories with foreign governments. Do you think that the lease
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  Speaker 1: is something that we need to be looking back into.
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  Speaker 3: Look, I personally think it wouldn't hurt to look into it.
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  Speaker 3: We need to make sure that it's still in Australia's
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  Speaker 3: national interests and that the terms of the lease are
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  Speaker 3: being adhered to. So I definitely think it's worth having
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  Speaker 3: a look at it.
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  Speaker 2: Why do you reckon that it wouldn't hurt.
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  Speaker 3: Well, I mean it is, as you say, fairly controversial.
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  Speaker 3: People tend to have an opinion on it. A lot
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  Speaker 3: of people have been critical and said, oh, the government
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  Speaker 3: sold the port. Well, they didn't sell the port, they
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  Speaker 3: leased it. It's different. It's a commercial arrangement, but it
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  Speaker 3: is one that causes a lot of angst in the community,
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  Speaker 3: and therefore I think it's worth having a look at
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  Speaker 3: it to assure Territorians and Australians that everything is in
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  Speaker 3: our best interest or if it's not, that we are
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  Speaker 3: taking action to do something about it.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, I suppose the reality is if we find that
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  Speaker 1: it's not in Australia's best interest, what steps would then
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  Speaker 1: sort of need to be taken.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, Look, that would be a legal process Katie. Obviously
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  Speaker 3: we wouldn't just seize it back. There is a commercial
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  Speaker 3: lease in place, and you know that would be one
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  Speaker 3: for the Attorney General and the Foreign Minister and a
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  Speaker 3: few others to have a look at and to see
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  Speaker 3: what mechanisms there might be for buying back the lease,
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  Speaker 3: for canceling the lease, for you know what. There might
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  Speaker 3: be several mechanisms it could be used.
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  Speaker 2: Senator, Is it more of.
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  Speaker 1: A situation here where it's worth having a look at
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  Speaker 1: to sort of reassure territorians that there's nothing untoward.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, absolutely, there we need to be able to assure
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  Speaker 3: them that there's nothing untoward and also that it's it's
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  Speaker 3: good value for territorians as well.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, Like I said, it's something that always gets raised.
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  Speaker 1: I you know, I think, look, it's interesting if it
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  Speaker 1: if it is going to be looked into, when would
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  Speaker 1: that sort of when would that happen?
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  Speaker 3: Well, the inquiry is starting. These things generally sort of
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  Speaker 3: take it at least six months, sometimes longer depending on
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  Speaker 3: the nature of the inquiry and the number of witnesses.
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  Speaker 3: So you know we're probably looking at a six to
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  Speaker 3: twelve month period.
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  Speaker 1: All right, Well, it'll be interesting to see exactly what
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  Speaker 1: comes out of that inquiry.
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  Speaker 2: And where it all all leads now, Senator.
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  Speaker 1: Of course, the federal budget being handed down tomorrow night,
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  Speaker 1: we already see that we're going to get a one
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  Speaker 1: hundred and ninety million dollar fit will road injection injection.
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  Speaker 2: What will this mean and where will this money be spent?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, so this is a sort of a preliminary release
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  Speaker 3: of what's going to be in the budget obviously, where
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  Speaker 3: you know, we're hoping that there'll be a lot of
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  Speaker 3: good things in there for the NT and I actually
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  Speaker 3: spoke with the Deputy Prime Minister yesterday and he assured
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  Speaker 3: me that there would be and I'll be meeting with
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  Speaker 3: him tonight as well to discuss the budget and the
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  Speaker 3: situation in the Northern Territory. And now this announcement of
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  Speaker 3: this one hundred and ninety million funding is on a
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  Speaker 3: couple of roads. There's one hundred and twenty million going
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  Speaker 3: to the Carpenteria Highway upgrade and twenty two point nine
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  Speaker 3: million for the Stuart Highway at Coolinga and forty six
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  Speaker 3: point six million for the Stuart, Barkley and Vick Highways.
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  Speaker 1: Well, no doubt that that funding is going to be
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  Speaker 1: widely welcomed by the community. Some of those road areas
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  Speaker 1: certainly need a bit of work. We caught up with
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  Speaker 1: the Chief Minister earlier this morning and asked him, you know,
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  Speaker 1: what he was really hoping for out of the federal budget.
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  Speaker 1: He sort of he said that he thinks, you know,
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  Speaker 1: Scott Morrison's made some really good announcements in terms of
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  Speaker 1: keeping the job keeper or keeping the job see sorry
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  Speaker 1: job keeper payments going.
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  Speaker 2: For that period of time.
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  Speaker 1: Senator, from your perspective, what have you advocated for the
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  Speaker 1: Northern Territory out of tomorrow night's budget.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, look, Katie, as the treasure has indicated it is
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  Speaker 3: it is all about jobs, keeping the economy moving, providing employment,
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  Speaker 3: supporting businesses. So I'm advocating for infrastructure spending for the
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  Speaker 3: Northern Territory. You know, the more infrastructure that we can
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  Speaker 3: get happening, the more jobs that creates, the more Territorians
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  Speaker 3: that keeps in work. And also support for businesses. You know, small,
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  Speaker 3: small to medium businesses are the backbone of the territory economy.
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  Speaker 3: Obviously Job Keeper is keeping them supported at the moment,
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  Speaker 3: so we want to continue that to see them come through.
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  Speaker 3: There's some moves for tourism obviously historically a reasonably important
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  Speaker 3: part of our economy, so trying to support and stimulate that.
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  Speaker 3: But yes, I'm very keen on big infrastructure projects, road
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  Speaker 3: upgrades and improvement, water infrastructure and those sort of big
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  Speaker 3: infrastructure projects, which is what I'll be talking to the
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  Speaker 3: DEPUTYPM tonight about.
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  Speaker 2: Right.
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  Speaker 1: So, in terms of water infrastructure, what would you like
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  Speaker 1: to see for the territory.
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  Speaker 3: Okay, well, we've got on the table the arrows project
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  Speaker 3: at Adelaide River. I'd like to see that sort of
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  Speaker 3: advanced and come online. There's also proposals to increase the
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  Speaker 3: capacity of mant And Dam, which would take some pressure
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  Speaker 3: off water supply for Darwin, and also to investigate the
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  Speaker 3: possibility of new dam sites around the top end where
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  Speaker 3: we could potentially have in the CSIROS identified about seven
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  Speaker 3: to nine sites I think is potential site to see
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  Speaker 3: where we could potentially have some new water storage infrastructure
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  Speaker 3: in the top end.
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  Speaker 1: And I'm assuming that that would obviously not only be
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  Speaker 1: a good thing in terms of water security for the territory,
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  Speaker 1: but also when you talk about agriculture and horticulture and
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  Speaker 1: those other you know, those other industries yeah.
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  Speaker 3: Absolutely right, when we not only have to provide water
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  Speaker 3: security for residential and commercial use, but we have almost
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  Speaker 3: unlimited agriculture and horticultural capacity in the territory if we
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  Speaker 3: can just get the water, so you know, a year
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  Speaker 3: round access to reliable water would immensely open up the
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  Speaker 3: opportunities for agriculture and horticulture.
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  Speaker 1: Now, Senator, the Chief Minister mentioned earlier this morning that
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  Speaker 1: obviously the federal government has committed to Kakado, he's really
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  Speaker 1: hopeful that that money may be brought forward sooner.
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  Speaker 2: Do you think that's on the cards?
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  Speaker 3: Look over the situation with the funding for I could
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  Speaker 3: do is it's there and we're trying to bring it
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  Speaker 3: forward as fast as we can. I mean, there's two
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  Speaker 3: hundred and six million dollars allocated sitting there waiting to
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  Speaker 3: be rolled out. It's actually a combination of the Northern
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  Speaker 3: Territory Government Upper and the Northern Land Council that are
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  Speaker 3: holding up that development. So you know, he's well aware
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  Speaker 3: of the fact that the money is sitting there ready
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  Speaker 3: to be rolled out. We just need approval.
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  Speaker 1: So in what ways they are they holding that money
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  Speaker 1: being rolled out?
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  Speaker 3: Okay, there's all sorts of disputes about how the money
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  Speaker 3: should be spent, what it should be spent on, who
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  Speaker 3: actually are the traditional owners of the various areas of
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  Speaker 3: the park. There's disputes about various developments that have gone
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  Speaker 3: on which is holding up the opening up of those
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  Speaker 3: there is, such as the Gunlong Track. There's obviously been
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  Speaker 3: issues with Parks Australia where the Kackadoo Board of Management
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  Speaker 3: and the traditional owners have had disputes with the people
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  Speaker 3: at Parks Australia leading to the Secretary and the dec
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  Speaker 3: Deputy Secretary leaving. So there's been all sorts of you know,
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  Speaker 3: from the territory side, from various bodies in the territory,
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  Speaker 3: all sorts of disputes and arguments that are holding up
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  Speaker 3: the rolling out of this funding.
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  Speaker 1: But that Parks Australia, the issues of Parks Australia, that's
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  Speaker 1: actually that comes down to federal management.
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  Speaker 3: Well, no, it's the interaction between Parks Australia and the
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  Speaker 3: Kakadoo Board of Management and the NLC and you know
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  Speaker 3: the interaction between them and all the players in the
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  Speaker 3: Northern Territory who many of them decided that they weren't
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  Speaker 3: happy fair enough. That's that's their right to not be
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  Speaker 3: happy with South things are going along, but that that
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  Speaker 3: was the problem is a dispute between all the players
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  Speaker 3: up here and the management of Parks Australia.
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  Speaker 1: So just to be really clear for our listeners at
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  Speaker 1: the moment, what you're saying is that the issues in
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  Speaker 1: terms of that investment into Kakado right now, it's got
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  Speaker 1: nothing to.
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  Speaker 2: Do with the Federal government. It's there.
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  Speaker 1: It's that the other various groups aren't able to coordinate
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  Speaker 1: with each other.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah. Correct, the money, the money is there. I speak
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  Speaker 3: to the Minister frequently. We're wanting to roll it out
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  Speaker 3: and it's you know, all all these other players which
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  Speaker 3: all have to agree, which doesn't always happen, and all
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  Speaker 3: the disputes that are holding it up at the moment
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  Speaker 3: from the Northern Territory side. The money sitting there, it's
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  Speaker 3: ready to go. We want to spend it.
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  Speaker 1: And so so what's stopping it right now is not
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  Speaker 1: the federal government bringing for that money. It's actually ready
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  Speaker 1: to be spent right now.
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  Speaker 3: Absolutely all right, Well, we might.
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  Speaker 1: Try and I'll see if I can get the Tourism
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  Speaker 1: Minister on tomorrow morning and see if we can get
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  Speaker 1: a bit of their response to that comment, Senator Sam McMahon,
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  Speaker 1: always good to.
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  Speaker 2: Catch up with you.
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  Speaker 1: Any other any other little tidbits that you of info
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  Speaker 1: you can give us before the federal budget gets handed
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  Speaker 1: down tomorrow night, Any bits of info that we might
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  Speaker 1: not be aware of.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, Katie, sorry, sorry, no sort of advanced surprises. I'll
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  Speaker 3: get a smack over the roost from the PM if
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  Speaker 3: I do that. But yet, as I said, the Deputy
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  Speaker 3: Prime Minister Michael McCormack has assured me that it will
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  Speaker 3: be good news for the Northern Territory, so I'm going
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  Speaker 3: to be working really hard to hold into that. Yeah.
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  Speaker 1: I will be waiting to hear and we are due
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: to catch up with Mattias Corman on Wednesday morning, so
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  Speaker 1: hopefully there'll be some good news in there for the territory.
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  Speaker 1: Senator Sam McMahon, good to catch up with you today, Thank.
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  Speaker 3: You, Yeah, thanks, thanks very much, Katie. Thanks to you listeners.
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  Speaker 2: We'll talk to you again soon.
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  Speaker 1: That is the COLP Senator there for the Northern Territory,
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  Speaker 1: Sam McMahon