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Katie Woolf spoke with Independent Member for Araluen Robyn Lambley · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Estimates continue in the Northern Territory and it's been an
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: interesting couple of days. Joining me on the line to
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: talk more about some of the information gleaned is the
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  Speaker 1: Independent Member Forarara lu And Robin Lambley.
• 0:12
  Speaker 2: Good morning to you.
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  Speaker 3: Good morning Katie, Robin.
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  Speaker 1: Yesterday the Health Minister was in the hot seat and
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  Speaker 1: there was a lot of questioning around the testing at
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  Speaker 1: Howard Springs. Do you feel confident in the changes happening
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  Speaker 1: out at Howard Springs at the moment?
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  Speaker 3: Look, Katie, the Minister for Health was question on her
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  Speaker 3: health portfolio for seven hours yesterday and a lot of
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  Speaker 3: earth the majority of the time we spent I think
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  Speaker 3: it was urgibardi between the opposition and the government. The minister.
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  Speaker 3: My view is we have to have confidence in the expert.
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  Speaker 3: I listened carefully to all the responses to the many
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  Speaker 3: questions of the opposition about the different types of testing
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  Speaker 3: and whether which one was safer. Look, I just had
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  Speaker 3: to go with what they told me and have confidence
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  Speaker 3: in them, and they were asking for that. One of
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  Speaker 3: the doctors, the acting Chief Health Officer, he said specifically
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  Speaker 3: that you know, people need to be confident and creating
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  Speaker 3: doubt at this point in time probably isn't overly useful.
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  Speaker 3: We have to get more people vaccinated and feeling comfortable
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  Speaker 3: that the direction taken by the Chief Health Officer and
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  Speaker 3: the Department of Health is the right way to go.
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  Speaker 3: So I'm happy with that things can change. But yes,
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  Speaker 3: that's my position.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, which I think is fair enough, Robin, particularly when
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  Speaker 1: we are hearing from the likes of doctor Charles Pain
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  Speaker 1: and also Professor Lene nataras it does give you that
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  Speaker 1: confidence now I know, Robin. There was also quite a
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  Speaker 1: bit of questioning around the misuse of alcohol in the
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  Speaker 1: Northern Territory and the measures that we've got.
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  Speaker 2: In place, the likes of the beat.
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  Speaker 1: What were you keen to find out yesterday through that
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  Speaker 1: questioning around alcohol?
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  Speaker 3: Well, there has been a thirty one percent increase in
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  Speaker 3: alcohol related crime and assaults across the Northern Territory in
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  Speaker 3: the last twelve months. And my question to the Minister
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  Speaker 3: for Health, who has responsibility for alcohol policy is things
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  Speaker 3: are not working. What are you going to do differently?
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  Speaker 3: And she was not willing or able to answer that,
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  Speaker 3: which I was very disappointed in. She talked about how
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  Speaker 3: she would continue to follow evidence based practice, she'd make
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  Speaker 3: evidence based decisions that she was going.
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  Speaker 2: To review the.
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  Speaker 3: Alcohol floor price, which I think has been a monumental
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  Speaker 3: flop in a couple of years. Basically, she just stood
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  Speaker 3: a ground and stared me up and said, we're happy
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  Speaker 3: with the direction we're taking, including the effectiveness of the BDR,
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  Speaker 3: which gives no one any confidence. Really, things that deteriorate.
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  Speaker 3: Prime is coming through the roof and the Minister for
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  Speaker 3: Help just dug her heels in.
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  Speaker 2: So what do you reckon needs to happen?
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  Speaker 1: I mean, do you think that they need to have
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  Speaker 1: a bit more of an urgent review of some of
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  Speaker 1: the measures that are in place in an effort to
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  Speaker 1: try to work out where things are going possibly really well,
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  Speaker 1: but where other things are failing.
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  Speaker 3: Oh, look, definitely they need to take action. I just
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  Speaker 3: didn't sense any urgency from the Minister at all. This
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  Speaker 3: is a crisis. Things have been deteriorating for at least
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  Speaker 3: the last twelve months in Darwin and across the Northern territory.
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  Speaker 3: We need to hear from the Minister that she thinks
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  Speaker 3: it's serious and that she is doing everything possible in
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  Speaker 3: a sense with a sense of urgency to correct this.
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  Speaker 3: She did acknowledge that grog running is a problem and
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  Speaker 3: the police are onto it. But there just wasn't any
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  Speaker 3: solid in what she said, which is not good. It's
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  Speaker 3: not good for the Northern Territory. I think what I
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  Speaker 3: wanted to hear from her is that we're looking at everything,
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  Speaker 3: We're tweaking everything, We're going to be making changes, We're
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  Speaker 3: going to be resetting the BDR perhaps to capture more
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  Speaker 3: people or capture things in a different way. It's an
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  Speaker 3: ongoing process. The area of alcohol policy. You can never
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  Speaker 3: take your eye off the ball because alcoholics will always
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  Speaker 3: find grog and find ways and means of getting around
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  Speaker 3: the system. For her to the heels in and basically
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  Speaker 3: say that she was happy with the status. Current status
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  Speaker 3: was just not good enough.
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  Speaker 1: And Robin, I think we all know that we've definitely
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  Speaker 1: got issues with alcohol in the Northern Territory.
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  Speaker 2: There's no doubt about that.
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  Speaker 1: And look, I think that it is a good thing
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  Speaker 1: that we're obviously trying different measures, but those measures do
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  Speaker 1: indeed need to be tested at different times. They need
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  Speaker 1: to be reviewed that we know what is working and
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  Speaker 1: what isn't. Robert, I will move along because we're fast
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  Speaker 1: running out of time, but we do see on the
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  Speaker 1: front page of the paper today that we have got
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  Speaker 1: three former attorney generals Well they've told the Northern Territory
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  Speaker 1: News that they'd like to see an overhaul of the
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  Speaker 1: Northern Territory's anti.
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  Speaker 2: Corruption watchdog after the IKAK.
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  Speaker 1: Commissioner, Ken Fleming well spoke about a whistleblower and also
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  Speaker 1: threatened to force a journalist to reveal his sources earlier.
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  Speaker 2: In the week.
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  Speaker 1: What do you think needs to happen here? Do you
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  Speaker 1: think that we need a review of the Iyekak.
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  Speaker 3: Look? I listen to Ken Fleming on Tuesday and he
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  Speaker 3: gave a very very long, longer than usual opening statement
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  Speaker 3: which was unusually defensive. It was kind of bizarre what
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  Speaker 3: he was saying. He's obviously under enormous pressure and he
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  Speaker 3: feels that he has to defend his time as the
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  Speaker 3: IKAQ Commissioner. But my view is we are still in
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  Speaker 3: the early days of the evolution of IQAQ, the role
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  Speaker 3: out of IKAK, the establishment of IQAQ in the Northern Territory.
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  Speaker 3: I think on most fronts, it's been a resounding success.
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  Speaker 3: It's made us all far, far more accountable within the
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  Speaker 3: Northern Territory Public Service we've never had that before. We
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  Speaker 3: all have had to think about how we behave and
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  Speaker 3: how we speak, and what we do and how we
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  Speaker 3: use the money of the Northern Territory. And that's been
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  Speaker 3: a good thing. And I think for the most part,
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  Speaker 3: Ken Fleming has been very good at establishing the foundations
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  Speaker 3: for what IKAP will look like in the future. But
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  Speaker 3: I do agree it's probably a good time with the
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  Speaker 3: changing of the guard, the new commissioner coming on next week,
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  Speaker 3: I think, or the week after, to look at the
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  Speaker 3: problems that have arisen. I think Ken Fleming has been
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  Speaker 3: under extraordinary pressure. I think when you are the person
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  Speaker 3: scrutinizing others for their behavior and calling them out, and
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  Speaker 3: when the table turns, which it does in the Northern
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  Speaker 3: Territory very quickly, and people start scrutinizing you and asking
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  Speaker 3: you about your integrity and your behavior, it's a very
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  Speaker 3: very painful process. Let me tell you, as a politician,
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  Speaker 3: I've been down that road. So Ken I think was
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  Speaker 3: very defensive and probably said far too much on Tuesday,
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  Speaker 3: and I think that you may get him into hot water,
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  Speaker 3: but he is leaving, so it is a good time
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  Speaker 3: for a review.
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  Speaker 1: Well, Robin Lambley, the Independent member forore Aralun. We always
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  Speaker 1: appreciate your time. Thanks so much for joining us this morning.
• 7:48
  Speaker 3: Thanks so much, Katie,