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Katie Woolf spoke with Lord Mayor Kon Vatskalis · 360 with Katie Woolf

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  Speaker 1: Mix one at four point nine dot com dotu for
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  Speaker 1: all the latest news and information. Now three sixty with
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  Speaker 1: Katie Wolf. Everyone is listening Mix one O four point
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  Speaker 1: nine one hundred percent.
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  Speaker 2: It's fifteen minutes away from ten o'clock and it is
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  Speaker 2: Tuesday morning. Time for you to catch up with the
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  Speaker 2: Lord Mayor of Darwin convat Scarlets.
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  Speaker 3: Good morning, corn, Is it Tuesday already? It's Tuesday already?
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  Speaker 4: And live when you have fun?
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  Speaker 3: Oh sure does.
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  Speaker 2: And I tell you what's going to be a big
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  Speaker 2: day today for all of our parliamentarians. Lots of stuff
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  Speaker 2: floating around also here and I read.
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  Speaker 4: It the newspaper, Kate.
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  Speaker 5: And one thing I have to say about that is
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  Speaker 5: be a parliamentarian is a very important position. Now you
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  Speaker 5: have parliament, you got privilege and yes, anything you like
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  Speaker 5: in parliament nobody can do anything about it. But at
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  Speaker 5: the same time is a great responsibility. If you say
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  Speaker 5: something that may destroy somebody's reputation on family, you have
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  Speaker 5: to remember that one. But again, as a parliamentarian, you
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  Speaker 5: say is something wrong, you have to bring it up
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  Speaker 5: to the attention of the government. But this is something illegal,
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  Speaker 5: you have to bring to the attention of the police.
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  Speaker 5: So they're not even bad's there. But what I hear
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  Speaker 5: and what I read, not only now, but previous governments.
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  Speaker 5: I remember with Cop Kate, Claire Henderson, the Martin Headstone
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  Speaker 5: governments were really boring. Nothing like that happened. Nothing it
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  Speaker 5: came out. Mind you, both Claire and Paul will eviscerate
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  Speaker 5: you if something like that came out.
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  Speaker 4: But I was very pleased we were boring.
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  Speaker 3: Well, I agree.
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  Speaker 2: I think it's a good thing for our politicians to
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  Speaker 2: be quite boring, if I'm honest.
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  Speaker 3: Con let's talk.
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  Speaker 2: Firstly, I want to ask you about that Nightcliffe Mahogany tree.
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  Speaker 3: How did it go? That removal over the end of
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  Speaker 3: last week.
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  Speaker 4: I was there Friday morning.
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  Speaker 5: When the people turn up to the movie, it was
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  Speaker 5: very professional, I would say, surgical operation.
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  Speaker 4: The people knew what we were doing. What really worried?
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  Speaker 5: Mean when some people came to us and said, guys,
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  Speaker 5: we hear some cracky noise from the trees, which is
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  Speaker 5: not a very good sign because it was a really
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  Speaker 5: big tree and the branches were huge. If they fell off,
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  Speaker 5: they would destroy property. But most importantly, you've got the
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  Speaker 5: Nightcliff markets there. The last thing you need is one
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  Speaker 5: of the branches coming down in the middle of the markets,
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  Speaker 5: because it will not be one or two people killed,
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  Speaker 5: would be many. And we had already a child that
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  Speaker 5: in athics and marriage school, and we had one in
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  Speaker 5: the council's golf course and we learn a lesson. So
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  Speaker 5: we got our local arborist, our own arborists. We examined it,
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  Speaker 5: said it's extremely high risk. And then to get a
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  Speaker 5: second opinion and got somebody from down south and some equipment,
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  Speaker 5: and the advice was the same. So we decided to
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  Speaker 5: remove it. We removed these huge branches. Some of them
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  Speaker 5: actually are so good. We're going to mill them and
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  Speaker 5: store them now in the depot, and eventually we will
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  Speaker 5: make furnitures that we will put in the Nightcliff.
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  Speaker 4: Area in that area.
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  Speaker 5: And now we're looking for a good sculptule with a
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  Speaker 5: good chainsaw to actually sculpt something on the trunk. Rather
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  Speaker 5: than waste it, let's do something there and we have
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  Speaker 5: something as a memorial to the three, because I remember
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  Speaker 5: the three being so big when I first came to
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  Speaker 5: downy years ago. And of course the other thing is
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  Speaker 5: now we have to plan some more, say the trees,
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  Speaker 5: and put some say to.
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  Speaker 4: Cover the area because it's quite often. No, I no,
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  Speaker 4: trees are very important. I just finished planning eleven thousand trees.
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  Speaker 4: But they're living things.
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  Speaker 5: Yeah, they're born, grow, die, and I don't wonder when
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  Speaker 5: they die to take somebody else with them. So important
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  Speaker 5: thing was the safety of the public. I can plant
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  Speaker 5: other trees that can grow very quickly.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I agree, and I do think that you've got
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  Speaker 2: to make sure that the public is safe.
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  Speaker 3: There is no doubt about that. I do want to
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  Speaker 3: ask you.
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  Speaker 2: Yesterday on the show, we were joined by Larakia Nation,
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  Speaker 2: and we spoke about some of the issues that we've
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  Speaker 2: got at the moment with there being a lot of
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  Speaker 2: people coming in from different communities and they're being a
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  Speaker 2: little bit more of that public intoxication in the city.
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  Speaker 3: Is this something that's an issue for counsel at the moment.
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  Speaker 4: Absolutely.
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  Speaker 5: People come from the communities, first of all, because they
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  Speaker 5: are lauded with money, with this money given to them
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  Speaker 5: by the welfare and the federal government because of COVID nineteen.
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  Speaker 5: There's no way to spend the communities because there's no entertainment,
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  Speaker 5: nothing at all.
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  Speaker 4: So they come here a lot with money and they
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  Speaker 4: go to the into the alcohol.
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  Speaker 5: Now my worry is we've got all these measures in place,
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  Speaker 5: b ther you know the floor price, and these people
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  Speaker 5: still get alcohol.
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  Speaker 4: Now.
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  Speaker 5: I was talking to one of my fellow mayors in Mataranka,
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  Speaker 5: Judy McFarland said to me, when COVID came, the liquor
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  Speaker 5: commissioner made the decision, if you don't live in the area,
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  Speaker 5: you can't take get takeaway. And from one hundred and
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  Speaker 5: one incidents last the month before, only all of them
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  Speaker 5: alcohol related. The incident that the clinic attended the month
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  Speaker 5: after was only three and none of them alcohol attended.
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  Speaker 5: So alcohol is the big problem, not only Dowin but
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  Speaker 5: other places. That's an idea that the gument should consider.
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  Speaker 5: If not from Darwin, you can't get takeaway. You can
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  Speaker 5: go to the restaurant, you got the pub and drink,
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  Speaker 5: but you can't take takeaway.
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  Speaker 4: I reckon this one might reduce the number of people
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  Speaker 4: in toxic people they come here.
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  Speaker 5: You don't see them in the mall because our patrols
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  Speaker 5: and our out its program works really well. But they're
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  Speaker 5: hiding in Casuin, across a Reserve and East Point.
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  Speaker 3: Con Is it something I mean? Is it?
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  Speaker 2: Is it something that takes up council resources in terms
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  Speaker 2: of you know, we do see a lot of bottles
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  Speaker 2: and things like that obviously around the place and it
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  Speaker 2: has an impact. Do we Is it something that that
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  Speaker 2: council spends quite a substantial amount of money on.
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  Speaker 5: Absolutely, kid, We've got the outreach program people the two
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  Speaker 5: of our rages.
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  Speaker 4: They're Indigenous.
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  Speaker 5: They go out six o'clock in the morning and they
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  Speaker 5: go around to check all the people that sleep rough
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  Speaker 5: and they advise them instead of the doctor. Then we
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  Speaker 5: pay for the patrol, the city patrol, quite a significant
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  Speaker 5: amount of money per per year. And then of course
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  Speaker 5: we've got the people that go to clean areas where
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  Speaker 5: there's rubbish or overgrown so people don't hard.
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  Speaker 4: Underneath, so we reckon.
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  Speaker 5: We spend about three to four million dollars a year
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  Speaker 5: just for the tinerance with significant amount of money, and
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  Speaker 5: my beef is a year.
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  Speaker 4: Absolutely where's the police.
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  Speaker 2: So that's clean up, security, patrols, outreached people, everything else.
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  Speaker 4: But the issue is that it can be done is
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  Speaker 4: what was done before.
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  Speaker 5: We found out from experience that foot patrols by the
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  Speaker 5: police in the hot spots if reduces immediately the problem.
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  Speaker 5: But unfortunately we haven't seen it. I mean the police
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  Speaker 5: station here and now and stay closed. We have to
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  Speaker 5: go to Palmerston. I mean people calling for it, but
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  Speaker 5: obviously somebody's not listening.
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  Speaker 3: Is that something that you want reopened?
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  Speaker 5: Mate, I've been asking for that one for a long time,
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  Speaker 5: US be asking for foot patrols in the city. I
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  Speaker 5: can't see why it's so difficult when previous commissioners did it.
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  Speaker 5: I mean, if the police got problem.
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  Speaker 2: Chalk must have a big juggle on his hands at
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  Speaker 2: the moment into I.
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  Speaker 4: Don't know even at all.
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  Speaker 5: He has to be to deal with the COVID nineteen
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  Speaker 5: and that takes a lot of resources. But at the
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  Speaker 5: same time, I understand police need more people. Of course,
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  Speaker 5: please listen that you hear. To listen to the chief
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  Speaker 5: minus say they're going to get three more groups of
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  Speaker 5: policemen coming out.
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  Speaker 4: It's music to my ears.
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  Speaker 5: But what I need I don't need people in the offices,
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  Speaker 5: and need people on the streets and every territory.
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  Speaker 4: And if you ask them, they say, where's the police?
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  Speaker 3: Con Can I ask?
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  Speaker 2: I let's move along slightly because I do want to
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  Speaker 2: talk to you about the bombing of Darwen event that's
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  Speaker 2: being held on Friday. I know that it is such
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  Speaker 2: a significant event and such a significant memorial in our history.
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  Speaker 3: What's happening on.
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  Speaker 5: Friday, celebrating, commemorating, remembering seventy nine years from the day
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  Speaker 5: that the war came to Australia. I came from another country,
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  Speaker 5: didn't know anything about it, and it's justifiable. We're not
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  Speaker 5: taught in history of Darwins too far away from from
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  Speaker 5: where I grew up in Greish.
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  Speaker 4: But you've got Australians.
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  Speaker 5: They have no idea about the bomy of Darwin, simply
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  Speaker 5: because it was not taught in the history. It was
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  Speaker 5: hidden by the public until recently. And I believe that
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  Speaker 5: it has to be taught in history. It has to
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  Speaker 5: become a natural day of commemoration rather than just in Darwin.
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  Speaker 5: This is something that affected Australia. It changed the view
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  Speaker 5: of Australia in the shape in the sphere of Asia.
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  Speaker 5: We're not an island that nobody can invade. Actually an
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  Speaker 5: island that we can invade. Even with the technology of
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  Speaker 5: eighty years ago, you can imagine today what can happen.
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  Speaker 5: So Darwin is the front line of defense for Australia.
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  Speaker 4: We're happy to Darwin. He has to be remembered and lessons.
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  Speaker 5: Learned from what we did to write that time and
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  Speaker 5: make sure we don't make the same mistake.
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  Speaker 3: Corn there's a message here.
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  Speaker 2: There's one that's just come through and it says, I'm
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  Speaker 2: cruising Mindle Beach and down high down to the Silent Club.
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  Speaker 2: Plenty of empty wine casks littered around the place. I
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  Speaker 2: know that this is something that we hear quite regularly.
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  Speaker 4: Yes, and this is something that comes from cleans all
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  Speaker 4: the time.
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  Speaker 5: That's where the money go because I have to deploy
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  Speaker 5: people to clean up the mess that other people live.
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  Speaker 5: What really really angers me is people from other places
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  Speaker 5: come here, don't respect the place where they are. This
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  Speaker 5: is like a Kia country. This is not your country.
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  Speaker 5: What do you leave the rabbits behind? But at the
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  Speaker 5: same time, these people are beyond shaving. The only thing
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  Speaker 5: that cares about the daily fixure of alcohol. And what
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  Speaker 5: argues me too is the people that prove the one
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  Speaker 5: second supply.
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  Speaker 4: I think the police.
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  Speaker 5: Would throw the book at them, and I think we
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  Speaker 5: should get some really tough measures.
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  Speaker 2: Makes me really cross is that people are then obviously
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  Speaker 2: you know, on selling this alcohol to people who are
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  Speaker 2: already in a very vulnerable situation, which I just think
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  Speaker 2: is terrible. Kate.
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  Speaker 5: I know sometimes people are confused, they actually say, what
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  Speaker 5: the count is not doing that one because simply we
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  Speaker 5: can't do it when other police. We can't pour alcohol out,
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  Speaker 5: we can't arrest people, we can't imprison people. But we
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  Speaker 5: are patrolling out there. I've seen my seven o'clock in
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  Speaker 5: the morning. I've been out and I see out its programmed.
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  Speaker 5: People are out there talking to itinerance direct them to services.
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  Speaker 4: But this is only a little bit we can do.
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  Speaker 5: If we are going to stop the problem, we have
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  Speaker 5: to actually get a heavy hand approach to both suppliers
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  Speaker 5: and drinkers.
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  Speaker 2: Contact scarlets. We are going to have to leave it.
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  Speaker 2: They're always good to speak with you. Thanks so much
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  Speaker 2: for coming in this morning.
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  Speaker 4: It is my pleasure.
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  Speaker 3: O kay, thank you