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Katie Woolf spoke with Opposition Leader Lia Finocchiaro · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: And joining me live in the studio is the Opposition
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: leader leofan Oki ara O.
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  Speaker 2: Good morning, Leah, Good morning Katie, Good morning to your listeners.
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  Speaker 1: Now, Leah, I want to take you firstly to this
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  Speaker 1: situation out of Alice Springs. We do know the ABC
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  Speaker 1: Alice Springs are reporting that the Northern Territory government has
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  Speaker 1: charted a flight from Alice Springs to Darwin last night
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  Speaker 1: as the quarantine facility in Central Australia neared capacity, So
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  Speaker 1: about seventy five people were bought will basically they boarded
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  Speaker 1: that plane overnight as I understand, which will bring people
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  Speaker 1: to the Northern Territory capital obviously Darwin for their fourteen
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  Speaker 1: days of quarantine. So essentially it only has one hundred
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  Speaker 1: and thirty nine families. The facility has only got room
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  Speaker 1: for one hundred and thirty nine families in Alice Springs,
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  Speaker 1: whereas here we have the capacity for three thousand beds,
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  Speaker 1: although its surge capacity under COVID nineteen.
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  Speaker 3: Is much less.
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  Speaker 1: I mean, does this demonstrate that where maybe not as
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  Speaker 1: well equipped to handle the COVID situation is what we
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  Speaker 1: think we.
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  Speaker 2: Are absolutely, Katie, I think it is shocking. What's happening
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  Speaker 2: in Alice Springs. The chaos and confusion down there just
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  Speaker 2: highlights that the government is literally making up its COVID
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  Speaker 2: hotspot response as it goes along. Now, for months and
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  Speaker 2: months and months, the Chief Minister has heralded himself as
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  Speaker 2: a hero. We have done very well here in the territory.
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  Speaker 2: But it has been, you know, the one thing that
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  Speaker 2: the Chief Minister has been able to achieve in his
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  Speaker 2: entire time as Chief Minister. And now what we have
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  Speaker 2: is a government making up its response as it goes along.
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  Speaker 2: There's clearly has been no contingency plan put in place
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  Speaker 2: to address that hotspot response and people coming in and
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  Speaker 2: as a result, we've got different rules for different people,
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  Speaker 2: people making it up as they go along. It's a
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  Speaker 2: chronic lack of leadership from the top and a chronic
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  Speaker 2: lack of preparation.
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  Speaker 1: The flip side of that is some listening might be thinking, well,
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  Speaker 1: they acted swiftly, like he said, and they've obviously declared
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  Speaker 1: it's a hotspot immediately. While that has meant that some
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  Speaker 1: people's travel plans have been thrown up in the air
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  Speaker 1: and they've obviously been stuck in Ola Springs, it does
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  Speaker 1: mean that potentially we stop the spread of COVID if
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  Speaker 1: there was anyone on that plane who was exposed to us.
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  Speaker 2: No one's questioning the need for the hotspot Cadian. Of course,
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  Speaker 2: we didn't have much information come Sunday or Monday, and
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  Speaker 2: so the hotspot was called. But what's alarming is the
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  Speaker 2: fact that contingency plans weren't put in place. We've had
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  Speaker 2: hotspot management for many, many months. We've always been told
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  Speaker 2: by the Chief Minister that a hotspot could happen immediately
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  Speaker 2: with no warning, and so how is it that the
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  Speaker 2: government has been caught unaware, caught without a plan for people?
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  Speaker 2: I mean the fact that the facilities in Ala Springs
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  Speaker 2: are full, and then people were sent to the airport
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  Speaker 2: to get on the charter flight. Unfortunately that flight couldn't
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  Speaker 2: take the people home due to an unforeseen incident. And
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  Speaker 2: then it was sort of like, okay, everyone, well, I
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  Speaker 2: guess you can just go home. And then the flip
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  Speaker 2: side to that is up in Darwin, You've got people
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  Speaker 2: sent to quarantine who can't even get a care package
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  Speaker 2: from their loved one at the moment, and so it
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  Speaker 2: is just absolutely shambolic. It undermines the confidence territories have
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  Speaker 2: in the system. It shows once again that Alice Springs
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  Speaker 2: has been forgotten and left behind by this government and
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  Speaker 2: it's just not good enough. We know that hotspots can
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  Speaker 2: come on and come on really quick. We know that
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  Speaker 2: means large volumes of people could rush home, and so
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  Speaker 2: how are they're not step down plans to address these
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  Speaker 2: types of bottlenecks.
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  Speaker 3: Leah, what are you.
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  Speaker 1: Being told by people in Alice Springs, because obviously you
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  Speaker 1: have members in Alice Springs, what are they telling you
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  Speaker 1: at this point in time From the perspective of those
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  Speaker 1: you know of those seventy five people that had to
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  Speaker 1: board a plane last night to be brought to Darwin.
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  Speaker 2: So my understanding is that flight couldn't go ahead and
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  Speaker 2: people were then sent home. People were offered to so it.
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  Speaker 3: Didn't actually happen.
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  Speaker 2: In the end, there was an incident with the plane.
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  Speaker 2: There was a bird I can't think of the right word,
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  Speaker 2: but there was something happened with the plane and so
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  Speaker 2: the plane had to turn around and go back to Darwin.
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  Speaker 2: So those people were then told they could quarantine at home.
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  Speaker 2: I believe there were some stretches brought out to the airport.
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  Speaker 2: We're hearing from people in Alice Springs who had been
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  Speaker 2: lining up to go into quarantine and then we're told
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  Speaker 2: it's full, so that they were allowed to go home.
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  Speaker 2: So there's a real mishmash approach of what's going on
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  Speaker 2: in Alice. I'm not aware if new flights have been
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  Speaker 2: booked for today.
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  Speaker 1: People that have gone home, so they're in enforced isolation
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  Speaker 1: or quarantine.
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  Speaker 2: Yes, they're quarantining, but quarantining from home whereas other people
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  Speaker 2: are not allowed to do that. That's exactly right. So
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  Speaker 2: we've got these different systems going on. It's very clear
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  Speaker 2: that it's ad hoc and it's been due to lack
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  Speaker 2: of preparation for an alternative step down plan. So there's
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  Speaker 2: clearly been no contingencies from the government of this influx.
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  Speaker 2: So it beggars belief that the government could not have
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  Speaker 2: had a plan that if our quarantine facilities are full,
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  Speaker 2: what do we do next? I mean, how has that
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  Speaker 2: not been thought through? And you know, the government can't
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  Speaker 2: hide from this one. They can't say, oh, we didn't
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  Speaker 2: expect volumes of people. We've got to be prepared for anything,
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  Speaker 2: I mean, Katie. It also raises a question of what
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  Speaker 2: happens if we did have community transmission here and things
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  Speaker 2: get out of control, which heaven forbid no one wants
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  Speaker 2: to see. But does that mean we don't have the
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  Speaker 2: proper capability in our systems to be able to manage
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  Speaker 2: that as well. So I think we've exposed a huge
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  Speaker 2: weakness here and the government need to start explaining to
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  Speaker 2: territorianes what went wrong and what they're going to do
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  Speaker 2: to fix it.
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  Speaker 1: Well, look, we are due to catch up with the
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  Speaker 1: Minister for Territory Families, Kate Warden, at nine p forty
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  Speaker 1: five this morning and weirdly I believe that that is
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  Speaker 1: where that quarantining or that is the portfolio that it
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  Speaker 1: falls under. So we will see if we can get
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  Speaker 1: some answers. Lea, I do want to go and move
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  Speaker 1: along to talk about the economy. It's something that you
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  Speaker 1: and I have spoken about on so many occasions. Now,
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  Speaker 1: yesterday we had co chair of the Territory Economic Reconstruction Commission,
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  Speaker 1: Andrew Liveris on the show.
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  Speaker 3: I think most people listening would agree that he's a
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  Speaker 3: very impressive.
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  Speaker 1: Man, there's no doubt about it, and very very passionate
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  Speaker 1: about the Northern Territory. The Turk as they're known, due
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  Speaker 1: to hand down there in the coming weeks to the
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  Speaker 1: Northern Territory Chief Minister. There's no doubt there's going to
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  Speaker 1: be plenty of really valuable information and advice in there.
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  Speaker 1: But the big thing here is going to be ensuring
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  Speaker 1: that what is in that report then is implemented in
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  Speaker 1: the Northern Territory without question.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, is this going to be another report that
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  Speaker 2: sits on the shelf? Katie. And we've seen the interim
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  Speaker 2: report come out and I can tell you I was
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  Speaker 2: thrilled to see that many of the Country Liberal Party's
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  Speaker 2: policies were reflected in the Turk initial recommendations. Now, of
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  Speaker 2: course we know there's going to be a lot of
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  Speaker 2: information in there about reducing red tape, about making the
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  Speaker 2: territory a great place to invest, but that takes leadership
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  Speaker 2: at the top. I've been very critical of the Gunner
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  Speaker 2: government around red tape and they talk the talk, but
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  Speaker 2: they do not walk the walk. And of course most
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  Speaker 2: disappointing is the fact that they've engineered the delivery of
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  Speaker 2: that Economic Reconstruction Commission report to come after the budget.
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  Speaker 2: Now had that report of in handed down prior to
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  Speaker 2: the budget, there would have been real scrutiny on the
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  Speaker 2: government about which recommendations they're actually implementing and putting their
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  Speaker 2: money where their mouth is. So I think, unfortunately, we're
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  Speaker 2: going to see an excellent report come down from people
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  Speaker 2: who are very experienced and have been canvassing territories large
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  Speaker 2: and wide to find out a way forward to get
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  Speaker 2: us out of this mess that the Gunner government have
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  Speaker 2: put us in. But this is going to take leadership
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  Speaker 2: from the Chief Minister and his cabinet, and they have
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  Speaker 2: not sent a single indication that they're capable of doing
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  Speaker 2: that or understand how urgent it is that we need
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  Speaker 2: to address our economic issues.
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  Speaker 1: Now talking about the economy, obviously part of that is
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  Speaker 1: the budget, There's no doubt about that, and the budget
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  Speaker 1: is something you and I once to get spoken about extensively.
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  Speaker 1: But we know that the estimates process is the process
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  Speaker 1: whereby the opposition and the Independence have the opportunity to
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  Speaker 1: ask questions about the budget and exactly how different you know,
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  Speaker 1: how different money is being spent, how some of those
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  Speaker 1: savings messions are going to be in iplemented, etc. You've
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  Speaker 1: been very critical of the government this week and said
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  Speaker 1: that cutting that estimate's time.
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  Speaker 3: It is only by two hours.
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  Speaker 1: I mean, realistically, two hours, Lea, Is that really such
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  Speaker 1: a big deal.
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  Speaker 2: It's a huge deal, Katie. And what we're seeing from
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  Speaker 2: the Gunner government is this erosion of scrutiny. They're just
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  Speaker 2: scrapping scrutiny measures left, right and center. Some of them
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  Speaker 2: on the face of it seems small. I mean people saying, oh, well,
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  Speaker 2: it's only two hours. But when you have only two
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  Speaker 2: hours here, and only two hours there and only two
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  Speaker 2: hours over here, it all adds up. Of course, they've
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  Speaker 2: gotten rid of the Legislative Scrutiny Committee. They've reduced a
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  Speaker 2: number of questions opposition and independent members can ask on
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  Speaker 2: a Wednesday during question time, we've had estimates shrunk from
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  Speaker 2: six days squished into five days, which means will be
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  Speaker 2: there very late at night, which doesn't offer the level
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  Speaker 2: of transparency because I don't know many territories. He'll be
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  Speaker 2: sitting up to ten o'clock at night to watch estimates,
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  Speaker 2: and of course the news cycle will be over by then.
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  Speaker 2: So this is just another blow. We've said we're ready
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  Speaker 2: and able to participate fully in the estimates process. Cutting
• 9:02
  Speaker 2: it down by two hours is just again, it's that
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  Speaker 2: sort of chipping away. You know. It's like the Chief
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  Speaker 2: Minister at the moment, the first thing he did in
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  Speaker 2: Parliament was get rid of the Legislative Scrutiny Committee, and
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  Speaker 2: he's got his acts out and he's just chipping away
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  Speaker 2: at scrutiny everywhere we turn, and it's not acceptable. We
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  Speaker 2: will hold them to account on it. And estimates is
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  Speaker 2: a very important process where we can ask questions, independence
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  Speaker 2: can ask questions and we can really get that budget
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  Speaker 2: detail we meet.
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  Speaker 1: It's not the on the area that people are worried
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  Speaker 1: that the government is maybe not as open and transparent
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  Speaker 1: as they've promised to be.
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  Speaker 3: I know that.
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  Speaker 1: You know that there's different sort of commentary around town
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  Speaker 1: at the moment, particularly the Anti Independent, which is an
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: independent newspaper obviously that's operating, that are wondering why they're
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: not allowed to go to press conferences and that type
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  Speaker 1: of thing.
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  Speaker 3: I mean, if we've got a government here that he
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  Speaker 3: is trying.
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  Speaker 1: To shut down that, you know that that discussion and
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  Speaker 1: really their opponents being able to ask different questions, and
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  Speaker 1: not even opponents, but but you know, different people being
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: able to ask questions.
• 9:59
  Speaker 2: That's that's exactly right. You know, you raise a really
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  Speaker 2: good point about the NT Independent, for some reason and
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  Speaker 2: some unjustifiable reason, not allowed to be at the Chief
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  Speaker 2: Minister's press conferences. Of course, we see him barricade himself
• 10:12
  Speaker 2: in Parliament House, standing in a room with all the
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  Speaker 2: flags behind him, looking very important with his speech, and
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  Speaker 2: it's all very controlled and nice. But that's not leadership.
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  Speaker 2: That's not open and transparent government. That's not allowing yourself
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  Speaker 2: to be open for scrutiny. So this government certainly is
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  Speaker 2: taking some extraordinary measures to erode their ability to be
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  Speaker 2: scrutinized by Territorians, by media outlets, you name it, through
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  Speaker 2: the parliamentary processes as well. And it's just not acceptable.
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  Speaker 2: It sets a very bad tone for this term of
• 10:43
  Speaker 2: government and it sends a very bad message that they
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  Speaker 2: are arrogant. They have not understood the message that Territorians
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  Speaker 2: sent them this election, which is Yep, you're doing a
• 10:52
  Speaker 2: great job on COVID, but you need to get your
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  Speaker 2: act into gear on economy and crime. It shows their
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  Speaker 2: hands are covered over their ears, Katie, and they're just
• 11:00
  Speaker 2: belligerently pushing ahead with their own agenda.
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: We are just one very quick point because we are
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: going to have to wrap up. I believe that you
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: actually gave a numbering Parliament last week of just how
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: many votes the government won by it the last election.
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  Speaker 3: And I actually thought that it was a really.
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  Speaker 1: Important thing for people to hear, just because you know,
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  Speaker 1: when you talk about how close elections are and when
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: you talk about opposing voices being heard, I do think
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  Speaker 1: that no matter what side of the political spectrum you
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: sit on, it's really important.
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  Speaker 2: You're right, Katie. And so the gun and Labor government
• 11:32
  Speaker 2: have a majority government by one hundred and five votes.
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  Speaker 2: They hold majority government by one hundred and five votes,
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  Speaker 2: and that's something they've got to listen to. And they've
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  Speaker 2: got to remember we have a very strong opposition now,
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  Speaker 2: we have strong independent members in the parliament. Territorians are strong.
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  Speaker 2: They are entitled to scrutinize their government, as you know
• 11:50
  Speaker 2: in media outlets like the NT Independent. And so the
• 11:54
  Speaker 2: Gunner government just bullishly pushing ahead with its agenda. Talking
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  Speaker 2: but not acting is not good enough. You know, I
• 12:00
  Speaker 2: continuously say to the Chief Minister, talk is cheap. The
• 12:03
  Speaker 2: time is now for action. They took a big game
• 12:05
  Speaker 2: on red tape. We're going to have this Economic Reconstruction
• 12:08
  Speaker 2: report in a couple of weeks, and then the proof
• 12:10
  Speaker 2: will be in the pudding. And I really hope Territorians
• 12:12
  Speaker 2: aren't sorely disappointed by the actions the government takes flowing
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  Speaker 2: on from this, but I suspect we'll see very little
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  Speaker 2: impact on the ground.
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  Speaker 3: Well, I bloody hope we do.
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  Speaker 1: And I know that there's plenty of people that hope
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  Speaker 1: that we are going to see those just implemented. Lea Fanocchio,
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  Speaker 1: Opposition leader, we are going to have to leave it.
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  Speaker 1: They're always good to catch up with you. Thank you
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  Speaker 1: for your time today
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  Speaker 2: Thank you, and take care everyone,