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Katie spoke with Lord Mayor Kon Vatskalis with an update on all things Darwin · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Well, it's fourteen minutes away from ten o'clock.
• 0:02
  Speaker 2: And joining me live in the studio is the Lord
• 0:05
  Speaker 2: Mayor of Darwin, convat Scarlets.
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: Good morning to Yukon.
• 0:07
  Speaker 3: Good morning Kat. There's only ten. They're still Christmas.
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: I know.
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  Speaker 2: I'm very excited and kids are excited. Well they are,
• 0:14
  Speaker 2: they certainly are. Mate.
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: You've got a very festive shirt on today.
• 0:17
  Speaker 3: A lot talking about colorful, Darwin's well promoted.
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: Well, there you go. I tell you what.
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  Speaker 2: Obviously, these changes that come into play on December twenty,
• 0:27
  Speaker 2: you've got a lot of people very concerned. What it
• 0:29
  Speaker 2: does mean is that a lot of Darwin residents well,
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: if they travel away, we're okay. Here in Darwin, we're
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: going to be able to you know, to stay at
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: home or to do those fourteen days here at home.
• 0:39
  Speaker 2: But it's it's certainly causing quite a bit of concern
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: amongst the community, isn't.
• 0:43
  Speaker 3: It Conn, Well, it does. And I got a text
• 0:45
  Speaker 3: me yesterday but from my son who's supposed to come
• 0:47
  Speaker 3: here for Christmas, here's in Melbourne. He is that you
• 0:50
  Speaker 3: couldn't find a place to book a pisiartest. There are
• 0:53
  Speaker 3: five players where they do it for travelers. None of
• 0:55
  Speaker 3: them take bookings. That means you have to turn up. Well,
• 0:58
  Speaker 3: if you're working, you can't just stand up for the best.
• 1:01
  Speaker 3: So he had to book a private one for two
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  Speaker 3: hundred dollars.
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  Speaker 1: The other thing concerns from here Melbourne.
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  Speaker 3: In Melbourne.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah.
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  Speaker 3: The other thing is one is coming on the twenty
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  Speaker 3: or twentieth, the other comes to the twenty third. Now,
• 1:11
  Speaker 3: the one comes in the twentieth. Now he has to
• 1:12
  Speaker 3: have a two tests here, two tests here. One will
• 1:15
  Speaker 3: be on the twenty thirty, the other will be in
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  Speaker 3: the twenty sixth And I hope the government's got enough
• 1:19
  Speaker 3: people working on Boxing Day because the public holiday is
• 1:22
  Speaker 3: to address and all these people coming here. My understanding
• 1:27
  Speaker 3: is the airlines you have put extra flights down, or
• 1:29
  Speaker 3: at least last week. I don't know what's happening now,
• 1:31
  Speaker 3: but again it's not only the territory. I found out
• 1:33
  Speaker 3: this morning that actually Queensland they flew from Townsville to
• 1:37
  Speaker 3: Brisbane and then yes, and then from Newcastle to Brisbane
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  Speaker 3: and all these pool buggers they have to actually quarantine
• 1:43
  Speaker 3: fourteen days at home between Christmas. I mean, can we
• 1:46
  Speaker 3: hear a response throughout Australia That's.
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: Why I can around.
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  Speaker 2: It's so confusing for people at this point, no matter
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: where you're traveling to or what you're doing, there's so
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: much confusion. But even Yesterda I I've been seeing photos
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: of people in a big lineup out at Marara waiting
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: to get tested. Now, I'm very keen if anybody is
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  Speaker 2: out there listening this morning and is in that line,
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: and you want to give us a call and let
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: us know how things are going. Eight nine four one
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: one oh four nine. But con that point you make
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: about making sure that we do indeed have the staff
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: that are there and that are required. If you've got
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  Speaker 2: people needing those tests on boxing day, et cetera, is
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: going to be pivotal.
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  Speaker 3: Obviously we need more testing centers or even private testing centers.
• 2:27
  Speaker 3: Way well, I have private testing. I don't know if
• 2:29
  Speaker 3: there aren't any, because I didn't need one. But the
• 2:31
  Speaker 3: other thing, again is it looks like nobody's talking to anybody.
• 2:35
  Speaker 3: Government one O one is talk to the people. Listen
• 2:38
  Speaker 3: to the people before you make a decision. I have
• 2:40
  Speaker 3: to admit I found out the hard way that one
• 2:42
  Speaker 3: when I was a minister. But I only made the
• 2:44
  Speaker 3: mistake once after that I didn't.
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: Yeah, you've got to talk to people.
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  Speaker 2: I know it's hard sometimes and I know that it's
• 2:50
  Speaker 2: a very difficult time that they're going through, but this
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: is having a massive impact on so many, particularly tourism
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: operators and essential workers looking to get back out into
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: those communities as well.
• 3:00
  Speaker 3: And I started buying humble pie. Last week, somebody ran
• 3:04
  Speaker 3: and talked about the Allowa Dog Park and I said,
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  Speaker 3: there are seats there. So when I left from here,
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  Speaker 3: I went straight to alt have a look. I made
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  Speaker 3: a mistake. I thought some structure there were the seats.
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  Speaker 3: There were no seats. So the first thing I did,
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  Speaker 3: pack the car, pick up the phone, talk to my people,
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  Speaker 3: and I said, were are they be seats in Alowa?
• 3:23
  Speaker 3: So they told me they're going to actually put new
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  Speaker 3: ones now in the early next year. So I apologize
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  Speaker 3: if I misled you. It was my mistake. Knew it's
• 3:32
  Speaker 3: got some seats, we're going to put more there, but
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  Speaker 3: suddenly the Allowa.
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  Speaker 2: You went straight out there after we'd had that discussion
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  Speaker 2: last week, and there's not said there.
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  Speaker 3: There were some structures. I thought there were seits. We
• 3:41
  Speaker 3: actually the cross for the dogs during water and everything else.
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  Speaker 3: But I d from the road because they're flat, the
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  Speaker 3: black seats, so I apologize for that. But they're going
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  Speaker 3: to be new seats installed in the hollow Dock Park
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  Speaker 3: early in January.
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  Speaker 2: Well, I reckon there will be quite a few people
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  Speaker 2: who are very happy to hear that.
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  Speaker 1: But do you know what, thank you for doing that.
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  Speaker 2: And I'm on the first to criticize when things you
• 4:03
  Speaker 2: know are not up to scratch. But good on you
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  Speaker 2: that you actually drove out there yourself, went and had
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  Speaker 2: a look, and there's going to be seats installed, So
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  Speaker 2: I know that a lot of listeners will be happy.
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  Speaker 1: To hear that.
• 4:12
  Speaker 3: I got more good news. We went to Diner Bitch
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  Speaker 3: last weekend to give out our trees. I have to
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  Speaker 3: tell you about one hundred and fift people turned up
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  Speaker 3: and we gave nearly one thousand trees. Excellent. More to
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  Speaker 3: come We've got We're going to give out about twelve
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  Speaker 3: thousand trees. So I make sure you plant them in
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  Speaker 3: your garden, especially in your verts. They look really good
• 4:28
  Speaker 3: in the verts. Look after them? What are them? It's
• 4:31
  Speaker 3: your trees? Cherry Stone.
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: Hey coin, any update on the scooters.
• 4:35
  Speaker 2: You and I spoke fairly extensively about the scooters last week,
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  Speaker 2: and you were talking about the fact that you're going
• 4:39
  Speaker 2: to have a look at what they do in Brisbane
• 4:41
  Speaker 2: and how they they actually have those operating hours, particularly
• 4:46
  Speaker 2: in the CBD area. So between eight and I was
• 4:49
  Speaker 2: at eight o'clock or eleven o'clock at night until the morning.
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  Speaker 1: Had much of a further look since last week or
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: not really.
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  Speaker 3: Not yet because we're actually going to do the study
• 4:57
  Speaker 3: and we're going to go back in the new year
• 4:59
  Speaker 3: and have another the review of what's happening now, and
• 5:01
  Speaker 3: other government's going out to put legislation players to make
• 5:04
  Speaker 3: them legal because currently they are in a somewhere twilight zone.
• 5:10
  Speaker 3: But one of the things I'm going to talk about
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  Speaker 3: and suddenly I'm going to put in and I already
• 5:14
  Speaker 3: spoke to somebody who acts for new On here in
• 5:16
  Speaker 3: the Northern Territory, if like to him that I want
• 5:19
  Speaker 3: a buzzer so they make a noise when they actually
• 5:21
  Speaker 3: move because they're very quiet. And the second is the
• 5:24
  Speaker 3: restriction of the time. And I don't think I can
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  Speaker 3: argue because they do it in Brisbane, why they will
• 5:28
  Speaker 3: argue if we do it in downwith so at least
• 5:30
  Speaker 3: to protect people in the streets with a buzza and
• 5:33
  Speaker 3: protect people from themselves when they become silly. And it's
• 5:37
  Speaker 3: a silly season now and people tend to go out
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  Speaker 3: and have a few too many, and I want to
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  Speaker 3: protect them. And suddenly we don't want to overload a
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  Speaker 3: health system with people they don't know what to do
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  Speaker 3: with themselves.
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  Speaker 2: And so with the buzzer and making them a little
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  Speaker 2: bit noisier. Is that something that you anticipate. It's going
• 5:51
  Speaker 2: to be able to happen pretty easily and quickly.
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  Speaker 3: It's very very easy to do it. I mean, I've
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  Speaker 3: heard electric cars now they actually put electronic noise so
• 6:01
  Speaker 3: they can hear it. Because my own car had an
• 6:04
  Speaker 3: electronic generator noise generator, so you thought you were in
• 6:09
  Speaker 3: a sitting in a V eight, you're not. Actually you
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  Speaker 3: hear it, but it was not real noise. It can
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  Speaker 3: be done technologically, can be done. I don't expect any problems.
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  Speaker 2: Anything else going on that we should be aware of
• 6:20
  Speaker 2: as we lead into Christmas.
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  Speaker 3: Singly what the gardens. Next week, I'm going to have
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  Speaker 3: a really good story about it. I don't know we're
• 6:25
  Speaker 3: on air next week together. I have some good news
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  Speaker 3: because it's a total reconstruction of the Jiggly Gardens play equipment.
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  Speaker 3: Some really good we've done already the TOI let's actually
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  Speaker 3: comply with all standards accessible to people with disabilities. We
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  Speaker 3: put in their playground that's actually good for kids with disabilities.
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  Speaker 3: We've got to say, sales designed by kids with disabilities.
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  Speaker 3: So the whole thing is going to be fantastic. I'll
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  Speaker 3: come next week and I'll bring some followers with me.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, sounds good.
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  Speaker 3: The other thing is the Civic Center redevelopment. We're going
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  Speaker 3: out now to ask for expression of vendors for people
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  Speaker 3: they can actually do the functional design. In brief, we
• 7:01
  Speaker 3: want to actually do something good. It's going to stand
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  Speaker 3: there for another seventy years and will be state of
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  Speaker 3: the art and brand new and will be pride for
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  Speaker 3: the municipality of that.
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  Speaker 2: Also, do you reckon that's going to get under why
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  Speaker 2: the development or the changes they well, it's.
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  Speaker 3: Amazing how quickly things are done. I mean, if you
• 7:18
  Speaker 3: look at the university's campus now in the old Cavern
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  Speaker 3: Street cup at the first slab is in, and I
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  Speaker 3: bet you in two months time it will be above
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  Speaker 3: the road level and off it goes as if you
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  Speaker 3: get a design right in the first place, everything can
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  Speaker 3: flow on for the very very well. And one thing
• 7:34
  Speaker 3: we make sure is whoever does the work is going
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  Speaker 3: to be local. And when I say local, I mean
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  Speaker 3: true local, not with a telephon number of pill box,
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  Speaker 3: local with an office and employing people in.
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  Speaker 1: Dalwick well combat Scalus.
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  Speaker 2: I know that that will obviously be something that people
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  Speaker 2: are pretty placed to hear.
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  Speaker 3: One more thing, one more thing before I go the
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  Speaker 3: civilian wall at the center of that. We had a
• 7:53
  Speaker 3: lot of people that they ask us when the civilian
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  Speaker 3: wall is going to be up and when the plagues
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  Speaker 3: are going to be displayed. Work has already been done,
• 8:00
  Speaker 3: is going to be ready early next year because it's
• 8:03
  Speaker 3: going to be ready before the eighth year anniversary of
• 8:05
  Speaker 3: the bombing of Darwin. I took a little bit of time,
• 8:08
  Speaker 3: but because of the development of the civics of the cenotaph,
• 8:12
  Speaker 3: we had to actually modify the design. Now the design
• 8:16
  Speaker 3: is modified. The first slabs are on the ground, things
• 8:19
  Speaker 3: are working. It's going to be there.
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  Speaker 1: So that's a civilian wall, and so whose names will be.
• 8:24
  Speaker 3: On may the are all the plaques that used to
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  Speaker 3: be in the senotaphs before with people actually died or
• 8:29
  Speaker 3: families that were here during the bombing of Darwin. They
• 8:31
  Speaker 3: are going to be reinstated. They are going to be
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  Speaker 3: there in a better way and a more prominent way
• 8:36
  Speaker 3: than it was before.
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  Speaker 2: All right, and so early next year hopefully that work
• 8:39
  Speaker 2: will be comparsed.
• 8:39
  Speaker 3: You're not going to be hopeful. It's going to be
• 8:41
  Speaker 3: because it has to be done for the aid of
• 8:43
  Speaker 3: the bombing of Darwin, and considering elections would be in May,
• 8:46
  Speaker 3: I expect quite a lot of visitors and I'll be
• 8:48
  Speaker 3: very very proud to show the Prime Minister, the ministers,
• 8:51
  Speaker 3: the leader of the position. We a bit a betcher
• 8:53
  Speaker 3: to become coming up all this civilians that died during
• 8:57
  Speaker 3: the bombing of Darwin.
• 8:58
  Speaker 2: Well and all of those families, I would think that
• 9:00
  Speaker 2: they would really want their you know, their family members'
• 9:03
  Speaker 2: names up there and them honored in the way that
• 9:05
  Speaker 2: they should be.
• 9:06
  Speaker 3: Absolutely, it's going to be really done, done by designed
• 9:09
  Speaker 3: by the local arctor Haliliveries is going to be illuminated
• 9:12
  Speaker 3: by delighting. So it's going to be something outside the ordinary.
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: Well, conbat Scala is always good to catch up with you.
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: We will talk to you again next week and that'll
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: be our last one for the year.
• 9:23
  Speaker 3: Yes, looking forward to good stuff.
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: Thanks Gon.