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Katie Woolf spoke with Federal Environment Minister Sussan Ley · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Plans are well and truly underway to get Kackadoo revamped
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  Speaker 1: and back to being the duel in the Territory's Crown
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  Speaker 1: Safari camps, mountain bike trial trails, are new viewing platforms
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  Speaker 1: and eco lodgers. They're all on the table as part
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  Speaker 1: of the initiatives contained in the Kackadoo Tourism master Plan
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  Speaker 1: which has been released today. And joining me on the
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  Speaker 1: line with more details about the master plan is the
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  Speaker 1: Environment Minister Susan Lee.
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  Speaker 2: Good morning, Good morning Katie to you and your listeners.
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  Speaker 1: Lovely to have you on the show now. Minister, we
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  Speaker 1: know two hundred and seventy six million dollars has been
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  Speaker 1: earmarked for Kakadoo. What's that going to be spent on.
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  Speaker 2: Well, sixty million dollars of that came out in our
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  Speaker 2: budget Parks package. That's getting out there immediately to improve
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  Speaker 2: the park, whether it be roads or facilities or the
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  Speaker 2: visitor experience. But long the term, we're doing a plan
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  Speaker 2: about tourism and you just mentioned some of the ingredients
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  Speaker 2: that it might contain. What we want to do now,
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  Speaker 2: listen to people's thoughts on those things. Hear what they
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  Speaker 2: have to say. I know I spent almost a week
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  Speaker 2: at Kakadu recently, talking to the traditional owners, talking to
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  Speaker 2: tourism operators, experiencing the park. Everyone's got a favorite place,
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  Speaker 2: but probably got some ideas for a facelift or for example,
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  Speaker 2: the viewing platform that we're going to put at the
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  Speaker 2: famous Carl crossing, the plunge call at Jim Jim Falls.
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  Speaker 2: Access is vital, good roads, good visitor experience for locals
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  Speaker 2: and visitors from overseas when they do come back. So
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  Speaker 2: it's pretty exciting because in his recording bestment, I'm very
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  Speaker 2: proud of about two hundred and seventy six million dollars
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  Speaker 2: going into kakado.
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  Speaker 1: And Minister you said that you were out there for
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  Speaker 1: almost a week recently. What are some of the things
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  Speaker 1: that you know that the locals and the traditional owners
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  Speaker 1: were saying to you are the biggest concerns.
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  Speaker 2: Look, there were lots of good ideas from the individual
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  Speaker 2: ranger stations about what they would like to see, But
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  Speaker 2: what really came through to me was how proud and
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  Speaker 2: prepared they are to show they're indigenous cultural heritage to visitors.
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  Speaker 2: So as they walk around in that uniform that identifies
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  Speaker 2: them as being part of the park's range of team.
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  Speaker 2: People come up to them and say, well, what does
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  Speaker 2: this mean? And you know, what is this longest ever
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  Speaker 2: indigenous traditional connection, what does that look like? And explanations
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  Speaker 2: about the rock art and I was just overwhelmed by
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  Speaker 2: you know, how good and how informed the local team
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  Speaker 2: is and how they really want to showcase what they do.
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  Speaker 2: So I mean from that, there are so many opportunities
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  Speaker 2: and through this draft tourism plan, you know what, We've
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  Speaker 2: done a lot of consultation, including that sort of local conversations,
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  Speaker 2: but now there's an opportunity for public comment. We want
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  Speaker 2: to hear from people who care about Kackadoo. And I
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  Speaker 2: know everybody in the top edd does care about Kackadoo.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely, And you know, in the past it's been
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  Speaker 1: such a jewel in our crown. But then it reached
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  Speaker 1: a point where you know, we had callers ringing through
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  Speaker 1: saying the signs aren't even up to scratch, and you know,
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  Speaker 1: people are going out there and different things closed for
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  Speaker 1: no sort of identifiable reason, and you couldn't even tell
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  Speaker 1: where you were kind of going because of the sign
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  Speaker 1: simple things. You know, why was it sort of let
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  Speaker 1: get to a point where it was so run down.
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  Speaker 2: Well, look there's many reasons for that. And when it
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  Speaker 2: comes to the spend, obviously you know that managed through
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  Speaker 2: Parks Australia. But ultimately, you know, governments and ministers like
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  Speaker 2: me line up behind the amount of money that we
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  Speaker 2: put into the parks over time, and I recognize that
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  Speaker 2: some of the facilities do need to facelift and do
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  Speaker 2: look a bit tired. So as well as the exciting
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  Speaker 2: initiatives around eco tourism, perhaps mountain bike trails, I think
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  Speaker 2: a lot of the responses will be well, can you
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  Speaker 2: you know, spruce up this area, we give this a facelift.
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  Speaker 2: Can we have you know, well functioning roads because access
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  Speaker 2: is vital and safety is vital. But just remember this
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  Speaker 2: two hundred and seventy six million dollars is the biggest
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  Speaker 2: ever investment in our parks and you know it really
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  Speaker 2: will transform Jabbarou, which has been a mining talent into
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  Speaker 2: a tourism town, a gateway to Kakado. So much of
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  Speaker 2: this money will actually make the difference that people are seeking.
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  Speaker 2: And we're consulting because we want to do it well,
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  Speaker 2: we want to get it right and we want it
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  Speaker 2: to last. And we know it will because it's such
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  Speaker 2: a substantial investment.
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  Speaker 1: It's a huge amount of money no matter how you
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  Speaker 1: look at esh. I guess so when you start to
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  Speaker 1: talk about things like well, like you know, fixing up
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  Speaker 1: Jabbarul and then fixing up roads and then also sort
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  Speaker 1: of these ecotourism initiatives and different things, do you reckon
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  Speaker 1: it's going to go far enough?
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  Speaker 2: Well, I think it's a really really good start, and
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  Speaker 2: as I said, it's unprecevented in its level. But of
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  Speaker 2: course I'll be going back through the budget process and
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  Speaker 2: making sure that we back it up when we need to.
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  Speaker 2: So this isn't just everything right here right now. This
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  Speaker 2: is an important step that I mean, there's never really
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  Speaker 2: been achieved for Kakado and the park and the community
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  Speaker 2: and the visitors. And I talk to the tourism operators
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  Speaker 2: while I was there, and I talked to the traditional owners,
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  Speaker 2: and I talked to the park staff, and I talk
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  Speaker 2: to people who love the park. I've just heard so
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  Speaker 2: many good things. I've also heard the bad and the problems,
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  Speaker 2: but overwhelmingly I've heard hope, optimism, and excitement, and this
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  Speaker 2: money is really backing that in.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, I think it's really important as well. Like you said,
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  Speaker 1: you've been out there and you've actually been consulting with
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  Speaker 1: the people on the ground. That is such an important
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  Speaker 1: thing to do. We know that there have been some
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  Speaker 1: real issues with the management over the years and particularly
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  Speaker 1: over the last few months. Are you confident that the
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  Speaker 1: management that's now in place is going to be able
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  Speaker 1: to deal with this massive investment and the overseeing of
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  Speaker 1: it being delivered.
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  Speaker 2: Yes, I am James. Last week he's a deputy secretary
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  Speaker 2: in the department, is taken on the role of Director
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  Speaker 2: of National Parks and we've got a Darwin based person
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  Speaker 2: leading the local team and we really are working very
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  Speaker 2: hard throughout my Department of Environment to make sure that
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  Speaker 2: this is the structure spend is done really well. So yes,
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  Speaker 2: I am confident of that. I had frank discussions with
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  Speaker 2: the board while I was there, and you know, I
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  Speaker 2: encourage people to say it like it is, which of
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  Speaker 2: course everyone on the top end usually does, and I
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  Speaker 2: was pleased to have that really frank discussion and to
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  Speaker 2: hear from people about what's working and what's not working.
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  Speaker 2: And to the extent that I heard that things were
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  Speaker 2: not working, I've committed to doing what I can to
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  Speaker 2: put that right and that process is well underway. So look,
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  Speaker 2: it's exciting times ahead, Katie, and I know for the
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  Speaker 2: people who care so much about the park, I want
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  Speaker 2: to reinforce my commitment to that and the fact that
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  Speaker 2: I spent nearly a week there and I'm coming back
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  Speaker 2: and I'm prepared to make sure that we get this
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  Speaker 2: money working where it needs to.
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  Speaker 1: Minister, will we be I mean, are we going to
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  Speaker 1: see the work that he's undertaken? Is it going to
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  Speaker 1: be undertaken by local contractors?
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  Speaker 2: Well, it should be untopaken by local contractors and the
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  Speaker 2: every expectation that it will. I'm not saying that every
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  Speaker 2: single piece of work the capability exists locally. Sometimes that
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  Speaker 2: has to be sourced helfware. But as a regional member
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  Speaker 2: of Parliament myself and talking to all my local government
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  Speaker 2: areas over the years, I know people want to see
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  Speaker 2: local jobs and I want to see that too.
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  Speaker 1: Well, Minister, we really appreciate your time this morning. When
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  Speaker 1: you're back in Kackadoo. If you come to Darwin, come
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  Speaker 1: in and say good a, we'd love to meet you
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  Speaker 1: in person.
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  Speaker 2: I would absolutely love to and happy to be held
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  Speaker 2: to that.
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  Speaker 1: Good on you thanks minister. That is the Environment minister there,
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  Speaker 1: Susan Lee, just giving us a bit more detail about exactly,
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  Speaker 1: you know, what we're going to see or what we
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  Speaker 1: could potentially see there in Kackadoo with the upgrades. Two
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  Speaker 1: hundred and seventy six million dollars earmarked for Kackadoo and
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  Speaker 1: exactly what it's going to be spent on we'll obviously
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  Speaker 1: be determined by that consultation process. But it sounds like
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  Speaker 1: she's serious about getting out there and really delivering what
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  Speaker 1: we need for Kackadoo. Let's hope that is the case.