The Week That Was – 9th February 2024

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Well a very good morning to you all. It is
indeed Friday morning. It is time for the week that was,
and joining us in the studio this morning, we've got
the colp's Murray clear Booth be good morning to.

Speaker 2 (00:09):
You, Good morning and to your listeners.

Speaker 3 (00:10):
It's going to be back on air.

Speaker 1 (00:11):
Yeah, good to have you back. We've got Cam Smith
from the NT News. Good morning to you, Cam, Katie listeners,
good to.

Speaker 4 (00:17):
Have you on the show.

Speaker 1 (00:18):
We've got Kesier Puick, the Independent member for goid O.

Speaker 3 (00:20):
Good morning, Kezier, Morning, Katy, morning Bush people.

Speaker 1 (00:23):
And we've got Kate Warden, the Minister for Environment, Essential
Services and various other portfolios.

Speaker 4 (00:30):
Good to have you on the show.

Speaker 5 (00:31):
Good to be back for twenty twenty four.

Speaker 4 (00:33):
Yeah, good to have you on.

Speaker 1 (00:34):
Now. Unfortunately we start this morning with some pretty horrific news.
The Northern Territory Police issuing a statement late yesterday to
say that they're investigating un alleged sexual assault that occurred
in Tenant Creek yesterday. A report was made to police
after a witness allegedly heard a child scream and a
mail was seen running from that location. Now fifty two

(00:55):
year old male is currently in police custody assisting with inquiries.
Seve Edgington, the local member, has taken to social media
to say that he is absolutely shocked and devastated with
the news that the Northern Territory Police are investigating the
alleged sexual assault. He says our thoughts are with the
four year old child and her family during this difficult time,

(01:16):
and that a report was made to police after a
witness allegedly heard the child scream and the male was
seen running from that location. Now, as we know from
the police information, the fifty two year old male is
currently in police custody assisting with inquiries. Now, I think
you'd be hard pressed to find anybody on this panel
that isn't absolutely devastated and disgusted by that story.

Speaker 5 (01:40):
Disgusted.

Speaker 6 (01:41):
I think all four of us are sitting here shaking
our heads. I think the key word in that, though
Katie and I have been consistent about that is alleged.
And having been Police Minister for a bit, you know,
our police do an amazing, really really outstanding job and
one of the things that they do is investigate these
matters really well and thoroughly, and where's there's sufficient evidence,

(02:04):
they'll prosecute and I think, you know, we've done this before.
I think we can share today the sentiment that absolutely
not good, are not good at all. Police are out
there they you know, you can't How could you ever
intervene on something like that before it happened. I guess
that's the question we're left asking ourselves. But I think
we have to let the system work. We need to

(02:26):
let the police do their investigations thoroughly in a case
like this. But I think absolutely any incident like this
is absolutely disgusting, and I don't think you'll find anybody
you know, that's thinking any differently here on the panel
this morning.

Speaker 4 (02:42):
It is horrendous.

Speaker 1 (02:43):
It's absolutely horrendous, and shockingly not the first time, unfortunately,
that we've reported on something like this in the Northern Territory.

Speaker 4 (02:50):
You know, just a few years ago Tenant Creek.

Speaker 3 (02:52):
I'm not saying Tenant Creek's you know, it's not there.

Speaker 4 (02:55):
The township's doing absolutely not.

Speaker 3 (02:58):
You know, when this kind of story comes to ten
you know, like just people just they just it's so abhorrent.
You know, this is why you know, no wonder people
go out there and say, you know, bad things should
happen to people. You know, if they're proven to have
actually done what they charged with, you know, and and
you know, there's there's a lot of school of thought.
Perhaps it's my elected I don't know, but you know,
people like this should never be allowed to do anything

(03:19):
like that ever. Again. You know, I'm not saying he
gets incarcerated, you know, forever in a day, because that
doesn't always happen for that kind of crime. But you know,
something there should be something done to these kind of people,
men who perpetrate these crimes against young boys and girls, children, children,
tiny children, you know, whether it's chemical castration or what,
I don't know.

Speaker 4 (03:37):
The defenseless, defenseless little children.

Speaker 3 (03:39):
And it's usually positions of trust. We know that just
from history and from you know, knowledge in our community
and you know, all the work that we do in
our areas that it's usually abuses, usually from people, you know,
or a bigger around a family type of thing, you know,
and it's just maybe the penalties have to be high.
I don't know, but the community out there is outraged
when they hear about these things, and rightly so. Is

(04:02):
abhorrent and look to think that a grown person is
trying to have sex with a child under five. It
is just shocking in the animal kingdom that we put down.

Speaker 4 (04:12):
That's exactly right.

Speaker 3 (04:13):
Athing as bad as that.

Speaker 1 (04:14):
You know, there is a lot of detail here that
we do not know. All that we know at this
point in time is what the Northern Territory Police have released,
and that is the fact that Northern Territory Police are
investigating an alleged sexual assault that occurred in Tenant Creek yesterday,
and that that report was made to police after witnesses
allegedly hurt a child, scream and a male was seen
running from the location, and that fifty two year olds

(04:35):
currently in police custody. But what I do want to
say is that the police don't issue a statement like
that if they've got some pretty good evidence behind them,
because they are always very hesitant to frighten the community,
to scare people, you know, to create a you know,
a sense of fear, or to create an issue if

(04:57):
there's not one there, So they don't send these things
out like, yeah.

Speaker 5 (05:00):
Person's in custody straight away, straight away.

Speaker 6 (05:02):
And I think, you know, I know the people, the
police officers in Tenant Creek. They are a really amazing
group of people. So to know that that person's in custody.
I actually think they'll issue that sort of a statement
to give you that comfort as well, because there's a
small town too, and people would talk and they would
be aware that an incident has happened.

Speaker 3 (05:20):
Yeah, yeah, absolutely, all parties.

Speaker 2 (05:22):
Yeah, And I think kids is right, like there is
outrage within the community, and like you say, Katie, this
isn't the first time it's happened in a really small,
beautiful town of Tenet Creek. And Steve Edgington, the local
member down there who's my colleague, he has he's always
put in this front and center of the attention, which
is actually really important because he's been calling for changes

(05:45):
to happen in TenneT Creek for such a long time.
Like there's funding from the FEDS, there's funding from the NTG,
there's all these sort of promises that things are going
to change, it's going to get better, but it just
hasn't been. And this is another, sadly and tragically and
disgustingly another example of how they just do not feel
supported down there, even when the police are doing everything
they can.

Speaker 5 (06:06):
And my other real fear here is.

Speaker 2 (06:09):
Again we're going to be in the national headlines for
all of the wrong reasons. You know, Tanner Creek doesn't
deserve to be in the headlines because of these people
who are doing these disgusting things to children.

Speaker 1 (06:20):
Well look, it is also noted on this post from
Steve Edgington. He said, back on the twelfth of December
twenty twenty three, the media reported an alleged sexual assault
of a seven year old girl or a seven year
old child, I should say, in Tenant Creek, which the
government has continually remained silent about after police eventually admitted
that they were investigating the matter. Now, he said, given

(06:40):
the ongoing concerns, he wrote to the Police Minister on
the twenty second of January this year to ask what
action was being taken to ensure the safety of all
other children in Tenant Creek. And he says that the
Police Minister has failed to respond to his letter and
has clearly ignored the ongoing issues impacting on the safety
of residents in Tenant Creek. Now stepping aside from the

(07:01):
child's safety issue, and I do just want to step
towards the fact that in Tenant Creek and I have
had friends that have recently been in Tennant Creek who
have said to me, Katie, you wouldn't recognize the place
the crime is. It's a really tough place to be
right now. Like you know, people are not able to
live in the in the same safe way that they
usually would. A friend of mine was told, do not

(07:24):
go for a run like in this area, or do
not go and exercise in this area, you know. And
I'm talking about a big blog, I'm not talking about
a small female. So there is a real sense from
a lot of people that you know that that crime
that I guess are feeling in fear.

Speaker 5 (07:40):
That's right.

Speaker 1 (07:41):
And and you know, I look, I think we're all
we've spoken about these issues so often, we speak about
what happens in terms of crime so often. But you know,
what's happening right now doesn't seem to be working. And
I don't know exactly what's gone on in this situation,
but that something like this is being investigated is surrendous.

Speaker 6 (08:02):
So, Katie, there has been a lot of initiatives that
have been stood up in the Barkley.

Speaker 5 (08:06):
There was the bar Blackly regional deal.

Speaker 6 (08:09):
Unfortunately, things take longer, and that's one of my frustrations
about being in government, honestly, is how long some things
take to deliver. And I'll give you a really stark example.
We wanted to put a work camp and we're still
working on that in an Intendant creek for young people.

Speaker 5 (08:22):
Local people want it for.

Speaker 6 (08:24):
Their kids, And it took three years to get an
Indigenous land use agreement. Three years why for the very
same people that the programs there would benefit, so local
people wanting because that's the processes it takes to get
land councils on board. Three years And as the minister
at the time, I'll tell you how frustrated I was,
to the point that I'm saying, let's find another space

(08:46):
at government owe.

Speaker 4 (08:46):
So are you saying that land councils are holding things up?

Speaker 3 (08:49):
Absolutely?

Speaker 5 (08:49):
Holding things up?

Speaker 1 (08:50):
Who?

Speaker 5 (08:51):
Absolutely?

Speaker 4 (08:51):
So the locale if it's gone.

Speaker 5 (08:54):
It's large bureaucracy.

Speaker 6 (08:55):
They just maybe they don't have the resources to get
people out to do the right consultations.

Speaker 5 (08:59):
I don't know, but.

Speaker 6 (09:00):
Three years, in my estimation, is too long to deliver
on that program.

Speaker 5 (09:05):
By the time that was done, we'd already built.

Speaker 6 (09:07):
That facility off site so it can be delivered on
the site. So we were doing all that we could
and yes, rightly, so you know, Steve would have a
dig get me every single time, but he also knew
the problems that there are around those sorts of things.
We've got an amazing group called the Mob in Tenant
Creek that do the most outstanding work with youth offenders,
and we've actually just doubled the funding to them so

(09:28):
they can double the number. So there's a lot of
really good things going on in Tenant Creek. Police are
running some programs and there's a big investment. They have
a family safety framework which they talk about within themselves.

Speaker 5 (09:39):
They know which the really bad.

Speaker 6 (09:41):
Families are that need the most support, They know who
they are. But when something like this happens, that's outside
of that frame. And unless you have a police officer
for every single person and gets up every day and
shadows them, you actually can't stop crime from happening.

Speaker 1 (09:56):
But something not scared of the consequences is that what's
going on year on.

Speaker 6 (10:00):
Our jails are full cocadies and people are going to jail.

Speaker 3 (10:03):
They're overflowing.

Speaker 6 (10:04):
We are looking at more and more programs to get
people into work, but there are lots more people that aren't.

Speaker 5 (10:10):
And I'm going to say this right now.

Speaker 6 (10:12):
People need to start working, And I think that's the
angle we need to take. People need to be working
because this is what happens when you've got people that
are idle on the doll or not on the doll
moving in from places where there's no work into centers
where there's no housing, overcrowding. We need to get people
working and that means that we have to rethink that

(10:32):
whole space about where the jobs are. And that's where we.

Speaker 7 (10:35):
Need to go with this, where the people leave.

Speaker 6 (10:38):
OK.

Speaker 7 (10:39):
Does that need to be revisited as well?

Speaker 6 (10:41):
Absolutely there needs to be, but that needs to be
in partnership with the land councils and we need them
to step up in this space and work with us
to get more and more jobs in remote. We need
CDP back. So CDP post the COVID Emergency. CDP was
taken out by the federal government has not been put
back properly. And I know Eva's on the federal government

(11:03):
constantly to put it back, and I know that we're
in chats with our federal counterparts and they know it's
important and they need to convince their you know, their
federal colleagues to put CDEP back in its entirety back
into a remote community so people have work to do
and this is what we need.

Speaker 4 (11:18):
It sounds like you're frustrated with the land councils at
the moment.

Speaker 5 (11:22):
I'm incredibly frustrated with the land council.

Speaker 6 (11:24):
Is this something in particular that's at a range of
things that I think you know, when you don't when
people don't work, they don't value money or don't.

Speaker 5 (11:33):
Have work opportunities.

Speaker 6 (11:34):
I'm not blaming people for not having work, but when
you're in a remote community. Let's just give this example,
and this is the one I've been giving for a
couple of years.

Speaker 8 (11:41):
Now.

Speaker 6 (11:41):
You're seventeen, you've been away for a couple of years
at boarding school, You've had all of you know, access
to Wi Fi, all of those sorts of things. And
you come back to Darwin and there's not a job,
and there's pressure on you to go back to your.

Speaker 5 (11:52):
Family and remote and you go back. What is there
for you?

Speaker 6 (11:55):
And if you're a seventeen year old kid and you've
had all the access to all of those things, you're
bored And we see kids acting out from boredom. We
see adults, young men acting out from boredom. We need
people working and that's as simple as it is.

Speaker 1 (12:09):
And so do you think that the land councils need
to step up? I mean we very often see that
urban creep, you know, we see people coming in from
from communities and not doing the right thing. Do they
need to be stepping up then in that space as
well if that's people coming in from their community to
be a partnership.

Speaker 6 (12:23):
So the Northern Territory government does everything it can to
create jobs in a remote but we all need it
to do it together, and the federal government needs to
fix CDEP.

Speaker 2 (12:32):
You know, there are lots of things that the Northern
Territory government could be doing as well, especially in that
job space. I mean if you look at the projects
that are right across the Northern Territory and the Barclay
Is as prime example, I mean some cable could have
created a lot of jobs. And that's it's sort of
still in sitting there on the back burner for such
a long time.

Speaker 3 (12:48):
On the back burner for minims exactly, and I think
nothing to do with the NTI government.

Speaker 2 (12:52):
Well, seeing you know, Kate is talking about how there
needs to be more work with the land councils and
talking about the federal government as well. I mean the
Northern Territory government has a huge role to play in
this one. They represent all of the people in the
Northern Territory and they should be fighting tooth and nail
with the land councils and with the federal government to
ensure that the territory gets what it needs. But there
are so many ways to enable our economy so that

(13:16):
we can have those jobs. And then it's about making
sure that the people do want to work, and if
they don't want to work, then there needs to be
other avenues for them to go and do something productive
in society. We can't have people who are contributing and
enjoying their lives have it to be stripped away from
them because of people not wanting.

Speaker 1 (13:31):
To do don't just want to raise I know that
Steve Edgington has just done an interview with Sky newsed
and has said that the federal government still haven't done
an order and review of services that it promised after
two year old was raped in twenty eighteen. Says he
wrote to the Prime Minister twelve months ago about it
but never received a response.

Speaker 2 (13:53):
And Katie, that's quite common the same. I don't know
if it was the same letter or a separate letter,
but I know that the MLAs that we have Josh
Bergen and Bill Yan also wrote to the Prime Minister
about the Alice Springs audit and wanting to know, you
know where where all the money is going to that
is real is supposed to be there to support indigenous
communities and yet and yet when we the Prime Minister

(14:19):
didn't even respond to that one.

Speaker 6 (14:20):
Well, I know that people on the ground, through our
briefings from people on the ground, that money is being spent,
and it's being spent wisely, and it's being spent in
a very targeted way.

Speaker 2 (14:29):
But it's still not getting any better though, And I
guess that's the point, is that we can't have internal
audits to see something going on.

Speaker 6 (14:35):
I can tell you over New Year, one of the
measures the crime stats. The initiative will have a look
at the crime stats in Alice Springs and they have reduced.

Speaker 5 (14:42):
You just people reduced.

Speaker 4 (14:44):
They have reduced on very high levels.

Speaker 5 (14:47):
They were college that they are high.

Speaker 3 (14:49):
They were high, but.

Speaker 6 (14:50):
They are coming down and the measures that we are
putting in place are working. And some of the things
that that COLP never acknowledge is you can't.

Speaker 5 (14:58):
There's no silver bullet to anything.

Speaker 6 (15:00):
You've got to put in programs that work over a
number of years, and we've done that, and.

Speaker 5 (15:04):
I want to walk away from it.

Speaker 1 (15:05):
How can you say that you've like, how can you
say that things are working at the moment when the
Northern Territory is literally in the groups of and continues
to be in the groups of what a lot of
people feel like has been a crime crisis, and and
you know, people are absolutely over it. You talk to anybody,
it's the number one thing that they raise. And I
bet even when you're out on the doors it's a
number one Actually it's.

Speaker 6 (15:25):
Not the number one thing, but number one thing people
are raising at the moment. It's cost of living and
people are feeling the pinch. And I say to you, like,
none of us are immune. And you do see things
going on around you, and you have things affect you
in your own life, and it's not good enough. But
you've got to unpack the reasons for the things that
are happening.

Speaker 5 (15:42):
And we need to pack the people.

Speaker 6 (15:43):
That you know that need to go back to their
communities if that's where they want to live and have
something to do, be productive And I think Marie Claire
just used that word and it's an absolute, really solid
word around it.

Speaker 5 (15:55):
It's about being productive. And when you don't have that.

Speaker 6 (15:58):
And when I always said this, and I've said this
for like twenty years, when people don't have purpose, that's
where we all go awry.

Speaker 5 (16:04):
It doesn't matter we all have a choice.

Speaker 3 (16:05):
It doesn't make if.

Speaker 5 (16:06):
You're an Aboriginal person or a European person. We don't
have purpose.

Speaker 6 (16:09):
That purpose doesn't have to be and Keasier stay on
your chest, is Nellie on the floor. But when people
don't have purpose, that's when they lose their way. And
we need to make sure that there's a system in
place that allows people and the federal government, the land
councils and the council and US as a non terretary
government need to work together to get that done.

Speaker 1 (16:28):
We are going to have to take a very quick break.
You're listening to Mix one O four nine's three sixty.
It is the week that was. If you've just joined us,
we've got Kate Warden, Keesier, Puric cam Smith and Marie
Claire Boothby in the studio.

Speaker 2 (16:40):
Now.

Speaker 1 (16:40):
One of the issues that certainly concerned are twenty thousand territorians.
Earlier in the week was the fact that the power
went out for a couple of hours. The Northern Territory
Chief Minister says that a review is going to be
conducted into this widespread power outage in the Top End
or Monday afternoon. It was caused by gas supply issues. Now, Cam,
I know that you've done quite a bit of reporting

(17:01):
on this one in terms of the gas and the
issues that we that we have.

Speaker 4 (17:07):
You know, where are things at, well, they're at.

Speaker 8 (17:10):
The Northern Territory, the Top ends powers supply, perhaps relying
on diesel as a last ditch resort if gas isn't available.
Apparently it was news to me. I thought we were
sorting our gas from Impact, but we're actually getting it
from the dregs out of the Bayo Wunden Reserve at
Darwin LMG.

Speaker 7 (17:27):
They haven't got much left.

Speaker 8 (17:29):
The Chief Minister said yesterday that after that's utilized, I'll
go to go.

Speaker 7 (17:34):
Back to Impacts.

Speaker 8 (17:35):
But the absurdity, of course, is that where as an
industry figure said to me this week, we're scratching around
for every last molecule of gas and we're sitting on
two of the biggest reserves in the world, big in
the world, so we are gas rich.

Speaker 7 (17:48):
So yeah, that's the challenge.

Speaker 3 (17:51):
It's a long time ago a person who knows about
this industry said to me that one of the failings,
and this is a failing clearly because the supply of
gas went off and power and of is the lack
of repair, maintenance and planning for our aging infrastructure, well
whatever the infrastructure may be. And because some of our
suburbs as you know, and some of the lines are

(18:11):
very old, transmisions are very old, etcetera, etcetera. So it's
a bit of a complicated issue and a complicated industry.
But the bottom line is the government has to plan,
doesn't matter which government they have to plan better. There's
three components of power and water as we know, and
there's three boards, and then there's the other partners like
the pipeline people, et cetera. And they've got to get

(18:32):
it together because we will never grow economically unless we
have a guaranteed cost effective energy supply.

Speaker 1 (18:38):
Well, and I guess people understand that the power is
going to go out from time to time, but usually
it is weather related. You're not expecting it to be
as a result of, you know, the infrastructure associated with
the gas or they're not being enough gas, and you
do expect then that those diesel generators are going to
kick in. And I guess a lot of people were
sort of questioning then on Monday why that didn't happen.

Speaker 6 (18:57):
I think, you know, I'll be up front here, the
colp's plan was to sell it off and we have
had no control on that had that all happened. So
what happened is that our pipeline, the APA parkline. They
came out shaking her head, but she actually does know
that that was their plan, and that's why we've got three.

Speaker 5 (19:16):
Because it was so many.

Speaker 3 (19:18):
We've gone three. That's our legacy.

Speaker 5 (19:19):
Now we've got three.

Speaker 6 (19:20):
But you know what, like Keyser right, it's I mean
they use the word embassing, it's actually not embarrassing because
we've done so much risk management around this. We knew
three years ago we had a contract or twenty thirty,
so you would think that that was happening. But the
wells that were being tapped, and the chief ministers on
the public record around this, the wells that were being
tapped actually didn't have as much supply as those companies thought.

Speaker 5 (19:43):
So we've been three years.

Speaker 6 (19:44):
We've got a Gas task Force and what they do
is make sure that we.

Speaker 5 (19:47):
Do have that certainty of gas.

Speaker 6 (19:49):
Now, some of it does come from Impex, some of
it comes from Central Australia, and we are getting that
tail gas. And then we've got some planning going forward
having enough diesel. And this is where this whole diesel
thing comes up.

Speaker 5 (20:01):
Having enough diesel.

Speaker 6 (20:02):
On hand if we needed it is actually risk management
and by the way, that's what governments do. So I'll
make no excuse for having enough diesel. But if the
gas stopped tomorrow.

Speaker 4 (20:13):
Or past complaining about us having enough diesel to.

Speaker 6 (20:17):
Katie, there is it being painted that we are it's
a bit embarrassing that we still got diesel.

Speaker 5 (20:22):
No, it's not.

Speaker 6 (20:23):
And I can also tell you that the Chief Minister
said yesterday a billion dollars of our debt is because
we have invested heavily into renewable energy and we've got
the pipeline, all of the stuff that the Anti government owns,
all of our infrastructure we have put huge amounts into,
including we're putting in batteries so that we can have

(20:44):
some stability around well.

Speaker 1 (20:45):
So before I get to that, though, I do want
to ask how many times are we paying for gas?
Like how many gas contracts have we got if that
makes sense to sort of make sure like we've got
then I contract and then don't we have black We've
got then we've got the support contract with Santos and
then we've all still got the backup with the diesel well's.

Speaker 3 (21:02):
And that's okay, But Katie, I think there's a There's
another question related to this that I could ask Murray
Clair's CLP and Kate as Labor Party person, is the
elections coming up. We've got two major gas projects on
the horizon. We've got Barossa, Santos's Barrossa off shore and
we've got the B Toloo with Tambaran. So my question
to them is would they and particularly the CLP given

(21:25):
coming hopefully into government from their point of view, is
would they look to set up a gas reservation policy
to ensure we have continuity of gas supply like WA.
I know it's not powerful to industry. I get all that,
and the percentage that they have to keep I think
WA's is fifteen percent. You know, are they going to
go down that path? That's my question to both parties.

(21:48):
I think I'll answer.

Speaker 6 (21:49):
First, because you know, there's been some criticism that didn't
happen under Impets, right, but it's not our gas. And
in fact, to get the Impets deal here and all
the jobs and all of that economy we got at
that time, if we'd have asked for a gas reservation
it was talked about, we wouldn't have got the we
wouldn't have got the project.

Speaker 5 (22:06):
It's as simple as that.

Speaker 6 (22:07):
But Impacts have now come on board and they are
providing us some gas, which is super But that's a
change at a cost, but it's at a cost to everybody. Correct, yes, no,
but with a gas gas reservation policy, we own the
other gas. We own the gas and the bedloo it
is the territory. Territorians own that resource.

Speaker 5 (22:26):
But so we are in a better position.

Speaker 3 (22:28):
Are you going to legislate to have a guess reservation That's.

Speaker 5 (22:30):
A question I'll have to ask.

Speaker 6 (22:32):
But I know that we are heading to a point
where with gas out of Beata LOOO, once it's firmed
up and all of that's happening, and we're into the
productions phase, which should be next year. I'm guaranteed it's
next year. We will have gas for territorians at a.

Speaker 1 (22:45):
Very is going to flow next year. I mean she
that's taken a long time. No, No, we had Tam
Moore and I think it was on the show to
speak about that, so.

Speaker 3 (22:55):
I know that.

Speaker 1 (22:56):
But she has taken a long time, like this was
an election issue back in what two thousand and even
massive producceaty that need to be done properly planning. I'm
not an idiot, I understand, but it has like it
has taken such a long period of time.

Speaker 8 (23:11):
One moratorum than another miratory by four years.

Speaker 7 (23:14):
You talked about if there.

Speaker 5 (23:15):
Was a moratorium to get that baseline stuff right, and
if you.

Speaker 6 (23:18):
Look at the Shriber and all the data that we've
got in there, that actually doesn't just go for the Beterloo.

Speaker 5 (23:22):
It does for a whole range of other projects.

Speaker 6 (23:24):
We're able to do water security now and water plans
because we've got that Schreber. We've done it right, and
what we're going to do is make sure that it's
not highly exploited and that territoriums benefit.

Speaker 4 (23:36):
What's the COALP going to commit?

Speaker 2 (23:38):
The CELP, I think is the only party in the
territory that is never backed away from gas. We've always
backed the gas industry moratorium as well the Labor Party.
The Labor Party are divided in.

Speaker 3 (23:51):
Which is which is that? My question?

Speaker 2 (23:56):
My question was not canceled your conference you want to
that gas.

Speaker 5 (24:00):
We didn't. We just didn't schedule one. We didn't have
one schedule for the.

Speaker 1 (24:09):
Your But there's literally there has been like there has
been members of the Labor Party definitely saying that they
do not support do not support the gas fall.

Speaker 7 (24:18):
The Chief Minister wouldn't come out of say the word.

Speaker 3 (24:24):
Gas some events. There's people with the seal Pea who
don't like fracking.

Speaker 6 (24:30):
There are people in the our position as a government
because that's what you do and you bide him behind
what the government position is. Personally people might have a
different opinion, but we are supportive of this gas industry.
We want Baroster, we want be the Loo, but we
want to do it properly and we.

Speaker 5 (24:46):
Want to make sure our environment is not damaged through it. Look,
one of the.

Speaker 1 (24:49):
Things I do want to ask about this morning is
is yesterday the government and yourself, Kate, you did come
out and say that the Northern Territory has got the
highest take up of solar of as storage in the
country thanks to the Home and Business Battery Scheme. So
it does obviously mean that you can purchase and install
those batteries.

Speaker 4 (25:09):
At a more affordable price.

Speaker 1 (25:10):
But look, when we spoke about this yesterday, there's quite
a few people who called in who were still wildly
upset about the feed in tower of changing and the
fact that they need to have these batteries in some
cases to support their solar.

Speaker 6 (25:24):
I'm a local member first and foremost, and you know,
I've got people in my electorate that are unhappy. I've
got people in my electorate that thought they were going
to make money out of their solar systems and that
hasn't happened for them. So they called it, and they
called it an investment. I think that that's been a
bit of a misunderstanding. It was about getting it so
you were paid back. But I understand the sentiment of

(25:45):
where people are at. But we have seen five times
the national average uptake for batteries with that scheme. We've
got another three million dollars in that scheme this year.
We're also looking at some innovative ways for because that
was raised with us yesterday about people on a lower
incomes and how we can help.

Speaker 3 (26:01):
With that the cost of living. It's a real thing.

Speaker 5 (26:04):
So we're looking at ways to get solar.

Speaker 6 (26:06):
We've got some projects for solar on public housing in
our springs and we're looking at what we can do
and remote once again to get them off diesel and
reduce the diesel consumption by seventy percent.

Speaker 1 (26:15):
What about those other solar farms that have been built?
Are they now up and running it? You know?

Speaker 4 (26:20):
The ones I've been commissioned.

Speaker 3 (26:21):
So there's four. There's there were four.

Speaker 6 (26:23):
The rough ones been fully plugged in the other three
are one of them's at twenty five percent and they're
testing it through to make sure it doesn't make the
system unstable, and the other two are in commissioning phase.

Speaker 3 (26:33):
So we're not far off for all three.

Speaker 4 (26:35):
But they have been idle for quite some time, haven't they?

Speaker 5 (26:38):
Because they got developed privately.

Speaker 6 (26:40):
Let's be clear, they got developed privately and the system
wasn't ready to accept them, so there was no talk
between the private provider and TGen and power.

Speaker 3 (26:48):
Water, which has all got Chris, I don't know how
the why would you and I international company invest that
kind of money that the solar panels at Medham down.
There's also one downe actual way, And from my understanding
is the infrastructure didn't connect. That's in lay terms.

Speaker 4 (27:05):
Yeah, well I've got to go that far and that's right.

Speaker 3 (27:08):
And Territory Generation say, listen, this is how you need
to build it. Need to have a widget that size
to connect with our dodge at that size. You know,
like no, I.

Speaker 1 (27:16):
Thought it was the other way around that it was
a situation where they were told that they were able
to be built, and then it was a situation that
once they were complete, if they plugged in or if
they went in, the system wouldn't be able to just
withstandard or to cope.

Speaker 3 (27:28):
To cope with cope with what they're delivering. They might
have known that before they encouraged.

Speaker 4 (27:33):
Well, that's exactly right.

Speaker 1 (27:34):
And the question that you then ask is what kind
of certainty or surety does that give to any large
organization wanting to do business here in the Northern Territory,
Like the last thing any has to be sitting idle.

Speaker 3 (27:44):
Yeah, I mean, and I would have gone through land
clearing issues, they would have gone through any native total
potential issues. I'm pretty sure it was on private land.
But you know, they would have been all these other
clearances in environmental assessments, that kind of stuff, and so
they would have been in discussions with the anti government
all the way along, and then they finally get to
turn the switch on. Oh sorry, they don't talk to
each other.

Speaker 8 (28:03):
Imagine that I've spent all that money exactly approval.

Speaker 3 (28:08):
Yeah, exactly.

Speaker 4 (28:09):
Do you want to ask?

Speaker 1 (28:10):
So one of the things I do want to ask
very quickly, because it is something that so many listeners
care about, is with.

Speaker 4 (28:16):
Those solar feed in tariffs. Now.

Speaker 1 (28:18):
Obviously, at the time that the government made those changes,
the COLP said that they would revert back to what
they were previously.

Speaker 4 (28:25):
Yeah, that's right, it's still the plantly.

Speaker 2 (28:27):
So at that time when they slash those feed in tariffs,
I mean, families were already feeling the pressure of cost
of living increases and it's it's even worse now. So
we want to be able to make sure that families
can afford to live here, because that is so important.
If you can't afford to live here, you start looking elsewhere,
and we can't afford to lose any more people. So
the COLP will introduce it's called a time of day

(28:48):
incentive which doubles the feed in tariff during peak times
and will also double the battery bonus scheme. So Labour's
scheme is five thousand dollars, we're going to actually it's
more than double. It's twelve thousand dollars because twelve thousand
a twelve thatsan a battery will actually ensure that you
have power for your whole house, like a medium sized house,
because we want to make sure that we can either
reduce the power bills and the cost of living for

(29:10):
those families or in some cases entirely reduce their power
build to nothing.

Speaker 1 (29:14):
The biggest question people are going to be asking is
how are you going to afford to do it?

Speaker 5 (29:17):
I mean good question.

Speaker 3 (29:18):
Yeah, as you're going for nine cents to yeah, twenty
eight cents.

Speaker 1 (29:22):
So how like you know, because what I'm hearing throughout
this week is the COLP is making quite a few
commitments with a monetary value attached to them and no
real sort of you know, no real plan as to
how you're going to afford what's going.

Speaker 5 (29:35):
To be cut? That's the question. You have to cut
something in order to afford that.

Speaker 6 (29:38):
You also are going directly against the advice of the
corporations that provide the power. So it'd be very interesting,
I think you. That would been my observation that you know,
all care and no responsibility is very easy from opposition,
but in government you have to be very prudent around
a budget. And I'd like to see what you're going
to cut all those kids programs Again.

Speaker 3 (29:59):
Probably it's just rubbish.

Speaker 2 (30:01):
We all about commitment, All about commitments need to go
to treasury and you know that, so it all needs
to balance out really well. We are looking to grow
our economy, which is why we want to slash approval
time frames.

Speaker 3 (30:12):
By fifty More mining projects, get more mining r will.

Speaker 2 (30:16):
Which will increase our mining projects. I mean, we have
no major projects that are coming off the ground, even
call lithium, who was going to be our saving grace.

Speaker 3 (30:24):
That's only a small mind right back.

Speaker 2 (30:25):
Because we only ever focused on one thing at a time.

Speaker 5 (30:28):
Everything else is falling over look.

Speaker 4 (30:29):
We are going to have to take a very quick break.

Speaker 1 (30:31):
One of the other things that we spoke about throughout
this week that certainly I guess raids quite a.

Speaker 4 (30:35):
Few eyebrows is the fact that we have.

Speaker 1 (30:38):
Known for quite some time that the Darwin and Alla
Springs correctional centers are absolutely at maximum capacity. We caught
up with Matthew Varley, the Corrections Commissioner, earlier in the
week and he said that we have now got twenty
two hundred and fifty prisoners in custody. That was when
we spoke to the Corrections Commissioner on Wednesday. Forty five

(30:58):
percent of those in prison are on remand with that's
right with the Darwin City Police watch House being used
to hos forty inmates and the Peter McCauley providing another
fourteen beds now. The Commissioner also said that efforts are
underway to increase that capacity, with ninety six beds in
Alice Springs due to be completed by the middle of
the year, and of course sixty four the sixty four

(31:20):
bed low security facility being commissioned for Darwin. He also
told us that a security review of G Block at
Alice Springs Jails being completed following those recent riots, and
the NT Corrections are working with Dipple to make infrastructure improvements.
But look, there is no doubt about it. Our jails
are bursting at the seams for want of a better words.

Speaker 3 (31:41):
That's because people are breaking the law.

Speaker 1 (31:43):
Well, that's the thing I don't look, I don't think
that you're going to have anybody sort of feeling sad
that the jails are full. I think what everybody's starting
to ask now is do we need a bigger one?

Speaker 3 (31:51):
Well, the question I think should be why is there
such a large increase in people breaking the law, which
we know is happening because of the crime issues in
all major towns and across the territory. So if we
didn't have those major crime issues, then we wouldn't have
people breaking the all and they wouldn't be going to jail.
That's part of it. The part is the forty five
percent on remand is is the court system. There's no

(32:13):
follow the judges or magistrates or anything of that nature.
It's a problem and I've spoken about this in Parliament
and I've done questions on notice. There's not enough legal
people in the system. There's not enough legal people in prosecutions,
there's not enough people in narge. I mean that, yes,
I was going to say there's not enough lawyers in
the bloody whole town.

Speaker 4 (32:31):
Well, and on the naj all of that as well,
and on that narger situation.

Speaker 1 (32:35):
I know that Matt Cunningham from Sky News had indeed
written about this earlier in the week, that Australia's largest
Aboriginal legal service could be stripped of its funding amid
a crisis that's seeing Indigenous people front in court without representation.
So the Commonwealth Attorney General's Department says that it has
altered arrangements for the North Australia Aboriginal Justice Agency following
the Northern Territory government to redirect funding to other organizations.

(33:00):
Does follow those revelations that NAJA has been unable to
represent clients, particularly in Alice Springs, due to staff shortages
following a mass exodus of employees over the past twelve months.
You know, no matter how you look at it, it's
a problem.

Speaker 3 (33:14):
But NAGE is one part of it. There's also just
normal legal aid. Yeah, they suffer too because they have
an issue trying to attract and retain legal people, you know,
and then we hear about technical issues, you know, people
who are in jail on ramand can't get to talk
to their lawyer because of technical issues, you know, and
the communication systems don't work or scope doesn't work or whatever.
I mean. I know of people in Holtz Jail who've

(33:36):
been there nearly two and a half years on remand
now the clearly they're on remand and not on well
for a reason. Yeah, and I do know what this
fellow went in for on ramand or his on remand
that's family member, you damn it, no, I will.

Speaker 4 (33:50):
Look, it is a very serious issue.

Speaker 3 (33:53):
So it is a comp or complex or complicated perhaps both,
you know, So it's not just one single factor that's
contributing to our full jails. But I agree, if people
break the law, they go to joil. So we've got
to stop people breaking the law.

Speaker 1 (34:05):
Yep.

Speaker 3 (34:05):
We've got to do something with people on remand like
people on ramand cannot access many, if any programs because
they're on romand they actually haven't been charged. They can
get something.

Speaker 5 (34:15):
We've changed that you do.

Speaker 3 (34:17):
So people want to learn to rehabilitate themselves or if
they don't, they'll be told. And there's issues even with
people on in jail, So there's that as well.

Speaker 6 (34:26):
Well.

Speaker 1 (34:26):
Look on top of this, I have been told in Kate,
I know that you're not the police minister anymore, but
you may or may not be able to provide some insight.
I have been told that there are outstanding of rest
warrants as well that can't actually be you know, that
can't sort of be concluded or pushed through because there
isn't that capacity to then be able to hold them
in remand I think.

Speaker 6 (34:46):
From time to time you probably factually correct. But what
you have to do, and we've done a couple of things.
We've put on more local court judges yep, to get
this through. You're right in that money being diverted. Chancey
Paike made sure that that money advocated strongly to get
that money redirected. So a lot of that's gone to
do on community legal services and a number of the
lawyers that left NAJA I know have joined other local

(35:10):
you know, community justice areas.

Speaker 3 (35:12):
So we've got that.

Speaker 5 (35:13):
So that's the chair. But also you're.

Speaker 6 (35:15):
Very right, we are looking, i think to have some
additional people out on those work programs because we know
that they have a huge impact on people not reoffending,
but those low security and it's about moving people into
those right spaces. So the women, for particularly particularly women,
you can have them in a completely different sort of
a community space, not necessarily in that high because women

(35:35):
actually don't necessarily reoffend at the rate that men do,
So there's lots of things that are being done.

Speaker 5 (35:41):
There are lots of those additional places.

Speaker 6 (35:43):
And I will say one hundred percent, if you've done
that crime, you deserve to be in jail. And yes,
conditions might not be ideal, but that's where you should be.

Speaker 1 (35:53):
This is a bit off topic, but what did you
make before or around Christmas, when people going, well, we
need a condition air conditioners in the jails. I thought,
I don't know that that's going.

Speaker 2 (36:00):
To go along with the with what the normal public
support from the community for.

Speaker 3 (36:06):
You're in jail for a reason, and whilst it might
be unpleasant, it's unpleasant across the board, but you're therefore
doing time for your crime and with some good luck,
you might sort of come out of better person. With
some programs, we'll understand why you did what you did.
I get it that's difficult with some people in jail,
or probably a lot of them, because they're probably suffering
from fetal alcohol specting disorder and other mental issues whatever.

(36:26):
But you know that didn't gain a lot of sympathy.
You know, there perhaps some little things that they could
do in the jail to make it a smidge and
call I don't.

Speaker 5 (36:33):
Know, Katie.

Speaker 2 (36:34):
One of the things that keeps coming up with people
that I'm speaking to is when the territory government paid
the New South Wales Corrections to build those demountables within
the corrections confinement and then put them into Alice Springs,
so they're expanding the al Springs.

Speaker 4 (36:46):
Yeah, we had them. We had New South Wales conditions
on about it.

Speaker 2 (36:49):
Excellent, So you know about this and so what the
question that people keep asking is how can the government
pay another facility where their prisoners and New South Wales
are the ones making these demounables when we have prisoners
here in.

Speaker 1 (37:00):
The part of what I was actually told is it
a small part of that is actually so that they
don't know how to break out as well, so that
you're actually you've got the other correctional crew doing it
in another stage, because then if they've put it together,
so then then are they going to know how to
take it apart to get out?

Speaker 5 (37:20):
Okay? And it opens another opportunity our territories.

Speaker 4 (37:29):
I did say that.

Speaker 2 (37:31):
Box a little bit on these things. It's not about
just building new facilities over and over. There's so many
ways you can create those efficiencies to have better facilities,
sentence to jobs sentences.

Speaker 6 (37:41):
We've also got community and community facilities. We're working really
hard out at group to get those up there. We've
got people doing sentences on country giving back to their communities.

Speaker 5 (37:50):
That's all happening across the Northern Territory.

Speaker 6 (37:52):
The simple thing is there are too many people committing
crimes and they need to be in those spaces to
keep the rest of the community safe.

Speaker 5 (37:59):
And no, but he's apologizing for it.

Speaker 1 (38:01):
All right, We're going to take a really quick break.
You're listening to Mix one O four nine's three sixty.
It is the week that was. Before we wrap up
for this morning, I am keen to talk about the
fact that it was reported earlier in the week that
the CLP well didn't provide those donation declarations. I think
a lot of people asking how important is it that
political parties do declare those donations. Well, we did end

(38:22):
up catching up with the president of the CLP, Shane Stone,
and he confirmed it was forty four thousand dollars I
believe it was, and that they.

Speaker 4 (38:31):
Did receive in political donations.

Speaker 1 (38:32):
Six thousand odds was actually donated by him himself.

Speaker 3 (38:36):
That's quite normal.

Speaker 4 (38:37):
Yeah, I did wonder that whether it was normal for
a president to.

Speaker 3 (38:40):
People in my I'm just stretching my memory. But in
the CLP, yeah, people in the past, committee members of management,
comedy people have provided funds himself personally. You know, they
believe in the course, so why wouldn't they give money.
But I spoke about this premcy with you, Katie and yep,
and Tony Shedding was a treasure of the party. He
was a treasure of twenty fifteen. I was still in
the party. So Shane should have known that and should

(39:02):
know that, and I actly does know that. And I'm
I'm not laying the blame that person in particular. But
as I said on the show before, you know this,
this is a party that wants to take government from
the current government. So if you can't get your paperwork
in order for your accountability to the Electoral Commission, your transparency,
the amount of money is not the issue. And I
don't think you know, they're not trying to hide it,

(39:24):
you know, I know the Labor Party put some post
up about Lea trying to hide the money or whatever.
I mean, that's just the politics. I get it. Everyone
gets it, you know, but that's not the case. The
case is more the party management and administration should be
better than what they're currently doing. Now, get the electoral
turns in because we have higher reporting requirements. Now the
Electoral Act changed I think about three years ago, you know,
So you've got it. That's where this came out because

(39:45):
they didn't show up and it showed up. Yeah, and look, basically,
if you've got a gift over, I forget what it is,
fifteen hundred for example, but you cannot have sloppy returns.
It is the law to get your returns in that.

Speaker 6 (40:00):
Get it.

Speaker 3 (40:00):
The president was very cranky with his party and right, yes,
so get your shit together if you expect to take government,
because there's going to be a lot of bloody paperwork
when you were in government. If you don't get it right,
then the consequences are going to be very very serious
marriage more than just returns, just bloody electoral returns.

Speaker 5 (40:16):
And look what happens.

Speaker 4 (40:17):
Since I really feel easier, Look what happens.

Speaker 3 (40:21):
If you don't get your bloody tax returns in. Okay,
you've got a bit of a wave. If you're an
accountant for that taxman is very unforgiving, and I think
mister Long and Nathan should be very unforgiving. This is
the law and he's responsible for administering the act. Get
your bloody returns in on time. Country Liberal Party.

Speaker 2 (40:35):
And it is a very serious issue. And Shane did
come on your show, Katie, and he fronted it head
or he did. He said it was unacceptable. He said
that everyone's on notice about it. So we take it
very seriously. And I think Shane was very open and
transparent about exactly what happened.

Speaker 6 (40:49):
But it isn't the first time. And these laws came
into place because Foundation fifty one there was a massive
slush fund. It was not I was there slush funded, Katie, Katie, I.

Speaker 3 (40:59):
Was there party. I was party to the Foundation.

Speaker 7 (41:03):
fIF we won.

Speaker 3 (41:04):
It was the Labor Party, correct. I had the paperwork
from that time.

Speaker 1 (41:11):
Do you know what, though, there'll be people listening this
morning who have no idea what it was. And that's
the thing, you know, people have been here for a
long time.

Speaker 5 (41:17):
And the CLP need to put their returns in on time.
We all have to.

Speaker 6 (41:22):
We have responsibilities and we saw you know with Natasha Files,
she had also chief Minister and ship over two thousand
dollars worth of shares.

Speaker 4 (41:29):
These side matters four.

Speaker 6 (41:31):
It does matter, and it's about transparency, and we change
those laws for that reason, and it's really important that
they do it. And they've failed again the c LP
can't get.

Speaker 3 (41:42):
Together on the Labor Party. But also the Labor Party
couldn't hold their annual conference.

Speaker 4 (41:50):
But because.

Speaker 3 (41:54):
Turn up.

Speaker 9 (41:58):
Tell you that our next conferences are always very very
well attended, and we had decided already and they're expensive,
and our priority this year is to make sure.

Speaker 4 (42:09):
That the election.

Speaker 7 (42:11):
I just wanted to make the point and I'm a
former CELP stuff who no longer work to it. But
the and there over accountability.

Speaker 8 (42:18):
They have four central councils a year at an annual conference,
always well attended, you know, notwithstanding criticisms, there's a lot
of accounability that goes on there.

Speaker 7 (42:28):
You know. The Labour Party do pick and choose when
they have their in the conference. We have currents.

Speaker 3 (42:34):
By our members.

Speaker 5 (42:35):
We listen to our members all the time.

Speaker 4 (42:37):
Look on that note, we are going to have to
wrap up.

Speaker 1 (42:39):
Mary Clare Boothy from the COLP, thank you so much
for your time this morning.

Speaker 2 (42:43):
Thank you, and I do want to shout out to
the Darwin Table Tennis because they've got their open day
on Sunday and Marara between ten and twelve. I was
there recently. It's a great group of people. Sure you
know about it. I'm sure you've been there recently, but
I'd love to see you there. It'll be a really
fun day for people.

Speaker 4 (42:58):
Awesome stuff.

Speaker 1 (42:59):
Cam Smith from the Into News, good to have you
on the show, mate, thank.

Speaker 4 (43:02):
You, thank you.

Speaker 1 (43:03):
And Kesier Puric the Independent for good thank you.

Speaker 3 (43:06):
Big shout out to my Marichai residence. I'm going there
on Sunday because it's starting to be time for the
volunteer fiber Gage to have any general meetings yep. So
and getting ready for obviously the dry season again, so
big shout out to my America.

Speaker 4 (43:18):
Mates, good stuff.

Speaker 1 (43:19):
Thank you, Kezier and Kate Warden the Labor rep for
this morning and Minister for various Portfolios against three c LPs.

Speaker 5 (43:29):
I'm calling him out.

Speaker 1 (43:35):
People would say about me then, because I once worked
for for the labor governments two yes, but anyway, we
all you know, we all have work histories, there is
no doubt about that.

Speaker 4 (43:46):
Thank you so much for your time this morning. Everybody