Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Now.
Speaker 2 (00:00):
Yesterday the Northern Territory News was reporting the new polling,
putting the two major parties virtually neck and neck for
the first time since Natasha Files's resignation last year caused
Labour's popularity to plummet in Well. If an election were
held today Territory Labor would reportedly hold government with twenty
nine point five percent of the primary vote, narrowly inching
(00:22):
ahead of the Country Liberal Party at twenty nine point
one percent. Now the paper reporting it's a troubling sign
for the opposition ahead of the August election, with independent
and minor party preferences also flowing to the Labor Party
by a significant margin. That's according to this ukom's survey
of one hundred voters in Darwin and Palmerston. It was
(00:45):
commissioned by the Environment Center of the Northern Territory. Now
the opposition leader Leafanocchiaro joins me in the studio.
Speaker 3 (00:52):
Gore morning to you, Leah, Good morning Katie and to
your listeners.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
Now, Leah, what do you make of this most recent polling.
Speaker 3 (00:57):
Look, my job is to represent Territorians and put the
best policies forward, not be a political commentator. So for
us it's just every day is hard work. It's about
being out on the ground with Territorians, listening to what's
important to them and explaining to them that we do
have a plan to rebuild the territory, to reduce crime,
to restore our lifestyle, get our economy moving forward, and
(01:21):
you know.
Speaker 1 (01:21):
We have a lot of hope for the future.
Speaker 3 (01:22):
And there will be a lot of polling I imagine
being put out there between now and the election, But
what counts most is that the CLP team is out
there working hard, fighting for every vote that we can
change the territory for the better. And I urge every
Territorian you know this will be a tight contest. You
can't take your vote for granted. It's very important and
if you want to change the territory, we have to
(01:44):
change the government and vote CLP.
Speaker 2 (01:46):
Leah, there does look as though there is quite a
few Territorians that are undecided at this point in time.
What are you doing as the leader of the opposition
to try and sell your policies to those people.
Speaker 3 (01:57):
Yeah, there will be a big segment of our community
who are still learning about their local candidates. Looking at
the CLP's policies going forward, and our pitch to those
people is very clear. You know, the territory of today
doesn't have to be the territory of tomorrow. We know
the territory can be safer, we know our economy can
be stronger, we know our lifestyle can be better. And
(02:21):
under Labor, we've had a government for eight long years
who they're tired, they're out of ideas, they're out of touch.
Speaker 2 (02:27):
I seem though, that evil Laula is getting more traction
than what her predecessors did for you.
Speaker 1 (02:34):
When you sort of go leader to leda, are you
worried about that?
Speaker 3 (02:38):
Look, Our concern is about the direction of the territory,
and under Labor it's going backwards. We've had three chief
ministers in three years. We've got the worst performing economy
in the nation for five and a half years. There
are one hundred and ninety nine thousand calls to our
Triple zero Center this year KD. So there are significant
problems that impact just the day to day lives of
(02:59):
ten territorials. Our plan is to change that.
Speaker 2 (03:02):
Look. Even on the weekend, you know, we were still
in a situation, a terrible situation on the weekend with
a man stabbed in the city and a car allegedly
stolen by youths who'd held up to elderly Territorians inside
their home in Nightcliff before stealing their cars and taking
them on a joy ride.
Speaker 1 (03:19):
We know that the Northern.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
Territory Police nabbed them, but it was a shocking situation.
What can you do if elected, really to prevent this
kind of crime from happening.
Speaker 3 (03:30):
There's lots that can be done, and that's why Territorians
are so frustrated at Labor because they've shown they're not
going to do it, and that's in stark contrast to
their CLP. I have been very clear if we win
in August that very first sitting of Parliament, so before
the year is out, Katie, we will have passed ram
raid legislation, including boasting and posting of crimes. We will
(03:50):
have changed the age of criminal responsibility to tend so
that we can capture young people early and divert the
course of their life, deal with root causes and give
them future. We will have changed bail laws so that
all serious violent offenders start with a position of no bail,
amongst a range of other things that helps our police,
helps our community to be safe and we are very,
(04:11):
very firm on this position. We have to make big,
tough decisions and it's got to be done for the
betterment of the entire territory and that is what we've
said we would do. It is absolutely what we will deliver.
Speaker 1 (04:23):
The Police Minister joined us on the show this morning.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
He said that there's going to be sixty four more graduates,
well police graduates on Friday, So sixty four more officers.
Speaker 1 (04:33):
Hitting the streets. Surely that's a good thing.
Speaker 3 (04:36):
Oh more police is always a good thing. What's really sad,
and what labor don't talk about though, is how many
police have left in that same period of time. And
that's something I've been talking about for years and years, Katie.
We've got to better support our police. Their hands are tied.
Speaker 2 (04:50):
You know.
Speaker 3 (04:51):
We have a situation where our laws are so bad
that our police are basically the ones wearing the handcuffs,
not the criminals. We've got to turn that around. We've
got to be dealing with the root causes of crime
and giving people hope for the future. You know, our
prisoners are not being rehabilitated like they should be, and
that's why our plan for corrections and a safer community
delivers not only more community safety now, but better outcomes
(05:15):
for people who are doing the wrong things. We can
turn their life around and drive down repeat offending LEA.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
Why do you think that your message on crime and
that your message as the leader of the COLP isn't
getting through then or isn't resonating to some of those
those territorians.
Speaker 1 (05:32):
If we go by the most recent.
Speaker 3 (05:33):
Polls, well, I think people are still undecided. It's sixty
days to go, so for many people they'll decide much closer.
For others, they you know, they may still be you know,
making their decision based on a range of factors. They
might care about the fact that we've had thirty five
code yellows at Royal Dahin Hospital over the last eight years,
or that school attendance has been worse under Labor. But
(05:56):
what we've got is a Labor government that's been in
power for nineteen of the last twenty three years. In
the last eight years, we've had three Chief Ministers. It's
a tired team. There isn't the unity that people expect
of their leaders. And the CLP is so optimistic about
the future. You know, our plan to rebuild the territory
is legitimate. We've got massive payroll tax savings for small business,
(06:18):
huge incentives to get our young people to stay here
through first home ownership with fifty thousand dollars grants. I mean,
these are big, game changing policies that are going to
turn the territory around, give people hope and make the
territory a great place to live, work and invest again.
Speaker 2 (06:34):
Look, I want to move along because we know that
the Australian newspaper is this morning reporting in an exclusive
by Ellie Dudley that the Australian Sorry, the alban Easy
government is going to haul in the board of the
nation's biggest Aboriginal justice service. I mean revelations that it's
chairman assaulted his pregnant partner and demand or they're going
(06:55):
to demand the crisis riddled agency show leadership on family violence.
The Indigenous Affairs Minister Linda Bernie on Monday said that
she was deeply concerned about the situation with NAJA, the
North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency, and had called an emergency
meeting with the Attorney General Mark Dreyfus and the Northern
Territories Attorney General and Deputy Chief Minister, Chancey Paike, what
(07:19):
do you think needs to happen here?
Speaker 3 (07:21):
Well, I just think everyone's been asleep at the wheel
on this, Katie. Naga has been having problems for a
very long time and for finally federal labor to wake
up and Territory labor be dragged to a meeting just
seems like something that should have happened six to twelve
months ago. To be honest, there is more support that
is required to go into addressing whatever's happening at NAGA.
(07:42):
We know that our court system is under great strain.
When you have unrepresented people going to court, for your
listeners out there, it causes all sorts of trouble and
delay for the court system. So for every Territorian to
have better access to justice and efficient justice, we have
to be getting to the bottom of what's going on
at NAJA. And Chancey Paig the Deputy Chief Minister or
(08:03):
future Chief Minister, depending what happens in this election. You
know he's the Attorney General. He is responsible for this.
This is a government funded organization and they've done absolutely
nothing about it.
Speaker 2 (08:14):
I mean, do they need to do more? Does Nuja
need to do more though? And does the federal and
Northern Territory governments need to do more in terms of,
you know, trying to call on that board to do
more in terms of showing leadership when it comes to
family violence.
Speaker 3 (08:31):
Oh well, there's no question. But this is even bigger
than that. I mean, what we've got is a lot
of turnover. There's been you know, issues playing out publicly
in the paper for a very very you know, in
the media for a very long time, and again for
Chancey Paig, the Deputy Chief Minister Attorney General, to be
baring his head in the sand to the point where
even the federal government are now looking at this just
(08:53):
show he should do.
Speaker 1 (08:54):
What do you think that Chancey Paike should do in
this situation.
Speaker 3 (08:56):
Well, there needs to be some form of investigation or inquiry.
Perhaps there needs to be management support or you know,
there's a range of things. I don't have I'm not
privy to that information. But any territory and out there
constantly reading about things going on at NAJA recognizes that
things aren't okay and that there's something needs to be done.
Speaker 1 (09:16):
All right, I do want to ask you.
Speaker 2 (09:18):
Yesterday we spoke to Mission Australia who are set to
close some aspects of their rehab to make way for a.
Speaker 1 (09:24):
New women's prison.
Speaker 2 (09:26):
So Mission Australia's contract as we know for residential rehabilitation
services within t Health was due to expire in June
next year. That facility eventually to become well under the
jurisdiction of Northern Territory Corrections. What do you think that
this means when it comes to rehab services in the
Northern Territory. I know that we've been told that there
are going to be other rehabilitation services.
Speaker 1 (09:48):
But what do you reckon this means?
Speaker 3 (09:49):
Well, I don't believe for a second there's going to
be more rehab under this government. I mean, how could
any government in their right mind shut down alcohol rehabilitation
in Alice Springs and du when alcohol fueled harm and
violence is one of the biggest issues the territory faces.
And again Evil Laula as Infrastructure Minister four years Chancy
(10:09):
Paike her Deputy Attorney General, Corrections Minister, they have failed
to build more beds at our prisons and now they
are kicking out vulnerable alcoholics onto the street with nowhere
to go, so that they can turn them into a
badly retrofitted prison for women. It's a disaster, Beth.
Speaker 1 (10:27):
Elected, and what are you going to be doing to
try and boost those rehabilitation service.
Speaker 3 (10:32):
We want those rehabilitation services to stay. They are doing
a good job. We need more alcohol rehap and that's
why we're so focused on not only as part of
our plan for corrections, we've got compulsory alcohol, drug and
behavioral change programs for people in prison, but we want
to see more voluntary uptake outside of incarcerated environments, but
(10:53):
also mandatory alcohol treatment for very chronically affected sick people
who need an interview in their lives so that they
have respite from themselves, their family and the community has
a respite. So our plan is very different. Will Labor
is shutting down alcohol rehab, the CLP will be opening more. Now.
Speaker 2 (11:13):
I want to ask as well, if a listener question
that's come through from Peter it says, well, he emailed
last week, he's emailed again this morning in fact, wanting
to know if you support Peter Dutton's nuclear policy.
Speaker 3 (11:24):
So this is a it's a big conversation. I think
a lot of people are probably surprised by it. I
think a lot of people think it's too soon. And
then a lot of others. I'm actually getting a lot
of feedback from people saying it's a fantastic thing to have.
So we don't support nuclear in the territory. We are
very pleased to see that there won't be reactors here
and we don't want to be a waste dump either.
(11:45):
But you know, it's a conversation to be had, and
the federal Liberals are starting that conversation.
Speaker 1 (11:51):
What about a dump? Could we end up with a
dump here in the Northern TERRACEE?
Speaker 3 (11:54):
Not on my watch, Katie.
Speaker 1 (11:55):
I can tell you that it's going to be hard though, right.
Speaker 2 (11:58):
I mean, like you've got your federal the federal leader
saying that he wants to go nuclear. You're saying you
don't support it in the Northern Territory. But it's going
to be difficult. It's you know, sometimes you're going to
get pressured by the feeds if you end up with
a coalition in power, well.
Speaker 1 (12:12):
I don't think so.
Speaker 3 (12:13):
They've been really clear about where those sites are and
we're really confident and comfortable about that. We have a
fantastic relationship with our federal counterparts. And ultimately, this is
the start of what will be a very long conversation
about energy security. We've been very clear that for the territory,
gas is our future. We rely on gas now we
can have an even bigger input into the gas industry
(12:34):
going forward through the Beaterloo.
Speaker 1 (12:36):
So that's our focus.
Speaker 2 (12:37):
Leah fan Occhiaro, we are going to have to leave
it there. Thank you as always for your time this morning.
Speaker 3 (12:41):
Take care everyone. Thank you,