Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Now the Northern Territory government has this morning announced the
(00:03):
purchase of the silk Wood property. It's a thirty thousand
hectare parcel of land equivalent to around fifteen thousand TiO stadiums. Now,
it's a seven point five million dollar deal and it's
going to see Litchfield National Park expanded by twenty percent.
It's the largest addition to the National Park estate in
twenty five years. The Chief Minister Leofanocchiaro joins me in
(00:26):
the studio. Good morning to you, Leah.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Good morning, can in to your listeners, good to see you.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
Now, this is a bold move opening up land which
has not previously, as I understand it been accessible to Territorians.
Speaker 3 (00:38):
Where exactly is a yeah, it's it's such an exciting announcement.
I mean, you know, bringing back our beautiful, unique territory lifestyle.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
Is it the third pillar of what we told Territorians
we would do.
Speaker 3 (00:49):
And so to be able to secure a twenty percent
increase in Lichfield National Park really locks in that area
for conservation now and for the future. And it means
not just our locals which is a huge part, but
tourists as well.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
So it's just it's on the.
Speaker 3 (01:04):
South side of Lichfield, so it literally borders it, so
it'll be one continuous, enormous, you know, piece of land.
Lichfield will literally be like two thirds of the size
of Acts.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
It's unbelievable. So we're really excited.
Speaker 3 (01:17):
And you'll be able to then access it from Adelaide River,
so currently you can go down the very springs way,
you can go bachelor. This will really help the town
as well. So it's a big announcement today. It's us
delivering on our promises and our commitments to Territorians. And
it just means people who hike and rock climb and
swim and fallwood drive and camp, they've just got even
more opportunity to do that now.
Speaker 1 (01:38):
So seven point five billion dollars, why now, why did
you make this decision to take over that location now?
Speaker 2 (01:46):
And we had to jump on it.
Speaker 3 (01:48):
It was up for sale and just imagine if this
got sold to someone who locked it all up, and
you know, we'd never benefit for it. So, you know,
conservation and wildlife protection is a really important part of
our lifestyle, and so we seize the moment.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
So how soon is that land actually going to open
up to territorious.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
Yeah, straight away.
Speaker 3 (02:05):
So you can currently access it now and people I've
not been out there except for Robin's Falls obviously is
a much love local swimming spot, but people can access
it now, so we'll just maintain status.
Speaker 2 (02:18):
Quo so that it's sort of informal use.
Speaker 1 (02:22):
So it was actually already able to be accessed.
Speaker 3 (02:24):
Well, it was a more of a turner blind eye
situation as my understanding, So it was privately owned, which
meant people probably weren't meant to go there, but the
owner was sort of cool with it, I suppose you
can say. So we'll we'll continue that open access arrangement
and then we'll work through a master plan for the
area so that we can start to put in place
in our budget where the formalized roads need to go,
(02:45):
or walking tracks need to go, camping grounds, all of
that type of stuff. But we do want to keep
it quite rugged because that is a really important part
of our lifestyle and people want to be able to
have that unique, really you know, natural experience. So when
you know it's not going to be full of buildings
or anything like that, we want to keep it beautiful.
Speaker 1 (03:04):
Having So what is there work, I mean, you sort
of touched on this. It sounds like there may need
to be work done into the future. What kind of
work do you think is going to need to be done.
Speaker 3 (03:13):
Yeah, it might be road access, it might be formalization
of footpaths, signage, you know, maybe even a kiosk at
some point, you know, formalization of campgrounds. But it is
it will be in the same feeling as Litchfield.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
You know, is there property currently on there? You know,
it's not.
Speaker 3 (03:35):
I believe it's just land and it's quite rugged. There
are gorgeous waterfalls, escarpment. People who've been there and I've
spoken to them just say it's absolutely breathtaking.
Speaker 1 (03:44):
Now in terms of well, one of the listener questions
that I've had already this morning is are people going
to be able to hunt there?
Speaker 3 (03:51):
Yeah, so one portion of it will be set aside
for feral pig hunting. So that's exciting as well, because again,
for some hunting is a really important part of our lifestyle.
So we've now got to move through all that detail.
We've been really focused on the acquisition and the purchase,
and now that that's all locked in, we can now
work out what's the best way to use that land.
Speaker 1 (04:12):
So how soon is the land really going to open
up and are you going to get stuck into some
of that work?
Speaker 3 (04:18):
Well, people like I said, if you want to do
a camping tomorrow out there, you could, So that's all fine.
You obviously have to know where you're going, and I
wouldn't be able to kat it because I don't know
the area well. But that you know the Forward Drive club,
for example, not it. Intimately there's about two hundred plus
kilometers of full ward drive track in there, for example, right,
So there are plenty of territories who know the ropes
(04:39):
and then the rest of us will get to learn
the ropes Katie. So I'm hoping tourism will be able
to start to put some money into it now. And
the master plan's really important because we want to get
it right and it is about conservation as well. And
then into next budget, which that process will start in
a couple of months. Anyway, we'll make sure we're allocating
money to do whatever we deem is the first big step,
(05:00):
so it's exciting and it's for the long term. This
is the biggest acquisition for a national park in twenty
five years.
Speaker 1 (05:05):
So I guess you know, as you've said, it does
sound as well, it's exciting, but the fact that people
can already go out there it does sort of make
it sound like, Okay, we're not opening something up brand new.
But I guess it sounds like it's a formalization of things.
Speaker 3 (05:17):
Well, it wasn't ours, and technically people probably weren't supposed to.
So what we're doing is locking that in so they
can imagine if a buyer had to come in, had
a different philosophy on use of the land, put a
giant fence around it and told everyone to piss off,
you know. I mean, that's that's not what we wanted.
So once we learned that the land was up for
sale and it was this treasured, iconic piece of natural environment,
(05:38):
we jumped on the opportunity. And so now that safeguards
the use the current use, and then will enhance the
use into the future.
Speaker 1 (05:45):
Do you reckon they got it for a good price. Yeah,
I do.
Speaker 2 (05:48):
I think seven point five million.
Speaker 3 (05:50):
Gosh Kate, if you look around the territory at the
waste of money that labor had spent things on, I
think seven point fives had dropping the ocean for safeguarding
an additional twenty percent to literally National Park.
Speaker 2 (06:00):
And that's our kids.
Speaker 3 (06:02):
Their kids are going to be going to this place,
and I just it makes me so proud to think
that as a territory we're able to secure such an
iconic piece of recreational opportunity and conservation.
Speaker 1 (06:12):
Any idea what amount of money might need to be
invested into it, you know, onto campsites and various different things.
Speaker 2 (06:20):
Oh, you could spend bucket loads on it if you
wanted to, Katie. So we'll just go through that.
Speaker 3 (06:25):
Well, obviously you have a budget situation and the purchase
is a major investment, and so we'll just have to
work through what's next. Again, we don't want to formalize
it too much. So Robin's Falls for example. I mean,
I've been going there since I was a little girl.
Your listeners will be familiar. There's probably not much really
that has to happen there. It's worked perfectly for forever.
(06:45):
Why do we need to change it?
Speaker 1 (06:46):
Right?
Speaker 3 (06:46):
We probably don't. But then there might be other bits
that are really difficult to access. There might be who knows,
little bits of creek crossings that we have to formalize again, chios, footpaths.
It just really depends on what we're going to offer where,
because we want it to be accessible as well. So
currently if you're not a forward drive enthusiast, doesn't mean
you should be deprived of the opportunity. And so we
just have to work through where's the first step and
(07:09):
then we'll put out a master plan for the community
and say this is what you can expect over the
next you know, probably decade Katie of investment.
Speaker 1 (07:16):
Well, look, it's certainly going to no doubt get a
bit of feedback as the hours go on. So Chief
Minister will move along. Let's talk about the changes that
were announced last week when it comes to power prices.
So from tomorrow a three percent increase, how much is
that going to cost the average household?
Speaker 2 (07:34):
Yeah, so there will be a three percent increase.
Speaker 3 (07:36):
This is an amount that will impact about eighty five
thousand households and small to medium businesses Katie, So it
will be significant. And CPI has been dropping slightly, but
this doesn't reflect the real increase of power prices. So
we've had to budget one hundred and ninety two million
dollars this year alone just to subsidize power across the territory.
(07:58):
And this is where and we might get to it later,
but this is where be Aloo is so important. We've
had a situation where power prices are going up when
they really shouldn't, and the Community service obligation, which is
the amount that government takes from your taxpayers dollars and
allocates back as a subsidy to you, it is growing.
So we need to fix that, and so we felt
that three percent was a responsible amount. You know, it
(08:21):
is going to hurt some people, and no one likes
to see those bills increase, but it can't be zero
and it can't be higher than three percent in our view,
So we've landed on this figure.
Speaker 1 (08:30):
Look, it is going to hurt those that are doing
it tough our work, you know, like some of those
that are that are on pensions, seniors, you know. I mean,
the cost of living continues to rise for a lot
of people at this point in time. But we also
know them from January next year, the first fifty five
killer what hours per day going to be charged normal
(08:50):
household rate, but usage above that is going to be
charged at a higher rate equal to the rate applied
to small businesses. Why have you gone down this part?
Speaker 2 (09:00):
Yeah, So when we had.
Speaker 3 (09:01):
A detailed look at how power is used across the
Northern Territory. There's a small percentage of households that use
extraordinary amounts of power. I mean we're talking about superpower users. Basically,
it's like running a small business at a house.
Speaker 2 (09:15):
That's how much power they're using.
Speaker 3 (09:17):
And we didn't feel that that was appropriate to then
have the you know, the everyday territory and rate when
you are effectively using as much power as a business is.
So we from one January, we're giving those people time
to adjust, so they get a full six months to
really better understand why their house is using that much
power and what they can do to you.
Speaker 2 (09:35):
Know, support a reduction in their in their own usages.
Speaker 3 (09:37):
So we're trying to drive better you know behavior for
the super users so they will pay a little bit
more after that normal usage amount. And then from one
July as well, we've got high voltage customers will be
shifting to different prices.
Speaker 2 (09:54):
Super uses do we have I don't have a number
for that, Katie. We couldn't get a number.
Speaker 3 (09:59):
We don't expect it to be a lot, but it's
people who are I mean, if you as a house
are running as much using as much power as a
small business.
Speaker 2 (10:06):
You can imagine it's huge.
Speaker 3 (10:08):
So it really shouldn't I don't want anyone to be
worried about that. You should really know if you're a
super user, because your bills will be thousands of dollars
a quarter. So if that's not you, it'll be fine.
Speaker 1 (10:19):
Well, I reckon some people might be a little bit
worried because they might be thinking to themselves, will come
wet season when I'm running the air conditioner all day
because it's bloody hold, or I've got somebody in my
home that's aging, or well, you know we need to
be running the air conditioning twenty four hours a day.
I mean, are they going to be impacted here?
Speaker 3 (10:36):
No, it's very unlikely, and we can try and get
some better information. I imagine what Jakana will be doing
is actually contacting the super users directly, and because because
it is a smaller portion, but you would have to
be spending significant amounts of money a quarter. This is
not an everyday household where you've got a couple of
fridges running air cons like normal or heaters. If you're
(10:58):
in Central Australia, for example, this is this is major
amounts of power.
Speaker 1 (11:03):
Do you feel as though, you know, these power increases
or these price increases I should say, are fair, I
mean three percent increase. I think CPI is currently at
two point four. Do you think that's Do you think
it's a fair increase?
Speaker 2 (11:16):
Yeah, that's where we've landed.
Speaker 3 (11:17):
And again it's not something you know, any government wants
to do is increase power prices. But again, what we
we're in this false economy in the territory where because
work hasn't been done to shore up our security of
energy and low cost energy i e. You know, a
stall on the Beterloo, what we've had is the community
service obligation increase. So that's just tax payers money being
(11:38):
hived off and instead of being spent in the hospital
or on roads or in law and order, it's given
back to you through a subsidy, so you're paying anyway
in effect. And what we are really trying to do
is just you know, really measure an achievable normal increase
at that three percent, which is just above CPI, and
then work out how we get lower cost energy moving forward,
(12:01):
so we can reduce the sea of the community service obligation,
which is that money we take out of your tax
so that we can spend your tax dollars on things
that make a big difference.
Speaker 1 (12:10):
Okay. One of the questions that continuously come through around
those power prices and the solar feed in tariff. Now
we know that it was announce the solar feed in
tariff's kind to double tow eighteen point sixty six cents
per kila world hour for energy exported to the grid
between three pm and nine pm. A lot of people
messaging to again ask why between those times.
Speaker 3 (12:32):
Yeah, so this was something that we left to our
government in corporations, the power generators, so Power and Water
Corporation for example, Jakana.
Speaker 2 (12:40):
And that's the peak.
Speaker 3 (12:41):
That's what they decide is peak times, like that's peak usage.
And so what we were trying to achieve with this.
Obviously Labor kicked everyone off the tariff, and then they
grandfathered some people and then they booted them off the tariff,
and now there's no tariff. So we are making sure
we're bringing back a tariff for people who are generating
a lot of power. Again, this is about changing user behavior.
(13:02):
I suppose you could say, so if someone has got
solar panels and they're changing the way they use their power,
and when they use their power in peak times, if
they're not drawing down on the grid, then they have
the opportunity to put that back into the grid for
someone else to use. Now we will pay them for
them effectively being a mini energy generator at a time
when there is most pressure out at Channel Island drawing
(13:25):
down power on the grid. So I know it can
seem a little bit silly, and on face value, it's
not about there being sun at nine o'clock because everyone
knows there absolutely is not. It's more about that's the
peak time. So whatever you can give back in the
peak time will be money in your pocket.
Speaker 1 (13:41):
Okay, you touched a moment to go on the b tolo.
We are due to catch up with the B Toloo
in a few minutes time. Are about ten minutes time
to find out where things are at in terms of
their movements. So Beaterloo energy. But I do want to ask,
and a lot of people sort of asking this on
Friday when we had some of these discussions around the
bea Toloo and all around power, like how is this
(14:03):
going to help territorians when it comes to those power costs?
Speaker 3 (14:06):
Yeah, so what has happened over the last year or
so is gas agreements with Tamboran, Empire Energy, Central Petroleum,
for example, so that we can have access to multiple
sources of energy in case one fails or becomes uncertain,
and to lock in the.
Speaker 2 (14:25):
Best possible price for territorians.
Speaker 3 (14:26):
Now, what Beaterloo does is creates significant competition in the
gas market because there is a number of players out there,
and that gives us greater opportunity to compete for better
pricing for locals. Now, Biterloo Energy sorry formerly Empire Energy,
they actually have their driveway runs right over the Macassa
(14:48):
River pipeline. So for example, now that they've got their
agreement with traditional owners, they will be able to get
their gas processing plant on site from Queensland and pop
that gas straight into the macalfe of River pipeline. Whereas
Tamboran have done a deal with APA who are pipeline deliverers,
and they will then build a new pipeline from Tamboran's
(15:10):
well out to the North South's gas pipeline that we
already have. So it's a really big piece to the puzzle.
This is how we will get gas to territories. This
is how we will get gas into backfilling those big facilities.
Speaker 1 (15:23):
And do you anticipate it's going to see a reduction
in the power price.
Speaker 3 (15:26):
I don't know that it will result in a reduction
of power price, but what we hope over time is
it will reduce the community service obligation. So that means
again that taxpayer dollar we're taking from you and giving
back to you through a subsidy can be used on
other better things. And what it will do is toe
cure longer term better gas prices out into the future,
so that we've got cheaper gas for longer.
Speaker 1 (15:49):
All right, Chief Finesto. I want to move along and
ask you about a report in the Northern Train News
over the weekend. It was really sad actually when I
read this story. A much love seventy eight year old
dah and grandma was the victim of a terrifying home invasion.
So Aleni lives alone. It was reported at home at
a home she built actually with her husband in Nightcliff
after cyclone Tracy. She was hanging out her washing at
(16:12):
six am late earlier this month, I should say, the
nineteenth of June, when three master alleged offenders entered her yard. Now,
the woman who broke in followed her to her gate
before she sought help from the neighbor. While she was
getting that help, they trashed her home. Now, I will
say the neighbors and police helped. They arrested the trio responsible.
(16:34):
They're set to face court today and tomorrow. I mean,
Chief Minister. The thing is, some of this incredibly frustrating
crime continues to plague us. And when you hear of elderly,
the elderly being targeted like nothing much makes me angry up.
I mean, are you as frustrated as the rest of
(16:55):
us that we continue to hear about this kind of
crime and it continues to happen.
Speaker 2 (17:00):
Oh, of course.
Speaker 3 (17:01):
And I spoke with some seniors last week as I
made my rounds through morning teas where they are feeling
particularly targeted because they're more vulnerable, which is just disgusting.
I mean, if you think you've lived your whole life,
you've paid your taxes, you've worked, you've raised your kids,
you've given back to the community, and you're probably still
giving back to the community through all of the wonderful
(17:21):
volunteering and other things, and then to be deliberately targeted
because you're vulnerable. It's heinous, Katie, and so you know,
our thoughts are all with Elenni, and thank you to
her neighbors and the police. I guess the point I'll
make is there's a lot of work to do. Obviously,
those people were arrested and not bailed, so it shows
you how bail laws are working. And again it's about
(17:43):
how people feel more than the statistics. But I know
from week to week, Katie, you tend to ask and
I don't have the numbers today I do, so we've
had a bit of a settling period, so we can
reflect now that we've been in government for about ten months.
If we compare January to April this year with January
to April last year under US versus under labor in Darwin,
robbery is down forty percent. House break ins are down
(18:07):
forty eight percent, commercial break ins are down nineteen percent,
and other theft defenses are down twenty Now, summer up,
dev's up, our correlated defenses are up. So I'm not
trying to sugar coat or pluck numbers or whatever you
want to say, but we are having some improvements. But
that's cold comfort for people like it, And I mean
we've got the opposition they reckon the government isn't making
(18:27):
inroads or the inroads that you promised when it comes
to crime. We'll just say last Monday I was reporting
on Palmerston victims having to lock themselves into a bedroom
before teen offenders smashed that bedroom door with a machete
and demanded money and keys to two vehicles. They were
caught and charged. But are you confident that these people.
Speaker 1 (18:48):
Are being dealt within through the courts in the way
that the community expects, Because to me breaking into someone's
home using a machete while they are cowering in a
bed terrifying, is terrifying, and it's the lowest of law.
Speaker 2 (19:03):
Yeah it is.
Speaker 3 (19:03):
And your home should be a sacred and safe space, right.
So I think what you can see really clearly is
that the bail laws are working. Then the courts have
to deal with these people, and that's work.
Speaker 2 (19:16):
We're working on.
Speaker 3 (19:18):
Our remand numbers and other things are tracking really well.
So what we're doing is moving in the right direction.
But where you know, there's plenty to do. We've got
oc spray coming one September. We've got the police public
safety officers starting in December, ready for rollout Q one
next year. So the reform work continues, Katie, and we
(19:38):
keep changing the laws. We've got ready to go for. Sorry,
July is our Youth Justice Act review. We've got a
ball Act review on foot and a bunch of other stuff.
So the pipeline in terms of us as a government,
what we're working on, that pipeline has not slowed down.
Speaker 2 (19:54):
In fact, it's increased.
Speaker 1 (19:55):
So you have legislation ready to go, ready for others
to actually viewed to have a look at in July
around the.
Speaker 2 (20:03):
Youth Justice that's correct, that was ready to go for that.
Speaker 1 (20:05):
So what changes can we anticipate here? Because you and
I have spoken about this Act quite a bit, and
you know from what I can gather, there are loopholes
to get youths off for just about anything.
Speaker 2 (20:18):
Yep.
Speaker 3 (20:18):
And we're gonna have to do it in two tranches
as well. That's how ridiculous the Youth Justice Act has
been constructed. So we were hoping to do it all
in one go, but we can't because we're revisiting the
entire way diversion works, which is really important because we
promise people there would be mandatory diversions.
Speaker 1 (20:36):
I think is that gonna happen?
Speaker 3 (20:37):
Yeah, so I think everyone thinks, you know, diversion has
almost become a dirty word because people don't believe in it, right,
and so we need to restore confidence in that. So
we're taking a much bigger look at that now as
part of a Trance two and trans one will have
you know, a dozen plus reforms around a number of
things that happened, and a lot of that came from police.
We've had a big a working group between Corrections, police,
(21:02):
an Attorney generals and Justice working through this so that
reform will be ready for Parliament July and then for
passage in September, and then the rest will come through
later in the year.
Speaker 1 (21:14):
All right, we better let you go. But before I
let you go, Territory Day tomorrow, the fireworks have arrived.
How are you going to be celebrating?
Speaker 2 (21:20):
It's so exciting. I'll be down at Mindle Beach. I
get to push a huge red button.
Speaker 3 (21:24):
To set up a fireworks and then hopefully when I
get home my family saved.
Speaker 2 (21:30):
Some for me, but I'm not counting on it.
Speaker 1 (21:32):
So Chief Minister, good to speak with you this morning.
Thanks so much for your time.
Speaker 2 (21:36):
Take care everyone and Happy terror day tomorrow.
Speaker 1 (21:38):
Thank you,
Now the Northern Territory government has this morning announced the
(00:03):
purchase of the silk Wood property. It's a thirty thousand
hectare parcel of land equivalent to around fifteen thousand TiO stadiums. Now,
it's a seven point five million dollar deal and it's
going to see Litchfield National Park expanded by twenty percent.
It's the largest addition to the National Park estate in
twenty five years. The Chief Minister Leofanocchiaro joins me in
(00:26):
the studio. Good morning to you, Leah.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Good morning, can in to your listeners, good to see you.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
Now, this is a bold move opening up land which
has not previously, as I understand it been accessible to Territorians.
Speaker 3 (00:38):
Where exactly is a yeah, it's it's such an exciting announcement.
I mean, you know, bringing back our beautiful, unique territory lifestyle.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
Is it the third pillar of what we told Territorians
we would do.
Speaker 3 (00:49):
And so to be able to secure a twenty percent
increase in Lichfield National Park really locks in that area
for conservation now and for the future. And it means
not just our locals which is a huge part, but
tourists as well.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
So it's just it's on the.
Speaker 3 (01:04):
South side of Lichfield, so it literally borders it, so
it'll be one continuous, enormous, you know, piece of land.
Lichfield will literally be like two thirds of the size
of Acts.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
It's unbelievable. So we're really excited.
Speaker 3 (01:17):
And you'll be able to then access it from Adelaide River,
so currently you can go down the very springs way,
you can go bachelor. This will really help the town
as well. So it's a big announcement today. It's us
delivering on our promises and our commitments to Territorians. And
it just means people who hike and rock climb and
swim and fallwood drive and camp, they've just got even
more opportunity to do that now.
Speaker 1 (01:38):
So seven point five billion dollars, why now, why did
you make this decision to take over that location now?
Speaker 2 (01:46):
And we had to jump on it.
Speaker 3 (01:48):
It was up for sale and just imagine if this
got sold to someone who locked it all up, and
you know, we'd never benefit for it. So, you know,
conservation and wildlife protection is a really important part of
our lifestyle, and so we seize the moment.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
So how soon is that land actually going to open
up to territorious.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
Yeah, straight away.
Speaker 3 (02:05):
So you can currently access it now and people I've
not been out there except for Robin's Falls obviously is
a much love local swimming spot, but people can access
it now, so we'll just maintain status.
Speaker 2 (02:18):
Quo so that it's sort of informal use.
Speaker 1 (02:22):
So it was actually already able to be accessed.
Speaker 3 (02:24):
Well, it was a more of a turner blind eye
situation as my understanding, So it was privately owned, which
meant people probably weren't meant to go there, but the
owner was sort of cool with it, I suppose you
can say. So we'll we'll continue that open access arrangement
and then we'll work through a master plan for the
area so that we can start to put in place
in our budget where the formalized roads need to go,
(02:45):
or walking tracks need to go, camping grounds, all of
that type of stuff. But we do want to keep
it quite rugged because that is a really important part
of our lifestyle and people want to be able to
have that unique, really you know, natural experience. So when
you know it's not going to be full of buildings
or anything like that, we want to keep it beautiful.
Speaker 1 (03:04):
Having So what is there work, I mean, you sort
of touched on this. It sounds like there may need
to be work done into the future. What kind of
work do you think is going to need to be done.
Speaker 3 (03:13):
Yeah, it might be road access, it might be formalization
of footpaths, signage, you know, maybe even a kiosk at
some point, you know, formalization of campgrounds. But it is
it will be in the same feeling as Litchfield.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
You know, is there property currently on there? You know,
it's not.
Speaker 3 (03:35):
I believe it's just land and it's quite rugged. There
are gorgeous waterfalls, escarpment. People who've been there and I've
spoken to them just say it's absolutely breathtaking.
Speaker 1 (03:44):
Now in terms of well, one of the listener questions
that I've had already this morning is are people going
to be able to hunt there?
Speaker 3 (03:51):
Yeah, so one portion of it will be set aside
for feral pig hunting. So that's exciting as well, because again,
for some hunting is a really important part of our lifestyle.
So we've now got to move through all that detail.
We've been really focused on the acquisition and the purchase,
and now that that's all locked in, we can now
work out what's the best way to use that land.
Speaker 1 (04:12):
So how soon is the land really going to open
up and are you going to get stuck into some
of that work?
Speaker 3 (04:18):
Well, people like I said, if you want to do
a camping tomorrow out there, you could, So that's all fine.
You obviously have to know where you're going, and I
wouldn't be able to kat it because I don't know
the area well. But that you know the Forward Drive club,
for example, not it. Intimately there's about two hundred plus
kilometers of full ward drive track in there, for example, right,
So there are plenty of territories who know the ropes
(04:39):
and then the rest of us will get to learn
the ropes Katie. So I'm hoping tourism will be able
to start to put some money into it now. And
the master plan's really important because we want to get
it right and it is about conservation as well. And
then into next budget, which that process will start in
a couple of months. Anyway, we'll make sure we're allocating
money to do whatever we deem is the first big step,
(05:00):
so it's exciting and it's for the long term. This
is the biggest acquisition for a national park in twenty
five years.
Speaker 1 (05:05):
So I guess you know, as you've said, it does
sound as well, it's exciting, but the fact that people
can already go out there it does sort of make
it sound like, Okay, we're not opening something up brand new.
But I guess it sounds like it's a formalization of things.
Speaker 3 (05:17):
Well, it wasn't ours, and technically people probably weren't supposed to.
So what we're doing is locking that in so they
can imagine if a buyer had to come in, had
a different philosophy on use of the land, put a
giant fence around it and told everyone to piss off,
you know. I mean, that's that's not what we wanted.
So once we learned that the land was up for
sale and it was this treasured, iconic piece of natural environment,
(05:38):
we jumped on the opportunity. And so now that safeguards
the use the current use, and then will enhance the
use into the future.
Speaker 1 (05:45):
Do you reckon they got it for a good price. Yeah,
I do.
Speaker 2 (05:48):
I think seven point five million.
Speaker 3 (05:50):
Gosh Kate, if you look around the territory at the
waste of money that labor had spent things on, I
think seven point fives had dropping the ocean for safeguarding
an additional twenty percent to literally National Park.
Speaker 2 (06:00):
And that's our kids.
Speaker 3 (06:02):
Their kids are going to be going to this place,
and I just it makes me so proud to think
that as a territory we're able to secure such an
iconic piece of recreational opportunity and conservation.
Speaker 1 (06:12):
Any idea what amount of money might need to be
invested into it, you know, onto campsites and various different things.
Speaker 2 (06:20):
Oh, you could spend bucket loads on it if you
wanted to, Katie. So we'll just go through that.
Speaker 3 (06:25):
Well, obviously you have a budget situation and the purchase
is a major investment, and so we'll just have to
work through what's next. Again, we don't want to formalize
it too much. So Robin's Falls for example. I mean,
I've been going there since I was a little girl.
Your listeners will be familiar. There's probably not much really
that has to happen there. It's worked perfectly for forever.
(06:45):
Why do we need to change it?
Speaker 1 (06:46):
Right?
Speaker 3 (06:46):
We probably don't. But then there might be other bits
that are really difficult to access. There might be who knows,
little bits of creek crossings that we have to formalize again, chios, footpaths.
It just really depends on what we're going to offer where,
because we want it to be accessible as well. So
currently if you're not a forward drive enthusiast, doesn't mean
you should be deprived of the opportunity. And so we
just have to work through where's the first step and
(07:09):
then we'll put out a master plan for the community
and say this is what you can expect over the
next you know, probably decade Katie of investment.
Speaker 1 (07:16):
Well, look, it's certainly going to no doubt get a
bit of feedback as the hours go on. So Chief
Minister will move along. Let's talk about the changes that
were announced last week when it comes to power prices.
So from tomorrow a three percent increase, how much is
that going to cost the average household?
Speaker 2 (07:34):
Yeah, so there will be a three percent increase.
Speaker 3 (07:36):
This is an amount that will impact about eighty five
thousand households and small to medium businesses Katie, So it
will be significant. And CPI has been dropping slightly, but
this doesn't reflect the real increase of power prices. So
we've had to budget one hundred and ninety two million
dollars this year alone just to subsidize power across the territory.
(07:58):
And this is where and we might get to it later,
but this is where be Aloo is so important. We've
had a situation where power prices are going up when
they really shouldn't, and the Community service obligation, which is
the amount that government takes from your taxpayers dollars and
allocates back as a subsidy to you, it is growing.
So we need to fix that, and so we felt
that three percent was a responsible amount. You know, it
(08:21):
is going to hurt some people, and no one likes
to see those bills increase, but it can't be zero
and it can't be higher than three percent in our view,
So we've landed on this figure.
Speaker 1 (08:30):
Look, it is going to hurt those that are doing
it tough our work, you know, like some of those
that are that are on pensions, seniors, you know. I mean,
the cost of living continues to rise for a lot
of people at this point in time. But we also
know them from January next year, the first fifty five
killer what hours per day going to be charged normal
(08:50):
household rate, but usage above that is going to be
charged at a higher rate equal to the rate applied
to small businesses. Why have you gone down this part?
Speaker 2 (09:00):
Yeah, So when we had.
Speaker 3 (09:01):
A detailed look at how power is used across the
Northern Territory. There's a small percentage of households that use
extraordinary amounts of power. I mean we're talking about superpower users. Basically,
it's like running a small business at a house.
Speaker 2 (09:15):
That's how much power they're using.
Speaker 3 (09:17):
And we didn't feel that that was appropriate to then
have the you know, the everyday territory and rate when
you are effectively using as much power as a business is.
So we from one January, we're giving those people time
to adjust, so they get a full six months to
really better understand why their house is using that much
power and what they can do to you.
Speaker 2 (09:35):
Know, support a reduction in their in their own usages.
Speaker 3 (09:37):
So we're trying to drive better you know behavior for
the super users so they will pay a little bit
more after that normal usage amount. And then from one
July as well, we've got high voltage customers will be
shifting to different prices.
Speaker 2 (09:54):
Super uses do we have I don't have a number
for that, Katie. We couldn't get a number.
Speaker 3 (09:59):
We don't expect it to be a lot, but it's
people who are I mean, if you as a house
are running as much using as much power as a
small business.
Speaker 2 (10:06):
You can imagine it's huge.
Speaker 3 (10:08):
So it really shouldn't I don't want anyone to be
worried about that. You should really know if you're a
super user, because your bills will be thousands of dollars
a quarter. So if that's not you, it'll be fine.
Speaker 1 (10:19):
Well, I reckon some people might be a little bit
worried because they might be thinking to themselves, will come
wet season when I'm running the air conditioner all day
because it's bloody hold, or I've got somebody in my
home that's aging, or well, you know we need to
be running the air conditioning twenty four hours a day.
I mean, are they going to be impacted here?
Speaker 3 (10:36):
No, it's very unlikely, and we can try and get
some better information. I imagine what Jakana will be doing
is actually contacting the super users directly, and because because
it is a smaller portion, but you would have to
be spending significant amounts of money a quarter. This is
not an everyday household where you've got a couple of
fridges running air cons like normal or heaters. If you're
(10:58):
in Central Australia, for example, this is this is major
amounts of power.
Speaker 1 (11:03):
Do you feel as though, you know, these power increases
or these price increases I should say, are fair, I
mean three percent increase. I think CPI is currently at
two point four. Do you think that's Do you think
it's a fair increase?
Speaker 2 (11:16):
Yeah, that's where we've landed.
Speaker 3 (11:17):
And again it's not something you know, any government wants
to do is increase power prices. But again, what we
we're in this false economy in the territory where because
work hasn't been done to shore up our security of
energy and low cost energy i e. You know, a
stall on the Beterloo, what we've had is the community
service obligation increase. So that's just tax payers money being
(11:38):
hived off and instead of being spent in the hospital
or on roads or in law and order, it's given
back to you through a subsidy, so you're paying anyway
in effect. And what we are really trying to do
is just you know, really measure an achievable normal increase
at that three percent, which is just above CPI, and
then work out how we get lower cost energy moving forward,
(12:01):
so we can reduce the sea of the community service obligation,
which is that money we take out of your tax
so that we can spend your tax dollars on things
that make a big difference.
Speaker 1 (12:10):
Okay. One of the questions that continuously come through around
those power prices and the solar feed in tariff. Now
we know that it was announce the solar feed in
tariff's kind to double tow eighteen point sixty six cents
per kila world hour for energy exported to the grid
between three pm and nine pm. A lot of people
messaging to again ask why between those times.
Speaker 3 (12:32):
Yeah, so this was something that we left to our
government in corporations, the power generators, so Power and Water
Corporation for example, Jakana.
Speaker 2 (12:40):
And that's the peak.
Speaker 3 (12:41):
That's what they decide is peak times, like that's peak usage.
And so what we were trying to achieve with this.
Obviously Labor kicked everyone off the tariff, and then they
grandfathered some people and then they booted them off the tariff,
and now there's no tariff. So we are making sure
we're bringing back a tariff for people who are generating
a lot of power. Again, this is about changing user behavior.
(13:02):
I suppose you could say, so if someone has got
solar panels and they're changing the way they use their power,
and when they use their power in peak times, if
they're not drawing down on the grid, then they have
the opportunity to put that back into the grid for
someone else to use. Now we will pay them for
them effectively being a mini energy generator at a time
when there is most pressure out at Channel Island drawing
(13:25):
down power on the grid. So I know it can
seem a little bit silly, and on face value, it's
not about there being sun at nine o'clock because everyone
knows there absolutely is not. It's more about that's the
peak time. So whatever you can give back in the
peak time will be money in your pocket.
Speaker 1 (13:41):
Okay, you touched a moment to go on the b tolo.
We are due to catch up with the B Toloo
in a few minutes time. Are about ten minutes time
to find out where things are at in terms of
their movements. So Beaterloo energy. But I do want to ask,
and a lot of people sort of asking this on
Friday when we had some of these discussions around the
bea Toloo and all around power, like how is this
(14:03):
going to help territorians when it comes to those power costs?
Speaker 3 (14:06):
Yeah, so what has happened over the last year or
so is gas agreements with Tamboran, Empire Energy, Central Petroleum,
for example, so that we can have access to multiple
sources of energy in case one fails or becomes uncertain,
and to lock in the.
Speaker 2 (14:25):
Best possible price for territorians.
Speaker 3 (14:26):
Now, what Beaterloo does is creates significant competition in the
gas market because there is a number of players out there,
and that gives us greater opportunity to compete for better
pricing for locals. Now, Biterloo Energy sorry formerly Empire Energy,
they actually have their driveway runs right over the Macassa
(14:48):
River pipeline. So for example, now that they've got their
agreement with traditional owners, they will be able to get
their gas processing plant on site from Queensland and pop
that gas straight into the macalfe of River pipeline. Whereas
Tamboran have done a deal with APA who are pipeline deliverers,
and they will then build a new pipeline from Tamboran's
(15:10):
well out to the North South's gas pipeline that we
already have. So it's a really big piece to the puzzle.
This is how we will get gas to territories. This
is how we will get gas into backfilling those big facilities.
Speaker 1 (15:23):
And do you anticipate it's going to see a reduction
in the power price.
Speaker 3 (15:26):
I don't know that it will result in a reduction
of power price, but what we hope over time is
it will reduce the community service obligation. So that means
again that taxpayer dollar we're taking from you and giving
back to you through a subsidy can be used on
other better things. And what it will do is toe
cure longer term better gas prices out into the future,
so that we've got cheaper gas for longer.
Speaker 1 (15:49):
All right, Chief Finesto. I want to move along and
ask you about a report in the Northern Train News
over the weekend. It was really sad actually when I
read this story. A much love seventy eight year old
dah and grandma was the victim of a terrifying home invasion.
So Aleni lives alone. It was reported at home at
a home she built actually with her husband in Nightcliff
after cyclone Tracy. She was hanging out her washing at
(16:12):
six am late earlier this month, I should say, the
nineteenth of June, when three master alleged offenders entered her yard. Now,
the woman who broke in followed her to her gate
before she sought help from the neighbor. While she was
getting that help, they trashed her home. Now, I will
say the neighbors and police helped. They arrested the trio responsible.
(16:34):
They're set to face court today and tomorrow. I mean,
Chief Minister. The thing is, some of this incredibly frustrating
crime continues to plague us. And when you hear of elderly,
the elderly being targeted like nothing much makes me angry up.
I mean, are you as frustrated as the rest of
(16:55):
us that we continue to hear about this kind of
crime and it continues to happen.
Speaker 2 (17:00):
Oh, of course.
Speaker 3 (17:01):
And I spoke with some seniors last week as I
made my rounds through morning teas where they are feeling
particularly targeted because they're more vulnerable, which is just disgusting.
I mean, if you think you've lived your whole life,
you've paid your taxes, you've worked, you've raised your kids,
you've given back to the community, and you're probably still
giving back to the community through all of the wonderful
(17:21):
volunteering and other things, and then to be deliberately targeted
because you're vulnerable. It's heinous, Katie, and so you know,
our thoughts are all with Elenni, and thank you to
her neighbors and the police. I guess the point I'll
make is there's a lot of work to do. Obviously,
those people were arrested and not bailed, so it shows
you how bail laws are working. And again it's about
(17:43):
how people feel more than the statistics. But I know
from week to week, Katie, you tend to ask and
I don't have the numbers today I do, so we've
had a bit of a settling period, so we can
reflect now that we've been in government for about ten months.
If we compare January to April this year with January
to April last year under US versus under labor in Darwin,
robbery is down forty percent. House break ins are down
(18:07):
forty eight percent, commercial break ins are down nineteen percent,
and other theft defenses are down twenty Now, summer up,
dev's up, our correlated defenses are up. So I'm not
trying to sugar coat or pluck numbers or whatever you
want to say, but we are having some improvements. But
that's cold comfort for people like it, And I mean
we've got the opposition they reckon the government isn't making
(18:27):
inroads or the inroads that you promised when it comes
to crime. We'll just say last Monday I was reporting
on Palmerston victims having to lock themselves into a bedroom
before teen offenders smashed that bedroom door with a machete
and demanded money and keys to two vehicles. They were
caught and charged. But are you confident that these people.
Speaker 1 (18:48):
Are being dealt within through the courts in the way
that the community expects, Because to me breaking into someone's
home using a machete while they are cowering in a
bed terrifying, is terrifying, and it's the lowest of law.
Speaker 2 (19:03):
Yeah it is.
Speaker 3 (19:03):
And your home should be a sacred and safe space, right.
So I think what you can see really clearly is
that the bail laws are working. Then the courts have
to deal with these people, and that's work.
Speaker 2 (19:16):
We're working on.
Speaker 3 (19:18):
Our remand numbers and other things are tracking really well.
So what we're doing is moving in the right direction.
But where you know, there's plenty to do. We've got
oc spray coming one September. We've got the police public
safety officers starting in December, ready for rollout Q one
next year. So the reform work continues, Katie, and we
(19:38):
keep changing the laws. We've got ready to go for. Sorry,
July is our Youth Justice Act review. We've got a
ball Act review on foot and a bunch of other stuff.
So the pipeline in terms of us as a government,
what we're working on, that pipeline has not slowed down.
Speaker 2 (19:54):
In fact, it's increased.
Speaker 1 (19:55):
So you have legislation ready to go, ready for others
to actually viewed to have a look at in July
around the.
Speaker 2 (20:03):
Youth Justice that's correct, that was ready to go for that.
Speaker 1 (20:05):
So what changes can we anticipate here? Because you and
I have spoken about this Act quite a bit, and
you know from what I can gather, there are loopholes
to get youths off for just about anything.
Speaker 2 (20:18):
Yep.
Speaker 3 (20:18):
And we're gonna have to do it in two tranches
as well. That's how ridiculous the Youth Justice Act has
been constructed. So we were hoping to do it all
in one go, but we can't because we're revisiting the
entire way diversion works, which is really important because we
promise people there would be mandatory diversions.
Speaker 1 (20:36):
I think is that gonna happen?
Speaker 3 (20:37):
Yeah, so I think everyone thinks, you know, diversion has
almost become a dirty word because people don't believe in it, right,
and so we need to restore confidence in that. So
we're taking a much bigger look at that now as
part of a Trance two and trans one will have
you know, a dozen plus reforms around a number of
things that happened, and a lot of that came from police.
We've had a big a working group between Corrections, police,
(21:02):
an Attorney generals and Justice working through this so that
reform will be ready for Parliament July and then for
passage in September, and then the rest will come through
later in the year.
Speaker 1 (21:14):
All right, we better let you go. But before I
let you go, Territory Day tomorrow, the fireworks have arrived.
How are you going to be celebrating?
Speaker 2 (21:20):
It's so exciting. I'll be down at Mindle Beach. I
get to push a huge red button.
Speaker 3 (21:24):
To set up a fireworks and then hopefully when I
get home my family saved.
Speaker 2 (21:30):
Some for me, but I'm not counting on it.
Speaker 1 (21:32):
So Chief Minister, good to speak with you this morning.
Thanks so much for your time.
Speaker 2 (21:36):
Take care everyone and Happy terror day tomorrow.
Speaker 1 (21:38):
Thank you,
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