CLP candidate for Blain Matthew Kerle, a software engineer and gymnastics coach, is running for politics again to put a stop to lawlessness and better serve the needs of Territorians

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Joining me on the line right now from the colp.
It is Matthew Cole. Good morning to you, Matthew, Morning Katie.

Speaker 2 (00:07):
How are you going in morning to your listeners?

Speaker 1 (00:09):
Really good? Now we've got about seven minutes to get
through a series of questions.

Speaker 2 (00:13):
Are you ready, I'm ready.

Speaker 1 (00:15):
Let's do it all right, matt Why did you decide
to put your hand up to run again?

Speaker 2 (00:23):
So this is my home, Katie. So mum and dad
moved up to the nt for work back in the fifties.
They settled on a farm outside Bachelor. I remember my
brother buying his first home in Malden off the plan.
They had to clear the scrub and build his house
when he had his second child. My sister lived in
Grace nearly fifteen years. I've been connected to Parmeerston for
a long time. It all started for me back in

(00:46):
the twenty seventeen crime crisis when you couldn't drive around
Parmeston without seeing smashed and stolen car as a band
on the side of the road. And the final straw
for me was when a maid of mine was to
go on a work trip to Alice and as you do,
forgot to lock the back door. One night, got up
in the morning, his car keys were gone, his wallet

(01:07):
was gone, his wife's purse and wedding rings were gone,
and out the front his car was gone. So that family,
who are very dear friends of ours, they were turned
upside down for weeks on end because they had you know,
his car and her car and kids to get around
and they had back to one car for weeks on end,
just because a couple of young criminals decided to go

(01:29):
for a joy ride one night. And the thing is,
I'm not someone who can just stand by and complain,
like a lot of people were complaining, you know, and
comments on Facebook. But I'm the sort of person if
something's wrong and I can do something about it, I
want to put my hand up. I want to get
in there. I want to try and fix it or
want to do something. So that's why I put my
hand up in twenty twenty. But unfortunately since then, you know,

(01:53):
nothing's really changed. In fact, it's gotten worse. So we
don't have a lot of time. But last night I
was on Emory ave you yep because people were messaging
me and just long story short, there's a low level
riot that was going on. So I went there and
checked it out and I was shocked, Katie. I was
shocked by what I saw there. What was alleged to

(02:15):
be a stolen vehicle doing burnouts up and down the street.
There was just constant fights. One of the people living there,
called trip Below, was on the hold for five minutes,
couldn't get through. Finally got through, logged a job half
an hour. Forty minutes later when I left, still no police,
you know, And it's our police are doing a fantastic job.
They're brilliant. I've got a lot of constituents for a

(02:36):
police They are just swamped and they don't feel that
they're supported by this government. So I put in my
hand up because the problem we have is a failed
government that isn't serving the needs of territories. It isn't listening.
The only way that anything will change is if we
change the government.

Speaker 1 (02:53):
Matthew, why do you think you're the best person for
the roles? And based on your previous work experience or
work that you've done in the community.

Speaker 2 (03:03):
Thanks. So, my background is I got a bachelor in
computer science from Northern Territory University back in two thousand
and four. So I've worked as a software engineer, a
team lead and a project manager building large complex systems
for various for the Northern Territory government. So any public
servants listening, I've worked on my HR and everyone uses

(03:24):
my HR every week. So I also grew up on
a farm outside Bachelor. That was the family business. There
was a small business. Money was always tight. How I
earned my pocket money when I was a kid. My
dad had would get two forty four going drums and
if I filled them all the way up with chicken manure,
then I'd get five dollars, so you know, and that
would go down on the mango trees. So that was

(03:45):
how I earned my pocket money when I was a kid.
Money was tight.

Speaker 1 (03:49):
I learned.

Speaker 2 (03:50):
I learned the value of a dollar and not spending
money that I didn't have. And I'm not afraid to
get in and get my hands dirty fixing things. I've
also been involved in you community groups for twenty years
as a youth leader, and then I've spent seven years
working as a gymnastics coach for Darwin Gymnostics Club. So
there I was coaching gymnastics to kids, teenagers, young adults.

(04:16):
And one thing that I learned there was that young
people need physical activity, and they need structure, you know,
they need discipline. We have a lot of young people
in Palmerston unfortunately, and they lack structure in the home
and that's resulting in a lot of the behaviors that
we're seeing at in public now. They need positive role
models and sports is a great way to get them

(04:37):
into a healthy community. I've seen this happen at Raiders,
you know, a couple of years ago on a home
on a training night. You know, some people came in
with a bad attitude and their friends, the coaches, the
committee members you know, had a young do and said look, hey,
you can't behave like that here. So they pulled their
heads in, you know, and everyone got along. You know.
It's a great family environment and it's a great place

(04:59):
to build that to in a young person's life. So
that's why I'll always be backing the Raiders, the Crocs,
the Sharks, barber the Parma Boxing Club, any community group
that provides a positive environment for young people.

Speaker 1 (05:10):
You know, I'll be behind them, Matthew in terms of
we're at five minutes, only two minutes to go. In
terms of the mold and oval, I mean, that's something
we've spoken a lot about on the show. What do
you think could have been done differently or how would
you handle that better?

Speaker 2 (05:27):
So to start with Katie, I just want to thank
you for your advocacy on that one, because honestly, without you,
I don't think that would have they would have got fixed.
That is, unfortunately, just a classic case of red tape,
you know, and it's no one's fault in you know,
the creation is problems, no one's fault. You know, it's
just OVAL's belonged to schools, sports club comes along. You know,

(05:49):
the assets are managed by one agency and coordinated by another.
But the problem is you need you need a champion,
You need someone to cut through the red tape and
make sure that things happen because, unfortunatetionally, when something you
know is everyone's responsibility, it's no one's responsibility they need
So if I've been in there, and I think Mary
Claire had in previous years been working hard to try

(06:12):
and get that resolved, if I'd been in there, I
would have been working with the departments and following up
and making sure that things were resolved in a timely manner.

Speaker 1 (06:21):
Matthew one minute to go. Why should people vote for you.

Speaker 2 (06:27):
Look, Katie, I give a shit. Excuse my language, that's
all right. This is my home. This is my home,
right like the amount of doors I've drawn off, the
stories that people tell me, it breaks my heart, right,
this is this not acceptable? You know, it's not acceptable
that people are who've got to get up at six
o'clock in the morning, have a low level riot going

(06:48):
on outside their house, have stolen cars, you know, doing burnouts.
The senior citizens are getting their homes invaded, you know,
and suffering long term trauma. You know, the people are
afraid to let their outside of their front gate because
of the broken glass, and you know the things that
they might encounter. If the people of Blaine have will

(07:08):
put their faith in me, I promised to be a
champion for them, for the people of Woodruff, Molden and Bellomack,
and I'll be working hard every day for them, the
same way I've been working hard for the last ten months,
you know, three years.

Speaker 1 (07:22):
Really well, Matthew, we have run out of time. I
really appreciate you having a chat with us this morning.
All the best.

Speaker 2 (07:30):
Thank you very much, Katie.

Speaker 1 (07:31):
Thanks you