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July 7, 2026 15 mins

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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Well, hopefully you're able to listen this morning. Hopefully this
Telstra outage isn't having an impact on you. And we
were wondering if we're going to be able to get
all of our guests on this morning with this outage.
But I'm very pleased to say that the member Felinkiari
Marion Scrimsaw, joins me on the line. Good morning, Marion.

Speaker 2 (00:17):
Good morning Katie great Well, I was wondering what was
happening this morning when I had no access at all
or you know, Cadbridge on my mobile.

Speaker 1 (00:29):
Oh well, hopefully hopefully it gets sorted sooner rather than later. Marian.
We'll worry we wouldn't be able to get you on
the phone, but luckily we could.

Speaker 2 (00:37):
Yeah. Look, I'm using the landline, Cadie, good unlike my
mobile phone. But I was wondering what was happening. So
because there's been no notification from Telstra, and there's probably
a number of people down this way that's probably wondering
what the hell's happened to my mobile phone. Yeah, it
would be good for some information to come out from Telstra.

Speaker 1 (00:59):
Well, apparently it's Australia wide as well, Marian, so hopefully
they're able to get things up and running as quickly
as possible because we know when there are outages like
this as well, it can have an impact on some
of those emergency calls that people need to make, and
you know, on a lot of people really in a
lot of different ways, particularly if you're more regional or remote.

Speaker 2 (01:19):
Particularly absolutely, Katie. And you know, I was in a
remote community yesterday and there's no police, but you know,
talking to the nursing staff and others out there, there
are high levels of domestic violence and issues with young people,
so but also older people. They're not far from the
Queensland border, but if their communication goes down, they're virtually

(01:42):
on an island with no contact from the outside world.
And that place is a lot of people, and particularly
our frontline staff in jeopardy. And can you know, people
feel less safe. And that's not good.

Speaker 1 (01:57):
No, it's not good at all. That is a real
fair point to make, Marion. I mean up to you
whether you want to reveal what that community is. But
that sounds like a bit of a worry.

Speaker 2 (02:07):
Oh look it is a worry, Katian. Look this community,
beautiful community, it's you know, but it's it's got a
population of you know, can have up to four hundred
and fifty people close to the Queensland and Northern Territory.
You know, it's in the Northern Territory but close to
the Queensland border, so it's but there are issues there

(02:29):
with with you know, grog coming in at different times
and people traveling from that community into man Isa, so
that can that can create a whole lot of problems.
The nursing staff do need protection. There's no police. The
nearest police is at Avon Down Station and that's that's
a you know, that's some you know, quite a number

(02:51):
of hours of ys from that community. So I'm looking
forward to catching up with Steve Edgington, who's the local
member for Barkley but also the minister in ten and Creek.
I'm on my way up to ten and Creek today,
but i'll talk to him over that weekend about that

(03:12):
community and some of the issues that we've seen because
they need support and the federal government has given substantial money,
particularly the Anti Remote Investment funding, and that goes the
hard of getting more police into some of these communities,
but also child protection and so we just need to

(03:34):
sit down and work together and try and get the
best outcome for these communities. But there is money. There
is money there and we need to So I'll have
a chat with Steve when I'm up there in ten
and Creek.

Speaker 1 (03:46):
Yeah. Good stuff. Hey, Marion, let me ask you. I
mean a huge announcement earlier in the week for the
tourism operators of the Red Center. What we know is
that we've spoken to Daniel Rochford from Tourism Centralist yesterday
and Gee sounded happy after the federal government provided this
boost into Central Australian tourism. So essentially the headline is

(04:09):
the fly free to Alice campaign. Mariam, Why did the
federal government decided that you decide that you sort of
need to step in here and provide that support to
tourism operators in Central Australia and get more people to
the Red Center.

Speaker 2 (04:24):
Yeah, look, it was important. It was an important announcement
that we did with the election, and I did that
with John Farrell, who's the Minister for Tourism, who was
only too happy to come to Central Australia. We did
a fantastic roundtable with all of those small operators facilitated

(04:45):
by Tourism Central Australia. They were able to tell the
Minister directly what some of their issues is were and
what was needed to inject that money into the economy.
We're talking about small operators and businesses that need you know,
at the end of these small businesses of families that
were doing it pretty tough Katie, so you know it

(05:08):
was it was great to see the roll out immediately
of the one million dollars which was Revival and Resilience
two point five, which was the Development Funds which saw
seventeen businesses in this in Central Australia get funding to
be able to develop new products. And then there was
the five million which was the Fly to Fly I'm

(05:31):
getting tongue tied here free to Alice, which is you know,
is a fantastic you know, I suppose campaign by Tourism
Central Australia for Central Australia. But also the flow on
effect is all of those you know, small businesses and

(05:54):
tour operators are going to benefit from this.

Speaker 1 (05:57):
So do you reckon that the initiative is like, how
confident are you that those free flights will translate into
more people staying longer and spending more to give local
businesses all of those local businesses that real boosts that
they need.

Speaker 2 (06:13):
Yeah, and we need to do that, Katie. We need
to We need to show people that you know, Alice
spring you know, you know. And I often say this
to people. I think Alice Springs, yes, we've got issues
of crime and there's you know, there are problems in
Alice Springs, but everyone works together. I think Alice Springs
has an unfair reputation. There has been more resources put

(06:38):
into this town to try and make people feel safe.
Has it completely eliminated crime, No, it hasn't. But we
need to work with the territory government. But we also
need to build the economy, Katie. We can't ignore that.
And I think doing that and giving people more content,
then that has a flow on effect. People see that

(07:01):
and then they think, gosh. We've and a number of
tourists that I've seen, visitors and I've had conversations for
They've said to me, we've had a fantastic experience. We
didn't realize that Alice Springs in Central Australia was as
good as this. Yeah, we're going to go and tell
We're going to go and tell our friends and family.

Speaker 1 (07:20):
That's good.

Speaker 2 (07:20):
That's that's what you that's what you want. You want
people to have a good experience and to go away
and then talk to other people, and then that has
a domino effect. As we know, Katie, you know like
and we need to do it all all throughout the
Northern Territory because I think the territory is the best
place to be.

Speaker 1 (07:39):
Hey, Marian, I want to ask you a quick one
that's come through from one of our listeners. They're asking
about bulk billing for Catherine. I know you and I
have spoken about this before. We've seen obviously the urgent
care clinics here in Darwin and Palmerston. Is that something
that you're looking into for Catherine. Where are things at
with this?

Speaker 2 (07:56):
Absolutely, and there's some positive discussions and outcomes, so we're
working with I will go to Catherine. I'm in the
ten And Creek region this week and visiting some of
the communities leading up to the Tenant Creek Show. I'll
then fly up to day and and then go down

(08:17):
to Catherine. And I'm hoping I can catch up with
Bohemia Health, Worly and some of the other health providers
because we need everyone working together to try and get
I've put to the Health Minister. They've responded very positively
about getting an urgent care clinic for Catherine. So my

(08:40):
staff have been working very closely with Bohemia Health and
others and with the Health Minister. Well, I'm hoping that
we can make an announcement soon, Katie Good but that
work is being done with the Health Minister's office but
also with those providers.

Speaker 1 (08:57):
Marian. Can you let the Health Minister know we've been
stalky him as well because we want to find out
about these ten million dollars that we're trying to get
from maternity services for Royal Darwin Hospital. Or can you
put in a good word for us, tell him that
you know that we're chasing him and we want to
try and and pin him down over this ten million dollars.

Speaker 2 (09:16):
Yeah, look, I will, I will certainly take that up.
But I know that Luke Gosling and Melandery, two Darwin
based members, have been and I know Luke brings this
up all the time, Katie, and we do need to
get the Health Minister to come on your show and
to talk about maternity services and saving maternity services in Darwin.

(09:40):
Can I just give a plug for Catherine again? Catherine
Hospital used to run and I think it still does
have the best maternity service in program in the Catherine Hospital.

Speaker 1 (09:51):
Well, Mariam, before I let you go, I can't let
you leave without asking you about this Manual Brown situation.
He's now confirmed that his kids have driven his car
that is on top of the speeding saga. Do you
think that the removal of him as the opposition whip
is enough? And how do you sort of see the
way that the Labor opposition, the local you know, locally

(10:16):
have handled this situation.

Speaker 2 (10:20):
And I just think that Territory Labor needs to stop
focusing on itself and work to deliver for the people
of the Northern Territory. Whilst the CLP are in government,
we need a strong opposition, Katie, and so Territory Labor
Selena Yubo is the leader of the of the opposition.

(10:41):
This is her responsibility. I don't think the sanctions go
far enough, but that's a matter for her. But I
think that I think that Manual should have been completely
stripped of his portfolios as well. The consequences have to
reflect because what has happened doesn't pass the par test
and people want transparency, they want openness, of government, even

(11:05):
for opposition. Selena Ubo needs to provide those answers in
an honest way to territorians. But you know, like I think,
I've been the member Phara fewer and I was a
proud member for eleven and a half years holding that seed, Katie,
and it is an immense privilege and it was one

(11:27):
of my favorite positions. We'll be in the local member
Parafura and Manual and Selena need to focus on what's
important here and we need to be the best opposition.
So you are the answers and Selena needs to provide
the leadership.

Speaker 1 (11:46):
Look, I got to tell you I've been I've been
watching it unfold and thinking to myself, this is just
limping along. It's being dragged along way longer than it
needs to. She I believe should have made a decision
a couple of weeks ago, realistically to strip him of
those portfolios. I mean, Manuel's a good man, we all

(12:06):
get that. But when you do the wrong thing, there's
consequences to doing the wrong thing. The way in which
it's now unfolding, it's not good at all for labor
in the Northern Territory.

Speaker 2 (12:16):
It's not good for the Australian Labor Party. It's not
good for Manual, It's not good particularly for his family.
You know, we've got to think about those young ones
and the impact that that is having on them. That
you know, we sign up for these jobs, Katie, and
our families don't and you know, and sometimes but you know,

(12:40):
we expose our families when we're not and we're not
acting on this. So you know, Selena needs to This
is her She's the leader of your opposition. She needs
to act, you know. I think the responsibility, you know,
part of it is a problem for all of us,

(13:01):
whether we're in a federal role, whether we're in a
territory role. It is a privilege to serve in these
roles and the responsibility as part of that privilege is
to be upfront with people, do the right thing and
make sure that we're all following the rules. Spot on.
This needs to be done and she should have been

(13:21):
upfront and honest, we shouldn't have had three weeks of
this being in the in the media. It should have
been dealt with.

Speaker 1 (13:28):
I agree. Before I let you go, Marian, what do
you make of these entitlements? You know, the four hundred
and fifty dollars a day for members to be able
to use on that travel allowance and then if they've
got a private home, you know, being able to use
that then to stay at their private home. Do you
think that needs a look in? I know you're I
know it's a local issue, it's not a federal issue.
But do you think it needs a look in?

Speaker 2 (13:51):
Yeah? Look, you know, federally we've had you know, there's
been a review into our entitlements and this has been
right across the parliament, doesn't matter whether your Labor members
or whether your Opposition members, or you're the part of
the crossbench. There has been a complete review of family
and a lot of that was generated by a minister

(14:12):
of our government. But nevertheless there has been a review
across the board. And I think that Lea Finocchiaro is
the head of the government, Robin Lamley as the Speaker
of the Parliament, maybe it's time to review those entitlements

(14:32):
because it doesn't pross the pub tests. And I'll tell
you why, Katie. People are doing it tough out there.
Cost of living is biting and people hate nothing more
than politicians paying themselves, you know, this amount of money
and they see very little return for that money, so
maybe it's time, you know, Lea needs to put this

(14:55):
back before the RTD. Maybe they need to review that.
That's that's something that they can do is look at
the entitlements of members and I think it gets driven
by it has to be overseen by the Speaker of
the Parliament because she's the one that's in charge of
members entitlements, you know, whether it's their car or another thing.

(15:18):
So Robin needs to maybe she could drive this process
because I don't think it passes it to pub tests
and people have brought it up to me and that's
something that the Northern Territory probably needs to take control of.

Speaker 1 (15:32):
Well, Marian Scrimdaw, no doubt we will continue to talk
about it. Always appreciate your time. So glad we could
get you on the phone line this morning.

Speaker 2 (15:39):
Thank you, no worries, Thank you Katie, Thanks so much,
dear
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