March 3, 2026 • 12 mins
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
We are continuing the discussions with the Nightcliff candidates the
by election. Well it's just a couple of days away.
Love to hear from you. The text lines lit up, obviously,
it's a lot of you. We've been saying all morning
messages if you've got a question, and now everybody's sending
a flurry of questions through. But keep them coming. But
what do you think are the main issues for the
(00:21):
people of Nightcliff. What are you going to be voting on?
Love to hear from you this morning, and still plenty
of you who need to get out there and vote.
So we did really want to make sure that we
catch up with all four of the candidates. So we
got two candidates today. We had Suki on just a
short time ago, and Phil Scott joins me on the
line right now now. Phil is an independent candidate.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
Good morning, Phil, Good morning, great to be Richelle.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
Yeah, good to have you on the show. Now, Phil,
why did you decide to put your hand up for
the Nightcliff by election.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
It's my kids that drive a lot of my actions.
I wanted to be a good example for them that
when we see we need an opportunity for improvement to
understand that we have a responsibility to stand up on
behalf of others. So that's what's motivating me in life
at the moment.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
And Phil, do you live in the electrode?
Speaker 2 (01:13):
I do. I live in Rupid Creek.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
Now what do you see as being the major issues
in the electrodes?
Speaker 2 (01:20):
Certainly talking to folks on the doors, community safety is
really front of mind for most people at the moment,
as is the cost of living, the cost of lack
and lack of good and available housing in our community, groceries,
power bills, clean and healthy environments. And also my kids
(01:43):
go to school at Nightclift Primary and Nightcliff High School,
and a lack of an under resourced education and healthcare
system is also coming up a lot too. People are
frustrated that we think we should have better healthcare and
better investment and education than we certainly at the moment.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
Well, we've spoken a lot actually about health in recent months,
in recent weeks, so I do think it's something that's
concerning a lot of people in terms of that infrastructure
as well, Phil, tell me around the safety issue, it
is one which has raised with us very often. What
would you do as the local member to try and
sort the safety concerns of those in Nightcliff.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
There's plenty we could do. One of the past governments
done to twelve million bucks into the local police station,
and of course everyone's asking why isn't that even staff
by police during normal business hours, let alone twenty four
hours a day. So it's sitting there as a bit
(02:44):
of a white elephant that continues to be a white elephant,
and neither the Labor Party or a COLP party are
doing much about that in our community. So if the
government's unwilling to do anything with that place in that space,
I think, all right, what if we make it somewhat
of a PC YC. We could have police and local
(03:07):
community and social services in there engaging in programs with
young people in a place where they're going to feel safe,
where relationships and connections are built between local police and
community as well as local services. If homes a bit
rough for local young people, it can be a place
where they could even go and be looked after, get
(03:29):
a feed, have a safe night's sleep. We could think
outside the box a lot better than what we do
at the moment in terms of how we address community safety.
I've also spent time in Litchfield Court and a shout
out to Mission Australia who are doing a lot of
great work in the community there, and also the guys
(03:49):
who are running security over there, who shared with me
the other day that their approach to community safety in
the year that they've been there has had a really
significant effect in dampening down a lot of domestic violence
and violent behavior. Hasn't solved it, It's still there, definitely,
but their approaches we go in with fist bumps and
(04:10):
high fliers rather than police dogs and heavy handedness, and
they're telling me that that's actually having a meaningful effect. Well,
those sorts of interventions are actually quite cheap and really practical,
and the communities respond really well to them, So I say,
you know, invest more and that kind of stuff. Phil.
Speaker 1 (04:31):
Do you support the Saint Vinnie's being relocated to the
Nightcliff area. Well, it's just sort of on the outskirts,
but I know some people have felt as though it's
potentially had an impact with some of the issues around
anti social behavior. Do you support it being there?
Speaker 2 (04:49):
Yeah. I was one of the people who put in
a submission for that, and it was absolutely down the middle.
I think twenty four opposed twenty four supportive, and I
was a twenty first. That was the only one that
they said was neutral. But for the record, I am
supportive of it on the basis that we do need
these sorts of services in our communities. People who are
(05:11):
homeless and sleeping rough certainly benefit from being able to
get a feed and being treated with some dignity and
respect and these sorts of places. But of course there
are communities concerns around it, and safety concerns around it.
And I've lived across the road from that place ever
since it opened up and until I moved late last year,
(05:33):
and there were dozens of folks who would walk up
and down our street every day. I was at that
bus stop alongside folks every day with my kids, putting
them on the bus before before school started, and I
noticed the impact that being treated with a bit of
dignity and some kindness actually had in dampening down people's
(05:58):
feelings of agitation and anger and aggression. Doesn't mean it
fixed it, but these services are valuable. I was concerned
every day though, that there was going to be a
pedestrian accent accident around there, and so I actually spoke
to the local member Lauri Zeo when I was living
in the electric there about Hey, look that clearly they're
(06:18):
community concerns here. Why don't we get something like the
Community Justice Center in to mediate a little bit between Hey,
what are some short and immediate term interventions that can
help people feel safer and be safer while stillso making
sure that we have these sorts of services that are
needed in our community.
Speaker 1 (06:36):
A couple of quick ones. Somebody's just messaged through and said, Katie,
can you please ask Phil what separates him and Suki?
They seem to share a lot of the same values.
Speaker 2 (06:46):
Well, for me, from an independent perspective, we're kind of saying, look,
there's a problem with party politics if we're if we're
as a community having decisions made by small groups of people.
Even the major parties don't have many branch members these days.
They gather behind closed doors, they make policy decisions on
(07:07):
everyone else's behalf without consulting and engaging community. They and
then they didn't come back later on and tell us, oh,
this is what we're going to do as an independent,
as a community independent, I really want to involve the
community and that legislative setting process so that community is
invited into and can participate in what sort of legislation
(07:29):
and what sort of policies we want to create for ourselves,
rather than have that done by any party.
Speaker 1 (07:35):
Phil another one that we asked of Suki as well.
SPUD had sent this through a bit earlier, asking are
you going to raise the Palestinian issues in parliament.
Speaker 2 (07:51):
As and we're appropriate. I'm happy too. I want to
be a strong voice for underdogs all over the place.
Certainly the people of Palestine are underdog at the moment,
the place is being obliterated. But and so I'd do
it on that basis and that principle. But certainly we're
there to be elected members of the Northern Territory Parliament
and I'm there to represent the people at Nightcliff, And
(08:15):
that's my protest, that's my priority.
Speaker 1 (08:17):
So a couple more. We've got so many listener questions
coming through it's distracting me a little bit. Hey, I
want to ask you though, have you well, no, we
know that you have protested at some gas and mining conferences.
Are you concerned that you've got a reputation as an agitator?
Speaker 2 (08:34):
Well, look, my I think my reputation is as somebody
who's going to stand up for the little people. And
if we take the incident with the now administrator is
one example. I was there at that conference as a
paying attendee to say, look, that was a developing Northern
(08:55):
Australia conference and all I saw were fat cats. There
are children, young people, local small businesses and families and
communities weren't represented at that conference. I was there to
remind them that, hey, there's a whole bunch of voices
here at these places that you aren't hearing from. You
don't want to hear from them, but in somebody like me,
(09:17):
I'll make sure that we do hear from them.
Speaker 1 (09:20):
Phil, you copped a lot of stick before the federal
election when you ran for Solomon for being supported by
Climate two hundred. Are you still supported by Climate two hundred?
Speaker 2 (09:31):
I'm not sure if we have been or night. We've
raised about thirteen thousand bucks, and I reckon almost all
of it is from local donors only. We do accept
crowdfunded support from anybody who wants to donate to community
independents who are going to be active on climate action
(09:52):
and gender equity and integrity and politics.
Speaker 1 (09:56):
What do you mean you're not sure if you're supported
by Climate two hundred this time round.
Speaker 2 (10:01):
Well, I was having a look at the donations this morning.
I think we had seven thousand bucks in the account.
I expected this sort of thing, and I haven't seen anything.
But I don't want to say that they might not
contribute to us. But I haven't seen anything come in
from Climate two hundred. So yeah, is it part of
(10:22):
your responsibility to know where that money is coming from? Oh? Look,
certainly we found out I think two and a half
weeks ago that this by election was happening. So at
the time of our last disclosure, we disclosed zero donations
because we had zero donations. So we've had the hustle.
Some really generous people have donated, some have donated five
(10:43):
hundred bucks, thousand bucks. But we've been able to recycle
and repurpose our call flute. We recall we're a lean,
mean community machine, so this thing, we haven't had time
to spend any money and fundraise.
Speaker 1 (11:00):
I did notice, I thought, well done, you'd like covered
the for Solomon. I did notice that. Hey, before I
let you go, couple of quick ones preferences. Who are
you preferencing? How's that going to work?
Speaker 2 (11:13):
I'm not preferencing anybody. Part of our messages community independence
is to say to folks to deal with a lot
of the missing disinformation out there, that that power preference
is yours. So I'm appealing for your number one vote,
but we want people to know, hey, you put your
two threes and fours in this election where your conscience
(11:33):
goes or with the other candidates as you see fit.
We're not going to tell you how to do that.
Speaker 1 (11:39):
And Phil just finally the question I'm asking every candidate,
why should people vote for you?
Speaker 2 (11:46):
People should vote for me because it takes a lot
of moxi to stand up as an independence. The major
parties have lost touch with our community. They stand for
very similar things. These days, they're indistinct, wishable from one another,
and we need strong voices in parliament. Independence make scrutiny
of government stronger. We make their party machines nervous because
(12:09):
we make their excuses weaker and their backroom deals harder,
and we make their power accountable. And we focus on
transparency and accountability and good government and respectful principal decision
making in government, and we certainly need more of that
in the territory.
Speaker 1 (12:27):
Well Phil Scott, the Independent candidate for the Nightcliff by election.
Really appreciate your time. Thanks so much for having a
chat with me.
Speaker 2 (12:36):
I appreciate the invitation.
Speaker 1 (12:37):
Thanks so much, Katie, no worries at all, Thank you.
We are continuing the discussions with the Nightcliff candidates the
by election. Well it's just a couple of days away.
Love to hear from you. The text lines lit up, obviously,
it's a lot of you. We've been saying all morning
messages if you've got a question, and now everybody's sending
a flurry of questions through. But keep them coming. But
what do you think are the main issues for the
(00:21):
people of Nightcliff. What are you going to be voting on?
Love to hear from you this morning, and still plenty
of you who need to get out there and vote.
So we did really want to make sure that we
catch up with all four of the candidates. So we
got two candidates today. We had Suki on just a
short time ago, and Phil Scott joins me on the
line right now now. Phil is an independent candidate.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
Good morning, Phil, Good morning, great to be Richelle.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
Yeah, good to have you on the show. Now, Phil,
why did you decide to put your hand up for
the Nightcliff by election.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
It's my kids that drive a lot of my actions.
I wanted to be a good example for them that
when we see we need an opportunity for improvement to
understand that we have a responsibility to stand up on
behalf of others. So that's what's motivating me in life
at the moment.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
And Phil, do you live in the electrode?
Speaker 2 (01:13):
I do. I live in Rupid Creek.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
Now what do you see as being the major issues
in the electrodes?
Speaker 2 (01:20):
Certainly talking to folks on the doors, community safety is
really front of mind for most people at the moment,
as is the cost of living, the cost of lack
and lack of good and available housing in our community, groceries,
power bills, clean and healthy environments. And also my kids
(01:43):
go to school at Nightclift Primary and Nightcliff High School,
and a lack of an under resourced education and healthcare
system is also coming up a lot too. People are
frustrated that we think we should have better healthcare and
better investment and education than we certainly at the moment.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
Well, we've spoken a lot actually about health in recent months,
in recent weeks, so I do think it's something that's
concerning a lot of people in terms of that infrastructure
as well, Phil, tell me around the safety issue, it
is one which has raised with us very often. What
would you do as the local member to try and
sort the safety concerns of those in Nightcliff.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
There's plenty we could do. One of the past governments
done to twelve million bucks into the local police station,
and of course everyone's asking why isn't that even staff
by police during normal business hours, let alone twenty four
hours a day. So it's sitting there as a bit
(02:44):
of a white elephant that continues to be a white elephant,
and neither the Labor Party or a COLP party are
doing much about that in our community. So if the
government's unwilling to do anything with that place in that space,
I think, all right, what if we make it somewhat
of a PC YC. We could have police and local
(03:07):
community and social services in there engaging in programs with
young people in a place where they're going to feel safe,
where relationships and connections are built between local police and
community as well as local services. If homes a bit
rough for local young people, it can be a place
where they could even go and be looked after, get
(03:29):
a feed, have a safe night's sleep. We could think
outside the box a lot better than what we do
at the moment in terms of how we address community safety.
I've also spent time in Litchfield Court and a shout
out to Mission Australia who are doing a lot of
great work in the community there, and also the guys
(03:49):
who are running security over there, who shared with me
the other day that their approach to community safety in
the year that they've been there has had a really
significant effect in dampening down a lot of domestic violence
and violent behavior. Hasn't solved it, It's still there, definitely,
but their approaches we go in with fist bumps and
(04:10):
high fliers rather than police dogs and heavy handedness, and
they're telling me that that's actually having a meaningful effect. Well,
those sorts of interventions are actually quite cheap and really practical,
and the communities respond really well to them, So I say,
you know, invest more and that kind of stuff. Phil.
Speaker 1 (04:31):
Do you support the Saint Vinnie's being relocated to the
Nightcliff area. Well, it's just sort of on the outskirts,
but I know some people have felt as though it's
potentially had an impact with some of the issues around
anti social behavior. Do you support it being there?
Speaker 2 (04:49):
Yeah. I was one of the people who put in
a submission for that, and it was absolutely down the middle.
I think twenty four opposed twenty four supportive, and I
was a twenty first. That was the only one that
they said was neutral. But for the record, I am
supportive of it on the basis that we do need
these sorts of services in our communities. People who are
(05:11):
homeless and sleeping rough certainly benefit from being able to
get a feed and being treated with some dignity and
respect and these sorts of places. But of course there
are communities concerns around it, and safety concerns around it.
And I've lived across the road from that place ever
since it opened up and until I moved late last year,
(05:33):
and there were dozens of folks who would walk up
and down our street every day. I was at that
bus stop alongside folks every day with my kids, putting
them on the bus before before school started, and I
noticed the impact that being treated with a bit of
dignity and some kindness actually had in dampening down people's
(05:58):
feelings of agitation and anger and aggression. Doesn't mean it
fixed it, but these services are valuable. I was concerned
every day though, that there was going to be a
pedestrian accent accident around there, and so I actually spoke
to the local member Lauri Zeo when I was living
in the electric there about Hey, look that clearly they're
(06:18):
community concerns here. Why don't we get something like the
Community Justice Center in to mediate a little bit between Hey,
what are some short and immediate term interventions that can
help people feel safer and be safer while stillso making
sure that we have these sorts of services that are
needed in our community.
Speaker 1 (06:36):
A couple of quick ones. Somebody's just messaged through and said, Katie,
can you please ask Phil what separates him and Suki?
They seem to share a lot of the same values.
Speaker 2 (06:46):
Well, for me, from an independent perspective, we're kind of saying, look,
there's a problem with party politics if we're if we're
as a community having decisions made by small groups of people.
Even the major parties don't have many branch members these days.
They gather behind closed doors, they make policy decisions on
(07:07):
everyone else's behalf without consulting and engaging community. They and
then they didn't come back later on and tell us, oh,
this is what we're going to do as an independent,
as a community independent, I really want to involve the
community and that legislative setting process so that community is
invited into and can participate in what sort of legislation
(07:29):
and what sort of policies we want to create for ourselves,
rather than have that done by any party.
Speaker 1 (07:35):
Phil another one that we asked of Suki as well.
SPUD had sent this through a bit earlier, asking are
you going to raise the Palestinian issues in parliament.
Speaker 2 (07:51):
As and we're appropriate. I'm happy too. I want to
be a strong voice for underdogs all over the place.
Certainly the people of Palestine are underdog at the moment,
the place is being obliterated. But and so I'd do
it on that basis and that principle. But certainly we're
there to be elected members of the Northern Territory Parliament
and I'm there to represent the people at Nightcliff, And
(08:15):
that's my protest, that's my priority.
Speaker 1 (08:17):
So a couple more. We've got so many listener questions
coming through it's distracting me a little bit. Hey, I
want to ask you though, have you well, no, we
know that you have protested at some gas and mining conferences.
Are you concerned that you've got a reputation as an agitator?
Speaker 2 (08:34):
Well, look, my I think my reputation is as somebody
who's going to stand up for the little people. And
if we take the incident with the now administrator is
one example. I was there at that conference as a
paying attendee to say, look, that was a developing Northern
(08:55):
Australia conference and all I saw were fat cats. There
are children, young people, local small businesses and families and
communities weren't represented at that conference. I was there to
remind them that, hey, there's a whole bunch of voices
here at these places that you aren't hearing from. You
don't want to hear from them, but in somebody like me,
(09:17):
I'll make sure that we do hear from them.
Speaker 1 (09:20):
Phil, you copped a lot of stick before the federal
election when you ran for Solomon for being supported by
Climate two hundred. Are you still supported by Climate two hundred?
Speaker 2 (09:31):
I'm not sure if we have been or night. We've
raised about thirteen thousand bucks, and I reckon almost all
of it is from local donors only. We do accept
crowdfunded support from anybody who wants to donate to community
independents who are going to be active on climate action
(09:52):
and gender equity and integrity and politics.
Speaker 1 (09:56):
What do you mean you're not sure if you're supported
by Climate two hundred this time round.
Speaker 2 (10:01):
Well, I was having a look at the donations this morning.
I think we had seven thousand bucks in the account.
I expected this sort of thing, and I haven't seen anything.
But I don't want to say that they might not
contribute to us. But I haven't seen anything come in
from Climate two hundred. So yeah, is it part of
(10:22):
your responsibility to know where that money is coming from? Oh? Look,
certainly we found out I think two and a half
weeks ago that this by election was happening. So at
the time of our last disclosure, we disclosed zero donations
because we had zero donations. So we've had the hustle.
Some really generous people have donated, some have donated five
(10:43):
hundred bucks, thousand bucks. But we've been able to recycle
and repurpose our call flute. We recall we're a lean,
mean community machine, so this thing, we haven't had time
to spend any money and fundraise.
Speaker 1 (11:00):
I did notice, I thought, well done, you'd like covered
the for Solomon. I did notice that. Hey, before I
let you go, couple of quick ones preferences. Who are
you preferencing? How's that going to work?
Speaker 2 (11:13):
I'm not preferencing anybody. Part of our messages community independence
is to say to folks to deal with a lot
of the missing disinformation out there, that that power preference
is yours. So I'm appealing for your number one vote,
but we want people to know, hey, you put your
two threes and fours in this election where your conscience
(11:33):
goes or with the other candidates as you see fit.
We're not going to tell you how to do that.
Speaker 1 (11:39):
And Phil just finally the question I'm asking every candidate,
why should people vote for you?
Speaker 2 (11:46):
People should vote for me because it takes a lot
of moxi to stand up as an independence. The major
parties have lost touch with our community. They stand for
very similar things. These days, they're indistinct, wishable from one another,
and we need strong voices in parliament. Independence make scrutiny
of government stronger. We make their party machines nervous because
(12:09):
we make their excuses weaker and their backroom deals harder,
and we make their power accountable. And we focus on
transparency and accountability and good government and respectful principal decision
making in government, and we certainly need more of that
in the territory.
Speaker 1 (12:27):
Well Phil Scott, the Independent candidate for the Nightcliff by election.
Really appreciate your time. Thanks so much for having a
chat with me.
Speaker 2 (12:36):
I appreciate the invitation.
Speaker 1 (12:37):
Thanks so much, Katie, no worries at all, Thank you.
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