Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Well. Joining me on the line right now is Justine Davis,
the Independent Member for Johnston.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
Good morning, Justine, Hey Katie, how are you going.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
Ye're really good now, Justine. You and I would you
to have a chat about the administrator and I will
get to that in just a moment. But of course
the breaking news this morning is the fact that kat Magnamara,
the Member for Nightcliff, announcing her resignation. Were you shocked
by this decision?
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Yeah, I'm shocked and you know I'm going to miss
her greatly. She's been a wonderful contributortion Northern Territory politics
with huge strength and integrity. She's going to be deeply
missed by me in Parliament and I'm sure by the
community of Nightcliff and I really wish her all the
(00:46):
very best from here and thank her for all the
incredible works that she's done over the last eighteen months.
Speaker 1 (00:52):
And Justine, it's like it's a tough one now. Of course,
it means that a by election is forced. I don't
know how many weeks will sort of have before where
you know, before that by election happens, or what date
that will be. Do you have much of an idea
on any of that.
Speaker 2 (01:12):
No idea at all. Yeah, no, I'm following along with
all of you. I imagine it'll be then Our next
parliament sitting is in the first week of March, so
I'm not sure how that plays into the timing for
a by election.
Speaker 1 (01:27):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (01:27):
So, I mean I think the community of Nightcliffe obviously,
you know, needs representation, So that will I guess that
will happen as quickly as it can in terms of
the processes that need to be put in place.
Speaker 1 (01:38):
Yeah, I hadn't thought of that. That's a very good
point actually that you raise, in terms of making sure
or does it need to sort of happen before Parliament
gets back underway so the people of Nightcliff do have
a voice in there. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (01:51):
Yeah, so we'll see what happens. I'm waiting, like everyone
else to hear from the Electoral Commission about what does
actually happen in this situation.
Speaker 1 (01:59):
Yeahin look, I know, still very early days obviously, Kat
taking to social media to say that it is well.
Her decision was an incredibly tough one, a difficult decision,
and it is due to ongoing health challenges. Effective immediately,
she said, I cannot stress enough how difficult this decision
(02:21):
has been to come to. I know it wouldn't have
been an easy one for her or for anybody really,
you know, when you decide sort of almost halfway in
to a term that you're not going to continue in
the role.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
Yeah, it would have been an incredibly difficult decision for them.
I mean, one of the things that I think everyone
who has seen Cat in politics in public life, everyone
can see how much with complete integrity she acts all
the time. So she will have made the decision, you know,
as she said, she would have struggled with it, and
(02:55):
she would have made the decision with that very much,
very much in her mind and heart. And I mean
I think, like everyone, I hope that everyone is wishing
her the best. We don't want anyone to be in
the situation where they're not able to continue to do
their job, which is a pretty tough gig. And I know,
I mean I also I can say that it's a
(03:16):
tough job in there. We don't want anyone to do
their job in a way that puts themselves at risks.
So so yeah, my strength, my good wishes to Cat
from here my and my thanks as well for all
her work.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
Yeah, I hope she's okay, And Justine, I guess a bit,
you know, just a bit of insight for us. I
suppose when you are sort of you know, when you're
when you're sitting as an independent or as a member
of the Greens or you know, you're on the cross
bench there, it is pretty tough going, right like in
terms of I would imagine even more so for you
as an independent, like with the Greens, at least you've
(03:52):
got a party behind you. But it's it's pretty tough
going in terms of having to do everything yourself.
Speaker 2 (03:59):
Yeah, and we've talked about that on your show before.
It's incredibly tough going in terms of resources, so we
as we if we're not if you're in the major party,
the amount of resourcing you get is very minimal. We
don't get any policy support, we don't get any research support,
we don't get any media support. So we kind of
have to do it all ourselves and we have to
(04:19):
be across everything. So it's a really it's a huge job.
It's a huge task. But the other thing I'll say
is that the way that our Parliament operates does not
lend itself to good democracy. I've talked about this on
your show before, like if people ever listening to and
watch Parliament. Before I got elected, I was saying, imagine
(04:41):
if our parliament was a place where elected representatives talk
together with the best information they had to make the
best decisions they could for the Northern territory. And that's
that's kind of that. That's not very radical, that's kind
of what it should be. That's absolutely not what happens
in Parliament. And if people watch, there is no there's
very little respect, particularly from some people in government, towards
(05:06):
towards the crossbench and towards the opposition. These are people
who have been elected by their communities to represent their
views and I think the behavior in Parliament makes it
very difficult to do that. And it's something that I mean,
I've got a motion up to try and address that,
which will come up sometime later in the year. But
you know, territories actually deserve better from their parliament as well.
Speaker 1 (05:29):
Justine just still sort of on this topic, but you know,
just taking away from Parliament a little bit, do you
reckon we're going to see quite a few people put
their hand up to run in the seat of Nightcliff
and do you think we'll see any independence decide that
they're keen to run.
Speaker 2 (05:43):
Yeah, it's going to be really interesting to watch. As
you said, it was a very closely contested election in
twenty twenty four. I think in my great hope is
that we continue to have voices in Parliament that can
stand very strongly for community views and so that that
would be mine wish. I have no insight into who's
(06:05):
going to run the to do I yeah, but we
will all be watching this space closely. But you know,
I mean anyone out there who is interested in actually
representing communities, standing strong for what's important to people in
the Northern Territory. I often remind people that in the
last election the CLP actually only got forty eight percent
(06:26):
of the vote. They're there to govern for one hundred
percent of people and we need other voices in there
to make sure that their everyone's voice is heard and represented.
Speaker 1 (06:36):
Now, Justine, I actually got you on the show to
talk about obviously to talk about the administrator and then
this news about Kat's overtaken everything as we know, but
your concerns around this really culminated last week when we
saw Labor members and independents walk out of Parliament in
protest now I'm going to tell you I've been getting
a lot of stick over continuing to talk about the administrator.
(06:59):
I've got listeners to be tom on Katie. You know,
you're really showing your stripes. I don't know which stripes
they are, but really showing my stripes in terms of
continuing to talk about this. But it's something that is
continuing to be raised by members of the community who've
got concerns about the appointment of David Connolly. Now, remind
me you would do to meet with the Governor General's
(07:20):
Office on Friday last week? Is that correct?
Speaker 2 (07:24):
Yeah? Yeah, I did meet with the office on Friday,
And just just to kind of link these two stories,
I was interested to hear from the Speaker that actually
the acting administrator is going to be is the person
who's going to be acting on this on cats resignation.
So there are still there are still these questions which
people are asking about who is the administrator, what is
the status of he's Honor David Connolly, Like, what's going
(07:48):
on there? So that it is a live question. I
think around everything and this is an example of where
it's where it's live. But yes, I had a meeting
with the Governor General of on side of myself and
a member from Wooker, I had written to the Governor
General asking her to take action on this issue, to
(08:12):
her to rescind the appointment essentially, and I asked for
a meeting which was arranged very quickly, which I was
very grateful for and really shows how much interest is
being taken in this matter and the in terms of
what her office said, I was advised that the Governor
(08:34):
General has a very strong interest in this matter. I
raise concerns that have been raised with me. I've been
inundated with concerns from across the spectrum. So I know
there are some people obviously who will support this appointment,
but I can tell you that there are so many people,
including many people who are strong for your peace supporters,
(08:55):
who are really concerned about it, and they continuing to
come to me and please, can you do something about this.
Don't let this go away. Don't just let this you know, oh,
you know, it's too much fuss. It's an incredibly important appointment,
not just ceremonial or also has you know, as we
see today, this is the person who when members of
government change, this is the person who, it's reported to,
(09:19):
so I raise those concerns, concerns that you know, you've
talked that on your show at about the public statements
that the new administratives made not just in his social
media but also in the public space. So it's no
secret what his views were. And I was advised that
the Governor General, her long and well established record and
(09:42):
respect for Indigenous people, for women, speaks for itself, and
that she's very committed to ensuring that there's proper care
and consideration for all parts of the community. But however,
the Governor General, I was advised, has no power to rescind, revoke,
or withdraw the appointment. She acts entire on the advice
of the government of the day. So what that means
(10:04):
from here and I want anyone who's listening, who is
concerned about this issue to know that I will continue
to advocate fiercely for for your concerns. I'm exploring alternative
avenues for action. It's certainly not over and the fact
that the FELP government continues to disneys community concerns, continues
to avoid proper scrutiny, continues to say that you know
(10:29):
I would do this again. I don't know, no care
for what the community thinks is just not acceptable.
Speaker 1 (10:35):
It's tough to hear then, you know, for those people
that despite you know, despite the respect that the Governor
General has for you know, for women, for Indigenous people,
for everybody in the community, that there is not a
lot or it's not in her power to be able
to do much about the appointment. I mean, it sort
of seems Justine like it's like it's you know, it's
(10:57):
going ahead no matter what.
Speaker 2 (10:59):
I wouldn't say that, Katie. I mean, I think I
think the clear message is that the power lies with
the government of the day. They direct the Governor General.
So I'm going to be exploring what options there are there.
Speaker 1 (11:14):
And you have got a petition going as well, don't you.
Speaker 2 (11:16):
There's a petition going as well. There's a lot of that,
there's talk about other things in the public space that
might happen. I mean, I think this is a serious issue.
It's a serious issue for our integrity key in the
Northern Territory and as I said, we can't and I
certainly will not be be letting it disappear. And I
(11:37):
want to assure people again that you know, I will
be representing their views as strongly as I can.
Speaker 1 (11:43):
Well, Justine, I always appreciate your time. I really thank
you for coming on this morning, particularly you know, with
the breaking news with kat resigning, but also for just
keeping us up to date with where things are at
with the administrator and that meeting with the Governor General's office.
Speaker 2 (11:59):
No way, thanks Katy a great way
Speaker 1 (12:01):
You too, will talk to you soon.
Well. Joining me on the line right now is Justine Davis,
the Independent Member for Johnston.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
Good morning, Justine, Hey Katie, how are you going.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
Ye're really good now, Justine. You and I would you
to have a chat about the administrator and I will
get to that in just a moment. But of course
the breaking news this morning is the fact that kat Magnamara,
the Member for Nightcliff, announcing her resignation. Were you shocked
by this decision?
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Yeah, I'm shocked and you know I'm going to miss
her greatly. She's been a wonderful contributortion Northern Territory politics
with huge strength and integrity. She's going to be deeply
missed by me in Parliament and I'm sure by the
community of Nightcliff and I really wish her all the
(00:46):
very best from here and thank her for all the
incredible works that she's done over the last eighteen months.
Speaker 1 (00:52):
And Justine, it's like it's a tough one now. Of course,
it means that a by election is forced. I don't
know how many weeks will sort of have before where
you know, before that by election happens, or what date
that will be. Do you have much of an idea
on any of that.
Speaker 2 (01:12):
No idea at all. Yeah, no, I'm following along with
all of you. I imagine it'll be then Our next
parliament sitting is in the first week of March, so
I'm not sure how that plays into the timing for
a by election.
Speaker 1 (01:27):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (01:27):
So, I mean I think the community of Nightcliffe obviously,
you know, needs representation, So that will I guess that
will happen as quickly as it can in terms of
the processes that need to be put in place.
Speaker 1 (01:38):
Yeah, I hadn't thought of that. That's a very good
point actually that you raise, in terms of making sure
or does it need to sort of happen before Parliament
gets back underway so the people of Nightcliff do have
a voice in there. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (01:51):
Yeah, so we'll see what happens. I'm waiting, like everyone
else to hear from the Electoral Commission about what does
actually happen in this situation.
Speaker 1 (01:59):
Yeahin look, I know, still very early days obviously, Kat
taking to social media to say that it is well.
Her decision was an incredibly tough one, a difficult decision,
and it is due to ongoing health challenges. Effective immediately,
she said, I cannot stress enough how difficult this decision
(02:21):
has been to come to. I know it wouldn't have
been an easy one for her or for anybody really,
you know, when you decide sort of almost halfway in
to a term that you're not going to continue in
the role.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
Yeah, it would have been an incredibly difficult decision for them.
I mean, one of the things that I think everyone
who has seen Cat in politics in public life, everyone
can see how much with complete integrity she acts all
the time. So she will have made the decision, you know,
as she said, she would have struggled with it, and
(02:55):
she would have made the decision with that very much,
very much in her mind and heart. And I mean
I think, like everyone, I hope that everyone is wishing
her the best. We don't want anyone to be in
the situation where they're not able to continue to do
their job, which is a pretty tough gig. And I know,
I mean I also I can say that it's a
(03:16):
tough job in there. We don't want anyone to do
their job in a way that puts themselves at risks.
So so yeah, my strength, my good wishes to Cat
from here my and my thanks as well for all
her work.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
Yeah, I hope she's okay, And Justine, I guess a bit,
you know, just a bit of insight for us. I
suppose when you are sort of you know, when you're
when you're sitting as an independent or as a member
of the Greens or you know, you're on the cross
bench there, it is pretty tough going, right like in
terms of I would imagine even more so for you
as an independent, like with the Greens, at least you've
(03:52):
got a party behind you. But it's it's pretty tough
going in terms of having to do everything yourself.
Speaker 2 (03:59):
Yeah, and we've talked about that on your show before.
It's incredibly tough going in terms of resources, so we
as we if we're not if you're in the major party,
the amount of resourcing you get is very minimal. We
don't get any policy support, we don't get any research support,
we don't get any media support. So we kind of
have to do it all ourselves and we have to
(04:19):
be across everything. So it's a really it's a huge job.
It's a huge task. But the other thing I'll say
is that the way that our Parliament operates does not
lend itself to good democracy. I've talked about this on
your show before, like if people ever listening to and
watch Parliament. Before I got elected, I was saying, imagine
(04:41):
if our parliament was a place where elected representatives talk
together with the best information they had to make the
best decisions they could for the Northern territory. And that's
that's kind of that. That's not very radical, that's kind
of what it should be. That's absolutely not what happens
in Parliament. And if people watch, there is no there's
very little respect, particularly from some people in government, towards
(05:06):
towards the crossbench and towards the opposition. These are people
who have been elected by their communities to represent their
views and I think the behavior in Parliament makes it
very difficult to do that. And it's something that I mean,
I've got a motion up to try and address that,
which will come up sometime later in the year. But
you know, territories actually deserve better from their parliament as well.
Speaker 1 (05:29):
Justine just still sort of on this topic, but you know,
just taking away from Parliament a little bit, do you
reckon we're going to see quite a few people put
their hand up to run in the seat of Nightcliff
and do you think we'll see any independence decide that
they're keen to run.
Speaker 2 (05:43):
Yeah, it's going to be really interesting to watch. As
you said, it was a very closely contested election in
twenty twenty four. I think in my great hope is
that we continue to have voices in Parliament that can
stand very strongly for community views and so that that
would be mine wish. I have no insight into who's
(06:05):
going to run the to do I yeah, but we
will all be watching this space closely. But you know,
I mean anyone out there who is interested in actually
representing communities, standing strong for what's important to people in
the Northern Territory. I often remind people that in the
last election the CLP actually only got forty eight percent
(06:26):
of the vote. They're there to govern for one hundred
percent of people and we need other voices in there
to make sure that their everyone's voice is heard and represented.
Speaker 1 (06:36):
Now, Justine, I actually got you on the show to
talk about obviously to talk about the administrator and then
this news about Kat's overtaken everything as we know, but
your concerns around this really culminated last week when we
saw Labor members and independents walk out of Parliament in
protest now I'm going to tell you I've been getting
a lot of stick over continuing to talk about the administrator.
(06:59):
I've got listeners to be tom on Katie. You know,
you're really showing your stripes. I don't know which stripes
they are, but really showing my stripes in terms of
continuing to talk about this. But it's something that is
continuing to be raised by members of the community who've
got concerns about the appointment of David Connolly. Now, remind
me you would do to meet with the Governor General's
(07:20):
Office on Friday last week? Is that correct?
Speaker 2 (07:24):
Yeah? Yeah, I did meet with the office on Friday,
And just just to kind of link these two stories,
I was interested to hear from the Speaker that actually
the acting administrator is going to be is the person
who's going to be acting on this on cats resignation.
So there are still there are still these questions which
people are asking about who is the administrator, what is
the status of he's Honor David Connolly, Like, what's going
(07:48):
on there? So that it is a live question. I
think around everything and this is an example of where
it's where it's live. But yes, I had a meeting
with the Governor General of on side of myself and
a member from Wooker, I had written to the Governor
General asking her to take action on this issue, to
(08:12):
her to rescind the appointment essentially, and I asked for
a meeting which was arranged very quickly, which I was
very grateful for and really shows how much interest is
being taken in this matter and the in terms of
what her office said, I was advised that the Governor
(08:34):
General has a very strong interest in this matter. I
raise concerns that have been raised with me. I've been
inundated with concerns from across the spectrum. So I know
there are some people obviously who will support this appointment,
but I can tell you that there are so many people,
including many people who are strong for your peace supporters,
(08:55):
who are really concerned about it, and they continuing to
come to me and please, can you do something about this.
Don't let this go away. Don't just let this you know, oh,
you know, it's too much fuss. It's an incredibly important appointment,
not just ceremonial or also has you know, as we
see today, this is the person who when members of
government change, this is the person who, it's reported to,
(09:19):
so I raise those concerns, concerns that you know, you've
talked that on your show at about the public statements
that the new administratives made not just in his social
media but also in the public space. So it's no
secret what his views were. And I was advised that
the Governor General, her long and well established record and
(09:42):
respect for Indigenous people, for women, speaks for itself, and
that she's very committed to ensuring that there's proper care
and consideration for all parts of the community. But however,
the Governor General, I was advised, has no power to rescind, revoke,
or withdraw the appointment. She acts entire on the advice
of the government of the day. So what that means
(10:04):
from here and I want anyone who's listening, who is
concerned about this issue to know that I will continue
to advocate fiercely for for your concerns. I'm exploring alternative
avenues for action. It's certainly not over and the fact
that the FELP government continues to disneys community concerns, continues
to avoid proper scrutiny, continues to say that you know
(10:29):
I would do this again. I don't know, no care
for what the community thinks is just not acceptable.
Speaker 1 (10:35):
It's tough to hear then, you know, for those people
that despite you know, despite the respect that the Governor
General has for you know, for women, for Indigenous people,
for everybody in the community, that there is not a
lot or it's not in her power to be able
to do much about the appointment. I mean, it sort
of seems Justine like it's like it's you know, it's
(10:57):
going ahead no matter what.
Speaker 2 (10:59):
I wouldn't say that, Katie. I mean, I think I
think the clear message is that the power lies with
the government of the day. They direct the Governor General.
So I'm going to be exploring what options there are there.
Speaker 1 (11:14):
And you have got a petition going as well, don't you.
Speaker 2 (11:16):
There's a petition going as well. There's a lot of that,
there's talk about other things in the public space that
might happen. I mean, I think this is a serious issue.
It's a serious issue for our integrity key in the
Northern Territory and as I said, we can't and I
certainly will not be be letting it disappear. And I
(11:37):
want to assure people again that you know, I will
be representing their views as strongly as I can.
Speaker 1 (11:43):
Well, Justine, I always appreciate your time. I really thank
you for coming on this morning, particularly you know, with
the breaking news with kat resigning, but also for just
keeping us up to date with where things are at
with the administrator and that meeting with the Governor General's office.
Speaker 2 (11:59):
No way, thanks Katy a great way
Speaker 1 (12:01):
You too, will talk to you soon.
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