Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
A. Leah Finocchiaro, the Opposition leader, joins me in the studio.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
Good morning to you, Leah, Good morning Katie and to
your wonderful listeners.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
Now very sad news yesterday morning with the NLC confirming
the passing of doctor Bush Blanasi. He was a strong
advocate and an inspirational leader for Aboriginal people across the
Northern Territory and indeed Australia. Leah, how do you think
that doctor bush Blenasi should be remembered.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
He will be remembered by many people as a fierce advocate,
but also really lovely man. He was just a really
lovely person to be around and speak to, very wise
and you know clearly a lot of people will be
mourning his loss. It certainly was a huge shock to
me yesterday to read the statement from the NLC, and
(00:43):
so our hearts go out to of course his family,
his friends, the entire team at the Northern Land Council
and everyone whose life is that he played a really
important role in.
Speaker 1 (00:52):
Well. Look, we are hoping to speak to somebody about
his passing throughout this morning, but I do want to
move along because we know that the Northern Territory governor
is today expected to announce their plans to combat crime
in Alice Springs after a number of issues last week,
including about nine cars being stolen, a number of homes
being broken into, rocks being thrown at cars, including police cars. Lea,
(01:15):
what do you think the government should announce in Alis today?
Speaker 2 (01:18):
Well, people are certainly waiting for this big announcement and
I genuinely hope it doesn't fall flat. But unless the
Chief Minister and the new Police Minister are in Alice
Springs with fifty or one hundred more police, making territory
families use justice officers work twenty four hours a day,
full coordination of all the NGOs who are delivering services
(01:40):
and requiring them to work twenty four hours a day,
I just can't see how anything they say is going
to actually make a difference to the people on the ground.
Speaker 1 (01:48):
Well, the thing is they need something, They need that support,
and they need it right now. I know that the
police have come out and they have said that they're
better prepared than what they were last year when we
were in a similar situation. But the people of Alice
deserve to not be in this situation, like they've fought
long and hard they've been fighting long and hard about
this for a long time. I would have thought that
(02:10):
by this point, as we head into the summer months,
there would have been a bit of an order or
there would have been a bit of a look into
some of those organizations that are supposed to be delivering
different services to make sure that they're delivering them and
delivering them properly so we don't wind up with kids
roaming the streets and breaking the law.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
You're exactly right, Katie, and this is something we've been
calling for all year. We even wrote to the Prime
Minister going back to January or February, and he still
hasn't responded to us, saying that there needs to be
an ordit of all money going into youth services to
see whether there's duplication, whether the programs are working, and
we need to be holding everyone accountable. This is taxpayers
(02:46):
money we need.
Speaker 3 (02:47):
How come you wrote to the Prime Minister Win in January?
Speaker 2 (02:50):
It was January or February, Katie Win.
Speaker 3 (02:51):
No response. No, Still, yes, that's quite rude.
Speaker 2 (02:54):
Really, it shows the level of care that labor have
for this issue, and ultimately it's people in Alice Springs.
I mean, I was in ten at Creek last week.
They're suffering terribly there as well, Katie, as all territories.
But you know, Natasha Files and Brent Pott can fly
down to Alice and make some sort of shiny announcement.
The reality is our police can only do so much
(03:15):
because labor have disempowered them, which is why if this
is what Labour want to do, if they want to
make sure that police can't deal with youth offenders, then
they've got to make sure that territory families and other
agencies are there to pick up the slack because our
police's hands are tied and territory families don't work twenty
four hours a day.
Speaker 1 (03:32):
So do you think that territory families should be on
duty twenty four hours.
Speaker 3 (03:36):
A day now?
Speaker 2 (03:37):
Absolutely? If police have been disempowered to deal with yous
and we have used out in the street that our
police are not able to deal with, then whose responsibility
is that? It comes down to care and protection of
children issue, which means there needs to be a lot
more than just someone on call. It's not acceptable the
way the government has resourced and restructured this space. Something
(04:00):
really drastic needs to be done. But I think We're
just going to have holow promises and shiny letterheads today.
Speaker 1 (04:06):
Leah Robin Landley yesterday suggested that there should be an
ability for emergency lockdowns to occur.
Speaker 3 (04:12):
What do you think, Well, I.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
Guess it depends on the situation. Obviously, if there's something
very violent and catastrophic happening, police do that. Anyway. What
we don't want is to give in to the criminals, though,
we just want to deal with the criminals. I know
the CLP have tried. We've got legislation and policies ready
to go on strengthening bail, holding us accountable, holding parents accountable,
having mandatory community service, dealing with these criminal issues, but
(04:37):
also the underlying issues as well of why people turn
to a life of crime and how to turn that
life around. But labor are just not grappling with any
of these issues, not meeting community expectation, and ultimately we're
seeing crime rates higher than ever before.
Speaker 3 (04:52):
I understand Bill Yan got broken into as well. He did.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
His whole house was turned upside down and he doesn't
feel special and he said, Leah, it was my time.
It'd been a couple of years since I've been broken into,
And how I was heartbroken when he said that to me,
because that's how people feel in Alice Springs. You know,
if it's been a little while since the last breaking,
it must be your turn. And that is not normal,
it is not acceptable, it is not okay.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
Now, yesterday you delivered a keynote address to the Property
Council of the Northern Territory outlining your vision for the
Northern Territory. If the COLP is elected next year, still
on Alice Springs, what would you do in the first
one hundred days to try and turn things around for
Alice Springs.
Speaker 2 (05:32):
Firstly, well, that first Parliament, Katie, if we win in
August next year, will be around law and order reform.
We will empower our police to deal with public drinking
alcohol youth offenders. We will stop the endless second chances
of bail, which means less criminals out on our streets,
which will free up police time to be able to
do more proactive policing. There are a number of things
(05:55):
we can do immediately, which includes system wide reform. Obviously,
the audit will be a huge part of what we
do because we need to know where taxpayers dollars are
being spent and how we can spend them more effectively, perhaps.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
A firm that means in order to into some of
those NGOs that are supposed to be delivering services in aallus.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
Yeah, all of the spending, all of the spending is
their duplication. Are we missing you know, are there gaps
that need to be filled? Do we need more money?
Do we need less money? All of these things are
questions the current government can't answer because they just don't
have the information in front of them.
Speaker 1 (06:27):
I mean, lea, are you going to need to build
a bigger jail though, because by the sounds of it,
I mean, if we're talking about stopping the endless you know,
endless yeh. Second, people doing the wrong thing when they're
on bail, we're going to see more people locked up.
We already our jails are absolutely bursting at the same
so how do you deal with that? Yep?
Speaker 2 (06:45):
And that's an infrastructure question. And if we need a
new prisons, new facilities, and so be it. I mean
that to me is just a simple equation of it.
Does our infrastructure cope?
Speaker 3 (06:56):
It's not.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
It doesn't in and of itself solve the problem. So
my focus is on making sure criminals are not on
the street, offending that we're rehabilitating people when they are
in prison, and that we have the right programs in
place hopefully stop people entering a life of crime. But
if they do, then we give them every opportunity in
life to have a different pathway forward.
Speaker 1 (07:15):
All right, I want to step away from Alice Springs
for a moment and look more so at the Northern
Territory across the board in terms of your priorities and
in terms of that speech that you delivered yesterday, what
are your main priorities if you are elected in August
next year.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
So our focus is around three simple points. Take back
control of our streets, rebuild the territory's reputation, and get
our economy moving forwards.
Speaker 3 (07:39):
Again.
Speaker 2 (07:39):
We need to make sure that the territory is that
place of opportunity that we all remember it to be.
So people come here for an opportunity and they stay
for the lifestyle, and when those two issues come out
of balance, people leave. My focus is on getting back
to basics and ensuring that the opportunity peace is there
for the territory and that our lifestyle matches so that
(08:01):
people can live here in peace, in freedom, enjoying our
iconic lifestyle, but have a good job, a solid career,
a future, and that their kids see that future and
stay here too.
Speaker 1 (08:12):
Leah, great slogans, but how do you actually do that?
And how do you try to get that happening within
one hundred days?
Speaker 2 (08:19):
So you change the law. I mean, the beauty of
being in government means you hold the power in the parliament,
and we would change the laws immediately to empower police,
to make sure that we'd stop the endless second chances
of bail, to make sure that we are adequately delivering
consequences to people who do the wrong thing, lower the
age of criminal responsibility. When it comes to our economy,
(08:40):
we need to have a total shift in thinking on
how we deal with economic development. We already have legislation
ready around how we would fast track and facilitate investment
and that is a clear focus for us and area
that we will be pushing ahead because we know there
is no time to lose.
Speaker 1 (08:57):
How do you repair the Northern Tier's reputation right now?
Speaker 2 (09:02):
You have to get Lauren on a back under control.
You have to be a certain and secure place to invest,
and to do that you have to have a strong
government and with leadership at the top. It means you
have to set the rules of the game and then
stick to those rules so that people can go and
invest and live their lives and know that there is
that level of certainty. So rebuilding our reputation is critical
(09:24):
because people will continue to leave if we don't, and
people won't come until that's dealt weather And the only
way to rebuild our reputation is to have a safe
community and a strong economy.
Speaker 3 (09:33):
I mean one of the other things, so that we're
grappling with here in the territory.
Speaker 1 (09:36):
At the moment you're speaking about sort of major projects
and making sure that people have confidence in investing in
the Northern Territory. Again, how do you do that when
at the moment different projects that are you know, that
are underway. Let's look at Leepoint as an example. They
get underway and then obviously the handbrake gets pulled for
various reasons. So how do you then restore that confidence
(09:59):
in the Northern Territory as being a place that is
open for business. If you've then got environmental groups, indigenous
groups saying hang on a second, we're not happy with this.
Speaker 2 (10:07):
That's exactly right, and so it's about the rules of
the game, Kdie. It's about having a very clear framework
in which approvals processes are done and once they're done,
you know, that's the end of the story. There's got
to be certainty. We cannot continue in this ever changing
environment where the sands continue to shift.
Speaker 1 (10:24):
So what about a situation like Santos on the Tiwi Islands.
Speaker 2 (10:27):
Yeah, so obviously that's before the court, so that's a
slightly different situation. But what we know is there is
legislation we can change, for example, with gas labor brought
in legislation that allows third parties who have absolutely nothing
to do with the territory, nothing to do with the Bealoo,
nothing to do with anything, to be able to put
in objections and obfiscate the process. And we always fought
(10:49):
against that and that's something we can change relatively simply
in Parliament, which will give certainty to investors that they're
not going to have the time delays and stalls and
head from people who just seek to cause mischief.
Speaker 1 (11:02):
Here.
Speaker 3 (11:02):
Well, Leah and Occhio, we are going to have to
leave it there.
Speaker 1 (11:05):
We appreciate your time, appreciate you talking us through the
colp's platform. As well as you head into head into
I guess we're you know, we're only what nine months out?
Speaker 3 (11:15):
I think in the Northern Territory election.
Speaker 2 (11:16):
Two hundred and eighty four days, Katie. But I'm not
counting two.
Speaker 3 (11:20):
Hundred and eighty four days. Well, we do have a listener, Peter,
who is.
Speaker 1 (11:24):
Keeping an eye on those numbers, so we'll confirm that
that is correct. Two hundred and eighty four days. Leah
and Occhio. Appreciate your time, thanks for coming in this morning.
Speaker 2 (11:32):
You take care everyone.
Speaker 3 (11:32):
Thank you,
A. Leah Finocchiaro, the Opposition leader, joins me in the studio.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
Good morning to you, Leah, Good morning Katie and to
your wonderful listeners.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
Now very sad news yesterday morning with the NLC confirming
the passing of doctor Bush Blanasi. He was a strong
advocate and an inspirational leader for Aboriginal people across the
Northern Territory and indeed Australia. Leah, how do you think
that doctor bush Blenasi should be remembered.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
He will be remembered by many people as a fierce advocate,
but also really lovely man. He was just a really
lovely person to be around and speak to, very wise
and you know clearly a lot of people will be
mourning his loss. It certainly was a huge shock to
me yesterday to read the statement from the NLC, and
(00:43):
so our hearts go out to of course his family,
his friends, the entire team at the Northern Land Council
and everyone whose life is that he played a really
important role in.
Speaker 1 (00:52):
Well. Look, we are hoping to speak to somebody about
his passing throughout this morning, but I do want to
move along because we know that the Northern Territory governor
is today expected to announce their plans to combat crime
in Alice Springs after a number of issues last week,
including about nine cars being stolen, a number of homes
being broken into, rocks being thrown at cars, including police cars. Lea,
(01:15):
what do you think the government should announce in Alis today?
Speaker 2 (01:18):
Well, people are certainly waiting for this big announcement and
I genuinely hope it doesn't fall flat. But unless the
Chief Minister and the new Police Minister are in Alice
Springs with fifty or one hundred more police, making territory
families use justice officers work twenty four hours a day,
full coordination of all the NGOs who are delivering services
(01:40):
and requiring them to work twenty four hours a day,
I just can't see how anything they say is going
to actually make a difference to the people on the ground.
Speaker 1 (01:48):
Well, the thing is they need something, They need that support,
and they need it right now. I know that the
police have come out and they have said that they're
better prepared than what they were last year when we
were in a similar situation. But the people of Alice
deserve to not be in this situation, like they've fought
long and hard they've been fighting long and hard about
this for a long time. I would have thought that
(02:10):
by this point, as we head into the summer months,
there would have been a bit of an order or
there would have been a bit of a look into
some of those organizations that are supposed to be delivering
different services to make sure that they're delivering them and
delivering them properly so we don't wind up with kids
roaming the streets and breaking the law.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
You're exactly right, Katie, and this is something we've been
calling for all year. We even wrote to the Prime
Minister going back to January or February, and he still
hasn't responded to us, saying that there needs to be
an ordit of all money going into youth services to
see whether there's duplication, whether the programs are working, and
we need to be holding everyone accountable. This is taxpayers
(02:46):
money we need.
Speaker 3 (02:47):
How come you wrote to the Prime Minister Win in January?
Speaker 2 (02:50):
It was January or February, Katie Win.
Speaker 3 (02:51):
No response. No, Still, yes, that's quite rude.
Speaker 2 (02:54):
Really, it shows the level of care that labor have
for this issue, and ultimately it's people in Alice Springs.
I mean, I was in ten at Creek last week.
They're suffering terribly there as well, Katie, as all territories.
But you know, Natasha Files and Brent Pott can fly
down to Alice and make some sort of shiny announcement.
The reality is our police can only do so much
(03:15):
because labor have disempowered them, which is why if this
is what Labour want to do, if they want to
make sure that police can't deal with youth offenders, then
they've got to make sure that territory families and other
agencies are there to pick up the slack because our
police's hands are tied and territory families don't work twenty
four hours a day.
Speaker 1 (03:32):
So do you think that territory families should be on
duty twenty four hours.
Speaker 3 (03:36):
A day now?
Speaker 2 (03:37):
Absolutely? If police have been disempowered to deal with yous
and we have used out in the street that our
police are not able to deal with, then whose responsibility
is that? It comes down to care and protection of
children issue, which means there needs to be a lot
more than just someone on call. It's not acceptable the
way the government has resourced and restructured this space. Something
(04:00):
really drastic needs to be done. But I think We're
just going to have holow promises and shiny letterheads today.
Speaker 1 (04:06):
Leah Robin Landley yesterday suggested that there should be an
ability for emergency lockdowns to occur.
Speaker 3 (04:12):
What do you think, Well, I.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
Guess it depends on the situation. Obviously, if there's something
very violent and catastrophic happening, police do that. Anyway. What
we don't want is to give in to the criminals, though,
we just want to deal with the criminals. I know
the CLP have tried. We've got legislation and policies ready
to go on strengthening bail, holding us accountable, holding parents accountable,
having mandatory community service, dealing with these criminal issues, but
(04:37):
also the underlying issues as well of why people turn
to a life of crime and how to turn that
life around. But labor are just not grappling with any
of these issues, not meeting community expectation, and ultimately we're
seeing crime rates higher than ever before.
Speaker 3 (04:52):
I understand Bill Yan got broken into as well. He did.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
His whole house was turned upside down and he doesn't
feel special and he said, Leah, it was my time.
It'd been a couple of years since I've been broken into,
And how I was heartbroken when he said that to me,
because that's how people feel in Alice Springs. You know,
if it's been a little while since the last breaking,
it must be your turn. And that is not normal,
it is not acceptable, it is not okay.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
Now, yesterday you delivered a keynote address to the Property
Council of the Northern Territory outlining your vision for the
Northern Territory. If the COLP is elected next year, still
on Alice Springs, what would you do in the first
one hundred days to try and turn things around for
Alice Springs.
Speaker 2 (05:32):
Firstly, well, that first Parliament, Katie, if we win in
August next year, will be around law and order reform.
We will empower our police to deal with public drinking
alcohol youth offenders. We will stop the endless second chances
of bail, which means less criminals out on our streets,
which will free up police time to be able to
do more proactive policing. There are a number of things
(05:55):
we can do immediately, which includes system wide reform. Obviously,
the audit will be a huge part of what we
do because we need to know where taxpayers dollars are
being spent and how we can spend them more effectively, perhaps.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
A firm that means in order to into some of
those NGOs that are supposed to be delivering services in aallus.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
Yeah, all of the spending, all of the spending is
their duplication. Are we missing you know, are there gaps
that need to be filled? Do we need more money?
Do we need less money? All of these things are
questions the current government can't answer because they just don't
have the information in front of them.
Speaker 1 (06:27):
I mean, lea, are you going to need to build
a bigger jail though, because by the sounds of it,
I mean, if we're talking about stopping the endless you know,
endless yeh. Second, people doing the wrong thing when they're
on bail, we're going to see more people locked up.
We already our jails are absolutely bursting at the same
so how do you deal with that? Yep?
Speaker 2 (06:45):
And that's an infrastructure question. And if we need a
new prisons, new facilities, and so be it. I mean
that to me is just a simple equation of it.
Does our infrastructure cope?
Speaker 3 (06:56):
It's not.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
It doesn't in and of itself solve the problem. So
my focus is on making sure criminals are not on
the street, offending that we're rehabilitating people when they are
in prison, and that we have the right programs in
place hopefully stop people entering a life of crime. But
if they do, then we give them every opportunity in
life to have a different pathway forward.
Speaker 1 (07:15):
All right, I want to step away from Alice Springs
for a moment and look more so at the Northern
Territory across the board in terms of your priorities and
in terms of that speech that you delivered yesterday, what
are your main priorities if you are elected in August
next year.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
So our focus is around three simple points. Take back
control of our streets, rebuild the territory's reputation, and get
our economy moving forwards.
Speaker 3 (07:39):
Again.
Speaker 2 (07:39):
We need to make sure that the territory is that
place of opportunity that we all remember it to be.
So people come here for an opportunity and they stay
for the lifestyle, and when those two issues come out
of balance, people leave. My focus is on getting back
to basics and ensuring that the opportunity peace is there
for the territory and that our lifestyle matches so that
(08:01):
people can live here in peace, in freedom, enjoying our
iconic lifestyle, but have a good job, a solid career,
a future, and that their kids see that future and
stay here too.
Speaker 1 (08:12):
Leah, great slogans, but how do you actually do that?
And how do you try to get that happening within
one hundred days?
Speaker 2 (08:19):
So you change the law. I mean, the beauty of
being in government means you hold the power in the parliament,
and we would change the laws immediately to empower police,
to make sure that we'd stop the endless second chances
of bail, to make sure that we are adequately delivering
consequences to people who do the wrong thing, lower the
age of criminal responsibility. When it comes to our economy,
(08:40):
we need to have a total shift in thinking on
how we deal with economic development. We already have legislation
ready around how we would fast track and facilitate investment
and that is a clear focus for us and area
that we will be pushing ahead because we know there
is no time to lose.
Speaker 1 (08:57):
How do you repair the Northern Tier's reputation right now?
Speaker 2 (09:02):
You have to get Lauren on a back under control.
You have to be a certain and secure place to invest,
and to do that you have to have a strong
government and with leadership at the top. It means you
have to set the rules of the game and then
stick to those rules so that people can go and
invest and live their lives and know that there is
that level of certainty. So rebuilding our reputation is critical
(09:24):
because people will continue to leave if we don't, and
people won't come until that's dealt weather And the only
way to rebuild our reputation is to have a safe
community and a strong economy.
Speaker 3 (09:33):
I mean one of the other things, so that we're
grappling with here in the territory.
Speaker 1 (09:36):
At the moment you're speaking about sort of major projects
and making sure that people have confidence in investing in
the Northern Territory. Again, how do you do that when
at the moment different projects that are you know, that
are underway. Let's look at Leepoint as an example. They
get underway and then obviously the handbrake gets pulled for
various reasons. So how do you then restore that confidence
(09:59):
in the Northern Territory as being a place that is
open for business. If you've then got environmental groups, indigenous
groups saying hang on a second, we're not happy with this.
Speaker 2 (10:07):
That's exactly right, and so it's about the rules of
the game, Kdie. It's about having a very clear framework
in which approvals processes are done and once they're done,
you know, that's the end of the story. There's got
to be certainty. We cannot continue in this ever changing
environment where the sands continue to shift.
Speaker 1 (10:24):
So what about a situation like Santos on the Tiwi Islands.
Speaker 2 (10:27):
Yeah, so obviously that's before the court, so that's a
slightly different situation. But what we know is there is
legislation we can change, for example, with gas labor brought
in legislation that allows third parties who have absolutely nothing
to do with the territory, nothing to do with the Bealoo,
nothing to do with anything, to be able to put
in objections and obfiscate the process. And we always fought
(10:49):
against that and that's something we can change relatively simply
in Parliament, which will give certainty to investors that they're
not going to have the time delays and stalls and
head from people who just seek to cause mischief.
Speaker 1 (11:02):
Here.
Speaker 3 (11:02):
Well, Leah and Occhio, we are going to have to
leave it there.
Speaker 1 (11:05):
We appreciate your time, appreciate you talking us through the
colp's platform. As well as you head into head into
I guess we're you know, we're only what nine months out?
Speaker 3 (11:15):
I think in the Northern Territory election.
Speaker 2 (11:16):
Two hundred and eighty four days, Katie. But I'm not
counting two.
Speaker 3 (11:20):
Hundred and eighty four days. Well, we do have a listener, Peter,
who is.
Speaker 1 (11:24):
Keeping an eye on those numbers, so we'll confirm that
that is correct. Two hundred and eighty four days. Leah
and Occhio. Appreciate your time, thanks for coming in this morning.
Speaker 2 (11:32):
You take care everyone.
Speaker 3 (11:32):
Thank you,
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