Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
But as we heard yesterday, Sky News has revealed that
the Northern Territory Government has reached a confidential settlement with
the Children's Commissioner.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
The former Children's Commissioner she's resigned now.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
Colleen Gwym, and it is amid calls for an independent
investigation into the failed attempt to have her prosecuted for
abusive office. Now details of the settlement are not going
to be released, but the Northern Territory Government has confirmed
that she's left that role. They sent the statement out
yesterday saying that she had resigned from her position now.
(00:31):
Miss Gwinn's resignation comes six months after she was acquitted
over a charge of abusive office, and the case was
thrown out of the Northern Territory Supreme Court in March
when the prosecution conceded that it did not have enough
evidence to proceed with the case. The Opposition leader Leah
Fanocchiaro joins me on the line. Good morning to you, Leah.
Speaker 3 (00:51):
Good morning Katie in to your listeners.
Speaker 1 (00:52):
Now, Leah, this is another confidential payout by the files government.
Should Territorians know how much the situation has cost? Well?
Speaker 3 (01:02):
I think what's even more important, Katie is that Territorians
know what hand the Labor government had in this. It's
been widely reported over a long period of time that
this is all sort of come to a head because
the government wanted miss Gwinn out of that position, and
so I think it's just another example of Territorians not
(01:25):
getting the full picture from what.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
Do you mean by what hands they had in it?
Are you suggesting that maybe they wanted her gone?
Speaker 3 (01:33):
Well, that has been reported. It's been reported that they
wanted a different Children's commissioner. So I think it just
it really is a situation that raises more questions than
there are actually answers for. And I think, of all people,
the Minister for Territory Families, the Chief Minister need to
be providing some explanation about how all of this has happened,
(01:55):
because once again we've got a very senior official vacating
a position and a confidential payment that goes with that.
So clearly there's something something's going on.
Speaker 1 (02:07):
Yeah, I mean, what do you think about the fact
that this is indeed another confidential payout? You know, I
think that plenty of people would understand that obviously Msgwin's
contract had to be paid out, but do we deserve
to know just how much this has cost?
Speaker 3 (02:22):
Well, I really want to know where the money has
come from. We know with the Chalker payout that it
came from the police bottom line, and so the serious
question that the government also hasn't answered is where is
this money coming from? Does it come from the Children's
Commissioner's budget or offer some other pot of money. But
ultimately that means there's going to be less service delivery
(02:44):
on the ground. So, like I said, Katie, there's plenty
of questions on this one, and as far as I
can see, the government's bearing its head now.
Speaker 1 (02:52):
Some have called for an independent investigation in an attempt
to have Miss Gwinn prosecuted so you know we know
what's going on. The independent MLA Keizypiric has said that
the government should order an independent investigation. She's told Sky
News that the question remains, why was there such an
intense scrutiny and action and cost for what was basically
(03:14):
a HR matter. Do you think there needs to be
an independent investigation?
Speaker 3 (03:19):
Well, there's certainly, at a minimum many questions that need
to be answered, Katie, and certainly I'm not sure if
that's within the remit of the EYECAC or not. But
there are plenty of scrutiny bodies that can provide that
level of oversight. But ultimately, why do we always have
to get to this point? You know, we have a
government that promised to be open and transparent, and it
(03:39):
seems that we're constantly having to try and force them
to disclose information give territories the real picture on what's
going on, when really they could just come forward and
be transparent with the community about the decisions they make.
Speaker 1 (03:53):
All right, I do want to move along to the
fact that there's another code yellow in place at the hospital. Well,
it's for both the hospitals. It was called yesterday afternoon.
The Health Department reckons they will not have to defer
elective surgeries. I've lost count of how many of these
we've had now, but this does show that the system
is under pressure and needs serious investment. The government's announced
(04:14):
additional beds, but they really don't seem to be able
to get them online and serviceable soon enough. What do
you think needs to happen to relieve the pressure on
Royal Darwin and indeed Palmeston Hospital at the moment.
Speaker 3 (04:27):
Well, I've got the data for you, Katie. So there
have been five code yellows at Darwin Royal Darwin this
year and six in Palmeston, and of course the eighteen
months preceding this year or well over a dozen. So
it's interesting that this time they're not canceling elective surgeries
because of course we've seen many Territorians affected and having
(04:49):
to live in chronic pain as a result of waiting.
But you know what needs to happen is we need
to be reducing demand for our hospitals through things like
compulsory alcohol reab We know that alcohol harm creates a
huge workload on our hospital, but equally we need to
be properly supporting our staff there. We've seen an enormous
(05:11):
churn through the hospital system, huge workloads over time from
nurses and doctors at levels that are unsustainable and dangerous
for themselves with fatigue management. So we have this system
totally understrain and under pressure. The Chief Minister is the
Health Minister, and yet we just see these rolling cold
(05:31):
yet code yellows and sort of a shrug of the
shoulders by government like as if that's normal operating practice.
It just isn't, and it's not acceptable. It's not acceptable
for the workforce, and it's not acceptable for our community.
Speaker 2 (05:44):
Yeah, look, I agree with you.
Speaker 1 (05:45):
I don't think that we should be in a situation
like we are at the moment where we do seem
to be going from code yellow to code yellow. I mean,
I have been told in recent weeks of elderly patients
waiting in ambulances outside of the hospital periods of time
while they wait to be able to get into the ED.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
You know, these are.
Speaker 1 (06:04):
Situations that nobody wants to see here in the Northern Territory. Unfortunately,
we do see right around the nation at the moment
that it does seem to be that there are a
lot of hospitals that are under stress due to you know,
due to a lack of staff I suppose, But for
us in the territory, it seems to be ongoing. I mean, Leah,
are we in a situation though that we have to
(06:24):
accept that this is you know, it's the way that
things are. We're understressed because we don't get enough federal funding.
I mean, that's something that we've heard on numerous occasions
from the AMA.
Speaker 3 (06:34):
No, these are excuses, of course, no one's going to
say no to more federal funding. But money in and
of itself is not an answer. It doesn't drive outcomes,
It doesn't you know, money doesn't fix someone's knee or
ensure that there's a bed when you need it. So
we've also got to be looking at the structures of
our health system. Why aren't we attracting people? Why aren't
(06:55):
we retaining people? Katie. A huge part of that is crime,
and again it's the economic and social cost. People in
particularly our frontline workers are facing levels of abuse that
we've never seen before. On top of the crime they're
facing in their community that it is too much for
so many and people are leaving. It's then also having
(07:17):
an enormous impact on being able to attract staff. I
can't tell you how many businesses I meet with and
tell me that when they ask people to come to
the territory, people saying no way. And so the reputational
damage of crime is having a direct impact on our
ability to deliver healthcare in the territory. And that's why
it's so important to take back control of our streets
(07:39):
because literally everything else is falling apart around our laur
and audio issue.
Speaker 2 (07:44):
You touched on this a moment ago.
Speaker 1 (07:45):
You touched on the alcohol and alcohol obviously having an impact,
you know, in terms of the presentations to our emergency departments.
I mean we need to do something drastically like happened
in Alla Springs. Do we need to have alcohol restrictions
in place a couple of days a week right around
the territory to give some to ease some of the
pressure or on our health system.
Speaker 3 (08:07):
Well, I think we're just going to see huge spikes
on the other days, Katie. I don't think that's a
long term solution. What is a long term solution is
dealing with the root cause of the harm in the
first place. And that's why we can't understand why this
government doesn't want to support a compulsory rehabilitation for chronicly
affected alcoholics. And that's our policy. Our policy is to
(08:29):
make sure that people who are chronically affected by alcohol
causing harm to themselves, the community and their family I
dealt with appropriately and put into rehabilitation because we cannot
allow the continuation of that harm in our community. From
a crime perspective, from a social welfare perspective, from a
demand on our health services and policing perspective. There are
(08:51):
so many reasons why dealing with people's relationship to alcohol
is so much more effective in the long run than
it is to just shut the roller doors one day
a week.
Speaker 1 (09:02):
All right, I want to move along because on Monday
I questioned the Deputy Chief Minister about the Chief Minister's
trip to the US with a staffer. Now, it has
cost more than ninety thousand dollars. But if you miss
the conversation with Nicole Madison, well, this is what we've learned.
Speaker 2 (09:18):
Yes, I believe we've got some public servants also on
that trip. But what I would say, how much did
that cost for them to go? I don't have that
in front of me, but we can get that for you.
But what I will say, Katie.
Speaker 1 (09:28):
Is so can I just clarify that that's on top
of the ninety two thousand dollars?
Speaker 2 (09:32):
Of course, oh yes that would be.
Speaker 1 (09:34):
But I just don't have that figure in front of me, Katie,
so Lea, we now know that it wasn't just the
Chief Minister and one staffer. There's also two public servants.
Now it has been revealed again by this show that
we've got a situation where those two staff members. They've
confirmed that it was the I'm just trying to find
exactly who they were, but it was the Major Projects
(09:58):
Commissioner as well as senior Director of Investment.
Speaker 2 (10:03):
What do you make of that, Well, we've.
Speaker 3 (10:05):
Got a ninety two thousand dollars trip that's cost ten
thousand dollars a day. That's just for a Natasha filesand
two staff to go. Now we've got two additional public
servants attending. That's five people from the territory going to
the United States for what really has been an undisclosed trip.
I mean to just broadly say, a meeting with US
(10:26):
officials around our connection to the Marines is insufficient to
justify the spend. Now, most people can accept that from
time to time governments have to travel overseas and put
our best foot forward to do business. Now that is
critically important. But what is missing from this is the
transparency around the cost and the transparency around the justification
(10:47):
for a ten thousand dollars a day, nine day trip,
which now the bill is even higher. We don't know
how much more it's costing for these additional two public
servants to attend.
Speaker 1 (10:57):
I mean, she says that the meeting with the Department
of Foreign Affairs and Trade, the Bureau of Energy Resources,
the Australian Defense Force and the US Defense Force.
Speaker 2 (11:08):
Is that good enough? Like, are they meetings that do
need to happen?
Speaker 3 (11:12):
Well, they might be, but do they need to be
happening over a nine day period at a cost of
more than ten thousand dollars a day? I don't think so.
And nothing has been provided to the public to the
contrary to that. And also, let's not forget that defense
issues are actually a matter for the federal government. So
Natasha Files's influence and role in this is equally as
(11:35):
questionable because it doesn't appear to be some sort of
delegation with the federal government and the Federal Defense Minister.
So there's a total lack of justification for the cost.
We don't know what the outcomes of the meetings are
supposed to be, and there hasn't been the transparency from
the start. Let's not forget, you know, it's been dragged
out of them, the cost of the ninety two thousand,
(11:57):
it's been dragged out of them, the reasons that they're
there in the first place, and it's relatedly been dragged
out of them that two senior public servants also attended
along with the two staffers and the Chief Ministers. So
why she needs a positi of four people around her
to attend these meetings, I don't know, but that means
Territorians don't know either, which means they have not justified
(12:19):
the cost of this trip at a time when cost
of living is literally forcing people to make decision about
how they put food on the table.
Speaker 1 (12:27):
I did ask the Deputy Chief Minister on Monday as well,
Nicole Madison, if they're going to commit from this point
on to publishing those costs before these trips actually happen.
I think it's imperative, particularly when you look at the
cost of the trip for Minister Lauren Moss to head
to a United Nations conference on water where the actual
(12:49):
flights cost more than fifty thousand dollars Like that is
an astronomical amount of money on flights.
Speaker 2 (12:55):
It's quite unbelievable.
Speaker 1 (12:57):
Will the COLP commit to publishing the cost of any
trips that you undertake if you are indeed elected in
August next.
Speaker 3 (13:05):
Year, without question, Katie, and this was a twenty sixteen
election commitment by Labor which they've failed. It's a broken
promise and for the Deputy Chief Minister to come out
and say, oh we're going to pick it back up again,
it's too little, too late. If the CLP is elected
next year, I can guarantee we will publish the reason
for the trip and the cost in advance, because people
(13:27):
have a right to know, and when we have a
ten billion dollar debt, a cost of living crisis, an
economy going backwards, Territorians deserve and need to know how
and why we are spending their Money's trips are not
necessarily a bad thing, but if you are too afraid
as a government to be able to justify and articulate
(13:47):
the spend to the community, it sends an alarm bell
to territorians. And so we will make sure those trips
are justified, accounted for, and that you're absolutely making decisions
to try and limit their cost. You know, you don't
have to fly on the most ideal flight that suits
your agenda that day.
Speaker 2 (14:07):
You don't have to faw you don't have to fly business.
Speaker 1 (14:09):
So you don't have to fly you know, in my opinion,
you don't have to fly business. Is that something that
the CLP would do well.
Speaker 3 (14:16):
We actually had an election commitment in twenty twenty around
no public servants or government officials or ministers or anyone
flying business within Australia because you know, but this.
Speaker 1 (14:29):
Is an overseas trip. I mean, would the COLP commit
to the same thing for overseas.
Speaker 3 (14:33):
Or well, you know, I think overseas. You know, if
you're flying seventeen hours and you've got to hit the
ground running and walk straight into a meeting, then perhaps
you need to be able to have a sleep on
the plane. But ultimately it's about ensuring that the spend
is justified and reasonable. If a flight is fifty thousand dollars,
in no one's book is that justified or reasonable. So
(14:53):
you either change the time you fly, change how you fly,
or you don't go, or you know, you make other
decision around where you stay. But just spending money for
the sake of it is totally unacceptable. Territorians don't live
like that and neither should government.
Speaker 1 (15:08):
Lea just Finally, the COLP issued a pressure leace towards
the end of last week, saying that today's national accounts
paint another grim picture for the Northern Territory's economy. This
quarter's results now putting the territory in a technical recession.
So do you believe The Northern Territory is in a
recession right now.
Speaker 3 (15:29):
Yep, the Northern Territory is in technical recession. It is
a very scary time. But we don't even need the
national accounts to tell us that the territory economy is
going backwards.
Speaker 2 (15:39):
We've got the through though. You know why you do
believe we're in a technical recession when.
Speaker 3 (15:45):
The national accounts have said so, Katie. So when you
have consecutive quarters of negative growth, it puts you in
technical recession. We know that what is it now about
nineteen consecutive quarters comsec have rained us last in the
country for economic growth. We've had Deloitte come out and
say the same. We've had the ABS start to come
out and say the same. Now we've got the national
(16:06):
account we know that there is this promise after promise
of project that never happens from this government. More projects
are failing than they are transpiring. You think of the
luxury hotel, the prawn farm. We've got the ship lift
with a huge question mark over it, some cable with
a huge question mark over it. We've got the lowest
wages growth in the country and the highest CPI, which
(16:28):
means people are paying more with less.
Speaker 2 (16:32):
How do we turn it around? How would you turn
it around?
Speaker 3 (16:35):
So our policy is around our economic policies are around
unlocking our opportunities. We have to pull the regulatory leavers
available to us to get things moving immediately. So it's
around our policy of the Territory Coordinator to fast track
and facilitate investment and cut through red tape. Our policy
around splashing all the perival time frames across government by
(16:59):
fifty percent. They're going to give confidence to invest in
the territory and they're going to see money flowing immediately.
But on top of that, Katie, we have to rebuild
our reputation because crime is impacting our tourism industries and
small business and they're major players in our economy. Most businesses,
like ninety plus percent are small business and they are
(17:22):
totally under siege and it's costing them and costing territory,
and so we have to tackle crime, rebuild our reputation
to get our economy moving forward.
Speaker 1 (17:31):
Leah, we have run out of time. I always appreciate
you coming on the show. Thank you very much for
having a chat with us and changing that day for
us this week.
Speaker 3 (17:40):
No all good.
Speaker 2 (17:40):
Thank you to everyone
But as we heard yesterday, Sky News has revealed that
the Northern Territory Government has reached a confidential settlement with
the Children's Commissioner.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
The former Children's Commissioner she's resigned now.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
Colleen Gwym, and it is amid calls for an independent
investigation into the failed attempt to have her prosecuted for
abusive office. Now details of the settlement are not going
to be released, but the Northern Territory Government has confirmed
that she's left that role. They sent the statement out
yesterday saying that she had resigned from her position now.
(00:31):
Miss Gwinn's resignation comes six months after she was acquitted
over a charge of abusive office, and the case was
thrown out of the Northern Territory Supreme Court in March
when the prosecution conceded that it did not have enough
evidence to proceed with the case. The Opposition leader Leah
Fanocchiaro joins me on the line. Good morning to you, Leah.
Speaker 3 (00:51):
Good morning Katie in to your listeners.
Speaker 1 (00:52):
Now, Leah, this is another confidential payout by the files government.
Should Territorians know how much the situation has cost? Well?
Speaker 3 (01:02):
I think what's even more important, Katie is that Territorians
know what hand the Labor government had in this. It's
been widely reported over a long period of time that
this is all sort of come to a head because
the government wanted miss Gwinn out of that position, and
so I think it's just another example of Territorians not
(01:25):
getting the full picture from what.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
Do you mean by what hands they had in it?
Are you suggesting that maybe they wanted her gone?
Speaker 3 (01:33):
Well, that has been reported. It's been reported that they
wanted a different Children's commissioner. So I think it just
it really is a situation that raises more questions than
there are actually answers for. And I think, of all people,
the Minister for Territory Families, the Chief Minister need to
be providing some explanation about how all of this has happened,
(01:55):
because once again we've got a very senior official vacating
a position and a confidential payment that goes with that.
So clearly there's something something's going on.
Speaker 1 (02:07):
Yeah, I mean, what do you think about the fact
that this is indeed another confidential payout? You know, I
think that plenty of people would understand that obviously Msgwin's
contract had to be paid out, but do we deserve
to know just how much this has cost?
Speaker 3 (02:22):
Well, I really want to know where the money has
come from. We know with the Chalker payout that it
came from the police bottom line, and so the serious
question that the government also hasn't answered is where is
this money coming from? Does it come from the Children's
Commissioner's budget or offer some other pot of money. But
ultimately that means there's going to be less service delivery
(02:44):
on the ground. So, like I said, Katie, there's plenty
of questions on this one, and as far as I
can see, the government's bearing its head now.
Speaker 1 (02:52):
Some have called for an independent investigation in an attempt
to have Miss Gwinn prosecuted so you know we know
what's going on. The independent MLA Keizypiric has said that
the government should order an independent investigation. She's told Sky
News that the question remains, why was there such an
intense scrutiny and action and cost for what was basically
(03:14):
a HR matter. Do you think there needs to be
an independent investigation?
Speaker 3 (03:19):
Well, there's certainly, at a minimum many questions that need
to be answered, Katie, and certainly I'm not sure if
that's within the remit of the EYECAC or not. But
there are plenty of scrutiny bodies that can provide that
level of oversight. But ultimately, why do we always have
to get to this point? You know, we have a
government that promised to be open and transparent, and it
(03:39):
seems that we're constantly having to try and force them
to disclose information give territories the real picture on what's
going on, when really they could just come forward and
be transparent with the community about the decisions they make.
Speaker 1 (03:53):
All right, I do want to move along to the
fact that there's another code yellow in place at the hospital. Well,
it's for both the hospitals. It was called yesterday afternoon.
The Health Department reckons they will not have to defer
elective surgeries. I've lost count of how many of these
we've had now, but this does show that the system
is under pressure and needs serious investment. The government's announced
(04:14):
additional beds, but they really don't seem to be able
to get them online and serviceable soon enough. What do
you think needs to happen to relieve the pressure on
Royal Darwin and indeed Palmeston Hospital at the moment.
Speaker 3 (04:27):
Well, I've got the data for you, Katie. So there
have been five code yellows at Darwin Royal Darwin this
year and six in Palmeston, and of course the eighteen
months preceding this year or well over a dozen. So
it's interesting that this time they're not canceling elective surgeries
because of course we've seen many Territorians affected and having
(04:49):
to live in chronic pain as a result of waiting.
But you know what needs to happen is we need
to be reducing demand for our hospitals through things like
compulsory alcohol reab We know that alcohol harm creates a
huge workload on our hospital, but equally we need to
be properly supporting our staff there. We've seen an enormous
(05:11):
churn through the hospital system, huge workloads over time from
nurses and doctors at levels that are unsustainable and dangerous
for themselves with fatigue management. So we have this system
totally understrain and under pressure. The Chief Minister is the
Health Minister, and yet we just see these rolling cold
(05:31):
yet code yellows and sort of a shrug of the
shoulders by government like as if that's normal operating practice.
It just isn't, and it's not acceptable. It's not acceptable
for the workforce, and it's not acceptable for our community.
Speaker 2 (05:44):
Yeah, look, I agree with you.
Speaker 1 (05:45):
I don't think that we should be in a situation
like we are at the moment where we do seem
to be going from code yellow to code yellow. I mean,
I have been told in recent weeks of elderly patients
waiting in ambulances outside of the hospital periods of time
while they wait to be able to get into the ED.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
You know, these are.
Speaker 1 (06:04):
Situations that nobody wants to see here in the Northern Territory. Unfortunately,
we do see right around the nation at the moment
that it does seem to be that there are a
lot of hospitals that are under stress due to you know,
due to a lack of staff I suppose, But for
us in the territory, it seems to be ongoing. I mean, Leah,
are we in a situation though that we have to
(06:24):
accept that this is you know, it's the way that
things are. We're understressed because we don't get enough federal funding.
I mean, that's something that we've heard on numerous occasions
from the AMA.
Speaker 3 (06:34):
No, these are excuses, of course, no one's going to
say no to more federal funding. But money in and
of itself is not an answer. It doesn't drive outcomes,
It doesn't you know, money doesn't fix someone's knee or
ensure that there's a bed when you need it. So
we've also got to be looking at the structures of
our health system. Why aren't we attracting people? Why aren't
(06:55):
we retaining people? Katie. A huge part of that is crime,
and again it's the economic and social cost. People in
particularly our frontline workers are facing levels of abuse that
we've never seen before. On top of the crime they're
facing in their community that it is too much for
so many and people are leaving. It's then also having
(07:17):
an enormous impact on being able to attract staff. I
can't tell you how many businesses I meet with and
tell me that when they ask people to come to
the territory, people saying no way. And so the reputational
damage of crime is having a direct impact on our
ability to deliver healthcare in the territory. And that's why
it's so important to take back control of our streets
(07:39):
because literally everything else is falling apart around our laur
and audio issue.
Speaker 2 (07:44):
You touched on this a moment ago.
Speaker 1 (07:45):
You touched on the alcohol and alcohol obviously having an impact,
you know, in terms of the presentations to our emergency departments.
I mean we need to do something drastically like happened
in Alla Springs. Do we need to have alcohol restrictions
in place a couple of days a week right around
the territory to give some to ease some of the
pressure or on our health system.
Speaker 3 (08:07):
Well, I think we're just going to see huge spikes
on the other days, Katie. I don't think that's a
long term solution. What is a long term solution is
dealing with the root cause of the harm in the
first place. And that's why we can't understand why this
government doesn't want to support a compulsory rehabilitation for chronicly
affected alcoholics. And that's our policy. Our policy is to
(08:29):
make sure that people who are chronically affected by alcohol
causing harm to themselves, the community and their family I
dealt with appropriately and put into rehabilitation because we cannot
allow the continuation of that harm in our community. From
a crime perspective, from a social welfare perspective, from a
demand on our health services and policing perspective. There are
(08:51):
so many reasons why dealing with people's relationship to alcohol
is so much more effective in the long run than
it is to just shut the roller doors one day
a week.
Speaker 1 (09:02):
All right, I want to move along because on Monday
I questioned the Deputy Chief Minister about the Chief Minister's
trip to the US with a staffer. Now, it has
cost more than ninety thousand dollars. But if you miss
the conversation with Nicole Madison, well, this is what we've learned.
Speaker 2 (09:18):
Yes, I believe we've got some public servants also on
that trip. But what I would say, how much did
that cost for them to go? I don't have that
in front of me, but we can get that for you.
But what I will say, Katie.
Speaker 1 (09:28):
Is so can I just clarify that that's on top
of the ninety two thousand dollars?
Speaker 2 (09:32):
Of course, oh yes that would be.
Speaker 1 (09:34):
But I just don't have that figure in front of me, Katie,
so Lea, we now know that it wasn't just the
Chief Minister and one staffer. There's also two public servants.
Now it has been revealed again by this show that
we've got a situation where those two staff members. They've
confirmed that it was the I'm just trying to find
exactly who they were, but it was the Major Projects
(09:58):
Commissioner as well as senior Director of Investment.
Speaker 2 (10:03):
What do you make of that, Well, we've.
Speaker 3 (10:05):
Got a ninety two thousand dollars trip that's cost ten
thousand dollars a day. That's just for a Natasha filesand
two staff to go. Now we've got two additional public
servants attending. That's five people from the territory going to
the United States for what really has been an undisclosed trip.
I mean to just broadly say, a meeting with US
(10:26):
officials around our connection to the Marines is insufficient to
justify the spend. Now, most people can accept that from
time to time governments have to travel overseas and put
our best foot forward to do business. Now that is
critically important. But what is missing from this is the
transparency around the cost and the transparency around the justification
(10:47):
for a ten thousand dollars a day, nine day trip,
which now the bill is even higher. We don't know
how much more it's costing for these additional two public
servants to attend.
Speaker 1 (10:57):
I mean, she says that the meeting with the Department
of Foreign Affairs and Trade, the Bureau of Energy Resources,
the Australian Defense Force and the US Defense Force.
Speaker 2 (11:08):
Is that good enough? Like, are they meetings that do
need to happen?
Speaker 3 (11:12):
Well, they might be, but do they need to be
happening over a nine day period at a cost of
more than ten thousand dollars a day? I don't think so.
And nothing has been provided to the public to the
contrary to that. And also, let's not forget that defense
issues are actually a matter for the federal government. So
Natasha Files's influence and role in this is equally as
(11:35):
questionable because it doesn't appear to be some sort of
delegation with the federal government and the Federal Defense Minister.
So there's a total lack of justification for the cost.
We don't know what the outcomes of the meetings are
supposed to be, and there hasn't been the transparency from
the start. Let's not forget, you know, it's been dragged
out of them, the cost of the ninety two thousand,
(11:57):
it's been dragged out of them, the reasons that they're
there in the first place, and it's relatedly been dragged
out of them that two senior public servants also attended
along with the two staffers and the Chief Ministers. So
why she needs a positi of four people around her
to attend these meetings, I don't know, but that means
Territorians don't know either, which means they have not justified
(12:19):
the cost of this trip at a time when cost
of living is literally forcing people to make decision about
how they put food on the table.
Speaker 1 (12:27):
I did ask the Deputy Chief Minister on Monday as well,
Nicole Madison, if they're going to commit from this point
on to publishing those costs before these trips actually happen.
I think it's imperative, particularly when you look at the
cost of the trip for Minister Lauren Moss to head
to a United Nations conference on water where the actual
(12:49):
flights cost more than fifty thousand dollars Like that is
an astronomical amount of money on flights.
Speaker 2 (12:55):
It's quite unbelievable.
Speaker 1 (12:57):
Will the COLP commit to publishing the cost of any
trips that you undertake if you are indeed elected in
August next.
Speaker 3 (13:05):
Year, without question, Katie, and this was a twenty sixteen
election commitment by Labor which they've failed. It's a broken
promise and for the Deputy Chief Minister to come out
and say, oh we're going to pick it back up again,
it's too little, too late. If the CLP is elected
next year, I can guarantee we will publish the reason
for the trip and the cost in advance, because people
(13:27):
have a right to know, and when we have a
ten billion dollar debt, a cost of living crisis, an
economy going backwards, Territorians deserve and need to know how
and why we are spending their Money's trips are not
necessarily a bad thing, but if you are too afraid
as a government to be able to justify and articulate
(13:47):
the spend to the community, it sends an alarm bell
to territorians. And so we will make sure those trips
are justified, accounted for, and that you're absolutely making decisions
to try and limit their cost. You know, you don't
have to fly on the most ideal flight that suits
your agenda that day.
Speaker 2 (14:07):
You don't have to faw you don't have to fly business.
Speaker 1 (14:09):
So you don't have to fly you know, in my opinion,
you don't have to fly business. Is that something that
the CLP would do well.
Speaker 3 (14:16):
We actually had an election commitment in twenty twenty around
no public servants or government officials or ministers or anyone
flying business within Australia because you know, but this.
Speaker 1 (14:29):
Is an overseas trip. I mean, would the COLP commit
to the same thing for overseas.
Speaker 3 (14:33):
Or well, you know, I think overseas. You know, if
you're flying seventeen hours and you've got to hit the
ground running and walk straight into a meeting, then perhaps
you need to be able to have a sleep on
the plane. But ultimately it's about ensuring that the spend
is justified and reasonable. If a flight is fifty thousand dollars,
in no one's book is that justified or reasonable. So
(14:53):
you either change the time you fly, change how you fly,
or you don't go, or you know, you make other
decision around where you stay. But just spending money for
the sake of it is totally unacceptable. Territorians don't live
like that and neither should government.
Speaker 1 (15:08):
Lea just Finally, the COLP issued a pressure leace towards
the end of last week, saying that today's national accounts
paint another grim picture for the Northern Territory's economy. This
quarter's results now putting the territory in a technical recession.
So do you believe The Northern Territory is in a
recession right now.
Speaker 3 (15:29):
Yep, the Northern Territory is in technical recession. It is
a very scary time. But we don't even need the
national accounts to tell us that the territory economy is
going backwards.
Speaker 2 (15:39):
We've got the through though. You know why you do
believe we're in a technical recession when.
Speaker 3 (15:45):
The national accounts have said so, Katie. So when you
have consecutive quarters of negative growth, it puts you in
technical recession. We know that what is it now about
nineteen consecutive quarters comsec have rained us last in the
country for economic growth. We've had Deloitte come out and
say the same. We've had the ABS start to come
out and say the same. Now we've got the national
(16:06):
account we know that there is this promise after promise
of project that never happens from this government. More projects
are failing than they are transpiring. You think of the
luxury hotel, the prawn farm. We've got the ship lift
with a huge question mark over it, some cable with
a huge question mark over it. We've got the lowest
wages growth in the country and the highest CPI, which
(16:28):
means people are paying more with less.
Speaker 2 (16:32):
How do we turn it around? How would you turn
it around?
Speaker 3 (16:35):
So our policy is around our economic policies are around
unlocking our opportunities. We have to pull the regulatory leavers
available to us to get things moving immediately. So it's
around our policy of the Territory Coordinator to fast track
and facilitate investment and cut through red tape. Our policy
around splashing all the perival time frames across government by
(16:59):
fifty percent. They're going to give confidence to invest in
the territory and they're going to see money flowing immediately.
But on top of that, Katie, we have to rebuild
our reputation because crime is impacting our tourism industries and
small business and they're major players in our economy. Most businesses,
like ninety plus percent are small business and they are
(17:22):
totally under siege and it's costing them and costing territory,
and so we have to tackle crime, rebuild our reputation
to get our economy moving forward.
Speaker 1 (17:31):
Leah, we have run out of time. I always appreciate
you coming on the show. Thank you very much for
having a chat with us and changing that day for
us this week.
Speaker 3 (17:40):
No all good.
Speaker 2 (17:40):
Thank you to everyone
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