Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Now, obviously the focus this morning is remaining on the
Big Rivers region and the Opposition leader's electorate of Arnham
takes in many of the areas which have been impacted
by the floods. Joining us on the line is the
Opposition leader Selena Ubo. Good morning to you, Selena.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
Good morning Katie.
Speaker 3 (00:17):
Now it's been a.
Speaker 1 (00:17):
Hectic weekend with a huge logistical effort to evacuate some
remote community residents.
Speaker 3 (00:24):
You've been in constant contact with people.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
How have they been, yeah, has Katie. It has been
very stressful for the people of Catherine and the surrounding area,
but particularly the communities in my electorates, so wig most
people would know as Beswick is the other name. The
lower subdivision was evacuated on Friday to the High subdivision,
so people were pretty displaced there, but everyone was pretty calm.
(00:50):
Once I actually spoke to people, my anxiety went down
a bit, Katie. But in terms of people being safe,
that was the number one priority, which I'm very grateful
for and the work that the police and the community
did on the ground, as well as the school. They
became the evacuation center of Wigela or Basic School. Also
down the track, a little bit too. The community of
(01:11):
Mataranka was evacuated completely on Saturday afternoon. There was a
bit of misinformation about whether to evacuate or not on
Saturday morning, and I think that caused, you know, again
a bit of anxiety for people. But people moved in
officially evacuated to Madaranka. There's two shelters that have been
stood up there. Not a lot in terms of resources
(01:32):
because of the quick amount of time to get people out. Again,
people safe there, but again just a bit of frustration
around the lack of communication and lack of resources there.
So I just wanting to make sure that people know,
you know, people are safe, but then also to not
forget about them, because of course there's been a huge
and rightly so focus on Catherine and the surrounding area.
(01:54):
They've now received the announcement that they will be available
to receive the disaster fund relief, which I think is
really important. We haven't heard yet, Katie from the Anti government,
if places like Wiggla and Jilkming in a Matteranka, who've
also had their homes inundated with water and have lost
(02:14):
their goods and personal property, if they will be able
to be assessed and to be able to access the
same disaster relief as the people of Catherine, which I
think they should.
Speaker 3 (02:24):
Well, we'll find out.
Speaker 1 (02:25):
We are going to be catching up with the federal
Minister chrisy McBain this morning to talk a little bit
more about these payments and we'll see if we can
find out exactly who's eligible. I mean you did touch
on a moment ago a lack of communication. Who were
the residents sort of where did that frustration come from?
Speaker 2 (02:43):
Well, when people were told in Jilkming and as an example,
Katie to they could self evacuate, then it was officially
declared to evacuate and understand, things change, people are aware
of that, but when there's no place that's set up
to go to, people I think get very concerned and
anxious first and then that frustration kind of grows from there.
(03:04):
When there's been a really interesting balance about you the
worth and the use of evacuation center the shelter, and
there's different processes attached to both. Katie, I've been trying
to work through to make sure that I can provide
the latest information for my constituents and also Catherine residents
(03:24):
have been reaching out directly to me, particularly on messages
and Facebook Over the last couple of days, there's been
some concerns, you know, five to seven hundred people accessing
the shelters in Catherine, but miscommunication or not understanding some
of the messaging around what you can bring to the shelter,
what's provided and what's not provided. More importantly, and then
(03:45):
a bit of sort of you know, getting people getting
together and being able to support and address those issues.
Speaker 3 (03:52):
Sound rude, but is it a bit of sort of semantics?
Speaker 1 (03:55):
Are you kind of you know, like, is it sort
of a situation here with some of those emergency crews
would imagine absolutely under the pump or some of those
people that are working on the ground are absolutely under
the pump. I mean, is it sort of you know,
maybe having a crack for having a crack's sake?
Speaker 2 (04:11):
Oh No, definitely not in this case, because I'll give
you an example, Katie, where I've had constituents from my
electorate who are not Catherine residents who were flooded into
Catherine because the roads closed. They weren't able to get
back to their community. They then had to go to
the Catherine shelter. You had to bring your own bedding
and food. They weren't able to do that because they
don't live in Catherine, so they weren't just moving from
(04:33):
home in Catherine to the shelter. They were literally a
couple of hundred commers away from their community. So there's
those instances. So that's why I'm not trying to have
a crack at all in this case. But when people
have said, oh, you know that people got to bring
their own food, and they should know that. But then
when people have brought food and they're not able to cook,
you know, there's also that kind of stress level. And
it's not no flight on the emergency service workers, all
(04:56):
the volunteers. Just if you rock up with three days
of food, you're going to expect that you're able to
talk to that's not part of Yeah, that's not part
of the shelter rules. And people were frustrated with that
because they they some of the people who were prepared
were then not able to provide food to them in
the way that they thought they would, you know, which
I mean I think absolutely can be resolved in the future.
(05:18):
This should definitely be a learning point. But big thanks
to all the people who volunteered, those emergency service workers
who are still going those business owners, particularly in Catherine
and Madaranka and Wiggla who've stepped up and spending their
own time supporting fellow community members. It's been such a
huge pressure and weight on the region and to then
(05:39):
be able to get people safe number one, but you
know fed and you know, sleeping with dignity when they
are spending many nights away from home. So it's definite
a crack. It's going to say, what can we do
better next time?
Speaker 1 (05:52):
Now, any idea at this point in time, you know,
of any of the damage or way too early to
tell at this point in.
Speaker 2 (05:59):
Those I think yeah, I think too early. For wiggl Art,
people were able to get home to the lower sub
yesterday and check their homes to move anything further up
because they've gone back to moderate flooding warning today, Katie,
so more water unfortunately for us in that area off
the Waterhouse River. But also in Madaranka there's one particular
(06:21):
property where people where neighbors went in and helped, you know,
move some things around. So people are really stepping up
and looking after you know, fellow community members and neighbors,
which is the territory way I reckon. But also food
security and supply where we've seen, you know, some essential
flight supplies and critical goods start to diminish. Being able
(06:42):
to know and understand where that's coming from and when
it's coming I think will be really important. And the
rural blocks and Catherine, you know there's people who can't
get throughout that Florina roadway. Are they going to be
food dropped? So just some of that more communication will
be really important. When people have stopped up for those
couple of days, not going to be able to access
essential goods and services, how will they be supported? I
(07:04):
think yeah, just a bit more information from the government
round that would really put a lot of people's anxiety
at base.
Speaker 1 (07:10):
Look, we've put a number of requests in to have
the incident controller on the show because I actually think
that that's the person who needs to answer these operational questions.
So we've put in a number of requests to have
that person, whoever it is for today on the show.
To no avail at this point in time, but we
will certainly keep trying.
Speaker 3 (07:27):
Opposition Leader.
Speaker 1 (07:28):
Before I let you go, and I know your press
for time, you've got to get into Parliament. I do
want to talk about this situation with the pump out
at the Darwin River Dam. It's an unprecedented situation, is
what we are being told at this moment. The Chief
Minister had joined us a little earlier and said, you know,
there's no need to panic that they are certainly working
on this. We're due to catch up with power and
(07:49):
water at eleven o'clock this morning. Now, you used to
be the Minister for Essential Services, didn't you?
Speaker 3 (07:54):
Did you ever hold that?
Speaker 2 (07:55):
Yes?
Speaker 3 (07:55):
I did. What are you like from.
Speaker 1 (07:57):
Your perspective, do you know and from I'm a assuming
modeling that's been done in the past. Do you know
if they would have some contingencies up their.
Speaker 2 (08:05):
Slaves well, for this particular one, I would expect they would.
But in terms of the flow of information and communication out,
I think that's been a big concern with looking back
at the time frames of last night in particular, and
I know people, you know, it's late at night, but
information like that's quite critical, Katie, is people waking up
to hear that news, or of people who would have
(08:26):
been awake last night to see it or read it
for themselves. So you know, again, communication around what to
do what not to do in these situations is critical,
but what's the plan, what is the contingency plan in
the process, and you think of every worst case scenario
in a business, then of course in our central services
that also follows through. So I think that the government,
(08:48):
and I hear that they're going to speak today at
lunch time, should have some more information for people, and
rightly so, they should be on top of this. The
Central Services Minister sharing posts on social media about it,
like you should have come out done a statement. Yes,
I know it's late at night, but that's politics. We
work sometimes twenty four hours to be able to get
information out to the public that's in the best interest
of the public, and I think they really need to
(09:10):
step up in this space.
Speaker 1 (09:11):
Selena, before I let you go, Obviously, over the weekend
the Nightcliff by election, we've all almost forgotten about that
due to all the flooding. But it's looking as though
Labour's Ed Smelsh has won the seat based on the
most up to date count. How is the Labor Party
how are you, as the leader feeling about that?
Speaker 2 (09:31):
Oh, I'm feeling so proud of Ed and the work
and the Labor team and the positive campaign that we ran. Katie.
Ed's very well known in the community and this work
as a counselor. You know, he lives in the elector
and he's growing his family there. He's definitely going to
be a strong voice for Nightcliff. So feeling really proud
of the work that we've done. We wanted to rebuild
some trust with the community here in Darwin and Palmerstan
(09:53):
and this is a really great first step, but such
a great campaign from Ed and the supporting Labour team.
So really really proud of that and looking forward to
having him in the Parliament. That you won't get sworn
in until May. They've got to do the declarations and
the ritz, but it will be fantastic to have Ed
as part of our labor.
Speaker 3 (10:10):
I can hear those bells ringing. I better let you go.
Selena you Bo, thank you so much for your time
this morning.
Now, obviously the focus this morning is remaining on the
Big Rivers region and the Opposition leader's electorate of Arnham
takes in many of the areas which have been impacted
by the floods. Joining us on the line is the
Opposition leader Selena Ubo. Good morning to you, Selena.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
Good morning Katie.
Speaker 3 (00:17):
Now it's been a.
Speaker 1 (00:17):
Hectic weekend with a huge logistical effort to evacuate some
remote community residents.
Speaker 3 (00:24):
You've been in constant contact with people.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
How have they been, yeah, has Katie. It has been
very stressful for the people of Catherine and the surrounding area,
but particularly the communities in my electorates, so wig most
people would know as Beswick is the other name. The
lower subdivision was evacuated on Friday to the High subdivision,
so people were pretty displaced there, but everyone was pretty calm.
(00:50):
Once I actually spoke to people, my anxiety went down
a bit, Katie. But in terms of people being safe,
that was the number one priority, which I'm very grateful
for and the work that the police and the community
did on the ground, as well as the school. They
became the evacuation center of Wigela or Basic School. Also
down the track, a little bit too. The community of
(01:11):
Mataranka was evacuated completely on Saturday afternoon. There was a
bit of misinformation about whether to evacuate or not on
Saturday morning, and I think that caused, you know, again
a bit of anxiety for people. But people moved in
officially evacuated to Madaranka. There's two shelters that have been
stood up there. Not a lot in terms of resources
(01:32):
because of the quick amount of time to get people out. Again,
people safe there, but again just a bit of frustration
around the lack of communication and lack of resources there.
So I just wanting to make sure that people know,
you know, people are safe, but then also to not
forget about them, because of course there's been a huge
and rightly so focus on Catherine and the surrounding area.
(01:54):
They've now received the announcement that they will be available
to receive the disaster fund relief, which I think is
really important. We haven't heard yet, Katie from the Anti government,
if places like Wiggla and Jilkming in a Matteranka, who've
also had their homes inundated with water and have lost
(02:14):
their goods and personal property, if they will be able
to be assessed and to be able to access the
same disaster relief as the people of Catherine, which I
think they should.
Speaker 3 (02:24):
Well, we'll find out.
Speaker 1 (02:25):
We are going to be catching up with the federal
Minister chrisy McBain this morning to talk a little bit
more about these payments and we'll see if we can
find out exactly who's eligible. I mean you did touch
on a moment ago a lack of communication. Who were
the residents sort of where did that frustration come from?
Speaker 2 (02:43):
Well, when people were told in Jilkming and as an example,
Katie to they could self evacuate, then it was officially
declared to evacuate and understand, things change, people are aware
of that, but when there's no place that's set up
to go to, people I think get very concerned and
anxious first and then that frustration kind of grows from there.
(03:04):
When there's been a really interesting balance about you the
worth and the use of evacuation center the shelter, and
there's different processes attached to both. Katie, I've been trying
to work through to make sure that I can provide
the latest information for my constituents and also Catherine residents
(03:24):
have been reaching out directly to me, particularly on messages
and Facebook Over the last couple of days, there's been
some concerns, you know, five to seven hundred people accessing
the shelters in Catherine, but miscommunication or not understanding some
of the messaging around what you can bring to the shelter,
what's provided and what's not provided. More importantly, and then
(03:45):
a bit of sort of you know, getting people getting
together and being able to support and address those issues.
Speaker 3 (03:52):
Sound rude, but is it a bit of sort of semantics?
Speaker 1 (03:55):
Are you kind of you know, like, is it sort
of a situation here with some of those emergency crews
would imagine absolutely under the pump or some of those
people that are working on the ground are absolutely under
the pump. I mean, is it sort of you know,
maybe having a crack for having a crack's sake?
Speaker 2 (04:11):
Oh No, definitely not in this case, because I'll give
you an example, Katie, where I've had constituents from my
electorate who are not Catherine residents who were flooded into
Catherine because the roads closed. They weren't able to get
back to their community. They then had to go to
the Catherine shelter. You had to bring your own bedding
and food. They weren't able to do that because they
don't live in Catherine, so they weren't just moving from
(04:33):
home in Catherine to the shelter. They were literally a
couple of hundred commers away from their community. So there's
those instances. So that's why I'm not trying to have
a crack at all in this case. But when people
have said, oh, you know that people got to bring
their own food, and they should know that. But then
when people have brought food and they're not able to cook,
you know, there's also that kind of stress level. And
it's not no flight on the emergency service workers, all
(04:56):
the volunteers. Just if you rock up with three days
of food, you're going to expect that you're able to
talk to that's not part of Yeah, that's not part
of the shelter rules. And people were frustrated with that
because they they some of the people who were prepared
were then not able to provide food to them in
the way that they thought they would, you know, which
I mean I think absolutely can be resolved in the future.
(05:18):
This should definitely be a learning point. But big thanks
to all the people who volunteered, those emergency service workers
who are still going those business owners, particularly in Catherine
and Madaranka and Wiggla who've stepped up and spending their
own time supporting fellow community members. It's been such a
huge pressure and weight on the region and to then
(05:39):
be able to get people safe number one, but you
know fed and you know, sleeping with dignity when they
are spending many nights away from home. So it's definite
a crack. It's going to say, what can we do
better next time?
Speaker 1 (05:52):
Now, any idea at this point in time, you know,
of any of the damage or way too early to
tell at this point in.
Speaker 2 (05:59):
Those I think yeah, I think too early. For wiggl Art,
people were able to get home to the lower sub
yesterday and check their homes to move anything further up
because they've gone back to moderate flooding warning today, Katie,
so more water unfortunately for us in that area off
the Waterhouse River. But also in Madaranka there's one particular
(06:21):
property where people where neighbors went in and helped, you know,
move some things around. So people are really stepping up
and looking after you know, fellow community members and neighbors,
which is the territory way I reckon. But also food
security and supply where we've seen, you know, some essential
flight supplies and critical goods start to diminish. Being able
(06:42):
to know and understand where that's coming from and when
it's coming I think will be really important. And the
rural blocks and Catherine, you know there's people who can't
get throughout that Florina roadway. Are they going to be
food dropped? So just some of that more communication will
be really important. When people have stopped up for those
couple of days, not going to be able to access
essential goods and services, how will they be supported? I
(07:04):
think yeah, just a bit more information from the government
round that would really put a lot of people's anxiety
at base.
Speaker 1 (07:10):
Look, we've put a number of requests in to have
the incident controller on the show because I actually think
that that's the person who needs to answer these operational questions.
So we've put in a number of requests to have
that person, whoever it is for today on the show.
To no avail at this point in time, but we
will certainly keep trying.
Speaker 3 (07:27):
Opposition Leader.
Speaker 1 (07:28):
Before I let you go, and I know your press
for time, you've got to get into Parliament. I do
want to talk about this situation with the pump out
at the Darwin River Dam. It's an unprecedented situation, is
what we are being told at this moment. The Chief
Minister had joined us a little earlier and said, you know,
there's no need to panic that they are certainly working
on this. We're due to catch up with power and
(07:49):
water at eleven o'clock this morning. Now, you used to
be the Minister for Essential Services, didn't you?
Speaker 3 (07:54):
Did you ever hold that?
Speaker 2 (07:55):
Yes?
Speaker 3 (07:55):
I did. What are you like from.
Speaker 1 (07:57):
Your perspective, do you know and from I'm a assuming
modeling that's been done in the past. Do you know
if they would have some contingencies up their.
Speaker 2 (08:05):
Slaves well, for this particular one, I would expect they would.
But in terms of the flow of information and communication out,
I think that's been a big concern with looking back
at the time frames of last night in particular, and
I know people, you know, it's late at night, but
information like that's quite critical, Katie, is people waking up
to hear that news, or of people who would have
(08:26):
been awake last night to see it or read it
for themselves. So you know, again, communication around what to
do what not to do in these situations is critical,
but what's the plan, what is the contingency plan in
the process, and you think of every worst case scenario
in a business, then of course in our central services
that also follows through. So I think that the government,
(08:48):
and I hear that they're going to speak today at
lunch time, should have some more information for people, and
rightly so, they should be on top of this. The
Central Services Minister sharing posts on social media about it,
like you should have come out done a statement. Yes,
I know it's late at night, but that's politics. We
work sometimes twenty four hours to be able to get
information out to the public that's in the best interest
of the public, and I think they really need to
(09:10):
step up in this space.
Speaker 1 (09:11):
Selena, before I let you go, Obviously, over the weekend
the Nightcliff by election, we've all almost forgotten about that
due to all the flooding. But it's looking as though
Labour's Ed Smelsh has won the seat based on the
most up to date count. How is the Labor Party
how are you, as the leader feeling about that?
Speaker 2 (09:31):
Oh, I'm feeling so proud of Ed and the work
and the Labor team and the positive campaign that we ran. Katie.
Ed's very well known in the community and this work
as a counselor. You know, he lives in the elector
and he's growing his family there. He's definitely going to
be a strong voice for Nightcliff. So feeling really proud
of the work that we've done. We wanted to rebuild
some trust with the community here in Darwin and Palmerstan
(09:53):
and this is a really great first step, but such
a great campaign from Ed and the supporting Labour team.
So really really proud of that and looking forward to
having him in the Parliament. That you won't get sworn
in until May. They've got to do the declarations and
the ritz, but it will be fantastic to have Ed
as part of our labor.
Speaker 3 (10:10):
I can hear those bells ringing. I better let you go.
Selena you Bo, thank you so much for your time
this morning.
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