February 9, 2026 • 10 mins
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
As we heard, int Green's MLA Cat Magnamara yesterday announced
that she's quitting parliament, effective immediately. McNamara became the first
Greens candidate to win a Northern Territory Parliament seat back
in twenty twenty four. Now we know that the resignation
triggers a by election for the electorate, which was held
for more than twenty years by the Labor Party prior
(00:21):
to the twenty twenty four election. Joining us on the
line is the Opposition leader, Selena Yubo. Good morning to you, Selena.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Good morning Katie, Good morning to your listeners.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
Now, Selena, what was your reaction when you heard that
kat had resigned.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
Yeah, first, Katie, I was quite sad to hear of
the reasons behind Kat's resignation around her health battles, and
I think that's you know, it does take a toll
on all of us when we're in parliament and she's
done an outstanding job, so acknowledging of course that she
made history as the first Greens Party member in the
Northern Territory legislatve Assembly and she did represent the seat
(00:59):
of Nightcliff. Though I think ultimately, of course, understanding the
pressures behind the scene, really feeling for Katon and their family,
but of course acknowledging that you know, Nightcliff will now
need to move to a by election and that's something
that we really want to contest as the Labor Party.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
Yeah. Look, I hope that she is okay, and we
spoke about that yesterday and certainly are all the very
best to her now on this by election. I mean, Selena,
it is you know, it is up for grabs well
and truly Labor one that the actual election on primary
votes obviously not when those preferences came into play, but
(01:36):
on primary votes, it's going to be important that you
get somebody good in there to run.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
Yeah, Katie, we want to work really hard. We have,
as you mentioned, represented the seat of Nightcliffe over twenty years.
Labor has a very strong history in that electorate. We
want to continue to look at getting that trust back
and making sure that we are the best option and
we absolutely want to offer that to the electra Nightcliff,
the constituents there, they deserve to have a strong voice
(02:03):
representing them in Parliament and we want to make sure
we put the best candidate up so we can do that.
Speaker 1 (02:08):
Have you had a few people put their hands up
or contact you and say, Selena, I want to run.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
Yeah, there's always interest, which is great. That's all handled
through our Labor Party, you know the branch and the
mechanisms there. But it's been exciting hearing people wanting to
put their hand up and wanting to represent labor and
particularly for Nightcliff. So we'll have an internal party process, Katie.
That will be pretty quick because we don't know when
(02:33):
the by election date is. It could be as early
as the sort of second or third week of March,
so we're just waiting for that. But we want to
be ready to go. We want to be match fit ready,
and that's our internal processes are acting very swiftly to
do that.
Speaker 1 (02:46):
Right now, do you reckon you can win?
Speaker 2 (02:49):
Oh, we'd love to win. We'd love to have Nightcliff
back in Labor hands because we know that Nightcliff is
a very special and beautiful part of the Northern Territory
and we want to make sure we can keep that
strong representation that we had under Natasha Files and Jane
a Guard as our labor representatives previously.
Speaker 1 (03:04):
I mean on a real sort of operational perspective, though
it would be a big thing for the Labor Party
to have a seat in the northern suburbs again, though,
wouldn't it.
Speaker 2 (03:14):
Yeah, Katie, we know that's where we have to do
a lot of our work. We've got some really strong
plans for this year. I think last year we were
starting to just scratch the surface. This year we're really
ready to delve down and to work back those northern
suburb seats for the Labor Party. And I think that
we've got that energy to do it this year.
Speaker 1 (03:33):
In particular, some are saying it'll be a test of
your leadership. I mean, do you think that it is?
Speaker 2 (03:39):
I guess some people probably think that. You know, when
Leah Finocchiaro was an opposition she lost five elections in
a row as the opposition leader and she won number
six as then she became Chief Minister. So, you know,
different people have different views about how by elections, federal
elections and territory elections are run, whether they're from the
opposition's perspective or from the government's perspective. We just want
(04:00):
to make sure we put the best candidate up for
Labor and that we win Nightcliff.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
Yeah, and look, I you know, I do I certainly
you know, I understand those comments that people make about
you know, test of your leadership, test of leader's leadership,
whoever's in power of whichever major party. But I also
think that, you know, we live in an ultralocal place
where people want, you know, they want an elected member
who's going to stand up for them and what they
care about in their electras.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
Yeah. Absolutely, and I think that's the beauty of the
Northern Territories that you do get to know your local member.
It becomes very personal. You want that person to be
very community minded. You want to be able them, you know,
to remember your name or your dog's name, or your
children's name. And in the Northern Territory, we're so lucky
we have the privilege and honored to be able to
do that with our small constituency. Obviously, for bush seats
(04:48):
like Mime, we have to travel very long distances, but
those high density urban seats as well, like seeing your
local member out shopping or down at the local footy
club or you know, walking along the foreshore, we did
get to engage with people in everyday life, which is
not just the political side. Selena.
Speaker 1 (05:04):
Funny you say that because I was you know, I
was talking about this on a Yesterday and throwing a
few names for who I think may put their hand up.
Suki Doris Walker. I wonder if she will for the Greens,
Ed Smelch for the Labor Party. Are you backing Ed?
Speaker 2 (05:20):
Oh, it's a great person, Katie. If he nominates, then
I think he would be outstanding candidate for Nightcliff. Again,
we'd have to go through those party process, which we
want to do very very quickly. Whoever our candidate is
that's announced, we want to make sure that they're out
and about their supported and they're going out to show
the community why they want to run and represent the
seat of Nightcliff. I think that's really important.
Speaker 1 (05:41):
Do you reckon he should run? Oh?
Speaker 2 (05:44):
I think I can't speak for Ed. You'd have to
absolutely ask him. But he's a fantastic community member. Obviously
he's a Darwin City councilor so he's been very well
connected in what the community has been.
Speaker 1 (05:56):
Sounds like a yes. Sounds like a yes, Selena.
Speaker 2 (05:59):
I think we'd have a great pool of candidates and
Ed could be one if he nominates, But we just
want to make sure we've got the best person up.
Speaker 1 (06:06):
Yeah. Absolutely, Hey, I want to ask you about maternity
services quickly before we let you go. Last week you
labeled them unacceptable. During a heated parliamentary debate, you raise
the issue as a matter of public importance, saying that
Darwin's maternity services were in chaos and families were being
left without choice or continuity of care. What are your
main concerns at the moment when it comes to those
(06:28):
maternity services.
Speaker 2 (06:30):
Yeah, Katie, I think this is really an issue that
goes right across the territory and really gets to the
frustration people have when of course we have our political
debates in parliament, but what comes out of it, What
are the practical outcomes that the government can focus on
on behalf of Territorians. And that's really what our focus
in pushing, particularly last week, making sure that this is
(06:52):
an issue that stays well and truly on the table
for the government. We've got some pretty appalling sponsors back
to be honest, it was, you know, the tit for
tat politicizing and this is really an issue that this
needs to go. What are you doing, how are you
doing it and what is the outcome going to be
and the impact for our territory mothers, our territory families
(07:13):
and our territory babies. So we're going to continue put
to put pressure on the pud PUD Me Katie, We're
going to continue to put pressure on the COLP government
because people just want to know that the government is
working to support them. We don't want to hear the
you know, political whoha. We're over that. I think many
people are over that. They want to know what's happening
(07:33):
for maternity services, particularly in Darwin and Palmerston, where literally
half of the territory's population live. So we're not getting
that from the government. We're going to continue to ask
those questions. And we had some pretty harrowing stories that
were shared with us, Katie. It was actually quite concerning
and for me, you know, I've had some you know,
some great stories with my maternity care here in the
(07:55):
Northern Territory. I've also had the sad stories personally, So
it was pretty heavy week. But we understand that people
want us to ask those questions. They want us, with
their permission to share those you know, pretty uncomfortable stories,
and will continue to do that in opposition. But we
just want answers. We just want to know that the
government doesn't think that they can you know, slap this
(08:17):
aside and ignore it. It has to have action and
we're happy to support that. But at the moment, there's
no strong plans. We're just asking for what is the
plan for the ZLP and they continue to ignore and
not give the you know, the answers around what the
plans are for maternity in the NT.
Speaker 1 (08:34):
And look, there's a lot to take in when it
comes to the maternity services, and you know, we definitely
need to ensure that Northern Territory women have those choices.
And I know that the closure of the private hospital
has really taken away one of those big choices. Selena.
We did speak yesterday to Tessa from our Birth our
Stories and she had said that, yeah, there's been a
(08:56):
number of women that have actually contacted them or shared
their stories as well in recent weeks about the air
conditioning situation up there at the hospital too. Now, I
know that that's sort of, you know, it's not as
big an issue as some of the other things that
women may be dealing with or people may be dealing
with with their health. But I tell you what, when
you're up there giving birth, you know you want to
make sure, not only that that air con is working,
(09:17):
but that for the little babies, you know that they're
able to stay at the temperature that's required as well.
Speaker 2 (09:24):
Yeah, absolutely, Katie. And we asked the question last week,
which was pretty disappointingly and actually quite disgustingly fobbed away
by padme the Health Minister, Steve Edgington, and then he
did come back at the very end of question time
to say I've sought some extra information. But first up,
it was just denial. And when people have gone through
the situation themselves, their families, with their children, and they're
(09:50):
asking for some answers and why this is happening and
you know, basically a developed country like Australia here in
the Northern Territory, why is this happening? And that is
a practical thing, Katie, that can be fixed. You can
fix an aircorn, you can put a bit of extra
money in to upgrade the aircorn system at the RDH
Maternity Ward. But it was just flat out denial and
sobbing off from the Colp government. And that's not good enough,
(10:12):
especially when there's people who are experiencing that and wanting
to see a solution. That's what the cop need to
be focused on Katie. Is the solution. They could have said, oh,
it wasn't aware, or actually, yeah we've had some trouble,
we are going to fix it. Oh hey, let's use
that ten million dollars from the federal government that we
still need to do a plan and use that to
upgrade those facilities.
Speaker 1 (10:32):
Well, Selena Hubo, I always appreciate your time. Thank you
so much for having a chat with us this morning.
We'll talk to you again soon.
Speaker 2 (10:38):
Thank you so much, Katie, having you too.
As we heard, int Green's MLA Cat Magnamara yesterday announced
that she's quitting parliament, effective immediately. McNamara became the first
Greens candidate to win a Northern Territory Parliament seat back
in twenty twenty four. Now we know that the resignation
triggers a by election for the electorate, which was held
for more than twenty years by the Labor Party prior
(00:21):
to the twenty twenty four election. Joining us on the
line is the Opposition leader, Selena Yubo. Good morning to you, Selena.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Good morning Katie, Good morning to your listeners.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
Now, Selena, what was your reaction when you heard that
kat had resigned.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
Yeah, first, Katie, I was quite sad to hear of
the reasons behind Kat's resignation around her health battles, and
I think that's you know, it does take a toll
on all of us when we're in parliament and she's
done an outstanding job, so acknowledging of course that she
made history as the first Greens Party member in the
Northern Territory legislatve Assembly and she did represent the seat
(00:59):
of Nightcliff. Though I think ultimately, of course, understanding the
pressures behind the scene, really feeling for Katon and their family,
but of course acknowledging that you know, Nightcliff will now
need to move to a by election and that's something
that we really want to contest as the Labor Party.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
Yeah. Look, I hope that she is okay, and we
spoke about that yesterday and certainly are all the very
best to her now on this by election. I mean, Selena,
it is you know, it is up for grabs well
and truly Labor one that the actual election on primary
votes obviously not when those preferences came into play, but
(01:36):
on primary votes, it's going to be important that you
get somebody good in there to run.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
Yeah, Katie, we want to work really hard. We have,
as you mentioned, represented the seat of Nightcliffe over twenty years.
Labor has a very strong history in that electorate. We
want to continue to look at getting that trust back
and making sure that we are the best option and
we absolutely want to offer that to the electra Nightcliff,
the constituents there, they deserve to have a strong voice
(02:03):
representing them in Parliament and we want to make sure
we put the best candidate up so we can do that.
Speaker 1 (02:08):
Have you had a few people put their hands up
or contact you and say, Selena, I want to run.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
Yeah, there's always interest, which is great. That's all handled
through our Labor Party, you know the branch and the
mechanisms there. But it's been exciting hearing people wanting to
put their hand up and wanting to represent labor and
particularly for Nightcliff. So we'll have an internal party process, Katie.
That will be pretty quick because we don't know when
(02:33):
the by election date is. It could be as early
as the sort of second or third week of March,
so we're just waiting for that. But we want to
be ready to go. We want to be match fit ready,
and that's our internal processes are acting very swiftly to
do that.
Speaker 1 (02:46):
Right now, do you reckon you can win?
Speaker 2 (02:49):
Oh, we'd love to win. We'd love to have Nightcliff
back in Labor hands because we know that Nightcliff is
a very special and beautiful part of the Northern Territory
and we want to make sure we can keep that
strong representation that we had under Natasha Files and Jane
a Guard as our labor representatives previously.
Speaker 1 (03:04):
I mean on a real sort of operational perspective, though
it would be a big thing for the Labor Party
to have a seat in the northern suburbs again, though,
wouldn't it.
Speaker 2 (03:14):
Yeah, Katie, we know that's where we have to do
a lot of our work. We've got some really strong
plans for this year. I think last year we were
starting to just scratch the surface. This year we're really
ready to delve down and to work back those northern
suburb seats for the Labor Party. And I think that
we've got that energy to do it this year.
Speaker 1 (03:33):
In particular, some are saying it'll be a test of
your leadership. I mean, do you think that it is?
Speaker 2 (03:39):
I guess some people probably think that. You know, when
Leah Finocchiaro was an opposition she lost five elections in
a row as the opposition leader and she won number
six as then she became Chief Minister. So, you know,
different people have different views about how by elections, federal
elections and territory elections are run, whether they're from the
opposition's perspective or from the government's perspective. We just want
(04:00):
to make sure we put the best candidate up for
Labor and that we win Nightcliff.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
Yeah, and look, I you know, I do I certainly
you know, I understand those comments that people make about
you know, test of your leadership, test of leader's leadership,
whoever's in power of whichever major party. But I also
think that, you know, we live in an ultralocal place
where people want, you know, they want an elected member
who's going to stand up for them and what they
care about in their electras.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
Yeah. Absolutely, and I think that's the beauty of the
Northern Territories that you do get to know your local member.
It becomes very personal. You want that person to be
very community minded. You want to be able them, you know,
to remember your name or your dog's name, or your
children's name. And in the Northern Territory, we're so lucky
we have the privilege and honored to be able to
do that with our small constituency. Obviously, for bush seats
(04:48):
like Mime, we have to travel very long distances, but
those high density urban seats as well, like seeing your
local member out shopping or down at the local footy
club or you know, walking along the foreshore, we did
get to engage with people in everyday life, which is
not just the political side. Selena.
Speaker 1 (05:04):
Funny you say that because I was you know, I
was talking about this on a Yesterday and throwing a
few names for who I think may put their hand up.
Suki Doris Walker. I wonder if she will for the Greens,
Ed Smelch for the Labor Party. Are you backing Ed?
Speaker 2 (05:20):
Oh, it's a great person, Katie. If he nominates, then
I think he would be outstanding candidate for Nightcliff. Again,
we'd have to go through those party process, which we
want to do very very quickly. Whoever our candidate is
that's announced, we want to make sure that they're out
and about their supported and they're going out to show
the community why they want to run and represent the
seat of Nightcliff. I think that's really important.
Speaker 1 (05:41):
Do you reckon he should run? Oh?
Speaker 2 (05:44):
I think I can't speak for Ed. You'd have to
absolutely ask him. But he's a fantastic community member. Obviously
he's a Darwin City councilor so he's been very well
connected in what the community has been.
Speaker 1 (05:56):
Sounds like a yes. Sounds like a yes, Selena.
Speaker 2 (05:59):
I think we'd have a great pool of candidates and
Ed could be one if he nominates, But we just
want to make sure we've got the best person up.
Speaker 1 (06:06):
Yeah. Absolutely, Hey, I want to ask you about maternity
services quickly before we let you go. Last week you
labeled them unacceptable. During a heated parliamentary debate, you raise
the issue as a matter of public importance, saying that
Darwin's maternity services were in chaos and families were being
left without choice or continuity of care. What are your
main concerns at the moment when it comes to those
(06:28):
maternity services.
Speaker 2 (06:30):
Yeah, Katie, I think this is really an issue that
goes right across the territory and really gets to the
frustration people have when of course we have our political
debates in parliament, but what comes out of it, What
are the practical outcomes that the government can focus on
on behalf of Territorians. And that's really what our focus
in pushing, particularly last week, making sure that this is
(06:52):
an issue that stays well and truly on the table
for the government. We've got some pretty appalling sponsors back
to be honest, it was, you know, the tit for
tat politicizing and this is really an issue that this
needs to go. What are you doing, how are you
doing it and what is the outcome going to be
and the impact for our territory mothers, our territory families
(07:13):
and our territory babies. So we're going to continue put
to put pressure on the pud PUD Me Katie, We're
going to continue to put pressure on the COLP government
because people just want to know that the government is
working to support them. We don't want to hear the
you know, political whoha. We're over that. I think many
people are over that. They want to know what's happening
(07:33):
for maternity services, particularly in Darwin and Palmerston, where literally
half of the territory's population live. So we're not getting
that from the government. We're going to continue to ask
those questions. And we had some pretty harrowing stories that
were shared with us, Katie. It was actually quite concerning
and for me, you know, I've had some you know,
some great stories with my maternity care here in the
(07:55):
Northern Territory. I've also had the sad stories personally, So
it was pretty heavy week. But we understand that people
want us to ask those questions. They want us, with
their permission to share those you know, pretty uncomfortable stories,
and will continue to do that in opposition. But we
just want answers. We just want to know that the
government doesn't think that they can you know, slap this
(08:17):
aside and ignore it. It has to have action and
we're happy to support that. But at the moment, there's
no strong plans. We're just asking for what is the
plan for the ZLP and they continue to ignore and
not give the you know, the answers around what the
plans are for maternity in the NT.
Speaker 1 (08:34):
And look, there's a lot to take in when it
comes to the maternity services, and you know, we definitely
need to ensure that Northern Territory women have those choices.
And I know that the closure of the private hospital
has really taken away one of those big choices. Selena.
We did speak yesterday to Tessa from our Birth our
Stories and she had said that, yeah, there's been a
(08:56):
number of women that have actually contacted them or shared
their stories as well in recent weeks about the air
conditioning situation up there at the hospital too. Now, I
know that that's sort of, you know, it's not as
big an issue as some of the other things that
women may be dealing with or people may be dealing
with with their health. But I tell you what, when
you're up there giving birth, you know you want to
make sure, not only that that air con is working,
(09:17):
but that for the little babies, you know that they're
able to stay at the temperature that's required as well.
Speaker 2 (09:24):
Yeah, absolutely, Katie. And we asked the question last week,
which was pretty disappointingly and actually quite disgustingly fobbed away
by padme the Health Minister, Steve Edgington, and then he
did come back at the very end of question time
to say I've sought some extra information. But first up,
it was just denial. And when people have gone through
the situation themselves, their families, with their children, and they're
(09:50):
asking for some answers and why this is happening and
you know, basically a developed country like Australia here in
the Northern Territory, why is this happening? And that is
a practical thing, Katie, that can be fixed. You can
fix an aircorn, you can put a bit of extra
money in to upgrade the aircorn system at the RDH
Maternity Ward. But it was just flat out denial and
sobbing off from the Colp government. And that's not good enough,
(10:12):
especially when there's people who are experiencing that and wanting
to see a solution. That's what the cop need to
be focused on Katie. Is the solution. They could have said, oh,
it wasn't aware, or actually, yeah we've had some trouble,
we are going to fix it. Oh hey, let's use
that ten million dollars from the federal government that we
still need to do a plan and use that to
upgrade those facilities.
Speaker 1 (10:32):
Well, Selena Hubo, I always appreciate your time. Thank you
so much for having a chat with us this morning.
We'll talk to you again soon.
Speaker 2 (10:38):
Thank you so much, Katie, having you too.
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