Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
It has been a while since we caught up with
the Palmerston Mara Athena pasco Bel, but she joins me
in the studio, good morning.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
To you, Mey, good morning, Good to have you in
the studio.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
Now, yesterday we know the supercar convoy and the drivers,
well they went through Palmerston stopping for a community event
in Gorda Square.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
How did it go.
Speaker 3 (00:18):
It was great, just absolutely wonderful having them come through Palmerston.
There was lots of entertainment and food available, big smoking
ceremony and welcome to country as well. So yeah, just
fantastic to have them come through Palmeston for the first
time ever.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
Yeah, and like I would imagine, so exciting for the
people of Palmerston to you know, to be able to
have that in Palmerston rather than having to travel into
town today.
Speaker 3 (00:42):
Yeah. Possibly also for some of the people in the
rural area. You know, we're a bit closer than coming
all the way into the city. So it's really good
that we've been able to have lots of exciting events
coming out to Palmsden.
Speaker 1 (00:52):
Do you reckon You've got quite a few people there.
If you had to guess the number.
Speaker 3 (00:56):
I looked there was several hundred. Yeah, and I heard
that there was lots of people up on the highway
still as well, so they'll you know, waiting on side
of the road. And yeah, we had quite a few
people coming into the city center just in time for
the convoy as well.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
All good stuff.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
Now, of course, school holidays start on Monday as well,
and I understand the Palmeston Council's.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
Got quite a bit to keep the kids entertained.
Speaker 3 (01:17):
We have got so much on offer, starting with the
library program, so there's three weeks of free activities including
animal encounters, art and craft, rock painting performances and movies.
Every session starts at ten am on Monday to Friday.
You don't need to book, but if you want to
see the full schedule, just jump onto the council website
and you can see what's on each day.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
It's good.
Speaker 1 (01:40):
I think it's good to keep the you know, for
the council, whether it's here in Darwen, whether it's in Palmerston,
no matter where it is, to have those different activities
for the young people because it's a fairly large block
of holidays as well for parents to try and keep
the kids entertained.
Speaker 3 (01:53):
Yeah, and if you're not going away, then you're looking
for things to do with the kids. So it's really
good that we're able to offer a whole range approach programs.
Sorry help. We also have Flicnicks coming up on Saturday,
the twenty eighth of June, and that's at Joan Fijo
Park in Rosebery and the movie is The Garfield Movie.
There'll be food trucks and kids activities from five point
thirty and the movie will start at sunset.
Speaker 2 (02:15):
Good stuff.
Speaker 1 (02:16):
Hey, I know that public consultation as well as now
closed for the council's budget and municipal plan. But for
any residents who aren't aware, what was the rate increase?
Speaker 3 (02:26):
We're raising rates by four point nine percent, which we
understand is a little bit high. Unfortunately, with a current
anti CAT decision standing with venture housing who anti CAT
decided don't need to pay council rates, we've had to
increase our budget this year by one percent just to
cover the lost income from those properties.
Speaker 2 (02:48):
Yeah, right, How many properties do they have out there?
Speaker 3 (02:52):
Look, in total there is around two hundred, but not
all venture housing which come under a community housing provider
or public benevolent institution banner there are more constructing as well,
so we're expecting a lot more. We've been lobbying the
Northern Territory government to make some changes to the legislation
or clarify it, and we are going to the Supreme
(03:14):
Court to have this decision reviewed and that will be
heard next Friday.
Speaker 1 (03:19):
So how much is it sort of costing the council
for them not to be paying rates.
Speaker 3 (03:23):
That was about two hundred thousand dollars for that decision,
and that is equivalent to about a one percent rate
increase in Palmerston for everyone else, So you know it
And although you know the government might say, oh, you know,
it's only a few houses, but we're looking more long term.
We have about fifteen percent public housing, so if those
are all converted into public benevolent institutions or passed off
(03:46):
to community housing providers, they might all come and ask
for no rates exemptions.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
So as public housing do they pay rates.
Speaker 3 (03:53):
They do currently, but there is a real risk that
as more community housing providers come on board that we'll
see a lot more houses transferred to community housing providers.
The Northern Territory government might decide to divest their housing
stock and at the moment the Comwealth's got a lot
of money for public and social housing, and so there
(04:15):
is a program for one hundred and forty additional houses
in the Northern Territory and more than ninety of them
have been flagged for Palmerston, which is just disproportionately unfair
really on our community.
Speaker 1 (04:25):
Yeah, right, so it sounds like you guys, you don't.
I mean, look, I guess everybody has the view that
we certainly need homes for people that do but it
sounds like you guys don't want that dense public housing
in Palmistice.
Speaker 3 (04:39):
It's not just the density of the public housing, which
is a huge issue in places like Gray and you know,
Clinton House working quite hard to try and address those issues.
But when we have we end up if we end
up with a large proportion of residential property not paying rates,
those costs will be passed on to the other rate
payers and you know they all still use the same roads,
(05:00):
foot paths, the library programs. So everyone should be contributing,
and we don't see housing. The housing crisis is not
a crisis that councils in the Northern Territory have created
because we don't control planning.
Speaker 1 (05:15):
So in terms of you said then that public housing
do pay rates, Do the residents pay rates or does
the government pay rates on their behalf?
Speaker 3 (05:23):
The government pays it, so it's always the landlord generally
that pays the rates.
Speaker 1 (05:27):
Okay, And so you're in a situation now with Venture
Housing not paying those rates that you're saying that then
you've got to put up the other Palmerston residents rates
as a result.
Speaker 3 (05:40):
Yes, and we're aware that a few other community housing
providers are looking at this pending Supreme Court action and
they will likely apply for rates exemptions in the future
as well. And with more community housing providers being funded
by the Commwealth government to build social housing, we can
see that there will be a lot more or exemptions
(06:01):
on the cards. And I keep pointing out to the
Commonwealth as well that the Northern Territories not like the
other jurisdictions because our homeless rate is something like thirteen
times the next jurisdiction. We understand that there's a significant need,
but you can't pass those costs off onto other rate
payers or other levels of government.
Speaker 1 (06:21):
Yeah. Look, I tend to agree, but then I guess
to play devil's advocate as well. You are talking about
people that you know, maybe on a pension, may have
a disability, may have other issues that are then in
that community housing. I mean, if that is the case,
do you think that they should then be paying rates
when you've got public housing tenants that aren't if ultimately
(06:44):
the government's paying those.
Speaker 3 (06:46):
I think they all should be paying or contributing to
the services that the council provides. Community housing providers, if
they're a public, benevolent institution or a registered charity, operate
tax free already, and in some cases they may also
be eligible for other housing schemes from the territory government
or the Commonwealth government as well. So even though they
(07:06):
offer lower rates, there are some cases where they do
get some sort of subsidy. So if you remember the
old n RAF scheme that was subsidized, and they operate
tax free, so it's not like a landlord, a private
landlord who would have to declare the income and depreciation
schedules and stuff like that and possibly pay more tax
(07:27):
on their rent. Yeah, these institutions get their so their incomes.
Speaker 1 (07:32):
And it sounds like for you, the bigger concern is
you're wanting to have the like you're wanting to have
things set in place now, so that if more community,
more public housing comes online in Palmerston, that you're not
winding up in a situation where you've got more residents
that are relying on those council services but not paying
rates for them.
Speaker 3 (07:50):
That's right, and then the costs get passed either get
passed off onto other rate payers. And in Palmerston we
have predominantly residential so it's going to be mums and
dads who will pay the increases. We don't have a
lot of commercial and industrial properties, you know, so some
councils might be able to spread that risk over to
(08:11):
the other portfolios, but we don't really have that option
in Palmerston.
Speaker 1 (08:15):
So in terms of I mean, you said it was
going to cost about two hundred thousand dollars by not
receiving those rates from Venture Housing. So with that one
percent increase or to four point nine percent now on
your rates, is that going to cover all of that
and then some or how much do you anticipate that's
going to bring in for the council.
Speaker 3 (08:33):
That's for this coming financial year, and then we'll see
what happens next financial year and if we get more
community housing providers asking for exemptions or more properties are
transferred or divested by territory housing. It's just a really
uncertain and we just don't we can't risk manage it
because we just don't know what the future is going
(08:55):
to look like and there's no certainty of clarity around that.
Speaker 1 (08:58):
Yeah, so it sounds like there's a bit of work
still to happen in this area. Now, look in terms
of some of the other issues out there in Palmerston,
in terms of public housing and some of the density
of public housing. I mean, as you touched on, we
did catch up with the member for Drystyle Clinton, how
about this and some of the issues out there with
public drunkenness. Did you also write a submission to the
(09:21):
Liquor Commission on that issue?
Speaker 3 (09:24):
I did write a letter to the Liquor Commission in
support of having a public hearing.
Speaker 2 (09:29):
So where are things at don't know.
Speaker 3 (09:31):
So we're just waiting for the Liquor Commission to come
back and say whether they will hold a public hearing
or not.
Speaker 1 (09:37):
How important is it do you think that that does happen?
Like it sounds as though it's a real concern for
people at the moment in Palmerston.
Speaker 3 (09:45):
It's an absolutely massive concern, you know, and I'm sure
you've heard it from Clinton as well.
Speaker 1 (09:51):
There and listeners getting in contact with us saying there's
drunks all around the place, there's people intoxicated, you know,
from early in the morning.
Speaker 3 (09:58):
From early in the morning, they're all over the footpaths.
They hang out at the Gray Community Center as well,
which really upsets our users of that facility. It's you know,
it's close proximity to a childcare center and Gray School,
so kids see this behavior on their way to and
from school. It's not the sort of thing that any
(10:21):
parent wants their children exposed to. And you know, you
want children to be raised in an environment where they
see people acting appropriately and they understand that that is
the proper way to conduct yourself when you're growing up
and when you're an adult. You don't want them thinking
that drinking in public places and being on the footpath
(10:42):
is normal.
Speaker 1 (10:43):
No, I agree with you, and we have unfortunately seen
some pretty bad incidents as well out in the Palmerston area.
I mean last week, for example, there was a man
that was arrested after indecently exposing himself to a young child,
to a person under the age of sixteen, years old.
So I mean you don't want people drinking in public
(11:03):
spaces because then what you see, unfortunately, is a deterioration
in behavior. I think throughout the day and as those
days go on. So I can understand, so Athena, from
your perspective as the mayor, what do you want to
see happen next in terms of, you know, the Liquor
Commission looking at some of the issues out in Palmerston
when it comes to those takeaway out lets, et cetera.
Speaker 3 (11:24):
I think they really need to have a good hard
listen to the community. You know, the Act is quite
clear about harm minimization, you know, the effect on the community.
There's a few specific clauses that they should actually be
taking more seriously, but they don't seem to actually understand that.
You know, when people like or organizations like police and
(11:47):
the council make submissions in regards to licenses, that we
have a really good understanding of what's going on in
the ground and the social condition conditions in those suburbs
and those areas. So when we say this is not
a good idea because there are all these social issues
already in existence in this community and additional license will
(12:08):
make it worse. You know, they're not currently listening to
that advice. So when we've objected in the past to licenses,
they've still gone ahead and issued them. And I can
tell you that for a community the size of Palmerston,
we have over fifty licenses.
Speaker 2 (12:26):
In farmacy licenses in Palmerston.
Speaker 3 (12:29):
And that ranges everything from your local sports club who
sells you know, beers and things on game day, to
your restaurants and cafes, to the takeaway outlets and to
your pubs and clubs. But there is no shortage of
access to alcohol in Palmerston, and they really need to
have a closer look at the impact to social conditions
(12:49):
in the community and trying to deal with that and
maybe saying enough is really enough. They made some I
guess allowances for greenfield areas, so you know, down through
Zicoli because it's a new suburb. But when you look
at the rest of Palmerston and you're going, well, there
is just no shortage of alcohol. But we see a
(13:10):
lot of alcohol fueled violence. There's a lot of domestic
violence that includes alcohol. There's a lot of other assaults
that involves alcohol, you know, and the community has had
enough and there's I think it's only the minority of
people who say, oh, well it's just convenient for me
to go and get alcohol from there, when everyone generally
will drive and can go anywhere in Palmerston to get alcohol.
Speaker 1 (13:33):
Well, Mayor of Palmerston Athena Pasco Belt, we are gonna
have to leave it there because we've got a head
across to the National News. Good to catch up with you.
Thank you for your time today.
Speaker 3 (13:40):
Thank you