November 21, 2024 • 45 mins
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
I think it's time for the week that was and
(00:02):
joining us today on the show. We have got Matt
Cunningham from Sky News. Good morning, Matt, good morning, Good
to have you on the show. We've got the Minister
for Territory, Families, Business, plenty of different portfolios. Rob and Carl,
Good morning to you.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Morning Katie, Good morning to everyone out.
Speaker 1 (00:17):
There and live from Central Australia. We have got the
former Attorney General. He is indeed one of the members
of the opposition for the Labour Party, Chancey.
Speaker 3 (00:27):
Pai, get a Chancy, get a Katie in a shout
out here and tuned in.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
Good to have you on the show this morning. Now, look,
there is so much to cover off before we get
to the news of the week and the incidents of
the week. I do just want to give our listeners
a very quick update that the Northern Territory Police have
now charged a man in relation to a kidnapping incident
in Daily Waters earlier this week. Detectives have charged that
twenty six year old with three counts of aggravated assault,
(00:53):
one count of kidnapping, one of recklessly endangering life, one
of deprive depriving of liberty. Too were possessing firearms without license,
amongst other things. He has been remanded to appear in
the Darwin Local Court on Monday. So just a bit
of an update there for our listeners as it was
something that they were pretty concerned about yesterday on the show.
(01:16):
Now let's get straight into it because there is an
awful lot to cover off on this morning, and we
know that the City of Darwin has successfully overturned a
provisional heritage listing of the Darwin Esplanade, with the Supreme
Court of the Northern Territory ruling that the Heritage Council
denied the municipality procedural fairness. The council has been in
(01:38):
strike well, they've stridently opposed this happening combat scalas the
Lord Mayor of Darwin had joined us on the show
on numerous occasions to talk about why the council was
absolutely opposed to this going ahead. I mean it was
a worry for a lot of people thinking was this
going to mean that literally nothing was going to be
able to happen on the Esplanard inna More and for
(02:01):
no real reason.
Speaker 4 (02:03):
It defies logic and it's yet another example of a
situation that has seen an absolute waste of money, of
taxpayer money in the territory defend something that should never
have happened in the first place. I think it's really
interesting if you go back in time. Previous Minister Combat
Scarlets was the previous Heritage Minister and he absolutely did
(02:26):
not believe that was the approach to take. It was
a case by case says the application process. We have
to do what's best for the territory going forward. We
have to look after business, we have to look after environment,
we have to look after our important sites. But that
doesn't mean blocking everything with absolutely no discussion. And I
think that's the other thing that's really astonishing about this.
(02:47):
This just came out of nowhere, no opportunity for anybody
to say anything about it, and counsel given the opportunity
to speak when they actually had no time left to
be able to do that.
Speaker 1 (02:57):
Chatsy, by the look of things, you'd made that visional
heritage listing a few weeks well, by the look of it,
on December three, twenty twenty one, and it was decided
it was a place of heritage significance. Then on September thirty,
twenty twenty two, forwarded that decision. Sorry, that decision was
then forwarded to you, I should say, on March sixteen,
(03:20):
twenty twenty three, after the Heritage Council accepted a nomination
to least the Esperanade. Sorry on December three, Why did
you make that provisional heritage listing for the Esperanad.
Speaker 3 (03:34):
Yeah, Look, Katie, I think it's important to acknowledge that
it wasn't actually a heritage listing. It's provisional listing.
Speaker 1 (03:41):
Exacly for all.
Speaker 3 (03:42):
Intensive purposes, it's provisionally listed, and then the information that
comes in or the period for the community to confirm
whether or not that is a position that should be
taken or be adopted is followed. Now, that's the information
that came from the Heritage Council and the Department around
provisionally listing it and enabling that process to proceed forward.
Speaker 1 (04:06):
Even though but like still, I get what you're saying
about it being a provisional listing, but why I think.
Speaker 3 (04:12):
It's important to allow people to then have that conversation,
that understanding around what heritage means. I think when we
talk about heritage, people often look at it being something
that's said in concrete and that you can't amend or
have events on and heritage doesn't have to also reflect
just historical things. It's capturing important moments or designs in time.
(04:36):
So that was a provisional listing. That's to say that
there had been no decision whether or not that would
have been permanently listed or not. That decision would have
been made based on the consultation that would have been
gathered from that process. Now I acknowledge that there's been
a process through the court, and I fully respect the
(04:56):
decision of the court. And now that is a process
that should there ever be a future application, it would
go back to the beginning and that process would be undertaken.
Speaker 1 (05:08):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (05:08):
Look, I don't know the ins and outs of what
chance he's explaining there. What I do know, Katie, is
that I mean I was in Townsville a couple of
weeks ago and I was down at the Strand and
you look at it and it's just go, wow, this is amazing.
Speaker 6 (05:20):
Why haven't we got this year? You know, the place
is buzzing.
Speaker 5 (05:23):
There are cafes, there are restaurants, there are exercise stations.
The same thing when you go to Cans You've got
Muddy's Cafe, on the esplanade there you've got volleyball courts,
you've got basketball courts, You've got all of these things happening.
It's a real hub for locals to go to. You
see locals going down there and having barbecues and having
a great time. You see tourists congregating there.
Speaker 6 (05:44):
It really is. In both of those cities, which are.
Speaker 5 (05:46):
Very similar to ours, their esplanade, their strand is like
the center of activity for tourists and for locals who
want to go there and do something. In Darwin, the
esplanade is the deadest, most ignored, most underutilized piece of
space in this city, and every time someone tries to
do something there, it just gets shot down. I don't
(06:08):
think anything's ever going to happen at the.
Speaker 1 (06:10):
Espanage by a small group. And this is I think
the thing that I find frustrating is that, you know,
I go and consult with some families that do actually
spend some time down there, or go and consult with
some families that actually maybe have teenagers that would like
to see something down there, you know, a basketball court.
I don't know. I'm thinking shut.
Speaker 2 (06:27):
Down by people who don't actually live here either. In
this electorate.
Speaker 4 (06:31):
So as I was running talking to people discussing lots
of the opportunities that have been put forward in the past,
and people saying, why hasn't this happened, And it didn't
happen because continually, when ideas were put forward, they were blocked.
And I think the really critical element in all of
this is that Justice Huntingford said that the process was
handled so badly in the respect that it failed to
(06:55):
provide the appropriate information to people and it didn't give
people time to respond. So it feels like it was
quite deliberate to do it the way it was done
so that people couldn't respond, and the result was that
we spent two hundred and fifty thousand dollars of taxpayer
money defending something that was indefensible. So when the council went,
(07:15):
hang on a minute, the smart thing to do would
have been, Okay, we've got it wrong. Let's let's pause it,
let's find out exactly what's going on, let's hear what
people have got to say. But no previous government went no,
we're going to fight this. We're going to fight this
to the death, to the tune of two hundred and
fifty thousand dollars.
Speaker 1 (07:31):
Why chancey, Like, why did just decide to fight that?
Why not sort of you know, do yeah, do the
right thing?
Speaker 3 (07:37):
I think again, it's important. It's a provisional or it
was a provisional listing. It wasn't a permanent listing.
Speaker 1 (07:43):
But it's still two hundred and fifty thousand dollars.
Speaker 3 (07:47):
And Katie, this was the information and the advice that
was being provided up by the department at the time,
and that's what government listened to the departments and follow
that action.
Speaker 4 (07:58):
Yeah, I think I just want to what's going to
jump in there. Departments are great, the people who work
for the public sector are amazing, but at the end
of the day, they will search out information in an
environment that they think is what the person who's asking
the question wants to know. And one of the things
that I have really made sure that I'm doing is
I get department advice, which is brilliant, but I then
(08:22):
interrogate it because I really want to dig down and
find out where did this come from, why we're doing this,
is there a better way, what does.
Speaker 2 (08:29):
The community think? And one of.
Speaker 4 (08:30):
The focuses that I've been taking in the last few
weeks is talking to people on the street, talking to businesses.
So if this had come to me from the department
in this format, the first thing I would have done
is go to the counts and say, look.
Speaker 2 (08:44):
This is on my desk, what do you reckon?
Speaker 4 (08:46):
What's your thought? I were have talked to businesses, what
do you think about this? Is this something that really
actually holds value? Is this something we should be doing?
And clearly I would have got an overwhelming art no,
that's not what we should be doing.
Speaker 5 (08:58):
Well, I think it's interesting that that we're talking about
this provisional listing and then it opens it up to consultation.
I think we should have a consultation and even wider
consultation on the esplanade. I mean, almost like a plebaside
or something like that, to ask territorians or ask people
in Darwen what they genuinely think about that space and
what should happen, Because I mean I might be out
on an island, but I actually think there is an
(09:20):
overwhelming majority of people who live in this city who
would like to see a better utilization of that space.
The only thing I think that has happened there in
the time I have lived here is that playground being built.
Speaker 1 (09:32):
Absolutely it is. Meanwhile, I actually, you know, we've spoken
in the past about whether there could actually be a
path or a track somehow that links the Darwen Waterfront
to the Esplanade, then the Esplanade linking down to Culum Bay,
but also.
Speaker 2 (09:46):
Those beach that.
Speaker 4 (09:49):
Yeah, that whole precinct could be such a vibrant, attractive
space to be in.
Speaker 2 (09:56):
And at the moment, mainly what we.
Speaker 4 (09:57):
Get is why is there so much anti social behavior there?
That's the main complaint I get. And part of the
reason for that is says nothing else happening.
Speaker 1 (10:05):
Yeah, Well, look, it was a win for the council,
there's no doubt about that on this one. But one
area where they certainly are not winning at this point
in time is with the Cyclone Tracy monument.
Speaker 6 (10:18):
Or it's not Cyclone something.
Speaker 1 (10:23):
Well, I tell you what, people are absolutely furious and
and we did catch up with a couple of those
Cyclone Tracy survivors throughout the week, but one in particular
who's slammed the city of the City of Darwin. And
and you know, and it follows basically this group had
said that they were keen to go down and protest
(10:43):
the event that's due to happen this Friday, as that
as the Fallopian Tubes, as many have dubbed it, are unveiled.
Now a lot of people are opposed to it right
from the get go. But so they've said that they're
going to go down and protest the unveiling of the
monument that's not a monument. The Council said, no, you
(11:04):
need a permish or you need to make sure that
you've got insurance, public liability insurance. I mean Anthony Bullock
had said to me earlier in the week that they
could potentially be the oldest group of protesters that Australia.
Speaker 5 (11:17):
They might be the feistiest too, though, Katie I dare say.
Speaker 1 (11:20):
Absolutely, but look it does. It's gone crazy. And the
thing that's always at the heart of this for me
is that when you talk about Cyclone Tracy, and you
talk about the fact that we are getting to the
fiftieth anniversary, it means a lot to a lot of people,
and it means a lot to people who rebuilt this place.
You know, we are built on absolute resilience and there
is no greater example really than what we went through
(11:43):
with Cyclone Tracy and the way in which Darwin has
re emerged into the place that it is today.
Speaker 5 (11:49):
Look, I've spent the past month with my head buried
in the Cyclone Tracy story.
Speaker 6 (11:55):
Katie.
Speaker 5 (11:56):
We've got a documentary coming out next Wednesday to mark
the fiftieth anniversary of Cyclone Tracy. One of the people
we spoke to as part of that documentary was Anthony Bullock.
And to hear those stories they are just mind blowing.
I mean Anthony telling us about how he, as a
twelve year old boy, was trying to they were going
(12:18):
to hide downstairs in the downstairs toilet, except it was
locked because his Christmas presents were stored in there. So
his dad tells him to go and get the key,
and as he goes to get the key from upstairs,
the entire kitchen blows away. This is a twelve year
old kid watching his entire kitchen being blown away in
front of him. And then he and his dad go
to walk down the stairs. His mum and his sister
(12:38):
were already down there, and they literally get blown off
the staircase and thrown ten meters onto the lawn. I mean,
how he is alive it is an absolute miracle. And
to hear him recount that sort of story. I think
a lot of us don't actually quite understand what people
went through in Cyclone Tracy. And that's just one of
the stories that I've heard over the past month or so.
(13:00):
Absolutely incredible, harrowing stories, and people who are still really
really affected by what happened fifty years ago they are,
And so then to see this whole thing be buggered
up so badly, I just I find it incredible. I
just I don't know how it's happened. I don't know
how it wasn't a simple case of going to the
Remembering Cyclone Tracy Committee and saying, what do you guys want,
(13:23):
We'll do whatever we can to help you make it happen.
Speaker 6 (13:25):
And yet we're in this let's.
Speaker 4 (13:28):
Parallel that to the Heritage listing debacle, and to some
degree the Council have done exactly what the previous government
did in that space. So the Cyclone Tracy is one
of those events that most people will know where they were.
And I remember exactly where I was as a young child,
because my cousin was in Darwin at the time and
(13:51):
we were staying with her mum, and that news came
through and that forty eight hours of trying to find
out if they were alive, if they were dead, if
they were safe, where were they was incredibly traumatic. So
the trauma spread a very long way across the country.
So here we have a situation where a number of
months ago there was great concern Council could have stopped
(14:14):
right there and gone okay, what do you want? But no,
like the Labor government and the Heritage Listing, they dug
their heels in well.
Speaker 1 (14:23):
Problem was that they'd also received the funding from the
federal government to say that they were going to be
putting together, you know, this Cyclone Tracy monument. But then
the Lord Mayor came on the show with me and
said it wasn't a monument, it was an art installation.
I mean, however you look at it, people are unhappy.
Chancey have you seen the photos of what's set to
go up? What do you think of the monument?
Speaker 3 (14:43):
Yeah? Look, Katie, I've definitely seen it and obviously we've
heard a lot of people around Darwin talking about it.
I think it should be I think mentioned that whilst
the piece of work is being spoken about and is controversial,
is it the best fit for the commemorative area? Probably not,
(15:05):
but I don't think we should be, you know, making
derogatory comments towards the artists because artist is supposed to
be controversial.
Speaker 1 (15:13):
But what do you mean they look like I think
people look like.
Speaker 3 (15:17):
We're attacking people, attacking the artists and saying that it
is it's quite I.
Speaker 4 (15:24):
Hadn't really heard anyone attack the arts. They've said it
didn't sit.
Speaker 3 (15:28):
I think that there is comments around, you know, the
artists and their way of interpreting that, but I think
it's more about understanding that this is not what the
community wanted around that, and the interpretive information signs that
were originally spoken about we haven't seen. So I do absolutely,
you know, it's probably one of the very few things
(15:49):
that I will agree with with Robin on. But yeah,
I think that there's a process and engaging with the
community much more on what that looks like. And you know,
it was a very horrific event that unfolded in darh
And for cyclone Tracy, and it's something that is territory wide.
You know, down here in Alla Springs, we had family
(16:11):
members relocated down here, we had people's animals relocated to
down here. So it is something that the whole of
the Northern Territory is acutely aware of and certainly something
that we want to make sure that we honor and
commemorate appropriately.
Speaker 1 (16:26):
Are any of you guys going to the VIP event
on Friday.
Speaker 4 (16:31):
I'm not going because there won't be in town. But
even if I was in town, given the community sentiment,
I wouldn't have gone.
Speaker 3 (16:39):
How about you, Chancy, No, I won't be at the event.
Speaker 1 (16:43):
All right, we're going to take a very quick break.
Well you are listening to the week that was if
you've just joined us on the line in Central Australia.
We've got Chancey Paige in the studio, We've got Robin
Carr and Matt Cunningham. Now quite a bit to cover
off this week and one of the issues that raised
it's here to earlier in the week was questions being
raised about whether there should be a well stricter rules
(17:05):
for politicians when they leave politics. After the former Deputy
Chief Minister Nicole Madison announced that she'd taken a role
as the vice president of Government Relations and Public Affairs
at tamborand Commencing on Monday, now, she'd taken to LinkedIn
to say that Tamborand's work to develop gas in the
Beaterloo is going to create jobs and help deliver affordable,
(17:27):
reliable and viable power for Territorians and Australians as we
transition to more renewable energy in the future. Some saying that,
you know, how can she go from being a minister
signing off on these projects to then working for a
company like this chancy, do you think that there's any
questions that need to be answered or do you think
(17:48):
that there needs to be a change to the rules
and that there needs to be a longer period of
time before a politician steps into a job outside of politics.
Speaker 3 (17:58):
Yeah, look, Katie certainly have heard right around the community
over the week around you know, Nicole taking on that
new job. Nicole is obviously very capable of defending herself,
but I think there just needs to be some clarification that,
you know, Nicole has done everything right by the code
of conduct. She had resigned from cabinet in December last
(18:20):
year and she took a position on the backbench and
wasn't involved in those Northern Territory government decisions such as
the Tambourine gas deal nor the recent round of approval.
So you know, I think she had resigned. She'd been
out of cabinet for you know, certainly more than the
required six months that's currently in place before taking that
(18:44):
job at tarm Born. And you know, I think certainly
there are conversations around those rules and maybe needing to
change and extend the time that people are out of
their roles before taking up those jobs. Certainly open to
those conversations.
Speaker 1 (19:01):
I wonder though, you know, like, and I say this
to you, Chancey, I say to you, Robin, to anybody
that's that's stepping into politics, you know, And I'm certainly
like I'm not advocating that politicians should get a pension
or anything like that, but I think, how do you
attract people to the role of politics and people that
you know, that are that are great in the industries
that they work in, or great in the professions that
(19:23):
they work in. If if they serve you know, four years,
and then they step out and they can't have a job,
they can't get a job.
Speaker 5 (19:32):
I would advocate for the I think I think removing
the pension, perhaps it was too generous, but I think
removing it was a mistake. I think we've got a
problem now where we really struggle to attract the best
people into politics, and the reason is because who would
want to do it.
Speaker 6 (19:45):
I mean, if you go in there a lot of you.
Speaker 7 (19:48):
Know, well, hats off to you Robin and to you
Chancy because because I mean, I don't know, it doesn't
look like the most glamorous job.
Speaker 5 (19:58):
To me, it looks like a lot of work, cop
a lot of abuse from a lot of places. Social
media has made it one hundred times worse. And then
on top of that you say at the end of
it you're going to walk out. You get nothing, and
for most people you can't get a job.
Speaker 4 (20:11):
I think that most people don't actually understand what you
know politicians. What politicians get paid compared to the private
sector is very low. I took a significant pay cut
to run for politics. I made the choice because I
really believed I could keep winging or I could do
something about it, and that was my personal choice.
Speaker 2 (20:32):
But you're right when.
Speaker 4 (20:33):
You leave the day you leave Parliament, whether it's by
choice or because the electorate have decided they've had enough
of you. If you've gone into politics with a view
around what you're good at and what you think you
can contribute, the only option available to you at the
end of that is to go back into a job
where you have the experience and expertise and there is
no pension anymore, there is no safety.
Speaker 1 (20:54):
Yeah. Well, and the interesting thing as well is there's
no such thing as a safe seech anymore. I don't
think either. So for some people, you know, you might
be entering politics and it's literally potentially a job for
four years, so then if you leave, there definitely needs
to be rules. I don't want a situation where politicians
are signing off on, you know, on big, big mining
projects for example, and then stepping into that job a
(21:17):
month later. I do think that there needs to be
the code of conduct that is currently in place, and
I understand why questions might be getting asked. But as
you pointed out, Chancy, you know she hasn't been in
that job as a minister for almost a year. It's
it's quite a long time then to not be a minister.
Speaker 3 (21:35):
It is a long time. And you know, Robin makes
you know the same point as well. And Robin and
I have colleagues and friends who have been you know,
former members of Parliament and cabinet ministers. When you leave office,
quite often if you try and get a job, you struggle,
and then we end up losing good people from the
(21:55):
Northern Territory to other jurisdictions. And you know, manno has
been Whether like Nicole or you don't like Nicole, she
has been a fierce advocate for the Northern Territory and
having her somewhere still in the territory is important. But
you know, if we do need to look at having
this conversation and hearing from the community around what their
(22:17):
expectations is, then you know, I'm up for that conversation.
But making the point that you know, Nicole wasn't a
minister at the August election. She'd been on the backbench.
She'd made a decision to step down from the cabinet,
so she has complied with the current Northern Territory Ministerial
(22:38):
Code of Conduct.
Speaker 1 (22:39):
Well, Andrew and Herberts just text in and he said, Hi, Katie,
Nicole taking your job with a gas company is a
bit of a storm in a teacup. She seems qualified.
I don't see an issue that's just from Andrew there
in her And.
Speaker 2 (22:50):
If we're honest, we didn't see a lot of progress.
Speaker 4 (22:52):
Actually we saw zero progress in developing the industry under
the Labor government her involvement. When she was involved, we
didn't see any progression. And so I mean, the reality
is we've got an industry that is totally stalled and
we've done a lot of work in the last few
weeks to get that back on track.
Speaker 1 (23:08):
Let's talk a little about that because we know that
it was reported in the Northern Territory News a little
earlier in the week that the territory is actually facing
ongoing risks of power blackouts and higher energy prices. That's
according to Australia's Energy Regulated despite sitting between two of
the world's largest gas prospects. We know the latest Australian
(23:28):
Energy Regulators report was downbeat about the territory's electricity supplies,
tipping ongoing blackouts caused by an unsecured gas supply. It
seems unbelievable that we're in a situation where we are
potentially staring down the barrel of blackouts and not enough
gas given where we are and what we've got around us.
Speaker 4 (23:51):
And that's a great that's the failure of the previous
government to make sure that that didn't happen, and that's
the task that's been set to us as a new
government to actually secure the gas supply, secure our electricity supply.
We've put a lot of work into that. We're going
to be spending around one hundred and fifty million dollars
this year by the end of this current financial year
(24:13):
to actually make sure that we can maintain our electricity
supply and that we need to make sure that our
customers generally are aware that we do need to be
careful about what we do and how we do it.
We're investing as much as we can, as quickly as
we can to get that gas supply going.
Speaker 5 (24:32):
There's a couple of things. One is the Black Tip Field,
which I mean there was a take or pay deal
done I think with the former Henderson government that was
supposed to run until twenty thirty four. That gas has
clearly run out sooner than was expected. And it does
show the importance of these onshore gas resources that we have,
(24:53):
and it shows why the previous Labor government, under even lawless,
sign those deals with Empire Energy and Tamborm to get
first access to that gas. Now there's been so much
wailing and gnashing of teeth over those deals. I mean
the alternative to those deals is to run our electricity
system on diesel, right, or to import gas from the
(25:15):
East Coast. And you know that Gemina now has now
reversed the Northern gas pipeline so that we can import
gas from the East Cook Coast which has bugger or
gas anyway, probably import gas from overseas, or we could
use the resource that's under our feet. And so I
just like there was so much outrage about that deal
being done with Tambora and an empire, and I would
(25:36):
just say to those who are outraged about what is
the alternative? It's not the three solar farms that have
been built that are still sitting idol of Man, Dan
Bachelor and Catherine Chancey.
Speaker 1 (25:46):
I mean, should you guys have sped this up?
Speaker 3 (25:49):
Look, Katie, I think firstly, I think, just going to
Matt's point, absolutely, the former Chief Minister, Evia Lailer did
do a range of things to look at securing gas
supply in the chair. There was those obviously ongoing conversations,
and you know the Power and Water Company considering the
legal action over e and I not meaning its legal
(26:10):
obligations as part of those deals to supply gas to
the Northern Territory. But Katie, I think you know, when
you look at the work that has been done in
this pace, you know we did had to undertake the CEREBA,
the Pepper Inquiry, the Chief Minister at the time, even
LAWLA working to secure that tambor and deal. There was
(26:31):
a lot of work in this space, and certainly making
sure that territorians can keep the lights on is an
important role. Is the government work that is happening that
should have.
Speaker 2 (26:45):
Been sooner and if it had been sooner, we'd have.
Speaker 3 (26:47):
That well sooner, probably under the CLP because they don't
subscribe to the environmental regulation.
Speaker 2 (26:53):
Well you know that's not true. Chance, we absolutely subscribe
to the.
Speaker 3 (26:58):
Work there, the Pepper and made it clear that these
were all of the things that needed to be done,
no doubt, though like.
Speaker 1 (27:06):
No doubt we've dragged out heels right, Like I totally agree.
I do think that we need to make sure you're
doing everything correctly. You need to make sure that you
know that you're not that you're not ruining the environment.
But there is no doubt that labor did really take
a long time on this chancey I mean, and from
my understanding, you know, like you guys didn't all agree
(27:28):
on it either. You and I have spoken about this
on numerous occasions.
Speaker 4 (27:31):
There's meeting regulations and then there's using those regulations to
delay projects unnecessarily, which is absolutely what we're seen. Look,
the good news for Territorians is we have resolved that
and we will see blu gas in the second half
of twenty twenty five. Not as soon as it should
have been, but it will be coming as soon as
we can actually get it accessed.
Speaker 3 (27:50):
It's definitely as soon as it should have been because
honoring and protecting the environment and the water is well.
Speaker 2 (27:56):
You might want to tell that to Territorians when their.
Speaker 3 (27:57):
Lights go out. Chances see, what will continue to do
is to make sure that those regulations are here too.
Speaker 1 (28:03):
Well. Look, we are going to take a very quick break.
You're listening to Mix one O four nine's three sixty.
It is the week that was. Well, you are listening
to the week that was if you've just joined us
down in Central Australia. Joining us on the line is
Chancy Paike. We've also got Matt Cunningham and Robin Carl
in the studio with us. Now, Chancey, I know you
do need to leave a little early because you are
going to be going to an event with the Tanganjier
(28:26):
Women's group. I understand that it is actually in relation
to domestic violence. Correct me if I'm wrong. And we
have had another terrible week when it comes to domestic violence.
I mean, we've learned that a sixty one year old
woman who was seriously injured allegedly by her partner in Catherine,
died in Royal Darwin Hospital about five weeks after the incident. Now,
(28:48):
as I understand it, that now means that eight Northern
Territory women have died at the hands of domestic violence
over the last last few months.
Speaker 4 (29:00):
It's appalling that it's heartbreaking. We have this situation in
our community where, for some reason, everywhere else in the
country they don't pay attention to what's happening here. And
it takes the death of yet another amazing, wonderful Territorian mum, grandma, daughter,
(29:25):
sister before we actually have people stand up and take notice.
And I have been really digging deep into what we're
doing in the territory. I've so far been able to
visit regional areas around the Berkley and Alice Springs. I'm
heading out to Nulamboy before the end of the year
and Catherine talking to people on the ground about what's happening,
(29:46):
what they're doing, and there is such devastation caused by
this scourge in our community. And the reality is we
have a system. It's not just broken, it's shattered. We've
had an increase in DV across the territor in the
last eight years eighty two percent of domestic violence assault
increase eighty two percent, and in areas like Palmerston it's
(30:08):
one hundred and eighty percent. I can't even wrap my
head around that. So we very very clearly have to
change how we're approaching this. We have to acknowledge that
the things that we're doing are not having the impact
that we need them to have, and we really have
to start working on the ground and dealing with our communities,
working with them, equipping them and helping them to do
(30:30):
what they believe will work rather than what we think
should be done.
Speaker 1 (30:34):
Chancey, I mean this has been an issue here in
the Northern Territory for really quite some time. I mean,
as an Aboriginal man living in Central Australia, what do
you think realistically needs to change here? How can things
be dealt with where we actually start to see some change.
Speaker 3 (30:54):
Yeah, look, Katie, I think it's it's such an important
topic in the North Territory and particularly nationwide, Australia has
a problem when it comes to domestic, family and sexual
violence that we all need to work together to overcome. Particularly,
I think it's important to acknowledge there are things that
are in place that are working. They're working at a
(31:17):
small level and that's largely due to obviously issues around funding.
So certainly I want to acknowledge that one hundred and
eighty million dollar commitment that was made by both major
parties at the territory election. But I think the way
that we do overcome this is by not continuing to
(31:39):
invest heavily in the national organizations around domestic and family violence.
We need to be funding the frontline, the door to
door that the women shelters, the domestic and family violence
networks that really help people on the ground, as well
as those education campaigns around talking to people so that
(32:00):
they understand what is not normal behavior and what is
not healthy. Because when you look at Katie, Aboriginal people
in the Northern Territory are eighteen times higher to experience
domestic and family and sexual violence than non Aboriginal people,
so there's certainly a lot of work to do. I
have absolutely reached out to the new Chief and said
(32:23):
that I'm more than happy to go with the Chief
to Canberra to lobby for needs based funding because that's
what we need in the Northern Territory and for some
part Katie needs based funding. We will see an increase
in domestic, family and sexual violence being reported because people
will start to feel a lot more comfortable about coming
(32:44):
forward and identifying and recognizing that level of abuse that
is happening. So, you know, the best way we can
do this is by coming together as a parliament going
to Canberra and knocking on the doors of both major
saying that we need needs based funding here in.
Speaker 5 (33:02):
The chancey, can I just just ask you about the
point you made about that some of the funding being
directed to those national organizations. I mean, is your concern
at the moment that that federal government funding is sort
of going out and I'm not sure if you can
sort of articulate who some of those organizations are, but
they're going out to a national organization that might give
(33:23):
the Northern Territory three percent of its attention because we're
three percent of the Australian population.
Speaker 3 (33:29):
Absolutely, Matt, Absolutely, I think you know, there are national
organizations and they all do a fantastic job, and I'm
sure Robin's met a number of them as well. They
do a great job. But when it comes to how
the pie is distributed and the funding and the work
that is put into the Northern Territory, we are such
a small population and.
Speaker 4 (33:48):
I think the challenge, Chancey is that people who haven't
been here, who haven't lived here, who haven't seen the
depth of what we're dealing with, and the challenge of
disudents and remoteness and different communities having different approaches and
different needs, They go, well, why do you need this,
Why do you need needs based funding? Why can't we
(34:10):
just do the same thing that we do in Sydney
and Melbourne.
Speaker 2 (34:12):
I think one of the big.
Speaker 4 (34:13):
Pushes we have to have is to get those people
who are making those funding decisions to get out of camera,
to come here, to travel around, to see what's happening
on the ground and understand that we need more funding
because the degree of the damage and the degree of
the problem is so much higher here in.
Speaker 3 (34:32):
The Northern tortoh absolutely. It's also you know, we've got
so many remote communities across the Northern Territory and they're
wonderful places, but when someone experiences domestic, family or sexual
violence in those communities, if there's not a safe house,
the next place for them is a regional town, and
people often don't understand the distance that.
Speaker 2 (34:52):
People they can't get there yeah to a.
Speaker 3 (34:54):
Gate family violence, or when someone's being released from prison
and they haven't been sentenced to undertake a men's behavior
change program, sometimes you're putting the victim and the perpetrator
back in the same community without addressing any of the behavior.
And that's why men's behavior change programs are incredibly important.
(35:16):
The crisis accommodation, the women's legal services, these are all
important pieces of the puzzle. And this is why I've
said to the Chief Minister, I am more than happy
as an opposition member from the Labor Party to go
to Canberra with a COLP Chief Minister and knock on
doors and say this is something that needs bipartisan.
Speaker 4 (35:37):
Support and we do really need to put all those
programs on the table and have a really good look
at them and the things that aren't working. We have
to stop trying to make them work and put the
effort into the areas that aren't working.
Speaker 1 (35:47):
Now, I know, Chancey, that you are going to have
to leave us in just a moment's time. So I
do just want to very quickly discuss the fact that
one of Australia's top Aboriginal legal services, NAJA, has publicly
apologized for the unlawful sacking of its former chief executive officer.
The North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency is the main legal
aid service for Aboriginal people in the Northern Territory, who
(36:08):
make up the vast majority of inmates, it's reported inside
the territory's overcrowded prisons now. According to the ABC, the
organization has been rocked by a significant period of instability
in recent years, seeing a revolving door of six chief
executives since late twenty twenty two. I mean, it is
a situation that continues to dominate the news headlines, Chancey,
(36:36):
what do you make of this most recent situation and
is NAJA in a situation here where the federal government
really needs to intervene?
Speaker 3 (36:45):
Yeah, Katie, I think certainly acknowledging NAJA has had it
tough recently, and I want to acknowledge the NAJA staff
because obviously what's experienced been happening in NAJA hasn't been
driven by the staff. It's been done on obviously at
a board and an executive level. So you know, I
think NAJA has been losing lawyers and has had difficulty
(37:08):
in retracting and attaining people. But I think it's important
to acknowledge that, you know, the Northern Territory government when
I was the Attorney General and no doubt the new
Attorney General and the Commonwealth have been working tirelessly in
this space. The way that NAJA was set up under
the National Legal Assistance Partnership is an asset listed company, Katie,
(37:32):
So the Northern Territory government at the time and still
to this moment, couldn't put in an administrator because we
had no legal jurisdiction over it.
Speaker 5 (37:41):
So a lot of people are saying Chancey that the
board needs to go after this apology that was issued
to Priscilla Atkins this week. I mean, do you agree
that there needs to be clean out of the board
at NAGA now.
Speaker 3 (37:52):
I think in the best interests for NAJA, a complete
restart would absolutely be one of the most beneficial ways
for everyone to do that. I think if you cleared
those positions and now the membership to determine who they
nominate and vote for as directors to be on the
board is an important step in allowing the nag.
Speaker 4 (38:14):
The reality is NA if it was a business, just
a normal everyday business out in the community, its brand
is totally ruined. Federal government has to step in. Federal
government do have the opportunity I mean us as the
NT government, if we have serious concerns, we may not
have the oversighting of them as a register not for profit,
but we do have the ability to look at avenues
(38:37):
to raise our concern through assets through the federal government.
And the federal government absolutely cannot stand by any longer
and allow this to continue, because you're right, there are
people who are working there who are trying very hard
to do right by the people they're representing. But if
you've got a broken structure, there's nothing they can do
well take it.
Speaker 3 (38:56):
Look. I think that Katie, that's important. Just picking up
from Robin's point. You know, we did send in auditors
and compliance reviews and so forth to do that work.
I think it's also important to acknowledge, particularly down here
in Central Australia, we used to have a second We
had the Central Australian aborig Legal Service, fantastic service down here.
(39:20):
Part of the National Legal Assistance Partnership that was rolled
out nationally required each jurisdiction to have one service. So
we lost that service in Central Australia.
Speaker 5 (39:30):
And it was taken over by taken over by NAJIE,
which subsequently hasn't been able to keep up with the
workload speedily.
Speaker 3 (39:37):
So one of the conversations that I had had with
the Commonwealth was I think we should go back to
having two Aboriginal legal services here in the Northern Territory
because if we were to see future events where one
legal Aboriginal legal service cannot deliver on its requirements, then
the other service can intrimely be stood up to help
(39:58):
in that process. So I think that certainly something that
needs to be looked at.
Speaker 1 (40:01):
It'd be a hard sell to Territorians at this point,
given the fact that NAJERIE is in the turmoil that
they're in, and while it may be a practical thing
to do, I think that a lot of people would
be you know, sort of questioning whetherment to step in.
Speaker 4 (40:15):
Yeah, we've seen repeated examples of failures of this organization.
We've seen steps forward, step back. They're really in Devasa
right now. In terms of the stepping back this is sometimes.
Speaker 3 (40:28):
I think let's also just acknowledge that prior to the
turbulent time that NAJA has been through, they have been
a very strong organization in our local community delivering justice
for many Aboriginal territorians. So acknowledging that, yes, the last
couple of years have been quite turbulent, but prior to that,
(40:50):
Nijer was a well respected legal service.
Speaker 1 (40:53):
Chancey will let you go. I know you've got to
get across to that event. Really appreciate you joining us
this morning from Central aust No.
Speaker 3 (41:01):
Worries, Thanks Katie, and good to be with you all.
Speaker 1 (41:03):
Thank you, Chancey Paik just just leaving us here to
go to that memorial event. But look, we'll take a
really quick break before we get ready to wrap up
the week that was well, you are listening to the
week that wasn't and in the studio with us, we
have still got Robin Carl and Matt Cunningham. Now before
we wrap up, just very briefly. I mean, Matt, I
know that you're more of an AFL man, but what
(41:23):
did you make of the Yeals contracts coming to an end?
I mean, I was happy. I'm hoping for the Dolphins
to step in to that role.
Speaker 5 (41:30):
Well, so long as we get someone, and someone decent
will I mean, that's what I know that. I know
that the government's going on a cost cutting mission at
the moment, and I know it's going to mandate to
do so, and it needs to do so because you know,
we're staring at a whopping eleven million dollar ye eleven
billion dollar, twelve million dollar that's going to blooon out
the fifteen.
Speaker 6 (41:50):
So I know they need to make it.
Speaker 4 (41:52):
We're still going to have the footy though, Yeah, don't
don't get the wrong message. We're definitely going to have
the footy. It's just we're in negotiations with a new team.
Speaker 6 (41:59):
We can't team is it.
Speaker 2 (42:00):
We can't tell you.
Speaker 6 (42:01):
Who, you know, because if it's the canbur Raiders, well
you know.
Speaker 2 (42:05):
I have no say, but i'd be reading for the
Newcastle Knights. That's my name team. They don't do very
well now they came here, they'd be probably amazing you
know what.
Speaker 5 (42:14):
What happened with the Paramatta deal though, Was it Paramatta
that fell out of love with us all the other
way around?
Speaker 4 (42:19):
Well, I don't have the details of that, but it
was a mutual separation, as my understanding out, like.
Speaker 1 (42:24):
I'm going to call it, I think what's actually happened,
and I could be very wrong, but reading between the lines,
based on the conversation that I'd had with Trevor Cox
from Major Events earlier in the week, he said that
some of the factors are like the broadcasting rights making
sure that we've got a game that's televised. Now, no
disrespect to the poor old Eels, but they've been, you know,
seller around the bottom of the table for quite some time.
(42:44):
So getting a game on a Friday night that's televised
becomes a little bit less, you know, it happens a
little bit less then when you're maybe not performing quite
so well. So I could be very wrong, but I
wonder whether that has sort of somehow come into play
as well. I like, I know I'm going to get
called out by my listeners here, but I do think
(43:07):
that going with the Queensland team is a good option
in the sense that, you know, a lot of people
in the Northern Territory do really barrack for their Queenslne
teams when it comes to NRL football. And then you've
also got a lot of these, you know, across a
lot of the different plays, a lot of the different teams,
a lot of really sensational young indigenous players, particularly out
(43:27):
of the likes of North Queensland, you know, the Broncos
and even the Dolphins, and I think that that's a
wonderful thing. Then to see coming across the Cowboys.
Speaker 6 (43:34):
The Cowboys would be the natural fit.
Speaker 1 (43:36):
Wouldn't they They would be the natural fit.
Speaker 4 (43:38):
But not mine at this well, we are each allowed
to have our biases, Matt.
Speaker 2 (43:43):
But it's an exciting time.
Speaker 4 (43:45):
It's a time to actually revitalize their discussion and to
get some new blood into the mix and some new
fans into football because historically AFL is the footy game
that people follow here, but rugby league is my same
here growing up. Yes, football game AFL. Even though my
(44:05):
son was heavily involved in AFL, I still don't get it.
Apologies to all the AFL fans out there. Rugby league,
on the other hand, bring it on, Lavish.
Speaker 6 (44:14):
We haven't got time for this.
Speaker 1 (44:15):
To We've better not but look, it will be interesting.
But Bill the Treasurer did say earlier in the week
that no, this is treasure But Robin, can we get
you on the record too, saying this is not the
end of.
Speaker 4 (44:31):
NRA hasn't been advised by the team. This is absolutely
not the end. There is something exciting in the wind
and watch this space.
Speaker 1 (44:40):
All right, go the Darwin Dolphins. Yeah, Matt Cunningham, Robin Carl,
thank you both so very much for your time this morning,
and of course Chancey who did have to leave us
a little bit earlier today. But but yes, thank you
both so very much for joining us on the show.
Thanks Katie, you are listening to mix Swallow for Nite
three sixteen
I think it's time for the week that was and
(00:02):
joining us today on the show. We have got Matt
Cunningham from Sky News. Good morning, Matt, good morning, Good
to have you on the show. We've got the Minister
for Territory, Families, Business, plenty of different portfolios. Rob and Carl,
Good morning to you.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Morning Katie, Good morning to everyone out.
Speaker 1 (00:17):
There and live from Central Australia. We have got the
former Attorney General. He is indeed one of the members
of the opposition for the Labour Party, Chancey.
Speaker 3 (00:27):
Pai, get a Chancy, get a Katie in a shout
out here and tuned in.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
Good to have you on the show this morning. Now, look,
there is so much to cover off before we get
to the news of the week and the incidents of
the week. I do just want to give our listeners
a very quick update that the Northern Territory Police have
now charged a man in relation to a kidnapping incident
in Daily Waters earlier this week. Detectives have charged that
twenty six year old with three counts of aggravated assault,
(00:53):
one count of kidnapping, one of recklessly endangering life, one
of deprive depriving of liberty. Too were possessing firearms without license,
amongst other things. He has been remanded to appear in
the Darwin Local Court on Monday. So just a bit
of an update there for our listeners as it was
something that they were pretty concerned about yesterday on the show.
(01:16):
Now let's get straight into it because there is an
awful lot to cover off on this morning, and we
know that the City of Darwin has successfully overturned a
provisional heritage listing of the Darwin Esplanade, with the Supreme
Court of the Northern Territory ruling that the Heritage Council
denied the municipality procedural fairness. The council has been in
(01:38):
strike well, they've stridently opposed this happening combat scalas the
Lord Mayor of Darwin had joined us on the show
on numerous occasions to talk about why the council was
absolutely opposed to this going ahead. I mean it was
a worry for a lot of people thinking was this
going to mean that literally nothing was going to be
able to happen on the Esplanard inna More and for
(02:01):
no real reason.
Speaker 4 (02:03):
It defies logic and it's yet another example of a
situation that has seen an absolute waste of money, of
taxpayer money in the territory defend something that should never
have happened in the first place. I think it's really
interesting if you go back in time. Previous Minister Combat
Scarlets was the previous Heritage Minister and he absolutely did
(02:26):
not believe that was the approach to take. It was
a case by case says the application process. We have
to do what's best for the territory going forward. We
have to look after business, we have to look after environment,
we have to look after our important sites. But that
doesn't mean blocking everything with absolutely no discussion. And I
think that's the other thing that's really astonishing about this.
(02:47):
This just came out of nowhere, no opportunity for anybody
to say anything about it, and counsel given the opportunity
to speak when they actually had no time left to
be able to do that.
Speaker 1 (02:57):
Chatsy, by the look of things, you'd made that visional
heritage listing a few weeks well, by the look of it,
on December three, twenty twenty one, and it was decided
it was a place of heritage significance. Then on September thirty,
twenty twenty two, forwarded that decision. Sorry, that decision was
then forwarded to you, I should say, on March sixteen,
(03:20):
twenty twenty three, after the Heritage Council accepted a nomination
to least the Esperanade. Sorry on December three, Why did
you make that provisional heritage listing for the Esperanad.
Speaker 3 (03:34):
Yeah, Look, Katie, I think it's important to acknowledge that
it wasn't actually a heritage listing. It's provisional listing.
Speaker 1 (03:41):
Exacly for all.
Speaker 3 (03:42):
Intensive purposes, it's provisionally listed, and then the information that
comes in or the period for the community to confirm
whether or not that is a position that should be
taken or be adopted is followed. Now, that's the information
that came from the Heritage Council and the Department around
provisionally listing it and enabling that process to proceed forward.
Speaker 1 (04:06):
Even though but like still, I get what you're saying
about it being a provisional listing, but why I think.
Speaker 3 (04:12):
It's important to allow people to then have that conversation,
that understanding around what heritage means. I think when we
talk about heritage, people often look at it being something
that's said in concrete and that you can't amend or
have events on and heritage doesn't have to also reflect
just historical things. It's capturing important moments or designs in time.
(04:36):
So that was a provisional listing. That's to say that
there had been no decision whether or not that would
have been permanently listed or not. That decision would have
been made based on the consultation that would have been
gathered from that process. Now I acknowledge that there's been
a process through the court, and I fully respect the
(04:56):
decision of the court. And now that is a process
that should there ever be a future application, it would
go back to the beginning and that process would be undertaken.
Speaker 1 (05:08):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (05:08):
Look, I don't know the ins and outs of what
chance he's explaining there. What I do know, Katie, is
that I mean I was in Townsville a couple of
weeks ago and I was down at the Strand and
you look at it and it's just go, wow, this is amazing.
Speaker 6 (05:20):
Why haven't we got this year? You know, the place
is buzzing.
Speaker 5 (05:23):
There are cafes, there are restaurants, there are exercise stations.
The same thing when you go to Cans You've got
Muddy's Cafe, on the esplanade there you've got volleyball courts,
you've got basketball courts, You've got all of these things happening.
It's a real hub for locals to go to. You
see locals going down there and having barbecues and having
a great time. You see tourists congregating there.
Speaker 6 (05:44):
It really is. In both of those cities, which are.
Speaker 5 (05:46):
Very similar to ours, their esplanade, their strand is like
the center of activity for tourists and for locals who
want to go there and do something. In Darwin, the
esplanade is the deadest, most ignored, most underutilized piece of
space in this city, and every time someone tries to
do something there, it just gets shot down. I don't
(06:08):
think anything's ever going to happen at the.
Speaker 1 (06:10):
Espanage by a small group. And this is I think
the thing that I find frustrating is that, you know,
I go and consult with some families that do actually
spend some time down there, or go and consult with
some families that actually maybe have teenagers that would like
to see something down there, you know, a basketball court.
I don't know. I'm thinking shut.
Speaker 2 (06:27):
Down by people who don't actually live here either. In
this electorate.
Speaker 4 (06:31):
So as I was running talking to people discussing lots
of the opportunities that have been put forward in the past,
and people saying, why hasn't this happened, And it didn't
happen because continually, when ideas were put forward, they were blocked.
And I think the really critical element in all of
this is that Justice Huntingford said that the process was
handled so badly in the respect that it failed to
(06:55):
provide the appropriate information to people and it didn't give
people time to respond. So it feels like it was
quite deliberate to do it the way it was done
so that people couldn't respond, and the result was that
we spent two hundred and fifty thousand dollars of taxpayer
money defending something that was indefensible. So when the council went,
(07:15):
hang on a minute, the smart thing to do would
have been, Okay, we've got it wrong. Let's let's pause it,
let's find out exactly what's going on, let's hear what
people have got to say. But no previous government went no,
we're going to fight this. We're going to fight this
to the death, to the tune of two hundred and
fifty thousand dollars.
Speaker 1 (07:31):
Why chancey, Like, why did just decide to fight that?
Why not sort of you know, do yeah, do the
right thing?
Speaker 3 (07:37):
I think again, it's important. It's a provisional or it
was a provisional listing. It wasn't a permanent listing.
Speaker 1 (07:43):
But it's still two hundred and fifty thousand dollars.
Speaker 3 (07:47):
And Katie, this was the information and the advice that
was being provided up by the department at the time,
and that's what government listened to the departments and follow
that action.
Speaker 4 (07:58):
Yeah, I think I just want to what's going to
jump in there. Departments are great, the people who work
for the public sector are amazing, but at the end
of the day, they will search out information in an
environment that they think is what the person who's asking
the question wants to know. And one of the things
that I have really made sure that I'm doing is
I get department advice, which is brilliant, but I then
(08:22):
interrogate it because I really want to dig down and
find out where did this come from, why we're doing this,
is there a better way, what does.
Speaker 2 (08:29):
The community think? And one of.
Speaker 4 (08:30):
The focuses that I've been taking in the last few
weeks is talking to people on the street, talking to businesses.
So if this had come to me from the department
in this format, the first thing I would have done
is go to the counts and say, look.
Speaker 2 (08:44):
This is on my desk, what do you reckon?
Speaker 4 (08:46):
What's your thought? I were have talked to businesses, what
do you think about this? Is this something that really
actually holds value? Is this something we should be doing?
And clearly I would have got an overwhelming art no,
that's not what we should be doing.
Speaker 5 (08:58):
Well, I think it's interesting that that we're talking about
this provisional listing and then it opens it up to consultation.
I think we should have a consultation and even wider
consultation on the esplanade. I mean, almost like a plebaside
or something like that, to ask territorians or ask people
in Darwen what they genuinely think about that space and
what should happen, Because I mean I might be out
on an island, but I actually think there is an
(09:20):
overwhelming majority of people who live in this city who
would like to see a better utilization of that space.
The only thing I think that has happened there in
the time I have lived here is that playground being built.
Speaker 1 (09:32):
Absolutely it is. Meanwhile, I actually, you know, we've spoken
in the past about whether there could actually be a
path or a track somehow that links the Darwen Waterfront
to the Esplanade, then the Esplanade linking down to Culum Bay,
but also.
Speaker 2 (09:46):
Those beach that.
Speaker 4 (09:49):
Yeah, that whole precinct could be such a vibrant, attractive
space to be in.
Speaker 2 (09:56):
And at the moment, mainly what we.
Speaker 4 (09:57):
Get is why is there so much anti social behavior there?
That's the main complaint I get. And part of the
reason for that is says nothing else happening.
Speaker 1 (10:05):
Yeah, Well, look, it was a win for the council,
there's no doubt about that on this one. But one
area where they certainly are not winning at this point
in time is with the Cyclone Tracy monument.
Speaker 6 (10:18):
Or it's not Cyclone something.
Speaker 1 (10:23):
Well, I tell you what, people are absolutely furious and
and we did catch up with a couple of those
Cyclone Tracy survivors throughout the week, but one in particular
who's slammed the city of the City of Darwin. And
and you know, and it follows basically this group had
said that they were keen to go down and protest
(10:43):
the event that's due to happen this Friday, as that
as the Fallopian Tubes, as many have dubbed it, are unveiled.
Now a lot of people are opposed to it right
from the get go. But so they've said that they're
going to go down and protest the unveiling of the
monument that's not a monument. The Council said, no, you
(11:04):
need a permish or you need to make sure that
you've got insurance, public liability insurance. I mean Anthony Bullock
had said to me earlier in the week that they
could potentially be the oldest group of protesters that Australia.
Speaker 5 (11:17):
They might be the feistiest too, though, Katie I dare say.
Speaker 1 (11:20):
Absolutely, but look it does. It's gone crazy. And the
thing that's always at the heart of this for me
is that when you talk about Cyclone Tracy, and you
talk about the fact that we are getting to the
fiftieth anniversary, it means a lot to a lot of people,
and it means a lot to people who rebuilt this place.
You know, we are built on absolute resilience and there
is no greater example really than what we went through
(11:43):
with Cyclone Tracy and the way in which Darwin has
re emerged into the place that it is today.
Speaker 5 (11:49):
Look, I've spent the past month with my head buried
in the Cyclone Tracy story.
Speaker 6 (11:55):
Katie.
Speaker 5 (11:56):
We've got a documentary coming out next Wednesday to mark
the fiftieth anniversary of Cyclone Tracy. One of the people
we spoke to as part of that documentary was Anthony Bullock.
And to hear those stories they are just mind blowing.
I mean Anthony telling us about how he, as a
twelve year old boy, was trying to they were going
(12:18):
to hide downstairs in the downstairs toilet, except it was
locked because his Christmas presents were stored in there. So
his dad tells him to go and get the key,
and as he goes to get the key from upstairs,
the entire kitchen blows away. This is a twelve year
old kid watching his entire kitchen being blown away in
front of him. And then he and his dad go
to walk down the stairs. His mum and his sister
(12:38):
were already down there, and they literally get blown off
the staircase and thrown ten meters onto the lawn. I mean,
how he is alive it is an absolute miracle. And
to hear him recount that sort of story. I think
a lot of us don't actually quite understand what people
went through in Cyclone Tracy. And that's just one of
the stories that I've heard over the past month or so.
(13:00):
Absolutely incredible, harrowing stories, and people who are still really
really affected by what happened fifty years ago they are,
And so then to see this whole thing be buggered
up so badly, I just I find it incredible. I
just I don't know how it's happened. I don't know
how it wasn't a simple case of going to the
Remembering Cyclone Tracy Committee and saying, what do you guys want,
(13:23):
We'll do whatever we can to help you make it happen.
Speaker 6 (13:25):
And yet we're in this let's.
Speaker 4 (13:28):
Parallel that to the Heritage listing debacle, and to some
degree the Council have done exactly what the previous government
did in that space. So the Cyclone Tracy is one
of those events that most people will know where they were.
And I remember exactly where I was as a young child,
because my cousin was in Darwin at the time and
(13:51):
we were staying with her mum, and that news came
through and that forty eight hours of trying to find
out if they were alive, if they were dead, if
they were safe, where were they was incredibly traumatic. So
the trauma spread a very long way across the country.
So here we have a situation where a number of
months ago there was great concern Council could have stopped
(14:14):
right there and gone okay, what do you want? But no,
like the Labor government and the Heritage Listing, they dug
their heels in well.
Speaker 1 (14:23):
Problem was that they'd also received the funding from the
federal government to say that they were going to be
putting together, you know, this Cyclone Tracy monument. But then
the Lord Mayor came on the show with me and
said it wasn't a monument, it was an art installation.
I mean, however you look at it, people are unhappy.
Chancey have you seen the photos of what's set to
go up? What do you think of the monument?
Speaker 3 (14:43):
Yeah? Look, Katie, I've definitely seen it and obviously we've
heard a lot of people around Darwin talking about it.
I think it should be I think mentioned that whilst
the piece of work is being spoken about and is controversial,
is it the best fit for the commemorative area? Probably not,
(15:05):
but I don't think we should be, you know, making
derogatory comments towards the artists because artist is supposed to
be controversial.
Speaker 1 (15:13):
But what do you mean they look like I think
people look like.
Speaker 3 (15:17):
We're attacking people, attacking the artists and saying that it
is it's quite I.
Speaker 4 (15:24):
Hadn't really heard anyone attack the arts. They've said it
didn't sit.
Speaker 3 (15:28):
I think that there is comments around, you know, the
artists and their way of interpreting that, but I think
it's more about understanding that this is not what the
community wanted around that, and the interpretive information signs that
were originally spoken about we haven't seen. So I do absolutely,
you know, it's probably one of the very few things
(15:49):
that I will agree with with Robin on. But yeah,
I think that there's a process and engaging with the
community much more on what that looks like. And you know,
it was a very horrific event that unfolded in darh
And for cyclone Tracy, and it's something that is territory wide.
You know, down here in Alla Springs, we had family
(16:11):
members relocated down here, we had people's animals relocated to
down here. So it is something that the whole of
the Northern Territory is acutely aware of and certainly something
that we want to make sure that we honor and
commemorate appropriately.
Speaker 1 (16:26):
Are any of you guys going to the VIP event
on Friday.
Speaker 4 (16:31):
I'm not going because there won't be in town. But
even if I was in town, given the community sentiment,
I wouldn't have gone.
Speaker 3 (16:39):
How about you, Chancy, No, I won't be at the event.
Speaker 1 (16:43):
All right, we're going to take a very quick break.
Well you are listening to the week that was if
you've just joined us on the line in Central Australia.
We've got Chancey Paige in the studio, We've got Robin
Carr and Matt Cunningham. Now quite a bit to cover
off this week and one of the issues that raised
it's here to earlier in the week was questions being
raised about whether there should be a well stricter rules
(17:05):
for politicians when they leave politics. After the former Deputy
Chief Minister Nicole Madison announced that she'd taken a role
as the vice president of Government Relations and Public Affairs
at tamborand Commencing on Monday, now, she'd taken to LinkedIn
to say that Tamborand's work to develop gas in the
Beaterloo is going to create jobs and help deliver affordable,
(17:27):
reliable and viable power for Territorians and Australians as we
transition to more renewable energy in the future. Some saying that,
you know, how can she go from being a minister
signing off on these projects to then working for a
company like this chancy, do you think that there's any
questions that need to be answered or do you think
(17:48):
that there needs to be a change to the rules
and that there needs to be a longer period of
time before a politician steps into a job outside of politics.
Speaker 3 (17:58):
Yeah, look, Katie certainly have heard right around the community
over the week around you know, Nicole taking on that
new job. Nicole is obviously very capable of defending herself,
but I think there just needs to be some clarification that,
you know, Nicole has done everything right by the code
of conduct. She had resigned from cabinet in December last
(18:20):
year and she took a position on the backbench and
wasn't involved in those Northern Territory government decisions such as
the Tambourine gas deal nor the recent round of approval.
So you know, I think she had resigned. She'd been
out of cabinet for you know, certainly more than the
required six months that's currently in place before taking that
(18:44):
job at tarm Born. And you know, I think certainly
there are conversations around those rules and maybe needing to
change and extend the time that people are out of
their roles before taking up those jobs. Certainly open to
those conversations.
Speaker 1 (19:01):
I wonder though, you know, like, and I say this
to you, Chancey, I say to you, Robin, to anybody
that's that's stepping into politics, you know, And I'm certainly
like I'm not advocating that politicians should get a pension
or anything like that, but I think, how do you
attract people to the role of politics and people that
you know, that are that are great in the industries
that they work in, or great in the professions that
(19:23):
they work in. If if they serve you know, four years,
and then they step out and they can't have a job,
they can't get a job.
Speaker 5 (19:32):
I would advocate for the I think I think removing
the pension, perhaps it was too generous, but I think
removing it was a mistake. I think we've got a
problem now where we really struggle to attract the best
people into politics, and the reason is because who would
want to do it.
Speaker 6 (19:45):
I mean, if you go in there a lot of you.
Speaker 7 (19:48):
Know, well, hats off to you Robin and to you
Chancy because because I mean, I don't know, it doesn't
look like the most glamorous job.
Speaker 5 (19:58):
To me, it looks like a lot of work, cop
a lot of abuse from a lot of places. Social
media has made it one hundred times worse. And then
on top of that you say at the end of
it you're going to walk out. You get nothing, and
for most people you can't get a job.
Speaker 4 (20:11):
I think that most people don't actually understand what you
know politicians. What politicians get paid compared to the private
sector is very low. I took a significant pay cut
to run for politics. I made the choice because I
really believed I could keep winging or I could do
something about it, and that was my personal choice.
Speaker 2 (20:32):
But you're right when.
Speaker 4 (20:33):
You leave the day you leave Parliament, whether it's by
choice or because the electorate have decided they've had enough
of you. If you've gone into politics with a view
around what you're good at and what you think you
can contribute, the only option available to you at the
end of that is to go back into a job
where you have the experience and expertise and there is
no pension anymore, there is no safety.
Speaker 1 (20:54):
Yeah. Well, and the interesting thing as well is there's
no such thing as a safe seech anymore. I don't
think either. So for some people, you know, you might
be entering politics and it's literally potentially a job for
four years, so then if you leave, there definitely needs
to be rules. I don't want a situation where politicians
are signing off on, you know, on big, big mining
projects for example, and then stepping into that job a
(21:17):
month later. I do think that there needs to be
the code of conduct that is currently in place, and
I understand why questions might be getting asked. But as
you pointed out, Chancy, you know she hasn't been in
that job as a minister for almost a year. It's
it's quite a long time then to not be a minister.
Speaker 3 (21:35):
It is a long time. And you know, Robin makes
you know the same point as well. And Robin and
I have colleagues and friends who have been you know,
former members of Parliament and cabinet ministers. When you leave office,
quite often if you try and get a job, you struggle,
and then we end up losing good people from the
(21:55):
Northern Territory to other jurisdictions. And you know, manno has
been Whether like Nicole or you don't like Nicole, she
has been a fierce advocate for the Northern Territory and
having her somewhere still in the territory is important. But
you know, if we do need to look at having
this conversation and hearing from the community around what their
(22:17):
expectations is, then you know, I'm up for that conversation.
But making the point that you know, Nicole wasn't a
minister at the August election. She'd been on the backbench.
She'd made a decision to step down from the cabinet,
so she has complied with the current Northern Territory Ministerial
(22:38):
Code of Conduct.
Speaker 1 (22:39):
Well, Andrew and Herberts just text in and he said, Hi, Katie,
Nicole taking your job with a gas company is a
bit of a storm in a teacup. She seems qualified.
I don't see an issue that's just from Andrew there
in her And.
Speaker 2 (22:50):
If we're honest, we didn't see a lot of progress.
Speaker 4 (22:52):
Actually we saw zero progress in developing the industry under
the Labor government her involvement. When she was involved, we
didn't see any progression. And so I mean, the reality
is we've got an industry that is totally stalled and
we've done a lot of work in the last few
weeks to get that back on track.
Speaker 1 (23:08):
Let's talk a little about that because we know that
it was reported in the Northern Territory News a little
earlier in the week that the territory is actually facing
ongoing risks of power blackouts and higher energy prices. That's
according to Australia's Energy Regulated despite sitting between two of
the world's largest gas prospects. We know the latest Australian
(23:28):
Energy Regulators report was downbeat about the territory's electricity supplies,
tipping ongoing blackouts caused by an unsecured gas supply. It
seems unbelievable that we're in a situation where we are
potentially staring down the barrel of blackouts and not enough
gas given where we are and what we've got around us.
Speaker 4 (23:51):
And that's a great that's the failure of the previous
government to make sure that that didn't happen, and that's
the task that's been set to us as a new
government to actually secure the gas supply, secure our electricity supply.
We've put a lot of work into that. We're going
to be spending around one hundred and fifty million dollars
this year by the end of this current financial year
(24:13):
to actually make sure that we can maintain our electricity
supply and that we need to make sure that our
customers generally are aware that we do need to be
careful about what we do and how we do it.
We're investing as much as we can, as quickly as
we can to get that gas supply going.
Speaker 5 (24:32):
There's a couple of things. One is the Black Tip Field,
which I mean there was a take or pay deal
done I think with the former Henderson government that was
supposed to run until twenty thirty four. That gas has
clearly run out sooner than was expected. And it does
show the importance of these onshore gas resources that we have,
(24:53):
and it shows why the previous Labor government, under even lawless,
sign those deals with Empire Energy and Tamborm to get
first access to that gas. Now there's been so much
wailing and gnashing of teeth over those deals. I mean
the alternative to those deals is to run our electricity
system on diesel, right, or to import gas from the
(25:15):
East Coast. And you know that Gemina now has now
reversed the Northern gas pipeline so that we can import
gas from the East Cook Coast which has bugger or
gas anyway, probably import gas from overseas, or we could
use the resource that's under our feet. And so I
just like there was so much outrage about that deal
being done with Tambora and an empire, and I would
(25:36):
just say to those who are outraged about what is
the alternative? It's not the three solar farms that have
been built that are still sitting idol of Man, Dan
Bachelor and Catherine Chancey.
Speaker 1 (25:46):
I mean, should you guys have sped this up?
Speaker 3 (25:49):
Look, Katie, I think firstly, I think, just going to
Matt's point, absolutely, the former Chief Minister, Evia Lailer did
do a range of things to look at securing gas
supply in the chair. There was those obviously ongoing conversations,
and you know the Power and Water Company considering the
legal action over e and I not meaning its legal
(26:10):
obligations as part of those deals to supply gas to
the Northern Territory. But Katie, I think you know, when
you look at the work that has been done in
this pace, you know we did had to undertake the CEREBA,
the Pepper Inquiry, the Chief Minister at the time, even
LAWLA working to secure that tambor and deal. There was
(26:31):
a lot of work in this space, and certainly making
sure that territorians can keep the lights on is an
important role. Is the government work that is happening that
should have.
Speaker 2 (26:45):
Been sooner and if it had been sooner, we'd have.
Speaker 3 (26:47):
That well sooner, probably under the CLP because they don't
subscribe to the environmental regulation.
Speaker 2 (26:53):
Well you know that's not true. Chance, we absolutely subscribe
to the.
Speaker 3 (26:58):
Work there, the Pepper and made it clear that these
were all of the things that needed to be done,
no doubt, though like.
Speaker 1 (27:06):
No doubt we've dragged out heels right, Like I totally agree.
I do think that we need to make sure you're
doing everything correctly. You need to make sure that you
know that you're not that you're not ruining the environment.
But there is no doubt that labor did really take
a long time on this chancey I mean, and from
my understanding, you know, like you guys didn't all agree
(27:28):
on it either. You and I have spoken about this
on numerous occasions.
Speaker 4 (27:31):
There's meeting regulations and then there's using those regulations to
delay projects unnecessarily, which is absolutely what we're seen. Look,
the good news for Territorians is we have resolved that
and we will see blu gas in the second half
of twenty twenty five. Not as soon as it should
have been, but it will be coming as soon as
we can actually get it accessed.
Speaker 3 (27:50):
It's definitely as soon as it should have been because
honoring and protecting the environment and the water is well.
Speaker 2 (27:56):
You might want to tell that to Territorians when their.
Speaker 3 (27:57):
Lights go out. Chances see, what will continue to do
is to make sure that those regulations are here too.
Speaker 1 (28:03):
Well. Look, we are going to take a very quick break.
You're listening to Mix one O four nine's three sixty.
It is the week that was. Well, you are listening
to the week that was if you've just joined us
down in Central Australia. Joining us on the line is
Chancy Paike. We've also got Matt Cunningham and Robin Carl
in the studio with us. Now, Chancey, I know you
do need to leave a little early because you are
going to be going to an event with the Tanganjier
(28:26):
Women's group. I understand that it is actually in relation
to domestic violence. Correct me if I'm wrong. And we
have had another terrible week when it comes to domestic violence.
I mean, we've learned that a sixty one year old
woman who was seriously injured allegedly by her partner in Catherine,
died in Royal Darwin Hospital about five weeks after the incident. Now,
(28:48):
as I understand it, that now means that eight Northern
Territory women have died at the hands of domestic violence
over the last last few months.
Speaker 4 (29:00):
It's appalling that it's heartbreaking. We have this situation in
our community where, for some reason, everywhere else in the
country they don't pay attention to what's happening here. And
it takes the death of yet another amazing, wonderful Territorian mum, grandma, daughter,
(29:25):
sister before we actually have people stand up and take notice.
And I have been really digging deep into what we're
doing in the territory. I've so far been able to
visit regional areas around the Berkley and Alice Springs. I'm
heading out to Nulamboy before the end of the year
and Catherine talking to people on the ground about what's happening,
(29:46):
what they're doing, and there is such devastation caused by
this scourge in our community. And the reality is we
have a system. It's not just broken, it's shattered. We've
had an increase in DV across the territor in the
last eight years eighty two percent of domestic violence assault
increase eighty two percent, and in areas like Palmerston it's
(30:08):
one hundred and eighty percent. I can't even wrap my
head around that. So we very very clearly have to
change how we're approaching this. We have to acknowledge that
the things that we're doing are not having the impact
that we need them to have, and we really have
to start working on the ground and dealing with our communities,
working with them, equipping them and helping them to do
(30:30):
what they believe will work rather than what we think
should be done.
Speaker 1 (30:34):
Chancey, I mean this has been an issue here in
the Northern Territory for really quite some time. I mean,
as an Aboriginal man living in Central Australia, what do
you think realistically needs to change here? How can things
be dealt with where we actually start to see some change.
Speaker 3 (30:54):
Yeah, look, Katie, I think it's it's such an important
topic in the North Territory and particularly nationwide, Australia has
a problem when it comes to domestic, family and sexual
violence that we all need to work together to overcome. Particularly,
I think it's important to acknowledge there are things that
are in place that are working. They're working at a
(31:17):
small level and that's largely due to obviously issues around funding.
So certainly I want to acknowledge that one hundred and
eighty million dollar commitment that was made by both major
parties at the territory election. But I think the way
that we do overcome this is by not continuing to
(31:39):
invest heavily in the national organizations around domestic and family violence.
We need to be funding the frontline, the door to
door that the women shelters, the domestic and family violence
networks that really help people on the ground, as well
as those education campaigns around talking to people so that
(32:00):
they understand what is not normal behavior and what is
not healthy. Because when you look at Katie, Aboriginal people
in the Northern Territory are eighteen times higher to experience
domestic and family and sexual violence than non Aboriginal people,
so there's certainly a lot of work to do. I
have absolutely reached out to the new Chief and said
(32:23):
that I'm more than happy to go with the Chief
to Canberra to lobby for needs based funding because that's
what we need in the Northern Territory and for some
part Katie needs based funding. We will see an increase
in domestic, family and sexual violence being reported because people
will start to feel a lot more comfortable about coming
(32:44):
forward and identifying and recognizing that level of abuse that
is happening. So, you know, the best way we can
do this is by coming together as a parliament going
to Canberra and knocking on the doors of both major
saying that we need needs based funding here in.
Speaker 5 (33:02):
The chancey, can I just just ask you about the
point you made about that some of the funding being
directed to those national organizations. I mean, is your concern
at the moment that that federal government funding is sort
of going out and I'm not sure if you can
sort of articulate who some of those organizations are, but
they're going out to a national organization that might give
(33:23):
the Northern Territory three percent of its attention because we're
three percent of the Australian population.
Speaker 3 (33:29):
Absolutely, Matt, Absolutely, I think you know, there are national
organizations and they all do a fantastic job, and I'm
sure Robin's met a number of them as well. They
do a great job. But when it comes to how
the pie is distributed and the funding and the work
that is put into the Northern Territory, we are such
a small population and.
Speaker 4 (33:48):
I think the challenge, Chancey is that people who haven't
been here, who haven't lived here, who haven't seen the
depth of what we're dealing with, and the challenge of
disudents and remoteness and different communities having different approaches and
different needs, They go, well, why do you need this,
Why do you need needs based funding? Why can't we
(34:10):
just do the same thing that we do in Sydney
and Melbourne.
Speaker 2 (34:12):
I think one of the big.
Speaker 4 (34:13):
Pushes we have to have is to get those people
who are making those funding decisions to get out of camera,
to come here, to travel around, to see what's happening
on the ground and understand that we need more funding
because the degree of the damage and the degree of
the problem is so much higher here in.
Speaker 3 (34:32):
The Northern tortoh absolutely. It's also you know, we've got
so many remote communities across the Northern Territory and they're
wonderful places, but when someone experiences domestic, family or sexual
violence in those communities, if there's not a safe house,
the next place for them is a regional town, and
people often don't understand the distance that.
Speaker 2 (34:52):
People they can't get there yeah to a.
Speaker 3 (34:54):
Gate family violence, or when someone's being released from prison
and they haven't been sentenced to undertake a men's behavior
change program, sometimes you're putting the victim and the perpetrator
back in the same community without addressing any of the behavior.
And that's why men's behavior change programs are incredibly important.
(35:16):
The crisis accommodation, the women's legal services, these are all
important pieces of the puzzle. And this is why I've
said to the Chief Minister, I am more than happy
as an opposition member from the Labor Party to go
to Canberra with a COLP Chief Minister and knock on
doors and say this is something that needs bipartisan.
Speaker 4 (35:37):
Support and we do really need to put all those
programs on the table and have a really good look
at them and the things that aren't working. We have
to stop trying to make them work and put the
effort into the areas that aren't working.
Speaker 1 (35:47):
Now, I know, Chancey, that you are going to have
to leave us in just a moment's time. So I
do just want to very quickly discuss the fact that
one of Australia's top Aboriginal legal services, NAJA, has publicly
apologized for the unlawful sacking of its former chief executive officer.
The North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency is the main legal
aid service for Aboriginal people in the Northern Territory, who
(36:08):
make up the vast majority of inmates, it's reported inside
the territory's overcrowded prisons now. According to the ABC, the
organization has been rocked by a significant period of instability
in recent years, seeing a revolving door of six chief
executives since late twenty twenty two. I mean, it is
a situation that continues to dominate the news headlines, Chancey,
(36:36):
what do you make of this most recent situation and
is NAJA in a situation here where the federal government
really needs to intervene?
Speaker 3 (36:45):
Yeah, Katie, I think certainly acknowledging NAJA has had it
tough recently, and I want to acknowledge the NAJA staff
because obviously what's experienced been happening in NAJA hasn't been
driven by the staff. It's been done on obviously at
a board and an executive level. So you know, I
think NAJA has been losing lawyers and has had difficulty
(37:08):
in retracting and attaining people. But I think it's important
to acknowledge that, you know, the Northern Territory government when
I was the Attorney General and no doubt the new
Attorney General and the Commonwealth have been working tirelessly in
this space. The way that NAJA was set up under
the National Legal Assistance Partnership is an asset listed company, Katie,
(37:32):
So the Northern Territory government at the time and still
to this moment, couldn't put in an administrator because we
had no legal jurisdiction over it.
Speaker 5 (37:41):
So a lot of people are saying Chancey that the
board needs to go after this apology that was issued
to Priscilla Atkins this week. I mean, do you agree
that there needs to be clean out of the board
at NAGA now.
Speaker 3 (37:52):
I think in the best interests for NAJA, a complete
restart would absolutely be one of the most beneficial ways
for everyone to do that. I think if you cleared
those positions and now the membership to determine who they
nominate and vote for as directors to be on the
board is an important step in allowing the nag.
Speaker 4 (38:14):
The reality is NA if it was a business, just
a normal everyday business out in the community, its brand
is totally ruined. Federal government has to step in. Federal
government do have the opportunity I mean us as the
NT government, if we have serious concerns, we may not
have the oversighting of them as a register not for profit,
but we do have the ability to look at avenues
(38:37):
to raise our concern through assets through the federal government.
And the federal government absolutely cannot stand by any longer
and allow this to continue, because you're right, there are
people who are working there who are trying very hard
to do right by the people they're representing. But if
you've got a broken structure, there's nothing they can do
well take it.
Speaker 3 (38:56):
Look. I think that Katie, that's important. Just picking up
from Robin's point. You know, we did send in auditors
and compliance reviews and so forth to do that work.
I think it's also important to acknowledge, particularly down here
in Central Australia, we used to have a second We
had the Central Australian aborig Legal Service, fantastic service down here.
(39:20):
Part of the National Legal Assistance Partnership that was rolled
out nationally required each jurisdiction to have one service. So
we lost that service in Central Australia.
Speaker 5 (39:30):
And it was taken over by taken over by NAJIE,
which subsequently hasn't been able to keep up with the
workload speedily.
Speaker 3 (39:37):
So one of the conversations that I had had with
the Commonwealth was I think we should go back to
having two Aboriginal legal services here in the Northern Territory
because if we were to see future events where one
legal Aboriginal legal service cannot deliver on its requirements, then
the other service can intrimely be stood up to help
(39:58):
in that process. So I think that certainly something that
needs to be looked at.
Speaker 1 (40:01):
It'd be a hard sell to Territorians at this point,
given the fact that NAJERIE is in the turmoil that
they're in, and while it may be a practical thing
to do, I think that a lot of people would
be you know, sort of questioning whetherment to step in.
Speaker 4 (40:15):
Yeah, we've seen repeated examples of failures of this organization.
We've seen steps forward, step back. They're really in Devasa
right now. In terms of the stepping back this is sometimes.
Speaker 3 (40:28):
I think let's also just acknowledge that prior to the
turbulent time that NAJA has been through, they have been
a very strong organization in our local community delivering justice
for many Aboriginal territorians. So acknowledging that, yes, the last
couple of years have been quite turbulent, but prior to that,
(40:50):
Nijer was a well respected legal service.
Speaker 1 (40:53):
Chancey will let you go. I know you've got to
get across to that event. Really appreciate you joining us
this morning from Central aust No.
Speaker 3 (41:01):
Worries, Thanks Katie, and good to be with you all.
Speaker 1 (41:03):
Thank you, Chancey Paik just just leaving us here to
go to that memorial event. But look, we'll take a
really quick break before we get ready to wrap up
the week that was well, you are listening to the
week that wasn't and in the studio with us, we
have still got Robin Carl and Matt Cunningham. Now before
we wrap up, just very briefly. I mean, Matt, I
know that you're more of an AFL man, but what
(41:23):
did you make of the Yeals contracts coming to an end?
I mean, I was happy. I'm hoping for the Dolphins
to step in to that role.
Speaker 5 (41:30):
Well, so long as we get someone, and someone decent
will I mean, that's what I know that. I know
that the government's going on a cost cutting mission at
the moment, and I know it's going to mandate to
do so, and it needs to do so because you know,
we're staring at a whopping eleven million dollar ye eleven
billion dollar, twelve million dollar that's going to blooon out
the fifteen.
Speaker 6 (41:50):
So I know they need to make it.
Speaker 4 (41:52):
We're still going to have the footy though, Yeah, don't
don't get the wrong message. We're definitely going to have
the footy. It's just we're in negotiations with a new team.
Speaker 6 (41:59):
We can't team is it.
Speaker 2 (42:00):
We can't tell you.
Speaker 6 (42:01):
Who, you know, because if it's the canbur Raiders, well
you know.
Speaker 2 (42:05):
I have no say, but i'd be reading for the
Newcastle Knights. That's my name team. They don't do very
well now they came here, they'd be probably amazing you
know what.
Speaker 5 (42:14):
What happened with the Paramatta deal though, Was it Paramatta
that fell out of love with us all the other
way around?
Speaker 4 (42:19):
Well, I don't have the details of that, but it
was a mutual separation, as my understanding out, like.
Speaker 1 (42:24):
I'm going to call it, I think what's actually happened,
and I could be very wrong, but reading between the lines,
based on the conversation that I'd had with Trevor Cox
from Major Events earlier in the week, he said that
some of the factors are like the broadcasting rights making
sure that we've got a game that's televised. Now, no
disrespect to the poor old Eels, but they've been, you know,
seller around the bottom of the table for quite some time.
(42:44):
So getting a game on a Friday night that's televised
becomes a little bit less, you know, it happens a
little bit less then when you're maybe not performing quite
so well. So I could be very wrong, but I
wonder whether that has sort of somehow come into play
as well. I like, I know I'm going to get
called out by my listeners here, but I do think
(43:07):
that going with the Queensland team is a good option
in the sense that, you know, a lot of people
in the Northern Territory do really barrack for their Queenslne
teams when it comes to NRL football. And then you've
also got a lot of these, you know, across a
lot of the different plays, a lot of the different teams,
a lot of really sensational young indigenous players, particularly out
(43:27):
of the likes of North Queensland, you know, the Broncos
and even the Dolphins, and I think that that's a
wonderful thing. Then to see coming across the Cowboys.
Speaker 6 (43:34):
The Cowboys would be the natural fit.
Speaker 1 (43:36):
Wouldn't they They would be the natural fit.
Speaker 4 (43:38):
But not mine at this well, we are each allowed
to have our biases, Matt.
Speaker 2 (43:43):
But it's an exciting time.
Speaker 4 (43:45):
It's a time to actually revitalize their discussion and to
get some new blood into the mix and some new
fans into football because historically AFL is the footy game
that people follow here, but rugby league is my same
here growing up. Yes, football game AFL. Even though my
(44:05):
son was heavily involved in AFL, I still don't get it.
Apologies to all the AFL fans out there. Rugby league,
on the other hand, bring it on, Lavish.
Speaker 6 (44:14):
We haven't got time for this.
Speaker 1 (44:15):
To We've better not but look, it will be interesting.
But Bill the Treasurer did say earlier in the week
that no, this is treasure But Robin, can we get
you on the record too, saying this is not the
end of.
Speaker 4 (44:31):
NRA hasn't been advised by the team. This is absolutely
not the end. There is something exciting in the wind
and watch this space.
Speaker 1 (44:40):
All right, go the Darwin Dolphins. Yeah, Matt Cunningham, Robin Carl,
thank you both so very much for your time this morning,
and of course Chancey who did have to leave us
a little bit earlier today. But but yes, thank you
both so very much for joining us on the show.
Thanks Katie, you are listening to mix Swallow for Nite
three sixteen
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