1 00:00:00,200 --> 00:00:03,560 Speaker 1: Now we know that investigations are ongoing into a light 2 00:00:03,640 --> 00:00:06,800 Speaker 1: plane crash on Groot Island. Police received reports that the 3 00:00:06,800 --> 00:00:10,200 Speaker 1: aircraft crashed after making an emergency landing in a dirt 4 00:00:10,240 --> 00:00:15,120 Speaker 1: paddock between Roll Highway and a nearby access road on 5 00:00:15,280 --> 00:00:19,400 Speaker 1: Friday afternoon. There were five passengers and one pilot on board, 6 00:00:19,680 --> 00:00:22,880 Speaker 1: and four passengers were taken to the local clinic in 7 00:00:22,960 --> 00:00:26,760 Speaker 1: what was said to be a serious condition. Now, four 8 00:00:26,800 --> 00:00:31,800 Speaker 1: passengers on that flight were and Deliaqua Land Council employees 9 00:00:32,360 --> 00:00:35,440 Speaker 1: and their CEO Mark Hewitt joins me on the line 10 00:00:35,479 --> 00:00:35,880 Speaker 1: right now. 11 00:00:35,920 --> 00:00:39,640 Speaker 2: Good morning, Mark, Good morning everybody. 12 00:00:40,000 --> 00:00:40,280 Speaker 3: Mark. 13 00:00:40,360 --> 00:00:43,200 Speaker 2: Tell me how are those employees going? 14 00:00:45,200 --> 00:00:49,040 Speaker 3: By the pretty young, beaten up, I guess the best 15 00:00:49,040 --> 00:00:53,000 Speaker 3: description that they've all been released, with the exception of 16 00:00:53,080 --> 00:00:59,080 Speaker 3: one of the passengers from hospital though of Medivact on 17 00:00:59,160 --> 00:01:00,400 Speaker 3: Friday night into Darwin. 18 00:01:01,920 --> 00:01:05,440 Speaker 1: Goodness, mate, it must have been an incredibly frightening situation 19 00:01:05,640 --> 00:01:08,160 Speaker 1: as you started to hear detail of what it unfolded. 20 00:01:10,280 --> 00:01:15,760 Speaker 3: Well, unfortunately, I think we've got a fairly serious problem 21 00:01:15,800 --> 00:01:21,120 Speaker 3: with the light aircraft industry in general in where we operate. Yeah, 22 00:01:21,560 --> 00:01:24,479 Speaker 3: this is the second accident that's happened in five months. 23 00:01:24,720 --> 00:01:29,039 Speaker 3: The previous was a double fatality flying from Go to 24 00:01:29,560 --> 00:01:32,960 Speaker 3: Catherine with the same airline, and so from our point 25 00:01:33,000 --> 00:01:36,959 Speaker 3: of view, this is unacceptable and something needs to change. 26 00:01:37,120 --> 00:01:42,240 Speaker 3: But we've canceled our arrangements for that company and we'll 27 00:01:42,280 --> 00:01:45,959 Speaker 3: only be flying with twin engines because this last incident 28 00:01:46,120 --> 00:01:48,200 Speaker 3: was a engine failure. 29 00:01:49,080 --> 00:01:51,720 Speaker 1: And look, it sounds like very serious action to take, 30 00:01:51,800 --> 00:01:55,560 Speaker 1: but by the sounds of it, it is what the 31 00:01:55,640 --> 00:01:59,640 Speaker 1: ALZ thinks is appropriate and what the community thinks is appropriate. 32 00:01:59,640 --> 00:02:02,480 Speaker 1: At this point, well, it's just. 33 00:02:02,600 --> 00:02:04,600 Speaker 3: Life and death stuff. You know, we're in the air 34 00:02:04,840 --> 00:02:08,280 Speaker 3: every day pretty much doing our work. And you know, 35 00:02:08,760 --> 00:02:11,960 Speaker 3: all credit to these young pilots who are getting their 36 00:02:12,040 --> 00:02:16,360 Speaker 3: house up, but the fact is these these are aircraft 37 00:02:16,400 --> 00:02:20,040 Speaker 3: that are over forty forty five years of age or 38 00:02:20,080 --> 00:02:24,679 Speaker 3: so like that, and pilots have only had their lives 39 00:02:24,720 --> 00:02:28,600 Speaker 3: it's less in the year. It's just not good. And 40 00:02:28,800 --> 00:02:31,600 Speaker 3: you know, these these young guys are doing great job, 41 00:02:31,840 --> 00:02:35,000 Speaker 3: all credit to them, But the whole industry is based 42 00:02:35,040 --> 00:02:40,679 Speaker 3: on this kind of environment to feed to feed the 43 00:02:40,720 --> 00:02:44,800 Speaker 3: pilot shortage. That's quite clearly evident. Even with the mainstream 44 00:02:44,840 --> 00:02:51,320 Speaker 3: service like Air North, which is absolutely anhurrent service delivery 45 00:02:51,360 --> 00:02:57,280 Speaker 3: on the group just terrible standards. So I think we've 46 00:02:57,320 --> 00:03:00,760 Speaker 3: got a problem and the solution will need to take 47 00:03:02,040 --> 00:03:05,280 Speaker 3: a proactive action between the four lane councilors working together 48 00:03:05,400 --> 00:03:06,040 Speaker 3: to addresses. 49 00:03:06,560 --> 00:03:08,120 Speaker 1: Oh. I was going to say, Mark, you know what 50 00:03:08,280 --> 00:03:10,840 Speaker 1: can you do as well from this point, because I 51 00:03:10,880 --> 00:03:14,680 Speaker 1: suppose the fact is you need people flying in and out. 52 00:03:14,480 --> 00:03:16,079 Speaker 2: Of group alike. 53 00:03:16,120 --> 00:03:18,960 Speaker 1: You've touched on on a daily sort of basis, whether 54 00:03:19,000 --> 00:03:22,320 Speaker 1: it's staff heading out there, whether it's locals heading to 55 00:03:22,400 --> 00:03:25,240 Speaker 1: and fro. So you know, what can you do to 56 00:03:25,320 --> 00:03:27,960 Speaker 1: make sure that they're still able to travel. 57 00:03:29,240 --> 00:03:34,760 Speaker 3: Well with the light aircraft. We're going to to our 58 00:03:34,760 --> 00:03:40,600 Speaker 3: own solution. We've been negotiating with companies to have the 59 00:03:40,680 --> 00:03:44,560 Speaker 3: light aircraft between engines that we can use. We're spending 60 00:03:44,680 --> 00:03:47,560 Speaker 3: probably close to six hundred thousand the year just on 61 00:03:47,640 --> 00:03:51,640 Speaker 3: light aircraft. A return flight between Doe and a group 62 00:03:51,760 --> 00:03:55,840 Speaker 3: is a thousand and fifteen hundred dollars return and that's 63 00:03:55,840 --> 00:03:58,480 Speaker 3: if it turns up on time, where it's completely canceled. 64 00:03:59,120 --> 00:04:03,960 Speaker 3: So it's just crazy, and you know, we have to 65 00:04:04,000 --> 00:04:06,480 Speaker 3: take more control ourselves, and that's what we're doing. 66 00:04:07,720 --> 00:04:11,800 Speaker 1: And from this point on, obviously, like you've said, you know, 67 00:04:11,840 --> 00:04:14,400 Speaker 1: you're not going to have your employees traveling with that airline. 68 00:04:14,640 --> 00:04:17,800 Speaker 1: What other support is being provided to the families that 69 00:04:17,839 --> 00:04:20,120 Speaker 1: were impacted by this crash on Friday. 70 00:04:21,960 --> 00:04:25,760 Speaker 3: We've got a company that's active on the ground counseling 71 00:04:26,560 --> 00:04:31,159 Speaker 3: all our employees and particularly the passengers and that flight. 72 00:04:31,800 --> 00:04:35,320 Speaker 3: I'll also bring in a psychologist to talk to people 73 00:04:35,400 --> 00:04:38,880 Speaker 3: have really been quite traumatized, both seeing it or being 74 00:04:38,880 --> 00:04:39,480 Speaker 3: a part of it. 75 00:04:40,680 --> 00:04:44,120 Speaker 1: Mark tell me, you know, when you talk about a 76 00:04:44,160 --> 00:04:48,200 Speaker 1: crash like this, it is so like we're incredibly lucky 77 00:04:48,240 --> 00:04:50,520 Speaker 1: that there has not been a loss of life in 78 00:04:50,600 --> 00:04:54,480 Speaker 1: what happened on Friday. It must be an incredibly traumatizing 79 00:04:54,520 --> 00:04:57,320 Speaker 1: situation though for the whole community right now. 80 00:04:58,800 --> 00:05:01,279 Speaker 3: I think it's a big wake up call. You know, 81 00:05:01,440 --> 00:05:04,919 Speaker 3: this goes We had a Senate inquiry in twenty nineteen 82 00:05:04,960 --> 00:05:10,560 Speaker 3: about nationally about services to remote areas. We provided a 83 00:05:10,680 --> 00:05:15,919 Speaker 3: very detailed submission. Nothing's changed. There's no regulator or on 84 00:05:16,040 --> 00:05:20,560 Speaker 3: budsman in the territory provided for our area. It's all 85 00:05:20,600 --> 00:05:25,599 Speaker 3: done out of some Canberra. So we just think, you know, 86 00:05:25,839 --> 00:05:27,880 Speaker 3: we're going to have to like we've done in many 87 00:05:27,920 --> 00:05:30,919 Speaker 3: areas where there's failure and service, whether it's education or 88 00:05:30,960 --> 00:05:34,120 Speaker 3: the justice system. We're there travel, we're going to have 89 00:05:34,160 --> 00:05:34,920 Speaker 3: to do the same. 90 00:05:35,680 --> 00:05:37,839 Speaker 1: So do you reckon there needs to be somebody locally 91 00:05:37,920 --> 00:05:39,480 Speaker 1: sort of overseeing what goes. 92 00:05:39,279 --> 00:05:41,039 Speaker 2: On and that kind of thing. 93 00:05:42,360 --> 00:05:45,560 Speaker 3: I do, Yeah, I think so, you know, it's just 94 00:05:45,720 --> 00:05:50,440 Speaker 3: ludicrous if you were to travel with our horse, you see, 95 00:05:50,720 --> 00:05:54,240 Speaker 3: straight away we all laugh about it. I think it's funny, 96 00:05:54,240 --> 00:05:58,560 Speaker 3: but it's not and you know, particularly as a light aircraft, 97 00:05:58,560 --> 00:06:01,760 Speaker 3: and it's very dangerous. Well, I think I think we 98 00:06:01,839 --> 00:06:08,640 Speaker 3: do need somebody who can oversee this and provide provide, 99 00:06:09,279 --> 00:06:13,040 Speaker 3: you know, cat, I guess is a common of Nity 100 00:06:13,560 --> 00:06:15,000 Speaker 3: recommendations for change. 101 00:06:16,080 --> 00:06:17,839 Speaker 1: And look, I do want to be really clear that 102 00:06:18,200 --> 00:06:20,320 Speaker 1: that the crash that occurred on Friday was not a 103 00:06:20,480 --> 00:06:22,640 Speaker 1: North that was involved. But what you are saying is 104 00:06:22,640 --> 00:06:25,640 Speaker 1: that obviously with their North there has been situations where 105 00:06:25,680 --> 00:06:27,800 Speaker 1: there is a cancelation of services. It's a it's a 106 00:06:27,920 --> 00:06:31,640 Speaker 1: very real thing that happens on a very regular basis, isn't. 107 00:06:31,440 --> 00:06:38,920 Speaker 3: It very much? So I'm not making accusations and or 108 00:06:38,960 --> 00:06:44,839 Speaker 3: even that those aircraft that are fashioned, I haven't passed 109 00:06:44,960 --> 00:06:48,080 Speaker 3: checks and you know, I'm not making you know, wild 110 00:06:48,160 --> 00:06:52,120 Speaker 3: accusations I'm just looking at the evidence, which is not good. Now. 111 00:06:52,279 --> 00:06:54,839 Speaker 1: I do want to ask, in terms of the changes 112 00:06:54,880 --> 00:06:57,520 Speaker 1: that you've put in place already and you know what 113 00:06:57,560 --> 00:06:59,880 Speaker 1: you would like to see happen in the future, how 114 00:07:00,120 --> 00:07:03,200 Speaker 1: is it going to impact the ALC's operations in terms 115 00:07:03,200 --> 00:07:05,160 Speaker 1: of getting to various communities. 116 00:07:07,440 --> 00:07:11,840 Speaker 3: It's going to hopefully it will mean that we get 117 00:07:11,880 --> 00:07:14,880 Speaker 3: to where we've got to go safely and I'm on time, 118 00:07:15,440 --> 00:07:17,360 Speaker 3: which is not the case at the moment. It can 119 00:07:17,400 --> 00:07:20,280 Speaker 3: only get better, it is. 120 00:07:20,440 --> 00:07:22,080 Speaker 2: It's an incredibly tough situation. 121 00:07:22,200 --> 00:07:24,400 Speaker 1: I think that anybody that's lived in a remote community 122 00:07:24,480 --> 00:07:27,440 Speaker 1: understands how tough it is, because the fact is you 123 00:07:27,480 --> 00:07:30,560 Speaker 1: need to travel into the major town centers at different 124 00:07:30,560 --> 00:07:32,040 Speaker 1: times for a lot of different things. 125 00:07:32,040 --> 00:07:34,520 Speaker 2: But it's also in terms of getting staff out. 126 00:07:34,360 --> 00:07:37,640 Speaker 1: There for clinics, you know, for teaching, for all sorts 127 00:07:37,680 --> 00:07:40,880 Speaker 1: of different jobs as well, so that air travel is 128 00:07:41,000 --> 00:07:43,760 Speaker 1: very often essential, but you need to make sure that 129 00:07:43,800 --> 00:07:45,880 Speaker 1: people are getting where they need to go in a 130 00:07:45,920 --> 00:07:47,640 Speaker 1: safe way. 131 00:07:48,320 --> 00:07:51,480 Speaker 3: That's right. You know, when you're throwing the next for 132 00:07:51,520 --> 00:07:54,680 Speaker 3: wet suits and you know we've just had a big one, 133 00:07:56,600 --> 00:07:58,800 Speaker 3: you know the risk. The risk is there a a 134 00:07:58,880 --> 00:08:02,640 Speaker 3: presence which need to work together with the industry to 135 00:08:03,040 --> 00:08:04,080 Speaker 3: improve the situation. 136 00:08:04,480 --> 00:08:05,520 Speaker 2: Yeah. 137 00:08:05,560 --> 00:08:10,320 Speaker 1: Well, and Delia Aqua Land Council CEO Mark Hewitt, I 138 00:08:10,400 --> 00:08:12,080 Speaker 1: really appreciate your time this morning. 139 00:08:12,120 --> 00:08:13,800 Speaker 2: Thank you very much for having a chat with us. 140 00:08:13,800 --> 00:08:17,080 Speaker 1: And I really hope that those staff members, that those 141 00:08:17,120 --> 00:08:20,040 Speaker 1: were involved in the crash on Friday, that they are 142 00:08:20,120 --> 00:08:24,760 Speaker 1: okay and that their families and everybody are okay. Thank 143 00:08:24,800 --> 00:08:28,720 Speaker 1: you very much, thank you, Thanks mate, much appreciated.