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Speaker 1: Now joining me live on the line from Alice Springs

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Speaker 1: is the mayor Matt Patterson.

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Speaker 2: Good morning, Matt, Good morning, Katie, Good morning listen.

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Speaker 1: Lovely to have you on the show. Hey, Matt, I

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Speaker 1: will get to the other issues of the week in

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Speaker 1: just a moment, but I know that the government's literally

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Speaker 1: just released a statement saying that they're providing clarity on

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Speaker 1: will to the people of Alice Springs with the release

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Speaker 1: of a new master plan for the anzac Oval precinct.

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Speaker 1: So they reckon. The master plan outlines a new location

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Speaker 1: to deliver a revised Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art

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Speaker 1: gallery and importantly confirmation that the anzac Oval is going

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Speaker 1: to be retained for community use. Matt. I know you're

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Speaker 1: probably learning maybe you know, maybe you had inside run mate,

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Speaker 1: But what do you think of this master plan?

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Speaker 2: I think it's you know, relaxes a bit of the

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Speaker 2: community that thought anzac Oval was disappearing. You know, throughout

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Speaker 2: the whole process. This has been going on for seven

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Speaker 2: or eight years. You know, the former government were quite

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Speaker 2: clear that Enzakov was staying. However, they struggled with their

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Speaker 2: messaging and the CFP have come out and said that

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Speaker 2: you know, they've put this visual out that sys Enzacoba

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Speaker 2: will stay, so I think people can relax. And I

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Speaker 2: think putting the gallery at the front of Wheel's Terrorist

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Speaker 2: rather than out the back sort of bookends to todd

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Speaker 2: More and I think that that'll be very beneficial.

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Speaker 1: So all in all, it's hopefully the right move and

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Speaker 1: probably sort of sets everybody, what makes everybody a little

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Speaker 1: bit calmer about what is going on.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I think so. I just sort of think now

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Speaker 2: that it's the time to just start turning some sod

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Speaker 2: because this has been going on for seven years. If

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Speaker 2: it was consulted, probably on the start, this would have

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Speaker 2: been built and we would be promoting this around the world.

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Speaker 2: But unfortunately we haven't got here and were no construction

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Speaker 2: costs have tripled or quadrupled over the last few years.

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Speaker 2: So one hundred and fifty million dollars six or.

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Speaker 1: Seven together, yeah, exactly, it's your money's going to be

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Speaker 1: worth a lot less unfortunately at this point in time. Anyway,

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Speaker 1: hopefully they can get it moving, because I do think

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Speaker 1: it'd be a wonderful, wonderful addition to Alice Springs, particularly

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Speaker 1: when you talk about tourism and getting people to the

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Speaker 1: Red Center. Matt. Unfortunately, one of the issues that continues

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Speaker 1: to rear its head is the issue of crime, particularly

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Speaker 1: youth crime. In Alice. We know that two tourists actually

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Speaker 1: had their car stolen and taken on a joy ride

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Speaker 1: in Alice. A little bit earlier this week, it is

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Speaker 1: alleged that four boys stole this vehicle in Emily Gap

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Speaker 1: on Tuesday, Avo, leaving two female tourists stranded. We now

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Speaker 1: know that these boys were aged twelve, thirteen, fourteen, and sixteen. Matt.

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Speaker 1: I know you and I are both quite over talking

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Speaker 1: about crime. You as the mayor, you want to be out,

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Speaker 1: you want to be out promoting Alice Spring. But unfortunately

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Speaker 1: these kind of garbage behavior just continues to happen.

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Speaker 2: Ye one hundred percent, And I think, you know, it

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Speaker 2: is frustrating, And as you said, you know, the duty

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Speaker 2: is man to talk about these things, but certainly it's

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Speaker 2: something that keep banging my head on a brick wall.

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Speaker 2: You know. I think that these twelve year old standing

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Speaker 2: and fourteen whatever age, they just live with, you know,

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Speaker 2: the fact that they know that they can steal a

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Speaker 2: car and have no consequences. So I think some legislation

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Speaker 2: changes that the government government have made will hopefully have

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Speaker 2: some effect. And you know, I've been on record, I

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Speaker 2: don't want to see a ten year old in jail. However,

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Speaker 2: I want to see a ten year old put in

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Speaker 2: the system where we can wrap ourselves around them and

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Speaker 2: show them that we care, because leaving them to continue

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Speaker 2: to commit crimes isn't going to benefit anyone, including themselves.

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Speaker 2: And hopefully, now that you know, there's some policy changes

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Speaker 2: from the government, some legislation changes, we can start to

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Speaker 2: see a dramatic impact where you know, these kids understand

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Speaker 2: that it's not to steal a car and yep, you know, yeah,

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Speaker 2: tourists again start to feel safe and we don't have

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Speaker 2: broken windows and all of those other things that go

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Speaker 2: along with it. But unfortunately, there need to be consequences

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Speaker 2: for actions and they need to know that it's not

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Speaker 2: okay to continue to tenrize the community absolutely.

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Speaker 1: And that you're not going to get away with us.

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Speaker 1: And you know, if you're brazen enough to be driving

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Speaker 1: a car at the police, well you're certainly not worried about,

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Speaker 1: you know, about getting in a fight with another kid

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Speaker 1: your own age, or you know, throwing rocks at somebody

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Speaker 1: if you if you're literally feel like you're not going

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Speaker 1: to get in trouble when you are targeting the police,

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Speaker 1: then that is a real indicator to me that something

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Speaker 1: has got to change. Matt. You know, from your perspective,

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Speaker 1: you've obviously I'm assuming that you have met with the

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Speaker 1: new government since they've come in, and they've obviously talked

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Speaker 1: about their plans and what they're wanting to do in

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Speaker 1: this space.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean we've met, well, I've met with a

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Speaker 2: range of ministers and I mean, just going back to

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Speaker 2: the tourism, we obviously signed the mu that we're extremely

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Speaker 2: grateful for with the government last week. That was twenty

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Speaker 2: seven million dollars, and we have written to the government

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Speaker 2: to ask as a counselor to meet with cabinet. We

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Speaker 2: I think we're one of the first councilors in the

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Speaker 2: territory to do that a couple of years ago, to

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Speaker 2: meet with the full cabinet. So we want to do

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Speaker 2: that again. And I think it's easy when we rule

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Speaker 2: in the room and we're not having the discussions through emails,

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Speaker 2: online or whoever it may be. But it's for everyone

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Speaker 2: to hold each other to account, and you know, as

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Speaker 2: a level of government, the council. We've got a you know,

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Speaker 2: a bandwits as well that we need to do and

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Speaker 2: I think it's just having sitting in the same room

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Speaker 2: and talking about, you know what, what's the outcome that

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Speaker 2: we all need and how can we work together as

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Speaker 2: you know elected members, and hopefully we can be able

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Speaker 2: to achieve that either later this year or early into

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Speaker 2: the next year. Because we know, Katie that every time

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Speaker 2: this time November December, January February, everyone gets very very

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Speaker 2: nervous in our springs. And we've seen Operation Ludlow come

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Speaker 2: forward a month and we're grateful of that, but hopefully

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Speaker 2: there's a little bit more proactive accountability from organizations and

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Speaker 2: departments to make sure that we don't have the same

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Speaker 2: summlers we've had the last few years.

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Speaker 1: We're not needing to go back in Alice Springs to

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Speaker 1: a curfew, are we No?

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Speaker 2: I don't think so yet. I mean, you know that

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Speaker 2: curfew is something that you know, we don't want to

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Speaker 2: celebrate because it means that something's happened to have the curfew.

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Speaker 2: I think at this point in time, not yet. But

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Speaker 2: you know, if you have a dramatic impact, positive impact

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Speaker 2: when it was issued. So we'll wait and see and hopefully,

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Speaker 2: hopefully we don't get to that point because we don't

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Speaker 2: need to yell, which means when we're not at that

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Speaker 2: emergency declaration level.

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Speaker 1: Matt, just before I let you go, I mean, how

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Speaker 1: are the people of Alice Springs feeling? Are they on

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Speaker 1: tenderhooks at this at this point wondering, you know, if

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Speaker 1: things are going to get really bad over the Christmas

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Speaker 1: braye Ger? Are they sort of feeling as though, all right, well,

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Speaker 1: we've got a new government. You know, they've got some

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Speaker 1: new ideas, they've got some new legius. The police have

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Speaker 1: already surged. You know, are they maybe feeling a little

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Speaker 1: bit more optimistic this year?

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Speaker 2: Yeah? I think so. I think it's just that wait

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Speaker 2: and see sort of attitude at the moment. You know,

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Speaker 2: we understand in government how long processes take, and you know,

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Speaker 2: government have made changes that they said they wouldn't. I

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Speaker 2: think that that's got to be acknowledged. However, we know

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Speaker 2: that that won't hit the ground here until probably January

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Speaker 2: or February. So it is sort of that wait and

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Speaker 2: see what the next few months look like, because you know,

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Speaker 2: we don't want to go back in time. However, there

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Speaker 2: are you know, we are walking on egshelves, but people

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Speaker 2: are you know, have a change of attitude that they've

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Speaker 2: seen some policy changes and hopefully that will flow on

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Speaker 2: sooner rather than later.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, we're all hoping so even up here in the

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Speaker 1: top end, mate. But I know for you guys, you've

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Speaker 1: been battling with these issues for quite some time. We

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Speaker 1: all want to see, you know, Alice springs back to

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Speaker 1: its former glory where you're not having to worry about

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Speaker 1: kids driving stolen cars at the police and innocent members

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Speaker 1: of the public. It has to change, and you know,

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Speaker 1: we really we need it to change right across the

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Speaker 1: Northern Territory.

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Speaker 2: Yes, and hopefully, you know, hopefully the change starts now.

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Speaker 2: And you know, as I said that, this whole concept

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Speaker 2: of driving the stolen vehicle at the police, I mean,

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Speaker 2: you wouldn't hear about that anywhere else, and it's normalized stuff.

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Speaker 2: It's happening once a fortnight. It does need a change.

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Speaker 2: And I'm certainly not being critical of police Skatie because

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Speaker 2: they do absolutely what they can with the resources that

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Speaker 2: they have, and so I take the hat off to them.

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Speaker 2: But hopefully fingers cross things change rather quickly.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I agree. Matt Patterson, mayor of Vallas Springs. Always

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Speaker 1: good to speak with you. Thanks so much for your

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Speaker 1: time today.

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Speaker 2: Likewise, thanks Kate, thank you,