1 00:00:00,160 --> 00:00:04,440 Speaker 1: We are talking to the candidates for the upcoming Northern 2 00:00:04,480 --> 00:00:07,320 Speaker 1: Territory election. We are speaking to the candidates from wang 3 00:00:07,400 --> 00:00:10,560 Speaker 1: Guri this morning. You've so far heard from Schlockshama from 4 00:00:10,600 --> 00:00:14,880 Speaker 1: the Labor Party, Ollie Carlson from VCLP and joining me 5 00:00:14,960 --> 00:00:19,400 Speaker 1: now as an independent, Graham Sawyer. Good morning to you, Graham. 6 00:00:20,000 --> 00:00:20,880 Speaker 2: Good morning Katie. 7 00:00:21,079 --> 00:00:23,599 Speaker 1: Now have you heard the others and do you understand 8 00:00:23,600 --> 00:00:24,800 Speaker 1: how we're doing it this morning? 9 00:00:24,800 --> 00:00:25,560 Speaker 3: Graham? 10 00:00:26,160 --> 00:00:26,880 Speaker 2: Some of it? Yeah? 11 00:00:26,960 --> 00:00:27,440 Speaker 3: Awesome? 12 00:00:27,520 --> 00:00:29,960 Speaker 1: All right mate, Well we've got about seven minutes. I've 13 00:00:29,960 --> 00:00:31,960 Speaker 1: got a series of questions to get through. 14 00:00:32,120 --> 00:00:33,640 Speaker 3: Are you ready? 15 00:00:34,400 --> 00:00:35,080 Speaker 2: Yeah, let's go. 16 00:00:35,159 --> 00:00:36,680 Speaker 3: All right, let's do it. Graham. 17 00:00:36,680 --> 00:00:38,600 Speaker 1: Why did you decide to put your hand up to 18 00:00:38,680 --> 00:00:40,240 Speaker 1: run for the seat of Wanguri? 19 00:00:42,720 --> 00:00:45,040 Speaker 2: Look, I gave into community pressure eventually. So there was 20 00:00:45,080 --> 00:00:49,920 Speaker 2: the voices of the nt process community independence mechanism running 21 00:00:49,960 --> 00:00:53,239 Speaker 2: through the communities up here, and people were trying to 22 00:00:53,280 --> 00:00:58,360 Speaker 2: find candidates to run as community independence and lots of 23 00:00:58,400 --> 00:01:01,080 Speaker 2: people were saying to me, you've got you. So I 24 00:01:01,160 --> 00:01:03,960 Speaker 2: ended up avoiding it for a while but eventually said, yeah, 25 00:01:04,000 --> 00:01:04,679 Speaker 2: why the hell not? 26 00:01:05,600 --> 00:01:07,920 Speaker 1: And why do you feel like you're the best person 27 00:01:08,000 --> 00:01:10,800 Speaker 1: for the role based on your previous experience in the 28 00:01:10,840 --> 00:01:13,280 Speaker 1: community or through prior work. 29 00:01:15,040 --> 00:01:17,759 Speaker 2: Yeah, Loo, Katie, I've got a pretty interesting set of backgrounds, 30 00:01:17,760 --> 00:01:20,320 Speaker 2: I guess in the forty plus years i've been up here, 31 00:01:20,360 --> 00:01:22,319 Speaker 2: with the period of the Lord Metgas, you a really 32 00:01:22,360 --> 00:01:27,559 Speaker 2: interesting perspective on communities and I've obviously represented Wanguri people 33 00:01:27,560 --> 00:01:29,679 Speaker 2: in that process. But also I've spent a lot of 34 00:01:29,680 --> 00:01:32,840 Speaker 2: time on boards the board of Youth Works, the board 35 00:01:32,880 --> 00:01:36,520 Speaker 2: of the Business Enterprise Center, the board of the Retail 36 00:01:36,600 --> 00:01:40,479 Speaker 2: It and so forth, business training advisory councils, which gave 37 00:01:40,520 --> 00:01:46,040 Speaker 2: me a really good linkage into the business environment and 38 00:01:46,120 --> 00:01:49,160 Speaker 2: Dalen the issues that are affecting them. But I've also, 39 00:01:49,520 --> 00:01:51,000 Speaker 2: as you'd know, it's been a fair bit of time 40 00:01:51,040 --> 00:01:54,760 Speaker 2: playing around with my passions and environment and my hobbies 41 00:01:54,760 --> 00:01:58,520 Speaker 2: around frogs and goannas and related things, which led to 42 00:01:59,360 --> 00:02:03,080 Speaker 2: lots of involvement with community and other ways found when 43 00:02:03,120 --> 00:02:06,040 Speaker 2: you're engaging with community and doing stuff with communities, there's 44 00:02:06,160 --> 00:02:07,000 Speaker 2: really great outcome. 45 00:02:08,160 --> 00:02:11,000 Speaker 1: Now, what do you see as being the biggest issues 46 00:02:11,080 --> 00:02:11,880 Speaker 1: in the electorate. 47 00:02:13,720 --> 00:02:16,000 Speaker 2: So the feedback that we've got so far, the biggest 48 00:02:16,000 --> 00:02:20,880 Speaker 2: single issue is the lack of transparency, accountability and responsiveness 49 00:02:20,880 --> 00:02:24,040 Speaker 2: in the government and then after that you get some 50 00:02:25,040 --> 00:02:30,720 Speaker 2: stuff about law and order, particularly youth stuff, and had 51 00:02:30,720 --> 00:02:33,320 Speaker 2: a fairly interesting perspective on some of that stuff. And 52 00:02:33,400 --> 00:02:36,520 Speaker 2: also the cost of living in economic futures is a 53 00:02:36,520 --> 00:02:37,919 Speaker 2: big concern for people. 54 00:02:39,040 --> 00:02:41,480 Speaker 1: Now when it comes to I guess the issue of crime, 55 00:02:41,560 --> 00:02:44,160 Speaker 1: it is one that has been high on the agenda 56 00:02:44,200 --> 00:02:47,680 Speaker 1: for a lot of people. How would you be dealing 57 00:02:47,760 --> 00:02:48,000 Speaker 1: with that? 58 00:02:50,120 --> 00:02:52,200 Speaker 2: We haven't got long enough to fully explain this, Katie, 59 00:02:52,240 --> 00:02:55,600 Speaker 2: but basically, the get tough on crime model that we've 60 00:02:55,639 --> 00:03:00,480 Speaker 2: pursued for the last forty years produces exactly what we're 61 00:03:00,520 --> 00:03:04,320 Speaker 2: seeing now because it doesn't work. I mean, it takes 62 00:03:04,360 --> 00:03:08,160 Speaker 2: the problem and makes it worse. So the work that 63 00:03:08,200 --> 00:03:10,560 Speaker 2: I've done with Youth Works and working in the board 64 00:03:10,560 --> 00:03:12,920 Speaker 2: there and all the professionals that work in this space, 65 00:03:13,000 --> 00:03:16,040 Speaker 2: they've got a whole range of strategies that work, but 66 00:03:16,080 --> 00:03:18,440 Speaker 2: they don't get the resourcing. And one of the things 67 00:03:18,480 --> 00:03:20,680 Speaker 2: I noticed in some of the previous responses was all 68 00:03:20,680 --> 00:03:25,680 Speaker 2: the promises from the government about police and more money 69 00:03:25,680 --> 00:03:29,640 Speaker 2: for this and more money for jails and whatever, that 70 00:03:29,720 --> 00:03:34,160 Speaker 2: actually makes this problem worse, it doesn't fix it. And 71 00:03:34,480 --> 00:03:36,840 Speaker 2: there's a whole bunch of strategies that will work and 72 00:03:36,920 --> 00:03:39,040 Speaker 2: do fix it, and the data to back that up. 73 00:03:39,840 --> 00:03:42,400 Speaker 2: And you know the victory an example where or the 74 00:03:42,480 --> 00:03:45,080 Speaker 2: twenty nine percent productions in youth crime from doing some 75 00:03:45,160 --> 00:03:48,760 Speaker 2: of the education based stuff. The Youth Works has demonstrated, 76 00:03:48,880 --> 00:03:53,720 Speaker 2: for me weather some really powerful mechanisms that we're not 77 00:03:53,840 --> 00:03:57,280 Speaker 2: using up here because the government's got this weird bidding 78 00:03:57,360 --> 00:03:59,800 Speaker 2: war with the opposition and about getting tough on crime, 79 00:04:00,000 --> 00:04:03,840 Speaker 2: building more prison than demonizing young people, rather than actually 80 00:04:03,880 --> 00:04:05,960 Speaker 2: trying to build solutions to this, And just to put 81 00:04:05,960 --> 00:04:11,480 Speaker 2: it in a fairly concise point, a youth employment strategy 82 00:04:11,560 --> 00:04:13,440 Speaker 2: is probably the best way to get young people out 83 00:04:13,440 --> 00:04:16,400 Speaker 2: of this firal. Given the self respect and the confidence 84 00:04:16,400 --> 00:04:18,560 Speaker 2: so that they feel like they belong in the community, 85 00:04:19,120 --> 00:04:21,600 Speaker 2: you then build into that some skills and get them 86 00:04:21,600 --> 00:04:24,279 Speaker 2: into a job and Newtworks has made a lot of 87 00:04:24,279 --> 00:04:27,120 Speaker 2: money doing that over the last eight or the year. 88 00:04:28,279 --> 00:04:31,039 Speaker 2: The Northern Territory government does not have a youth imployment 89 00:04:31,120 --> 00:04:35,719 Speaker 2: strategy with any budget, which I just find absolutely extraordinary. 90 00:04:35,720 --> 00:04:39,440 Speaker 2: And you've got governments that are winging about youth stuff 91 00:04:40,279 --> 00:04:42,800 Speaker 2: and on the other hand winging about lack of people 92 00:04:43,279 --> 00:04:46,200 Speaker 2: for jobs, and yet they don't have a policy design 93 00:04:46,240 --> 00:04:46,920 Speaker 2: picks out of them. 94 00:04:47,800 --> 00:04:49,320 Speaker 3: Graham, we've hit the four minute mark. 95 00:04:49,720 --> 00:04:53,200 Speaker 1: Tell me, how do you plan to deal with some 96 00:04:53,240 --> 00:04:55,480 Speaker 1: of the biggest issues in the electorate. I mean, you've 97 00:04:55,520 --> 00:04:57,719 Speaker 1: touched on a few of them there. Why do you 98 00:04:57,720 --> 00:04:59,719 Speaker 1: think your best place to deal with some of those 99 00:04:59,760 --> 00:05:03,400 Speaker 1: issues and how would you deal with them? 100 00:05:03,680 --> 00:05:05,960 Speaker 2: Well, one of the really big things of getting clear 101 00:05:06,040 --> 00:05:09,440 Speaker 2: plans in place and advocating for those and getting people 102 00:05:09,520 --> 00:05:12,359 Speaker 2: to put systems in place that will actually address it. 103 00:05:13,160 --> 00:05:14,960 Speaker 2: So a huge part of our problem is there's all 104 00:05:14,960 --> 00:05:18,000 Speaker 2: this smoke and mirror stuff and all these statements to 105 00:05:18,120 --> 00:05:20,240 Speaker 2: come out of the fifth floor that don't bear any 106 00:05:20,240 --> 00:05:23,360 Speaker 2: reality to what's actually going down on the ground, and 107 00:05:23,440 --> 00:05:27,680 Speaker 2: the government's just taken away all of the transparency components 108 00:05:27,680 --> 00:05:30,720 Speaker 2: where people can be held to account. So you take 109 00:05:30,760 --> 00:05:33,080 Speaker 2: as an example, what I call the corruption clause in 110 00:05:33,720 --> 00:05:36,680 Speaker 2: the legislation around the petrol you make. So you've got 111 00:05:36,760 --> 00:05:39,919 Speaker 2: this statement that says, decisions under this legislation need to 112 00:05:39,920 --> 00:05:44,640 Speaker 2: be made under the principles of the ecologically Sustainable Development Principles, 113 00:05:45,760 --> 00:05:51,040 Speaker 2: and then the very next paragraph says, but decisions right 114 00:05:51,120 --> 00:05:53,120 Speaker 2: under the fact the minister doesn't need to explain their 115 00:05:53,120 --> 00:05:55,960 Speaker 2: reasons to making them. I mean, if ever you've seen 116 00:05:55,960 --> 00:06:00,200 Speaker 2: a recipe for avoiding the issue and not and what 117 00:06:00,200 --> 00:06:03,040 Speaker 2: you're supposed to do, that's what's there, and that's where 118 00:06:03,120 --> 00:06:04,800 Speaker 2: we need to get the accountability. So a lot of 119 00:06:04,839 --> 00:06:07,279 Speaker 2: good people out there in the public service who want 120 00:06:07,320 --> 00:06:08,640 Speaker 2: to do this and want to do that, who are 121 00:06:08,640 --> 00:06:12,240 Speaker 2: constrained by its weird policy stuff that is coming out 122 00:06:12,240 --> 00:06:16,120 Speaker 2: of the marketing are on the floor. So we need 123 00:06:16,160 --> 00:06:18,400 Speaker 2: to get real about this stuff and put some things 124 00:06:18,400 --> 00:06:23,480 Speaker 2: in place, which means explaining and setting up those processes, 125 00:06:23,560 --> 00:06:26,920 Speaker 2: but also then monitoring and making sure that those processes 126 00:06:26,960 --> 00:06:30,360 Speaker 2: are actually being implemented and people are accountable for what's 127 00:06:30,400 --> 00:06:31,440 Speaker 2: actually being done. 128 00:06:31,760 --> 00:06:34,200 Speaker 1: Graham, a few quick ones with just over a minute 129 00:06:34,240 --> 00:06:37,760 Speaker 1: to go. First off, do you live in the Electorate, 130 00:06:37,760 --> 00:06:39,400 Speaker 1: don't you? 131 00:06:39,480 --> 00:06:42,200 Speaker 2: Not? Quite? My business is in the Electric, and my 132 00:06:42,960 --> 00:06:45,680 Speaker 2: pub and my supermarket in the Electric, in the area 133 00:06:45,680 --> 00:06:47,840 Speaker 2: where I go and walk the dog, et cetera. But 134 00:06:48,040 --> 00:06:50,080 Speaker 2: my actual bed where I sleep sometimes is over the 135 00:06:50,120 --> 00:06:51,520 Speaker 2: other side of the road. 136 00:06:52,160 --> 00:06:54,839 Speaker 1: All right, now, do you plan on moving into the 137 00:06:54,839 --> 00:06:55,720 Speaker 1: Electric or do you reckon? 138 00:06:55,800 --> 00:06:57,720 Speaker 3: You'll be right that being that close. 139 00:06:58,920 --> 00:07:01,479 Speaker 2: Well, I'm in the most of the time now. Anyways, 140 00:07:01,480 --> 00:07:05,279 Speaker 2: I'm actually changing and it's a four minute bike ride. 141 00:07:05,279 --> 00:07:09,039 Speaker 1: I think a couple of quick ones. Do you support 142 00:07:09,040 --> 00:07:10,560 Speaker 1: the development of Lee Point? 143 00:07:12,480 --> 00:07:14,520 Speaker 2: Look, it's an interesting one, Katie, because not in its 144 00:07:14,560 --> 00:07:17,120 Speaker 2: current form. No, And I'm waiting with baited breath to 145 00:07:17,160 --> 00:07:21,560 Speaker 2: see whether the charges arise out of what happened a 146 00:07:21,560 --> 00:07:24,880 Speaker 2: couple of weeks ago actually eventuate and where that comes. 147 00:07:25,640 --> 00:07:29,600 Speaker 2: There's some massive problems with that development its current form, 148 00:07:30,040 --> 00:07:32,320 Speaker 2: and those need to be resolved before I'm prepared to 149 00:07:32,360 --> 00:07:35,880 Speaker 2: make any commitment about supporting that thing. And you know, 150 00:07:35,920 --> 00:07:41,600 Speaker 2: there's some absolutely extraordinary breaches of legislation in that, not 151 00:07:41,640 --> 00:07:45,880 Speaker 2: the least of which is the EPVP breaches around offset. 152 00:07:46,800 --> 00:07:49,520 Speaker 2: It's is sort of one of my areas of expertise professionally, 153 00:07:52,440 --> 00:07:53,280 Speaker 2: how it is at the moment. 154 00:07:53,360 --> 00:07:54,920 Speaker 3: All right, we are out of time. 155 00:07:55,000 --> 00:07:58,160 Speaker 1: I do want to ask you, though, very quickly, well 156 00:07:58,480 --> 00:07:59,520 Speaker 1: do you support gas? 157 00:08:00,680 --> 00:08:05,120 Speaker 2: No? Well, that's not quite true gas in You need 158 00:08:05,200 --> 00:08:07,240 Speaker 2: to split what you're talking about when it comes to 159 00:08:07,280 --> 00:08:08,320 Speaker 2: gas between. 160 00:08:08,160 --> 00:08:10,200 Speaker 3: The development of onshore gas. 161 00:08:09,960 --> 00:08:13,440 Speaker 2: Off sure yep and on shore fracking based gas. 162 00:08:14,160 --> 00:08:18,280 Speaker 1: So do you support on shore plans? Do you support 163 00:08:18,320 --> 00:08:19,280 Speaker 1: onshore gas? 164 00:08:21,280 --> 00:08:25,840 Speaker 2: Not? In the current proposals because it's a massive economic 165 00:08:25,920 --> 00:08:28,920 Speaker 2: risk to the Northern territory and will destroy our economy. 166 00:08:28,880 --> 00:08:30,760 Speaker 1: All right, very quick one otherwise I know the other 167 00:08:30,800 --> 00:08:33,319 Speaker 1: candidates will not be happy that you've got more time. 168 00:08:33,440 --> 00:08:36,920 Speaker 3: Can you tell me how your preference preference is going. 169 00:08:36,760 --> 00:08:39,800 Speaker 2: To roll o, Katie, I'm not going to be telling 170 00:08:39,800 --> 00:08:41,719 Speaker 2: people how to put their preferences. That's up to them 171 00:08:41,800 --> 00:08:47,600 Speaker 2: as a community. I respect their wisdom and their decision 172 00:08:47,640 --> 00:08:49,199 Speaker 2: making and that's their choice. 173 00:08:49,440 --> 00:08:54,199 Speaker 1: Well, Graham Sawyer, the Independent candidate for the seat of Wanguri, 174 00:08:54,280 --> 00:08:55,600 Speaker 1: good to speak with you this morning. 175 00:08:55,600 --> 00:08:56,920 Speaker 3: I really appreciate your time. 176 00:08:58,120 --> 00:08:59,719 Speaker 2: Thanks Katie, thank you