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Speaker 1: Estimates continue in the Northern Territory and it's been an

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Speaker 1: interesting couple of days. Joining me on the line to

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Speaker 1: talk more about some of the information gleaned is the

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Speaker 1: Independent Member Forarara lu And Robin Lambley.

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Speaker 2: Good morning to you.

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Speaker 3: Good morning Katie, Robin.

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Speaker 1: Yesterday the Health Minister was in the hot seat and

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Speaker 1: there was a lot of questioning around the testing at

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Speaker 1: Howard Springs. Do you feel confident in the changes happening

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Speaker 1: out at Howard Springs at the moment?

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Speaker 3: Look, Katie, the Minister for Health was question on her

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Speaker 3: health portfolio for seven hours yesterday and a lot of

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Speaker 3: earth the majority of the time we spent I think

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Speaker 3: it was urgibardi between the opposition and the government. The minister.

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Speaker 3: My view is we have to have confidence in the expert.

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Speaker 3: I listened carefully to all the responses to the many

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Speaker 3: questions of the opposition about the different types of testing

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Speaker 3: and whether which one was safer. Look, I just had

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Speaker 3: to go with what they told me and have confidence

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Speaker 3: in them, and they were asking for that. One of

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Speaker 3: the doctors, the acting Chief Health Officer, he said specifically

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Speaker 3: that you know, people need to be confident and creating

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Speaker 3: doubt at this point in time probably isn't overly useful.

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Speaker 3: We have to get more people vaccinated and feeling comfortable

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Speaker 3: that the direction taken by the Chief Health Officer and

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Speaker 3: the Department of Health is the right way to go.

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Speaker 3: So I'm happy with that things can change. But yes,

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Speaker 3: that's my position.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, which I think is fair enough, Robin, particularly when

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Speaker 1: we are hearing from the likes of doctor Charles Pain

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Speaker 1: and also Professor Lene nataras it does give you that

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Speaker 1: confidence now I know, Robin. There was also quite a

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Speaker 1: bit of questioning around the misuse of alcohol in the

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Speaker 1: Northern Territory and the measures that we've got.

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Speaker 2: In place, the likes of the beat.

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Speaker 1: What were you keen to find out yesterday through that

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Speaker 1: questioning around alcohol?

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Speaker 3: Well, there has been a thirty one percent increase in

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Speaker 3: alcohol related crime and assaults across the Northern Territory in

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Speaker 3: the last twelve months. And my question to the Minister

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Speaker 3: for Health, who has responsibility for alcohol policy is things

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Speaker 3: are not working. What are you going to do differently?

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Speaker 3: And she was not willing or able to answer that,

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Speaker 3: which I was very disappointed in. She talked about how

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Speaker 3: she would continue to follow evidence based practice, she'd make

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Speaker 3: evidence based decisions that she was going.

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Speaker 2: To review the.

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Speaker 3: Alcohol floor price, which I think has been a monumental

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Speaker 3: flop in a couple of years. Basically, she just stood

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Speaker 3: a ground and stared me up and said, we're happy

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Speaker 3: with the direction we're taking, including the effectiveness of the BDR,

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Speaker 3: which gives no one any confidence. Really, things that deteriorate.

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Speaker 3: Prime is coming through the roof and the Minister for

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Speaker 3: Help just dug her heels in.

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Speaker 2: So what do you reckon needs to happen?

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Speaker 1: I mean, do you think that they need to have

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Speaker 1: a bit more of an urgent review of some of

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Speaker 1: the measures that are in place in an effort to

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Speaker 1: try to work out where things are going possibly really well,

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Speaker 1: but where other things are failing.

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Speaker 3: Oh, look, definitely they need to take action. I just

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Speaker 3: didn't sense any urgency from the Minister at all. This

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Speaker 3: is a crisis. Things have been deteriorating for at least

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Speaker 3: the last twelve months in Darwin and across the Northern territory.

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Speaker 3: We need to hear from the Minister that she thinks

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Speaker 3: it's serious and that she is doing everything possible in

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Speaker 3: a sense with a sense of urgency to correct this.

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Speaker 3: She did acknowledge that grog running is a problem and

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Speaker 3: the police are onto it. But there just wasn't any

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Speaker 3: solid in what she said, which is not good. It's

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Speaker 3: not good for the Northern Territory. I think what I

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Speaker 3: wanted to hear from her is that we're looking at everything,

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Speaker 3: We're tweaking everything, We're going to be making changes, We're

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Speaker 3: going to be resetting the BDR perhaps to capture more

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Speaker 3: people or capture things in a different way. It's an

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Speaker 3: ongoing process. The area of alcohol policy. You can never

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Speaker 3: take your eye off the ball because alcoholics will always

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Speaker 3: find grog and find ways and means of getting around

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Speaker 3: the system. For her to the heels in and basically

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Speaker 3: say that she was happy with the status. Current status

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Speaker 3: was just not good enough.

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Speaker 1: And Robin, I think we all know that we've definitely

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Speaker 1: got issues with alcohol in the Northern Territory.

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Speaker 2: There's no doubt about that.

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Speaker 1: And look, I think that it is a good thing

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Speaker 1: that we're obviously trying different measures, but those measures do

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Speaker 1: indeed need to be tested at different times. They need

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Speaker 1: to be reviewed that we know what is working and

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Speaker 1: what isn't. Robert, I will move along because we're fast

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Speaker 1: running out of time, but we do see on the

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Speaker 1: front page of the paper today that we have got

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Speaker 1: three former attorney generals Well they've told the Northern Territory

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Speaker 1: News that they'd like to see an overhaul of the

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Speaker 1: Northern Territory's anti.

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Speaker 2: Corruption watchdog after the IKAK.

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Speaker 1: Commissioner, Ken Fleming well spoke about a whistleblower and also

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Speaker 1: threatened to force a journalist to reveal his sources earlier.

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Speaker 2: In the week.

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Speaker 1: What do you think needs to happen here? Do you

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Speaker 1: think that we need a review of the Iyekak.

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Speaker 3: Look? I listen to Ken Fleming on Tuesday and he

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Speaker 3: gave a very very long, longer than usual opening statement

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Speaker 3: which was unusually defensive. It was kind of bizarre what

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Speaker 3: he was saying. He's obviously under enormous pressure and he

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Speaker 3: feels that he has to defend his time as the

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Speaker 3: IKAQ Commissioner. But my view is we are still in

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Speaker 3: the early days of the evolution of IQAQ, the role

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Speaker 3: out of IKAK, the establishment of IQAQ in the Northern Territory.

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Speaker 3: I think on most fronts, it's been a resounding success.

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Speaker 3: It's made us all far, far more accountable within the

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Speaker 3: Northern Territory Public Service we've never had that before. We

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Speaker 3: all have had to think about how we behave and

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Speaker 3: how we speak, and what we do and how we

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Speaker 3: use the money of the Northern Territory. And that's been

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Speaker 3: a good thing. And I think for the most part,

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Speaker 3: Ken Fleming has been very good at establishing the foundations

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Speaker 3: for what IKAP will look like in the future. But

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Speaker 3: I do agree it's probably a good time with the

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Speaker 3: changing of the guard, the new commissioner coming on next week,

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Speaker 3: I think, or the week after, to look at the

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Speaker 3: problems that have arisen. I think Ken Fleming has been

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Speaker 3: under extraordinary pressure. I think when you are the person

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Speaker 3: scrutinizing others for their behavior and calling them out, and

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Speaker 3: when the table turns, which it does in the Northern

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Speaker 3: Territory very quickly, and people start scrutinizing you and asking

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Speaker 3: you about your integrity and your behavior, it's a very

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Speaker 3: very painful process. Let me tell you, as a politician,

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Speaker 3: I've been down that road. So Ken I think was

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Speaker 3: very defensive and probably said far too much on Tuesday,

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Speaker 3: and I think that you may get him into hot water,

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Speaker 3: but he is leaving, so it is a good time

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Speaker 3: for a review.

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Speaker 1: Well, Robin Lambley, the Independent member forore Aralun. We always

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Speaker 1: appreciate your time. Thanks so much for joining us this morning.

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Speaker 3: Thanks so much, Katie,