1
00:00:00,360 --> 00:00:03,760
Speaker 1: Well, we know that yesterday the Northern Territory government announced

2
00:00:03,840 --> 00:00:07,200
Speaker 1: five hundred thousand dollars is going to be put. Well,

3
00:00:07,240 --> 00:00:10,760
Speaker 1: it's going to contribute to trying our best to I

4
00:00:10,840 --> 00:00:15,040
Speaker 1: guess control Gamber around the top end. And joining us

5
00:00:15,080 --> 00:00:18,440
Speaker 1: on the line right now to talk about this announcement

6
00:00:18,480 --> 00:00:20,880
Speaker 1: and what it's going to mean for the Northern Territory

7
00:00:21,320 --> 00:00:25,320
Speaker 1: is Mitch Hart from the Gamber Grassroots Group. Good morning

8
00:00:25,360 --> 00:00:27,400
Speaker 1: to you, Mitch. H Katie.

9
00:00:27,400 --> 00:00:27,760
Speaker 2: How are you?

10
00:00:27,960 --> 00:00:31,520
Speaker 1: Yeah, really well, Mitch. Yesterday obviously the government made this

11
00:00:31,560 --> 00:00:35,000
Speaker 1: announcement five hundred thousand dollars. How far will it go?

12
00:00:36,640 --> 00:00:40,560
Speaker 2: Well, five hundred thousand. It's really great positive news. You know,

13
00:00:40,720 --> 00:00:43,680
Speaker 2: I think all the people that have been out dealing

14
00:00:43,680 --> 00:00:46,400
Speaker 2: with Gamber on their block and calling for more action

15
00:00:46,520 --> 00:00:49,280
Speaker 2: will welcome that. There's still, of course more to do,

16
00:00:49,400 --> 00:00:52,440
Speaker 2: but yeah, we welcome yesterday's announcement from the territory government.

17
00:00:52,520 --> 00:00:54,640
Speaker 2: The Gamber Army will be able to keep going with

18
00:00:54,760 --> 00:00:55,680
Speaker 2: its important work.

19
00:00:55,920 --> 00:00:59,040
Speaker 1: Yeah. So what exactly, you know, what exactly does the

20
00:00:59,080 --> 00:01:01,680
Speaker 1: funding enable. Does it mean that we're able to get

21
00:01:01,680 --> 00:01:04,320
Speaker 1: more people out there trying to control the Gamber? What

22
00:01:04,360 --> 00:01:04,880
Speaker 1: will it do?

23
00:01:06,040 --> 00:01:11,399
Speaker 2: Yeah? So the Gambra Army is a grant for Territoriana

24
00:01:11,480 --> 00:01:15,080
Speaker 2: RAMA running the program and ran it did a great

25
00:01:15,120 --> 00:01:19,000
Speaker 2: job working with other landholders to deal with gambra. And

26
00:01:19,080 --> 00:01:21,319
Speaker 2: I think the role for the Gamber Army is that

27
00:01:22,319 --> 00:01:26,000
Speaker 2: has a positive impact bringing together landholders, park ranges and

28
00:01:26,080 --> 00:01:30,880
Speaker 2: also government agencies on public lands to deal with gamba.

29
00:01:30,959 --> 00:01:34,040
Speaker 2: And I think the second reason why it had a

30
00:01:34,080 --> 00:01:37,520
Speaker 2: really positive impact it got some out of work territories

31
00:01:37,640 --> 00:01:40,479
Speaker 2: back on the tools. It meant that some of those

32
00:01:40,520 --> 00:01:44,560
Speaker 2: contractors who deal with gamba get better trained employees. And

33
00:01:44,640 --> 00:01:47,319
Speaker 2: I think for the community more generally, it was a

34
00:01:47,360 --> 00:01:51,960
Speaker 2: sign that the government's starting to take gamber action seriously.

35
00:01:52,800 --> 00:01:56,600
Speaker 1: And so over what kind of period of time will

36
00:01:56,600 --> 00:02:00,280
Speaker 1: that five hundred thousand be able to, you know, to

37
00:02:00,400 --> 00:02:02,720
Speaker 1: enable this work to be done.

38
00:02:03,440 --> 00:02:06,880
Speaker 2: So most gambra action and control happens during the wet

39
00:02:06,920 --> 00:02:11,799
Speaker 2: season when the gamber's growing. So what that'll allow for

40
00:02:11,960 --> 00:02:14,920
Speaker 2: is the Gamber Armi team to get together over the

41
00:02:14,919 --> 00:02:19,040
Speaker 2: next few months and map out where to next wet season,

42
00:02:19,440 --> 00:02:21,960
Speaker 2: so you know, they'll be in spraying sort of late

43
00:02:22,160 --> 00:02:26,040
Speaker 2: this year and into the wet next year, and what

44
00:02:26,080 --> 00:02:27,720
Speaker 2: they'll be doing at the moment and over the next

45
00:02:27,760 --> 00:02:30,160
Speaker 2: few months is working out where they can go. So

46
00:02:30,639 --> 00:02:33,600
Speaker 2: the real positive of the announcement yesterday is allowed that

47
00:02:33,680 --> 00:02:37,240
Speaker 2: to happen with some certainty, so they can talk to

48
00:02:37,280 --> 00:02:40,639
Speaker 2: other landholders, talk to government agencies to get to help

49
00:02:40,680 --> 00:02:43,480
Speaker 2: them get rid of some gambra on their block. And

50
00:02:43,919 --> 00:02:45,760
Speaker 2: you know, it means we can push that to that

51
00:02:45,840 --> 00:02:50,000
Speaker 2: next round of places that the gamber armi might not

52
00:02:50,040 --> 00:02:51,840
Speaker 2: have got to win its first year. So that's real

53
00:02:51,919 --> 00:02:53,760
Speaker 2: positives here, Mitch.

54
00:02:53,800 --> 00:02:55,480
Speaker 1: I know that for a lot of people that live

55
00:02:55,560 --> 00:02:58,160
Speaker 1: sort of out in the rural area and beyond, they'll

56
00:02:58,200 --> 00:03:01,040
Speaker 1: be well aware of the issues we've got with gamber.

57
00:03:01,080 --> 00:03:03,640
Speaker 1: Even some of us that live, you know, closer to

58
00:03:03,680 --> 00:03:06,840
Speaker 1: town or in town are certainly aware. But you know,

59
00:03:06,919 --> 00:03:09,720
Speaker 1: to those out there listening who maybe don't know just

60
00:03:09,840 --> 00:03:14,040
Speaker 1: how big an impact gamber grass has, particularly when we

61
00:03:14,120 --> 00:03:16,560
Speaker 1: talk about you know, when it comes to fighting fires,

62
00:03:17,040 --> 00:03:18,399
Speaker 1: how bad is ash.

63
00:03:19,720 --> 00:03:23,360
Speaker 2: Well, just to put it simply, gamber fires they burn hotter,

64
00:03:23,880 --> 00:03:28,200
Speaker 2: they with more intensity, and you know, you talk to

65
00:03:28,240 --> 00:03:31,760
Speaker 2: any firefighter who's facing gamba fire and they just talk

66
00:03:32,040 --> 00:03:37,160
Speaker 2: to you about the feeling of the gamber heat and

67
00:03:37,360 --> 00:03:42,480
Speaker 2: you know, you see the size of fire trucks and

68
00:03:41,520 --> 00:03:47,240
Speaker 2: the bits and pieces melted. Yeah, so that's the severity

69
00:03:47,240 --> 00:03:50,880
Speaker 2: of it all. So that's what it means. It means potterfires.

70
00:03:51,000 --> 00:03:53,839
Speaker 2: It wiped out native bushland that territorians love to get

71
00:03:53,840 --> 00:03:57,120
Speaker 2: out to. So that's another big impact that people should

72
00:03:57,520 --> 00:04:01,160
Speaker 2: think true and be aware of. And like Literal Natural Park,

73
00:04:01,200 --> 00:04:03,880
Speaker 2: it threatens its future, which is the place for tourists

74
00:04:03,880 --> 00:04:05,160
Speaker 2: and locals to get out to.

75
00:04:06,080 --> 00:04:09,400
Speaker 1: Mitch, I know that when the announcement was made yesterday,

76
00:04:09,560 --> 00:04:11,440
Speaker 1: some people are sort of wondering, oh, is this going

77
00:04:11,480 --> 00:04:14,200
Speaker 1: to help, you know, in terms of making sure that

78
00:04:14,240 --> 00:04:17,320
Speaker 1: we don't see so many issues hopefully on August twenty

79
00:04:17,400 --> 00:04:20,520
Speaker 1: nine when the night comes to let those firecrackers off.

80
00:04:20,560 --> 00:04:22,760
Speaker 1: But based on what you've just told us, and based

81
00:04:22,800 --> 00:04:25,560
Speaker 1: on a few calls that we got yesterday, it doesn't

82
00:04:25,600 --> 00:04:27,640
Speaker 1: sound as though this is really aimed at, you know,

83
00:04:27,839 --> 00:04:31,080
Speaker 1: at that. It's more so work that's going to happen

84
00:04:31,160 --> 00:04:32,080
Speaker 1: during the wet season.

85
00:04:33,600 --> 00:04:36,800
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's that's right. What you know, the situation we

86
00:04:36,880 --> 00:04:41,240
Speaker 2: have right now with the dangerous fire conditions made worse

87
00:04:41,279 --> 00:04:43,760
Speaker 2: by Gamba, and if you add crack a night to

88
00:04:43,760 --> 00:04:45,880
Speaker 2: the top of that, you know, that's the real concern

89
00:04:45,920 --> 00:04:48,200
Speaker 2: that I think, you know, Territorians have heard loud and

90
00:04:48,200 --> 00:04:51,280
Speaker 2: clear from people on the front lines and from firefighters.

91
00:04:51,520 --> 00:04:53,760
Speaker 2: So you know, for us, we're very happy to see

92
00:04:54,040 --> 00:04:57,000
Speaker 2: this announcement by the government shows that the community has

93
00:04:58,360 --> 00:05:01,560
Speaker 2: been heard on this and the knee ongoing action, But

94
00:05:01,839 --> 00:05:05,000
Speaker 2: the concerns about krack andite still remain, and so you know,

95
00:05:05,400 --> 00:05:08,440
Speaker 2: the good news in this is we're reducing that fire

96
00:05:08,520 --> 00:05:11,800
Speaker 2: risk for the coming years, but there's still much more

97
00:05:11,839 --> 00:05:14,080
Speaker 2: work to do, and I know for people on the

98
00:05:14,080 --> 00:05:18,520
Speaker 2: front line are still waiting pretty nervously ahead of krack andite.

99
00:05:18,800 --> 00:05:21,520
Speaker 1: Yeah, it seems like a lot of Territorians are. You know,

100
00:05:22,120 --> 00:05:24,200
Speaker 1: we put a post up earlier in the week on

101
00:05:24,240 --> 00:05:27,360
Speaker 1: the socials and you know a lot of people really

102
00:05:27,480 --> 00:05:31,560
Speaker 1: very concerned about what may happen on August twenty nine,

103
00:05:32,279 --> 00:05:35,880
Speaker 1: just due to the dryness out there and then obviously

104
00:05:35,920 --> 00:05:37,159
Speaker 1: letting those crackers off.

105
00:05:39,080 --> 00:05:42,479
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's a tinder box out there already, and that's

106
00:05:42,720 --> 00:05:47,240
Speaker 2: you know, the reality for Territorians, whether it's a moa

107
00:05:47,960 --> 00:05:53,599
Speaker 2: spark or a cigarette, we're adding krackinnite to the top

108
00:05:53,640 --> 00:05:57,119
Speaker 2: of that is something that you hear in the voice

109
00:05:57,120 --> 00:05:59,560
Speaker 2: of the people who express those concerns, just how worried

110
00:05:59,600 --> 00:06:02,800
Speaker 2: they are about that, and how our fire crews will

111
00:06:02,839 --> 00:06:07,080
Speaker 2: be able to deal with buyers going off possibly all

112
00:06:07,120 --> 00:06:09,680
Speaker 2: over the place, and you know, add gamba grass to

113
00:06:09,720 --> 00:06:14,080
Speaker 2: that mix. It's a pretty dangerous event that I think

114
00:06:14,080 --> 00:06:16,120
Speaker 2: people are rightly nervous about.

115
00:06:16,320 --> 00:06:21,400
Speaker 1: Yeah, well, Mitch Hart from the Gamba grass Roots Community Alliance,

116
00:06:21,480 --> 00:06:23,839
Speaker 1: I really appreciate you having a chat with us this morning.

117
00:06:25,360 --> 00:06:26,960
Speaker 2: Thanks for Katie, Thank you