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Speaker 1: Now, the Property Council of Australia's Northern Territory Division have

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Speaker 1: expressed significance, concern and disappointment over recent decisions made by

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Speaker 1: the Minister for Infrastructure, Planning and Logistics. She's also the

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Speaker 1: Minister for Heritage, which seemed to not align with area plans.

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Speaker 1: Now Ruth Palmer, the Northern Territory Executive Director, joins me

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Speaker 1: on the line right now. Good morning to you, Ruth, Oh,

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Speaker 1: good morning Katie.

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Speaker 2: And just the Heritage minister is Minister Pape.

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Speaker 1: Oh it is, yes, I do apologize. So tell me

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Speaker 1: what are you disappointed about it at the moment when it

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Speaker 1: comes to these concerns over some of those recent decisions.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, So we had a lot of consultation with the

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Speaker 2: area plans, and the area plans that were done all

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Speaker 2: over the Northern Territory were plans that inform the actual

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Speaker 2: planning scheme. So is what their purpose is is to

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Speaker 2: provide that clear direction for future land use and development

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Speaker 2: in the region that actually makes part of the planning scheme.

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Speaker 2: So we believe that deviating from these plans leads to uncertainty,

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Speaker 2: It also leads to unpredictability, but also around that investor

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Speaker 2: confidence because when we see things like the Esplanade having

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Speaker 2: a heritage declaration flats on it that went completely against

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Speaker 2: what the Central Dawen Area plan has for that area.

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Speaker 1: And so you know, when you're talking about the Esplanade decision,

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Speaker 1: for example, has there been one made at this point.

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Speaker 2: So at the moment, it is still through the consultation

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Speaker 2: phase as far as I know. So we obviously put

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Speaker 2: in a submission to that heritage declaration. There is a

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Speaker 2: declaration on it at the moment. That is basically means

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Speaker 2: right now, nothing can happen on the Esplanade around that

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Speaker 2: sort of whether it's development, whether it's infrastructure, whether it's

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Speaker 2: amenity for tourists, whether it's anything about sort of building

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Speaker 2: up the Esplanade. So at the moment, there is a

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Speaker 2: declaration over that, a proposed a blank approach across the Leonard.

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Speaker 2: And so our issue is if this now becomes a permanent,

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Speaker 2: a permanent band or a permanent seat on anything happening,

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Speaker 2: then sort of what message does that send when we're

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Speaker 2: looking at investment or opportunities across the whole antea Because

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Speaker 2: area plans cover all across the Northern territory, so Ruth,

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Speaker 2: What do.

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Speaker 1: You think needs to happen here? Does there need to

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Speaker 1: be some greater clarity?

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Speaker 2: Yes, So what we're asking for is a review of

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Speaker 2: all the area plans, particularly starting with the Central Darwin

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Speaker 2: Area Plan, So basically having a look at all those

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Speaker 2: plans and going through what the proposed future uses of

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Speaker 2: those plans. This is also timely when we're looking at

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Speaker 2: the housing opportunity, So what those area plans have when

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Speaker 2: it's you know, those inner suburb plans or down in

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Speaker 2: Alice Springs or you know, Catherine Y sort of what

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Speaker 2: housing sort of future use is in those plans. So

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Speaker 2: there are things that also can be re examined and

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Speaker 2: looked at again, just to make sure that we're aligning

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Speaker 2: with what is in those plans, that those plans are current,

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Speaker 2: and that we don't end up with where we are

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Speaker 2: at the moment where there's decisions made over pockets of

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Speaker 2: the Northern territory that do not align with that plan

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Speaker 2: and aren't what then makes up the planning scheme.

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Speaker 1: So why do you think that the government's sort of

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Speaker 1: doing that, making these ad hoc decisions. Well, I think we're.

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Speaker 2: Getting to a point where sort of things are happening,

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Speaker 2: So there is that level of a we'll just put

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Speaker 2: a hold on that for now. And you know, the

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Speaker 2: documents that actually guide the framework and the policies around

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Speaker 2: due to use or development aren't probably being looked at

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Speaker 2: or aren't probably being a sess to be what is

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Speaker 2: that use. So we know that we've had a lot

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Speaker 2: of hard work with these area plans. It was a

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Speaker 2: very lengthy consultation and at the point now they're just

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Speaker 2: going to sit as policy documents on paper. So we

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Speaker 2: need them to be those active sort of guiding frameworks

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Speaker 2: to be able to get the investment into the Northern Territory.

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Speaker 2: And this is right across the territory. But you know,

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Speaker 2: the most recent has been that declaration over the Esplanade,

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Speaker 2: and we at the Propit Council, we absolutely support heritage

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Speaker 2: and culture and the use of those areas, but it's

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Speaker 2: not aligning with what the government had put into the

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Speaker 2: planning stent. So that's where we have issues around that

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Speaker 2: clarity and the consistency.

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Speaker 1: Do we have any idea when that final decision is

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Speaker 1: going to be made on the Esplanade heritage listing because

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Speaker 1: my understanding is that it is sort of is it

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Speaker 1: before the courts, or it's certainly going through a process,

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Speaker 1: isn't it.

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Speaker 2: That's right, it is through the Supreme Courts at the moment,

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Speaker 2: and that's due to sort of that lack of consultation

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Speaker 2: and this, you know, this approach over the area that

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Speaker 2: hasn't been consulted effectively, or the way that those decisions

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Speaker 2: are meant to be consulted with industry, with counsel, with

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Speaker 2: sort of anyone who has that sort of staking being

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Speaker 2: able to provide any sort of feedback. So we do

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Speaker 2: have that concern. So hopefully, you know, we do see

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Speaker 2: some logical outcomes with that, because again, at the moment,

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Speaker 2: the area plans or the planning scheme is really just

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Speaker 2: paper sitting on a shell.

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Speaker 1: Now, Ruth, before I let you go, you and I

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Speaker 1: have spoken quite a bit in the past about some

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Speaker 1: of the crime and anti social behavior we've seen in

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Speaker 1: the CBD. Just a couple of weeks ago we spoke

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Speaker 1: at length following on from some terrible situations in our city.

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Speaker 1: But we have been talking more about this over the

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Speaker 1: last couple of days because the COLP made their moves

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Speaker 1: to introduce legislation to give police greater powers when it

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Speaker 1: comes to people drinking in public. We then know that

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Speaker 1: the Northern Territory government have released that draft review of

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Speaker 1: the Liquor Act and it looks into section one hundred

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Speaker 1: and seventy one and that drinking in public places and

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Speaker 1: as it currently stands, you know, all that the police

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Speaker 1: can actually do is tip out that alcohol and that's

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Speaker 1: pretty much it. What do you think needs to happen here?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, So, as you would know, Katie, we obviously put

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Speaker 2: in a submission to the Liquor Acts as well. So

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Speaker 2: one of the things that we had raised concerns with

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Speaker 2: and what we have raised before and written to the

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Speaker 2: Alcohol Minister, which is was the Chief Minister, about police

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Speaker 2: having the powers taken off them back in twenty nineteen

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Speaker 2: when the changes were made to then Wikoract to be

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Speaker 2: able to arrest someone who is causing unaccepted behavior or

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Speaker 2: being drunk in public and being unruly or being aggressive.

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Speaker 2: Those powers were taken away in twenty nineteen as it

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Speaker 2: was bemed a health issue rather than a criminal issue.

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Speaker 2: So we had requested that be absolutely reviewed and looked

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Speaker 2: into about giving the powers back to be able to

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Speaker 2: then arrect people who are doing the wrong thing across

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Speaker 2: the Northern Territory and causing harm in our community. So

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Speaker 2: we had put that forward and we had been sort

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Speaker 2: of sending those the corresponding letters off to the Alcohol Minister,

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Speaker 2: and we would like to see that the police get

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Speaker 2: more powers to be able to make those arrests, to

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Speaker 2: then be able to stop stop that behavior before it

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Speaker 2: gets to a point where it does cause harm.

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Speaker 1: I mean, how important is it that we actually get

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Speaker 1: this right because they've seen a real decline in what

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Speaker 1: we are experiencing right around the territory. But you know

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Speaker 1: when you look at at areas around the CBD.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, and so this change was made four years ago,

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Speaker 2: and so if you look at the statistics over the

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Speaker 2: last four years around that behavior, around the assaults, around

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Speaker 2: the property crime, these are all those alcohol related incidences

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Speaker 2: that we're seeing. And so we believe that the powers

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Speaker 2: do need to be stronger to be able to enforce

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Speaker 2: more measures to be able to stop the people from

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Speaker 2: doing that. So it's not acceptable for people to be

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Speaker 2: you know, we know that so one people to be drunken,

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Speaker 2: disorderly and causing harm within our communities and to have

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Speaker 2: that change back in twenty nineteen, I believe We've seen

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Speaker 2: a major shift in people's behaviors because it's sort of

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Speaker 2: seemed to be allowed or seem to be able to

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Speaker 2: be gotten away with. And so yeah, that was one

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Speaker 2: thing that we were pushing very hard that that that

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Speaker 2: rule sort of came back in where you know, they

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Speaker 2: could be arrested for having for doing inappropriate things or

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Speaker 2: unacceptable things.

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Speaker 1: Yeah. Well, Ruth Palmer, we really appreciate your time this morning.

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Speaker 1: Thank you so very much for having a chat with us.

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Speaker 2: Thanks a lot, Katie