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Speaker 1: On the line right now is the opposition leader Leah Finocchiaro.

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Speaker 1: Good morning to you, Leah.

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Speaker 2: Good morning Katie, to your listeners.

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Speaker 3: Leah. Obviously, the pay freeze, or the pay freeze.

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Speaker 1: Backflip I guess you would call it, occurred late yesterday.

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Speaker 3: What was the reaction from the CLP?

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Speaker 1: Oh, look, we.

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Speaker 2: Were so overjoyed to see that government finally backslip. This

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Speaker 2: is a huge victory for the CLP. Of course, the

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Speaker 2: unions and the public service who for two very long

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Speaker 2: years have rallied against this obscene government decision to basically

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Speaker 2: punish the public service for the labor government's own fiscal mismanagement.

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Speaker 2: It's the only decision they could have come to and

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Speaker 2: we welcome it.

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Speaker 1: So we all are, I guess wondering though, exactly how

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Speaker 1: much it's going to cost and how are they going

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Speaker 1: to afford it? Oh?

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Speaker 2: Absolutely, And now Natasha Files has to come forward and

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Speaker 2: explain that the fact that she doesn't sort of have

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Speaker 2: any details around the hit to the budget is certainly

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Speaker 2: a problem. But ultimately they should never have made this

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Speaker 2: decision in the first place. It's just been a complete

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Speaker 2: mess right from the start. In our view, the only

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Speaker 2: way forward is to unleash that handbrake on our economy.

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Speaker 2: Press green, press the green light, and let's just go

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Speaker 2: for it. Let's get mole mining happening. Let's see the

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Speaker 2: Beaterloo be developed and provide cleaner gas and energy for

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Speaker 2: the rest of the country, and let's really show the

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Speaker 2: nation and the world that the territory is a good

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Speaker 2: place to invest.

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Speaker 1: I mean, do you think though that there is going

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Speaker 1: to need to be some kind of review into you know,

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Speaker 1: the number of public servants that we've got, the you know,

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Speaker 1: the impact that this is going to have, and how

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Speaker 1: things need to be trimmed down.

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Speaker 2: Well, we certainly wouldn't support any public service job losses.

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Speaker 2: If public service numbers were to go down through natural

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Speaker 2: attrition or other measures, then that's certainly one way in

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Speaker 2: which you can deal with that. You ever ballooning increase.

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Speaker 2: But ultimately, what we've seen, and this really is a

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Speaker 2: six year period to show why debt is bad. I mean,

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Speaker 2: at the start of this government coming in, debt was

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Speaker 2: one point eight billion dollars. They spent money like children

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Speaker 2: in a Lolly's shop, and now they don't have money

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Speaker 2: for a rainy day, and as a result, they were

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Speaker 2: literally going to punish the public service and our frontline workers,

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Speaker 2: our teachers, our nurses, our corrections offices, our police, our

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Speaker 2: fieries because they're broke. I mean, it's just ridiculous and

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Speaker 2: shows why fiscal management is so important, why a strong

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Speaker 2: economy is so important. They should never have gotten the

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Speaker 2: territory into this position to start with, and now the

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Speaker 2: only way out of it is to really unlock our

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Speaker 2: economic potential and just get on with the job.

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Speaker 1: All right, I want to move along because I want

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Speaker 1: to talk to you about the situation with this minimum

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Speaker 1: unit price. Now.

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Speaker 3: Obviously the government has come.

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Speaker 1: Out today and revealed that it is going to stay

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Speaker 1: in place. So essentially just taking you through this evaluation,

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Speaker 1: they say that it's acknowledged that it was difficult to

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Speaker 1: solely evaluate the minimum unit price without considering the assistance

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Speaker 1: of other alcohol reform measures. But the evaluation concluded that

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Speaker 1: the mup the minimum unit price had been effective and

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Speaker 1: recommended keeping it in place. Now they reckon that the

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Speaker 1: key findings are a reduction in alcohol related harms, a

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Speaker 1: reduction in the supply of low cost alcohol products like

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Speaker 1: cask wine, and no evidence to suggest that the minimum

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Speaker 1: unit price had any negative effects on industry, tourism or

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Speaker 1: the Northern Territory economy. Now, we asked the Chief Minister

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Speaker 1: about this pretty extensively this morning, because I've got to say,

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Speaker 1: I think a lot of people listening this morning are thinking,

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Speaker 1: what the heck? You know, we are seeing an enormous

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Speaker 1: amount of alcohol related crime and anti social behavior. All

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Speaker 1: you've got to do some days is go for a

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Speaker 1: walk and you can see empty rum bottles. You can

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Speaker 1: see empty gym bean bottles, all sorts of things. I mean, Leah,

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Speaker 1: do you think that this minimum unit price is working?

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Speaker 2: No, this is a total joke and this report probably

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Speaker 2: isn't where the paper it's written on, to be quite

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Speaker 2: hon as, Katie. I mean, the report itself showed that

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Speaker 2: there was no reduction in harm. Just check out page thirteen. Government.

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Speaker 2: We know that alcohol feel violence and domestic violence is up.

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Speaker 2: The crime stats are horrific. We know that anti social

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Speaker 2: behavior is up. The report also showed that the wholesale

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Speaker 2: supply of spirits increased, and it even says that it

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Speaker 2: estimates that there was a six point seven percent increase

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Speaker 2: per capita on the wholesale supply of standard spirits, which

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Speaker 2: is something we've been saying and hearing anecdotally right from

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Speaker 2: the start is that it's driven people off wine and

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Speaker 2: put people, you know, alcoholics onto hard spirits. I mean,

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Speaker 2: this minimum unit flaw price is a disaster. We do

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Speaker 2: not support it. It does not contribute to the reduction

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Speaker 2: in alcohol related harm. Anyone could look at the numbers

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Speaker 2: and the eed presentations or the crime stats to see that,

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Speaker 2: and it's an absolute total joke, this report. It really is.

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Speaker 3: I mean, what do you think needs to happen here?

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Speaker 2: Well, we need some real policies. We need to be

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Speaker 2: bringing back things like the two kilometer rule and given

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Speaker 2: police power to deal with grog. We need to be

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Speaker 2: ensuring that people who are most chronically affected by alcohol

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Speaker 2: have access to treatment instead of just being shipped by

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Speaker 2: police in and out of so bring up shelters. I mean,

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Speaker 2: our poor police are picking people up, literally dropping them

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Speaker 2: off to so bring up shelters and people are walking

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Speaker 2: back out the door and finding somewhere else to drink

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Speaker 2: and cause harm. I mean that the system is broken.

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Speaker 2: We've got a band drinker register that hasn't had a

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Speaker 2: proper review to see how we can make it better.

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Speaker 2: In years and years and years. This government has just

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Speaker 2: set and forget its alcohol policies without trying to make

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Speaker 2: them better.

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Speaker 3: Lea.

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Speaker 1: We also know that obviously next week Parliament's going to

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Speaker 1: be sitting. I know that the Opposition say that they're

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Speaker 1: trying to harness people power this week to boost the

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Speaker 1: plan for lower petrol prices in the territory. I believe

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Speaker 1: you've launched a petition, is that correct, calling on the

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Speaker 1: Labor government to support the opposition's fuel price disclosure Bill.

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Speaker 2: Absolutely, we've launched a petition today, So if you want

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Speaker 2: to drive down fuel prices, get on board. You'll find

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Speaker 2: that on our social media platforms and it's an exciting

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Speaker 2: opportunity to really send government a message. I mean, yesterday

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Speaker 2: with the splashing of the pay freeze, they said they

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Speaker 2: want to address cost of living. Well, Government, the best, single,

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Speaker 2: best way to drive down the cost of living for

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Speaker 2: Territorians is through cheap of fuel. We know that there

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Speaker 2: has been a clear market failure here and our legislation

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Speaker 2: is really designed to drive up competition, drive down fuel

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Speaker 2: prices and see more stable, reliable fuel market for the territory.

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Speaker 1: I mean we've spoken to the AAINT a little bit

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Speaker 1: earlier this morning. They weren't one hundred percent sure whether

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Speaker 1: something like this would make much of a difference. They

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Speaker 1: did say that transparency is really the key to bringing

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Speaker 1: those prices down. Look, I guess it's a hard one.

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Speaker 1: Do you think that this is going to get across

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Speaker 1: the line? What did the What did the treasurer say

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Speaker 1: to you when you met and gave her that briefing

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Speaker 1: earlier in the week.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I was a little bit disappointed in my briefing

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Speaker 2: with government. She kept her cards close to her chest

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Speaker 2: instead of wouldn't indicate whether or not government would support.

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Speaker 2: But ultimately there's been clear market failure. I know the

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Speaker 2: AA and T a couple of months ago was on

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Speaker 2: your program, Katie saying that government needs to be out

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Speaker 2: there knocking on the doors of industry. They said there

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Speaker 2: was blatant gouging and that thirty percent margins were unacceptable

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Speaker 2: and not appropriate. And so, you know, Territorians really are

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Speaker 2: paying too much for fuel. We need to be taking

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Speaker 2: a leadership position on this to hold them to account,

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Speaker 2: enforce that level of transparency and in the process drive

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Speaker 2: up competition and drive down fuel prices. So that's our intention.

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Speaker 2: We know fuel is the start of all costs of

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Speaker 2: living really, whether it's higher prices on food, high prices

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Speaker 2: in your tank, high prices for goods and services, it

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Speaker 2: all starts with fuel. And we know retailers are paying

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Speaker 2: a forty two percent BUEL levy at the moment on

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Speaker 2: their deliveries, which in many cases has to be passed

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Speaker 2: on to consumers.

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Speaker 3: Lea, I do want to ask you as well before

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Speaker 3: I let you go.

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Speaker 1: We caught up with the Assistant Commissioner of the Northern Territory,

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Speaker 1: well sorry, Assistant Commissioner for Regional and Remote Policing based

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Speaker 1: in Ola Springs, Martin Dole, earlier this morning about some

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Speaker 1: of the issues that are being experienced.

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Speaker 3: In Alice Springs. Now.

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Speaker 1: He has said that police are working incredibly hard on

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Speaker 1: the ground in Alice. They have increased that police presence

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Speaker 1: over the last couple of weeks on the ground obviously

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Speaker 1: in the city and different areas like that. But he

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Speaker 1: talked me through some of these statistics. So Strikeforce Viper

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Speaker 1: since January this year have apprehended eight hundred and twenty

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Speaker 1: six people. They've arrested three hundred and eighty six. There

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Speaker 1: has been one hundred and fifty two summons summons and

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Speaker 1: sent to youth diversion. What do you think that those

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Speaker 1: numbers tell us.

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Speaker 2: I think those numbers tell us that the system is

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Speaker 2: absolutely broken and our police have been completely disempowered to

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Speaker 2: deal with this. If you look through those stats, you've

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Speaker 2: got eight hundred and twenty apprehensions, which is not the

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Speaker 2: same as arrests. You've then got, you know, less than

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Speaker 2: half of that were able to be arrested. You know,

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Speaker 2: a third of that was then able to be summonsed

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Speaker 2: to court, and then a third of that was able

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Speaker 2: to be sent to.

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Speaker 3: Diversion.

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Speaker 2: I mean, this is just absolutely ridiculous and it reinforces

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Speaker 2: the statistics we uncovered, which is that police are essentially

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Speaker 2: being forced to act as a taxi service and that's

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Speaker 2: not efficient for them, that's not the best outcome for

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Speaker 2: the community. That's not them fighting crime, it's dealing with

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Speaker 2: other things like alcohol and dropping youth's home. I mean,

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Speaker 2: we need to really overhaul how we deal with law

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Speaker 2: and order in this jurisdiction. And the you know, the

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Speaker 2: gun don't want to roll out the police or that

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Speaker 2: the government themselves aren't aren't taking the heat. But our

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Speaker 2: poor police are doing everything they can with the position

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Speaker 2: that the government have put them in.

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Speaker 1: Well, Leah Finocchio, the opposition leader, we are going to

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Speaker 1: have to leave it there. Always appreciate your time. Thank

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Speaker 1: you for having a chat today.

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Speaker 2: Take care everyone.

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Speaker 3: Thanks, thank you,