1
00:00:00,240 --> 00:00:04,000
Speaker 1: Now we know that Catherine town counselors raise concerns about Woolworths,

2
00:00:04,040 --> 00:00:07,960
Speaker 1: the town's only supermarket, reducing its operating hours. I mean

3
00:00:08,000 --> 00:00:11,520
Speaker 1: a spike in crime and anti social behavior. The supermarket's

4
00:00:11,560 --> 00:00:14,600
Speaker 1: now closing at seven pm instead of ten pm to

5
00:00:14,760 --> 00:00:17,639
Speaker 1: ensure the safety of staff and customers. Joining me on

6
00:00:17,720 --> 00:00:20,680
Speaker 1: the line is the local mayor, Liz Clark. Good morning

7
00:00:20,680 --> 00:00:21,520
Speaker 1: to you, Liz.

8
00:00:22,480 --> 00:00:24,360
Speaker 2: Ah, Good morning Katie.

9
00:00:24,840 --> 00:00:26,880
Speaker 1: Lovely to have you on the show. Liz. I know

10
00:00:27,080 --> 00:00:29,600
Speaker 1: that it's been you know, by the sounds of it,

11
00:00:29,640 --> 00:00:32,760
Speaker 1: there's been some tough things to deal with in Catherine

12
00:00:32,760 --> 00:00:34,760
Speaker 1: at the moment when it comes to some of the

13
00:00:34,840 --> 00:00:38,720
Speaker 1: issues with crime and anti social behavior. What are your

14
00:00:38,760 --> 00:00:42,040
Speaker 1: concerns with the reduced trading hours announced by Woolies.

15
00:00:43,440 --> 00:00:46,040
Speaker 2: I think the main concern is that when people come

16
00:00:46,240 --> 00:00:49,000
Speaker 2: like it's the first supermarket you come across, you know,

17
00:00:49,040 --> 00:00:51,280
Speaker 2: if you're coming up from South for instance, you know,

18
00:00:52,720 --> 00:00:55,520
Speaker 2: and then if you're coming across from Western Australia, so

19
00:00:55,640 --> 00:00:59,760
Speaker 2: people and people that do shift work, you know, it's

20
00:00:59,800 --> 00:01:02,680
Speaker 2: going to reduce the time that they can actually go

21
00:01:02,720 --> 00:01:05,440
Speaker 2: in and buy their fresh fruit and vegetables when they

22
00:01:05,480 --> 00:01:05,960
Speaker 2: come through.

23
00:01:07,280 --> 00:01:09,920
Speaker 1: So I mean what do you make of the comments

24
00:01:09,959 --> 00:01:12,920
Speaker 1: so that that will words has made that they're I mean,

25
00:01:13,160 --> 00:01:15,479
Speaker 1: according to the statement that they'd sent through to us,

26
00:01:15,560 --> 00:01:17,560
Speaker 1: it had been a decision that had to be made

27
00:01:17,600 --> 00:01:21,280
Speaker 1: because they you know, they were ensuring the safety of

28
00:01:21,319 --> 00:01:23,240
Speaker 1: their team. So the safety and well being of our

29
00:01:23,280 --> 00:01:27,080
Speaker 1: team and customers is the utmost importance to us, and

30
00:01:27,120 --> 00:01:30,000
Speaker 1: we believe that this change in trading ours is going

31
00:01:30,040 --> 00:01:34,080
Speaker 1: to help to reduce the likelihood of incidents occurring. That's

32
00:01:34,120 --> 00:01:35,959
Speaker 1: what they told us earlier in the week.

33
00:01:37,120 --> 00:01:40,680
Speaker 2: Yeah, look, I understand that, and I support will work

34
00:01:41,280 --> 00:01:44,280
Speaker 2: in you know, looking after their staff. They definitely have

35
00:01:44,400 --> 00:01:47,000
Speaker 2: to do that. But the issue that we still have

36
00:01:47,440 --> 00:01:50,880
Speaker 2: is that we have alcohol that is sold up until

37
00:01:50,920 --> 00:01:53,760
Speaker 2: eight o'clock at night and then from and then when

38
00:01:54,080 --> 00:01:56,400
Speaker 2: you know, when the bottle shop closes, then people go

39
00:01:56,640 --> 00:01:59,639
Speaker 2: migrate from there across the Warorf because we no longer

40
00:01:59,720 --> 00:02:03,120
Speaker 2: have the palis that we had. The palies do make

41
00:02:03,200 --> 00:02:08,040
Speaker 2: a difference in Catherine. Without the palis, it just everything

42
00:02:08,200 --> 00:02:11,799
Speaker 2: just you know, falls in the heat basically.

43
00:02:12,639 --> 00:02:15,280
Speaker 1: So, Liz, I mean, how bad are things at the

44
00:02:15,320 --> 00:02:18,360
Speaker 1: moment when it comes to antisocial behavior in the town

45
00:02:18,440 --> 00:02:21,560
Speaker 1: from your perspective, Look.

46
00:02:21,440 --> 00:02:24,560
Speaker 2: We if we didn't have alcohol, I think in town,

47
00:02:24,680 --> 00:02:27,240
Speaker 2: I think we you know, it would be wonderful because

48
00:02:27,320 --> 00:02:30,360
Speaker 2: I know, look, and I'm not saying that we you know,

49
00:02:30,840 --> 00:02:34,640
Speaker 2: we alcohol is here, but we need to change what

50
00:02:34,880 --> 00:02:37,280
Speaker 2: the way we are doing it. We need more help

51
00:02:37,360 --> 00:02:42,639
Speaker 2: for people who have alcohol addiction. We need to try

52
00:02:42,680 --> 00:02:45,880
Speaker 2: and reduce the hours perhaps so that you know, people

53
00:02:45,919 --> 00:02:52,320
Speaker 2: aren't going out on the town after ours and causing

54
00:02:52,440 --> 00:02:55,600
Speaker 2: all the trouble that they are because they are intoxicated.

55
00:02:56,120 --> 00:02:58,880
Speaker 2: And we need to have those palis back on our

56
00:03:00,120 --> 00:03:01,519
Speaker 2: on our point of sale.

57
00:03:02,080 --> 00:03:04,680
Speaker 1: In terms of last week, we caught up with a

58
00:03:04,680 --> 00:03:07,080
Speaker 1: local business owner. He told us he'd never seen so

59
00:03:07,160 --> 00:03:11,280
Speaker 1: many bottles of yellowtail lying around with no police on

60
00:03:11,360 --> 00:03:16,080
Speaker 1: bottle shops. From the council's perspective, and in terms of

61
00:03:16,120 --> 00:03:19,440
Speaker 1: the cleanups that I'm sure you do across town, has

62
00:03:19,440 --> 00:03:22,280
Speaker 1: there been an increase in broken bottles and you know,

63
00:03:22,560 --> 00:03:24,520
Speaker 1: just general waste around the place.

64
00:03:25,560 --> 00:03:29,480
Speaker 2: Absolutely, and in our parks people are now drinking. Since

65
00:03:29,520 --> 00:03:32,440
Speaker 2: we've not had the palis, people are drinking wherever they like,

66
00:03:32,480 --> 00:03:36,120
Speaker 2: whereas when the palis were on board, they would have

67
00:03:36,240 --> 00:03:38,480
Speaker 2: to say where they were going to be drinking. The

68
00:03:38,520 --> 00:03:41,520
Speaker 2: alcohol now that we don't have the palis, they're drinking

69
00:03:41,640 --> 00:03:44,520
Speaker 2: all over the place. And yes, an increase in smash

70
00:03:44,600 --> 00:03:51,000
Speaker 2: bottles everywhere. Yeah, an increase in alcohol like cans and

71
00:03:51,960 --> 00:03:53,400
Speaker 2: bottles all over the place.

72
00:03:53,520 --> 00:03:57,560
Speaker 1: Yeah, Lise, tell me, I mean what changes. By the

73
00:03:57,600 --> 00:04:00,640
Speaker 1: sounds of it, you absolutely want to see those back

74
00:04:00,680 --> 00:04:03,280
Speaker 1: on bottle shops. What else do you think could happen

75
00:04:03,320 --> 00:04:06,480
Speaker 1: to try and tackle the issues that are being experienced

76
00:04:06,520 --> 00:04:08,400
Speaker 1: at the moment in your beautiful little town.

77
00:04:09,800 --> 00:04:13,120
Speaker 2: I think we need to maybe, you know, change the

78
00:04:13,160 --> 00:04:16,760
Speaker 2: hours when alcohol is sold. That I think that would

79
00:04:17,080 --> 00:04:19,400
Speaker 2: go a long way, because it's open until eight o'clock

80
00:04:19,400 --> 00:04:22,320
Speaker 2: at night. That's you know, that's quite a that's quite

81
00:04:22,320 --> 00:04:25,360
Speaker 2: a long time. We did have reduced hours some time ago.

82
00:04:26,320 --> 00:04:28,839
Speaker 2: And like we seem to be in a revolving door

83
00:04:28,920 --> 00:04:32,680
Speaker 2: because we talk about these things, we implement things, and

84
00:04:32,720 --> 00:04:36,240
Speaker 2: then it all changes, you know, changes all the time.

85
00:04:36,360 --> 00:04:40,880
Speaker 2: And then of course, and again when we don't have

86
00:04:41,000 --> 00:04:44,640
Speaker 2: palis on our bottle shops, we go back to having

87
00:04:44,680 --> 00:04:47,240
Speaker 2: all of these other issues which we wouldn't have.

88
00:04:48,040 --> 00:04:51,480
Speaker 1: So palis on bottle shops, and look at the opening

89
00:04:51,520 --> 00:04:54,760
Speaker 1: hours for for those bottle shops as well.

90
00:04:55,720 --> 00:04:59,880
Speaker 2: Yep, yep. And we need we need extra services to

91
00:05:00,800 --> 00:05:05,359
Speaker 2: you know, for alcohol addiction. You know that that is

92
00:05:05,400 --> 00:05:08,560
Speaker 2: the root cause of most of the incidences that we

93
00:05:08,680 --> 00:05:09,120
Speaker 2: have here.

94
00:05:09,800 --> 00:05:13,119
Speaker 1: Liz, are you also calling on Woolworths to rethink those

95
00:05:13,200 --> 00:05:14,479
Speaker 1: reduced trading hours?

96
00:05:16,080 --> 00:05:18,760
Speaker 2: I think until some of these other things have changed,

97
00:05:20,200 --> 00:05:23,040
Speaker 2: you know, Woolworths of course have to look after their staff.

98
00:05:23,440 --> 00:05:26,320
Speaker 2: That I think, until we change some of these other things,

99
00:05:26,520 --> 00:05:29,920
Speaker 2: I you know, I think that we just have to

100
00:05:29,960 --> 00:05:33,840
Speaker 2: work with Warworth to try and get try and get

101
00:05:33,839 --> 00:05:36,400
Speaker 2: the you know, lobby the government to try and do something.

102
00:05:36,960 --> 00:05:39,279
Speaker 1: Liz. Has there been much discussion as well? I know

103
00:05:39,320 --> 00:05:41,160
Speaker 1: that when we were talking about this through the week,

104
00:05:41,240 --> 00:05:44,880
Speaker 1: there'd certainly been you know, discussion about people traveling in

105
00:05:44,920 --> 00:05:48,360
Speaker 1: from community and you know, not behaving in the way

106
00:05:48,440 --> 00:05:52,280
Speaker 1: that everybody would expect. I mean, what do you make

107
00:05:52,320 --> 00:05:54,800
Speaker 1: of those comments? And and do you think that there

108
00:05:54,839 --> 00:05:57,599
Speaker 1: needs to be some work done with the local groups

109
00:05:57,640 --> 00:06:00,920
Speaker 1: down there? Kolano, Jarwin, whoever else it may be, You've

110
00:06:00,920 --> 00:06:04,279
Speaker 1: got a better idea than I to get to return

111
00:06:04,320 --> 00:06:06,120
Speaker 1: people to country if they're you know, if they're in

112
00:06:06,160 --> 00:06:07,520
Speaker 1: town and they've got nowhere to stay.

113
00:06:08,839 --> 00:06:10,960
Speaker 2: Yeah, we have a we have a lot of issues

114
00:06:11,080 --> 00:06:14,560
Speaker 2: when around royalty times, and of course that's all different times.

115
00:06:15,240 --> 00:06:17,840
Speaker 2: So whenever there's royalty payments, of course the people come

116
00:06:17,839 --> 00:06:20,479
Speaker 2: into town and you know they you know, of course

117
00:06:20,480 --> 00:06:24,480
Speaker 2: they're coming to town to do their shopping. So Catherine

118
00:06:24,560 --> 00:06:28,240
Speaker 2: is the hub for all the communities around around out

119
00:06:28,240 --> 00:06:33,320
Speaker 2: on the outside. So it's not just servicing our local community.

120
00:06:33,400 --> 00:06:36,479
Speaker 2: It is servicing all the communities around the outside of

121
00:06:36,480 --> 00:06:39,359
Speaker 2: Catherine that need to come in and do their shopping.

122
00:06:39,440 --> 00:06:44,360
Speaker 2: And that's not the issue. The issue is the alcohol still.

123
00:06:45,440 --> 00:06:47,240
Speaker 1: Yeah, all right, well it does I mean.

124
00:06:48,600 --> 00:06:50,080
Speaker 2: And so I was going to say, and that was

125
00:06:50,160 --> 00:06:53,159
Speaker 2: identified with all of those couple of car accidents that

126
00:06:53,279 --> 00:06:55,760
Speaker 2: killed whole families because of alcohol.

127
00:06:56,080 --> 00:06:59,800
Speaker 1: Yeah, look, it sounds as though there needs to be

128
00:06:59,800 --> 00:07:02,599
Speaker 1: some really serious work there. Hopefully, we are hoping that

129
00:07:02,600 --> 00:07:04,839
Speaker 1: we've got the Chief Minister on the show on Monday morning,

130
00:07:05,000 --> 00:07:08,960
Speaker 1: so we'll certainly talk further to her about that. We

131
00:07:09,000 --> 00:07:11,119
Speaker 1: do have her on on Monday morning. I mean, Liz,

132
00:07:11,160 --> 00:07:13,520
Speaker 1: what is your what is your message for the Northern

133
00:07:13,560 --> 00:07:15,520
Speaker 1: Territory government. I get that it's sort of a whole

134
00:07:16,040 --> 00:07:18,120
Speaker 1: you know, it's a whole of community approach in a

135
00:07:18,160 --> 00:07:20,760
Speaker 1: lot of ways. But what is your message, you know,

136
00:07:20,920 --> 00:07:23,760
Speaker 1: for the Northern Territory government on these issues that you're

137
00:07:23,800 --> 00:07:24,920
Speaker 1: currently experiencing.

138
00:07:26,160 --> 00:07:29,000
Speaker 2: I think the message is we need our palis back

139
00:07:29,040 --> 00:07:33,560
Speaker 2: on our outlets, we need to review the opening hours

140
00:07:33,200 --> 00:07:39,080
Speaker 2: of alcohol sales, and we need more services to unit

141
00:07:39,120 --> 00:07:40,720
Speaker 2: for people with alcohol addiction.

142
00:07:42,120 --> 00:07:45,440
Speaker 1: Liz Clark, the Mayor of Catherine. It's always good to

143
00:07:45,480 --> 00:07:48,400
Speaker 1: speak with you. Wish it was under better circumstances, but

144
00:07:48,440 --> 00:07:50,960
Speaker 1: I've no doubt we'll talk to you again very soon.

145
00:07:52,000 --> 00:07:54,120
Speaker 2: No worry. Thank you, thank you for having me.

146
00:07:54,200 --> 00:07:55,200
Speaker 1: Good to have you on the show.