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Speaker 1: Maurray Clair Boothbeat joins me on the line right now.

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Speaker 1: She is, of course a member for Brennan and the

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Speaker 1: opposition spokesperson for small business. Good morning, Mary Clare.

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Speaker 2: Good morning Katie, and good morning listeners.

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Speaker 1: Thanks so much for your time. I might just start

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Speaker 1: off with the Comsept State of the State report. It's

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Speaker 1: been released and it shows that once again the Northern

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Speaker 1: Territory is the worst performing economy in the country, the

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Speaker 1: Chief Minister has said to us this morning. He's also

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Speaker 1: told the paper that the report's deeply flawed. It compares

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Speaker 1: the Northern Territory economy against its ten year average, including

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Speaker 1: the IMPEX construction boom, and the report belongs in the

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Speaker 1: recycling bin. Mariy Claire, do you think that the times

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Speaker 1: come for us to start ignoring the COMCEPT reports or

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Speaker 1: do you think that it's a ridiculous claim from the

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Speaker 1: Chief Minister.

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Speaker 2: We should absolutely not be ignoring these sorts of reports.

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Speaker 2: This is a report that is done quarterly by financial

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Speaker 2: experts who analyze the data right around the country. And

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Speaker 2: what we believe in Territorians believe is that the government

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Speaker 2: should be focused on the economy and working out way

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Speaker 2: that we can get that moving again for territories, rather

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Speaker 2: than continuing to criticize, especially a report of this type

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Speaker 2: of standing.

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Speaker 1: I mean, the fact is we still have deep concerns

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Speaker 1: when it comes to the economy. The population isn't growing

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Speaker 1: as much as we'd like, and a lot of businesses

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Speaker 1: are doing it really tough and will be hit even

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Speaker 1: harder when the job keeper extension ends. Now we know

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Speaker 1: that the Territory Economic Reconstruction Report was obviously delivered, and

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Speaker 1: that report was delivered at the end of last year.

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Speaker 1: How do you think that we should be measuring the

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Speaker 1: success of the role out of the Turk's recommendations and

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Speaker 1: you know, sort of taking that into account how the

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Speaker 1: economy's performing well.

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Speaker 2: One of the things that the Economic Reconstruction Committee reports

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Speaker 2: said was that if we don't do things differently in

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Speaker 2: the Northern Territory, then we're going to go from an

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Speaker 2: eight billion dollar debt to a sixteen billion dollar debt.

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Speaker 2: So it's really important that the government works with the

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Speaker 2: stakeholders around the Northern Territory who are in the different

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Speaker 2: sectors to ensure that they are doing everything they can

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Speaker 2: listening to the people that know how the economy works,

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Speaker 2: to make sure that we can implement the recommendations that

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Speaker 2: are in that report. And so far all we're seeing

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Speaker 2: is spin and blaming of different reports that have come

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Speaker 2: out rather than looking at what we can actually do

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Speaker 2: to shift the dial.

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Speaker 1: I mean, the Chief Minister reckons that they're looking at

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Speaker 1: other reports, like one which was obviously put together by Deloitte.

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Speaker 1: You know, however you look at it. I suppose for me,

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Speaker 1: the big concern or the big issue that we've got

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Speaker 1: is we all know that certain things aren't working, or

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Speaker 1: we all know that we've had some issues with the economy.

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Speaker 1: But I want to make sure that whatever changes we

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Speaker 1: actually make, and if there is money spent that's taxpayers dollars,

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Speaker 1: that we've got benchmarks to actually see whether those changes

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Speaker 1: are working and whether the money that's being invested is working.

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Speaker 1: And how we can, you know, make sure that the

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Speaker 1: economy actually grows.

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Speaker 2: One of the best ways that we can measure that

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Speaker 2: is if we speak to business owners who have been

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Speaker 2: in the territory for a long time. They will tell

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Speaker 2: you they know exactly what goes from their business, and

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Speaker 2: they'll tell you whether things are looking good or not

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Speaker 2: looking good. And of course when they are experiencing some

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Speaker 2: of the highs of the economy. Then of course that

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Speaker 2: attracts more people to the territory so that they can

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Speaker 2: then set up their businesses, which is what we need

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Speaker 2: to get it moving. It helps population, it helps jobs.

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Speaker 2: So I would be encouraging the government to speak to

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Speaker 2: territorians a lot of territories right across the territory to

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Speaker 2: make sure that you understand exactly what is happening on

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Speaker 2: the ground for small business owners.

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Speaker 1: Now we know once again the population is obviously concerned.

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Speaker 1: The government has announced it it's going to have five

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Speaker 1: key work sectors targeted in a new campaign to attract

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Speaker 1: skilled workers to the Northern Territory. This campaign targets skilled

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Speaker 1: and semi skilled workers in the nation's big three markets

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Speaker 1: i e. Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne and New Zealand as well.

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Speaker 1: Do you think this is going to work?

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Speaker 2: Well, we all remember the Boundless Possible campaign and how

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Speaker 2: that was going to bring a lot of people to

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Speaker 2: the territory. What I want to find out from this

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Speaker 2: government is will they again use an interstate company to

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Speaker 2: do all the marketing of that. We don't know that

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Speaker 2: Territorians can't be sure whether they can trust that another

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Speaker 2: marketing campaign is going to work because the last one didn't.

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Speaker 2: It ended after twelve months. So yeah, I would definitely

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Speaker 2: be wanting to find out how this is going to happen.

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Speaker 2: Where's the detail? It certainly seems to be an information

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Speaker 2: that just gets thrown out there and then forgotten about

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Speaker 2: in weeks to come.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, it is a very good point, and I think

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Speaker 1: that point you mad about whether they're going to engage

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Speaker 1: then an interstate company or how exactly it's all going

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Speaker 1: to work. It's one which we're all wondering about, but

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Speaker 1: once again, you know, wondering how those benchmarks are going

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Speaker 1: to be set to actually determine whether it does work.

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Speaker 2: That's right, And you know, if we're encouraging people to

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Speaker 2: come to the Northern Territory, we need to get our

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Speaker 2: crime under control. I mean, small businesses are affected all

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Speaker 2: the time. And I heard you're asking the Chief Minister

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Speaker 2: about our crime and what was being done about it,

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Speaker 2: And to be honest, all I heard was spin And

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Speaker 2: I'll give you an example of that. I mean he

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Speaker 2: mentioned that there are going to be more consequences and

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Speaker 2: they're adding to the list and there's these bush camps

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Speaker 2: that are out there, whereas only last month in estimates,

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Speaker 2: we asked the government how many youths were sentenced to

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Speaker 2: a boot camp and just on Friday we got the

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Speaker 2: information back and the exact answer, and I'll quote yes,

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Speaker 2: says data cannot accurately be provided for this question. So

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Speaker 2: if we don't even know how many youths are being

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Speaker 2: sentenced to boot camps, how can we know where those

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Speaker 2: boot camps are, how they're operating, and what the results

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Speaker 2: are going to be.

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Speaker 1: That is a bloody good question and a point which

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Speaker 1: is certainly not lost on me. I did point out

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Speaker 1: to the Chief Minister as well. In twenty seventeen he

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Speaker 1: had said to the media that eighteen million dollars was

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Speaker 1: going to be spent per annum so each year on

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Speaker 1: this space. So trying to really get a curb on

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Speaker 1: the issues that we've had with youth crime, but we

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Speaker 1: need to make sure that the data is there to

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Speaker 1: support that money being invested and make sure that that

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Speaker 1: money which is being invested is going into the right

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Speaker 1: things to try and stop this issue.

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Speaker 2: That's right, and every time any of the ministers across

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Speaker 2: any of the departments are asked about these issues, all

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Speaker 2: they do is handball it to another minister, And so

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Speaker 2: we can't get any clear data, We can't get any

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Speaker 2: straightforward answers. All we hear is spin and all we

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Speaker 2: hear is yet it's working. It's working. But if you

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Speaker 2: speak to people in the community and the business owners,

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Speaker 2: all they see is crime happening time after time, you know,

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Speaker 2: five times, ten times, it just happens over and over.

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Speaker 2: And for them to say that bail is not an issue.

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Speaker 2: And I heard the chief ministers say that this morning again.

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Speaker 2: In estimates, we asked how many youths were arrested for

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Speaker 2: new offending while on bail last financial year and the

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Speaker 2: answer was fifty percent. So fifty percent were arrested who

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Speaker 2: already had offenses against their name.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, but fifty percent of what tumar is clar do

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Speaker 1: we know?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, Well, it does say that there were six hundred

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Speaker 2: and sixty seven youths arrested and that three hundred and

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Speaker 2: twenty nine were arrests of the youths who were not

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Speaker 2: on bail, which means that the rest of them were

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Speaker 2: on bail. So saying fifty percent of youths that were

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Speaker 2: arrested we're on bail, that's not showing any kind of

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Speaker 2: comfort for business owners in the community say that bail's

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Speaker 2: on an issue. Of course, bail's an issue needs to

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Speaker 2: be looked at well.

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Speaker 1: And I did specifically ask the Chief Minister whether he

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Speaker 1: thinks those bail laws need to be strengthened with the

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Speaker 1: presumption against bail for repeat offenders and those arrested while

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Speaker 1: already on bail. He said, no, you obviously don't agree

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Speaker 1: with that.

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Speaker 2: That's right. They absolutely need to be looked at. If

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Speaker 2: you've got a fifty percent problem, then those things need

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Speaker 2: to be readdressed well.

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Speaker 1: Mary Clare boothbye, We are going to have to wrap up.

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Speaker 1: We've got a very full morning. I really appreciate your

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Speaker 1: time this morning. Thanks so much for coming on the show.

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Speaker 2: You're welcome, Katie, Thank you.

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Speaker 1: Mary Claire boothby there. She is, of course, the Member

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Speaker 1: for Brennan and the opposition spokesperson for Small Business