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Speaker 1: Please to say, joining me in the studio right now

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Speaker 1: is the Mayor of Palmerston, Athena Pasco Bell. Good morning

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Speaker 1: to you, good morning, good to see you. Thanks so

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Speaker 1: much for joining us today. Now we've been speaking quite

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Speaker 1: a bit over recent days, I suppose about the federal election.

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Speaker 1: Was there much in it for the Palmerston Council.

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Speaker 2: Probably not, nothing specific for Palmerston, but generally for councils

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Speaker 2: across the Northern Territory in Australia, there's a slight increase

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Speaker 2: in federal assistance grants and roads to recovery funding, so

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Speaker 2: that's always welcome. That allows us then to get some

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Speaker 2: of our other projects up and running and make sure

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Speaker 2: that the local roads are maintained, because councils do maintain

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Speaker 2: the vast majority of roads right across Australia. The Commonwealth

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Speaker 2: government and the Northern Territory government only maintain main roads.

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Speaker 2: So when you think about every single little side street

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Speaker 2: that you drive down, that's council.

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Speaker 1: Every pothole that has to be fixed, all those kinds

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Speaker 1: of things. Especially when there's weather like these.

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Speaker 2: Rites, potholes open up everywhere and it's a real pain

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Speaker 2: for everyone, especially for our contractors because they have to

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Speaker 2: wait for dry weather to be able to patch them properly,

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Speaker 2: and it can take a long time for dry weather

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Speaker 2: to come around when you're getting rainy days every day.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, and Athena, we'd probably all been hoping we might

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Speaker 1: hear more in the budget for the Northern Territory, but

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Speaker 1: it is an election year. We're just I reckon potentially

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Speaker 1: hours out from an election being called. Is there anything

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Speaker 1: that the Palmerston Council is sort of hoping might you know,

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Speaker 1: like you might get announced as we lead into that

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Speaker 1: federal election from either side of politics. Yeah.

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Speaker 2: So it's no secret that we've been lobbying all levels

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Speaker 2: of government for grant funding for Zicoli Community Hubs for

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Speaker 2: the next few stages, which will eventually include a library

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Speaker 2: and a community center, eskate park, pump track, basketball half

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Speaker 2: court or a multipurpose court, a large playground, and walking trails.

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Speaker 2: So the dog park's there at the moment. The other

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Speaker 2: major project we have on our books is the redevelopment

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Speaker 2: of Driver Community Center, which is an old childcare center,

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Speaker 2: and that project is ready to go, so all the

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Speaker 2: plans have been finalized. We've have I think we're about

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Speaker 2: to apply for a building permit. We're just waiting for

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Speaker 2: the money for that as well.

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Speaker 1: So right, how much.

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Speaker 2: Three million for that one? But Zakoli Community Hub all

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Speaker 2: in is closer to thirty million dollars with all of

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Speaker 2: those elements, so lobbying all levels of politics and both

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Speaker 2: sides of politics as well, you'll get that funding for Palmerston.

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Speaker 1: Well, goodness knows what could get announced over the coming

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Speaker 1: days and weeks AVENA, we'll all be keeping a very

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Speaker 1: close eye on it. Now.

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Speaker 2: We know.

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Speaker 1: The decision to split the city of Palmeston intowards the

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Speaker 1: next council election, it was one that had raised a

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Speaker 1: few eyebrows. I know you and I had spoken about

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Speaker 1: that previously, and now it's been reversed. As I understand

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Speaker 1: it is that the case. It's no longer going ahead.

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Speaker 2: That's right. So a few weeks ago Minister Steve Edgington

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Speaker 2: revoked that decision. So that's been gazetted, so we will

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Speaker 2: not be going towards in Palmerston at the council election

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Speaker 2: this August, which is great news. There have also been

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Speaker 2: some changes made to the local government legislation, so that's

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Speaker 2: currently sitting before the Parliament to make sure that the

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Speaker 2: Minister has the final say on whether councils are split

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Speaker 2: into wards or not. Right, so our council of course

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Speaker 2: is supportive of that. When the decision was made to

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Speaker 2: put Wards into Palmerston, we don't believe that we were heard,

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Speaker 2: as the community leaders and the people the experts in

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Speaker 2: those areas about whether we need Wards or not. None

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Speaker 2: of the submissions made were favorable, but that panel still

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Speaker 2: decided to go ahead and do it.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, why was it something that you were you know

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Speaker 1: that you're opposed to seeing happen.

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Speaker 2: We look at Palmerston as one community of interest and

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Speaker 2: because you can drive from Palmerston from one side to

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Speaker 2: the other in any direction in less than fifteen minutes,

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Speaker 2: we know that our community is very close knit and

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Speaker 2: sticks together. It's not like the regional councils where you

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Speaker 2: might have you know, eight hours drive from one community

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Speaker 2: to the next, or you know a day's drive from

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Speaker 2: one side to the next. There are no there's no

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Speaker 2: difference in language groups or culture, and all of our

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Speaker 2: community organizations basically service all of Palmerston. So when you

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Speaker 2: think about you know, the Magpie Football Club or the

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Speaker 2: soccer codes. You know, it is just the one team

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Speaker 2: servicing the whole community. So when you have a community

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Speaker 2: of interest, it's people who have shared interests and shared vision.

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Speaker 2: They come together and that is how Palmerston operates.

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Speaker 1: It seemed to be odd to me that it was

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Speaker 1: going to be split up, Like I sort of thought,

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Speaker 1: that's not your spot on, That's not how I've experienced

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Speaker 1: Palmerston operating. Everybody does seem to work together, as you've

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Speaker 1: rightly pointed out, you know, when you look at the

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Speaker 1: footy club or you look at the different teams that

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Speaker 1: are out there, everybody does seem to you know, to

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Speaker 1: come together. So it seemed like a bit of a

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Speaker 1: strange choice to make. So it sounds like a bit

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Speaker 1: of common sense is prevailed.

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Speaker 2: Yeah. The Minister did state to me that when he

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Speaker 2: read the report he didn't actually see any reason for

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Speaker 2: them splitting Palmerston into wards, so there was no evidence

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Speaker 2: or justification really provided, which made his decision fairly easy

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Speaker 2: then to say no, that that won't be happening in

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Speaker 2: Palmerston now I understand.

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Speaker 1: The Local Government Representative or Representation Committee back in twenty

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Speaker 1: three also recommended an extra counselor join the current seven

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Speaker 1: given the city's rapid growth, is that happening?

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Speaker 2: Look, I don't think so. I think that was based

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Speaker 2: on whether we went towards right because we've got myself

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Speaker 2: as the mayor and seven councilors and sevens are prime number,

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Speaker 2: so when you're splitting into wards, it makes it really

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Speaker 2: difficult to have unequal representation in wards. So I think

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Speaker 2: that recommendation for an extra councilor was just in the

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Speaker 2: scenario if there were wards o thein.

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Speaker 1: Let's move a long to some of what's happening out

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Speaker 1: in Palmerston. I know there's a series of free workshops

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Speaker 1: that are set to be held for Palmerston business owners

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Speaker 1: and entrepreneurs in April and May. What's that going to involve?

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Speaker 2: So they'll be free workshops. They'll be held at Durak

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Speaker 2: Community Arts Center from nine to thirty am to eleven am.

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Speaker 2: The first one is Marketing one oh one on Friday,

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Speaker 2: the eleventh of April and its presenter will be Noil

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Speaker 2: Richardson from the Business Enterprise Center NT. The second workshop

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Speaker 2: is on Thursday, the first of May. It's cash flow management.

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Speaker 2: Ali Durrani from AMAF Consultants will be running that one

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Speaker 2: and the third workshop on Friday the twenty third of

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Speaker 2: May is Organic Social Media Planning for your Business. It's

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Speaker 2: right by Leanne from White Spatial Social.

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Speaker 1: So how do people if they want some further detail,

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Speaker 1: they can just jump online to the Palmerston Council.

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Speaker 2: Website, jump on the website and registered your interest. So

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Speaker 2: we are now moving towards putting additional supports in for

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Speaker 2: Palmerston businesses. We have a lot of them and trying

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Speaker 2: to get them to grow and you know, more GDP

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Speaker 2: for Palmerston. Yeah.

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Speaker 1: Absolutely, Oh and we all want to see you know,

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Speaker 1: businesses growing. You want to see things going well for

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Speaker 1: those that run businesses. I also want to ask you

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Speaker 1: I understand there's set to be a bit of work

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Speaker 1: at Marlow Lagoon the playground there is it being refurbished.

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Speaker 2: Yep, so the junior playground. The refurbishment commenced a few

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Speaker 2: weeks ago and that was following some community consultation that

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Speaker 2: happened last year. So the refurbishment includes more inclusive play elements,

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Speaker 2: some musical elements and sensory play and different swing options

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Speaker 2: for little kids as well.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, good stuff. Hey, before I let you go, I

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Speaker 1: know that Youth Week. It's going to be getting underway

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Speaker 1: and really you guys are seeking businesses to be involved

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Speaker 1: with the Youth Festival. It's not until July, but the

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Speaker 1: earlier the better. I'm assuming that if people are.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, so we're looking for people who want to participate

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Speaker 2: in the Palmerston Youth Festival. So vendors or people who

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Speaker 2: run different activities or programs get in touch with the

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Speaker 2: team at Council. It's even food vans and those sorts

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Speaker 2: of things for the event. Get in touch with Counsel

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Speaker 2: and we'll see whether you can squeeze into our program

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Speaker 2: for the Youth Festival.

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Speaker 1: Good stuff for Lathena Pasco Bell, the Mayor of Palmerston.

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Speaker 1: Always good to catch up with you. Thank you for

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Speaker 1: your time this morning.

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Speaker 2: Thank you