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Speaker 1: As I mentioned, we know that the Quantus boss, Alan Joyce,

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Speaker 1: was in town last week and according to the Northern

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Speaker 1: Terror Train News revealed top end flights had returned to

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Speaker 1: pre COVID levels, but Alice Springs was lagging because of

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Speaker 1: the crime crisis. Now joining me on the line is

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Speaker 1: the Shadow Tourism spokesperson Mary Claire Boothby. Good morning to you, Mary.

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Speaker 2: Claire, Good morning Katie, and to your.

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Speaker 1: Listeners, thanks so much for your time this morning. Now

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Speaker 1: Mary Claire, the CEO of Quantus, well, he said that

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Speaker 1: crime has had an impact in Central Australia. What did

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Speaker 1: you make of the comments.

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Speaker 2: Oh, Katie, I couldn't believe it when I read this

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Speaker 2: late Friday afternoon. And the thing is, Alan Joyce is

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Speaker 2: absolutely correct. Crime has had a massive impact on tourism

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Speaker 2: in Alice Springs. But this is on the back of

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Speaker 2: Natasha Fhiles and the Tourism Minister Nicle Madison who spent

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Speaker 2: two weeks in estimates telling us that crime is not

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Speaker 2: a major concern. Well, clearly it is.

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Speaker 3: That.

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Speaker 2: I am also absolutely appalled that mister Joyce would blame

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Speaker 2: our tourism businesses like he has said they need to

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Speaker 2: do the hard yards to get tourists back here, and

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Speaker 2: I just do not buy that. I actually waited all

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Speaker 2: weekend to hear files or Madison come out and defend

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Speaker 2: our tourism businesses. It certainly did not happen. And I

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Speaker 2: think it didn't happen because they're just not leaders, you know,

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Speaker 2: like they don't stand up and fight for the territory.

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Speaker 2: It's just like they don't have the guts to do that.

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Speaker 1: It seems like they're a bit scared. They're a bit

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Speaker 1: scared to call into line the quantus CEO. But the

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Speaker 1: fact is as well that when they've sort of denied

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Speaker 1: that crime is having a massive impact, it makes it

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Speaker 1: harder to then be able to pull him up on

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Speaker 1: his comments. But I do just want to play for

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Speaker 1: our listeners a little bit of an interaction that it

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Speaker 1: occurred in budget estimates the week before last. This is well,

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Speaker 1: this is both the Tourism Minister and also Robin Lamley

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Speaker 1: the audio with thanks to nine newst and take a listen.

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Speaker 2: The majority where we're hearing that those pressures are coming

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Speaker 2: from interest rate rises, you know, trying to pay the bills.

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Speaker 3: You're minimizing something that is really quite concerning and bad.

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Speaker 3: The correlation between crime and the slump and tourism chances.

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Speaker 1: Everything I can to these jobs and grow the economy

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Speaker 1: in our springs.

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Speaker 3: And is what you did when you're a police minister

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Speaker 3: and you're doing it, So there you go.

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Speaker 1: That is just part of the interaction that had occurred

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Speaker 1: throughout budget estimates. Mary Claire, there is no doubt that

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Speaker 1: crime has had an impact in Alice Springs. But is

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Speaker 1: it time that those tourism operators stepped up and started

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Speaker 1: to say, well, things are turning around.

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Speaker 2: We can't keep blaming our churism businesses for this. They

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Speaker 2: have been through hell and back. These are our family

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Speaker 2: businesses who are doing the absolute best they can, but

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Speaker 2: they can't provide that awesome tourism experience that we know

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Speaker 2: they have. They literally are the best products in Australia

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Speaker 2: if there are not people there to provide those two

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Speaker 2: and they have absolutely been let down by the government

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Speaker 2: who continues to bat away the concerns of crime. What

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Speaker 2: those businesses need is for someone to have the guts

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Speaker 2: to stand up to these corporates instead of just pandering

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Speaker 2: to them, and actually do something about the crime. It

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Speaker 2: is unbelievable. I was at a function on Thursday night

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Speaker 2: where Alan Joyce and his board were all at It

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Speaker 2: was their first board meeting in Darwin in over one

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Speaker 2: hundred years apparently, and while Natasha Files and Nicole Madison

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Speaker 2: were standing for photos, I actually fronted Alan Joyce and

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Speaker 2: I reminded him that the NTE in the name Quantus

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Speaker 2: stands for the Northern Territory and I urged him to

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Speaker 2: really take a good look at this because we can't

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Speaker 2: just be left behind. And when you've got the Chief Minister,

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Speaker 2: who is supposed to be our leader and backing territorians,

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Speaker 2: supporting for them, fighting for them, just standing by and

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Speaker 2: saying nothing, it is absolutely appalling.

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Speaker 1: Marie Claire, what do you think needs to happen here?

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Speaker 1: I mean, the fact is he's made those comments. He

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Speaker 1: is the see of Quantas, So I don't know whether

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Speaker 1: they're going to put on extra flights or whether they're

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Speaker 1: going to make any kind of any kind of changes

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Speaker 1: to try to look after territorians. I feel as though

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Speaker 1: that is something that the government does need to step

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Speaker 1: up and push for. But what do you think needs

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Speaker 1: to happen here?

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Speaker 2: Absolutely the government needs to they need to do go

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Speaker 2: back to the basics. They need to tackle law in order,

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Speaker 2: which will then rebuild our reputation. If there is a

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Speaker 2: demand for flights into Alice Springs, then of course the

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Speaker 2: flight carriers will come into line with that. Its basic economics.

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Speaker 2: But that's not what we're seeing. We're not seeing the

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Speaker 2: Chief Minister fight for the territories in this regard. They

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Speaker 2: literally just letting it go by the wayside, not coming

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Speaker 2: out and speaking against those comments. And I think it's

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Speaker 2: because they know they are true, and they're not speaking

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Speaker 2: up for territories, businesses and the tourism operators that have

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Speaker 2: been on their knees for years now. We need to

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Speaker 2: rebuild our reputation back. We need to get people back here,

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Speaker 2: but the only way we can do that as a

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Speaker 2: starting point is to tackle the law and order issues

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Speaker 2: that we have.

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Speaker 1: Is there more that we could be doing as well, though,

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Speaker 1: to try to entice other airlines into the Northern Territory,

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Speaker 1: to try and push that, you know, competitiveness up so

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Speaker 1: we can at least get a flight somewhere for a

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Speaker 1: reasonable cost.

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Speaker 2: That's right, and we know that Rex and Bonsa would

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Speaker 2: be interested in sitting down and having those conversations. When

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Speaker 2: I asked the Tourism Minister this during estimates, you know,

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Speaker 2: when was the last time we spoke to them. She

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Speaker 2: could tell me that she'd had conversations before, but she

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Speaker 2: couldn't remember the date in which she last spoke to them,

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Speaker 2: which tells me that they're not fighting boldly for the territory.

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Speaker 2: They're not going out and actually having these deep conversations

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Speaker 2: with these airlines. I asked him she'd spoken to the

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Speaker 2: Prime Minister since the agripal C report was handed down.

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Speaker 2: She laughed at me about that, saying, oh, look, you've

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Speaker 2: got more important things to do. Now, hang on a minute.

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Speaker 2: This is our opportunity to be absolutely doing everything we can.

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Speaker 2: She said it into that little clip you play, that

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Speaker 2: she would do everything she can, and she is absolutely not.

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Speaker 2: Her and Natasha Files are standing by idly while Territorians

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Speaker 2: continue to.

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Speaker 1: Stop on Marik Claire, I want to move along to

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Speaker 1: another topic that I know has already started to fire

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Speaker 1: up a lot of our listeners. This morning, the ABC

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Speaker 1: on the Weekend reporting that two Northern Territory government MLA's

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Speaker 1: charge taxpayers more than three thousand dollars in private interstate

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Speaker 1: travel this year thanks to a fuel card entitlement. Now,

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Speaker 1: the fuel disclosure records show that backbench MLA Duran Young

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Speaker 1: spent more than seven thousand dollars in fuel purchases over

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Speaker 1: a four month period from December twenty twenty two. Of this,

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Speaker 1: more than two thy five hundred was spent on private

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Speaker 1: travel in New South Wales and Queensland, tabbing up fuel

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Speaker 1: spends in the towns of Ballina, Yamba, Nooser, long Reach,

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Speaker 1: Mount iSER and camer Wheel Now according to the ABC,

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Speaker 1: the records also show that the Northern Territories Attorney General

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Speaker 1: Chancey Paike racked up more than seven hundred dollars in

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Speaker 1: fuel costs on private travel driving between Adelaide and the

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Speaker 1: Northern Territory between Boxing Day twenty twenty two that was

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Speaker 1: in and January seven, twenty twenty three. Marie Claire, does

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Speaker 1: this pass the pub test?

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Speaker 2: Not at all, Katie. I mean we are absolutely calling

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Speaker 2: on those labor MLAs to pay back those funds. And

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Speaker 2: I really think this goes to their character when making

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Speaker 2: these choices. I mean, you receive allowances as an elected

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Speaker 2: member and in this case they choose to have a

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Speaker 2: government vehicle with a fuel card and then they chose

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Speaker 2: to use that fuel card for an interstate holiday. I mean,

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Speaker 2: even if it says that, or it doesn't say that

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Speaker 2: you can't do that, it doesn't mean that they should,

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Speaker 2: and it doesn't mean that it's right. I mean, those

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Speaker 2: amounts that you talked about in those places that they

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Speaker 2: spent the mat, imagine if they'd spent them in Central

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Speaker 2: Australia or in the top end where we do have

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Speaker 2: tourism businesses that are struggling. For me, this just goes

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Speaker 2: to show the lack of care that these guys have

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Speaker 2: when they're spending taxpayers money on themselves to its life.

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Speaker 1: So you reckon they need to pay it back. You

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Speaker 1: reckon they need to actually pay this money back.

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Speaker 2: Yeah. Absolutely. And then in the questions during estimates, it

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Speaker 2: was revealed that the speaker made his own assessment without

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Speaker 2: getting any advice, and then after that a determination was

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Speaker 2: made and he didn't communicate that to all MLAs. The

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Speaker 2: only communicated to the two that were in question here.

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Speaker 2: To me, that just makes no sense. I mean again,

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Speaker 2: this is like the labor mantra. They're happy to spend

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Speaker 2: taxpayers money on whatever they like, and they're also hiding

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Speaker 2: every time it comes to scrutiny when they feel the heat.

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Speaker 1: I mean my understanding though, is that there is an

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Speaker 1: independent tribunal that obviously sets the rules when it comes

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Speaker 1: to you know, when it comes to vehicles and the

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Speaker 1: ways in which they can be used, those government vehicles

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Speaker 1: or those you know MLA vehicles. So is the CLP

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Speaker 1: prepared to write to the tribunal saying that you think

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Speaker 1: that there needs to be changes here.

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Speaker 2: Well, but the tribunal is very independent and each member

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Speaker 2: of Parliament and other stakeholders get to put forward submissions

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Speaker 2: as to what they would like to see going forward

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Speaker 2: whenever they do their reviews. So the thing is that

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Speaker 2: my understanding is that they used to have a very

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Speaker 2: strict definition of what fuel cards could be used on

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Speaker 2: and that was all changed. So the thing is, even

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Speaker 2: if it says that they even if it doesn't say

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Speaker 2: that you can't do something specifically, it doesn't mean that

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Speaker 2: that's the right thing to do. I mean, elected members

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Speaker 2: are there to represent their community and they have plenty

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Speaker 2: of benefits that allow them to do that. And so

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Speaker 2: when you get a fueld card and then you go

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Speaker 2: and choose to spend over and above what you would

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Speaker 2: normally use your field card on, when you're traveling around

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Speaker 2: your community. It just doesn't sit right with people.

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Speaker 1: Well it doesn't.

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Speaker 2: And yeah, they just go and spend at willy nilly

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Speaker 2: without any care in the world. I mean, and that's

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Speaker 2: how territorions feel about everything that they spend their money on. Yeah,

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Speaker 2: there's definitely lots of commentary around the wasteful spending. I mean,

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Speaker 2: this just points to that. Again.

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Speaker 1: Well, Marie Claire Boosby, we really appreciate your time. Thank

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Speaker 1: you very much for having a chat to us this morning.

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Speaker 2: Thank you, Katie, and thank you