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Speaker 1: Now there is a lot happening around the place, and

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Speaker 1: we know that the Palmeston Council, well, they recently held

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Speaker 1: their first ordinary meeting resolving to rejoin the Local Government

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Speaker 1: Association of the Northern Territory known as LEGANT. It's not

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Speaker 1: the only thing that they're up to since the election

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Speaker 1: was held, I know that they have absolutely hit the

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Speaker 1: ground running. And joining me on the show is the

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Speaker 1: Mayor of Palmerston, Athena Pasco Bell.

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Speaker 2: Good morning to you, Good morning Katie.

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Speaker 1: Good to have you in the studio now. Athena. Obviously,

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Speaker 1: you guys have literally you have just hit the ground

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Speaker 1: running the Palmerston Council by the look.

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Speaker 2: Of it, absolutely We've already had seven workshops to make

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Speaker 2: sure that our councilors are inducted and trained and ready

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Speaker 2: to go. So you've really hit the ground running.

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Speaker 1: Tell me a little bit about the makeup of the

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Speaker 1: new council. You've got a few new faces on there,

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Speaker 1: don't you.

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Speaker 2: We do. We have three new councilors, so we've been

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Speaker 2: joined by Council of Wayne Bayless, Council of yorlanda CanYa

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Speaker 2: and Council of rob Waters and five existing members have returned,

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Speaker 2: So myself, the current Deputy mayor, Damian Hale, Councilor Mark Fraser,

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Speaker 2: Councilor Sarah Henderson, and Councilor Lucy Morrison.

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Speaker 1: And how do you guys do things in terms of

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Speaker 1: your deputy? Good to hear that Hayley's in there as

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Speaker 1: a deputy, but how do you guys do things? Is

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Speaker 1: it sort of a rotating job like what the Darwin

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Speaker 1: City Council does.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, we actually put that policy in place two council

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Speaker 2: terms ago, so eight years ago. We rotate it and

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Speaker 2: the years divided up by the number of councilors. So

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Speaker 2: everyone does have an opportunity to do it if they

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Speaker 2: would choose to help. But it is a very active

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Speaker 2: role and so the biggest issue is finding someone who's

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Speaker 2: got availability to do it for that period of time

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Speaker 2: because when I'm busy, then I asked the Deputy mayor

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Speaker 2: to step in.

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Speaker 1: So it's like they're actually out there doing stuff. It's

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Speaker 1: not just a role by title.

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Speaker 2: That's no, no sure, And you know there are expectations

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Speaker 2: that if I'm unavailable, they will attend media events and

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Speaker 2: meetings and anything of significance on my behalf yep, And

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Speaker 2: the council's behalf, so it is a very important role.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely it is. It's though in terms of as

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Speaker 1: well people developing these skills as the years go on. Now,

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Speaker 1: tell me at the first meeting that you've had quite

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Speaker 1: a bit on the agenda. What are some of the

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Speaker 1: main things that the newly elected council really wants to

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Speaker 1: get stuck into out there in Palmerston.

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Speaker 2: Well. Obviously there's a few programs that we're continuing, so

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Speaker 2: a lot of our fun activities Christmas in Wonderland will

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Speaker 2: be coming your way excellent, and there's some existing infrastructure

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Speaker 2: programs that will continue to deliver such as as Akali

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Speaker 2: Pump Track and Zakali Community Hub. We secured ten million

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Speaker 2: dollars from the Comwealth government at the last Comwealth election

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Speaker 2: as well to build a library and community center at

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Speaker 2: z Acholie as well. We're still talking with the Finociaro

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Speaker 2: government as well about funding for some other projects. So

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Speaker 2: that's all.

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Speaker 1: Continuing continuing, good to hear, and we will be doing

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Speaker 1: a review of our community plan which we put in

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Speaker 1: place about six or seven years ago.

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Speaker 2: It's a ten year plan, so it's time to do

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Speaker 2: a health check on that now.

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Speaker 1: I also know that you guys had resil to rejoin

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Speaker 1: the Local Government Association of the Northern Territory known as LEGANT.

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Speaker 1: I didn't realize that you'd left. How come the Palmeston

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Speaker 1: Council was no longer on that.

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Speaker 2: Committee back in twenty twenty one we left. At that

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Speaker 2: time we had some concerns, ongoing concerns about the operation

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Speaker 2: of LAGANT and governance. Those issues went unresolved, so we

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Speaker 2: made a decision to remove ourselves from LAGANT. But over

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Speaker 2: the last four years and we did review our membership

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Speaker 2: annually and we have seen some improvements in the governance

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Speaker 2: and with a fresh council on board, we've decided it's

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Speaker 2: time to be a proactive member of that organization and

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Speaker 2: try and focus on delivering outcomes for the entire local

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Speaker 2: government sector in the Northern Territory, especially with the Northern

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Speaker 2: Territory Government and federal government, and trying to influence their

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Speaker 2: policies and things like that.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, right, so then, I mean you must have had

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Speaker 1: some fairly significant concerns around governance to pull out.

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Speaker 2: Yep, we did. What were they look just very briefly,

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Speaker 2: we were concerned about some of the action the Legant

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Speaker 2: board took and some of that was not in the

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Speaker 2: interests of the City of Palmerston. And when we raise

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Speaker 2: those concerns, they didn't agree, and so we exercised our

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Speaker 2: discretion to resign. You know, as you do if you're

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Speaker 2: a member of a club and they were actively working

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Speaker 2: against you as a member, you would say, well, we're

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Speaker 2: not paying for this.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, right, I mean the big call at the time,

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Speaker 1: but obviously now big call to rejoin, and not only rejoin,

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Speaker 1: but you put your hand up to potentially become the president.

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Speaker 2: I've put my hand up for president because I do

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Speaker 2: have a very strong governance and a way of delivering

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Speaker 2: strategic outcomes and that's been obviously well demonstrated at the

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Speaker 2: City of Palmerston. Now is my third term as mayor,

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Speaker 2: and I believe that I can deliver the strategic outcomes

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Speaker 2: that the member councils are looking for from Legant.

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Speaker 1: So what's the process now in terms of determining who

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Speaker 1: is going to be the president.

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Speaker 2: The nominations are open until the end of the month

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Speaker 2: and then there's a special agm happening in November, so

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Speaker 2: the councils will then vote. So councils across the Northern

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Speaker 2: Territory will vote for who the new president will be.

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Speaker 2: Obviously there's a lot of competition out there.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, who else do we know yet? Who else has

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Speaker 1: put their hand up?

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Speaker 2: Nut I said, Vicious from Bartony has told me he's running,

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Speaker 2: Peter Stiles has said he's running, and I know there's

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Speaker 2: a couple of others who are considering it as well.

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Speaker 2: But as it currently stands, from the municipal councils, I

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Speaker 2: am the most experienced mayor. I was the only municipal

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Speaker 2: mayor returned and this is my third term as Mayorp,

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Speaker 2: and I believe I might be one of the most

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Speaker 2: experienced out of all the councils when you consider the

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Speaker 2: regional councils as well.

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Speaker 1: We'll keep an eye on that and see exactly what happens.

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Speaker 1: I mean for you, though, why do you reckon? It's

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Speaker 1: important that you did put your hand up and that

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Speaker 1: you really do want to take on that role.

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Speaker 2: The Local Government Association should be representing the interests of

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Speaker 2: all councils in the Northern Territory and we need to

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Speaker 2: be a really strong voice when it comes to the

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Speaker 2: Northern Territory government and federal government. Policies, particularly those that

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Speaker 2: affect local government and may have significant impact on the

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Speaker 2: way we operate everything we see in the Northern Territory.

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Speaker 2: We can't just sort of work in our own isolated

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Speaker 2: bubble as a municipal council or even just Palmstan or Darwen.

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Speaker 2: Some things affect everybody and so we need to work

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Speaker 2: on those in a collective manner and make sure that

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Speaker 2: we are promoting the best outcomes for all councils collectively.

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Speaker 1: Now, before I let you go, I know that as

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Speaker 1: part of October Business Month, the City of Palmerston is

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Speaker 1: obviously in partnership with the Northern Territory Government, has the

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Speaker 1: return of the Palmerston Business Futures Forum. What's that all about?

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Speaker 2: So that is bringing together a whole lot of local

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Speaker 2: businesses in Palmerston to gain some practical insights and explore

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Speaker 2: initiatives and strengthen the Palmerston local business community. So we're

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Speaker 2: bringing together the whole range of experts to explore opportunities,

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Speaker 2: share experiences and discuss the future of the Palmerston economy specifically.

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Speaker 2: And the attendees have a chance to connect with other

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Speaker 2: business leaders, gain insight, listen from guest speakers engage in

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Speaker 2: discussions and help to evolve the business landscape in Palmerston.

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Speaker 1: So when's that on and can anybody attend or do

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Speaker 1: they have to register first?

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Speaker 2: You have to register. It is on Thursday, the twenty

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Speaker 2: third of October, so just a couple of days time.

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Speaker 2: It's happening early in the morning, so I think it

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Speaker 2: kicks off around seven or seven thirty. Oh good stuff.

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Speaker 1: I always love a good early morning event because I'm

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Speaker 1: up at about four thirty in the morning. I know

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Speaker 1: not everybody else is.

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Speaker 2: So no that that's me too. I'm usually up at

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Speaker 2: about five point thirty, work done right when the house

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Speaker 2: is quiet.

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Speaker 1: That's exactly right. Well, Mayor Parmeerston Athena Pasco Bell great

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Speaker 1: to catch up with you this morning. We'll talk to

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Speaker 1: you again soon.

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Speaker 2: Thanks Katie, Thank you.