Interview with Katie Woolf, MIX 104.9 Darwin
16 November 2018
KATIE WOOLF: I’m joined in the studio by the Prime Minister, Scott Morrison, good morning.
PRIME MINISTER: G’day, great to be here.
WOOLF: We voted you in, ScoMo, they said it was alright for you to come in earlier.
[Laughter]
PRIME MINISTER: Voted onto the island. That’s great, thanks.
WOOLF: I don’t know if it’s an island people usually want to be voted onto, a radio studio.
PRIME MINISTER: It’s great to be here. There’s a lot of really good things to talk about. It’s going to be a very important day in Darwin today.
WOOLFE: It really is. I think it’s honestly one of the biggest days we’ve had in quite a long while and I know that you and I have spoken a couple of weeks ago about the Cities Deal. We were certainly putting some pressure on, wondering when that Cities Deal is going to come to fruition. Prime Minister, today is the day?
PRIME MINISTER: Yeah, we’re signing it today and I think it’s a very important day for Darwin. We’re investing a further $100 million in to Darwin and that comes on top of the $100 million we’d already put into roads and congestion management here in Darwin. The centrepiece of what we’re doing as part of that is the Charles Darwin University campus, right at the middle of the city.
WOOLF: Yep.
PRIME MINISTER: That’s going to bring about another 1,100 students into the city and this is going to create a real drive to the city with more people, with services and other retail and other components of the project. Now, that’s going to be backed in by a number of other projects that the Territory Government and the City Council are working on. Another part to the project is opening up the Stokes Hill site to enable that area to be used for further development in the direction that Territorians want to take it. We’ve also got this urban living lab and some investment in greening the city, ensuring that they can mitigate temperatures in the city.
Now, what’s exciting about this is, cities all around the world in tropical areas - and you just think about it, just to our north -
WOOLF: Yep.
PRIME MINISTER: I’ve just come from the East Asia Summit. These are big challenges for those cities. How they cope with living in tropical areas with modern urban centres, waste management, how they manage temperature, traffic and all these things. Darwin is going to have a CSIRO, basically, city lab here and they’ll be trialling things here, which means that if they work here in Darwin, they can be actually used all around the world. So it’ll be the coolest city – not just –
WOOLF: Well, we can only hope.
PRIME MINISTER: Not just from a temperature point of view, but also a cooler city in how you’re managing keeping your city cool. I think that will provide a lot of opportunities. But for the Larrakia People also, there’s $2 million we’re supporting for their economic development and a jobs guarantee for Indigenous Australians here in the Territory for all of these big projects.
So, look, it’s a huge package. On top of that, there’ll be opportunity for the Northern Australia Infrastructure Fund to support some of these projects and particularly the education and civic precinct.
WOOLF: Prime Minister, it’s something we’ve been waiting for some time for. I feel as though it’s the shot in the arm that we really need. You and I spoke a couple of weeks ago and I certainly pointed out the fact that within our city at the moment, we’ve got some businesses that are really struggling. We’ve got extremely high vacancy rates. Being able to bring students into the city as part of the Charles Darwin University campus sounds like a wonderful thing. But how difficult do you think it’s going to be for us to increase those numbers of students? Obviously, the fact that we are a gateway to Asia is going to be part of that and that’s really something the Northern Territory Government is trying to do, boost the population. I know that migration has been also on your agenda?
PRIME MINISTER: Yeah, well, both of those things are the short answer to your question. We do support the population growth strategy for the Territory and I said that when the Chief Minister was down in Canberra recently. Not all parts of the country have the same plans when it comes to population. In Sydney and Melbourne, they want fewer people. But in Darwin, they want more, and in North Queensland, in South Australia and Western Australia.
So we need a population plan right across the country that suits what the conditions are and the needs are on the ground, not just what the debate is in Sydney or Melbourne. I think it’s very important that we keep that focus on regional areas and what their needs are. But students are a great way to do this because people will come, they’ll study - and they may come from other states by the way – they mightn’t just come from overseas. They come, they live here, they enjoy it here if we’re building up the services and the infrastructure – which we are - and don’t forget also we’ve got $8 billion of investment going into Defence capability and infrastructure here, in and around the Territory and Darwin in particular. So that’s going to be a big fillip to the economy as well. That’s how you build the city up. That’s how you make it more successful
So I’ll be looking forward to being out there with Kathy Ganley, our CLP candidate here in Darwin for the next federal election and of course Gary will be joining me as will Mr Gunner and others from the Territory Government. So, it’s a big day but there are other big things happening in Darwin today.
WOOLF: There really are. Well, it’s an unbelievably big day for the Northern Territory. We hear a lot about Darwin’s strategic importance in terms of Defence and industry and of course, today our importance is on display for the world to see. We do know that the Japanese PM Shinzo Abe is here for the official commissioning of the INPEX gas plant. But this is also the first time a Japanese head of state has visited the Northern Territory since the Bombing of Darwin in 1942. I know yourself and the Japanese PM are of course, going to be laying a wreath at the cenotaph in what is set to be an incredibly important and symbolic moment, isn’t it?
PRIME MINISTER: That’s true. I spoke to Shinzo Abe just yesterday when we were up in Singapore together and the day before. He’s looking forward to coming, this is a very important visit for him. He has made similar visits in similar places around the world. He brings an incredible sense of humility to his attendance at these very solemn events and I think that’s a very important message to Australians.
I know for Australians – whether they’re here in Darwin today or elsewhere in the country, those particularly who were here at the time when over 230 Australians lost their lives in those bombing raids – that this will be potentially a difficult time for them. But I hope it’s a healing time for them and I think the way in which the Prime Minister will come with a deep spirit of humility, will greatly assist it. It comes out of the spirit of the relationship we have with Japan today; they are one of, if not our biggest strategic partners in the region. We manage very similar issues, we have a very similar outlook on how the region is developing. So I’ll be holding talks with him throughout the day, both formally and informally and it’s a big part of our relationship.
Of course, the INPEX plant and having its first shipment, it’s the biggest ever investment by Japan in Australia, ever. So this is ‘the’ big deal and so he’s obviously here to mark that as well.
WOOLF: We know that the gas is certainly something that you’ve had words over, at different times when it comes to speaking with the Northern Territory Government. Certainly fracking was something that has been on the agenda for a long time. As I understand it, there was a memorandum of understanding signed yesterday with Matt Canavan and Michael Gunner for the Beetaloo Basin.
PRIME MINISTER: Great.
WOOLF: I mean, how sort of, significant and how much can we really talk about or expect the Northern Territory to produce and do when it comes to the rest of Australia’s needs, when it comes to energy?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I think the other states need to do their own heavy lifting on this. I mean, the Territory are and I think this agreement and this decision will set up the Territory for the future in terms of their own prosperity and their own economic development and their own opportunities. So I commend the decision and was, as people know, a keen urger of the decision. But that doesn’t give a leave pass to Victoria or even New South Wales. They’ve got to realise the resources that they have to support their development. They can’t rely on the Northern Territory and a pipeline. If they want lower electricity prices, which is what I want -
WOOLF: They’re not really stepping up at the moment though, are they?
PRIME MINISTER: Well I’m hopeful that New South Wales will see something. But you know in Victoria, we’re in the middle of a state election in Victoria and they’re keeping the gas underground which is pushing the electricity prices up on Victorians. Wherever you keep the gas in the ground, that means your electricity prices are higher.
I’m all for getting electricity prices down so I commend the decision here, I supported it strongly. We’re putting record support into the Territory. I mean, not only did we put the more than $250 million on the GST top-up which I announced earlier this year, I mean, that was there to make sure the Territory can continue to meet its commitments for services delivery. There’s an extra $69 million going in the next year, so they can do that. Half a billion dollars we’re putting into remote Indigenous housing which is a chronic need here in the Territory and the Commonwealth, you know, we understand we have a special responsibility on those issues in the Territory and we’ve more than measured up to that challenge.
WOOLF: Scott Morrison, I feel like this isn’t going to be the last time we’re going to see you in this studio obviously, with the federal election imminent. When can we expect that?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I think you can expect to continue to see me up here with Kathy Ganley, as well as Jacinta Price, throughout the Territory talking about the things that matter most to Territorians and Nige as well - who is well known, Scullion - up here. He’s working hard on a range of projects, particularly on Kakadu at the moment. I’ve been talking to Gary about that as well, about those Kakadu projects. I mean, coming out of the tourism industry as I did, I understand where Kakadu fits in on the national list of icons and experiences –
WOOLF: Unfortunately, at the moment though, you know, some people call it “Kaka-don’t,” because it does need significant investment. It is on your agenda?
PRIME MINISTER: It is.
WOOLF: Can we expect some funding when it comes to Kakadu?
PRIME MINISTER: We’re just working that through but as you know, when I have something to say, I do and until then, I just sort of work methodically away. I get it. I understand it, just like I got it when it came to the Darwin City arrangements. But you know, you’ve just got to work to land it properly.
I’m really pleased how this Darwin City Deal has come together, it’s been on the agenda for some time, but we got on with it, we’ve delivered it. So I think for the CLP here in the Northern Territory, as part of our Liberal National team around the country, I think Territorians know that we get it and we just get on with it and this is a big deal.
WOOLF: Well, Prime Minister Scott Morrison, we are going to have to leave it there. We’ve got a throng of politicians waiting outside ready to get in. Thank you so much for your time this morning. I really appreciate it.
PRIME MINISTER: Great to be here, look forward to being back soon.
WOOLF: Sounds good, thank you.
PRIME MINISTER: Cheers.
