ADAM STEER, HOST: On ABC Radio Darwin, this is Adam Steer. Luke Gosling is the Federal Member for Solomon, joining me from Parliament House this morning. Luke Gosling good morning. So, taking kids in Alice Springs off the streets. Your colleague Marion Scrymgour told us earlier today that she wasn't consulted, and adds that it sounds like policy on the run. Do you agree with her?
LUKE GOSLING, MEMBER FOR SOLOMON: You know, I'm going to catch up with Marion this morning. We've got a number of debates this morning in the House of Representatives, so I'll an update from her. But I back what she's saying. Obviously, we need to know what's going on and been brought in. But I must say, when it comes to working with the Northern Territory Government in my electorate, Darwin and Palmerston, they have been excellent. We're working together on building a new youth engagement hub and on a variety of other projects, so I can't fault them there. But obviously Marion has got a big job, a big bit of the Territory to look after, and we need to be working together on that. But obviously at the end of the day it is the NT Government and Minister Kate Worden’s responsibility, and it sounds like she's getting after the issue, and with more consultation, we'll get the best possible outcome. But I must point out, too, Adam, that the NT Government, my understanding from briefings is that they are working with the families. Whether we need to do more, whether the Federal Government needs to add some more resources, I think that's probably right. And in fact, Marion said that I should come down to Alice Springs and have a look what's going on down there, and I'm keen to do that.
STEER: What about in your own electorate? We just listed the situation in Alice Springs and in Katherine, but in Palmerston and Darwin. How do you view the issue around antisocial behaviour, lawlessness at the moment?
GOSLING: Well, we hear about it every day on the radio and in the newspapers, amplified on social media. It is an issue, particularly for those victims, and that's where our focus needs to be, as well as the police doing their job to apprehend those that are breaking the law. I recently went out and visited the children out at Don Dale, talking to the people and working with them to try and make sure that they don't end up back in there and go a better way. There's a range of things – like the new youth engagement hub for the northern suburbs – that we are finding from a federal point of view. And as I said, we're working closely with the NT Government to see what their needs are, whether it be in domestic violence or working with youth or in other areas. But generally the Commonwealth funds infrastructure. But we also fund programs and in partnership with the NT Government and I'm obviously talking to Minister Worden all the time about her needs and about the other ministers' needs as well.
STEER: How acute is the issue at the moment? We've got the Northern Territory Government paying $1 million a year for security guards armed with dogs to patrol Malak and Karama. We've got the Casuarina shopping centre employing dogs and security guards just to roam the carpark to try and stem some of the issues. And we at crisis level here, Luke Gosling?
GOSLING: Well, it's not good when you have to take those measures, is it? Obviously it would be better if those communities had children that were being cared for by responsible family members, so I agree with Minister Warden that there needs to be more responsibility taken by families. These are in some cases very difficult kids, and that's why they come into contact with the justice system. But one thing I've noticed also is that these are multi-generational issues, particularly when you can have kids that are affected by foetal alcohol syndrome. So, the NT Government's got a big job to do. But in terms of their alcohol policy that the Chief Minister's been driving for many years and the work that they're doing to keep communities safe, it's a big job to do. Whatever we can do federally to assist them in doing that, we stand ready to do that. We've had five ministers in five days, five federal ministers in five days during the build-up recently, and that'll keep occurring because not only do we see the massive potential of the Territory, which is why a record investment in infrastructure is going into the Territory, we also acknowledge the serious issues that we have in the Territory and have committed to helping the Northern Territory Government.
STEER: All right, you're an ABC Radio Darwin, Adam Steer with you. Luke Gosling is the Federal Member for Solomon. Let's move to the cost of diesel and the ripple effect that has had on goods and services.
AUDIO – LOUISE BILATO – NT ROAD TRANSPORT ASSOCIATION: “The terminal gate price in Darwin this morning was $2.20. So the retailers are making some money out of that and additional $0.19 in Darwin and a lot more elsewhere.”
STEER: That's Louise Bilato from the Road Transport Association. We were chatting to her earlier this week. Local businesses, of course, suffering because of the skyrocketing freight costs. What's the Federal Government doing to try and prevent what is clearly price gouging at the bowser? Because the ACCC certainly isn't doing much.
GOSLING: Well, we are giving the ACCC more teeth. That was one thing that happened in the previous government over nine years, we saw the ACCC going backwards in capacity. So they've got a very important role to play, obviously. But I’m on the record numerous times about the gouging of companies, fuel retailers in particular. People often ask me, why is diesel much more expensive than unleaded? It's due to a decrease in the amount of unleaded fuel being produced by the producers. And we import most of that. And they only make diesel when they're making unleaded. So less diesel has been made, which has put the price up. It doesn't excuse the retailers from gouging, though, and the ACCC is working on that.
STEER: I mean, some of the other reasons for the higher fuel costs are out of the Federal Government control, the Ukraine war, the falling Aussie dollar and a decrease in Chinese fuel in that Asian market. But what about changes to the fuel tax credit? I'm going to bring Louise Bilato in again.
BILATO – AUDIO: “A little bit of frustration for the industry is that the fuel tax credit for road vehicles and that includes all mining, fishing, forestry, rail, agriculture pastoral is $0.46 a litre rebate. So the fuel tax credit, when that was restored on the 22nd of September, it's 18.8 cents a litre rebate for the road transport industry. And yet some of the roads that we operate on are, you know, significantly below par.”
STEER: Oh, that's the division bills being called there Luke Gosling, are they?
GOSLING: Yeah they are, Adam. But I can just say quickly that we understand the difficulties for the industry. I've got a committee that's looking into roads and particularly those that have been massively impacted by the floods around the nation. But we have no plans to change the diesel fuel excise at this point, is the short answer, just in case I’ve got to run into the chamber to vote.
STEER: Alright, I'll let you go, mate, because I think that's what you have to do today. We'll talk again soon Luke Gosling. Appreciate your time.
