KATIE WOOLF, HOST: Now we know that the first sittings of the year here in the Northern Territory, it always an interesting time. The Federal Parliament, well, they've also been sitting and there's been quite a lot happening. Now joining me on the phone from Canberra is the Member for Solomon Luke Gosling. Good morning to you, Luke.

LUKE GOSLING, MEMBER FOR SOLOMON: Good morning, Katie.

WOOLF: Luke, quite a bit of discussion this morning about the Voice after the Northern Territory Parliament moved to motion for the NT Parliament to support it. A lot of the feedback on the text line this morning though has been that people want some more detail.

GOSLING: Yeah, right. Sorry, has that gone to a vote yet, Katie?

WOOLF: I'm not 100% sure. I don't know if they've put it to a vote. Probably not, because I reckon it only started a bit after ten this morning. But the CLP have sent a statement out. They say that they've been clear on their position. They want the Federal Government to come to the Territory and sit down with Territorians and explain what the Voice is and how it's going to make our lives better. They also reckon today's motions clearly come from the direction of Federal Labor who “keep telling the Chief Minister how to do her job”. Is that the case from your perspective, Luke?

GOSLING: No, not at all. That’s a bit cheeky. But, you know, as far as Alice Springs has gone, obviously the Prime Minister went down there to talk to people and certainly the NT Government has got a lot of support from us for the short-term stuff and also for the longer term work that needs to be done there. But yeah, no, I wouldn't have thought that had come from here at all. But from what I've heard, and I've only just recently heard about this motion this morning, is that there's some misunderstanding or maybe in some cases some deliberate troublemaking by people because they're trying to set it out as an issue of practical action or the Voice. And I think the biggest thing to understand about what the Voice will do is make sure we get better outcomes from the decisions are made when it comes to policies that affect First Nations communities around the country. And obviously some people are in the parliament, the federal parliament right now talking to all members from all different political parties to see what are the details they want. And the referendum working group has got liberals like Ken Wyatt, who was the previous Liberal Party Indigenous Affairs Minister. Marcia Langton, Megan Davis, people like that. Noel Pearson. And the thing is that they've all agreed to these key things that the Voice is going to need to do.

But from where I sit, and looking at this process that has been happening for six years since the Uluru Statement was formed and agreed by representatives from all around the country. Is it's just going to get a better outcome because it's going to better inform policy, not a veto on policy, just advice on what the best way to do things are with representatives of Aboriginal communities and different regions around the country now working together, giving their advice to government. I'll tell you a good example of where it's going to help too, Katie, is things like welfare reform, things like parental responsibility, where it's not going to be top-down Canberra saying, you know, “we've got the best way to do things” or “we're going to intervene into the Northern Territory again”. But it's going to be advice from Aboriginal representatives that have been supported by their communities about the way forward and get better results.

WOOLF: Luke, I'm supportive of the Voice, but I think there are a lot of people that do want some further detail and I can understand that. Even for me, I think I just want to get a better understanding of exactly how it's all going to work. But one of the concerns that I had throughout what was going on in Alice Springs and in Central Australia is that we actually had Indigenous voices that were screaming quite loudly, you know, for some action to be taken and they didn't seem to be getting listened to. And there seemed to be quite a long period of time before they were getting listened to.

GOSLING: They are now.

WOOLF: So how do you make sure with something like the Voice where people might be like me, thinking, “well, I'm very supportive of this in theory, but I just want to know how it's all going to work”. How's the Federal Government going to ensure that we do have that understanding so that we can go to the referendum with an educated view?

GOSLING: Yeah. I mean, we still—and even though it's been a long process to get to this point, this is something that's come from the Aboriginal leadership around our nation themselves. As I said, it's been six years since they all came together at Uluru, which is quite amazing that they agreed on this form of words about how they think we can get better outcomes into the future. So we're now at a point where the Prime Minister Anthony Albanese came to Garma [Festival] really soon after he became the Prime Minister last year.

You'll remember that, Katie. And at Garma said, “these will be the words that we’ll put in the referendum”. And I guess now what we're doing through the consultation process is looking at explaining to Australians that there'll be a yes case and a no case that people will be able to read. People have got a lot going on right now and I think we need to keep in mind that it's going to be later in the year, this referendum. So I think what we want to see is the grassroots work continues so that people are informed. We'll be having information sessions in Darwin, Alice Springs, everywhere else in the Territory, in the major centres so that people have their questions answered. And by the time it gets round to the referendum, everyone will be well aware of what they're voting on.

WOOLF: Yeah, I hope so. Hey Luke, let me take you across, I know that the 15th anniversary of the apology to the Stolen Generations, the Federal Government unveiled as part of that $424 billion, that Closing the Gap plan. Is there something in it for the Northern Territory that we should be aware of?

GOSLING: Yeah, there's a lot in it for the Northern Territory and for your listeners, and particularly if they were members of the Territory's Stolen Generations. You know, there is the redress scheme for the NT, and for the ACT as well, because they were the responsibility of the Commonwealth. And people can still apply if they were part of the Stolen Gen. And it was wonderful to see a couple of Territorians who were members of the Stolen Gen here for the 15th anniversary. Kevin Rudd, who obviously gave the apology 15 years ago, was here for that, and it was a good event. The practicalities of it will mean that a good chunk of that funding will be available for Territorians and that's obviously very welcome. But I think it's important for people to understand – and this is in the context of Alice Springs or wherever else – is that there’s the long-term work we need to do, whether it be early childhood education, the youth engagement hub we're committed to in Darwin, so the education, health and housing piece, which we're working on, and that funding is going to be absolutely vital to closing the gap. But there's also the short-term stuff, and I want to acknowledge to you and your listeners that we don't hide from the fact that crime is an issue and is on people's minds. I think now with the changes that have been made to the alcohol availability – I want to shout out to the police who are doing a fantastic job. But also I think it's needs to be a whole-of-community effort where we pass on information, let our people in our suburbs know what's going on so we can crack down on those that are not doing the right thing. And we'll move through this difficult period together. But there’s the demand side, there's a supply side. We need to attack both.

WOOLF: Just on that. There's not only the issues, obviously, with alcohol issues and what we see there, but there's also some really serious issues with youth crime, like you and I have spoken about before. And it doesn't seem as though it's only here in the Northern Territory. I know that there was a public meeting held in Toowoomba overnight, in regional Australia. My understanding as well is that there was a grandma out of Hervey Bay, that she's got a petition going, which I believe has got it more than 100,000 signatures. We'll double check on that. But a grandma out of Hervey Bay raising it as a concern as well. There's no doubt that across Australia at the moment there is an issue in regional parts of Australia with youth crime. Is that something that is on the Prime Minister's agenda? And if it's not, is that something that you are keen to put on his agenda?

GOSLING: Yeah, that's definitely on his agenda. And sorry, Katie, I'm just walking to the chamber to give a speech on the National Reconstruction Fund. But it is on his agenda. Obviously, law and order is a state and territory issue. But the Prime Minister knows exactly what's happening around the country because he's moving around a lot. Townsville's another place that has some significant issues, as well as up in the Kimberley. I think we've been through a difficult time obviously, with COVID and then natural disasters on top of that.

There's a lot of stress, there's a lot of mental illness in various places and there's people that aren't feeling connected. And I think as I mentioned earlier, it's not all Indigenous where these issues are. But where there are serious issues that do involve people who don't feel connected and don't feel for whatever reason that they have any responsibility in our society, we need to rectify that through obviously through the police and through the courts.

But we also need to very quickly connect people in so that they feel part of society, they feel valued. And obviously there's various ways that we can do that. One of the most important ways, though, is that we listen to the people from within those communities. I think that's where the Voice has got a very important role to play, whether it comes down to parental responsibility or just ways in which we can connect people better. I think if we listen to that advice, we'll get some better outcomes. And that's what everyone's hope is, because it can't go on like it is. At the end of the day, responsibility needs to be taken. I think the Voice will play a role in doing our best to ensure that accountability and listening to those that have some solutions.

WOOLF: Luke, I know that you are rushing back into the chamber. Have you got time for a very quick question about the cost of living? The Reserve Bank governor was getting grilled yesterday, are we going to see some movement in this place?

GOSLING: And what did he say? I haven’t caught up on those transcripts yet.

WOOLF: Well, I haven't read through all the transcripts, but I do know that he said, “I don't think we're at the peak yet, how far we have to go up, I don't know”. That is obviously in relation to inflation and in relation to those interest rates. It's a struggle for people right now, Luke.

GOSLING: Yeah. It absolutely is. And I can see the Treasurer now so I'm going to grab him and just get the lowdown on what he had to say and where he thinks it's going because he'd want to know—it’s an independent body, obviously, the Reserve Bank and there's some smart people there, but there's also a lot of people hurting. And they would want to be defending whatever rate rises they still think are required to bring inflation under control. But meanwhile, we're doing everything we can in this place, and we've passed legislation today on our Housing Australia Fund to build more affordable housing, for example. But also the cheaper childcare comes in on the 1st of July and seeing people get real wage rises, they're some of the ways that we're attacking the cost of living. The Northern Territory’s done pretty well out of the October budget and I'm expecting the same in the May budget. And we'll go forward together, if we can just make sure we keep on looking out for people that are on the bottom rung, and if we can also realise that people who are aspirational that have got those big mortgages, they need support as well. And that's what we're committed to doing.

WOOLF: Well Luke Gosling, we'll let you go and grab the Treasurer and we'd be keen to have a chat to him at some point as well. Always good to catch up with you. Thanks so much for your time this morning.

GOSLING: Good on you, Katie, and I’ll let him know that. But we’ve also got the Veterans’ Affairs Minister and the Assistant Defence Minister in town this weekend so people can grab them with any questions they’ve as well.

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