- The Legislative Assembly will return for a special session on Friday to respond to the coronavirus crisis. These are not normal times. This will not be a normal parliament. Remote members may attend depending on their circumstances, but they are not required to attend in person. Members who are vulnerable or who care for the vulnerable are not required to attend in person. Parliament will meet in person for some of us and via teleconference for the others. Those members who are not in the Assembly will still be able to vote. The special sitting will begin at 8.30 am on Friday. I'll be in National Cabinet for the morning before joining the sitting, if it is still going. There is no set time for us to finish on the Friday. We will finish when we finish. We will debate it until we are done. It won't be a normal Parliament, but we will get back to normal soon. The Federal Parliament is returning for a trial week of Parliament in May, and based on the progress we are making so far, it is my hope the Territory Parliament will be able to resume normal sittings at some point in June. The Public Accounts Committee will begin their monthly coronavirus hearings next Thursday. Myself, the Treasurer, the Health Minister, the Police Commissioner and others will be there to answer any questions publicly from the opposition or independents about the measures we are taking to save lives and save jobs. For the special sitting this Friday we intend to introduce, debate and pass critical legislation to strengthen our response to the coronavirus. We will bring in extra protections for struggling tenants, building on the hardship provisions that are already in place, and we'll have more to say on that in the next few days. We'll formalise the mandatory quarantine arrangements we have in place. We will bring in a bill to cut bills. Legislation to slash power and water prices by 50 per cent for Territory businesses. Finally, and importantly, we will legislate a new penalty for anyone who is caught coughing or spitting on a Territory worker in order to cause fear about the spread of coronavirus. 'Territory worker' means any worker, means every worker. Yes, cops and ambos, but also doctors and nurses, also teachers and tradies. Shelf stackers, checkout workers, retail staff, cleaners, cafe workers. Anyone and everyone. If some lowlife commits this low act on a Territorian doing their job then they will be punished. We will give police the power to impose an immediate on-the-spot fine of $5,495 for anyone caught doing this. Make no mistake, it doesn't end there. It can also go to the courts, where the penalty can be a lot higher, including jail time. It's fair to say that we've not had too much cause to worry about this sort of behaviour here just yet. Not like on the East Coast. If you read the news, watch the news, in Sydney there seem to be coughers and spitters on every corner. That hasn't happened to that extent here. By and large, Territorians are too decent for that. All but a few of us are getting on with it and showing the respect to frontline workers that they deserve. But we are the best in the nation right now because we keep staying ahead of the game. We have seen one incident the other day where an idiot threw his spit at some cops and said he had coronavirus. He didn't have it, but the cops who were just doing their job did not know that. And it doesn't matter anyway; the act itself is revolting. It's one incident, but it's one too many. So today we are sending a message and the message is clear: if you pull something like this, you are a grub. You won't get away with it. It is disgusting. It is dangerous. It's unacceptable and it's un-Territorian. There are zero excuses. You will get zero chances. A massive on-the-spot fine is just the beginning. We are now on day 15 without a new case of coronavirus, with nearly half of cases fully recovered. That's a remarkable achievement that every Territorian has contributed to and every Territorian can be proud of. Some things are slowly returning to normal. School went back yesterday with strong attendance results. We will recommence some elective surgery and IVF in the Territory from Monday, and the Health Minister will talk more about that later in the week. On the economy, no-one is kidding themselves that things will get easier overnight. We all know there will be a long road to recovery, not just here; the whole country's in the same boat, but there is some cause for hope here. Deloitte has forecast that, once this crisis is over, the Territory will have the strongest economic comeback in the country with the highest rate of growth in the country. To get to that point, to get on to the road to recovery, we are throwing the kitchen sink at saving local jobs right now. I'd rather see the government take a hit than a local business hit the wall or a local worker hit the dole queue. There are nearly 1,000 applications for the Small Business Survival Fund, and we are working with businesses to process them as quickly as we can. Nearly 700 businesses have applied for a Business Improvement Grant. More than 50 organisations have been have applied for an Immediate Work Grant. Nearly 600 new job offers have been made on the Territory Jobs Hub, and the massive Home Improvement Scheme will be a jobs jackpot. I've said before that everything we are doing is to help people get through this crisis and out the other side. But I know the real difference will be made when businesses can start to open. And I know there are more and more calls for cafes, restaurants, pubs to open as soon as possible. I get it. I want them open as much as anyone else. I want businesses back in business. I want people back in jobs. I want our shops and streets full as much as anyone else. But I remind Territorians that we are walking on a tightrope here. We cannot put a foot wrong. There is no government anywhere in the world that can provide us with an example of how to safely transition back to normal, because no other government has done it yet. Those who have tried have failed. We will not fail. We cannot afford to fail. Business has made it crystal clear to me they don't want to open too quickly only to have to close again because something went wrong. So we will take our time. We'll follow the expert advice. We'll do it once and we'll do it right. As I said last week, if things keep going well we can begin to plan this transition in the next few weeks. It will be safe. It will be staged. It will be done at a time when we can be confident that any future outbreak of the virus can be caught and contained to a rapid response that identifies it, traces it and locks it down. We won't be following anyone else's timetable. We'll do what's right for the Territory when it's right for the Territory. I know there'll be some people who jump up and down saying all of this is being too extreme. That it's not needed. That it's taking too long. They can have a go at me on that if they want. But we've made ourselves the safest place in Australia by taking this threat seriously. And I'm not going to let that slip now. I've been upfront with you this whole time. If I've got to make a 50:50 call, I'll always fall on the side of choosing lives. So I again ask Territorians for patience. This is like a grand final. We are only at halftime. We are in front, but it's far from over and it's far too early to start celebrating. So, please hang in there, stay safe, stick together, and we can see this through. - How big is the fine for spitting or coughing on someone? - Just under $5,500. - Would you also consider upping the penalty for people who breach quarantine, given that we're expecting to probably keep those quarantine measures in place for a while - forced quarantine? - The penalty could be up to $62,000. So there's a significant penalty. There's a thousand dollars, but it can go all the way up to 60,000 - - That's if they go to court. - There's a series of penalties there that I think are quite serious, if you breach quarantine. The advice from the police is they don't feel that they need any additional measures there. But we're bringing in the coughing and spitting measures. - What protections are going to be introduced for renters? Are you going to scrap the pet ownership issue that the REINT has so many problems with? - We will have some more details in a couple of days about how we're going to do that effectively in the Northern Territory; provide essentially an effective moratorium for people in hardship. We have got existing provisions around hardship. It's more about strengthening that and increasing the timelines that people have to work with. The minister will talk to that in a couple of days time. What we've done on the pets issue is simply prioritise other work. It would be fair to say coronavirus has come over top of everything else. People are working on this, have to do this and don't have time to do the pets and dogs issue. For me, it's about getting this right, looking after those tenants in hardship, and that's the priority. It's simply been a way of rostering our work. - But would you consider scrapping it entirely rather than just postponing it? - It's just been put on the absolute backburner. So, for me, it's just not an issue right now for us to deal with. The coronavirus stuff comes first. - But if you're looking at the legislation at this sitting on Friday, why not repeal it completely? - We're just not in that ballpark and we're not doing that work. I'm not thinking about it. I'm concentrating on simply fixing coronavirus; it's a coronavirus sittings. - In terms of the renters policy, if the minister is only speaking about it in a couple of days and we're sitting on Friday, does the public have enough time to have a look at that? Could we expect a situation similar to Queensland where, you know, the real estate people there got quite irate at the legislation they were proposing? - I've personally spoken to REINT, for example, about this. We've been talking with a whole range of stakeholders around what we're doing here. This is practical legislation that will look after tenants in the Territory and that landlords can comply with. I think this is very practical, and the urgency and the pace at which we're moving reflects the urgency of coronavirus. - Virgin Australia has gone into voluntary administration. What, if anything, can the NT Government do to ensure there are competitive flight prices from the Northern Territory? - The Australian Government is doing that work. Obviously, the package they've got on the table over the next eight weeks still stands. We obviously discussed it today in National Cabinet. The Prime Minister spoke to it earlier. They're very confident that Virgin Australia will come out of administration and we'll have a competitive two-airline system in Australia. - It's quite possible that Territorians will have to go back to higher prices that we have seen in the past when there has been less competition? And if Virgin come out of it, they're obviously still going to take a fair while to build up again. The Northern Territory generally is that route that gets added last or removed first. - I'll always fight for Territorians to get the best deal possible. But right now we'd be guessing essentially. No-one knows how planes are going to look, whether domestic or international, in a few weeks time. We just simply don't know. But I'll be fighting to make sure Territorians get the best deal. - Are you going to have subsidised flights? - Subsidies haven't worked in the past. It's not something we're looking at. - What about petrol prices? The oil price is negative and yet our petrol prices seem to be stuck at $1.30. Do NT residents just have to swallow high petrol prices; there's nothing you can do? - No. Petrol prices at the moment are fluctuating almost wildly. I've been keeping an eye on it. There have been some dramatic drops down south. They've also then gone up again. We essentially have a massive oversupply in Australia at the moment, which is leading to some anomalous pricing. It's not a feature or a trend, is my understanding. It's just that a lot less Australians are driving and we're seeing a significant increase in the availability of fuel, which is leading to odd pricing surges. - The Prime Minister was able to give an update on the number of people that have applied for JobKeeper and JobSeeker. Do you have those numbers that are NT-specific? - He didn't break that down today into the States or Territories. But what I do know - and fair credit to the Centrelink staff - they've processed essentially in five or six weeks what they would normally do in a year, which I think will give you some measure of where we are at. - Do you think there is an opportunity for Airnorth to perhaps fill that space for intraterritory flights or connecting the Northern Territory to other areas if it has to? - That's definitely working on the Alice-Darwin leg, with stopovers in Katherine and Tennant. That's gone out to five days a week, and to provide that option and release there. We are working on that. Airnorth have been very good in that space. We obviously as a Territory acted very quickly, very early to maintain air access within the Territory to our remotes and between Alice and Darwin. The Australian Government then came in after that with some extra money as well. We're waiting to see where that money falls and how it falls. We have to guarantee a certain level of remote connectivity in the Northern Territory. We are a big place. We do have big wet seasons. We've got to make sure we maintain that connection. - In terms of the elective surgery, I guess that will be the same as what the Prime Minister has announced nationally; that will happen in the NT as well? - Yes. Minister Fyles will break that down in a couple of days time, as to what it exactly means here. Essentially as of next Monday there will be some elective surgery restarting, and we're aiming for about 25 per cent of elective surgery lists. But exactly what that means in the Territory context, Minister Fyles will do that work and break that down in a couple of days time. - In the past, when we've seen a big gap between the pump price at the bowser and the terminal gate price - I think the average day is below 80c. And the majority on the average is $1.20, if not higher - there have been Chief Ministers who have written to the ACCC. I think you might have perhaps in the past. Would you be willing to get them to keep an eye on Territory prices so that we're not being gouged? - Yes, I have already done that. - When did you do that? - Last week. I've written to the ACCC and to the public accounts committee. I said, 'Let's keep an eye on this. I do not want Territorians to be gouged. If they are being gouged, get the companies up here. Make them explain themselves.' The advice I've got back to date goes to what I've said before, that we are seeing essentially a massive oversupply in this country that's leading to movement in fuel prices. But I'm keeping a close eye on it. I do not want Territorians to be ripped off. But the way it's been explained to me is we just have a weird market that's forming at the moment around fuel, because we've got a lot more fuel than we would normally use available in Australia. - Those prices are fluctuating almost everywhere else but here. Why can't the Territory price seem to move as quickly as everywhere else? Is it just a lack of competition? You could get a situation where the flight start and they're too expensive; people will have to drive. They'll get hit by it when they fill up to drive down to Sydney and Melbourne? - My understanding is that you'll see parity again. The Territory had the cheapest fuel in Australia for a while there. We are keeping a very close eye on it. I will make sure Territorians don't get gouged. We are talking to both the ACCC and the public accounts committee about making sure that the fuel companies stay honest. It's just simply an anomaly of coronaviruses, is the way it's been explained to me at the moment, but we are absolutely keeping a watchful eye on it. - What forms of elective surgery will be starting up again next week. - Tash will break that down in a couple of days. - The Nightcliff foreshore has become particularly busy of late with people exercising, walking their dogs, et cetera. With arguably dicey social distancing. What's your response to this? Do you think it's fine? Or are you a bit disappointed with people not social distancing properly? - We want people to get outside. I encourage everyone to go for a walk and all of that sort of stuff. I'm comfortable with that. But police are obviously aware if you're doing the wrong thing or gathering in a way that isn't right. Basically, don't stuff this up for everyone else. We are essentially on a path to be able to do a scale back, which will probably be nation-leading when we do it. Let's not stuff that up. Let's make sure we keep working together, keep holding the line so that we can actually return to normal and get businesses open again. I know it's tough. It can be difficult. But if we can stick to this we can scale back. - In terms of the PAC hearings, you've mentioned obviously we just don't know how the budget is looking at the moment, given the whole situation. What information would you be able to provide or other agencies that will be giving evidence to answer the questions put to them, if we simply don't know at the moment? - We'll answer any questions to the best of our ability, depending on the question that comes forward. We'll essentially be as upfront about what we know and what don't know or when we might know something. What I can say up front - it's no secret - the revenue side of the budget has been smashed. The expenditure side hasn't actually changed that much. It's the revenue side that essentially has been smashed, and we've been very upfront about that. Everyone's revenue has been smashed. But essentially it's the members of the Cabinet Emergency Subcommittee that will be fronting the PAC - myself, Natasha, Nicole, plus the different CEOs. The Territory Controller, or the Police Commissioner, Jamie Chalker, the Health CEO. Essentially they're coronavirus hearings; it's more than just where the budget is at and what's happening with the budget. We'll be answering any questions people have around the coronavirus and how we're handling it. Essentially we want to make sure there is public scrutiny about what we're doing. We are in the middle of an emergency. It's different to a normal emergency. Usually cyclones are done and dusted within, you know, a three- to four- day window before you go into the community recovery space. This has been different. Just being different, let's do something different. Let's have the public accounts committee meeting. Opposition and Independents will have a range of questions, I'm sure, that go to what Health has been doing, what the environmental officers are doing. I'll have Shaun Drabsch there, the CEO of the Department of Trade, Business and Innovation. So, we will answer any questions they've got around the stimulus packages, for example, and how they're rolling out. Essentially, we're making ourselves available, members of the subcommittee of Cabinet, Emergency Subcommittee of Cabinet, to answer questions, and it could be on anything. - Will you be able to provide any financial information as such? - We'll provide the information we can provide. We don't have a budget. We are in different times. But we'll answer the questions we can answer. - What's happening with the ADF in Tennant Creek? They're outside bottle shops, where they're actually doing work or not. Is it a bad look considering the sensitivities that were raised from the Intervention and the Army doing that kind of, you know, visible work inside towns with high Indigenous populations? - I understand the local CLP candidate has taken a bit of a pot-shot, in my opinion, at police and what they're doing in Tennant and how they're rostering. This was a local operational decision that happened. I essentially will back in the police and I'll thank them for the work that they're doing. This was not a policy decision of the Territory Government. This is not how we're using our ADF personnel. It's just a quirk that emerged in Tennant Creek on that day. So, for me, let's just back in our police, thank them for the work they're doing. Thank Defence personnel for supporting our police. There has been no Territory decision here or system-wide decision here about how we're using our Defence personnel in this way. It was just something that happened on the spot in Tennant. That can happen sometimes locally when people make decisions they can at the moment. What I want to be really clear about here is: a pollie behind a desk in Darwin should not interfere in a daily tasking decision by police in Tennant Creek. I trust the police in Tennant Creek to work that stuff out. - Where should the ADF be? They've been patrolling the borders? I mean, isn't that what they were signed up for? - They are. The ADF personnel are helping us both to secure the borders, but also in doing compliance checks around self-isolation and quarantine. My understanding is that was what the Defence personnel's role was in Tennant Creek. He went along with an environmental officer to observe work at the bottle shop. The Police Commissioner can probably talk more about that. Essentially it was just a local quirk in Alice. That's where Defence personnel that we're working with are working, and it's essentially a local quirk. - Can I ask something on the Home Improvement Scheme? Obviously we know it's been wildly popular. - Yes. - I'm assuming that the bureaucrats are going to be absolutely smashed with applications now. What safeguards are you putting in place or what discussions are being had about the, I guess, efficiency of this being rolled out and what safeguards are in place to make sure this doesn't get stuffed up? - This is the third time we've done the Home Improvement Scheme. We have a very good audit process in place to make sure the works are done and done correctly. The big difference this time around is we have an ICAC, a corruption commissioner, who will also be oversighting everything. If you're out there, the ICAC is watching; don't screw with it. - You mentioned yesterday that mid-May we might maybe see some scaling back of restrictions? - No. At the end of this month I believe I can talk about what May will look like and how we plan for May. The Prime Minister's flagging mid-May for National Cabinet on what those rollbacks will be. I like to believe I can take a pretty good plan from us in to National Cabinet about how we might be able to move forward in May. What I've trying to avoid is some hard timelines in there, because I think that sets you up to make a mistake. I want to be able to essentially tell business once what's happening. But the date the Prime Minister has flagged is mid-May for National Cabinet. I will obviously have a plan that I think we can do in the Territory that works, and I'll be able to flag at the end of April what that is for May. - So, you think that there will be some sort of scaling back in May or that will be when you can explain where it will start? - That's exactly what the press conference at the end of April will do. - With the Home Improvement Scheme, where is the extra money going to come from? Is it coming from the Treasurer's $300m discretionary fund that she has? - No. Some of this will be new money. We've been upfront about that when we first announced it. But some of it will also be from within. We've got a significant amount of unders within the government right now as well as overs - underspends and overspends. If you think about it, we're not travelling. The Government is not travelling. We're saving ourselves a bit of money there. What we are doing is making sure that we match our under to our overs and we can get through this. So, the additional money for the HIS I believe can be done from within. That's what we're working to deliver. That's essentially what we're doing. The revenue side has been smashed, but the expenditure side is actually pretty much on par at the moment. - In terms of that Deloittes forecasting, what is it about the Northern Territory that we expect we'll see the bounce back? Why are we in such a better position compared with everywhere else? - We saw the labour force stats changing just before the coronavirus hit. We actually had a surge in employment in the NT. I think that the green shoots we've been talking about. There have been a number of projects happening in the Northern Territory that give people reason for confidence - from the increase in production in our mining sector, to the decision we've made around solar farms and so on. We've got a lot of positive news happening in the Northern Territory that was driving our green shoots. Those green shoots haven't gone away. Once we get past coronavirus, we'll be able to bounce back quickly. - Quickly, the 22 August election, is that still the date? - Yes.