Press conference - Darwin

CATHERINE KING: It is fantastic to be here with Lord Mayor Kon and with my friend and colleague Member for Solomon, Luke Gosling at the opening of the Casuarina Aquatic and Leisure Centre. What a magnificent project. The Albanese Labor Government has been so proud to partner with the City of Darwin on bringing this 1977 pool up to the current standards. Being able to have a two-metre pool, being able to have good shade structure, good facilities here is really very much something that we're proud of participating in. As I said before, local government plays an incredibly important role in making sure communities have great places, not only for recreation, but also to be able to come together, and it's important for social inclusion and stability in our communities. So can I congratulate the city of Darwin for a terrific job, and the builders Halikos, that were formerly known as Halikos, who've done the work here - terrific work. And I'm happy to take some questions.

JOURNALIST: I might get you to recap on how much the federal government contributed. 

CATHERINE KING: So, in this project, the Federal Government's put in over $7 million to this project, and the City of Darwin over 19 million to this project. So, there's been a big contribution from federal government and local government for such a terrific facility. 

JOURNALIST: Another project that you contributed to, $600,000 I believe, for the Cyclone Tracey Memorial. There's been a bit of controversy about the design for that. What are your thoughts on that? Can it be changed?

CATHERINE KING: Well, in terms of the Cyclone Tracey Memorial, I was very proud to be part of the announcement with the Prime Minister when we were up here with Cabinet, of $600,000 for that. I know it's been an important Memorial, an important contribution for us to make, and we'll work closely with the Northern Territory Government to make sure that we get that project right. 

JOURNALIST: Does it matter if there’s a lot of local feedback that the design hasn’t been right? 

CATHERINE KING: Again, this has got to be a memorial for everybody and we’ll continue to work with the Northern Territory Government to make sure we get that project right.

JOURNALIST: So, it’s still being worked on? 

CATHERINE KING: We’ll certainly continue to work with the Northern Territory Government to make sure we get that project right. 

JOURNALIST: One question from Canberra. So, the Russian Embassy is accusing Australia of spreading anti-Russian paranoia after the arrest of this Russian born couple. They’re also seeking a written explanation of what's happened. Has Australia spoken to Moscow about this case and what’s been said as far as you know.

CATHERINE KING: Well, as you'd be aware yesterday, we have had two people charged with very, very serious offenses. Those matters are now before the court, and it would not be appropriate for me to comment any further on those, any issues in relation to foreign affairs, I'll leave to the Foreign Affairs Minister.

JOURNALIST: To the Stuart Highway, the Barclay’s been pretty badly damaged with the flooding. Can you update the progress of that?

CATHERINE KING: Well, you had the Minister here as well, so I'll leave him to talk about how the projects are progressing. But certainly, where there is flood affected road infrastructure, there's investment from the emergency management arrangements come into place for those. But we are, through the infrastructure investment program, investing over $2 billion here in the Northern Territory on road infrastructure. It was great to have the opportunity to drive from Alice all the way up here to Darwin on the Stuart Highway, and to see the work that's been done, see the work has been done to improve flood resilience as well, but it is evident there's always, always more that we can do on Northern Territory roads. And I can tell you, the Northern Territory Government, under Eva Lawler and under Joel Bowden, have been strong and firm advocates to make sure that there is a fair share of funding for Northern Territory coming from the Albanese Labor Government. 

JOURNALIST: Is it a little bit embarrassing I guess, that Arnhem Land will be 100 years old in seven years time, and there’s still not a connecting road from the Stuart highway to any of those communities. Is that A, is it embarrassing? And B, is it something that the government committed to remedy?

CATHERINE KING: We work in partnership with State and Territory Governments on road infrastructure. Obviously at the Commonwealth level, I'm very interested in making sure that our freight is able to move around the country as well, that we're building resilience into our infrastructure along the way, and that we're ensuring that people are able to access the services in the communities that we need. And we'll continue to work with the Northern Territory Government on what the priorities are for investment. We would love to do everything, but the budgets don't allow that. We try and do the priorities that we have alongside the Northern Territory Government. And we'll continue to work with them on that front. 

JOURNALIST: You mentioned you travelled through Alice Springs, there’s recently been the curfew there. Is there anything that you can say about what’s happening there? 

CATHERINE KING: I think that there is a lot of investment going in, the Albanese Labor Government’s obviously putting in over $250 million in my portfolio. We're investing in the art gallery there, we’re investing in the CBD upgrade. But these problems are long term problems. It requires local council, State Government and Federal Government, alongside civil society. We work together on these. They're not problems that are going to be fixed overnight. If there was a magic solution to it, I think all of us would have, would love it, and we'd love to do it immediately. But these are long term problems, and they require long term solutions, including, from my portfolio's point of view, amenity, not just in Alice itself, but in the communities outside of Alice, we’re investing money in sealing roads, investing money in sporting facilities. Marion Scrymgour has been very strong at trying to make sure that there are things for young people to be able to do on Country, and how important that is to be able to make sure those facilities are updated. There's a lot of work to do, but these problems won't be fixed overnight, and I'm pleased to have been a tourist in Alice. It was lovely to be there. Lovely to see some of the work that's been undertaken. But of course, there is always more work to do. 

JOURNALIST: Are you aware of a discussion around high airfares, into the Territory both at Darwin and Alice Springs, but particularly Darwin, is there any relief the federal government can offer in that regard to make fares cheaper? With regard to the airports. 

CATHERINE KING: These have been raised with me by the Chief Minister as Transport Minister federally, we have an aviation white paper about to be released that is looking at a raft of issues in relation to competition. Of course, when we have private airlines and private airports, all of those things do bring commercial interests to play, but we're certainly very keen to make sure that we see improved services, and improved customer experiences, improved services to people with disability for example has been one of the focuses that I’ve brought to this portfolio as well. And we’ll have more to say about the aviation white paper soon.

CATHERINE KING: Now, we have one question from Archie. What’s the question?

ARCHIE (CHILD OF JOURNALIST): How long can you hold your breath for underwater?

CATHERINE KING: I don't know how long I can hold my breath underwater, Archie. It's a little while since I've done that, but oh, I reckon only about 15 seconds. How long can you hold your breath underwater?

ARCHIE (CHILD OF JOURNALIST): One hour.

CATHERINE KING: An hour?! You would set a world record. You're amazing. Well done Archie.