KATIE WOOLF, HOST: If we have a Labor minister on the show, we don't often then have a Labor senator on the show. But this morning we are catching up with Malarndirri McCarthy, and rightly so, because there is so much happening on the federal stage. And she joins me on the line right now. Good morning to you.
MALARNDIRRI MCCARTHY: Oh, good morning, Katie. And good morning to all your listeners.
WOOLF: Thank you so much for your time this morning. Now, there is so much happening on that national stage at the moment. And those tax cuts, they seem to be making headlines right around the nation. Can you break it down for us? How do Territorians stand to benefit?
MCCARTHY: Well, the good news for people across the Northern Territory is we're looking at least around over 100,000 taxpayers in the Northern Territory who will benefit. I mean, Katie, just in the Palmerston and Darwin region alone, you're looking at least over 50,000 people who will receive a much bigger tax cut. These tax cuts need to get through. We need to have them, introduced in the parliament, this week, with the hope that they can, begin.
WOOLF: I mean, some people are not happy that Albo had gone to the election saying that he wasn't going to make changes to the way people are taxed. And now, obviously he has, he said he's made that tough decision because it will benefit more Australians. What do you say to those that are criticizing it?
MCCARTHY: It's a tough one because we know that the cost of living has been an incredibly, deeply difficult issue for Australians. And this is part of, the decision of the Albanese government. Katie, along with having cheaper childcare, we introduced cheaper medicines, being able to buy things, you know with your pharmaceutical benefits, a lot sooner and more of it. We've had an increase in wages, especially in the care sector. So, we've done a considerable number of things to try and ease the pressure on families. And this, next step with the tax cuts will go further. And we've already seen the drop in inflation last week, which has given great encouragement to the fact that these policies are working.
WOOLF: Now, I want to take a step to some of the flood recovery assistance and to what's going on here in the territory right now. I know that some assistance for those pastoralists in the likes of Timber Creek and Victoria River region, they're quite concerned about what they said late last week was a real lack of assistance. I know that the Northern Territory government has now come out. We spoke to Brant Porter a little bit earlier this morning about, the fact that the Northern Territory government have come out and they have said that there is going to be, some assistance provided, that the disaster assistance is going to open this week for the Victoria Daily regional communities in the Northern Territory following the impacts of that severe flooding. Could more be happening here, Senator? I mean, was federal funding activated by the Northern Territory government?
MCCARTHY: Well, I think it's really important to make it clear to your listeners, Katie, that each state and territory jurisdiction has a responsibility, as to how they're going to handle any emergency or any evacuation. And then they do make the call to the Commonwealth, if they feel that that is necessary. In this instance, that didn't occur until the weekend, when we have been called in with regards to disaster assistance. And that now comes under the joint funding of the Commonwealth State disaster Recovery funding arrangements. So, people, whether they're in the Vic Daly region, which cover Kalkarindju, Daguragu Pigeonhole, Yarralin and Timber Creek. And I'm conscious that you've had callers from Timber Creek, and I've actually spoken to family out of Timber Creek as well. This will go some way to assisting families in those regions because the Commonwealth has been called in.
WOOLF: So, Senator, the NT government didn't activate that until the weekend just gone.
MCCARTHY: Well, that's a decision that the Northern Territory makes. Based on obviously what they have in front of them. We are able, at the Commonwealth level to step in to assist, whether it's the Northern Territory or the other jurisdictions, when they reach out to us and we've done that, Katie.
WOOLF: I mean, there will be people listening this morning thinking, how on earth did the Northern Territory government only do that on the weekend when we were literally, you know, on Thursday last week, hearing from some of those pastoralists that they had had no assistance for 18 days.
MCCARTHY: Well, I understand that the Northern Territory has its own emergency procedure in place. So, you have to two levels of, sort of events, if you like. So, you have the emergency disaster situation, and then you have the disaster recovery situation. We're now obviously in the recovery situation where the Commonwealth has been called in to assist with that. And that's what we're doing. And I've certainly been able to relay that, through to families who've asked me. In the big River region as to what support is there. They will be able to apply for personal hardship and distress payments. In terms of emergency home repairs or removal of debris and personal and financial counselling. So that is now available for them.
WOOLF: And how can they apply? Or how can they try and get that assistance if they require it?
MCCARTHY: Sure. Well, we'll certainly have an online, you know, website. So, you've got the disaster assist website. And also, the Northern Territory government's website of SecureNT so they can go on to those. And I'm happy to provide those to you. If you want to provide that to your listeners.
WOOLF: That would be awesome. We can do that a little bit later in the morning now. Senator, we know that Parliament resumes. When does it resume again? And what's on the agenda?
MCCARTHY: Yes, it certainly does resume. In fact, it's, looking like quite a big week. We kick off tomorrow, Katie. So, there's plenty of senators, who are preparing for their private senators bills this week. Obviously, the lower house will be introducing the tax bills. So, we want to see that go through the lower house, hopefully this week. But naturally it will take some time in terms of getting to the Senate, we seem to be the chamber that, requires a little bit more time, given, the kind of numbers that we have in the Senate. Katie.
WOOLF: Now, you've been traveling around, as I understand as well, for the last few weeks. What are some of the big concerns that residents have been raising with you and will you be taking any of that to the Senate?
MCCARTHY: Oh, absolutely. I mean, one of the big things, that we look at here is around the health situation, I'm very conscious of some of the people who raised issues, even in the local media around, the health situation here in the Northern Territory. We try to work very closely with the Northern Territory government, but on a federal level, what we've tried to do in the health space is making medicines cheaper. We've just seen the 40th anniversary of Medicare, Katie. And we just want to make sure that people are able to do, bulk billing in the Northern Territory. We've seen an increase in that. Certainly, an estimated 2828 bulk billed GP visits just in November, December alone. So, these are the sorts of things we want, the Territorians to access. We've also opened the urgent care clinic at Palmerston and also one in Alice Springs. And this is just to assist people in addition to, the hospitals.
WOOLF: Well, Senator McCarthy, we are going to have to leave it there. Always good to speak with you. Particularly on a parliamentary sitting week. Thank you very much for your time and, and for joining us for the first time for the year.
MCCARTHY: Yeah, Lovely to be on.
WOOLF: Thank you. We'll talk again soon. That is Senator for the Northern Territory there, Labor Senator Malarndirri McCarthy. Tell you what. Lots and lots of messages coming through on the text line already this morning.