PETE DAVIES:

Joining me now is the Country Liberals Senator for the Northern Territory, Nigel Scullion, good morning.

NIGEL SCULLION:

Good morning Pete, how’s it going mate?

PETE DAVIES:

I’m well, my friend, I’m well.  Now this hair-brained scheme out your side of politics in Canberra about damming the Daly River, tell me it’s just a big joke?

NIGEL SCULLION:

Mate, it’s the only hair-brained scheme that exists from a hair-brain is that               Rob Knight.  I am over him, I can tell you.  I just tell you where this came from: an exclusive by Sid Maher in The Weekend Australian, and I will quote to you, “Andrew Robb is eyeing projects across the Top End, including the third stage of the Ord River Project in Western Australia, and the Daly River Region in the Northern Territory.”  He’s talking about agricultural product. Then goes on to say, “and developing dams that have been on the drawing board in Far North Queensland on the Gilbert and Flinders Rivers.”   Quite specific.  And for that bonehead to draw an association between a dam in Queensland, and trying to give himself some vague context in his poorly serviced electorate, is just nutsville.  I went on the ABC yesterday, who were concerned that that was the case, and I made it absolutely clear that there is nothing on the drawing board, or nothing that you could possibly glean from that article.  And I went on again, and I spoke to Nigel Adlam yesterday in the NT News and he said the same.  So, mate, Rob Knight and the Labour Party are the only ones talking about a dam on the Daly and it’s pretty bloody pathetic.

PETE DAVIES:

So, let me clarify one thing.

NIGEL SCULLION:

If that’s not clear.

PETE DAVIES:

The Country Liberals Senator for the Northern Territory, you’re saying to me that the Federal Opposition did not – and will not – put forward a proposal for a dam on the Daly River?

NIGEL SCULLION:

No.  The answer is clearly “absolutely not”.  We’ve been verballed by that bonehead from Daly.  I’ve given you the facts, that are there, and anybody can go online and see what was actually written.  He has taken a media release from that, and he has swapped Queensland for the Northern Territory.  Now, it’s just a bloody outrage.  But forget about all that mate. It’s unviable.  It is completely unviable, it will never happen.  No-one is going to waste money building a dam that won’t hold water, won’t provide any benefits.  It’s just absolute rubbish.  So I just wanted to make that absolutely clear.

PETE DAVIES:

Further to what you’ve just said about it being unviable, I spoke to a friend of mine who’s an engineer who got on to a friend of his who’s a geologist, and he highlighted the fact that when you build a dam there has to be a pre-existing geological feature that will either trap or hold water.

NIGEL SCULLION:

Yes, exactly.

PETE DAVIES:

All a dam does is contribute to that geological feature.  On the Daly catchment there is no feature.

NIGEL SCULLION:

Absolutely mate!  Now this has been well known by anyone who talks about this from forever.  This is a very sad individual, Mr Knight, who’s trying to somehow save something or look like to his constituency he’s actually ever done anything.   And so he’s actually building a bit of a Trojan Horse, and he’s rushing out to save something that isn’t threatened.  Anyone who’s been listening – I’m in Canberra at the moment, fighting the fight down here mate – but I’ve heard that a few people ringing in concerned about all this sort of stuff.  I mean what they need to do is concern themselves when they’ve got a bonehead like Robert Knight.  Who is a member of the Northern Territory Labor Party.  Who is doing damage, not only to his particular constituency but the rest of the Territory.  This is another weapon of mass distraction.  Let’s talk about anything except trying to answer questions about why the Territory is in such a mess.  Sad to say, I’ve no doubts, we won’t be getting, or expecting, a much higher value out of this mob.

PETE DAVIES:

Okay, just quickly while I’ve got you on the line.  The Federal Opposition Leader, Tony Abbott, is chasing formal recognition for the Bombing of Darwin.  What are our chances of getting that one over the line?

NIGEL SCULLION:

Well mate, I know that Natasha’s been working very, very hard on this.  In fact, she’s got Tony Abbott to second the motion, and I’m very hopeful that this will get through Parliament.  She’s done an incredible job of ensuring that everybody knows exactly what’s going on, and she’s got a lot of very wide support for it.  So I’m very, very confident that’s actually going to be the name, The Bombing of Darwin, and again I think it’s a significant win for Tash.

PETE DAVIES:

Okay I’ve just received some information through via email.  And I quote, “To recognise the significance of the event in our nation’s history, the Federal Member for Solomon, Natasha Griggs, will today lodge a notice in the House of Representatives calling for 19 February to be declared as Bombing of Darwin Day, and the Leader of the Opposition will second the motion.

NIGEL SCULLION:

Well, there you go.

PETE DAVIES:

So we’ve got that now.  I’ve got that in writing.  All right Nige, good to talk to you.

NIGEL SCULLION:

Lovely to talk to you, Pete.  Thanks mate.

PETE DAVIES:

That’s the Country Liberals Senator for the Northern Territory, Nigel Scullion.  And you have to ask the question – he said it, and I will quote, we’ve now got it on tape.  That as far as the Federal Opposition is concerned,  it was never a suggestion, never a plan, and there won’t be a plan to dam the Daly River.  Because in the words of the Senator, the Country Liberals Senator, who is a member of the Federal Opposition, the whole project would be unviable.  But then again, we’ve seen governments do unviable things in the past, haven’t we?