Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
As I mentioned explosive claims made by former Northern Territory
Police Constable Zachary Rolf when taking the stand at the
coronial inquest into the death of Kumanjai Walker yesterday. Mister
Rolf he became the last witness to take the stand,
telling the court that racist language was commonplace throughout the
Northern Territory Police Force. He said, I haven't seen a
(00:21):
lot of racist behavior, but racist language was normalized in
the NT Police Force. In the muster room, I could
hear something racist every day. Racist language is used everywhere
his claims. Now joining me in the studio is the
opposition leader leafanochiiro Good morning to you, Leah.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
Good morning Katie, and to your wonderful listeners.
Speaker 1 (00:40):
Now, Leah, these claims are horrible. Mister Rolf has told
the court basically, the whole Alice Springs Police Station would
refer to a so called Aboriginal only section of an
Alice Springs pub as the animal Bar because it's an
Aboriginal only bar. He alleged, the Territory Response Group, a
tactical policing unit within the force, held an annual party
(01:01):
were it issued, and I'm not going to say the
word a See of the Year award to members. He
reckons the culture starts at the head Leah, I'm sure
you've heard the claims made. What was your reaction to
those comments that Zachary Rolf made yesterday.
Speaker 3 (01:17):
Well, I think it's really important that during a coronial
process that's still on foot, that politicians don't act as
public commentators. Now much has been said during this coronial
process over a very very long time, and what a
coronial does is then the coroner takes all of that
information and makes recommendations about how things can be done
(01:38):
differently going forward. So we will look to those recommendations,
of course, but I certainly won't be providing the sort
of ongoing public commentary.
Speaker 1 (01:46):
Well, look, my understanding and we are waiting for this confirmation.
Matt Cunningham's going to join us shortly. But my understanding
is that you know, these comments or what he said
yesterday has now been referred to the Aykak Commissioner.
Speaker 4 (01:59):
So we'll get to the bob of that.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
But I mean, do you think that there is systemic
racism within the Northern Territory Police Force.
Speaker 3 (02:05):
Look, that's certainly not my experience when I speak to police,
and we've got hard working police right across the territory
who are undoubtedly, you know, feeling this. So it's really important,
of course that the coroner undertake what she's got to
do and that's a proper process and we won't get
involved in that. But you know, certainly, I think Territorians
(02:27):
respect our police, and police have respect for Territorians and
they have a difficult job and work hard. And you know,
these claims have been made. My understanding is they're being
investigated and that's appropriate.
Speaker 1 (02:38):
Do you think that people making comments like this should
keep their jobs?
Speaker 2 (02:42):
Look, I'm not going to go into it, Katie.
Speaker 3 (02:44):
These things will all be investigated appropriately and it's certainly
not a member of Parliament's job to carsair judgment.
Speaker 1 (02:51):
If you do become the Chief Minister though in August,
I mean, how are you going to bring the whole
community together if this does indeed force a real witch.
Speaker 3 (03:03):
I don't think there is a wedge between Territorians and
our police. I mean, our focus has always been to
make sure we have a strong police force. We know
the police review is currently on foot. That's something Katie,
that the CLP has called for four years. So we're
very much looking forward to seeing what recommendations are made
(03:23):
in that so that we can strengthen our force. Of course,
our focuses on supporting our police with the laws they
need to be able to keep our community safe. We're
very focused on protecting them from people who assault police
through minimum mandatory sentencing and of course giving police the
correct pp to protect themselves from people.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
Who spit at them.
Speaker 3 (03:42):
So we're very focused on making sure we drive down
high rates of crime, support our police to be able
to protect our community and that's going to lead to
us safer and stronger territory.
Speaker 4 (03:52):
And look, there is.
Speaker 1 (03:53):
No doubt they've got a massive job on their hands,
and I do want to talk about the issue of crime.
Last week we reported on a number of horrible incidents
in central Australia and up here in Darwin, so youth
as young as eleven were involved in ambushing a person
with a machete and stealing a car in the Northern Suburbs.
People were horrified to learn that some of these alleged
(04:15):
defenders were bailed.
Speaker 4 (04:16):
Now police had told.
Speaker 1 (04:17):
Us that they work within the legislative framework that they have.
Speaker 4 (04:21):
Does that framework.
Speaker 3 (04:22):
Need to change, of course it does Katie, and I
think the Assistant Commissioner said it very very well. Our
police and our courts are constrained by the laws that
the Parliament makes, and that's so important for your listeners
to understand. You know, the evil lawl government is trying
to make everything sound like it's too hard or everything
someone else's fault.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
The Parliament is what makes the law.
Speaker 3 (04:46):
The people put there are supposed to reflect and represent
the sentiment of the community, which means our laws should
meet community expectation. And when our police don't have the
right powers they need to keep people safe, and the
courts don't have adequate, adequate constraints to work within, then
you have this free fall of crime that we're seeing
right now. So you know, we don't accept these excuses
(05:08):
from Labor. I thought the Chief Minister yesterday did a
woeful job on your show, because the last thing we
need is another review and we know that it was
just last year, Kate. I mean, this is the ridiculous
thing about Labor. Just last year they did a Bower
review and only yesterday we had Ivlola come on your
show and say, oh, well we're reviewing you Justice.
Speaker 2 (05:28):
Maybe we need to look at bail for you.
Speaker 3 (05:30):
It's like, wasn't that what you did last year and
failed to implement. I mean that the time for talk
is over. We need action in the Parliament immediately, Leah, how.
Speaker 4 (05:38):
Do we do that right?
Speaker 1 (05:40):
So at the moment, as you've said, the community's expectations
are that you know that if kids hold up somebody
with a machete, that there is some kind of repercussion.
A lot of people were really quite surprised last week
to learn that you know that those children were bailed immediately,
and nobody is suggesting that you know they're chucked in
jail and that's it. That's the end of nobody's suggesting that.
(06:01):
I want to make that really clear. But where where
is this breaking down? And what would you do differently?
Speaker 3 (06:07):
So it's not it is totally broken because Labor refuse
to deal with the issue. So our police are not
allowed to deal with people under the age of twelve.
They've been totally hamstrung by Labor on this and our
courts are in a similar position. This can be changed.
We could walk into Parliament tomorrow if we wanted to
kat and fix this. And that's the ridiculous, sad state
(06:31):
that Labor are in is they've rejected the CLP trying
to fix this so many times and now their answer
is a review. So, for example, the CLP's policy is
to lower the age of criminal responsibility to ten. That
means ten year olds who committed crime can be arrested,
they can be brought before the courts and sentenced to
programs that are going to divert the course of their life.
(06:53):
It means we can also ensure that parents are held
responsible for their young people. We can chang bail, which
the COLP has been rejected by Labor in the parliament.
Speaker 4 (07:03):
Would you change the bail us through that? Yep.
Speaker 3 (07:06):
So what we'd like to see with bail and what
we would do, We actually have law already prepared on
This is ready to go, Katie. If if we were
to win in August, we could walk into that next
Parliament and change the law.
Speaker 2 (07:16):
The work is done.
Speaker 3 (07:17):
So our position on bail is that any serious violent
offender starts on the back foot and so that means
they have a what's called a presumption against bail, or
it means they start with a position of no bail. Currently,
many offenders are starting in at getting to court and
the position is that they should be free, and our
police and our prosecutors then have to stand there and
(07:37):
argue with the judge and say no, no, we shouldn't
let them go.
Speaker 2 (07:40):
There is to.
Speaker 3 (07:40):
Our community, well we say, when these criminals rock up
to court, the presumption should be they're not going anywhere,
and then the defense can try and explain why this
person should be left out let back out on the street.
Speaker 1 (07:50):
Now we have read as well in the inter News yesterday.
I'm not sure if you saw that Alex Tracy had
written an article about Dolly INCAPAX and how it is basically,
you know, how it is sort of meaning that in
some situations, kids that are committing crimes are then ending
up back on the street because really it's not able
to be proven that they actually have known what they are.
Speaker 4 (08:13):
Doing is wrong.
Speaker 1 (08:15):
You know, I'm not expecting you, you know, to go
into to how judges decide whether they do or do
not grant someone bail or whether somebody is allowed back
on the street.
Speaker 4 (08:23):
But again, is that causing some issues here.
Speaker 3 (08:26):
It is a massive problem, Kane, and I'm very happy
to tell Territorians it's something we are actively researching and
looking at.
Speaker 2 (08:33):
Because it's a major issue.
Speaker 3 (08:35):
So the courts at the moment when you hear feedback
from police and others involved in the court system, if
a young person's under fourteen, they're basically saying, look, they don't.
Speaker 2 (08:45):
Know what they were doing was wrong.
Speaker 3 (08:47):
And what people, you know, territories listening now need to
understand is our police go and prepare the file, do
all of the research, make their case, go to court.
Show you know this person's had a lot of offending.
Show that say, if it was a robbery, you know,
they were wearing gloves, they had a bag, it was premeditating.
No police can pull all of these facts together only
(09:07):
for it to be thrown out on the basis that, oh, no,
they're under fourteen.
Speaker 2 (09:12):
You know, they didn't know what they were doing was wrong.
Speaker 3 (09:14):
So and that that's very generic what I'm saying there.
But we're looking very closely at Dolly and Capax and
what can be done, because of course, I think most
people have children know that at that age, their kids
do know right from wrong, or they should, And in
any event, if children don't, then there's a big question
around what interfaces have government agencies had with that child
(09:36):
and that family in the lead up to that event.
Because no one turns ten and becomes a criminal, Katie.
This is usually long term neglect, interaction with territory, families,
interaction with police, and so we need to be supporting
families and children at a much younger age so that
they are provided with pathways forward, so that they are
provided with you know, ensuring that they go to school,
(09:59):
for example, so that they're not turning to a life
of crime.
Speaker 4 (10:02):
Lea.
Speaker 1 (10:02):
One of the things that has been raised time and
time again is that for some youths when they do
get in trouble, that then it is it's not compulsory
to complete a proge.
Speaker 4 (10:11):
That's right.
Speaker 1 (10:12):
Will the CLP make those programs compulsory.
Speaker 3 (10:15):
And that's why we'll lower the age of criminal responsibility.
So your answer is yes, if you lower the age
of criminal responsibility and make people accountable for their crimes
in a legal sense, then it means the court will
be sentencing young people to programs, which means those young
people and parents have to fulfill them. What's happening at
the moment is because they're not being held criminally responsible,
(10:35):
all the government can do is say, hey, we think
this would be really beneficial for your child, what do
you reckon and if the parent says no, well, what
can you.
Speaker 2 (10:43):
Do about it?
Speaker 3 (10:44):
Absolutely nothing, So it's totally ineffective.
Speaker 2 (10:46):
Lea.
Speaker 1 (10:47):
There's a lot of people in the community that still
believe that tough on crime is not the answer. They
still believe that you know that those recommendations from the
Royal Commission need to be adhered to, that what the
CLP's doing right now, what you're saying right now.
Speaker 4 (11:01):
Is really just to win votes.
Speaker 3 (11:04):
Well, I think it's really important to understand that territorians
have two choices to make when it comes.
Speaker 2 (11:09):
To use crime.
Speaker 3 (11:10):
You either intervene early and provide serious structure and opportunities
for those kids going forward, or you allow them to
continue to escalate in their criminal behavior until they're much older,
by which time the opportunity to turn them around becomes
much more difficult because you have more serious and ingrained behavior,
and you also then start pushing towards an adult correctional
(11:33):
situation right, which is an entirely different ballgame than youth justice.
So our position is very much about making sure that
the sooner we can intervene in a young person's life
who's going off the rails who's not showing up to school,
whose families are neglecting them, the better chance they've got
in life. And if they're committing crimes, we must hold
(11:54):
them accountable and provide them with boot camps, bush camps,
whatever it might be that child requires to divert the
course of their life away from a trajectory into adult
prison and a trajectory into the workforce where they're going
to contribute to our society.
Speaker 1 (12:09):
So, Leah, would a government that you lead have no
hesitation in removing a child from a home if you
feel as though they are on that wrong path.
Speaker 3 (12:19):
It is a very sad reality of life, Katie, But
you cannot allow children to continue to be neglected, not
have food security, housing security, all of these types of things.
I think even in the paper today, Katie, I can't
remember the exact article, but I thought I read today
that one young person who'd interacted with the justice system
had something like fifty four child protection notifications.
Speaker 4 (12:42):
That article we're.
Speaker 2 (12:43):
Talking about the same one, yep.
Speaker 3 (12:44):
So you know, these are serious volumes of concern around
a young person.
Speaker 2 (12:50):
And as I said, and many of you.
Speaker 3 (12:52):
Listening have probably had a chat to me on the
street I say it when I'm on the street too.
No child at ten or eleven or twelve wakes up
and becomes a criminal.
Speaker 1 (13:00):
Had I mean, if they have had that many interactions,
do you believe that child should be removed from the family.
Speaker 3 (13:04):
Yeah, I think there's a much more serious look we
need to be having. But let's not forget it. It's
not necessarily about that. In those first years of life
when a child's not going to school. We have a
policy in place to make sure that parents are held
accountable because it is against the law not to send
your kids to school, and we will absolutely hold parents
accountable for their failure to do that. No one has
(13:26):
a right to deny their child of an opportunity into
the future of an education, No one, And so we
will make sure that the law is in forced to
support kids getting access to school, access to food, and
have a healthy, productive life going forward.
Speaker 1 (13:40):
Leah, before I let you go, are the colp HA
indeed announced candidates for four seats. Are you happy to
see these women putting their hands up? Oh?
Speaker 3 (13:47):
It's just so exciting, Katie. It really marks a turning
point in the campaign. We're obviously got candidate announcements to
come and we've got some incredible people. I mean Robin
Carhill from Palmerston GPS super Clinic here in Port Darwin.
We've got Lori Zeo is someone a senior in education
who's had a lot of experience in Truan.
Speaker 2 (14:08):
See what I was just talking about. She's in Fanny Bay.
Speaker 3 (14:11):
We've got Ollie Carlson who's in financial services.
Speaker 2 (14:14):
She's out in Bulgouri.
Speaker 3 (14:15):
And of course Helen's secretary, the chairwoman of Guala Dariniki
out in the seat of Nightcliff. So strong women, incredibly
well connected, passionate territorians, fighters in their own right. I
think they're going to be exceptional and make strong, vast
connections with their communities, and I think they'll be exceptional memberspecting.
Speaker 4 (14:34):
The pre selection for the other candidates to happen.
Speaker 3 (14:37):
It's all will be unvowed soon, Katie. I'm becoming days,
coming days, absolutely coming days. Watch this space where we're very,
very excited, and I think, as President has said before
on the show, Katie, we were just inundated with people
wanting to put their hand up and I think that
reflects just how palpable the concern is in the community
(14:58):
and people are saying enough is enough, the heat to
fight for the territory.
Speaker 2 (15:02):
They want to put up their hand and make a difference.
Speaker 3 (15:04):
And I just appeal to everyone who's thinking of leaving
or who doesn't know whether they can take it anymore,
stay and fight.
Speaker 2 (15:11):
The territory can and will be saved.
Speaker 3 (15:13):
The COLP is so focused on creating a better future
for all of us, where our streets are safe again,
we can enjoy our beautiful lifestyle and there are great
jobs now and for our kids. So don't give up
on the territory. August is a chance for change.
Speaker 1 (15:26):
Leah, as always, thanks so much for your time this morning.
Speaker 2 (15:29):
Thank you everyone,
As I mentioned explosive claims made by former Northern Territory
Police Constable Zachary Rolf when taking the stand at the
coronial inquest into the death of Kumanjai Walker yesterday. Mister
Rolf he became the last witness to take the stand,
telling the court that racist language was commonplace throughout the
Northern Territory Police Force. He said, I haven't seen a
(00:21):
lot of racist behavior, but racist language was normalized in
the NT Police Force. In the muster room, I could
hear something racist every day. Racist language is used everywhere
his claims. Now joining me in the studio is the
opposition leader leafanochiiro Good morning to you, Leah.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
Good morning Katie, and to your wonderful listeners.
Speaker 1 (00:40):
Now, Leah, these claims are horrible. Mister Rolf has told
the court basically, the whole Alice Springs Police Station would
refer to a so called Aboriginal only section of an
Alice Springs pub as the animal Bar because it's an
Aboriginal only bar. He alleged, the Territory Response Group, a
tactical policing unit within the force, held an annual party
(01:01):
were it issued, and I'm not going to say the
word a See of the Year award to members. He
reckons the culture starts at the head Leah, I'm sure
you've heard the claims made. What was your reaction to
those comments that Zachary Rolf made yesterday.
Speaker 3 (01:17):
Well, I think it's really important that during a coronial
process that's still on foot, that politicians don't act as
public commentators. Now much has been said during this coronial
process over a very very long time, and what a
coronial does is then the coroner takes all of that
information and makes recommendations about how things can be done
(01:38):
differently going forward. So we will look to those recommendations,
of course, but I certainly won't be providing the sort
of ongoing public commentary.
Speaker 1 (01:46):
Well, look, my understanding and we are waiting for this confirmation.
Matt Cunningham's going to join us shortly. But my understanding
is that you know, these comments or what he said
yesterday has now been referred to the Aykak Commissioner.
Speaker 4 (01:59):
So we'll get to the bob of that.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
But I mean, do you think that there is systemic
racism within the Northern Territory Police Force.
Speaker 3 (02:05):
Look, that's certainly not my experience when I speak to police,
and we've got hard working police right across the territory
who are undoubtedly, you know, feeling this. So it's really important,
of course that the coroner undertake what she's got to
do and that's a proper process and we won't get
involved in that. But you know, certainly, I think Territorians
(02:27):
respect our police, and police have respect for Territorians and
they have a difficult job and work hard. And you know,
these claims have been made. My understanding is they're being
investigated and that's appropriate.
Speaker 1 (02:38):
Do you think that people making comments like this should
keep their jobs?
Speaker 2 (02:42):
Look, I'm not going to go into it, Katie.
Speaker 3 (02:44):
These things will all be investigated appropriately and it's certainly
not a member of Parliament's job to carsair judgment.
Speaker 1 (02:51):
If you do become the Chief Minister though in August,
I mean, how are you going to bring the whole
community together if this does indeed force a real witch.
Speaker 3 (03:03):
I don't think there is a wedge between Territorians and
our police. I mean, our focus has always been to
make sure we have a strong police force. We know
the police review is currently on foot. That's something Katie,
that the CLP has called for four years. So we're
very much looking forward to seeing what recommendations are made
(03:23):
in that so that we can strengthen our force. Of course,
our focuses on supporting our police with the laws they
need to be able to keep our community safe. We're
very focused on protecting them from people who assault police
through minimum mandatory sentencing and of course giving police the
correct pp to protect themselves from people.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
Who spit at them.
Speaker 3 (03:42):
So we're very focused on making sure we drive down
high rates of crime, support our police to be able
to protect our community and that's going to lead to
us safer and stronger territory.
Speaker 4 (03:52):
And look, there is.
Speaker 1 (03:53):
No doubt they've got a massive job on their hands,
and I do want to talk about the issue of crime.
Last week we reported on a number of horrible incidents
in central Australia and up here in Darwin, so youth
as young as eleven were involved in ambushing a person
with a machete and stealing a car in the Northern Suburbs.
People were horrified to learn that some of these alleged
(04:15):
defenders were bailed.
Speaker 4 (04:16):
Now police had told.
Speaker 1 (04:17):
Us that they work within the legislative framework that they have.
Speaker 4 (04:21):
Does that framework.
Speaker 3 (04:22):
Need to change, of course it does Katie, and I
think the Assistant Commissioner said it very very well. Our
police and our courts are constrained by the laws that
the Parliament makes, and that's so important for your listeners
to understand. You know, the evil lawl government is trying
to make everything sound like it's too hard or everything
someone else's fault.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
The Parliament is what makes the law.
Speaker 3 (04:46):
The people put there are supposed to reflect and represent
the sentiment of the community, which means our laws should
meet community expectation. And when our police don't have the
right powers they need to keep people safe, and the
courts don't have adequate, adequate constraints to work within, then
you have this free fall of crime that we're seeing
right now. So you know, we don't accept these excuses
(05:08):
from Labor. I thought the Chief Minister yesterday did a
woeful job on your show, because the last thing we
need is another review and we know that it was
just last year, Kate. I mean, this is the ridiculous
thing about Labor. Just last year they did a Bower
review and only yesterday we had Ivlola come on your
show and say, oh, well we're reviewing you Justice.
Speaker 2 (05:28):
Maybe we need to look at bail for you.
Speaker 3 (05:30):
It's like, wasn't that what you did last year and
failed to implement. I mean that the time for talk
is over. We need action in the Parliament immediately, Leah, how.
Speaker 4 (05:38):
Do we do that right?
Speaker 1 (05:40):
So at the moment, as you've said, the community's expectations
are that you know that if kids hold up somebody
with a machete, that there is some kind of repercussion.
A lot of people were really quite surprised last week
to learn that you know that those children were bailed immediately,
and nobody is suggesting that you know they're chucked in
jail and that's it. That's the end of nobody's suggesting that.
(06:01):
I want to make that really clear. But where where
is this breaking down? And what would you do differently?
Speaker 3 (06:07):
So it's not it is totally broken because Labor refuse
to deal with the issue. So our police are not
allowed to deal with people under the age of twelve.
They've been totally hamstrung by Labor on this and our
courts are in a similar position. This can be changed.
We could walk into Parliament tomorrow if we wanted to
kat and fix this. And that's the ridiculous, sad state
(06:31):
that Labor are in is they've rejected the CLP trying
to fix this so many times and now their answer
is a review. So, for example, the CLP's policy is
to lower the age of criminal responsibility to ten. That
means ten year olds who committed crime can be arrested,
they can be brought before the courts and sentenced to
programs that are going to divert the course of their life.
(06:53):
It means we can also ensure that parents are held
responsible for their young people. We can chang bail, which
the COLP has been rejected by Labor in the parliament.
Speaker 4 (07:03):
Would you change the bail us through that? Yep.
Speaker 3 (07:06):
So what we'd like to see with bail and what
we would do, We actually have law already prepared on
This is ready to go, Katie. If if we were
to win in August, we could walk into that next
Parliament and change the law.
Speaker 2 (07:16):
The work is done.
Speaker 3 (07:17):
So our position on bail is that any serious violent
offender starts on the back foot and so that means
they have a what's called a presumption against bail, or
it means they start with a position of no bail. Currently,
many offenders are starting in at getting to court and
the position is that they should be free, and our
police and our prosecutors then have to stand there and
(07:37):
argue with the judge and say no, no, we shouldn't
let them go.
Speaker 2 (07:40):
There is to.
Speaker 3 (07:40):
Our community, well we say, when these criminals rock up
to court, the presumption should be they're not going anywhere,
and then the defense can try and explain why this
person should be left out let back out on the street.
Speaker 1 (07:50):
Now we have read as well in the inter News yesterday.
I'm not sure if you saw that Alex Tracy had
written an article about Dolly INCAPAX and how it is basically,
you know, how it is sort of meaning that in
some situations, kids that are committing crimes are then ending
up back on the street because really it's not able
to be proven that they actually have known what they are.
Speaker 4 (08:13):
Doing is wrong.
Speaker 1 (08:15):
You know, I'm not expecting you, you know, to go
into to how judges decide whether they do or do
not grant someone bail or whether somebody is allowed back
on the street.
Speaker 4 (08:23):
But again, is that causing some issues here.
Speaker 3 (08:26):
It is a massive problem, Kane, and I'm very happy
to tell Territorians it's something we are actively researching and
looking at.
Speaker 2 (08:33):
Because it's a major issue.
Speaker 3 (08:35):
So the courts at the moment when you hear feedback
from police and others involved in the court system, if
a young person's under fourteen, they're basically saying, look, they don't.
Speaker 2 (08:45):
Know what they were doing was wrong.
Speaker 3 (08:47):
And what people, you know, territories listening now need to
understand is our police go and prepare the file, do
all of the research, make their case, go to court.
Show you know this person's had a lot of offending.
Show that say, if it was a robbery, you know,
they were wearing gloves, they had a bag, it was premeditating.
No police can pull all of these facts together only
(09:07):
for it to be thrown out on the basis that, oh, no,
they're under fourteen.
Speaker 2 (09:12):
You know, they didn't know what they were doing was wrong.
Speaker 3 (09:14):
So and that that's very generic what I'm saying there.
But we're looking very closely at Dolly and Capax and
what can be done, because of course, I think most
people have children know that at that age, their kids
do know right from wrong, or they should, And in
any event, if children don't, then there's a big question
around what interfaces have government agencies had with that child
(09:36):
and that family in the lead up to that event.
Because no one turns ten and becomes a criminal, Katie.
This is usually long term neglect, interaction with territory, families,
interaction with police, and so we need to be supporting
families and children at a much younger age so that
they are provided with pathways forward, so that they are
provided with you know, ensuring that they go to school,
(09:59):
for example, so that they're not turning to a life
of crime.
Speaker 4 (10:02):
Lea.
Speaker 1 (10:02):
One of the things that has been raised time and
time again is that for some youths when they do
get in trouble, that then it is it's not compulsory
to complete a proge.
Speaker 4 (10:11):
That's right.
Speaker 1 (10:12):
Will the CLP make those programs compulsory.
Speaker 3 (10:15):
And that's why we'll lower the age of criminal responsibility.
So your answer is yes, if you lower the age
of criminal responsibility and make people accountable for their crimes
in a legal sense, then it means the court will
be sentencing young people to programs, which means those young
people and parents have to fulfill them. What's happening at
the moment is because they're not being held criminally responsible,
(10:35):
all the government can do is say, hey, we think
this would be really beneficial for your child, what do
you reckon and if the parent says no, well, what
can you.
Speaker 2 (10:43):
Do about it?
Speaker 3 (10:44):
Absolutely nothing, So it's totally ineffective.
Speaker 2 (10:46):
Lea.
Speaker 1 (10:47):
There's a lot of people in the community that still
believe that tough on crime is not the answer. They
still believe that you know that those recommendations from the
Royal Commission need to be adhered to, that what the
CLP's doing right now, what you're saying right now.
Speaker 4 (11:01):
Is really just to win votes.
Speaker 3 (11:04):
Well, I think it's really important to understand that territorians
have two choices to make when it comes.
Speaker 2 (11:09):
To use crime.
Speaker 3 (11:10):
You either intervene early and provide serious structure and opportunities
for those kids going forward, or you allow them to
continue to escalate in their criminal behavior until they're much older,
by which time the opportunity to turn them around becomes
much more difficult because you have more serious and ingrained behavior,
and you also then start pushing towards an adult correctional
(11:33):
situation right, which is an entirely different ballgame than youth justice.
So our position is very much about making sure that
the sooner we can intervene in a young person's life
who's going off the rails who's not showing up to school,
whose families are neglecting them, the better chance they've got
in life. And if they're committing crimes, we must hold
(11:54):
them accountable and provide them with boot camps, bush camps,
whatever it might be that child requires to divert the
course of their life away from a trajectory into adult
prison and a trajectory into the workforce where they're going
to contribute to our society.
Speaker 1 (12:09):
So, Leah, would a government that you lead have no
hesitation in removing a child from a home if you
feel as though they are on that wrong path.
Speaker 3 (12:19):
It is a very sad reality of life, Katie, But
you cannot allow children to continue to be neglected, not
have food security, housing security, all of these types of things.
I think even in the paper today, Katie, I can't
remember the exact article, but I thought I read today
that one young person who'd interacted with the justice system
had something like fifty four child protection notifications.
Speaker 4 (12:42):
That article we're.
Speaker 2 (12:43):
Talking about the same one, yep.
Speaker 3 (12:44):
So you know, these are serious volumes of concern around
a young person.
Speaker 2 (12:50):
And as I said, and many of you.
Speaker 3 (12:52):
Listening have probably had a chat to me on the
street I say it when I'm on the street too.
No child at ten or eleven or twelve wakes up
and becomes a criminal.
Speaker 1 (13:00):
Had I mean, if they have had that many interactions,
do you believe that child should be removed from the family.
Speaker 3 (13:04):
Yeah, I think there's a much more serious look we
need to be having. But let's not forget it. It's
not necessarily about that. In those first years of life
when a child's not going to school. We have a
policy in place to make sure that parents are held
accountable because it is against the law not to send
your kids to school, and we will absolutely hold parents
accountable for their failure to do that. No one has
(13:26):
a right to deny their child of an opportunity into
the future of an education, No one, And so we
will make sure that the law is in forced to
support kids getting access to school, access to food, and
have a healthy, productive life going forward.
Speaker 1 (13:40):
Leah, before I let you go, are the colp HA
indeed announced candidates for four seats. Are you happy to
see these women putting their hands up? Oh?
Speaker 3 (13:47):
It's just so exciting, Katie. It really marks a turning
point in the campaign. We're obviously got candidate announcements to
come and we've got some incredible people. I mean Robin
Carhill from Palmerston GPS super Clinic here in Port Darwin.
We've got Lori Zeo is someone a senior in education
who's had a lot of experience in Truan.
Speaker 2 (14:08):
See what I was just talking about. She's in Fanny Bay.
Speaker 3 (14:11):
We've got Ollie Carlson who's in financial services.
Speaker 2 (14:14):
She's out in Bulgouri.
Speaker 3 (14:15):
And of course Helen's secretary, the chairwoman of Guala Dariniki
out in the seat of Nightcliff. So strong women, incredibly
well connected, passionate territorians, fighters in their own right. I
think they're going to be exceptional and make strong, vast
connections with their communities, and I think they'll be exceptional memberspecting.
Speaker 4 (14:34):
The pre selection for the other candidates to happen.
Speaker 3 (14:37):
It's all will be unvowed soon, Katie. I'm becoming days,
coming days, absolutely coming days. Watch this space where we're very,
very excited, and I think, as President has said before
on the show, Katie, we were just inundated with people
wanting to put their hand up and I think that
reflects just how palpable the concern is in the community
(14:58):
and people are saying enough is enough, the heat to
fight for the territory.
Speaker 2 (15:02):
They want to put up their hand and make a difference.
Speaker 3 (15:04):
And I just appeal to everyone who's thinking of leaving
or who doesn't know whether they can take it anymore,
stay and fight.
Speaker 2 (15:11):
The territory can and will be saved.
Speaker 3 (15:13):
The COLP is so focused on creating a better future
for all of us, where our streets are safe again,
we can enjoy our beautiful lifestyle and there are great
jobs now and for our kids. So don't give up
on the territory. August is a chance for change.
Speaker 1 (15:26):
Leah, as always, thanks so much for your time this morning.
Speaker 2 (15:29):
Thank you everyone,
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