Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
I'll tell you what's some interesting news this morning. The
(00:02):
Prime Minister heading to Alice Springs joining us in the
studio this morning though the Minister for Police, Brent Potter.
Good morning morning, kay, Brent. What's the PM heading to Alice?
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Well, I don't know. As I said to you, he's
not here for territory business. I think he's here on
federal business and I'm not familiar with how long he's
here for where he's going, but I know it's not
in relation to Alice Springs itself and what's happened previously, so.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
It's not he's not there for sort of a visit
following on from me.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
I mean, I'm sure he'll probably see some people when
he's in there, but it's got there's no announcements that
we're tracking or anything like that. He's here for other
federal government business, probably going and looking some federal facilities,
pros stop in and see some stakeholders. I suspect, but
I mean Alice has been fairly quiet, as you know,
with the additional police and post the curfew. He still
has its issues, but it's been better. So yeah, I'm unsure.
Speaker 1 (00:47):
What his visit is because I mean it's certainly been
reported that he's there to kind of you know, they're
in the wake of the issues of crime that we
saw a couple of weeks ago. We know that it's
something you and I have spoken about for months and months.
That's what it's being reported that that's what he's there
to go and check on. But from what you're saying,
there's nothing organized with the Northern Territory.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
Government, not not with me or I was just talking
a chance, your chance he's down there and if he
needs to meet, you'll meet with him. But I think
he's there for other government business obviously if you've got
time between the flights because I think it's abst seven
o'clock flight now out of Alice, or if he's on
his own jet, he'll probably meet with some stakeholders. But
I don't know anything about his specifics of his itinery.
Speaker 1 (01:23):
Yeah, right, and so don't know if he's meeting with
the Chief Minister or no.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
I think she's in Darwin at the moment. So being
a Monday, you know, I'll go from here straight in
the office or the first point of call on the
mondays for me. But yeah, I'm not tracking anything related
to my portfolios and Alice Springs at the PM's interested
in at the moment, So he's for other business.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
Well, I'll tell you what, that's probably a bit of
a shock to a lot of people listening this morning,
because I would have thought he'd actually be in contact
with your office find out how things are going, you know,
with the police, with the additional police being there, the
crime issues that we've seen.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
Great, he's got good local men like you know, you've
got Malanda, You've got malandire as a senator, and you've
got all the other federal labor members that got Marion
down there that you know would relay information to him.
So I think he's well represented. I'm available if he
needs to call me, but I don't think he does.
I think he's got bigger pressing issues at a federal level,
and we've got under control on ours at the moment.
Speaker 1 (02:10):
Just a quick one, I suppose. Do you reckon that
he will, potentially, though, meet with some of those groups
that are supposed to be delivering different programs as part
of that massive amount of money. That's two.
Speaker 2 (02:20):
I'm sure he will probably have some meetings on his schedule,
but as you can probably appreciate, when we talk about
people like that their itinery isn't made as public for
a variety of reasons, and we see protesters all the time,
people with issues chasing them down. So I'm sure he
has some meetings with some local stakeholders and I'm sure
he'll do that, but I think the primary visit is
around federal issues rather than sort of state based issues.
Speaker 1 (02:41):
All right, well, minister, let's move along, because the hospitality
industry is calling for some more to be done to
protect bottle shop workers, with key promises made in the
wake of Deckl and Lavity's death yet to be delivered
more than twelve months on now. One of those promises
was the additional de escalation techniques to manage anti social
behavior and also security guards to carry capsicum or OC spray.
(03:05):
Where are things that with the OC spray roll out?
Speaker 2 (03:08):
Yes? So I made a commitment to Hospitality NT when
I came in that I would pass the legislation before Christmas,
and we did that, and I've sent them a letter
recently that's said by the end of April start of
May people be able to apply for their applications. My
intent is to deliver on the commitment that I wrote
to them in and from next week people will be
able to apply if they've done so, if a person's
done a first aid course since current if they've done
a defense using spray course within the last six months,
(03:31):
they'll be able to apply as of next week and
that application will be assessed and hopefully if there's no
sort of red flags of that individual business, they'll be
able to start caring OC spray.
Speaker 1 (03:40):
How come there is only eighteen people that have completed
that training to manage an anti social behavior from what
I've read.
Speaker 2 (03:47):
Yeah, so that there's been more than eighteen people complete training.
That's the training that we funded, I believe with hospital
and T and c TOU. But I can tell you
right now that Neptune, for example, has done a bunch
of de escalation training with a lot more people than eighteen.
I know they did one down at the Sailing Club,
for example, with the hospitality staff down there. Unfortunately I
couldn't make that event, but I know they've been delivering it,
(04:08):
So it's more than the eighteen that's been publicized. That's
the government funded program through Hospitality and T, but there
are other providers offering that service, and we need to
be really clear your listeners, Katie, it's voluntary. I can't force, you.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
Can't force the county. But why has it sort of
taken so long? I mean we are talking about this
being twelve months on from when it was announced. It
is something that you know that would mean that those
that the security does have that additional measure there in place.
Why has it taken so long?
Speaker 2 (04:35):
Let's be really clear, the issuing of OC spray isn't
a simple issue. It was a controlled weapon and it
needs to be rolled out in a process. Now, I've
made a very very clear commitment to hospitality and t
to push this along at great speed, and that's what
I did by passing legislation. As I said, next week
they'll be able to apply. But also for your listeners,
not every organization is said they're even interested in taking
this up. Some of the big players in this space
(04:58):
have no interest in taking the OC spray up. So again,
it'll be voluntary for those people that want to put
it on their businesses. Now, my take on it is
you take all reasonable steps to protect your staff. That
is the obligation of business has and the same for
a government takes all reasonable steps. I think you'll find
some businesses will take it up, others won't. As of
next week they'll be able to apply and we'll go
from there. But it's not just as simple as handing
(05:20):
out OC spray to anyone. It is a complicated piece
that required legislation change and we needed to make sure
that any changes we made weren't contradict you to other
pieces of legislation here because no one in the territory
has had OC spray outside police and transit before.
Speaker 1 (05:32):
Yeah, it's interesting though, isn't it, Because it's out of
time when around Australia, and you and I spoke about
this last Monday, around Australia there are people sort of
calling for us to be able to access it on
a personal level, following on from the tragedy in BONDI. So,
I guess it just seems like to a lot of
people listening, they'll probably be thinking, why is this taking
so long? Why is it such sort of a delay
(05:53):
or seemingly long delay following on from that tragedy, when
in other parts of Australia they're talking about legislating it
for everyday people to be able to carry around.
Speaker 2 (06:01):
I guess the point is, though they'll still have to
go through a significant body of work and the discussion
I have with the departments, will we treat it. In
my head, it's the same as a firearm. If you
can do this, if you can demonstrate you can get
a firearms license, it should be the same process here
for security guards. If they can demonstrate they can get
the license, they can carry the OC spray. It isn't
as simple as I thought it would potentially be at
the start. It has thrown some sort of roadblocks up.
(06:22):
We've got through those and as of next week they
will be able to apply as long as they've done
the defense using spray in the last six months and
they've got a first state certificate.
Speaker 1 (06:28):
Could you end up having a chat with the police
commissioner about allowing territorians to do that, to carry around
OC spray.
Speaker 2 (06:34):
We haven't had a face to face yet. He's been
down in our springs back to back and he's traveling
again for another commissioner's meeting, but we will in person. Yeah.
In the issue of advice I've got here is that
it's probably not somewhere that the territory is looking to go.
From their point of view. I think WA is the
only one that has it. I think what we've demonstrated
our Springs as an example, and in Dawin through things
like the Territory Safety Division, we can get on top
(06:55):
of the any social behavior and crime and reduce the
feeling within the community of feeling unsafe. It's constant pressure.
Speaker 1 (07:01):
Yeah, well it is, and it's constant pressure from everyday territorians.
I mean even on Saturday hearing that that poor food
delivery guy has been bloody robbed by young people at
three point thirty in the afternoon, had his moped style
and just goes to show you some of the issues
that we continue to face. But we know that if
we do have that surge in police, it does seem
to make a difference. We are things that in terms
(07:22):
of the new recruits that started on the job on Friday.
Speaker 2 (07:26):
Yeah, so they're our auxiliary. So their watchhouse in Palmerston
and they're in the comsen at Pete McCaulay. We know
we have an issue with people wait times and that's
why we commit an additional twenty five call takers in
this budget, on top of the two hundred officers for
general duties, and on top of that the fifty two
Territory Safety Division members, which we see being full complement
(07:47):
by June in Nightcliffe. So over two hundred and seventy
officers that we've committed to. I know a lot of
people talk about attrition. It cannot be clear on this, Katie.
We are recruiting more than we're losing. And I know
that there are people out there that would like that
not to be the case, and we'll say otherwise, but
the numbers are in the annual report. We're recruiting more
than we're losing.
Speaker 1 (08:05):
We are losing experience, of.
Speaker 2 (08:06):
Course, no doubt, but that is slowing as well. And
I think when we spoke it was eleven percent. It's
down around seven. I want to see it around five.
The culture's change in the organization. New Commissioner dedicated funding
re establishing the Territory Safety Division, which previously was similar
to the MPG, which a lot of members police that
have been a long time will know of. I think
those go a long way to encouraging people back to
(08:28):
work in retaining them.
Speaker 1 (08:29):
Minister, where are things that I know you and I
had spoken before about the boasting and posting legislation. Where
are things at.
Speaker 2 (08:35):
So the AG and ourselves are working through that. At
the moment, we only have one sittings before we hit
estimates and then it's a change of government. We're working
through that. We did have a meeting with Meta, so
we've had a meeting with Meta. I was going to
call them Facebook, but that's not the correct term. We're
working up some stuff in the short term that we
can do with them that doesn't even require legislation. Change
around targeting some of those individuals that use social media
(08:58):
to intimidate people about stealing big as an example, and
we'll work through that with police, and I think we've
got a really good outcome.
Speaker 1 (09:03):
So how soon do you think we're going to see
that change with Meta?
Speaker 2 (09:06):
I think pretty soon they're about to come back to
us and we've worked through the technicals. But it sounds like
that we can do it straight away and sort of
shutting down those accounts faster and using it as an
intelligence tool. But I don't give too much away because obviously,
you know, you don't want them knowing what we can do.
But I think there's a real avenue there that we
can target those individuals.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
That sounds like the boasting and posting legislation that's not
going to happen before an election.
Speaker 2 (09:25):
Well, it's the AG's piece. I'm happy to chat to him,
but he's working through it. I think first and foremost,
you know, operationally, we need to get something with meta
right now that we can implement.
Speaker 1 (09:34):
Just in terms of base in the Grass. It has
been raised with us people wondering is the government going
to consider pill testing at based in the Grass?
Speaker 2 (09:41):
Yeah, I think the I think we spoke last time.
I said we'll consider any good policy. But in the
short term, pill testing will not occur before this Base
in the Grass. I think that there needs to be
more work done, and that is the Health Minister's portfolio. Yeah,
I'm not familiar on how far they want to take this,
but I know it will not occur for base in
the Grass.
Speaker 1 (09:57):
One of the other things that has been floating around now,
and I noticed this on the news on the weekend,
is this National Firearms Register. Where are we at here
in the Northern Territory with that?
Speaker 2 (10:06):
So where is signatory to that? And it's good to
see funding put ahead by the federal government and we'll
align ourselves with the National Firearms Register. And it's important
because it comes in the back of those officers that
were killed in Queensland and then the shooting that we
saw occur in South Australia, and I think it's a
sound and solid step forward around firearms control.
Speaker 1 (10:26):
Well that sort of mean for just thee every day
firearms holder. You know, like a lot of people have
firearms in the Northern Territory, they go pig shooting, goose something.
Speaker 2 (10:34):
That kind of thing won't change a single thing for
a territory firearms owner. What it will mean though, is
it allow us to see from a national point of
view where we've had barriers are and cross border engagement
on firearms that will be removed and it will be
a single register. It will be funded by the federal government.
We saw that announcement last week by Dreyfus, which is fantastic,
especially for a small jurisdiction like us. It is a
(10:55):
lot of money. But we believe in protecting our frontline
officers when they attend a job and we do see
in some instances legal fire our owners doing the wrong
thing sometimes, but we also see the non legal fire
our owners doing the wrong thing. And I think any
way that we can help our frontline officers with a
centralized register that's cross jurisdictional will make their life a
lot easier.
Speaker 1 (11:14):
And say from minister a listener questions just come through.
Is the training for the OC spray cost prohibitive? Someone
saying that's why some security companies don't want to do it.
Speaker 2 (11:24):
I wouldn't have thought so. And I think you'll find
that there's a bunch of providers nationally and there'll be one,
I'm told very shortly up in the territory. They'll be recognized.
So at the end of the day, though, if it
is cost prohibitive, well that's on the business to make
that business decision around the strategy in the market that
they're targeting. Like I said, not every security sorry bottleshop
company is going to ask for OC spray. There will
be some that want it, so there will be a
(11:45):
market for those security companies that want to give it
to their staff and pay those fees in that training.
Our job as government is to set the reguortry framework,
say what you need to do to get it, and
that it's on the business to decide if that's part
of their business model.
Speaker 1 (11:56):
Well, Brent Potter, the Minister for Police, we are going
to leave it there. Thank you. A wise fetan Thanks Gutty,
I'll tell you what's some interesting news this morning. The
(00:02):
Prime Minister heading to Alice Springs joining us in the
studio this morning though the Minister for Police, Brent Potter.
Good morning morning, kay, Brent. What's the PM heading to Alice?
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Well, I don't know. As I said to you, he's
not here for territory business. I think he's here on
federal business and I'm not familiar with how long he's
here for where he's going, but I know it's not
in relation to Alice Springs itself and what's happened previously, so.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
It's not he's not there for sort of a visit
following on from me.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
I mean, I'm sure he'll probably see some people when
he's in there, but it's got there's no announcements that
we're tracking or anything like that. He's here for other
federal government business, probably going and looking some federal facilities,
pros stop in and see some stakeholders. I suspect, but
I mean Alice has been fairly quiet, as you know,
with the additional police and post the curfew. He still
has its issues, but it's been better. So yeah, I'm unsure.
Speaker 1 (00:47):
What his visit is because I mean it's certainly been
reported that he's there to kind of you know, they're
in the wake of the issues of crime that we
saw a couple of weeks ago. We know that it's
something you and I have spoken about for months and months.
That's what it's being reported that that's what he's there
to go and check on. But from what you're saying,
there's nothing organized with the Northern Territory.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
Government, not not with me or I was just talking
a chance, your chance he's down there and if he
needs to meet, you'll meet with him. But I think
he's there for other government business obviously if you've got
time between the flights because I think it's abst seven
o'clock flight now out of Alice, or if he's on
his own jet, he'll probably meet with some stakeholders. But
I don't know anything about his specifics of his itinery.
Speaker 1 (01:23):
Yeah, right, and so don't know if he's meeting with
the Chief Minister or no.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
I think she's in Darwin at the moment. So being
a Monday, you know, I'll go from here straight in
the office or the first point of call on the
mondays for me. But yeah, I'm not tracking anything related
to my portfolios and Alice Springs at the PM's interested
in at the moment, So he's for other business.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
Well, I'll tell you what, that's probably a bit of
a shock to a lot of people listening this morning,
because I would have thought he'd actually be in contact
with your office find out how things are going, you know,
with the police, with the additional police being there, the
crime issues that we've seen.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
Great, he's got good local men like you know, you've
got Malanda, You've got malandire as a senator, and you've
got all the other federal labor members that got Marion
down there that you know would relay information to him.
So I think he's well represented. I'm available if he
needs to call me, but I don't think he does.
I think he's got bigger pressing issues at a federal level,
and we've got under control on ours at the moment.
Speaker 1 (02:10):
Just a quick one, I suppose. Do you reckon that
he will, potentially, though, meet with some of those groups
that are supposed to be delivering different programs as part
of that massive amount of money. That's two.
Speaker 2 (02:20):
I'm sure he will probably have some meetings on his schedule,
but as you can probably appreciate, when we talk about
people like that their itinery isn't made as public for
a variety of reasons, and we see protesters all the time,
people with issues chasing them down. So I'm sure he
has some meetings with some local stakeholders and I'm sure
he'll do that, but I think the primary visit is
around federal issues rather than sort of state based issues.
Speaker 1 (02:41):
All right, well, minister, let's move along, because the hospitality
industry is calling for some more to be done to
protect bottle shop workers, with key promises made in the
wake of Deckl and Lavity's death yet to be delivered
more than twelve months on now. One of those promises
was the additional de escalation techniques to manage anti social
behavior and also security guards to carry capsicum or OC spray.
(03:05):
Where are things that with the OC spray roll out?
Speaker 2 (03:08):
Yes? So I made a commitment to Hospitality NT when
I came in that I would pass the legislation before Christmas,
and we did that, and I've sent them a letter
recently that's said by the end of April start of
May people be able to apply for their applications. My
intent is to deliver on the commitment that I wrote
to them in and from next week people will be
able to apply if they've done so, if a person's
done a first aid course since current if they've done
a defense using spray course within the last six months,
(03:31):
they'll be able to apply as of next week and
that application will be assessed and hopefully if there's no
sort of red flags of that individual business, they'll be
able to start caring OC spray.
Speaker 1 (03:40):
How come there is only eighteen people that have completed
that training to manage an anti social behavior from what
I've read.
Speaker 2 (03:47):
Yeah, so that there's been more than eighteen people complete training.
That's the training that we funded, I believe with hospital
and T and c TOU. But I can tell you
right now that Neptune, for example, has done a bunch
of de escalation training with a lot more people than eighteen.
I know they did one down at the Sailing Club,
for example, with the hospitality staff down there. Unfortunately I
couldn't make that event, but I know they've been delivering it,
(04:08):
So it's more than the eighteen that's been publicized. That's
the government funded program through Hospitality and T, but there
are other providers offering that service, and we need to
be really clear your listeners, Katie, it's voluntary. I can't force, you.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
Can't force the county. But why has it sort of
taken so long? I mean we are talking about this
being twelve months on from when it was announced. It
is something that you know that would mean that those
that the security does have that additional measure there in place.
Why has it taken so long?
Speaker 2 (04:35):
Let's be really clear, the issuing of OC spray isn't
a simple issue. It was a controlled weapon and it
needs to be rolled out in a process. Now, I've
made a very very clear commitment to hospitality and t
to push this along at great speed, and that's what
I did by passing legislation. As I said, next week
they'll be able to apply. But also for your listeners,
not every organization is said they're even interested in taking
this up. Some of the big players in this space
(04:58):
have no interest in taking the OC spray up. So again,
it'll be voluntary for those people that want to put
it on their businesses. Now, my take on it is
you take all reasonable steps to protect your staff. That
is the obligation of business has and the same for
a government takes all reasonable steps. I think you'll find
some businesses will take it up, others won't. As of
next week they'll be able to apply and we'll go
from there. But it's not just as simple as handing
(05:20):
out OC spray to anyone. It is a complicated piece
that required legislation change and we needed to make sure
that any changes we made weren't contradict you to other
pieces of legislation here because no one in the territory
has had OC spray outside police and transit before.
Speaker 1 (05:32):
Yeah, it's interesting though, isn't it, Because it's out of
time when around Australia, and you and I spoke about
this last Monday, around Australia there are people sort of
calling for us to be able to access it on
a personal level, following on from the tragedy in BONDI. So,
I guess it just seems like to a lot of
people listening, they'll probably be thinking, why is this taking
so long? Why is it such sort of a delay
(05:53):
or seemingly long delay following on from that tragedy, when
in other parts of Australia they're talking about legislating it
for everyday people to be able to carry around.
Speaker 2 (06:01):
I guess the point is, though they'll still have to
go through a significant body of work and the discussion
I have with the departments, will we treat it. In
my head, it's the same as a firearm. If you
can do this, if you can demonstrate you can get
a firearms license, it should be the same process here
for security guards. If they can demonstrate they can get
the license, they can carry the OC spray. It isn't
as simple as I thought it would potentially be at
the start. It has thrown some sort of roadblocks up.
(06:22):
We've got through those and as of next week they
will be able to apply as long as they've done
the defense using spray in the last six months and
they've got a first state certificate.
Speaker 1 (06:28):
Could you end up having a chat with the police
commissioner about allowing territorians to do that, to carry around
OC spray.
Speaker 2 (06:34):
We haven't had a face to face yet. He's been
down in our springs back to back and he's traveling
again for another commissioner's meeting, but we will in person. Yeah.
In the issue of advice I've got here is that
it's probably not somewhere that the territory is looking to go.
From their point of view. I think WA is the
only one that has it. I think what we've demonstrated
our Springs as an example, and in Dawin through things
like the Territory Safety Division, we can get on top
(06:55):
of the any social behavior and crime and reduce the
feeling within the community of feeling unsafe. It's constant pressure.
Speaker 1 (07:01):
Yeah, well it is, and it's constant pressure from everyday territorians.
I mean even on Saturday hearing that that poor food
delivery guy has been bloody robbed by young people at
three point thirty in the afternoon, had his moped style
and just goes to show you some of the issues
that we continue to face. But we know that if
we do have that surge in police, it does seem
to make a difference. We are things that in terms
(07:22):
of the new recruits that started on the job on Friday.
Speaker 2 (07:26):
Yeah, so they're our auxiliary. So their watchhouse in Palmerston
and they're in the comsen at Pete McCaulay. We know
we have an issue with people wait times and that's
why we commit an additional twenty five call takers in
this budget, on top of the two hundred officers for
general duties, and on top of that the fifty two
Territory Safety Division members, which we see being full complement
(07:47):
by June in Nightcliffe. So over two hundred and seventy
officers that we've committed to. I know a lot of
people talk about attrition. It cannot be clear on this, Katie.
We are recruiting more than we're losing. And I know
that there are people out there that would like that
not to be the case, and we'll say otherwise, but
the numbers are in the annual report. We're recruiting more
than we're losing.
Speaker 1 (08:05):
We are losing experience, of.
Speaker 2 (08:06):
Course, no doubt, but that is slowing as well. And
I think when we spoke it was eleven percent. It's
down around seven. I want to see it around five.
The culture's change in the organization. New Commissioner dedicated funding
re establishing the Territory Safety Division, which previously was similar
to the MPG, which a lot of members police that
have been a long time will know of. I think
those go a long way to encouraging people back to
(08:28):
work in retaining them.
Speaker 1 (08:29):
Minister, where are things that I know you and I
had spoken before about the boasting and posting legislation. Where
are things at.
Speaker 2 (08:35):
So the AG and ourselves are working through that. At
the moment, we only have one sittings before we hit
estimates and then it's a change of government. We're working
through that. We did have a meeting with Meta, so
we've had a meeting with Meta. I was going to
call them Facebook, but that's not the correct term. We're
working up some stuff in the short term that we
can do with them that doesn't even require legislation. Change
around targeting some of those individuals that use social media
(08:58):
to intimidate people about stealing big as an example, and
we'll work through that with police, and I think we've
got a really good outcome.
Speaker 1 (09:03):
So how soon do you think we're going to see
that change with Meta?
Speaker 2 (09:06):
I think pretty soon they're about to come back to
us and we've worked through the technicals. But it sounds like
that we can do it straight away and sort of
shutting down those accounts faster and using it as an
intelligence tool. But I don't give too much away because obviously,
you know, you don't want them knowing what we can do.
But I think there's a real avenue there that we
can target those individuals.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
That sounds like the boasting and posting legislation that's not
going to happen before an election.
Speaker 2 (09:25):
Well, it's the AG's piece. I'm happy to chat to him,
but he's working through it. I think first and foremost,
you know, operationally, we need to get something with meta
right now that we can implement.
Speaker 1 (09:34):
Just in terms of base in the Grass. It has
been raised with us people wondering is the government going
to consider pill testing at based in the Grass?
Speaker 2 (09:41):
Yeah, I think the I think we spoke last time.
I said we'll consider any good policy. But in the
short term, pill testing will not occur before this Base
in the Grass. I think that there needs to be
more work done, and that is the Health Minister's portfolio. Yeah,
I'm not familiar on how far they want to take this,
but I know it will not occur for base in
the Grass.
Speaker 1 (09:57):
One of the other things that has been floating around now,
and I noticed this on the news on the weekend,
is this National Firearms Register. Where are we at here
in the Northern Territory with that?
Speaker 2 (10:06):
So where is signatory to that? And it's good to
see funding put ahead by the federal government and we'll
align ourselves with the National Firearms Register. And it's important
because it comes in the back of those officers that
were killed in Queensland and then the shooting that we
saw occur in South Australia, and I think it's a
sound and solid step forward around firearms control.
Speaker 1 (10:26):
Well that sort of mean for just thee every day
firearms holder. You know, like a lot of people have
firearms in the Northern Territory, they go pig shooting, goose something.
Speaker 2 (10:34):
That kind of thing won't change a single thing for
a territory firearms owner. What it will mean though, is
it allow us to see from a national point of
view where we've had barriers are and cross border engagement
on firearms that will be removed and it will be
a single register. It will be funded by the federal government.
We saw that announcement last week by Dreyfus, which is fantastic,
especially for a small jurisdiction like us. It is a
(10:55):
lot of money. But we believe in protecting our frontline
officers when they attend a job and we do see
in some instances legal fire our owners doing the wrong
thing sometimes, but we also see the non legal fire
our owners doing the wrong thing. And I think any
way that we can help our frontline officers with a
centralized register that's cross jurisdictional will make their life a
lot easier.
Speaker 1 (11:14):
And say from minister a listener questions just come through.
Is the training for the OC spray cost prohibitive? Someone
saying that's why some security companies don't want to do it.
Speaker 2 (11:24):
I wouldn't have thought so. And I think you'll find
that there's a bunch of providers nationally and there'll be one,
I'm told very shortly up in the territory. They'll be recognized.
So at the end of the day, though, if it
is cost prohibitive, well that's on the business to make
that business decision around the strategy in the market that
they're targeting. Like I said, not every security sorry bottleshop
company is going to ask for OC spray. There will
be some that want it, so there will be a
(11:45):
market for those security companies that want to give it
to their staff and pay those fees in that training.
Our job as government is to set the reguortry framework,
say what you need to do to get it, and
that it's on the business to decide if that's part
of their business model.
Speaker 1 (11:56):
Well, Brent Potter, the Minister for Police, we are going
to leave it there. Thank you. A wise fetan Thanks Gutty,
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