Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
As you've just heard.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
We caught up with Matt Cunningham from Sky News who'd
been out at the Daily River region yesterday. It's a
pretty concerning situations situation some locals saying they do not
feel safe after havok really being reeked in the region.
The Chief Minister joins me in the studio right now.
Good morning to you evil Lordla morning. Thanks so much
for your time now, Chief Minister. The NLC chair Matthew
(00:23):
Ryan said yesterday that well, on Tuesday last week, he'd
made several phone calls to alert the police and local
ministers about community members after they'd reached out to the
NLC afraid of what might happen. He said, our alert
was not taken seriously enough and over the forty eight
hours that followed, people were terrorized, they were injured, houses destroyed.
(00:47):
Did the government drop the ball.
Speaker 1 (00:49):
So, Katie, Yes, I think the NLC had a regional
council meeting, so they had people out at what I
and Duran Young was the local member was also out there.
We all received information at that time, but the deployment
of resources is a role for the Police Commissioner. The
police had information are very much aware of the situation.
(01:11):
They had their police on the ground out there, so
there were police I understand from Adelaide River, from Pine
Creek as well as Daily River. I think Daily River
has five police officers there, so there were plenty of
police there and the police did an amazing job with
what they could at that time. And as I said,
I think they should be recognized police for the work
(01:31):
that they did out there. I spoke to Michael Murphy
this morning and the conversation I had with him was
that he's heading out to Daily River. Also, the CEO
of Territory Families and a number of public servants, key
public servants are heading out to Daily River this week
later this week to one have a look at the situation,
(01:52):
but also to see what they can put in place around.
And I did hear Matt's conversation, I mean Matt's interview.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
Yep.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
Yeah. There has been ongoing, ongoing unrest across that region
and some of that has started in pep Manati. There
was their family groups there that aren't happy with each other.
But again it's apparent behavior. It's ridiculous behavior to see that,
and Michael Murphy, I know, will work hard to get on.
Speaker 2 (02:20):
Top of look, I to be honest with you, really
feel for the women and kids. Like I think to myself,
I cannot imagine being a senior woman in the community
being absolutely frightened for my life and then a house
being lit on fire and feeling like you've got young
people like young men coming in and just running a mark. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (02:40):
Absolutely, absolutely shocking behavior. When I was the Education minister,
I used to meet with the CEO of Catholic Education.
So at Dally River there isn't a government school. It's
one of those communities that only has a non government school,
has a Catholic school there, and the conversations with him
was about how unsafe the children were, and you know,
(03:00):
that's just ridiculous behavior. Daily River has always been a
lovely community, a quiet community. So it has been this
issue of the unrest from elsewhere coming into that community.
Speaker 2 (03:12):
Chief Finister, you know, I don't really want to name
them because they don't want to give them nooriety. But
is this a specific, you know, group that is really
running a mark around the place. Yes.
Speaker 1 (03:23):
So from the Daily River through that Daily River incident,
the police arrested six people, six young people, and that
they will all be charged. But Yeah, there is a
group of a young people and we've seen that on
social media or some people have seen that on social
media and what they're doing. I did meet with Meta,
remember the Alice Springs incident around the curfew. I did
(03:46):
meet with Meta, had a zoom meeting online meeting with Meta,
and I explained the situation that we saw in Alice
Springs but also in the Daily River region around this
group of people, and they gave an undertaking to investigate that.
They heard me around what we wanted to see and do,
which is when there's large files that are being up
(04:08):
uploaded onto the platforms such as Facebook or Instagram, to
be able to then to shut those down so that
they aren't getting that no variety around that. They gave
an undertaking to investigate that. So I hope that that's
what We're not blaming one or the other. It is
part of the whole equation around getting on top of crime.
Speaker 2 (04:29):
And is there any update on the posting and boasting legislation?
Speaker 1 (04:32):
So we're not going to be bringing in posting and
boasting legislation this We've got two weeks of sittings. We're
not going to be bringing in posting and boasting legislation,
but it will be one that will be into on
the engender into the future. We have a well it's
budget week first and foremost it's budget week as well,
so I've got the budget to bring down and that's
an absolute priority of government. We will have other legislation
(04:55):
as well and we'll talk about that next week, but
there there is work that we're doing around that.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
Just very quickly. We know the Northern land Land Council
has taken aim at the Police Minister Brent Potter after
he claimed it and other agencies need to come to
the table and figure out long term solutions to ongoing unrest.
The Police Minister had said in the press conference what
needs to happen is mediation and we need to see
the NLC come to the table and getting out there
(05:22):
and talking to those communities that have long standing disputes
around land and title. He said, you can't police your
way out of this issue where it relates to title
claims and the like, and we need to address that
and for too long it's been pushed and kicked down
the road. I mean, are the government in the NLC
on the same page here what's going on?
Speaker 1 (05:44):
Yeah, So Katie, I think. I mean the message that
Brent was trying to get across was that we have
to work together on this. It cannot just be government
that sorts out these issues, So whether it is regional councils,
people who are on the ground, who actually understand the
complexities of and as I said, I think that we're
(06:06):
talking about pep Manati. Previously there has been family groups
that have been in disagreement in pep Manardi and Matt
was just talking about that as well. You have to
be able to get to mediation because you can't. You
can't continue to squash it. You arrest people, they go
to jail, that they come back out, they're more, they're
angrier than ever. There's a whole heap of work that
(06:28):
needs to be done. So I mean Brent was only
just saying, really because I stood next to him when
he made the comment we're at the MXGP launch, was
that we need to come together, and that was a
question right the media about it. We actually have to
work together if we are going to address the complexities
of some of these indigenous issues. Some of these issues
that that are causing trouble in the Northern Territory.
Speaker 2 (06:52):
Look I'll move along because there is so much to cover,
and we are going to be speaking to the nlc's
chairman at about ten thirty this morning. We know the
Northern Territory Police so are continuing to call for information
in relation to an escape prisoner in Darwin yesterday. So
these three blokes escape, the twenty nine year old as
I understand, it's still on the run according to the police.
(07:12):
I mean, does this demonstrate that our watchhouse in the
city is not the right location for prisoners?
Speaker 1 (07:18):
And I think we all understand and know that the
watchhouse isn't And the work that government has done around
putting in transportable cells into Alice Springs, also into Darwin,
expanding the workers camp and the Barkley expanding Juttler also
in Norlan Boy, they're all part of the equation of
what we can do in the interim. And I had
(07:39):
to make that announcement around continuing to have the facility
that currently holds don Dale to be able to make
sure that we've got we can put prisoners in there.
But also the two women's prisons are two areas that
it can be in converted for women. So that's the
work that we're doing now so that we can free
up the watch house.
Speaker 2 (07:58):
Do we need to get them out sooner? We need
to expedite that given what's happened yesterday.
Speaker 1 (08:02):
Yeah, so's you know, that's the absolute work that the
Police Commissioner and I know police want to see, but
also Matthew Valley's Commission of Corrections. But you have to
have a place to put them. So the prison numbers fluctuate.
We know that, and so it is about making sure
that we can remove them from the watch house and
they can have somewhere else to go. All right.
Speaker 2 (08:23):
I do want to ask you about an issue that's
been on our agenda for weeks, security in the CBD. Now,
the Lord Mayor has confirmed that the City of Darwin's
not going to be contributing to the ongoing patrols. I
know you and I have spoken about this before and
you have said that the government's definitely committed to continuing
those patrols. Is that going to be difficult without the
(08:43):
support of the City of Darwin.
Speaker 1 (08:45):
Well, it'll will be four hundred thousand dollars difficult. So
it is really frustrating for me that the City of
Darwin aren't going to collaborate and work together on this issue.
So it was a decision of the counselors. So obviously
con and the councilors and I know what the vote
was on that. So you know local people out there,
people are residents of a residents of Darwin. Talk to
(09:07):
your counselors about that and let them know that if
you think it's important to have security providing around antisocial
behavior in the CBD. But Katie, I think every shopping
center in Australia has increased their security. I mean we've
seen some horrrific things happening in Sydney around security guards
in shopping centers and I know I met with the
(09:29):
I met with the new manager of the Gateway shopping
Center and we had conversations around security there. So everywhere
needs to have security. And that's a fact you cannot
even if we put in two hundred more police. You
do not want just the police spending their time walking
around a shopping center to stop some idiot who's smashing
a bloody car window to take two dollars out or
(09:53):
whatever else it is. So the council needs to be
a part of it. The CBD is their shopping area.
It is the shopping district. Of course, the Northern Territory
government will have to pick up the price tag, which
frustrates me immensely because that's four hundred thousand that you're
not spending on something else. So Council have got money,
they should be putting that money into They need to
(10:13):
be part of the solution to get more people into
the CBD.
Speaker 2 (10:16):
Chief Minister, we're fast running out of time, but you
are going to be making a significant announcement today as
I understand it, two hundred million dollars invested in budget
twenty twenty four to get more land ready for new
housing and other developments. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (10:31):
So Katie, we know that we need to have more
houses in the Northern Territory if you want to increase
the population. I literally have just come from the Defense
summit where we're talking about more defense in the Northern
Territory in those knock on industries that will need So
I'm announcing today around the Holt subdivision. So forty three
million dollars in budget twenty four to deliver the Holtz project.
(10:52):
And it's really good news because it's two territory companies,
two long term territory companies have joined have joined forces
it's called the Holtz Land Company that will be they're
the successful tender. So it's Halketas Brothers group, so Halketas.
Many of us in the territory of know the Halketa's
Brothers from a long long term territory family. But also
(11:15):
Akj Services so Akj is Jesse Rist so a Larakir
company has joined with Halketas to form the Holtz Land Company.
They're the successful tenders, so they will start that work
around the development of Holts, which will see initially five
hundred and fifty housing lots that's near the hospital, which
is great news, really good news.
Speaker 2 (11:36):
Jave Minester. I know that not everybody is thrilled about
the number of lots out there at Holts. Some of
those that live out in the rural area want to
keep it rural. I mean, how small are these blocks
going to be?
Speaker 1 (11:49):
So again that will be up to the Holtz Land
Company around that, but there will be five percent will
be held for social housing, so five percent of those lots.
But those lots will be urban, suburban sized lots. So
it is a fact, and that's what the planners will
tell you. You need to have, you know, suburban lots,
(12:10):
not leap frogging development. You need to have that. We've
got a new hospital there, we've got a new fire station,
new police stations, two new schools at Sekoli. That land
is residential land and.
Speaker 2 (12:21):
Will they fall under the Palmerston municipality or will they
fall under Lichfield.
Speaker 1 (12:26):
That's the million dollars That land is currently on that
side of the highway is Lichfield land. That will be
a decision for the future around and that will be
local government minister will make that decision.
Speaker 2 (12:38):
But so not sort of in this term of government.
Speaker 1 (12:41):
No, Well, as I said, we haven't even built the suburbs,
so that work will be happening. But I think most
of those people will use the services in Parmesan. They'll
go to the Palmeston Library, the Palmeston Swell Center. But
will allow I'll allow the whoever's the land minister, that's sorry,
the local government minister to make that.
Speaker 2 (12:58):
Really really quick one because we do have to head
to the news. But the ant they spoke to us
yesterday they've welcomed this announcement by the Commonwealth Government to
mandate the sharing of road safety data to drive down
road trauma. We are going to be speaking to the
Federal Transport Minister Catherine King on the show tomorrow. Is
the Northern Territory government going to commit to sharing that data.
Speaker 1 (13:18):
I happy to share that data, but the thing is
I need to know you know, and I've said this
for what purpose? So there was deligations from NT that
we'd be pork barreling around roads money. It's absolutely what they.
Speaker 2 (13:31):
Said to us was that they wanted that data so
that everybody could be sure that it's going into the
areas that it's absolutely required.
Speaker 1 (13:37):
Yes, well it is. I can assure territories it is
so that road data is some of it is already
available anyway. By the way, it is available on the
Road Safety website. But Northern Territory Government uses any coronial
information to make sure that we implement the recommendations from
those coronials. The territory has still has seventy percent of
our roads at a dirt. We continue to roll out
(14:00):
bitchamen across the territory, and I have a minister as
Minister for Transport, probably delivered more bitchamen than any minister previously.
Speaker 2 (14:06):
Well, Chief Minister evil all that we are going to
have to leave it there, Thank you. As always for
your time. Thank you, thank you,