Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
We know that quite a few announcements, quite a few
political announcements are indeed being made just thirty nine days
out from the election.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
But we also know school is back.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
Across the Northern Territory today, thousands of kids heading back
into the classrooms for the second half of the school year,
and it does seem like those battle lines are being
drawn when it comes to education and sport ahead of
the Northern Territory election now. Yesterday, the Northern Territory Government
announced that all students are going to have access to
a support network in every school with the creation of
(00:30):
new roles. They're called Student Wellbeing Officers. The officers are
set to be professionals of different backgrounds, with qualifications in
fields like youth work with a high level of experience
in working with children. Fourteen Wellbeing officers are being funded
as part of this two point eight million dollar program,
with nine starting at schools in term three and recruitment
(00:52):
almost complete for others who are going to commence next year.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
The announcement comes.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
After a lot of pressure on this show from students
and indeed parents, calling for greater support. Now joining us
in the studio as she does most Tuesday mornings, it
easily if okiao the opposition leader, good morning.
Speaker 3 (01:08):
To you leave morning Katie, and safe to say I
won mother of the year this morning, both kids drop late.
Fantastic winning. I'm winning the day. Shall pleave other parents
out there in my position? I hope there are I
hope I'm not alone.
Speaker 1 (01:22):
Look was it's a strike start getting them back after
over three weeks of being on school holidays. But a
reminder of course as well to all of the parents
out there to make sure that well and to everybody.
Speaker 3 (01:34):
Driving is to slow down right absolutely absolutely, yeah, good
luck to all the teachers as well as Oh it's
great to have them back with you.
Speaker 1 (01:41):
It truly is, and I do a phenomenal gene do Hey,
what do you make of the announcement by the Chief
Minister and Education Minister yesterday? Does this go far enough
in terms of student welfare and support?
Speaker 3 (01:53):
It really doesn't. Currently the government has a number of
positions for school counselors and it's only filled half of them.
We want to see a real focus of having that
qualified support in schools and filling those counselor positions. Now
additional positions of well being which are not those experienced
counselor positions are obviously very welcome, but we need to
(02:13):
be making sure we have the professional support for our
kids when they need it. And of course, who could
forget last year when Labor centralized counselors into Darwin City.
People were furious about it, totally furious. They need to
be in schools. We need to fill those positions. So well,
being's great, but let's really focus on getting the professionals
we need for our kids in schools.
Speaker 1 (02:33):
I mean a further sixty thousand dollars though it has
also been emarked for new scholarship, a new scholarship program
to increase the school councilor workforce by growing our own
Surely that's a good thing.
Speaker 3 (02:43):
Great, fantastic and you know, it's great to see the
government starting to do good things five weeks out from
an election, Katie, I think they've had eight years. Where
was the action? Then?
Speaker 1 (02:53):
Is there anything that you guys plan to do that
the COLP does plan to do? We free elected in
this space or if elected in this space.
Speaker 3 (03:00):
Our focus really is around filling those counselor positions to
attract people to the territory, retain people here. We need
a safe community. We need our housing program up and
running so the you know, these are key focuses for us.
We need to be having the competency of the school
counselors and they need to be in our schools. And
(03:20):
to do that, we need to have a safe community.
We need to have houses available for people to move here,
and we need to have a strong economy.
Speaker 1 (03:26):
Is it easier said than done trying to fill these
roles because I guess you know, from the outside looking in,
you sort of think to yourself, if it was as
easy as as it, you know, you've made it sound,
surely they'd be doing it.
Speaker 3 (03:38):
Well, it's not easy when crime's out of control and
there's nowhere for people to live. People just the reality
is people do not want to move here. And your
listeners will be employers or they'll be employees and they'll
know people exactly in that position. So we've got to
change the dynamic of the territory. We've got to fight
for this place to be better, and the territory can
be better, and it will be better under a CLP
(03:58):
government if we get the chance. So it's really about
changing the dynamics of the territory, encouraging people to come
having a great place to live, a safe place to live,
and making sure we lock in those professionals that we
desperately need so our kids can have the best chance
in life.
Speaker 1 (04:13):
All Right. The COLP yesterday announced that it's going to
provide swimming lessons for free to all primary school age
children if elected in August, which is expected to cost
three million.
Speaker 3 (04:22):
Dollars a year.
Speaker 2 (04:23):
How exactly is this going to work?
Speaker 3 (04:25):
So this is a very exciting announcement. It's something we've
been looking forward to announcing. It's been called for by
Royal Life Saving, Surf Life Saving Triathlon and Tea Swimming
and Tea Kids Safe and Tea and AFANT and it's
something we wholeheartedly support for long term territorians like us Katie.
When we went to school, we had to do swimming
(04:47):
and life saving. This was about water safety, not just
how to swim, and that hasn't been the case for
twenty five years. So by bringing that back, embedding it
in the school curriculum, we can increase the competency of
our kids in the water. This will be fully funded,
so it comes at no cost to parents, no cost
to schools. That's three million dollars of money well spent
(05:08):
for every single child from you one to six. Whether
you live in u Endo Moo or Malac, your kids
will get access to this swimming. It's fully constant and
funded additional money into the education department so that they're
not having to find it from within and it's an
exciting move forward. We've got five percent of year six's
(05:28):
meet the national level of swimming, Katie, So.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
Support it is a bad thing. Yeah, and look it's
something that I as.
Speaker 1 (05:34):
Look I did my schooling in Queensland and it is
something that every kid does, or they certainly did when.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
I was at school.
Speaker 1 (05:40):
And I know that's a long time ago, but doing
your bronze medallion and also doing swimming lessons is something
that every kid does. I also taught learned to swim
for a huge portion of my life, so I think
it's incredibly important that kids do learn to swim. I
guess you know, it seems like a great announcement, but
many schools seem to have stepped away from this, and
(06:00):
I believe the reason is actually transport costs.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
Yes, that's right, So it's three million going to be enough.
Speaker 3 (06:05):
Yes, this has been fully costed by that coalition of
swimming organizations, and you're right, and so schools also parents
can't afford it, so you have a situation where some
kids are going, some kids aren't. It becomes a nightmare
for the school. This really has got to be part
of the curriculum. It's actually part of the national curriculum,
and it's just not being rolled out properly in the territory.
Speaker 2 (06:27):
So we are.
Speaker 3 (06:27):
Supposed to be doing it and we're not. And so
this is going to take a lot of pressure of families.
And we know in some schools and particularly remote they're
using their back to school voucher and their sports voucher
to pay for swimming in schools. We need people using
that money to help the get their kids in extra
curricular activities and let us support proper school school swimming
(06:47):
during school.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
Leah, we know it went still talking sport, right.
Speaker 1 (06:51):
We know the SALPS committed to upgrading sporting facilities and
all built over if elected. But another ground desperately needing
investment is mold and Oval, which was badly burnt on
Territory Day with the irrigation system broken and it was
also apparently struck by lightning, rendering it unsafe and unusable
for hundreds of players and school kids. Are there going
to be any commitments from the COLP to overhaul that oval?
Speaker 3 (07:15):
We certainly know that Moulden Oval has a long history
of being vandalized and damaged and it's just had a
horrible run. I think we need to be looking at,
you know, whether the school actually has the capacity to
look after that oval, how we can better support the
club to be able to run their juniors and seniors
on the oval. So it's certainly something that we're looking at, Katie,
(07:35):
and indeed all of our sporting infrastructure across the territory.
If we want to have a healthy community, we've got
to get kids playing well.
Speaker 2 (07:42):
This is the thing.
Speaker 1 (07:42):
So we literally we spoke to the rugby League club
and also to the rugby union club that utilize that
facility a couple of weeks ago and the essentially said
to us, you know, they've got volunteers that are doing
their best to run those clubs right. But then you're
in a situation where the ground, for whatever reason, based
on the year ago system has been let go brown.
Then on Territory Day it lights up like a tinder box,
(08:04):
which is just unbelievable. To me. So it's wonderful to
have these million dollar sporting announcements being made, but if
we can't even water.
Speaker 3 (08:12):
A bloody do the basics exactly, how.
Speaker 1 (08:13):
Are we going to like, how are we going to
do all the other stuff? So, I mean, is it
something that the colp is is committed to looking into?
Speaker 3 (08:20):
Absolutely, And you've hit the nail on the head. You
can do big, shiny announcements, but when you can't even
do the basics, the community give you a sideways glance.
And that's why it's about really looking at what we
need here in the territory. The time for shiny toys
really isn't now. What we need is to be rebuilding
the territory and that starts with getting back to basics
(08:40):
on fundamental things. Making sure schools are working, probably our
hospital is working, Probably sports have basic adequate facilities, that
we have the safe community. I mean, these aren't they're
not going to get the front page of a glossy magazine, Katie,
but they make everyone's life better and that's what needs
to be done well.
Speaker 1 (08:57):
And it also means that kids are out there doing
productive activities and the likelihood of them getting involved in
the wrong thing when they're part of a sporting club
and when you've got people around you supporting you, I
think makes a huge difference. Leah.
Speaker 2 (09:11):
A quick question from Hugh.
Speaker 1 (09:12):
He says, well, the school funding promised by the SEALP
for swimming apply to private schools as well.
Speaker 3 (09:17):
It will all schools. Every single kid in the territory
deserves to have water safety and swimming lessons. It's very
important and we don't have you know, I know, labor
have a beef with private schools.
Speaker 2 (09:30):
We don't.
Speaker 3 (09:31):
Education is about choice for families and parents. It's up
to every parent to make that call. But what we
want is every child to have the most competent level
of swimming and water safety they can. We love our fishing,
we love our water sports, we love getting out around
the territory and many people have pools in their backyard
and so we need to be making sure our kids
are as safe as possible in the water, Leah.
Speaker 1 (09:52):
Over the weekend I was sent some pretty shocking vision
from our CBD have somebody allegedly getting out of a
vehicle armed the machete and chasing other people. Like I said,
we've been sent that vision here on Mix one. Oh
four nine. We are chasing that up with the Northern
Territory Police. Has that issue? Have you been told anything
about that from the weekend.
Speaker 3 (10:12):
Yes, I had heard about that, Katie, and you know
a range of other horrific incidences and even just yesterday
actually I had the opportunity to catch up with Chris Hopper,
the husband and father of the police who were assaulted
in Alice Springs. So when you talk to Joe Hersey,
crime and Catherine is totally out of control. Again, this
issue is not going away until we strengthen the law
(10:32):
and back our police. Crime is just going to continue
to get worse and worse, and people are going to
have to continue to barricade themselves into their homes and
their businesses and hope for the best under this labor government.
Speaker 1 (10:43):
I mean, in a situation like the one from this
vision where somebody's like he appears to be chasing other
people with a machete in our CBD, I'm not sure
what time of the day it is. That's why we're
trying to chase this up with the police, crystals onto it.
But in a situation like that, how will it changing
of the laws affect that situation?
Speaker 3 (11:02):
Because you then have police more capable and able to respond,
so for example, when you have less offenders continuously out
on the street. So bail is a big issue we
talk about and why it's important is because if police
catch someone on Monday and then they're bowed immediately, and
then police have to catch that same person on Tuesday
and they're bowed again, and police have to catch that
(11:24):
same person on Wednesday, they're spending all of their time
catching the one person who probably should have just been
behind bars on Monday and save them all of that
time and energy, which means they can then go and
respond to other crimes that are being committed such as these.
It also strengthens then the deterrence. You know, if people
know they're going to be caught and held accountable and
they're going to face a consequence, people are less likely
(11:46):
to commit crimes. And what we will also see is
a de escalation and the severity of those crimes. So
you know, it might start with stealing a chocolate barkatie,
but if that child hasn't been provided with the boundaries
and support they need to stop that behavior, you know,
they're are a one fast track to adult prison with
much more severe offending. So we've got to catch things early.
(12:07):
We've got to make sure we're turning people's lives around.
And by supporting our police with stronger laws, it gives
them more time to be able to protect territorians and
it sends a strong message to the community that it's
not going to be tolerated in the territory.
Speaker 1 (12:20):
All right, before I let you go this morning, I
want to ask you about some comments made on the
week that was on Friday that seemed to raise concerns
with quite a number of our listeners. So there have been,
as we know, plenty of calls from various voices for
a serious look into the organization's receiving funding to deliver
youth services and other services to minimize the issues being
(12:41):
experienced in Ala Springs now. Earlier this year, The ABC
Online reported that Tongue and Gia Council Aboriginal Corporation, who
are paid tens of millions of dollars in government grants
each year to help improve social issues in Ala Springs,
they'd come under fire for declining meetings, allegedly failing to
deliver services at a and allowing a convicted domestic violence
(13:02):
offender to sit on their board. Now, according to that
report by the ABC back in May, in the past
financial year, it collected more than thirty million dollars in
government grants and contracts, including for servicing sixteen town camps
dotted across Alice Springs fringes, as well as a women's
safety group and family violence prevention programs. And we know
(13:23):
that the organization, which employs about three hundred people reportedly
according to the ABC, hadn't released an annual report since
twenty eighteen.
Speaker 2 (13:32):
Now last week.
Speaker 1 (13:33):
We discussed this on the week that was and the
Minister for the Prevention of Domestic and Family Violence, Kate Warden,
confirmed on the show on Friday that Tongueenjia had their
funding doubled for the men's behavior Change program despite the
fact you know that those concerns had been raised back
in May.
Speaker 2 (13:51):
Do you think that that's appropriate.
Speaker 3 (13:52):
Well, there's clearly governance issues that this government is failing
to address. Now, we wrote to the Prime Minister well
over a year ago, probably it's probably closer to two
years ago saying there needed to be an audit of
how money is being spent and to those organizations that
are supposed to be spending it for the betterment of
our community. Now, until we look at how money is
being spent and whether or not we're actually achieving anything
(14:15):
with that money, we're going to continue to pour money
into a broken system without getting the outcomes that the
community expects. And so this again raises a huge red
flag about this government ignoring a key issue. It's a
little bit like Narge almost. You know, they've clearly got
some serious issues and the Attorney General has failed in
his obligation to make sure that we have a strong
(14:37):
provider of legal services so.
Speaker 1 (14:39):
Well the COLP, I mean, if elected, is the COLP
prepared to put in place some measures to ensure that
service providers are held to account and are being transparent.
Speaker 3 (14:49):
Absolutely, and we need to have that order and it's
what we've called for, it's what we've said we'll do.
We need to be auditing all the money going into
these youth services and working out whether the programs are working,
whether we need to be spending more in certain areas
less in certain areas. There's no point just continuing to
pour more and more money. Anyone across the territory could
tell you the outcomes aren't better. So we're clearly spending
(15:10):
more money than ever before, but getting worse outcomes than
ever before. So something is not working there, Gayety, and
you have to get to the bottom of it. We
are about spending taxpayers money responsibly and prudently and in
delivering outcomes, and so we have to get to the
bottom of where all this money's going.
Speaker 1 (15:26):
Leah Finocchiaro, we are going to have to leave it there,
Opposition leader. Always good to speak with you. Thanks for
your time this morning.
Speaker 3 (15:32):
Take care everyone,
We know that quite a few announcements, quite a few
political announcements are indeed being made just thirty nine days
out from the election.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
But we also know school is back.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
Across the Northern Territory today, thousands of kids heading back
into the classrooms for the second half of the school year,
and it does seem like those battle lines are being
drawn when it comes to education and sport ahead of
the Northern Territory election now. Yesterday, the Northern Territory Government
announced that all students are going to have access to
a support network in every school with the creation of
(00:30):
new roles. They're called Student Wellbeing Officers. The officers are
set to be professionals of different backgrounds, with qualifications in
fields like youth work with a high level of experience
in working with children. Fourteen Wellbeing officers are being funded
as part of this two point eight million dollar program,
with nine starting at schools in term three and recruitment
(00:52):
almost complete for others who are going to commence next year.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
The announcement comes.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
After a lot of pressure on this show from students
and indeed parents, calling for greater support. Now joining us
in the studio as she does most Tuesday mornings, it
easily if okiao the opposition leader, good morning.
Speaker 3 (01:08):
To you leave morning Katie, and safe to say I
won mother of the year this morning, both kids drop late.
Fantastic winning. I'm winning the day. Shall pleave other parents
out there in my position? I hope there are I
hope I'm not alone.
Speaker 1 (01:22):
Look was it's a strike start getting them back after
over three weeks of being on school holidays. But a
reminder of course as well to all of the parents
out there to make sure that well and to everybody.
Speaker 3 (01:34):
Driving is to slow down right absolutely absolutely, yeah, good
luck to all the teachers as well as Oh it's
great to have them back with you.
Speaker 1 (01:41):
It truly is, and I do a phenomenal gene do Hey,
what do you make of the announcement by the Chief
Minister and Education Minister yesterday? Does this go far enough
in terms of student welfare and support?
Speaker 3 (01:53):
It really doesn't. Currently the government has a number of
positions for school counselors and it's only filled half of them.
We want to see a real focus of having that
qualified support in schools and filling those counselor positions. Now
additional positions of well being which are not those experienced
counselor positions are obviously very welcome, but we need to
(02:13):
be making sure we have the professional support for our
kids when they need it. And of course, who could
forget last year when Labor centralized counselors into Darwin City.
People were furious about it, totally furious. They need to
be in schools. We need to fill those positions. So well,
being's great, but let's really focus on getting the professionals
we need for our kids in schools.
Speaker 1 (02:33):
I mean a further sixty thousand dollars though it has
also been emarked for new scholarship, a new scholarship program
to increase the school councilor workforce by growing our own
Surely that's a good thing.
Speaker 3 (02:43):
Great, fantastic and you know, it's great to see the
government starting to do good things five weeks out from
an election, Katie, I think they've had eight years. Where
was the action? Then?
Speaker 1 (02:53):
Is there anything that you guys plan to do that
the COLP does plan to do? We free elected in
this space or if elected in this space.
Speaker 3 (03:00):
Our focus really is around filling those counselor positions to
attract people to the territory, retain people here. We need
a safe community. We need our housing program up and
running so the you know, these are key focuses for us.
We need to be having the competency of the school
counselors and they need to be in our schools. And
(03:20):
to do that, we need to have a safe community.
We need to have houses available for people to move here,
and we need to have a strong economy.
Speaker 1 (03:26):
Is it easier said than done trying to fill these
roles because I guess you know, from the outside looking in,
you sort of think to yourself, if it was as
easy as as it, you know, you've made it sound,
surely they'd be doing it.
Speaker 3 (03:38):
Well, it's not easy when crime's out of control and
there's nowhere for people to live. People just the reality
is people do not want to move here. And your
listeners will be employers or they'll be employees and they'll
know people exactly in that position. So we've got to
change the dynamic of the territory. We've got to fight
for this place to be better, and the territory can
be better, and it will be better under a CLP
(03:58):
government if we get the chance. So it's really about
changing the dynamics of the territory, encouraging people to come
having a great place to live, a safe place to live,
and making sure we lock in those professionals that we
desperately need so our kids can have the best chance
in life.
Speaker 1 (04:13):
All Right. The COLP yesterday announced that it's going to
provide swimming lessons for free to all primary school age
children if elected in August, which is expected to cost
three million.
Speaker 3 (04:22):
Dollars a year.
Speaker 2 (04:23):
How exactly is this going to work?
Speaker 3 (04:25):
So this is a very exciting announcement. It's something we've
been looking forward to announcing. It's been called for by
Royal Life Saving, Surf Life Saving Triathlon and Tea Swimming
and Tea Kids Safe and Tea and AFANT and it's
something we wholeheartedly support for long term territorians like us Katie.
When we went to school, we had to do swimming
(04:47):
and life saving. This was about water safety, not just
how to swim, and that hasn't been the case for
twenty five years. So by bringing that back, embedding it
in the school curriculum, we can increase the competency of
our kids in the water. This will be fully funded,
so it comes at no cost to parents, no cost
to schools. That's three million dollars of money well spent
(05:08):
for every single child from you one to six. Whether
you live in u Endo Moo or Malac, your kids
will get access to this swimming. It's fully constant and
funded additional money into the education department so that they're
not having to find it from within and it's an
exciting move forward. We've got five percent of year six's
(05:28):
meet the national level of swimming, Katie, So.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
Support it is a bad thing. Yeah, and look it's
something that I as.
Speaker 1 (05:34):
Look I did my schooling in Queensland and it is
something that every kid does, or they certainly did when.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
I was at school.
Speaker 1 (05:40):
And I know that's a long time ago, but doing
your bronze medallion and also doing swimming lessons is something
that every kid does. I also taught learned to swim
for a huge portion of my life, so I think
it's incredibly important that kids do learn to swim. I
guess you know, it seems like a great announcement, but
many schools seem to have stepped away from this, and
(06:00):
I believe the reason is actually transport costs.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
Yes, that's right, So it's three million going to be enough.
Speaker 3 (06:05):
Yes, this has been fully costed by that coalition of
swimming organizations, and you're right, and so schools also parents
can't afford it, so you have a situation where some
kids are going, some kids aren't. It becomes a nightmare
for the school. This really has got to be part
of the curriculum. It's actually part of the national curriculum,
and it's just not being rolled out properly in the territory.
Speaker 2 (06:27):
So we are.
Speaker 3 (06:27):
Supposed to be doing it and we're not. And so
this is going to take a lot of pressure of families.
And we know in some schools and particularly remote they're
using their back to school voucher and their sports voucher
to pay for swimming in schools. We need people using
that money to help the get their kids in extra
curricular activities and let us support proper school school swimming
(06:47):
during school.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
Leah, we know it went still talking sport, right.
Speaker 1 (06:51):
We know the SALPS committed to upgrading sporting facilities and
all built over if elected. But another ground desperately needing
investment is mold and Oval, which was badly burnt on
Territory Day with the irrigation system broken and it was
also apparently struck by lightning, rendering it unsafe and unusable
for hundreds of players and school kids. Are there going
to be any commitments from the COLP to overhaul that oval?
Speaker 3 (07:15):
We certainly know that Moulden Oval has a long history
of being vandalized and damaged and it's just had a
horrible run. I think we need to be looking at,
you know, whether the school actually has the capacity to
look after that oval, how we can better support the
club to be able to run their juniors and seniors
on the oval. So it's certainly something that we're looking at, Katie,
(07:35):
and indeed all of our sporting infrastructure across the territory.
If we want to have a healthy community, we've got
to get kids playing well.
Speaker 2 (07:42):
This is the thing.
Speaker 1 (07:42):
So we literally we spoke to the rugby League club
and also to the rugby union club that utilize that
facility a couple of weeks ago and the essentially said
to us, you know, they've got volunteers that are doing
their best to run those clubs right. But then you're
in a situation where the ground, for whatever reason, based
on the year ago system has been let go brown.
Then on Territory Day it lights up like a tinder box,
(08:04):
which is just unbelievable. To me. So it's wonderful to
have these million dollar sporting announcements being made, but if
we can't even water.
Speaker 3 (08:12):
A bloody do the basics exactly, how.
Speaker 1 (08:13):
Are we going to like, how are we going to
do all the other stuff? So, I mean, is it
something that the colp is is committed to looking into?
Speaker 3 (08:20):
Absolutely, And you've hit the nail on the head. You
can do big, shiny announcements, but when you can't even
do the basics, the community give you a sideways glance.
And that's why it's about really looking at what we
need here in the territory. The time for shiny toys
really isn't now. What we need is to be rebuilding
the territory and that starts with getting back to basics
(08:40):
on fundamental things. Making sure schools are working, probably our
hospital is working, Probably sports have basic adequate facilities, that
we have the safe community. I mean, these aren't they're
not going to get the front page of a glossy magazine, Katie,
but they make everyone's life better and that's what needs
to be done well.
Speaker 1 (08:57):
And it also means that kids are out there doing
productive activities and the likelihood of them getting involved in
the wrong thing when they're part of a sporting club
and when you've got people around you supporting you, I
think makes a huge difference. Leah.
Speaker 2 (09:11):
A quick question from Hugh.
Speaker 1 (09:12):
He says, well, the school funding promised by the SEALP
for swimming apply to private schools as well.
Speaker 3 (09:17):
It will all schools. Every single kid in the territory
deserves to have water safety and swimming lessons. It's very
important and we don't have you know, I know, labor
have a beef with private schools.
Speaker 2 (09:30):
We don't.
Speaker 3 (09:31):
Education is about choice for families and parents. It's up
to every parent to make that call. But what we
want is every child to have the most competent level
of swimming and water safety they can. We love our fishing,
we love our water sports, we love getting out around
the territory and many people have pools in their backyard
and so we need to be making sure our kids
are as safe as possible in the water, Leah.
Speaker 1 (09:52):
Over the weekend I was sent some pretty shocking vision
from our CBD have somebody allegedly getting out of a
vehicle armed the machete and chasing other people. Like I said,
we've been sent that vision here on Mix one. Oh
four nine. We are chasing that up with the Northern
Territory Police. Has that issue? Have you been told anything
about that from the weekend.
Speaker 3 (10:12):
Yes, I had heard about that, Katie, and you know
a range of other horrific incidences and even just yesterday
actually I had the opportunity to catch up with Chris Hopper,
the husband and father of the police who were assaulted
in Alice Springs. So when you talk to Joe Hersey,
crime and Catherine is totally out of control. Again, this
issue is not going away until we strengthen the law
(10:32):
and back our police. Crime is just going to continue
to get worse and worse, and people are going to
have to continue to barricade themselves into their homes and
their businesses and hope for the best under this labor government.
Speaker 1 (10:43):
I mean, in a situation like the one from this
vision where somebody's like he appears to be chasing other
people with a machete in our CBD, I'm not sure
what time of the day it is. That's why we're
trying to chase this up with the police, crystals onto it.
But in a situation like that, how will it changing
of the laws affect that situation?
Speaker 3 (11:02):
Because you then have police more capable and able to respond,
so for example, when you have less offenders continuously out
on the street. So bail is a big issue we
talk about and why it's important is because if police
catch someone on Monday and then they're bowed immediately, and
then police have to catch that same person on Tuesday
and they're bowed again, and police have to catch that
(11:24):
same person on Wednesday, they're spending all of their time
catching the one person who probably should have just been
behind bars on Monday and save them all of that
time and energy, which means they can then go and
respond to other crimes that are being committed such as these.
It also strengthens then the deterrence. You know, if people
know they're going to be caught and held accountable and
they're going to face a consequence, people are less likely
(11:46):
to commit crimes. And what we will also see is
a de escalation and the severity of those crimes. So
you know, it might start with stealing a chocolate barkatie,
but if that child hasn't been provided with the boundaries
and support they need to stop that behavior, you know,
they're are a one fast track to adult prison with
much more severe offending. So we've got to catch things early.
(12:07):
We've got to make sure we're turning people's lives around.
And by supporting our police with stronger laws, it gives
them more time to be able to protect territorians and
it sends a strong message to the community that it's
not going to be tolerated in the territory.
Speaker 1 (12:20):
All right, before I let you go this morning, I
want to ask you about some comments made on the
week that was on Friday that seemed to raise concerns
with quite a number of our listeners. So there have been,
as we know, plenty of calls from various voices for
a serious look into the organization's receiving funding to deliver
youth services and other services to minimize the issues being
(12:41):
experienced in Ala Springs now. Earlier this year, The ABC
Online reported that Tongue and Gia Council Aboriginal Corporation, who
are paid tens of millions of dollars in government grants
each year to help improve social issues in Ala Springs,
they'd come under fire for declining meetings, allegedly failing to
deliver services at a and allowing a convicted domestic violence
(13:02):
offender to sit on their board. Now, according to that
report by the ABC back in May, in the past
financial year, it collected more than thirty million dollars in
government grants and contracts, including for servicing sixteen town camps
dotted across Alice Springs fringes, as well as a women's
safety group and family violence prevention programs. And we know
(13:23):
that the organization, which employs about three hundred people reportedly
according to the ABC, hadn't released an annual report since
twenty eighteen.
Speaker 2 (13:32):
Now last week.
Speaker 1 (13:33):
We discussed this on the week that was and the
Minister for the Prevention of Domestic and Family Violence, Kate Warden,
confirmed on the show on Friday that Tongueenjia had their
funding doubled for the men's behavior Change program despite the
fact you know that those concerns had been raised back
in May.
Speaker 2 (13:51):
Do you think that that's appropriate.
Speaker 3 (13:52):
Well, there's clearly governance issues that this government is failing
to address. Now, we wrote to the Prime Minister well
over a year ago, probably it's probably closer to two
years ago saying there needed to be an audit of
how money is being spent and to those organizations that
are supposed to be spending it for the betterment of
our community. Now, until we look at how money is
being spent and whether or not we're actually achieving anything
(14:15):
with that money, we're going to continue to pour money
into a broken system without getting the outcomes that the
community expects. And so this again raises a huge red
flag about this government ignoring a key issue. It's a
little bit like Narge almost. You know, they've clearly got
some serious issues and the Attorney General has failed in
his obligation to make sure that we have a strong
(14:37):
provider of legal services so.
Speaker 1 (14:39):
Well the COLP, I mean, if elected, is the COLP
prepared to put in place some measures to ensure that
service providers are held to account and are being transparent.
Speaker 3 (14:49):
Absolutely, and we need to have that order and it's
what we've called for, it's what we've said we'll do.
We need to be auditing all the money going into
these youth services and working out whether the programs are working,
whether we need to be spending more in certain areas
less in certain areas. There's no point just continuing to
pour more and more money. Anyone across the territory could
tell you the outcomes aren't better. So we're clearly spending
(15:10):
more money than ever before, but getting worse outcomes than
ever before. So something is not working there, Gayety, and
you have to get to the bottom of it. We
are about spending taxpayers money responsibly and prudently and in
delivering outcomes, and so we have to get to the
bottom of where all this money's going.
Speaker 1 (15:26):
Leah Finocchiaro, we are going to have to leave it there,
Opposition leader. Always good to speak with you. Thanks for
your time this morning.
Speaker 3 (15:32):
Take care everyone,
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang
Ding dong! Join your culture consultants, Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang, on an unforgettable journey into the beating heart of CULTURE. Alongside sizzling special guests, they GET INTO the hottest pop-culture moments of the day and the formative cultural experiences that turned them into Culturistas. Produced by the Big Money Players Network and iHeartRadio.