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March 3, 2025 • 13 mins

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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Now we know. The Northern Territory police were out yesterday
speaking about the terrible rates of domestic violence that we're
seeing after another domestic violence death on the weekend. As
we reported on the show yesterday, a man was killed
at the hands of his partner in Alowa. Police arrested
a thirty one year old woman following the alleged stabbing,

(00:20):
as well as an attack on another woman. Now that
alleged defender has now been charged. Assistant Commissioner Travis Wurst
holding a press conference yesterday afternoon to say the level
of violence perpetrated on victims of domestic violence on the
weekend was unprecedented. The Opposition leader Selena Ubo joins me

(00:41):
on the line.

Speaker 2 (00:42):
Good morning, Selena, Good morning Katie, and good morning to
your listeners.

Speaker 1 (00:45):
Selena, you and I have spoken about the rates of
domestic violence on this show on so many occasions, but
the violence continues to plague the Northern Territory and sadly,
many of the deaths that we are seeing are Aboriginal wins.
And on the weekend, a man allegedly killed at the
hands of his partner. Selena, do you think there is

(01:07):
anything which can be done urgently in this space to
try and make some in roads.

Speaker 2 (01:12):
Yeah, O, Katie, it really does feel like every time
we have this conversation, something else horrific has happened in
the Northern Territory that's related to domestic violence, and it
just ricochets right across all of our communities in the
NT because of that close connectedness we have in the NT,
which we love, but it also means that we hurt
when other people are hurting in the NT. I think that,

(01:35):
you know, we'll continue as the Labor Opposition to put
pressure on Leifanokiara and her COLP government to really roll
out that one hundred and eighty million which was committed
to Territorians in the NT election six months ago. We
know that the domestic violence sector is unfortunately swamped. They
do an amazing job, but they just can't get ahead

(01:56):
because they aren't resourced properly. And I know that this
will make a huge deal getting those dollars out the door.
Some of the programs that our DV sector facilitate are amazing.
I've met with quite a few of our providers over
the last couple of weeks, in particular across different parts
of the NTKD and they are desperate for this money.
They're desperate for this funding so we can see those

(02:19):
horrific numbers of DV and hopefully one day the prevention
of some of these horrible deaths that we're seeing in
the NT, because we know that it hurts all of
us in the NT when we hear terrible news like this, and.

Speaker 1 (02:32):
It just like you know, like I said, right from
the get go, it just seems to continue to happen.
And look, I know that it's politics to you know,
to point out, you know, where others could be doing better.
And I know that this is something that has been
spoken about for a number of years. But right now,
the really sad thing is that we seem to be

(02:54):
almost losing a Territori in every fortnight to domestic violence
and it doesn't even seem to rate a mention nationally.
Do you think that greater national attention would make any difference?
I mean, does this need to be an issue for
Territorians when it comes to the federal election. Does it
need to be an issue for all Australians ahead of

(03:16):
the federal election.

Speaker 2 (03:18):
Katie, I think attention and focus and highlighting some of
these horrific incidents in the territory does help, but what
we need is action. We need to make sure that
we have needs based funding in the Northern Territory, which
we've never had for the domestic violence sector. We need
to continue to put pressure on the federal government around
that because it's a drop in the water for them

(03:39):
in terms of the ocean of funding in the federal
landscape when we're talking about the dollars, but it makes
such huge waves of difference when it lands in the
Northern Territory. So we need to continue to have that
attention in that sense. But we want to have action.
We don't want to have sympathy from people down south
and the rest of the country. We want to have support.
We want to make sure that we can uplift the territory,

(04:02):
particularly around getting out of this scurge of domestic violence
and the horrific rates that are seen here that nowhere
else in the country experiences.

Speaker 1 (04:10):
Katie No, that's exactly right, Opposition leader. Let's move along.
The government yesterday announcing that they're going to be delivering
critical workforce support for NT correction staff through a partnership
between the Department of Corrections and G four S, who
they've described as a leader in custodial services. Now the
Corrections Commissioner, Matthew sorry, the Corrections Commissioner, I should say

(04:32):
Matthew Varley joined me on the show yesterday. He said
that staff would be initially surged in from other jurisdictions
to support local staff. So those G four S staff.
But we have got more than one hundred beds expected
to come online by the end of the week, fifty
two of those in h bloc. I mean. The agreement
with G four S follows what the government's described as

(04:54):
a rapid, robust and thorough procurement process through the Department
of Corrections. It's going to be rolled out under a
phased approach. Do you think this is a good move
to support our hard working correction staff.

Speaker 2 (05:06):
Yeah, Katie, this is another area we've talked about a
fair bit on the show together. This is an interesting
one because I'm not sure where the COLP government has
put out a released a tender for this particular contract,
so I'm really interested in how much this is going
to cost taxpayers. There was no tender released online normally

(05:27):
that's even if it's a rapid process, they can have
rapid turnaround, open procurement and tenders that go out. You know,
there's we've been told that there's a commercial in confidence arrangements.
We understand that, but there's no answers around how much
this is going to cost the territory taxpayer, and there's
no information about how this procurement, this tender, this contract

(05:48):
was arranged. And interestingly too, Katie, the Corrections Minister, his
advisor has just recently come from working from g fours
as a company, So I'd like to know if there
was a conflict of interest ECAID properly in those arrangements.

Speaker 1 (06:03):
So you reckon something potentially untowards going on here.

Speaker 2 (06:08):
Well, I just think there just needs to be some
openness around it. We know that the process of surging
some workforce from interstate, how much is it going to cost?
We know the unions and the contract ascuse me and
the corrections officers are not happy about this contracting arrangement.
But if the government's going to be open and transparent,
we'd need to know those basic questions how much is
this going to cost, how is the contract procured, was

(06:30):
it an open tender, and just answering those very basic
and simple government questions from the COLP would be helpful
to understand how they're going to move forward. Is the
surge going to be a stop gap or is it
going to be a permanent arrangement. We don't know that either, Katie.

Speaker 1 (06:45):
So Selena just on that, just to sort of delve
into that a bit more deeply. What you were saying
is that there was no public tender for this, and
you're questioning why that was the case, and obviously the
additional questions about how much it's going to cost, all
that kind of thing. But then step further as you're
saying that the minister has an adviser working in the

(07:05):
office that previously worked for this organization or this company.

Speaker 2 (07:10):
Yes, exactly, and if there was an online tender and process,
I'd be very happy to be corrected in that, Katie,
But we cannot find anything that shows this has been
a public, an open and transparent process.

Speaker 1 (07:22):
Do you know if, like under the former government which
you were part of, do you know if there was
ever a situation where a tender would go out or
a tender would be awarded in that way without it
being published or public.

Speaker 2 (07:36):
Well, not in terms of an arrangement of a private business.
I know that there are panel contractors, particularly we've been
talking about construction, Katie, you know, roads and housing, repairs
and maintenance, etc. So I know there's panel contract but
you have to get on that panel. You have to
be hit a certain criteria of government to then be
you know, Hasilina, We've got this house that needs to

(07:58):
be fixed up. Can you get there yet? If not, Selena, Katy,
can you do that, etc. So you go down the list.
But there's because they're creating a whole new process, Katie,
around the surge of the workforce for corrections, bringing outside
territory workers into the territory to do this work. There
has to be a very open and robust process to

(08:18):
show not just territories but particularly corrections officers who have
not been happy about this announcement from the start, but
to show that there is due diligence in that process
of creating a new system, creating a new perhaps panel
of contractors that can come in and do the corrections
private security work that is being led into. So there's

(08:39):
just it doesn't sit right with me, Katie, and I'd
just love to have those questions answered.

Speaker 1 (08:42):
Well, look, we might put a few questions to the
government about this, because I think it's fair enough to
ask how that contract was awarded, if indeed there wasn't
an open procurement process, or the way in which this
did happen. But also the point that you've raised there
about a staff I think that we're going to need
to know to get some information from the government about

(09:04):
that and for them to clarify whether a conflict was
indeed declared or not.

Speaker 2 (09:09):
Yeah, I think it just puts a bit of peace
of mind to territories if processes have been followed, and
if they haven't, what new processes are being created and
what's driving that structure, that criteria that guidelines so people
can have that piece of mind.

Speaker 1 (09:22):
Look, Crystal's just informed me the commissioner had said yesterday
it was a select tender. Does that make it any
different in your eyes?

Speaker 2 (09:30):
Yeah, it's interesting because this again, this is a process
that's never been seen or done in the Northern Territory.
So a select tender process for corrections outsourcing. I would
like to see what the criteria for that process would be.
So very happy. Obviously we'll do our homework again to
be corrected. But there was not publicly arranged tender, which

(09:51):
means if it's a select tender, they've already got a
panel of contractors. How have they created that? I think
it was five contractors that might have expressed it to
the government of doing this work. And then what has
then led to the final decision about this one particular company.

Speaker 1 (10:06):
All right, So we'll try and find out some more.
Just like just trying to remember from my conversation with
the Corrections Commissioner yesterday, I did think that he had
said an EOI had gone out. But I'll have to
go back and have a listener and we will make
sure that we do get a response from the Minister's office. Selena,
let's move along. I do want to ask you about

(10:27):
this story around the IKAC releasing a report on Friday
stating that an unnamed senior executive public officer had failed
to disclose the full extent of their friendship with a
candidate despite remaining on the recruitment panel and providing them
with a reference. The IKAG delegate Patricia Kelly said that
Operation Apollo found the senior public servant had committed unsatisfactory

(10:51):
conduct in the management of their conflicts of interest, calling
it negligent and incompetent. Now, the Chief Minister's declined to
disclose who that person was or go into a huge
amount of detail about this when we asked her about
it yesterday. Do you think this person should be named
or stand down?

Speaker 2 (11:10):
Well, Katie, I think that when we talk about public
resources and anything that has been proven to be misused
is serious here in the Northern Territory because again that
close connection. People wanted to make sure that their taxpayers
dollars are being spent properly and in the right way.
And when something like this comes out at the highest level,

(11:30):
I don't think the Chief Minister can step around it
or make excuses for it. There has to be accountability
and responsibility in this, Katie.

Speaker 1 (11:38):
So do you I mean, do you think that person
should stand down?

Speaker 2 (11:42):
Well? I mean it's up to the Chief Minister, and
she just at the moment doesn't sound like she's wanting
to even address it or show leadership. I think the
community will expect her to do so, and I think
that if there should be some more questions asked on
this particular issue, Katie, I don't think it is enough
for the Chief Minister the sidestep. It's wanting to show
leadership she needs to deal with and answer some very

(12:02):
serious questions.

Speaker 1 (12:04):
All right, Just finally this morning, we know discussion over
the Darwin Port it's heating up. Do you think it
needs to go back into Australian hands.

Speaker 2 (12:11):
Yeah, And I think this one's a very interesting one
as well, Katie. I know it has been a very
sore point for many Territorians around the selling of the
Darwin Port I think under the gile CLP government years
ago and obviously haven't recovered from that and the national interests.
We are very strategically placed here in the Northern Territory
with particularly when it comes to defense, but when it

(12:33):
comes to international trade and some of our key natural
resources here in the territory. So I think this will
heat up quite a bit, particularly with the federal election.

Speaker 1 (12:44):
Call me a skeptic, but I feel like it kind
of comes up whenever there is a.

Speaker 2 (12:50):
I agree. I think most people go, oh, yeah, that's right,
Thedport got sold, and then they go, oh yeah, federal election,
that's what we're talking about it again.

Speaker 1 (12:57):
And look, I do think it's something that people are
really passionate about. I know at the time it was
something that people were furious about on the show. I also,
you know, I think that the whole sort of you know,
the way that the world is at the moment is
very different, even with the Chinese warships just a couple
of weeks ago or a week or so ago, you know,
in Australian waters. So there is definitely reason, I think,

(13:21):
for it to be on the agenda again. But yeah,
whenever it does come up, I can't help but think, oh,
there must be something about to you know, a federal
election or something looming.

Speaker 2 (13:31):
Yeah, I think it is, but I know the huge
interest that people have, particularly in the top end around
the Darwin Port. So we'll be following this on very closely.

Speaker 1 (13:39):
Katie selena Ubo, Opposition Leader and Leader of the Labor Party,
thank you as always for your time this morning.

Speaker 2 (13:46):
Thank you so much. Katie, have a good day you too.

Speaker 1 (13:48):
Thank you
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