Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
We know, as I just touched on with the Opposition leader,
that written questions had been asked of the Northern Territory
Government by the opposition as part of the estimates process
around legislative changes when it comes to crime.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Now joining me on the line is the.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
Attorney General of the Northern Territory, Marie Claire booth Be.
Good morning to you. Hang on a second, I better
make sure I've got.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
Her on there. Let's try that again. Good morning to
your Attorney General.
Speaker 3 (00:25):
Good morning Katie, and to your listeners.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
Good to have you on the show. Now, Minister, what
do you think the information that the oppositions asked in
relation to the legislative changes around crime, the fact that
twenty five eight hundred and one chargers have been laid
since August last year to March this year, what do
you think it sees about the state of the Northern Territory.
Speaker 3 (00:50):
Yeah, Katie, it still continues to be a lot of
crime that we just don't want to see in our community.
And as your listeners would know, we were elected on
a basis to reduce crime because we just don't accept
that offenders should continue to get away. We've perpetrating those
crimes on territorians, and we have been very clear right
(01:13):
from the outset. We came to the first settings of Parliament,
passed all of those laws to ensure that we could
crack down on the levels of crime that we're seeing,
and so you know, we won't stand for it. There's
there's still a lot of changes that we have to
make to you know, reduce that crime even further. And
we've seen with patchy areas where there is some statistics
(01:34):
which are coming down, which is a positive sign, like
in terms of say property crime as an example, has
dropped sharply by about forty three percent, which you know,
it's a bit that's a big number to come down
as an example, but of course we know that we
still have assaults and we still have domestic violence numbers
that far too high.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
Well, this is the thing.
Speaker 1 (01:56):
I mean, even as people are listening property crime dropping
forty three percent, I'm not sure what period of time
that's over, but I know that unless people are feeling
like they're safe, and unless they can really see that
there's been a change, quite often, you know, they won't feel.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
Like it's enough.
Speaker 3 (02:11):
That's right, And we've always said, like the statistic is
only part of you know, the measure of success, and
in fact, the most successful part will be when territorians
do feel safe. And I guess you know the suite
of the new laws that we brought in as an example,
like the post and boast and the ram raids. I mean,
we're already seeing people charged and sentenced under both of
(02:33):
those laws, which didn't exist before the election. And so
you know, we know that that is now happening, which
is a good thing. We also know that less people
are getting bail because of the new strong laws that
we introduced, and that the numbers reflect that moment.
Speaker 1 (02:50):
Yes, look, can to tell us some of those can
you tell us some of those numbers?
Speaker 3 (02:54):
Yeah, So basically, if you think about it like this, Katie,
we have five hundred and fifty more prisoners incarcerated than
we had before coming to government, and so that just
demonstrates that people are not getting bail. I mean fifty
percent of those roughly are on remand and so that's
just it's a pure easy statistic to go to which
(03:15):
shows you that you know that people are not getting
bailed because they are incarcerated, because those numbers are so high.
Speaker 1 (03:21):
I mean, when you look at the fact that we've
got fifty percent of those people though on remand and
some of the delays that we're saying through the court system.
And I did touch on this yesterday with the Chief Minister,
and we also spoke about it last week with Naja.
I mean, how do we try to speed things up
further than what we currently are so that you don't
(03:41):
have that many people on remand and some of them
on remand, you know, in the Supreme Court. My understanding
is it's about three hundred odd days that they're on remand.
Speaker 3 (03:50):
For Yeah, that's right, Katie, And I guess, first and
foremost though, our focus is on protecting victims and territorians,
and so we don't make any apology for having more
people incarcerated and on remand. But secondly, of course we
do want to see that addresses well. We don't want
them sitting around in prisons waiting for their trials, especially
(04:12):
if you think about it from a victim's perspective, when
a victim also has to go through all of that
time having to wait for hearings and sentences, and you
know they're watching and waiting to try and recover from
whatever ordeal they've gone through as a victim, so it
is important for us to get that down. It has
been a huge number in terms of the number of
(04:33):
days that people spend on remand and I guess that's
part of the work we're doing in the court's system.
So we obviously we put on more judges. We've secured
permanent contracts for the Director of Prosecutions, including four extra prosecutors.
There's a task team now that's set up that goes
through all of the cases and tries to find the
ones that they could resolve earlier in the piece, you know,
(04:56):
if they've got the right evidence and they can organize
offer a guilty please, And so that works happening as well.
And there's been nearly three hundred of those cases reviewed,
which you know wasn't happening before we were elected and
now it is so. But I absolutely acknowledge there's still
so much work to be done in that space. And
the new budget of course allows for all of that
work to be bolstered. Like one point five billion dollars
(05:18):
in the budgets is the largest that we've ever seen.
Speaker 1 (05:20):
Attorney General Old just move along. Obviously a number of
questions were asked about how many youths and adults have
been charged under those new posts and boast laws. We
know they also the opposition asking those written questions around
the ramraid legislation changes also around the assaults towards frontline workers.
I mean, when you look at the stats, when you
(05:42):
look at those numbers, it's quite a small sample period
to go off in terms of whether we can work
out whether something's working or not. From your perspective as
the Attorney General, do you feel as though these legislative changes,
the tough on crime approach that the COLP government is
taking is working.
Speaker 3 (06:00):
Yeah, Katie, if you think of it like this post
and boast as an offense as the example, there's been
seven individuals charged with that offense. Now that's seven people
who would not have been charged and held to account
for that crime under labor. So at the same thing
with ram raids, there were fourteen individuals that have been
(06:21):
charged with ram rate offenses. Again, that's fourteen individuals that
wouldn't have been charged under labor. So it is a
small number if you look at it from a perspective
of the timing. We've only had it in play for
a number of months, and of course we will see
the stats roll out over time. And of course our government,
you know, we're not a set and forget approach either.
(06:44):
We are continually looking at how it's going, what else
we need to do so that Territorians can feel safe
in their community, and will continue that work. But I think,
like I said, those numbers, they would have just been
back out on the street continuing their crimes under Labor
and we've made those changes, and you know we make
(07:05):
no apologies for that.
Speaker 2 (07:06):
All right, I want to move along.
Speaker 1 (07:08):
It is this morning being reported by the ABC online
that almost four years after the Northern Territory Government committed
to reviewing systemic racism within departments, that you did announce
that a racism review into NTI police has been scrapped.
Speaker 2 (07:24):
Why has that been scrapped?
Speaker 3 (07:27):
Yeah, Katie. This particular racism review was announced under the
former Labor government and it was three hundred thousand dollars
I can confirm, which we've committed under the previous government,
believed by the Chief Minister Evil Lawla at the time
to be given to the Anti Discrimination Commissioner to conduct
that review on into police. Now intercoming into government in August,
(07:51):
obviously we realized that there was a huge budget deficits.
You know, we didn't have We had nowhere near the
amount of money that we needed to be able to
push forward on our election commitments being you know, reducing crime,
rebuild an economy and restoring lifestyle. We then had you
may remember late last year we had Legal Aid who
(08:15):
was in absolute disarrays. So we had to make a
really tough decision and we had to find enough money
to give to Legal Aids so that people could be represented.
Speaker 2 (08:24):
So you're saying instead of spending all that.
Speaker 3 (08:27):
Round two thousand dollars yet from the Police Review Racism
Review over to Legal Aid. What I do know is
the police were already doing work about, you know, making
sure that racism wasn't an issue going forward. They employed
Lee and Little they're they're covering a broad range of
(08:49):
initiatives like including a cultural reform and internal strategies that
they have And my understanding is that work was Underwagh
and continues. But I guess, you know, we as a government,
we have to make tough decisions. We needed that three
hundred thousand dollars to assist Legal Aid, and of course
they needed assistance in part because the problems that Naja
(09:10):
were having as well. So it was like a much
bigger problem that needed to be addressed, and it was
certainly a priority that needed immediate focus.
Speaker 1 (09:17):
And so the time, what do you say to anybody
listening this morning that feels as though that review should
have been undertaken and completed, you know, particularly when you
look into the fact that it was indeed as I
understand it, or it certainly had come out, or you
know that push for it had come through at the
(09:39):
coronial inquest into the police shooting of Kumenjai Walker.
Speaker 3 (09:44):
Yeah, I think if you look at it like this, Katie,
you can do review after review after review. And I
know Labor used to love a good review, but we
just want to get on with the job. We drew
a line in the sand. We said we needed to
use that money for something else. Very pressing. At the time,
we knew that the police were already undertaking work, which
(10:04):
meant that they probably would have received a review which
costs a lot of money, and said, oh, hang on
a minute, we're already implementing all this that maybe that
may have been a waste. So we were really clear
in terms of, well, we just have to get on
with the job. We've got our police doing the good
work they're doing and you know, working so hard to
(10:24):
try and keep our community safe. They didn't need to
keep going down this path of having more and more
reviews and so and of course the other problem that
we did need to work out with legal aid. So
we just had to make the tough decision.
Speaker 1 (10:38):
All right, moving along, but still sort of in this area.
I guess the governments obviously announced reforms to the Anti
Discrimination Act. We know that in twenty twenty two Labored
main changes to the Act that you have claim blurred
the line between genuine discrimination and the simple expression of opinion,
eroding territory AND's freedoms of speech and religion. What exactly
(11:02):
are you looking at changing here?
Speaker 3 (11:04):
Yes, thank you for the question, Katie. So what we're
changing is that vague and overreaching section in the Act
that Labor had added in twenty twenty two when it
comes to terms like if you offend insult, then you
will maybe find yourself before the Anti Discrimination Commissioner. And
(11:27):
we're replacing those and strengthening those with the words which
are more in line with what other parts of the
country are doing. Say that the revised law will prohibit
conduct that incites hatred, serious contempt, or severe ridicule based
on personal attributes like race, sexuality, gender, religion, and there's
(11:48):
so many more. And in the section within the Act
there's about twenty different attributes. That is a range of
things that people have as an attribute, and it would
be illegal to discriminate always has been to discriminate against those.
But then what this does is just clears up that
vague terminology so that we don't want to see hatred
(12:08):
or ridicule in our community. We just we don't believe it.
It's territory.
Speaker 1 (12:13):
Had there been concerns raised in order for these changes
to sort of be reversed.
Speaker 3 (12:20):
Yeah, So we actually talked about this prior to the
election and also in twenty twenty two with when Labor
brought in the original changes, and we had many people
from around the community explained that that seemed to have
gone too far.
Speaker 1 (12:34):
We've had a lot of people contact us at the
station about it too, to be frank.
Speaker 3 (12:38):
That's right, yeah, and not just that, Katie, but also
those religious schools protections. That's the other part that we're
changing because what Labour had done in twenty twenty two
was basically removed the protections so that religious schools and
faith based schools weren't able to employ just based on
faith alone. And we heard from so many religious groups,
(13:00):
so many parents that they did want to be able
to send their kids to school in a religious environment
and know that the teachers they had shared the same faith.
And so we're putting those protections back in place. But
I just want to make it really clear to all
your listeners. Schools still won't be able to discriminate against
those attributes, you know, the race, of sexuality, the gender.
(13:21):
It will be only that the school will be able
to employ someone of faith based and prioritize that employment
because we want our teachers to have the same faith
as their school, but that if there's conduct or anything
else that is outside of the values of their faith,
and of course like within the school, then of course
that can be protected so that they wounded up in court.
Speaker 1 (13:43):
Attorney General, I'm just going to read a couple of
comments out for you because we are pressed for time,
but I've got one here from Janis and she said,
Katie a big loud boo for the Northern Territory government
that the government believes the rights of racists and bigots
to tell offensive jokes in crowded public places are more
important the members of our multicultural society to not have
(14:04):
to hear offensive, derogatory jokes and comments in public places.
Speaker 2 (14:11):
What do you say to Janus this morning?
Speaker 3 (14:13):
Yeah, that's Jennas, thank you for that question. I think
that what our law does and the changes it actually
makes it very clear that we don't condone and we
prohibit the conduct that incites hatred, serious contempt or severe ridicule.
And that's the exact words that will be in the Act,
and that's based on those attributes. So you if people
(14:34):
still feel like those kind of behaviors are occurring in
the community, that's not something we stand for. We love
our multicultural community and we think it's part of our
territory story and very well valued by everybody in the territory.
And so we definitely don't agree that those kind of
hatred words should be said. And that's why we've made
sure we've replaced the words that were there which were vague,
(14:57):
to the ones that are more fitting with the time
behavior we want to stamp.
Speaker 2 (15:01):
Out Attorney General really quick.
Speaker 3 (15:03):
One.
Speaker 1 (15:03):
We know now that the project there at lee point
once again halted. At this point in time, it's not
able to continue on because we've got a situation where
the Northern Territory, a Northern Territory Tribunal, had ruled the
developer cannot continue to work at that site until a
major legal challenge from Larachie elder and senior traditional owner
(15:26):
Tibbi Quoll is heard. Now, what do you think this
sees about well developments projects in the Northern Territory that
they can be underway and be halted. My understanding is
that they had gone through the process to get that
project underway.
Speaker 3 (15:42):
Yeah, Katie, this is definitely the opposite of what the
territory needs right now, and we really need to be
rebuilding our economy and we just cannot afford to have
these projects that drag on endlessly or in this case
have shifting gold posts. I mean, we know that the
status quo delivers nothing, and it's not what our economy
(16:02):
needs and it's not what the Territorians need. So it
is disappointing. I mean the work that we had recently
done where we removed merits reviews for things outside of
you know, if you're not involved in the case, you
shouldn't be able to put forward a case. I mean,
that's why we were trying to address these kinds of
things and so this is it is disappointing. Like I said,
(16:23):
we can't afford for this a drag on anymore. We
just need to get on with the job.
Speaker 1 (16:27):
Attorney General Murray Claire Booby really appreciate your time this morning.
Speaker 2 (16:31):
Thank you for having a chat with us.
Speaker 3 (16:33):
Thank you, Katie, and to your listeners, thank you.
We know, as I just touched on with the Opposition leader,
that written questions had been asked of the Northern Territory
Government by the opposition as part of the estimates process
around legislative changes when it comes to crime.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Now joining me on the line is the.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
Attorney General of the Northern Territory, Marie Claire booth Be.
Good morning to you. Hang on a second, I better
make sure I've got.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
Her on there. Let's try that again. Good morning to
your Attorney General.
Speaker 3 (00:25):
Good morning Katie, and to your listeners.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
Good to have you on the show. Now, Minister, what
do you think the information that the oppositions asked in
relation to the legislative changes around crime, the fact that
twenty five eight hundred and one chargers have been laid
since August last year to March this year, what do
you think it sees about the state of the Northern Territory.
Speaker 3 (00:50):
Yeah, Katie, it still continues to be a lot of
crime that we just don't want to see in our community.
And as your listeners would know, we were elected on
a basis to reduce crime because we just don't accept
that offenders should continue to get away. We've perpetrating those
crimes on territorians, and we have been very clear right
(01:13):
from the outset. We came to the first settings of Parliament,
passed all of those laws to ensure that we could
crack down on the levels of crime that we're seeing,
and so you know, we won't stand for it. There's
there's still a lot of changes that we have to
make to you know, reduce that crime even further. And
we've seen with patchy areas where there is some statistics
(01:34):
which are coming down, which is a positive sign, like
in terms of say property crime as an example, has
dropped sharply by about forty three percent, which you know,
it's a bit that's a big number to come down
as an example, but of course we know that we
still have assaults and we still have domestic violence numbers
that far too high.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
Well, this is the thing.
Speaker 1 (01:56):
I mean, even as people are listening property crime dropping
forty three percent, I'm not sure what period of time
that's over, but I know that unless people are feeling
like they're safe, and unless they can really see that
there's been a change, quite often, you know, they won't feel.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
Like it's enough.
Speaker 3 (02:11):
That's right, And we've always said, like the statistic is
only part of you know, the measure of success, and
in fact, the most successful part will be when territorians
do feel safe. And I guess you know the suite
of the new laws that we brought in as an example,
like the post and boast and the ram raids. I mean,
we're already seeing people charged and sentenced under both of
(02:33):
those laws, which didn't exist before the election. And so
you know, we know that that is now happening, which
is a good thing. We also know that less people
are getting bail because of the new strong laws that
we introduced, and that the numbers reflect that moment.
Speaker 1 (02:50):
Yes, look, can to tell us some of those can
you tell us some of those numbers?
Speaker 3 (02:54):
Yeah, So basically, if you think about it like this, Katie,
we have five hundred and fifty more prisoners incarcerated than
we had before coming to government, and so that just
demonstrates that people are not getting bail. I mean fifty
percent of those roughly are on remand and so that's
just it's a pure easy statistic to go to which
(03:15):
shows you that you know that people are not getting
bailed because they are incarcerated, because those numbers are so high.
Speaker 1 (03:21):
I mean, when you look at the fact that we've
got fifty percent of those people though on remand and
some of the delays that we're saying through the court system.
And I did touch on this yesterday with the Chief Minister,
and we also spoke about it last week with Naja.
I mean, how do we try to speed things up
further than what we currently are so that you don't
(03:41):
have that many people on remand and some of them
on remand, you know, in the Supreme Court. My understanding
is it's about three hundred odd days that they're on remand.
Speaker 3 (03:50):
For Yeah, that's right, Katie, And I guess, first and
foremost though, our focus is on protecting victims and territorians,
and so we don't make any apology for having more
people incarcerated and on remand. But secondly, of course we
do want to see that addresses well. We don't want
them sitting around in prisons waiting for their trials, especially
(04:12):
if you think about it from a victim's perspective, when
a victim also has to go through all of that
time having to wait for hearings and sentences, and you
know they're watching and waiting to try and recover from
whatever ordeal they've gone through as a victim, so it
is important for us to get that down. It has
been a huge number in terms of the number of
(04:33):
days that people spend on remand and I guess that's
part of the work we're doing in the court's system.
So we obviously we put on more judges. We've secured
permanent contracts for the Director of Prosecutions, including four extra prosecutors.
There's a task team now that's set up that goes
through all of the cases and tries to find the
ones that they could resolve earlier in the piece, you know,
(04:56):
if they've got the right evidence and they can organize
offer a guilty please, And so that works happening as well.
And there's been nearly three hundred of those cases reviewed,
which you know wasn't happening before we were elected and
now it is so. But I absolutely acknowledge there's still
so much work to be done in that space. And
the new budget of course allows for all of that
work to be bolstered. Like one point five billion dollars
(05:18):
in the budgets is the largest that we've ever seen.
Speaker 1 (05:20):
Attorney General Old just move along. Obviously a number of
questions were asked about how many youths and adults have
been charged under those new posts and boast laws. We
know they also the opposition asking those written questions around
the ramraid legislation changes also around the assaults towards frontline workers.
I mean, when you look at the stats, when you
(05:42):
look at those numbers, it's quite a small sample period
to go off in terms of whether we can work
out whether something's working or not. From your perspective as
the Attorney General, do you feel as though these legislative changes,
the tough on crime approach that the COLP government is
taking is working.
Speaker 3 (06:00):
Yeah, Katie, if you think of it like this post
and boast as an offense as the example, there's been
seven individuals charged with that offense. Now that's seven people
who would not have been charged and held to account
for that crime under labor. So at the same thing
with ram raids, there were fourteen individuals that have been
(06:21):
charged with ram rate offenses. Again, that's fourteen individuals that
wouldn't have been charged under labor. So it is a
small number if you look at it from a perspective
of the timing. We've only had it in play for
a number of months, and of course we will see
the stats roll out over time. And of course our government,
you know, we're not a set and forget approach either.
(06:44):
We are continually looking at how it's going, what else
we need to do so that Territorians can feel safe
in their community, and will continue that work. But I think,
like I said, those numbers, they would have just been
back out on the street continuing their crimes under Labor
and we've made those changes, and you know we make
(07:05):
no apologies for that.
Speaker 2 (07:06):
All right, I want to move along.
Speaker 1 (07:08):
It is this morning being reported by the ABC online
that almost four years after the Northern Territory Government committed
to reviewing systemic racism within departments, that you did announce
that a racism review into NTI police has been scrapped.
Speaker 2 (07:24):
Why has that been scrapped?
Speaker 3 (07:27):
Yeah, Katie. This particular racism review was announced under the
former Labor government and it was three hundred thousand dollars
I can confirm, which we've committed under the previous government,
believed by the Chief Minister Evil Lawla at the time
to be given to the Anti Discrimination Commissioner to conduct
that review on into police. Now intercoming into government in August,
(07:51):
obviously we realized that there was a huge budget deficits.
You know, we didn't have We had nowhere near the
amount of money that we needed to be able to
push forward on our election commitments being you know, reducing crime,
rebuild an economy and restoring lifestyle. We then had you
may remember late last year we had Legal Aid who
(08:15):
was in absolute disarrays. So we had to make a
really tough decision and we had to find enough money
to give to Legal Aids so that people could be represented.
Speaker 2 (08:24):
So you're saying instead of spending all that.
Speaker 3 (08:27):
Round two thousand dollars yet from the Police Review Racism
Review over to Legal Aid. What I do know is
the police were already doing work about, you know, making
sure that racism wasn't an issue going forward. They employed
Lee and Little they're they're covering a broad range of
(08:49):
initiatives like including a cultural reform and internal strategies that
they have And my understanding is that work was Underwagh
and continues. But I guess, you know, we as a government,
we have to make tough decisions. We needed that three
hundred thousand dollars to assist Legal Aid, and of course
they needed assistance in part because the problems that Naja
(09:10):
were having as well. So it was like a much
bigger problem that needed to be addressed, and it was
certainly a priority that needed immediate focus.
Speaker 1 (09:17):
And so the time, what do you say to anybody
listening this morning that feels as though that review should
have been undertaken and completed, you know, particularly when you
look into the fact that it was indeed as I
understand it, or it certainly had come out, or you
know that push for it had come through at the
(09:39):
coronial inquest into the police shooting of Kumenjai Walker.
Speaker 3 (09:44):
Yeah, I think if you look at it like this, Katie,
you can do review after review after review. And I
know Labor used to love a good review, but we
just want to get on with the job. We drew
a line in the sand. We said we needed to
use that money for something else. Very pressing. At the time,
we knew that the police were already undertaking work, which
(10:04):
meant that they probably would have received a review which
costs a lot of money, and said, oh, hang on
a minute, we're already implementing all this that maybe that
may have been a waste. So we were really clear
in terms of, well, we just have to get on
with the job. We've got our police doing the good
work they're doing and you know, working so hard to
(10:24):
try and keep our community safe. They didn't need to
keep going down this path of having more and more
reviews and so and of course the other problem that
we did need to work out with legal aid. So
we just had to make the tough decision.
Speaker 1 (10:38):
All right, moving along, but still sort of in this area.
I guess the governments obviously announced reforms to the Anti
Discrimination Act. We know that in twenty twenty two Labored
main changes to the Act that you have claim blurred
the line between genuine discrimination and the simple expression of opinion,
eroding territory AND's freedoms of speech and religion. What exactly
(11:02):
are you looking at changing here?
Speaker 3 (11:04):
Yes, thank you for the question, Katie. So what we're
changing is that vague and overreaching section in the Act
that Labor had added in twenty twenty two when it
comes to terms like if you offend insult, then you
will maybe find yourself before the Anti Discrimination Commissioner. And
(11:27):
we're replacing those and strengthening those with the words which
are more in line with what other parts of the
country are doing. Say that the revised law will prohibit
conduct that incites hatred, serious contempt, or severe ridicule based
on personal attributes like race, sexuality, gender, religion, and there's
(11:48):
so many more. And in the section within the Act
there's about twenty different attributes. That is a range of
things that people have as an attribute, and it would
be illegal to discriminate always has been to discriminate against those.
But then what this does is just clears up that
vague terminology so that we don't want to see hatred
(12:08):
or ridicule in our community. We just we don't believe it.
It's territory.
Speaker 1 (12:13):
Had there been concerns raised in order for these changes
to sort of be reversed.
Speaker 3 (12:20):
Yeah, So we actually talked about this prior to the
election and also in twenty twenty two with when Labor
brought in the original changes, and we had many people
from around the community explained that that seemed to have
gone too far.
Speaker 1 (12:34):
We've had a lot of people contact us at the
station about it too, to be frank.
Speaker 3 (12:38):
That's right, yeah, and not just that, Katie, but also
those religious schools protections. That's the other part that we're
changing because what Labour had done in twenty twenty two
was basically removed the protections so that religious schools and
faith based schools weren't able to employ just based on
faith alone. And we heard from so many religious groups,
(13:00):
so many parents that they did want to be able
to send their kids to school in a religious environment
and know that the teachers they had shared the same faith.
And so we're putting those protections back in place. But
I just want to make it really clear to all
your listeners. Schools still won't be able to discriminate against
those attributes, you know, the race, of sexuality, the gender.
(13:21):
It will be only that the school will be able
to employ someone of faith based and prioritize that employment
because we want our teachers to have the same faith
as their school, but that if there's conduct or anything
else that is outside of the values of their faith,
and of course like within the school, then of course
that can be protected so that they wounded up in court.
Speaker 1 (13:43):
Attorney General, I'm just going to read a couple of
comments out for you because we are pressed for time,
but I've got one here from Janis and she said,
Katie a big loud boo for the Northern Territory government
that the government believes the rights of racists and bigots
to tell offensive jokes in crowded public places are more
important the members of our multicultural society to not have
(14:04):
to hear offensive, derogatory jokes and comments in public places.
Speaker 2 (14:11):
What do you say to Janus this morning?
Speaker 3 (14:13):
Yeah, that's Jennas, thank you for that question. I think
that what our law does and the changes it actually
makes it very clear that we don't condone and we
prohibit the conduct that incites hatred, serious contempt or severe ridicule.
And that's the exact words that will be in the Act,
and that's based on those attributes. So you if people
(14:34):
still feel like those kind of behaviors are occurring in
the community, that's not something we stand for. We love
our multicultural community and we think it's part of our
territory story and very well valued by everybody in the territory.
And so we definitely don't agree that those kind of
hatred words should be said. And that's why we've made
sure we've replaced the words that were there which were vague,
(14:57):
to the ones that are more fitting with the time
behavior we want to stamp.
Speaker 2 (15:01):
Out Attorney General really quick.
Speaker 3 (15:03):
One.
Speaker 1 (15:03):
We know now that the project there at lee point
once again halted. At this point in time, it's not
able to continue on because we've got a situation where
the Northern Territory, a Northern Territory Tribunal, had ruled the
developer cannot continue to work at that site until a
major legal challenge from Larachie elder and senior traditional owner
(15:26):
Tibbi Quoll is heard. Now, what do you think this
sees about well developments projects in the Northern Territory that
they can be underway and be halted. My understanding is
that they had gone through the process to get that
project underway.
Speaker 3 (15:42):
Yeah, Katie, this is definitely the opposite of what the
territory needs right now, and we really need to be
rebuilding our economy and we just cannot afford to have
these projects that drag on endlessly or in this case
have shifting gold posts. I mean, we know that the
status quo delivers nothing, and it's not what our economy
(16:02):
needs and it's not what the Territorians need. So it
is disappointing. I mean the work that we had recently
done where we removed merits reviews for things outside of
you know, if you're not involved in the case, you
shouldn't be able to put forward a case. I mean,
that's why we were trying to address these kinds of
things and so this is it is disappointing. Like I said,
(16:23):
we can't afford for this a drag on anymore. We
just need to get on with the job.
Speaker 1 (16:27):
Attorney General Murray Claire Booby really appreciate your time this morning.
Speaker 2 (16:31):
Thank you for having a chat with us.
Speaker 3 (16:33):
Thank you, Katie, and to your listeners, thank you.
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