Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Well, usually we've got the Chief Minister on it, this
(00:02):
time on a Monday, she's not available this morning, So
joining me in the studio right now is the Deputy
Chief Minister, Jared Mayley.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Good morning, Good morning Katie, and good morning listeners.
Speaker 1 (00:11):
Now, massive news over the weekend, with the US Defense
Secretary Pete Hegseth this morning saying that he's confident of
the destruction of Iranian nuclear facilities as the chair of
the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Then Dan Crane detailed how
Midnight Hammer unfolded using a decoy. I mean, it was
absolutely massive news over the weekend, the US indeed involving
(00:35):
themselves in this situation in Iran. Deputy Chief Minister, I
guess first off, what was your reaction to the news.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
Look, I just think that we need to make sure
that these nuclear weapons don't get into the hands of terrorists. Basically,
the bottom line is, and really the world is a
very unstable place at the moment and having some terrors
with nuclear weapons could be even worse. So well, look,
the Prime Minister's meeting with the National Security Committee today
to come up with what they know about it. So
(01:06):
it's a bit sketchy from our end in racial information,
we're just really waiting for the Prime Minister to hold
that special National Security Cabinet meeting to come through and
then come back and make an announcement from the federal
side of it.
Speaker 1 (01:18):
So from your perspective, has the Northern Territory government had
any discussions with the federal government or US representatives following
that situation unfolding.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
No, it's only really been a couple of days. But
then the Prime Minister is meeting, like I said, with
the National Security Committee today to come out and he'll
make a statement after that. We need to make sure
that this is a federal thing and the Prime Minister
needs to take control and take the lead on this.
Speaker 1 (01:40):
Yeah. Absolutely, I mean it's not something that you'd expect
the Northern Territory government to be leading on, but important
to see what happens following on from that meeting with
the Prime Minister today.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
We'll be certainly watching this place because it is a
very important issue and devastating for us or for the
rest of the world really.
Speaker 1 (01:57):
Well, and I'm assuming as well, once the Prime Ministers
had that meeting that governments all around Australia will have
a fairer idea of the federal government stance on it.
And you know, I suppose the thing that we always
think to ourselves here in the Northern Territory is we
are strategically important. We all understand that. But the warror
is does it make us more vulnerable?
Speaker 2 (02:19):
Of course it's a worry, but we need to make
sure that we focus on what we do here in
the Northern Territory. And we know that defense is here
and we support the defense coming up. They do a
lot for our community. We support the Americans and the
Japanese coming over. So we need to get on with
our lives. We can't just stop because of this. We
need to keep moving forward and the federal government will
make sure that they get the correct information from America
(02:40):
and then they'll put that out into the rest of Australia.
Speaker 1 (02:43):
Now, Deputy Chief Minister, I want to move along to
some of the Northern Territory issues. There's quite a few
around at the moment, and we know last week the
Northern Territory Government unveiled the plan to equip Northern Territory
Transit and Public housing safety offices with powers to carry
guns on buses in supermarkets and public housing.
Speaker 3 (03:01):
Some say the decision.
Speaker 1 (03:02):
Well is deeply irresponsible and that it could put lives
at risk. Others feel the decision is a positive move
which is hopefully going to see a minimization of issues
being experienced around the Northern Territory.
Speaker 3 (03:16):
How do you envisage they're going to operate?
Speaker 2 (03:20):
Look, well, I think okay, this is going to deliver
uniform world trained officers to respond to crime and anti
social behavior in public housing, transport hubs, bottle shops, shopping
centers and at major events. We need to make sure
and be realized that these are going to be highly
trained officers, trained at the police by the police, and
come under the police command when it comes to you
(03:41):
know who will be looking after them.
Speaker 1 (03:42):
We did catch up with the Northern Territory Police and
indeed the Police Association about this on Friday. We got
a little bit further detail in terms of some of
that training. I know though am SANT they've condemned the decision,
warning that it marks a deeply irresponsible escalation that's going
to place more lives at risk, particularly those of Aboriginal
(04:04):
people and other vulnerable community members. Their CEO, John Patterson
said the move continues a worrying trend of reactive, punitive
policies that weaponize public safety instead of addressing the root
causes of violence and disadvantage. Is this move going to
impact the most vulnerable in our community?
Speaker 2 (04:25):
Okay? What this is going to do with keep community safe?
It's going to keep people. Over the last eight years,
we know that the consequences of this gone away and
a write into public safety has been on everyone's agender
and in fact, it's been dangerous people walking down the
street and no matter where you are. And this move
is designed to make the community feel safeer. We're going
to have over fifty trained people with uniforms to be
(04:47):
able to go out into those areas and keep the
community safe. You know, we had an election some nine
months ago and community safety is the number one issue
and let me tell you, Katie, even now people talk
to me and that's still the number one issues about
public safety. And this is designed to make the territory
a safer place.
Speaker 1 (05:02):
Are you worried that it could potentially see people hurt
or dealt with in a heavy handed way, you know,
because we are effectively going to see officers that don't
have the same level of training as what Northern Territory
police do.
Speaker 2 (05:15):
But look, we are going to have these officers are
going to be trained, they're going to be in uniform,
and they're going to have the command from the police
bus at the.
Speaker 3 (05:21):
Same degree as what a constable would.
Speaker 2 (05:24):
Be though, but they'll be having different roles of work.
This is about public safety and they'll have the backup
of the police, but they'll be able to respond through
the police's command. So if the situation does escalate, the
police will be there and become available immediately. So this
is about community safety. People have had a gutfull of
not feeling safe in their own homes, and not just
these public houses, the houses around it, you know, the
(05:44):
people who have brought a house in a suburb, in
a cul de sac where where there's any social behavior
through these public housing And this is going to make
the community safer by giving these people a turn up
in a police uniform with the police backup if required
to deal with these anti social issues.
Speaker 3 (06:00):
I hope so, I hope it does.
Speaker 1 (06:01):
And I know that that's a sentiment from a lot
of our listeners, you know, saying I don't know whether
this is going to make a difference, but we're prepared
to give it a try, so I guess time will tell.
Speaker 2 (06:11):
I think the status quo can't remain the same. I
think something has to change. And all these people go
and say all this, but they don't come back with
actual proof or good ideas that will work. This is
going to give it a try and we'll will review it,
of course, and if it doesn't, but our main focus,
our number one priority is public safety, and we really
think that this is going to make a big difference.
Speaker 1 (06:29):
Minister, I want to move along to the corrections portfolio.
I understand that there's said to be an announcement today
around South Australian Corrections offices coming to the Northern Territory.
What exactly are they going to be doing and why
do we need them here?
Speaker 2 (06:42):
Okay, this comes after we changed the law earlier this
year so we can or the Commissioner can appoint special
Corrections officers. So what we're doing is bringing six officers
over from Alice from South Australia into Alice Springs. They're
going to have u an eight week rotation. We know
that staffing is an issue right across the Northern Territory,
and in my belief is that the previous government failed
(07:04):
to deal with those issues, failed to do infrastructure. So
we're doing a rolling recruiting program and we're planning to
recruit over two hundred officers this financial year. And this
is a stopgap measure to have some nut numbers into
our of springs while we continue to recruit to build
those numbers.
Speaker 1 (07:21):
I mean, how big a difference do you think it's
going to make And do we need to look at
bringing some across to Darwin as well or are the
numbers tracking okay?
Speaker 2 (07:28):
Up here in Darwin in Dahn where I've got the
G four s which is the private people who are
working in the courts and also the prison escorts. And
just last week I went out and inspected the new vehicles.
They've got a van and some buses that they can
use to transport people up and down from Katherine along
the Stuart Highway. So that I think the Darwin is
still covered up. Remember, Jadie, we're continue recruiting. We've got
(07:49):
recruits in there right now, so we are going to
keep rolling that recruiting groupment to build those numbers. We
want these trained prison officers behind the wire and these
independent contractors like G four s working in doing the
stuff around the edges, and Alice Springs is going to
be part of that continuing recruitment process just.
Speaker 1 (08:07):
On some of the you know, the pressures I guess
should say on the system, not just within our prison system,
but also through our courts. We are going to be
catching up with Bethwild, the president of the Criminal Lawyers Association,
in a few minutes time now. I know that a
concerning report in the Northern Territory News on the weekend
about victims of crime, defendants and witnesses falling through the
(08:27):
cracks of an overwhelmed court system, as in custody numbers
in Darwin spike by two hundred and fifty percent. So,
according to this dart of the Darwin Local Courts, in
custody numbers on the first day of each week has
dramatically increased over the past seven months.
Speaker 3 (08:45):
I guess what that.
Speaker 1 (08:46):
Means is, well, you know, there's going to be different
examples of the pressure that that then places on the courts.
Speaker 3 (08:53):
But from your perspective in terms of the corrections being
the corrections.
Speaker 1 (08:57):
Minister, what kind of impact do you think this is having,
you know, not only on the court system and being
able to get those those court cases going through, being
able to make sure that prisoners are able to be there,
you know, for their hearings and that kind of thing.
But more generally, I guess in terms of juggling those demands.
Speaker 2 (09:17):
Okay, this is about public safety and for many years
there's been no consequences and that's led to a massive
increase in crime and an increase of people not feeling
safe in Northern Charity. So right now, since the seal
Pa government have come into office, we've made sure there's
going to be a consequence and that and the result
is if you do a crime in the Northern Charity,
you can end up in court and in the prison system.
(09:37):
So for years, in my belief that people were getting
away with these things, that were doing bail after bail,
and that there was a mistaken belief out there that
if you do or you want to know, you'ren't get
in trouble. So we're making sure there's a clear message
if you commit a crime, just something in the Northern
Territory and use any social behavior, have you hurt someone,
there's going to be a consequence. And we know that.
We've invested I think one point five billion dollars into
(09:57):
the court system and the police and the correction system.
We know that there was a massive infrastructure failure in
the previous government. So we're working all these little things
to make a difference because we're our number one focus
is on community safe, all right.
Speaker 1 (10:10):
One thing I do want to ask about is a
concern that was raised with me last week by correctional officers.
Now we know the Northern Territory government made changes to
sentencing for those who assault frontline workers, I had concerned
corrections officers contact me after a prisoner who assaulted a
corrections officer earlier this year was reportedly only given a
(10:30):
ten month sentence to be served concurrently with his current sentence,
So we'll serve no additional time behind bars for the
assault of that corrections officer. They say the changes to
legislation are not working in the correction space. I mean,
why aren't crimes being added to this sentence or you know,
(10:51):
why aren't they getting extra time? I mean serving it
concurrently really doesn't send a very strong message to those
correctional officers, particularly, you know, if they've seen a fellow
staff member assaulted on the job.
Speaker 2 (11:03):
Yeah and O Katie, and it is concerning to hear this,
and I'll certainly be looking into that a bit more.
Speaker 3 (11:07):
But we've already.
Speaker 2 (11:08):
Changed the law to in relation to the front line
workers and they are critical to the Northern territory, and
we will look at this and if we need to
change the law, we'll do it again. We know we've
come in into power and we've brought in Declan's law,
and then we found out that maybe not need to
be varied. So we've changed the law again to strength
and bail and we're going to continue to do that, Katie.
Speaker 3 (11:26):
Because so how could you change it again?
Speaker 2 (11:27):
I mean with this example, Well, I have to look
at the detail in relation to what actually happened to
give you an idea. But what I am saying is
we're open to making sure that we strengthen the law
as required. We're not going to sit back and just
set and forget. I mean, if there needs to be
a change, will do it as.
Speaker 3 (11:43):
A corrections minister.
Speaker 1 (11:44):
Do you think that that sounds like a suitable punishment.
Speaker 2 (11:49):
Look, I'd say no, I don't think so. But again,
I do have to rely upon the courts are trained professionals,
and I've been in a court system a lot in
my previous life, so I do understand how those systems work.
Really up to the courts to make those decisions, and
we need to look at the big picture here because
we don't know what the circumstances off the offending were.
We don't know what the circumstances off the offense were,
but the courts are given that responsibility and they need
(12:12):
to look at it again. If we think from the
government that the laws need strengthening, we will do that.
Speaker 1 (12:16):
Deputy Chief Minister, a couple of quick ones. First off,
the situation with Santos. The South Australian government. They've warned
that any takeover of domestic oil and gas giant Santos
by the ABU Derby National Oil Company must preserve their
state's economic interest, saying that they've got levers they can
pull if required. Do you think that there are any
(12:38):
aspects of this sale or this proposed sale that the
Northern Territory government need to keep a close eye on.
Speaker 2 (12:45):
We'll certainly be looking at this closely and we need
to make sure that we look over it with a
territory and lens to make sure it is in our
best interest. We know Santos here have got their station
across the harbor. We know Santos and now it's going
to spend two hundred million dollars in the balloo next
year to do some drillingism testing. So we need to
make sure that we get the balance right. But we
(13:05):
need to also drive investment, and we need to make
sure that we support people who come in here are
going to give us jobs. Remember Katie, when you have
these royalty payments, they give you jobs, and they also
pay for our health system, they pay for education, they
pay for the police, the royalty. So we need to
make sure we get the balance right. But I can
ensure territories who be looking over it with a territorial lens,
but really it's a federal thing. We do know that
(13:27):
there's going to be the Foreign Investment Review Board from
the federal organization. We'll overlook it, but we'll certainly be
doing what we can to make sure there's a territory
lens put across that transaction.
Speaker 1 (13:37):
Now we also know this morning before I let you go,
of course, the government say that they're delivering on the
commitment to rebuild the territory's economy with the expansion of
the container deposit scheme.
Speaker 3 (13:49):
What exactly is going to be included in this.
Speaker 2 (13:51):
I thought this is going to be a great initiative.
For the first time you'll be able to recycle wine
and spirit bottles up to three leaders. I understand we're
going to pass some legislation this year and then that
will kick in after that. So we're just trying to
expand it because this is about recycling, it's about the environment.
It's also about opportunity for little tackers to make some
money if they want to, all family members to go
(14:12):
and do some chores and kick up some rubbish and
recycle and make some money out of it.
Speaker 1 (14:16):
I know my kids have collected cancer from occasion to occasion.
They do end up like you get a little bit
of cash. It's a good thing to do, but it's
also a good thing for the environment, exactly right.
Speaker 2 (14:25):
And I ride my pushbike around here a lot and
I see broken bottles and spirit bottles and wine bottles,
so it's an opportunity for people to be able to
get a bit of cash for that well.
Speaker 1 (14:34):
Jared Mayley, the Deputy Chief Minister, Minister for Corrections and
Various Portfolios, thank you as always for your time.
Speaker 2 (14:40):
Thank you Katie
Well, usually we've got the Chief Minister on it, this
(00:02):
time on a Monday, she's not available this morning, So
joining me in the studio right now is the Deputy
Chief Minister, Jared Mayley.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Good morning, Good morning Katie, and good morning listeners.
Speaker 1 (00:11):
Now, massive news over the weekend, with the US Defense
Secretary Pete Hegseth this morning saying that he's confident of
the destruction of Iranian nuclear facilities as the chair of
the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Then Dan Crane detailed how
Midnight Hammer unfolded using a decoy. I mean, it was
absolutely massive news over the weekend, the US indeed involving
(00:35):
themselves in this situation in Iran. Deputy Chief Minister, I
guess first off, what was your reaction to the news.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
Look, I just think that we need to make sure
that these nuclear weapons don't get into the hands of terrorists. Basically,
the bottom line is, and really the world is a
very unstable place at the moment and having some terrors
with nuclear weapons could be even worse. So well, look,
the Prime Minister's meeting with the National Security Committee today
to come up with what they know about it. So
(01:06):
it's a bit sketchy from our end in racial information,
we're just really waiting for the Prime Minister to hold
that special National Security Cabinet meeting to come through and
then come back and make an announcement from the federal
side of it.
Speaker 1 (01:18):
So from your perspective, has the Northern Territory government had
any discussions with the federal government or US representatives following
that situation unfolding.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
No, it's only really been a couple of days. But
then the Prime Minister is meeting, like I said, with
the National Security Committee today to come out and he'll
make a statement after that. We need to make sure
that this is a federal thing and the Prime Minister
needs to take control and take the lead on this.
Speaker 1 (01:40):
Yeah. Absolutely, I mean it's not something that you'd expect
the Northern Territory government to be leading on, but important
to see what happens following on from that meeting with
the Prime Minister today.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
We'll be certainly watching this place because it is a
very important issue and devastating for us or for the
rest of the world really.
Speaker 1 (01:57):
Well, and I'm assuming as well, once the Prime Ministers
had that meeting that governments all around Australia will have
a fairer idea of the federal government stance on it.
And you know, I suppose the thing that we always
think to ourselves here in the Northern Territory is we
are strategically important. We all understand that. But the warror
is does it make us more vulnerable?
Speaker 2 (02:19):
Of course it's a worry, but we need to make
sure that we focus on what we do here in
the Northern Territory. And we know that defense is here
and we support the defense coming up. They do a
lot for our community. We support the Americans and the
Japanese coming over. So we need to get on with
our lives. We can't just stop because of this. We
need to keep moving forward and the federal government will
make sure that they get the correct information from America
(02:40):
and then they'll put that out into the rest of Australia.
Speaker 1 (02:43):
Now, Deputy Chief Minister, I want to move along to
some of the Northern Territory issues. There's quite a few
around at the moment, and we know last week the
Northern Territory Government unveiled the plan to equip Northern Territory
Transit and Public housing safety offices with powers to carry
guns on buses in supermarkets and public housing.
Speaker 3 (03:01):
Some say the decision.
Speaker 1 (03:02):
Well is deeply irresponsible and that it could put lives
at risk. Others feel the decision is a positive move
which is hopefully going to see a minimization of issues
being experienced around the Northern Territory.
Speaker 3 (03:16):
How do you envisage they're going to operate?
Speaker 2 (03:20):
Look, well, I think okay, this is going to deliver
uniform world trained officers to respond to crime and anti
social behavior in public housing, transport hubs, bottle shops, shopping
centers and at major events. We need to make sure
and be realized that these are going to be highly
trained officers, trained at the police by the police, and
come under the police command when it comes to you
(03:41):
know who will be looking after them.
Speaker 1 (03:42):
We did catch up with the Northern Territory Police and
indeed the Police Association about this on Friday. We got
a little bit further detail in terms of some of
that training. I know though am SANT they've condemned the decision,
warning that it marks a deeply irresponsible escalation that's going
to place more lives at risk, particularly those of Aboriginal
(04:04):
people and other vulnerable community members. Their CEO, John Patterson
said the move continues a worrying trend of reactive, punitive
policies that weaponize public safety instead of addressing the root
causes of violence and disadvantage. Is this move going to
impact the most vulnerable in our community?
Speaker 2 (04:25):
Okay? What this is going to do with keep community safe?
It's going to keep people. Over the last eight years,
we know that the consequences of this gone away and
a write into public safety has been on everyone's agender
and in fact, it's been dangerous people walking down the
street and no matter where you are. And this move
is designed to make the community feel safeer. We're going
to have over fifty trained people with uniforms to be
(04:47):
able to go out into those areas and keep the
community safe. You know, we had an election some nine
months ago and community safety is the number one issue
and let me tell you, Katie, even now people talk
to me and that's still the number one issues about
public safety. And this is designed to make the territory
a safer place.
Speaker 1 (05:02):
Are you worried that it could potentially see people hurt
or dealt with in a heavy handed way, you know,
because we are effectively going to see officers that don't
have the same level of training as what Northern Territory
police do.
Speaker 2 (05:15):
But look, we are going to have these officers are
going to be trained, they're going to be in uniform,
and they're going to have the command from the police
bus at the.
Speaker 3 (05:21):
Same degree as what a constable would.
Speaker 2 (05:24):
Be though, but they'll be having different roles of work.
This is about public safety and they'll have the backup
of the police, but they'll be able to respond through
the police's command. So if the situation does escalate, the
police will be there and become available immediately. So this
is about community safety. People have had a gutfull of
not feeling safe in their own homes, and not just
these public houses, the houses around it, you know, the
(05:44):
people who have brought a house in a suburb, in
a cul de sac where where there's any social behavior
through these public housing And this is going to make
the community safer by giving these people a turn up
in a police uniform with the police backup if required
to deal with these anti social issues.
Speaker 3 (06:00):
I hope so, I hope it does.
Speaker 1 (06:01):
And I know that that's a sentiment from a lot
of our listeners, you know, saying I don't know whether
this is going to make a difference, but we're prepared
to give it a try, so I guess time will tell.
Speaker 2 (06:11):
I think the status quo can't remain the same. I
think something has to change. And all these people go
and say all this, but they don't come back with
actual proof or good ideas that will work. This is
going to give it a try and we'll will review it,
of course, and if it doesn't, but our main focus,
our number one priority is public safety, and we really
think that this is going to make a big difference.
Speaker 1 (06:29):
Minister, I want to move along to the corrections portfolio.
I understand that there's said to be an announcement today
around South Australian Corrections offices coming to the Northern Territory.
What exactly are they going to be doing and why
do we need them here?
Speaker 2 (06:42):
Okay, this comes after we changed the law earlier this
year so we can or the Commissioner can appoint special
Corrections officers. So what we're doing is bringing six officers
over from Alice from South Australia into Alice Springs. They're
going to have u an eight week rotation. We know
that staffing is an issue right across the Northern Territory,
and in my belief is that the previous government failed
(07:04):
to deal with those issues, failed to do infrastructure. So
we're doing a rolling recruiting program and we're planning to
recruit over two hundred officers this financial year. And this
is a stopgap measure to have some nut numbers into
our of springs while we continue to recruit to build
those numbers.
Speaker 1 (07:21):
I mean, how big a difference do you think it's
going to make And do we need to look at
bringing some across to Darwin as well or are the
numbers tracking okay?
Speaker 2 (07:28):
Up here in Darwin in Dahn where I've got the
G four s which is the private people who are
working in the courts and also the prison escorts. And
just last week I went out and inspected the new vehicles.
They've got a van and some buses that they can
use to transport people up and down from Katherine along
the Stuart Highway. So that I think the Darwin is
still covered up. Remember, Jadie, we're continue recruiting. We've got
(07:49):
recruits in there right now, so we are going to
keep rolling that recruiting groupment to build those numbers. We
want these trained prison officers behind the wire and these
independent contractors like G four s working in doing the
stuff around the edges, and Alice Springs is going to
be part of that continuing recruitment process just.
Speaker 1 (08:07):
On some of the you know, the pressures I guess
should say on the system, not just within our prison system,
but also through our courts. We are going to be
catching up with Bethwild, the president of the Criminal Lawyers Association,
in a few minutes time now. I know that a
concerning report in the Northern Territory News on the weekend
about victims of crime, defendants and witnesses falling through the
(08:27):
cracks of an overwhelmed court system, as in custody numbers
in Darwin spike by two hundred and fifty percent. So,
according to this dart of the Darwin Local Courts, in
custody numbers on the first day of each week has
dramatically increased over the past seven months.
Speaker 3 (08:45):
I guess what that.
Speaker 1 (08:46):
Means is, well, you know, there's going to be different
examples of the pressure that that then places on the courts.
Speaker 3 (08:53):
But from your perspective in terms of the corrections being
the corrections.
Speaker 1 (08:57):
Minister, what kind of impact do you think this is having,
you know, not only on the court system and being
able to get those those court cases going through, being
able to make sure that prisoners are able to be there,
you know, for their hearings and that kind of thing.
But more generally, I guess in terms of juggling those demands.
Speaker 2 (09:17):
Okay, this is about public safety and for many years
there's been no consequences and that's led to a massive
increase in crime and an increase of people not feeling
safe in Northern Charity. So right now, since the seal
Pa government have come into office, we've made sure there's
going to be a consequence and that and the result
is if you do a crime in the Northern Charity,
you can end up in court and in the prison system.
(09:37):
So for years, in my belief that people were getting
away with these things, that were doing bail after bail,
and that there was a mistaken belief out there that
if you do or you want to know, you'ren't get
in trouble. So we're making sure there's a clear message
if you commit a crime, just something in the Northern
Territory and use any social behavior, have you hurt someone,
there's going to be a consequence. And we know that.
We've invested I think one point five billion dollars into
(09:57):
the court system and the police and the correction system.
We know that there was a massive infrastructure failure in
the previous government. So we're working all these little things
to make a difference because we're our number one focus
is on community safe, all right.
Speaker 1 (10:10):
One thing I do want to ask about is a
concern that was raised with me last week by correctional officers.
Now we know the Northern Territory government made changes to
sentencing for those who assault frontline workers, I had concerned
corrections officers contact me after a prisoner who assaulted a
corrections officer earlier this year was reportedly only given a
(10:30):
ten month sentence to be served concurrently with his current sentence,
So we'll serve no additional time behind bars for the
assault of that corrections officer. They say the changes to
legislation are not working in the correction space. I mean,
why aren't crimes being added to this sentence or you know,
(10:51):
why aren't they getting extra time? I mean serving it
concurrently really doesn't send a very strong message to those
correctional officers, particularly, you know, if they've seen a fellow
staff member assaulted on the job.
Speaker 2 (11:03):
Yeah and O Katie, and it is concerning to hear this,
and I'll certainly be looking into that a bit more.
Speaker 3 (11:07):
But we've already.
Speaker 2 (11:08):
Changed the law to in relation to the front line
workers and they are critical to the Northern territory, and
we will look at this and if we need to
change the law, we'll do it again. We know we've
come in into power and we've brought in Declan's law,
and then we found out that maybe not need to
be varied. So we've changed the law again to strength
and bail and we're going to continue to do that, Katie.
Speaker 3 (11:26):
Because so how could you change it again?
Speaker 2 (11:27):
I mean with this example, Well, I have to look
at the detail in relation to what actually happened to
give you an idea. But what I am saying is
we're open to making sure that we strengthen the law
as required. We're not going to sit back and just
set and forget. I mean, if there needs to be
a change, will do it as.
Speaker 3 (11:43):
A corrections minister.
Speaker 1 (11:44):
Do you think that that sounds like a suitable punishment.
Speaker 2 (11:49):
Look, I'd say no, I don't think so. But again,
I do have to rely upon the courts are trained professionals,
and I've been in a court system a lot in
my previous life, so I do understand how those systems work.
Really up to the courts to make those decisions, and
we need to look at the big picture here because
we don't know what the circumstances off the offending were.
We don't know what the circumstances off the offense were,
but the courts are given that responsibility and they need
(12:12):
to look at it again. If we think from the
government that the laws need strengthening, we will do that.
Speaker 1 (12:16):
Deputy Chief Minister, a couple of quick ones. First off,
the situation with Santos. The South Australian government. They've warned
that any takeover of domestic oil and gas giant Santos
by the ABU Derby National Oil Company must preserve their
state's economic interest, saying that they've got levers they can
pull if required. Do you think that there are any
(12:38):
aspects of this sale or this proposed sale that the
Northern Territory government need to keep a close eye on.
Speaker 2 (12:45):
We'll certainly be looking at this closely and we need
to make sure that we look over it with a
territory and lens to make sure it is in our
best interest. We know Santos here have got their station
across the harbor. We know Santos and now it's going
to spend two hundred million dollars in the balloo next
year to do some drillingism testing. So we need to
make sure that we get the balance right. But we
(13:05):
need to also drive investment, and we need to make
sure that we support people who come in here are
going to give us jobs. Remember Katie, when you have
these royalty payments, they give you jobs, and they also
pay for our health system, they pay for education, they
pay for the police, the royalty. So we need to
make sure we get the balance right. But I can
ensure territories who be looking over it with a territorial lens,
but really it's a federal thing. We do know that
(13:27):
there's going to be the Foreign Investment Review Board from
the federal organization. We'll overlook it, but we'll certainly be
doing what we can to make sure there's a territory
lens put across that transaction.
Speaker 1 (13:37):
Now we also know this morning before I let you go,
of course, the government say that they're delivering on the
commitment to rebuild the territory's economy with the expansion of
the container deposit scheme.
Speaker 3 (13:49):
What exactly is going to be included in this.
Speaker 2 (13:51):
I thought this is going to be a great initiative.
For the first time you'll be able to recycle wine
and spirit bottles up to three leaders. I understand we're
going to pass some legislation this year and then that
will kick in after that. So we're just trying to
expand it because this is about recycling, it's about the environment.
It's also about opportunity for little tackers to make some
money if they want to, all family members to go
(14:12):
and do some chores and kick up some rubbish and
recycle and make some money out of it.
Speaker 1 (14:16):
I know my kids have collected cancer from occasion to occasion.
They do end up like you get a little bit
of cash. It's a good thing to do, but it's
also a good thing for the environment, exactly right.
Speaker 2 (14:25):
And I ride my pushbike around here a lot and
I see broken bottles and spirit bottles and wine bottles,
so it's an opportunity for people to be able to
get a bit of cash for that well.
Speaker 1 (14:34):
Jared Mayley, the Deputy Chief Minister, Minister for Corrections and
Various Portfolios, thank you as always for your time.
Speaker 2 (14:40):
Thank you Katie
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