Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
One location that has indeed been grappling with some pretty
terrible crime for quite some time is Alice Springs. And
Alice Springs was again making headlines for the wrong reasons
yesterday and today, this time in the Australian newspaper, and
the article was headlined tiny menaces, helpless police and no solution,
(00:20):
And it started by saying that it's eight pm in
Alice Springs and a group of children are about to
steal a car and lead police on a dangerous chase.
After being caught, they're immediately returned to a responsible adult,
only to continue to re offend. The mayor of Alice Springs,
Matt Patterson, joins me on theline.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
Good morning, Matt, good morning, thanks again for having me.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
No worries at all, Matt. How are things going in
Alice Springs at the moment.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
Well, it's peaks and troughs. We're in a peak again
at the moment, which is probably not surprising. Better look,
it's obviously the same old things that are happening stolen cars,
broken houses, far too often and by far too many people.
Speaker 1 (01:07):
The Australian has again run a story yesterday outlining some
of those issues which continue obviously to Ray John, as
you've said, the peaks and troughs today they delve more
deeply into the story of one of the young kids involved.
Have you read much of that coverage and what do
you make of it?
Speaker 2 (01:25):
I mean, firstly, your heartbreaks, doesn't it, because it's a
ten year old child, right, so, still a human being
in the middle of our country that's getting sailed by
the system. To be quite fraying, the systems failing these kids.
And you know, I'm not a you know, I don't
believe in locking away nine and ten year olds down
the road, but there's got to be something we can
(01:48):
do for these kids. It's not a rinse and repeat
cycle of picking them up and taking them to this
so called responsible adult. Well, where as a responsible adult
in the first place, if kids are out on the
straight at two o'clock in the morning and.
Speaker 1 (02:03):
They're the questions that are starting to be asked more
often at this point in time. I mean, even with
the situation that we saw here on Monday night with
an eleven year old involved in a person being ambushed
after they put a bike in the middle of the
road to entice him to get out of the car
and move it then steal his vehicle. I mean they're
(02:23):
frightening situations that are unfolding. But not only are those
victims obviously at risk, but the kids themselves are at risk.
I mean they're behind the wheel of cars for God's sake.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
Yep, And you know you do, one of that eleven
year old will have the link attack, so I won't
be able to be charged and be under the agent
freminal responsibility if they're not put through the system. It
is just we're just recycling the same odd thing every
other every other day. And you know you're right there
behind the wheel. It's dangerous. They're danger to themselves, to
(02:58):
the community, to everyone else. It's very scary. And we
keep saying these things down in our Springs and Darwin's
patching up quickly. What is going to have to happen
for those drastic changes to take place, because we don't
need a car full of kids in a stolen car
to flip it and kill themselves before we say, well,
(03:21):
we told you so. We just need the matter addressed.
Speaker 1 (03:25):
It has been over a year since the Prime Minister
was in our springs. Two hundred was either two hundred
million dollars right, and you and I've spoken about this before,
but are things any better, Like is any of that
money sort of flowing in and are those programs underway?
Are they making any difference?
Speaker 2 (03:43):
So there's two lots of money. There was the two
fifty million, and then there was forty eight pointy eight.
Now the two fifty lots of people are critical of
that not being rolled out. I don't have a problem
with it being consulted on properly so we don't get
white elephants in remote communities. I'm okay with the back
end work being done the forty eight point eight million
that involves extra police, know, the lighting and CCTV which
(04:05):
is're sitting with council. So those things are underway and
that was the immediate impact and some extension.
Speaker 3 (04:11):
Of youth services.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
So you know, I'll say again that we need to
have a look at the youth services as a whole
and if people getting paid for a service that aren't
getting delivered, well they shouldn't be continually to be funded.
I mean compared to infrastructure, Okatie. The comparison I give
is if you're paid to build a full bedroom, two
bathroom house and you deliver a two bedroom one bathroom house,
(04:35):
you're not going to get paid. So why if you're
in a social service, if you're a social service provider,
you're getting paid to deliver service. If you're delivering a
half botched job, why are you still collecting the paycheck
from the government. And it's because it's easy from the
government to just keep paying and not having to worry
about it.
Speaker 1 (04:54):
Look, I think it's a very good point that you make,
and it's one that you've made before. And you know,
for some reason, some of these comments, some of these calls,
these different you know, different things that people like yourself
are saying, they seem to be falling on deaf ears.
And you know, I do want to point out again,
and I've said it this morning, even in relation to
the incident that it occurred up here in the top end,
the police seemed to be going above and beyond right.
(05:16):
They seem to be absolutely working their butts off to
try and deal with these different situations. But somewhere we're
all being let down.
Speaker 2 (05:26):
Yeah, I agree. I mean I've said it before and
I'll say it again. We need a safe place for
kids to go and that eliminates the path of having
to look for a responsible adult in the first instance,
it can keep place placing and that can be you know,
where territory families can go. And if they can't find
a safe place, well then the kids have somewhere safe
(05:46):
to sleep and they get a warm bed and a meal.
And I think that that, you know, let's try it.
It can't be any worse than what's happening right now.
Let's have a go. And then we've got to do
some some work about getting kids into work in some pathways.
And I don't think that has to be a long
generational process either. There's enough jobs in the territory for people,
(06:10):
and there's certainly enough kids here as well.
Speaker 1 (06:13):
Matt. I'm told this morning that this new justice, new
youth justice facility. I don't know whether it's actually new,
whether it's just a refurb of the old one, but
it's opening in Alice Springs today. What are you hearing.
Speaker 2 (06:25):
I've just got a couple of text messages about it opening.
I mean, it's been going on for a very long time.
So yeah, well it's probably five years too late, but
I don't think I think there's only a couple more bedrooms,
but yeah, we'll wait and see. I don't know much
much more than a couple of texts I've received.
Speaker 1 (06:45):
Hey, the government announced last week, because they did make
quite a big announcement, or they had certainly said it
was going to be a big announcement around around youth
crime and around youth justice. One of the things that
they announced was that they're going to conduc a youth
justice review is going to make a difference. From your perspective, it.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
May well do. But again, I don't think people in
our springs necessarily disagree with the long term, medium term
plans the government have in place, right, it's just that immediate,
short term stuff that people are frustrated with, because if
we don't get that right, then there's no point getting
the long term stuff right because this place will be
(07:30):
left behind. So I think the long term stuff is fine,
and another review will tell us what another review will
tell us. But where we are at a community, is
that immediate, immediate and short term sort of scenarios we
need fixed?
Speaker 1 (07:43):
Yeah, which is fair enough. I mean I spoke to
to Sushira yesterday the Sea of Kosher, and she'd said
to me that she's got long term friends in Alice
Springs that you know, are that are going to be
leaving because they're so fed up and upset with the
you know, the way that things are happening in termsolve
that crime and some of the dangerous situations that obviously
(08:06):
happened there. I mean, is that like, is that something
that you are concerned is going to happen?
Speaker 3 (08:12):
Well, not going to.
Speaker 2 (08:13):
Happen, It is happening. Yeah, I mean, you've been here before.
You know the community spirit and community feel that our
Springs has about it, and I think that's why a
lot of people love it. They can go somewhere and
you're going to bump into someone, you know, like it's
a big country town sort of vibe, and it is
built on the back of the community spirit. But all
the long term residents are going and we will lose
(08:36):
that community feel of what our Springs is and then
it becomes a fly and fly out sort of harbor.
And you know, that's all so a worry going forward
as well. So it's certainly that's already happening, Katie. We
are saying long term residents leave, and people used to
come here to work and stay for forty years. You
(08:57):
hear those stories all the time, whereas now people coming
for three or four years and leaving in the long
term residence.
Speaker 1 (09:06):
I just cannot understand why there's not more urgency in
terms of in terms of really trying to sort things out.
And I get, you know, I get what the government
says that there's not sort of an easy approach to
these issues. But right across the board, you know, Queensland's
going through what they're calling a youth crime crisis. At
the moment, people have had a gutful you know, they
do not want this kind of behavior to continue on
(09:26):
whether it's judes or adults, and we really have to
get on top of it.
Speaker 3 (09:32):
I'll tell you, I'll tell you why.
Speaker 2 (09:34):
Because the East Coast and the federal government obviously control
the dime and they control you know, people with inside
the territory. But a lot of people are just leading
to be popular and they're not making any tough decisions
that actually need to be made. They leading to be popular,
not leading to be respective. And they're two different things.
And if you can't make tough decisions, quite frankly, need
(09:57):
to get out of the way because you're leaving a
town behind. And so, you know, if you want to
be a politician on big money in Darwen and Canberra.
Speaker 3 (10:07):
That's good. Good on you.
Speaker 2 (10:08):
It's a tough life, but go there for the right
reasons and be willing to make the tough decisions because
at the moment there's no tough decisions happening in other springs.
And this is a scenario that we're.
Speaker 1 (10:19):
Living in, right Matt, is I mean, is the government
just tinkering around the edges here.
Speaker 2 (10:25):
I think we've had a few reshuffles and I think,
you know, I think people are willing to have a go,
but it just doesn't go far enough. It just never
goes far enough. And you know, the Minister's making changes,
but I don't know if they're making changes quick enough
or deep enough to change the problem.
Speaker 1 (10:47):
But I do want to end on, you know, being
a bit more positive. Anything much else going on in
Alice at the moment. Have you got a few things
coming up?
Speaker 2 (10:57):
Yes, But you know the challenge is we want to
do all these exciting things, and the first thing you
get when you consult is I'll just fix crime. You know,
where accounts we can control what we can control. So
it is it's awfully deflating, but look, we've got twenty
million dollars coming from the federal government for the CBD regeneration,
(11:17):
and so that's an exciting project that could change the
face of our Springs and the Todd Mall. Jump on
our Facebook page for our town council website and have
a look at those plans because they're pretty exciting and
we're consulting for a very long time, just over a
month to make sure that we get it right, because
they've seen some projects in our Springs rush through consultation
(11:38):
and they're still not being delivered.
Speaker 3 (11:39):
So that's probably.
Speaker 2 (11:41):
The big ticket item that's pretty exciting for the community
and business in our Springs at the moment.
Speaker 1 (11:47):
Well, Matt, I always appreciate your time, mate. I know
like it's been a really tough run for you guys,
there's no other way to put it. And I don't
think you know. I know that we certainly grapple with
our own issues up here in the top end, but gee,
what you guys have had to deal with it's unbelievable,
I think, and to a lot of people up here,
I think that it truly would be unbelievable. Some of
(12:08):
the scenes that we've seen out of Ella Springs.
Speaker 3 (12:12):
Oh, absolutely unbelievable and The problem we face is that
have become so normalized, and so people who live here
it is normal. And that's the problem. That people are
raising their kids in what's not normal, and we look
at it and you go away and you.
Speaker 2 (12:27):
Go God, it's a wake up cool that you don't
have to raise your kids in their spaces, and it
becomes a hard place to live sometimes, but you know,
I hope it changes because it's an amazing place. Yeah,
and we'll see how we go.
Speaker 1 (12:42):
Matt, thank you so much for having a chat with
us this morning. We'll talk to you again soon.
Speaker 2 (12:47):
Good Thanks Katie, thank you.
Speaker 1 (12:48):
Thanks Mate.
One location that has indeed been grappling with some pretty
terrible crime for quite some time is Alice Springs. And
Alice Springs was again making headlines for the wrong reasons
yesterday and today, this time in the Australian newspaper, and
the article was headlined tiny menaces, helpless police and no solution,
(00:20):
And it started by saying that it's eight pm in
Alice Springs and a group of children are about to
steal a car and lead police on a dangerous chase.
After being caught, they're immediately returned to a responsible adult,
only to continue to re offend. The mayor of Alice Springs,
Matt Patterson, joins me on theline.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
Good morning, Matt, good morning, thanks again for having me.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
No worries at all, Matt. How are things going in
Alice Springs at the moment.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
Well, it's peaks and troughs. We're in a peak again
at the moment, which is probably not surprising. Better look,
it's obviously the same old things that are happening stolen cars,
broken houses, far too often and by far too many people.
Speaker 1 (01:07):
The Australian has again run a story yesterday outlining some
of those issues which continue obviously to Ray John, as
you've said, the peaks and troughs today they delve more
deeply into the story of one of the young kids involved.
Have you read much of that coverage and what do
you make of it?
Speaker 2 (01:25):
I mean, firstly, your heartbreaks, doesn't it, because it's a
ten year old child, right, so, still a human being
in the middle of our country that's getting sailed by
the system. To be quite fraying, the systems failing these kids.
And you know, I'm not a you know, I don't
believe in locking away nine and ten year olds down
the road, but there's got to be something we can
(01:48):
do for these kids. It's not a rinse and repeat
cycle of picking them up and taking them to this
so called responsible adult. Well, where as a responsible adult
in the first place, if kids are out on the
straight at two o'clock in the morning and.
Speaker 1 (02:03):
They're the questions that are starting to be asked more
often at this point in time. I mean, even with
the situation that we saw here on Monday night with
an eleven year old involved in a person being ambushed
after they put a bike in the middle of the
road to entice him to get out of the car
and move it then steal his vehicle. I mean they're
(02:23):
frightening situations that are unfolding. But not only are those
victims obviously at risk, but the kids themselves are at risk.
I mean they're behind the wheel of cars for God's sake.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
Yep, And you know you do, one of that eleven
year old will have the link attack, so I won't
be able to be charged and be under the agent
freminal responsibility if they're not put through the system. It
is just we're just recycling the same odd thing every
other every other day. And you know you're right there
behind the wheel. It's dangerous. They're danger to themselves, to
(02:58):
the community, to everyone else. It's very scary. And we
keep saying these things down in our Springs and Darwin's
patching up quickly. What is going to have to happen
for those drastic changes to take place, because we don't
need a car full of kids in a stolen car
to flip it and kill themselves before we say, well,
(03:21):
we told you so. We just need the matter addressed.
Speaker 1 (03:25):
It has been over a year since the Prime Minister
was in our springs. Two hundred was either two hundred
million dollars right, and you and I've spoken about this before,
but are things any better, Like is any of that
money sort of flowing in and are those programs underway?
Are they making any difference?
Speaker 2 (03:43):
So there's two lots of money. There was the two
fifty million, and then there was forty eight pointy eight.
Now the two fifty lots of people are critical of
that not being rolled out. I don't have a problem
with it being consulted on properly so we don't get
white elephants in remote communities. I'm okay with the back
end work being done the forty eight point eight million
that involves extra police, know, the lighting and CCTV which
(04:05):
is're sitting with council. So those things are underway and
that was the immediate impact and some extension.
Speaker 3 (04:11):
Of youth services.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
So you know, I'll say again that we need to
have a look at the youth services as a whole
and if people getting paid for a service that aren't
getting delivered, well they shouldn't be continually to be funded.
I mean compared to infrastructure, Okatie. The comparison I give
is if you're paid to build a full bedroom, two
bathroom house and you deliver a two bedroom one bathroom house,
(04:35):
you're not going to get paid. So why if you're
in a social service, if you're a social service provider,
you're getting paid to deliver service. If you're delivering a
half botched job, why are you still collecting the paycheck
from the government. And it's because it's easy from the
government to just keep paying and not having to worry
about it.
Speaker 1 (04:54):
Look, I think it's a very good point that you make,
and it's one that you've made before. And you know,
for some reason, some of these comments, some of these calls,
these different you know, different things that people like yourself
are saying, they seem to be falling on deaf ears.
And you know, I do want to point out again,
and I've said it this morning, even in relation to
the incident that it occurred up here in the top end,
the police seemed to be going above and beyond right.
(05:16):
They seem to be absolutely working their butts off to
try and deal with these different situations. But somewhere we're
all being let down.
Speaker 2 (05:26):
Yeah, I agree. I mean I've said it before and
I'll say it again. We need a safe place for
kids to go and that eliminates the path of having
to look for a responsible adult in the first instance,
it can keep place placing and that can be you know,
where territory families can go. And if they can't find
a safe place, well then the kids have somewhere safe
(05:46):
to sleep and they get a warm bed and a meal.
And I think that that, you know, let's try it.
It can't be any worse than what's happening right now.
Let's have a go. And then we've got to do
some some work about getting kids into work in some pathways.
And I don't think that has to be a long
generational process either. There's enough jobs in the territory for people,
(06:10):
and there's certainly enough kids here as well.
Speaker 1 (06:13):
Matt. I'm told this morning that this new justice, new
youth justice facility. I don't know whether it's actually new,
whether it's just a refurb of the old one, but
it's opening in Alice Springs today. What are you hearing.
Speaker 2 (06:25):
I've just got a couple of text messages about it opening.
I mean, it's been going on for a very long time.
So yeah, well it's probably five years too late, but
I don't think I think there's only a couple more bedrooms,
but yeah, we'll wait and see. I don't know much
much more than a couple of texts I've received.
Speaker 1 (06:45):
Hey, the government announced last week, because they did make
quite a big announcement, or they had certainly said it
was going to be a big announcement around around youth
crime and around youth justice. One of the things that
they announced was that they're going to conduc a youth
justice review is going to make a difference. From your perspective, it.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
May well do. But again, I don't think people in
our springs necessarily disagree with the long term, medium term
plans the government have in place, right, it's just that immediate,
short term stuff that people are frustrated with, because if
we don't get that right, then there's no point getting
the long term stuff right because this place will be
(07:30):
left behind. So I think the long term stuff is fine,
and another review will tell us what another review will
tell us. But where we are at a community, is
that immediate, immediate and short term sort of scenarios we
need fixed?
Speaker 1 (07:43):
Yeah, which is fair enough. I mean I spoke to
to Sushira yesterday the Sea of Kosher, and she'd said
to me that she's got long term friends in Alice
Springs that you know, are that are going to be
leaving because they're so fed up and upset with the
you know, the way that things are happening in termsolve
that crime and some of the dangerous situations that obviously
(08:06):
happened there. I mean, is that like, is that something
that you are concerned is going to happen?
Speaker 3 (08:12):
Well, not going to.
Speaker 2 (08:13):
Happen, It is happening. Yeah, I mean, you've been here before.
You know the community spirit and community feel that our
Springs has about it, and I think that's why a
lot of people love it. They can go somewhere and
you're going to bump into someone, you know, like it's
a big country town sort of vibe, and it is
built on the back of the community spirit. But all
the long term residents are going and we will lose
(08:36):
that community feel of what our Springs is and then
it becomes a fly and fly out sort of harbor.
And you know, that's all so a worry going forward
as well. So it's certainly that's already happening, Katie. We
are saying long term residents leave, and people used to
come here to work and stay for forty years. You
(08:57):
hear those stories all the time, whereas now people coming
for three or four years and leaving in the long
term residence.
Speaker 1 (09:06):
I just cannot understand why there's not more urgency in
terms of in terms of really trying to sort things out.
And I get, you know, I get what the government
says that there's not sort of an easy approach to
these issues. But right across the board, you know, Queensland's
going through what they're calling a youth crime crisis. At
the moment, people have had a gutful you know, they
do not want this kind of behavior to continue on
(09:26):
whether it's judes or adults, and we really have to
get on top of it.
Speaker 3 (09:32):
I'll tell you, I'll tell you why.
Speaker 2 (09:34):
Because the East Coast and the federal government obviously control
the dime and they control you know, people with inside
the territory. But a lot of people are just leading
to be popular and they're not making any tough decisions
that actually need to be made. They leading to be popular,
not leading to be respective. And they're two different things.
And if you can't make tough decisions, quite frankly, need
(09:57):
to get out of the way because you're leaving a
town behind. And so, you know, if you want to
be a politician on big money in Darwen and Canberra.
Speaker 3 (10:07):
That's good. Good on you.
Speaker 2 (10:08):
It's a tough life, but go there for the right
reasons and be willing to make the tough decisions because
at the moment there's no tough decisions happening in other springs.
And this is a scenario that we're.
Speaker 1 (10:19):
Living in, right Matt, is I mean, is the government
just tinkering around the edges here.
Speaker 2 (10:25):
I think we've had a few reshuffles and I think,
you know, I think people are willing to have a go,
but it just doesn't go far enough. It just never
goes far enough. And you know, the Minister's making changes,
but I don't know if they're making changes quick enough
or deep enough to change the problem.
Speaker 1 (10:47):
But I do want to end on, you know, being
a bit more positive. Anything much else going on in
Alice at the moment. Have you got a few things
coming up?
Speaker 2 (10:57):
Yes, But you know the challenge is we want to
do all these exciting things, and the first thing you
get when you consult is I'll just fix crime. You know,
where accounts we can control what we can control. So
it is it's awfully deflating, but look, we've got twenty
million dollars coming from the federal government for the CBD regeneration,
(11:17):
and so that's an exciting project that could change the
face of our Springs and the Todd Mall. Jump on
our Facebook page for our town council website and have
a look at those plans because they're pretty exciting and
we're consulting for a very long time, just over a
month to make sure that we get it right, because
they've seen some projects in our Springs rush through consultation
(11:38):
and they're still not being delivered.
Speaker 3 (11:39):
So that's probably.
Speaker 2 (11:41):
The big ticket item that's pretty exciting for the community
and business in our Springs at the moment.
Speaker 1 (11:47):
Well, Matt, I always appreciate your time, mate. I know
like it's been a really tough run for you guys,
there's no other way to put it. And I don't
think you know. I know that we certainly grapple with
our own issues up here in the top end, but gee,
what you guys have had to deal with it's unbelievable,
I think, and to a lot of people up here,
I think that it truly would be unbelievable. Some of
(12:08):
the scenes that we've seen out of Ella Springs.
Speaker 3 (12:12):
Oh, absolutely unbelievable and The problem we face is that
have become so normalized, and so people who live here
it is normal. And that's the problem. That people are
raising their kids in what's not normal, and we look
at it and you go away and you.
Speaker 2 (12:27):
Go God, it's a wake up cool that you don't
have to raise your kids in their spaces, and it
becomes a hard place to live sometimes, but you know,
I hope it changes because it's an amazing place. Yeah,
and we'll see how we go.
Speaker 1 (12:42):
Matt, thank you so much for having a chat with
us this morning. We'll talk to you again soon.
Speaker 2 (12:47):
Good Thanks Katie, thank you.
Speaker 1 (12:48):
Thanks Mate.
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