Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Now we know that the vision out of Alice is
nothing short of shocking. The Chief Minister of the Northern Territory,
Evil Lula, joins me on the line. Good morning to
your chief Minister. Morning Katie, Chief Minister, what are you
going to do this morning to ensure the safety of
residents of Alice Springs?
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Yeah, can I say, you know, absolutely horrific scenes Alice.
Obviously being briefed by the Police Commissioner, but a number
of people on the ground obviously have contacted me as
well from Alice Springs. So the immediate is there are
more police in Alice Springs, So the Commissioner spoke about
twenty three more police being in Alice Springs. The Police
Commission has been very clear that anybody involved will be
(00:41):
getting arrested today, so they've got people investigating and following
up on a lot of the footage that was seen,
and he's been very strong around that those people will
be that they will oppose bail around any of those
that have been assaulted. But there will be police out
with the mounted trolls, with the dogs out, so we'll
(01:02):
have a large police present presence, but also through the
departments and the agencies in Alice Springs. Andrew Kirkman, who's
the acting CEO of Department to Chief Ministers, he's in
Alice Springs today. All the agency heads are literally getting
together now to provide response around what they can do
(01:22):
on the ground as well to support to support the
people of Alice Springs to make sure the people of
Alice Springs feel that feel safe in their town.
Speaker 1 (01:32):
Chief Minister, twenty three additional police is that in addition
to the twenty that was sent there last.
Speaker 2 (01:38):
Weight No, that is the twenty three that's the Territory
Safety Division. So it's twenty three additional police that are
in our screens through Operation Grimold.
Speaker 1 (01:48):
It's not enough, you know from the vision that it's
not enough.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
No, the Police commissioners, you know, said if we need
to there'll be more. He's literally working around what needs
to happen in Nulla Springs and the police are the
experts and I'll rely on the advice from the Commissioner.
But all of that said, the police review will be
coming out very soon. I'm committed to investing a lot
more money into police in the Northern Territory to make
(02:15):
sure that there are plenty of police on the ground
in Nalla Springs, but across the territory.
Speaker 1 (02:21):
Chief Minister, with the utmost respect to you, twenty three
additional police that were sent in last week. We've seen
the utter lawlessness on the streets yesterday afternoon. It isn't enough.
Are you going to put in a request to the
Prime Minister to have federal police, the army police from
other jurisdictions come in to help get things under control.
Speaker 2 (02:46):
So specifically around yesterday. So that was a particular incident
because there was and I think some people have already
spoken about that, there was the eighteen year old that
was killed in that role. Over on the eighth of March.
There was a large number of people and I understand
that they came from Utopia. They came into Allis Springs
for the memorial and then the opposing families were at
(03:10):
the Todd Tavern. That's why they went there. There was
eighteen year olds and sixteen year olds. The footage shows
young people obviously close to this eighteen year old. So
there were the family of the deceased. That was the
violence that we saw. Then they moved to Hidden Valley
camp where there was going to be all There was
further funeral ceremonies happening, and that's then when they encountered
(03:35):
the opposing family group, there was further further violence. The
Aboriginal Liaison officers of police and Alice Springs did a
really good job in stopping that violence from continuing, and
police then were on and the police were on the
ground obviously in both those incidents, So Finister, it was
around a specific incidant. But Katie absolutely will continue to
(03:57):
put more police and Alice Springs to make sure the
streets of Alice Springs are safe, that we're on top
of the issue of crime in our springs.
Speaker 1 (04:06):
Not though you're not on top of the crime in
Alice Springs.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
You know.
Speaker 1 (04:10):
I'm sorry, but we have just heard from the mayor
of Alice Springs. He says people are scared, they are frightened,
they are on edge. They need more than just the
twenty police twenty three police that were pushed in last week.
They need urgent action. They are calling on the federal
(04:30):
government to take control.
Speaker 2 (04:33):
Yeah, so again the police, if the police commissioner, that's
his responsibility.
Speaker 1 (04:38):
Chief Minister, you're more elected. You are elected by the
Northern Territory people. You are elected by the people of
the Northern Territory to keep them safe. You are failing
in your duty of care right now, Katie.
Speaker 2 (04:52):
Absolutely, I know that, but I know what my responsibilities
are as Chief Minister. But it is also the police
commissioner's response onsibility. He knows as well as James gray Spence.
The police on the ground, they know what is needed
to keep the town safe. They will allocate resources as required.
It's not up to a Chief Minister to tell them
(05:14):
how to do their job and what they need to do.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
Times commissioner to do that, sometimes the chief has to
step by. Sometimes the Chief Minister has to step up
and go, do you know what, We actually don't have
this thing under control. The vision that came out yesterday
afternoon is appalling. It's sad, appalling, but more needs to
be done. More needs to be done.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
It is appalling, Katie. We all agree it was shocking,
shocking footage to see. The police will continue to escalate,
to continue to do the work that they knew they
need to do on the ground. We will have all
the agencies also doing the work that they can do.
They will provide advice. They're meeting literally now. They will
provide advice to me around what else might need to
(06:01):
happen in Alice Springs. So I know there's been conversations
around whether liquor outlets need to be closed today. They
will provide advice around that. So absolutely, people are very
much people as in public servants, police, very much focused
on making sure the people of Alice Springs are safe.
Speaker 1 (06:21):
What about you? What are you, as the chief minister
going to say to all of those decision makers this morning?
Do you think that there needs to be emergency measures
in place when it comes to alcohol?
Speaker 2 (06:33):
Katie. I have already had conversations with the Police Commissioner.
I've also had conversations with Darrell Anderson, who's the Deputy ce.
Andrew Kirkman literally is on the plane this morning. He's
probably just got off the plane in Alice Springs. We've
all had conversations around we need to do whatever it
takes to get on top of the issues that we've
(06:54):
seen around these family groups coming in from Utopia and
the unrest I've caused. The violence that they've caused in
Alice Springs absolutely horrific and totally unacceptable. Those families need
to either go back to their communities or they need
to behave themselves if they're in Alice Springs.
Speaker 1 (07:12):
Have you spoken to the Prime Minister Anthony Albanezi this morning.
Speaker 2 (07:16):
No, I spoke to Marian I've spoken to Marion Scrimjaw though.
Speaker 1 (07:20):
So you don't think that there needs to be any
additional support from the federal government or from the Federal
police at all today, Katie.
Speaker 2 (07:29):
These conversations around the federal police have been had previously.
The federal police don't and I mean you can talk
to Michael Murphy around that. The Federal police have a
very different role in Australia. They probably don't have the
skill set to be managing violent Aboriginal people. They are
the ones that are at airports and doing things and
(07:49):
checking passports all of those things, or doing cybercrime is
they probably would not be of assistance necessarily. Then we've
had that conversations twelve months ago around the role of
the federal police. What we need to do is we've
got absolutely outstanding police in the Northern Territory who deal
with Aboriginal people. And this group of people are Aboriginal people,
(08:12):
but they deal with Aboriginal people. They understand what needs
to be done. They're the people that we need to
see and going to increase in numbers in our springs.
The Police Commissioner will decide that.
Speaker 1 (08:22):
But you know yourself, you're doing a review yourself. You
know yourself that we don't have enough police. This is
where I can't like, I'm feeling really disheartened, and I
know people listening are going to be feeling the same,
Like we know we don't have enough police right now
to deal with the level of crime that we've got
across the northern territory. So that vision out of valors.
(08:44):
Yesterday things were out of control. People are you know,
they've locked themselves inside their homes. The mayor saying kids
are being picked up from school, you know, just up
the road from where it's happening. And I understand the
measures that you say that are being taken where you've
got departmental heads, you've got the Police Commissioner obviously flying there.
(09:05):
We've got those twenty odd extra police. But the people
of Alice right now, Chief Minister, don't feel like that's enough.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
Well, Katie, that is absolutely as the Police Commissioner will
look into it. If we need to have more police,
he will allocate resources. That's what the police commissioner has
to do allocate more police. So if there are if
things are unsettled today, there will be more police in
Alice Springs.
Speaker 1 (09:30):
That's how it works.
Speaker 2 (09:31):
They will continue to be on the ground to continue
to make sure they pull police, whether they're on leave
or whether they're on their days off, They'll bring more
police in. That's how police commissioners, That's how police on
the ground will work. And if need be, there'll be
more police from Darwin or Catherine or Tenant Creek wherever
is needed to get on top of the situation. That's
(09:55):
what a commissioner does around allocating resources to settle things
down in a which is our spring.
Speaker 1 (10:01):
Look, I'll acknowledge I've not spoken to the Police Commissioner
this morning. I know he's done some other media. We're
going to be speaking to the Acting Deputy Commissioner, Martin
Dole at ten thirty this morning. But Chief Minister, like
we know we're at a shortage with police. That's exactly
why you guys are doing the review. I know that
the government said that you've committed to, you know, to
(10:22):
doing whatever is is basically reported when that review is
made public. But the twenty extra police are already there.
We've seen the vision that's come out yesterday. You've got
the mayor saying that we need more, we need the
assistance from the federal government. He said he doesn't mind
whether it's the federal police. He doesn't mind if it's
if it's the army, doesn't mind if it's police from
(10:42):
other jurisdictions. But they need more boots on the ground today.
I you know, I don't think that this all comes
down to the Police commissioner. This comes down to the
whole of government going what is the right thing for
us to do.
Speaker 2 (10:55):
I've said that there is a whole of government approach.
So Andrew Kirkman, who's the sea in charge of all
the government agencies in the Northern Territory, he's on the
ground in Alice Springs. We've got Darrell Anderson, who is
an extremely experienced operator who understands Alice Springs, understands the
bush issues in Ala Springs. They're meeting now. There will
(11:18):
be the police meeting. Every government agency CEO, I mean
every government agency executive director in Central Australia will be there.
They will then meet with all the stakeholders, the NGOs
to make sure there is a whole of government, NGO,
whole of town response to address this issue. So I
can assure territories. I can assure the people in Ola
(11:39):
Springs that this matter is being taken absolutely seriously, that
police are responding and will continue to respond today, tomorrow,
however long it needs to be, and so will all
the government agency.
Speaker 1 (11:52):
Chief Finister, can you guarantee the people of Alla Springs
that they are not going to see the same scenes
this afternoon and tonight as what I saw yesterday.
Speaker 2 (12:02):
I can't guarantee anything, Katie. These people are individuals who
need to be responsible for their own actions. The Alos
will be out in the community. They have been out
in the communities people who can speak languages, because these
are people that will This gang of people are from Utopia,
so they'll be out talking to those people telling them
what they need to do, which is either you know,
(12:24):
behave themselves in town or go back to their communities.
It's absolutely totally unacceptable behavior. They know that, but it
was a heightened situation around the emotions at a funeral
of this eighteen year old.
Speaker 1 (12:37):
Can you force them back to their communities? I mean,
you know, like they just should not be happening. They
should not be coming to town and running a mark
like we saw. No.
Speaker 2 (12:45):
Of course, of course people you can't force people back
to their communities, but there can be strong suggestions around
their own safety because they're going to there'll be you know,
if there is violence, both parties can end up getting hurt.
So it's not then to have violence. But we also
understand around the emotions around an eighteen year old's death,
(13:08):
and we can all understand that, but again, totally unacceptable behavior, shocking, horrific,
and I can tell you that the police on the
ground there and will continue to be very vigilant and
making sure that as much as they can that these
things don't continue.
Speaker 1 (13:23):
Chief Finnist, we are going to have to leave it there.
Appreciate your time this morning.
Speaker 2 (13:28):
Thanks Katie, Thank you,
Now we know that the vision out of Alice is
nothing short of shocking. The Chief Minister of the Northern Territory,
Evil Lula, joins me on the line. Good morning to
your chief Minister. Morning Katie, Chief Minister, what are you
going to do this morning to ensure the safety of
residents of Alice Springs?
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Yeah, can I say, you know, absolutely horrific scenes Alice.
Obviously being briefed by the Police Commissioner, but a number
of people on the ground obviously have contacted me as
well from Alice Springs. So the immediate is there are
more police in Alice Springs, So the Commissioner spoke about
twenty three more police being in Alice Springs. The Police
Commission has been very clear that anybody involved will be
(00:41):
getting arrested today, so they've got people investigating and following
up on a lot of the footage that was seen,
and he's been very strong around that those people will
be that they will oppose bail around any of those
that have been assaulted. But there will be police out
with the mounted trolls, with the dogs out, so we'll
(01:02):
have a large police present presence, but also through the
departments and the agencies in Alice Springs. Andrew Kirkman, who's
the acting CEO of Department to Chief Ministers, he's in
Alice Springs today. All the agency heads are literally getting
together now to provide response around what they can do
(01:22):
on the ground as well to support to support the
people of Alice Springs to make sure the people of
Alice Springs feel that feel safe in their town.
Speaker 1 (01:32):
Chief Minister, twenty three additional police is that in addition
to the twenty that was sent there last.
Speaker 2 (01:38):
Weight No, that is the twenty three that's the Territory
Safety Division. So it's twenty three additional police that are
in our screens through Operation Grimold.
Speaker 1 (01:48):
It's not enough, you know from the vision that it's
not enough.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
No, the Police commissioners, you know, said if we need
to there'll be more. He's literally working around what needs
to happen in Nulla Springs and the police are the
experts and I'll rely on the advice from the Commissioner.
But all of that said, the police review will be
coming out very soon. I'm committed to investing a lot
more money into police in the Northern Territory to make
(02:15):
sure that there are plenty of police on the ground
in Nalla Springs, but across the territory.
Speaker 1 (02:21):
Chief Minister, with the utmost respect to you, twenty three
additional police that were sent in last week. We've seen
the utter lawlessness on the streets yesterday afternoon. It isn't enough.
Are you going to put in a request to the
Prime Minister to have federal police, the army police from
other jurisdictions come in to help get things under control.
Speaker 2 (02:46):
So specifically around yesterday. So that was a particular incident
because there was and I think some people have already
spoken about that, there was the eighteen year old that
was killed in that role. Over on the eighth of March.
There was a large number of people and I understand
that they came from Utopia. They came into Allis Springs
for the memorial and then the opposing families were at
(03:10):
the Todd Tavern. That's why they went there. There was
eighteen year olds and sixteen year olds. The footage shows
young people obviously close to this eighteen year old. So
there were the family of the deceased. That was the
violence that we saw. Then they moved to Hidden Valley
camp where there was going to be all There was
further funeral ceremonies happening, and that's then when they encountered
(03:35):
the opposing family group, there was further further violence. The
Aboriginal Liaison officers of police and Alice Springs did a
really good job in stopping that violence from continuing, and
police then were on and the police were on the
ground obviously in both those incidents, So Finister, it was
around a specific incidant. But Katie absolutely will continue to
(03:57):
put more police and Alice Springs to make sure the
streets of Alice Springs are safe, that we're on top
of the issue of crime in our springs.
Speaker 1 (04:06):
Not though you're not on top of the crime in
Alice Springs.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
You know.
Speaker 1 (04:10):
I'm sorry, but we have just heard from the mayor
of Alice Springs. He says people are scared, they are frightened,
they are on edge. They need more than just the
twenty police twenty three police that were pushed in last week.
They need urgent action. They are calling on the federal
(04:30):
government to take control.
Speaker 2 (04:33):
Yeah, so again the police, if the police commissioner, that's
his responsibility.
Speaker 1 (04:38):
Chief Minister, you're more elected. You are elected by the
Northern Territory people. You are elected by the people of
the Northern Territory to keep them safe. You are failing
in your duty of care right now, Katie.
Speaker 2 (04:52):
Absolutely, I know that, but I know what my responsibilities
are as Chief Minister. But it is also the police
commissioner's response onsibility. He knows as well as James gray Spence.
The police on the ground, they know what is needed
to keep the town safe. They will allocate resources as required.
It's not up to a Chief Minister to tell them
(05:14):
how to do their job and what they need to do.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
Times commissioner to do that, sometimes the chief has to
step by. Sometimes the Chief Minister has to step up
and go, do you know what, We actually don't have
this thing under control. The vision that came out yesterday
afternoon is appalling. It's sad, appalling, but more needs to
be done. More needs to be done.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
It is appalling, Katie. We all agree it was shocking,
shocking footage to see. The police will continue to escalate,
to continue to do the work that they knew they
need to do on the ground. We will have all
the agencies also doing the work that they can do.
They will provide advice. They're meeting literally now. They will
provide advice to me around what else might need to
(06:01):
happen in Alice Springs. So I know there's been conversations
around whether liquor outlets need to be closed today. They
will provide advice around that. So absolutely, people are very
much people as in public servants, police, very much focused
on making sure the people of Alice Springs are safe.
Speaker 1 (06:21):
What about you? What are you, as the chief minister
going to say to all of those decision makers this morning?
Do you think that there needs to be emergency measures
in place when it comes to alcohol?
Speaker 2 (06:33):
Katie. I have already had conversations with the Police Commissioner.
I've also had conversations with Darrell Anderson, who's the Deputy ce.
Andrew Kirkman literally is on the plane this morning. He's
probably just got off the plane in Alice Springs. We've
all had conversations around we need to do whatever it
takes to get on top of the issues that we've
(06:54):
seen around these family groups coming in from Utopia and
the unrest I've caused. The violence that they've caused in
Alice Springs absolutely horrific and totally unacceptable. Those families need
to either go back to their communities or they need
to behave themselves if they're in Alice Springs.
Speaker 1 (07:12):
Have you spoken to the Prime Minister Anthony Albanezi this morning.
Speaker 2 (07:16):
No, I spoke to Marian I've spoken to Marion Scrimjaw though.
Speaker 1 (07:20):
So you don't think that there needs to be any
additional support from the federal government or from the Federal
police at all today, Katie.
Speaker 2 (07:29):
These conversations around the federal police have been had previously.
The federal police don't and I mean you can talk
to Michael Murphy around that. The Federal police have a
very different role in Australia. They probably don't have the
skill set to be managing violent Aboriginal people. They are
the ones that are at airports and doing things and
(07:49):
checking passports all of those things, or doing cybercrime is
they probably would not be of assistance necessarily. Then we've
had that conversations twelve months ago around the role of
the federal police. What we need to do is we've
got absolutely outstanding police in the Northern Territory who deal
with Aboriginal people. And this group of people are Aboriginal people,
(08:12):
but they deal with Aboriginal people. They understand what needs
to be done. They're the people that we need to
see and going to increase in numbers in our springs.
The Police Commissioner will decide that.
Speaker 1 (08:22):
But you know yourself, you're doing a review yourself. You
know yourself that we don't have enough police. This is
where I can't like, I'm feeling really disheartened, and I
know people listening are going to be feeling the same,
Like we know we don't have enough police right now
to deal with the level of crime that we've got
across the northern territory. So that vision out of valors.
(08:44):
Yesterday things were out of control. People are you know,
they've locked themselves inside their homes. The mayor saying kids
are being picked up from school, you know, just up
the road from where it's happening. And I understand the
measures that you say that are being taken where you've
got departmental heads, you've got the Police Commissioner obviously flying there.
(09:05):
We've got those twenty odd extra police. But the people
of Alice right now, Chief Minister, don't feel like that's enough.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
Well, Katie, that is absolutely as the Police Commissioner will
look into it. If we need to have more police,
he will allocate resources. That's what the police commissioner has
to do allocate more police. So if there are if
things are unsettled today, there will be more police in
Alice Springs.
Speaker 1 (09:30):
That's how it works.
Speaker 2 (09:31):
They will continue to be on the ground to continue
to make sure they pull police, whether they're on leave
or whether they're on their days off, They'll bring more
police in. That's how police commissioners, That's how police on
the ground will work. And if need be, there'll be
more police from Darwin or Catherine or Tenant Creek wherever
is needed to get on top of the situation. That's
(09:55):
what a commissioner does around allocating resources to settle things
down in a which is our spring.
Speaker 1 (10:01):
Look, I'll acknowledge I've not spoken to the Police Commissioner
this morning. I know he's done some other media. We're
going to be speaking to the Acting Deputy Commissioner, Martin
Dole at ten thirty this morning. But Chief Minister, like
we know we're at a shortage with police. That's exactly
why you guys are doing the review. I know that
the government said that you've committed to, you know, to
(10:22):
doing whatever is is basically reported when that review is
made public. But the twenty extra police are already there.
We've seen the vision that's come out yesterday. You've got
the mayor saying that we need more, we need the
assistance from the federal government. He said he doesn't mind
whether it's the federal police. He doesn't mind if it's
if it's the army, doesn't mind if it's police from
(10:42):
other jurisdictions. But they need more boots on the ground today.
I you know, I don't think that this all comes
down to the Police commissioner. This comes down to the
whole of government going what is the right thing for
us to do.
Speaker 2 (10:55):
I've said that there is a whole of government approach.
So Andrew Kirkman, who's the sea in charge of all
the government agencies in the Northern Territory, he's on the
ground in Alice Springs. We've got Darrell Anderson, who is
an extremely experienced operator who understands Alice Springs, understands the
bush issues in Ala Springs. They're meeting now. There will
(11:18):
be the police meeting. Every government agency CEO, I mean
every government agency executive director in Central Australia will be there.
They will then meet with all the stakeholders, the NGOs
to make sure there is a whole of government, NGO,
whole of town response to address this issue. So I
can assure territories. I can assure the people in Ola
(11:39):
Springs that this matter is being taken absolutely seriously, that
police are responding and will continue to respond today, tomorrow,
however long it needs to be, and so will all
the government agency.
Speaker 1 (11:52):
Chief Finister, can you guarantee the people of Alla Springs
that they are not going to see the same scenes
this afternoon and tonight as what I saw yesterday.
Speaker 2 (12:02):
I can't guarantee anything, Katie. These people are individuals who
need to be responsible for their own actions. The Alos
will be out in the community. They have been out
in the communities people who can speak languages, because these
are people that will This gang of people are from Utopia,
so they'll be out talking to those people telling them
what they need to do, which is either you know,
(12:24):
behave themselves in town or go back to their communities.
It's absolutely totally unacceptable behavior. They know that, but it
was a heightened situation around the emotions at a funeral
of this eighteen year old.
Speaker 1 (12:37):
Can you force them back to their communities? I mean,
you know, like they just should not be happening. They
should not be coming to town and running a mark
like we saw. No.
Speaker 2 (12:45):
Of course, of course people you can't force people back
to their communities, but there can be strong suggestions around
their own safety because they're going to there'll be you know,
if there is violence, both parties can end up getting hurt.
So it's not then to have violence. But we also
understand around the emotions around an eighteen year old's death,
(13:08):
and we can all understand that, but again, totally unacceptable behavior, shocking, horrific,
and I can tell you that the police on the
ground there and will continue to be very vigilant and
making sure that as much as they can that these
things don't continue.
Speaker 1 (13:23):
Chief Finnist, we are going to have to leave it there.
Appreciate your time this morning.
Speaker 2 (13:28):
Thanks Katie, Thank you,
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