Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Today marks one hundred days since the Finochiro led COLP
government was elected. It's been a busy one hundred days.
No matter what side of the political fence you sit on,
you cannot deny that they've hit the ground running. The
Chief Minister, Leo Finocchio said prior to the election in August,
she'd promised territorians change for the better, and she says
(00:21):
we're delivering on that promise. She joins me in the
studio right now, Good morning to your Chief.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Miness, signing Katie and to your listeners.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
Now, when you look at the first one hundred days
in office, what were your top priorities and what's it
been like for you?
Speaker 3 (00:36):
It's been an incredible privilege and I'm just so proud
of what we've been able to achieve for our fellow territory.
And you know, things were in a really, really dark position.
People didn't have hope, and we've just hit the ground running,
particularly obviously around reducing crime. So things are still absolutely horrific.
And I'm not sugarcoating or pretending that crime has gone away,
(00:57):
but we have put an additional sixty police out on
the street in uniform.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
We urgently passed through the Parliament.
Speaker 3 (01:03):
Our Reducing Crime Package giving police better powers around public
drinking problem, drunks, ram raid post and boast, assaults on
workers and so bail will start come one January.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
So it's been a big push.
Speaker 3 (01:17):
There's so much more to do, Katie, don't get me wrong,
but it's nice to look back on one hundred days
of action and say to territories that we did deliver
on what we promise. There's just such a huge range
of commitments we've gotten out the door, and we're really
proud and we look forward to the hard work ahead.
Speaker 1 (01:32):
How would you rate your efforts since being elected.
Speaker 3 (01:35):
I can't do that, Katie. All I can say is
we've given one hundred and ten percent. I mean, it's
just been tireless every day, morning and night. Am Ninja
kock will be will start one January. You know, the
school attendance officers are out the door. Payroll tax starts
one January. Our home build scheme has happened, the MVR
(01:55):
price is being freezed, our solar rebate, there's been so
much this free swimming lessons for our kids starting one January. So,
I mean I could rabble on and on and on,
but it's it's been a big push.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
And I think we get ten out of ten for effort.
Speaker 1 (02:10):
I mean one hundred days. It is quite a long
period of time. It seems like it's gone really quite fast.
From my perspective, it's probably a bit different to you.
You probably feel like it's been an incredibly busy time.
But I guess you've had the will of the Northern
Territory with you, a lot of territorians voting for you.
But how do you sort of maintain that momentum because
(02:31):
we are still experiencing issues with crime, We are still
experiencing some of those same issues, and we're not really
seeing a big change year. Yes, in terms of the
legislative reform that you have pushed through.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
Yeah, that's right, Katie.
Speaker 3 (02:44):
And so in that first sittings of Parliament what four
weeks ago, we passed a bunch of reform and that
is having an impact. So our police have I think
charged about seventeen people with ram raids. Post and boast
has been used, Newson's public drinking has been used. So
it's absolutely out there working, but it's not the silver bullet.
(03:04):
There's so much work to do, and so this next
year ahead will be a time of great reform. We've
got to get our court systems working better. Obviously, our
corrections muster have adult prisoners moving back into the behremouth
facility literally in a matter of days, so there's plenty
more to do. And like I said, we can't sugarcoat this,
but I can't magic up more police and the crime
(03:26):
is in such a state it takes a long time
to turn this around.
Speaker 1 (03:28):
So next one hundred days you're really going to be
trying to focus on making sure that we do have
the court systems working a little bit more quickly, make
sure the prisons are able to deal with the capacity
or the influx of prisoners at.
Speaker 2 (03:39):
This without questions.
Speaker 3 (03:41):
So by the end of this year, our prison systems
will already be working better, and that work just continues
to get better into next year as we bring online
more capacity. Our courts are a big piece of work. Obviously,
we've had NAJA in disarray, and we've managed to get
on top of legal aid with about a five million
dollar funding increase to them with some very strict rules
(04:02):
for legal light around what they need to do to
put themselves on a stable footing going forward, because what
we want is better results for victims, less victims, access
to justice, and so it's a big piece of reform.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
There were just so many areas of failure. But we're
up for the challenge.
Speaker 3 (04:18):
We've shown through our actions that we're willing to get
things done and we're not going to back down. We
will deliver in our promises and we're just going to
crack onto it in the near leah.
Speaker 1 (04:27):
Not everyone is happy with some of the swift and
decisive action that the government is taking. A group of
community health research and Aboriginal community controlled organizations have renewed
their calls for the Northern Territory government to walk back
on the plan to scrap the alcohol flow price. We
spoke about this last week with doctor John Boffer, and
as we know, on Thursday, the government introduced that legislation
(04:49):
to repeal the minimum unit price. Critics are arguing that
allowing alcohol that's cheaper than water to return to shelves
would lead to a spike in alcohol fueled violence and harm,
as problem drinkers could access more standard drinks for the
same amount of money. What do you make of those criticisms?
Speaker 3 (05:08):
Look, I think alcohol anti alcohol groups are always going
to wish there were zero alcohol. The reality is the
minimum floor price does not work. Otherwise we would not
have seen a thirty eight percent increase in alcohol related
assaults under labor. So the data shows very very clearly
from the review hard spirits. So they're no longer drinking
cask wine, they're drinking bottles of rum instead. And we're
(05:30):
all seeing the smash bottles on our foot paths in
our playgrounds, and I think people would almost wish it
was the other way around. Again, So this is we're
talking about chronically affected alcoholics. A floor price doesn't mean
anything to them. They will pay six hundred dollars regularly
for a bottle of drink. It's just that if the
floor price is a nonsense and it's got to go.
Speaker 1 (05:51):
Doctor John Boffer believes this when that floor price is removed,
that we could see a situation like we did in
Alice Springs towards the beginning of last year or towards
the end beginning of this year. I should say that
we could see another blow up of some of that
antisocial behavior like we saw when the Stronger Future SOGISA should.
Speaker 3 (06:13):
Yeah, look, they're totally uncomparable and again anti alcohol lobby
groups will say wild and hysterical things to try and
raise the concern of the community, which is really reckless
in and of itself. This is not that, and so
what we know, just to give people some context, A
minimum floor prize only operates in Scotland and that's where
(06:34):
this idea came from for the Northern territory. It doesn't
happen anywhere else in this country. I think Scotland even
now are actually reviewing the process. So this is this
is something that makes a bunch of people who want
to be seen to be doing something around alcohol feel
good about themselves. I'm not here to make lobby groups
feel good. I'm here to deliver results for the community.
This doesn't work.
Speaker 1 (06:54):
Some of those people, though, are people that work on
the front line in.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
Health Sure and they're desperate, Katie.
Speaker 3 (06:59):
They're deaper for change, but keeping things that don't work,
that's not my job. Status quo is not the option
for a CLP government. We've got to drive change for
the territory. We promise this at two elections. This is
a twenty twenty and twenty twenty four commitment and we
will not be walking back on our elections commitments.
Speaker 2 (07:16):
To the community what happens.
Speaker 1 (07:18):
So if things do blow up.
Speaker 3 (07:20):
Well there's other things that have to happen. Now, don't forget.
We've got our nuisance public drinking laws. They did not
exist under labor. So as our police get greater ability
to respond, as we start to drive down crime, those
nuisance public drinking laws will really come into their own
and they're already having a big impact. Is also about
next year when we start rolling out what our mandatory
(07:41):
alcohol treatment's going to look like and we start dealing
with the demand for alcohol supply will supply restrictions.
Speaker 2 (07:49):
Will only get you so far.
Speaker 3 (07:50):
They're very important, and we saw that with stronger futures,
but they're not all born equal, Katie, and minimum flaw
price cannot be touted as something akin to Will we.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
Start to see some of the mandatory rehabilitation, some of
those increased numbers for people who do need rehab.
Speaker 2 (08:07):
When don't we to.
Speaker 1 (08:07):
Start to see some of those changes.
Speaker 3 (08:09):
So next year will be when the consultation and all
of that starts early next year, because we're really mindful,
this is not a two point zero of last time round,
and it's been a big more than a decade in between.
So what we need to do is make sure we're
out there talking to the service providers, talking to alcoholics themselves,
talking to families affective and really get an understanding of
(08:31):
how we can deliver this better and with greater breadth
across the territory. So that work will start next early
next year, and then depending on how that goes will
depend on how quickly we can finalize it. I don't
want it to drag on, but we do need to
get it right and we're being extremely open minded about
what this could look like, which I think is an
exciting space for all the NGOs and service providers to
(08:54):
be part of that space and be part of designing
what this needs to look like.
Speaker 1 (08:58):
Chief Minister, let's talk about Alice, because we know that
things are once again pretty rough there at the moment.
Or late last week, multiple taxis were rammed with a
stolen vehicle, with one driver targeted twice and allegedly threatened
with an iron bar. That's what the Northern Territory Police
say now. They alleged that there were four attacks on
three taxis by the same offenders within a half hour period.
(09:21):
Police alleged that a group of youths approached the taxi driver,
as I said, with an iron bar. He was threatened
and forced to hand over cash, amongst other things. You
know what is happening in Alice Springs because it you know,
sometimes you go all right, things seem to have quietened
down a little bit, then they just blow up again.
But there seems to be a group of people that
(09:42):
really just think or know that they can do whatever
they want. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (09:46):
Absolutely, there is total lawlessness.
Speaker 3 (09:49):
And this is where with young people, they've been raised
under eight years of a labor government where there's been
no consequences to turn that ingrained behavior around is very
very challenging, lenging and the level of violence and destruction
and cars being stolen and dangerous behavior, it's absolutely terrifying, Katie.
(10:09):
It's terrifying for our police, our community and it's unacceptable.
So you know, we've lowered the age of criminal responsibility.
We've got the ram raid powers in there, but at
the end of the day, we want less cr do.
At the moment, it's just get on top of the
criminals faster. But Operation Ludlow is operating in Alice Springs
and we know summer is a very high time of
(10:29):
crime for Alice. They've already engaged in thirty two arrests,
thirty one protective custodies.
Speaker 2 (10:35):
They've been doing the wandering.
Speaker 3 (10:37):
They've had forty six wanding scans, operations happening, breaches of
band drinker orders. So the operation is out there.
Speaker 2 (10:45):
Is it enough?
Speaker 3 (10:46):
It's never enough, Katie, It's never enough. We only have
so many police because labor didn't.
Speaker 1 (10:51):
I mean, what do you say to the people of
Alice Springs, so who are really worried that the status
quo is going to continue? And you know, yes that
legislation has changed. Yes, there does seem to be a
will from you guys to at least see some change,
but they're really not seeing it yet, and it would
be so bloody hard to continue living there. I mean,
just last week we spoke to Sushira from Kosher. She
(11:14):
told us about an elderly woman who was still living
in a home with broken windows after she'd been broken
into once. You know, victims of crime had helped to
replace those windows once, but then she'd been broken into
again and wasn't able to get those windows fixed. I mean,
like they're really kind of there, like normal. That's stories
(11:34):
that are happening which are so sad like and honestly
make sure want to cry thinking about an elderly woman
being in a home without windows because she's got.
Speaker 2 (11:42):
And feeling so vulnerable.
Speaker 3 (11:43):
You know, you would feel so vulnerable and theose cracked
glass would be a constant reminder of just how exposed
you are. Oh look, Katie, I get it. And it's
just it's just horrific. At the end of the day,
this comes down to personal responsibility.
Speaker 2 (11:59):
Do the thing.
Speaker 3 (12:00):
It's not that hard. But we have an entire generation
of kids who are lawless because the previous government made
them untouchable. We've got a situation where the police haven't
been supported for a very long time. We don't have
the numbers of resources of police that we need, and
in the meantime, it's the community bearing the brunt until
we can transition this to flip it on its head.
(12:23):
And it's heartbreaking, it's unacceptable and I wish, I wish
there was something else we could do. Right now, we're
looking at everything. We've got the patroller groups meet every
single day, and that's with all of the service providers
coming together. We've got senior leadership across the whole public
service in Alice Springs not on holidays over make sure
(12:44):
that services are being delivered. We've sent a very clear
message to the NGOs that they cannot be shutting down
over the Christmas period. They've got to be delivering the
services that taxpayers pay them to do. And so that's
ongoing work to make sure they're stumping up and doing
their fear share, you know, programs, making sure the Commonwealth
Government have got the programs in place to be able
(13:06):
to engage kids. We're looking at expanding safe sleeping options,
all of these types of things. But it's imperfect to
say the least, Katie, it really is, Leah.
Speaker 1 (13:16):
A few listener questions coming through. I'll get to those
in a second, but I do want to ask you.
The NT News is this morning reporting that the COLP
tabled a petition in Parliament last week, signed by more
than two thousand people calling for abortion rights to be
repealed in the Northern Territory. The petition organizer and Baptist
pastor Sharon Crook had said that backbencher Andrew McKay took
(13:37):
that petition to Parliament at the direction of the Deputy
Chief Minister Jered Mayley. Now my understanding is that the
petition seeks to overturn the twenty twenty one reforms which
bought the Northern Territory in line with other Australian jurisdictions
by removing the need for assessment by a second doctor
for those requiring an abortion up to twenty four weeks.
(13:58):
Gestation is at the colp's plan to repeal this legislation.
Speaker 3 (14:05):
No, we don't have any plans to change any of
those laws at all. Of course, the petition is something
that any Territorian can do. It is very important that
members of Parliament table petitions because otherwise we're effectively blocking
people from having their say and the COLP will not
do that. So the Member for Goyida table that petition.
That's what his community asked him to do, and he's
(14:26):
done that. It will now go to the Public Accounts
Committee to determine whether it come back for debate. And
if it comes back for debate, we've doubled the time
for debates for petitions because we want the community's concerns
to be able to be agitated and fleshed out in
the Parliament. And that's exactly people's right to do so,
irrespective of the topic and sometimes they're controversial, the fact
(14:48):
that they can have the opportunity to be heard, I
think is really important. That's what democracy is about. And
so what this is is a very large group of
people in who've put that petition together and.
Speaker 2 (15:03):
It'll have its Daycati, well.
Speaker 1 (15:05):
I just don't understand why we've been even looking at
sort of going backwards on something like women's rights.
Speaker 2 (15:10):
Now, no, well we're not.
Speaker 3 (15:11):
But that's different to the petition. Right if we were
just to block a single petition that came to Parliament,
and I'm just not doing that.
Speaker 2 (15:19):
People have a right to be heard.
Speaker 3 (15:20):
It's their parliament, it's their process, and at the end
of the day, if we're not old enough to have
these types of conversations, we don't deserve to sit in parliament.
Speaker 1 (15:28):
So it's not a situation here where you've got members
of your party that are wanting those that legislation to
be repealed.
Speaker 3 (15:35):
No, not at all. But it is important that people
have the opportunity. So there might be a petition around
a group of trees someone doesn't want cut down, or
a petition about a road.
Speaker 1 (15:44):
Last week, I reckon there was some about camber grass, Yes, exactly.
Speaker 3 (15:47):
You know, there. You can literally do a petition about
anything you want and it's not going to be a
CLP member of Parliament that stops you from having your
voice heard. What we will do is consider it for
on its merits and make sure we put our position forward.
We are not we have no intention whatsoever of changing
these laws, but we absolutely respect the voices of the
two thousand people who took the time to sign it,
(16:09):
and they'll have their chance to have their say.
Speaker 1 (16:11):
Lea. I know your press for time, as are we,
but I do want to ask you. Last week pollys
gave themselves a pay rise. What do you think that? Well,
what do you say to Territorians who are annoyed by this?
I mean, given the fact that they're battling a cost
of living crisis.
Speaker 3 (16:26):
Yeah, absolutely, and look it's never a good time. So
what we have, and it's exactly the same in every
other jurisdiction, they have a version of a remuneration tribunal,
so it's an independent group of people so that politicians
aren't setting their own pay.
Speaker 2 (16:40):
That's the whole point.
Speaker 3 (16:41):
And over many decades we've seen different iterations of this
where pollies pay were tied to certain levels of the
public service.
Speaker 2 (16:47):
But then the community.
Speaker 3 (16:49):
Felt that if they gave the public service a pay raise,
they were giving themselves a pay rise. So there's no
great way to do this, but by having it independent,
and the Opposition leader and I have said, look, we
have to respect their independence. Otherwise, effectively we're tinkering in
our own pay and I think that doesn't pass the
pub test. So the Remuneration Tribunal have done this. Their
(17:09):
vision for the territory and for judges and other bodies
that they set pay for is to have us just
around that average, just below average for the country. And
that's the decision they've made, and you know, it is
what it is.
Speaker 1 (17:22):
Lea. Did you go to the unveiling of the sculpture
on the weekend or the event, the public event that
was held by the council.
Speaker 2 (17:28):
Yeah, so there was one. I think the controversial statue
one didn't happen any Yeah.
Speaker 3 (17:35):
I wasn't going to that anyway, but yeah, there was
a beautiful service that was held on Saturday morning and
I did attend that. The federal Minister, the Emergency Management
minis Vivors and I actually think City of Darwin did
a really lovely job they'd put shade up right around
the ski club, and they had pictures and different things
(17:55):
that people can get involved in morning tea. And I
felt from the feedback I got from survivors that it
was really well done and fitting tribute for a very
very scary time in our history and something that's shaped
the people we are in our future and our resilience.
And so this Christmas is a tough time for a
lot of people. Care.
Speaker 1 (18:12):
I reckon it is going to be a very tough time. Hey,
did you see the sculpture? What did you think? No?
Speaker 2 (18:16):
No, because it wasn't there. No, I haven't seen it yet.
Speaker 1 (18:18):
So we'll wait and see what everybody thinks. No doubt
we're going to get plenty more feedback, I'm sure over.
Speaker 3 (18:24):
The next I would like to know one sculpture that
everyone loves, though. I think artist is just one of
those funny things, isn't it. This one just has a
particular it's attracted particular concern, but it was certain. Yeah,
it shouldn't detract from all of the other commemorations though,
and the fact that people are going through a difficult
time in this fiftieth celebration or commemoration.
Speaker 1 (18:45):
Yeah, Lea Finocchio, Chief Minister of the Northern Territory. Good
to catch up with you. Thanks so much for your time.
Speaker 2 (18:51):
Thank you, take care.
Today marks one hundred days since the Finochiro led COLP
government was elected. It's been a busy one hundred days.
No matter what side of the political fence you sit on,
you cannot deny that they've hit the ground running. The
Chief Minister, Leo Finocchio said prior to the election in August,
she'd promised territorians change for the better, and she says
(00:21):
we're delivering on that promise. She joins me in the
studio right now, Good morning to your Chief.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Miness, signing Katie and to your listeners.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
Now, when you look at the first one hundred days
in office, what were your top priorities and what's it
been like for you?
Speaker 3 (00:36):
It's been an incredible privilege and I'm just so proud
of what we've been able to achieve for our fellow territory.
And you know, things were in a really, really dark position.
People didn't have hope, and we've just hit the ground running,
particularly obviously around reducing crime. So things are still absolutely horrific.
And I'm not sugarcoating or pretending that crime has gone away,
(00:57):
but we have put an additional sixty police out on
the street in uniform.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
We urgently passed through the Parliament.
Speaker 3 (01:03):
Our Reducing Crime Package giving police better powers around public
drinking problem, drunks, ram raid post and boast, assaults on
workers and so bail will start come one January.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
So it's been a big push.
Speaker 3 (01:17):
There's so much more to do, Katie, don't get me wrong,
but it's nice to look back on one hundred days
of action and say to territories that we did deliver
on what we promise. There's just such a huge range
of commitments we've gotten out the door, and we're really
proud and we look forward to the hard work ahead.
Speaker 1 (01:32):
How would you rate your efforts since being elected.
Speaker 3 (01:35):
I can't do that, Katie. All I can say is
we've given one hundred and ten percent. I mean, it's
just been tireless every day, morning and night. Am Ninja
kock will be will start one January. You know, the
school attendance officers are out the door. Payroll tax starts
one January. Our home build scheme has happened, the MVR
(01:55):
price is being freezed, our solar rebate, there's been so
much this free swimming lessons for our kids starting one January. So,
I mean I could rabble on and on and on,
but it's it's been a big push.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
And I think we get ten out of ten for effort.
Speaker 1 (02:10):
I mean one hundred days. It is quite a long
period of time. It seems like it's gone really quite fast.
From my perspective, it's probably a bit different to you.
You probably feel like it's been an incredibly busy time.
But I guess you've had the will of the Northern
Territory with you, a lot of territorians voting for you.
But how do you sort of maintain that momentum because
(02:31):
we are still experiencing issues with crime, We are still
experiencing some of those same issues, and we're not really
seeing a big change year. Yes, in terms of the
legislative reform that you have pushed through.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
Yeah, that's right, Katie.
Speaker 3 (02:44):
And so in that first sittings of Parliament what four
weeks ago, we passed a bunch of reform and that
is having an impact. So our police have I think
charged about seventeen people with ram raids. Post and boast
has been used, Newson's public drinking has been used. So
it's absolutely out there working, but it's not the silver bullet.
(03:04):
There's so much work to do, and so this next
year ahead will be a time of great reform. We've
got to get our court systems working better. Obviously, our
corrections muster have adult prisoners moving back into the behremouth
facility literally in a matter of days, so there's plenty
more to do. And like I said, we can't sugarcoat this,
but I can't magic up more police and the crime
(03:26):
is in such a state it takes a long time
to turn this around.
Speaker 1 (03:28):
So next one hundred days you're really going to be
trying to focus on making sure that we do have
the court systems working a little bit more quickly, make
sure the prisons are able to deal with the capacity
or the influx of prisoners at.
Speaker 2 (03:39):
This without questions.
Speaker 3 (03:41):
So by the end of this year, our prison systems
will already be working better, and that work just continues
to get better into next year as we bring online
more capacity. Our courts are a big piece of work. Obviously,
we've had NAJA in disarray, and we've managed to get
on top of legal aid with about a five million
dollar funding increase to them with some very strict rules
(04:02):
for legal light around what they need to do to
put themselves on a stable footing going forward, because what
we want is better results for victims, less victims, access
to justice, and so it's a big piece of reform.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
There were just so many areas of failure. But we're
up for the challenge.
Speaker 3 (04:18):
We've shown through our actions that we're willing to get
things done and we're not going to back down. We
will deliver in our promises and we're just going to
crack onto it in the near leah.
Speaker 1 (04:27):
Not everyone is happy with some of the swift and
decisive action that the government is taking. A group of
community health research and Aboriginal community controlled organizations have renewed
their calls for the Northern Territory government to walk back
on the plan to scrap the alcohol flow price. We
spoke about this last week with doctor John Boffer, and
as we know, on Thursday, the government introduced that legislation
(04:49):
to repeal the minimum unit price. Critics are arguing that
allowing alcohol that's cheaper than water to return to shelves
would lead to a spike in alcohol fueled violence and harm,
as problem drinkers could access more standard drinks for the
same amount of money. What do you make of those criticisms?
Speaker 3 (05:08):
Look, I think alcohol anti alcohol groups are always going
to wish there were zero alcohol. The reality is the
minimum floor price does not work. Otherwise we would not
have seen a thirty eight percent increase in alcohol related
assaults under labor. So the data shows very very clearly
from the review hard spirits. So they're no longer drinking
cask wine, they're drinking bottles of rum instead. And we're
(05:30):
all seeing the smash bottles on our foot paths in
our playgrounds, and I think people would almost wish it
was the other way around. Again, So this is we're
talking about chronically affected alcoholics. A floor price doesn't mean
anything to them. They will pay six hundred dollars regularly
for a bottle of drink. It's just that if the
floor price is a nonsense and it's got to go.
Speaker 1 (05:51):
Doctor John Boffer believes this when that floor price is removed,
that we could see a situation like we did in
Alice Springs towards the beginning of last year or towards
the end beginning of this year. I should say that
we could see another blow up of some of that
antisocial behavior like we saw when the Stronger Future SOGISA should.
Speaker 3 (06:13):
Yeah, look, they're totally uncomparable and again anti alcohol lobby
groups will say wild and hysterical things to try and
raise the concern of the community, which is really reckless
in and of itself. This is not that, and so
what we know, just to give people some context, A
minimum floor prize only operates in Scotland and that's where
(06:34):
this idea came from for the Northern territory. It doesn't
happen anywhere else in this country. I think Scotland even
now are actually reviewing the process. So this is this
is something that makes a bunch of people who want
to be seen to be doing something around alcohol feel
good about themselves. I'm not here to make lobby groups
feel good. I'm here to deliver results for the community.
This doesn't work.
Speaker 1 (06:54):
Some of those people, though, are people that work on
the front line in.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
Health Sure and they're desperate, Katie.
Speaker 3 (06:59):
They're deaper for change, but keeping things that don't work,
that's not my job. Status quo is not the option
for a CLP government. We've got to drive change for
the territory. We promise this at two elections. This is
a twenty twenty and twenty twenty four commitment and we
will not be walking back on our elections commitments.
Speaker 2 (07:16):
To the community what happens.
Speaker 1 (07:18):
So if things do blow up.
Speaker 3 (07:20):
Well there's other things that have to happen. Now, don't forget.
We've got our nuisance public drinking laws. They did not
exist under labor. So as our police get greater ability
to respond, as we start to drive down crime, those
nuisance public drinking laws will really come into their own
and they're already having a big impact. Is also about
next year when we start rolling out what our mandatory
(07:41):
alcohol treatment's going to look like and we start dealing
with the demand for alcohol supply will supply restrictions.
Speaker 2 (07:49):
Will only get you so far.
Speaker 3 (07:50):
They're very important, and we saw that with stronger futures,
but they're not all born equal, Katie, and minimum flaw
price cannot be touted as something akin to Will we.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
Start to see some of the mandatory rehabilitation, some of
those increased numbers for people who do need rehab.
Speaker 2 (08:07):
When don't we to.
Speaker 1 (08:07):
Start to see some of those changes.
Speaker 3 (08:09):
So next year will be when the consultation and all
of that starts early next year, because we're really mindful,
this is not a two point zero of last time round,
and it's been a big more than a decade in between.
So what we need to do is make sure we're
out there talking to the service providers, talking to alcoholics themselves,
talking to families affective and really get an understanding of
(08:31):
how we can deliver this better and with greater breadth
across the territory. So that work will start next early
next year, and then depending on how that goes will
depend on how quickly we can finalize it. I don't
want it to drag on, but we do need to
get it right and we're being extremely open minded about
what this could look like, which I think is an
exciting space for all the NGOs and service providers to
(08:54):
be part of that space and be part of designing
what this needs to look like.
Speaker 1 (08:58):
Chief Minister, let's talk about Alice, because we know that
things are once again pretty rough there at the moment.
Or late last week, multiple taxis were rammed with a
stolen vehicle, with one driver targeted twice and allegedly threatened
with an iron bar. That's what the Northern Territory Police
say now. They alleged that there were four attacks on
three taxis by the same offenders within a half hour period.
(09:21):
Police alleged that a group of youths approached the taxi driver,
as I said, with an iron bar. He was threatened
and forced to hand over cash, amongst other things. You
know what is happening in Alice Springs because it you know,
sometimes you go all right, things seem to have quietened
down a little bit, then they just blow up again.
But there seems to be a group of people that
(09:42):
really just think or know that they can do whatever
they want. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (09:46):
Absolutely, there is total lawlessness.
Speaker 3 (09:49):
And this is where with young people, they've been raised
under eight years of a labor government where there's been
no consequences to turn that ingrained behavior around is very
very challenging, lenging and the level of violence and destruction
and cars being stolen and dangerous behavior, it's absolutely terrifying, Katie.
(10:09):
It's terrifying for our police, our community and it's unacceptable.
So you know, we've lowered the age of criminal responsibility.
We've got the ram raid powers in there, but at
the end of the day, we want less cr do.
At the moment, it's just get on top of the
criminals faster. But Operation Ludlow is operating in Alice Springs
and we know summer is a very high time of
(10:29):
crime for Alice. They've already engaged in thirty two arrests,
thirty one protective custodies.
Speaker 2 (10:35):
They've been doing the wandering.
Speaker 3 (10:37):
They've had forty six wanding scans, operations happening, breaches of
band drinker orders. So the operation is out there.
Speaker 2 (10:45):
Is it enough?
Speaker 3 (10:46):
It's never enough, Katie, It's never enough. We only have
so many police because labor didn't.
Speaker 1 (10:51):
I mean, what do you say to the people of
Alice Springs, so who are really worried that the status
quo is going to continue? And you know, yes that
legislation has changed. Yes, there does seem to be a
will from you guys to at least see some change,
but they're really not seeing it yet, and it would
be so bloody hard to continue living there. I mean,
just last week we spoke to Sushira from Kosher. She
(11:14):
told us about an elderly woman who was still living
in a home with broken windows after she'd been broken
into once. You know, victims of crime had helped to
replace those windows once, but then she'd been broken into
again and wasn't able to get those windows fixed. I mean,
like they're really kind of there, like normal. That's stories
(11:34):
that are happening which are so sad like and honestly
make sure want to cry thinking about an elderly woman
being in a home without windows because she's got.
Speaker 2 (11:42):
And feeling so vulnerable.
Speaker 3 (11:43):
You know, you would feel so vulnerable and theose cracked
glass would be a constant reminder of just how exposed
you are. Oh look, Katie, I get it. And it's
just it's just horrific. At the end of the day,
this comes down to personal responsibility.
Speaker 2 (11:59):
Do the thing.
Speaker 3 (12:00):
It's not that hard. But we have an entire generation
of kids who are lawless because the previous government made
them untouchable. We've got a situation where the police haven't
been supported for a very long time. We don't have
the numbers of resources of police that we need, and
in the meantime, it's the community bearing the brunt until
we can transition this to flip it on its head.
(12:23):
And it's heartbreaking, it's unacceptable and I wish, I wish
there was something else we could do. Right now, we're
looking at everything. We've got the patroller groups meet every
single day, and that's with all of the service providers
coming together. We've got senior leadership across the whole public
service in Alice Springs not on holidays over make sure
(12:44):
that services are being delivered. We've sent a very clear
message to the NGOs that they cannot be shutting down
over the Christmas period. They've got to be delivering the
services that taxpayers pay them to do. And so that's
ongoing work to make sure they're stumping up and doing
their fear share, you know, programs, making sure the Commonwealth
Government have got the programs in place to be able
(13:06):
to engage kids. We're looking at expanding safe sleeping options,
all of these types of things. But it's imperfect to
say the least, Katie, it really is, Leah.
Speaker 1 (13:16):
A few listener questions coming through. I'll get to those
in a second, but I do want to ask you.
The NT News is this morning reporting that the COLP
tabled a petition in Parliament last week, signed by more
than two thousand people calling for abortion rights to be
repealed in the Northern Territory. The petition organizer and Baptist
pastor Sharon Crook had said that backbencher Andrew McKay took
(13:37):
that petition to Parliament at the direction of the Deputy
Chief Minister Jered Mayley. Now my understanding is that the
petition seeks to overturn the twenty twenty one reforms which
bought the Northern Territory in line with other Australian jurisdictions
by removing the need for assessment by a second doctor
for those requiring an abortion up to twenty four weeks.
(13:58):
Gestation is at the colp's plan to repeal this legislation.
Speaker 3 (14:05):
No, we don't have any plans to change any of
those laws at all. Of course, the petition is something
that any Territorian can do. It is very important that
members of Parliament table petitions because otherwise we're effectively blocking
people from having their say and the COLP will not
do that. So the Member for Goyida table that petition.
That's what his community asked him to do, and he's
(14:26):
done that. It will now go to the Public Accounts
Committee to determine whether it come back for debate. And
if it comes back for debate, we've doubled the time
for debates for petitions because we want the community's concerns
to be able to be agitated and fleshed out in
the Parliament. And that's exactly people's right to do so,
irrespective of the topic and sometimes they're controversial, the fact
(14:48):
that they can have the opportunity to be heard, I
think is really important. That's what democracy is about. And
so what this is is a very large group of
people in who've put that petition together and.
Speaker 2 (15:03):
It'll have its Daycati, well.
Speaker 1 (15:05):
I just don't understand why we've been even looking at
sort of going backwards on something like women's rights.
Speaker 2 (15:10):
Now, no, well we're not.
Speaker 3 (15:11):
But that's different to the petition. Right if we were
just to block a single petition that came to Parliament,
and I'm just not doing that.
Speaker 2 (15:19):
People have a right to be heard.
Speaker 3 (15:20):
It's their parliament, it's their process, and at the end
of the day, if we're not old enough to have
these types of conversations, we don't deserve to sit in parliament.
Speaker 1 (15:28):
So it's not a situation here where you've got members
of your party that are wanting those that legislation to
be repealed.
Speaker 3 (15:35):
No, not at all. But it is important that people
have the opportunity. So there might be a petition around
a group of trees someone doesn't want cut down, or
a petition about a road.
Speaker 1 (15:44):
Last week, I reckon there was some about camber grass, Yes, exactly.
Speaker 3 (15:47):
You know, there. You can literally do a petition about
anything you want and it's not going to be a
CLP member of Parliament that stops you from having your
voice heard. What we will do is consider it for
on its merits and make sure we put our position forward.
We are not we have no intention whatsoever of changing
these laws, but we absolutely respect the voices of the
two thousand people who took the time to sign it,
(16:09):
and they'll have their chance to have their say.
Speaker 1 (16:11):
Lea. I know your press for time, as are we,
but I do want to ask you. Last week pollys
gave themselves a pay rise. What do you think that? Well,
what do you say to Territorians who are annoyed by this?
I mean, given the fact that they're battling a cost
of living crisis.
Speaker 3 (16:26):
Yeah, absolutely, and look it's never a good time. So
what we have, and it's exactly the same in every
other jurisdiction, they have a version of a remuneration tribunal,
so it's an independent group of people so that politicians
aren't setting their own pay.
Speaker 2 (16:40):
That's the whole point.
Speaker 3 (16:41):
And over many decades we've seen different iterations of this
where pollies pay were tied to certain levels of the
public service.
Speaker 2 (16:47):
But then the community.
Speaker 3 (16:49):
Felt that if they gave the public service a pay raise,
they were giving themselves a pay rise. So there's no
great way to do this, but by having it independent,
and the Opposition leader and I have said, look, we
have to respect their independence. Otherwise, effectively we're tinkering in
our own pay and I think that doesn't pass the
pub test. So the Remuneration Tribunal have done this. Their
(17:09):
vision for the territory and for judges and other bodies
that they set pay for is to have us just
around that average, just below average for the country. And
that's the decision they've made, and you know, it is
what it is.
Speaker 1 (17:22):
Lea. Did you go to the unveiling of the sculpture
on the weekend or the event, the public event that
was held by the council.
Speaker 2 (17:28):
Yeah, so there was one. I think the controversial statue
one didn't happen any Yeah.
Speaker 3 (17:35):
I wasn't going to that anyway, but yeah, there was
a beautiful service that was held on Saturday morning and
I did attend that. The federal Minister, the Emergency Management
minis Vivors and I actually think City of Darwin did
a really lovely job they'd put shade up right around
the ski club, and they had pictures and different things
(17:55):
that people can get involved in morning tea. And I
felt from the feedback I got from survivors that it
was really well done and fitting tribute for a very
very scary time in our history and something that's shaped
the people we are in our future and our resilience.
And so this Christmas is a tough time for a
lot of people. Care.
Speaker 1 (18:12):
I reckon it is going to be a very tough time. Hey,
did you see the sculpture? What did you think? No?
Speaker 2 (18:16):
No, because it wasn't there. No, I haven't seen it yet.
Speaker 1 (18:18):
So we'll wait and see what everybody thinks. No doubt
we're going to get plenty more feedback, I'm sure over.
Speaker 3 (18:24):
The next I would like to know one sculpture that
everyone loves, though. I think artist is just one of
those funny things, isn't it. This one just has a
particular it's attracted particular concern, but it was certain. Yeah,
it shouldn't detract from all of the other commemorations though,
and the fact that people are going through a difficult
time in this fiftieth celebration or commemoration.
Speaker 1 (18:45):
Yeah, Lea Finocchio, Chief Minister of the Northern Territory. Good
to catch up with you. Thanks so much for your time.
Speaker 2 (18:51):
Thank you, take care.
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