Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
We know that new crime statistics released on Friday have
shown a drop in offending across the Northern Territory compared
to the same period last year. There were over twelve
hundred fewer offenses recorded between January and August, down seven
point four percent overall. Now that includes major reductions in assaults,
break ins, and commercial burglaries. The government points to increase
(00:22):
police resources, stronger bail laws, and frontline operations as key contributors.
But while those figures are certainly encouraging, questions remain about
what's driving the change and whether the trend's going to last.
But also, as you would have heard me read out
in the opener, we're still having issues like the woman
who was assaulted by three youths in the city on
(00:42):
Thursday night. Now joining us in the studio is the
Chief Minister Leafanocchiaro. Good morning to your chief.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
Mindis's nine into your wonderful listeners.
Speaker 1 (00:49):
Good to have you in the studio. Now, I want
to start with these headline numbers. Crime obviously down across
the Northern Territory, especially in Alice Springs. In your view,
what's time this shift? And I mean, is it more
boots on the ground, policy changes something else. What is it?
Speaker 3 (01:05):
Yeah, it's all of the action we've taken across a
number of fronts. I mean, people will be familiar. In
that very first sittings of Parliament in October last year,
we passed a bunch of laws, including Declan's Law, through
the Parliament and we haven't stopped since. We've also backed
in our police, delivered them the best paid deal in
twenty years. So there's a lot of work been happening,
including on the corrections front, early intervention, child protection and
(01:28):
in it making courts more efficient. So we're really buoyed
by the data. Now we've always said people need to
feel safe, but data is important to tell you if
you're heading in the right direction and where peaks and
troughs are. And at a seven point four percent reduction
in the number of victims just to August this year
compared to last year, that's over twelve one hundred territories
who weren't victims of crime, which is significant. So plenty
(01:51):
more work to do, but it's going in the right
direction and we are not giving up, Katie. We will
just keep making sure reducing crime is our number one priority.
Speaker 2 (01:58):
I mean, you do.
Speaker 1 (01:59):
Though, have critics out there saying that the recording of
the data or the collection of the data since police
changed their reporting system, is making the stats seem better
than they are. I mean, are you confident that that's
not the case.
Speaker 3 (02:12):
It is one hundred percent not the case. And I
don't know where this cynicism comes from. Now we have
had two full years of the new system which was
brought in under labor. So what we are comparing is
apples with apples. This is January to August this year
compared to January to August last year. There has been
no way in which police records stats.
Speaker 2 (02:32):
None of that has changed.
Speaker 3 (02:33):
Has been no change to how Attorney General Injustice produced
the stats, none of those things. So people can be
very very confident in these numbers. And above all else,
you know, we want the true numbers too, because if
we have to deal with more more resourcing, we will.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
But look, I.
Speaker 1 (02:48):
Guess the other arguments as well, though, is that sometimes
people just simply aren't calling things inn I mean even myself.
I was at Woolworths on Friday afternoon. I saw three
kids in the stealing you know, the security tried to
one of them had an ankle monitoring bracelet on. I
don't know whether the security were actually able to get
in contact with the police or not, but I thought, well,
unless the police are contacted, how's anybody going to know
(03:10):
that that young person's actually breached his bail, presumably by
stealing stuff from a supermarket, you know, with an ankle
monitoring bracelet on. I don't know what the outcome was there,
but I guess what I saw for myself and what
my twelve year old child who was with me saw
as well, is you know, something happening in real time
that should not be happening. That's become the norm right
(03:30):
where people are like, Okay, well what am I going
to do? I can't stop them because what if one
of them has an eye four turns on me. So
this has become the norm, and I do think that
in some situations in people simply aren't calling the police.
So do you think that has an impact on those statistics.
Speaker 3 (03:46):
I don't think it has a big impact. And I'll
tell you why. Absolutely crime is still happening and it's unacceptable,
and we will continue to do what we've been doing
for the last twelve months. But I think people haven't
been Some people will never ring crime.
Speaker 2 (04:00):
It depends what it is.
Speaker 3 (04:02):
Some people have a general sort of what's the point
attitude about it, and I don't think that has changed
because we're in government. If people aren't calling that in,
I don't think we'll see any difference, if any at all,
between people not calling between now and then. So all
we can deal with is what we've got, and I
can tell you we encourage everyone to contact police even
when it's exasperating, you know. And I was just talking
(04:24):
to a business in Alice last week about this very thing.
I was begging them, please please ring these jobs in.
So look, we can be encouraged by the data and
the feedback I'm getting is that people are starting to
feel and see the difference, but there's still way too much,
and we just keep that pressure on.
Speaker 1 (04:40):
It does look as though there needs to be some
work in our regional locations as well. I mean the
likes of you know, well, even in Palmerston there is
still some of that violent crime, as well as Catherine
and Tenant Creek. And I know that people would argue
in Alice Springs as well that there are still issues
what works happening in some of those more regional location,
(05:01):
so I know that, you know a little earlier this
year we were talking about Catherine almost every single day.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
Yeah, that's correct.
Speaker 3 (05:07):
So we have a number of strategies which police deploy,
and obviously we've done all of our preparedness for the
summer season, which is generally a peak period of demand,
but including you know, we've I think there's been about
one hundred and eighty sworn offices graduated in the last
twelve months, so we're up on police numbers, which is great.
And then we've got all of the work we're doing
(05:28):
as circuit breaker children and families getting kids to school,
So there's a lot of that wrap around. But even
just when it comes to how we're dealing with people
in custody and rehabilitation, you know, we've had some excellent
numbers of people completing programs and doing what they've got
to do in prison to make themselves better people. We've
actually seen a reduction in the number of time people
(05:50):
are sitting on remand because our courts are working better
and so it's heading in the right direction. But yes,
we are prepared for some of for those who who
know that it's by traditionally over that time and we
just have to continue, you know, proactive on alcohol bdos,
you name it, Katie. Our cops has row and the
book at him.
Speaker 1 (06:09):
Look, we've got a lot of messages coming through, you know,
some people sort of saying Katie in regards to the
crime figures. I lived near social housing up until a
few years ago. It was very quiet with a few
elderly ladies living in there. Early last year the previous
government decided to house people who were drinking. Violence became
a occurrence, with me compelled to call the police a
few times, but they didn't show up. Fast forward to
(06:30):
this year and there's been a significant change in anti
social behavior for the right reasons. And Ray says, you know,
I think that the government's policies are working. I just
hope that they continue with their efforts. You know, you've
got others that are sort of saying, Katie, there are
still issues going on, and look and there are you know,
this is the thing. Unfortunately, even on Thursday night, we
(06:50):
were in a situation where three females or sorry, three
females allegedly assaulted a female along the esplanat so tried
to rob this young woman. The twenty six year old
was attacked by a group along the Esplanade. They tried
to steal a bag. Passing taxi driver then intervened, causing
those offenders to flee. Now police then track that trio
to a metro bus and stopped it on Daily Straight
(07:12):
with help from CCTV. But during that arrest, two of
those officers were allegedly assaulted as well. All three girls,
as I understand it, are in custody. Now. I get
that the government's not ever going to be able to
stop everything, and I don't have the ages of these
three offenders at this point in time, or whether they've
been charged yet, but I guess from what I can
(07:34):
see is that there does seem to be more police
around the place. I am hoping that we get to
a point where we're seeing more of that proactive policing.
I get that you're never going to be able to
stop everything, but what people I suppose are starting to
ask now is, you know, with some of these teenagers
that are offending, that are doing the wrong thing, what's
(07:54):
your government going to do or what are you doing
to try and intervene early before they get to the
point where they're trying to assault someone Along the.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
Issue Yeah, that's right.
Speaker 3 (08:02):
And often what we see with these young people who
are committing these crimes is that they have a very
long history of offending, which of course makes it all
the more difficult to break them out of that life
of crime that they've developed over some time.
Speaker 2 (08:15):
But we're not giving up.
Speaker 3 (08:16):
So we have that real focus on school and I
know we'll probably talk about that later circuit breaker as
well family responsibility agreements. You know, we've signed up over
eighty family responsibility agreements hooking in parents to making sure
they understand what responsibilities they have with their young person.
Skills training and vet pathways are really an important focus
(08:37):
of our government. A lot of these kids have not
been going to school, so we need to get them
work ready. And look, it's a big process, Katie, there's
no doubt about that. But our police did a great
job on the weekend. Those people were all apprehended very
very quickly. And can I just say a big piece
of this puzzle and I would just reflect on the
housing text earlier and on this anti social behavior theme
(09:01):
with our police public safety offices that we're bringing in
next year. This is going to be the change that
territories are really looking forward to because we will have
a whole range of police whose sole job is to
be out on the street, in public housing, on buses
where we know hotspots, are doing that proactive policing.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
We're confident people are going to want to do the job,
because it seems like that may be the issue at
this point.
Speaker 2 (09:26):
No, we're very confident.
Speaker 3 (09:27):
We've had an EOI process going and those numbers are
going strong. We're doing all of the change management work
with our current public housing safety offices and our transit
safety offices as well, and so as more detail comes out,
we're in negotiation with the NTPA around the you know,
the terms and conditions of that employment. But once that
(09:47):
is made clear, we are very confident that we'll have
strong numbers, and we sort of see a one to
two year ramp up of those numbers, and once we
have a critical mass, it's going to be significant.
Speaker 1 (09:58):
How many people have expressed interest in those that EI process.
Speaker 3 (10:01):
I can't remember the exact number, but it's definitely dozens.
So we will have a full squad. The first squad
will be full provided all of those people who've expressed
interest meet the criteria. I see no reason why we
wouldn't have a full first squad and then we continue
to build. So it's an exciting piece of reform that
will make a difference well.
Speaker 1 (10:19):
And look, no doubt they'll be working as well with
our public bus network. We know that today obviously, we
have got a situation where our drivers are on strike
overpay and conditions. The conditions do relate to the violence
that they experience while they're at work. What is your
response to this strike and do you acknowledge that the
You know that they have got these serious concerns around
(10:40):
safety and their working conditions.
Speaker 3 (10:42):
Yeah, and they have for a really long time. And
one of the very first things we did on coming
to government was put security screens in every bus. You know,
we had bus drivers who did not have that. Labor
didn't do it, the company wasn't doing it. We came
in and did it because we wanted to protect them. Now,
we've all seen footage recently where people who want to
cause harm find a way and they're climbing over the
(11:03):
barriers and all sorts of other horrific things. But we
really want this pay deal to, you know, to come
to its conclusion. It's not one we're involved in. This
is between CDC who is the owner of the bus.
Speaker 1 (11:15):
So obviously that you're limited in what you can do.
Is there a role that government can play to try
and help resolve this dispute.
Speaker 3 (11:23):
I'm not too sure. I know that we've written to
them saying we really want to bring this.
Speaker 2 (11:27):
To a close.
Speaker 3 (11:28):
And I also know for people concerned today the hospitals
and special school and mainstream school.
Speaker 2 (11:34):
Services are still running.
Speaker 3 (11:36):
But obviously everyone wants certainty, the bus drivers and the
community who use the buses. So the sooner this closes,
the better.
Speaker 1 (11:42):
Well, we will talk to the union about this after ten.
Now I want to just set across to a report
by the ABC's Matt Garrick, which I know that some
listeners are going to be pretty disturbed by this morning.
The Northern Territories Director of Public Prosecutions, the DPP, has
decided not to appeal a non custodial sentence handed to
a young man who assaulted a nine week old baby
(12:03):
in Alice Springs. We all know the story, we covered
it extensively. The decision means that the offender will not
need to serve further prison time unless he reofriends or
breaches the conditions of his community corrections order. Now, many
in the community do not feel that a custodial sentence
is adequate in a case as serious as assaulting an infant.
(12:26):
Do you believe that the current sentencing laws allow for
appropriate penalties in situations like this?
Speaker 3 (12:32):
Yeah, and look, this is something we're looking at. We've
changed bail, we've changed his justice sack, we've got use
Justice number two coming through, and we've got to deal
with sentencing and a couple of other things as well, Katie,
because you know, people are still seeing really strong instances
where they don't feel as meeting community expectation, and we
are really cognizant of that. Now there is the separation
of powers, but at the end of the day, our
(12:54):
laws have to be right and that work just continues.
I wish we could have changed it all overnight on
day one of government, but it is a process and
we are moving through all of it as fast as
we can.
Speaker 1 (13:05):
I mean, like someone's just messaged through Scott innanula and
said Katie in regards to the criminal that assaulted an infant,
I believe that he and his co offender were on
bail and had already been bailed a number of times.
I don't know whether that's correct or not, so I
want to be really cautious with that. But Scott's saying seriously,
you know, well, his words are these judges need to
(13:27):
be sacked or have no choice but to put violent
criminals in jail. Like that's some of the sentiment from
the community. That's Scott inanula. That's just one message.
Speaker 2 (13:36):
But I hear that centiment.
Speaker 3 (13:38):
Yeah, I hear that from the community too. And you know,
we certainly as territories ourselves. I mean, I know where
members of Parliament and the separation of powers is absolute,
but you know you feel it too as a member
of our community where some of them are inadequate, and
you ask yourself, how how could that decision have been made?
But just on the sacking judge's point, we can't.
Speaker 2 (13:58):
And I know that drives me crazy. But that is
not one tool in my tool kit.
Speaker 1 (14:03):
And look, I've got no idea exactly what the remarks
were when that sentence was handled. I don't know anything
like that either, so I don't have that context. But
I guess what I'm sort of getting to as well
is I don't know that people feel that some of
these custodial orders or these supervisional orders.
Speaker 2 (14:20):
Are adequate either.
Speaker 1 (14:22):
Particularly you know, I feel like the people out in
Howard Springs then that have somebody living in your street
under a supervision order of whatever kind, and you feel
as though, then you know, somebody's able to do whatever
they please.
Speaker 2 (14:34):
Do you see what I mean? Yeah, I do.
Speaker 3 (14:36):
And there's that fine line because we don't always want
young people in prison.
Speaker 2 (14:39):
We do want them out doing.
Speaker 3 (14:41):
Mandatory community service, grubbing graffiti, learning skills, paying back their
victims by working in the business. But people have to
feel like people. I don't think territories have quite got
confidence in that system yet, and I think as we
build it up there will be more confidence that this
is people having to to do something they wouldn't like
to do, but that actually gives back to the community.
(15:03):
But there's always time and place for that too. There
are other times where people thought, no, no, this is
a jailable offense. So there is that fine balance. And
I don't know this sentencing remarks either, Katie. But at
the end of the day, you know, even with our
bail stuff, our Declan's law has seen a thirty eight
percent increase in bail refusals. That means thirty eight percent
(15:24):
more people did not get bail, So that is significant.
That does meet community expectations, and we are working through
the entire justice system, from court reform, corrections, reform, police,
better powers to make sure we get this balance right.
Speaker 1 (15:39):
All right, I want to talk to you about these
school attendance figures that have come out this morning. My
understanding is that the school attendance rates remain stagnant at
seventy one point seven percent, while the enrollment numbers have
dropped by more than three hundred students. That is what
the new government data is revealed. Now, I mean, what
does that indicate to you? It sort of seems to
me like they're not actually getting better.
Speaker 3 (16:00):
Yeah, it's really important that we explain this data, and
that's why we wanted out there so the community can understand.
Under Labour's time, for the last eight years, attendance has
dropped from eighty percent to seventy one percent. Now that
is still flatlining, but a very very big change has
happened since we've come to government. There were one thousand
young people on what was called the intensive support role,
(16:20):
that's where they weren't going to school and Labor did
not want to include them in the school data, so
they shoved them on a separate role and effectively forgot
about them and didn't try and get them to school.
We've called that out, we blew the whistle on that,
and we include that data in our stats. So you
can expect that does make things worse. But what we're
really proud of is three hundred and twenty eight of
(16:41):
those kids are off that list of not going to
school ever, and they are going to school.
Speaker 2 (16:47):
But in its own way, that also.
Speaker 3 (16:48):
Can make the data worse because if they're going to school,
they're certainly not going five days a week KKE.
Speaker 1 (16:52):
So you reckon that list that you know that actually
the intensive support role that's now been scrapped, because that's
been scrapped and those kids are now on the actual
enrollment list.
Speaker 2 (17:05):
That it's having an impact.
Speaker 3 (17:06):
Yeah, it's having an impact. Now it won't account for
all of it, but it is an important impact. And
I just want to say, those three twenty eight kids
who are now going to school might.
Speaker 2 (17:14):
Be going one day a week.
Speaker 3 (17:15):
You can imagine their literacy and numeracy is very very low,
if any at all, because they've not been going to school,
so that drags down other bits and pieces. But I
think as a community, we all understand kids have to
get to school and that's been our approach, and we
thank the schools who are coming up with all of
this innovation on getting kids to school. Then they're having
to support kids with really extraordinary behaviors because they've not
(17:37):
been used to going to school, so it's it's not
as simple jigsaw. But we've seen, you know, oney, one
hundred and eleven compliance notices, two hundred and fifteen parents
have been fined. And I met with the school attendance
team in Catherine, who is predominantly an Aboriginal workforce, which
is amazing. The feedback they have about how excellent it
(17:58):
is for them to be out on community getting kids
into school is great. So we're seeing some good you know,
matter Rank has got a great story to tell, and
there are really good remote schools with good stories to tell.
But I think this paints a picture of lots more
work to.
Speaker 1 (18:11):
Do, all right, Chief Minister, I've got a few messages
coming through one here.
Speaker 2 (18:14):
Good morning, Katie.
Speaker 1 (18:15):
Can you ask the Chief Minister what are they doing
about the emergency department at Royal Darwin Hospital and the
lack of ambulances available.
Speaker 3 (18:26):
So obviously, driving down alcohol fueled harm and violence and
crime has a beneficial impact on our ed and our ambos,
and certainly it's something we're really conscious of. We are
looking at how we recruit health professionals and how we
can better support our health system. But at the end
of the day, we are chronically underfunded for hospitals by
(18:49):
the federal government. Chronically. It's an absolute disgrace. We get
about thirty two percent of our hospital funding is funded
by the federal government, where the average is more.
Speaker 2 (19:00):
Like thirty seven percent.
Speaker 3 (19:01):
Now that's you know, hundreds of millions of dollars that
we're not getting, plus the forty million dollars we're spending
on age care that should be paid for by the
Feds plus plus plus, so we're in a very difficult position.
Speaker 1 (19:13):
Issue is not new though, right Like I mean, I
recall over the last sort of ten years that I've
been doing this job, it's always been something that's been argued.
I know, doctor Robert Parker, who used to be the
head of the AMA, he'd been pushing for that for
years and years.
Speaker 2 (19:27):
So it's not a new thing.
Speaker 1 (19:28):
I mean, what are we, like, what are we It's
compounding to try and to try and sort this out
because you know, if you go if you go into
RDH and you're forced to wait, you know, for hours
and hours, which that's no disrespect to anybody that's working there,
but then also or you're ramped in an ambulance for
for ages. You know, it is like, these are issues
that really impact our liveability as a city.
Speaker 3 (19:49):
It does, and that's why we're going hard on the
federal government. This is a historical issue and we've unpicked
all of the data because we're looking at the National
Health Agreement with the federal government and territory is not
going to be better off. And we are just absolutely
not going to take this lying down, Katie. It's just
a disgrace and the fact that we've had labor governments
(20:10):
accepted is appalling. So you're going to hear a lot
more from us about this. Our advocacy with the federal
government will ramp up, because I know it's you know,
it's cold comfort to people to think, well there's not
enough money. You know, people sort of say, too bad,
I need it. But at the end of the day,
when we are being underfunded hundreds of hundreds of millions
of dollars. This is a huge issue of equity across
(20:32):
the country.
Speaker 1 (20:32):
Yeah, well, look, someone's just messaged and said I had
to go to hospital yesterday. I waited seven hours for
an ambulance, then got a call and told no ambulance available,
got to hospital with the help of friends, bad back,
sat in a chair for seven hours, no beds available.
Speaker 2 (20:46):
That's just an example.
Speaker 1 (20:47):
But look, I'm gonna have to move along because I
know your press for time, as am I a couple
of things I want to just take you through though. Dan,
who we spoke to on multiple times about he was
the one who had a person living in support and
accommodation in Howard Springs on that community order. He's just
called in to say that it came to a head
on Thursday. The man was allegedly making threats to stab
(21:08):
people and bash kids, even when as far as to
threaten to get Oh goodness me, I won't even say
that part sexually assault people. Residents went to the police
station and made formal statements with the man, now remanded
in custody, but Dan says it took an hour for
police to arrive after seven calls, and although he doesn't
(21:28):
want to criticize police, he said anything could have happened
in that time. He said he is also now aware
of the man's current charges before the courts, which include
making threats to kill, aggravated assault and assaulted worker. I mean,
how is somebody like that then on a residential street.
Speaker 3 (21:46):
Yep, good question, Kennie, and I'm glad the police were
able to apprehend the alleged defender and it sounds like
that community has had an absolutely horrific weekend. You know,
at the end of the day, these continue to beachlenges
that Territorians are faced with, and we can't pretend it's
not happening. We can't shy away from it. All we
can do is to continue to empower our police, continue
(22:08):
to back them in so they can do their job
more efficiently, and continue to have strong laws that meet
community expectation.
Speaker 2 (22:14):
And that's our commitment, Chief Finest.
Speaker 1 (22:16):
I know you've got to go, but just really quickly,
what is on the agenda this week in Parliament?
Speaker 3 (22:20):
Yeah, this week we've had a two week sitting. This
is the final week. Tomorrow we're doing the extension of
our homegrown territory grants, so they're thirty thousand for people
who've already owned a home and fifty for first home buyers,
and we've had one thousand people take advantage of that scheme,
which means people are staying in the territory, so it's fantastic.
(22:41):
We've also got some legislation to really make sure we're
putting the energy and the structure in place to have
strong energy networks. Now, Katie, this won't be a surprise
to your listeners, but we have double the number of
blackouts in the Northern Territory than the rest of the country,
which is unacceptable. Are they whether related or oh all sorts,
just failure of infrastructure, aging assets, in instability in the grid,
(23:04):
you name it, Katie, And this is a big legacy issue.
We've inherited that we are putting a lot of energy,
time and resources into and territories. Will hear us talking
more about it because there will be significant funding investments
that will have to come through in the next budget.
So that's an important piece of work because people need
to be able to come home, turn the lights on,
turn the aircon on, and not worry about whether there's
(23:26):
going to be blackouts, so that's a big piece. And
then of course we have the Integrity and Ethics Commission
no legislation which I'll be introducing this week as well.
So plenty happening and.
Speaker 2 (23:40):
Yeah, tune in.
Speaker 3 (23:41):
You can tune in if you if you're interested, or
come and visitor Deep.
Speaker 1 (23:43):
Please speak me to so they don't have to to
be honest with you. Chief. That's de lea fan. OK.
Speaker 2 (23:48):
We better leave it there.
Speaker 1 (23:49):
Thank you as always for your time, Take care everyone.
Thank you,
We know that new crime statistics released on Friday have
shown a drop in offending across the Northern Territory compared
to the same period last year. There were over twelve
hundred fewer offenses recorded between January and August, down seven
point four percent overall. Now that includes major reductions in assaults,
break ins, and commercial burglaries. The government points to increase
(00:22):
police resources, stronger bail laws, and frontline operations as key contributors.
But while those figures are certainly encouraging, questions remain about
what's driving the change and whether the trend's going to last.
But also, as you would have heard me read out
in the opener, we're still having issues like the woman
who was assaulted by three youths in the city on
(00:42):
Thursday night. Now joining us in the studio is the
Chief Minister Leafanocchiaro. Good morning to your chief.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
Mindis's nine into your wonderful listeners.
Speaker 1 (00:49):
Good to have you in the studio. Now, I want
to start with these headline numbers. Crime obviously down across
the Northern Territory, especially in Alice Springs. In your view,
what's time this shift? And I mean, is it more
boots on the ground, policy changes something else. What is it?
Speaker 3 (01:05):
Yeah, it's all of the action we've taken across a
number of fronts. I mean, people will be familiar. In
that very first sittings of Parliament in October last year,
we passed a bunch of laws, including Declan's Law, through
the Parliament and we haven't stopped since. We've also backed
in our police, delivered them the best paid deal in
twenty years. So there's a lot of work been happening,
including on the corrections front, early intervention, child protection and
(01:28):
in it making courts more efficient. So we're really buoyed
by the data. Now we've always said people need to
feel safe, but data is important to tell you if
you're heading in the right direction and where peaks and
troughs are. And at a seven point four percent reduction
in the number of victims just to August this year
compared to last year, that's over twelve one hundred territories
who weren't victims of crime, which is significant. So plenty
(01:51):
more work to do, but it's going in the right
direction and we are not giving up, Katie. We will
just keep making sure reducing crime is our number one priority.
Speaker 2 (01:58):
I mean, you do.
Speaker 1 (01:59):
Though, have critics out there saying that the recording of
the data or the collection of the data since police
changed their reporting system, is making the stats seem better
than they are. I mean, are you confident that that's
not the case.
Speaker 3 (02:12):
It is one hundred percent not the case. And I
don't know where this cynicism comes from. Now we have
had two full years of the new system which was
brought in under labor. So what we are comparing is
apples with apples. This is January to August this year
compared to January to August last year. There has been
no way in which police records stats.
Speaker 2 (02:32):
None of that has changed.
Speaker 3 (02:33):
Has been no change to how Attorney General Injustice produced
the stats, none of those things. So people can be
very very confident in these numbers. And above all else,
you know, we want the true numbers too, because if
we have to deal with more more resourcing, we will.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
But look, I.
Speaker 1 (02:48):
Guess the other arguments as well, though, is that sometimes
people just simply aren't calling things inn I mean even myself.
I was at Woolworths on Friday afternoon. I saw three
kids in the stealing you know, the security tried to
one of them had an ankle monitoring bracelet on. I
don't know whether the security were actually able to get
in contact with the police or not, but I thought, well,
unless the police are contacted, how's anybody going to know
(03:10):
that that young person's actually breached his bail, presumably by
stealing stuff from a supermarket, you know, with an ankle
monitoring bracelet on. I don't know what the outcome was there,
but I guess what I saw for myself and what
my twelve year old child who was with me saw
as well, is you know, something happening in real time
that should not be happening. That's become the norm right
(03:30):
where people are like, Okay, well what am I going
to do? I can't stop them because what if one
of them has an eye four turns on me. So
this has become the norm, and I do think that
in some situations in people simply aren't calling the police.
So do you think that has an impact on those statistics.
Speaker 3 (03:46):
I don't think it has a big impact. And I'll
tell you why. Absolutely crime is still happening and it's unacceptable,
and we will continue to do what we've been doing
for the last twelve months. But I think people haven't
been Some people will never ring crime.
Speaker 2 (04:00):
It depends what it is.
Speaker 3 (04:02):
Some people have a general sort of what's the point
attitude about it, and I don't think that has changed
because we're in government. If people aren't calling that in,
I don't think we'll see any difference, if any at all,
between people not calling between now and then. So all
we can deal with is what we've got, and I
can tell you we encourage everyone to contact police even
when it's exasperating, you know. And I was just talking
(04:24):
to a business in Alice last week about this very thing.
I was begging them, please please ring these jobs in.
So look, we can be encouraged by the data and
the feedback I'm getting is that people are starting to
feel and see the difference, but there's still way too much,
and we just keep that pressure on.
Speaker 1 (04:40):
It does look as though there needs to be some
work in our regional locations as well. I mean the
likes of you know, well, even in Palmerston there is
still some of that violent crime, as well as Catherine
and Tenant Creek. And I know that people would argue
in Alice Springs as well that there are still issues
what works happening in some of those more regional location,
(05:01):
so I know that, you know a little earlier this
year we were talking about Catherine almost every single day.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
Yeah, that's correct.
Speaker 3 (05:07):
So we have a number of strategies which police deploy,
and obviously we've done all of our preparedness for the
summer season, which is generally a peak period of demand,
but including you know, we've I think there's been about
one hundred and eighty sworn offices graduated in the last
twelve months, so we're up on police numbers, which is great.
And then we've got all of the work we're doing
(05:28):
as circuit breaker children and families getting kids to school,
So there's a lot of that wrap around. But even
just when it comes to how we're dealing with people
in custody and rehabilitation, you know, we've had some excellent
numbers of people completing programs and doing what they've got
to do in prison to make themselves better people. We've
actually seen a reduction in the number of time people
(05:50):
are sitting on remand because our courts are working better
and so it's heading in the right direction. But yes,
we are prepared for some of for those who who
know that it's by traditionally over that time and we
just have to continue, you know, proactive on alcohol bdos,
you name it, Katie. Our cops has row and the
book at him.
Speaker 1 (06:09):
Look, we've got a lot of messages coming through, you know,
some people sort of saying Katie in regards to the
crime figures. I lived near social housing up until a
few years ago. It was very quiet with a few
elderly ladies living in there. Early last year the previous
government decided to house people who were drinking. Violence became
a occurrence, with me compelled to call the police a
few times, but they didn't show up. Fast forward to
(06:30):
this year and there's been a significant change in anti
social behavior for the right reasons. And Ray says, you know,
I think that the government's policies are working. I just
hope that they continue with their efforts. You know, you've
got others that are sort of saying, Katie, there are
still issues going on, and look and there are you know,
this is the thing. Unfortunately, even on Thursday night, we
(06:50):
were in a situation where three females or sorry, three
females allegedly assaulted a female along the esplanat so tried
to rob this young woman. The twenty six year old
was attacked by a group along the Esplanade. They tried
to steal a bag. Passing taxi driver then intervened, causing
those offenders to flee. Now police then track that trio
to a metro bus and stopped it on Daily Straight
(07:12):
with help from CCTV. But during that arrest, two of
those officers were allegedly assaulted as well. All three girls,
as I understand it, are in custody. Now. I get
that the government's not ever going to be able to
stop everything, and I don't have the ages of these
three offenders at this point in time, or whether they've
been charged yet, but I guess from what I can
(07:34):
see is that there does seem to be more police
around the place. I am hoping that we get to
a point where we're seeing more of that proactive policing.
I get that you're never going to be able to
stop everything, but what people I suppose are starting to
ask now is, you know, with some of these teenagers
that are offending, that are doing the wrong thing, what's
(07:54):
your government going to do or what are you doing
to try and intervene early before they get to the
point where they're trying to assault someone Along the.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
Issue Yeah, that's right.
Speaker 3 (08:02):
And often what we see with these young people who
are committing these crimes is that they have a very
long history of offending, which of course makes it all
the more difficult to break them out of that life
of crime that they've developed over some time.
Speaker 2 (08:15):
But we're not giving up.
Speaker 3 (08:16):
So we have that real focus on school and I
know we'll probably talk about that later circuit breaker as
well family responsibility agreements. You know, we've signed up over
eighty family responsibility agreements hooking in parents to making sure
they understand what responsibilities they have with their young person.
Skills training and vet pathways are really an important focus
(08:37):
of our government. A lot of these kids have not
been going to school, so we need to get them
work ready. And look, it's a big process, Katie, there's
no doubt about that. But our police did a great
job on the weekend. Those people were all apprehended very
very quickly. And can I just say a big piece
of this puzzle and I would just reflect on the
housing text earlier and on this anti social behavior theme
(09:01):
with our police public safety offices that we're bringing in
next year. This is going to be the change that
territories are really looking forward to because we will have
a whole range of police whose sole job is to
be out on the street, in public housing, on buses
where we know hotspots, are doing that proactive policing.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
We're confident people are going to want to do the job,
because it seems like that may be the issue at
this point.
Speaker 2 (09:26):
No, we're very confident.
Speaker 3 (09:27):
We've had an EOI process going and those numbers are
going strong. We're doing all of the change management work
with our current public housing safety offices and our transit
safety offices as well, and so as more detail comes out,
we're in negotiation with the NTPA around the you know,
the terms and conditions of that employment. But once that
(09:47):
is made clear, we are very confident that we'll have
strong numbers, and we sort of see a one to
two year ramp up of those numbers, and once we
have a critical mass, it's going to be significant.
Speaker 1 (09:58):
How many people have expressed interest in those that EI process.
Speaker 3 (10:01):
I can't remember the exact number, but it's definitely dozens.
So we will have a full squad. The first squad
will be full provided all of those people who've expressed
interest meet the criteria. I see no reason why we
wouldn't have a full first squad and then we continue
to build. So it's an exciting piece of reform that
will make a difference well.
Speaker 1 (10:19):
And look, no doubt they'll be working as well with
our public bus network. We know that today obviously, we
have got a situation where our drivers are on strike
overpay and conditions. The conditions do relate to the violence
that they experience while they're at work. What is your
response to this strike and do you acknowledge that the
You know that they have got these serious concerns around
(10:40):
safety and their working conditions.
Speaker 3 (10:42):
Yeah, and they have for a really long time. And
one of the very first things we did on coming
to government was put security screens in every bus. You know,
we had bus drivers who did not have that. Labor
didn't do it, the company wasn't doing it. We came
in and did it because we wanted to protect them. Now,
we've all seen footage recently where people who want to
cause harm find a way and they're climbing over the
(11:03):
barriers and all sorts of other horrific things. But we
really want this pay deal to, you know, to come
to its conclusion. It's not one we're involved in. This
is between CDC who is the owner of the bus.
Speaker 1 (11:15):
So obviously that you're limited in what you can do.
Is there a role that government can play to try
and help resolve this dispute.
Speaker 3 (11:23):
I'm not too sure. I know that we've written to
them saying we really want to bring this.
Speaker 2 (11:27):
To a close.
Speaker 3 (11:28):
And I also know for people concerned today the hospitals
and special school and mainstream school.
Speaker 2 (11:34):
Services are still running.
Speaker 3 (11:36):
But obviously everyone wants certainty, the bus drivers and the
community who use the buses. So the sooner this closes,
the better.
Speaker 1 (11:42):
Well, we will talk to the union about this after ten.
Now I want to just set across to a report
by the ABC's Matt Garrick, which I know that some
listeners are going to be pretty disturbed by this morning.
The Northern Territories Director of Public Prosecutions, the DPP, has
decided not to appeal a non custodial sentence handed to
a young man who assaulted a nine week old baby
(12:03):
in Alice Springs. We all know the story, we covered
it extensively. The decision means that the offender will not
need to serve further prison time unless he reofriends or
breaches the conditions of his community corrections order. Now, many
in the community do not feel that a custodial sentence
is adequate in a case as serious as assaulting an infant.
(12:26):
Do you believe that the current sentencing laws allow for
appropriate penalties in situations like this?
Speaker 3 (12:32):
Yeah, and look, this is something we're looking at. We've
changed bail, we've changed his justice sack, we've got use
Justice number two coming through, and we've got to deal
with sentencing and a couple of other things as well, Katie,
because you know, people are still seeing really strong instances
where they don't feel as meeting community expectation, and we
are really cognizant of that. Now there is the separation
of powers, but at the end of the day, our
(12:54):
laws have to be right and that work just continues.
I wish we could have changed it all overnight on
day one of government, but it is a process and
we are moving through all of it as fast as
we can.
Speaker 1 (13:05):
I mean, like someone's just messaged through Scott innanula and
said Katie in regards to the criminal that assaulted an infant,
I believe that he and his co offender were on
bail and had already been bailed a number of times.
I don't know whether that's correct or not, so I
want to be really cautious with that. But Scott's saying seriously,
you know, well, his words are these judges need to
(13:27):
be sacked or have no choice but to put violent
criminals in jail. Like that's some of the sentiment from
the community. That's Scott inanula. That's just one message.
Speaker 2 (13:36):
But I hear that centiment.
Speaker 3 (13:38):
Yeah, I hear that from the community too. And you know,
we certainly as territories ourselves. I mean, I know where
members of Parliament and the separation of powers is absolute,
but you know you feel it too as a member
of our community where some of them are inadequate, and
you ask yourself, how how could that decision have been made?
But just on the sacking judge's point, we can't.
Speaker 2 (13:58):
And I know that drives me crazy. But that is
not one tool in my tool kit.
Speaker 1 (14:03):
And look, I've got no idea exactly what the remarks
were when that sentence was handled. I don't know anything
like that either, so I don't have that context. But
I guess what I'm sort of getting to as well
is I don't know that people feel that some of
these custodial orders or these supervisional orders.
Speaker 2 (14:20):
Are adequate either.
Speaker 1 (14:22):
Particularly you know, I feel like the people out in
Howard Springs then that have somebody living in your street
under a supervision order of whatever kind, and you feel
as though, then you know, somebody's able to do whatever
they please.
Speaker 2 (14:34):
Do you see what I mean? Yeah, I do.
Speaker 3 (14:36):
And there's that fine line because we don't always want
young people in prison.
Speaker 2 (14:39):
We do want them out doing.
Speaker 3 (14:41):
Mandatory community service, grubbing graffiti, learning skills, paying back their
victims by working in the business. But people have to
feel like people. I don't think territories have quite got
confidence in that system yet, and I think as we
build it up there will be more confidence that this
is people having to to do something they wouldn't like
to do, but that actually gives back to the community.
(15:03):
But there's always time and place for that too. There
are other times where people thought, no, no, this is
a jailable offense. So there is that fine balance. And
I don't know this sentencing remarks either, Katie. But at
the end of the day, you know, even with our
bail stuff, our Declan's law has seen a thirty eight
percent increase in bail refusals. That means thirty eight percent
(15:24):
more people did not get bail, So that is significant.
That does meet community expectations, and we are working through
the entire justice system, from court reform, corrections, reform, police,
better powers to make sure we get this balance right.
Speaker 1 (15:39):
All right, I want to talk to you about these
school attendance figures that have come out this morning. My
understanding is that the school attendance rates remain stagnant at
seventy one point seven percent, while the enrollment numbers have
dropped by more than three hundred students. That is what
the new government data is revealed. Now, I mean, what
does that indicate to you? It sort of seems to
me like they're not actually getting better.
Speaker 3 (16:00):
Yeah, it's really important that we explain this data, and
that's why we wanted out there so the community can understand.
Under Labour's time, for the last eight years, attendance has
dropped from eighty percent to seventy one percent. Now that
is still flatlining, but a very very big change has
happened since we've come to government. There were one thousand
young people on what was called the intensive support role,
(16:20):
that's where they weren't going to school and Labor did
not want to include them in the school data, so
they shoved them on a separate role and effectively forgot
about them and didn't try and get them to school.
We've called that out, we blew the whistle on that,
and we include that data in our stats. So you
can expect that does make things worse. But what we're
really proud of is three hundred and twenty eight of
(16:41):
those kids are off that list of not going to
school ever, and they are going to school.
Speaker 2 (16:47):
But in its own way, that also.
Speaker 3 (16:48):
Can make the data worse because if they're going to school,
they're certainly not going five days a week KKE.
Speaker 1 (16:52):
So you reckon that list that you know that actually
the intensive support role that's now been scrapped, because that's
been scrapped and those kids are now on the actual
enrollment list.
Speaker 2 (17:05):
That it's having an impact.
Speaker 3 (17:06):
Yeah, it's having an impact. Now it won't account for
all of it, but it is an important impact. And
I just want to say, those three twenty eight kids
who are now going to school might.
Speaker 2 (17:14):
Be going one day a week.
Speaker 3 (17:15):
You can imagine their literacy and numeracy is very very low,
if any at all, because they've not been going to school,
so that drags down other bits and pieces. But I
think as a community, we all understand kids have to
get to school and that's been our approach, and we
thank the schools who are coming up with all of
this innovation on getting kids to school. Then they're having
to support kids with really extraordinary behaviors because they've not
(17:37):
been used to going to school, so it's it's not
as simple jigsaw. But we've seen, you know, oney, one
hundred and eleven compliance notices, two hundred and fifteen parents
have been fined. And I met with the school attendance
team in Catherine, who is predominantly an Aboriginal workforce, which
is amazing. The feedback they have about how excellent it
(17:58):
is for them to be out on community getting kids
into school is great. So we're seeing some good you know,
matter Rank has got a great story to tell, and
there are really good remote schools with good stories to tell.
But I think this paints a picture of lots more
work to.
Speaker 1 (18:11):
Do, all right, Chief Minister, I've got a few messages
coming through one here.
Speaker 2 (18:14):
Good morning, Katie.
Speaker 1 (18:15):
Can you ask the Chief Minister what are they doing
about the emergency department at Royal Darwin Hospital and the
lack of ambulances available.
Speaker 3 (18:26):
So obviously, driving down alcohol fueled harm and violence and
crime has a beneficial impact on our ed and our ambos,
and certainly it's something we're really conscious of. We are
looking at how we recruit health professionals and how we
can better support our health system. But at the end
of the day, we are chronically underfunded for hospitals by
(18:49):
the federal government. Chronically. It's an absolute disgrace. We get
about thirty two percent of our hospital funding is funded
by the federal government, where the average is more.
Speaker 2 (19:00):
Like thirty seven percent.
Speaker 3 (19:01):
Now that's you know, hundreds of millions of dollars that
we're not getting, plus the forty million dollars we're spending
on age care that should be paid for by the
Feds plus plus plus, so we're in a very difficult position.
Speaker 1 (19:13):
Issue is not new though, right Like I mean, I
recall over the last sort of ten years that I've
been doing this job, it's always been something that's been argued.
I know, doctor Robert Parker, who used to be the
head of the AMA, he'd been pushing for that for
years and years.
Speaker 2 (19:27):
So it's not a new thing.
Speaker 1 (19:28):
I mean, what are we, like, what are we It's
compounding to try and to try and sort this out
because you know, if you go if you go into
RDH and you're forced to wait, you know, for hours
and hours, which that's no disrespect to anybody that's working there,
but then also or you're ramped in an ambulance for
for ages. You know, it is like, these are issues
that really impact our liveability as a city.
Speaker 3 (19:49):
It does, and that's why we're going hard on the
federal government. This is a historical issue and we've unpicked
all of the data because we're looking at the National
Health Agreement with the federal government and territory is not
going to be better off. And we are just absolutely
not going to take this lying down, Katie. It's just
a disgrace and the fact that we've had labor governments
(20:10):
accepted is appalling. So you're going to hear a lot
more from us about this. Our advocacy with the federal
government will ramp up, because I know it's you know,
it's cold comfort to people to think, well there's not
enough money. You know, people sort of say, too bad,
I need it. But at the end of the day,
when we are being underfunded hundreds of hundreds of millions
of dollars. This is a huge issue of equity across
(20:32):
the country.
Speaker 1 (20:32):
Yeah, well, look, someone's just messaged and said I had
to go to hospital yesterday. I waited seven hours for
an ambulance, then got a call and told no ambulance available,
got to hospital with the help of friends, bad back,
sat in a chair for seven hours, no beds available.
Speaker 2 (20:46):
That's just an example.
Speaker 1 (20:47):
But look, I'm gonna have to move along because I
know your press for time, as am I a couple
of things I want to just take you through though. Dan,
who we spoke to on multiple times about he was
the one who had a person living in support and
accommodation in Howard Springs on that community order. He's just
called in to say that it came to a head
on Thursday. The man was allegedly making threats to stab
(21:08):
people and bash kids, even when as far as to
threaten to get Oh goodness me, I won't even say
that part sexually assault people. Residents went to the police
station and made formal statements with the man, now remanded
in custody, but Dan says it took an hour for
police to arrive after seven calls, and although he doesn't
(21:28):
want to criticize police, he said anything could have happened
in that time. He said he is also now aware
of the man's current charges before the courts, which include
making threats to kill, aggravated assault and assaulted worker. I mean,
how is somebody like that then on a residential street.
Speaker 3 (21:46):
Yep, good question, Kennie, and I'm glad the police were
able to apprehend the alleged defender and it sounds like
that community has had an absolutely horrific weekend. You know,
at the end of the day, these continue to beachlenges
that Territorians are faced with, and we can't pretend it's
not happening. We can't shy away from it. All we
can do is to continue to empower our police, continue
(22:08):
to back them in so they can do their job
more efficiently, and continue to have strong laws that meet
community expectation.
Speaker 2 (22:14):
And that's our commitment, Chief Finest.
Speaker 1 (22:16):
I know you've got to go, but just really quickly,
what is on the agenda this week in Parliament?
Speaker 3 (22:20):
Yeah, this week we've had a two week sitting. This
is the final week. Tomorrow we're doing the extension of
our homegrown territory grants, so they're thirty thousand for people
who've already owned a home and fifty for first home buyers,
and we've had one thousand people take advantage of that scheme,
which means people are staying in the territory, so it's fantastic.
(22:41):
We've also got some legislation to really make sure we're
putting the energy and the structure in place to have
strong energy networks. Now, Katie, this won't be a surprise
to your listeners, but we have double the number of
blackouts in the Northern Territory than the rest of the country,
which is unacceptable. Are they whether related or oh all sorts,
just failure of infrastructure, aging assets, in instability in the grid,
(23:04):
you name it, Katie, And this is a big legacy issue.
We've inherited that we are putting a lot of energy,
time and resources into and territories. Will hear us talking
more about it because there will be significant funding investments
that will have to come through in the next budget.
So that's an important piece of work because people need
to be able to come home, turn the lights on,
turn the aircon on, and not worry about whether there's
(23:26):
going to be blackouts, so that's a big piece. And
then of course we have the Integrity and Ethics Commission
no legislation which I'll be introducing this week as well.
So plenty happening and.
Speaker 2 (23:40):
Yeah, tune in.
Speaker 3 (23:41):
You can tune in if you if you're interested, or
come and visitor Deep.
Speaker 1 (23:43):
Please speak me to so they don't have to to
be honest with you. Chief. That's de lea fan. OK.
Speaker 2 (23:48):
We better leave it there.
Speaker 1 (23:49):
Thank you as always for your time, Take care everyone.
Thank you,
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