Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Now you may have heard or read the news that
the former Northern Territory Administrator Ted Egan and his wife
have also been the victims of a terrifying home invasion
in Alice Springs. The former Northern Territory Administrator and all
round Northern Territory legend Ted Egan joins me on the
line right now.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Good morning, Ted, hellokadi.
Speaker 1 (00:23):
Ted, can you tell me what happened with you and
your wife when your home was invaded last week?
Speaker 2 (00:32):
While we were in bed, sound asleep at four am,
and suddenly nurse was alerted by a strange noise and
a flashing, a flashing of torches, and she wondered why
what I was doing for the torch? Perhaps going to
the toilet or something, but I don't need a torch.
(00:53):
Another way, and suddenly she realized there were two young
Aborigin little men in our bedroom four am. So she
set up in bed and roared, get out of my house?
Who are you? Get out of my house? And that's
frightened them sufficiently too, caused them to head for the
door that they'd come through, and it also me and
(01:15):
I followed them. I didn't actually chase them. I went
after them and through the cross that We've got quite
a large house across the breezeway into the living room,
and they're in front of me, and I'm yelling out
in somewhat insufficient Aboriginal language and so on. Then the
(01:38):
police are coming here. I'm a person of some status
in Aboriginal society. There's no money, get out, and I
kept drawing, give us cash and we'll leave. Give us
my cash money and we'll go. And they then went
out on the veranda, and somewhat injudiciously, I followed them.
(01:59):
And I've realized later that how injudicious that was, because
if the three there was a third one waiting on
the veranda, and if the three of them had suddenly
said let's kill the old bus, and they could have
killed an old, ninety year old fella pretty quickly. And
that's constantly on my mind, that that's one of the
(02:22):
many what ifs, And it makes one very sad to
be in this once beautiful town and towards it's not
burgers generally, it's Aboriginal burgess. Mainly nowadays teenagers who are
under the direction of other members of society, almost certainly
(02:42):
black and perhaps even white, who are organizing the saguan
esque crime scene in Alice Springs. That is just devastating
the town.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
So it's utterly terrible, Tea. You know, there's no other
way to put it. And we've just spoken, and we
just spoke to Marion Scrimjaw. She's she said, she's been
in contact with you quite often following on from what
had happened.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
She's right today, we've spoken, yes, and to her great credit,
she's on the alert and she's as sad and as
angry as I am. Yeah, so many of her her
own Aboriginal friends have been assaulted and broken into by
this gang of tugs of Aboriginal societies that are nothing
(03:29):
short of criminals. And the sooner they're all locked up
and punished accordingly. And let's not go soft on them
because the poor little darleys have had such a sad
time in the past.
Speaker 1 (03:42):
But Marion said, Marion said, the time for excuses is over.
You know, she's she's quite over it. I think the
whole community is ted. When you hear a story then,
or a situation unfold like the one that unfolded yesterday,
We're a mom was holding her eight week old baby
(04:03):
and was struck with a weapon, and that little Bubbs
had to be flown to Adelaide with serious head injuries.
When you when you know something like that has happened
to a mum and their little child, I mean, how
do you feel knowing what you and near us have
been through and and just thinking that people are behaving
in such a way.
Speaker 2 (04:23):
Well you are, you're constantly you can't help, but they
come into your mind and you have no control over
things that come into your all. Or what if? What
if they had decided just to both and quite happily
have a cup of coffee or a glass of air
and until the car fill their stolen car with our goods.
But fortunately our behavior, which was automatic in both cases,
(04:52):
must have impressed them in some fashion because we weren't
physically attacked. But I spoke to a dear friend and
town who i'd been I was told had been burgled,
And I said, would you say five times? He said,
try ten? What is the last last one? For the knife?
And he said, I sort of expected to happen as
(05:14):
a matter of course every week in Alice Springs now,
But again, what if and if you then get vigilandiaction
and someone shoots a burglar the underworld cooks will very
quickly provide guns for the Aboriginal thugs, and it'll be,
it'll be, it'll.
Speaker 1 (05:33):
Be on well this it's it's scary, It's it's beyond scary.
I think it's reached the point where it feels like
it's out of control. I mean, Marian Scrimsjaw saying herself
she doesn't feel safe in her own home. I would
imagine you definitely don't after what's occurred, Ted, I mean,
what do you think needs to happen in Alice Springs?
Speaker 2 (05:53):
Do you?
Speaker 1 (05:54):
I mean, we asked Mary in the same question. Are
we at the point where the you know, maybe we
need the support of the of the Australian Federal Police
or the defense for so somebody else to help us
really just get a hold of things. In the first instance,
you need to do.
Speaker 2 (06:11):
Move on is what Marian's proposing at the moment, A
group of people who have who have knowledge and an
understanding of life in the Northern Territory. And she wants
me to be one of the chairs of this group.
And I've suggested Donna rt from Congress to be the
other chair because Donna herself has had her house and
(06:36):
she's she's the hardest working Aboriginal person in town. And
when her house gets gets broken into and she's physically
or she's attacked mentally and physically by the same sort
of onslaught, what's the town coming to. That's the first
thing that needs to happen. But the Prime Minister needs
(06:58):
to stop going to Indian national gatherings and declare himself
to be the Minister for first Australian Affairs and do
what Bob Hawk did in his first week of office.
Have a summit of people who do know what they do,
not just all these southern activists who know bugger all
about life in the church. They're just in it for
(07:20):
the sixth figure incomes they all derive and enjoy as
a consequence of their Aboriginal connections. And we don't want
it in the town. And so the sooner that happens
the better. And the Colp government was elected about a
couple of months ago on the basis that they would
(07:43):
tackle and win this crime situation. Well let's hear it
from them.
Speaker 1 (07:48):
Well, Ted Eagan, former Administrator of the Northern Territory, we
really appreciate your time this morning. Thank you very much
for having a chat to me, and yeah, all my
best wishes to you and near us. My heart goes
out to you both and to all the people of
Alice Springs. You know, I can't even I feel quite
(08:09):
lost for words, to be honest with you. I hear
about these crimes all the time, you know, I report
on them every single day. But it's utterly heartbreaking to
me that there's just no respect for, you know, for
other humans by some.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
It's not just Alice, but it's Alice is perhaps the worst.
At the moment, we have two hundred police here in
a town of twenty eight thousand people, and the great
problem is that the police are so busy with last
night's cases and events and tragedies that ours is now
(08:47):
a week old and we might just gradually fade away.
Because I've never heard of anyone who can say my
house was burgled on such and touch a day. A
person named x y it was ed, was arrested and
is now in jail for x y z months on
having invaded my privacy. And the sourner of the public
(09:12):
is told who has done more than which witch, and
to whom the better I'll like it, and I'm so
pleased that Marian has taken the initiatives that he had.
Speaker 1 (09:23):
Yeah, I agree with you, Ted. Thank you so much
for having a chat with me this morning and talk
to you again. So good on you. Thanks Ted, thanks
so much. Bye,
Now you may have heard or read the news that
the former Northern Territory Administrator Ted Egan and his wife
have also been the victims of a terrifying home invasion
in Alice Springs. The former Northern Territory Administrator and all
round Northern Territory legend Ted Egan joins me on the
line right now.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Good morning, Ted, hellokadi.
Speaker 1 (00:23):
Ted, can you tell me what happened with you and
your wife when your home was invaded last week?
Speaker 2 (00:32):
While we were in bed, sound asleep at four am,
and suddenly nurse was alerted by a strange noise and
a flashing, a flashing of torches, and she wondered why
what I was doing for the torch? Perhaps going to
the toilet or something, but I don't need a torch.
(00:53):
Another way, and suddenly she realized there were two young
Aborigin little men in our bedroom four am. So she
set up in bed and roared, get out of my house?
Who are you? Get out of my house? And that's
frightened them sufficiently too, caused them to head for the
door that they'd come through, and it also me and
(01:15):
I followed them. I didn't actually chase them. I went
after them and through the cross that We've got quite
a large house across the breezeway into the living room,
and they're in front of me, and I'm yelling out
in somewhat insufficient Aboriginal language and so on. Then the
(01:38):
police are coming here. I'm a person of some status
in Aboriginal society. There's no money, get out, and I
kept drawing, give us cash and we'll leave. Give us
my cash money and we'll go. And they then went
out on the veranda, and somewhat injudiciously, I followed them.
(01:59):
And I've realized later that how injudicious that was, because
if the three there was a third one waiting on
the veranda, and if the three of them had suddenly
said let's kill the old bus, and they could have
killed an old, ninety year old fella pretty quickly. And
that's constantly on my mind, that that's one of the
(02:22):
many what ifs, And it makes one very sad to
be in this once beautiful town and towards it's not
burgers generally, it's Aboriginal burgess. Mainly nowadays teenagers who are
under the direction of other members of society, almost certainly
(02:42):
black and perhaps even white, who are organizing the saguan
esque crime scene in Alice Springs. That is just devastating
the town.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
So it's utterly terrible, Tea. You know, there's no other
way to put it. And we've just spoken, and we
just spoke to Marion Scrimjaw. She's she said, she's been
in contact with you quite often following on from what
had happened.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
She's right today, we've spoken, yes, and to her great credit,
she's on the alert and she's as sad and as
angry as I am. Yeah, so many of her her
own Aboriginal friends have been assaulted and broken into by
this gang of tugs of Aboriginal societies that are nothing
(03:29):
short of criminals. And the sooner they're all locked up
and punished accordingly. And let's not go soft on them
because the poor little darleys have had such a sad
time in the past.
Speaker 1 (03:42):
But Marion said, Marion said, the time for excuses is over.
You know, she's she's quite over it. I think the
whole community is ted. When you hear a story then,
or a situation unfold like the one that unfolded yesterday,
We're a mom was holding her eight week old baby
(04:03):
and was struck with a weapon, and that little Bubbs
had to be flown to Adelaide with serious head injuries.
When you when you know something like that has happened
to a mum and their little child, I mean, how
do you feel knowing what you and near us have
been through and and just thinking that people are behaving
in such a way.
Speaker 2 (04:23):
Well you are, you're constantly you can't help, but they
come into your mind and you have no control over
things that come into your all. Or what if? What
if they had decided just to both and quite happily
have a cup of coffee or a glass of air
and until the car fill their stolen car with our goods.
But fortunately our behavior, which was automatic in both cases,
(04:52):
must have impressed them in some fashion because we weren't
physically attacked. But I spoke to a dear friend and
town who i'd been I was told had been burgled,
And I said, would you say five times? He said,
try ten? What is the last last one? For the knife?
And he said, I sort of expected to happen as
(05:14):
a matter of course every week in Alice Springs now,
But again, what if and if you then get vigilandiaction
and someone shoots a burglar the underworld cooks will very
quickly provide guns for the Aboriginal thugs, and it'll be,
it'll be, it'll.
Speaker 1 (05:33):
Be on well this it's it's scary, It's it's beyond scary.
I think it's reached the point where it feels like
it's out of control. I mean, Marian Scrimsjaw saying herself
she doesn't feel safe in her own home. I would
imagine you definitely don't after what's occurred, Ted, I mean,
what do you think needs to happen in Alice Springs?
Speaker 2 (05:53):
Do you?
Speaker 1 (05:54):
I mean, we asked Mary in the same question. Are
we at the point where the you know, maybe we
need the support of the of the Australian Federal Police
or the defense for so somebody else to help us
really just get a hold of things. In the first instance,
you need to do.
Speaker 2 (06:11):
Move on is what Marian's proposing at the moment, A
group of people who have who have knowledge and an
understanding of life in the Northern Territory. And she wants
me to be one of the chairs of this group.
And I've suggested Donna rt from Congress to be the
other chair because Donna herself has had her house and
(06:36):
she's she's the hardest working Aboriginal person in town. And
when her house gets gets broken into and she's physically
or she's attacked mentally and physically by the same sort
of onslaught, what's the town coming to. That's the first
thing that needs to happen. But the Prime Minister needs
(06:58):
to stop going to Indian national gatherings and declare himself
to be the Minister for first Australian Affairs and do
what Bob Hawk did in his first week of office.
Have a summit of people who do know what they do,
not just all these southern activists who know bugger all
about life in the church. They're just in it for
(07:20):
the sixth figure incomes they all derive and enjoy as
a consequence of their Aboriginal connections. And we don't want
it in the town. And so the sooner that happens
the better. And the Colp government was elected about a
couple of months ago on the basis that they would
(07:43):
tackle and win this crime situation. Well let's hear it
from them.
Speaker 1 (07:48):
Well, Ted Eagan, former Administrator of the Northern Territory, we
really appreciate your time this morning. Thank you very much
for having a chat to me, and yeah, all my
best wishes to you and near us. My heart goes
out to you both and to all the people of
Alice Springs. You know, I can't even I feel quite
(08:09):
lost for words, to be honest with you. I hear
about these crimes all the time, you know, I report
on them every single day. But it's utterly heartbreaking to
me that there's just no respect for, you know, for
other humans by some.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
It's not just Alice, but it's Alice is perhaps the worst.
At the moment, we have two hundred police here in
a town of twenty eight thousand people, and the great
problem is that the police are so busy with last
night's cases and events and tragedies that ours is now
(08:47):
a week old and we might just gradually fade away.
Because I've never heard of anyone who can say my
house was burgled on such and touch a day. A
person named x y it was ed, was arrested and
is now in jail for x y z months on
having invaded my privacy. And the sourner of the public
(09:12):
is told who has done more than which witch, and
to whom the better I'll like it, and I'm so
pleased that Marian has taken the initiatives that he had.
Speaker 1 (09:23):
Yeah, I agree with you, Ted. Thank you so much
for having a chat with me this morning and talk
to you again. So good on you. Thanks Ted, thanks
so much. Bye,
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