Katherine Mayor Joanna Holden on town's crime issues

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
We have spoken quite extensively about this, and we are
going to continue this discussion because joining me on the
line right now is Joanna Holden, the Mayor of Catherine.
Good morning to.

Speaker 2 (00:10):
You, Joanna, Morning Katie? How are you?

Speaker 1 (00:13):
This not too bad? More importantly, how are you? How
are the people of Catherine and how are things on
the weekend? Look?

Speaker 2 (00:21):
I think the people of Catherine are pissed off, exhausted, frustrated,
angry and living in a state of fear about what's
going to happen next. We've experienced a weekend of ongoing
anti social behavior, attempted saves breakings. So you know, I

(00:41):
hear that at the hot Springs on Saturday morning, youth
were trying to steal people's bags to get your car
keys to take the cars in the car park take away.
They attempted to take the delivery vehicle. The coffee shop's
being smashed up, the Council's had half of its footpaths
weremoved out in front of the swimming pool. The surveys

(01:03):
or experience stepped over the weekend. Where does it stop, Katie?

Speaker 1 (01:07):
Well, I don't know. What do you think is flaring
it up? Joanna? I know like, look, you and I
have spoken about this on numerous occasions. I don't know
whether it's ever calmed down or whether it's more just
that what happened on Thursday was so highly visible.

Speaker 2 (01:25):
I think the I think wasn't just a visibility about Thursday, Katie.
I think the amount of people that were put at
risk and how long it went on for on Thursday
is what's really angered people and driven them to be
there on Friday to speak to the police and to
speak to the local member. But I think what we're

(01:46):
seeing is there's these peaks and trough hopes say, peaks
and tross But you know, we had the accident in June,
it's sort of quietened it for a bit, and now
it seems to be I think that it escalates to
a point where then we have something else really bad happened,
and then it sort of dies for a little bit.
But then because I think that group, that offending group

(02:09):
is still there, and it grows, do you know what
I mean, there's outliers that get drawn in and then
so I feel like that's probably one of the key
issues is we have these core group of offenders and
then as potentially some of them are arrested and detained.
That then there's the outliers that come in and feel

(02:31):
you know, it grows again and I think they get
more confident, they get that feedback loop on TikTok. I
think it's all sorts of different things. I think it's complex, Katie.
But what I can tell you is that we have
been working. The Council has been working the past couple
of months to try and get a program into Catherine
that has proven to work in Kannanara to interrupt this

(02:54):
cycle of offending. So the program, so it's about delivering
an eye Notice that there has been some comment on
something to be delivered within this space, in this time space.
So they look to between eleven eleven PM and four
am to engage that core group of youth and the

(03:16):
activities that are delivered are designed by that core group
of youth and the people we are working with, which
is the Canninaroa and Gary Abaginal Corporation, Jeremy Jonathan and
Brother to another. They've already gone out of an evening
engaged with that group and had a conversation with them
about what could it be that they could deliver that
would help interrupt that cycle of vending, and it might

(03:37):
be not AFL, it will absolutely be a good feed.
And look, this is not about I want to be clear.
We are not talking about rewarding these children or these youth.
We are talking about interrupting this cycle. Then other things
need to come after that to build on that. There
has to be the number of organizations in Castron that

(03:58):
are funded to deliver stuff. We need to get those
organizations to the table. We need to be talking with them.
There needs to be they've all got to be working together.
I'm not saying that they're not, but there needs to
I think be some potential changes there as well. And
this program, if we can get it up, they would
look to do that, to sit down with the local
organizations and say, Okay, what's working, what it's not working,

(04:19):
Where do we need to link people in.

Speaker 1 (04:20):
How quickly could you get that going, Joanna.

Speaker 2 (04:23):
Well, if we got three hundred thousand dollars tomorrow, Katie,
we would be up and running within a couple of weeks. Well,
actually shouldn't say that October. October is the earliest brother
to another. Yeah, could come here and start delivering it.

Speaker 1 (04:35):
I've had them on the show before. I've had brother
to another on the show before and they are they're
great likes. You know. I think if we can do something,
if you can do something to try and get a
stop gap here. I mean, Joanna, I know there's been
a number of other things that were suggested in a
letter that you actually sent to the Chief Minister over
the course of the weekend, including First Nations leaders asking

(04:59):
well a potential curfew further alcohol restrictions. The Chief Minister
said this morning that a curfew would have to be
called by the Northern Territory Police Commissioner, not her, and
that you know, I didn't get the feeling that she
thought that alcohol restrictions would make much of a difference.
I mean, what else do you think needs to happen
as a matter of urgency, because even from what you've

(05:21):
said there, this programs a few weeks off getting off
the ground if you can get funding. So what else
could happen do you think as a matter of urgency?

Speaker 2 (05:29):
Okay, I just want to talk to the curfew. Well,
the Chiefmaers said, it is correct we did raise this,
and just in terms of the comment about being evasive,
I want to be very clear that I met with
the police at our monthly meeting recently, I put the
curfew and the alcohol restrictions on the table. They were
not supported. It does have to be an emergency declared
emergency for that to be an actor. This week, I'm

(05:53):
trying to organize a meeting with the acting Regional Executive
Director for the Chartmer Chiefments here in Katin to get
support for the youth Emergency Response program. We've had the
police decide to withdraw from our Community Safety Action Group
here in Catherine. I do have a meeting with the
local member schedule for Thursday flight of this week. So
we are doing what we can as a council to

(06:15):
make change and to speak to The curfew is generally
a short term intervention to interrupt. So if you did
the curfew, then you had the emergency response program coming
behind it and then work towards the night safe space.
That's potentially a series of activities that could help Catherine.
At this point in time, I'm not too sure whether

(06:36):
an operation like Operation Ventura that they had in Palmerston,
whether that would help Cathern at the moment. I do
think bringing the com center back to Catherine and bringing
the authority the decision making authority within the Anti Police
back to Catherine could make a significant difference now in Catherine, Joanna.

Speaker 1 (06:56):
From a lot of what I hear out of Catherine,
you know, people feel that the police do a very
good job under very tough circumstances. But they were pretty
pissed off with the situation on Thursday in terms of
what they felt like was a really dangerous situation that
went on for hours and hours. You know. Then I'm hearing,
you know, on the other side of the fence, people

(07:17):
are literally like exasperated and at the point where they're
saying they're going to take matters into their own hands,
which really concerns me, and I think it would concern you.
It concerns everybody. You know. That's the last thing you
want to see. But from what I can see right now,
it's like a tinderbox ready to explode.

Speaker 2 (07:35):
Look, I agree with you, Katie, and I also want
to acknowledge the hard work and the efforts of the police.
Am I in no way criticizing the Anti Police do.
I think they are working. They do, and they're working
with very challenging circumstances. What I do feel is that
potentially the service delivery model is maybe something that could
be reviewed. I'm not an expert on that, but I

(07:57):
do feel that that may be part of it. But
I do think our police are very challenged and there's
a you know, they come. I know I've experienced with
the breakings of my mother's house. The dedication of the
police is just absolutely fantastic, but there's only so much
they do. Their job finishes at a certain point that
they don't. They can't. They're not the ones that you know,

(08:19):
they're not the judges, they're not just you know, so
there's a whole range of things that they're limited in delivering.
I do think we are at a point where people
are so frustrated that there is a risk that people
will take manage into their own hands. If they bump
into a group of views that are out in the
wrong place at the wrong time, that they may potentially
react to that they or those youths will end up hurt.

(08:41):
And they may not even be the youths that are
the wrong that are doing this ending, you know, like,
this is a risk that innocent people are going to
get hurt.

Speaker 1 (08:51):
I just and that's yeah, we want no, that's the
last thing we want Joanna, you know there's a lot
of people as well messaging us this morning. They were
saying the same thing on Friday. Where are these kids parents,
and where are some of the other leaders in the community,
you know, really trying to stop this behavior.

Speaker 2 (09:11):
Look, Katie, I can't answer the parent in question. I
think that's something that somebody else has better position to answer. Obviously. Yeah,
even good parents can have kids that do the wrong thing.
So I'm not going to you know, in terms of
the leaders in the community, I was privileged to be
invited into a meeting of Averash First Nation leaders in

(09:33):
Catherine not long ago. They are talking to these parents,
they are talking to the community. They are trying to
do what they can. They are just as impact as
we are. Katie. You and I both know when you've
got kids or you know, children that don't want to
hear it, it doesn't matter who you are, is that
they're not going to listen to you. It's very hard
to get I think kids that are in a certain

(09:55):
space to listen to or turn around quickly.

Speaker 1 (10:00):
What do you say then, Joanna as well? You know,
people listening this morning, I'm sure in Catherine are probably
scratching their heads if you know, you'd said earlier, it's
a group of youth, Like everybody sort of knows who
the core group of youth are, or I'm assuming you
know who the call group of youth are. Sometimes it
expands a little bit, you know, like I just don't understand.

(10:20):
If everybody knows what's going on, and everybody knows who
the kids are, why can't it be stopped.

Speaker 2 (10:26):
That's a great question. That is a wonderful question. I
would I would love to ask that question of the
antique government if we could get a hearing with them,
I'd love to ask that question. Why is that when
we do know who they are, we know where to
find them. You can track there, you can almost track
their terrible behaviors through acount on certain nights. I mean,

(10:49):
it's just, you know, I don't know. I don't know
the answer to that, Katie. There are smarter people in
me that would know why that is.

Speaker 1 (10:57):
Yeah, well, joe Anna Holden, we've put in a request
to the police as well to find out if the
Commissioner is considering a curfew or not. We'll try our
best to keep the spotlight on Catherine. And you know,
or you appreciate the time that you give us. So
I appreciate you speaking to us again this morning, and
I really do hope that things get better.

Speaker 2 (11:19):
Look so to I, Katie, I mean, our community is
just absolutely hurting at the moment and it hurts me
to see that. But I also want to make something
very very clear before I go today. We are willing
and we want to work with the anti government to
fix this issue. We don't want to sit around and talk.
I'm happy to evidence the work that we've been doing

(11:41):
over the last couple of months to try and do
what we can as a council to get something to
fix these issues. So we are here. We want to
work with the NT government. What is stopping stopping them?

Speaker 1 (11:54):
Well, look, will we will ask We've got we're I
think we're going to catch up with with Joe hur
on the show tomorrow morning, so we'll certainly ask that.
Joanna Holden really appreciate you speaking with this this morning.
Thank you so much for your time.

Speaker 2 (12:08):
No, thank you, Katie, thank you