Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Now we know the Attorney Generals issued a scathing statement
directed at NAJA after their Acting at CEO, Anthony Bevin,
earlier this week suggested the Commonwealth should pull funding from
the Northern Territory Police Force. Now Murray Clare Boothby said
the comments were not only irresponsible, but utterly absurd and
to suggest that the place, or to suggest that, was
(00:22):
reckless and inflammatory. Now take a bit of a listen
to what the Acting CEO had told ABC News Breakfast.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
One of the unique things we have here in the
Northern Territory is that the Commonwealth actually funds the Northern
Territory Police for remote policing and other options. We're calling
on the Commonwealth to pull that money or put it
on hold until we see the government sit down with
our original leaders and talk about better ways about making
the community safe.
Speaker 1 (00:52):
Now joining me on the line live from Alice Springs,
it is the Independent Member for Ara Leuwn Robin Lamley.
Speaker 3 (00:59):
Good morning, Robert, Good morning Katie Wolf. Long time no here, No.
Speaker 1 (01:03):
I feel like I haven't spoken to you for a while. Robert,
It's been a busy few weeks. Now, Look, I want
to talk about everything that's happening in Alice. But can
I ask you first, what do you make of the
comments made by the outgoing acting CEO of NARGA.
Speaker 3 (01:20):
Extremely unhelpful in Central Australia. I think what we saw
over the eight years of labor and the deterioration of
law and order was a reduction in remote policing in
Central Australia and that has had an impact on places
(01:42):
like Tenant Creek and Alice Springs, the regional centers. I
think a lot of our problems are due to the
fact that remote policing has not been resourced properly. So
I find it completely bizarre that an acting CEO of
NARGA could be so naive and so destructive in suggesting
(02:06):
that any any funding for remote policing should be temporarily
stored or cut or anything like that. It just shows
an absolute level of ignorance as to what's happening, At
least in Central Australia. I'd imagine it's exactly the same
in the top end. There isn't enough resources out there
for remote policing. I think families, women and children are
(02:27):
living in absolute terror and a lot of bush communities
and that's one reason why they come to town. And
that's one reason why there's overcrowding and all the problems
that go with it, and the reason why we've seen
a lot of crime and the escalation of crime over
the last four to two situate years. Dumb, dumb, dumb.
Speaker 1 (02:48):
And you know, from my perspective as well, I just
in these situations, whenever there is a crime committed, my
first thoughts go to the victim, you know, no matter
where they're from, whether they're living here in Darwin, whether
they're living in man and Greta, Alice Springs, Kintak, wherever
there may be. You know, that is my first thought
is of the victim. And I think that very often.
(03:11):
You know, when something happens, people think, oh goodness, we
do not have enough police. Not the opposite.
Speaker 3 (03:19):
Well, this man's clearly out of touch, because if you
reduce or cut any sort of services out in remote communities,
including policing, you're putting women and children at risk. And
we know that violence against women and children, particularly Aboriginal children,
is one of the biggest problems we face in the
Northern Territory. So I think this guy has come out
(03:41):
thinking he's come up with a great solution to a
political problem. But what he's done is ridiculous and that
the Attorney General has called him out correctly for it.
Speaker 1 (03:52):
And look, don't get me wrong, we definitely have issues
right now within our watch house here in Palmerston. We've
got a situation where the watch house is is overflowing.
You know, you've got a huge volume of people in
that watch house at the moment. But what it means,
obviously to a lot of people listening is they're thinking, well,
if someone commits a crime, then they wouldn't have to
worry about being in there.
Speaker 3 (04:15):
Oh gosh, look where we are at this point in
history is because we had a government, a Northern Territory
government for many years it wouldn't even recognize that we
had a crime problem. At least this government is trying
something new and different now that the use of watchhouses
for prisons essentially is a temporary fix to a problem
(04:42):
that they've created, I suppose by incarcerating more people. But
we had to try something different. This is why people
voted the c ORPN to try something different. More of
labor of pretending that there wasn't a problem and allowing
the streets to go virtually unchecked for many years as
they did down here in Alice Springs was absolutely inconceivable
(05:05):
and wrong. It's put us in a position that we're
now struggling to get out of to correct the situation.
Prevention is always better than cure. So even though we're
facing a different range of problems logistical problems, policy problems,
government resourcing problems around what to do with all these
(05:28):
people who are now finding themselves locked up, I'd sooner
go down this track and see what happens at the
end of it than to have more of the same
under labor Robin.
Speaker 1 (05:39):
How are things going at Alice Springs at the moment
when you look at the issues of crime, I mean,
you and I have spoken about this issue for years.
Speaker 3 (05:49):
Well, Katie, it's really difficult to turn on the optimism
button because it just feels like nothing much has changed.
The stats definitely suggest that there's been a small improvement,
and a small improvement is better than a small decline.
(06:10):
I can tell you the latest stats that have come out.
I compared the last six months with December to May,
December twenty four to May twenty five to the correlating
period December twenty three to May twenty four and it
suggests that there hasn't been much of an improvement, but
there is a slide improvement in the number of incidents
(06:34):
of crime in Alice Springs. Now, that doesn't really give
you any indication of the severity and the nature of
the crimes. The statistics are empty figures. Really, They're all
we can go on. But I think most people in
Alice Springs are feeling that not much has changed. But look,
(06:54):
this government's only been in for eleven months, and I
write at the outset said you have to will have
to give them at least twelve months, And I always thought, well,
perhaps at the beginning of next year we might sort
of see a more significant turnaround. If that's to happen
at all. Well, things are still not great here. We're
still facing a crime crisis. We're still quite unhappy with
(07:23):
the way things are going. But I guess one thing
that's changed, Katie, is that there seems to be a
sense that we're used to it, that this is the
norm kind of creeping in and that is not good.
So as time goes on, I think people have just
kind of surrendered to it and changed their behavior and
(07:45):
changed their lives and got used to it to some extent. Look,
all it takes is someone to smash a car window
and you'll get broken into or get assaulted walking down
the street, and that reminds you just how just horrendous
it is.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
Spot on your spot on. Like I always think with
the crime stats as well, even when they're good, you know,
if somebody then ends up being broken into or held
up by machete or assaulted, you know, to that person,
those crime statistics mean nothing. And we know that there's
you know, like we know you're never going to stamp
out all crime, but people deserve to feel safe in
(08:22):
the community.
Speaker 3 (08:25):
Yes. And the other thing that I heard over the weekend,
which I wasn't overly surprised to hear, but it could
kind of took me back at that moment, is that people,
a lot of or some Aboriginal people are kind of
joking about being incarcerated, that they're you know, that it
(08:48):
is kind of turning into a definite right of passage. Again,
that because so many people are being incarcerated, that they're
trivial trivializing it and making fun of it. And I
think that's a bit of a problem in itself. That
with so many people being locked up, it will it
(09:12):
will change the significance attached to it. But look, we
just have to go down this track and see where
it takes this.
Speaker 1 (09:19):
Okaden Robin, I want to ask you. We know that
earlier in this week, well earlier this week, we learned
that Alice Springs Hospital is experiencing those capacity challenges due
to the NTY Department of Health said complex medical presentations
and an increase in patience with flu like symptoms. So
they ended up calling a code yellow. What are people
(09:40):
saying in Alice Springs? How busy is the hospital?
Speaker 2 (09:45):
Well?
Speaker 3 (09:45):
I heard before they called a code yellow that things
are pretty pretty bad at the hospital in terms of
demand and pressure on the system. So when this was called,
I was a little bit surprised because we haven't had
a code yellow here for a long time. But we
do know that a lot of people have got the
flu or covid or colds. We've got very sick people
(10:09):
down here. Generally, we've got a very poor health status
of a large section of the community. Aboriginal people, particularly
from the Bush are generally generally experienced a lower level
of health. So all it takes is something like a
flu epidemic or a covid epidemic to wipe out a
lot of people. So, yeah, this is not good, but
(10:35):
it's it's not necessarily a reflection of the government or policy.
It's just what happens from time to time when people
get sick and it's cold and they're living in cramped
quarters and people catch things, don't they, Yeah, they do,
and in sextious diseases.
Speaker 1 (10:53):
Yeah, and hopefully it means that the hospital's then able
to manage those capacity issues, you know, a little bit
differently to get through it. Robin is the talk of
the town at the moment. The upcoming council elections. Are
people as interested as what I think they might be, Well.
Speaker 3 (11:10):
It's going to be a very curious election in Alice Springs.
We've only got one existing counselor who's running again to
be a counselor, and we've got one existing counselor who's
running for mayor. So if those two get elected, we'll
only have two people with any recent experience in local government.
(11:31):
And I don't know that there are a total of
nine people that are actually running for the council to
be seen. Obviously, at the last minute, people might throw
their hats in, but kind of suggest to people, I
think that it's not an overly attractive thing to do
these days for a whole range of reasons. You know,
(11:54):
the fact that you get publicly scrutiny scrutinized and then
you're killed is it can be a tough gig. But
the flip side of it is that it is a
wonderful experience. I spent time on council from two thousand
and four to two thousand and eight, and I served
as deputy mayor for one of those years, and it
was a fabulous experience. So to anyone thinking of running,
(12:15):
I would strongly suggest you do it. Yeah, I don't
think too much about it.
Speaker 1 (12:20):
Just don't have a crat I agree, Robin. What are
people making of the fact that, I mean, there's been,
like we've heard a little earlier in the week that
Josh Burgoyne's wife, Lisa Marie announced that she's going to
be running. I know that her father did indeed used
to be the mayor as well, so she certainly comes
from an experienced family and and you know, is a
(12:42):
great candidate in her own right. But I guess people
will always draw those draw the attention to your family connections.
Speaker 3 (12:51):
Well, of course, I think I don't know a lot
about Lisa Marie bergline. Of course, her husband has been
a colleague of mine in Parliament for the last five years.
But I don't know that she's got the credentials and
the experience to be mayor. And I think most people
have spoken to think, good honor. She's a thirty five
(13:12):
year old mum of two young girls. Good on her
for having a go, like we just said, But I'm
not sure she's equipped to be mayor yet. I'm probably
old school. I think you've got a crawl before you walk,
and I think doing four years on counsel and then
putting your hand up to be mayor if you're young
(13:34):
and fairly inexperienced in leading anything or managing anything, that
makes better sense than just kind of putting your hand
up randomly to run for mayor. But look good on her.
She might do well. She may be the mayor of
Alice Springs in a few weeks time. Who knows, who knows?
Speaker 1 (13:49):
Who knows what's going to happen at the local government elections, Robin.
They're always it's always an interesting race. There's no doubt
about that all.
Speaker 3 (13:56):
Well, I'm heading up to daywhen on Sunday, so I
look forward to seeing what's going on up there. Well
about Parliament next week, yeah.
Speaker 1 (14:02):
It'll be busy, no doubt about that. We might have
to catch up with you early next week as well
to find out what's on the agenda in parliament, Robin.
And then I believe have we got you on for
the week that was next week?
Speaker 3 (14:12):
Yes, I'm on next Friday for the week that was
love when we got you in for that, and I
love catching up with you too and all the others.
It's a fun thing to do days.
Speaker 1 (14:22):
No, it's awesome. Well, Robin Lambley, we really appreciate your
time this morning. We'll talk to you again soon.
Speaker 3 (14:27):
My pleasure, Katie. Thank you,
Now we know the Attorney Generals issued a scathing statement
directed at NAJA after their Acting at CEO, Anthony Bevin,
earlier this week suggested the Commonwealth should pull funding from
the Northern Territory Police Force. Now Murray Clare Boothby said
the comments were not only irresponsible, but utterly absurd and
to suggest that the place, or to suggest that, was
(00:22):
reckless and inflammatory. Now take a bit of a listen
to what the Acting CEO had told ABC News Breakfast.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
One of the unique things we have here in the
Northern Territory is that the Commonwealth actually funds the Northern
Territory Police for remote policing and other options. We're calling
on the Commonwealth to pull that money or put it
on hold until we see the government sit down with
our original leaders and talk about better ways about making
the community safe.
Speaker 1 (00:52):
Now joining me on the line live from Alice Springs,
it is the Independent Member for Ara Leuwn Robin Lamley.
Speaker 3 (00:59):
Good morning, Robert, Good morning Katie Wolf. Long time no here, No.
Speaker 1 (01:03):
I feel like I haven't spoken to you for a while. Robert,
It's been a busy few weeks. Now, Look, I want
to talk about everything that's happening in Alice. But can
I ask you first, what do you make of the
comments made by the outgoing acting CEO of NARGA.
Speaker 3 (01:20):
Extremely unhelpful in Central Australia. I think what we saw
over the eight years of labor and the deterioration of
law and order was a reduction in remote policing in
Central Australia and that has had an impact on places
(01:42):
like Tenant Creek and Alice Springs, the regional centers. I
think a lot of our problems are due to the
fact that remote policing has not been resourced properly. So
I find it completely bizarre that an acting CEO of
NARGA could be so naive and so destructive in suggesting
(02:06):
that any any funding for remote policing should be temporarily
stored or cut or anything like that. It just shows
an absolute level of ignorance as to what's happening, At
least in Central Australia. I'd imagine it's exactly the same
in the top end. There isn't enough resources out there
for remote policing. I think families, women and children are
(02:27):
living in absolute terror and a lot of bush communities
and that's one reason why they come to town. And
that's one reason why there's overcrowding and all the problems
that go with it, and the reason why we've seen
a lot of crime and the escalation of crime over
the last four to two situate years. Dumb, dumb, dumb.
Speaker 1 (02:48):
And you know, from my perspective as well, I just
in these situations, whenever there is a crime committed, my
first thoughts go to the victim, you know, no matter
where they're from, whether they're living here in Darwin, whether
they're living in man and Greta, Alice Springs, Kintak, wherever
there may be. You know, that is my first thought
is of the victim. And I think that very often.
(03:11):
You know, when something happens, people think, oh goodness, we
do not have enough police. Not the opposite.
Speaker 3 (03:19):
Well, this man's clearly out of touch, because if you
reduce or cut any sort of services out in remote communities,
including policing, you're putting women and children at risk. And
we know that violence against women and children, particularly Aboriginal children,
is one of the biggest problems we face in the
Northern Territory. So I think this guy has come out
(03:41):
thinking he's come up with a great solution to a
political problem. But what he's done is ridiculous and that
the Attorney General has called him out correctly for it.
Speaker 1 (03:52):
And look, don't get me wrong, we definitely have issues
right now within our watch house here in Palmerston. We've
got a situation where the watch house is is overflowing.
You know, you've got a huge volume of people in
that watch house at the moment. But what it means,
obviously to a lot of people listening is they're thinking, well,
if someone commits a crime, then they wouldn't have to
worry about being in there.
Speaker 3 (04:15):
Oh gosh, look where we are at this point in
history is because we had a government, a Northern Territory
government for many years it wouldn't even recognize that we
had a crime problem. At least this government is trying
something new and different now that the use of watchhouses
for prisons essentially is a temporary fix to a problem
(04:42):
that they've created, I suppose by incarcerating more people. But
we had to try something different. This is why people
voted the c ORPN to try something different. More of
labor of pretending that there wasn't a problem and allowing
the streets to go virtually unchecked for many years as
they did down here in Alice Springs was absolutely inconceivable
(05:05):
and wrong. It's put us in a position that we're
now struggling to get out of to correct the situation.
Prevention is always better than cure. So even though we're
facing a different range of problems logistical problems, policy problems,
government resourcing problems around what to do with all these
(05:28):
people who are now finding themselves locked up, I'd sooner
go down this track and see what happens at the
end of it than to have more of the same
under labor Robin.
Speaker 1 (05:39):
How are things going at Alice Springs at the moment
when you look at the issues of crime, I mean,
you and I have spoken about this issue for years.
Speaker 3 (05:49):
Well, Katie, it's really difficult to turn on the optimism
button because it just feels like nothing much has changed.
The stats definitely suggest that there's been a small improvement,
and a small improvement is better than a small decline.
(06:10):
I can tell you the latest stats that have come out.
I compared the last six months with December to May,
December twenty four to May twenty five to the correlating
period December twenty three to May twenty four and it
suggests that there hasn't been much of an improvement, but
there is a slide improvement in the number of incidents
(06:34):
of crime in Alice Springs. Now, that doesn't really give
you any indication of the severity and the nature of
the crimes. The statistics are empty figures. Really, They're all
we can go on. But I think most people in
Alice Springs are feeling that not much has changed. But look,
(06:54):
this government's only been in for eleven months, and I
write at the outset said you have to will have
to give them at least twelve months, And I always thought, well,
perhaps at the beginning of next year we might sort
of see a more significant turnaround. If that's to happen
at all. Well, things are still not great here. We're
still facing a crime crisis. We're still quite unhappy with
(07:23):
the way things are going. But I guess one thing
that's changed, Katie, is that there seems to be a
sense that we're used to it, that this is the
norm kind of creeping in and that is not good.
So as time goes on, I think people have just
kind of surrendered to it and changed their behavior and
(07:45):
changed their lives and got used to it to some extent. Look,
all it takes is someone to smash a car window
and you'll get broken into or get assaulted walking down
the street, and that reminds you just how just horrendous
it is.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
Spot on your spot on. Like I always think with
the crime stats as well, even when they're good, you know,
if somebody then ends up being broken into or held
up by machete or assaulted, you know, to that person,
those crime statistics mean nothing. And we know that there's
you know, like we know you're never going to stamp
out all crime, but people deserve to feel safe in
(08:22):
the community.
Speaker 3 (08:25):
Yes. And the other thing that I heard over the weekend,
which I wasn't overly surprised to hear, but it could
kind of took me back at that moment, is that people,
a lot of or some Aboriginal people are kind of
joking about being incarcerated, that they're you know, that it
(08:48):
is kind of turning into a definite right of passage. Again,
that because so many people are being incarcerated, that they're
trivial trivializing it and making fun of it. And I
think that's a bit of a problem in itself. That
with so many people being locked up, it will it
(09:12):
will change the significance attached to it. But look, we
just have to go down this track and see where
it takes this.
Speaker 1 (09:19):
Okaden Robin, I want to ask you. We know that
earlier in this week, well earlier this week, we learned
that Alice Springs Hospital is experiencing those capacity challenges due
to the NTY Department of Health said complex medical presentations
and an increase in patience with flu like symptoms. So
they ended up calling a code yellow. What are people
(09:40):
saying in Alice Springs? How busy is the hospital?
Speaker 2 (09:45):
Well?
Speaker 3 (09:45):
I heard before they called a code yellow that things
are pretty pretty bad at the hospital in terms of
demand and pressure on the system. So when this was called,
I was a little bit surprised because we haven't had
a code yellow here for a long time. But we
do know that a lot of people have got the
flu or covid or colds. We've got very sick people
(10:09):
down here. Generally, we've got a very poor health status
of a large section of the community. Aboriginal people, particularly
from the Bush are generally generally experienced a lower level
of health. So all it takes is something like a
flu epidemic or a covid epidemic to wipe out a
lot of people. So, yeah, this is not good, but
(10:35):
it's it's not necessarily a reflection of the government or policy.
It's just what happens from time to time when people
get sick and it's cold and they're living in cramped
quarters and people catch things, don't they, Yeah, they do,
and in sextious diseases.
Speaker 1 (10:53):
Yeah, and hopefully it means that the hospital's then able
to manage those capacity issues, you know, a little bit
differently to get through it. Robin is the talk of
the town at the moment. The upcoming council elections. Are
people as interested as what I think they might be, Well.
Speaker 3 (11:10):
It's going to be a very curious election in Alice Springs.
We've only got one existing counselor who's running again to
be a counselor, and we've got one existing counselor who's
running for mayor. So if those two get elected, we'll
only have two people with any recent experience in local government.
(11:31):
And I don't know that there are a total of
nine people that are actually running for the council to
be seen. Obviously, at the last minute, people might throw
their hats in, but kind of suggest to people, I
think that it's not an overly attractive thing to do
these days for a whole range of reasons. You know,
(11:54):
the fact that you get publicly scrutiny scrutinized and then
you're killed is it can be a tough gig. But
the flip side of it is that it is a
wonderful experience. I spent time on council from two thousand
and four to two thousand and eight, and I served
as deputy mayor for one of those years, and it
was a fabulous experience. So to anyone thinking of running,
(12:15):
I would strongly suggest you do it. Yeah, I don't
think too much about it.
Speaker 1 (12:20):
Just don't have a crat I agree, Robin. What are
people making of the fact that, I mean, there's been,
like we've heard a little earlier in the week that
Josh Burgoyne's wife, Lisa Marie announced that she's going to
be running. I know that her father did indeed used
to be the mayor as well, so she certainly comes
from an experienced family and and you know, is a
(12:42):
great candidate in her own right. But I guess people
will always draw those draw the attention to your family connections.
Speaker 3 (12:51):
Well, of course, I think I don't know a lot
about Lisa Marie bergline. Of course, her husband has been
a colleague of mine in Parliament for the last five years.
But I don't know that she's got the credentials and
the experience to be mayor. And I think most people
have spoken to think, good honor. She's a thirty five
(13:12):
year old mum of two young girls. Good on her
for having a go, like we just said, But I'm
not sure she's equipped to be mayor yet. I'm probably
old school. I think you've got a crawl before you walk,
and I think doing four years on counsel and then
putting your hand up to be mayor if you're young
(13:34):
and fairly inexperienced in leading anything or managing anything, that
makes better sense than just kind of putting your hand
up randomly to run for mayor. But look good on her.
She might do well. She may be the mayor of
Alice Springs in a few weeks time. Who knows, who knows?
Speaker 1 (13:49):
Who knows what's going to happen at the local government elections, Robin.
They're always it's always an interesting race. There's no doubt
about that all.
Speaker 3 (13:56):
Well, I'm heading up to daywhen on Sunday, so I
look forward to seeing what's going on up there. Well
about Parliament next week, yeah.
Speaker 1 (14:02):
It'll be busy, no doubt about that. We might have
to catch up with you early next week as well
to find out what's on the agenda in parliament, Robin.
And then I believe have we got you on for
the week that was next week?
Speaker 3 (14:12):
Yes, I'm on next Friday for the week that was
love when we got you in for that, and I
love catching up with you too and all the others.
It's a fun thing to do days.
Speaker 1 (14:22):
No, it's awesome. Well, Robin Lambley, we really appreciate your
time this morning. We'll talk to you again soon.
Speaker 3 (14:27):
My pleasure, Katie. Thank you,
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