Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
The Chief Minister says that every option is on the
table to deal with crime in the Red Center. She's
listened to the concerns of the community and heard their
frustrations and seen first hand the challenges that they're facing now.
Based on the consultation, she says, over the past couple
of days, the government are now well. They've identified several
critical areas that require federal government attention, including Center Link
(00:23):
payments to be made on current takeaway alcohol free days only,
the reintroduction of compulsory work or training programs with fortnightly
reporting obligations to Center Link recipients, as well as conducting
a performance orders of federally funded programs, along with ensuring
royalty distributions are made in communities not in Alice Springs,
(00:45):
the implementation of one hundred percent income management for parents
of youth offenders, and accepting the Northern Territory government's referral
to the federal government for parents who neglect their children,
enabling additional income management. Much now joining me on the show.
He's the Minister for Territory Families, Robin Carl, Children and
(01:05):
Territory Families. I should say, Robin Carl, good morning to
your minister. Good morning, Katie, Thanks so much for your
time this morning. Now, Minister, how were things over the
weekend in Alice Springs do you know?
Speaker 2 (01:18):
Well, I'm actually really pleased to be able to report
that the circu Breaker program that we launched last Friday
had a significant impact on the ground in Ourice Springs
over the weekend.
Speaker 3 (01:29):
So seven young.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
People were referred to the program via the corresponder model
and four in Darwin as well, if people are interested.
And the really interesting thing is the feedback from the
police on the ground, the community on the ground was
that having that in place and having it very actively
out there made a significant difference because we were able
(01:51):
to intervene before those kids got themselves into trouble.
Speaker 1 (01:54):
So talk our listeners through, because we were so busy
on Friday with everything that was going on in Alice
Springs that people would to miss the news about this
Circuit Breaker program. Talk us through exactly how it's going
to work and how it's going to support young people
at risk and really hold parents accountable for their children's behavior.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
So we've been working on this program for the last
couple of months and it was really looking at what
resources we had in place and how we could bolster them.
So essentially we've got three departments plus the police department,
all working very closely together to try and intervene before
kids get themselves into trouble. So, whether it's the first
(02:33):
time that a young person's been picked up by police
or if it's the twentieth time they've been picked up,
there'll be an immediate referral to Department Children's and Families
Youth Worker Team.
Speaker 3 (02:42):
They'll go collect the child.
Speaker 2 (02:44):
Then they'll go the assessment will be done whether it's
okay to take the child home. If not, we have
safe sleeping spaces for out of our collections, both in
Alice Springs and in Darwin, and the child will be
taken there. The parents' guardians will be notified where they are,
and then the next day there's an engagement with the
families to enter into a parental and family responsibility agreement,
(03:05):
So that's step one, and then it will be looking
at whether they're attending school if they're not, trying to
figure out why not, looking at other programs we can
actually channel their energy into so that they're distracted, if
you like, from getting involved in the wrong group and
doing the wrong thing. We'll be doing health checks with
them to make sure there's no underlying issue that may
(03:26):
not have been picked up. And the really exciting thing
at the moment in Alice Springs is that the school
attendance officers are working all through the vacation period, so
they'll be working closely with the Youth Support team as well,
so that when school comes back at the end of January,
those kids that we know have been disengaged from school,
they'll be on the radar.
Speaker 3 (03:45):
We'll be working with them directly, Rober.
Speaker 1 (03:47):
Most people listening this morning are going to be thinking,
how is this not already happening? How are we not
in a situation where if these kids running around on
the straight, that this isn't already happening.
Speaker 2 (04:00):
Ask myself that same question, which is why I've done
the work with the department over the last couple of months,
And it really stemmed from discussions around that mythical parent
responsible adult, which I just tell the list is I've
banned the use of that term because it doesn't exist.
So that situation where a kid was picked up by police,
dropped home, they'd leave, they'd get picked up again, they'd
(04:22):
be dropped home, they'd leave, they get dropped back. Yeah,
it was this vicious cycle. So while there was the
opportunity for police and youth outreach workers to connect to
drop kids home, that underlying work wasn't embedded in the program.
So absolutely, I don't understand why it's taken to this
point to be able to do it, But what I
(04:43):
can tell you is that the youth workers in particular
are really excited about having that extra layer of umph
if youk in being able to work with the families.
We actually had the very first family involved here in Darwin.
So on Saturday, No Friday morning, sorry, Friday morning, we
had a young person drop to our safe place at
(05:04):
five point thirty in the morning, and by that afternoon
we had a parental family responsibility agreement in place and
a wrap around service to that young person. So over
the weekend we've had a total of nine programs put
in place where the team will be working very closely
with those families and making sure we try and keep
those kids on track.
Speaker 1 (05:23):
Robin, do you think we're going to see some tangible
differences on the streets, you know, out in public places
with some of these young people that have maybe been
engaged in pretty ordinary behavior.
Speaker 3 (05:36):
To put it mildly, I absolutely believe that.
Speaker 2 (05:40):
I absolutely believe that the critical component of this is
for the staff who are out there on the ground
knowing that they have my absolute one hundred and fifty
percent backing and that we will do this together. And
the opportunity for us is to trial this now and
the process that we've put together and tweak it as
we need to be, because my goal is to roll
(06:01):
it out across the entire territory. If we can get
to those kids before they are embedded in a cycle
of doing the wrong thing, and we can actually get
them distracted into doing sport or music or a job
at the local servo or whatever it is where they
actually take some pride in who they are and what
they're doing. Absolutely, I have absolute confidence we're going to
(06:24):
see a difference.
Speaker 1 (06:25):
Minister, from your perspective, I mean, as the Minister of
a Children and Families when you hear a situation like
the one that unfolded last week in Alice Springs, where
we've reportedly got two teenagers involved in a home invasion
which saw a baby seriously injured, and they reportedly had
a combined three hundred previous charges and have been bailed
(06:46):
thirty five times. What do you think that says about
the system and the work that you are now involved in.
Speaker 2 (06:56):
Well, it says are very clear the system was broken
in a million pieces. It was shattered and people that
you could have young people who were repeatedly involved in
these sorts of behaviors and apparently could prosist with no
consequence to that except to be continually caught and released. Clearly,
(07:19):
the system isn't working, which is why we've put in
place the package that we put in place, which we
passed to Parliament in October, which becomes enacted at the
beginning of twenty twenty five, where we can actually see
the violent offenders who will not be given a presumption
of bail, where we'll see domestic violence offenders wearing electronic monitoring,
(07:42):
where we'll actually see these young people who are so
desperately in need of help being actually given alternatives, very clear,
very solid alternatives. But at the end of the day,
if they continue to break the law, if they continue
to create a havoc in our community, there will be
consequences for their.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
To look at this, I guess from a different kind
of perspective to some of the kids that you know,
not in a situation, I don't think like this one
where they've been bailed thirty five times, but to some
young people that may be front court, that are maybe
in the you know, the youth court system, and there
aren't a lot of options, or it seems like there
may not be a lot of options for young people
to be sentenced to or to, you know, to sort
(08:23):
of have a consequence to their actions. Do you think that,
you know, some of the work that you're going to
be doing behind the scenes might change that as well
to some degree, so that it's not just simply a
matter of hey, you either go to jail or you
let back out.
Speaker 3 (08:36):
Absolutely so.
Speaker 2 (08:37):
Over the last eight weeks so I've been traveling across
the territory, both in my capacity of Minister for Children
of Families and also as the Minister for Trade, Business
in Asian Relations, and I've sent the very clear message
that we have to do this together. So I've met
with significant number of businesses, all of whom have indicated
that they are really really interested and willing and getting
involved in providing some options for these young people. The
(09:00):
critical element that's been missing is supervision for the young people.
And I've even had discussions with the court system. Talk
to one of the judges recently who reassured me that
sentencing kids to court ordered processes is something that they
absolutely want to do, but the problem is that there's
not enough supervision for those kids. So you can understand
that you've got a young person who you might the
(09:21):
local cafe and is going to say, look, I'm really
really happy to offer this young person a chance, but
I can't be the one who has to make sure
that they.
Speaker 3 (09:29):
Turn up or that they're here when they're meant to be.
Speaker 2 (09:32):
So it's that supervision component that's been missing. So I've
been working with the department to look at how we
can actually strengthen that and involve our youth workers in
that aspect of things, so we actually can see these
kids given an opportunity. Because we all know that if
you have a kid who just immediately thinks they're going
to be in trouble, the whole demeanor and reaction responds
(09:54):
that way. But if you've got a kid who you
can say, look, we get it, you shouldn't.
Speaker 3 (09:58):
Have done this. It's not the right thing thing, but
we're going to give you a chance.
Speaker 2 (10:01):
To get it right, you can actually start to break
down that cycle.
Speaker 1 (10:05):
And of course you're talking about very different situations than
the one that we saw of, you know, towards the
end of last week, where these two teenagers have reportedly
had such a huge volume of offenses that they've previously committed.
I mean, without going into too much detail, because I
don't want to prejudice that in any way, shape or form,
particularly for the victims in that situation. But you know,
(10:26):
when you hear that, and when you see that they've
reportedly been bailed thirty five times, do you start to
question if the justice system is working in the way
that it should be.
Speaker 3 (10:38):
I think we can all agree that it's not.
Speaker 2 (10:40):
I think when you have a situation where you can
have young offenders, and from the information we know, young
violent offenders, and the situation that happened in our springs
is absolutely, absolutely horrendous, and I know that we are
all sending all of our good wishes to that family
and for a speedy recovery for both Mum and I
(11:01):
can't even comprehend an environment where you can have two
young people who've offended to that agree to be bailed
that often, to be out in the community with the
opportunity to do more harm that in significant intervention hasn't occurred.
And if we flip it over, and if they were
at the age they must have been when they first
(11:21):
got in trouble in the system, and we had a
program in place such as the one we've just launched,
there's a chance that we might not have been having
this conversation. And we can't fix what's occurred in the past,
but we can do everything in our power to prevent
it continuing into the future.
Speaker 1 (11:39):
Robert, I'll move along. I know that the Chief Minister
has asked to meet with the federal government to look
at other changes in Alice Springs. Two of those changes
include implementing one hundred percent income management for parents of
youth offenders and accepting the Northern Territory government's referral to
the federal government for parents who neglect their children, enabling
additional in come management. Now, those final two will fall
(12:03):
under your portfolios to some degree if they are to
come into effect, how could they potentially work and is
there any concern that they could have an adverse impact.
Speaker 2 (12:14):
I think one of the things that we have to
be very mindful of is that we actually have to
be able to unravel where the money is going. And
certainly when you're talking about domestic, family and sexual violent situations,
that can be really challenging.
Speaker 3 (12:26):
But the Department are actually looking at that.
Speaker 2 (12:28):
Now because we're very well aware that there are situations
where one we need to make sure the money is
going to the right person and two that the children
are front and center of the finances coming into that system.
So we've actually made a number of referrals already to
the federal government, none of which have been agreed to.
So what happens, which is very frustrating, there has been
(12:49):
The advice I have is that there is not a
willingness at federal government level to change the percentages that
are currently so it's sixty forty currently, what we've been
able to refer to at this point in time is
eighty twenty, and the advice that I've received is that
that's not met with a lot of support. So I've
(13:10):
been asked we're doing an audit to see just how
many have actually been referred and how many have actually
been refused, And on the advice I have so far,
it's pretty much all of them.
Speaker 1 (13:20):
Minister When you say eighty twenty, what exactly are you
referring to for our listeners.
Speaker 2 (13:25):
Yeah, so people who are on get a Center Link
payment so you can be set up so that sixty
percent goes to the essentials, so food, clothing, rent, electricity,
and then they have the discretion to spend the other
forty percent on whatever they want.
Speaker 3 (13:42):
So where we have kids who are.
Speaker 2 (13:43):
In trouble and it's really obvious that the families are struggling,
we've pushed to have that increased eighty percent spent on
the essentials and twenty percent discretionary and that's where it
sits at the moment. I understand the Chief is looking
to increase that to one hundred percent, so that one
hundred percent is spent on the cent and that's a
discussion she's having at federal level. What we need is
(14:04):
the federal government to come on board and realize that
we're asking for this because kids are at risk, families
are at risk, and harm is being done.
Speaker 1 (14:13):
I'll just take your cross to one last thing before
I let you go. This morning, I understand you've launched
a new campaign just this morning calling for Territorians to
step up and speak out against domestic violence in the
lead into Christmas, how are you getting that message out?
Speaker 2 (14:29):
So it was great to be there with Charlie King
this morning from the No More campaign and the two
Dantes from the one hundred percent campaign to actually remind
our community that we all have an obligation to call
out domestic family and sexual violence. I think it's pretty
easy when you see it every single day to become
a little immune to it. So it was just a
reminder we're coming into Christmas, it's a really difficult time
(14:51):
for people. There's lots of messaging going around to the community,
lots of awareness campaigns, but most importantly the main message
is if you see something, report it. You can ring
one eight hundred respect for assistance, or if you see
an absolute critical situation, please don't step in and put
yourself at harm's way, but please call Triple O and
get the police and ambulance services there as quickly as possible.
Speaker 1 (15:14):
It's a pretty dire situation, isn't it When there is
domestic violence happening on the streets, like literally in plain
sight for everyday territory ins to see. Yes, it's like
it's horrible some of what's going on.
Speaker 2 (15:27):
Yeah, it's terrible and that we're in this situation just
screams volumes of what hasn't happened in the past and
failures of systems. And yes, there's lots of challenges around
people moving between communities and coming into town. We have
to make it easier for them to get home. We
have to provide better support here and that's one of
the other reasons why we're looking very closely at the
(15:47):
services that work well that we will continue to invest
in and services that need development going forward into.
Speaker 3 (15:54):
The new year.
Speaker 1 (15:54):
Minister. One of the things that was raised last week
by Marian scrimjaw Or, the federal member for Lingiarry. She
had said, you know, it might be time for us
to look at mandatory sentencing for those who breach domestic
violence orders. Is that something that's on the cards.
Speaker 2 (16:08):
It's not something that's been discussed on the table, but
I think as the Chief has said, everything is up
for discussion. Every option needs to be investigated. And one
thing I will say this is time for bipartisan support
and not just within the Northern Territory government but federally
as well.
Speaker 1 (16:26):
Hey, just lastly, sorry, I'll ask you, I've got a
hundred questions for you this morning because there's so much
going on. But I'm not sure whether you've seen the
vision out of Catherine that's been reported on the Australian
newspaper today.
Speaker 3 (16:36):
It's horrendous stuff.
Speaker 1 (16:37):
I mean, it's a lady being belted with a rock
by other women. It is just appalling and unfortunately another
example of some of the horrific violence that is literally
just happening on the streets of the Northern Territory.
Speaker 2 (16:54):
I was down to Catherine last week and speaking to
a lot of the service workers down there. They are
certainly just at the end of their teather trying to
work out why this is at the degree it is,
why we're not seeing any impact, and absolutely we have
to We've just got to focus on their services in
Catherine are under pressure. I know that the Police Commissioner
(17:15):
has been looking at resourcing into Catherine as well as
the extra resourcing that's gone into Alice Springs over the
last little while.
Speaker 3 (17:23):
We have to stop it before it starts.
Speaker 2 (17:25):
I know that that doesn't mean that we still have
to deal with what's going on today, but it's going
to keep going if we don't focus on stopping where
it starts, so that's why we're focusing on the kids
and if we do that then the other services will
flow on from that.
Speaker 1 (17:39):
Well. Robin Carl, Minister for Children and Families here in
the Northern Territory. Great to speak with you this morning,
really appreciate your time.
Speaker 3 (17:47):
Thanks Katie, thank you
The Chief Minister says that every option is on the
table to deal with crime in the Red Center. She's
listened to the concerns of the community and heard their
frustrations and seen first hand the challenges that they're facing now.
Based on the consultation, she says, over the past couple
of days, the government are now well. They've identified several
critical areas that require federal government attention, including Center Link
(00:23):
payments to be made on current takeaway alcohol free days only,
the reintroduction of compulsory work or training programs with fortnightly
reporting obligations to Center Link recipients, as well as conducting
a performance orders of federally funded programs, along with ensuring
royalty distributions are made in communities not in Alice Springs,
(00:45):
the implementation of one hundred percent income management for parents
of youth offenders, and accepting the Northern Territory government's referral
to the federal government for parents who neglect their children,
enabling additional income management. Much now joining me on the show.
He's the Minister for Territory Families, Robin Carl, Children and
(01:05):
Territory Families. I should say, Robin Carl, good morning to
your minister. Good morning, Katie, Thanks so much for your
time this morning. Now, Minister, how were things over the
weekend in Alice Springs do you know?
Speaker 2 (01:18):
Well, I'm actually really pleased to be able to report
that the circu Breaker program that we launched last Friday
had a significant impact on the ground in Ourice Springs
over the weekend.
Speaker 3 (01:29):
So seven young.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
People were referred to the program via the corresponder model
and four in Darwin as well, if people are interested.
And the really interesting thing is the feedback from the
police on the ground, the community on the ground was
that having that in place and having it very actively
out there made a significant difference because we were able
(01:51):
to intervene before those kids got themselves into trouble.
Speaker 1 (01:54):
So talk our listeners through, because we were so busy
on Friday with everything that was going on in Alice
Springs that people would to miss the news about this
Circuit Breaker program. Talk us through exactly how it's going
to work and how it's going to support young people
at risk and really hold parents accountable for their children's behavior.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
So we've been working on this program for the last
couple of months and it was really looking at what
resources we had in place and how we could bolster them.
So essentially we've got three departments plus the police department,
all working very closely together to try and intervene before
kids get themselves into trouble. So, whether it's the first
(02:33):
time that a young person's been picked up by police
or if it's the twentieth time they've been picked up,
there'll be an immediate referral to Department Children's and Families
Youth Worker Team.
Speaker 3 (02:42):
They'll go collect the child.
Speaker 2 (02:44):
Then they'll go the assessment will be done whether it's
okay to take the child home. If not, we have
safe sleeping spaces for out of our collections, both in
Alice Springs and in Darwin, and the child will be
taken there. The parents' guardians will be notified where they are,
and then the next day there's an engagement with the
families to enter into a parental and family responsibility agreement,
(03:05):
So that's step one, and then it will be looking
at whether they're attending school if they're not, trying to
figure out why not, looking at other programs we can
actually channel their energy into so that they're distracted, if
you like, from getting involved in the wrong group and
doing the wrong thing. We'll be doing health checks with
them to make sure there's no underlying issue that may
(03:26):
not have been picked up. And the really exciting thing
at the moment in Alice Springs is that the school
attendance officers are working all through the vacation period, so
they'll be working closely with the Youth Support team as well,
so that when school comes back at the end of January,
those kids that we know have been disengaged from school,
they'll be on the radar.
Speaker 3 (03:45):
We'll be working with them directly, Rober.
Speaker 1 (03:47):
Most people listening this morning are going to be thinking,
how is this not already happening? How are we not
in a situation where if these kids running around on
the straight, that this isn't already happening.
Speaker 2 (04:00):
Ask myself that same question, which is why I've done
the work with the department over the last couple of months,
And it really stemmed from discussions around that mythical parent
responsible adult, which I just tell the list is I've
banned the use of that term because it doesn't exist.
So that situation where a kid was picked up by police,
dropped home, they'd leave, they'd get picked up again, they'd
(04:22):
be dropped home, they'd leave, they get dropped back. Yeah,
it was this vicious cycle. So while there was the
opportunity for police and youth outreach workers to connect to
drop kids home, that underlying work wasn't embedded in the program.
So absolutely, I don't understand why it's taken to this
point to be able to do it, But what I
(04:43):
can tell you is that the youth workers in particular
are really excited about having that extra layer of umph
if youk in being able to work with the families.
We actually had the very first family involved here in Darwin.
So on Saturday, No Friday morning, sorry, Friday morning, we
had a young person drop to our safe place at
(05:04):
five point thirty in the morning, and by that afternoon
we had a parental family responsibility agreement in place and
a wrap around service to that young person. So over
the weekend we've had a total of nine programs put
in place where the team will be working very closely
with those families and making sure we try and keep
those kids on track.
Speaker 1 (05:23):
Robin, do you think we're going to see some tangible
differences on the streets, you know, out in public places
with some of these young people that have maybe been
engaged in pretty ordinary behavior.
Speaker 3 (05:36):
To put it mildly, I absolutely believe that.
Speaker 2 (05:40):
I absolutely believe that the critical component of this is
for the staff who are out there on the ground
knowing that they have my absolute one hundred and fifty
percent backing and that we will do this together. And
the opportunity for us is to trial this now and
the process that we've put together and tweak it as
we need to be, because my goal is to roll
(06:01):
it out across the entire territory. If we can get
to those kids before they are embedded in a cycle
of doing the wrong thing, and we can actually get
them distracted into doing sport or music or a job
at the local servo or whatever it is where they
actually take some pride in who they are and what
they're doing. Absolutely, I have absolute confidence we're going to
(06:24):
see a difference.
Speaker 1 (06:25):
Minister, from your perspective, I mean, as the Minister of
a Children and Families when you hear a situation like
the one that unfolded last week in Alice Springs, where
we've reportedly got two teenagers involved in a home invasion
which saw a baby seriously injured, and they reportedly had
a combined three hundred previous charges and have been bailed
(06:46):
thirty five times. What do you think that says about
the system and the work that you are now involved in.
Speaker 2 (06:56):
Well, it says are very clear the system was broken
in a million pieces. It was shattered and people that
you could have young people who were repeatedly involved in
these sorts of behaviors and apparently could prosist with no
consequence to that except to be continually caught and released. Clearly,
(07:19):
the system isn't working, which is why we've put in
place the package that we put in place, which we
passed to Parliament in October, which becomes enacted at the
beginning of twenty twenty five, where we can actually see
the violent offenders who will not be given a presumption
of bail, where we'll see domestic violence offenders wearing electronic monitoring,
(07:42):
where we'll actually see these young people who are so
desperately in need of help being actually given alternatives, very clear,
very solid alternatives. But at the end of the day,
if they continue to break the law, if they continue
to create a havoc in our community, there will be
consequences for their.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
To look at this, I guess from a different kind
of perspective to some of the kids that you know,
not in a situation, I don't think like this one
where they've been bailed thirty five times, but to some
young people that may be front court, that are maybe
in the you know, the youth court system, and there
aren't a lot of options, or it seems like there
may not be a lot of options for young people
to be sentenced to or to, you know, to sort
(08:23):
of have a consequence to their actions. Do you think that,
you know, some of the work that you're going to
be doing behind the scenes might change that as well
to some degree, so that it's not just simply a
matter of hey, you either go to jail or you
let back out.
Speaker 3 (08:36):
Absolutely so.
Speaker 2 (08:37):
Over the last eight weeks so I've been traveling across
the territory, both in my capacity of Minister for Children
of Families and also as the Minister for Trade, Business
in Asian Relations, and I've sent the very clear message
that we have to do this together. So I've met
with significant number of businesses, all of whom have indicated
that they are really really interested and willing and getting
involved in providing some options for these young people. The
(09:00):
critical element that's been missing is supervision for the young people.
And I've even had discussions with the court system. Talk
to one of the judges recently who reassured me that
sentencing kids to court ordered processes is something that they
absolutely want to do, but the problem is that there's
not enough supervision for those kids. So you can understand
that you've got a young person who you might the
(09:21):
local cafe and is going to say, look, I'm really
really happy to offer this young person a chance, but
I can't be the one who has to make sure
that they.
Speaker 3 (09:29):
Turn up or that they're here when they're meant to be.
Speaker 2 (09:32):
So it's that supervision component that's been missing. So I've
been working with the department to look at how we
can actually strengthen that and involve our youth workers in
that aspect of things, so we actually can see these
kids given an opportunity. Because we all know that if
you have a kid who just immediately thinks they're going
to be in trouble, the whole demeanor and reaction responds
(09:54):
that way. But if you've got a kid who you
can say, look, we get it, you shouldn't.
Speaker 3 (09:58):
Have done this. It's not the right thing thing, but
we're going to give you a chance.
Speaker 2 (10:01):
To get it right, you can actually start to break
down that cycle.
Speaker 1 (10:05):
And of course you're talking about very different situations than
the one that we saw of, you know, towards the
end of last week, where these two teenagers have reportedly
had such a huge volume of offenses that they've previously committed.
I mean, without going into too much detail, because I
don't want to prejudice that in any way, shape or form,
particularly for the victims in that situation. But you know,
(10:26):
when you hear that, and when you see that they've
reportedly been bailed thirty five times, do you start to
question if the justice system is working in the way
that it should be.
Speaker 3 (10:38):
I think we can all agree that it's not.
Speaker 2 (10:40):
I think when you have a situation where you can
have young offenders, and from the information we know, young
violent offenders, and the situation that happened in our springs
is absolutely, absolutely horrendous, and I know that we are
all sending all of our good wishes to that family
and for a speedy recovery for both Mum and I
(11:01):
can't even comprehend an environment where you can have two
young people who've offended to that agree to be bailed
that often, to be out in the community with the
opportunity to do more harm that in significant intervention hasn't occurred.
And if we flip it over, and if they were
at the age they must have been when they first
(11:21):
got in trouble in the system, and we had a
program in place such as the one we've just launched,
there's a chance that we might not have been having
this conversation. And we can't fix what's occurred in the past,
but we can do everything in our power to prevent
it continuing into the future.
Speaker 1 (11:39):
Robert, I'll move along. I know that the Chief Minister
has asked to meet with the federal government to look
at other changes in Alice Springs. Two of those changes
include implementing one hundred percent income management for parents of
youth offenders and accepting the Northern Territory government's referral to
the federal government for parents who neglect their children, enabling
additional in come management. Now, those final two will fall
(12:03):
under your portfolios to some degree if they are to
come into effect, how could they potentially work and is
there any concern that they could have an adverse impact.
Speaker 2 (12:14):
I think one of the things that we have to
be very mindful of is that we actually have to
be able to unravel where the money is going. And
certainly when you're talking about domestic, family and sexual violent situations,
that can be really challenging.
Speaker 3 (12:26):
But the Department are actually looking at that.
Speaker 2 (12:28):
Now because we're very well aware that there are situations
where one we need to make sure the money is
going to the right person and two that the children
are front and center of the finances coming into that system.
So we've actually made a number of referrals already to
the federal government, none of which have been agreed to.
So what happens, which is very frustrating, there has been
(12:49):
The advice I have is that there is not a
willingness at federal government level to change the percentages that
are currently so it's sixty forty currently, what we've been
able to refer to at this point in time is
eighty twenty, and the advice that I've received is that
that's not met with a lot of support. So I've
(13:10):
been asked we're doing an audit to see just how
many have actually been referred and how many have actually
been refused, And on the advice I have so far,
it's pretty much all of them.
Speaker 1 (13:20):
Minister When you say eighty twenty, what exactly are you
referring to for our listeners.
Speaker 2 (13:25):
Yeah, so people who are on get a Center Link
payment so you can be set up so that sixty
percent goes to the essentials, so food, clothing, rent, electricity,
and then they have the discretion to spend the other
forty percent on whatever they want.
Speaker 3 (13:42):
So where we have kids who are.
Speaker 2 (13:43):
In trouble and it's really obvious that the families are struggling,
we've pushed to have that increased eighty percent spent on
the essentials and twenty percent discretionary and that's where it
sits at the moment. I understand the Chief is looking
to increase that to one hundred percent, so that one
hundred percent is spent on the cent and that's a
discussion she's having at federal level. What we need is
(14:04):
the federal government to come on board and realize that
we're asking for this because kids are at risk, families
are at risk, and harm is being done.
Speaker 1 (14:13):
I'll just take your cross to one last thing before
I let you go. This morning, I understand you've launched
a new campaign just this morning calling for Territorians to
step up and speak out against domestic violence in the
lead into Christmas, how are you getting that message out?
Speaker 2 (14:29):
So it was great to be there with Charlie King
this morning from the No More campaign and the two
Dantes from the one hundred percent campaign to actually remind
our community that we all have an obligation to call
out domestic family and sexual violence. I think it's pretty
easy when you see it every single day to become
a little immune to it. So it was just a
reminder we're coming into Christmas, it's a really difficult time
(14:51):
for people. There's lots of messaging going around to the community,
lots of awareness campaigns, but most importantly the main message
is if you see something, report it. You can ring
one eight hundred respect for assistance, or if you see
an absolute critical situation, please don't step in and put
yourself at harm's way, but please call Triple O and
get the police and ambulance services there as quickly as possible.
Speaker 1 (15:14):
It's a pretty dire situation, isn't it When there is
domestic violence happening on the streets, like literally in plain
sight for everyday territory ins to see. Yes, it's like
it's horrible some of what's going on.
Speaker 2 (15:27):
Yeah, it's terrible and that we're in this situation just
screams volumes of what hasn't happened in the past and
failures of systems. And yes, there's lots of challenges around
people moving between communities and coming into town. We have
to make it easier for them to get home. We
have to provide better support here and that's one of
the other reasons why we're looking very closely at the
(15:47):
services that work well that we will continue to invest
in and services that need development going forward into.
Speaker 3 (15:54):
The new year.
Speaker 1 (15:54):
Minister. One of the things that was raised last week
by Marian scrimjaw Or, the federal member for Lingiarry. She
had said, you know, it might be time for us
to look at mandatory sentencing for those who breach domestic
violence orders. Is that something that's on the cards.
Speaker 2 (16:08):
It's not something that's been discussed on the table, but
I think as the Chief has said, everything is up
for discussion. Every option needs to be investigated. And one
thing I will say this is time for bipartisan support
and not just within the Northern Territory government but federally
as well.
Speaker 1 (16:26):
Hey, just lastly, sorry, I'll ask you, I've got a
hundred questions for you this morning because there's so much
going on. But I'm not sure whether you've seen the
vision out of Catherine that's been reported on the Australian
newspaper today.
Speaker 3 (16:36):
It's horrendous stuff.
Speaker 1 (16:37):
I mean, it's a lady being belted with a rock
by other women. It is just appalling and unfortunately another
example of some of the horrific violence that is literally
just happening on the streets of the Northern Territory.
Speaker 2 (16:54):
I was down to Catherine last week and speaking to
a lot of the service workers down there. They are
certainly just at the end of their teather trying to
work out why this is at the degree it is,
why we're not seeing any impact, and absolutely we have
to We've just got to focus on their services in
Catherine are under pressure. I know that the Police Commissioner
(17:15):
has been looking at resourcing into Catherine as well as
the extra resourcing that's gone into Alice Springs over the
last little while.
Speaker 3 (17:23):
We have to stop it before it starts.
Speaker 2 (17:25):
I know that that doesn't mean that we still have
to deal with what's going on today, but it's going
to keep going if we don't focus on stopping where
it starts, so that's why we're focusing on the kids
and if we do that then the other services will
flow on from that.
Speaker 1 (17:39):
Well. Robin Carl, Minister for Children and Families here in
the Northern Territory. Great to speak with you this morning,
really appreciate your time.
Speaker 3 (17:47):
Thanks Katie, thank you
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