Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
We're stretched beyond breaking point. We need the government to listen.
They were the words of the Northern Territory Police Association
President Nathan Finn on Friday as he addressed the association's
annual conference in front of the Police.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Minister and Executive.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
Mister Finn told the Minister for Police and Senior Executive,
I'm sick of talking to the government on what our
members deserve. I'm sick of getting lip service from these
people telling us they're doing everything they can. That's not
the case, he said. I don't want these I don't
want to see these words. I want to see action
and we need action now. The most telling thing was
(00:39):
we're two hundred members short.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
Now.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
Nathan Finn, the president of the Northern Territory Police Association,
joins me in the studio. Good morning to you, Nathan.
Speaker 3 (00:49):
Good morning Katy, and good morning to your listeners.
Speaker 1 (00:51):
Now, Nathan, I read your speech on Friday and you
seem like you've had enough of the lack of action
from the government.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
Why are you so fired up right now?
Speaker 3 (01:00):
Because our members deserve to be treated better. Okay, that's
simple as that. I'm fighting for them because they are
struggling every day. To cope with the demands of policing
in the Northern Territory. They are sick and tired of
hearing We're looking at it, we're looking into this, We're
trying to do this time to shut up or put up. Basically,
(01:20):
our members are leaving in large numbers. We cannot keep
up with the autrition. We cannot be there keep day in,
day out with these pressures that have been placed on
these front line members.
Speaker 1 (01:31):
Now, Nathan, you said at the conference on Friday that
we need an additional two hundred police in the Northern
Territory Police Force.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
How did you arrive at that number?
Speaker 3 (01:42):
That number was arrived at from a previous question an
answer session we had with the Acting Commissioner Murphy and
also the Deputy Commissioner small Page and Acting Deputy Commissioner
Michael White. When I asked the direct question, I understand,
and we're short on resources, what would the number be
to obviously feel demand currently? And the number they come
to is two hundred. Early to that conversation was we
(02:04):
need seven members per per police vehicle to run a
police vehicle per day.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
So this isn't just a number that you've thought up.
Speaker 1 (02:12):
This is a number that is absolutely essentially in terms
of the operational demands of our Northern Territory.
Speaker 3 (02:18):
Police, and that's yesterday, Katie, that's two hundred. We're short
yesterday to meet the current demand. So no wonder when
members of the public are calling the police, you're not
seeing the police because we haven't got these thirty extra
vans across the territory responding to your calls.
Speaker 1 (02:33):
Well, and Finny, this is something that we hear quite often,
you know, we do hear from listeners saying, Katie, I
understand the police are under resource, that they've got a
lot of demands on them, but we called them about X,
Y and Z, and we're unable to get somebody out.
You know, we are hearing, and I know that that
coronial is still underway, so I'm not going to go
into detail about that, but we've heard throughout the coronial
(02:54):
that is underway as well. You know, the fact that
you've got domestic violence incidents that we're not able to get.
Speaker 2 (02:59):
Police out to.
Speaker 1 (03:01):
It must be tough going for those rank and file
members when they know that the public needs them and
wants them and that they can't get out to those jobs.
Speaker 3 (03:10):
That's correct. Our members struggler every day, every day in
response to the crime rate that's gone up in the
Northern Territory, the lack of resources they've got within the
Northern Territory, and they're quite frankly, they're sick of it.
They're sick of hearing we're trying to help, we're trying
to do this. What are they doing about losing our
experienced members? What have they got in place there? We're
losing them in droves.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
I understand that the Northern Territory is acting Police Commissioner
Michael Murphy has written to a number of officers who've
left the Northern Territory and maybe gone into stage or
maybe you're on leave to try and bring them back.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
Is that a helpful step?
Speaker 3 (03:45):
Again, that's a helpful step. But a number of these
people have rest have left for reasons. They've either burnt out,
they've got mental health issues in relation to what they've
had to deal with in policing. I put to our executive,
did we contact these members to see if they actually
wanted contact or if they're actually interested in returning. Most
of them taking out police force jobs across the other jurisdictions,
(04:06):
across Australia and New Zealand.
Speaker 1 (04:08):
Now you said on Friday that the additional two hundred police,
that number is the equivalent of thirty vans.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
How do you arrive at that number?
Speaker 1 (04:18):
Is it based on the number that are in a
van in any one time in a certain area.
Speaker 3 (04:22):
So we got to that. Acting deput Commissioner White referred
to that we need seven members to run a van
each shift, so that equates to nearly twenty nine or
thirty thirty vans across the Northern.
Speaker 1 (04:32):
Territory at this point in time, Like on a weekend,
for example, do we have the number of vans that like,
do we have enough vans operating in one weekend to
service the whole community.
Speaker 3 (04:45):
Katie, we have not across the Northern Territory. We'd be
struggling to have those at the minimum thirty vans, not
the additional thirty vans. We would struggle to have the
thirty vans at all to respond across the whole of
the territory.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
What does that mean in terms of community safety?
Speaker 3 (05:01):
It means that the public's let down because we cannot
respond to their calls. From the public. It's embarrassing, Katie.
It is getting to a point where people won't call
the police. We'll have no police left if they keep
dealing with us the way they are dealing.
Speaker 2 (05:15):
With us now.
Speaker 1 (05:16):
You touched on just a moment ago in some ways
that support and well being, you know, I think that
that's a big part of this as well, is making
sure that the police force is healthy so that they
don't actually want to move into state and that they
don't actually want to leave the force. What does the
association want to see in this space.
Speaker 3 (05:32):
We want to see change the dispute process. We want
to see more manager or guidance. Given a very discipline
based system that we have, and that affects our members,
the process that they go through, innolation of the desparte
process affects the members more than the actual what they've
potentially done. This has got to stop. We've got to
start treating our members with respect. We've got to look
after them. Most of the majority of them don't want
(05:52):
to leave the territory. They love the territory lifestyle. They
give everything to their community and what they serve. But
the fact is we need to look after him. We
need to do the right thing by them. Again, it's
very hard our members are screaming for assistance every day
and they're not getting it.
Speaker 2 (06:08):
I know.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
Once again, the Acting Commissioner, Michael Murphy has touched on
some of what he's prepared to change or what he
would look at when it comes to some of those
disciplinary matters and disciplinary actions.
Speaker 2 (06:20):
Do you think that there's steps in the right direction.
Speaker 3 (06:22):
They are definitely steps in the right direction, Katie, And
he's giving me a reassurance that he's going to look
at this process. Again. They are words. At the moment,
we haven't seen the a's actions taken place. But again
he commits to me and I commit to him that
we want to work with through this process. We want
to make it better for our police officers.
Speaker 1 (06:38):
Finny, it seems to me at the moment that we
have got a police force that are pretty unhappy that
they're under resource.
Speaker 2 (06:46):
They want to be able.
Speaker 1 (06:47):
To do their jobs to the best of their ability,
and they want to be able to meet their demands
and the concerns of the Northern Territory community, but they
feel like they can't right now.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
Would that be an accurate sort of description?
Speaker 3 (06:59):
Is a very accurate description. Who wants to come into
work where they're busting their ass day in, day out,
trying to get to all the matters, and they're getting
abused when they do get there late. It's not their problem,
it's not their fault. They are doing the best they
possibly can with what they've got.
Speaker 1 (07:15):
Mate, tell me there's also On Friday, there was also
policy concerns raised now against you know, the presumption against
bail that it should be extended to include any object
used as a weapon to cause fear or harm. This
is something that we've had so many discussions about, like
what was the sense from the Northern Territory Police Force
(07:35):
when that review came out and those changes, well lack
of changes were announced.
Speaker 3 (07:41):
It hasn't gone far enough, Caadie. That's the advice we
could received from our members. It needs to go further
in relation to the offensive weapon to be add to
that bailed presumption. Our members decide obviously what an offensive
weapon is. That could be anything. It can be a spear,
it can be a fork if that, but that's the
thing the members want to be able to interpret that
(08:01):
and have that to back them up.
Speaker 1 (08:04):
I know one of the other concerns that was raised
and I thought this was actually really interesting. On Friday,
because it's something that we seem to see a lot
of and that's you know, I guess, criminal behavior being
undertaken and then being shared on social media. So the
Northern Territory Police Association wants to see new legislation which
makes actions such as posting videos of offending on social
(08:26):
media and aggravation. Surely that would be something that is
a no brain like common sense. If somebody's stealing a
car and then they're posting vision.
Speaker 2 (08:34):
About it, surely that.
Speaker 1 (08:36):
Would be an added factor when you're being sentenced or
when you're getting charged.
Speaker 3 (08:40):
We're talking about politicians here, Caadie. Common sense is that
the fact, unfortunately we don't see that common sense. This
is an issue they're trying to advertise what they're doing
to show how cool they are to members of the
public and they're fellow friends out in the community. This
is what they're doing to advertise what they're doing against
our laws of the Northern Territory and basically shoving it
(09:00):
back in our face.
Speaker 1 (09:02):
Now, so you reckon that it should be an aggravating
or and it should be added as an aggravation.
Speaker 2 (09:09):
What would that mean.
Speaker 3 (09:10):
That'd be higher level of what they're subject to so
the punishment they do receive would be obviously aggravated in
relation to that, so the maximum sentence would be raised.
We'd see more people deterred from actually posting the social
media events.
Speaker 1 (09:26):
It seems like we're in a bit of a situation
in the territory right now as well, where you know,
we seem to have crime levels that are higher than before.
That's based on some of those crime stats that we
see come out each and every month.
Speaker 2 (09:38):
We have issues where we're.
Speaker 1 (09:39):
Not able to get police out to all the different
incidents that are occurring. We have a lack of numbers,
you know, two hundred short by the look of things.
But then we also have prisons that are overflowing. We
seem to be in a really difficult situation with all
of these factors at play.
Speaker 3 (09:57):
There's a number of factors here. Again, the infrastructure and
the spent on infrastructure within the old territory has stopped
without the federal government intervention in that space. The Northern
Churchy government haven't got the money to spend on this.
I know they're in a difficult position. But again, we
need to advocate at the federal level for our law
and order and policies in relation to that.
Speaker 2 (10:17):
Now, I do want to ask.
Speaker 1 (10:18):
Over the weekend, the National Children's Commissioner said that she
had written. She's told the ABC that she's written to
the Northern Territory Police Minister following on from vision being
shared last week by the Northern Territory Police of arrests
that were made by I believe it was Stripeforth, Strident
and the Dog Squad. They were arresting two people who'd
(10:41):
allegedly committed crimes. They'd gone and stolen two cars. From
my understanding, based on what has been shared, she's calling
for that vision to be removed.
Speaker 2 (10:51):
I mean, what is your response to that.
Speaker 3 (10:53):
That is reality, Katie. This is who we see committing
offenses every day. It doesn't matter who they are or
what they are. This is a reality of what police
are dealing with every day. I know it's frustrating for
members of the public to see that, but this is
what our members see every day as they try to
obviously uphold the laws of the Northern Territory. This is reality.
Speaker 2 (11:12):
So do you reckon it should be removed?
Speaker 3 (11:14):
Definitely not, definitely not. It's a true indication of what
our police are dealing with. Every day.
Speaker 1 (11:19):
Now before I let you go this morning, we also
know that you know, we've obviously got the acting Police Commissioner,
Michael Murphy in the role at this point. Was there
any indication on Friday throughout that conference when we're going
to get a bit of an update on that job.
Speaker 3 (11:32):
No, definitely not, Caddie. We haven't received any information. I know.
The process is that they had their interviews some nearly
two weeks ago. Now it's going before the Cabinet, who
obviously make a recommendation to the administrator for the appointment
of the commissioner.
Speaker 1 (11:45):
So we'll have to wait and see exactly what decision
is made. Look, Nathan, I know that there were a
number of other areas that were discussed as well. One
of those was indeed remote policing, and there's also been
that discussion about auxiliaries on bottle shops. That is something
that we've spoken about before. How important is it that
(12:05):
some of these changes actually come to fruition.
Speaker 3 (12:09):
It's very important, especially for our remote members, Katie. They
are struggling. They haven't got the resource to deal with that.
Some are working up to a month straight without a
day off, up to sixty hours a fortnight and relation
to these communities to try and service demand in these
remote communities. We haven't got the infrastructure in these remote
communities to pace extra police out there. So they're stuck.
They're stuck with that burden. They can't get out of it,
(12:30):
and they are burning out like there's no tomorrow.
Speaker 1 (12:33):
Finny, the message seems pretty clear to me. You know,
you'd set it on Friday. We're stretched beyond breaking point.
We need the government to listen. What is your message for.
Speaker 2 (12:44):
The Northern Territories, Minister for Police today.
Speaker 3 (12:47):
If they don't want to listen, our members are going
to leave and droves. You won't have a police force
to service your community. That's the point we're at.
Speaker 1 (12:55):
What's the next step for you guys, Because you know,
since you've become the president, you and I have spoken
on several occasions, and you've articulated to me the really
serious concerns that members have got. You know, we hear
from the public, the concerns that they've got. We hear
the evidence in those coronials, We hear what is going
on in the Northern Territory. What is you know, like,
(13:15):
what next If the government doesn't listen, we.
Speaker 3 (13:19):
Won't have a police force coaty as simple as that,
members of the community will have to take law into
their own hands. We're at that point where we haven't
got enough members, and our members are telling this day
in day out, they have been telling for a long
long time. We do not need a copy of this
review to formulate a plan in relation to what we
need to do. We need to employ and we need
to obviously attract and retain our members that are currently
(13:41):
obviously the knowledge and experience here it must be.
Speaker 1 (13:44):
I mean, the thing is the last thing anybody wants
is for members of the public to make to take
matters into their own hands. That'd be the last thing
the police or anybody wants at this point, wouldn't it.
Speaker 3 (13:53):
Definitely, Katie, Definitely, we don't want to see that. But
we need the government to take action in relation to
what they're saying. Our members experience every day. They are
frustrated beyond point. They are frustrated where they don't want
to turn up to work, but they do despite their
personal health, despite their mental health related issues that relate
to how busy they are and the demand they're being
placed on them. Well.
Speaker 1 (14:13):
Nathan Finn, the president of the Northern Territory Police Association.
I always appreciate your time. Thanks very much for joining us.
Speaker 3 (14:19):
Thank you Katie, and also just like to wish out
to the members out of the Northern Territory Police Force.
Keep doing what you're doing. We've got your back. We'll
have you back one hundred and ten percent.
Speaker 2 (14:27):
Thanks Nathan. We appreciate your time this morning.
We're stretched beyond breaking point. We need the government to listen.
They were the words of the Northern Territory Police Association
President Nathan Finn on Friday as he addressed the association's
annual conference in front of the Police.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Minister and Executive.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
Mister Finn told the Minister for Police and Senior Executive,
I'm sick of talking to the government on what our
members deserve. I'm sick of getting lip service from these
people telling us they're doing everything they can. That's not
the case, he said. I don't want these I don't
want to see these words. I want to see action
and we need action now. The most telling thing was
(00:39):
we're two hundred members short.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
Now.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
Nathan Finn, the president of the Northern Territory Police Association,
joins me in the studio. Good morning to you, Nathan.
Speaker 3 (00:49):
Good morning Katy, and good morning to your listeners.
Speaker 1 (00:51):
Now, Nathan, I read your speech on Friday and you
seem like you've had enough of the lack of action
from the government.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
Why are you so fired up right now?
Speaker 3 (01:00):
Because our members deserve to be treated better. Okay, that's
simple as that. I'm fighting for them because they are
struggling every day. To cope with the demands of policing
in the Northern Territory. They are sick and tired of
hearing We're looking at it, we're looking into this, We're
trying to do this time to shut up or put up. Basically,
(01:20):
our members are leaving in large numbers. We cannot keep
up with the autrition. We cannot be there keep day in,
day out with these pressures that have been placed on
these front line members.
Speaker 1 (01:31):
Now, Nathan, you said at the conference on Friday that
we need an additional two hundred police in the Northern
Territory Police Force.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
How did you arrive at that number?
Speaker 3 (01:42):
That number was arrived at from a previous question an
answer session we had with the Acting Commissioner Murphy and
also the Deputy Commissioner small Page and Acting Deputy Commissioner
Michael White. When I asked the direct question, I understand,
and we're short on resources, what would the number be
to obviously feel demand currently? And the number they come
to is two hundred. Early to that conversation was we
(02:04):
need seven members per per police vehicle to run a
police vehicle per day.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
So this isn't just a number that you've thought up.
Speaker 1 (02:12):
This is a number that is absolutely essentially in terms
of the operational demands of our Northern Territory.
Speaker 3 (02:18):
Police, and that's yesterday, Katie, that's two hundred. We're short
yesterday to meet the current demand. So no wonder when
members of the public are calling the police, you're not
seeing the police because we haven't got these thirty extra
vans across the territory responding to your calls.
Speaker 1 (02:33):
Well, and Finny, this is something that we hear quite often,
you know, we do hear from listeners saying, Katie, I
understand the police are under resource, that they've got a
lot of demands on them, but we called them about X,
Y and Z, and we're unable to get somebody out.
You know, we are hearing, and I know that that
coronial is still underway, so I'm not going to go
into detail about that, but we've heard throughout the coronial
(02:54):
that is underway as well. You know, the fact that
you've got domestic violence incidents that we're not able to get.
Speaker 2 (02:59):
Police out to.
Speaker 1 (03:01):
It must be tough going for those rank and file
members when they know that the public needs them and
wants them and that they can't get out to those jobs.
Speaker 3 (03:10):
That's correct. Our members struggler every day, every day in
response to the crime rate that's gone up in the
Northern Territory, the lack of resources they've got within the
Northern Territory, and they're quite frankly, they're sick of it.
They're sick of hearing we're trying to help, we're trying
to do this. What are they doing about losing our
experienced members? What have they got in place there? We're
losing them in droves.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
I understand that the Northern Territory is acting Police Commissioner
Michael Murphy has written to a number of officers who've
left the Northern Territory and maybe gone into stage or
maybe you're on leave to try and bring them back.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
Is that a helpful step?
Speaker 3 (03:45):
Again, that's a helpful step. But a number of these
people have rest have left for reasons. They've either burnt out,
they've got mental health issues in relation to what they've
had to deal with in policing. I put to our executive,
did we contact these members to see if they actually
wanted contact or if they're actually interested in returning. Most
of them taking out police force jobs across the other jurisdictions,
(04:06):
across Australia and New Zealand.
Speaker 1 (04:08):
Now you said on Friday that the additional two hundred police,
that number is the equivalent of thirty vans.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
How do you arrive at that number?
Speaker 1 (04:18):
Is it based on the number that are in a
van in any one time in a certain area.
Speaker 3 (04:22):
So we got to that. Acting deput Commissioner White referred
to that we need seven members to run a van
each shift, so that equates to nearly twenty nine or
thirty thirty vans across the Northern.
Speaker 1 (04:32):
Territory at this point in time, Like on a weekend,
for example, do we have the number of vans that like,
do we have enough vans operating in one weekend to
service the whole community.
Speaker 3 (04:45):
Katie, we have not across the Northern Territory. We'd be
struggling to have those at the minimum thirty vans, not
the additional thirty vans. We would struggle to have the
thirty vans at all to respond across the whole of
the territory.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
What does that mean in terms of community safety?
Speaker 3 (05:01):
It means that the public's let down because we cannot
respond to their calls. From the public. It's embarrassing, Katie.
It is getting to a point where people won't call
the police. We'll have no police left if they keep
dealing with us the way they are dealing.
Speaker 2 (05:15):
With us now.
Speaker 1 (05:16):
You touched on just a moment ago in some ways
that support and well being, you know, I think that
that's a big part of this as well, is making
sure that the police force is healthy so that they
don't actually want to move into state and that they
don't actually want to leave the force. What does the
association want to see in this space.
Speaker 3 (05:32):
We want to see change the dispute process. We want
to see more manager or guidance. Given a very discipline
based system that we have, and that affects our members,
the process that they go through, innolation of the desparte
process affects the members more than the actual what they've
potentially done. This has got to stop. We've got to
start treating our members with respect. We've got to look
after them. Most of the majority of them don't want
(05:52):
to leave the territory. They love the territory lifestyle. They
give everything to their community and what they serve. But
the fact is we need to look after him. We
need to do the right thing by them. Again, it's
very hard our members are screaming for assistance every day
and they're not getting it.
Speaker 2 (06:08):
I know.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
Once again, the Acting Commissioner, Michael Murphy has touched on
some of what he's prepared to change or what he
would look at when it comes to some of those
disciplinary matters and disciplinary actions.
Speaker 2 (06:20):
Do you think that there's steps in the right direction.
Speaker 3 (06:22):
They are definitely steps in the right direction, Katie, And
he's giving me a reassurance that he's going to look
at this process. Again. They are words. At the moment,
we haven't seen the a's actions taken place. But again
he commits to me and I commit to him that
we want to work with through this process. We want
to make it better for our police officers.
Speaker 1 (06:38):
Finny, it seems to me at the moment that we
have got a police force that are pretty unhappy that
they're under resource.
Speaker 2 (06:46):
They want to be able.
Speaker 1 (06:47):
To do their jobs to the best of their ability,
and they want to be able to meet their demands
and the concerns of the Northern Territory community, but they
feel like they can't right now.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
Would that be an accurate sort of description?
Speaker 3 (06:59):
Is a very accurate description. Who wants to come into
work where they're busting their ass day in, day out,
trying to get to all the matters, and they're getting
abused when they do get there late. It's not their problem,
it's not their fault. They are doing the best they
possibly can with what they've got.
Speaker 1 (07:15):
Mate, tell me there's also On Friday, there was also
policy concerns raised now against you know, the presumption against
bail that it should be extended to include any object
used as a weapon to cause fear or harm. This
is something that we've had so many discussions about, like
what was the sense from the Northern Territory Police Force
(07:35):
when that review came out and those changes, well lack
of changes were announced.
Speaker 3 (07:41):
It hasn't gone far enough, Caadie. That's the advice we
could received from our members. It needs to go further
in relation to the offensive weapon to be add to
that bailed presumption. Our members decide obviously what an offensive
weapon is. That could be anything. It can be a spear,
it can be a fork if that, but that's the
thing the members want to be able to interpret that
(08:01):
and have that to back them up.
Speaker 1 (08:04):
I know one of the other concerns that was raised
and I thought this was actually really interesting. On Friday,
because it's something that we seem to see a lot
of and that's you know, I guess, criminal behavior being
undertaken and then being shared on social media. So the
Northern Territory Police Association wants to see new legislation which
makes actions such as posting videos of offending on social
(08:26):
media and aggravation. Surely that would be something that is
a no brain like common sense. If somebody's stealing a
car and then they're posting vision.
Speaker 2 (08:34):
About it, surely that.
Speaker 1 (08:36):
Would be an added factor when you're being sentenced or
when you're getting charged.
Speaker 3 (08:40):
We're talking about politicians here, Caadie. Common sense is that
the fact, unfortunately we don't see that common sense. This
is an issue they're trying to advertise what they're doing
to show how cool they are to members of the
public and they're fellow friends out in the community. This
is what they're doing to advertise what they're doing against
our laws of the Northern Territory and basically shoving it
(09:00):
back in our face.
Speaker 1 (09:02):
Now, so you reckon that it should be an aggravating
or and it should be added as an aggravation.
Speaker 2 (09:09):
What would that mean.
Speaker 3 (09:10):
That'd be higher level of what they're subject to so
the punishment they do receive would be obviously aggravated in
relation to that, so the maximum sentence would be raised.
We'd see more people deterred from actually posting the social
media events.
Speaker 1 (09:26):
It seems like we're in a bit of a situation
in the territory right now as well, where you know,
we seem to have crime levels that are higher than before.
That's based on some of those crime stats that we
see come out each and every month.
Speaker 2 (09:38):
We have issues where we're.
Speaker 1 (09:39):
Not able to get police out to all the different
incidents that are occurring. We have a lack of numbers,
you know, two hundred short by the look of things.
But then we also have prisons that are overflowing. We
seem to be in a really difficult situation with all
of these factors at play.
Speaker 3 (09:57):
There's a number of factors here. Again, the infrastructure and
the spent on infrastructure within the old territory has stopped
without the federal government intervention in that space. The Northern
Churchy government haven't got the money to spend on this.
I know they're in a difficult position. But again, we
need to advocate at the federal level for our law
and order and policies in relation to that.
Speaker 2 (10:17):
Now, I do want to ask.
Speaker 1 (10:18):
Over the weekend, the National Children's Commissioner said that she
had written. She's told the ABC that she's written to
the Northern Territory Police Minister following on from vision being
shared last week by the Northern Territory Police of arrests
that were made by I believe it was Stripeforth, Strident
and the Dog Squad. They were arresting two people who'd
(10:41):
allegedly committed crimes. They'd gone and stolen two cars. From
my understanding, based on what has been shared, she's calling
for that vision to be removed.
Speaker 2 (10:51):
I mean, what is your response to that.
Speaker 3 (10:53):
That is reality, Katie. This is who we see committing
offenses every day. It doesn't matter who they are or
what they are. This is a reality of what police
are dealing with every day. I know it's frustrating for
members of the public to see that, but this is
what our members see every day as they try to
obviously uphold the laws of the Northern Territory. This is reality.
Speaker 2 (11:12):
So do you reckon it should be removed?
Speaker 3 (11:14):
Definitely not, definitely not. It's a true indication of what
our police are dealing with. Every day.
Speaker 1 (11:19):
Now before I let you go this morning, we also
know that you know, we've obviously got the acting Police Commissioner,
Michael Murphy in the role at this point. Was there
any indication on Friday throughout that conference when we're going
to get a bit of an update on that job.
Speaker 3 (11:32):
No, definitely not, Caddie. We haven't received any information. I know.
The process is that they had their interviews some nearly
two weeks ago. Now it's going before the Cabinet, who
obviously make a recommendation to the administrator for the appointment
of the commissioner.
Speaker 1 (11:45):
So we'll have to wait and see exactly what decision
is made. Look, Nathan, I know that there were a
number of other areas that were discussed as well. One
of those was indeed remote policing, and there's also been
that discussion about auxiliaries on bottle shops. That is something
that we've spoken about before. How important is it that
(12:05):
some of these changes actually come to fruition.
Speaker 3 (12:09):
It's very important, especially for our remote members, Katie. They
are struggling. They haven't got the resource to deal with that.
Some are working up to a month straight without a
day off, up to sixty hours a fortnight and relation
to these communities to try and service demand in these
remote communities. We haven't got the infrastructure in these remote
communities to pace extra police out there. So they're stuck.
They're stuck with that burden. They can't get out of it,
(12:30):
and they are burning out like there's no tomorrow.
Speaker 1 (12:33):
Finny, the message seems pretty clear to me. You know,
you'd set it on Friday. We're stretched beyond breaking point.
We need the government to listen. What is your message for.
Speaker 2 (12:44):
The Northern Territories, Minister for Police today.
Speaker 3 (12:47):
If they don't want to listen, our members are going
to leave and droves. You won't have a police force
to service your community. That's the point we're at.
Speaker 1 (12:55):
What's the next step for you guys, Because you know,
since you've become the president, you and I have spoken
on several occasions, and you've articulated to me the really
serious concerns that members have got. You know, we hear
from the public, the concerns that they've got. We hear
the evidence in those coronials, We hear what is going
on in the Northern Territory. What is you know, like,
(13:15):
what next If the government doesn't listen, we.
Speaker 3 (13:19):
Won't have a police force coaty as simple as that,
members of the community will have to take law into
their own hands. We're at that point where we haven't
got enough members, and our members are telling this day
in day out, they have been telling for a long
long time. We do not need a copy of this
review to formulate a plan in relation to what we
need to do. We need to employ and we need
to obviously attract and retain our members that are currently
(13:41):
obviously the knowledge and experience here it must be.
Speaker 1 (13:44):
I mean, the thing is the last thing anybody wants
is for members of the public to make to take
matters into their own hands. That'd be the last thing
the police or anybody wants at this point, wouldn't it.
Speaker 3 (13:53):
Definitely, Katie, Definitely, we don't want to see that. But
we need the government to take action in relation to
what they're saying. Our members experience every day. They are
frustrated beyond point. They are frustrated where they don't want
to turn up to work, but they do despite their
personal health, despite their mental health related issues that relate
to how busy they are and the demand they're being
placed on them. Well.
Speaker 1 (14:13):
Nathan Finn, the president of the Northern Territory Police Association.
I always appreciate your time. Thanks very much for joining us.
Speaker 3 (14:19):
Thank you Katie, and also just like to wish out
to the members out of the Northern Territory Police Force.
Keep doing what you're doing. We've got your back. We'll
have you back one hundred and ten percent.
Speaker 2 (14:27):
Thanks Nathan. We appreciate your time this morning.
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