Opposition Leader Selina Uibo says Labor welcomes an inquiry into senior police recruitment dating back to August 2023 but believes the scope should be expanded to include rank and file roles

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Well as we know, Parliament resuming in the Northern Territory
for the next two weeks. The Territory Coordinator legislation is
set to be debated and passed, which the government says
will herald a new way of developing the territory. The
Leader of Government Business, Steve Edgington, saying the Territory Coordinator
is going to give us a competitive edge against other

(00:22):
states who've not undertaken the level of reform that we have,
and no doubt the independent inquiry into recent senior police
recruitments will be high on the agenda. The Chief Minister
joining us on the show about this yesterday and saying
that the review was an important step to create confidence
and give certainty not just to the rank and file

(00:45):
of the police force, but those in leadership positions. I'm
pleased to say. Joining me on the line right now
is the Opposition leader Selena Hubo. Good morning to.

Speaker 2 (00:55):
You, Katy, Good morning to you listeners.

Speaker 1 (00:58):
Thanks so much for your time today. Now, Selena, what
do you hope this review into the Northern Territory police
recruitment fines?

Speaker 2 (01:07):
Yeah, Katie, I think it's a really important step forward
to support our police. We know that there has been
a loss of confidence in police leadership and I think
this will go a long way, so our tertiary labor
opposition does support that. I'm also hearing Katie that there
are some police who would like to see the inquiry
or the review expanded to include some more aspects and

(01:31):
a wider scope. So I would be very interested to
see if Livnokierras, the Police Minister, is going to take
that up. I think that would also go a long
way to support the police and wanting to move forward.

Speaker 1 (01:43):
How much further are they saying? What are you hearing
on the ground.

Speaker 2 (01:47):
Yeah, what I'm hearing Katie through my networks is an
expansion around the position, so some of those recruitment positions
not just within the scope that the Chief Minister has outlaid,
so other the rank and file positions as well. So
I think that would be interesting to see if that's
something that the CLP government is going to take up.
But I'm hopefully the Chief Minister's having those conversations with

(02:09):
the police as well.

Speaker 1 (02:11):
No doubt they are, and no doubt that is going
to be something that will be a real focus today
in Parliament. I would imagine we also know the Chief
Minister said on the show yesterday she intends to table
the KAC report to Parliament this week. She is seeking advice,
as I understand it, legal advice and advice from the IKAC.

(02:32):
But do you think that this report needs to be tabled?

Speaker 2 (02:35):
Yeah, o, Katie absolutely, We've been calling for the Chief
Minister to release that report. Leave Noocquiero does have parliamentary privilege.
I know she's been talking about legal advice. I mean
that's nearly three weeks now. You'd think that she would
have that as the Chief Minister in access to all
of the legal brains in government to be able to
provide that advice. She is the responsible minister for the

(02:56):
IKAK and I think it's an important way for territory
public to understand what's in operation upon that report. But
more in particular those recommendations. There's recommendations in there, Katie
that no one knows what they are. So what are
those recommendations to be able to move forward once that
report is publicly released.

Speaker 1 (03:13):
Yeah, look, I agree with you. I think that those
recommendations are incredibly important. I think it's incredibly important for
people to have some context as well with this report.
She said on the show yesterday that the only thing
that could potentially prevent her. I asked her what would
prevent the IKAC from allowing it to be tabled in parliament.

(03:34):
She said, it's around the way that they collect evidence
and the fact that people that they can compel people
force people to disclose information that a court or another
process wouldn't allow them to do. So it's about making
sure that what's being made public is information that's available
to be made public, and she reckons that's not her call.

(03:55):
I mean, what do you say to that.

Speaker 2 (03:58):
I think obviously she's getting all of that legal advice.
We've seen reports that have been released to the public
that have been redacted. If it's about protecting information that's
come from a particular person in that evidence collecting process,
so I think it all can be done. I think
territories expect it to be released publicly. We know that
we're in parliament today, of course, Katie, ahead of a

(04:19):
big two weeks of parliament for the Northern territory. We
expect and we have been asking for the Chief Minister
to release that report and we'll continue to do so
this week.

Speaker 1 (04:28):
But so for you, the reality is you know what
I mean. Obviously the whole lot. We want to see
the whole lot. But if parts need to be redacted,
that's fair enough. But realistically those recommendations do need to
be made public.

Speaker 2 (04:41):
Yeah, I think that's one of the most important things
if we're talking about moving forward and really supporting police
to restore trust and integrity and leadership of the force.
I think that's a really important part of the process, Katie,
to see those recommendations.

Speaker 1 (04:54):
Now, if you have just joined us, we are on
the line with Selena Rubo, the opposition leader now said
to the Chief Minister yesterday, there has indeed been comparison
drawn between the Aykak report and the investigation by police
into Colin Gwin a number of years ago. Now, the
Chief Minister said she's not ruled out an inquiry into

(05:15):
the Gwinn situation. Do you think that there needs to
be an inquiry or at least a look at this
by Eyekak.

Speaker 2 (05:22):
I think that there's been a lot of interest in
this particular case, Katie. Of course, the territory is a
small place and people know each other in those high
level positions. I think if that's something the Colpa government
wants to do, We'll wait and see what the processes are.
Obviously that's slightly different in the sense that it was

(05:44):
a police operation that particular process into the Children's Commissioner.
Obviously the Aykak is governed by legislation and an act.
Police of course have their Police Administration Act. But I
believe that was a police operation, not a obviously an
EYECAC investigation. So a few difference is there. But if

(06:05):
that's something that the Chief Minister has said that she'll pursue,
we'll wait and see. If that's something that she will
look at with her government, well.

Speaker 1 (06:12):
Look, we will have a we will certainly continue that discussion.
I mean, why didn't the government that you were part
of look into that further? I get what you're saying
that it was a police investigation, but at the very least,
I mean, you would have thought at some point, you
know that potentially the former Children's Commissioner deserved an apology.

Speaker 2 (06:32):
Yeah, Katie, I don't have all of the details. Very
happy to go back and to sort of get some
of that from our former time in government. But I
think in terms of seeing processes that territories can have
trust and faith in, I think that's the bigger picture here.
When there is natural justice, how do people in the

(06:53):
territory know and respect those processes? So it doesn't matter
who's being investigated, what's being investigated, that there are are
processes and a responsibility by whoever was conducting those processes
or investigations, that there are fulsome reports, recommendations, and natural
justice to whoever or whatever is being investigated.

Speaker 1 (07:15):
All right, let's talk about the Territory Coordinator Bill. We
know the Northern Territories for Land Councils have united to
call for the Territory Coordinator Bill to be dumped. They
say that the bill excludes Aboriginal people from involvement in
development decisions on their traditional lands and prevents them from
protecting their land and their culture. Do you think the

(07:36):
bill is excluding Aboriginal.

Speaker 2 (07:38):
People, Katie? I know that the land councels, the four
Land Councils released a statement just late last week around
their concerns for the Territory Coordinator Bill. My understanding some
of the pressures and concerns from the Land councils is
around questions that have been asked, are not quite answered
in this public scrutiny and commit process of the bill.

(08:02):
It's quite concerning for anyone, not just averageal territories, but
anyone in the territory if you're asking questions about how
a law of the Northern Territory will affect them their property,
you know, their family, their business, their livelihood, and those
questions can't be answered by the government. So I think
that's the bigger picture here around having that certainty of

(08:23):
knowing if this is the situation, can this occur or
can this not occur? And we still have a lot
of unanswered questions from the public around what would impact
them when it comes to the Territory Coordinator Bill.

Speaker 1 (08:37):
I know that there has been community action outside INNTI
Parliament this morning, various groups opposing the Territory Coordinator Bill.
Did Labor take part in.

Speaker 2 (08:47):
That, Yeah, Katie, there was a protest this morning, go peaceful.
I think between fifty to one hundred people at the
front of Parliament voicing concerns I think from a range
of different parts of the community and for different reasons
protesting against it. We had one of our members there
to listen to that conversation. We've really focused this week, Katie,

(09:08):
to put forward amendments to the Sea or pick government
on this bill. I know there were some big changes
from the original draft of the Territory Coordinator Bill to
what went out publicly for consultation and feedback. We want
to be constructive. We've said that from the start, Katie
in the Labor Opposition, we've put forward seven key recommendations
of amendments that we believe will meet community expectation when

(09:33):
it comes to the Territory Coordinator Bill. We yet to
hear from the CLP government if they'll adopt those amendments
to make what we feel will be a stronger bill
for territories, but also provide that certainty that I spoke
about before, questions that can't be answered at the moment.
We feel these amendments would be able to provide certainty
for territories who have particular concerns or are quite upset

(09:54):
about certain elements of this bill.

Speaker 1 (09:56):
Look, I know that there's obviously people protesting outside of
parts element today. I know that there are concerns around
these from some in the community. There's others in the
community who really feel like we need to get things
moving and they've, you know, to put it bluntly, I
guess they've had a gutful of people trying to hold
things up.

Speaker 2 (10:14):
Yeah, I understand that's frustrating when projects don't get off
the ground. It's frustrating when administrative burden is the cause
of a delay for something good that people have proposed
or investing in. I think one of the key things
that we've focused on through the public hearings and the
committee process, Katie, from our labor opposition was some of

(10:35):
the questions that have come from organizations who actually made
submissions and provided that publicly. But the questions are around organization, sorry,
questions for our organizations who actually employed their own barristers
and lawyers to go through the legislation because they wanted
to know what impact, for better or for worse, would

(10:57):
happen once this bill is enacted, and some of the
legal uncertainty still remains. So I think that's a really
key one. I know the CLP really wants to hang
their hat on this bill. We just want to make
sure that it answers the questions the territorians and that
it does do what it is intended to do, Katie,
which is reduced administration and that burden of red tape,

(11:18):
which no one likes. Red tape right, So what but
how do we get the legal certainty that through some
of the processes it's not actually going to create more
burden in any of the processes, so that there's some
of those questions that still remain unanswered for us Katie.

Speaker 1 (11:34):
To me, though, that doesn't sound unusual. I mean we
very often see sort of environmental groups or interest groups
lawyer up and then try to slow things down.

Speaker 2 (11:43):
Yeah, and I think I definitely get particularly in the
territory the last couple of years, we have some very
public examples of that. But we also want to make
sure that if this bill is intending to fast track things,
that it's done in the right way, but it also
does fast track things, that it's not going to actually
create any pressure points or or slow the pipeline down,

(12:04):
which is obviously the intention of the bill is to
beat things up. So we want to make sure that
that certainty is there for territorians too.

Speaker 1 (12:10):
All right, Well, it's going to be an interesting day,
there is no doubt about it. Two weeks of parliament
opposition later, What is on the opposition's agender? I know
you've spoken about some of those things, but what are
you really going to focus on? Over the coming days.

Speaker 2 (12:24):
Yeah, Katie, we've got an important job. It's probably a
job that no one really wants to do in the territory,
which is to make sure that those really big questions
and uncertainties around government and particularly around legislation and laws
of the Northern Territory, that there's accountability in the Parliament
and we do get those answers that we've been given

(12:45):
by Territorians, particularly the last six weeks to excuse me,
four weeks between the two parliament sitting, so we want
to focus on those key issues that territorians have raised
with us. We've got some very very big pieces of
legislation that are going through. Some things we want to support,
some things we want to ask more questions and get
answers to, and others that we don't support. So we'll

(13:08):
be doing our job in opposition and keeping the government accountable.

Speaker 1 (13:10):
Katie Well, Opposition Leader Selena Ruba. I will certainly be
doing my best to watch in breaks on air and
also wait once I get off air, so we will
no doubt talk to you again very soon.

Speaker 2 (13:22):
Thank you so much, Katie, appreciate your time.

Speaker 1 (13:24):
Thanks so much.