The Week That Was – 6th October 2023

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Time for the week that was, and joining us this
morning from the COLP we've got Mary Clare booth By.

Speaker 2 (00:04):
Good morning to.

Speaker 3 (00:05):
You, wanting Katie and to your listeners.

Speaker 1 (00:07):
And from the Northern Territory News we've got Cam Smith,
Good morning to you, Cam morning, Katy, good to have
you in the studio. And from the Labor Party we've
got Joel about and good morning to.

Speaker 2 (00:17):
You, Joel.

Speaker 1 (00:17):
Good morning, Can and Joel wearing your Nightcliff Tigers shirt
this morning.

Speaker 4 (00:21):
Oh what a night it was last night. I'm down
at the Nightcliff Sports Club. The Round one teams are
announced because NTFL starts this week again, pizza debutantes for
the men's and heaps of excited women who were going
to roll out at ten am Saturday morning down at
TiO Stadium.

Speaker 5 (00:38):
I'll be down there and it was a buzz.

Speaker 4 (00:41):
Mark Dodge, a president reassumed his position as president Nightcliff
Football Club gave a rousing speech.

Speaker 5 (00:47):
And the place was just on fire.

Speaker 4 (00:49):
Chicken parmes, chicken snitchey.

Speaker 1 (00:53):
Well, you know it's the you know, it's the footy
season when the chicken snitties are out.

Speaker 5 (00:57):
Hey, it's a great good time.

Speaker 1 (01:00):
In three minutes and it'll be It's going to be
a massive, massive season, there is no doubt about that,
and we'll talk about that a little later throughout the morning.
We did catch up with NFL NTAFL, i should say,
yesterday and heard just what they've got planned for the weekend.
So no doubt it's going to be a massive weekend.
But look, we do start this week with some well,

(01:20):
we started the whole week with some pretty terrible news,
and that was the fact that a lar Jamnu family,
including four young sisters, are believed to be the victims
in a horror highway crash which reduced their newly purchased
four will drive to a flaming fireball. Now the Northern
Territory News today reporting that it's understood the remote community
of six hundred people has begun sorry business for that

(01:43):
Central Desert Region Council worker, his wife and four children
believed to be involved in the Pine Creek crash on Friday.
Now the paper reporting that Central Desert Regional Council Chief
Executive Leslie Mandra has told the paper that it was
believed that a larger new Ranger was involved in the crash,
but until that formal identification process was complete.

Speaker 2 (02:05):
He could not confirm this.

Speaker 1 (02:07):
Now, no matter how you look at this, it was
an absolutely tragic situation that had unfolded on Friday afternoon.
Then when the police Commissioner, Michael Murphy joined us on
the show on Monday and confirmed that it was indeed
believe that four children's lives had been lost in that crash,
it stops you in your tracks.

Speaker 2 (02:27):
It is.

Speaker 1 (02:28):
It's devastating, a devastating situation.

Speaker 3 (02:31):
Yeah, and imagine I mean that poor family in the
whole community, because this is it really is something that's
so tragic. But also the drivers that were the ones
that came onto the scene, the first responders in that case.
I mean, I think I heard the tour guide that
was there and how devastated he wasn't That is just
something that you will never forget for your whole life. Like,

(02:53):
it is absolutely tragic.

Speaker 5 (02:54):
For all accounts agree.

Speaker 4 (02:56):
It's awful when the first responders the scene earlier and
scarred for life, and then it makes me think, you know,
I'm a family of six, I've got four kids, and
we drive to our springs regularly. We drive up and
down that road regularly, and it's one of the most
frightening things, right, is passing a road train or having
to pass a road train, And it just brings it

(03:17):
back to you how dangerous driving is and that potentially
and I've got a daughter who's just got her license.
We don't invest enough time in it, We don't invest
enough thought, enough training, enough everything, because these road tragedies
are just awful and they pen me out through the
entire territory. You know, it's not just the community of
larger miner it's everyone that's impacted.

Speaker 2 (03:38):
Yeah, that's exactly right. I mean, it's a terrible, terrible situation.

Speaker 6 (03:43):
It's been a very sad week. Yeah, over all, a
tragic week for a lot of families. You're fending a
lot of pain and grief.

Speaker 1 (03:49):
Yeah, it has it's and look, it has been a
terrible week, and that does take us to, you know,
to some of the other situations that have unfolded.

Speaker 2 (03:57):
We know that that there was a loss.

Speaker 1 (03:58):
Of two lives, one incident believed to be domestic violence related,
where a man's life was lost and a woman seriously injured.

Speaker 2 (04:07):
Another separate incident that another life was lost.

Speaker 1 (04:13):
You know that those whole you know, all of those
situations incredibly tragic. And then on top of that, we
also know that there's been, you know, some really horrible
situations with crime. And so we had two women allegedly
sexually assaulted in our CBD in broad daylight. One of

(04:36):
those incidents on Tuesday afternoon at about four pm. The
other was actually last week, last Thursday afternoon, I believe,
after two pm in the RVO. Now, I want to
say right from the get go that the Northern Territory Police,
from my understanding rushed there and were there incredibly quickly
to respond to those incidents. But I did get confirmation

(04:57):
from the police yesterday that in both of those actual
assault situations.

Speaker 2 (05:01):
The victims were not known to the offenders.

Speaker 1 (05:04):
So we're talking about terribly, terribly violent attacks in broad
daylight in our CBD, and I know, as a woman,
I do not feel comfortable with that. I do not
feel comfortable with something like that happening on our streets
in broad daylight. I don't feel comfortable with walking down
the street with my daughter, to be honest, And that's

(05:25):
a really sad indictment on the way in which things are.

Speaker 2 (05:28):
Yeah at the moment.

Speaker 3 (05:29):
Even yesterday, I was with a group of seniors out
at Palmerston and the fear that are on their minds
right now. I mean, one lady shared with us that
she walks around her garden in her own backyard for
exercise because she's too scared to walk around her own neighborhood.
And so when these incidents happen, and you know, we

(05:50):
had a response from Natasha Files yesterday on it, which,
to be honest, I was completely flabbergasted by because she
said in a media interview that she would welcome any
suggestions from the community to try and deal with these
issues that are going on. And straight away I thought
to myself, well, hang on a minute. You had twenty
six thousand people's sign a signature, I sign a petition,

(06:13):
and you had thousands of people rallying on the steps
of Parliament House, all putting forward their suggestions, all saying
they want stronger bail, they want more police, they want
action taken right now, and yet none of that action
has been taken. And then this is what we see.
I mean, we have had a horrendous week of crimes.
The list just goes on and on and on. I

(06:34):
mean in Malac we had the guy that works at
a service station, a worker who is going to be
very severely injured through his whole life because of an attack.
They that's right, and I mean it just goes on
and on.

Speaker 2 (06:47):
What we're having, what.

Speaker 3 (06:49):
We have right now here in the territory is an
absolute diminishing of our lifestyle. I mean, the decisions that
you have to make every day. You know, should I
go to the petrol station now while it's light or
do I have time before it gets dark? Where shall
I park my car when I go to Casharina, you know,
should I take the kids or not? Like these are
decisions that go through my brain every single day when

(07:09):
I'm traveling around, let alone all of the territorians. And
we just have to see no action from the government whatsoever.

Speaker 4 (07:17):
It has been a terrible one yea, and all four
instances that you've outlined, and we do have to do more,
and we do have to continue to address the issues
that are in our community.

Speaker 5 (07:26):
There's no doubt in that.

Speaker 4 (07:27):
Of which over the last little while there have been
a number of different things, you know, the wandering stuff's
come in. They're changing the Wespons Act. It's very hard
to foresee such grotesque acts like broad daylight assaults on
women and as again a father with three girls and
a wife, it does strike you, you know, right at

(07:49):
your core.

Speaker 3 (07:50):
It's become more brazen and more escalated. Like you know,
the couple of tweaks that the government has made, it
doesn't go to the core of the problem. And being
that these it's like a revolving door of bail at
the moment, like every time something bad happens, they just
get led out again to do it again. And there's
countless examples of that. I mean to say that you're
doing a few things, it's just not the case. I mean,

(08:12):
I think last time we were on the show, Joel,
you were saying that if you stop trying, then you should,
you know, vote you out of the next election. I
mean think that's the first time we probably agreed on
something that. You know, Territorians have a right to feel
safe in their own homes and they have a right
to ask the continuing to make them f safe and
they don't feel safe.

Speaker 5 (08:28):
We are continuing to work. We will never stop working.

Speaker 4 (08:30):
There are amendments to legislation, there are new bits of legislation,
there are new community standars that we need to uphold,
and it's incumbent upon everybody to take this on and
take responsibility, of which the government, the government takes the
first and foremost responsibility, but then we have to actually
do so much better in the Kingdry That sort of.

Speaker 1 (08:50):
Feels to me though, But the government hasn't wrapped their
heads around the fact that they're the ones that actually
have to make some real tough decisions right now, Like
they're the ones that actually sort of need to take
some really serious steps to control is what is going on.
And you know, I take on board what you'd said,
Mary Clair that the Chief Minister. I heard that interview

(09:11):
yesterday as will and it had seen that she'd sort
of suggested that if anybody's got other ideas to come forward,
But it's like it's a bit far gone for that.
You know, we've sort of passed that point where the
community has now reached a point in a lot of
ways where they're no longer listening to what the government's
got to say on this topic, which is a really

(09:31):
frightening situation to be in because when you you know,
when your community starts to switch off and no longer
has confidence in you being able to manage something, it's
actually really sad.

Speaker 3 (09:42):
Well, you need a chief Minister who leads, who leads
from the front, and they do that to start with
by listening. And she has literally ignored every suggestion that
has been made from the community. I mean one of
the policy ideas that they have when all of the
windows were being smashed countless times in our springs was
to strengthen the windows, not the law. I mean that
goes to the heart of the problem here. This is

(10:02):
not about putting band aid solutions around a problem. This
is about fixing the law and order issues and the
crime that we have on our streets. We just can't
keep going down this path. And at the moment this
government has showed no change in any of their policies
that's going to make a difference. I mean we saw
this week the government pat themselves on the back and
celebrate the fact that transit officers at our bus stops

(10:24):
now have OC spray. I mean that's not a victory.
That is not dealing with the crime that's happening in
the first place.

Speaker 1 (10:30):
And look, I will go more into the OC spray
and also the wardens very shortly, but I do just
want to get your take on this cam. I mean
you've been in the territory for a long long time.
You've lived here. How many years you reckon twenty five? Kay,
I've got here in ninety nine.

Speaker 6 (10:43):
The problems that we're talking about here, of course have
moved up from Alice Springs off lived in the top
end all my life. But you need to talk to
Alice Springs residents to know that the problems that we've
discussed here have been down there for a couple of years.
A suggestion as to what you can do about it,
I mean, the crime problems we've got at the moment
of far bigger than one building. But you know, maybe

(11:03):
don't spend police money for political reasons. You know Theliff
Police Station tai million dollars open from eight to four.
There were incidents out at Nightcliff the other day, windows smashed,
police got dif from casualena. But there was no need
for that police station. There's still never been a proper
case made for whites there. That's one example where money
can be better spent. There's no easy solution.

Speaker 2 (11:23):
No, there's no easy solution.

Speaker 1 (11:25):
I know the property council came out yesterday and said,
what's concerning is that these incidents are no longer limited
to the cover of darkness, and many are now occurring
in broad daylight in public locations, putting people at risk.
They say that it's impacting the liveability, safety and reputation
of the Northern Territory. Increasing crime rates threaten the attractiveness
of our region for potential investors, tourists, international students and

(11:49):
those considering making the Northern Territory their home. Now, this
was pretty evident as well with the situation can that
you've reported on pretty extensively at Grood Island. We know
that Northern Territory Police have now arrested and charged two
males for violent offending that happened at that mind sight
on Grout. But this was this was a pretty serious

(12:10):
situation that unfolded, wasn't it.

Speaker 7 (12:12):
It was. It was terrifying according to the people that
were there.

Speaker 6 (12:17):
Including someone having an acts apparently held to held to
a neck allegedly, So it was it was a full
on incident that that was dealt with by police. They
sent five additional officers over there and then on Tuesday,
apparently there was another attempt to trespass as well, apparently
people approaching with access.

Speaker 7 (12:35):
So there's a live issue added Grood.

Speaker 6 (12:38):
At the moment the company's trying to deal with it
to reflect poorly on the Northern Territory as a as
a as a place.

Speaker 2 (12:46):
To well, we're not you know, like that's the thing.

Speaker 1 (12:49):
Like I sort of heard it and thought, gee whiz,
this sounds like something you would actually expect to happen
in Papua New Guinea. This does not sound like something
you expect to happen in the Northern Territory. And then
when you talk that investment, a major major investment on
you know, like into the territory, it has a huge impact.

Speaker 6 (13:06):
You see how hard it is to get projects up here.
A fewer Resources has been trying to set up for
fifteen years. It's not easy, and this doesn't make it easier.

Speaker 5 (13:12):
Yeah, instance like.

Speaker 3 (13:14):
This, Katie, This is something that Leah was talking about
at the Resources conference just recently, and the mining companies
have been telling us that they really struggle to get
staff into the territory to work at these minds. And
the thing is, if you can't get workers to come here,
then you're not going to be able to have a
thriving economy, which is exactly what we need here right now.
I mean Great Island. What's happening over there. That's that's

(13:36):
an example of this alternate justice system, which which is
clearly not working. I mean, you need to have workers
that feel safe. And in that case, I believe it's alleged,
alleged that the offender was charged with a multiple accounts
of aggravated assault, but he's now out on bail, So.

Speaker 5 (13:53):
That revolving door continues.

Speaker 3 (13:55):
The impact that it has on our economy and our reputation,
it just does so so much damage. And then you know,
you'd have a government that doesn't come out and take
any action to really truly address the issue, so people
will continue not to feel safe and continue to talk
about these terrible incidences.

Speaker 1 (14:11):
I mean, the fact is that people are being charged. Obviously,
the police are doing their job. People are being charged.
I mean, we've had it said before. The jails are
absolutely full. I asked the opposition leader, this is a
COLP committed to building a bigger jail. If you do
want to make these changes legislatively, it is going to
mean that more people end up in jail or the

(14:31):
end up through the justice system where that's a possibility.

Speaker 2 (14:34):
Our jail's not big enough. Are you going to build
a bigger one.

Speaker 3 (14:37):
Look, I think we need to do everything we can
to try and keep our streets safe. I mean right
now that lifestyle that we fight so hard to protect
has been absolutely eroded. And you know what we've seen
is the waste of money in the areas that are
not making a difference. Like Cam just said, I mean
the Nightcliff police station that could be a jail, to
be honest, it's that big and we would absolutely have

(14:58):
to look at all of those things. I mean, that's
changes in the correction system that could be made right
now with the low risk secure prisoners that could be
out doing more in the community instead of being locked
in their cells all the time. I mean, even to
try and get prison officers that they too are struggling
to get staff in there. And it all comes back
to the fact that we haven't been able to deal
with the crime in at streets.

Speaker 1 (15:19):
Joel, where to from here now? I know that you're
not in the cabinet, but where too from here for
the government? I mean, is the government now just going
to languish until the next election. I know when I
worked for the Foreign Minister for former Housing Minister Rob Knight,
many many years ago. I'm talking fifteen years ago. We're
in a situation where the role out of sea hip,

(15:39):
the remote Indigenous housing was happening, and he could not
get any clear air. There was no clear air no
matter what he did, no matter what announcement he made,
people were no longer listening. That is where the government
is at right now. At that point in time, Paul
Henderson had the fortitude to come out and go, do

(16:00):
you know what we need a cabinet reshuffle. We need
to look at things differently. If we are any chance
at all of doing maintaining any seats at the next election,
we've got to make some serious change. Is that what
the files government needs to do?

Speaker 5 (16:15):
Well?

Speaker 4 (16:15):
I doare not speak on behalf of the cabinet, Katie,
but we can feel the seasons have changed. And look,
I'm a huge advocate for sport and what we'll see
over the next little while is sport and the number
one sport in the territory being the AFL starting and
I have a view that we need to engage more
and more people in the community in whatever it is

(16:36):
sport recreational, whether it's digital, whether you're playing computer games,
whether you're doing arts and craft, whatever it is. We
have to engage people more and more and more because
the police are doing a good job, right, but they're
getting there after the act occurs. They're arresting people, they're
attending to awful incidences that they deal with. We need
to come back a couple of steps, and we need

(16:57):
to try and deal with it early intervention. We need
to actually put so much money into these programs. And
when I say these programs, I don't know them off
the top med right, but the multitude of programs that
we're doing to one occupy people to give them something
that's worthwhile doing and that they really enjoy doing so
they're not And I grew up in Alice Springs camp
and I know the issues in Alice Springs and all

(17:18):
my mates who got into trouble. They were bored. They
were bored and they were uneducated and they went out
and they did stupid things.

Speaker 1 (17:26):
I don't disagree with you in any way. But the
concern that you know, that's on everybody's minds right now
is it's deteriorated over the last you know, it has
deteriorated over a long period of time. I'm not going
to pretend that the former CLP government had everything under control.
But you've had seven years, and you had.

Speaker 3 (17:45):
Seven years of these programs. I mean, we have fantastic
sporting clubs and I know personally because I go to them,
Adam Palmerston, that they engage so many young kids and
it is fabulous, it is really fabulous. But it's not
enough because sometimes in one case, one of the those
kids came back and actually damaged the club that they
are involved in. So it's more than that, I mean,
and you're right, this government has had seven years to

(18:08):
deal with all these issues and we're always seen as
it's getting worse and worse and more brazen and escalator.
That's I keep saying.

Speaker 4 (18:14):
Sport's not the panacea, right. I'm not saying sports a
silver bullet. I'm saying we've just got to do more.
And it's in digital right, because kids are playing computing games,
kids are into art, kids are into science, kids are
into all these different things. We've got to get them early.
The first thousand days are the most important.

Speaker 1 (18:29):
But that's again, that's the government's been saying that since,
you know, since you guys were elected. The number of
times that I'd heard that from the former Chief Minister,
Michael Gunner, And I guess again, I'll go back to
the point that I was making. Does it need to
be a bit of change. Does it need to be
a bit of a shakeup within the cabinet right now?
Like are the cabinet understanding how the community's feeling.

Speaker 5 (18:49):
Look again, and I can't speak for the cabinet.

Speaker 4 (18:52):
I can only speak on behalf of myself and being
a member of the Labor Caucus.

Speaker 5 (18:56):
We meet every week. We meet every week as.

Speaker 4 (18:59):
A caucus to discuss the issues, to go through what's
happened most recently, what we're doing in the future, and
that is an ongoing I.

Speaker 2 (19:06):
Just worried about the state of things right now.

Speaker 4 (19:08):
Well, we talk continuously about how we can improve, what
we can do to make the territory better, to grow
the territory because like Marie Claire said, you know, we
need a thriving economy. We also need an engaged population.
We need kids at school, we need to increase attendance.
There's just a multitude of issues in the Northern Territory
that we need to address and it's complex, it's hard,

(19:30):
but we just have to keep working on it and
individual ministers with their portfolios have to have a layser
view on their area of concern.

Speaker 1 (19:37):
I've said this a few times. I've set it to
a few different members of Parliament. So do territory Tourians
just have to sit and wait?

Speaker 5 (19:45):
No, you don't sit in. We have to all put
our shoulders to the wheeld. We have to all get involved.

Speaker 3 (19:49):
You know.

Speaker 4 (19:49):
I'm volunteering down at my local sporting club, volunteer down
at the local arts and craft shop, the local community hall,
the local seniorce hall, the local whatever it is. Get
involved with athletics, getting it and be part of a
thriving community.

Speaker 5 (20:02):
Because if we.

Speaker 1 (20:03):
Don't, can I just ask? Does the Chief Minister attend
those caucus meetings?

Speaker 5 (20:08):
Yes, and she's not the chair.

Speaker 2 (20:10):
Does she understand how how people are feeling?

Speaker 5 (20:13):
Of course she does, and she's in the community all
the time and we've.

Speaker 3 (20:16):
Seen listening and does she have any ideas because it
certainly doesn't feel like that.

Speaker 4 (20:20):
We've seen the Chief Minister again and again. And I
spend time with Natasha down at the Nightcliff's Marc. As
I spend Natasha, I bumped into her at footy training
on Wednesday night she was walking her dog around the
Nightcliff Oval and talking to people. Now I would have
liked to talk to a bit more, but she was
swamped by people wanting to talk to her. She's in
the community, she's active, and she's listening.

Speaker 2 (20:41):
So why is nothing changing?

Speaker 4 (20:43):
Well, that would that would come down to a wide
range of factors.

Speaker 5 (20:47):
And if we had I don't know how long of
your show go for Cadi, We'll give you a couple
of minutes, give you a couple of minutes.

Speaker 4 (20:53):
So we've got intergenerational trauma, we've got years of under
education and an inability doing in the community. And when
I talk about those issues, they're predominantly Indigenous issues. And
we see in our prisons which are overflowing as you
said that the majority that like eighty five percent of
adult prisoners in jailor Indigenous in used attention, it's ninety

(21:14):
nine percent.

Speaker 5 (21:15):
And so we have a cohort.

Speaker 4 (21:16):
Within the Northern Territory that are under educated and disadvantage
and therefore that manifests in the outcomes and it ends
up being into.

Speaker 1 (21:25):
So last week we had Marian Scrimdraw on the show.
And I don't want to cover old ground because we
actually spoke about this last week on the week that was,
But she joined us on the show and she said
that she is sick of people coming in from communities
and running a.

Speaker 2 (21:37):
Muck in Darwin.

Speaker 1 (21:39):
She is sick of, you know, the alcohol issues. She
said to me that so are Larakia people. They are
sick of what is going on in Darwin right now.
And I'm not speaking I don't want to speak for
anybody else, or any other group or any other politician.
But she had joined us on the show and had
said that we need to start having some really serious

(21:59):
discussion about alcohol, whether we need to be issuing permits
or whether we need to be changing the way in
which we're doing things with alcohol like they've done in
Alice Springs. So here you've got one of our federal
indigenous politicians saying the way that things are happening right
now aren't working.

Speaker 2 (22:18):
We've got to take some big steps. But it just
seems like there is.

Speaker 1 (22:22):
A lack of drive from the Northern Territory Labor government
right now to do that.

Speaker 5 (22:29):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (22:29):
So the local decision making process which Labor implemented a
number of years ago now, which is continuing to roll out,
has allowed communities. That has allowed Indigenous family and groups
to take more control and we've seen that in the
group and that's why it's so disappointing to see those
issues over on group.

Speaker 5 (22:49):
I've traveled to group with the PAC.

Speaker 4 (22:51):
On a LDM inquiry and they were overwhelming in their
support for LDM. Now, of course that's one area. You
go to other areas who are struggling. We went out
to arnham Land and they are struggling with LDM. But
what the Labour government's trying to do through LDM is
in power local communities through local decision making. I mean,
it's a very simple acronym LDM, and we need people

(23:13):
to stay in their communities. Now Hermeersberg I just saw
got new lights out at what Air there was lights.
So activities in the communities on the communities that are
available and fun for people to engage in. Otherwise they
jump in a car and drive the town, especially in
the dry season when the roads are open and clear.

Speaker 1 (23:30):
We are going to have to take a very short
break when we come back, though, I do want to
talk a little bit more about the rollout of the
capsicum spray and also the wanding and the comments by
the Police Association that's coming your way in just a moment.

Speaker 2 (23:43):
You've just joined us in the studio. We've got Joel.

Speaker 1 (23:45):
Bowden, cam Smith and Mary Claire Boothby talking about the
issues of the week. And we know that earlier in
the week the Northern Territory Government did come out with
a couple of the updates I guess on rollouts for
different initiatives that they've got to try to at some
of the concerns that.

Speaker 2 (24:01):
We've got in the community.

Speaker 1 (24:02):
They're roll out of oc spray for our transit safety officers,
so around the bus network, and then also we saw
sort of last week and continued roll out this week
for our Northern Territory police are the wants to be
able to scan people, to take weapons off people, so
hopefully making an impact in terms of people going armed

(24:22):
in public.

Speaker 4 (24:24):
Now.

Speaker 1 (24:24):
The Police Association came out firing throughout the week, calling
on the Northern Territory government to stop gambling with public
safety and stop creating more work for police by expanding
its cheap policing.

Speaker 2 (24:35):
Program is what they called it. Now.

Speaker 1 (24:37):
Nathan Finn said that the government's ignoring the resourcing and
staffing crisis and instead forking out millions of dollars for
security guards and equipping transit safety officers with things like
OC spray to be carried by highly trained experience, which
should be trained carried by only highly trained experienced police officers.

Speaker 2 (24:58):
Now, I guess for me, the.

Speaker 1 (25:02):
Devil will be in the detail or the results, I
suppose will be in just what kind of difference this
does or does not make, and whether it does, you know,
have an impact to have transit safety offices with the
OC spray on the buses or not.

Speaker 2 (25:16):
But you know, some.

Speaker 1 (25:18):
Of the feedback we're getting instantly from listeners is unless
you've got one of them on every bus, it's not
going to make a difference. So look, it's part of
their plan, it's part of your plans.

Speaker 4 (25:28):
And you hope, Katie, that it's somewhat of the terrent, right,
so you can't have one on every bus, but you
hope it's a terrent. You hope that the wanding is
a terrent that they don't have to find a weapon.
And I think there's been something like four hundred incidents
of wanding, and there's been a dozen weapons or sharp
objects found. I think ten of them were confiscated. Two

(25:49):
of them were left with the individual because they were
for something, you know. Other So there's you know a
small amount of weapons being confiscated. But what we hope
is as a terreent, you know, so imprisonment is to
be a deterrent. It's supposed to be also rehabilitation and
a punishment, but there's got to be that deterrent. So
a number of these new initiatives that we've had over

(26:09):
the last little while have come in and hopefully deterbined
and say, hey, pull your socks, that we all have
to actually behave. The law is the law, but you've
got to behave in a manner that's acceptable. Whether it's
on a bus, whether it's in a cafe, whether it's
on this route. Just behave yourself and be part of
the community and part of a functional society.

Speaker 6 (26:27):
Probably comes back to what you were just saying about
Marion earlier her comments last week, Katie, that the people
are on the buses who are behaving poorly aren't usually
worried about consequences because they're not in that state of mind.
You know, the issues on busses related largely to grog
and you know, deterrence not really, because they're more a
response than a deterrent because people people aren't thinking about

(26:48):
those type of things when when they're cutting up.

Speaker 1 (26:51):
Rough on the bus and look, I sort of thought
about it through the week and it reminded me of
when when we first started to see the role out
of like be secure for businesses. So you know, we
first started to see businesses being able to get grants
for things like roller doors and that kind of stuff.
And it's all fine and good to have those different
band aids or different you know, different measures I suppose

(27:13):
to try and sort the issue. But again, it's not
stopping the issue from happening in the first place, like
we talk about so much.

Speaker 4 (27:19):
And that's what we have to lend ourselves towards, right,
not letting it get to the point where it escalates.
And that's the most difficult thing. And again personal responsibility,
community responsibility. How can we all say, hey, on a bus, now,
you don't want to approach anyone who's intoxicated or on
a llegal substance or something. But how do we all

(27:40):
interact with each other in a coherent, collaborative way to
make the territory the best place.

Speaker 1 (27:45):
That we can make It's the hard part though, because
like even during the week, you know, I was at
the shops with my daughter and you could see people
were intoxicated inside.

Speaker 2 (27:52):
The shopping center. And the only way that you can
react to that is I'm going to have to leave.

Speaker 1 (27:58):
You know, I'm not going to be able to walk
around because I am not overly comfortable with this situation.

Speaker 3 (28:05):
And Joel earlier in the show, and also just now,
like you're outlining all these things that you want the
community to do, you've also outlined all the failings that
have been happening over a long time. And we need
to remember that this is a labor government who has
been in power for eighteen out of the last twenty
five years. So you have absolutely not taken action to

(28:26):
make sure that those things are addressed. And you tink
around the edges with the OC spray for trans officers.
I mean, what about the rest of the territory. The
bus isn't the only thing people do when they're here.
What's happening at the moment is the labor government continue
to call out the community to step up and the
community to do more, and yet it's their lives that

(28:48):
are being diminished. Like territories have had enough. They're actually
now saying, well, hang on a minute, how about the
Labor government and the minister's change. And because nothing is
being done, they've stopped listening. They're out of ideas and
they're certainly out of touch.

Speaker 4 (29:02):
And so we're all part of the community. I'm part
of the community, you know, I don't. I don't say
I'm in parliament, so therefore I'm not part of the community.
And I won't resile from the fact that if we
don't do this as a collective, we won't achieve it
because no one person can wave a wand and fix
these problems. These are intergenerational problems that I have seen.

Speaker 5 (29:23):
No, we can't wait a generation now, but they are generational.

Speaker 4 (29:26):
Marie clear, if you don't understand that, then you're going
to have issues comprehending the intergenerational trauma that manifests on
our streets.

Speaker 2 (29:35):
So again I said, we've just got to kind of
I guess.

Speaker 7 (29:38):
Look.

Speaker 1 (29:39):
One thing I do want to say though, is that
the Police Minister also said during the week on the
show that there is going to be a review for
some for the security that we do see it at
shopping center, car parks and or you know, like in
Karama and places like that.

Speaker 2 (29:51):
We see center.

Speaker 1 (29:53):
It is something that seems to have been fairly positively,
you know, fairly positively accepted by the community because it
does me that there's another level of of you know,
actual security there to help if you're walking in and
out of the shopping center. But then interestingly, in addition
to that, she'd also said that she's pretty concerned that

(30:14):
there is Her understanding is that there is a Four
Corners report that is being filmed at the moment on
that private security cam. I understand you actually followed this
up then with with the ABC because there were some
pretty big claims or accusations made that she said that,
you know that that potentially people were being given pizza

(30:38):
to speak and stuff like that.

Speaker 6 (30:40):
There's a bunch of claims flying around. The ABC certainly
denied the pizza one. There's a little bit of gray
still around whether they were actually transporting itinerants to various
locations so they could be filmed. That that still hasn't
properly been addressed by the ABC. The OBC has got
a history, of course of coming up here and doing
you know, production jobs. Four Corners in particular doing a

(31:02):
very big production job. Obviously, the one that prompted the
Royal Commission was it was a significant investigation, but I
think largely reviewed by people as a bit of a
beat up.

Speaker 7 (31:12):
The image of.

Speaker 6 (31:15):
A detainer in a spitthood was confronting in a restraint chair,
confronting image.

Speaker 7 (31:19):
But the subsequent Royal Commission uncovered you know a lot.

Speaker 1 (31:23):
Of other issues and a lot of other areas where
they needed to be some serious.

Speaker 6 (31:26):
Work, and no civil prosecutions were made. You know, seventy
six dollars that went into that Royal Commission could have
been spend elsewhere in the juvenile justice system. And this
is this investigation by the by four corners. Obviously we
don't quite know where it's going, but it is about
the private security companies.

Speaker 4 (31:42):
And the only thing to say really from my perspective
is that journalism plays a really important part. So I
encourage you know, journalistic investigations a show like this, but
again there's there's ethics that have to come within that
and so they have to abide by I'm not sure
exactly what it's called in but there'll be journalistic to
get there.

Speaker 3 (32:01):
It's interesting that that any kind of broadcaster is coming
here to do these stories because you don't have to
go very far, Like you literally have to walk outside
your place, your house and go down to the shops
and you'll see all those security guards. I mean in
Palmerston alone, we even have security guards at our library.
I mean you can't even go and read a book
in peace without having security guards right there. That is

(32:22):
the state in which we're in right now. And so
for the Minister to be sort of reviewing these security measures,
that's that's like part of the story. I mean, the
reason why there is security there is because of.

Speaker 1 (32:33):
The Christians that they're sort of more looking at, you know,
where they are currently operating, whether there's a greater need
for them in other areas.

Speaker 2 (32:41):
And with the next everywhere case there is at the moment.

Speaker 1 (32:43):
Yeah, But my understanding as well is that it was
looking at the funding and that funding had previously gone
through the Department of Chief means it's now going through
police and so whether that sort of means that the
police are in any way going to be held sort
of accountable if there is a situation at any point
in time where a security guard potentially is doing something
that might be deemed unlawful. Whose shoulders does it then

(33:06):
fall upon, I guess is the question that you may ask.

Speaker 6 (33:09):
And Letterminal the Police Association position is quite interesting because
they called when Nathan got in, I think he wanted
an edgile two hundred officers recruited.

Speaker 7 (33:19):
There's certainly been no movement on that as far as
I can gather it.

Speaker 6 (33:21):
And these security guards, I understand, do take a fair
bit of the burden out of you know, if police
are filling out a report, for instance, it takes a
couple of hours on an incident.

Speaker 7 (33:31):
You know, there's the officers off the.

Speaker 6 (33:32):
Street at the time, and the security guards say that
they fill in that that sort of stock gap role.

Speaker 4 (33:36):
And there's a police resource review underway at the moment,
which will be reported back in the near future, so
that'll that'll be part of that review, which is important.

Speaker 5 (33:46):
Right.

Speaker 4 (33:46):
So when you've got a finite amount of resources, you
have to review where they're best spent, where they're best
used utilized, and that's I think that's good business practice, right.

Speaker 5 (33:55):
If you're running a business, you review your business.

Speaker 4 (33:57):
If you're running your government, you review your government regard
to what area it is you've got to try and
get the best bang for buck, and we have a
limited or it's not infinite amount of resources.

Speaker 1 (34:07):
We're going to take a bit of a break. You
are listening to Mix one O four nine's three sixty.
It is the week that was and in the studio
with us this morning Murray Cleare boothby cam Smith and
Joel Bowden, and well throughout the week we have been
contacted by a number of pregnant women raising concerns about
not being able to book in for ultrasounds. So I
dig get an email from one mum before we caught

(34:29):
up with Maddie another expectant mum who joined us on
the show. But the mum who'd sent through an email said,
as a long standing resident of this region and to
mother expecting her third child, I'm appalled by the gross
ind adequacy of qualified sonographers to conduct a routine twelve
week ultrasound scan, a standard procedure crucial for ensuring the

(34:50):
well being of both the unborn child and the expectant mum.
It's simply unacceptable that a supposedly advanced healthcare system cannot
provide a fundamental service within a reasonable time frame after
being referred for my ultrasound. Over six weeks ago, I
contacted IMED Radiology at the Darwen Private Hospital, only to
be told that they're unable to accommodate my appointment due

(35:12):
to a lack of adequately qualified staff. Their proposed solution
a spot on a vague waiting list with no guarantee
of being seen within the medically recommended window. My subsequent
attempts to secure an appointment at other radiology clinics in
Darwin were equally ineffective, as each one redirected me back

(35:32):
to either IMED or Catherine. Now we actually caught up
with one of the well the owner of the sonography
place in Catherine, who'd said to us that, yeah, Katie,
on average about ten people a week going to Catherine
for either pregnancy scans or also you know, different other
medical scans that they might not be able to book in.

Speaker 2 (35:54):
For up here in the top end.

Speaker 1 (35:56):
Now, the Health Department's been back to us and said
pregnant women are generally cared for by a primary care
provider such as a GP, who's going to provide advice
and refer patients for scans through the private or public
health system. And the twelfth to sixteen week scan can
be performed by INTEA Health with no delay experienced by patients.

(36:16):
So I'm not sure exactly where the breakdown is here
or what exactly is going on, but we have got
pregnant women in the Northern Territory right now pretty concerned
that they're not able to get their scans, some making
the trip to Catherine to do it there and then
come back.

Speaker 3 (36:31):
Katie. When I was pregnant, and I've been pregnant twice
with my two boys, of course, there is no way
that I would want to drive to Catherine to get
a scan. I mean, we live in a jurisdiction of
more than one hundred thousand people. We have hospitals, both
private and public. That's the fact that you cannot get
in to have a scan during a really important part
of your journey into having children is an absolute disgrace.

(36:56):
I mean, this is what happens when you have ten
billion dollars worth of debt and nothing to show for it.
You can't even fix our health system. I mean, we
have the cost of even crime that we've spoken about
at length on this show that is impacting our health system.
The government pays millions of dollars in security at the hospitals.
We can't get nurses or workers here to work because

(37:20):
they don't feel safe. I mean, it's constantly crippling our
health system. And of course it's people. It's Territorians and
mothers who are just trying to get a scan that
now have to go and again change all of their
life just so they can go to Catherine and back.
I mean that's a seven hour round trip in a day.

Speaker 1 (37:37):
I will say, I have both my kids through the
public health system here in the Northern Territory. I mean
I'm talking ten and twelve years ago. But I was
able to book in for all my scans and able
to do everything in the way in which I needed to.

Speaker 2 (37:48):
So I was pretty surprised.

Speaker 1 (37:49):
When I heard this story and when we had mums
get in contact with us. Now they were going through
the public system, so I will make that very clear,
not through the private system. They were going through the
public health system. But fundamentally, you do want to make
sure that you're able to actually do all of those
different scans and different things that you want to do
for your baby. To make sure you know, this is

(38:11):
the first time for some people at being a mum,
and you want to make sure or Dad, you know,
I know you're not getting the scans.

Speaker 4 (38:17):
But as being parents, Tatie, I was there with my
wife and we had our four and I was at
every scan and we made sure that we got the
appropriate scans. We went through the public health system as
well admdtlely when we were in Melbourne we had our children.
But it is really important, it's really important to have
those scans, especially I think the twenty week scanned as well.
My understanding is that anyone who needs a twenty week

(38:39):
scan is able to get it, and from time to
time there are just some delays. But my understanding, as
I've been advised, is that all women who need a
twenty week scan are able to get it and that
hasn't been an issue.

Speaker 1 (38:50):
Well, look, we are going to catch up with the
Department of Health this morning after ten o'clock.

Speaker 2 (38:54):
But you know, I mean at the end of the day, we.

Speaker 1 (38:58):
Do live in a public I mean a capital city
where you want to make sure that you're able to,
you know, if you need to see a doctor, if
you need to get a scan. Because we've also had
people contact us saying that they've been on waiting lists
for extended periods of time for things like MRIs others
saying that they need specific types of scans that they've
actually got to travel into state for.

Speaker 2 (39:18):
And so you do wonder at.

Speaker 1 (39:19):
What cost to the taxpayer then when we are having
to send people into state for those different types of scans.

Speaker 2 (39:25):
And I would never ever.

Speaker 1 (39:27):
Begrudge someone of being able to go away and get
those scans and do those those different things that they
need medically, But you do just wonder is it a
staffing issue for us in the territory, What exactly is
the go and why are people not able to get,
you know, what they need?

Speaker 2 (39:43):
Basically, I look forward to hearing your.

Speaker 6 (39:45):
Interview after tend with Health because that written response you
just read out was gobbledygook.

Speaker 7 (39:49):
Who say anything?

Speaker 3 (39:51):
I didn't say what the mothers were telling you. It's
a completely different story.

Speaker 1 (39:57):
And the thing is here, it's not just sort of
one mum that's been in tap with us.

Speaker 2 (40:00):
It's a whole It's a whole heap of mums.

Speaker 1 (40:03):
And I know nine News Darwin had said on their
news the night before last they'd spoken to one mother
who'd gone through the same situation, and they said that
they'd spoken to at least ten other mothers off you know,
off air as well as space.

Speaker 3 (40:16):
Thic essential services, Katie. I mean, if we cannot get
these here in the territory, then people will just make
decisions to leave. And that's we cannot so lat any
more people leave the territory when we're trying to attract
new people here.

Speaker 2 (40:30):
We need to have the.

Speaker 3 (40:31):
Government that is working to ensure that all of these
essential services are actually happening. And you know, like I said,
if you've got ten billion dollars a day, you've got
no money in the cupboard left to go and raid
it and you continue to have to work on these
issues that are just just deteriorating our society. Look, it
doesn't give us any confidence that things are going to change.

Speaker 1 (40:49):
Look, we are going to need to take a bit
of a break. You're listening to Mix one oh four
nine's three p.

Speaker 2 (40:53):
Sixty.

Speaker 1 (40:54):
It is the week that was and in the studio
with us this morning Murray clear boothby cam Smith and
Joel Bow and well throughout the week we have been
contacted by a number of pregnant women raising concerns about
not being able to book in for ultrasounds. So I
dig in an email from one mum before we caught
up with Maddie another expectant mum who joined us on

(41:15):
the show. But the mum who'd sent through an email said,
as a long standing resident of this region and a
mother expecting her third child, I'm appalled by the gross
in adequacy of qualified sonographers to conduct a routine twelve
week ultrasound scan, a standard procedure crucial for ensuring the
well being of both the unborn child.

Speaker 2 (41:34):
And the expectant mum.

Speaker 1 (41:36):
It's simply unacceptable that a supposedly advanced healthcare system cannot
provide a fundamental service within a reasonable time frame. After
being referred to my ultrasound over six weeks ago, I
contacted imed radiology at the Darwin Private Hospital, only to
be told that they're unable to accommodate my appointment due
to a lack of adequately qualified staff. Their proposed solution

(41:59):
a spot on a vague waiting list with no guarantee
of being seen within the medically recommended window. My subsequent
attempts to secure an appointment at other radiology clinics in
Darwin were equally ineffective, as each one redirected me back
to either IMD or Catherine. Now, we actually caught up
with one of the owner of the sonography place in

(42:23):
Catherine who'd said to us that, yeah, Katie, on average,
about ten people a week going to Catherine for either
pregnancy scans or also you know, different other medical scans
that they might not be able to book in for
up here in the top end. Now, the Health Department's
been back to us and said pregnant women are generally
cared for by a primary care provider such as a GP,

(42:45):
who's going to provide advice and refer patients for scans
through the private or public health system, and the twelfth
to sixteen week scan can be performed by intee health
with no delay experienced by patients. So I'm not sure
exactly where the breakdown is here or what exactly is
going on, but we have got pregnant women in the
Northern Territory right now pretty concerned that they're not able

(43:08):
to get their scans, some making the trip to Catherine
to do it there and then come back.

Speaker 3 (43:14):
Katie, when I was pregnant, I've been pregnant twice with
my two boys. Of course, there is no way that
I would want to drive to Catherine to get a scan.
I mean, we live in a jurisdiction of more than
one hundred thousand people. We have hospitals, both private and public.
That's the fact that you cannot get in to have
a scan during a really important part of your journey

(43:35):
into having children is an absolute disgrace. I mean, this
is what happens when you have ten billion dollars worth
of debt and nothing to show for it. You can't
even fix our health system. I mean, we have the
cost of even crime that we've spoken about at length
on this show that is impacting our health system. The
government pays millions of dollars in security at the hospitals.

(43:58):
We can't get nurses or workers here to work because
they don't feel safe. I mean, it's constantly crippling our
health system. And of course it's people. It's territorians and
mothers who are just trying to get a scan that
now have to go and again change all of their
life just so they can go to Catherine and bark.
I mean that's a seven hour round trip in a day.

Speaker 1 (44:19):
I will say, I have both my kids through the
public health system here in the Northern Territory. I mean
I'm talking ten and twelve years ago, but I was
able to book in for all my scans and able
to do everything in the way in which I needed to.
So I was pretty surprised when I heard this story
and when we had mums get in contact with us.
Now they were going through the public system, so I
will make that very clear, not through the private system,

(44:40):
they were going through the public health system. But fundamentally,
you do want to make sure that you're able to
actually do all of those different scans and different things
that you want to do for your baby, to make
sure you you know, this is the first time for
some people at being a mum and you want to
make sure or dad, you know, I know you're not
getting the scans.

Speaker 4 (45:00):
But as bang parents, Katie, I was there with my
wife and we had our four and I was at
every scan and we made sure that we got the
appropriate scans.

Speaker 5 (45:09):
We went through the public health system as well.

Speaker 4 (45:11):
Admittedly when we were in Melbourne we had our children,
but it is really important.

Speaker 5 (45:15):
It's really important to have.

Speaker 4 (45:16):
Those scans, especially I think the twenty week scanned as well.
My understanding is that anyone who needs a twenty week
scan is able to get it, and from time to
time there are just some delays. But my understanding, as
I've been advised, is that all women who need a
twenty week scan are able to get it and that
hasn't been an issue.

Speaker 1 (45:33):
Well, look, we are going to catch up with the
Department of Health this morning after ten o'clock.

Speaker 2 (45:37):
But you know, I mean, at the end of the day, we.

Speaker 1 (45:40):
Do live in a public I mean in a capital
city where you want to make sure that you're able to,
you know, if you need to see a doctor, if
you need to get a scan. Because we've also had
people contact us saying that they've been on waiting lists
for extended periods of time for things like MRIs, others
saying that they need specific types of scans that they've
actually got to travel into date for.

Speaker 2 (46:00):
And so you do.

Speaker 1 (46:01):
Wonder at what cost to the taxpayer then when we
are having to send people into state for those different
types of scans.

Speaker 2 (46:08):
And I would never ever.

Speaker 1 (46:09):
Begrudge someone of being able to go away and get
those scans and do those those different things that they
need medically, but you do just wonder, is it a
staffing issue for us in the territory, what exactly is
the go and why are people.

Speaker 2 (46:23):
Not able to get you know, what they need? Basically,
I look forward to hearing.

Speaker 6 (46:27):
Your interview after ten with Health because that written response
you just read out.

Speaker 7 (46:31):
Was a gobbledygook who say anything.

Speaker 3 (46:33):
I didn't say what the mothers were telling you, completely
different story.

Speaker 1 (46:39):
And the thing is here, it's not just sort of
one mum that's been in contact with.

Speaker 2 (46:43):
Us, It's a whole It's a whole heap of mums.

Speaker 1 (46:45):
And I know nine News Darwin had said on their
news the night before last they'd spoken to one mother
who'd gone through the same situation, and they said that
they'd spoken to at least ten other mothers of off
air as.

Speaker 3 (46:58):
Well as So take essential versus Katie. I mean, if
we cannot get these here in the territory, then people
will just make decisions to leave. And that's we cannot
The last thing you want any more people leave the
territory when we're trying to attract new people here. We
need to have the government that is working to ensure
that all of these essential services are actually happening. And

(47:18):
you know, like I said, if you've got ten billion
dollars a day, you've got no money in the cupboard
left to go and raid it, and you continue to
have to work on these issues that are just just
deteriorating our society. Look, it doesn't give us any confidence
that things are going to change.

Speaker 1 (47:32):
Look, we are going to need to take a bit
of a break. You're listening to Mix one O four
nine's three sixty. It is the week that was only
a few minutes left with our guests in the studio
for the week that was this morning, Joel About and
Cam Smith and Murray Clare Boothby and well the voice.
We are just a week away from the referendum. A
lot of people already gone out to early vote. But yeah,

(47:53):
things got quite interesting, I think you'd have to say
over the last twenty four hours. The Independent Senator Lydia
Thorpe has said the Australian Federal Police have failed to
protect her after becoming the target of a far right
extremist racial abuse. Now, the Indigenous senator was tagged in
a video of a masked neo Nazi burning an Aboriginal

(48:13):
flag while performing a Nazi salute this week. It was appalling,
absolutely appalling to see anybody doing that, anybody burning the
indigenous flag.

Speaker 2 (48:24):
I thought was horrible.

Speaker 1 (48:26):
She really came out affuming though, and had taken aim
at Anthony Albanesi. She Senator Thought made allegations at the
Prime Minister Anthony Albanesi and the AFP are not doing
enough to protect her from the far right. She said,
his violent force that he sent to protect me can't

(48:46):
even protect me. Refuse to protect the black sovereign woman
because the police are part of the problem in this country,
she said, And she said, you want to paint me
as an angry black woman, well you're about to see
an angry black woman. And she was absolutely irate. Now,
in addition to that, we also saw yesterday well Australian

(49:09):
treasure Ray Martin coppying a bit of flak after he'd
said people that subscribe to the slogan if you don't know,
vote no or either dinosaurs or dickheads. Now, I've got
to tell you, there is just so much division around
the place at the moment, and that's what I'm finding
really very difficult. And I know that for a lot

(49:30):
of us, that's how we're feeling. There's a lot of
particularly Northern Territory families that you know, out like my family,
all my nieces and nephews are Indigenous. We're like, we're
such a multicultural place and right now all of Australia
just feels like they're fighting with each other.

Speaker 4 (49:46):
Yeah, and that's the unfortunate part about this, and Peter
Dutton needs to take a lot of responsibility for that
because it's a very simple proposition.

Speaker 5 (49:54):
It's an invitation from Aboriginal people for recognition. That's all
it is.

Speaker 4 (49:59):
And if you we don't accept the invitation to recognize
Aboriginal people who've been here for over sixty thousand.

Speaker 5 (50:04):
Years, then that's okay.

Speaker 4 (50:06):
But to use it as Dunton and the conservative side
of politics have for division and for these types of
incidents is really disappointing. And as you said, you know
your friends and family are Indigenous, My friends and family indigious.
Young Connor Bowden who's volunteering his time and doing TikTok
shows to try and explain that to people who is

(50:27):
being attacked and it's unacceptable. And this division, but also
the far right, the far left, the whatever, the extremest
element that's come out is so disappointing because we should
recognize Abriginal people. We do in the Northern territory we
live side by side, and that's I think what the
proposition is very simple, can we recognize Aboriginal people.

Speaker 1 (50:47):
Look, I got no issue with people sort of questioning
the way in which it's going to be made up,
questioning how big a difference it may or.

Speaker 2 (50:54):
May not make.

Speaker 1 (50:54):
Like I've got no issue with people having those constructive
debates and asking questions said. A lot of Aussies have
got questions about But I just think that when we
end up in the gutter, it's a pretty sad way
for us to be.

Speaker 7 (51:11):
In my view of the.

Speaker 6 (51:12):
Voice to Parliament was almost dead on arrival when both
parties are posed it. When it was first release, Turnbull
was Prime Minister said it would be a third chamber
short and I believe it posed it was a bit ambuilt,
and then came on board some time later. But that
that space that was given around the third Chamber, that
that was a very bad start for it.

Speaker 7 (51:31):
Malcolm Turnbull's out there now a supporter of the Voice.
He had an.

Speaker 6 (51:34):
Opportunity some years ago to get on the front foot
and support the Voice and he didn't do that, and
it really it's been a very tough road for it
since then that those sixty percent polling figures from earlier
this year must have been sort of born more out
of optimies and I think than actual reality. And where
it's at now, it's very hard to see the votes

(51:55):
going back up to you know.

Speaker 1 (51:57):
It's going to be it is going to be interesting
to skating everyone to take it out and to have
their say no, ye's to vote, because that's what it's
there for.

Speaker 3 (52:04):
And you know, we just need to all be very
respectful of each other about this. I mean, nobody wants
to see the scenes that you're describing across our nation.

Speaker 5 (52:12):
And you can vote early.

Speaker 4 (52:13):
You can vote earlier in the street or you can
vote early down near Kingpin near the airport there.

Speaker 5 (52:17):
I went yesterday and voted, very easy going. Took me
a couple of minutes.

Speaker 1 (52:21):
Now that's it for this morning. It's been a busy morning,
there's no doubt about that. Murray Clare Boothby from the COLP,
thank you so much for your time today.

Speaker 3 (52:29):
Thank you, Katie, and have a wonderful weekend.

Speaker 1 (52:30):
Jam Smith from the NT News, thank you so much
for your time.

Speaker 7 (52:33):
Coreact to be here.

Speaker 2 (52:34):
Katy and Joel Bowden from.

Speaker 1 (52:35):
The Labour Party, thank you so much for your time
and the Nightcliff Tigers Football.

Speaker 5 (52:39):
Club, Thank you, Kurtie the Pass and Mac Pass. Good
luck to the Tigers this weekend.

Speaker 2 (52:43):
Thank you all so much for your time.