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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Now political party in Queensland says young offenders would be
relocated to outback detention camps for intensive rehabilitation in an
effort to tackle the crime crisis being experienced in the state.
The Queensland Relocation Sentencing Proposal was announced on Monday, alongside
a report outlining how the proposal would work by Kata's

(00:21):
Australia Party. The mandatory program would see repeat youth offenders
housed in demountable buildings where they'd be tasked with cooking,
cleaning and vocational training.

Speaker 2 (00:31):
Now joining me on the line is.

Speaker 1 (00:33):
Robbie Catter, who is the leader of Kata's Australia Party
and member for Traeger.

Speaker 2 (00:38):
Good morning to you, Good morning Kay, Thanks so much
for your time this morning. Robbie.

Speaker 1 (00:43):
Now I'm quite intrigued by this obviously. You are the
member that covers well my hometown of Mount Isa and
all the way up to Charter's Towers, where I know
that you guys have had quite a few issues when
it comes to youth crime.

Speaker 3 (01:00):
We do, o Cady, and yet Wolf is a big
still a big name in Mount Isa where I live. Yeah,
and it's great to be a challenging up in the
north I love going up there. The question was what
the youth crime gripping Queensland. Yeah, so it's you know,
it's been escalating as it seems to be another part

(01:21):
of the country, but it's been escalating fairly rapidly over
the last five years to say would be fairly accurate.
And then we've we came up with a concept. Well
we didn't come up with it. It was put to us
about seven years ago now that you should do it
the same way first Australians, did you know they send
people out of us, get them away, out of the camp,

(01:44):
playing up, send him away. And as conversation Dad was
having some elders somewhere and he put it to us,
and we kept road testing it the last let's say
seven years now, but eventually said, look, let's put a policy,
a former policy together where a might party. We've only
got four MPs here in Queensland, so we don't have

(02:04):
great resources, so you know, detailed policy is always difficult
for us to justify, but we did that with this
because it's such a burning issue and like a lot
of answers are really obvious to people who are out
in the bush like I am in Maunt Eisa. They're
really obvious to us, but not to people in the city.
And already we've got people saying, oh, well, you know, yes,

(02:25):
so if you put these things in Charterstowers or Mount Either,
we know we're not saying maunt either. We're saying you're
and danger or remote mining teme in the middle of nowhere.
So people just don't even understand the basics of what
we're saying, and you always assume you do. And that's
been the hard thing of the years. But now we've
put a formal policy together, the government's taking notice and yes,
so I put a question. Now Premier and Queensland for

(02:46):
the first time ever, she's saying, well, yeah, maybe we
will have a look at this. And instead of just
saying no and being stubborn about.

Speaker 1 (02:53):
It, well, we've got to do things differently, right, like
the way that we're the way that we're approaching the
issues with his crime at the moment, like it doesn't
seem to be working. In fact, what we're seeing right
around Australia it seems to be an increase in youth crime.
Robbie talk us through some of what has happened in
the likes of Mount Aser in recent weeks. I understand

(03:13):
that you know, a counselor who I know, Kim Coglin,
was basically run down by a vehicle with children in it.
Correct me if I'm wrong, But there's quite there's been
quite a bit going on.

Speaker 3 (03:26):
Oh well, yeah, Cogo, I think I'm pretty sure I
was the first person you called that morning. I got
a plane and in their eyeser and it was just
like a war zone. So six kids have been in
a car for about almost ten hours running people down,
I should say allegedly, but they smashed in the cogo
in the main street or a number of people. Other

(03:48):
people I knew deliberately ran and deliberately ran people down.
Keep going to school on multiple school campuses, fashion through
Gates tried to run a gardener down twice, which could
been fatal for all these people, but they jumped out
of the road and it hits was great, and they
just eventually just they pulled up around the fuel whatever

(04:08):
it was. And they've really just put the town and
shock and and that's you know, we've like our springs done,
and we've been pretty hardened already with the events that
what's been happening. But this was extreme so we just
keep getting things happening all the time, making worse and worse,
and the government, you know, it's generating so much anger

(04:32):
because the government hasn't said, yes, we know it's really bad,
we're trying to do this. They just keep saying we're
on top of it and it's getting better, and that
probably makes it worse for people. So yeah, anyway, the
kids don't have a consequence. That's the main issue we've
got at the moment. The magistrate can say I'll put
in Cleveland Bay, but a lot of my corpor mates

(04:53):
have told me mate, some of the kids are saying
I wanted to to Cleveland when friends of them reel's there,
it's you. They're centivized go there. So that's not a
consequence or a deterrent. And the other the other option
for a magistrate Queensland is to put them back on
the street. By then ready care back in the home,
so they continue playing up. So we're trying to create
a third option. We say no, mate, you'll go on

(05:15):
for the next twelve months. You're going to be out
on the northern nat border, out in a remote camp.
There's only ten or twenty people, not with one hundred
and fifty people. Are you're on the youth detention center.
Are you're guaranteed to catch up with your friends and olives.
You're going to deliberately be split from those groups and
those bad influences. And the beauty of that is, you know,
the people that want want justice and one that kid
to suffer consequence, they get satisfied, but also people are

(05:38):
trying to rehabilitate the kid. That's the best platforms you
get to turn them around. Because I've been out, Katie.
You'll go to ere and Anti State School. You go there,
be team kids there, lovely kid and get them away
from mount either about input their lovely kids and then
you can start to work with them. But you've got
them in a remote setting where they're away and they're isolated.
That's where you can work with them. So we can
turn this around to be able to force them to

(06:01):
do it. And at the moment the government wants a
kiss and cuddle and so I know you start. These
kids need a firm hand at the start to get
them on the right track. And that'll take twelve months.
So that's all we're pushing and I think it's gone
pretty well.

Speaker 1 (06:13):
And so Robbie at this point in time, I mean,
just explain to our listeners. You've sort of like you've
sort of explained it there. Obviously, these kids will be
going out to you know, to sort of a relocation
camp for intensive rehabilitation. What kind of programs and what
kind of things would they then be involved in.

Speaker 3 (06:30):
No, you know, trade, civil trades and you know, I
think it's horses for courses. Like so if there's one
situated down the Southwest or closer to Brisbane, there's probably
going to be a difference as subtle differences and activities
that you provide there then you would in north Coins.
And so you know Northwest there's a lot of cattle industry,

(06:51):
it's mining, a lot of council roadworks and stuff. And
if most of us leave in school, that's the sort
of stuff we're thinking about in terms of getting work.
You want to you know, if you're smart about it,
you'd be trying to relate it to things that they
can see where there's a good future for them and
where they might see their uncles or Arnie's working and
and but you've got a bold education into there, and

(07:14):
most of those activities they're trying to they're trying to
do in town. You still want to try and provide
those in that platform, but also some trade skills so
that you know, the kids can see a link between
this behavior and reform and where they can be in
the future. That's a really important part of it. And
you know, it comes back to that point that kids,

(07:36):
they're not all fundamentally bad. A lot of them just
bored and lack direction. So if you can give them
the skills and the right influences, I think we could
turn a lot of them around.

Speaker 1 (07:45):
Robbie has like has the plan had the backing of
local indigenous groups in Mount iSER or in Queensland.

Speaker 3 (07:54):
Yeah, you know, I haven't got a part of ten
people stand behind me, but I would say at least
fifty percent of the people come mine office in our
eyes are Aboriginal saying do something about this. This is
no good, you know. And some of them say that
our grandkids are our kids. But we you know, we
haven't got control you to do something about this, And
usually their views a lot harsher in the mind, I

(08:15):
don't we need military conscription or but when you always
say but whenever you suggest subtenly it's just what about
sending our bus. They always they bloody oaf, that's what
we should be doing our boys. That'll tide him up.
So they want justice and discipline as much as anyone. Yeah,
and I mean why wouldn't they. They just it's common
sense in this logic, and they care for the kids

(08:36):
and they want to see them turned around. But they
understand just as well as anyone that it requires discipline
sometimes and a bit of a shock to them to
turn them around.

Speaker 1 (08:46):
And so at this point in time, Anastasia Palichet, the
premiere there in Queensland, she so you asked her a
question about this in parliament yesterday and what she's committed
to having a bit of a closer look into it.

Speaker 3 (08:57):
Yeah. So pointedly I asked the question boy twelve months
ago and you just stood up and said no, and
question on that back down? Would you consider? But with
all the momentum we've got here in Queensland the media now,
the answer was quite different yesterday was let you know,
let's have a look at that. She said, we're already
to do an on country program, which was in my

(09:18):
view of response to pressure we put on them the
same issue a few years ago where they made that
voluntary participation and so everything in Queensland is opt in. Yeah,
you will politely going to the door of these houses,
the social workers going to door of his house phone
excuse me. I know Johnny's playing up and he just
swears that the all the time, but would he come out,
you know, for the next couple of months on country

(09:38):
program with it. Guess what the answer is like they
had trouble getting the kid. So you need to make
it a sentence thing. And we've got the support actually,
Keith Hamburger, another academic in towns Will who's worked in
the golf and the cape for many years with Keith
hamburg who was the Director General of Corrected Services and
Queensland for nine years, which is very long time to

(09:59):
be a DG the head of corrector Services for nine years,
through different political parties in government, so and needs come
out strongly supporting it. So this is this is the
only way forward for these kids as you need this
from my sentencing. So there's academic support, there's been support
next police people coming out in the mainstream media here
in Queensland. So it's yeah, look something's going to common sense. Yeah,

(10:24):
I've got to change and it's cheap too. Katie's building
a building a mining camp in the middle of nowhere
and out of demandables and putting your water and powering
that to hell a lot cheaper than building that they've announced.
In Queensland, they're going to spend half a billion dollars
on building two new youth detention centers which currently have
ninety five percent recidivism. So you're going to build a

(10:47):
thing that doesn't work in the city where kids aren't
scared of going the couldn't care less about going there.
Actually someone might want to go there, and you're going
to They're going to double down on that, spend more
money on that. A small fraction of that could fund
what we're proposing.

Speaker 1 (11:01):
Yeah, hey, before I let you go this morning, I'm
sure that you are aware of some of the situations
that we go through here in the Northern Territory, I
mean in Alice Springs. Obviously, those alcohol restrictions they were
introduced in an effort to try and curb.

Speaker 2 (11:14):
Some of what we are experiencing.

Speaker 1 (11:16):
We've spoken to the mayor of mounta iSER Well a
few months ago now and she said that there were
bus loads of people from the Northern territory heading to
the ISA. Is that still the case.

Speaker 3 (11:29):
I believe that, yeah, that you know, it's cyclical, or
you might even say seasonal, so you can't sort of
say happened every month, or it comes in ways that
using Manier radios where there's been influx or itinerants. But
definitely there's are still a very strong presence of people
coming in from the Northern territory and it's pretty obvious

(11:52):
and honestly there's no effort at all from the Queensland
government or the federal government to address that despite many deputations.
I've had one minute that sort of took a bit
of interest there last year, but it's there's no investment
in that. And it's very frustrating because you know, just
displacing people and putting in an alcohol band here and

(12:13):
forcing them become a mount eyes that doesn't help anyone.
You know, you haven't helped the problem law. You just
displaced and moved the problem.

Speaker 1 (12:21):
Moved it somewhere else here and that's you know, that's
been a concern that's raised here in the territory as well,
people sort of wondering if if you've got a situation
where we've got an alcohol band in Alice and they
then go into places like Catherine to be able to
access alcohol. And you know, it is one of those
things that we are certainly grappling with here in the territory.

Speaker 2 (12:38):
But tell you what, it sounds like.

Speaker 1 (12:40):
It's tough going in Mount Era and in Queensland at
the moment as well with this issue of youth crime,
and something has to be done differently.

Speaker 2 (12:46):
We've got to, you know, we need to make some change.

Speaker 3 (12:50):
We dedicated and yeah, a lot of you know, it's
a lot of personal pressure on this one itself, and
it's precisely what my job is in state politics try
and facilitate change. It has been very frustrating for a
government that for five years of trying to tell us
there wasn't even a problem in the first place. We know,
the fairly keeps saying yeah, well now they keep saying
we just got to keep doing what we're doing, but
do it better. And we said, no, you need to

(13:12):
completely change what you're doing and listen to people on
the ground. You know, people in regional areas can have
good ideas too. This is not our idea, we borrow
it off someone else, but it makes a lot of
sense and I think could represent part of the answer.
So our job is to not just have the idea
but make sure it gets adopted and that's a tricky part.

Speaker 1 (13:33):
Well, Robbie Katter, the leader of kata's Australia Party and
also the member for Treger. We really appreciate your time
this morning. Thanks very much for coming on the show.

Speaker 3 (13:42):
It's great to chat Katie all the best.

Speaker 2 (13:43):
Yeah you too. Thank you.
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