Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
We have just heard of course from the Chief Minister Leofanocchiaro,
who has said that well, you know, the swift ascent
of these laws and the lowering of the age of
criminal responsibility, amongst other things, is all really in an
effort to help the police to really deal with offenders
and be more in line with the community's expectations when
(00:23):
it comes with the issues of crime that we've been
seeing over years.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
It is going to.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
Mean that police have got greater powers. And joining me
in the studio is Nathan Finn, the president of the
Northern Territory Police Association.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
Good morning to your Finny.
Speaker 3 (00:36):
Good morning, Katy, Good morning to your listeners.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
Now talk me through.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
I mean, we spoke last week about these changes, but
they are now officially in force and ready for the
Northern Territory Police to use. Finny, what's been the reaction
from members in relation to these legislative changes, Katie.
Speaker 4 (00:54):
I can confirm that our members are very positive about
the changes that they're coming through and the government that's
actually listening to them to make these as possible. The
support that our members are feeling out in the street,
they are supported. They're getting on with what they need
to do and supporting this government to make sure we
can tackle crime and make sure we can lower these
crime as well. And members are very supportive. They're feeling supported.
(01:15):
You'll see a lot more police out and about on
the streets. They're happy with the support they're getting provided
and that's something they want to reiterate to the government.
Thank you for listening, Thank you for listening to our
hard working members out there, and thank you for working
with us to make sure that we can keep this
Northern Territory community as safe as we possibly can.
Speaker 1 (01:31):
So how exactly do the changes roll out, because the
legislation it would be quite a bit for them police
officers to wrap their heads around because they've got to
make sure they're doing it all lawfully and properly.
Speaker 4 (01:41):
Now, yeah, definitely CAATIE. So there's a number of number
of factors that take into play. The legislation gets drafted,
the legislator gets put into play. We create training packages
within the Northern Territory Police Force. It's rolled out to
members if it's any complicated legislation, which some of this
is to make sure their members know what they can
and can't do and to make sure they're complying with
their legislation as well to make sure they can gain
(02:02):
the maximum benefit of this legislation and make sure they're
holding people to account.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
Finni, do you reckon?
Speaker 1 (02:08):
We are going to see a lot more people really
wind up in jail or on remand as a result
of some of the legislative changes.
Speaker 4 (02:18):
We're hoping we see some people that deserve to be there,
that continue to commit criminal offenses such as your breach
of bails, your serious violence offenses that we continually see,
and that the revolving door we see around bail, we're
hoping that more people remain in custody until they get their.
Speaker 3 (02:31):
Day in court.
Speaker 4 (02:32):
Now, whether the court has capacity for that, that's something
that they need to discuss, but we're saying that given
the number of people on remand, the court hasn't got
that capacity, so there must be some action taken in
in that space to make sure that people aren't held
on remand forever.
Speaker 1 (02:47):
And yeah, and we did speak about that with the
Chief Minister just a short time ago as well. I'm
not sure whether you heard, but we had we'd spoken
about that, and she said that they are looking at
probably about ten different measures to try to really get
things sped up within the court process. So whether it
is being able to have more prisoners able to actually
(03:07):
hook up with their lawyers and with the judge through
the actual prison system, whether it's a situation where there
is another judge appointed and things get moving more quickly
through the court system.
Speaker 4 (03:18):
There's a lot of delays in the criminal justice system, Katie,
as you can imagine, there's a number of people in
Romand with a large percentage of the prisons in the
correction facility are in Remand. To speed up this process,
you could use video link from the corrections instead of
us driving in the prisoner's into the courthouse physically. There's
a number of things that do and interstate as wise
as well. They have evening courts. They also have courts
(03:39):
on weekends as well, so that may be an option.
Speaker 3 (03:41):
To alleviate that pressure.
Speaker 4 (03:43):
I know the criminal justice and the judges are probably
go or don't say that, but understandably we need to
make sure that people have their right to have their
court matter raised in urgent fashion.
Speaker 2 (03:54):
Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (03:55):
We'd actually caught up with the Criminal Lawyers Association's Beth
Wild last week. She said, Katie, it could be as
simple as appointing another job another judge, I should say,
and making sure that you know that those cases are
able to push through all throughout the day. So even
she was coming up with some really good solutions that
seem quite.
Speaker 3 (04:14):
Workable, definitely, and that's what we need.
Speaker 4 (04:16):
We need to make sure it works for everything everyone involved,
to make sure that the people aren't sending romand and
make sure we've got enough lawyers, we've got enough judges
to make sure that this can happen. Our members don't
want to see people in court cases get dragged on
and dragged on. We want to see people have their
right of reply and if they're contesting the charges, they
have the right to contest those charges as well. But
our members need to make sure that we're looking after
(04:39):
the community and making sure that these people that choose
to commit a criminal offenses are where they belong and
actually getting punishment for what they're doing.
Speaker 1 (04:46):
Finny, one of the things that really struck me last
week was we had a crime series towards the middle
of last week around the Northern suburbs and we had
Dale Marta Barnard from Strikeforce Trident join us on the
show to talk further about it. He spoke about the
number of interactions that had been seen from the Northern
Territory Police with some of these offenders, but also the
(05:08):
fact that my understanding is that all of those alleged
defenders in that particular situation were on bail. You know,
to me, that indicates that we're doing something really wrong
at this point in time.
Speaker 4 (05:21):
If we're dealing with the same offenders that are currently
on bail for similar matters or violent matters. Unfortunately, the
system is wrong if they're out on bail again and
they're still committing criminal offenses. The number of involvements that
these people have with police, they're not interactions that me
and UKD have of get pulled over an RBT. That's
not involvement with police. That's not recorded in an incident
with police. It's in relation to a criminal activity or
(05:43):
an investigation that's taking place. So the involvement they're recorded
for is exactly that they've been looked at or being
a suspect or being involved in a criminal activity.
Speaker 1 (05:53):
Yeah, that was something I was keen to get to
the bottom of because I know that the opposition spokesperson
Daran Younger joined us on the week that was last week,
and he'd sort of questioned that why the number of
involvements was being mentioned by the Chief Minister or by anybody,
and whether you know that involvement was just for a
discussion that someone may have had with the Northern Territory Police.
Speaker 3 (06:13):
No, definitely, not where busy enough, Katie to it.
Speaker 4 (06:15):
Instead of recording every conversation we have out in the street,
they're not recorded on our computer systems. Unless there's any
specific action we need to take, they won't be recorded
on any involvements.
Speaker 1 (06:24):
Now, Finny, I want to ask you before I you know,
before we sort of wrap up this morning. Last week
there was actually a number of very dangerous situations as well,
incidents which saw police have to arrest offenders who had
allegedly driven their vehicles at them. I mean even in
Alice Springs over the weekend we saw stolen vehicles reportedly
(06:46):
driving around town throwing.
Speaker 2 (06:47):
Rocks out the car.
Speaker 1 (06:50):
Do you know how many assaults against police there were last.
Speaker 3 (06:53):
Week last week?
Speaker 4 (06:55):
From all reports, there's about fifteen to twenty against our members,
including a number of people involved in these pursuits and
traffic apprehensions we're seeing this time and time again targeting police.
We're trying to make these changes in legislation to make
sure these people are held responsible. But unfortunately, this sort
of behavior is not warranted. Katie and members are trying
to keep the public safe and they've got no they've
(07:16):
got a alter alternative to do what they need to do.
We just need stronger powers to make sure we can
stop these people and make sure we hold these people
to account. And unfortunately, this sort of behaving, in the
reckless behavior they engage in are going to result in
someone getting serious hurt or jury or death.
Speaker 1 (07:31):
Like, I know, our police are trained to deal with
these dangerous situations, but how like is is it frightening
for them knowing that they luck.
Speaker 4 (07:40):
When projectiles are being thrown out of a vehicle that's
traveling one hundred columers an hour or in excess and
they're sitting there, it's luck that no one gets hurt
or injured. Unfortunately, it's going to take something to happen
like this to make sure that we stop this sort
of behavior. It's unacceptable. It's just bewilders.
Speaker 3 (08:02):
It's not funny for them.
Speaker 1 (08:03):
Yeah, no, yeah, and look, you know some of what
we have seen over recent months and years as well.
Speaker 2 (08:08):
Is quite bewildering.
Speaker 1 (08:09):
I mean, even when you look at at the ram
raids et cetera that we've seen. We've now got the
ram raid offense, which is going to come into place.
We've also got the new boasting and posting, which I
think is absolutely needed. Do you think we're going to
run into any kind of difficulties with the posting and
boasting one to try and determine exactly who's sharing it
or you know, working that side.
Speaker 4 (08:29):
There's always challenges, especially dealing with social media and social
media companies and providing who provide the information. But again
that's something you're investigators will work through to make sure
that people are actually committing offenses against this legislation and
how to account. The positive thing with us, Katie and
the positi thing with the government is that's still reaching
out to us as of last week to make sure
is there anything else we can the police would like
to see to make sure that they feel supported in
(08:51):
the workplace and make sure they've got their ability and
capability to make sure that they can look after and
do their part to make sure the territory is safer.
Speaker 2 (08:57):
And is there anything you guys a bit.
Speaker 4 (08:58):
There's definitely a few things on the ball, Caddy, and
we've spoken to them on a number of occasions about
this and some positive changes to make sure that we
can free up the police on the front line to
do it. I actually need to do and respond to
jobs to make sure they're not stuck in an office.
They're mobile, so we've got mobile data terminals, et cetera.
We're looking at in respect to our vehicles to make
(09:19):
sure they're out in the street longer and for more
hours of the shift, to make sure they're more visible
to the public and make sure we've got the numbers
to actually respond to the levels of crime.
Speaker 2 (09:28):
How quickly do you reckon?
Speaker 1 (09:29):
We might start to see some of that because you
and I were speaking about this, probably I reckon like
a year and a half or a year ago about
the ability to be able to do some more work,
like to do some of that work while out on
the job, rather than having to come back into the
office and wasting time.
Speaker 4 (09:43):
Yeah, the fact is, Caddie, it's been neglected for a
long time, and we've seen that time and time again.
But we've actually got a government that's actually switched on
and making sure they're working with police and make sure
and they're giving us the ability to do our job
that we need to do and to make sure that
the community's being safe.
Speaker 3 (09:56):
We are being heard.
Speaker 4 (09:57):
These things take some time and with a change of
gam I've seen a lot of positive action come from
this gabment in the first two months of their term
and they're committed to working with our police and working
with the Executive of the Northern Territory Police Force and
the Northern Territory Police Association to make sure we can
improve things for police.
Speaker 1 (10:13):
For any quick question from one of our listeners, I
don't know whether you can answer this or not, but
it says, good morning Katie and Crystal. I'm not sure
if this has been raised, but what is the definition
of a responsible adult?
Speaker 2 (10:23):
Do we not like? I mean, it's a tough one, right.
Speaker 4 (10:27):
It's a definite tough one and we see this time
and time again. It's a frustration for.
Speaker 3 (10:30):
Our members as well. Katie.
Speaker 4 (10:32):
We've seen the roundabout of youth crime and dropping off
to responsible adults and who is responsible? That is a
number one question, Katie, and now my number one question.
If the person was responsible to start with their kids,
wouldn't be on the street committing criminal offenses. The responsible
adult needs to take responsibility of these kids or be
held responsible for what actions they take.
Speaker 1 (10:51):
And then on the flip side, like I've had a
couple of parents get in contact with me recently and
even a grandma get in contact with me recently and go, Katie,
we are screaming out for some help. I've got a
child that we are trying to, you know, to get
on the right track, but we're not getting you know,
like we've been referred to Territory Families and then there's
sort of been no movement past that point, and they're
wanting to get that child into programs. They're wanting that
(11:13):
support and that help, and you know, they are from
families where they've got a responsible adult, but they feel
like they're getting caught up in the system without the support.
Speaker 4 (11:21):
And the bureaucracy is very frustrating. And we find that
time and time again. We make reports through the Territory
Families and it's a process that need to go through.
Investigation is to take place, and there needs to be
available the case workers to do that. I know they're
under the pump as well to make sure that we're
supporting these people at the earliest opportunity. If someone's reaching
out or a so called responsible at or is reaching
(11:42):
out to these agencies and asking for help, YEP, it
should be instant. There shouldn't be months and years later.
They need they're at crisis point now and they're asking
for help, because people don't ask for help generally unless
they are in a crisis.
Speaker 2 (11:54):
Point one hundred percent correct.
Speaker 4 (11:56):
And we need to make sure that these people are
getting that support and to make sure if there's anything
parental wise that they need, that they're forgetting that support
provided to Yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:05):
Absolutely luck And I think to me, you know, the
thing that I'm.
Speaker 1 (12:08):
Starting to hear a little bit more of over the
last couple of weeks is that people are actually coming
out and they're saying, you know, Wolfie, this is the
issue that we've gotten where we're not able to get
some support. You know, we've tried with our child, with
our grandchild. This is you know, where things are getting
to an impast But what I'm really sort of heartened
by is that some of those issues are now really
being identified. It sounds like the police understand what those
(12:30):
issues are. Sounds like the politicians now understand what those
issues are, but we've got to try and sort it out.
Speaker 4 (12:35):
We need to work together to make sure that we've
got those support services available to make sure that when
someone does asks for help, that they're support in place.
Because time and time again we've seen in the past
people reach out for help, they haven't received that help
and they simply give up, They simply find it too
hard and say I can't deal with this. We need
to make sure that that changes and make sure that
(12:56):
that supports there. Whether it's from police, whether it's from
territory families, whether it's from a so social worker or
a psychologist, we need to make sure that this support
service are available and to make sure we're providing that
at the earliest opportunity.
Speaker 2 (13:09):
Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (13:10):
Nathan Finn, President of the Northern Territory Police Association, always
appreciate your time, thanks for joining us.
Speaker 4 (13:15):
Thank you, Kaddie, and good morning to your listeners. And
thank you to the men and women out there that
continue to put their lives on the line to make
sure this community is safe.
Speaker 2 (13:23):
Yeah, good stuff. Good on you, Finny, Thank you
We have just heard of course from the Chief Minister Leofanocchiaro,
who has said that well, you know, the swift ascent
of these laws and the lowering of the age of
criminal responsibility, amongst other things, is all really in an
effort to help the police to really deal with offenders
and be more in line with the community's expectations when
(00:23):
it comes with the issues of crime that we've been
seeing over years.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
It is going to.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
Mean that police have got greater powers. And joining me
in the studio is Nathan Finn, the president of the
Northern Territory Police Association.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
Good morning to your Finny.
Speaker 3 (00:36):
Good morning, Katy, Good morning to your listeners.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
Now talk me through.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
I mean, we spoke last week about these changes, but
they are now officially in force and ready for the
Northern Territory Police to use. Finny, what's been the reaction
from members in relation to these legislative changes, Katie.
Speaker 4 (00:54):
I can confirm that our members are very positive about
the changes that they're coming through and the government that's
actually listening to them to make these as possible. The
support that our members are feeling out in the street,
they are supported. They're getting on with what they need
to do and supporting this government to make sure we
can tackle crime and make sure we can lower these
crime as well. And members are very supportive. They're feeling supported.
(01:15):
You'll see a lot more police out and about on
the streets. They're happy with the support they're getting provided
and that's something they want to reiterate to the government.
Thank you for listening, Thank you for listening to our
hard working members out there, and thank you for working
with us to make sure that we can keep this
Northern Territory community as safe as we possibly can.
Speaker 1 (01:31):
So how exactly do the changes roll out, because the
legislation it would be quite a bit for them police
officers to wrap their heads around because they've got to
make sure they're doing it all lawfully and properly.
Speaker 4 (01:41):
Now, yeah, definitely CAATIE. So there's a number of number
of factors that take into play. The legislation gets drafted,
the legislator gets put into play. We create training packages
within the Northern Territory Police Force. It's rolled out to
members if it's any complicated legislation, which some of this
is to make sure their members know what they can
and can't do and to make sure they're complying with
their legislation as well to make sure they can gain
(02:02):
the maximum benefit of this legislation and make sure they're
holding people to account.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
Finni, do you reckon?
Speaker 1 (02:08):
We are going to see a lot more people really
wind up in jail or on remand as a result
of some of the legislative changes.
Speaker 4 (02:18):
We're hoping we see some people that deserve to be there,
that continue to commit criminal offenses such as your breach
of bails, your serious violence offenses that we continually see,
and that the revolving door we see around bail, we're
hoping that more people remain in custody until they get their.
Speaker 3 (02:31):
Day in court.
Speaker 4 (02:32):
Now, whether the court has capacity for that, that's something
that they need to discuss, but we're saying that given
the number of people on remand, the court hasn't got
that capacity, so there must be some action taken in
in that space to make sure that people aren't held
on remand forever.
Speaker 1 (02:47):
And yeah, and we did speak about that with the
Chief Minister just a short time ago as well. I'm
not sure whether you heard, but we had we'd spoken
about that, and she said that they are looking at
probably about ten different measures to try to really get
things sped up within the court process. So whether it
is being able to have more prisoners able to actually
(03:07):
hook up with their lawyers and with the judge through
the actual prison system, whether it's a situation where there
is another judge appointed and things get moving more quickly
through the court system.
Speaker 4 (03:18):
There's a lot of delays in the criminal justice system, Katie,
as you can imagine, there's a number of people in
Romand with a large percentage of the prisons in the
correction facility are in Remand. To speed up this process,
you could use video link from the corrections instead of
us driving in the prisoner's into the courthouse physically. There's
a number of things that do and interstate as wise
as well. They have evening courts. They also have courts
(03:39):
on weekends as well, so that may be an option.
Speaker 3 (03:41):
To alleviate that pressure.
Speaker 4 (03:43):
I know the criminal justice and the judges are probably
go or don't say that, but understandably we need to
make sure that people have their right to have their
court matter raised in urgent fashion.
Speaker 2 (03:54):
Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (03:55):
We'd actually caught up with the Criminal Lawyers Association's Beth
Wild last week. She said, Katie, it could be as
simple as appointing another job another judge, I should say,
and making sure that you know that those cases are
able to push through all throughout the day. So even
she was coming up with some really good solutions that
seem quite.
Speaker 3 (04:14):
Workable, definitely, and that's what we need.
Speaker 4 (04:16):
We need to make sure it works for everything everyone involved,
to make sure that the people aren't sending romand and
make sure we've got enough lawyers, we've got enough judges
to make sure that this can happen. Our members don't
want to see people in court cases get dragged on
and dragged on. We want to see people have their
right of reply and if they're contesting the charges, they
have the right to contest those charges as well. But
our members need to make sure that we're looking after
(04:39):
the community and making sure that these people that choose
to commit a criminal offenses are where they belong and
actually getting punishment for what they're doing.
Speaker 1 (04:46):
Finny, one of the things that really struck me last
week was we had a crime series towards the middle
of last week around the Northern suburbs and we had
Dale Marta Barnard from Strikeforce Trident join us on the
show to talk further about it. He spoke about the
number of interactions that had been seen from the Northern
Territory Police with some of these offenders, but also the
(05:08):
fact that my understanding is that all of those alleged
defenders in that particular situation were on bail. You know,
to me, that indicates that we're doing something really wrong
at this point in time.
Speaker 4 (05:21):
If we're dealing with the same offenders that are currently
on bail for similar matters or violent matters. Unfortunately, the
system is wrong if they're out on bail again and
they're still committing criminal offenses. The number of involvements that
these people have with police, they're not interactions that me
and UKD have of get pulled over an RBT. That's
not involvement with police. That's not recorded in an incident
with police. It's in relation to a criminal activity or
(05:43):
an investigation that's taking place. So the involvement they're recorded
for is exactly that they've been looked at or being
a suspect or being involved in a criminal activity.
Speaker 1 (05:53):
Yeah, that was something I was keen to get to
the bottom of because I know that the opposition spokesperson
Daran Younger joined us on the week that was last week,
and he'd sort of questioned that why the number of
involvements was being mentioned by the Chief Minister or by anybody,
and whether you know that involvement was just for a
discussion that someone may have had with the Northern Territory Police.
Speaker 3 (06:13):
No, definitely, not where busy enough, Katie to it.
Speaker 4 (06:15):
Instead of recording every conversation we have out in the street,
they're not recorded on our computer systems. Unless there's any
specific action we need to take, they won't be recorded
on any involvements.
Speaker 1 (06:24):
Now, Finny, I want to ask you before I you know,
before we sort of wrap up this morning. Last week
there was actually a number of very dangerous situations as well,
incidents which saw police have to arrest offenders who had
allegedly driven their vehicles at them. I mean even in
Alice Springs over the weekend we saw stolen vehicles reportedly
(06:46):
driving around town throwing.
Speaker 2 (06:47):
Rocks out the car.
Speaker 1 (06:50):
Do you know how many assaults against police there were last.
Speaker 3 (06:53):
Week last week?
Speaker 4 (06:55):
From all reports, there's about fifteen to twenty against our members,
including a number of people involved in these pursuits and
traffic apprehensions we're seeing this time and time again targeting police.
We're trying to make these changes in legislation to make
sure these people are held responsible. But unfortunately, this sort
of behavior is not warranted. Katie and members are trying
to keep the public safe and they've got no they've
(07:16):
got a alter alternative to do what they need to do.
We just need stronger powers to make sure we can
stop these people and make sure we hold these people
to account. And unfortunately, this sort of behaving, in the
reckless behavior they engage in are going to result in
someone getting serious hurt or jury or death.
Speaker 1 (07:31):
Like, I know, our police are trained to deal with
these dangerous situations, but how like is is it frightening
for them knowing that they luck.
Speaker 4 (07:40):
When projectiles are being thrown out of a vehicle that's
traveling one hundred columers an hour or in excess and
they're sitting there, it's luck that no one gets hurt
or injured. Unfortunately, it's going to take something to happen
like this to make sure that we stop this sort
of behavior. It's unacceptable. It's just bewilders.
Speaker 3 (08:02):
It's not funny for them.
Speaker 1 (08:03):
Yeah, no, yeah, and look, you know some of what
we have seen over recent months and years as well.
Speaker 2 (08:08):
Is quite bewildering.
Speaker 1 (08:09):
I mean, even when you look at at the ram
raids et cetera that we've seen. We've now got the
ram raid offense, which is going to come into place.
We've also got the new boasting and posting, which I
think is absolutely needed. Do you think we're going to
run into any kind of difficulties with the posting and
boasting one to try and determine exactly who's sharing it
or you know, working that side.
Speaker 4 (08:29):
There's always challenges, especially dealing with social media and social
media companies and providing who provide the information. But again
that's something you're investigators will work through to make sure
that people are actually committing offenses against this legislation and
how to account. The positive thing with us, Katie and
the positi thing with the government is that's still reaching
out to us as of last week to make sure
is there anything else we can the police would like
to see to make sure that they feel supported in
(08:51):
the workplace and make sure they've got their ability and
capability to make sure that they can look after and
do their part to make sure the territory is safer.
Speaker 2 (08:57):
And is there anything you guys a bit.
Speaker 4 (08:58):
There's definitely a few things on the ball, Caddy, and
we've spoken to them on a number of occasions about
this and some positive changes to make sure that we
can free up the police on the front line to
do it. I actually need to do and respond to
jobs to make sure they're not stuck in an office.
They're mobile, so we've got mobile data terminals, et cetera.
We're looking at in respect to our vehicles to make
(09:19):
sure they're out in the street longer and for more
hours of the shift, to make sure they're more visible
to the public and make sure we've got the numbers
to actually respond to the levels of crime.
Speaker 2 (09:28):
How quickly do you reckon?
Speaker 1 (09:29):
We might start to see some of that because you
and I were speaking about this, probably I reckon like
a year and a half or a year ago about
the ability to be able to do some more work,
like to do some of that work while out on
the job, rather than having to come back into the
office and wasting time.
Speaker 4 (09:43):
Yeah, the fact is, Caddie, it's been neglected for a
long time, and we've seen that time and time again.
But we've actually got a government that's actually switched on
and making sure they're working with police and make sure
and they're giving us the ability to do our job
that we need to do and to make sure that
the community's being safe.
Speaker 3 (09:56):
We are being heard.
Speaker 4 (09:57):
These things take some time and with a change of
gam I've seen a lot of positive action come from
this gabment in the first two months of their term
and they're committed to working with our police and working
with the Executive of the Northern Territory Police Force and
the Northern Territory Police Association to make sure we can
improve things for police.
Speaker 1 (10:13):
For any quick question from one of our listeners, I
don't know whether you can answer this or not, but
it says, good morning Katie and Crystal. I'm not sure
if this has been raised, but what is the definition
of a responsible adult?
Speaker 2 (10:23):
Do we not like? I mean, it's a tough one, right.
Speaker 4 (10:27):
It's a definite tough one and we see this time
and time again. It's a frustration for.
Speaker 3 (10:30):
Our members as well. Katie.
Speaker 4 (10:32):
We've seen the roundabout of youth crime and dropping off
to responsible adults and who is responsible? That is a
number one question, Katie, and now my number one question.
If the person was responsible to start with their kids,
wouldn't be on the street committing criminal offenses. The responsible
adult needs to take responsibility of these kids or be
held responsible for what actions they take.
Speaker 1 (10:51):
And then on the flip side, like I've had a
couple of parents get in contact with me recently and
even a grandma get in contact with me recently and go, Katie,
we are screaming out for some help. I've got a
child that we are trying to, you know, to get
on the right track, but we're not getting you know,
like we've been referred to Territory Families and then there's
sort of been no movement past that point, and they're
wanting to get that child into programs. They're wanting that
(11:13):
support and that help, and you know, they are from
families where they've got a responsible adult, but they feel
like they're getting caught up in the system without the support.
Speaker 4 (11:21):
And the bureaucracy is very frustrating. And we find that
time and time again. We make reports through the Territory
Families and it's a process that need to go through.
Investigation is to take place, and there needs to be
available the case workers to do that. I know they're
under the pump as well to make sure that we're
supporting these people at the earliest opportunity. If someone's reaching
out or a so called responsible at or is reaching
(11:42):
out to these agencies and asking for help, YEP, it
should be instant. There shouldn't be months and years later.
They need they're at crisis point now and they're asking
for help, because people don't ask for help generally unless
they are in a crisis.
Speaker 2 (11:54):
Point one hundred percent correct.
Speaker 4 (11:56):
And we need to make sure that these people are
getting that support and to make sure if there's anything
parental wise that they need, that they're forgetting that support
provided to Yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:05):
Absolutely luck And I think to me, you know, the
thing that I'm.
Speaker 1 (12:08):
Starting to hear a little bit more of over the
last couple of weeks is that people are actually coming
out and they're saying, you know, Wolfie, this is the
issue that we've gotten where we're not able to get
some support. You know, we've tried with our child, with
our grandchild. This is you know, where things are getting
to an impast But what I'm really sort of heartened
by is that some of those issues are now really
being identified. It sounds like the police understand what those
(12:30):
issues are. Sounds like the politicians now understand what those
issues are, but we've got to try and sort it out.
Speaker 4 (12:35):
We need to work together to make sure that we've
got those support services available to make sure that when
someone does asks for help, that they're support in place.
Because time and time again we've seen in the past
people reach out for help, they haven't received that help
and they simply give up, They simply find it too
hard and say I can't deal with this. We need
to make sure that that changes and make sure that
(12:56):
that supports there. Whether it's from police, whether it's from
territory families, whether it's from a so social worker or
a psychologist, we need to make sure that this support
service are available and to make sure we're providing that
at the earliest opportunity.
Speaker 2 (13:09):
Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (13:10):
Nathan Finn, President of the Northern Territory Police Association, always
appreciate your time, thanks for joining us.
Speaker 4 (13:15):
Thank you, Kaddie, and good morning to your listeners. And
thank you to the men and women out there that
continue to put their lives on the line to make
sure this community is safe.
Speaker 2 (13:23):
Yeah, good stuff. Good on you, Finny, Thank you
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