Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / As Parliament sits this week, Opposition Parliamentary Whip and Member for Braitling says the CLP is still looking for that independent inquiry into the Zachary Rolfe murder charge

Transcript

As Parliament sits this week, Opposition Parliamentary Whip and Member for Braitling says the CLP is still looking for that independent inquiry into the Zachary Rolfe murder charge · 360 with Katie Woolf

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  Speaker 1: But what we do know is that Parliament resumes in
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: the Northern Territory tomorrow and it is set to be
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: a big week. Following the colp's calls last week for
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: an inquiry following the Supreme Court trial of Constable Zach Rolf,
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  Speaker 1: it is expected they'll this week in Parliament call for
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  Speaker 1: an independent commission of inquiry under the Inquiries Act and
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  Speaker 1: it will look at the four days between the shooting
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  Speaker 1: and the decision to charge Constable Rolf, including the appearance
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: of political influence. Well, that's certainly what the COLP would
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  Speaker 1: like to see. Now, joining me on the line is
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  Speaker 1: the Opposition Parliamentary Whip and Member for Brakling, Josh Bergoing.
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  Speaker 1: Good morning to you, Josh.
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  Speaker 2: Good morning Katie, Good morning listeners.
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  Speaker 1: Thanks so much for your time this morning.
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  Speaker 2: Josh.
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  Speaker 1: The COLP say that the Chief Minister, Michael Gunner has
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  Speaker 1: serious questions to answer over the appearance of political interference
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  Speaker 1: prior to charges being laid after he promised the residents
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  Speaker 1: of EW and Demo just days after the shooting that
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  Speaker 1: consequences would flow. Chief He's been aster strongly resisted these
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  Speaker 1: calls last week. What's the plan when Parliament resumes tomorrow.
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  Speaker 2: Oh. Look, the plan is, Katie, is that the government
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  Speaker 2: have serious questions to answer when it comes to exactly
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  Speaker 2: what took place in between the incident and then the
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  Speaker 2: charging of Constable Zachary Rolff. I mean, there seriously needs
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  Speaker 2: to be an inquiry and things looked into when it
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  Speaker 2: comes to the decisions that were made that then led
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  Speaker 2: to the eventual arrest. I mean, there's so many allegations,
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  Speaker 2: there's so many questions that have to be answered. And myself,
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  Speaker 2: coming from Alla Springs, you know, Constable Zachary Rolf in
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  Speaker 2: my understanding, was arrested up in Darwin. You know, there's
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  Speaker 2: so many questions about exactly what happened between the incident
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  Speaker 2: taking place and then his eventual arrest, and whether Michael
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  Speaker 2: Gunner and the government were involved in any way. And
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  Speaker 2: I mean just the other week we had Michael Gunner
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  Speaker 2: on your radio station say I always meet with police. Well,
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  Speaker 2: what meetings took place between the incident occurred, ring and
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  Speaker 2: his arrest between him and police and another person that
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  Speaker 2: we had not heard from it all. In all of this,
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  Speaker 2: Katie is the Minister for Police, Nicole Maison. I mean,
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  Speaker 2: what happened last week with the week that was did
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  Speaker 2: she have COVID or did she not have COVID.
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  Speaker 1: Well, we had clarification later on that she was that
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  Speaker 1: she'd no longer had COVID, but she had prior engagement.
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  Speaker 1: I still think you know that you're right, we do
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  Speaker 1: need to be hearing from the police minister. Josh, what
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  Speaker 1: do you think we need to be hearing from the
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  Speaker 1: police minister.
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  Speaker 2: The biggest questions that need to be answered are around
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  Speaker 2: what has been alleged, and that is that there was
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  Speaker 2: a meeting that took place between possibly the Chief Minister,
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  Speaker 2: the Police Commissioner, and even possibly you know, we've also
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  Speaker 2: had allegations that the DVP have been president these sorts
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  Speaker 2: of meetings. We need to know exactly what meetings took
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  Speaker 2: place between the Chief Minister and police and what then
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  Speaker 2: led to constable'sactory roles being charged in what many have
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  Speaker 2: said was an extreme only short time frame. And that's
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  Speaker 2: not my word. These are people that work in this
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  Speaker 2: field that have dealt with these things many times before.
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  Speaker 2: They were the ones that were asking questions about the
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  Speaker 2: time and the speediness of which this all came about.
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  Speaker 2: So again, there are a lot of questions that are
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  Speaker 2: being asked by other people. A lot of allegations that
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  Speaker 2: are out there, and we still have a lot of
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  Speaker 2: questions that need to be answered. These questions are not
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  Speaker 2: going to go away. The Chief Minister and the Police
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  Speaker 2: Commissioner and the Police Minister need to front up and
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  Speaker 2: answer these questions so that the public have a lot
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  Speaker 2: more clarity about exactly what took place leading up to
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  Speaker 2: those charges being laid.
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  Speaker 1: Now, Josh, from what I can gather, the government's got
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  Speaker 1: no plan really to allow this to go ahead, if
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  Speaker 1: I mean, if they don't support an independent commission inquiry,
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  Speaker 1: are there other options or do we just have to
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  Speaker 1: accept that the court case, a coronial and possible Ikach
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  Speaker 1: inquiry are enough.
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  Speaker 2: Well, this is exactly. It's very interesting you say they're
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  Speaker 2: kadia possible like an inquiry. Clearly there need to be
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  Speaker 2: a lot of questions answered. We are pushing very hard
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  Speaker 2: to this independent inquiry under the inquiries that to take place.
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  Speaker 2: The Chief Minister obviously, for whatever reason, does not want
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  Speaker 2: that to take place. I mean that is not open
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  Speaker 2: and transparent government, which is exactly what he came to
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  Speaker 2: government sprooking. We need to see this take place and
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  Speaker 2: that's what we'll be pushing for very hard over the
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  Speaker 2: next two weeks of parliament.
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  Speaker 1: All right, now, I know it isn't the only thing
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  Speaker 1: on the agenda this week. The COLP opposition is introducing
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  Speaker 1: a bill to ensure regular reporting from the Chief Health
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  Speaker 1: Officer to territorians through Parliament. It's not happening right now
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  Speaker 1: under that current legislation. Why do you feel as though
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  Speaker 1: this needs to happen.
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  Speaker 2: It's very important to the people of the Northern Territory
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  Speaker 2: to know exactly what decisions have been made and what
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  Speaker 2: led to those decisions basically coming about. Currently, under the
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  Speaker 2: legislation that's before us, the only time that the Chief
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  Speaker 2: Health Office has to basically report back to territories about
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  Speaker 2: exactly the decisions that have been made. And we can
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  Speaker 2: all agree these are huge powers that he has. We
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  Speaker 2: can accept that they've all been needed to take place
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  Speaker 2: up until, you know, to get us through this time.
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  Speaker 2: But now is the time that we can actually look
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  Speaker 2: and see why the decisions that have been made over
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  Speaker 2: the past two years have been made and what the
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  Speaker 2: government are basically doing is turning around doing the exact
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  Speaker 2: opposite and say, I know we're going to extend this
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  Speaker 2: for two more years, and you know, again, who knows
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  Speaker 2: when we'll actually get a report into why the decisions
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  Speaker 2: have been made, what's been you know, the positive outcomes
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  Speaker 2: out of that, and what could have been done differently,
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  Speaker 2: so that if we ever, let's hope we don't ever
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  Speaker 2: have to face this again, Katie, we know exactly how
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  Speaker 2: to act into the future. Now.
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  Speaker 1: I know that there has actually been industry support for
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  Speaker 1: the bill that you are putting forward. Which industries are
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  Speaker 1: supportive of this going ahead?
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  Speaker 2: Certainly? Look, I've been meeting myself with a number of industries.
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  Speaker 2: I don't want to call them out on radio just
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  Speaker 2: in case, but we have gone out and basically dealt
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  Speaker 2: with relevant industry bodies. We've gone to them, We've said, look,
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  Speaker 2: this is what we're proposing. Do you support? And the
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  Speaker 2: biggest thing that we're hearing from everyone is they want
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  Speaker 2: this consistency. They want to say right, well, rather than
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  Speaker 2: having to basically sit down, watch a press conference and
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  Speaker 2: then go, okay, how does this affect us? It would
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  Speaker 2: be great for industries to have a report that comes down,
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  Speaker 2: this is exactly what's happened, this is how it's affected businesses.
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  Speaker 2: How can we better inform businesses into the future about
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  Speaker 2: these relevant changes and how it affects them, because it's
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  Speaker 2: been so many people have come to me and said,
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  Speaker 2: we literally have to watch a press conference and sit
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  Speaker 2: down and go right, how does that affect our business?
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  Speaker 2: What changes do we now have to make? And in
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  Speaker 2: some instances businesses are finding it very difficult as to
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  Speaker 2: follow exactly how it does affect them. And I think
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  Speaker 2: we've seen that throughout the course of the time with
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  Speaker 2: people going right, do we still have to check in?
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  Speaker 2: Do we not? Why is it different for licensed premises
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  Speaker 2: or not? What if my license is only between the
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  Speaker 2: eight hours of six and three am, do I still
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  Speaker 2: have to have everyone checking in in the morning when
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  Speaker 2: I'm serving breakfast. There's a lot of questions that have
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  Speaker 2: been raised throughout this process, and we want to make
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  Speaker 2: sure that businesses have clarity when it comes time to
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  Speaker 2: implementing all the relevant rules, because everyone wants to do
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  Speaker 2: the right thing, but there's been a lot of sort
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  Speaker 2: of gray area and people have been unsure to exactly
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  Speaker 2: what's been happening.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, I think that's fair enough and no doubt it
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  Speaker 1: is going to be an interesting week inside Parliament. Now,
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  Speaker 1: before I let you go, we are due to catch
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  Speaker 1: up with the Northern Territory Police in just a couple
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  Speaker 1: of minutes and speak about the latest crime statistics. But
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  Speaker 1: you say that the latest stats demonstrate a failure in
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  Speaker 1: policies from the government.
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  Speaker 2: How, oh, Katie, in Alice Springs alone, I was looking
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  Speaker 2: at the house breakings and commercial break ins. Darwin and
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  Speaker 2: Palmerston combined do not even equal the amount of house
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  Speaker 2: break in and commercial break ins we're seeing in Alice Springs. Now,
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  Speaker 2: I listen to your show regularly and I understand up
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  Speaker 2: here people are dealing with crime. The king imagine a
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  Speaker 2: population of twenty six thousand people dealing with more house
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  Speaker 2: break ins and commercial break ins than Darwin and Palmerston combined.
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  Speaker 2: It is shocking figures that just show how the current
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  Speaker 2: policies have failed right across the Northern Territory, but especially
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  Speaker 2: in my hometown of Alice Springs. These are statistics that
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  Speaker 2: we haven't seen before. As far as I can see.
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  Speaker 2: I've gone back and gone back to the last five
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  Speaker 2: six years. They're certainly the worst they have ever been
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  Speaker 2: over this past five years, and we need to see
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  Speaker 2: government come forward and actually say right, these are the
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  Speaker 2: policy settings that we're changing because what currently is in
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  Speaker 2: places and working, but we are not seeing that from
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  Speaker 2: the chief minute that we're seeing a bury ahead in
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  Speaker 2: the sand sort of attitude. And it's just the people
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  Speaker 2: of Alice Springs have just well, we've all had enough.
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  Speaker 2: And you know again the other day where the Chief
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  Speaker 2: minutes to pop down to Alice Springs an Now, all
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  Speaker 2: this money that it's supposedly is going to happen in
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  Speaker 2: the next than ever. But then actually, when it comes time,
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  Speaker 2: did he meet with business people? I'm yet to see
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  Speaker 2: a nice Facebook post from him say oh I went
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  Speaker 2: and met with someone who's been affected by crime to
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  Speaker 2: actually hear exactly what they have to say. Yeah, people
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  Speaker 2: right across the Northern Territory are just feeling like they're
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  Speaker 2: not being hurt at the moment when it comes to crime.
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  Speaker 1: Well, and I think it's really important you know that
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  Speaker 1: they are. I know that the police are doing their
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  Speaker 1: best to try and make sure that they're engaging, and
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  Speaker 1: you know the number of pressure releases that are coming
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  Speaker 1: out from the Territory police, you can see that they're
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  Speaker 1: working incredibly hard on a lot of these issues. But
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  Speaker 1: I do think that there's that real sense from a
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  Speaker 1: lot of a lot of businesses who've been impacted that
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  Speaker 1: they want the government to really hear what they are saying. Josh,
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  Speaker 1: I know that Robin Lamley, the Independent Member for Aarrah Luwn,
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  Speaker 1: she's going to be moving a motion tomorrow in Parliament
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  Speaker 1: that is select Committee of Parliament be created to undertake
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  Speaker 1: a full inquiry into crime in Alice Springs. Is that
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  Speaker 1: something that the Opposition's going to support?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, Look, we've often spoken about this, Kadie. When it
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  Speaker 2: comes to the alcohol review. We had the Riley Review,
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  Speaker 2: which basically looked at what we could do and what
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  Speaker 2: settings needed to be changed to positively impact alcohol in
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  Speaker 2: the Northern Territory, and the government pretty much waves that
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  Speaker 2: around saying, look where we're implementing all the reports. We
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  Speaker 2: do need a review into crime in the Northern Territory
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  Speaker 2: about the current policy settings that are in place and
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  Speaker 2: how that can change. And I'm literally about the walking
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  Speaker 2: or a meeting with my colleagues and we're going to
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  Speaker 2: discuss that. And I can imagine that you know, we'll
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  Speaker 2: all be wanting to see something happened in this space,
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  Speaker 2: and I certainly can from my own point of view.
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  Speaker 2: I'll be putting forward that you know, I want to
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  Speaker 2: see this happening and supporting it, but once again, I
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  Speaker 2: don't want to foreshadow the outcome of any meetings that
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  Speaker 2: we may have.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, fair enough, no, I understand well. Josh Burgoyne, the
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  Speaker 1: Member for Braitling and also the Opposition Whip. We really
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  Speaker 1: appreciate your time this morning. Thank you very much for
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: having a chat with us.
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  Speaker 2: Thank you for your time, Katie.
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  Speaker 1: Thank you