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Katie Woolf spoke with Opposition Leader Lia Finocchiaro · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: We are certainly expecting that there's going to be some
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  Speaker 1: pretty big announcements this week when it comes to focusing
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  Speaker 1: on crime and some of those issues that we've been
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  Speaker 1: seeing around the Northern territory. It's something we've been talking
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  Speaker 1: about for such a long period of time here on
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  Speaker 1: three point sixty. Now the Gunner government, as we know,
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  Speaker 1: they're set to announce what they're describing as the toughest
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  Speaker 1: consequences we've seen, but there's still no detail to their
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  Speaker 1: plans now. The COLP they yesterday announced legislation that they
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  Speaker 1: plan to present in Parliament this week which includes mandatory
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  Speaker 1: electronic monitoring and scrapping the presumption in favor of bail
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  Speaker 1: for repeat offenders. Joining me on the line to talk
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  Speaker 1: more about their plans, the opposition leader leafanocchi Airo, Good morning.
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  Speaker 2: Good morning Katie, and to your listeners.
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  Speaker 1: Now, Lea, the announcement today or late yesterday is all
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  Speaker 1: about making it tougher for repeat youth criminals to get bail,
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  Speaker 1: an issue which has been raised time and time again
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  Speaker 1: on this show. How are you going to do this?
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  Speaker 2: So we've been working really hard for months to ensure
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  Speaker 2: that we've got legislation drafted because like all other Territorians,
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  Speaker 2: we've got no confidence in the Gunner government to actually deliver.
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  Speaker 2: They haven't listened to the calls from the community over
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  Speaker 2: the last four and a half years. They haven't listened
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  Speaker 2: to calls from the Police Association who've called their laws week.
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  Speaker 2: They haven't listened to the fact that seventy five percent
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  Speaker 2: of all use arrested by Stripeforce viper are repeat offenders,
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  Speaker 2: all that fifty percent of all youth arrested last financial
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  Speaker 2: year were on bail at the time of their arrest.
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  Speaker 2: So we're leading from opposition. We've got legislation ready to go.
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  Speaker 2: We will introduce it this week and it specifically deals
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  Speaker 2: with the repeat offending, both for adults and for youth,
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  Speaker 2: and also elements are around electronic monitoring.
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  Speaker 1: Leah, look, you know it all sounds fine and good,
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  Speaker 1: but at the end of the day, you don't have
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  Speaker 1: the numbers to get this through Parliament.
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  Speaker 2: Do you Well, not just as an opposition, but we're
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  Speaker 2: appealing to the entire Parliament to do the right thing.
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  Speaker 2: And we certainly are not going to be another position
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  Speaker 2: that sits on our hands and waits for the government
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  Speaker 2: to get around to doing something. We hope that this
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  Speaker 2: is going to make them see reason and that there
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  Speaker 2: will be Labor members who support our legislation to keep
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  Speaker 2: our community safe. I mean, ultimately, we think authorry ken.
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  Speaker 1: So you reckon or you think that you could actually
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  Speaker 1: have some members of the Labor Party cross the floor
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  Speaker 1: and vote with you, guys.
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  Speaker 2: Well, if they really care enough about their electorates, then
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  Speaker 2: they will. I mean, you can't tell me that Labor
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  Speaker 2: members of Parliament live in electors that are free from
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  Speaker 2: crime and that people in their community don't want bail address.
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  Speaker 2: It's just fascical. So we're calling and appealing on the government.
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  Speaker 2: I mean they're talking up a big game with whatever
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  Speaker 2: the announcement's going to be today from their end. But
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  Speaker 2: we're saying to government, well, ours is ready to go.
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  Speaker 2: Ours is already drafted and ready to be passed by
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  Speaker 2: the Parliament. Back our legislation and then we will take
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  Speaker 2: a look at what you're proposing going forward. Because quite frankly,
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  Speaker 2: they have promised the world over the last four and
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  Speaker 2: a half years and never delivered.
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  Speaker 1: Leah, these electronic monitoring bracelets. I mean, last week on
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  Speaker 1: a current affair, we saw a young person on the
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  Speaker 1: streets with a bracelet on. I mean, doesn't this just
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  Speaker 1: demonstrate the fact that they're not working.
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  Speaker 2: Look, there's certainly a tool, and they're not a one
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  Speaker 2: hundred percent deterrent, but the statistics show around thirty percent
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  Speaker 2: of people find electronic monitoring a deterrent. We would, obviously,
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  Speaker 2: in a perfect world, if I was the government, Katie,
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  Speaker 2: I would mandate electronic monitoring for anyone on bail, but
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  Speaker 2: also make sure that police has that actual real time
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  Speaker 2: access to electronic monitoring, which of course in the Northern
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  Speaker 2: Territory they do not. But from an opposition perspective, the
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  Speaker 2: best I can do is try and legislate that everyone
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  Speaker 2: on bail does have electronic monitoring. We want to reverse
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  Speaker 2: the presumption in favor of balth for repeat offenders, and
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  Speaker 2: we want to make sure that you know that if
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  Speaker 2: you are on bail and you breach a bail conditions,
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  Speaker 2: that police can charge you for that as an offense.
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  Speaker 1: Leah, I have been told by an insider that on
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  Speaker 1: some days the Northern Territory police are getting contacted between
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  Speaker 1: ten and twenty times in a day for young people
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  Speaker 1: breaching their bail conditions. But you know all that the
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  Speaker 1: territory police can do at this point in time really
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  Speaker 1: is go out there check on those people that are
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  Speaker 1: breaching their bail. And there isn't a great deal more
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  Speaker 1: that they can do because it's not considered an offense.
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  Speaker 1: What are you being told in this space?
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  Speaker 2: I mean being told exactly the same thing, Katie. And
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  Speaker 2: this must be so frustrating for our hard working police
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  Speaker 2: who've completely been debilitated by the Gunner government. And you know,
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  Speaker 2: speaking of police, we've certainly got in principal support for
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  Speaker 2: our legislative reform from the Police Association who recognize that
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  Speaker 2: our police need help, they need the laws to be
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  Speaker 2: able to do what they've got to do. And you know,
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  Speaker 2: in the meantime, there's just a long string of victims
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  Speaker 2: being left behind by the Gunner government and Territorians are
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  Speaker 2: asking themselves, am I next? Is my family next? And
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  Speaker 2: it's got to stop. If people are repeat offenders, they
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  Speaker 2: have continuously shown a disregard for the law and that
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  Speaker 2: needs needs to be dealt with different from a person
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  Speaker 2: who's made a one off mistake.
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  Speaker 1: Lia Some would say that the focus on crime can't
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  Speaker 1: come soon enough. I mean, yesterday two people had to
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  Speaker 1: be taken to hospital or Saturday night following a series
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  Speaker 1: of violent robberies in Alice Springs, CBD. If you can't
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  Speaker 1: get your legislation across the line, though, do you think
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  Speaker 1: that the changes that the government to set to implement
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  Speaker 1: tomorrow are going to be enough?
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  Speaker 2: Well, no one knows what these mysterious changes are, Katie,
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  Speaker 2: so we're going to have to take a look at them.
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  Speaker 2: And I'm not holding my breast quite frankly. I think
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  Speaker 2: this is a political stunt to knock the wind out
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  Speaker 2: of what we're doing this week and also to some extent,
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  Speaker 2: respond to the current affairs story which has been plaguing
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  Speaker 2: them over the last week. So the devil's going to
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  Speaker 2: be in the detail because this government has got form
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  Speaker 2: in talking the talk but not walking the walk. And
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  Speaker 2: you know, in June last year we had that huge
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  Speaker 2: press release come out with a swath of things they
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  Speaker 2: were going to do to address crime, and of course
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  Speaker 2: our crime stats came out last week and have never
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  Speaker 2: been worse. So I think people have to be very
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  Speaker 2: cautious about the headlines around what the government is proposing
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  Speaker 2: to do. Their calling it something like the toughest ever
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  Speaker 2: sweet of measures, which can't possibly be true. For those
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  Speaker 2: of us who've been in the territory a long time.
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  Speaker 2: Cast your mind back to the late nineteen nineties where
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  Speaker 2: mandatory sentencing was around. So unless the government's going to
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  Speaker 2: revive that, whatever they introduce is certainly not going to
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  Speaker 2: be the toughest ever.
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  Speaker 1: So do you think they need to introduce mandatory sentencing?
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  Speaker 2: Well, look, I don't think we want to bring back
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  Speaker 2: what the policy want in the late nineties. But what
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  Speaker 2: I'm trying to highlight, Katie is the fact that a
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  Speaker 2: lot of this is already just hype and talk to
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  Speaker 2: try and quell concerns from the community. So the devil
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  Speaker 2: is going to be in the detailed. Territories are not fools,
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  Speaker 2: and I think everyone's just waiting to see what's happened,
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  Speaker 2: because from everything I've heard, the government's just concocted this
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  Speaker 2: response in the last couple of days.
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  Speaker 1: Look, it's certainly a tough one. I think you'd have
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  Speaker 1: to say when you look at the Royal Commission and
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  Speaker 1: the recommendations being handed down, they're obviously out of step
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  Speaker 1: with the community's expectation. But you know, we've then got
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  Speaker 1: narger Principal Legal Officer David Woodroff telling The Northern Territory
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  Speaker 1: News Today that the proposed laws on both sides of
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  Speaker 1: politics would lead to the continued entrenchment of the Northern
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  Speaker 1: Territory's greatest shame of over incarceration of Aboriginal people. He's questioned,
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  Speaker 1: has anything been learned from the Royal Commission by politicians?
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  Speaker 1: I mean, has it?
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  Speaker 2: Well? I think what's more interesting is the fact that
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  Speaker 2: one of the Royal Commissioners, mister Mick Gooder, actually said
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  Speaker 2: in response to current affairs, something to the effect of
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  Speaker 2: nothing has changed since the Royal Commission. And I would
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  Speaker 2: argue something has changed. Things have actually gotten worse, and so,
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  Speaker 2: you know, we can't just keep going on like this.
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  Speaker 2: Something has to be done. No one wants to see
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  Speaker 2: people going to prison. We want everyone to be doing
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  Speaker 2: the right thing. But ultimately, if people are going to
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  Speaker 2: do the wrong thing and continuously do the wrong thing,
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  Speaker 2: don't forget we're talking about repeat, repeat offenders, then they
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  Speaker 2: need to be dealt with to protect the community. That's
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  Speaker 2: you know, a government's first responsibility is to keep his
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  Speaker 2: citizens safe. People do not feel safe. The stories we're
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  Speaker 2: hearing about are just horrific and something needs to be done.
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  Speaker 1: Lea. You did mention the latest crime stats. We know
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  Speaker 1: that they are out on Friday. Do you think that
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  Speaker 1: we need to when we have these crime statistics, that
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  Speaker 1: there should actually be a breakdown in these statistics whether
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  Speaker 1: those offenses being committed are by youths or adults, so
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  Speaker 1: that we can actually then look at how that funding
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  Speaker 1: and some of those resources can be allocated accordingly.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, well, I think that would be excellent. I mean,
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  Speaker 2: of course, we've got untold millions of dollars being spent
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  Speaker 2: in this space, yet no one feels like anything is
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  Speaker 2: getting better, and so it's really important with the finite
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  Speaker 2: resources we have that they're channeled to get the best outcome.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, this has got to be an outcome focused
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  Speaker 2: process that the territory government undertakes. So, but you know,
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  Speaker 2: as usual with crime stats. You know what did we
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  Speaker 2: see last week? Instead of the government fronting up and
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  Speaker 2: answering concerns around why those figures are so high, they
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  Speaker 2: rolled out police. So we've got a government running away,
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  Speaker 2: how between its legs, unable to deal with this situation,
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  Speaker 2: and now we've got all these promises about reform to
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  Speaker 2: the criminal justice system. Well I'm certainly not going to
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  Speaker 2: hold my breath and we'll wait and see what actually
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  Speaker 2: comes out of today LEA.
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  Speaker 1: Over the weekend, it was reported by the Anti Independent
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  Speaker 1: that three male teenagers who were out on bail allegedly
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  Speaker 1: attempted to rape a woman at Pineland's in January, but
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  Speaker 1: it was only described as an aggravated assault in a
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  Speaker 1: Northern Territory Police media release. Now, some police insiders have
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  Speaker 1: told the NTI Independent that it was a deliberate measure
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  Speaker 1: to cover up sex crimes for the Gunner government. Do
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  Speaker 1: you think that this is what's happening here?
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  Speaker 2: I think the Gunner government have got some serious questions
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  Speaker 2: to answer about whether they're reaching into police, reaching into
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  Speaker 2: the police media unit particularly, and trying to control the
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  Speaker 2: narrative to suit their political agenda. We have learned over
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  Speaker 2: the last two weeks of some of the most horrific
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  Speaker 2: sexual offenses that are just terrifying and abhorrent, and yet
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  Speaker 2: the public didn't know about it. Now, I've said before,
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  Speaker 2: of course our police have to do their very sensitive investigations,
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  Speaker 2: and you know, no one's asking for the information of
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  Speaker 2: victims to be put forward or any identifying factors. But
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  Speaker 2: the fact that we didn't know about these horrific assaults.
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  Speaker 2: Sends huge alarm bells to me that we've got a
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  Speaker 2: Gunner government that is desperate to cover up any bad news.
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  Speaker 2: And you know, with information like this continuing to come
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  Speaker 2: out through leaks to the media, it just shows that
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  Speaker 2: they've really lost all control.
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  Speaker 1: I want to ask you, you've just come back from Canberra.
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  Speaker 1: Have you made the Prime Minister aware of the issues
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  Speaker 1: that we've got here in the Northern Territory around youth crime?
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  Speaker 2: Absolutely? Absolutely, it was the single, big, single biggest thing
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  Speaker 2: I spoke to him about crime and of course our
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  Speaker 2: horrific domestic violence rates. And you know, every minister I
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  Speaker 2: met with him in Canberra, I spoke to them about that.
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  Speaker 2: It's just not good enough for the Gunner government to
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  Speaker 2: hide from these issues. And I know we've got this.
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  Speaker 2: You know, they're trying to change the conversation now with
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  Speaker 2: whatever they're promising, But the devil is really going to
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  Speaker 2: be in the detail. I know I keep saying that, Katie,
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  Speaker 2: but it's true. I just don't want people to get
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  Speaker 2: their hopes up when we've got a government who've never
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  Speaker 2: been willing to tackle this issue. Before two weeks ago,
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  Speaker 2: we couldn't even get them to commit to bow reform,
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  Speaker 2: let alone some sort of wholesale reform of the entire system.
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  Speaker 2: So I think people need to be very cautious of
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  Speaker 2: what it is the government's doing here. I think this
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  Speaker 2: is a massive pr exercise to try and get themselves
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  Speaker 2: on a better footing of what has been just damaging
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  Speaker 2: disaster and you know, disaster after disaster for them.
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  Speaker 1: Lea, just to go back to the Prime minister, is
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  Speaker 1: he planning or making a trip to the Northern Territory
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  Speaker 1: in the near future if this is such an issue.
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  Speaker 2: He is actually and we should see him a few
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  Speaker 2: times this year, which is hugely exciting. So yes, we
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  Speaker 2: will be having Prime Ministers Scott Morrison in town over
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  Speaker 2: the next couple of months.
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  Speaker 1: I mean, at the end of the day, some people
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  Speaker 1: listening will be thinking, well, the Federal government are the
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  Speaker 1: ones that called for the Royal Commission into Youth Justice
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  Speaker 1: and now we're in the situation that we're in. Has
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  Speaker 1: he committed to you that he is going to be
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  Speaker 1: sort of taking a closer look at the issues that
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  Speaker 1: we've got with youth crime.
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  Speaker 2: Well, what we know is that the Federal government deliver
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  Speaker 2: I think it's about half a billion dollars of you know,
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  Speaker 2: commlaw's money into the territory to deal with youth and
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  Speaker 2: youth services. So there's major and that came out of
• 12:34
  Speaker 2: out of the Royal Commission. There was this big question
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  Speaker 2: mark about how federal and territory government money is spent.
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  Speaker 2: Of course, then we had the Tripathite Forum to try
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  Speaker 2: and work that out. So there is you know, the
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  Speaker 2: Commons are a huge stakeholder in these but the territory
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  Speaker 2: government are the ones to spend the money. And so
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  Speaker 2: we really need some better answers coming out of the
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  Speaker 2: Gunner government than generational change. I mean that is critically important,
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  Speaker 2: but we need something happening now, and this government are
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  Speaker 2: just too proud to realize that they've put us on
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  Speaker 2: this trajectory to claw back from it, and we really
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  Speaker 2: need them to take a good hard look. I want
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  Speaker 2: them to support our laws this week in Parliament, show
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  Speaker 2: territories in good faith that they are willing to take
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  Speaker 2: a stand and then we'll have a closer look at
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  Speaker 2: what they're proposing into the coming months.
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  Speaker 1: Well lea Finocciaio opposition later we are going to have
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  Speaker 1: to leave it there no doubt we'll be talking to
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  Speaker 1: you throughout the week as Parliament sits. Thanks for your.
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  Speaker 2: Time today, Thank you, take care.
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  Speaker 1: You are listening to mix ONEOW four point nine three
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  Speaker 1: point sixty