Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Former politician and radio announcer Daryl Manzie pays tribute to Territory stalwart Fay Miller who lost her battle with cancer on the weekend

Transcript

Former politician and radio announcer Daryl Manzie pays tribute to Territory stalwart Fay Miller who lost her battle with cancer on the weekend · 360 with Katie Woolf

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  Speaker 1: Well, many of you will recognize the voice of my
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: next guest. He was indeed on territory of him for
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: more than fifteen years on air, but also a former
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  Speaker 1: politician with the Country Liberal Party, the Member for Sanderson
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  Speaker 1: and the Police Minister as well.
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  Speaker 2: His name is Daryl Mansey. Good morning to you, Daryl.
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  Speaker 3: Good morning Coatie.
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  Speaker 2: How are you very well?
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  Speaker 1: Thank you so much for your time now, Daryl, I
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  Speaker 1: wanted to get you on because we know that Fey Miller,
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  Speaker 1: the former Mayor of Catherine, passed away over the weekend.
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  Speaker 1: Also a member of the COLP and an absolute well
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  Speaker 1: stallwater I think for the Northern Territory and a true
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  Speaker 1: advocate for the territory.
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  Speaker 3: Oh. Look, without doubt she was a great advocate. He
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  Speaker 3: was a sparkling personality and she really put in one
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  Speaker 3: hundred and fifty percent for the people of Catherine when
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  Speaker 3: she was a mayor, when she was the local member
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  Speaker 3: of contribution to the Northern Charity Legion of Assembly was
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  Speaker 3: really unbelievable. She ended up as the deputy leader of
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  Speaker 3: the Parliamentary Wing. I mean she she was just a dynamo.
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  Speaker 3: And when she retired, I mean everyone was sad but
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  Speaker 3: happy for her, but you know, she was diagnosed with
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  Speaker 3: maniafied rosis I think it was, and she ended up
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  Speaker 3: being a I guess, a great advocate for how you
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  Speaker 3: approached those sort of difficulties in life. She was always
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  Speaker 3: fut of goes. She was always just so enthusiastic about
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  Speaker 3: how she lives. She was just a wonderful person, a
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  Speaker 3: great territorian and I just you know, you just got
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  Speaker 3: your heart does out to her husband Dennis and the
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  Speaker 3: family and extended family, because you know, it's like turning
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  Speaker 3: the lights off. Wonderful lady.
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  Speaker 1: She was such an InCred person. We used to have
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  Speaker 1: her on the show pretty regularly for a catch up
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  Speaker 1: when she was the mayor of Catherine and then we'd
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  Speaker 1: done the week that was from the Catherine Show one year,
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  Speaker 1: and she was just fantastic. I love she didn't mince
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  Speaker 1: her words, Darryl. She said what she meant and she
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  Speaker 1: really stood up for her community.
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  Speaker 3: Oh absolutely, Look, and she also had a great sense
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  Speaker 3: of humor. I mean, I like you. I spoke to
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  Speaker 3: her many times over the years now on the radio,
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  Speaker 3: I just and again as she attended on panels on
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  Speaker 3: the show. And so she was just a person who
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  Speaker 3: was very very confident. She knew what was going on.
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  Speaker 3: She didn't, you know, she didn't mince her words. But
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  Speaker 3: on the same token, she wasn't a person who was
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  Speaker 3: a nasty person. She didn't attack the man, she attacked
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  Speaker 3: the problem. And you know, a lot of politicians could
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  Speaker 3: look at doing that these days, because it seems to
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  Speaker 3: be that personality seemed to be the goal, not dealing
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  Speaker 3: with the identifying and dealing with the problem.
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  Speaker 1: That is so true. It is such a good point
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  Speaker 1: to make. And you know, it should be about it
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  Speaker 1: should be about the you know, the game rather than
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  Speaker 1: the player. But sometimes it gets really nasty. But she
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  Speaker 1: was all class.
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  Speaker 3: Absolutely, that's a good word. Gradi was just class, and
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  Speaker 3: he never forgot a root, and he dealt with ordinary
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  Speaker 3: people the same way as she dealt with the ips.
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  Speaker 3: She just didn't hesitate to tell them what was happening.
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  Speaker 3: You know, there's none others beating around the bush and
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  Speaker 3: trying to make people feel better by saying what they
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  Speaker 3: wanted to hear. She said it as it was, and
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  Speaker 3: that's that's a pretty important asset you should have in life.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, it most certainly is.
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  Speaker 1: And all my love to her partner, to her children,
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  Speaker 1: her step children and her grandkids. It must be it's
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  Speaker 1: going to be a tough time for them because, like
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  Speaker 1: you said, you know, she was such a bright spark,
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  Speaker 1: such a light in everybody's life.
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  Speaker 3: She was and people like say come come along pretty rarely,
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  Speaker 3: and we've had a few good ones in the territory
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  Speaker 3: and she was a great example of the way we
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  Speaker 3: all need to live our life and to become engaged
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  Speaker 3: to try and make things better. And she never she
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  Speaker 3: never stopped that. She always I mean, we are wearing
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  Speaker 3: my hat. As the chairman of the JEGOB Edinburgh International
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  Speaker 3: Youth Awards, we always contacted Fay when we had a
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  Speaker 3: graduation of people that had concluded their medals in Katherine.
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  Speaker 3: She never hesitated. She was there to be able to
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  Speaker 3: give the young people that were involved a touch of
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  Speaker 3: you know, this is important and the Mayor's here to
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  Speaker 3: recognize ull con tribution. She just did it.
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  Speaker 2: Well, yeah, she truly did.
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  Speaker 1: Now, Darryl, I do want to I do want to
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  Speaker 1: ask you while I've got you on here this morning,
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  Speaker 1: and I hope you don't mind. I know that you'd
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  Speaker 1: served as the well the Northern Territory Police Minister, as
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  Speaker 1: I understand it was it for about fifteen years, Darryl.
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  Speaker 3: No, I was in Parliament for eighteen but I actually
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  Speaker 3: was a policeman previously that, and I've been Minister for Police.
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  Speaker 3: I was Attorney General for ten years, I was a
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  Speaker 3: Minister for Correction. So over the years I've certainly been
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  Speaker 3: involved in that arena. And I continue as a member
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  Speaker 3: of the Retired Police Association, and very proudly so. The
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  Speaker 3: Northern Territory Police Force has been a big part of
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  Speaker 3: my life in my early days and I really appreciate
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  Speaker 3: the friendships and the just the application and morale of
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  Speaker 3: police in those days was second none.
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  Speaker 2: Daryl, what do you make this morning?
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  Speaker 1: And over the weekend, obviously we learned that the Northern
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  Speaker 1: Territory Government has asked the Police Commissioner, Jamie Chalker to resign.
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  Speaker 1: We did speak with Matt Cunningham from Sky News earlier
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  Speaker 1: this morning and he'd revealed over the weekend that the
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  Speaker 1: government had indeed contacted mister Chalker on Friday and indicated
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  Speaker 1: that they'd lost confidence in him.
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  Speaker 3: Yes. Look, look, being police commissioners a difficult job and
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  Speaker 3: one of the things that a lot of people don't
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  Speaker 3: quite understand is that the police are separate from the government.
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  Speaker 3: The police, there's a separation of powers principle that applies,
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  Speaker 3: and the commissioner can only really do his job with
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  Speaker 3: the law and the financial support that he gets to
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  Speaker 3: be able to carry out the policies that the government
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  Speaker 3: is putting forward. Now, the government should never be in
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  Speaker 3: a position where they can really hire and fire police
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  Speaker 3: commissioners or tell them what to do, because that then
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  Speaker 3: cuts across that principle of the police are responding to
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  Speaker 3: the laws made by the Parliament as that's their role,
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  Speaker 3: not the wins of the political party of the day.
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  Speaker 3: So that separation stays there, and that's obviously why the
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  Speaker 3: government has suggested they've lost confidence in his activity. And
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  Speaker 3: then he has to make the decision as to whether
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  Speaker 3: he continues or he moves on. But I've got to
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  Speaker 3: say it's been a very difficult task for that role
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  Speaker 3: because he was he was appointed just after the EU
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  Speaker 3: and the MoU processes, and he certainly could have done
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  Speaker 3: things better there. And I think the continual following of
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  Speaker 3: Rolph and even after he's been found not guilty, to
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  Speaker 3: just continue to try and make his life a misery
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  Speaker 3: has not left a good look for a lot of
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  Speaker 3: police because with policemen, there've been things happening over the
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  Speaker 3: last year in the state where we've had similar situations
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  Speaker 3: where arrests have been resisted and knives or weapons have
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  Speaker 3: been used and policemen have been forced to defend themselves
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  Speaker 3: and it's richards resulted in the death of the offender.
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  Speaker 3: So that sort of thing has happened, and the police
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  Speaker 3: in those instances have been recognized as doing their job
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  Speaker 3: properly and supported by the Commissioner of the day in
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  Speaker 3: that process which has to go on after a death,
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  Speaker 3: with investigations and all that. In this instance, I think
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  Speaker 3: most people would agree that there was a very very
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  Speaker 3: quick reaction by the commissioner and a public reaction and
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  Speaker 3: I guess set up a perception of bias against that
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  Speaker 3: man from the very beginning, and that didn't that didn't
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  Speaker 3: make a lot of Plicement feel very happy out in
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  Speaker 3: that environment every day trying to deal with these issues.
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  Speaker 3: So that was the first thing. I guess you could
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  Speaker 3: say it was probably an approach which could have been
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  Speaker 3: done better. On the thing taken. He can only do
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  Speaker 3: his job as commissioner, and the police can only do
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  Speaker 3: their jobs if they have laws which enable them to
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  Speaker 3: do so. And over the last twenty years, I think
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  Speaker 3: any observer would see there's been a steady weakening or
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  Speaker 3: removal of a lot of laws, especially street offenses, which
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  Speaker 3: enabled policemen to carry out their roles on the street
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  Speaker 3: to knit a possible offensive behavior, but in the very
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  Speaker 3: early minutes, whereas now it's something that's really the end
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  Speaker 3: result is when someone ends up getting arrested after they've
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  Speaker 3: done something pretty terrible. So that changes in a lot
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  Speaker 3: of those laws has made it very very difficult for police. Also,
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  Speaker 3: we watch houses. We've got what Donell watchhouses, class caterer
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  Speaker 3: and a Freenda McCauley opens Parmerstan so that takes another hour,
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  Speaker 3: hour and a half out of the day of a
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  Speaker 3: patrialing plus group who do make an arrest. The provisions
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  Speaker 3: of bail, of course, we're seeing now even the weapons
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  Speaker 3: that are described in the legislation don't cover the majority
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  Speaker 3: of weapons that are used in these circumstances. And you
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  Speaker 3: just scratch your head. There's too much influenced by lawyers
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  Speaker 3: who really aren't experts in crime. They're experts and they
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  Speaker 3: learn the vagaries of the law and their job is
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  Speaker 3: defending people who are prosecuted. We take too much notice
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  Speaker 3: of what the perception would be. They're making life easier
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  Speaker 3: for themselves than their job. Now, whether that's true, and
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  Speaker 3: you can be well argued, but the perception in the
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  Speaker 3: community's eyes.
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  Speaker 2: Is not a good one.
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  Speaker 3: On that note, I don't think I'll do any more.
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  Speaker 2: Well, yeah, we don't. I love it, Darryl.
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  Speaker 4: I'm enjoying having a to what you've got to say,
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  Speaker 4: because you've been around for such a long period of time.
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  Speaker 4: You've worked, you know, as a police officer for an
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  Speaker 4: incredibly long period of time, but you've also worked as
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  Speaker 4: a colp minister as well, so you've got a very
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  Speaker 4: good understanding of, you know, how these decisions are made
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  Speaker 4: and how it all works. But yeah, it's been very
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  Speaker 4: interesting then for this news to break over the course
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  Speaker 4: of the weekend, and to my understanding, at this point
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  Speaker 4: still no real response or no real discussion from the
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  Speaker 4: Northern Territory Chief Minister or Police minister. So I don't
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  Speaker 4: think that they can just leave this issue hanging for
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  Speaker 4: too much longer.
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  Speaker 3: Well might, because it's been a pretty successful tactic not
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  Speaker 3: to talk in public about things or to cut the
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  Speaker 3: conversation out in the Parliament. I mean it's worked very
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  Speaker 3: well for them. So I guess when you're in government
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  Speaker 3: you're looking at ways and things of minimizing then enmage
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  Speaker 3: and so you know, it's not just on the face
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  Speaker 3: of it. You've got to look and scratch behind the
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  Speaker 3: surface a bit to find out what's going on.
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  Speaker 1: Absolutely well, Darryl Mansy, I always appreciate your time. Thank
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  Speaker 1: you very much for having a chat with us this morning,
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  Speaker 1: and really for remembering fey Miller.
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  Speaker 3: Good on you look yeah, by fantastic lady. That's all
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  Speaker 3: I can say. I can't say anymore. She was just
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  Speaker 3: a great person. And I thank you Katie for the
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  Speaker 3: opportunity of saying a few words about that, because yes,
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  Speaker 3: it's a pretty pretty sad time for a lot of
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  Speaker 3: people in the territory.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, it truly is. Darryl, thank you so much. I
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  Speaker 1: appreciate you speaking with me this morning. We'll talk to
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  Speaker 1: you again
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  Speaker 2: Soon, Okay, bye bye now