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Katie Woolf spoke with Member for Braitling Joshua Burgoyne · 360 with Katie Woolf

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  Speaker 1: Throughout the week, we have heard that Alice Springs is
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: experiencing some real concerns when it comes to anti social
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  Speaker 1: behavior and youth crime and well just general crimes being committed.
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  Speaker 1: I think you would say down in Alice Springs, even
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  Speaker 1: to the point as you heard just a little while
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  Speaker 1: ago through that audio thanks to the ABC Alice Springs
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  Speaker 1: where they spoke with the watch commander who had said
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  Speaker 1: that there'd even been officers who'd been set upon by
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  Speaker 1: the public. So there's obviously an issue in Alice at
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  Speaker 1: this point in time. Now joining us on the line though,
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  Speaker 1: to let us know how things are tracking, Joshua Burgoyne,
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  Speaker 1: who is the Member for Brakling also the Shadow Minister
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  Speaker 1: for various portfolios including youth. Good morning to you, Josh.
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  Speaker 2: Good morning Katie, Good morning to your listeners.
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  Speaker 1: Josh. Can you talk us through what's really unfolded over
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  Speaker 1: the last week or so in Alice Springs.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, certainly, Katie. Look it, it's been a huge worry
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  Speaker 2: that every morning I basically come into my elected office
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  Speaker 2: and every morning I'm looking at basically a range of
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  Speaker 2: emails that encompass everything from housebreak ins to people's cars
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  Speaker 2: being damaged cars stolen and obviously premises broken into and damaged.
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  Speaker 2: So that is a daily occurrence now, it's no longer
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  Speaker 2: something that might happen once or twice a week. Every
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  Speaker 2: morning I'm coming in the office and someone else has
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  Speaker 2: written to me, and I think it's really important to
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  Speaker 2: point out that whilst there is a lot that is
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  Speaker 2: being reported, there's also a lot of things that I
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  Speaker 2: am not seeing reported the news that I am then
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  Speaker 2: finding out about to other means. So it is a
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  Speaker 2: worry at the moment and something needs to be done
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  Speaker 2: about it.
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  Speaker 1: Goodness may I mean, that's a concern for residents and
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  Speaker 1: for everybody really living in Elie Springs when you have
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  Speaker 1: to deal with this type of thing, Josh, I mean,
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  Speaker 1: from your perspective, is there any reason what sparked the
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  Speaker 1: most recent spate of crime.
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  Speaker 2: Well, obviously we've been dealing with crime in La Springs
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  Speaker 2: for some time now. During the COVID pandemic, there was
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  Speaker 2: a return to country notice issued where a lot of
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  Speaker 2: people that basically were in town returned out to community.
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  Speaker 2: Since the COVID has somewhat gone gone by the wayside,
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  Speaker 2: and those bio restrictions have now been relaxed. There are
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  Speaker 2: a lot of people traveling into town for various things. Obviously,
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  Speaker 2: I heard the Watch commander speak about the footy ground
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  Speaker 2: finals that we've had over the last few weeks. We
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  Speaker 2: have a huge amount of people coming into town obviously
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  Speaker 2: to take part in those events. And I actually met
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  Speaker 2: with police yesterday and spake with them on a range
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  Speaker 2: of issues, and yeah, it is a worry. I mean,
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  Speaker 2: the gunnal Labor government went to the last election with
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  Speaker 2: a range of policies to target youth offending and also
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  Speaker 2: crime in Ola Springs, and well, what we're currently seeing
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  Speaker 2: in Ola Springs has got a lot of people asking
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  Speaker 2: ourselves what is it actually going to take for this
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  Speaker 2: Gunnalabor government to do something about crime in Ola Springs.
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  Speaker 2: It's a real worry, Katie Josh.
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  Speaker 1: My understanding as well is that throughout the week some
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  Speaker 1: of those police had been set upon. Is that correct.
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  Speaker 2: Look, I won't comment on those individual instances purely because
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  Speaker 2: I wasn't there and I haven't actually seen any reports
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  Speaker 2: of that. Obviously, living in town, you hear about everything
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  Speaker 2: that has been happening. I have heard about the rival families,
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  Speaker 2: which there is clearly issues around. I spoke with police
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  Speaker 2: about that issue yesterday. Now, it's so important to remember
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  Speaker 2: that police are doing everything they can to try to
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  Speaker 2: bring these issues under control. But just imagine being a
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  Speaker 2: police officer there are people taking to one another with machetes.
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  Speaker 2: You then go to those people and you say, are
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  Speaker 2: you going to press charges? And the families have basically
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  Speaker 2: said no, we do not want to press charges. Now
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  Speaker 2: that is purely, again allegedly, what is happening. Yeah, and
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  Speaker 2: that imagine being a police officer having to intervene in
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  Speaker 2: these sorts of clashes and then turning around and no
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  Speaker 2: one is pressing charges. So essentially those people are back
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  Speaker 2: on the streets the next night. And it really is
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  Speaker 2: this cycle of it's worrying. It's worrying a lot of people.
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  Speaker 2: And I've been speaking a lot of people in town
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  Speaker 2: that unfortunately won't come into town at night anymore because
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  Speaker 2: they feel it's unsafe.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's bloody, dreadful. And like you said, for the police,
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  Speaker 1: you know, you feel for them trying to do their
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  Speaker 1: jobs and putting themselves in danger. And then for the
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  Speaker 1: wider community, you know, people are feeling concerned, I would
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  Speaker 1: suspect and scared to go out and about in some instances, Josh,
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  Speaker 1: you know what is the answer here. I know that
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  Speaker 1: you are a very new member of parliament, but what
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  Speaker 1: are you planning to do in your position to really
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  Speaker 1: try to make some change in this space.
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  Speaker 2: I'm certainly going to be lobbying the government to change
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  Speaker 2: some of the laws around the Youth Diversion Act. I'm
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  Speaker 2: literally I have it right up on my screen in
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  Speaker 2: front of me here now, Katie, and once again, you know,
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  Speaker 2: the officer must, instead of charging the youth with an offense,
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  Speaker 2: do one or more of the following things. Give the
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  Speaker 2: youth a verbal warning, give the youth a written warning,
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  Speaker 2: cause a youth justice conference, or refer the youth to
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  Speaker 2: a diversion program. Now so often, so often in other springs,
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  Speaker 2: we hear about crimes that have been committed and then
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  Speaker 2: we basically hear that the youth has been recommended for
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  Speaker 2: the diversion. Now, my biggest issue is is that who
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  Speaker 2: is following up with these things. Who is making sure
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  Speaker 2: that this young person who's going out night after night
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  Speaker 2: causing crime, causing disruption in the community, is actually making
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  Speaker 2: sure that they are taking part in these diversion programs.
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  Speaker 2: And are there enough programs that are actually available out
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  Speaker 2: there for these young people to take part in. I
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  Speaker 2: just when I chat to all the agencies, and I
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  Speaker 2: have been trying to get around to as many agencies
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  Speaker 2: and organizations as I can in the short time that
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  Speaker 2: I've been in this role. There are some really clear
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  Speaker 2: shortfalls in the services that are provided, and there are
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  Speaker 2: people working extraordinarily hard to try and do what they
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  Speaker 2: can to affect positive change. I just think we're coming
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  Speaker 2: up short in a lot of a lot of areas.
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  Speaker 2: Michael Gunner, he came down here for all of five
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  Speaker 2: minutes the other day, walk through the town at eight
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  Speaker 2: point thirty at night. Now that upset. I cannot tell you, Katie,
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  Speaker 2: the amount of people I've had come to me and say,
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  Speaker 2: what was he doing at that time of night? Why
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  Speaker 2: wasn't he out of ten to eleven at night when
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  Speaker 2: all these kids are out on the street. So please,
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  Speaker 2: if you get the chance to talk to Michael Gunner,
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  Speaker 2: you ask me what I'm going to try and do, Katie.
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  Speaker 2: I'm going to try to talk to people like yourselves
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  Speaker 2: that are in the positions you're in to get the
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  Speaker 2: leaders such as Michael Gunner, the people that are in government.
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  Speaker 2: I know, I'm in government, I'm in op position. I'm
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  Speaker 2: going to try and make sure these people actually come
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  Speaker 2: down here and see the real challenges that we are
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  Speaker 2: faced with. I'm happy to work with whoever I can.
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  Speaker 2: And I actually take my hat off to Kate Warden.
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  Speaker 2: I heard her. She was on your show earlier. Yeahrang her.
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  Speaker 2: I rang her earlier in the week, and she has
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  Speaker 2: said that when she comes down our springs, she's happy
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  Speaker 2: to meet with me. That's the sort of leadership that
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  Speaker 2: we want to see. We want to see people that
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  Speaker 2: are keen to work with us. Michael Gunner, I don't know.
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  Speaker 2: I think he's gone missing on this one, and we
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  Speaker 2: really need a clear leadership when it comes to actually
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  Speaker 2: coming down and willing to work with the people in
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  Speaker 2: our springs. Yeah.
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  Speaker 1: Look, it sounds as though it's a really tough situation
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  Speaker 1: that you guys are in, and Josh, you know, I
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  Speaker 1: think it's worth pointing out, mate. We don't often hear
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  Speaker 1: a member of Parliament sort of say, you know, something
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  Speaker 1: complimentary about someone on the opposing side. So good on
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  Speaker 1: you for saying that about Kate Warden. And I think
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  Speaker 1: that if she gets down there and goes and meets
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  Speaker 1: with you and has a walk around. Like you said,
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  Speaker 1: that's some of the stuff that we need to see happening.
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  Speaker 1: We've got to kind of forget about the sides when
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  Speaker 1: you talk about these issues that we're facing all across
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  Speaker 1: the Northern Territory. And it really sounds to me that
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  Speaker 1: Alice is going through a tough spot at the moment,
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  Speaker 1: and I'm not sure how you fix it, but we've
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  Speaker 1: got to make some inroads for the people who live.
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  Speaker 2: There, absolutely, and that's what it's about about the leaders
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  Speaker 2: coming together and working collaboratively so we can actually create
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  Speaker 2: that positive change in our community. No one wants to
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  Speaker 2: see Alis continue down the path that it's on.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, you're dead right well, josh Burgoyne. I really appreciate
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  Speaker 1: your time this morning. Thank you so much for having
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  Speaker 1: a chat with us. We'll talk to you again very soon.
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  Speaker 2: You're welcome, Katie, Thanks, thank you.
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  Speaker 1: That's the member for Brakling there, Joshua Burgoyne. And yeah,
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  Speaker 1: it sounds as though poor old Alice Springs is going
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  Speaker 1: through a really tough spot. I know that we'd heard
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  Speaker 1: about these kinds of issues from Darren at Wicked Needs
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  Speaker 1: at different times as well. There's no doubt that there's
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  Speaker 1: been some concerns in Alice for some time. But I
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  Speaker 1: tell you what, you know, you just shouldn't be in
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  Speaker 1: a situation where you've got people running a muck laid
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  Speaker 1: into the night and yet nothing much able to happen,
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  Speaker 1: and the poor old police doing that really hard work,
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  Speaker 1: and then no charges being laid or nobody wanting to
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  Speaker 1: lay charges. I really don't know how you fix it,
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  Speaker 1: but we've got to make sure that our leaders do
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  Speaker 1: come together and try to work this out. Join mixed
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  Speaker 1: one of four point nine once again for October, another
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  Speaker 1: one Bust the Dust, Oneager to Night, become so nun
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  Speaker 1: I can't feel you