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

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  Speaker 1: You're listening to Mix one oh four nine. Now, as
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  Speaker 1: we heard, revelation set the government have agreed to pay
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  Speaker 1: thirty five million dollars in compensation for up to twelve
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  Speaker 1: hundred current or former youth detainees. The Opposition says it's
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  Speaker 1: a bitter pill for Territorians and victims of crime to swallow.
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  Speaker 1: Joining me on the line is the Opposition spokesman for
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  Speaker 1: Territory Families, Josh Burgoyne. Good morning to you, Josh.
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  Speaker 2: Good morning, Kay, Good morning to you listeners.
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  Speaker 1: Josh, what was your reaction when you heard that this
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  Speaker 1: was happening and the amount of money that was going
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  Speaker 1: to be going to both former and current detainees.
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  Speaker 2: Look, it is a real kick in the guts to victims. Basically,
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  Speaker 2: there are a lot of people out there that have
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  Speaker 2: been affected victims of crime. And imagine now if you're
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  Speaker 2: seeing at home, you've had your homebreaken into, you've had
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  Speaker 2: your car windows smashed, and now the young people that
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  Speaker 2: offended against you are now receiving a thirty five million
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  Speaker 2: dollar payout. I think the real question that everyone wants
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  Speaker 2: to know is which government minister directed the lawyers basically
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  Speaker 2: to try and suppress this dollar figure because that, again,
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  Speaker 2: it just comes with everything that's been happening of late Katie.
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  Speaker 2: We're really, you know, big on the whole open and
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  Speaker 2: transparent government. But yeah, it's it's just mind buggling to
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  Speaker 2: think that someone, either the Chief Minister or Kate Warden
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  Speaker 2: or who was it, directed the lawyers basically to try
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  Speaker 2: and suppress this thirty five million dollar figure, so we
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  Speaker 2: would have never found out exactly what happens.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, and I guess you know, we now know that
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  Speaker 1: we now know exactly how much it's going to be,
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  Speaker 1: but that's come out from those lawyers. So it is
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  Speaker 1: certainly an interesting element. And we do have a statement
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  Speaker 1: from the Territory Families Minister Kate Warden, and I'll read
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  Speaker 1: part of.
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  Speaker 3: That out for you in a moment.
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  Speaker 1: But look, we do know I suppose from from the
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  Speaker 1: from you know this to look at it, I suppose
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  Speaker 1: from an opposite perspective. You know, we are in a
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  Speaker 1: situation here where these dudes were mistreated. The former CLP
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  Speaker 1: government actually called for that royal commission.
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  Speaker 3: Do you think that they should be entitled to anything.
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  Speaker 2: I think we're really going to look at it from
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  Speaker 2: the point of view that two wrongs don't make a
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  Speaker 2: right here, Kadi. Obviously we've got young people that have
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  Speaker 2: done the wrong thing, they've ended up in new detention
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  Speaker 2: and then whilst they were there things have occurred. Now
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  Speaker 2: it's really important to actually note that as part of
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  Speaker 2: the settlement, the Anti government does not admit officers acted illegally.
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  Speaker 2: So that's really important in all of this. I mean
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  Speaker 2: we can say, yes, they've paid out thirty five million,
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  Speaker 2: but they have not admitted that offers active officers acted illegally.
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  Speaker 2: So this is a really important point that's in the
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  Speaker 2: you know that basically has been a part of this settlement.
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  Speaker 2: And also thirty five million, and then it was reported
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  Speaker 2: this morning in the NTA News that eight to ten
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  Speaker 2: million of that will go towards paying off the lawyers.
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  Speaker 2: So quite often in these cases the only people that
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  Speaker 2: do win out law and yeah, that's that's a huge,
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  Speaker 2: huge amount of money obviously that is going to be
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  Speaker 2: paid well and reported this morning.
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  Speaker 1: Look, we did put in a request to have the
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  Speaker 1: Minister for Territory Families, Kate Warden, on the show this morning,
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  Speaker 1: but unfortunately we've been unable to get her on. She
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  Speaker 1: did send through a statement and it reads. The claims
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  Speaker 1: made in this case are historical from two thousand and
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  Speaker 1: six to twenty seventeen. Since then, the government has accepted
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  Speaker 1: the Royal Commission findings and have been implementing the recommendations.
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  Speaker 1: The matter covers the near on twelve hundred young persons
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  Speaker 1: who were sentenced from twenty sixteen to seventeen and will
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  Speaker 1: be settled for thirty five million inclusive of costs, and
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  Speaker 1: this historic case will be put to bed. Do you
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  Speaker 1: think that this does put things to bed or do
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  Speaker 1: you think that we're still going to really have an
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  Speaker 1: issue where we're you know, where we're dealing with the
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  Speaker 1: ramifications of young people who are committing crimes and still
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  Speaker 1: have an issue here in the territory.
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  Speaker 2: I think the biggest thing the territorians are going to
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  Speaker 2: be thinking about today is if they've been a victim
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  Speaker 2: of crime, and you know, these young people now are
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  Speaker 2: going to receive a portion of money as a result
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  Speaker 2: of that, will they be paying back they'd get to society?
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  Speaker 2: Will they be paying back you know, we were looking
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  Speaker 2: at the other day that only one hundred thousand dollars
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  Speaker 2: or something campat of estimates have been paid the victims
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  Speaker 2: of crime you know, out of this offender levy. I mean,
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  Speaker 2: where does this sort of end?
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  Speaker 1: I mean, and it seems like the pendulums, Well, it
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  Speaker 1: seems like the pendulum so far one way.
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  Speaker 3: I think.
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  Speaker 1: You know, at the end of the day, nobody wants
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  Speaker 1: to see kids go into detention and not be treated
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  Speaker 1: in a way that's rehabilitative.
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  Speaker 3: You know, we all sort of feel that way.
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  Speaker 1: But we also feel as though victims of crime and
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  Speaker 1: will should be compensated.
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  Speaker 3: They don't ask for it.
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  Speaker 1: You know, they're in their homes very often where they
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  Speaker 1: should be feeling safe and then wind up victims. It
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  Speaker 1: does seem as though, you know, we've sort of swing
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  Speaker 1: swung too far one way.
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  Speaker 2: It certainly does feel like that, Katie, and I think
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  Speaker 2: what we also need to remember is thirty five million
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  Speaker 2: dollars when we're already bankrupt. I mean, where is this
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  Speaker 2: money going to come from? You know, we don't have
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  Speaker 2: any money in the bank. This is thirty five million
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  Speaker 2: that's going to now have to be paid out. Where
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  Speaker 2: is that going to come from? There's going to be
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  Speaker 2: cut of services somewhere, and I think it's really important
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  Speaker 2: that you do find out from the territory families, Minister,
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  Speaker 2: just where it's going to come from, because thirty five
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  Speaker 2: million dollars is a huge hit. Yeah.
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  Speaker 1: Well, and that's in addition to obviously the costs of
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  Speaker 1: the Royal Commission in the first place, and the other
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  Speaker 1: money that's being invested obviously into the way in which
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  Speaker 1: we deal with youths who've committed crimes. But Josh, we
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  Speaker 1: know that the Minister has also said that over the
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  Speaker 1: past four years, the government's work to ensure that the
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  Speaker 1: territory's youth justice systems reformed. She says one key aspect
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  Speaker 1: was the transfer of youth detention from adult corrections systems
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  Speaker 1: to territory families, recognizing that different systems and approaches are
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  Speaker 1: required when dealing with young people.
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  Speaker 3: Do you think that that's working.
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  Speaker 2: I think we can definitely see Caddy that these reforms
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  Speaker 2: have not been working, and it's been something that's been
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  Speaker 2: spoken about a lot down here at Alice Springs. Obviously
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  Speaker 2: we've got to a point where crime got so bad
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  Speaker 2: that the Guna government had to actually turn around and
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  Speaker 2: renege on some of that those reforms, especially when it
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  Speaker 2: relates to bail, because it was just this revolving doors.
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  Speaker 2: So we can see that they started going down a
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  Speaker 2: path blindly just going yes, we're going to do everything.
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  Speaker 2: And then obviously there were huge consequences in relation to that,
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  Speaker 2: with a large amount of young people offending and being
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  Speaker 2: on the street at night. I was Springings Police where
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  Speaker 2: there we send. They were, you know, continuously arresting and
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  Speaker 2: then re arresting people that were out on bail. I
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  Speaker 2: was at a Youth Justice sympaus him yesterday and they're
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  Speaker 2: really frustrated that there are a lot of young people
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  Speaker 2: on remand. Well, you know, I hate to bring it back,
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  Speaker 2: but the fact that those young people are in remand
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  Speaker 2: means that they're not then out on the street reoffending.
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  Speaker 2: And we've all seen, unfortunately what can happen when a
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  Speaker 2: young person is out on you know, on bail, and
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  Speaker 2: they can offend again. And there's been terrible instances that
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  Speaker 2: have occurred down here in our springs that we just
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  Speaker 2: do not want repeated, Katie. And that's why it's so
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  Speaker 2: important that we get this right, that we aren't lax
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  Speaker 2: and just allowing kids to continually reoffend.
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  Speaker 1: Josh, have you spoken to many in Alice Springs about
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  Speaker 1: this thirty five billion dollar payout and what's been the
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  Speaker 1: reaction from locals in Alice.
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  Speaker 2: Look to be honest, Katie, like I said, I was
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  Speaker 2: a justice impos him yesterday the news came out. Obviously
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  Speaker 2: it was very mixed responses there. But yeah, I haven't
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  Speaker 2: had a really good opportunity to actually speak with with
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  Speaker 2: victims of crime here and other things about how they
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  Speaker 2: would feel. But I think, you know, you don't have
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  Speaker 2: to be be a scientist or a genius to work
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  Speaker 2: out that they'd be pretty frustrated that they continuously being
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  Speaker 2: broken into continuously being victims of crime. And now five
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  Speaker 2: million dollars is being paid out to some young people
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  Speaker 2: that have that have been involved in that offending.
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  Speaker 1: Well, there is no doubt that we'll get plenty of
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  Speaker 1: calls about this one this morning.
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  Speaker 3: I do just want to ask, though, Josh.
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  Speaker 1: Obviously, Minister Warden has also said that of those two
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  Speaker 1: hundred and eighteen Royal Commission recommendations, because obviously this is
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  Speaker 1: where all of this stems from, the government agreed in
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  Speaker 1: principle to one hundred and fifty eight of those, and
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  Speaker 1: they've been completed, fifty seven are underway and three are
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  Speaker 1: not yet started due to them being reporting measure over
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  Speaker 1: the next number of years. Do you feel that these
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  Speaker 1: changes have made a difference to the issues that we've
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  Speaker 1: got in the Northern Territory when it comes to youth crime.
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  Speaker 1: Do you feel like the Royal Commission has made a
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  Speaker 1: positive change in the territory.
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  Speaker 2: No, I don't believe it's made a positive change. Well
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  Speaker 2: when it comes to crime and the effects that people
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  Speaker 2: are being helped by chrime, obviously, it's it's really difficult
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  Speaker 2: to see exactly what is happening because, as I stated before,
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  Speaker 2: some of these forms have been implemented and now they've
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  Speaker 2: been rolled back. All I can say is that people
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  Speaker 2: in the community of Alice Springs are very frustrated. Over
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  Speaker 2: the summer period, we were continuously calling out for harsher penalties.
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  Speaker 2: It took a very long time. You know. We have
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  Speaker 2: to remember that the Gunning government were basically saying bail
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  Speaker 2: was not an issue, and then they turned around and
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  Speaker 2: changed the bail or as it was an emission that
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  Speaker 2: they'd got it wrong. And now I mean, we're stuck
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  Speaker 2: in between and this thirty five million dollar payout to detainees.
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  Speaker 2: Like I said, it's just a bit of a kick
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  Speaker 2: in the Gate for a lot of people of Alice
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  Speaker 2: Springs that have been a victim of crime, and where
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  Speaker 2: do we go from here?
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  Speaker 1: Well, and no doubt not just Alice Springs, but I
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  Speaker 1: know Alice have felt this really acutely in recent recent months. Yeah,
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  Speaker 1: that's right, right across the territory. But Josh, we really
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  Speaker 1: appreciate your time this morning. I've no doubt that we're
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  Speaker 1: going to have plenty of people in contact with us
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  Speaker 1: because that issue of crime has been such a well
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  Speaker 1: such a big one over the years here in the
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  Speaker 1: tiar So we'll be talking further about that this morning.
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  Speaker 3: Thank you so much for having a chat with us.
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  Speaker 1: Thanks for the opportunity you are listening to MIX one
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  Speaker 1: oh four point nine is three point sixty and that
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  Speaker 1: was Josh burgoin there, who is the opposition spokesperson for
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  Speaker 1: Territory Families. Now that text line is still not working
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• 10:18
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• 10:21
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• 10:24
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