Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Katie Woolf spoke with Minister for Territory Families and Urban Housing Kate Worden

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Katie Woolf spoke with Minister for Territory Families and Urban Housing Kate Worden · 360 with Katie Woolf

0:00
Speaker 1: Now we've been talking quite a bit in recent weeks
0:02
Speaker 1: and months really about issues with youth crime from Alice
0:05
Speaker 1: Springs to Karama and the rural area.
0:08
Speaker 2: Now we all understand.
0:09
Speaker 1: That there's no quick fix, but many of you have
0:11
Speaker 1: been wondering exactly what the consequences are for youths who
0:15
Speaker 1: break the law. Now joining me on the line is
0:18
Speaker 1: the Minister for Territory Families, Kate Warden.
0:21
Speaker 3: Good morning, Good morning Katie.
0:23
Speaker 1: Now, Minister, firstly, I know you were in Alice Springs
0:26
Speaker 1: last week. There's been quite a few concerns about the
0:28
Speaker 1: issues in Alice. Who did you meet with while you
0:31
Speaker 1: were there and how did it go?
0:34
Speaker 3: So, yes, it was a really good trip, Katie. We
0:37
Speaker 3: went down. I actually used the time to catch up
0:40
Speaker 3: with a few of my other portfolio responsibilis as some
0:43
Speaker 3: multicultural people and some sporting people as well. But in
0:47
Speaker 3: aw we went out and we caught up again with
0:50
Speaker 3: the people working in the youth justice area, went out
0:53
Speaker 3: and had to look around and saw, you know, about
0:55
Speaker 3: whether there was kids. I caught up with NT court
0:58
Speaker 3: costs and also I caught up with some people and
1:00
Speaker 3: the disability sector, so a whole range of people but
1:04
Speaker 3: definitely had a focus there on the Youth Justice just
1:07
Speaker 3: to see how touch base with them, see how effective
1:09
Speaker 3: VIPER has been, and talk to some of the stakeholders
1:14
Speaker 3: about their observations. Because we've recently opened up the Yario
1:19
Speaker 3: after hours on a Friday and a Saturday night, so
1:23
Speaker 3: we've seen good numbers coming through that, and we had
1:25
Speaker 3: some of the media came through on Saturday night as
1:28
Speaker 3: well and had a look at the work that our
1:30
Speaker 3: Youth Justice officer doing there. Yes, so it was a
1:33
Speaker 3: good trip.
1:34
Speaker 2: Minister.
1:34
Speaker 1: Are you looking at extending the hours of that drop
1:37
Speaker 1: in center, the Youth Drop In Center or are you
1:41
Speaker 1: satisfied at the moment just having it open those couple
1:43
Speaker 1: of days for twenty four hours?
1:45
Speaker 2: Is that the way it's currently working.
1:46
Speaker 3: And Katie, we're already on the record as saying that
1:49
Speaker 3: this is a trials We've trialed it for those two
1:51
Speaker 3: nights to see if it actually would pick some of
1:53
Speaker 3: those kids up, and it has pleasingly. But we've said
1:57
Speaker 3: all along that we'll then expand it as of the
2:00
Speaker 3: beginning of the school holidays, right the way through until
2:02
Speaker 3: the end of the school holidays, and then we'll be
2:03
Speaker 3: reviewing the program already got some really great feedback from
2:07
Speaker 3: some of the staff there about the kids that they're
2:09
Speaker 3: seeing coming through and the engagement they're being able to
2:12
Speaker 3: have with them and then the subsequent engagement the following
2:14
Speaker 3: day with their families. So that's already been a good thing.
2:17
Speaker 3: And yes, we will be expanding that seven days a
2:19
Speaker 3: week from the beginning of the school holidays.
2:22
Speaker 1: Okay, so it is going to start from the beginning
2:24
Speaker 1: of school holidays.
2:24
Speaker 2: It will be seven days a week.
2:27
Speaker 3: That's right. But obviously some of the staff feedback will
2:30
Speaker 3: feed in how that model evolve, yep, and whether it continues.
2:33
Speaker 3: So we've already talked to them. They see quite a
2:37
Speaker 3: number of kids up until about midnight, is the early feedback,
2:40
Speaker 3: and after that the numbers they constantly they taking the
2:43
Speaker 3: kids home. So they are pairing up with Tanninger who
2:47
Speaker 3: have buses that run around to all the youth camps. Actually,
2:50
Speaker 3: that's the other thing I did. I went and had
2:51
Speaker 3: to look at the two youth dropping centers, the ones
2:54
Speaker 3: that were pre existing out of the Gap and Round Street,
2:57
Speaker 3: and spoke to the staff there about whether numbers had
3:01
Speaker 3: been impacted on Friday and Saturdays when we're opening those
3:04
Speaker 3: that urio space, So that was really good. So they're
3:08
Speaker 3: all partnering together to make sure those kids are safe,
3:11
Speaker 3: taken to a safe place and engaging the next day
3:14
Speaker 3: with family.
3:15
Speaker 1: Minister, did you meet with general members of the public
3:18
Speaker 1: as well while you're there to hear their concerns about
3:20
Speaker 1: some of the issues that they've been experiencing.
3:23
Speaker 3: No, Katie, I engaged regularly, often online with people that
3:28
Speaker 3: are talking about crime and often the perception of crime,
3:33
Speaker 3: And often they'll sort of a relude that that's always
3:37
Speaker 3: in the youth space, which of course you and I
3:39
Speaker 3: know it's not, but you know not in general, people
3:43
Speaker 3: raised issues as you go along, you meet people, you know,
3:46
Speaker 3: in between meetings and apt meetings, and certainly in the
3:50
Speaker 3: multiculturals they didn't raise it with me, And in general
3:54
Speaker 3: when I met with Congress, they felt that things had
3:57
Speaker 3: really calmed down recently, which was was pleasing. The police
4:01
Speaker 3: are saying the same thing, and certainly my observations indicated
4:04
Speaker 3: there were less kids out and about during the evening.
4:08
Speaker 2: All right, So no need to meet with the public.
4:11
Speaker 3: Oh well, I haven't been asked to, Katie. You know me,
4:13
Speaker 3: I'm happy to front up for and have a chat
4:15
Speaker 3: with anybody that raises things with me. I often get
4:17
Speaker 3: messages through the back end of Facebook or through a messenger,
4:20
Speaker 3: and I'll always respond to those, but no nobody directly
4:24
Speaker 3: raised it with me.
4:25
Speaker 1: I just find it strange that you, the police Minister
4:28
Speaker 1: and the Chief Minister were there and didn't sort of
4:30
Speaker 1: think maybe we should have a bit of a meeting
4:32
Speaker 1: with members of the public to see how they are
4:34
Speaker 1: feeling well.
4:35
Speaker 3: I think, in directly, Katie, we are catching up with people.
4:38
Speaker 3: The people out of the multicultural community that I met with,
4:41
Speaker 3: the people out of the sporting groups that I met with,
4:43
Speaker 3: They're all people that live every day in other springs,
4:46
Speaker 3: and they certainly didn't raise it directly with me. When
4:49
Speaker 3: I was childing to the stakeholders, the people that work
4:52
Speaker 3: in their offices, the people that come through there, it
4:54
Speaker 3: certainly didn't get raised with me directly. I was out
4:57
Speaker 3: during the evenings myself. I went down to some of
4:59
Speaker 3: the night markets they've got there, the food stand. There
5:02
Speaker 3: wasn't an extraordinary amount of people. I think things have
5:04
Speaker 3: really calmed down in Alice Springs, and I think a
5:06
Speaker 3: viper has done an amazing job down there.
5:08
Speaker 1: Yeah, let's talk through some of those some of those
5:11
Speaker 1: numbers and what Viper's been doing, because I know that
5:14
Speaker 1: some of that data was obtained by the Northern Territory News.
5:17
Speaker 1: It showed there was two hundred and seventeen prosecution files
5:20
Speaker 1: submitted since the strike force began operating on October fourteen.
5:25
Speaker 1: Of those files, there were one hundred and twenty two
5:28
Speaker 1: related to property offenses and one hundred and six were
5:32
Speaker 1: submitted against youth offenders.
5:35
Speaker 2: So how many youth offenders have been arrested.
5:40
Speaker 3: Out of that number? Yeah, are you specifically talking about
5:43
Speaker 3: the work of VIPER, because I don't have well, yeah,
5:46
Speaker 3: particular number, Katie.
5:47
Speaker 2: Well, what we are I guess I've got them.
5:50
Speaker 1: I guess we're just struggling to sort of to break
5:52
Speaker 1: down these figures and exactly what they mean. So maybe
5:55
Speaker 1: if you give us, you know what you've got, Well,
5:58
Speaker 1: if you're.
5:58
Speaker 3: Talking about overall figure, so I can give you some
6:01
Speaker 3: figures up around thirtieth of June, which is the reporting
6:06
Speaker 3: time frame for us at the moment. Obviously, Viber has
6:09
Speaker 3: its own set of statistics, and as you said, under
6:12
Speaker 3: half of those were young people that were associated with
6:17
Speaker 3: those prosecution files. It depends on the offense, Katie. It
6:21
Speaker 3: would also defend really depend on whether that was a
6:25
Speaker 3: first offense for that particular young offender, So it would
6:29
Speaker 3: really relaying. It would be an individual case. Right, I
6:32
Speaker 3: haven't had the statistics on how many. I certainly know
6:35
Speaker 3: that kids are still going into our detention centers, kids
6:39
Speaker 3: are still going onto the back on Track program. In fact,
6:41
Speaker 3: I was discussing that with Congress down they had a
6:45
Speaker 3: really good meeting with Congress around the back on Track
6:48
Speaker 3: program they're running.
6:49
Speaker 1: Well, let's try, let's try and break these figures down.
6:52
Speaker 1: So if there was one hundred and six of those
6:54
Speaker 1: were submitted against youth offenders comancution files, So what exactly
7:00
Speaker 1: does that mean for the layman for us listening who
7:03
Speaker 1: don't really understand what that means.
7:05
Speaker 3: Well, I'm not the police minister, and so I wouldn't
7:07
Speaker 3: understand exactly what a prosecution file meant, except that I
7:11
Speaker 3: would believe that it would be that child or that
7:16
Speaker 3: young person has committed an offense and the police have
7:19
Speaker 3: enough evidence against them. So in some cases, Katie, depending
7:23
Speaker 3: exactly on what that offense is. So if it's an offense,
7:27
Speaker 3: that's an offense that is not a good offense, then
7:30
Speaker 3: those kids would be before the court and that they
7:33
Speaker 3: would invariably be sent to the Alic Springs Youth Justice Center.
7:40
Speaker 3: There's other kids that would be put on bail if
7:43
Speaker 3: they had a bail condition, and often they'll go to
7:46
Speaker 3: what we call Salt Bush in Other Springs, which is
7:48
Speaker 3: where we've got youth justice officers working with them to
7:51
Speaker 3: make sure that they meet their bowl conditions whilst they
7:54
Speaker 3: were a waiting sentence. We've got kids in the Alic
7:56
Speaker 3: Springs Youth Center and down don Dale here in Darwin
7:59
Speaker 3: that are on remand and those that have been sentenced.
8:02
Speaker 3: So there's a whole range of different things. A lot
8:05
Speaker 3: of kids go on to the back on track, so
8:07
Speaker 3: all those.
8:08
Speaker 1: And I want to go into a bit more detail
8:10
Speaker 1: about those different programs in a minute, but I'm just
8:12
Speaker 1: trying to understand these numbers that have obviously been provided
8:16
Speaker 1: to the NT News. So of the one hundred and
8:18
Speaker 1: six prosecution files, do we know how many of those
8:23
Speaker 1: young people were they arrested, have they been through the
8:28
Speaker 1: court system, what exactly has happened to have been arrested?
8:31
Speaker 3: Katie? On all of those You've got a file that
8:33
Speaker 3: you're taking towards the court, you would have an arrest
8:36
Speaker 3: for those kids. What happens to those kids is a
8:38
Speaker 3: variety of things. Now, if the child is its first offense,
8:43
Speaker 3: and it's a property offense, and I guess no harm
8:46
Speaker 3: would have been I'm taking I'm sort of stepping outside
8:50
Speaker 3: here a little bit, Katie, except that I think you
8:52
Speaker 3: have to step this through. What the youth justice system
8:56
Speaker 3: now does is if any kid, including our children and Katie, so,
9:00
Speaker 3: if your child has fallen in with a group of
9:03
Speaker 3: kids and has a first offense, if it's not a
9:06
Speaker 3: highly severe offense, they'll be given the opportunity to go
9:10
Speaker 3: through one of our back on track programs. Now, what
9:12
Speaker 3: that is is about to help those kids that have
9:15
Speaker 3: had a first brush with the law, to try and
9:18
Speaker 3: make sure that's something I would want for my child.
9:20
Speaker 3: I know that when my daughter was fifteen, my eldest daughter,
9:24
Speaker 3: she was a little off the rails and fell in
9:26
Speaker 3: with a group of kids that probably I would not
9:28
Speaker 3: have picked for her as a parent. Now, I have
9:31
Speaker 3: no idea if they did things that they were against
9:35
Speaker 3: the law. But when your child does, what this system
9:38
Speaker 3: offers him as an opportunity to turn around the direction
9:43
Speaker 3: that they're heading and do better. Now, if that kid
9:46
Speaker 3: then has done something worse than that, that young person,
9:49
Speaker 3: then they will go before a court. And I see
9:51
Speaker 3: those kids coming through our Youth Justice Center. So to
9:54
Speaker 3: say there's no consequences, it's not true.
9:56
Speaker 1: No, Well, I think what I'm trying to get to
9:58
Speaker 1: is exactly what happens. So I understand that if it's
10:01
Speaker 1: a first offense in the offense and so all right,
10:04
Speaker 1: So of those one hundred and six prosecution files, do
10:07
Speaker 1: we know how many of them have then gone through
10:10
Speaker 1: one of those diversion programs.
10:13
Speaker 3: Now, I can only tell you what the kids that
10:15
Speaker 3: went through the system, not particularly out of that particular breakdown.
10:19
Speaker 2: Okay, that was viper.
10:21
Speaker 3: But the last financial year we had seventy eight young
10:24
Speaker 3: people in the program for Back on Track. We had
10:27
Speaker 3: another three hundred and nine young people in diversion programs,
10:31
Speaker 3: and we had sixty seven kids in a youth work
10:33
Speaker 3: and training camp. Now they're all different kids in three
10:37
Speaker 3: different lots of programs that really would have related to
10:40
Speaker 3: the offense. Now, the kids that did things that you
10:42
Speaker 3: and I found would confined completely intolerable would also be
10:46
Speaker 3: in the youth justice system. So we have got for
10:49
Speaker 3: that last financial year, yep, we had one hundred and
10:51
Speaker 3: thirty eight young people go into our youth detention.
10:55
Speaker 1: All right, Now, of those numbers that you've just given us,
10:58
Speaker 1: how many of those young people reoffend it So.
11:02
Speaker 3: If the ones that went into use detention, any.
11:04
Speaker 2: Of those programs in the world.
11:06
Speaker 3: That went into use detention, sixty eight of those, which
11:10
Speaker 3: is fifty six percent, only had one they didn't go
11:13
Speaker 3: back into the system.
11:14
Speaker 2: Okay, so sixty eight percent.
11:16
Speaker 3: I don't have the figures in terms of overall the
11:21
Speaker 3: number of young people that didn't go didn't repeat. I
11:24
Speaker 3: know that with the Back on Track anecdotally, we're hearing
11:28
Speaker 3: over eighty percent of those kids that go onto the
11:30
Speaker 3: Back on Track program don't reoffend within six months. Now,
11:33
Speaker 3: remembering Katie, we need to analyze this as we go. Yep.
11:36
Speaker 2: Now, what about some time borrow?
11:38
Speaker 1: So what about some of those other programs we've heard
11:41
Speaker 1: about Salt Bush. We've also heard about seventy Meuse Station
11:45
Speaker 1: I believe it's called.
11:47
Speaker 3: And so I'll give you the example of the the
11:51
Speaker 3: youth justice conferencing the restorative justice that happens down in
11:55
Speaker 3: Alice Springs with the Jesuits. So I've caught up with them.
11:59
Speaker 3: They're telling me that over eighty five percent of the
12:02
Speaker 3: kids that go through with them on a ten week
12:04
Speaker 3: program do not reoffend.
12:06
Speaker 1: Okay, and then what about so how many kids actually
12:09
Speaker 1: did that?
12:10
Speaker 2: How many kids did that?
12:11
Speaker 3: Sixty eight in the last financially so one.
12:13
Speaker 2: Hundred and sixty eight of them that last financial year.
12:16
Speaker 3: Later out, Katie, No, well, I'm.
12:17
Speaker 1: Just trying to work out so of that what you're
12:20
Speaker 1: telling me, they're really good reoffend.
12:23
Speaker 3: What to be really good? If you spoke to someone
12:25
Speaker 3: like John Adams with the Jesuit, he would be able
12:28
Speaker 3: to tell you those figures and how many kids that
12:29
Speaker 3: they're seeing for I've had an increased number of them
12:33
Speaker 3: through recently through Operation Viper, all right, and they're having
12:36
Speaker 3: some really good It's a ten week program where those
12:39
Speaker 3: kids get faced with the consequences of what their actions
12:43
Speaker 3: have done.
12:43
Speaker 1: They have it's not actually you don't actually have to
12:47
Speaker 1: do it.
12:47
Speaker 3: Do you? So no, so we're moving to try and
12:51
Speaker 3: change that. But if you don't do these things, Katie,
12:54
Speaker 3: if you don't, you go before the court, and the
12:56
Speaker 3: court give you a sentence. They're your alternatives.
12:59
Speaker 2: And so what is the sentence? What would the alternatives.
13:02
Speaker 3: Then be willing to do this thing? There's nothing for you,
13:04
Speaker 3: So what.
13:05
Speaker 2: Would the what would the alternatives then.
13:07
Speaker 3: Be in front of the court? And then you go
13:10
Speaker 3: into youth justice system.
13:11
Speaker 1: And would that be one of those programs or would
13:14
Speaker 1: it be going into a youth detention center.
13:16
Speaker 2: I'm just trying to ask, like I'm actually trying to work.
13:18
Speaker 3: It out, Katie. That's up to the court.
13:20
Speaker 2: So what are their options is what I'm trying to ask, Minister.
13:24
Speaker 2: What are the options is what I'm trying to ask.
13:27
Speaker 1: If if they don't do the youth conferencing and then
13:29
Speaker 1: if they're not going into jail, what I'm asking is,
13:32
Speaker 1: what are those other options? Is it salt Bush and
13:35
Speaker 1: is it seven EMU station.
13:37
Speaker 3: I'll flatten out the system for you. So your child
13:40
Speaker 3: has let's say your son has been not saying your son,
13:43
Speaker 3: but you know one of our kids has undertaken some
13:48
Speaker 3: first defense property offenses. They will go the police will
13:51
Speaker 3: offer them diversion. The police have that that's one of
13:54
Speaker 3: the changes. We offer options. So they could go into
13:56
Speaker 3: youth conferencing, they could go on a back on Track program,
14:00
Speaker 3: which means they get a service provider that works with
14:02
Speaker 3: them to get them back on track. Or they could
14:04
Speaker 3: go into a youth diversion program, which means they might
14:06
Speaker 3: end up out on a work camp. Those sorts of
14:09
Speaker 3: options are offered. If the child then says I don't
14:11
Speaker 3: want to do all of that, then the police will
14:14
Speaker 3: go to that matter will go to court, and then
14:15
Speaker 3: it's up to the court to sentence them. Now they
14:18
Speaker 3: may sentence them, they may again sentence them and give
14:22
Speaker 3: an order against them to go into one of those programs,
14:25
Speaker 3: or they may make an order that they go into
14:27
Speaker 3: the detention system. It's up to the court then about
14:30
Speaker 3: where they send them.
14:31
Speaker 1: And you're confident that the courts have got enough options.
14:34
Speaker 3: The courts have got lots of options. Of course, Katie.
14:37
Speaker 3: If it's a bad offense, an offense that you know,
14:39
Speaker 3: we don't the society doesn't have any tolerance for, then
14:43
Speaker 3: those kids go into the youth Justice Center and in
14:46
Speaker 3: there we give them wrap around programs to try and
14:48
Speaker 3: change their lives.
14:50
Speaker 1: Okay, now we've spoken a lot about you, so are
14:52
Speaker 1: maybe first time offenders and this is the first time
14:55
Speaker 1: that they've done something wrong. But the real concern within
14:57
Speaker 1: the community is that we've got those RECIDIVIS defenders, those
15:01
Speaker 1: that have done the wrong thing more than once, and
15:03
Speaker 1: the perception is that they're getting a slap.
15:05
Speaker 2: On the wrist. I mean, not true, Katie.
15:08
Speaker 1: So talk us through what happens with those young people
15:12
Speaker 1: who breach their bail and who are.
15:15
Speaker 2: Doing the wrong thing well more than once.
15:17
Speaker 3: 's talk you through the breach of bail if you like.
15:19
Speaker 3: Let's start there. So, if you've got a kid that
15:22
Speaker 3: has breached their bail, we have the option of salt Bush,
15:25
Speaker 3: which is bail accommodation where those kids can get monitored
15:28
Speaker 3: twenty four to seven. If they don't do that and
15:31
Speaker 3: they're out and they breach their bail, they'll be picked
15:34
Speaker 3: up on bail and the police have an option. The
15:37
Speaker 3: police have an option to actually charge them with breach
15:39
Speaker 3: of bail. They've still got that option, or they then
15:43
Speaker 3: will get charged straight away for the offense that they're
15:45
Speaker 3: on bail for. So the old system, Katie, was that
15:49
Speaker 3: let's say you were out on bail and you breached
15:51
Speaker 3: bail as a young person, we actually then have to
15:55
Speaker 3: prosecute you for that breach of bail. Now, if you've
15:57
Speaker 3: done that, then the police have to prosecute you for
16:00
Speaker 3: the breach of bail before they actually prosecute you for
16:03
Speaker 3: the matter that you're being held on bail. Four.
16:06
Speaker 2: So you're telling us it's a good thing. So is it?
16:09
Speaker 3: Lots of layers And now they've stripped back the layers
16:12
Speaker 3: and said, Okay, we might not prosecute you for the
16:14
Speaker 3: bail because we want to actually prosecute you for the
16:17
Speaker 3: matter you're actually on bail. Four. It's really important work.
16:20
Speaker 1: So are you So are you saying that the police
16:22
Speaker 1: wanted this, that it's easier for them.
16:25
Speaker 3: Absolutely, they saw that the system was held up with
16:29
Speaker 3: prosecution files and prosecution files for bail when all they
16:33
Speaker 3: wanted to do was get to the actual matter that
16:35
Speaker 3: they'd arrested that person four. So it's just simpler. The
16:39
Speaker 3: police can still prosecute you for breach of bail, so
16:43
Speaker 3: the system now allows them not to, so that they
16:45
Speaker 3: can actually be prosecuted for the original matter that they
16:49
Speaker 3: were actually arrested for.
16:50
Speaker 1: I'm a bit confused because then my understanding was that
16:53
Speaker 1: the Police Association last week was calling for for these
16:57
Speaker 1: breach of bail conditions to be you know, to be
17:00
Speaker 1: changed back so that there isn't that presumption in favor
17:04
Speaker 1: of bail for repeat youth offenders.
17:06
Speaker 3: That is not my understanding, Katie. I'm my understanding is
17:10
Speaker 3: that when these changes were made, the police were extremely
17:14
Speaker 3: supportive because they are constantly having to do paperwork for
17:17
Speaker 3: breach of bail, which then held up the original prosecution.
17:22
Speaker 3: They can still they can still get someone for a
17:26
Speaker 3: breach of bail. It's still in the legislation. They just
17:29
Speaker 3: have the option not to. All right, we're going to
17:31
Speaker 3: have to move along important distinction. I think there's been
17:33
Speaker 3: some confusion over it. Well, it needs so that's the
17:36
Speaker 3: bail stuff, Katie.
17:38
Speaker 2: You if we're going to have to.
17:39
Speaker 1: Move along very quickly, Kate, because I do just want
17:41
Speaker 1: to ask you about housing very quickly. It's something else
17:43
Speaker 1: that people are bringing up with us very regularly now
17:46
Speaker 1: in terms of public housing. We've had a number of
17:49
Speaker 1: messages even this morning coming through, people asking really what
17:55
Speaker 1: the red card system is or what is deemed as
17:58
Speaker 1: unacceptable behavior. We've had a number of people message through
18:03
Speaker 1: and say that they've got antisocial behavior, people screaming and yelling,
18:06
Speaker 1: fighting into the hours of the night, that really nothing
18:10
Speaker 1: seems to ever change in those public housing residences.
18:14
Speaker 2: What is the what's the rules here, Kate?
18:17
Speaker 3: Okay, so you're talking about my pet project, my pet
18:20
Speaker 3: to subject here, Katie, because before I got elected, this
18:23
Speaker 3: is exactly the work that I did in the Department
18:26
Speaker 3: of Housing. The red card policy is a policy where
18:30
Speaker 3: a if there's a if someone is conducting antisocial behavior,
18:35
Speaker 3: then that person can get a red flag put against them.
18:37
Speaker 3: They can have up to six and then the department
18:39
Speaker 3: can consider termination. It's all under the residential in fact
18:43
Speaker 3: that's under the Housing Act, but under the Residential Tenancies
18:46
Speaker 3: Act then they can be taken to court and the
18:49
Speaker 3: tenancy terminated. That so there's a fliding scale in terms
18:53
Speaker 3: of anti social behavior, Katie. I would I would tell
18:58
Speaker 3: you that right now across with Housing, as it was
19:01
Speaker 3: when I was in Department of Housing, we actually have
19:05
Speaker 3: a visitor problem more than a tenant problem.
19:07
Speaker 1: So how do you fix that for people that are
19:09
Speaker 1: living nearby?
19:10
Speaker 3: So how we fix that is making sure that antisocial
19:13
Speaker 3: behavior is reported consistently both two police and the department,
19:20
Speaker 3: and then we can take action. If we then can
19:23
Speaker 3: often put support around the person so that they can
19:25
Speaker 3: manage their visitors better. But if all that breaks down,
19:29
Speaker 3: the department can take those people to court and attempt
19:33
Speaker 3: to terminate the tenancy.
19:34
Speaker 1: It sounds like it'd be a bit of a nightmare
19:36
Speaker 1: if you were living close by to a home where
19:38
Speaker 1: there is constant bad behavior, considering the fact that they've
19:42
Speaker 1: got six chances to get it right.
19:44
Speaker 3: Well, it's not six chances, Katie. What it is is
19:47
Speaker 3: it's a sliding scale. So if you've got a really
19:50
Speaker 3: bad breach, then you could actually get up to three
19:53
Speaker 3: flags in the one hit. So if it's you standing
19:56
Speaker 3: out the front and having a go at your neighbor
19:58
Speaker 3: and it's substantiated, and you might get one. If you have,
20:02
Speaker 3: you know, a big unacceptable behavior outbreak at the property,
20:08
Speaker 3: that could be three. This is why we have public
20:10
Speaker 3: housing safety offices. They go out, they talk to the tenants.
20:14
Speaker 3: They also talk to the neighbors about how you can
20:16
Speaker 3: get this stuff reported. So if there's some you know,
20:19
Speaker 3: so if it's violent behavior, that can attribute three red
20:22
Speaker 3: flags in one go. All of the policy is about
20:25
Speaker 3: the department through public Housing Safety officers looks at the offense,
20:29
Speaker 3: They go by the reports, they do investigations to make
20:32
Speaker 3: sure that you know the tenants. The tenant is aware
20:37
Speaker 3: of the complaints against them and then they take action.
20:39
Speaker 3: I can tell you, as the Minister for Housing, we
20:41
Speaker 3: take action. So I see that. You know I'm the
20:45
Speaker 3: pature on the weekend.
20:46
Speaker 1: No, I'm not only alluding to that. I've also been
20:48
Speaker 1: contacted about one in Karama. I've got one here about
20:51
Speaker 1: somebody in Molden.
20:53
Speaker 2: And another one supporting consistent minister.
20:57
Speaker 1: And that's where I think people are feeling really disheart button.
21:01
Speaker 3: Well, No, I can say that I see them come
21:03
Speaker 3: through my office. Those reports do come through here. I
21:07
Speaker 3: saw them when I was working there. They do take action,
21:10
Speaker 3: But Katie, I can What I can tell you is
21:13
Speaker 3: it's not as simple as having six red cards and evicting.
21:17
Speaker 3: So they're the tenant, then we'll probably get themselves legal
21:21
Speaker 3: support and then that becomes a court matter. And often
21:24
Speaker 3: because housing is the last place that people have house,
21:28
Speaker 3: then the court often has reluctance in evicting people. But
21:31
Speaker 3: we do work with people to either move them into
21:34
Speaker 3: another tenancy and then also put them on an acceptable
21:37
Speaker 3: behavior agreement which is easier to terminate. So the whole
21:40
Speaker 3: range of for actions the Department can take. All I
21:44
Speaker 3: will say to your listeners is please report it, report
21:47
Speaker 3: it consistently both to the police and the department, and
21:50
Speaker 3: make sure that we can get on top of those
21:52
Speaker 3: tenancies early.
21:54
Speaker 1: We're gonna have to wrap up. I'm sorry, minister, we
21:56
Speaker 1: are going to have to wrap up. We really appreciate
21:59
Speaker 1: your time this morning.
22:00
Speaker 2: Thanks for having a.
22:00
Speaker 3: Chat with us so much to talk about it.
22:02
Speaker 2: I know we do. Thank you.
22:03
Speaker 1: That is the Minister for Territory, Families and Housing. There
22:06
Speaker 1: Kate Warden