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

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Joining me on the line right now is the opposition
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  Speaker 1: leader Leofanocchiaro.
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  Speaker 2: Good morning, Leah, Good morning Katie, and good morning to
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  Speaker 2: your listen it.
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  Speaker 1: Now, Leah, a terrible incident in the city overnight. I'm
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  Speaker 1: not sure if you've heard in local news, but a
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  Speaker 1: thirty seven year old man's being chased and assaulted. The
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  Speaker 1: victim was driving down Peel Straight when he was hit
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  Speaker 1: from behind by another vehicle.
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  Speaker 3: He parked his car.
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  Speaker 1: Before being assaulted by a group of young males in
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  Speaker 1: the vehicle. The man attempted to flee by entering into
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  Speaker 1: a nearby hotel, where he was struck in the head
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  Speaker 1: with a weapon by the offenders. Hotel security had to
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  Speaker 1: intervene before the group fled the scene. It's understood that
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  Speaker 1: the man and the group of people were not known
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  Speaker 1: to each other. Are you concerned about this type of
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  Speaker 1: thing happening in our city.
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  Speaker 2: Oh, Katie, this is just horrific and certainly my thoughts
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  Speaker 2: are with the victim. It's just incredible. You know, the
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  Speaker 2: stories we're hearing are getting worse and worse. The government
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  Speaker 2: continues to bury its head in the sand like this
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  Speaker 2: is just a normal part of living in the Territory. Well,
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  Speaker 2: it's not normal, it's not acceptable. People don't feel safe
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  Speaker 2: and something's got to be done about this, and it's
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  Speaker 2: just horrific.
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  Speaker 3: It is, there's no doubt about it.
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  Speaker 1: And we will let our listeners know as soon as
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  Speaker 1: we've got some detail on those offenders. So if they've
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  Speaker 1: got the information that they can pass on to the police,
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  Speaker 1: they'll be able to do so. Now. There has been
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  Speaker 1: a lot of commentary in recent days following the release
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  Speaker 1: of footage by the ABC which shows Northern Territory police
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  Speaker 1: officers allegedly manhandling and threatening a group of youths. The
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  Speaker 1: incident happened at the Alla Springs Watchhouse during an arrest
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  Speaker 1: in twenty eighteen. Leah, what was your reaction when you
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  Speaker 1: saw this vision?
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  Speaker 2: Well, you know, when I look at the detail, obviously
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  Speaker 2: this is historical. It's been dealt with and our police
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  Speaker 2: are out there every day doing an amazing job. I
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  Speaker 2: mean police are under tremendous pressure. They leave their families
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  Speaker 2: to go and protect out and when escalating crime with
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  Speaker 2: COVID and all the other things they're dealing with. I
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  Speaker 2: think our police do an exceptional job and they need
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  Speaker 2: to be better supported by the Gunner government. This is
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  Speaker 2: an historical matter and it's been dealt with by the authority.
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  Speaker 1: The Royal Commissioner, one of them, Mick Gooder, and other
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  Speaker 1: Aboriginal justice advocates have called on the government and the
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  Speaker 1: Police Commissioner to condemn the vision.
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  Speaker 3: Do you think that should happen.
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  Speaker 2: I think this has been dealt with in the appropriate
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  Speaker 2: way and that's exactly what should have happened. It's run
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  Speaker 2: its course, it's historical and that's the end of the matter.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, you know, our police are out there doing
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  Speaker 2: a critical job to serve and protect our community, and
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  Speaker 2: you know it's been dealt with by the authority.
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  Speaker 1: The Police Association slammed the ABC who obtained and published
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  Speaker 1: the footage, describing it as manipulated footage. Do you think
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  Speaker 1: that the ABC has manipulated this situation?
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  Speaker 2: Well, I think it's obviously a snapshot in time, and
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  Speaker 2: you know that's why these matters have been invested get
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  Speaker 2: it probably by the appropriate authorities, and you know, the
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  Speaker 2: matter has been dealt with, it's been before the om
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  Speaker 2: men and whatever else has taken place. It's followed all
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  Speaker 2: of those appropriate channels that anyone would expect and ultimately
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  Speaker 2: is not a reflection on the broader police force. So
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  Speaker 2: you know, as I said earlier, I can't thank our
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  Speaker 2: police enough for what they do for our community.
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  Speaker 1: Do you think it's ironic that you know that when
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  Speaker 1: vision like this comes out, obviously there's calls for the
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  Speaker 1: likes of you, for the likes of the government and
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  Speaker 1: the Police Commissioner to condemn the vision. But when we
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  Speaker 1: see vision of a police officer being assaulted by a
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  Speaker 1: teenage girl, as we saw out of Alice Springs just
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  Speaker 1: a few weeks ago, that the same calls aren't happening.
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  Speaker 2: Well, you know that vision was horrific of the girl
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  Speaker 2: assaulting the police officer. Look, we know crime and use
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  Speaker 2: crime in particular is this huge issue. It's been a
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  Speaker 2: really big issue for the last four or five years,
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  Speaker 2: and the Gunner government hasn't been able to get on
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  Speaker 2: top of it or a few to get on top
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  Speaker 2: of it. Instead, what we've seen is then watering down
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  Speaker 2: bail laws, watering down the youth justice legislation, and our
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  Speaker 2: police are there left to try and deal with the issue.
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  Speaker 2: What we need is a government to show leadership to
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  Speaker 2: put victims ahead of the rights of offenders and start
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  Speaker 2: tackling this issue head on. I mean, I can't tell
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  Speaker 2: you the number of times I've suggested different legislative reform,
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  Speaker 2: different programs that might improve things we need to ensure
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  Speaker 2: there are consequences for offending. I mean, just last week
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  Speaker 2: in estimates, Katie, I asked these series of questions that
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  Speaker 2: I've asked, you know, what feels like a hundred times before,
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  Speaker 2: around how many youths have been arrested, how many were
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  Speaker 2: then bailed, how many then were actually convicted, And the
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  Speaker 2: government still can't provide me with that information. Now, if
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  Speaker 2: they're not monitoring that level of repeat offending, then it
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  Speaker 2: means they have no conviction in dealing with this issue
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  Speaker 2: in the first place. So crime continues to rear its
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  Speaker 2: ugly head, it continues to cause huge problems right across
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  Speaker 2: the territory, and all I see is a government bearing
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  Speaker 2: head in the stand, pretending this is just a spade
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  Speaker 2: or a blip in time. It's not a blip. It's
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  Speaker 2: been a persistent issue and it's something they've got to tackle.
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  Speaker 1: Lea, do you feel as though our justice system and
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  Speaker 1: legislative changes have gone too far in terms of protecting
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  Speaker 1: offenders rather than victims.
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  Speaker 2: That's absolutely our position, and we have always consistently said that,
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  Speaker 2: particularly around the changes that the government made to the
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  Speaker 2: use justice laws, that it puts the rights of offenders
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  Speaker 2: above the rights of victims. You know, in estimates, I
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  Speaker 2: asked questions about the press release the government put out
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  Speaker 2: in June which detailed this long list of all these
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  Speaker 2: you know, supposed tough measures to tackle crime, and really
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  Speaker 2: nothing has been done by government to progress any of that.
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  Speaker 2: It's all just bluff and bluster and spin to try
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  Speaker 2: and sound like they're doing something. But the rubber never
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  Speaker 2: hits the road, and that's because they don't have the
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  Speaker 2: will to deal with it. They don't see it as
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  Speaker 2: a problem. They're too busy focusing on the offender rab
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: than the victim. In the meantime, Territorians don't feel safe
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  Speaker 2: in their homes. They're starting to question whether they can
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  Speaker 2: go out at night. I mean, people in Alice Springs
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  Speaker 2: are certainly feeling the brunt of this and they're definitely
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  Speaker 2: not going out at night. Now. How can we have
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  Speaker 2: a strong society and a strong economy when crime like
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  Speaker 2: this is out of control?
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  Speaker 3: Leah, let's move along.
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  Speaker 1: Yesterday, the Health Minister apologized on this show following the
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  Speaker 1: revelation that almost five thousand dollars has been spent of
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  Speaker 1: taxpayer dollars on a Christmas tree by the Health Department. Leah,
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  Speaker 1: this is obviously to assist with fundraising.
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  Speaker 3: Do you think it's money well spent?
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  Speaker 2: It is definitely not money well spent. I think everyone
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  Speaker 2: agrees that if they were going to spend five thousand
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  Speaker 2: on charity, they should have just given it directly to
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  Speaker 2: the charity rather than on some sort of extravagant Christmas tree.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, this just goes to the core of wasteless spending.
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  Speaker 2: In Okadian I talk a lot about cutting the waste
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  Speaker 2: and this is a really classic example of that. I mean,
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  Speaker 2: just last week we found out that the above ground
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  Speaker 2: underground car park went seven million dollars over budget, seven
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  Speaker 2: million dollars that the government moved a bus stop and
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  Speaker 2: then moved it back to the same spot there was
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  Speaker 2: originally in for four hundred and thirty two thousand dollars.
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  Speaker 2: You know, now we've got the five thousand dollars Christmas tree.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, these are just some of the things we
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  Speaker 2: know about. Imagine how much weight is going on within
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  Speaker 2: government because of a lack of leadership from the Chief Minister,
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  Speaker 2: and yet it's little wonder we have an eight point
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  Speaker 2: four billion dollar debt.
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  Speaker 3: Lea yesterday you issued a pressure release.
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  Speaker 1: Following the release I understand of the Order to General's
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  Speaker 1: investigation into the government's COVID nineteen financial report, you reckon
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  Speaker 1: that the Gunner Labor government spent months dodging calls from
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  Speaker 1: the opposition and industry to deliver a budget, and in
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  Speaker 1: response to mounting pressure, the government, well, they put together
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  Speaker 1: I guess what you're calling a farcical scrutiny process and
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  Speaker 1: published a COVID nineteen financial report that isn't worth the
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  Speaker 1: that it's written on.
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  Speaker 3: Why do you say that, Look.
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  Speaker 2: This process was flawed right from the start. We called
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  Speaker 2: on the government to deliver a budget. We knew they
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  Speaker 2: wanted to postpone the budget because of the election that
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  Speaker 2: was coming around the corner, and we knew the books
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  Speaker 2: were going to be bad. Unfortunately for Territorians, they were
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  Speaker 2: worse than what we even expected or predicted, And in
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  Speaker 2: the place of delivering a proper budget, the government delivered
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  Speaker 2: its COVID nineteen financial report, which was absolutely it's been
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  Speaker 2: coming from the government. It is a meaningless document and
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  Speaker 2: it did not give the level of detail the Territorians deserved.
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  Speaker 2: And now the Order the General's had to look at
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  Speaker 2: it and she's made six recommendations to government around how
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  Speaker 2: that process was flawed. It's breached the public information at
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  Speaker 2: and certainly shows the desperation of the Gunner government earlier
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  Speaker 2: this year to use COVID as a tool in its
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  Speaker 2: election campaign to cling onto power.
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  Speaker 1: Leah a text from one of our listeners back relating
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  Speaker 1: to the issues that we're seeing with youth crime, and
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  Speaker 1: it says the opposition leader making lots of good points,
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  Speaker 1: but the changes that have been made when it comes
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  Speaker 1: to youth crime are on the back of the Royal Commission.
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  Speaker 1: And as we know the CLP was in power, then
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  Speaker 1: what you know, I mean, when you take that into account, realistically,
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  Speaker 1: the CLP wouldn't have done things differently. You guys actually
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  Speaker 1: accepted those recommendations and began the process of implementing them.
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  Speaker 2: No, so there was CLP called for the Royal Commission,
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  Speaker 2: and then there was obviously the change of government and
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  Speaker 2: the recommendations came out after that. We've always said the
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  Speaker 2: Royal Commission's important, but everything needs to be applied in
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  Speaker 2: that very local context, and you need to be monitoring
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  Speaker 2: any policy changes you make to know whether or not
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  Speaker 2: they're effective.
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  Speaker 1: So you wouldn't have you wouldn't have accepted the findings
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  Speaker 1: of the Royal Commission.
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  Speaker 2: Well, there are plenty of recommendations in the Royal Commission
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  Speaker 2: that are very good. But what we would have done
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  Speaker 2: is looked at the recommendations and applied them clearly to
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  Speaker 2: the legislative context of the Norman territory. You can't just
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  Speaker 2: blankets turn a recommendation into legislative change. There's a lot
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  Speaker 2: of work that needs to be done that wasn't And
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  Speaker 2: what's even scarier is that the government isn't monitoring the
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  Speaker 2: type of data they need to be monitoring to understand
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  Speaker 2: whether or not that's what's driving a surge in US
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  Speaker 2: crime data. So I've certainly asked all the questions. I'm
• 10:24
  Speaker 2: waiting for them to come back on notice by late
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  Speaker 2: January and we'll certainly be combing over those and letting
• 10:30
  Speaker 2: territory and know what we think those numbers mean. But
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  Speaker 2: clearly something's not working and the Gunner government has not
• 10:37
  Speaker 2: been able to foot right here.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, there is certainly something not working at this point.
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  Speaker 1: I mean, it's something we talk about on this show
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  Speaker 1: daily Lea. Just finally this morning, I know that yesterday
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: there were Indigenous groups on the doorstep I guess you'd say,
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: of Michael Gunner's Funny Bay electorate office. They handed him
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: this petition against the Dan Murphy's application and called on
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: him to intervene. Do you think that the Chief Minister
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: needs to intervene, I guess you would say again on
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: this Dan Murphy's situation, if you know it gets the
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  Speaker 1: green light to go ahead before Christmas.
• 11:17
  Speaker 2: I'll see you what, Katie. I laughed, because if you
• 11:19
  Speaker 2: don't laugh, you cry over this. It has just been
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  Speaker 2: such a joke from day one. We've had a government
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  Speaker 2: intervene for the last four years in this Dan Murphy's
• 11:29
  Speaker 2: liquor application process. They've obstructed the process, they've created new laws,
• 11:34
  Speaker 2: they've created a liquor Commission, They've come in and out
• 11:36
  Speaker 2: of the Parliament changing the laws, repealing laws, you know,
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  Speaker 2: and then that extraordinary step we saw a couple of
• 11:44
  Speaker 2: sittings ago where they changed the law again to allow
• 11:48
  Speaker 2: the Director of Licensing to make a final decision on
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  Speaker 2: Dan Murphy's without any due process, without any natural justice,
• 11:55
  Speaker 2: without having to consider submissions around the application of those
• 12:00
  Speaker 2: four liquor outlets. I mean, it's just been an absolute
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  Speaker 2: joke from day one. The government should be ashamed of
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  Speaker 2: the way they've intervened here, and it's just I mean,
• 12:09
  Speaker 2: the outcome is going to be the outcome now, and
• 12:11
  Speaker 2: we don't even know if when that outcomes delivered, that
• 12:14
  Speaker 2: people are going to be able to have access to
• 12:16
  Speaker 2: reasons for decisions. So this has just been a never
• 12:20
  Speaker 2: ending saga that looks like it's going to end in
• 12:23
  Speaker 2: a few days time.
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: Well, Lea Finocchiaro, the opposition lader, we are going to
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: have to leave it there.
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  Speaker 3: Good to speak with you this morning. See you on
• 12:29
  Speaker 3: Friday for the year.
• 12:30
  Speaker 2: That was, See you Friday. Thanks Katie, Thank you.