Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Katie Woolf spoke with NT COGSO President Tabby Fudge

Transcript

Katie Woolf spoke with NT COGSO President Tabby Fudge · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: We had been talking to the Education Department a little
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: earlier this morning about the situation with a few fights
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: and some vision on social media doing the rounds. Now
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: joining me on the line right now from COGSO the Council,
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: the Northern Territory Council of Government School Organizations is Tabby Fudge,
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: the President. Let me just press the buttons here. Good
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: morning to you, Tabby.
• 0:23
  Speaker 2: Good morning Katie, and good morning to your listener.
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: It is wonderful to have you back on the show.
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: First day back at work, as I understand.
• 0:29
  Speaker 2: It, Yes, yes, first day back at work. I had
• 0:33
  Speaker 2: to have a favoit of time last year when I
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: came down with a little bit of cancer. But it's
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: all good now. I love the weather than before. I hope.
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: Love the way you said that, Tabby, a little bit
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: of cancer. I don't know if it works that way.
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: You're a bloody legend and we're so glad to have
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: you back on the job and back on the radio.
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: Let's talk school based police because I know that there's
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: something This is something that NT Coggs I've been talking
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: about for some time. Obviously, some pretty terrible vision emerged
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: over the course of the weekend. Of fights in school
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: How important is it from your perspective that we have
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: school based place back back in our schools.
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: Well, as you rightly said, Anti Coso, on direction of
• 1:18
  Speaker 2: our school councils across the length and the breadth of
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: the north of the territory advocated very very hard for
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: our school based policing model to be put back into
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: schools after it was back in twenty thirteen, and through
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: quite lengthy amount of meetings, discussions and backwards and forwards,
• 1:41
  Speaker 2: we did get the program re implemented in term four
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: twenty eighteen, and it was wonderful and it was just
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: it was just so widely applauded by the school communities
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: and the wider community that it had been re implemented.
• 1:57
  Speaker 2: But the thing is it was so successful. The positive,
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: proactive relationship building between our school based constables, between our
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: students and school communities and then out into the white
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: community was such a positive thing because you know, as
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: we all know, our schools are a microcosm of our
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: society at large. You know, if we can get it
• 2:20
  Speaker 2: right now schools, we get it right in our communities.
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: And the thing about school based policing, it's partnering for prevention.
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: And tabby, I understand all. We caught up with the
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: Education Minister on Friday and she said that she believes
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: that there are three of those constables back in schools.
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: I believe they're sort of on a rotation program at
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: this point. But I'm also of the understanding that in
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: Parliament last week the Police Minister said that they may
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: even be looking more at an auxiliary based program. Is
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: that something that Cogso would see is a good thing.
• 2:57
  Speaker 2: We don't want to see our program watered down. It all,
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: and the fact that we've only got three or four
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: police officers in the Darwin Palmerston region and they're not.
• 3:11
  Speaker 2: In the past in the rural area and Palmerston we
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: had four police officers at a full time basis in
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: middle school. Now we have one police officer working part
• 3:24
  Speaker 2: time between two schools, and we have one police officer
• 3:29
  Speaker 2: based in a school in Darwin, and there's another one
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: based in another school in Darwin, but I think he's
• 3:37
  Speaker 2: on the leaves. And we've just last Friday had the
• 3:41
  Speaker 2: reinstatement of a police officer down in Catherine, so we've
• 3:45
  Speaker 2: gone from thirteen police officers down to three or four
• 3:48
  Speaker 2: police officers. So we've seen a massive watering down of
• 3:51
  Speaker 2: the program, and to bring auxiliaries into it, I think
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: he's a further diminishment of the program. I think there
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: is possibly a place for auxiliaries to perhaps work alongside
• 4:06
  Speaker 2: our school based police in like a mentoring kind of
• 4:09
  Speaker 2: a role, perhaps in another support role, maybe out into
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: our primary schools. But to have simply auxiliaries would be
• 4:19
  Speaker 2: a further diminishment of the program and would be walking
• 4:23
  Speaker 2: away from the commitment that we have had in the past.
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: So Tabby, what is your message really for the government
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: today is that you know, we need to get these
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: school based constables back in our schools as quickly as possible.
• 4:37
  Speaker 2: Absolutely, that is what the community is calling for. This
• 4:40
  Speaker 2: is what the communities and the wider communities want. They've
• 4:43
  Speaker 2: been very very explicit in their instruction to Cogfit at
• 4:47
  Speaker 2: the last AGM through motions put forward saying we want
• 4:50
  Speaker 2: a reinstatement of our school based police program. While we
• 4:54
  Speaker 2: understand that there was some need to read a boy
• 5:00
  Speaker 2: officers out onto boarders, last year, once again we saw
• 5:04
  Speaker 2: that school based policing was the only unit that went
• 5:07
  Speaker 2: done doing that on a rotational basis, So I think
• 5:12
  Speaker 2: while there is definitely a commitment from our Chief Minister
• 5:15
  Speaker 2: who said a few weeks ago that it was his
• 5:16
  Speaker 2: understanding that school based police should all be back in
• 5:19
  Speaker 2: the schools now and last week we heard our Minister
• 5:22
  Speaker 2: for Police, Nicole Manison commit to building the program and
• 5:28
  Speaker 2: furthering it, what we're actually seeing on the ground is
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: far from that.
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: Yeah, Tabby. For those out there listening who maybe have
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: just moved to the territory or don't have a clear
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: understanding of why school based constables are so important, why
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: are they so important and why is it such a
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: big thing for us to get them back in schools.
• 5:50
  Speaker 2: Well, as I said earlier, Katie, it's all about partnering
• 5:55
  Speaker 2: for prevention. It's about being proactive. It's about building positive
• 5:59
  Speaker 2: relationships between our police and our school communities and our students.
• 6:05
  Speaker 2: But it's also about our police delivering programs in the
• 6:08
  Speaker 2: classrooms around cyber safety, safety, around consent, around well being
• 6:14
  Speaker 2: and all of those other programs that they once were
• 6:16
  Speaker 2: delivering and quite obviously are not now because they're simply
• 6:20
  Speaker 2: not in our schools. And the thing is some people
• 6:27
  Speaker 2: need positive role models. You know, a lot of children
• 6:31
  Speaker 2: may not necessarily have positive role models at home, and
• 6:35
  Speaker 2: a police officer is a trusted role model within our community.
• 6:40
  Speaker 2: And you know that's wonderful for us all to have
• 6:43
  Speaker 2: in our lives. You know, we all need to have
• 6:45
  Speaker 2: positive role models. It doesn't matter who you are, but
• 6:47
  Speaker 2: it's especially important for our young and impressionable children.
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: Yes, well, Tabby Fudge, the president of nt cogso I
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: always appreciate your time, but come back. We're so please
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: get you back on the job and doing well health wise.
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: It's wonderful to hear your voice.
• 7:07
  Speaker 2: Thank you so much, Katie. I look forward to speaking
• 7:10
  Speaker 2: to you some more in the future.
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: Sounds great.
• 7:12
  Speaker 2: Wonderful day everyone, you two.
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: Thanks Tabby,