Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Chief Minister Natasha Fyles says government is looking at Queensland’s knife crime measures and how it could be rolled out in the NT

Transcript

Chief Minister Natasha Fyles says government is looking at Queensland’s knife crime measures and how it could be rolled out in the NT · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: We know that yesterday.
• 0:01
  Speaker 2: There were varied opinions yesterday as that vision had emerged
• 0:04
  Speaker 2: to protesters following the Chief Minister setting up amateur social
• 0:08
  Speaker 2: media opportunities as they protested fracking. Well, the Chief Minister
• 0:12
  Speaker 2: was attempting to run the west Max Monster on the weekend. Now,
• 0:16
  Speaker 2: the Chief Minister joins me in the studio right now,
• 0:19
  Speaker 2: Good morning to you.
• 0:20
  Speaker 3: Good morning, Katie, Good morning listeners.
• 0:21
  Speaker 2: Now, Chief Minister, you seem pretty shaken by that incident
• 0:24
  Speaker 2: from the vision that I've seen. Do you feel it
• 0:27
  Speaker 2: was appropriate for those protesters to follow you around the
• 0:30
  Speaker 2: course while you took part in that event.
• 0:33
  Speaker 4: No, Katie, harassment is never okay, And I felt really
• 0:36
  Speaker 4: terrible for the event organizers. They put on such a
• 0:39
  Speaker 4: professional event. There was other competitors that were impacted. And
• 0:44
  Speaker 4: I think, Katie, I make myself really accessible. I love
• 0:46
  Speaker 4: being a part of the community. I love attending community events.
• 0:49
  Speaker 4: I chose in my own time to train for that event.
• 0:52
  Speaker 4: I absolutely get I'm the Chief Minister. I'm always on Judy,
• 0:55
  Speaker 4: but I just think it went too far and it
• 0:58
  Speaker 4: was harassment.
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: Look, I can see that it is still something that
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: has affected you, and I think the part that I
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: didn't like about it is I understand that if they
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: are at the finish line and wanted to protest, I
• 1:09
  Speaker 2: think that that's fair game. You know, that is something
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: that they're well and truly entitled to do. But what
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: people may not sort of understand about the West Max
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: Monster is that you're quite often in different areas totally
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: on your own. It's not like a normal fun run
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: where there are other people around you. So to then
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: feel as I will actually be getting followed, I just
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: sort of crossed the line. And I know that when
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: you're in the public eye, you have to be prepared
• 1:34
  Speaker 2: that not everybody's going to agree with what you do.
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: They're going to be angry at you at different times,
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: but there is a time and a place, Katie.
• 1:40
  Speaker 3: I take that. I make myself very accessible.
• 1:43
  Speaker 4: I don't mind people stopping me when I'm out and
• 1:44
  Speaker 4: about in the community, and I can then direct them best,
• 1:47
  Speaker 4: you know how, we can try and help them with
• 1:49
  Speaker 4: their concern or for me to hear their feedback. But
• 1:51
  Speaker 4: on the West Max you have no phone range, you
• 1:54
  Speaker 4: are going up and down hills, you are on a trail,
• 1:57
  Speaker 4: and I just think it was inappropriate and I was
• 2:01
  Speaker 4: you know, felt terrible that it took away from the event.
• 2:03
  Speaker 4: It was unsportsmanlike and I think quite frankly unterritorian.
• 2:06
  Speaker 2: Look. I know that there are a lot of concerns
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: this morning still when you talk about crime, so I
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: want to move along to that because that is something
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: that a lot of people are very worried about. And
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: there was an attack on a cab driver in broad
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: daylight on Temple Terrace on Monday, was just after midday.
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: This driver Will had a knife thrown at him, shattering
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: the window of that taxi. The attack and others have
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: left industry members feeling very worried about their safety. Blue
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: taxis Helen Patchoor saying to nine News Darwin last night
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: that they feel like no one's there to protect drivers
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: and no one's looking out for them, that it is
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: not safe at work. What is the government doing to
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: keep people like Dave, that victim safe.
• 2:48
  Speaker 4: Katie, And that was a terrible incident, and we're doing
• 2:52
  Speaker 4: everything we can to make sure that we keep our
• 2:55
  Speaker 4: community safe. And we're working right across government, not just
• 2:58
  Speaker 4: you know, waiting for the police. We're trying to stop
• 3:00
  Speaker 4: the behaviors before they happen. We're working on that knife strategy.
• 3:03
  Speaker 4: I think having a strategy is really important, making sure
• 3:06
  Speaker 4: that we have a whole of government response to stamp
• 3:08
  Speaker 4: out knife crime in our community with involvement from police, education,
• 3:12
  Speaker 4: mental health and others.
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: Now on that, the Acting Police Commissioner last week flag
• 3:16
  Speaker 2: those changes when it comes to knife crime. We know
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: that officers have been sent into state to look at
• 3:20
  Speaker 2: what Queensland are doing.
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: When can we expect to.
• 3:23
  Speaker 2: Actually see some movement on that because I think a
• 3:25
  Speaker 2: lot of people feeling right now that the government's looking
• 3:28
  Speaker 2: at a lot of things or reviewing different things, but
• 3:31
  Speaker 2: not actually taking the action that's needed.
• 3:33
  Speaker 4: No, Katie, I get that sense of urgency, and so
• 3:35
  Speaker 4: we're looking at around the knife crime and what changes
• 3:38
  Speaker 4: were made in Queensland and what we would do here
• 3:40
  Speaker 4: in the territory because that's quite specifics around precincts, but
• 3:43
  Speaker 4: I think it is certainly in the feedback I've had
• 3:45
  Speaker 4: from our police is that they feel it may be
• 3:48
  Speaker 4: something useful in the territory. The second part, Katie, is
• 3:50
  Speaker 4: that Bow review and that work is happening with a
• 3:52
  Speaker 4: sense of urgency. We've got Parliament at the end of July,
• 3:56
  Speaker 4: which I know is still some weeks away, but I'm
• 3:58
  Speaker 4: hoping that that work can start to give us some information,
• 4:02
  Speaker 4: start to wrap up so that if we did need
• 4:04
  Speaker 4: to make legislative changes, we could potentially. We've got July
• 4:06
  Speaker 4: and August sittings very close together, so there's a real
• 4:09
  Speaker 4: sense of urgency from us.
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: So end of July, hopefully we're going to see some
• 4:14
  Speaker 2: legislative changes when it comes to that review into bail laws.
• 4:18
  Speaker 4: So Katie, we're doing a full review into the bail
• 4:21
  Speaker 4: weapons offenses, And for me, I think that that end
• 4:24
  Speaker 4: of July sittings is a timeframe if we need to
• 4:26
  Speaker 4: make those changes, and the review will showcase to us.
• 4:29
  Speaker 2: I mean, surely what has happened over recent months does
• 4:32
  Speaker 2: demonstrate to you that we need to make some changes.
• 4:35
  Speaker 2: Like I know that you are somebody who is out
• 4:37
  Speaker 2: there that cares about the community, Like surely from what
• 4:41
  Speaker 2: you are seeing, based on the terrible, terrible situations that
• 4:45
  Speaker 2: we are seeing, particularly with knife crime, that you feel
• 4:48
  Speaker 2: this needs to happen sooner rather than later.
• 4:50
  Speaker 4: I just want to make it clear to the listeners, Katie,
• 4:52
  Speaker 4: in terms of bail, both police and the courts cannot
• 4:55
  Speaker 4: issue bail, so there's absolutely protections there right now, but
• 4:59
  Speaker 4: it's looking into these intricacies around the presumption and around
• 5:03
  Speaker 4: which offenses and which types of behavior. So we have
• 5:06
  Speaker 4: strong laws already, but if we need to do more,
• 5:09
  Speaker 4: we will.
• 5:10
  Speaker 2: So what specifically do you think there could be some
• 5:12
  Speaker 2: strengthening on.
• 5:13
  Speaker 4: So, Katie, when you look at the offenses around weapons,
• 5:18
  Speaker 4: you've got controlled prohibited, and so it's looking at where
• 5:21
  Speaker 4: the different classifications set and also making sure that we
• 5:26
  Speaker 4: don't inadvertently make changes because unfortunately, people that perpetrate these
• 5:30
  Speaker 4: crimes can use any type of objects, So we need
• 5:33
  Speaker 4: to make sure that it's practical. And that's where I
• 5:35
  Speaker 4: come back to that point that police and the courts,
• 5:37
  Speaker 4: if they feel someone is a danger to the community,
• 5:39
  Speaker 4: they cannot issue bail.
• 5:42
  Speaker 2: I mean there are situations though we're in a lot
• 5:45
  Speaker 2: of normal people's eyes, there are people that are out
• 5:48
  Speaker 2: on bail that simply shouldn't be, Like, it doesn't meet
• 5:51
  Speaker 2: the public's expectations.
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: So how do you measure up the.
• 5:55
  Speaker 2: Changes the review that you're looking into to make sure
• 5:58
  Speaker 2: that it actually meets the expectations of the community, because
• 6:01
  Speaker 2: people are pretty broken.
• 6:03
  Speaker 4: I think Katie, that police absolutely work extremely hard. They
• 6:07
  Speaker 4: understand the community's expectation and.
• 6:09
  Speaker 2: We're giving them more resourcing that and it really irks
• 6:12
  Speaker 2: me actually when the government says that, you know, the
• 6:14
  Speaker 2: block that go you fall back on that because everybody
• 6:17
  Speaker 2: knows the police are working very hard.
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: No one's disputing that.
• 6:20
  Speaker 2: What they're wondering is if they have got all of
• 6:23
  Speaker 2: the measures and all of the tools in their belt
• 6:26
  Speaker 2: that they need to do their jobs. But also the
• 6:29
  Speaker 2: offenders that shouldn't be out on bail aren't let out
• 6:32
  Speaker 2: on bail by the courts.
• 6:33
  Speaker 4: And Katie, sorry, that was the point that I was
• 6:35
  Speaker 4: getting to. For me, it's about making sure that police
• 6:38
  Speaker 4: have all the tools to do their job. And in
• 6:41
  Speaker 4: the budget there was significant money in there for justice,
• 6:43
  Speaker 4: domestic and family violence. We know that that sadly is
• 6:46
  Speaker 4: a large part of this, but making sure there's the
• 6:48
  Speaker 4: money there for corrections to make sure that people are
• 6:51
  Speaker 4: in prison, they're being held on remand but they're also
• 6:54
  Speaker 4: going through the programs so that they don't just come
• 6:57
  Speaker 4: back out and continue the same behaviors which make our
• 7:00
  Speaker 4: community unsafe.
• 7:01
  Speaker 2: All right, So just to go back to that reviewing
• 7:03
  Speaker 2: to the bar laws, you are hoping that it will
• 7:06
  Speaker 2: be complete and that by the July the end of
• 7:09
  Speaker 2: July sittings that if there needs to be legislative changes,
• 7:12
  Speaker 2: that's when they'll be introduced.
• 7:14
  Speaker 4: Katie, correct, it's not something that's going to drag on
• 7:16
  Speaker 4: to the end of the year. We absolutely get that
• 7:18
  Speaker 4: sense of urgency from the community.
• 7:20
  Speaker 2: Now let me ask you about that the knife You
• 7:23
  Speaker 2: know the different measures, then with the knife crime, how
• 7:26
  Speaker 2: soon can we expect some changes there?
• 7:28
  Speaker 4: So in terms of knife crime, this is something we've
• 7:31
  Speaker 4: seen as an emerging issue around the world and different jurisdictions,
• 7:34
  Speaker 4: different cities have taken a knife crime strategy and so
• 7:38
  Speaker 4: it's looking at a number of factors. So the Attorney
• 7:41
  Speaker 4: General is undertaking that work. So that's separate to the
• 7:43
  Speaker 4: bail review.
• 7:44
  Speaker 2: But would it be something because when I spoke to
• 7:47
  Speaker 2: the Acting Police Commissioner last week he had said that
• 7:50
  Speaker 2: body of work is happening, but there may need to
• 7:52
  Speaker 2: be legislative changes.
• 7:54
  Speaker 3: So Katie, there's two parts to that.
• 7:55
  Speaker 4: There's a knife crime strategy work, but there's also Queensland
• 7:58
  Speaker 4: have made changes and Northern Territory police have been across
• 8:02
  Speaker 4: to Queensland meeting with counterparts looking at those changes that
• 8:05
  Speaker 4: they made. Around preventing knife crime and so we're also
• 8:09
  Speaker 4: looking into that and that's quite down.
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: The path that work. What's the timeframe.
• 8:14
  Speaker 4: I'd have to get advice from police on that, Katie,
• 8:17
  Speaker 4: But that work is around precincts and so you'd have
• 8:20
  Speaker 4: an area, so the Darwin CBD, for example, the Casarina
• 8:23
  Speaker 4: Bus Interchange Square area, maybe the Palmerston CBD. So it's
• 8:26
  Speaker 4: focusing on a precinct where you do see higher rates
• 8:29
  Speaker 4: of this type of behavior and how we can support
• 8:32
  Speaker 4: police to give them the tools to stop the behaviors
• 8:35
  Speaker 4: before it ends up being a crime committed.
• 8:37
  Speaker 2: Now, yesterday on the show, the Member for Solomon, Luke Gosling,
• 8:40
  Speaker 2: said he wants to see more done when it comes
• 8:42
  Speaker 2: to youth diversion.
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: He said that people are.
• 8:43
  Speaker 2: Asking him why we don't have somewhere like Wildman River
• 8:47
  Speaker 2: and he's having discussions with the Federal Attorney General about
• 8:50
  Speaker 2: something like this. Has he had discussions with you about
• 8:53
  Speaker 2: this and are we going to see some additional youth
• 8:56
  Speaker 2: diversion facilities?
• 8:58
  Speaker 4: So, Katie, we have been talking to the Commonwealth, including
• 9:00
  Speaker 4: Luke Gosling, the Member for Solomon.
• 9:02
  Speaker 3: We've got the Barkley Youth.
• 9:03
  Speaker 4: Work camp, and that's a facility that we've been building
• 9:05
  Speaker 4: down in the Barkley. So it is a facility where
• 9:08
  Speaker 4: young people will be held, but they can participate in
• 9:12
  Speaker 4: meaningful activities and be out there repaying back to the community.
• 9:16
  Speaker 4: So that facility, I anticipate will open in the next
• 9:18
  Speaker 4: couple of months. I'd have to get you a specific timeframe.
• 9:21
  Speaker 4: So that's something that provides that. Obviously, we're building a
• 9:24
  Speaker 4: new Dondale Youth detention facility. Obviously we've got a range
• 9:27
  Speaker 4: of diversion programs with different providers, but that's a physical
• 9:30
  Speaker 4: facility that young people can either be held on remand
• 9:33
  Speaker 4: or be sent to.
• 9:33
  Speaker 2: I took from the discussion with Luke Goslin yesterday that
• 9:36
  Speaker 2: he's talking about something additional, so he's talking about something
• 9:39
  Speaker 2: up here in the top end.
• 9:40
  Speaker 4: Absolutely open to more locations, Katie. And when you look
• 9:43
  Speaker 4: at the diversion programs that we've got that can be
• 9:45
  Speaker 4: the court ordered diversion or police diversion, we do have
• 9:49
  Speaker 4: a number of providers that utilize different facilities and we'd
• 9:52
  Speaker 4: be very open to more.
• 9:54
  Speaker 2: Are you still planning to raise the age of criminal responsibility?
• 9:56
  Speaker 2: Because I know that that's something that gets usked all
• 9:58
  Speaker 2: the time. And are those programs actually in place to
• 10:02
  Speaker 2: support that happening, because again a lot of people are
• 10:05
  Speaker 2: feeling like they can't see it.
• 10:07
  Speaker 4: The programs have to be in place before we can
• 10:09
  Speaker 4: make that change, Katie. We are working towards that, and
• 10:12
  Speaker 4: this is around making sure because what we see as
• 10:15
  Speaker 4: young people are charged with the courts, it goes through
• 10:17
  Speaker 4: the process of police getting all the evidence and it
• 10:19
  Speaker 4: gets to court and they're found to be dollar incapac
• 10:22
  Speaker 4: so not having a cognitive understanding of what has happened,
• 10:25
  Speaker 4: and it gets thrown out. We want to make sure
• 10:27
  Speaker 4: that young people, if they commit an offense, that they
• 10:29
  Speaker 4: understand the consequences of their behavior immediately.
• 10:32
  Speaker 2: Now another question that I've got obviously, this twenty thousand
• 10:35
  Speaker 2: dollars relocation announced by the acting Police Commissioner Michael Murphy
• 10:40
  Speaker 2: last week.
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: How's that going to be funded?
• 10:43
  Speaker 4: So, Katie, we're really focused on retention. We've got amazing
• 10:46
  Speaker 4: police officers. We want to retain them. We want to
• 10:47
  Speaker 4: make sure that we've got a professional, flexible EBA and
• 10:51
  Speaker 4: workforce that supports them. We also want to get back
• 10:53
  Speaker 4: some offices that we may have recently had leave the
• 10:56
  Speaker 4: force and we want to attract people to the territory
• 10:58
  Speaker 4: and so the commissioner has the ability, the acting commissioner
• 11:02
  Speaker 4: to provide, you know, making sure that he can help
• 11:05
  Speaker 4: people relocate and provide some cash bonuses to get them here.
• 11:08
  Speaker 4: So he's got that ability, So current or new funding, Katie,
• 11:12
  Speaker 4: there was new funding for police in the budget, but
• 11:14
  Speaker 4: my understanding is he currently has that ability and there's
• 11:17
  Speaker 4: funding there.
• 11:18
  Speaker 2: Okay, so not needing additional funding from the Northern Territory
• 11:21
  Speaker 2: government at this point.
• 11:22
  Speaker 4: If we need to provide police with more funding because
• 11:24
  Speaker 4: they are recruiting more police officers and retaining more police officers,
• 11:27
  Speaker 4: we will do that.
• 11:28
  Speaker 3: But he's got that power within his existing budget.
• 11:30
  Speaker 2: Now where are things that with the recruitment of a
• 11:34
  Speaker 2: new police commissioner, So.
• 11:35
  Speaker 4: Katie, I think it's not far off from being advertised.
• 11:38
  Speaker 4: It'll go through an independent recruitment process.
• 11:40
  Speaker 2: And so when do you anticipate that we will know
• 11:42
  Speaker 2: who the police commission is going to be like by
• 11:44
  Speaker 2: the end of the year or sooner.
• 11:46
  Speaker 4: I would hope sooner, Katie. I think it's important that
• 11:49
  Speaker 4: we do provide that certainty for our police force.
• 11:52
  Speaker 3: But as I said, it'll go through an independent recruitment process.
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: Now.
• 11:55
  Speaker 2: A massive issue that we spoke about last week is
• 11:57
  Speaker 2: school counselors. There's been moves to have a more which
• 12:00
  Speaker 2: sees those really important school counselors covering a number of
• 12:03
  Speaker 2: different schools sort of roving I guess you might say,
• 12:06
  Speaker 2: moved out of locations like Casuarina Senior College. It's a
• 12:10
  Speaker 2: real concern for the students. They actually came on the
• 12:13
  Speaker 2: show last week a couple of them and spoke to
• 12:15
  Speaker 2: me and spoke about the concerns that they've got, as
• 12:18
  Speaker 2: did nt Cogzo.
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: And I've got to tell you we had.
• 12:22
  Speaker 2: A lot of parents in contact with us saying Katie,
• 12:25
  Speaker 2: those school counselor jobs are so incredibly important. You know
• 12:30
  Speaker 2: that they have helped out enormously with their children. So
• 12:34
  Speaker 2: where are we moving to with this? Has the department
• 12:37
  Speaker 2: made a wrong step?
• 12:38
  Speaker 4: So, Katie, as a former teacher, I've seen firsthand how
• 12:41
  Speaker 4: a school counselor based in a school can support young
• 12:44
  Speaker 4: people and a really important role. So the Minister for
• 12:47
  Speaker 4: Education is watching this very closely. I think part of
• 12:51
  Speaker 4: the issues there's a national shortage of qualified professionals to
• 12:53
  Speaker 4: support the mental health of young people, and that's a
• 12:56
  Speaker 4: separate issue that's being addressed. What the Department have done
• 12:59
  Speaker 4: is that trying to make sure that more young people
• 13:02
  Speaker 4: have access to these counselors. But Katie, we are watching
• 13:05
  Speaker 4: this very closely because it has to work for our schools,
• 13:08
  Speaker 4: our young people, and their families. The concern that I've
• 13:11
  Speaker 4: got is that we're going, Okay, we want more young
• 13:13
  Speaker 4: people to have access to the school counselors, but there's
• 13:15
  Speaker 4: not actually enough of them.
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: So what we're doing is making it a.
• 13:18
  Speaker 2: Half assed job for one of a better word, where
• 13:20
  Speaker 2: you've sort of got one school counselor trying to cover
• 13:23
  Speaker 2: too many schools to be able to af ford your
• 13:25
  Speaker 2: relationship with students.
• 13:27
  Speaker 4: So, Katie, my understanding is some schools have got counselors
• 13:31
  Speaker 4: themselves that because schools have additional budget that they can
• 13:34
  Speaker 4: utilize to different things. Other schools have got well being programs,
• 13:38
  Speaker 4: and so making sure that we're broadly providing that mental
• 13:40
  Speaker 4: health support and then those young people that do need
• 13:43
  Speaker 4: to see a qualified counselor that those counselors are available
• 13:47
  Speaker 4: to them whilst they're recruiting more people to the position.
• 13:50
  Speaker 2: So are these changes definitely going to go ahead or
• 13:54
  Speaker 2: do you realistically think that you know that there does
• 13:57
  Speaker 2: need to be some further discussion here to make sure
• 14:00
  Speaker 2: the model actually suits our kids, to ensure that our
• 14:04
  Speaker 2: kids well being is paramount.
• 14:05
  Speaker 3: Correct, Katie.
• 14:06
  Speaker 4: And the Department, as I understand, is undertaking ongoing consultations,
• 14:11
  Speaker 4: so they are trying to recruit so that we've got
• 14:12
  Speaker 4: more resources, but they do need to listen to those
• 14:16
  Speaker 4: schools and the parents and the young people themselves. Yeah.
• 14:19
  Speaker 2: Look, I mean thirty odd school counselors for one hundred
• 14:21
  Speaker 2: and fifty schools I think we've got around the Northern Territory.
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: To me, it just does not seem enough. Katie.
• 14:27
  Speaker 4: I think that it's around making sure that there is
• 14:29
  Speaker 4: well being and mental health support programs across all of
• 14:32
  Speaker 4: our schools, and then we also have school counselors coming
• 14:36
  Speaker 4: in that's an important role. So it's making sure that
• 14:39
  Speaker 4: there's a range of resources to support young people. It's
• 14:41
  Speaker 4: not easy being a teenager.
• 14:43
  Speaker 2: Now I want to move on because this situation involving
• 14:45
  Speaker 2: Colleen Guinn, it's an interesting one and in a report
• 14:50
  Speaker 2: by Matt Cunningham from Sky News, it was reported that
• 14:52
  Speaker 2: police said the whole job is gone, but kept investigating
• 14:56
  Speaker 2: her for over sixteen months after now four to ten dives,
• 15:00
  Speaker 2: cased her home, tapped her phone, bugged her office all
• 15:04
  Speaker 2: over an employment matter.
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: Do you have any idea how much that cost?
• 15:09
  Speaker 3: Katie?
• 15:09
  Speaker 4: Any questions in relationship that would have to be directed
• 15:12
  Speaker 4: to police? I mean, do you think that it's appropriate, Katie?
• 15:16
  Speaker 4: I'm very restricted in what I can say. Miss Gwen
• 15:18
  Speaker 4: is a public servant, she's on a period of leave
• 15:21
  Speaker 4: of absence to consider her next steps, and there's an
• 15:23
  Speaker 4: acting Children's commissioner, But questions around that matter should be
• 15:26
  Speaker 4: directed to police.
• 15:27
  Speaker 2: I mean, why do you think, though police were putting
• 15:29
  Speaker 2: so much effort into this when we know across the
• 15:32
  Speaker 2: board we have got so much, so many issues with crime.
• 15:36
  Speaker 2: It seems as though it is a you know, if
• 15:39
  Speaker 2: it's been a mass amount of work and we've you know,
• 15:42
  Speaker 2: then got situations where different other crimes are going uninvestigated.
• 15:46
  Speaker 4: Katie, it is from a few years ago, but that
• 15:48
  Speaker 4: would be questions better place to police.
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: From your perspective. Do you think it's appropriate though, Katie?
• 15:54
  Speaker 4: I need to be very careful with my comments here,
• 15:56
  Speaker 4: as Miss Gwen is a public servant. Who is on
• 15:58
  Speaker 4: a leave of absence and Lease would be able to
• 16:01
  Speaker 4: answer those questions.
• 16:01
  Speaker 2: What is going to be the situation then with the
• 16:03
  Speaker 2: Children's Commissioner role.
• 16:05
  Speaker 4: So she's taking that extended leave of absence to consider
• 16:09
  Speaker 4: her next steps.
• 16:10
  Speaker 3: And as I said, there's an acting commissioner.
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: But so she could step back into that role.
• 16:14
  Speaker 4: So Katie, that would be questions for her and the
• 16:17
  Speaker 4: relevant agency.
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: Would you be happy enough to welcome her back though.
• 16:20
  Speaker 4: Katie, I think that she's taking the time to consider
• 16:23
  Speaker 4: her steps and we need to support her with that.
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: All right, I want to ask you.
• 16:27
  Speaker 2: I believe that there's going to be a funding announcement
• 16:29
  Speaker 2: shortly this morning around the KNAFE, the Northern Australia Infrastructure Fund.
• 16:33
  Speaker 2: What can we expect or are you able to give
• 16:35
  Speaker 2: us any detail at this point?
• 16:36
  Speaker 4: Katie always liked to give you a little bit of
• 16:38
  Speaker 4: breaking news. But we're working with the Commwalth government. So
• 16:41
  Speaker 4: the North Australia Infrastructure Fund will contribute up to fifty
• 16:44
  Speaker 4: million dollars through the Territory Infrastructure Loans and the Antique
• 16:47
  Speaker 4: government through our Local Jobs Fund, is going to put
• 16:50
  Speaker 4: in over sixteen million dollars for two years. So local
• 16:53
  Speaker 4: businesses can apply for these loans to help them. And
• 16:56
  Speaker 4: this is around getting these unique projects Katie off the
• 16:59
  Speaker 4: ground jobs for Territorians. And so they might not be
• 17:02
  Speaker 4: able to get a loan through a bank or normal
• 17:05
  Speaker 4: lending practices because it is innovative, it's different, it might
• 17:08
  Speaker 4: have a higher risk where this provides them without ability
• 17:11
  Speaker 4: to get quite a contribution so that we can see
• 17:13
  Speaker 4: these projects come off the ground in the territory.
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: All right, I think we're all.
• 17:16
  Speaker 2: Looking forward to and certainly hoping some of those further
• 17:19
  Speaker 2: projects do get off the ground. Chief Medicinatasha Files will
• 17:22
  Speaker 2: leave it there, thank you, Take care,