Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Member for Araluen Robyn Lambley is calling for a curfew to keep young kids off the streets at night

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Member for Araluen Robyn Lambley is calling for a curfew to keep young kids off the streets at night · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Now, what we do know, obviously from yesterday is that
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: we've now seen that five youths aged between eleven and
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: thirteen have been arrested after that Toyota Prato was stolen
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: from the ABC before well, driving, I think erratically is
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: probably a mild way to put it earlier in the week. Now,
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  Speaker 1: joining us on the line right now is the member
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  Speaker 1: for our lun Robin Lamley. Good morning to you.
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: Robin, Good morning Katie.
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: Now, Robin, I know that you have said that the
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: events are a new low for the town. Honestly, I
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  Speaker 1: don't even know where to start on this because you
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: and I have spoken on so many occasions about the
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: decline in behavior in Central Australia and what we saw
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  Speaker 1: on Tuesday watching that footage on nine News dah and
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  Speaker 1: last night, it's absolutely terrible.
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  Speaker 2: Yes, it's alarming. It's unbelievable for me to watch it
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  Speaker 2: because all that activity took place just beside my electoral office,
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: so electorate office, so it's really unnerving. And to think
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: that this happens almost every night to some extent in
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: Alice Springs and has been to some time is really
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  Speaker 2: it's just scary.
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  Speaker 1: It's really scary Robin was last night a bit of
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  Speaker 1: a quieter night. Was there much happened last night?
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  Speaker 2: I haven't heard of much happening at all last night.
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  Speaker 2: So hopefully that these young people have exhausted themselves and
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  Speaker 2: have received some sort of message that this sort of
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  Speaker 2: behavior won't be tolerated. But having said that, there could
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: have been a lot going on. It just hasn't come
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  Speaker 2: to my tent.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, Robin, tell me what is the feeling around Alice
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  Speaker 1: Springs right now?
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  Speaker 2: People feel a sense of powerlessness, a sense of not
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  Speaker 2: being heard. We've been screaming and shouting about this obvious
• 2:02
  Speaker 2: decline in law and order for a long long time.
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  Speaker 2: The Minister of the Territory Families and the Minister for Police,
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  Speaker 2: Kate Borden, has been speaking on local radio here in
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  Speaker 2: Alice Springs this morning saying that they're going to introduce
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  Speaker 2: pretty much what I would define as a curfew, and
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  Speaker 2: that is looking at these young people in terms of
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  Speaker 2: a child protection perspective, recognizing that young people you said
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  Speaker 2: before that the culprits the other night, we're apparently aged
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: between eleven and thirteen their children, and those children are
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  Speaker 2: obviously not being cared for properly if they're behaving like
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  Speaker 2: that and running them up during the night. So looking
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  Speaker 2: at it from a child protection perspective and taking them
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  Speaker 2: into care, which is something I've been advocating for for
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  Speaker 2: a very long time. Of course, they're not using the
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  Speaker 2: curfew word. They're saying it's a child protection response. I
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  Speaker 2: don't care they call it, Katie. They have to get
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  Speaker 2: these kids off the street at night because they are
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  Speaker 2: the ones causing the most trouble that they have no fear,
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  Speaker 2: they're the big risk takers, and certainly on the other night,
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  Speaker 2: they were the ones that were causing the trouble that
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  Speaker 2: led to the police alert asking people to keep away
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  Speaker 2: from the CBD on that night. So it's unbelievable and unbelievable.
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: And when you look at these acts, that's exactly right.
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  Speaker 1: And when you look at these some of the vision
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  Speaker 1: that we'd even seen from over the course of the
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  Speaker 1: weekend as well, where you're talking about kids in the
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  Speaker 1: backs of utes, it's like they're not only endangering other people,
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  Speaker 1: they're endangering themselves.
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  Speaker 2: Yes, and they were driving stolen vehicles around the car
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  Speaker 2: park just adjacent to my office, all over the place.
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  Speaker 2: They could have had they could have at any point
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  Speaker 2: run into a pole, the many poles and killed themselves
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: or other people. It was just insane. But what concerns me, Katie,
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  Speaker 2: is that we're going back to Parliament in two weeks
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  Speaker 2: time to debate a bill that the government's put forward,
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  Speaker 2: and that's increasing the age of criminal responsibility to twelve,
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  Speaker 2: which means that some of these children that are responsible
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  Speaker 2: for this crazy behavior will never be held responsible for
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  Speaker 2: that behavior because they'll be under the age of twelve.
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  Speaker 2: And there's nothing in place that I'm aware of, and
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  Speaker 2: the police certainly aren't aware of it either, of a
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  Speaker 2: plan to address this highly problematic, dangerous, risk taking behavior
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  Speaker 2: that we're seeing these kids undertake that are under twelve.
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  Speaker 2: So there's going to be a major gap in holding
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  Speaker 2: these kids to account. If we lived in an ideal
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  Speaker 2: world case, I would agree with increasing the age of
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  Speaker 2: criminal responsibility to twelve or indeed fourteen, which was recommended
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  Speaker 2: in the Royal Commission into Juvenile Justice and Child Protection
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  Speaker 2: in twenty seventeen. But we don't live in an ideal
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  Speaker 2: world and we have to have something in place that
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  Speaker 2: addresses this highly problematic and dangerous behavior that we're seeing
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  Speaker 2: in places like Alice Springs, but indeed in other parts
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  Speaker 2: of the Northern Territory commonly too.
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  Speaker 1: And Robin ware of these programs. You know, they have
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  Speaker 1: said that there are going to be programs in place
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  Speaker 1: so that once that age of criminal responsibility is raised,
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  Speaker 1: that there is still repercussions for kids that are doing
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  Speaker 1: the wrong thing. But where are these programs?
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  Speaker 2: Well, I'm not aware of any, and I've spoken to
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  Speaker 2: people who would be aware if they do exist in
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  Speaker 2: recent times and they're not aware of any programs either.
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  Speaker 2: The police are very concerned about this gap that will
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  Speaker 2: emerge once this legislation goes through. I think labor are
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  Speaker 2: being very idealistic but irrational about increasing the age of
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  Speaker 2: criminal responsibility because, you know, whilst we're seeing nights play
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  Speaker 2: out like we did the other night in Alice Springs,
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  Speaker 2: you know, and this is happening to probably hopefully a
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  Speaker 2: lesser extent in lots of other places in the NT,
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  Speaker 2: it's not the time to bring in this sort of change.
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  Speaker 2: Kids need to be aware that there will be repercussions,
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  Speaker 2: like for our own children, Katie, you know, you have
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  Speaker 2: to have mechanisms and boundaries in place that teach kids
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  Speaker 2: that that sort of behavior is not on and I
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  Speaker 2: just think that this is a slippery slope that we're entering.
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  Speaker 2: You know, on one hand, the government's talking about implementing
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  Speaker 2: effectively a curfew in Alice Springs without using the sea work,
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  Speaker 2: but yet in a couple of months, these kids won't
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  Speaker 2: be held responsible for anything. So Robert, why is all
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  Speaker 2: this going? It's just not good.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah. Well, and you know, and we've you've got a
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  Speaker 1: town that feels like they're under siege, like, let's not
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  Speaker 1: forget that. And I know that you're certainly not forgetting that.
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  Speaker 1: You're living through it every day, as are all of
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  Speaker 1: the people that live in Alice Springs. And you've been
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  Speaker 1: very vocal on this for you know, a number of years,
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  Speaker 1: to the point where at different times you've been told
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  Speaker 1: that you're talking the territory down and all sorts of garbage.
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  Speaker 1: But you know, we've seen this gradual decline in the
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  Speaker 1: behavior in Alice Springs and it's now reached a point
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  Speaker 1: on Tuesday where you've got the police alerting the public
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  Speaker 1: that they can't go into the CBD because it's too dangerous.
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  Speaker 1: It's unbelievable, it beggars belief, but Robin, you know, it
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  Speaker 1: really does. And you know then you've got obviously, the
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  Speaker 1: government's come out now and they've said that they've got
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  Speaker 1: this plan flagged that young people are going to be
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  Speaker 1: picked up by the police. They could then be taken
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  Speaker 1: to a safe place for a child protection assessment instead
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  Speaker 1: of being returned home. Robin, do you think that this
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  Speaker 1: Do you think that this is going to have the
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  Speaker 1: impact that everybody's hoping for, the circuit breaker that people
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  Speaker 1: are hoping for.
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  Speaker 2: Well, I think we're always hopeful, but our expectations of
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  Speaker 2: this government have been said at such a low points.
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  Speaker 2: In reality, we don't really expect a great deal. I
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  Speaker 2: think if they implement what they're describing in the way
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  Speaker 2: that they're describing it, it will almost be a lost opportunity.
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  Speaker 2: I think it will make a difference to remove certain
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  Speaker 2: children that are clearly acting out and causing trouble, But
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  Speaker 2: I think taking it the next step and implementing a
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  Speaker 2: curfew is what will make a huge difference over a
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  Speaker 2: longer period of time. It's about re educating a whole
• 9:00
  Speaker 2: community that what we've been seeing on the streets of
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  Speaker 2: Alice Springs for many years now is completely and utterly unacceptable.
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  Speaker 2: They need to implement a re education process, a strategy.
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  Speaker 2: It's about educating the whole community, including the parents and
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  Speaker 2: the families of these children, that this is no longer acceptable.
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  Speaker 2: If you just cherry pick a couple of kids and
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  Speaker 2: take them off the street, it will make a difference
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  Speaker 2: for a short period of time, until the next wave
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  Speaker 2: of kids decide that that's what they want to do.
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  Speaker 2: It's not going to change things permanently. It will just
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  Speaker 2: address a short term problem.
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  Speaker 1: Robin, what do you make of these comments that have
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  Speaker 1: been made as well throughout this morning and over the
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  Speaker 1: last twelve hours or so. You know that this is
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  Speaker 1: another intervention, and you know that this is not the
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  Speaker 1: right step to be taking kids away from their families.
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  Speaker 2: Well, I'm sick of that, Katie. I'm set up with
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  Speaker 2: hearing that sort of nonsense, because the reality is we
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  Speaker 2: have a whole cohort of children in the Northern Territory
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  Speaker 2: that are being neglected, that are being abused, and because
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  Speaker 2: they're Aboriginal, we don't do anything about it. And I
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  Speaker 2: think that that's entirely and utterly unacceptable. And if I
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  Speaker 2: were to use the word racist, which I use very rarely.
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  Speaker 2: That would be a great example of racism within our system.
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  Speaker 2: We're treating Aboriginal kids differently to the way we treat
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  Speaker 2: non Aboriginal kids throughout Australia, and I find that unacceptable.
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  Speaker 2: I don't care what people brandy this sort of intervention
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  Speaker 2: or strategy. The reality is these kids are not getting
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  Speaker 2: a fair go, They're not being looked after, and the
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  Speaker 2: behavior we see on the streets is a result of that.
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  Speaker 2: It's the elephant in the room. I'm willing to call
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  Speaker 2: it outceptible. If people want to want to half back
• 11:03
  Speaker 2: to a strategy that was put in place years ago
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  Speaker 2: that's been completely dismantled, I might add by this government
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  Speaker 2: by opening up the reversent of GROLD to four hundred
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  Speaker 2: Aboriginal living areas in just a few months ago, then
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  Speaker 2: so be it. But we need to take this seriously
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  Speaker 2: because nothing has changed in the last thirty years that
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  Speaker 2: I've been living in the Northern Territory. In fact, I
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  Speaker 2: would maintain that things have got worse in terms of
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  Speaker 2: child protection, child welfare, and poverty and everything that goes
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  Speaker 2: with it. We're not progressing this, we're not changing anything.
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  Speaker 2: So to call it out for what it is I
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  Speaker 2: think is the first step in making some fairly radical changes.
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: Well, Robin Lamley, the Independent member for our lun We
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  Speaker 1: always appreciate your time. Thank you very much for speaking
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  Speaker 1: with me this morning.
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  Speaker 2: My pleasure caating.
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: Thank you