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Peter Dutton tells Katie Woolf he will discuss crime in the Territory with the PM · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: There is no doubt that we speak a lot about
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: the issues of crime right around the Northern territory, and
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: I think it's pretty safe to say that things have
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: reached the point where territorians are feeling fed up and
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: you're feeling pretty helpless about the whole situation. Now, we
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: know that the opposition leader, the Federal Opposition Leader, Peter Dutton,
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  Speaker 1: is in Alice Springs right now and he joins me
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  Speaker 1: on the line. Good morning to you, Peter, Good morning, Katie,
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  Speaker 1: Thanks so much for your time this morning. Now, Peter,
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  Speaker 1: we know that you've been to Alice Springs a couple
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: of times already this year to look at what is
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: going on in Alice Springs when it comes to crime
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: to lawlessness. Yesterday you had said that you feel as
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: though it's time that the federal government does step in
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  Speaker 1: and offer some support.
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  Speaker 2: Well, Katie, we've been meeting with obviously a number of locals,
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  Speaker 2: of business owners, of just people on the street, just
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  Speaker 2: to get a proper understanding, get outside of the Canberra
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  Speaker 2: bubble and hear the real experiences on the ground. And
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: it's heartbreaking when you speak to people who love Alice
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  Speaker 2: and love the territory and they're making a decision to
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  Speaker 2: move out of town because they don't feel safe anymore.
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  Speaker 2: Their businesses have been broken into multiple occasions, their houses ransacked.
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  Speaker 2: It's tough to hear, but you need to be able
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  Speaker 2: to do something about it. And it's clear to me
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  Speaker 2: that I think this is no slide on the Northern
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  Speaker 2: Territory government. I just think it's beyond their capability and
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  Speaker 2: beyond their resources to deal with what is happening on
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  Speaker 2: the ground now. I think, as you point out, it's
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  Speaker 2: just descended to such a point that it requires additional resources,
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  Speaker 2: and I think the Australian Federal Police should be brought
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  Speaker 2: in to supplement the work of the Northern Territory Police.
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  Speaker 2: They work very closely together, and you need to restore
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  Speaker 2: law and order before the programs can be effective to
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  Speaker 2: divert kids away from their activities of a nighttime to
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  Speaker 2: try and reduce that crime. But if the rule of
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  Speaker 2: law is not adhered to and people know, kids know,
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  Speaker 2: adults know that there's no consequence for their actions, then
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  Speaker 2: this problem is not going to come to an end.
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  Speaker 2: And the Chief Minister seems to be this view that
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  Speaker 2: you know it's in our springs, not dull and so
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  Speaker 2: what does it matter, or you know, it's out of sight,
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  Speaker 2: out of mind, or pretend that there's nothing going on.
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  Speaker 2: And I just don't think that's good enough. So I
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  Speaker 2: think it's time for the Prime Minister Franklin to pick
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  Speaker 2: the phone up and say we need to stop treating
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: people of our springs like second class citizens and roll
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: their sleeves up and get this problem sorted out.
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  Speaker 1: Do you know, I actually reckon it's time that he
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  Speaker 1: came not only to Alice Springs but up to the
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  Speaker 1: top end as well, Peter, because while we have incredibly
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  Speaker 1: serious issues in Alice Springs, we've not been immune to
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  Speaker 1: it here in Darwin. I'm sure that you've seen the
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  Speaker 1: reports over recent weeks, the life of young Deckland Lavity
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  Speaker 1: lost while at work at a bottle shop, reports of
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  Speaker 1: break ins, people being assaulted. Some of what is happening
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: would just not be acceptable. I don't think in any
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  Speaker 1: other capital city of Australia or any other city of Australia.
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  Speaker 2: I think it's spot on cutting and people. I always
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  Speaker 2: feel it's a great privilege when I come to the
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  Speaker 2: Northern Territory's one of the most beautiful parts of our
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  Speaker 2: country and people have you know, I mean constantly hear
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  Speaker 2: the stories of you know, I just came up for
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  Speaker 2: you know, for a short posting, or came here for
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  Speaker 2: a couple of weeks holiday and just fell in love
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  Speaker 2: with the place and I've stayed, you know, I've been
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  Speaker 2: here for forty years. I mean, they're common stories, and
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  Speaker 2: those people are heartbroken because you know, the town, whether
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: it's Malice, whether it's dar and wherever it might be,
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  Speaker 2: you know, they want the best for their community and
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  Speaker 2: they want a safe environment for their kids. And I
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  Speaker 2: think it's spot on in my hometown of Brisbane, or
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  Speaker 2: in Sydney or Melbourne or Hobart or Perth, wherever it
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: might be. I just don't think I just don't think
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  Speaker 2: the public would tolerate what's going on here. And one
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  Speaker 2: business we spoke to this morning, who's saying in his
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  Speaker 2: building been eighteen It's been broken into eighteen times in
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  Speaker 2: January alone this year. And you know, these are common
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  Speaker 2: place stories and I think there will be further tragedy.
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  Speaker 2: And the death in Darwin was it was just terrific.
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  Speaker 2: And similarly, back what two years ago now in Alice Springs,
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  Speaker 2: another similar story of a young man who lost his
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  Speaker 2: life and will be there will be more loss of
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  Speaker 2: life if we don't act, and if the Chief Minister
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  Speaker 2: just says, well, you know, we've got adequate programs in
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  Speaker 2: place and there are cultural reasons we can't make decisions further,
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  Speaker 2: people are going to suffer, and the young Indigenous kids
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  Speaker 2: who have been put back into harm's way again, I
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  Speaker 2: find it just completely unacceptable and wouldn't be tolerated in
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  Speaker 2: a capital city that somebody who had been abused you
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  Speaker 2: of putting them back into the hands of that perpetrator.
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  Speaker 2: That there would be right there would rightly be outrage,
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  Speaker 2: and I think we're right to shine a light on
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  Speaker 2: it and fix the problem as best we can as
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  Speaker 2: quickly as we can, instead of pretending that nothing to see.
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  Speaker 1: And I do want to point out we also, you know,
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  Speaker 1: we also had the loss of an Aboriginal man in
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  Speaker 1: Rapid Creek just a week before the loss of young
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  Speaker 1: Deckland Lavity as well, So that was here in Darwin,
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  Speaker 1: and no doubt there is going to be you know,
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  Speaker 1: plenty more information which comes to hand as that goes
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  Speaker 1: through the court process. But Peter, I do also want
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  Speaker 1: to ask, look, we've already got messages coming through on
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  Speaker 1: the text line saying, is there a possibility here that you,
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: as the federal opposition leader, can put in a phone
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  Speaker 1: call to the Prime Minister on behalf of Territorians and
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  Speaker 1: actually put the politics aside for a few minutes and go,
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  Speaker 1: do you know what people are really hurting? They actually
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  Speaker 1: desperately need some help?
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  Speaker 2: One hundred percent Cardian to be honest, When I was
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  Speaker 2: up here in October and heard, you know, essentially the
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  Speaker 2: same stories as we've heard over the last couple of
• 6:08
  Speaker 2: days on this trip, I went to see the Prime
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  Speaker 2: Minister personally, and I'm not going to go into private
• 6:15
  Speaker 2: conversations with him, but I did say to him, look,
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  Speaker 2: and you know, I've got a good relationship with him.
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  Speaker 2: We you know, we have our differences of opinion on
• 6:24
  Speaker 2: different issues. But I said, look, you know we need
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  Speaker 2: you need to have urgent, an urgent response to what's
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  Speaker 2: happening in the territory. And it wasn't about politics at all.
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  Speaker 2: I said to him in that meeting that we would
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  Speaker 2: support any decision that they took. We had a subsequent
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  Speaker 2: meeting with Linda Bernie, but you know, essentially just sort
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  Speaker 2: of rattling off the programs that are been funded, and
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  Speaker 2: this is what we're doing already. So it's frustrating, and
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  Speaker 2: I've certainly done that already. I'll do it off the
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  Speaker 2: back of this trip again, and I'd be very happy
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  Speaker 2: to support any part of my way, any issues that
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  Speaker 2: you know, any funding, any policy changes, any legislation that
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  Speaker 2: was required. I just honestly believe that there is an
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  Speaker 2: opportunity to turn things around. But pretending that nothing is
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  Speaker 2: wrong or nothing's happening is you know, it's just not tenable.
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  Speaker 2: So I am very happy to reach to the PM
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  Speaker 2: again that I did that in October. The Prime Minister
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  Speaker 2: then visited Pallas Springs off the back of that, just
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  Speaker 2: I mean for a couple of hours, unfortunately, and then
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  Speaker 2: made the announcement of tenund and fifty million dollars. But
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  Speaker 2: speaking to a lot of providers here, that money hasn't
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  Speaker 2: been allocated yet, and I just think the urgency is
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  Speaker 2: here and now it needs to be dealt with. And yes,
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  Speaker 2: you know, the short answer to your question is I'm
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  Speaker 2: very happy to sit down with him again or support
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  Speaker 2: any decisions the government will make to try and relieve
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  Speaker 2: the pressure.
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  Speaker 1: I think that that is something that you know that
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  Speaker 1: Territorians really want at this point in time. I'm right
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  Speaker 1: from Central Australia all the way up to here in
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  Speaker 1: Darwin and the likes of Catherine. We've got serious issues
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  Speaker 1: when it comes to the misuse of alcohol, incredibly serious
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  Speaker 1: issues with youth crime, incredibly serious issues with crime in general,
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  Speaker 1: and people are really feeling that they're at the point
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  Speaker 1: where they sort of want those political, you know, political
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  Speaker 1: sort of discussions to be put to the side and
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  Speaker 1: they just want some action. They just want to feel
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  Speaker 1: safe in their own home. We spoke to the mayor
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  Speaker 1: of Alice Springs a little bit earlier this morning and
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  Speaker 1: I said to him, you know, Matt, if there was
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  Speaker 1: one thing that you could say to the Prime Minister
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  Speaker 1: right now, what would it be. And he said, Katie,
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  Speaker 1: we just need help and we just want to feel
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  Speaker 1: safe in our own homes.
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  Speaker 2: Makes you want to cry, Well, it doesn't. And many
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  Speaker 2: people are the emotion that we saw yesterday from people
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  Speaker 2: who are just you know, frankly that which end their
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  Speaker 2: businesses and their collapse. They're living with the out over
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  Speaker 2: their head. The whole time of the hou is going
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  Speaker 2: to be broaken into I just think the psychological weight
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  Speaker 2: of that is a lot to bear, and you're right.
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  Speaker 2: I mean there's just a level of frustration when you've
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  Speaker 2: put the politics aside, you've had those discussions, it's obvious
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  Speaker 2: what needs to happen, and there's a refusal to act.
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  Speaker 2: What's the next step? And at the moment, I don't
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  Speaker 2: understand why, given all that we know and all that
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  Speaker 2: you just outlined in terms of the reality of life
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  Speaker 2: on the ground at the moment, why the Chief Miness
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  Speaker 2: is not acting, or why the Prime Minister's a you know,
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  Speaker 2: not seeing it as a first order priority. It's not
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  Speaker 2: a political statement to say that, it's just I think
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  Speaker 2: it's a reasonable question. If there's a reason that they
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  Speaker 2: don't want to act, or that there are other priorities,
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  Speaker 2: will explain that. But I think it's obvious at the
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  Speaker 2: moment that when you lose control of the law and
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  Speaker 2: order situation, when police just don't have the resources to
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  Speaker 2: turn up to and edits, when people are self imposing
• 10:03
  Speaker 2: a curfew, which a number of residents raised with is yesterday,
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  Speaker 2: they're just not going out of a nighttime. They won't
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  Speaker 2: allow their elderly mother to go to the shops even
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  Speaker 2: during the daylight hours unless they accompany them. It's a
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  Speaker 2: terrible situation and it wouldn't be tolerated in the Prime
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  Speaker 2: Minister's home city of Sydney, that's for sure.
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  Speaker 1: Peter Dutton, I do want to ask, we've got messages
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  Speaker 1: coming through on the tech sign. There is some people
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: messaging through saying you were obviously a cabinet minister as
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: recent as ten months ago at times holding the AFP
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: portfolio and then Defense, so you could have deployed resources
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: back sort of last year when we were first having.
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  Speaker 2: Issues well and in terms of what we did eighty
• 10:51
  Speaker 2: million dollars for the Australian Center to Counter Child Exploitation
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  Speaker 2: exactly in mind the desire to stop kids being sexually
• 11:00
  Speaker 2: abused and provide that protection. I think there are over
• 11:03
  Speaker 2: five hundred children now close to a thousand. I think
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  Speaker 2: the most recent number is of kids who were helped
• 11:09
  Speaker 2: by the Federal Police are working with their state and
• 11:12
  Speaker 2: territory colleagues and international partners as well. There's obviously, on
• 11:17
  Speaker 2: both sides of Parliament an enormous amount of money that
• 11:21
  Speaker 2: has been given to services and programs, and I think
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  Speaker 2: that the point is valid that this hasn't happened overnight.
• 11:30
  Speaker 2: But the question is what the government's doing about it now.
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  Speaker 2: It's deteriorated to a point that you know, I don't
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  Speaker 2: think anyone is suggesting that it was better. It's better
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  Speaker 2: today than it was two years ago. I think it's
• 11:45
  Speaker 2: deteriorated significantly and the Chief Minister in the end has
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  Speaker 2: the responsibility. And as I said in my earlier remarks,
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  Speaker 2: I think it's beyond whether you had a c orp
• 11:54
  Speaker 2: government here at the moment or a labor government. I
• 11:56
  Speaker 2: don't think it would matter. I think that the situation
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  Speaker 2: is so dim that the Chief Minister of the day
• 12:03
  Speaker 2: needs to ask for help. And I don't know whether
• 12:05
  Speaker 2: it's a pride thing or what the reluctance is at
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  Speaker 2: the moment, but that the response needs to be forthcoming
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  Speaker 2: and we would all support that.
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: Peter. Before I let you go, I do want to
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: ask the question, are you using Alice Springs as a
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: tool to support your opposition to the Voice? No?
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  Speaker 2: I mean a couple of points. So one is that
• 12:28
  Speaker 2: we know in terms of the Voice, would like the detail.
• 12:33
  Speaker 2: Like every other Australian at the moment, I think there's
• 12:37
  Speaker 2: a lot that needs to be responded to and a
• 12:40
  Speaker 2: lot of people have got very reasonable questions that the
• 12:42
  Speaker 2: Prime Minister's refusing to answer. The proposal at the moment
• 12:46
  Speaker 2: is that people will vote in October and that if
• 12:50
  Speaker 2: the Voice is successful, there will be a six month
• 12:52
  Speaker 2: consultation period to design what the Voice looks like. And
• 12:57
  Speaker 2: I can't understand that process. I think you design what
• 13:00
  Speaker 2: it is you're asking people to vote for, and then
• 13:02
  Speaker 2: people can do that in an informed way. I think
• 13:06
  Speaker 2: it's you know, it's a tragedy that we don't have
• 13:09
  Speaker 2: a constitutional convention, which has been the precedent in years
• 13:13
  Speaker 2: past where we've had constitutional change. And I think every
• 13:17
  Speaker 2: Australian realizes that one of the reasons where such a
• 13:20
  Speaker 2: stable democracy. Why, you know, even if we've got gripes
• 13:23
  Speaker 2: about different government decisions or we should be doing this
• 13:26
  Speaker 2: or shouldn't be doing that, we live in the best
• 13:28
  Speaker 2: country in the world. And part of the reason for that,
• 13:31
  Speaker 2: A big part of the reason for that is the constitution.
• 13:33
  Speaker 2: And if you're proposing to change it, it needs to
• 13:36
  Speaker 2: be for a very good reason. And at the moment
• 13:39
  Speaker 2: we're not getting any of that detail. The Voice won't
• 13:42
  Speaker 2: be just dealing with issues that affect indigenous Australians. As
• 13:47
  Speaker 2: Mergan Davis has pointed out, the chair of the referendum
• 13:49
  Speaker 2: group appointed by the Prime Minister, the Voice is going
• 13:52
  Speaker 2: to have a say and make representations to the Reserve Bank,
• 13:56
  Speaker 2: to the Defense Department and every element of government decision making,
• 14:00
  Speaker 2: and we need to think very carefully about whether that
• 14:03
  Speaker 2: is going to improve our system of government or not.
• 14:05
  Speaker 2: I don't believe it will, and that's why I believe
• 14:08
  Speaker 2: that people should know. In relation to the situation in
• 14:11
  Speaker 2: Alice Springs, well, I was ten years as a police officer.
• 14:16
  Speaker 2: It breaks my heart to see young kids in that situation.
• 14:19
  Speaker 2: I've taken statements from young girls who've been raped and
• 14:22
  Speaker 2: sexually assaulted. I've taken people through the courts. I believe
• 14:26
  Speaker 2: that every Australian should be treated equally and that every
• 14:29
  Speaker 2: child should have the innocence of their childhood. I believe
• 14:32
  Speaker 2: that people who work hard and their businesses should be
• 14:35
  Speaker 2: rewarded for their effort, and that people should live safely
• 14:38
  Speaker 2: in their community. And that's why I'm standing up for
• 14:41
  Speaker 2: people of Alice Springs and across the territory, including Darwin,
• 14:45
  Speaker 2: and I want to see a better situation because it's
• 14:48
  Speaker 2: a beautiful part of the world. It deserves the support
• 14:50
  Speaker 2: of the government. And that's not a political statement or
• 14:53
  Speaker 2: political positioning. It's about doing the right thing by people
• 14:58
  Speaker 2: who are Australian citizens. I'll never apologize. Will resolve from that.
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: Well, Peter Dutton, the federal Opposition leader, we really appreciate
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: your time this morning. And you know, as I said earlier,
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: and I think I speak for a lot of Territorians
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: right now, we do need help when it comes to
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: the issues that we're experiencing with crime. I don't know
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: exactly what the answers are, but I know that there
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: is a real sense within the community right now, locally
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: and also federally that that they want those you know,
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: those political boundaries pushed to the side for a bit
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: and they just want this issue sorted so that they
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: can feel safe in their homes.
• 15:37
  Speaker 2: Well, I agree with them one hundred percent. Katy, thanks
• 15:39
  Speaker 2: for having me on the show.
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: Thank you. We appreciate your time.