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

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  Speaker 1: If you want to know what's happening on the local
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  Speaker 1: political landscape, Katie Wolf has it covered on three sixty.
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  Speaker 2: Every one is listening Mix one O four point nine.
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  Speaker 1: You are listening to Mix one oh four point nine
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  Speaker 1: is three sixty now. As I mentioned earlier, unfortunately, this
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  Speaker 1: issue of crime, it's on the agenda again. Yesterday we
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  Speaker 1: spoke about the situation that manual at Fanny Bay IgA
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  Speaker 1: had to endure. This morning, a Karama business has told
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  Speaker 1: the Northern Territory News that a group of up to
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  Speaker 1: ten youths aged in their teens attempted to rob them
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  Speaker 1: last week on Friday. Now, this beauty salon at the
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  Speaker 1: Karama shopping center was forced to close its doors and
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  Speaker 1: take its service to customers' homes or to home after
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  Speaker 1: an attempted theft shook those staff as.
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  Speaker 2: It would now.
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  Speaker 1: Joining me on the line to talk more about this
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  Speaker 1: and plenty of other things is the opposition leader Leofanocchiario.
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  Speaker 3: Good morning, Good morning, Katie, and to your listener.
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  Speaker 1: Leah Firstley, what was your reaction upon seeing that vision
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  Speaker 1: at Fanny Bay Supermarket on the weekend.
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  Speaker 3: It's absolutely horrific, Katie, and I just don't understand why
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  Speaker 3: Territorians have to wait until May for the Gunner government
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  Speaker 3: to do something about crime. This issue is affecting every
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  Speaker 3: Territorian's life. At the moment. We've had just I mean,
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  Speaker 3: when you open the newspaper today is horrific the number
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  Speaker 3: of crime stories that are in there. And this is
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  Speaker 3: just becoming the absolute normal. Two weeks ago in parliament
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  Speaker 3: we could have started to pass laws that the Opposition
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  Speaker 3: brought in and dealing with bail the government refuse and
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  Speaker 3: now people are just expected to sit around and wait
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  Speaker 3: until May when the Gunner government finally do something. And
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  Speaker 3: that's something is we don't even know.
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  Speaker 1: Well, Leah, when Parliament last sat, as you just mentioned,
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  Speaker 1: you did try to get that legislation passed which would
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  Speaker 1: have seen those bail laws changed and the presumption of
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  Speaker 1: bail refused as I understand it now. This morning, it's
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  Speaker 1: also being reported that the sixteen year old allegedly involved
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  Speaker 1: in the incident at IgA appeared in court and will
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  Speaker 1: be assessed for bail. The Northern Territory News is reporting
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  Speaker 1: that the defense lawyer asked the court to order bail
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  Speaker 1: assessments so that the teenager could return home to his
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  Speaker 1: mother wearing an electronic monitoring bracelet. How would the legislative
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  Speaker 1: change have made a difference in this situation.
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  Speaker 3: So if that young person, or if a young person,
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  Speaker 3: our legislation meant that if you're a repeat offender, so
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  Speaker 3: two or more offenses in two years, all were on
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  Speaker 3: bail at the time of your offending, then you would
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  Speaker 3: not have a presumption in favor of vale like you
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  Speaker 3: currently do. You would have a starting point of no bail,
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  Speaker 3: and then if you were still bowed by the courts,
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  Speaker 3: you would have mandatory electronic monitoring. So it would just
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  Speaker 3: happen automatically that if the court bows you despite that
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  Speaker 3: starting point of no bail, then you would absolutely have
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  Speaker 3: to wear electronic monitoring because we know that drives down
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  Speaker 3: repeat offending whilst on bail by about forty percent, which
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  Speaker 3: is significant. But you know, I don't know what it's
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  Speaker 3: going to take for the government to actually take serious
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  Speaker 3: action on this issue. I mean, they've put out a
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  Speaker 3: press release two weeks ago. We haven't heard anything about
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  Speaker 3: it since we know that no legislation has been drafted
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  Speaker 3: yet by the Gunner government and that we might not
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  Speaker 3: even pass their legislation in May. I just don't understand
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  Speaker 3: why they couldn't have dealt with our first show the
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  Speaker 3: territory and show the community that they really are serious
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  Speaker 3: about tackling this issue, and then we could have worked
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  Speaker 3: together in May to pass their additional laws.
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  Speaker 1: All right, Lea, I will play you a little bit
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  Speaker 1: of the audio from the interview that we had with
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  Speaker 1: the Chief Minister last week where we did ask him
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  Speaker 1: about vis bail law and when indeed it's going to
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  Speaker 1: be implemented.
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  Speaker 2: Take a listen. Is that your priority?
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  Speaker 1: Realistically given what we've all gone through and you know
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  Speaker 1: that vision that we saw on a current affair, do
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  Speaker 1: you reckon this does need to go through urgently and
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  Speaker 1: how soon?
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  Speaker 2: Then we'll police have that timeline.
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  Speaker 4: So that's about as simple as the timeline gets introduction
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  Speaker 4: in May, with possible agency passage in May, and or
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  Speaker 4: there's a day in during which is usually for estimates,
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  Speaker 4: which is the pass passges of the budget's hard the
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  Speaker 4: past things on that day or August. So for me,
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  Speaker 4: my priority the way I too at the moment is
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  Speaker 4: around May. We also want to get the legislation drafted. Right,
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  Speaker 4: Let's be really clear here. If you get the drafting
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  Speaker 4: of legislation, in this space wrong, the people who win
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  Speaker 4: will be the criminal, so you don't want to do that.
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  Speaker 4: So you've got to get the drafting right.
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  Speaker 2: So you've got to get it right.
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  Speaker 1: But your priority is that May is when this is
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  Speaker 1: going to happen, and will that mean that our police
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  Speaker 1: will realistically then be able to, you know, to be
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  Speaker 1: implementing these changes straight after that legislation goes through.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, the gazetle that usually pretty soon after that, so
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  Speaker 4: that you usually enacted very simple soon after you pass
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  Speaker 4: it in the MA sittings.
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  Speaker 2: Leah, when do you think this is going to happen?
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  Speaker 3: Oh, look, I'm not holding my breast, that's for sure.
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  Speaker 3: And the Chiefiness is dead right about one thing. When
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  Speaker 3: you get it wrong, the people who win are the criminals.
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  Speaker 3: And that's exactly what has happened since the Gunner government
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  Speaker 3: passed its weak bow laws and other reform a couple
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  Speaker 3: of years ago. As it is the criminals who have
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  Speaker 3: won and the people who suffer as a result of
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  Speaker 3: that are territorians. I mean for the Chief Minister to
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  Speaker 3: have them guar barboard spiel about possibly passage in May,
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  Speaker 3: maybe on the last day of June sittings or maybe
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  Speaker 3: even August, just shows that they have no steadfast commitment
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  Speaker 3: to dealing with this issue in the Parliament. We're ready
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  Speaker 3: to go. We were ready to go two weeks ago.
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  Speaker 3: We've been ready to go for years, quite frankly. But
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  Speaker 3: we brought our own legislation ready to debate and pass
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  Speaker 3: two weeks ago they said no. And so now we
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  Speaker 3: have to wait till May, June, or possibly August for
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  Speaker 3: this government to take any steps forward. And I honestly
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  Speaker 3: don't think that even the reform that they've sort of
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  Speaker 3: touted in the media is actually going to be what
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  Speaker 3: happens by the time we get to May. I think
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  Speaker 3: they'll water it down even more.
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  Speaker 1: All right, lea, let's move along, because there's been quite
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  Speaker 1: a bit of discussion over the last twenty four hours,
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  Speaker 1: not just about crime, but well about the impact that
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  Speaker 1: additional COVID payments have potentially been having in the Northern
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  Speaker 1: Territory when it comes to alcohol purchases, and also some
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  Speaker 1: of the ramifications of the misuse of alcohol. Now, though
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  Speaker 1: there are concerns obviously being raised that the end of
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  Speaker 1: those COVID payments might actually see an increase in crime
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  Speaker 1: because there's less money around the place.
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  Speaker 2: Do you think this is a concern.
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  Speaker 3: This is a huge concern, and I'd love to know
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  Speaker 3: what the Gunner government are doing about it. I mean,
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  Speaker 3: enough of the talk. You know, they want to blame
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  Speaker 3: COVID payments, they want to blame everybody else.
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  Speaker 2: But what do you think they should do about it?
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  Speaker 3: I think they should be putting in plans. I mean,
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  Speaker 3: if they think that's an issue, then we have to
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  Speaker 3: look at police resourcing. But unfortunately, our police are absolutely
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  Speaker 3: stretched to the limits, and that's because this government has
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  Speaker 3: not been recruiting as it should have been. I mean,
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  Speaker 3: the reality is their alcohol policies are not working. We've
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  Speaker 3: seen thirty percent increases in domestic violence, twenty eight percent
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  Speaker 3: increases in alcohol related assault, and I think twenty two
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  Speaker 3: percent increase in assaults. And now we're going to see
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  Speaker 3: property crime spike as well. I mean, people are just
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  Speaker 3: sick and tired of this. They just don't know what
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  Speaker 3: to do, and people are leaving town, They're leaving the
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  Speaker 3: territory as a result of it. You know, it's not okay.
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  Speaker 3: It's not okay for the government to not want to
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  Speaker 3: deal with these issues and just keep saying things like
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  Speaker 3: the bdr's working. The managery, the minimum flaw price is working.
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  Speaker 3: I mean, we know it's not working. The evidence is
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  Speaker 3: self evident that these things aren't working. And yet on
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  Speaker 3: the same hand, Katie, we've got the government now going
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  Speaker 3: after restaurants saying that they can't sell small amounts of
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  Speaker 3: alcohol with takeaway meals, which aren't contributing to alcohol related
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  Speaker 3: harm at all. So this is a government asleep at
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  Speaker 3: the wheels. Its priorities are all wrong, and its territory
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  Speaker 3: as you suffer.
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  Speaker 1: Well, Leah, we've got a lot of text messages coming through.
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  Speaker 1: I will just take you to one that says, with
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  Speaker 1: regards to crime in Karama, it's out of control and
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  Speaker 1: the kids know that nothing's going to be done because
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  Speaker 1: of their age. The shopping center needs to switch off
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  Speaker 1: its free Wi Fi to stop them hanging out there,
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  Speaker 1: and the local member needs to start representing the hard
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  Speaker 1: working people who voted for her. By the way, nobody's
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  Speaker 1: seen the cops out there for quite some time, apart
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  Speaker 1: from well different different, you know, there must be a
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  Speaker 1: few occasions where they've been out there. They said we
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  Speaker 1: need action, not empty words. I mean, Leah, where do
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  Speaker 1: we go to from? Here because look at the moment,
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  Speaker 1: with all due respect to you, you know, I mean,
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  Speaker 1: what we're hearing from you isn't overly different to what
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  Speaker 1: we've heard previously. What we're hearing from the government seems
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  Speaker 1: to be the same. But the community is well and
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  Speaker 1: truly fed up.
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  Speaker 3: Well look, look, I obviously have to disagree Kati, but
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  Speaker 3: you know I put up my tent in Malac a
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  Speaker 3: couple of weeks ago actually after work, to catch people
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  Speaker 3: going home and see what they had to say about
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  Speaker 3: issues in the community. And there's no doubt that crime
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  Speaker 3: is something that kept coming up. What we believe and
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  Speaker 3: what we've been firm on, is that the government's reform
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  Speaker 3: a few years ago sent all the wrong messages, particularly
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  Speaker 3: to youth offenders, that nothing will happen to them. There
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  Speaker 3: is a chronic lack of consequences, and that has given
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  Speaker 3: young people greater courage to go and commit crimes than
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  Speaker 3: we're seeing worse and worse types of offending because nothing
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  Speaker 3: is happening to them. They're bailed and bowled again, and
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  Speaker 3: bowed again, and diverted and sent on holiday camps and
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  Speaker 3: all this other type of stuff, and it's not having
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  Speaker 3: any meaningful impact. You know, this government's talk of generational
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  Speaker 3: change is not having any effect at all, and at
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  Speaker 3: the meantime we've got more and more victims being made.
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  Speaker 3: We want to see a reversal of what the government
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  Speaker 3: has done, and we want to actually tighten up that
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  Speaker 3: BAOL system. We don't want that merry go round to
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  Speaker 3: keep spinning. We want people who are repeat offenders to
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  Speaker 3: be targeted, and that's why our legislation solely focused on
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  Speaker 3: that as a first stage, because people who are bailed
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  Speaker 3: and then go out and reoffend and bow it again
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  Speaker 3: and go out and reoffend are causing tremendous problems for
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  Speaker 3: everyday territories who are just going about their lives peacefully,
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  Speaker 3: and that's not okay. The cost to our community, to
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  Speaker 3: our society, to business is beyond breaking point for people,
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  Speaker 3: and we've got to do something about it. So we
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  Speaker 3: want to work with the government on crime reform. They
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  Speaker 3: don't want to work with us. We've brought our own
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  Speaker 3: legislation forward to be proactive and say hey, you're doing nothing,
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  Speaker 3: we'll do it, and instead of working with us, the
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  Speaker 3: Government of gunders down. So it's really a difficult environment
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  Speaker 3: when you have a government with its hands over its
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  Speaker 3: the is not doing anything, not listening to the community,
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  Speaker 3: and we're doing everything we can for opposition to try
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  Speaker 3: and push the government to take serious action. But again
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  Speaker 3: going back to the Chief Minister's comments, you know we're
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  Speaker 3: looking at May, June or August before anything comes through. Lea.
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  Speaker 1: I do also want to talk to you this morning
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  Speaker 1: about the government's announcement of two commissioners to win private
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  Speaker 1: investment and major projects for the Northern Territory. Now, you've
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  Speaker 1: been quite critical of the announcement, saying that they'll have
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  Speaker 1: no powers and no teeth. This is obviously one of
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  Speaker 1: those recommendations well, which was handed down by the Territory
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  Speaker 1: Economic Reconstruction Commission. The recommendation, as I understand it was
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  Speaker 1: for one commissioner, but the government has gone with two, Lea,
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  Speaker 1: Why do you think that this is a bad idea.
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  Speaker 3: Look, the Turk Report said they needed we needed a
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  Speaker 3: single point of coordination to drive economic projects in the territory.
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  Speaker 3: This government has got team and the Territory Economic Reconstruction Commission, Langoland,
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  Speaker 3: Rebound and TEE any other number of teams it's put
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  Speaker 3: together to advise it on what to do in our economy,
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  Speaker 3: and yet we continue to see failure after failure and
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  Speaker 3: under delivery. The fact that the government have now decided
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  Speaker 3: to create two new positions within the public servers to
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  Speaker 3: add an extra bureaucratic red tape and nonsense to what
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  Speaker 3: has already convoluted and complicated layers of approvals and teams
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  Speaker 3: is just it's a joke. These people do not have
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  Speaker 3: any additional legislative powers. They don't have any additional powers
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  Speaker 3: at all. All they do is report to the Chief
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  Speaker 3: Minister once a month on what other public servants in
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  Speaker 3: the existing teams are doing, and then a brief cabinet.
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  Speaker 3: I mean it shows me the government has no confidence
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  Speaker 3: in their major projects and infrastructure investment teams. They've got
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  Speaker 3: no confidence in their CEOs, and we've just got additional
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  Speaker 3: high level, high paid jobs. How much do you re
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  Speaker 3: outcome well?
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  Speaker 1: How much do you reckon that these positions? Is it
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  Speaker 1: going to be paid well?
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  Speaker 3: The Chief Ministers said in the paper today around two
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  Speaker 3: hundred thousand dollars. But I find that hard to believe.
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  Speaker 3: They must be only working part time because there's a
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  Speaker 3: number of people in Investment and Tea, the Department of Business,
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  Speaker 3: the Department of Chief Means and major projects who earn
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  Speaker 3: well and truly over two hundred thousand dollars. And now
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  Speaker 3: this magical person on two hundred thousand dollars is going
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  Speaker 3: to then corral everybody else and impose some sort of
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  Speaker 3: authority is beyond me, Katie.
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  Speaker 2: Then when you talk.
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  Speaker 1: About like obviously they're going to then have a team,
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  Speaker 1: is it you're understanding that they are they're currently existing
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  Speaker 1: roles that are going to form that team, or are
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  Speaker 1: we talking new jobs here?
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  Speaker 3: Well, it sounds to me like they're just pulling ten
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  Speaker 3: people from existing teams to put under these new positions.
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  Speaker 3: But they're just a coordination and facilitation role. I mean,
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  Speaker 3: what around government c and departmental CEO is doing if
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  Speaker 3: not coordinating investment into the territory. I mean, this just
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  Speaker 3: comes with such a stark contrast to what the opposition
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  Speaker 3: proposed in Again, we had legislation debated last sinnings two
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  Speaker 3: weeks ago where we wanted to create the Territory Coordinator,
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  Speaker 3: a separate statutory authority with real legislative teeth. The Territory
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  Speaker 3: Coordinator would have had actual decision making power to fast
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  Speaker 3: track decision making time frames and investments.
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  Speaker 2: Thank you. Ler.
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  Speaker 1: Just want to take I just want to take the
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  Speaker 1: politics out of this for a second and look at
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  Speaker 1: this from the perspective that they've implemented one of the
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  Speaker 1: recommendations of the Turk. Who do you think, Well, let
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  Speaker 1: me finish the question, who do you think or what
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  Speaker 1: type of person do you think should then fill these roles.
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  Speaker 3: I think what we're going to see is jobs for
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  Speaker 3: the boys, Katie. I think this is two highly paid roles.
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  Speaker 3: They're going to be high profile labor people parachuted in
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  Speaker 3: much like Team and T was with Claire Martin, and
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  Speaker 3: we're going to see more jobs for the boys. We're
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  Speaker 3: going to see no actual impact on the ground. These
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  Speaker 3: people have no power, no legislative backing. They're going to
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  Speaker 3: be writing reports for the Chief Minister which are going
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  Speaker 3: to gather us with the Anglan and the Turk Report,
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  Speaker 3: and nothing's going to change because ultimately they haven't changed
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  Speaker 3: the structure of a breaking system.
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  Speaker 1: Well, Leah Finocchio, the opposition leader, it is going to
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  Speaker 1: be interesting to see how it all rolls out.
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  Speaker 2: Thanks for your time this morning.
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  Speaker 3: Thank you. Take care everyone,