Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Member for Lingiari Marion Scrymgour calls for income management for families of neglected children

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Member for Lingiari Marion Scrymgour calls for income management for families of neglected children · 360 with Katie Woolf

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  Speaker 1: Now joining me on the line right now is Marion Scrimjaw,
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  Speaker 1: who is the Member for Lingiari. Good morning to you, Marion.
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  Speaker 2: Good morning Katie. How are you not too bad?
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  Speaker 1: I've got to say, Marian, I think that I'm feeling
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  Speaker 1: pretty flat today, and I dare say that a lot
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  Speaker 1: of Territorians are after what's unfolded on Friday, with a
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  Speaker 1: woman fatally stabbed in the city and two others stabbed
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  Speaker 1: at Casarina. It's got so many of us asking when
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  Speaker 1: is when's something.
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  Speaker 2: Going to change? Yeah, and look, I think we can
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  Speaker 2: all and that's why I wrote that piece because I
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  Speaker 2: just think we've got to stop. You know, members of Parliament, politicians,
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  Speaker 2: we've got to stop. We know that levels of crime
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  Speaker 2: and violence throughout the Northern Territory continue to be unacceptably
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  Speaker 2: high and people are losing their lives, whether it's you know,
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  Speaker 2: young Declan Lavit at Marara, this woman in town, you know,
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  Speaker 2: which was really terrible, and I know, you know Linda Bernie,
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  Speaker 2: federal minister was in the hotel. Her staff tried to assist.
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  Speaker 2: They've been badly shaken by all of this. We had,
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  Speaker 2: you know, Peter Dutton as the leader of the opposition
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  Speaker 2: and just senter Price in Alice Springs recently and look,
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  Speaker 2: I agree something's got to be done, but I think
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  Speaker 2: politicizing and you know, pushing these issues without a solution
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  Speaker 2: to try and deal with this, which is why I've
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  Speaker 2: come out saying, you know, in Queensland they've got the
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  Speaker 2: Family Responsibility Commission, they're pretty tough. It is about taxpayers
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  Speaker 2: money because when we look at welfare payments that are
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  Speaker 2: going to people regardless of whether you're black or you're white.
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  Speaker 2: It doesn't matter who you are. If you're getting a
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  Speaker 2: welfare and if you're doing the wrong thing to with
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  Speaker 2: your child or your family, you should be referred to
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  Speaker 2: the commission. And then the Commission looks at case managing
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  Speaker 2: you and your income is quarantined one hundred percent until
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  Speaker 2: such time that they think that, you know, there's been
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  Speaker 2: a better outcome, particularly when we look at the interest
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  Speaker 2: of the child, all those families. We've got to try something, Katie.
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  Speaker 2: You can't keep accepting, you know that a woman loses
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  Speaker 2: her life. There was the stabbings at Caserina. I got
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  Speaker 2: sent a video of a huge fight at the Caserina
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  Speaker 2: bus station the other day and a man got hit
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  Speaker 2: by a bus that was going in there. You know,
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  Speaker 2: the pack mentality amongst our people has got to We've
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  Speaker 2: got to say enough is enough. Let's start look at
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  Speaker 2: you know, we've got to have some honest discussion amongst
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  Speaker 2: the Aboriginal leadership, amongst Aboriginal people in our communities about
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  Speaker 2: you know, it's not just alcohol. I think that there
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  Speaker 2: is an you know, a drug trade that's been allowed
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  Speaker 2: to happen in and around Darwin. And I think you
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  Speaker 2: know a lot of these young people have come from
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  Speaker 2: their communities, they're living in Darwin and the drug trade
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  Speaker 2: is alive and well, Katie, and we've got to we've
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  Speaker 2: just got to stop. I want to look at how
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  Speaker 2: do we get greater resources to the police but also
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  Speaker 2: territory families and to have a look at how do
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  Speaker 2: we you know, we need to get better outcomes than
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  Speaker 2: what we're doing today. And let's stop playing you know,
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  Speaker 2: I've called stop playing politics with this because the community
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  Speaker 2: shouldn't have to put up with this. This is gone
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  Speaker 2: beyond any you know, any political party. We've just got
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  Speaker 2: to do something about Marion.
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  Speaker 1: I actually I said that to Peter Dutton when I
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  Speaker 1: spoke to him last week I said, I feel like
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  Speaker 1: we here in the Northern Territory have actually reached the
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  Speaker 1: point where we want both sides of Parliament to really
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  Speaker 1: work together. He'd committed to me that he was going
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  Speaker 1: to get in contact with Anthony Albanezi and make sure
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  Speaker 1: that that, you know, that was heard. I know that
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  Speaker 1: it would be something that you are certainly doing with
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  Speaker 1: your own party. But you know, just on the greater
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  Speaker 1: resources to the Northern Territory Police, there's been a lot
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  Speaker 1: of discussion about whether the AFP should come in and
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  Speaker 1: provide some support. You know, I can't understand why the
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  Speaker 1: Northern Territory government is resisting this. Do you think it
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  Speaker 1: would help?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, look, I need to so we're working through some
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  Speaker 2: of that, Katie. I think we've got some fantastic men
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  Speaker 2: and women in our police force in the Northern Territory.
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  Speaker 2: Absolutely is their capacity. If it's beyond their capacity and
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  Speaker 2: they're not able to do it, the Northern Territory Police
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  Speaker 2: Force needs to say we need some help at the
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  Speaker 2: moment there is some resistance. I look, the Australian Federal
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  Speaker 2: Police have a certain expertise. I don't think that. I
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  Speaker 2: think what we have to look at first, Katie is
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  Speaker 2: how do we how do we resource the capacity of
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  Speaker 2: the Northern Territory Police UH to so that they can
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  Speaker 2: do their job with as much resources as we can
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  Speaker 2: we can get for them. And I think that's that's
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  Speaker 2: something that the Northern Territory government needs to look at.
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  Speaker 2: And if the Northern Territory Police say to the anti
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  Speaker 2: government we need some help here, I am sure that
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  Speaker 2: the you know, the federal government would certainly look at
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  Speaker 2: what needs to be support. You know, what the support
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  Speaker 2: does the Northern Territory Police need to do. So that's
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  Speaker 2: I can't answer that, Katie, But I think the Northern
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  Speaker 2: Territory government anti police and I know people like Michael
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  Speaker 2: Murphy as the Acting Commissioner, you know, I think a
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  Speaker 2: number of people there's some good men and women in there,
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  Speaker 2: and we need to just it is overwhelming and I
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  Speaker 2: think it's overwhelming for them too.
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  Speaker 1: Well, it's so overwhelming for everybody right now. And I
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  Speaker 1: think that that's where we've all reached the point where,
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  Speaker 1: you know, like you said, we're over the politics. We
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  Speaker 1: just want something to change. People don't feel safe in
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  Speaker 1: their homes, people don't feel safe walking through the shops.
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  Speaker 1: You know they don't feel safe walking down the street,
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  Speaker 1: and a lot of us are questioning how on earth
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  Speaker 1: did we get to this point.
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  Speaker 2: I think, look, Katie, I think most people that are
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  Speaker 2: running a lot of people do the right thing. But
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  Speaker 2: you've got a small cohort of people that are on
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  Speaker 2: welfare payments that aren't doing the right thing. And I
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  Speaker 2: think that that's what we've got to target. We've got
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  Speaker 2: to look at and we've got to start somewhere. And
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  Speaker 2: I know that the Family Responsible Commission works in Queensland
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  Speaker 2: and it's working in Cape York. Why can't we do
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  Speaker 2: it here? I wrote to Jenny Macklin in twenty ten
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  Speaker 2: to look at getting that the Commission established in the
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  Speaker 2: Northern Territory is not dealing with the increasing numbers of
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  Speaker 2: child neglect issues that were happening in the Northern Territory.
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  Speaker 2: So I think it's now time we've got to bite
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  Speaker 2: the bullet and it's got to happen in the Northern
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  Speaker 2: Territory because we can't keep ignoring that the community is
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  Speaker 2: feeling under siege. People are feeling unsafe, but women, you know,
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  Speaker 2: there are people losing their lives here. You know that
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  Speaker 2: young man his death could have been avoided. That woman
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  Speaker 2: who died in that hotel lobby in Darwin could have
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  Speaker 2: been avoided. And we've got to stop pussy footing around
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  Speaker 2: this issue and just stop the politics and let's all
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  Speaker 2: work together to try and get the best outcome for
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  Speaker 2: the Northern.
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  Speaker 1: Territory with the quarantining of these welfare payments. Have you
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  Speaker 1: had talks with the Northern Territory government about it, but
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  Speaker 1: also have you had talks with your federal counterparts and
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  Speaker 1: how likely are we to see this get off the ground.
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  Speaker 2: Look, Kate Warden and I have had a discussion and
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  Speaker 2: she's quite open to looking at how we go forward
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  Speaker 2: with this, Katie, which is a good start. So I
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  Speaker 2: will meet Kate again. We're going to have a meeting
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  Speaker 2: with territory families, with police and others in Alice Springs
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  Speaker 2: on the twenty second, so we need to start putting
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  Speaker 2: some meat on the bones and fleshing this out. I've
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  Speaker 2: sent my discussion paper and my views to both Minister
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  Speaker 2: Bernie and also Minister McCarthy, and I'll get it to
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  Speaker 2: Luke Gosling as well because I think and I'll send
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  Speaker 2: it to Justinder Price. I think we all need to
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  Speaker 2: work together in a bipartisan way, you know, just enter
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  Speaker 2: price set on insiders. The other day she well, you know,
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  Speaker 2: any referendum she supports will be a referendum to deal
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  Speaker 2: with vulnerable and vulnerable kids and families. So I'm going
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  Speaker 2: to throw the challenge to all of them to say
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  Speaker 2: it is important for all of us to put our
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  Speaker 2: politics to one side and get the best outcome for territories,
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  Speaker 2: but particularly those children that are on the receiving end
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  Speaker 2: of really bad behavior from their families. This has got
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  Speaker 2: to stop and we've got to do something about it.
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  Speaker 1: And Marion, there has been so much said over the
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  Speaker 1: last week or so about allegations of child sexual abuse.
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  Speaker 1: Do you feel that more needs to be done to
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  Speaker 1: ensure that kids are not being left in homes where
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  Speaker 1: abuse has occurred? And is this part of that discussion.
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  Speaker 2: Absolutely, everything's got to be on the table and we've
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  Speaker 2: got to have an honest discussion. But can I say, Katie,
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  Speaker 2: I have yet to see or just have a discussion
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  Speaker 2: with any child protection practitioner or anyone working in the space,
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  Speaker 2: whether it's doctors or nursing staff, who are part of
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  Speaker 2: a cover up of not telling the truth. You know
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  Speaker 2: the truth about this. I have never seen that in
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  Speaker 2: all my time when I was Child Protection Minister or
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  Speaker 2: even you know, during the years since I've stepped away
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  Speaker 2: from Northern Territory politics or even up to now. We
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  Speaker 2: have good people, just like we've got good people in
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  Speaker 2: the police force. We've got good people working at the
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  Speaker 2: cold face of these issues and rather than demonizing them,
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  Speaker 2: we should be working with them to look at how
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  Speaker 2: do we build a capacity in the territory to get
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  Speaker 2: these issues dealt with. We've got to get support to
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  Speaker 2: families and we've got to have safe places, Katie. We
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  Speaker 2: keep talking about that, but we haven't got safe places
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  Speaker 2: that these kids and these families can go to. Mothers
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  Speaker 2: who are fleeing from violence. Where do we take them.
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  Speaker 2: Most of the women's shelters are all full, so we're
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  Speaker 2: running at full capacity where people some women just feel
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  Speaker 2: that they'll just stay in the homes where the perpetrators are. No.
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  Speaker 2: We've got to have honors, Chatsy and look at how
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  Speaker 2: do we deal with this because the tsunami is coming, Katie,
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  Speaker 2: and we've got to try and stop and put in
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  Speaker 2: place strategies to deal with it.
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  Speaker 1: Marion, where to from here, you know, like as a
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  Speaker 1: matter of urgency, because like you and I have spoken about,
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  Speaker 1: people are really broken. Everybody is absolutely fed up and
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  Speaker 1: upset about the situation that we're in. From Alice Springs
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  Speaker 1: to right up here in Darwin. We see violence continuing
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  Speaker 1: on the streets. That vision you'd spoken about of that
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  Speaker 1: brawl at the Casarina bus exchange with the bloke being
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  Speaker 1: hit by the car. I saw that as well. It's
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  Speaker 1: absolutely mortifying to think that that's happening in a capital
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  Speaker 1: city of Australia and it's reached a point where it's
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  Speaker 1: become the norm. So where to from here? You know,
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  Speaker 1: today for our listeners, for everybody out there listening in
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  Speaker 1: terms of those solutions and working the federal government, working
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  Speaker 1: with the Northern Territory government to try and sort this
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  Speaker 1: mess out. Yep.
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  Speaker 2: So look, I'm doing what I can and the meeting
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  Speaker 2: with Kate and I coming up is going to be
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  Speaker 2: critical because it'll have police and territory families and Darrell Anderson,
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  Speaker 2: who's the regional coordinator in Central Australia. But this has
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  Speaker 2: got to be for the whole of the NT. It's
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  Speaker 2: not just about Alice Springs. Katie and that's what I've
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  Speaker 2: been saying. This is an issue that is beyond Allas
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  Speaker 2: Springs as well. We've got to look at the whole
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  Speaker 2: of the territory. So I have made it clear that
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  Speaker 2: I'm willing to do a private members bill into Federal Parliament.
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  Speaker 2: But I know that Minister Bernie is committed to this
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  Speaker 2: process and those Assistant Minister McCarthy, Senator McCarthy, and we
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  Speaker 2: need to have discussions with Jacinta and the coalition to
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  Speaker 2: make sure this needs to be done in a bipartisan
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  Speaker 2: way and not get caught up in you know, the referendum,
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  Speaker 2: the yes or no. This needs to be Let's deal
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  Speaker 2: with the issues that the NTI is facing. Let's all
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  Speaker 2: work together and let's try and get the best outcome
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  Speaker 2: so that people can feel safe. Katie, it is you know,
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  Speaker 2: I talk to my own families in and around darn
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  Speaker 2: and Palmerston and people don't feel safe and we need
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  Speaker 2: to you know, we've all grown up in this town
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  Speaker 2: and it's not the same. It's you know, it's people
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  Speaker 2: often say to me, oh, well, it's reality, the PA
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  Speaker 2: you know, the Darwin's growing and stuff, and I said, no, no, no,
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  Speaker 2: one hasn't grown that much much. But we've seen this
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  Speaker 2: insidious side coming and becoming a normal part of and
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  Speaker 2: we shouldn't accept that this is normal. I agree, and
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  Speaker 2: we need to do something about it. So I'm willing
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  Speaker 2: to take this up and I will keep pushing Katie
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  Speaker 2: until we get a good outcome for the Northern Territory.
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  Speaker 1: Marion Scrimjaw. I always appreciate your honesty and your true
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  Speaker 1: words that you speak when you're on the show. Can
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  Speaker 1: I just ass very quickly are we expecting to see
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  Speaker 1: the Prime Minister in the territory anytime soon?
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  Speaker 2: Look, the Prime Minister of this country, as you know,
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  Speaker 2: Katie is all over the place. I'm hoping that he
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  Speaker 2: will come back to the territory. He loves the territory
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  Speaker 2: and I'm hoping that we can get him to come,
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  Speaker 2: whether it's Darwin or Alla Springs, but also into the
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  Speaker 2: Northern Territory somewhere. But I'll keep working on that Katie
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  Speaker 2: with his office. I hand him all the time and
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  Speaker 2: talk to him that I think that the Prime so
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  Speaker 2: should come because it's a great part of Australia and
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  Speaker 2: we shouldn't forget that. They shouldn't forget it.
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  Speaker 1: Marion strim Jaw, the member FILINGIARI always appreciate your time.
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  Speaker 1: Thank you for chatting with us this morning.
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  Speaker 2: No worries, Katie, thank you.
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  Speaker 1: Thanks to it.
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  Speaker 2: Bye bye now