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Matt Hepworth spoke with Member for Araluen Robyn Lambley · 360 with Katie Woolf

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  Speaker 1: Matt Hepworth of filling in for Katie Wolf this morning.
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  Speaker 1: If you want to get in contact you can O
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  Speaker 1: four one eight nine five seven three six nine on
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  Speaker 1: the text Ligne Well you can call eight nine one
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  Speaker 1: O four nine. Well, as we've been talking about all morning,
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  Speaker 1: the fallout from the current affair report on crime in
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  Speaker 1: Alice Springs continues to talk more about it is Alice
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  Speaker 1: Springs Independent MLA. Robin Lanley, Morning.
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  Speaker 2: Robin, Good morning, Matt.
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  Speaker 1: How are you very well? Thank you? Robin Hey, what
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  Speaker 1: was your reaction while watching that report on Monday night?
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  Speaker 2: Matt, I thought it was quite reasonable, a fair representation
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  Speaker 2: of what is happening in the town. It could have
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  Speaker 2: been better, but I thought it was quite fair and reasonable.
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  Speaker 1: Yes, it's interesting you said that because a few people,
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  Speaker 1: say residents in Alice Springs who are great defenders of
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  Speaker 1: the town, like say someone such as yourself, have said
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  Speaker 1: in many ways it was unbalanced and biased, and I
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  Speaker 1: mean it painted the town in a pretty bad light.
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  Speaker 1: But I guess under the circumstances, it was a story
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  Speaker 1: that had to be told.
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  Speaker 2: Absolutely a desperate plea from a desperate community. Look, it
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  Speaker 2: could have been better. There could have been greater representation
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  Speaker 2: from the business community and other sectors that possibly don't
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  Speaker 2: see the problem as severe as others. But given that
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  Speaker 2: it was a ten minute piece produced or shot over
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  Speaker 2: one particular weekend, I think I thought it was good
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  Speaker 2: the way it included a range of different advocates like
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  Speaker 2: Michael Little, Barbara Shaw, the mother of the man who
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  Speaker 2: lost his life in October through that car accident involving
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  Speaker 2: allegedly involving kids. You know, there was a pretty good
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  Speaker 2: cross section of people telling what is undisputedly a very
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  Speaker 2: very grim story of what's happening in Alice Springs at
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  Speaker 2: the moment.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, we've been talking about it here in the territory
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  Speaker 1: for a long time, but I think it was for many.
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  Speaker 1: In fact, around seven hundred thousand people that viewed that
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  Speaker 1: program on Monday night, that was probably the first time
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  Speaker 1: that they'd even heard of some of these problems in
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  Speaker 1: Alice Springs. What kind of effect do you think this
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  Speaker 1: is going to have on the town.
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  Speaker 2: Now, Well, it's happened before, Matt. We've had national media
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  Speaker 2: attention for all the wrong reasons, that being crime several
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  Speaker 2: times before during the decades that I've been here. So
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  Speaker 2: this is nothing new. But I guess in twenty twenty one,
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  Speaker 2: the reason why people extended themselves and asked a Current
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  Speaker 2: Affair and other media outlets to come to town and
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  Speaker 2: shoot what's happening is because they want change. And this
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  Speaker 2: is only in my mind. It is only a message
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  Speaker 2: to one group of people, and that is Michael Gunner
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  Speaker 2: and his ministers within the Northern Territory government. This is
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  Speaker 2: a plea directed to them, please help us. You know,
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  Speaker 2: we've done everything. We've been civil, We've you know, as
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  Speaker 2: elected members, various people like myself have been jumping up
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  Speaker 2: and down. We've been dismissed, we've been ignored, We've written letters,
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  Speaker 2: we've ticked all the boxes math and people can see
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  Speaker 2: that a man loses his life last year. There's all
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  Speaker 2: these horrific incidents and then a Current Affair comes along
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  Speaker 2: and says, okay, we're taking it to the national stage
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  Speaker 2: because things are not changing. So this is a message
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  Speaker 2: to Michael Gunner, please do something different, do something new,
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  Speaker 2: and listen to the people that know Alice Springs and
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  Speaker 2: have the solution.
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  Speaker 1: I'm glad you mentioned that, Robin, because Katie's spoke to
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  Speaker 1: Chief Minister Michael Gunner on Monday about this exact issue.
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  Speaker 1: This is what he had to say.
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  Speaker 3: We are talking about a situation here that's reached boiling point,
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  Speaker 3: particularly in Alice Springs.
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  Speaker 4: We are doing a live work in this space. As
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  Speaker 4: you know, twenty nine police heading to Alice Springs this month.
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  Speaker 4: I'll get you the date for that.
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  Speaker 3: Twenty nine police yeap out.
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  Speaker 4: Of the current recruit squad. Eleven Police Auxiliary has been
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  Speaker 4: trained in ol Springs right now. They graduate on the
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  Speaker 4: second of April, not that, and there's eleven Avigionent LIAISONOS
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  Speaker 4: has been trained as well for communities around Alice Springs.
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  Speaker 3: Is that as a result of the issues that we've
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  Speaker 3: got right now, will they be permanently based there or
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  Speaker 3: are they there to coincide with Pajama and some of
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  Speaker 3: those other major events getting underwe.
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  Speaker 4: That that's permanently based.
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  Speaker 1: Robin, what would be your response to the chief on
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  Speaker 1: those extra police resources.
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  Speaker 2: Well, I'm extremely cynical of this sort of stuff that
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  Speaker 2: comes out of the Chief Minister's mouth. But at least
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  Speaker 2: he was talking about crime and Alice Springs and that's good.
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  Speaker 2: But what he didn't talk about is the attrition rate.
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  Speaker 2: How many police officers have left Central Australia and how
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  Speaker 2: many of the are these new recruits replacing those people
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  Speaker 2: that have gone. Look, you can talk forever about police numbers,
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  Speaker 2: and I have to say all Northern Territory governments, whether
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  Speaker 2: they're colp or labor, don't necessarily tell you the absolute truth.
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  Speaker 2: So it's gobbledegook to my mind. What people of Alice
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  Speaker 2: Springs want to see happen is Michael Gunner coming down
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  Speaker 2: with his team. They should have been on the plane
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  Speaker 2: on Tuesday morning, all of them, all of them, the
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  Speaker 2: nine ministers of the Northern Territory government's cabinet should have
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  Speaker 2: been on the plane down here to walk the streets
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  Speaker 2: of Alice Springs to talk to the people and gather
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  Speaker 2: those people that possibly were on the program on Monday
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  Speaker 2: night and talk about other ideas, other solutions, because you know,
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  Speaker 2: more of the same is not going to be the solution.
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  Speaker 2: We have to start doing things differently. They have to
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  Speaker 2: start considering strategies that they've said no to in the past,
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  Speaker 2: light changing the bail laws, light perhaps introducing some sort
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  Speaker 2: of curfew for children in order to protect them and
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  Speaker 2: get them off the streets at night. You can't keep
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  Speaker 2: flogging a dead horse, and that's what Gunna is doing.
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  Speaker 2: And burying your head in the sand and saying yes,
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  Speaker 2: we've got all the strategies in place where we're doing
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  Speaker 2: a fine job, is not the response that the people
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  Speaker 2: of Alla Springs need.
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  Speaker 1: Robin, speaking of bail laws, I believe the COLP will
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  Speaker 1: be introducing tougher bail laws into Parliament next week. Will
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  Speaker 1: you support that legislation?
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  Speaker 2: Look, I'll have a look at it. I haven't been
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  Speaker 2: shown what they intend to introduce, but look, if it's
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  Speaker 2: how they've been describing what they want to see change,
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  Speaker 2: then certainly I would be backing at Look. Last night
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  Speaker 2: on a current affair, Matt Mick Gooder, one of the
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  Speaker 2: commissioners from the Royal Commission into the Detention and Protection
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  Speaker 2: of Children from twenty seventeen. He was on the program
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  Speaker 2: and I was very disappointed that Mick Gooder, who gave
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  Speaker 2: the Northern Territory dozens and dozens of recommendations around the
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  Speaker 2: protection of children and the detention of juveniles, didn't have
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  Speaker 2: any constructive comments to make around what we do with
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  Speaker 2: this unintended consequence of the Royal Commission, and that is
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  Speaker 2: the explosion of youth crime in places like Alice Springs
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  Speaker 2: over the last eighty months two years. That was a
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  Speaker 2: missed opportunity. I think mister Gooda really needs to think
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  Speaker 2: about the role of his played in the position that
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  Speaker 2: we're in now. We spent a huge amount of money
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  Speaker 2: on that Royal Commission, seventy million dollars in total. The
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  Speaker 2: Northern Territory Government paid forty three million dollars of that,
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  Speaker 2: and what we're left with is a situation that is
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  Speaker 2: worse than what we began. Where he said Nick would
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  Speaker 2: have said on TV last night there doesn't appear to
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  Speaker 2: be any change. Well, he's wrong. There has been a
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  Speaker 2: massive change. Things have got a whole lot worse on.
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  Speaker 1: That, Robin, I do want to ask. I watched that
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  Speaker 1: interview and replayed a bit of audio a short time ago.
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  Speaker 1: One of the things he did reference when it comes
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  Speaker 1: to change is work that he said he'd done in
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  Speaker 1: different areas of Australia, and he flagged Burke and Redfern
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  Speaker 1: in New South Wales's two areas where he said that
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  Speaker 1: they'd done similar work to this, not at the extent
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  Speaker 1: of a Royal commission, but he said that they had
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  Speaker 1: seen positive changes in that space. When questioned, he really
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  Speaker 1: didn't give an answer as to you know exactly you
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  Speaker 1: know what was done there and how it changed. But
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  Speaker 1: hearing those comments and making reference that you know, places
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  Speaker 1: like Redfern and Burke got better, do you think Alice
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  Speaker 1: Springs can one day head in that direction.
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  Speaker 2: Well, I don't know what he was talking about either.
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  Speaker 2: And this is a man that got paid a huge
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  Speaker 2: amount of money to SID as one of two commissioners
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  Speaker 2: presiding over this Royal Commission, and he did a lot
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  Speaker 2: of work presumably constructing carefully constructing these recommendations that will
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  Speaker 2: address all sorts of problems around child protection and juvenile
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  Speaker 2: detention in the Northern Territory. Now, I think he has
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  Speaker 2: a responsibility to if he has some further solutions and
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  Speaker 2: possibly tweaks to recommendations, he has a responsibility to come
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  Speaker 2: back to us with a little bit more and a
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  Speaker 2: few flippant lines on a TV program. I feel really
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  Speaker 2: disappointed in him. I wrote to the Prime Minister of
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  Speaker 2: Australia twelve months ago asking drawing his attention to the
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  Speaker 2: unintended consequences of this Royal Commission, that being youth crime
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  Speaker 2: right throughout the Northern territory. Nick Gooder was interviewed at
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  Speaker 2: the time and asked to comment on my letter and
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  Speaker 2: my assertions around the unintended consequences of the Royal commission
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  Speaker 2: he presided over, and he chose to not address the
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  Speaker 2: problem twelve months ago. He chose to belittle me publicly.
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  Speaker 2: Now get over yourself, Nick Gooda, take some responsibility for
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  Speaker 2: the further problems that he has created, to the recommendations
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  Speaker 2: he drafted up and help us to find a way forward.
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  Speaker 1: Robin Lanley, you're a great advocate for Alice Springs. With
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  Speaker 1: some strong words there, we will have to leave it there.
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  Speaker 1: Thank you so much for your time this morning.
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  Speaker 2: Thanks.
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  Speaker 1: That is the Independent Member for Ara Lewin, Robin Lanley