Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price calls for kids to be removed from dysfunctional families and AFP to be brought in to help NT police

Transcript

Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price calls for kids to be removed from dysfunctional families and AFP to be brought in to help NT police · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Now the tragic irony with Friday Night's stairs. The Federal
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: Indigenous Affairs Minister Linda Bernie and her staff were there
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: when the incident unfolded, her office issuing a statement saying
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: that the woman came into the hotel to seek help.
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: She'd said in that statement, together with staff from the hotel,
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: members of her staff provided assistance to that woman, and
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: she said, and I comforted members of her family. She
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: went on to say, my heart felt condolences go out
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: to the woman's family and her loved ones. And I
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: want to thank the hotel staff, the Northern Territory Police
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: and the paramatics who attended. So when is enough enough?
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: That is what so many of us continued to ask
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: ourselves every single day.
• 0:46
  Speaker 2: Now.
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: The incredibly stoic Senator just Enter Price was brought to
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: tears during an interview on Sky News on Friday night
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: talking about the state of the Northern Territory. Right now,
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: she joins me on the line, right now, Senator just Center,
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: number jimper Price, good morning to.
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: You, Good morning, Katie just Center.
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: The weekend was an absolutely terrible one. Three people stabbed
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: in two separate incidents. One person's died, two alleged defenders
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: have been charged. These issues just don't seem to be
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: getting any better.
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: No towns and our communities just don't seem to be
• 1:25
  Speaker 2: getting any respite from the climb situation on the ground.
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: And it doesn't help when the territory labor government is
• 1:34
  Speaker 2: downplaying the issue instead of instead of just admitting that
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: they just can't handle the situation that they're in over
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: their heads and that they need help. And you know,
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: we know that the AFP has put the invitation out
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: there that they're happy to support efforts on the ground,
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: and to not take up that opportunity because you know,
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: they're seen as being weak. I think it absolutely not,
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: since the community needs a circuit breaker and it's just
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: not happening.
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: So, Senator, are you saying that the IFP have now
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: come out and said they'd actually be happy to come
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: and support the territory police.
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: They have, Yeah, when did they say that? So that
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: conversation has happened some time ago. I know that I
• 2:20
  Speaker 2: know that Peter Dutton has been in conversations with the
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: head of the AFP, who, of course, as a former
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: police commissioner here in the Northern Territory, who knows the
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: lay of the land. Who has put that has put
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: that on the table for the Territory government to consider.
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: As far as I know, because of the issues going
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: on with Jamie Talker at the moment, apparently they're they're
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: they're caught up with things, so you know, it's unclear
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: why they're not taking on that invitation. Yeah, it's been made.
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: Well and I think that it's something that a lot
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: of Territorians would welcome. You know, it's not about the
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: IFP stepping in and trying to do the work of
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: the Northern Territory Police or taking over for them. It's
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: about providing some support where it is required.
• 3:09
  Speaker 2: Absolutely, and our police are absolutely under the pump. You know,
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: they are in so many police they're short staffed in
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: a lot of cases. You know, they're working long hours.
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: They're feeling like they're also unable to sort of do
• 3:25
  Speaker 2: much in terms of what's going on on the ground.
• 3:27
  Speaker 2: I knowed that a lot of people police feel frustrated.
• 3:29
  Speaker 2: They can't They do very little in terms of dealing
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: with the children on our streets. They need back up,
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: They need support, as do our communities, and our communities
• 3:39
  Speaker 2: just need to feel safe again.
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: Now the Federal Indigenous Affairs Minister Linda Bernie was actually
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: at the Double Tree when the terrible fatal stabbing occurred
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: on Friday night. The minister's office has confirmed that her
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: staff assisted the woman and the minister comforted her family.
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: Do you think that this terrible situation will see some
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: agency for the Northern Territory around crime, Well.
• 4:04
  Speaker 2: You'd hope so. I mean, you'd think so. I mean,
• 4:07
  Speaker 2: the Prime Minister spent three hours on the ground. He's
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: never going to spend enough time on the ground where
• 4:12
  Speaker 2: he might be confronted with a situation like that. But
• 4:15
  Speaker 2: given that the Minister herself has experienced that face to face,
• 4:19
  Speaker 2: given that certainly that Marion Skimjaw has come out with
• 4:23
  Speaker 2: the comments she made with regard to sexual abuse issues
• 4:26
  Speaker 2: as Indigenous children and territory families, you would think that
• 4:31
  Speaker 2: at some point, if the territory government isn't going to
• 4:34
  Speaker 2: do anything, but the feed will step in and actually
• 4:37
  Speaker 2: take control of the situation and do something, do something
• 4:42
  Speaker 2: that's going to create that circuit breaker for us locals
• 4:45
  Speaker 2: on the ground, you know, I mean, and I think
• 4:49
  Speaker 2: that's the thing. What I find what angers me slightly
• 4:54
  Speaker 2: is the fact that a lot of the national media.
• 4:56
  Speaker 2: While they picked up on you know, the emphasis wasn't
• 4:59
  Speaker 2: on the tall woman who lost their life. The emphasis
• 5:02
  Speaker 2: was on the fact that the Minister for Indigenous Australians
• 5:05
  Speaker 2: was there and that her staff jumped to the rescue.
• 5:09
  Speaker 2: Yet again, you know, we've got another fatality because of
• 5:12
  Speaker 2: stabbing on our hands. And if that's not enough for
• 5:16
  Speaker 2: action to be taken, I don't know what is.
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: I don't either, And I think that this is the
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: point that we here in the Northern Territory have all
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: reached where we're all asking ourselves when is enough enough?
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: You know, we had the mayor of Alice Springs on
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: the show last week saying, Katie, we just want to
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: feel safe. We just want to be able to be
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: safe in our own homes. Are we in a situation here?
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: And I know that obviously the Federal Opposition leader was
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: in Alice Springs last week. Here's saying that the federal
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: government does need to step in. But from your perspective, Senator,
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: what needs to happen right now, Well, the.
• 5:54
  Speaker 2: AFP need to be brought on board. First thing first,
• 5:58
  Speaker 2: you know, I mean I don't know why the territory
• 6:01
  Speaker 2: government increase the age of criminal responsibility when clearly the
• 6:05
  Speaker 2: young kids that are running around on our streets know
• 6:08
  Speaker 2: that what they're doing is the wrong thing. You know,
• 6:12
  Speaker 2: measures need to be put in place. So you know,
• 6:14
  Speaker 2: currently at the moment, and some of those kids that
• 6:16
  Speaker 2: are in in the care of territory families, they can
• 6:22
  Speaker 2: be taken to facilities, but they can't be kept at
• 6:24
  Speaker 2: those facilities, so there's no what's the point to that.
• 6:29
  Speaker 2: They need to be kept off the streets, especially in
• 6:33
  Speaker 2: circumstances where you know here in our springs are becoming
• 6:36
  Speaker 2: so brazen that they're actually they're directing the cars that
• 6:40
  Speaker 2: they've stolen at other vehicles at securities. It's even become
• 6:45
  Speaker 2: unsafe for security themselves at night to be patrolling the
• 6:49
  Speaker 2: streets when they're being targeted by these kids. They need
• 6:52
  Speaker 2: to be held held over night. So as soon as
• 6:56
  Speaker 2: they can't actually be out on our streets at night. Children.
• 7:00
  Speaker 2: As I said, when it comes to the young kids
• 7:03
  Speaker 2: who are being put back in dysfunctional circumstances, that needs
• 7:07
  Speaker 2: to stop immediately. The kin provision needs to be reconsidered.
• 7:12
  Speaker 2: These are all measures that can be changed. You know,
• 7:15
  Speaker 2: if this government can actually put through legislation at the
• 7:18
  Speaker 2: job of the hat when they want to put through
• 7:20
  Speaker 2: and they have the power to do so, they have
• 7:22
  Speaker 2: the power to make these sorts of changes going forward.
• 7:25
  Speaker 2: And that is something that you know, I've advocated for
• 7:28
  Speaker 2: for a long time to break that cycle, stop these
• 7:31
  Speaker 2: kids from getting into circumstances where they're becoming criminal.
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: Senator, I know that you're very pressed for time this morning,
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: so I do want to just get through a couple
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: of other issues there has obviously well they're all related.
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: There's been a lot of discussion about Peter Dutton's comments
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: around child sexual abuse in the Northern Territory, the Minister
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: for Territory, Families and Police, Kate Warden describing his comments
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: as a dog act. Is Peter Dunton using this as
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: a political football to support your stance on the voice?
• 8:02
  Speaker 2: Absolutely not. I mean, you know, Peter made another trip
• 8:05
  Speaker 2: up here because he understood that locals were calling out
• 8:08
  Speaker 2: for some sort of offensive leadership. He's been here in October.
• 8:11
  Speaker 2: He'd asked the Prime Minister following that to take a
• 8:14
  Speaker 2: bipartisan approach with him to deal with the issues on
• 8:17
  Speaker 2: the ground. Nothing came about as a result of that.
• 8:20
  Speaker 2: In fact, the Prime Minister only came because he was forced,
• 8:23
  Speaker 2: because he was shamed into it because of of course
• 8:25
  Speaker 2: Darren Clark speaking two GB in Sydney and that would
• 8:29
  Speaker 2: affect then his electrics. That's the only reason he came here.
• 8:33
  Speaker 2: But no does He needs to come back to those
• 8:35
  Speaker 2: concerns and he absolutely needs to come back, and he
• 8:38
  Speaker 2: needs to listen to the people that Peter and I
• 8:40
  Speaker 2: have been listening to. I mean, locals know exactly what's
• 8:44
  Speaker 2: gone on in terms of young kids. Foster parents know
• 8:48
  Speaker 2: what's happened for a long time, and the fact of
• 8:51
  Speaker 2: territory families were putting these kids back in dysfunctional circumstances.
• 8:55
  Speaker 2: Locals aren't stupid. So for Kate Warden to suggest that
• 8:59
  Speaker 2: is she's suggesting that Territorians are stupid and we don't
• 9:03
  Speaker 2: know what's actually gone on on the ground. And in fact,
• 9:06
  Speaker 2: I suggest that she's projecting on her own behavior.
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: She's saying that the opposition leader Peter doesn't. And you
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: have failed to report your repeated claims that Indigenous children
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: in Alice are being returned to their abusers. Are you
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: going to be making reports? Oh?
• 9:23
  Speaker 2: Look, she's she's pulling stuff out of god knows where
• 9:27
  Speaker 2: and making stuff up. The fact remains what the circumstances
• 9:30
  Speaker 2: we were talking about have been known to territory families already.
• 9:34
  Speaker 2: We're talking about the dysfunction of territory families in itself,
• 9:38
  Speaker 2: where that despite advice from from from those professionals on
• 9:43
  Speaker 2: the ground, pediatricians, those working in the child you know,
• 9:48
  Speaker 2: the child protective services of police, even against their advice
• 9:54
  Speaker 2: to say, please don't return these children to dysfunctional circumstances,
• 10:00
  Speaker 2: gone ahead and done that anyway, and then these kids
• 10:03
  Speaker 2: have been retraumatized either neglected in some cases sexually abused.
• 10:07
  Speaker 2: So territory families themselves have a responsibility to do the reporting.
• 10:11
  Speaker 2: It's been known again to police. So these are matters
• 10:15
  Speaker 2: that are known to authorities. That's what we're talking about.
• 10:17
  Speaker 2: We're talking about We're not talking about matters that haven't
• 10:20
  Speaker 2: been reported. We're talking about matters that it's known already
• 10:23
  Speaker 2: to authorities. And this is what this is what needs
• 10:27
  Speaker 2: to change within territory families.
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: So you're not saying there's new new issues. You are
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: saying that this is something that's very well known that
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: everybody has known about it for some time.
• 10:39
  Speaker 2: If every day. If foster parents know about it every day,
• 10:42
  Speaker 2: you know, territorians know about it. And if Kate Warden
• 10:45
  Speaker 2: doesn't know about it, and that's very telling. That means
• 10:48
  Speaker 2: she does not know what's going on, or she's trying.
• 10:52
  Speaker 2: She's playing stupid to it all. And you know this
• 10:55
  Speaker 2: has been going on under labor for some time. I
• 10:57
  Speaker 2: remember Dale Wakefield, I said in her office. I told
• 11:00
  Speaker 2: her about these things going on. She sat there dumbfounded
• 11:04
  Speaker 2: basically same as not much that could be done about it,
• 11:06
  Speaker 2: and I suggested to her, well, you're the minister. You
• 11:10
  Speaker 2: need to make sure that these children aren't retraumatized. But
• 11:13
  Speaker 2: you know fallen on death nears basically.
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: Senator, before I let you go, lingy arimp Marion Scrimdor,
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: as you mentioned a short time ago, she's come out
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: and she's called on the Northern Territory government to establish
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: a Queensland style Family Responsibilities Commission with the power to
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: enforce compulsory income management where children are being neglected. She's
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: told the paper it's now time for an initiative similar
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: to the FARC, which has the power to place welfare
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: recipients on income management, to be established in the Northern territory.
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: Is this what needs to happen or is it part
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: of what needs to happen.
• 11:50
  Speaker 2: It's one of the things I agree needs to happen.
• 11:53
  Speaker 2: And absolutely you know Marian's not similar. She knows what's
• 11:57
  Speaker 2: going on on the ground. It's why she suggests that
• 12:00
  Speaker 2: Kate Wharton do the work that needs to be done
• 12:04
  Speaker 2: and get her department to do the work that needs
• 12:06
  Speaker 2: to be done, because she knows what's going on on
• 12:08
  Speaker 2: the ground. But I agree, yes, that needs to happen.
• 12:11
  Speaker 2: It's funny though, because if someone like myself or Peter
• 12:14
  Speaker 2: Dutton came out to say that, then would be absolutely
• 12:17
  Speaker 2: stillified by labor. But no, that's something I can certainly
• 12:22
  Speaker 2: agree with.
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: Marrying on just center Before I let you go, when
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: are we going to find out if you are the
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: new shadow Minister for Indigenous Affairs?
• 12:32
  Speaker 2: I guess you'll know what I know.
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: Well, let us know, all of us to Center Price,
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: to Center Navigen for Price. We always appreciate your time.
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: Thanks so much for speaking with us.
• 12:43
  Speaker 2: Thanks Katie, thank you