Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Opposition Leader Lia Finocchiaro hopes a matter of public importance calling for urgent bail reforms will go ahead in parliament this week

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Opposition Leader Lia Finocchiaro hopes a matter of public importance calling for urgent bail reforms will go ahead in parliament this week · 360 with Katie Woolf

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  Speaker 1: Joining me on the show right now to talk a
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  Speaker 1: little bit more about the fact that we've spoken really
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  Speaker 1: at lengths about the fact that thousands of Territorians stood
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  Speaker 1: in solidarity at the steps on Parliament House on Saturday.
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  Speaker 1: They were rallying against the rate of crime that we're
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  Speaker 1: seeing and to pay their respects to Decklan Lavity, whose
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  Speaker 1: life was lost just over a week ago. Now, the
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  Speaker 1: organizers and protesters are demanding change when it comes to
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  Speaker 1: the high levels of crime that are being experienced across
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  Speaker 1: the Northern Territory, and they're demanding action from the government,
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  Speaker 1: but they're also demanding the Opposition leader Leafanocchiaro come up
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  Speaker 1: with some solutions as well. The Opposition leader leafan Occhiaro
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  Speaker 1: joins me on the line right now. Good morning to you, Leah.
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  Speaker 1: Let's try that again. Hopefully we have got her on
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  Speaker 1: the line. Bear with me a moment and well we
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  Speaker 1: are going to Yes. Joining me on the line right
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  Speaker 1: now is the Opposition leader leafan Occhiaro.
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  Speaker 2: Good morning, Lea, Good morning Katie and to your listeners.
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  Speaker 1: Now, Leah, I understand that you were at the rally
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  Speaker 1: on the weekend.
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  Speaker 2: Yes, that's correct, Katie. I attended with the vast majority
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  Speaker 2: of my parliamentary team because it was really important to
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  Speaker 2: us that we heard the concerns of the community that.
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  Speaker 3: We grieve with them.
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  Speaker 2: Of course, we share their anger and frustration. And Natasha
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  Speaker 2: Files and her government who continued to put the rights
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  Speaker 2: of offenders above the rights of the community to live
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  Speaker 2: in peace and free from this daily abuse and crime Lea.
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  Speaker 1: There was really a lot of people though, saying, well,
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  Speaker 1: what's the opposition going to do differently? And look, I
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  Speaker 1: respect the fact that you attended that rally. I think
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  Speaker 1: that it was the right thing to do, but a
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  Speaker 1: lot of Territorians are saying, Okay, the time for throwing
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  Speaker 1: those barbs like you just did are over. It's time
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  Speaker 1: for some solutions.
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  Speaker 2: And there's no question about that, Katie, and that's why
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  Speaker 2: the colp has got a comprehensive plan to tackle crime.
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  Speaker 2: But the first step we took, and that was many
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  Speaker 2: years ago, is we walked into Parliament with legislation to
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  Speaker 2: fix this bail mess that Natasha Philes created and she
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  Speaker 2: voted it down. We two years ago could have dealt
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  Speaker 2: with this issue of offenders being out on the street.
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  Speaker 2: And what's not lost on us, Katie, is that Declan's
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  Speaker 2: death was totally avoidable and cannot be in vain and
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  Speaker 2: so we've been absolutely disappointed that this week or last
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  Speaker 2: week Natasha Philes did not bring urgent legislation forward that
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  Speaker 2: would make people safe. And so I sat down with
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  Speaker 2: Parliamentary Council on Thursday to instruct them to start drafting
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  Speaker 2: stronger bow reform that will mean violent and repeat offenders
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  Speaker 2: start with a position of no bail because today in
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  Speaker 2: the Northern Territory under labor, violent offenders start with a
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  Speaker 2: position of getting bail.
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  Speaker 4: Well is it bail though, or is it neutral?
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  Speaker 1: Because Kate Warden had said on the show on Friday
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  Speaker 1: that it wasn't against bail, it was that they start
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  Speaker 1: at that position of neutral.
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  Speaker 2: If you are a violent offender with a weapon, it
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  Speaker 2: is a presumption that you do get bail. And it
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  Speaker 2: is like that for many many offenses, Katie, that it
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  Speaker 2: does not meet the community expectation. I think we've heard it.
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  Speaker 1: So if you've got a weapon, if you have a weapon,
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  Speaker 1: it is a presumption as it stands right now, against bail.
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  Speaker 3: No.
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  Speaker 2: No, if you have a weapon today, you have a
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  Speaker 2: presumption in favor of bail.
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  Speaker 4: So sorry, with you favor rather than neutral. It's what you're.
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  Speaker 2: Saying, Yes, that's right in favor. So the presumption is
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  Speaker 2: that a violent offender will be bailed.
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  Speaker 3: That is the law today.
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  Speaker 2: We've heard Natasha Philes and Kate Warden try very hard
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  Speaker 2: to confuse territorians and confuse this issue, which is really
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  Speaker 2: unfair because.
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  Speaker 3: People just want the facts.
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  Speaker 2: And ultimately what we know is that the law is
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  Speaker 2: letting people down and a lot of what we heard
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  Speaker 2: at the rally on the weekend, Katie was that frustration.
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  Speaker 2: I stopped and spoke to people before and after the
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  Speaker 2: rally about what they think needed to change, and it's
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  Speaker 2: very clear to me that Labor has been successful in
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  Speaker 2: confusing people about where the law stands today, and that's
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  Speaker 2: only we're fighting very hard again.
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  Speaker 1: Talk us through your solutions. You told us on the
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  Speaker 1: show last week and you touched on this just a
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  Speaker 1: moment to go that you are in the process of
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  Speaker 1: drafting some legislation.
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  Speaker 4: Talk us through where that's at yep.
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  Speaker 3: So, I met with Parliamentary Counsel.
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  Speaker 2: So they are the professional independent people who draft government.
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  Speaker 2: Every member of Parliament's laws, so government have to go
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  Speaker 2: to them, just like the opposition do so they are
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  Speaker 2: imminent professionals at drafting law. I sat down and asked
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  Speaker 2: them to as urgently as possible draft legislation that would
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  Speaker 2: see violent and repeat offenders start with a position of
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  Speaker 2: no bail. I don't have a timeline for when that
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  Speaker 2: will be done. And of course this is just the
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  Speaker 2: extra frustration that we have and share with the community
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  Speaker 2: because Natasha Files could have got this done as government.
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  Speaker 2: But I'm hopeful that it is very urgent, and that's
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  Speaker 2: on top of our calls for stronger laws when it
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  Speaker 2: come to dealing with youth. Of course, we fought extremely
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  Speaker 2: hard against labor, removing mandatory sentencing, against labor, raising the
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  Speaker 2: age of criminal responsibility. These are not values the COLP share.
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  Speaker 2: We are in stark contrast to Labor on those issues
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  Speaker 2: and will always put the right of people to be
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  Speaker 2: safe above the right of the offender to have freedom.
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  Speaker 1: So today in Parliament, what are you going to do
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  Speaker 1: as the opposition leader? And I know that you are
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  Speaker 1: not in government, and I know that all of our
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  Speaker 1: listeners understand that you are not the Chief Finisters, so
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  Speaker 1: you are obviously, you know, on the opposing side. But
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  Speaker 1: what are you going to be doing in an effort
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  Speaker 1: to try to turn things around when it comes to
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  Speaker 1: crime and the very very serious issues that people have
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  Speaker 1: got right now.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, well, last week we dedicated the entire week to
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  Speaker 2: Laura and Order a community safety and we would do
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  Speaker 2: the same this week. Unfortunately, we today wanted to have
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  Speaker 2: a debate as a matter of public importance on urgent
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  Speaker 2: bow reform. Now the Speaker of the Parliament has the
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  Speaker 2: discretion on whether or not to allow that to go ahead,
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  Speaker 2: and we've just been informed moments ago that that has
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  Speaker 2: not been successful. The Speaker has chosen to allow the
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  Speaker 2: Member for Malka to have a matter of public importance,
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  Speaker 2: and the rule of Parliament is you can only have
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  Speaker 2: one a day, so.
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  Speaker 4: The Speaker that's going to happen.
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  Speaker 2: So the Speaker has chosen to allow Yingegola's matter of
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  Speaker 2: public importance to go ahead, so that will happen this evening.
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  Speaker 2: And unfortunately that means that our matter of public importance
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  Speaker 2: on bail will not happen today, and so our next opportunity,
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  Speaker 2: in accordance with the rules of Parliament, is to bring
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  Speaker 2: that on Thursday. But we will be making sure we
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  Speaker 2: use every available opportunity today, including Question time to prosecute
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  Speaker 2: Natasha Files and her team for total systematic failure to
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  Speaker 2: keep people safe, their failure to attend the rally and
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  Speaker 2: hear the concerns of the community, and of course they're
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  Speaker 2: failure to bring in urgent law reform, which is what
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  Speaker 2: is required to keep people still.
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  Speaker 1: Do you know what the matter of public importance is
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  Speaker 1: about today that the Independent Member for Malca has is
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  Speaker 1: bringing forward.
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  Speaker 4: I do.
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  Speaker 2: It's along the lines of reforming the prison system and
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  Speaker 2: requiring different interventions than alternatives to custody.
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  Speaker 1: Okay, and I know that that's probably something that he's
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  Speaker 1: been trying to push for for.
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  Speaker 2: Some time, I imagine so, and ultimately, you know, as
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  Speaker 2: a parliament we have to ye, You've got to share
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  Speaker 2: the time is debated, particularly make it any less disappoint Yeah.
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  Speaker 1: That's right, particularly for the opposition and the Independence. We
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  Speaker 1: understand that there is only a finite amount of time
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  Speaker 1: questions and then with things like matters of public importance.
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  Speaker 1: But look, I'm going to say that I don't think
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  Speaker 1: that it's in line with the community's expectations if that
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  Speaker 1: matter of public importance around bail reform is not looked
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  Speaker 1: at and is not debated this week, and we will.
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  Speaker 2: Find a way to debate it on Thursday, I'm hoping, Katie.
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  Speaker 2: But ultimately we do have an opportunity tomorrow afternoon after
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  Speaker 2: question time which we will use to make sure that
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  Speaker 2: we are prosecuting the government for its failures, outlining our
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  Speaker 2: plans on why a COLP government would make the community safe,
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  Speaker 2: whether it's changes to use justice, strengthening of bail reform,
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  Speaker 2: ensuring that repeat offenders targeted by stronger legislation. You know, myself,
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  Speaker 2: as Chief Minister, I've said this a number of times.
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  Speaker 2: I would hold the Police portfolio so that we can
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  Speaker 2: make sure that community safety is a top priority at
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  Speaker 2: all times, Katie. And so we will outline those plans.
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  Speaker 2: We will make sure we're holding this government to account
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  Speaker 2: for its failures. But again, we're in our second week
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  Speaker 2: of parliament and we have a government starting the week
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  Speaker 2: not talking about law and order, not talking about crime,
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  Speaker 2: not talking about community safety, and it just and forces
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  Speaker 2: to everyone that last week's what one point announcement is
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  Speaker 2: an exercise in saving space.
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  Speaker 4: What are they starting with today?
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  Speaker 3: I believe this morning.
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  Speaker 2: First up, we've got some legislation on the care and
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  Speaker 2: Protection of children and then we also have this week
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  Speaker 2: two pieces of legislation which are just tidy up. One
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  Speaker 2: deals with the fact that we have a king now
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  Speaker 2: and not a queen, and the other one is so
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  Speaker 2: insignificant we're not even speaking on it, Katie.
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  Speaker 4: So what is that?
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  Speaker 3: I can't even remember. It was just so pointless. There
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  Speaker 3: was statutory tidy ups like commas and full stops and.
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  Speaker 2: Just just non goodness right now, it just does not
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  Speaker 2: meet community expectations, look Lea.
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  Speaker 1: Like I touched on before, obviously, the community expectation is
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  Speaker 1: that there that there needs to be work done urgently
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  Speaker 1: when it comes to the issues that we've got with crime.
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  Speaker 1: You know, in Sydney this morning you've got two GB
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  Speaker 1: radio host Ben Fordham saying, you know, there needs to
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  Speaker 1: be a state of emergency declared for the Northern Territory.
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  Speaker 4: That's the way the rest of the.
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  Speaker 1: Country is viewing us right now, and we're mucking around,
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  Speaker 1: you know, really not.
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  Speaker 4: Getting to the point of this.
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  Speaker 2: I hear you, Katie. And in two weeks of Parliament
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  Speaker 2: we could have achieved so much. On Tuesday, in question
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  Speaker 2: Time we directly asked Natasha Files will you work with
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  Speaker 2: the CLP to implement urgent bow reform, and she laughed
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  Speaker 2: in our face. We asked to gain the next day,
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  Speaker 2: and she laughed in our face. This is an arrogant,
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  Speaker 2: out of touch government that wants to continue to put
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  Speaker 2: the rights of offenders above the rights of people to
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  Speaker 2: live their life in safety and peace, and that is
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  Speaker 2: not okay.
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  Speaker 3: We could not be further from them, Katie.
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  Speaker 2: Our values are vastly different to a labor government who
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  Speaker 2: is protecting criminals. Even in the face of such a tragic, tragic,
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  Speaker 2: tragic the death of Declan and Lavity on Sunday night Lea.
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  Speaker 1: Over the weekend or early yesterday, I learned that the
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  Speaker 1: Attorney General, Chancey Paig was in Sydney on the weekend.
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  Speaker 1: He was helping to campaign. From what I can gather,
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  Speaker 1: do you think that's appropriate?
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  Speaker 2: I think Chancey Paig has failed the Northern Territory. He
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  Speaker 2: is supposed to be the first law officer. He is
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  Speaker 2: our Attorney General. He is the person who is meant
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  Speaker 2: to be implementing the bail law reform that the community
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  Speaker 2: is desperately crying out for. He, of all people, should
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  Speaker 2: have been at the rally. It is apparently his department
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  Speaker 2: that is doing this review into bail reform and strengthening
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  Speaker 2: the laws, and yet he's too busy hanging out with
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  Speaker 2: his labor mates in Sydney on the other side of
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  Speaker 2: the country. This is a government that is out of touch.
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  Speaker 2: They are tone deaf. They genuinely do not care about
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  Speaker 2: strengthening the laws because they care more about the offender
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  Speaker 2: Katie and actions speak.
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  Speaker 3: Louder than words.
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  Speaker 2: Their actions continue to reinforce that they would rather offenders
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  Speaker 2: have a free ride than territories live their life in safety.
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  Speaker 1: Leah last week, the Independent Member for Ara lu And
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  Speaker 1: Robin Lambley, called on both the Chief Minister and the
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  Speaker 1: Attorney General to stand down. She doesn't feel as though
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  Speaker 1: they are up to the job of being able to
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  Speaker 1: manage the crime crisis that we're experiencing in the Northern territory.
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  Speaker 2: Do you oh, I have zero confidence in Natasha Files
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  Speaker 2: or any of her government, any of her backbench.
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  Speaker 3: What we have is weak leadership.
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  Speaker 2: On the other side, we have a labor team full
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  Speaker 2: of cowards. They do not stand up against their leader,
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  Speaker 2: They do not stand up for their community. On Tuesday
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  Speaker 2: last week, in the wake of declan lavity is killing,
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  Speaker 2: we ran a no confidence motion in Natasha Files and
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  Speaker 2: her government and her backbench. They did not stand up
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  Speaker 2: for the people in their communities. They did not do anything.
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  Speaker 3: They voted like sheep.
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  Speaker 2: Behind someone who is leading the territory down the garden path.
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  Speaker 3: It is shameful.
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  Speaker 2: I have no confidence in any of them. And here
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  Speaker 2: we are week two with a total lack of priorities
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  Speaker 2: from a government that does not care about the same
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  Speaker 2: things that Territorians care about.
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  Speaker 1: All right, Lea Finocchiaro, we are going to have to
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  Speaker 1: leave it there. Always appreciate your time. Look, you are
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: still getting some criticism on the tech sign this morning
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  Speaker 1: that you know that you're being very critical of the
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  Speaker 1: government but not coming up with other solutions. I mean,
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  Speaker 1: what do you say to people that are feeling that
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  Speaker 1: way right now?
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  Speaker 3: I look, I reach out to my office.
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  Speaker 2: We will send you our entire plan. If you prefer
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  Speaker 2: to tune into Parliament, you could tune in tomorrow afternoon,
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  Speaker 2: but obviously that's very difficult. But ultimately we want to
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  Speaker 2: make breach of bow condition and offense. We want repeat
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  Speaker 2: and violent offenders to start with a position of no bault.
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  Speaker 2: We would take youth justice out of territory, Families and
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  Speaker 2: put it in corrections. We would create a sentence to
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  Speaker 2: a skilled boot camp for youth offenders so that they
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  Speaker 2: are forced to learn skill and be connected with work.
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  Speaker 2: I would hold the police portfolio as Chief Minister, so
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  Speaker 2: that police and law and order are front and center
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  Speaker 2: and first and foremost important to my government.
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  Speaker 3: There are.
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  Speaker 2: We would have mandatory bring back mandatory sentencing. We would
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  Speaker 2: lower the age of criminal responsibility. We would have mandatory
• 14:21
  Speaker 2: community service for youth offenders. I mean, the list goes
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  Speaker 2: on and on and on, Katie, and I urge anyone
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  Speaker 2: who wants to know more please get in touch with
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  Speaker 2: me via Facebook, in email however it works for you,
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  Speaker 2: and we will be very happy to share our plan.
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  Speaker 1: Opposition Leader Lea Finocchiaro, I appreciate your time. Please keep
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: in contact and let us know how things go in Parliament.
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  Speaker 3: We will thank you everyone,