Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Yipirinya School Principal Gavin Morris speaks out about serious incidents impacting students including sexual assault and the theft of a mini bus

Transcript

Yipirinya School Principal Gavin Morris speaks out about serious incidents impacting students including sexual assault and the theft of a mini bus · 360 with Katie Woolf

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  Speaker 1: You'll recall that about a week and a half ago,
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: we spoke to the principle of you buring your school,
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  Speaker 1: Gavin Morris, and he told us about some really serious
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  Speaker 1: issues unfolding in Alice Springs. It's not the first time
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  Speaker 1: that we've spoken to Gavin about those concerns. Now today
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  Speaker 1: he's gone national with that discussion, speaking to the Australian
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  Speaker 1: newspaper in a very extensive article raising those really very
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  Speaker 1: serious concerns and the serious issues that that some students
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  Speaker 1: are involved in. And he joins me on the line
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  Speaker 1: right now. Good morning to you, Gavin.
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  Speaker 2: Good Katie, Gavin you.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, really good to hear from you again. Now, how
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  Speaker 1: have things been going in Central Australia in Alice Springs
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  Speaker 1: at this point?
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  Speaker 2: Oh, it's a you know, it's a continuation of a
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  Speaker 2: conversation that's been going on here for some time. And
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  Speaker 2: we understand that there's there's a crisis around his crime
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  Speaker 2: in our springs that and we need to address it,
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  Speaker 2: and we need to address it in a way that's
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  Speaker 2: sustainable and that's going to develop Aboriginal leaders into the future.
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  Speaker 2: And that's what we're attempting to do at your Prenier School.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah. Now, you and I spoke just like a week
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  Speaker 1: ago or a week and a half ago, and you
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  Speaker 1: told us that there was still some really serious stuff
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  Speaker 1: unfolding and that things needed to be worked on really
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  Speaker 1: as a matter of urgency. You have since spoken to
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  Speaker 1: the Australian newspaper and outline some pretty terrible situations that
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  Speaker 1: have unfolded. Gavin, what's prompted you, you know, really to
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  Speaker 1: continue to speak out, but to do so on a
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  Speaker 1: national scale.
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  Speaker 2: It's important. It's a great question, Katie. It's important for
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  Speaker 2: someone in my position of a very privileged role at
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  Speaker 2: your Prenier School to give people in our community who
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  Speaker 2: don't have a voice a voice and to share their story.
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  Speaker 2: This is a lived experience. It doesn't define who we
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  Speaker 2: are at Your Pernier, doesn't define Central Australia. But this
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  Speaker 2: is the some of the lived experience that we see
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  Speaker 2: and observe and live with at your Premier in Alice Springs.
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  Speaker 2: And it's my role to give those families and those
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  Speaker 2: children the support that they need and we do that
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  Speaker 2: I think really well at your Prenia. We've got an
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  Speaker 2: amazing team and amazing stuff and the our Springer's community
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  Speaker 2: more broadly. But my community wanted to have their story shared,
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  Speaker 2: and I want to do it in a way they
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  Speaker 2: want to deficit. It's not victim blaming, it's not twenty fingers,
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  Speaker 2: it's not motherhood statements. It's about here's our story. We
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  Speaker 2: want to be heard, and here's our solutions to the problem.
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  Speaker 1: And so Gavin in the article in the Australian Today,
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  Speaker 1: like I said, it really you know, it outlines some
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  Speaker 1: incredibly serious and worrying scenarios. You know, there is there's
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  Speaker 1: a vision of a minibus being stolen with kids presumably
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  Speaker 1: from the school inside that minibus, your teachers then trying
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  Speaker 1: to stop what is unfolding. I mean, that's just one
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  Speaker 1: of the incidents that the article focuses on.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, very visual, very serious incidents. And what we're seeing
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  Speaker 2: now is kind of the behavior which manifests from the
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  Speaker 2: experience of trauma as coming through colonization and the impact
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  Speaker 2: of on Aboriginal communities around a whole wave of policies
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  Speaker 2: from the white settlement. And what we're seeing now is
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  Speaker 2: that playing out that unresolved trauma getting past the cross generations.
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  Speaker 2: And what we're seeing now is that manifested and behavior
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  Speaker 2: that we're seeing in that clip for example, it's very visual,
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  Speaker 2: it's very dangerous. It doesn't define who we are, and
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  Speaker 2: we need to be really careful here that we don't
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  Speaker 2: then broad brush and arode the branding and the amazing
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  Speaker 2: culture that exists in our springs. But you know, they
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  Speaker 2: are very serious incidents.
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  Speaker 1: Well, Gavin. One that's you know that is utterly heartbreaking
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  Speaker 1: that it's reported as well is that in one incident
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  Speaker 1: where a teenage girl had been raped, her young brother
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  Speaker 1: who'd witnessed that crime came to the school with serious
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  Speaker 1: signs of self calm. I mean, honestly, that's actually heartbreaking.
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  Speaker 2: It is it's very difficult to deal with our amazing teammate, Yaphenia.
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  Speaker 2: We've got our Happy Heart hub with which is a
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  Speaker 2: blending of Aboriginal and non Indigenous healing message in terms
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  Speaker 2: of traditional healing and occupational therapists and psychologists and the like.
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  Speaker 2: So we're trying to address the underlying issues of what
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  Speaker 2: kids bring to school in terms of trauma. But they
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  Speaker 2: are lived experiences and very very sad, and we have
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  Speaker 2: to capture that moment and we have to support they
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  Speaker 2: families and our data. Yeah, because it just shows Katie
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  Speaker 2: how important the work is in our schools right across
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  Speaker 2: in Northern Territory, but particularly Atyprina to provide education that
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  Speaker 2: is going to produce our leaders of the future, but
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  Speaker 2: also around well say, and also around making sure that
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  Speaker 2: we're really caring for the student and their families in
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  Speaker 2: a way that's going to make sustainable change, because it's
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  Speaker 2: not acceptable in twenty twenty three that you have those
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  Speaker 2: conversations and those types of things coming to school.
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  Speaker 1: It really isn't in no way, shape or form. And
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  Speaker 1: I know that this whole discussion has become a political
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  Speaker 1: football in recent weeks. You and I spoke about it
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  Speaker 1: last time you were on the show and you'd said
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  Speaker 1: to me, you know, Katie, since we've spoken in January
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  Speaker 1: this year, that there'd been incredibly serious incidents happened since,
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  Speaker 1: and you pointed to the fact that this needs to
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  Speaker 1: be looked at as a matter of urgency. It's all feels, Gavin,
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  Speaker 1: like we're floundering a bit at the moment. The Chief
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  Speaker 1: Minister had said to me on Monday, when I'd asked
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  Speaker 1: her where that funding is for Central Australia, she had
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  Speaker 1: said that she believed that there was going to be
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  Speaker 1: some further announcements when the federal budget is handed down.
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  Speaker 1: Are we any clearer on what's going to be announced
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  Speaker 1: or if your burn year is going to have that
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  Speaker 1: boarding school element.
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  Speaker 2: I don't have any of that detail. I know that
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  Speaker 2: I have had our conversations with both sides of politics
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  Speaker 2: across the last twelve eighteen months, and there is support
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  Speaker 2: for the idea. Support for our kids has to mean action,
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  Speaker 2: and we can't wait. Katie. As I'm talking to you today,
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  Speaker 2: I'm really confident and also hopeful that the funding for
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  Speaker 2: this really important piece of infrastructure, which is needed for
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  Speaker 2: our students and for our community, gets funded immediately. So
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  Speaker 2: I don't have that detail yet. But while we wait,
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  Speaker 2: our kids, While we wait, our kids will be getting harmed.
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  Speaker 2: While we wait, our kids will be on the streets unsupervised.
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  Speaker 2: And while we wait, our kids they're there, they're teaching,
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  Speaker 2: they're learning. Their capacity to be that the next generation
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  Speaker 2: of leaders of the Old Springs community is diminished. We
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  Speaker 2: need action. And what we saw in that news articles,
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  Speaker 2: as horrifying and terrible as it is, that's what we're
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  Speaker 2: seeing while we wait.
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  Speaker 1: So you're saying Gavin that you know, in recent weeks,
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  Speaker 1: there has been further incidents of kids being abused. There's
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  Speaker 1: been further incidents of kids being on the street of them,
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  Speaker 1: you know, coming back to school. I'm assuming in handcuffs
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  Speaker 1: and that kind of thing.
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  Speaker 2: I can certainly say that we've had even since our
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  Speaker 2: last conversation, which is what fen days ago, we've had
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  Speaker 2: more of our student population in contact with the police
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  Speaker 2: and that will continue. And your prena through the support
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  Speaker 2: of a variety of stakeholders, building support networks around our
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  Speaker 2: kids and our families, which is making a difference. We
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  Speaker 2: have some solutions here. We have an amazing Aboriginal workforce.
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  Speaker 2: But absolutely I can I can failure your listeners that
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  Speaker 2: while we wait, our kids are our kids are harmed.
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  Speaker 2: While we wait, our kids are unsupervised, and we need
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  Speaker 2: to support them and their families.
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  Speaker 1: Gavin, you said right from the outset, you know, the
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  Speaker 1: reason that you've gone national as well with this story
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  Speaker 1: over the last you know, over the last twenty four
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  Speaker 1: hours or so, is because that's what you know, that's
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  Speaker 1: what the community and the families of the school want,
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  Speaker 1: Is that right?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, So I spoke to the senior people of your
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  Speaker 2: prenier in our community and when this opportunity came to
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  Speaker 2: pass around how they would like to see this be
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  Speaker 2: for trade. And I've got a very clear message that
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  Speaker 2: speak to the truth. Speak to the truth. We're not
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  Speaker 2: victims though. This isn't a deficit model. We're not have
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  Speaker 2: to tear it to your handout. Yeah, but we have
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  Speaker 2: the solutions and now.
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  Speaker 1: We need to support well, Gavin, mate, I really hope
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  Speaker 1: that the next time you and I catch up that
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  Speaker 1: there is that capacity for, you know, for the boarding
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  Speaker 1: school to be operational. My understanding is that there had
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  Speaker 1: been and please correct me if I'm wrong, that there
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  Speaker 1: had maybe been a little bit of pushback that people
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  Speaker 1: didn't want it at that location. Is that the case
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  Speaker 1: from any Alice Springs residents?
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  Speaker 2: Not something that I'm aware of, And I have to
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  Speaker 2: be honest to here, Katie. This boarding school facility as
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  Speaker 2: being in the pipeline for ten years at your premier,
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  Speaker 2: it has come to a crisis point now when you know,
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  Speaker 2: we need to ensure that we get action and we
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  Speaker 2: get shovels in the ground.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, this isn't This isn't an idea that I've tucked
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  Speaker 2: out of the air. This is something that our cultural
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  Speaker 2: staff have been asking for more than a decade. And
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  Speaker 2: from a community point of view, I would imagine it
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  Speaker 2: would be most positive to have some of our students
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  Speaker 2: who walking around the todd male unsupervised at night in
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  Speaker 2: antisocial behavior. I would imagine our community would be very
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  Speaker 2: supportive to have them in safe, secure, US stable accommodation
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  Speaker 2: where they're off the street.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah. Well, and you know, like I just think you've
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  Speaker 1: told me before about you know about the way that
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  Speaker 1: you know the kids are still wanting to come to
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  Speaker 1: school even when they've been in that situation overnight, which
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  Speaker 1: indicates to me that the school is a safe place
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  Speaker 1: where they want to be and education, you know, that
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  Speaker 1: is the key to everybody's future. It is.
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  Speaker 2: It's changed my life, it will change the lives of
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  Speaker 2: our students, and it's changed the lives of the staff
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  Speaker 2: in our school, who many of which you came through
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  Speaker 2: you through in your and the support from our broad stakeholders,
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  Speaker 2: the Department of Education, who find out Sunset School, who
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  Speaker 2: target these exact kids that we're talking about that Sunsets
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  Speaker 2: School targets after our programs around sport and culture and
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  Speaker 2: and well be for the most disengaged students, who are
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  Speaker 2: at the most risk, who are incarcerated, and provides them
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  Speaker 2: a pathway into your parenia. Ware. Now, these kids do
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  Speaker 2: get themselves in harm's way overnight and then turn up
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  Speaker 2: for breakfast at school for teaching and learning the next day.
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  Speaker 1: You know, I look, Gavin, I really hope that the
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  Speaker 1: next time you and I speak that there is some
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  Speaker 1: update on this. And I always appreciate your time, but
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  Speaker 1: I also you know, I think it's it's it's brave
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  Speaker 1: of you guys, it's brave of the school, it's brave
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  Speaker 1: of you know, your school community to go. Do you
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  Speaker 1: know what, We're going to talk about this nationally because
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  Speaker 1: we think that you know, it needs to be spoken
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  Speaker 1: out about. We need to make sure that we have
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  Speaker 1: some some positive change.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, thanks for having me on again, Katie, And absolutely
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  Speaker 2: I agree with that, and it just shows you the
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  Speaker 2: resilience of our your Prinian community of Britney community, very
• 12:02
  Speaker 2: strong cultural staff. I mean, the only school in the
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  Speaker 2: country who teaches them for abrigal language is it achieves
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  Speaker 2: a tremendous amount of positive outcome for the Alice Springs community.
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  Speaker 2: Some of the other stuff which is very visual and
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  Speaker 2: very concerning and very dangerous needs to be addressed as well.
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  Speaker 2: So there's so much positive start going on at your peruna.
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  Speaker 2: Now we need to address some of the kids who
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  Speaker 2: are falling through the cracks.
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  Speaker 1: Well. I always appreciate your time, Gavin, thank you so
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  Speaker 1: much for having a chat with us again this morning.
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  Speaker 2: Thanks having me on Katie. Thank you