Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Member for Barkly Steve Edgington says about 57 per cent of those who leave prison in the NT reoffend within two years which is the highest recidivism rate in the country

Transcript

Member for Barkly Steve Edgington says about 57 per cent of those who leave prison in the NT reoffend within two years which is the highest recidivism rate in the country · 360 with Katie Woolf

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  Speaker 1: Joining me on the line right now is the member
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  Speaker 1: for Barkley and the opposition spokesperson on a number of
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  Speaker 1: different portfolio Steve Edgington.
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  Speaker 2: Good morning to you.
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  Speaker 3: Oh, good morning Katie, and good morning to all the listeners.
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  Speaker 1: Steve, I tell you it was an interesting revelation yesterday
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  Speaker 1: and we spoke to Robin Lamley about this a little
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  Speaker 1: bit earlier. But forty prisoners currently being housed at the
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  Speaker 1: watchhouse in Darwin doesn't sound like ideal conditions to be
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  Speaker 1: holding people there.
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  Speaker 3: Well, it certainly isn't turned when it comes to hours
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  Speaker 3: outside of cells. Quite simply, when you're spending time in
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  Speaker 3: a watchhouse and there are forty prisoners there at the moment,
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  Speaker 3: what it means is that the best that can really
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  Speaker 3: happen is that somebody could step outside of their cell
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  Speaker 3: into a perhaps a shared area, but in reality they're
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  Speaker 3: not stepping out and getting any sunshine, going for any
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  Speaker 3: real exercise. And the conditions being experienced in the Dawn
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  Speaker 3: Watchhouse compared to what's going on in Dalen Alice Springs
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  Speaker 3: around Bachelor and the Barkley completely different. So those prisoners
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  Speaker 3: are being exposed to pretty harsh conditions.
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  Speaker 2: At the moment, Steve, do we know what period of time?
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  Speaker 1: Was there any indication yesterday throughout budget estimates about what
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  Speaker 1: period of time people are being housed in there?
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  Speaker 3: For well, I think it was the Commissioner Corrections indicated
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  Speaker 3: that there is a rotation going through there. That so
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  Speaker 3: the ideal, well, I think he said the plan was
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  Speaker 3: that those prisoners would be rotated through there, and I
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  Speaker 3: think he look, don't quote me on it, but I
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  Speaker 3: think he said every couple of weeks, prisoners would be
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  Speaker 3: rotated through the police watchhouse back into the prison system.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah. Right, So, no matter how you look at it,
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  Speaker 1: it is not an ideal scenario. And it's certainly not
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  Speaker 1: an ideal scenario then when you look at making sure
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  Speaker 1: that people are being rehabilitated while they are in prison.
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  Speaker 3: Well, exactly. And you know, we spent a lot of
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  Speaker 3: time yesterday going through a whole range of different rehabilitation
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  Speaker 3: type programs and treatment programs that we were told of
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  Speaker 3: being delivered in the prisons, and that range from behavioral
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  Speaker 3: intervention to specialist treatment programs and offense related programs. But
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  Speaker 3: you know, we heard about all these programs being conducted
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  Speaker 3: in prisons. But what we did find out was that
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  Speaker 3: the recidivism rate is still around about fifty seven percent,
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  Speaker 3: So when people leave prison, they're committing further offenses within
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  Speaker 3: two years of leaving that prison. Now, fifty seven percent
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  Speaker 3: is a very high recidivism rate compared to look at
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  Speaker 3: Western Australia, their recidivism rate is thirty one percent, Victoria
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  Speaker 3: at thirty seven percent. So on a national average, the
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  Speaker 3: Northern Territory has the highest rate out of any jurisdiction
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  Speaker 3: right across the country.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, right now, Steve, I do just want to play
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  Speaker 1: a little bit of audio from yesterday's budget estimates.
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  Speaker 2: Take a listen, minister.
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  Speaker 3: Is a knife an offensive weapon?
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  Speaker 4: Thank you men Beer for Berkley. Again, in the legislation
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  Speaker 4: that was brought forward Parliament, which is talk through a
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  Speaker 4: number of items that were in the prohibited and controlled weapons,
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  Speaker 4: and we had said that the Bail Review Task Force
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  Speaker 4: would consider and look at items that are currently in
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  Speaker 4: the offensive weapons. In relation to your particular question, I
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  Speaker 4: would refer that to Standing Order one oh nine. You're
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  Speaker 4: asking me for a hypothetical or a personal opinion that it's.
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  Speaker 3: Not hypothetical, Minister. There is a definition contained in the
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  Speaker 3: Weapons Control Act regarding offensive weapons? Does that include a knife?
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  Speaker 4: Thank you again. I think the question in relation to
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  Speaker 4: the Member for Barclay is what is is whether it's
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  Speaker 4: a controlled or a prohibited weapon and we did talk
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  Speaker 4: about that at length on the floor of Parliament in
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  Speaker 4: the committee stage amendments.
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  Speaker 2: Steve, did you get to the bottom of.
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  Speaker 3: That q in the end? No, No, we simply had
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  Speaker 3: to move on, Katie because look, clearly the Attorney General
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  Speaker 3: didn't know what type of you know, whether it was
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  Speaker 3: an offensive weapon, a controlled weapon or a prohibited weapon.
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  Speaker 3: There's a range of definitions in the Weapons Control Act,
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  Speaker 3: which formed part of the current government's recent changes to
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  Speaker 3: the Barlacks. So clearly there's a lack of understanding around
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  Speaker 3: really where does the knife fit into the current bail
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  Speaker 3: changes that were made recently. But you know, that's what
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  Speaker 3: we're up against in the Northern Territory and Attorney General
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  Speaker 3: that doesn't really know his legislation, and he's supposed to
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  Speaker 3: be the top, you know, the top person when it
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  Speaker 3: comes to legal issues.
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  Speaker 1: I want to ask as well, Steve, there has been
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  Speaker 1: so much discussion about the payout to the former police
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  Speaker 1: commissioner Jamie Chalker. Now we still don't know exactly how
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  Speaker 1: much the payout was worth, but the ABC News last
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  Speaker 1: night revered that the Police Commissioner, well, the legal fees
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  Speaker 1: were up almost seventeen thousand dollars. Are you surprised by
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  Speaker 1: that figure?
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  Speaker 3: Well, it's very surprising, and I certainly put questions to
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  Speaker 3: the Attorney General yesterday. What I wanted to know was
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  Speaker 3: what the legal fees were. But the important part that
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  Speaker 3: I asked Katie was that what was the legal fees
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  Speaker 3: regarding representation for the Chief Minister and the Police Minister.
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  Speaker 3: So looking at those legal fees, I'm still a little
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  Speaker 3: bit uncertain whether those legal fees relate to the costs
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  Speaker 3: of representing the Chief Minister the Police Minister, and whether
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  Speaker 3: they relate to Jamie Chalker's legal fees or whether that's
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  Speaker 3: the entire legal fees that were incurred dealing with the
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  Speaker 3: whole matter. So I think there's a little bit more
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  Speaker 3: to a bit more clarity that's needed around those legal
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  Speaker 3: fees at the moment, because what we do know is
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  Speaker 3: that the Chief Minister and the Police Minister, you know,
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  Speaker 3: they were respondents to a claim that the Police Commissioner
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  Speaker 3: put forward in court. So look, it's a matter of
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  Speaker 3: how much was paid out so that the Police Minister
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  Speaker 3: and the Chief Minister really didn't have to appear in court.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I feel a bit the same.
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  Speaker 1: I think that there is still quite a bit of
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  Speaker 1: info that needs to come to hand when you talk
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  Speaker 1: about those legal fees and exactly what that almost seventeen
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  Speaker 1: thousand dollars covers. But Steve, before I let you go,
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  Speaker 1: this morning news filtering through slowly that we have got
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  Speaker 1: a situation with a Nightcliff Primary School was broken into overnight.
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  Speaker 1: Unfortunately the preschool and transition classes not able to get
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  Speaker 1: under weigh. Today we have had confirmation from the Northern
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  Speaker 1: Territory Police that they are indeed investigating the report of
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  Speaker 1: an unlawful entry at the school. That report came through
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  Speaker 1: about about seven point thirty this morning.
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  Speaker 2: The police are on the scene right now.
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  Speaker 1: It is a very ordinary situation that you know, students
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  Speaker 1: are having to be turned.
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  Speaker 2: Away as a result of a.
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  Speaker 3: Breaking Oh, it's very sad news coming out and you
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  Speaker 3: know we've heard the impact that crime is having right
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  Speaker 3: across the board at the moment, and you know the
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  Speaker 3: Education Minister just last week, you know I tried to
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  Speaker 3: shout down our education shadow Minister for asking a question
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  Speaker 3: about crime and the impact that it's having on schools
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  Speaker 3: and education right across the Northern Territory. And here's a
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  Speaker 3: clear example of students now being unable to go to school.
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  Speaker 3: And the very thought that families must be facing at
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  Speaker 3: the moment is how safe is it right across the
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  Speaker 3: Northern Territory. Are our schools safe? Are our teachers safe?
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  Speaker 3: But the impact of this is obviously devastating to all
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  Speaker 3: of those students and teachers out at Nightcliffe and crime
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  Speaker 3: is really taking hold, but the Government continues to drag
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  Speaker 3: its heels when it comes to dealing with crime across
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  Speaker 3: the Northern Territory.
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  Speaker 1: Well, Steve Edgington, the Member for Barclay but also the
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  Speaker 1: Shadow Attorney General and Minister for Justice and various other portfolios.
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  Speaker 1: I really appreciate your time this morning. Thanks very much
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  Speaker 1: for having a chat with us.
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  Speaker 3: Thank you, Cody, and good morning to our listeners.
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  Speaker 2: Thank you.