Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Katie Woolf spoke with Member for Araluen Robyn Lambley

Transcript

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

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Three sixty with Katie Wolf thanks to Joyce Main Darwin
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: homes Own Stuart Highway, Berrima.
• 0:06
  Speaker 2: Well, as you've heard, Labour's cocaine sex scandal continues, with
• 0:09
  Speaker 2: the issue now referred to the Parliamentary Privileges Committee. It
• 0:13
  Speaker 2: comes after the COLP accused the Member for Blaine of
• 0:15
  Speaker 2: misleading the Parliament regarding his statement on the issue. Now
• 0:19
  Speaker 2: we know that the emotion which was led by the
• 0:21
  Speaker 2: COLP to refer the issue to the committee is one
• 0:24
  Speaker 2: which was then supported by Labor. The committee is now
• 0:27
  Speaker 2: set to decide if further discipline reaction should be taken
• 0:31
  Speaker 2: against that member. Now joining me on the line to
• 0:33
  Speaker 2: talk about this and also about the issues that we've
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: got at the moment with crime in Alice Springs. Robin Lamley,
• 0:39
  Speaker 2: the Independent Member for Ara Lewin. Good morning, Robin, Good
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: morning Katie, Robin Firsley. This is certainly a very serious
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: situation around the Blaine MLA. Is this the best move
• 0:51
  Speaker 2: now for it to be investigated by the Parliamentary Privileges Committee?
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: Well, in theory it should be, Katie, but all the
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: commite it is all the parliamentary committees are dominated by
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: the government members, so the outcome will fit into their narrative,
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: it will suit them ultimately. I can't really see where
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: this is going. I don't have clear sight on this.
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: I don't know what they're going to do with him.
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: I mean, if they find if the Privileges Committee, dominated
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: by Labor the government find him in contempt of the
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: Legislative Assembly Code of Conduct or whatever they're maintaining, then
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: I don't know what will happen If they throw him out,
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: I think, and it goes to a by election in Blaine.
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: I don't think Labor will win that. So I don't
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: know what they're going to do with him. And I've
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: seen other members be thrown out, like Kenny Valles and
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: Scotty McConnell and Jeff Collins. And you know, to see
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: members sitting on the back bench really doing nothing, made
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: completely irrelevant and really not sort of serving their constituents
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: particularly well because they're in no man's land really is
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: quite a tragedy. I think. So, who knows, Maybe he'll resign.
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: I think that's probably the best outcome for him. Well, yeah,
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: it happens or not, who knows.
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: It remains to be seen. And Robin, I guess you know,
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: the really interesting part of this was on Monday, obviously,
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: I interviewed the Chief Minister and I asked him whether
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: you know he or anybody from the government had assisted
• 2:31
  Speaker 2: the Blaine MLA in writing that speech. He said that
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: he'd sat down with the Member for Blaine throughout that
• 2:38
  Speaker 2: day on numerous occasions. But then the Member for Blaine
• 2:43
  Speaker 2: changed that speech prior to getting up and speaking in Parliament.
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: You know, like you've rightly pointed out, it's hard to
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: know exactly where it's all going to land.
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: And because it's going to the Privileges Committee dominated by
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: the Labor government, you're not going to get a clear
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: picture from that either. The only way territories will truly
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: know what's gone on in this space is through an
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: independent inquiry. And that's what the Chief Minister should have
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: stumped up and offered from that first day last Tuesday
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: in Parliament after it came out in Bushranger and the
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: Anti years. He should have said, look, this is not good.
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: I'll open my doors and allow someone to come in
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: and look at what's gone on. And that's the only
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: way we'll ever know the truth. I suspect we'll never
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: know the full truth because you know, it took until
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: just a few days ago for the name of the
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: other person to come out, the other member of the
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: labor party, the staffer, to be identified, and what's happening
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: with him. I mean, the oxygen that this takes up
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: is really concerning when you know, there's so many other
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: things we should exactly right.
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: Well, and let's move along, Robin, because you're right, there
• 4:03
  Speaker 2: is so many other things that we should be talking about.
• 4:05
  Speaker 2: In one of those is this issue which is plaguing
• 4:08
  Speaker 2: the people of Alice Springs crime now. Yesterday, the Northern
• 4:11
  Speaker 2: Territory Police said that two youths had been arrested in
• 4:14
  Speaker 2: relation to a robbery of a seventy nine year old
• 4:16
  Speaker 2: man in the Todd Mall on Tuesday morning. A group
• 4:20
  Speaker 2: of youths approached two men sitting outside a cafe when
• 4:23
  Speaker 2: it's alleged that a thirteen year old female snatched a
• 4:26
  Speaker 2: packet of tobacco from the table. The seventy nine year
• 4:28
  Speaker 2: old man's attempted to stop the youth by grabbing her arm,
• 4:32
  Speaker 2: which resulted in the man being pulled from his chair
• 4:34
  Speaker 2: and onto the ground, suffering abrasions to his arms and legs.
• 4:38
  Speaker 2: Now Unfortunately, from what I can gather, this is not isolated.
• 4:42
  Speaker 2: We got a message sent to us by one of
• 4:44
  Speaker 2: our listeners, Nicole, overnight, and it was an email well
• 4:48
  Speaker 2: basically saying that an eighty eight year old woman was
• 4:51
  Speaker 2: pushed to the ground twice yesterday outside you pur and
• 4:54
  Speaker 2: your shopping center before a bag was stolen. Robin, I'm
• 4:58
  Speaker 2: sure you're aware of these in incidents, but what is
• 5:01
  Speaker 2: your reaction when you hear of these terrible situations unfolding?
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: It just makes me feel sick, Katie, it really does
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: you know the eighty eight year old woman who got
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: accosted in the Yeprina shopping center yesterday by two girls
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: her bag was snatched? I think, I mean that I
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: can barely even read it. It just makes me sick.
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: But look, last night in Parliament I moved a motion.
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: It was a discussion, a debate around youth crime solutions
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: for Alice Springs with all these kids on the street
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: at night. It ended up being quite an unpleasant interaction
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: with the Minister for Territory Families who really didn't want
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: to hear any solutions from the Alice Springs members who
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: wanted to list all the investments they've made in the
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: town and what they're doing, which is significant, but at
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: the bottom, at the end of the day, thing's not working.
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: And you know, we're trying hard to work with Minister
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: Warden and Minister Paik who's the Minister for Central Australia.
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: He gets it, but you know, it's very, very difficult
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: when you've got ministers that think they know everything but
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: they don't, you know, And where you know I'm at this,
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: I'm at the sort of latter stages of my political career.
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: I'm not sort of ambitious. I don't want to be
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: the Chief Minister or anything else for that matter. I
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: just want my town to stop suffering under this crime wave.
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: We're just ridiculous.
• 6:38
  Speaker 2: And Robin, the concern that I've got is, you know,
• 6:40
  Speaker 2: in a two day period, we've now heard about a
• 6:42
  Speaker 2: seventy nine year old man being targeted and then an
• 6:45
  Speaker 2: eighty eight year old woman. I've you know, I've got
• 6:48
  Speaker 2: friends in Alice Springs and I saw one of them
• 6:52
  Speaker 2: that actually commented on one of these posts on social
• 6:54
  Speaker 2: media and said, and she is older, and she'd said, great,
• 6:57
  Speaker 2: now they're targeting see is within the community. And I
• 7:01
  Speaker 2: think that this is the real concern here. If you've
• 7:04
  Speaker 2: got young people at the moment who really have no
• 7:07
  Speaker 2: respect for the elderly, you know, you've got a question
• 7:11
  Speaker 2: who they do respect.
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: That the Minister for Education sits in Parliament virtually silent,
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: apart from when she's sort of asked a question intermittently.
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: You know, what's she doing about truancy? You know these
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: kids that are costed that man the other morning, they
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: should have been on their way to school or at school.
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: And the woman who was assaulted yesterday, yeparenya those children
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: should have been at school too. Like, there's so many
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: parts of the wheel that just aren't working, Katie. And
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: it's up to these ministers, this government, whether they like
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: it or not, to step up and work a bit
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: bloody harder to try and address what's going on here.
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: It's not really difficult stuff to get on top of.
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: Alice Springs isn't a big place. It just beggars Belie
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: just how impotent and hopeless the situation has become and
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: the response from government trying to turn it into some
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: sort of political fight is just not on. You know,
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: I don't want to be arguing with Kate Warden about
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: the politics of it. I'm over that. Just give me
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: some solutions, Kate. Just tell me what you're going to do,
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: and stop telling me how great it is what you've
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: done when the town's absolutely aching and suffering under this
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: crime wave. Kids running amuck on the streets of Alice
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: Springs during the night and during the day.
• 8:38
  Speaker 2: Robin, I know there was a question asked in Parliament
• 8:41
  Speaker 2: earlier in the week about safety when some of the
• 8:44
  Speaker 2: great events are planned for the Northern Territory and due
• 8:47
  Speaker 2: to happen in Alice Springs. The government said that the
• 8:50
  Speaker 2: Opposition and the Independence needed to stop being negative and
• 8:54
  Speaker 2: talking the territory down. Is that what you're doing here.
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: Came from the Minister for Tourism, the Minister for Health,
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: and she's the you know, the brightest button in the crew,
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: you know, like she's the superstar of labor without a
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: shadow of a doubt, and she got up and basically
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: accused us all of talking the town down. If you
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: can't come to Parliament as a member of the Northern
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: Territory Legislative Assembly and talk about the number one problem
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: of your constituents and in this case for Alice Springs
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: being crime, and what's it all about Katie. I mean,
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: you know, dismissive, dismissing us, trivializing the issue, minimizing the issue.
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: It all plays into the government's narrative with the story
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: that they want to tell. But in all reality, the
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: story from Alice Springs is pretty bleak at the moment,
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: and I can't see it improving. Why You've got people
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: that think they know everything and just want to be
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: flipping about it, and they've got.
• 9:55
  Speaker 2: To start listening, you know, I've said it on are
• 9:57
  Speaker 2: here before. They have to start listening. It's it's incredibly
• 10:00
  Speaker 2: frustrating for a lot of our listeners. I cannot imagine
• 10:03
  Speaker 2: how the residents of Alice Springs are feeling at the moment.
• 10:06
  Speaker 2: I cannot imagine, you know, how the grandchildren of the
• 10:10
  Speaker 2: eighty eight year old woman who was knocked to the
• 10:12
  Speaker 2: ground twice yesterday and had her bag stolen are feeling.
• 10:16
  Speaker 2: Because I feel mortified hearing it, and I don't know
• 10:19
  Speaker 2: the life that.
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: Happened during the day in front of people and in
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: the middle of a shopping center in Alice Springs. That's scary.
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: These kids don't have any fear, they don't have any
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: fear of repercussions or consequences. They know that they can
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: get away with it and that's part of the problem.
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: It's part of the problem.
• 10:42
  Speaker 2: Robin Lamley, we are going to have to leave it there.
• 10:45
  Speaker 2: I always appreciate your time. We'll talk to you again
• 10:47
  Speaker 2: very soon. Thank you all. Thanks. That is Robin Lamley there,
• 10:51
  Speaker 2: the Independent Member for Ara Luin. And I'll tell you
• 10:54
  Speaker 2: what you know. Like I said, I was listening to
• 10:56
  Speaker 2: Parliament to question time earlier in the week and I
• 10:58
  Speaker 2: did hear that question, a question about the issues that
• 11:01
  Speaker 2: they've got around youth crime in Alice Springs raised and
• 11:05
  Speaker 2: the response from the government that you know, you're talking
• 11:07
  Speaker 2: the territory down. You've all got to stop being negative
• 11:09
  Speaker 2: nancies on the other side of Parliament is what was
• 11:12
  Speaker 2: said by the government and it made me feel really
• 11:14
  Speaker 2: upset because I thought it's actually, you know, you can
• 11:17
  Speaker 2: you may think that you're dismissing what the members opposite
• 11:20
  Speaker 2: are saying inside Parliament. So the government might think that
• 11:23
  Speaker 2: they're having a crack at the opposition and the independence,
• 11:26
  Speaker 2: but the reality is they're actually having a crack at
• 11:29
  Speaker 2: the everyday territorians that get in contact with this show
• 11:32
  Speaker 2: that write letters to the paper that contact, you know,
• 11:35
  Speaker 2: various social media pages to outline their concerns. And this
• 11:39
  Speaker 2: is a very real concern that a lot of Territorians
• 11:42
  Speaker 2: have got right now