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Katie Woolf spoke with Minister for Police, Fire and Emergency Services Nicole Manison · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: You're listening to mix one oh four point nine three sixty. Okay,
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: we've literally got our first guest this morning for ten minutes,
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: so we're going to keep this short, sharp and to
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  Speaker 1: the point. Police Minister Nicole Madison, good morning, Good morning,
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  Speaker 1: Katie Minister. Firstly, did you watch a Current Affair earlier
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  Speaker 1: in the week and what was your reaction?
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  Speaker 2: Oh? I saw the episode on Monday night and I
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  Speaker 2: thought the people that were involved in that fight were
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  Speaker 2: absolutely appalling. Police are investigating, they've already pressed some charges,
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: have issued some infringement notices. But to those people who
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  Speaker 2: who left the bar and ended up involved in a
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  Speaker 2: fight and the people who also partook in the fight,
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  Speaker 2: absolutely disgraceful and it was unfortunate. Our Current Affair we're
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  Speaker 2: there to capture that and broadcast that all over national
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  Speaker 2: TV at a time when we have a massive national
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  Speaker 2: tourism opportunity of getting people to go into Alice Springs.
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  Speaker 1: So would you say it was it was disgraceful? Would
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  Speaker 1: you say it was a fair and accurate portrayal of
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  Speaker 1: what's happening in Alice at the moment.
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  Speaker 2: There are issues in our that we deal with every day,
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  Speaker 2: and they have been for a long time, but this
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  Speaker 2: particular fight is not something you see every day.
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  Speaker 1: The morning after it was broadcast, there was two men
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  Speaker 1: who were actually set upon. It was reported by the
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  Speaker 1: watch commander by a group of youths between ten to
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  Speaker 1: fifteen youths, if I understand correctly, who had rocks and sticks.
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  Speaker 1: So I'm just not sure how it's not a regular occurrence.
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  Speaker 2: Well, that fight that I saw broadcast that night, and
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  Speaker 2: the advice I had from police was that was out
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  Speaker 2: of the ordinary, and that is certainly not the norm.
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  Speaker 1: Now, when you see or when you saw kids on
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  Speaker 1: the street wearing electronic monitoring bracelets, did you question the
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  Speaker 1: effectiveness of how we're currently dealing with young people who
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  Speaker 1: break the law.
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  Speaker 2: We're certainly looking at ways in which we can do
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  Speaker 2: better bowl monitoring and compliance. I agree, like seeing a
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  Speaker 2: kid of that age out in the street with electronic
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  Speaker 2: monitoring device. I don't know the conditions of their bail,
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  Speaker 2: but clearly having them out about that hour I would
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  Speaker 2: not thought would be an appropriate condition for them. So
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  Speaker 2: I suspect that they weren't doing the right thing.
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  Speaker 1: It made a mockery I think of our bail conditions.
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  Speaker 2: Well, it's a big job. There are plenty of people
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  Speaker 2: that are out there on bail, but that is exactly why,
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  Speaker 2: like we said before the election, we're going to be
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  Speaker 2: putting in more ways in which we can better manage
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  Speaker 2: BOW monitoring and compliance to hold more people to account.
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  Speaker 1: Now, you and I have spoken about this crime situation
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  Speaker 1: on so many occasions, but nothing seems to have changed
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  Speaker 1: when it comes to the verocity and the frequency of
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  Speaker 1: youth crime. In fact, the people of Alice Springs would
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  Speaker 1: argue things are worse than ever. The co chair of
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  Speaker 1: the Royal Commission spoke to a Current Affair on Tuesday
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  Speaker 1: night and said offenders needed to be held accountable depending
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: on their circumstances. There has to be judgments made about
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  Speaker 1: each individual case and that's around community safety and really
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  Speaker 1: not lock kids up unless we really need to. He said, Minister,
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  Speaker 1: do you think we currently have the balance right?
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  Speaker 2: Well, we're putting more consequences in place. I think property
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  Speaker 2: offenses need to be reviewed and that's why we are
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  Speaker 2: reviewing them to strengthen them. We need to have more
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  Speaker 2: BOW monitoring and conditions in place, and that's exactly what
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  Speaker 2: we're doing and we'll be putting in place so I
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  Speaker 2: think there's a need for ring leader legislation. So these
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  Speaker 2: are some of the things that we are doing, Katie,
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  Speaker 2: as well as making sure our police has got more
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  Speaker 2: resources to do the job.
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  Speaker 1: So it doesn't sound as though you do think we've
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  Speaker 1: got the balance right at this point.
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  Speaker 2: There is always more work to do on the crime front,
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  Speaker 2: because what we'd like to see, as we'll do, we
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  Speaker 2: have far less crime, and in the Northern Territory, because
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  Speaker 2: we have the most systemic level of poverty and disadvantage,
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  Speaker 2: we do have higher rates of crime here than the
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  Speaker 2: rest of the nation.
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  Speaker 1: Does that make it right? Does that make it right though,
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  Speaker 1: that members of the community who are law abiding members
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  Speaker 1: of the community, and businesses who are trying to run businesses,
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  Speaker 1: families trying to raise their kids. Does that make it
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  Speaker 1: right that they've got to put up with this behavior?
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  Speaker 2: Yep? Well, Katie, I've grown up here and it's always
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  Speaker 2: been an issue that we've had to do with.
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  Speaker 1: Man, you'd have to agree not to this point.
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  Speaker 2: Oh, Katie, I have seen some pretty horrendous things when
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  Speaker 2: I was at school, I'll put.
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  Speaker 1: It so let me put it to you this way.
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  Speaker 1: This week we saw a fourteen year old girl punched
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  Speaker 1: in the face in her own home after they were
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  Speaker 1: broken into. We've had a three year old who was
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  Speaker 1: allegedly sexually assaulted in their own family yard. We've also
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  Speaker 1: seen the images that are broadcast around Australia on a
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  Speaker 1: current affair. Do you think we've reached the point where
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  Speaker 1: we actually need to say, do you know what We've
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  Speaker 1: got to do things differently?
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  Speaker 2: Well? I think that we are working around doing things
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  Speaker 2: differently and we have got a different approach to what
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  Speaker 2: we used to do. Because yes, we got to the
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  Speaker 2: point where there was a Royal Commissioner it was recognized
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  Speaker 2: that we have to do things differently. I don't fully
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  Speaker 2: agree with what was in that Royal commission, Katie. I
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  Speaker 2: think there are ways that need to be implement things
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  Speaker 2: that need to be implemented differently, and that's what we've
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  Speaker 2: gone about doing in government. There have been some parts
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  Speaker 2: that we think, yes, that's going to get the better outcome,
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  Speaker 2: and other parts we think we need to do a
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  Speaker 2: bit differently. As government, you're constantly reviewing what's in place,
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  Speaker 2: what's happening, and where you need to change and making
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  Speaker 2: sure you do make those changes. And as minister, that
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  Speaker 2: is what I am doing.
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  Speaker 1: Community members in Alice Springs do not feel the situation
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  Speaker 1: at the moment is adequate. Many have spoken to us
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  Speaker 1: raising their concerns. The mayor of Alice Springs is calling
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  Speaker 1: for a community safety audit. Will you commit to a
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  Speaker 1: community safety order of Alice.
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  Speaker 2: I don't think we need to do a community safety audit.
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  Speaker 2: I just think we need to keep going about making
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  Speaker 2: sure that we've got a well resourced police force, that
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  Speaker 2: we have got good programs in place to stop kids
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  Speaker 2: from entering crime in the first place, and continuing to
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  Speaker 2: do the things that could prevent crime. And I would
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  Speaker 2: like to see the council also working in with government
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  Speaker 2: to see what initiatives that they can pursue and put
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  Speaker 2: on the table.
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  Speaker 1: When are you next going to Alice Springs.
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  Speaker 2: I'm their next Friday case.
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  Speaker 1: The next Friday you'll be there? Is the Chief Minister
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  Speaker 1: going with you?
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  Speaker 2: I'm going down because I have the Catman's conference. But
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  Speaker 2: as well as that, as you know, whenever I go
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  Speaker 2: into Alice Springs, always drop in and go see my
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  Speaker 2: police force and go talk to the members so I
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  Speaker 2: can understand how they're going on the ground, and I
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  Speaker 2: try to catch up with another range of stakeholders like
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  Speaker 2: the Chamber of Commerce, and can I say that the
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  Speaker 2: Chamber of Commerce in Alice Springs. We are on the
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  Speaker 2: phone to them a lot. I have to applaud Greg Island,
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  Speaker 2: Nicole Walsh and the members down there because they do
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  Speaker 2: an outstanding job representing the frank and fearless viewss of
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  Speaker 2: the business community.
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  Speaker 1: And look they have said today in the paper that
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  Speaker 1: a Current Affair report was a fair representation. The episode
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  Speaker 1: probably didn't cover some of the other behavior that's seen
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  Speaker 1: ongoing issues for businesses every day, such as intimidating behavior
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  Speaker 1: from youths. I mean that is from the business community.
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  Speaker 1: How about I mean, how about a community meeting while
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  Speaker 1: you're there next Friday.
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  Speaker 2: So I've always said Katie that I don't think they're
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  Speaker 2: constructive forums. The way I do it is I sit
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  Speaker 2: down and I meet with stakeholder groups and I meet
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  Speaker 2: with organizations one on one. So it's well to go
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  Speaker 2: about my work and that's how I've gone about doing
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  Speaker 2: it well.
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  Speaker 1: Met Gooder, the co chair obviously of the Royal Commission.
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  Speaker 1: He's suggested during a Current Affair earlier in the week
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  Speaker 1: that the community all get together to work this out.
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  Speaker 1: Why don't you sit down? I mean you've said that
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  Speaker 1: you need to have a chat obviously. Well you've said
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  Speaker 1: that the Alice Springstown Council need to make some changes.
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  Speaker 1: You've said that you're already meeting with you know, with
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  Speaker 1: the Chamber of Commerce and others. Why not sit down
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  Speaker 1: with the community.
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  Speaker 2: Because I do. I go out and I talk to
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  Speaker 2: different organizations and get different views and I'm able to
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  Speaker 2: put them all together in that way. But we've got
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  Speaker 2: a lot of programs that are out there, Katie, we
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  Speaker 2: are throwing a lot at the effort in Alice Springs
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  Speaker 2: and Central Australia. When it comes to crime and community safety.
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  Speaker 2: We've got two operations in place right now, so there
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  Speaker 2: is not nothing happening. There is a huge amount of
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  Speaker 2: work that is happening out there on the ground.
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  Speaker 1: But so at this point in time, the government is
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  Speaker 1: not prepared to have a community meeting.
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  Speaker 2: Well, I'm saying I think the best way to go
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  Speaker 2: about getting a good result is to sit down and
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  Speaker 2: work through with different organizations and different stakeholders. Sometimes you
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  Speaker 2: do get a rafter different stakeholders in one room to.
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  Speaker 1: Get don't you reckon? You need to listen to the
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  Speaker 1: people of Alice Springs as well, not just as stakeholders.
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  Speaker 1: You need to actually have a listen to the people
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  Speaker 1: that are hurting at the moment.
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  Speaker 2: So, Katie, I actually do. I actually do go out
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  Speaker 2: and meet with different people. I mean, last time I
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  Speaker 2: was there, I met with a resident, I met with
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  Speaker 2: a business owner. So I actually do when people reach
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  Speaker 2: out and contact me, I do actually make the effort
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  Speaker 2: where I can to go out and actually talk with them,
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  Speaker 2: meet with them and sit down with them.
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  Speaker 1: Minister. Let's move along, because I do want to talk
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  Speaker 1: about another incredibly serious situation. I touched on it before,
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  Speaker 1: the alleged shape of a three year old boy in Karama.
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  Speaker 1: When were you notified about this?
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  Speaker 2: I notified on Monday.
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  Speaker 1: Is that good enough?
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  Speaker 2: Well, in this case, police had determined that because they
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  Speaker 2: caught the offender swiftly and had them in custody and
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  Speaker 2: had removed the risk from the community, and they were
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  Speaker 2: also working with the victim, that was the call that
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  Speaker 2: they made. I always worked closer with police, Katie, and
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  Speaker 2: I give them my support because they have an incredibly
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  Speaker 2: tough job and I have to respect and I believe
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  Speaker 2: in this case they made some decisions around making sure
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  Speaker 2: that they were offering the best support to the victim.
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  Speaker 1: Minister, did you find I mean, what time of the
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  Speaker 1: day did you find out on Monday? I'm just trying
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  Speaker 1: to ascertain whether you found out because the media was
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  Speaker 1: aware of it, or whether they'd notified you before then.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I found out on Monday morning, So that's when
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  Speaker 2: I found out, and that's where I found out.
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  Speaker 1: Do you believe that Territorians have a right to know
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  Speaker 1: about serious sexual assaults?
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  Speaker 2: I think in this case, I can understand why people
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  Speaker 2: were concerned because the nature of the assault and what
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  Speaker 2: had happened, and this is a horrendous crime. But what
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  Speaker 2: the police had done in this instance is they had
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  Speaker 2: caught the offender swiftly, removed the risk from the community
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  Speaker 2: pretty much so immediately, and they have made a decision,
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  Speaker 2: after working with the victim here, that they felt that
• 10:18
  Speaker 2: Monday was the best time to put out this information.
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: Do you think that's the best time? Do you think
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  Speaker 1: that that, realistically, people should have actually been made aware
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  Speaker 1: about this sooner, Katie?
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  Speaker 2: The police make some really difficult decisions each and every day,
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  Speaker 2: and I'm always going to go and imback them in.
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  Speaker 1: Are you concerned that Territorians are not being notified about
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  Speaker 1: serious crimes that are happening in the community.
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  Speaker 2: The community is notified a lot, Katie. There's a lot
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  Speaker 2: of information that goes out, and I do believe that
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  Speaker 2: they are getting notified of serious texts of crimes and
• 10:51
  Speaker 2: things that do happen that they think they need to
• 10:54
  Speaker 2: get the information out too. But you know, we do
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  Speaker 2: see some pretty horrendous things happen every day.
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  Speaker 1: In the word. What would you say to Territorians that
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: that don't actually believe that following on from this situation
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  Speaker 1: that we've seen unfold in recent days where they've not
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: been notified about such a serious sexual assault, back.
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  Speaker 2: You, please, day, back you. They have to make really
• 11:13
  Speaker 2: difficult judgment calls each and every day. Sometimes it's about
• 11:16
  Speaker 2: protecting the victim. Other times it's about having to make
• 11:19
  Speaker 2: sure that they don't compromise investigations. But I have full
• 11:22
  Speaker 2: faith in our place and the amazing work they do.
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  Speaker 1: Minister, we are going to have to move along. I
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  Speaker 1: know you're very pressed for time. I do just want
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  Speaker 1: to ask you. I touched on it before. Obviously we've
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: seen this a current affair report. We've learned that a
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: three year old boy was sexually assaulted in the yard
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: of his home. We've also heard this week alone about
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: a fourteen year old girl who was punched in her
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: home after two people broke in. Minister, do you feel
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  Speaker 1: that these issues are just the types of things that
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  Speaker 1: we've got to learn to live with? Are they just
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  Speaker 1: part of life in the Northern Territory.
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  Speaker 2: No, you should never accept them, never accept them. And
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  Speaker 2: that's why as government, as the community, we work hard
• 12:00
  Speaker 2: every day to try to tackle the things that lead
• 12:04
  Speaker 2: to crime. And you know, these two crimes completely unacceptable.
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  Speaker 2: So it's something where we do work hard all the
• 12:11
  Speaker 2: time trying to prevent crime and make sure that those
• 12:13
  Speaker 2: who commit crime are brought to justice, you know, but
• 12:16
  Speaker 2: unfortunately there are still people that go about doing the
• 12:19
  Speaker 2: wrong thing.
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  Speaker 1: You and I again, we've spoken on so many occasions
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  Speaker 1: about the issues with crime, and the thing that we
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: hear very loudly and clearly around the territory is that
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: people feel as though the cops do a phenomenal job,
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: but they have a real belief that the legislation in
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: place at the moment is not there to support our
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: police and that it actually favors the criminal rather than everyday. Territorians.
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: I mean, are we at a point now where where
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: we just have to have a rethink here and we've
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: got to really take, you know, take steps that we've
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: maybe not looked at before to try and fix this.
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  Speaker 2: So we've got to rah of legislative changes that will
• 13:01
  Speaker 2: be coming through this year from Ring Leader, property affairs
• 13:05
  Speaker 2: with and of course Bowl monitoring and compliance and putting
• 13:08
  Speaker 2: better systems in place. I talked to the police regularly,
• 13:12
  Speaker 2: the Northern Churchy Police Association as well, and basically I
• 13:16
  Speaker 2: take their views on board and then I look at
• 13:18
  Speaker 2: what legislative changes we need and so that's what I'm
• 13:20
  Speaker 2: going about doing, Katie.
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  Speaker 1: So Minister, I mean, do Territorians just need to be
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: patient here and wait for the changes that you've just
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: spoken about to come into place.
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  Speaker 2: As I said earlier, the system of government, you have
• 13:34
  Speaker 2: to constantly review what you've got in place where things
• 13:37
  Speaker 2: are changing and make sure that you have contemporary legislation.
• 13:42
  Speaker 2: So that's what we're doing. We're listening to the police,
• 13:45
  Speaker 2: the people on the ground, what we're seeing out there,
• 13:48
  Speaker 2: and that's why we've made commitments around making the changes
• 13:51
  Speaker 2: I just spoke about.
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  Speaker 1: Can you see how people are maybe feeling as though
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: that's not the case though, when you've just said that,
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: but then earlier in the interview, you said that you
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: won't have a commune meeting with the people of Alice Springs.
• 14:03
  Speaker 2: I'd go out, like I said that, I do meet
• 14:06
  Speaker 2: a whole raft of different people. But I just think
• 14:08
  Speaker 2: when you have those mass meetings, they're not as constructive,
• 14:11
  Speaker 2: as productive or in depth we can really dull down
• 14:14
  Speaker 2: into the issues. Is what you do when you sit
• 14:16
  Speaker 2: with a smaller group of people or individual Would it be.
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: An opportunity though, for the community to really feel as
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: though they're being heard well.
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  Speaker 2: I do try to get out and meet with as
• 14:25
  Speaker 2: many people as possible, Katie, So I think that's a
• 14:28
  Speaker 2: really important part of it too, getting out there for
• 14:31
  Speaker 2: me and I try to meet, like I said, with
• 14:33
  Speaker 2: as many people as possible.
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: Police Minister Nicole Madison, I know you pressed for time.
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: We really appreciate you speaking with us today.
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  Speaker 2: Thanks for the opportunity, Kay, thank you.
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: You're listening to mix one oh four point nine's three
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  Speaker 1: sixty eight nine four. One one oh four nine is
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  Speaker 1: the number if you'd like to call through