Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Opposition Leader Lia Finochiarro says the NT Government has no circuit breaker for the unrelenting local crime issues

Transcript

Opposition Leader Lia Finochiarro says the NT Government has no circuit breaker for the unrelenting local crime issues · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Joining me in the studio right now is the opposition
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: leader Leah Finocchio.
• 0:03
  Speaker 2: Good morning to you, Leah, Good.
• 0:05
  Speaker 3: Morning Katie in to your listeners.
• 0:06
  Speaker 2: Aaliah. There is a lot to cover off on this morning.
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: I might just start with the situation that we've seen
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: overnight at the Marara subway. Some terrible photos, of course,
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: have emerged on social media of that subway well smashed up.
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: They have had the panes of glass obviously broken. They
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: say that, you know that there are more videos they've got.
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: They've got six stores and they've got quite the collection
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: and it's time to make some noise. They are obviously
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: quite over it.
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: Leah. Have you seen what's happened out there at Marara Subway?
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: Yeah?
• 0:40
  Speaker 4: I have, and you can just reading that Facebook post
• 0:42
  Speaker 4: that they put out, you can hear the exasperation in
• 0:45
  Speaker 4: their voice.
• 0:45
  Speaker 3: I mean, people just don't know what to do anymore.
• 0:48
  Speaker 4: It's costing business and absolute fortune in what is already
• 0:51
  Speaker 4: a very difficult time with cost of living and everything
• 0:54
  Speaker 4: else that's happening. And they just want government to listen
• 0:57
  Speaker 4: to them and do something. But you know, it's been
• 1:00
  Speaker 4: six long years where we continuously talk about crime stats
• 1:03
  Speaker 4: going up every single month, breaking enters happening, recidivist defending,
• 1:07
  Speaker 4: and that repeat defending, and nothing ever getting done. And
• 1:11
  Speaker 4: I think today's announcement around increasing bit securities again, it's
• 1:15
  Speaker 4: just that the band.
• 1:16
  Speaker 3: Aid it's not actually fixing the problem.
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: I will get to that in just a moment, but
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: I just want to point out that Subway Marara, they
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: say they've been targeted six times this year for similar
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: damage and it's only July. In the past week alone,
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: they've had thousands of dollars of damage done at this.
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: Store, not once, but twice.
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: Not to mention that these kids with ankle bracelets pulled
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: a knife, scissors and through multiple glass bottles at staff
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: and at equipment, causing them to close for an hour
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: to clean up and discard contaminated food.
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: The thing is here, though you're.
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: Actually talking about it being incredibly unsafe as.
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: Well for the staff member.
• 1:56
  Speaker 3: Z exactly.
• 1:57
  Speaker 4: And we tried just last settings to pass life legislation
• 2:01
  Speaker 4: that protects frontline workers because of course, what we're seeing
• 2:03
  Speaker 4: with an increase in violent offending, particularly and as you
• 2:07
  Speaker 4: just describe people using weapons, I mean in broad daylight
• 2:10
  Speaker 4: in shops, and that's why we wanted to pass legislation
• 2:13
  Speaker 4: to ensure that anyone who assaulted a person in their
• 2:16
  Speaker 4: place of work saw actual imprisonment. Now that was not
• 2:19
  Speaker 4: backed by government for you know, no real explanation as
• 2:22
  Speaker 4: to why they wouldn't support something like that. But the
• 2:25
  Speaker 4: concern is as crime increases, violent offending is increasing, the
• 2:29
  Speaker 4: resources it's taking with police means they're not able to
• 2:32
  Speaker 4: get around and take care of everything that needs to
• 2:35
  Speaker 4: be done. People are left victimized and they're left carrying
• 2:38
  Speaker 4: the baby. I mean, they've got the bills to pay,
• 2:40
  Speaker 4: they've got traumatized staff, they've got products they have lost
• 2:43
  Speaker 4: or stolen that they have to remove. I mean, this
• 2:45
  Speaker 4: is just an unsustainable situation, and yet they're not there's
• 2:50
  Speaker 4: no respite insight. You know, there's just no plan coming
• 2:53
  Speaker 4: forward from government about what they're going to do to
• 2:56
  Speaker 4: cause a circuit breaker so that this just stops.
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: Well today they haven't our It's what I guess they
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: might think is a circuit breaker, and that is you know,
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: what they say is focused on creating safer communities with
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: a number of initiatives aimed at preventing crime and anti
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: social behavior. So they're announcing this cross agency collaboration, which
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: is obviously, they say, established to provide a holistic and
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: strategic response to reduce these contributing factors of anti social
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: behavior across the region. Now, I'm obviously just going through
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: all this information and you're hearing it firsthand, but what
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: it's essentially going to see is police officers and those
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: youth engagement officers come together more frequently to address pockets
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: of crime, anti social behavior, and youth offending. They'll also
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: have new CCTV installed in Alice Springs along with Jingly
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: and Nightcliffe as part of this program to upgrade and
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: expand those CCTV networks. They're also announcing a public Order
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: Response unit, so they are investing two million dollars into
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: this public response measures across the Northern Territory, including this unit.
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: It is going to be wild in Palmeston and the
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: northern suburbs and allows other private security patrols in place
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: in Darwin, CBD and sorry, it follows those other private
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: security patrols in place in Darwin, CBD and other suburbs.
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: They're also then announcing those changes to be secure. Lea,
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: do you think that these initiatives are going to make
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: any difference well, from what.
• 4:21
  Speaker 4: I've read this morning, Katie, these initiatives, there is absolutely
• 4:25
  Speaker 4: nothing new in it. The security patrols have been happening
• 4:27
  Speaker 4: in Palmerston and the Northern Suburbs and of course Darwin
• 4:30
  Speaker 4: for quite some time now. Certainly I'm sure they are
• 4:34
  Speaker 4: having an impact, but obviously not enough of an impact
• 4:36
  Speaker 4: to be able to drive down those crime stats yet.
• 4:38
  Speaker 3: So that's not new CCTV.
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: Now.
• 4:40
  Speaker 4: If the government wants to put in more CCTV, that's great,
• 4:43
  Speaker 4: but what they need to be doing is funding more
• 4:45
  Speaker 4: people who can monitor the CCTV, because of course it's
• 4:48
  Speaker 4: only as good as proactive as you can be. So
• 4:50
  Speaker 4: if you've got people with eyeballs on it and you
• 4:52
  Speaker 4: can stop things from happening in the first pace, and fabulous.
• 4:56
  Speaker 4: But if it's just a tool for after the event,
• 4:58
  Speaker 4: then it's got a minimum lifespan of how useful it
• 5:01
  Speaker 4: is to stop in crime.
• 5:01
  Speaker 2: And actually, would you not implement these changes?
• 5:04
  Speaker 4: Well, I think my point is they're already there. Everything
• 5:07
  Speaker 4: they've talked about is already there. That holistic government collaboration
• 5:11
  Speaker 4: that's been in place for years, that has really been
• 5:14
  Speaker 4: something government has tried very hard to work.
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: On I'm sure there's seen something that police have said
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: before that you know, they've not been able to, like
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: if there's kids out on the street at night, for example,
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: that it's quite difficult for the police then to be
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: able to sort of you know, to get territory families
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: or whoever involved, except that real grassroots level.
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: So surely that's a good thing. Yeah, it is there.
• 5:34
  Speaker 4: They're all good things, but they've all been happening for
• 5:36
  Speaker 4: a long time. So again, there's nothing new today. I
• 5:39
  Speaker 4: know government are desperate to try and do something that
• 5:41
  Speaker 4: shows they're taking action when really they're not. What we
• 5:44
  Speaker 4: know is that Natasha Files has been the Alcohol Minister
• 5:47
  Speaker 4: for six years she was the Attorney General. Alcohol is
• 5:50
  Speaker 4: a major part of all of this antisocial behavior and
• 5:53
  Speaker 4: dysfunction and what's going on with kids being out on
• 5:55
  Speaker 4: the street, and yet we continue to see government just
• 5:59
  Speaker 4: not review the band register, continue on with the minimum
• 6:02
  Speaker 4: flow price, and not bring in any mandatory rehabilitation for
• 6:05
  Speaker 4: chronic alcoholics. So something in that alcohol space needs to
• 6:08
  Speaker 4: happen more than a working group or a talk fest
• 6:12
  Speaker 4: around secondary supply. I mean secondary supply is being driven
• 6:15
  Speaker 4: out of the rigidity of some of the rules that
• 6:17
  Speaker 4: they haven't looked at or changed for six years.
• 6:20
  Speaker 3: And so until the.
• 6:21
  Speaker 4: Governments start to really look at alcohol as a major
• 6:24
  Speaker 4: issue and do something differently there, none of these other
• 6:27
  Speaker 4: issues are going to be resolved.
• 6:28
  Speaker 2: Leah.
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: One of the other topics that we have spoken about
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: over the last couple of days, we caught up, of course,
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: with the see of Central Property Group to talk about
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: issues with crime and anti social behavior. They obviously want
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: to see changes to the trespass legislation which would allow
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: them to ban troublemakers from the shopping center.
• 6:45
  Speaker 2: Leah.
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: Do you think that those businesses should be able to
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: ban troublemakers from entering their establishments or is the case
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: here that there is already that legislation in place but
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: we're not using it.
• 6:55
  Speaker 4: Look, we know that the legislation is already there. We've
• 6:57
  Speaker 4: gone back and had to look at that. Now if
• 6:59
  Speaker 4: governments again, is this just a re announcement by government
• 7:02
  Speaker 4: to sound.
• 7:02
  Speaker 3: Like they're doing something.
• 7:04
  Speaker 4: If it is that they're doing a review and looking
• 7:05
  Speaker 4: at toughening trespass laws, then we will back that all
• 7:09
  Speaker 4: the way.
• 7:09
  Speaker 3: Katie.
• 7:09
  Speaker 4: We believe in the rights of property owners and we
• 7:12
  Speaker 4: believe that people who do the wrong thing should have
• 7:14
  Speaker 4: less rights than people who do the right thing. I mean,
• 7:16
  Speaker 4: it's just really basic fundamentals about putting victims first. And
• 7:20
  Speaker 4: so if government are going to be toughening trespass laws,
• 7:23
  Speaker 4: then great, But so far all they've announced is a
• 7:26
  Speaker 4: current provision which means businesses and property owners can kick
• 7:29
  Speaker 4: people out for twelve months. But ultimately it's about how
• 7:33
  Speaker 4: do you enforce that.
• 7:34
  Speaker 2: I mean, well, that's going to be the difficult part.
• 7:36
  Speaker 3: It's a hard time.
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: You know. We'd heard from Warren Ebbert yesterday, the see
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: of Centinel Property Group that they're spending an enormous amount
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: of money on private security, a lot more than what
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: they spend on shopping centers into states, so we know
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: that it is an issue. Now. I do want to
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: talk to you though about this announcement that was made
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: yesterday by the Northern Territory government a Building Task Force
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: which is going to be made up of senior agency
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: representatives to review all government owned buildings in building control
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: areas as well as provide advice to government on appropriate
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: pathways to compliance with requirements of the Building Act of
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: nineteen ninety three LEA. Obviously, the headline here has been
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: TiO Stadium. We know that that sporting stadium has yet
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: to be certified under the Building Act of nineteen ninety three,
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: with the IKAC indeed launching an investigation into the matter
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: in March, do you think that this is a good
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: move or do you reckon it's a preemptive measure pending
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: the IKAC investigation.
• 8:32
  Speaker 4: I think everything we've talked about today, including these, is
• 8:35
  Speaker 4: a way for government to pretend like they're doing something.
• 8:38
  Speaker 4: I mean, this issue with TOO and other buildings has
• 8:40
  Speaker 4: been going on for years. It's only because IICAQ now
• 8:43
  Speaker 4: are in amongst it that the government need to be
• 8:46
  Speaker 4: seen to be taking steps. We've said all along. You know,
• 8:49
  Speaker 4: the government needs to be the model proponent in our community.
• 8:53
  Speaker 4: And so if it's good for the government not to
• 8:55
  Speaker 4: have to have an occupancy permit, why is the private
• 8:58
  Speaker 4: sector being held to a different stand And you know,
• 9:00
  Speaker 4: we expect people in the private sector to meet certain conditions,
• 9:03
  Speaker 4: regulatory frameworks, rules at great cost. Government has to be
• 9:07
  Speaker 4: the same and so this is really just a government
• 9:10
  Speaker 4: coming to the table very late in the piece. This
• 9:13
  Speaker 4: has been dragging on for years and unfortunately it just
• 9:17
  Speaker 4: seems very superficial to me.
• 9:18
  Speaker 2: It most certainly has.
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: I mean it's something that's been dragging on throughout both
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: sides of government, particularly with TiO Stadium. Should we be
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: doing more though right now when it comes to Toios Stadium.
• 9:29
  Speaker 4: Oh, without question, And this is something we've tried to
• 9:31
  Speaker 4: uncover in Parliament.
• 9:32
  Speaker 3: We've looked at it during estimates.
• 9:34
  Speaker 4: We have tried as have media outlets to get to
• 9:37
  Speaker 4: the bottom of what is going on with TiO Stadium
• 9:39
  Speaker 4: and what is the plan. But the government just continues
• 9:41
  Speaker 4: to treat Territorians with contempt around this issue. There's no
• 9:44
  Speaker 4: real information around whether it's safe, whether games should still
• 9:47
  Speaker 4: be being held, what the plan is, what the pathway
• 9:50
  Speaker 4: to an occypency permit is, and so Territorians continue to
• 9:53
  Speaker 4: be left in the dark on an issue that's really
• 9:55
  Speaker 4: important and doesn't meet any community expectation or standard.
• 9:59
  Speaker 2: Do you reckon we should still be having events?
• 10:01
  Speaker 3: Well again, we just don't know.
• 10:03
  Speaker 4: I mean, presumably it's safe enough, but then how can
• 10:05
  Speaker 4: it be safe enough if they can't have an occupancy permit.
• 10:08
  Speaker 4: So this is where government needs to start stop worrying
• 10:10
  Speaker 4: about you know how it looks, and start actually expressing
• 10:13
  Speaker 4: to the community what is actually going on so people
• 10:16
  Speaker 4: can have confidence. If it's just a paperwork issue, then
• 10:18
  Speaker 4: let's sort the paperwork out. But if it's a health
• 10:20
  Speaker 4: and safety issue, then more needs to be done.
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: Now. We have learned as well this morning that the
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: Northern Territory Government is defending its decision to spend almost
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: half a million dollars repairing the Howard Springs Quarantine Facility.
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: The center officially closes, as we know, on Thursday, and
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: according to a report by the ABC, less than three
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: weeks ago, the Northern Territory Government awarded a four hundred
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: thousand dollars tender to replace damage flooring in the kitchen
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: and common areas, saying that as the facility is on
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: standby to be stood up at any time, that those
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: repairs needed to take place and had to be done
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: at a time when the facility was empty.
• 10:58
  Speaker 2: Do you think that this is money well spent?
• 11:00
  Speaker 4: Well, my understanding is it's federal government money, and you know,
• 11:04
  Speaker 4: money well spent.
• 11:05
  Speaker 3: Who really knows, Katie. I mean we've been trying to.
• 11:08
  Speaker 2: Ultimately it's tax pased.
• 11:09
  Speaker 4: It is, it's a territory absolutely absolutely. I mean it
• 11:12
  Speaker 4: sounds dubious to me. What is the future of this facility.
• 11:16
  Speaker 3: We don't know.
• 11:17
  Speaker 4: We know it costs the territory government five million dollars
• 11:19
  Speaker 4: a year just to maintain it and keep it operational,
• 11:23
  Speaker 4: so I know the FEDS are tipping in just in
• 11:25
  Speaker 4: case we have another pandemic type situation. But that can't
• 11:28
  Speaker 4: continue on forever. And I think government need to sort
• 11:31
  Speaker 4: of be explaining to territories whether or not they're picking
• 11:34
  Speaker 4: back up the process pre COVID, which was going to
• 11:37
  Speaker 4: expression of interest around what that site or that facility
• 11:40
  Speaker 4: is going to be or what the longer term plans
• 11:42
  Speaker 4: are for because of course Impacts was always supposed to
• 11:45
  Speaker 4: sort of pack that up and move on, and government
• 11:48
  Speaker 4: decided to take it on at great cost every year,
• 11:51
  Speaker 4: and so what is the future of that facility going
• 11:54
  Speaker 4: to be? But we've certainly been trying to uncover where
• 11:56
  Speaker 4: we've heard stories of significant damage in that facility well
• 12:00
  Speaker 4: beyond the flooring, so you know, it's.
• 12:03
  Speaker 2: Why people who've stayed there.
• 12:04
  Speaker 4: Yeah, So it'd be interesting to see really if this
• 12:07
  Speaker 4: is just four hundred thousand dollars in those common areas,
• 12:09
  Speaker 4: of whether it's actual destruction everywhere Apple.
• 12:11
  Speaker 2: To get any of that info throughout the estimates, so
• 12:13
  Speaker 2: not that I'm aware of.
• 12:14
  Speaker 4: We're combing back through estimates obviously and all of the
• 12:17
  Speaker 4: answers to global questions, and we'll be submitting a lot
• 12:19
  Speaker 4: of questions has written questions now that estimates has closed.
• 12:23
  Speaker 4: But we're certainly keen to look at that. And I
• 12:25
  Speaker 4: think the government needs to be very transparent around what
• 12:27
  Speaker 4: is federal money and what is territory money, because of
• 12:29
  Speaker 4: course we had half a billion dollars given to the
• 12:32
  Speaker 4: territory government by the fence, so that money needs to
• 12:35
  Speaker 4: be used wisely.
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: Well opposition ly to Leo Fanocchiaro, we better leave it there.
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: Thanks so much for your time this morning.
• 12:40
  Speaker 3: Thank you. Take care everyone,