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Katie Woolf spoke with Sky News Matt Cunningham on his investigation in Alice Springs · 360 with Katie Woolf

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  Speaker 1: You're listening to Mix ONEOW four point nine is three
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  Speaker 1: sixty now. Mate. Matt Cunningham has been in Alice Springs
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  Speaker 1: over the weekend and he's filed an exclusive report. Matt
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  Speaker 1: joins us on the line right now. Good morning, Matt,
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  Speaker 1: get a Wilfee. Mate. What is this report? What have
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  Speaker 1: you been covering while you're in Alice?
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  Speaker 2: Well, Katie, we know that some of the issues that
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  Speaker 2: have been experienced in our springs over the past few
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  Speaker 2: months have been the subject of a lot of publicity.
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  Speaker 2: So basically what we've been investigating at Sky News is
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  Speaker 2: what might be driving some of those issues. So this
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  Speaker 2: is a freedom of information investigation that we've been doing
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  Speaker 2: for about three months now, but we've got the results
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  Speaker 2: of that investigation and what we were looking at is
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  Speaker 2: the impact of the increased sin link payments since the
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  Speaker 2: coronavirus pandemic and also the early access to superannuation. So
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  Speaker 2: as part of that freedom of information investigation, the access
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  Speaker 2: a heap of documents from the National Indigenous Australian Agency
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  Speaker 2: and what they're telling us will Fee this is not
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  Speaker 2: just in our springs, this is across the territory and
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  Speaker 2: in other Indigenous communities across the country. But what they're
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  Speaker 2: telling us is that they've been some serious and quite
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  Speaker 2: devastating unintended consequences from those payments. And they include issues
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  Speaker 2: such as increased expenditure on items such as drugs and alcohol,
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  Speaker 2: increased spending on gambling, Also issues with people accessing their
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  Speaker 2: super and then getting ripped off when they're buying used
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  Speaker 2: cars and the like. Also Aboriginal people being preyed on
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  Speaker 2: by loan sharks, people selling mobile phone So there's a
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  Speaker 2: whole host of issues that we have uncovered. Now, we
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  Speaker 2: also went to our Springs. We spoke to a lot
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  Speaker 2: of people down there because they are saying that you're
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  Speaker 2: seeing the impact of this playing out on the streets
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  Speaker 2: of our springs. Now, I went for a bit of
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  Speaker 2: a wander in our springs on Friday night, Willfee at
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  Speaker 2: around it at midnight, and I've got to say I
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  Speaker 2: was just shocked by the number of children, and in
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  Speaker 2: some cases very young children wandering the streets at Alice
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  Speaker 2: Springs on their own unsupervised. I would say that there
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  Speaker 2: were several dozens, perhaps close to one hundred children anywhere
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  Speaker 2: between probably seven and fourteen who were wandering those streets
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  Speaker 2: without an adult inside apart from a police officer at
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  Speaker 2: midnight one o'clock in the morning. And this is something
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  Speaker 2: that you know, community leaders, indigenous leaders down there, are
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  Speaker 2: linking to these increase in payments. I spoke to Michael
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  Speaker 2: little Guy, who runs an educational program for Aboriginal men
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  Speaker 2: down and Alice bring He said that you've just seen
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  Speaker 2: that increase since there have been those extra payments, and
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  Speaker 2: in particular since those biose security zones were lifted on
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  Speaker 2: the fifth of June, in the number of people coming
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  Speaker 2: to town drinking alcohol, accessing alcohol, and then you're seeing
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  Speaker 2: their children wandering the streets.
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  Speaker 1: And Matt, this may not come as a huge surprise
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  Speaker 1: to a lot of our listeners. I mean, you and
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  Speaker 1: I have spoken on numerous occasions on the week that was,
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  Speaker 1: and plenty of other occasions were about the issues that
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  Speaker 1: we're seeing in Alice Springs. But even up here in
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  Speaker 1: the top end a couple of or last week we
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  Speaker 1: caught up with Mission Australia. I believe you've done the
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  Speaker 1: same and places like Mission Australia and also the likes
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  Speaker 1: of Larikie and Nation obviously patrolling the streets up here
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  Speaker 1: in Darwin are busier than they've ever been.
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  Speaker 2: Yes, and I've spoken to Larakie Nation and Mission Australia
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  Speaker 2: as part of this investigation, Wilfy, We spoke to Michael
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  Speaker 2: Solis from Mission Australia and you've done the same. You know,
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  Speaker 2: they're saying that they've never been bus here. They've got
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  Speaker 2: a forty bed sobering up shelter out there at Berrima
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  Speaker 2: and they're really struggling to keep up with demand. Michael
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  Speaker 2: said that January was their busiest month on record. February
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  Speaker 2: was then busier again, So really that demand is there.
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  Speaker 2: It probably should be pointed out at the beginning of
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  Speaker 2: the pandemic, Wife there was some up side to this
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  Speaker 2: extra money, these additional payments we saw, and the documents
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  Speaker 2: show this a big increase in purchases at remote community
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  Speaker 2: stores and things like white goods, fresh fruit and vegetables.
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  Speaker 2: It even shows that in some cases, you know, one
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  Speaker 2: of the biggest issues at the beginning of the pandemic
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  Speaker 2: was that these stores were struggling to keep up with
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  Speaker 2: the demand. There were several stores that run out of flour,
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  Speaker 2: for instance. But to quite the documents verbatim, it actually
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  Speaker 2: says that the increased revenue for community owned stores can
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  Speaker 2: be seen as the only clear good news story, and
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  Speaker 2: sadly beyond that, there are many other stories and they're
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  Speaker 2: all pretty much bad news. So, like I said before,
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  Speaker 2: this increase in alcohol consumption, increasing gambling, increase in drug use,
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  Speaker 2: and also these instances of Aboriginal people with accessed there
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  Speaker 2: super clearly being ripped off by some pretty low lighted
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  Speaker 2: people who are praying on them, I think is of
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  Speaker 2: serious concern. And the what you made before is an
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  Speaker 2: interesting one as well, around the fact that this shouldn't
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  Speaker 2: come as a surprise to us, and we know from
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  Speaker 2: issues in the past about the impact of large sums
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  Speaker 2: of money going into people's bank accounts. We've seen it
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  Speaker 2: with royalty payments. We saw it, it's the baby bonus
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  Speaker 2: under the Howard government. We saw it was Kevin Rubb's
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  Speaker 2: stimulus package during the global financial crisis. So I know
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  Speaker 2: that they're talking in these documents, and obviously official people
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  Speaker 2: are talking about these being unintended consequences, but I think
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  Speaker 2: you cannot say that they shouldn't have been seen.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, so, Matt, we're too from here. I guess it's
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  Speaker 1: hard to know. We'll obviously end up seeing government reaction
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  Speaker 1: to your report, but it certainly, you know, it makes
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  Speaker 1: for some interesting to say the least viewing or listening
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  Speaker 1: at this point in time. But you know, we've got
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  Speaker 1: serious issues around the top end at the moment when
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  Speaker 1: it comes to alcohol abuse and also then in Alice Springs,
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  Speaker 1: as you've pointed out. You know, you were out on
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  Speaker 1: the streets in Alice in the early hours of the
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  Speaker 1: morning on Friday night and from the sound of it,
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  Speaker 1: what you saw was certainly pretty shocking.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, well, it's interesting. And I spoke to Robin Lambley
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  Speaker 2: as part of this investigation as well. She made the
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  Speaker 2: point she said that any Australian would be horrified if
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  Speaker 2: they walked the streets of Alice Springs at one o'clock
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  Speaker 2: in the morning with what they would see. And I
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  Speaker 2: think that's a really fair point to make. I mean,
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  Speaker 2: I remember going around the streets of Tenant Creek a
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  Speaker 2: couple of years ago Wolfe when the Prime then Prime
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  Speaker 2: Minister Malcolm Turnbull was there, and there are a few
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  Speaker 2: handfuls of young kids walking the streets. You know, the
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  Speaker 2: numbers of kids walking the streets of Alice Springs at
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  Speaker 2: one o'clock in the morning is remarkable and if you
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  Speaker 2: talk about where to from here, I know that the
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  Speaker 2: Prime Minister hasn't been to the Northern Territory since the
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  Speaker 2: last election. I think I would implore him to go
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  Speaker 2: to Alice Springs and to see what's happening there, because,
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  Speaker 2: as Robin Lambley said, that is some that should not
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  Speaker 2: be happening in a modern society in twenty twenty one.
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  Speaker 2: I would shock most Australians and I think you know
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  Speaker 2: it would pay the Prime Minister to go there and
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  Speaker 2: see it for himself.
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  Speaker 1: Well, Matt Cunningham, I'll tell you what, it's going to
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  Speaker 1: be interesting to see the reaction to your report today.
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  Speaker 1: Really appreciate you coming on the show this morning and
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  Speaker 1: we'll catch up with you again very soon.
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  Speaker 2: No worries.
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  Speaker 1: Thank you. Matt Cunningham. There from Sky News and if
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  Speaker 1: you'd like to call through today eight nine four one
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  Speaker 1: one oh four nine