Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Matt Hepworth spoke with Independent Member for Goyder Kezia Purick

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Matt Hepworth spoke with Independent Member for Goyder Kezia Purick · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: We nearly three hundred real residents have packed a community
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: hall to address concerns of a crime wave in the area.
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: It comes as thirty four incidents have been reported to
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: police in the past twelve weeks. Police say the offenders
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: are targeting money, alcohol and cigarettes, but real residents are
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: say they are concerned for their safety. To talk more
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: about it, the independent member for Goida is Kesiopuric, and
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  Speaker 1: of course the Gouder electorate covers large parts of Darwin's
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: rural area and Kesy was there on the weekend. Kezier,
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: good morning.
• 0:29
  Speaker 2: Good morning Maddie. Not only targeting all those things and
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: stealing them, but they're also stealing cars. You know, it's
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: the usual thing, but regrettably people leave keys in cars
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  Speaker 2: and that's how these criminals get access to them so easily.
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: So that was a key message that came out of Saturdays.
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  Speaker 2: Much as we like to think we live in a
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: world that you know, are quiet, in peace and harm
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: there to leave my car and my house I'm lot,
• 0:51
  Speaker 2: that's not the reality anymore. So the message come from police.
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: You know, please lock your vailables, lot your cars, whatever,
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: or lot your property. If you have boundary fense. So
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: but it's a spike. It's a spike. And it's not
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: only predominantly bees Creek Virginia areas and that area, but
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: also Humpty dudes down the Gwyn's Lagoon around dream Time
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  Speaker 2: Avenue Road and also a little bit down Acasia. So
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  Speaker 2: they're youngish people from some people sect footage, but not
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: like ten or eleven type of age, but probably mid
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: teens and up. And people are very concerned, Maddie people.
• 1:25
  Speaker 2: You know a lot of people who live by themselves
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: have been old ladies or old men, or or just
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: young women. There was a very passionate young woman at
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  Speaker 2: the meeting who had above in a belly and a
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  Speaker 2: little eighteen month old and she was home alone hubby
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  Speaker 2: as of fifol and she had the tutor on the property.
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  Speaker 2: And when she rang, they said only coming to a
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  Speaker 2: couple of hours before a police cart can get there.
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  Speaker 2: And she said, well, I'm telling you now, I've got
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  Speaker 2: a gun. It's loaded, so there in about fifteen minutes.
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  Speaker 2: You know, it shouldn't have to resort to that, but
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  Speaker 2: that people are genuinely concerned for their taking, their families
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: and their property.
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: Yeah, that was one of the things I was quite
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: shocked reading some of the quotes from some of the
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: people like that meeting at the NT News across the weekend.
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: I mean, you know the quotes read can we shoot them?
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: Can we use our registered firearms if we fear for
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: our lives? I mean that's a worry if rural residents
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: are getting to that point.
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: Cazier, well, yes it is, Maddie, And of course police
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  Speaker 2: didn't condone that kind of activity, but you know, and
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  Speaker 2: a lot of real people do have license firearms for
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  Speaker 2: lots of reasons. I've got guns myself. But it's what
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  Speaker 2: the police said is if you apprehend someone, it's about
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: reasonable force. But you know, whether it means you jump
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: on them or you're not them with a cricket bat
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  Speaker 2: or whatever, you know, but it's about reasonable force, you know,
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: reasonable expectations, which is a very subjective thing. But the
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: two senior police officers there, Nathan Finn and his colleague
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  Speaker 2: and also Jennet Curfon to families, I mean, I answered
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: the questions as best they can. But some questions don't
• 2:53
  Speaker 2: have an answer. Why are parents responsible for these children?
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  Speaker 2: There's no answer to that, you know, like how long
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: the piece of streams but what is clear is that
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  Speaker 2: the Rule Area is being targeted. Now, whether it's an
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: organizational target or whether it's just coincidental is a moot point.
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: The fact is the Rule Air is seen, I think
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: as a soft target and that's got to stop. We've
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: got to look after our neighbors. And I think what
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: will come out of this matting is more of the
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  Speaker 2: formalized neighborhood watch groups we set up in the Rule
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  Speaker 2: Air and we had information on hand on Saturdays for that.
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  Speaker 2: And most people are pretty good at, you know, keep
• 3:31
  Speaker 2: an eye on what's going on in their street or row.
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: But I think they've just got to be extra diligent
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  Speaker 2: these days and report. I asked at one stage in
• 3:37
  Speaker 2: the meetings, don't hands up anyone who hasn't reported an
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: incident on their properties? About a dozen hands that we're up.
• 3:43
  Speaker 2: So the numbers the police have got and the numbers
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  Speaker 2: that the politicians of the Labor government and using are
• 3:48
  Speaker 2: not necessarily correct. So thirty seven I think thirty seven
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  Speaker 2: within twelve week periods. That's just in the Rule Area.
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: That's from just down to sort of Adelaide riverige Way or.
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: Rachela, Yeah, which I guess leads me to so the
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: next question, and I've got Matt hollanby from Anti Police
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  Speaker 1: and a little bit later talking about crime statistics, so
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  Speaker 1: it's something I'm keen to ask him as well. But
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  Speaker 1: do you think that there's an indication then that crime
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  Speaker 1: is actually being underreported in the rural area?
• 4:12
  Speaker 2: Yes, to do, Yes, I do, particularly in this last
• 4:15
  Speaker 2: say six months, and clearly there are people who put
• 4:19
  Speaker 2: their hand and said, no, we didn't report it. Now
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  Speaker 2: why do they not report it? One day, weren't hurt
• 4:22
  Speaker 2: or nothing was stolen, but two they see no point
• 4:26
  Speaker 2: because if they report it, you know, the police are stretched,
• 4:28
  Speaker 2: you know that Parmesan and elsewhere, so it's like, well
• 4:31
  Speaker 2: they'll get it for four o'clock in the morning and
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  Speaker 2: obviously by then, I mean the senior officer Nathan Finn said,
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  Speaker 2: I think over a weekend. Oh no, it was one night.
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  Speaker 2: I think he had two hundred incident in Parmeston alone.
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  Speaker 2: So you know, if we didn't have this high level
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  Speaker 2: of crime at the moment, the police resources wouldn't be overstretched.
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  Speaker 2: And when there was a serious the response time is
• 4:51
  Speaker 2: probably going to be quicker. So it comes back to
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  Speaker 2: the view or I think anyway, it comes back to
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  Speaker 2: the view within this criminal community or criminal element that
• 5:00
  Speaker 2: nothing will happen to them, there are no consequences. There
• 5:04
  Speaker 2: might be a little bit of correlation with tough economic
• 5:08
  Speaker 2: times and people losing jobs. There may be a bit
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  Speaker 2: of that, but I have no evidence to support that.
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  Speaker 2: But I think it's just opportunistic criminals stealing and taking
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  Speaker 2: and causing great distress to a lot of people in
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  Speaker 2: our community.
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  Speaker 1: Case here, it seem like the meeting was quite hated
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  Speaker 1: at times. Were people angry at police or the government government?
• 5:30
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean yeah, some people did try. I mean
• 5:33
  Speaker 2: they didn't mean to, but some people did sort of,
• 5:34
  Speaker 2: you know, say to the police, you know, what are
• 5:36
  Speaker 2: you doing about it's why take out the question. But
• 5:39
  Speaker 2: most of the people there were a level headed and said, look,
• 5:42
  Speaker 2: these people are one day here on a Saturday morning,
• 5:45
  Speaker 2: you know, doing their job, trying to talk to community,
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  Speaker 2: and you know they're taking that time out with it.
• 5:50
  Speaker 2: I mean they'll probably be working anyway. But no. Definitely
• 5:53
  Speaker 2: directed at the government and the perception, rightly or wrongly,
• 5:56
  Speaker 2: that the government is soft on these young criminals. That's
• 5:59
  Speaker 2: what was coming out clearly, and a lot of people
• 6:01
  Speaker 2: went away from the meeting were thinking, oh well, nothing
• 6:04
  Speaker 2: really much came out of that, but it should send
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: a very strong signal to the government, which will be
• 6:09
  Speaker 2: helped by myself, Jared Mayley from Nelson and Iansloan from
• 6:12
  Speaker 2: Daily will send them the information, send them the data
• 6:16
  Speaker 2: to say, you know, enough is enough. You know you
• 6:18
  Speaker 2: have to start to you know, not only address the
• 6:20
  Speaker 2: crime levels in the northern suburbs but also in the
• 6:22
  Speaker 2: rural area.
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  Speaker 1: Were you surprised that there were no government ministers there?
• 6:27
  Speaker 2: I was surprised that the government minister.
• 6:29
  Speaker 3: No.
• 6:29
  Speaker 2: I wasn't surprised that they were there, but I was
• 6:31
  Speaker 2: surprised that they didn't send someone. They should have sent
• 6:34
  Speaker 2: someone from their office. That happened before a public meetings
• 6:37
  Speaker 2: or you know, yes, the police were there, but that
• 6:39
  Speaker 2: police were organized directly and Jeanett Clerk from Territory Families
• 6:45
  Speaker 2: was invited directly or through the department. But both Minister
• 6:49
  Speaker 2: Manason for Police and Kate Warden for Territory Families were
• 6:52
  Speaker 2: both invited by Jared Maydy and as I understand it
• 6:55
  Speaker 2: not even a reply to the invitation. But they should
• 6:58
  Speaker 2: have had someone from the department. They're other than Janet Curve.
• 7:01
  Speaker 2: They should have had people from the Minister's office so
• 7:03
  Speaker 2: they could they can see firsthand not only the number
• 7:06
  Speaker 2: of people that took the time to come out for
• 7:08
  Speaker 2: the day, but what was being said and the sentiment
• 7:12
  Speaker 2: of people in the rural community towards the government, which
• 7:14
  Speaker 2: is not positive.
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  Speaker 1: The general consensus when we talk about this is, you know,
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  Speaker 1: the same line all the time, as something needs to change.
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  Speaker 1: Do you think based on this meeting on Saturday, that
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: something will change.
• 7:27
  Speaker 2: It will only change if it's pushed, and it has
• 7:31
  Speaker 2: to be pushed by people like myself and Jed mainly
• 7:33
  Speaker 2: in the insload, but it also has to be pushed
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  Speaker 2: by you know, individual people coming and seeing me telling
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  Speaker 2: their stories, or you know, if they feel so inclined
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  Speaker 2: and so intense about this, I'll give them the address
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  Speaker 2: to the minister's officers and they can write directly to them.
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  Speaker 2: It's only when we start to really show evidence and
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  Speaker 2: facts to these ministers and to the government will change happen.
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  Speaker 2: I know that there is a view by the CLP
• 7:58
  Speaker 2: that they want to bail access strengthen, and I agree
• 8:01
  Speaker 2: with that position. It just seems like a revolving door,
• 8:04
  Speaker 2: you know, there was some kids ahead on the news
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  Speaker 2: picked up on I don't know last weekeme a one
• 8:08
  Speaker 2: before ten times in the Northern taken home. You know, like,
• 8:12
  Speaker 2: what's the point of taking hummon if he I mean
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  Speaker 2: potentially he goes out on the street to run them
• 8:17
  Speaker 2: up do something. But the other thing, Mattie that was
• 8:19
  Speaker 2: a concern to some of the residents is these people
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  Speaker 2: have weapons on them. They have knives on them, and
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  Speaker 2: that one of those knives where the handle you can
• 8:29
  Speaker 2: put your fingers through it like a muckle duster. One
• 8:32
  Speaker 2: of those was left in a driveway with some tools
• 8:34
  Speaker 2: like screw divers and stuff. So if they're taking a
• 8:37
  Speaker 2: weapon with them, that means potentially that weapon could be
• 8:40
  Speaker 2: used on an innocent person and that's a big concern
• 8:43
  Speaker 2: to me and to the community.
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's bloody scary, I think hopefully.
• 8:48
  Speaker 2: Also the other thing, Mattie is that the police anti
• 8:52
  Speaker 2: police and also Turkey Families people will take back to
• 8:55
  Speaker 2: their organizations the outcome of the meeting and the comments,
• 8:58
  Speaker 2: and you know, they're doing their best. You know, they
• 9:02
  Speaker 2: say they.
• 9:03
  Speaker 3: Have people that they are aware of could potentially be
• 9:05
  Speaker 3: the perpetrators. But of course, you know, please have to
• 9:09
  Speaker 3: follow their due processes and gather evidence and intel before
• 9:13
  Speaker 3: any resk.
• 9:13
  Speaker 2: Can be made. Given time, I believe they will, They're
• 9:18
  Speaker 2: good at that kind of thing.
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: Well, we are going to catch up with the Police
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: Minister in just a few moments time, so hopefully we
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: can get some more answers there and think Independent Member
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: for going to Kisia Puric. Thank you so much for
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: taking time to chat to us this morning.
• 9:29
  Speaker 2: Thanks Bady, Bye bye