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Katie Woolf spoke with Police Association President Paul McCue · 360 with Katie Woolf

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  Speaker 1: Mix one O four point nine dot com dot for
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  Speaker 1: all the latest news and information. Now three sixty with
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  Speaker 1: Katie Wolf. Everyone is listening Mix one oh four point
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  Speaker 1: nine one hundred percent.
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  Speaker 2: It is twenty three minutes after ten o'clock and joining
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  Speaker 2: us live in the studio is Police Association President Paul Mchughue.
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  Speaker 3: Good morning, Paul, Good morning Katie.
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  Speaker 2: Now, Paul, I want to talk about school based constables
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  Speaker 2: in just a couple of moments. But firstly, over the
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  Speaker 2: weekend assaults on police officers. We heard in the local
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  Speaker 2: news just a little while ago a police officer was
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  Speaker 2: spat on in Palmerston overnight.
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  Speaker 3: But I believe that that's not the only incident.
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  Speaker 4: No, another vile disgusting act, Katie. Obviously, these police are
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  Speaker 4: out there every single day keeping us safe, and yet
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  Speaker 4: again we've sent examples over the weekend. I know there
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  Speaker 4: were some officers punched and spat out over the weekend.
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  Speaker 4: It's a vile, disgusting act. We know it is. You know,
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  Speaker 4: I know community expectation would be those people who dealt
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  Speaker 4: with harshy by the courts. We've had some discussions with
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  Speaker 4: the government on this in terms of their second term
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  Speaker 4: of government. We want to see some change. I mean,
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  Speaker 4: I think frontline workers have had a gutfull. They don't
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  Speaker 4: go out there to get punched and assauld and spat
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  Speaker 4: at every single day. I mean, we've seen a pandemic
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  Speaker 4: bring the world to its knees and police are very
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  Speaker 4: much on the front line of that pandemic. So this
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  Speaker 4: is a this is a terrible incident.
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  Speaker 3: Well, what needs to happen here?
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  Speaker 2: I mean even on Friday or Thursday last week we
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  Speaker 2: spoke to the paramedics. They'd had a similar situation where
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  Speaker 2: that had a couple of paramedics assaulted. But what needs
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  Speaker 2: to happen here? I mean does the legislation need to change?
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  Speaker 2: Are we tough enough on people when they actually do
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  Speaker 2: assault a frontline worker? Yeah?
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  Speaker 4: I think what the problem we've got here in Northern
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  Speaker 4: Territory in terms from our perspective, is that minimum sentence here.
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  Speaker 4: I mean we talk about maximum penalties and in the
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  Speaker 4: Northern Territory they're quite strong assaults on police. You know,
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  Speaker 4: if there's serious harm involved, can be up to fourteen
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  Speaker 4: fifteen years as a maximum. But it's those minimum sentencing
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  Speaker 4: provisions is what we need to have a look at
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  Speaker 4: here in the territory and spoken with the Minister several
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  Speaker 4: times about this, and it's high on our agenda, it's
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  Speaker 4: high on our member's agenda, and it's clearly something needs
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  Speaker 4: to change because the community or those out there that
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  Speaker 4: feel they can take to police and take to frontline
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  Speaker 4: workers by spitting, kicking and punching and worse, are not
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  Speaker 4: getting the message.
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  Speaker 3: It's disgraceful behavior.
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  Speaker 2: Hey, let's move along and talk about our school based
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  Speaker 2: police program. And I know that this is something that's
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  Speaker 2: been spoken about really for some time. We caught up
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  Speaker 2: with the Education Minister on Friday and she said, I
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  Speaker 2: believe that there's three officers operating back here in the
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  Speaker 2: top end, and then I think there's one that is
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  Speaker 2: based in Catherine.
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  Speaker 3: At the moment.
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  Speaker 2: When we talk about those school based constables, where are
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  Speaker 2: things at from your perspective.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, Look, obviously it's a hot topic of the mail.
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  Speaker 4: We've seen some pretty bad instances over the weekend and
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  Speaker 4: last week in terms of violence at schools, But certainly
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  Speaker 4: there's not a full complement of school based constables at
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  Speaker 4: the moment. That program, I guess remember has been around
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  Speaker 4: since the late eighties. You know, it's been a very
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  Speaker 4: successful program over a long time. But right now, obviously
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  Speaker 4: there's a lot of constables that should be doing that role,
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  Speaker 4: doing other roles because of obviously COVID requirements and the likes.
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  Speaker 4: So you know, as far as where that program's heading
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  Speaker 4: in the future, we have had no conversations from anyone
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  Speaker 4: around that.
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  Speaker 2: Well, the Education Department set or the Education Minister, i
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  Speaker 2: should say, said on Friday that she understood that the
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  Speaker 2: police or Police Minister had been in consultation with the association.
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  Speaker 3: Is that not the case.
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  Speaker 4: It's complete rubbish, Codie. I don't know where that comes from.
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  Speaker 4: We heard rumors around a month or so ago that
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  Speaker 4: the police and the government we're looking into this program.
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  Speaker 4: It is more than disappointing from our perspective that here
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  Speaker 4: we go again. There's clearly some change underway that is
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  Speaker 4: going to affect some of our members considerably, and we're
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  Speaker 4: hearing about it in the public domain. We had the
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  Speaker 4: Minister come out in Parliament talking about it. We've had
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  Speaker 4: the Education Minister now say that they're in a consultation
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  Speaker 4: with us, which is nonsense. We've had no formal notification
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  Speaker 4: whatsoever on this issue.
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  Speaker 2: Hang on, what are you worried about exactly what do
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  Speaker 2: you think is going to happen here, that they're going
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  Speaker 2: to change the program and that they haven't actually told
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  Speaker 2: the association that represents those offices.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, So what we're talking about is we've got a
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  Speaker 4: raft of constables for the sworn constables that are deployable
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  Speaker 4: across the territory currently working in school based position roles. Obviously,
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  Speaker 4: if there's an intention from government, as the Minister has
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  Speaker 4: pointed out in Parliament, to look at expanding auxiliaries into
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  Speaker 4: that role, that will clearly affect those constables in those positions.
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  Speaker 4: Now for them to hear that in the public domain
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  Speaker 4: before any opportunity from us to address them, for the
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  Speaker 4: Department importantly to go out and talk to them about
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  Speaker 4: it is completely improper and against the agreements we have
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  Speaker 4: in place signed by the government, US and the Commissioner,
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  Speaker 4: and it's very disappointing.
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  Speaker 3: Are they concerned these constables?
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  Speaker 4: Absolutely? I mean wouldn't you be. You're in a position
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  Speaker 4: suddenly hearing in the public domain that your job might
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  Speaker 4: be on the line. And as an association, our job
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  Speaker 4: is to give them advice when these things happen, When
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  Speaker 4: change happens, we can't give that advice because we don't
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  Speaker 4: actually know what they're intending to do.
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  Speaker 3: Paul, I do just want to ask you very quickly.
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  Speaker 2: I know you and I spoke a couple of weeks
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  Speaker 2: ago or about a week ago about the Darwin watch
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  Speaker 2: House and whether it was going to reopen.
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  Speaker 3: Any update there from your perspective.
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  Speaker 4: Nothing at this stage. I know discussions I've had with
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  Speaker 4: one of our deputy commissioners as they are intending to
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  Speaker 4: look at reopening that at very minimum on the busier nights. Look,
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  Speaker 4: our position is very clear it should be open. It
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  Speaker 4: is ridiculous our members have to drive the air and
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  Speaker 4: a half return trip to Parmeston to drop a prisoner off.
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  Speaker 4: So our positions it should be opened sooner rather than later.
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  Speaker 2: Would that be adequate for it to be open sort
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  Speaker 2: of part time by the sounds of us.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, obviously they're talking about potentially. I mean you can
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  Speaker 4: never never know when a busy night's going to be,
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  Speaker 4: but generally Thursday, Friday, Saturday nights for example, would be
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  Speaker 4: perhaps the proposal. But it should be open twenty four
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  Speaker 4: to seven.
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  Speaker 3: We'll keep a close eye on that.
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  Speaker 2: One President of the Police Association, Paul mchue. Always good
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  Speaker 2: to catch up mate, Thanks for your time, Thank you.
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