Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Alice Springs Mayor Matt Paterson hopes a new hybrid model for the community footy comp will reduce anti-social behaviour and see people return home after games

Transcript

Alice Springs Mayor Matt Paterson hopes a new hybrid model for the community footy comp will reduce anti-social behaviour and see people return home after games · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Now we know that over the weekend. It looks like
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: it was a massive weekend. In fact, in Central Australia
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: they had the west Max Monster get underway. Plenty of people,
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: there are hundreds of people taking part in that one,
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: and well from the look of those results, there was
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: a number of there's a number of grueling trail races
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: obviously that make up that running festival. Bush and Alice
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: Springs local Simon Juke smashed the course in a record
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: for the grueling two hundred and thirty one kilometer Sonda Monster.
• 0:29
  Speaker 2: Can you imagine running that far? That is insane.
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: But joining me on the line right now from Alice Springs,
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: it is actually the mayor of Alice Springs, Matt Patterson.
• 0:39
  Speaker 2: Good morning to you.
• 0:40
  Speaker 3: Matt, Good morning Katie, thanks for having me mate.
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: Looks like it was a massive weekend in Central Australia
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: with the west Max Monster underway. It sounds like it
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: all went pretty well. It sounds like it was probably
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: a positive time for Alice.
• 0:54
  Speaker 3: Yeah, and we also had opening of a new playground here,
• 0:58
  Speaker 3: we had the west Max, there were some fundraisers going on,
• 1:02
  Speaker 3: so it was a good weekend for our springs and
• 1:06
  Speaker 3: the residents. It was nice to all come together for
• 1:08
  Speaker 3: a positive change.
• 1:09
  Speaker 2: That is good to hear. How has it all been
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: going that?
• 1:15
  Speaker 3: I look, it slowed down, Katie, like that I can
• 1:17
  Speaker 3: say that with confidence it has slowed down. I mean
• 1:21
  Speaker 3: it's still in our face though, Like I'm not saying
• 1:23
  Speaker 3: that it's disappeared. It's still out and about. But we
• 1:26
  Speaker 3: always see any social behavior slow down at this time
• 1:30
  Speaker 3: of year because of the weather. I mean, you know
• 1:32
  Speaker 3: it's zero and one degrees overnight, so it does trend
• 1:35
  Speaker 3: this way over time. But it is giving the residence
• 1:38
  Speaker 3: a bit of relief, which is clearly a nice change.
• 1:41
  Speaker 2: Oh, absolutely and much needed.
• 1:44
  Speaker 3: Mate.
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: We know the Chief Minister was there on the weekend
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  Speaker 1: as well. Did you meet with her and are you
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: starting to sort of see any change in terms of
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: some of the different NGOs that are operating and some
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: of that funding flowing through.
• 2:00
  Speaker 3: Yeah, so we've seen some of the funding come through,
• 2:02
  Speaker 3: especially with the tweet. They'll be on the ground soon enough.
• 2:06
  Speaker 3: But look, as I've said, it's slide down hasn't disappeared.
• 2:09
  Speaker 3: We've seen some positives with the Monday Tuesday alcohol restrictions
• 2:12
  Speaker 3: as well, the domestic violence numbers have dropped. They're not
• 2:17
  Speaker 3: through the floor, but they've certainly dropped, So it is
• 2:20
  Speaker 3: it is coming along. I did meet with the Chief
• 2:22
  Speaker 3: as we opened the new park out at Kilgarriff on
• 2:26
  Speaker 3: the weekend.
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: So.
• 2:28
  Speaker 3: Obviously the Chief Minision and I catch up quite often,
• 2:31
  Speaker 3: which is great on our behalf. We've greatly received on
• 2:35
  Speaker 3: our behalf. So we'll continue to work with the Northern
• 2:37
  Speaker 3: Tertiary Government to try to address some of the challenges
• 2:40
  Speaker 3: that we continue to face.
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: Well, goodness, as you've had a lot a lot of
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: challenges in recent months. Now you mentioned then those extra
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: police on the ground, when are they sort of expected
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: to become operational.
• 2:53
  Speaker 3: I think at the end of the next month, is
• 2:56
  Speaker 3: my understanding, Cadio. That could be wrong, but that's my understanding.
• 2:59
  Speaker 3: So I said, there's a big bucket of police coming
• 3:03
  Speaker 3: and as well, we're getting some new police officers just
• 3:07
  Speaker 3: from the last group that has graduated. So I think,
• 3:11
  Speaker 3: as I've said many times, more passive surveillance the better
• 3:15
  Speaker 3: for us. And whilst we're seeing Monday Tuesday, we're seeing
• 3:19
  Speaker 3: less domestic violence. We can see we're seeing a few
• 3:21
  Speaker 3: more proactive police patrols, and you tie that in with
• 3:25
  Speaker 3: Lurtep that we're doing the traditional owner patrols day and night.
• 3:29
  Speaker 3: It's been that has been very well received, especially in
• 3:33
  Speaker 3: the CBD. So things are changing for the better in
• 3:37
  Speaker 3: town at the moment.
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: How are those alcohol restrictions going? As you said there
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: you know Monday Tuesday, it does mean that there are
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: less sort of call outs for domestic violence related incidents.
• 3:47
  Speaker 2: How are the restrictions going.
• 3:50
  Speaker 3: Yeah, we're seeing there was a suite of changes, so
• 3:55
  Speaker 3: it's hard to say which of the changes is the
• 3:58
  Speaker 3: one that's making the most effect. You'd have to speak
• 4:02
  Speaker 3: to industry about whether the alcohol sales are necessarily going down.
• 4:07
  Speaker 3: But the big change, and I've urged government on many
• 4:11
  Speaker 3: times if anything changes, don't change the one transaction per day.
• 4:16
  Speaker 3: So what happens is you have to scan your license,
• 4:19
  Speaker 3: but you can only buy go to one bottle shop
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  Speaker 3: per day. And that is what I believe is having
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  Speaker 3: an effect on lower secondary supply because people who sell
• 4:30
  Speaker 3: secondary supply, they don't go in and get twelve cartons
• 4:32
  Speaker 3: and twelve bottles of rum at a time. They're going
• 4:35
  Speaker 3: around to each individual takeaway outlet and buying a bottle
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  Speaker 3: and a bottle and a Carton and really going under
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  Speaker 3: the radar where this eliminates that. So this is the
• 4:43
  Speaker 3: one piece that you can make any change you want
• 4:46
  Speaker 3: going backwards, but do not change the one transaction per
• 4:49
  Speaker 3: person per day.
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  Speaker 1: It makes you like, it really makes me wonder whether
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: it's something that needs to be implemented across the territory,
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  Speaker 1: that one transaction per day.
• 4:57
  Speaker 3: Look, you know, as I said, we've had a suite
• 4:59
  Speaker 3: of changes, but you know, why do people need to
• 5:04
  Speaker 3: go to the bottle shop model months? You know, and
• 5:05
  Speaker 3: I understand that some people they might buy a bottle
• 5:10
  Speaker 3: of champagne and need to buy a bottle of wine
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  Speaker 3: and they don't have it, so they go to another shop.
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  Speaker 3: I understand that. But on face value, it's working. And
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  Speaker 3: I understand that, you know, Dale and Catterin are facing
• 5:20
  Speaker 3: some changes. So you know, it would be my recommendation
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  Speaker 3: to you to give it a go in the short
• 5:27
  Speaker 3: term to just see if it has any effect, because
• 5:31
  Speaker 3: things certainly couldn't have got any worse. It didn't feel
• 5:33
  Speaker 3: like an alice. They made that change and things are better.
• 5:36
  Speaker 3: So you know, I urge whoever's making the decisions, do
• 5:40
  Speaker 3: not change that one are going forward.
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's something I reckon that's worth worth us having
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: a bit of a closer look at as well. Matt, Hey,
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  Speaker 1: we know that last week or towards Friday, I think
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: it was, the Northern Territory Police said that they'd had
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: quite a large operation. They'd launched Operation Brentwood. They had
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: a three day traffic blitz and they also sort of
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: had a large scale drug and alcohol testing stations along
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: the Victoria Highway and Stuart Highway, and they and were
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: in a situation where they'd intercepted the car traveling from
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: South Australia to indigenous communities in Central Australia. Thirty nine
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: five liter casks of wine seized and destroyed. Then on
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: the eighteenth of May, forty five liter casks of wine.
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: I guess that sort of goes to show you as well,
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: doesn't it. How you know these different measures, Well, hopefully
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: they'll make a difference. I know in this case they'd
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: still had their hands on that alcohol to get out
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: to the communities.
• 6:35
  Speaker 2: But this is sort of why some of those measures
• 6:38
  Speaker 2: needs to be in place.
• 6:40
  Speaker 3: Yeah, and I think it's going to be a wake
• 6:42
  Speaker 3: up call to people who are doing secondary supply that
• 6:45
  Speaker 3: you know, they will be caught and I congratulate the
• 6:47
  Speaker 3: police on that task force. I think that it's it'll
• 6:50
  Speaker 3: obviously be well received and less alcohol going out to
• 6:53
  Speaker 3: the community is clearly better and beneficial for everyone because
• 6:57
  Speaker 3: the flow on effects. I mean, you know where we're
• 6:59
  Speaker 3: located on the map. We are a service hub at times,
• 7:01
  Speaker 3: so it takes you know, it doesn't bottleneck our health
• 7:07
  Speaker 3: system EI when things like that are getting restricted, So
• 7:10
  Speaker 3: it's well received.
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: Hey, Matt, Obviously there's been quite a bit of talk
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: and will now been quite a bit of movement by
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: the look of things on the situation with the footy
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: since we last spoke. It's looking as though the Central
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: Australia Football League competition is going to return to Alice
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: Springs following those negotiations between yourself and also the AFL
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: Chief Executive Gillan McLaughlin.
• 7:33
  Speaker 2: What changed from the council's perspective.
• 7:36
  Speaker 3: So it has already changed, Katie. We've rescinded that motion
• 7:39
  Speaker 3: to allow the footy back. They were here yesterday, the
• 7:43
  Speaker 3: ten teams, so I kicked off yesterday. Look, I think
• 7:48
  Speaker 3: we were trying to negotiate with AFL ANDT for eighteen
• 7:51
  Speaker 3: months to get to this point. We went from thirteen
• 7:53
  Speaker 3: weeks of football and other springs down to eleven, and
• 7:56
  Speaker 3: what was agreed on was four weeks. And what that
• 7:59
  Speaker 3: looks like is a week in Olus a week out Bush,
• 8:02
  Speaker 3: So we don't have people staying around who don't have
• 8:05
  Speaker 3: anywhere to live. People are coming in to play their
• 8:08
  Speaker 3: foot in and then they're going back to community, kids
• 8:10
  Speaker 3: are going back to school. I think it's a positive
• 8:13
  Speaker 3: outcome for all parties. I think everyone wins. But I
• 8:17
  Speaker 3: think what the important part is as well is it's
• 8:19
  Speaker 3: really raised the concernuty I feel that we've all been
• 8:23
  Speaker 3: saying about is the lack of infrastructure at Bush and
• 8:26
  Speaker 3: so AFOOL have certainly come to the party with that
• 8:29
  Speaker 3: because we should be having more community football on community,
• 8:32
  Speaker 3: not in our springs and having this hub and spoke
• 8:36
  Speaker 3: model or this hybrid model I think everyone benefits out
• 8:40
  Speaker 3: of and that's what we've seen on the weekend and
• 8:41
  Speaker 3: we'll see next weekend as well.
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: So a reduction in the number of rounds And how
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: did it go yesterday? How did it go with people playing?
• 8:51
  Speaker 3: Oh look, I think that they had a pretty good brief.
• 8:53
  Speaker 3: I mean the piece for our springs communities. We can
• 8:57
  Speaker 3: ramp up resources for four weeks and that's what's so
• 9:00
  Speaker 3: it's four weeks intown, four weeks out Bush. You can
• 9:02
  Speaker 3: really ramp up for those four weeks, and that's what
• 9:05
  Speaker 3: stakeholders have done. Look all wait and see the flower
• 9:10
  Speaker 3: one out of this weekend. Yet by all reports it
• 9:13
  Speaker 3: was you know, the community were on their best behavior.
• 9:16
  Speaker 3: Are people coming in they come in and less straight away.
• 9:18
  Speaker 3: So it was something that you know, we've spent talking
• 9:21
  Speaker 3: about for a long time and we finally got there
• 9:22
  Speaker 3: after months of negotiation.
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: Hey, Matt, On another separate issue, there has been issues
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: with rocks throwing in Alice Springs. It's something that you
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: and I have spoken about before. Last week in Parliament,
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: Robin Lamley raised the fact that a mosque was being targeted.
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: It's now being reported that multiple agencies, including the Northern
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: Territory Police and Territory Families are working together to try.
• 9:43
  Speaker 2: And stop you throwing rocks.
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: Well, not only at Alice Springs at their only mosque,
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: your only mosque that is in Alice, but also across
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: the board. Do you have any idea exactly what measures
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: are going to be taken to try to stop these
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: rock throwing incidents that you've seen an increase in.
• 10:01
  Speaker 3: Now, I'm not across all of the measures, and I'm
• 10:03
  Speaker 3: meeting with the masiplayer this week, but the majority of
• 10:08
  Speaker 3: rock throwing does happen over that side of town. And
• 10:12
  Speaker 3: you know, it happened to a friend of mine coming
• 10:14
  Speaker 3: home from the football on the weekend. So things just
• 10:17
  Speaker 3: need to you know, it's pretty scary the rock throwing,
• 10:21
  Speaker 3: seeing people lose their ryan Alice springs. We're pretty lucky
• 10:25
  Speaker 3: that it hasn't been any worse than that, which I
• 10:28
  Speaker 3: mean is pretty severe injury. So you know, it's pretty
• 10:32
  Speaker 3: harhous to be throwing rocks at a moving vehicle. I
• 10:35
  Speaker 3: don't know who's in there. You know, lots of people
• 10:36
  Speaker 3: have young, young kids over that side of town. So look,
• 10:41
  Speaker 3: I think clearly that needs to be addressed, and it's
• 10:44
  Speaker 3: great to see that the Northern CHURCHIY government have responded,
• 10:46
  Speaker 3: but hopefully the response is no more rock throwing from people,
• 10:51
  Speaker 3: and people who are caught with the rocks they need
• 10:55
  Speaker 3: to face consequences. Quite frankly, yeah.
• 10:57
  Speaker 2: It's pretty shocking stuff.
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: And she said, you know, we have seen someone lose
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: their eye over a rock throwing incident. We've spoken to
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: tour operators who've said that there were rocks being thrown
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: at tour buses. That was a little while back, but
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: nonetheless it's a serious concern and you just should not
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: have people on the street throwing rocks a moving cars.
• 11:17
  Speaker 3: No, I mean, it's it's hard to sad on that
• 11:21
  Speaker 3: it's happening, you know, and the severity of the things
• 11:24
  Speaker 3: that can go wrong from the scare. It's not just
• 11:27
  Speaker 3: the car. If you hit the driver, what happens is
• 11:29
  Speaker 3: a flow on. I mean, it's just it's ridiculous. And
• 11:34
  Speaker 3: as I said, then if people are caught or when
• 11:36
  Speaker 3: they're caught, then there needs to be consequences for the
• 11:38
  Speaker 3: actions because the damage that can do to people. And
• 11:44
  Speaker 3: you know, I'm not worried about the vehicles. I'm worried
• 11:46
  Speaker 3: about people's safety here. That's the priority. Just the damager
• 11:49
  Speaker 3: can be done, it's carnage. So we just yeah, needs
• 11:53
  Speaker 3: to be addressed.
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: Yeah, shock and stuff. Well, Matt Patterson, it's always good
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: to catch up with you. We really appreciate your time
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: this morning, mate. No doubt we'll talk to you again
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: very soon.
• 12:03
  Speaker 3: No worries, Katie, have a good day to you.
• 12:05
  Speaker 2: Too, Thanks mate,