Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Alice Springs Mayor Matt Paterson hopes new accommodation for youth will not become a drop-in centre and that operators receive adequate funding for it to make a difference

Transcript

Alice Springs Mayor Matt Paterson hopes new accommodation for youth will not become a drop-in centre and that operators receive adequate funding for it to make a difference · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: As we know, the Chief Minister are set on the
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: show yesterday that Salt Bush Social Enterprises are going to
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: be partnering with the Northern Territory Government to increase safe
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: spaces for children through the Safe Place Accommodation and Support
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: Program in Alice Springs. This program is going to be
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: providing expanded temporary accommodation for young people who are out
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: at night, unsupervised, considered to be at risk, and who
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: have nowhere safe to go. The Mayor of Alice Springs,
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: Matt Patterson, joins me on the line. Hi, Matt, good.
• 0:30
  Speaker 2: Morning, Katie, Good morning listeners. Thanks for having me again.
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: Yeah, good to speak to you. And look, you know
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: you and I have spoken on numerous occasions about the
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: issues being experienced in Alice Springs and now it does
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: seem azoh we're seeing some action. What was the reaction
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: to yesterday's announcement in Alice Springs when the Minister for
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: Police and Territory Families, Kate Warden, came out and said
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: that there is going to be an increase in these
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: safe spaces for kids.
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think it's welcomed. Time will tell Katie about
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: if it's effective or not and I'm certain they're not
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: going to knock anything that's being implemented. You know, it's
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: a trial and they're a peace and so obviously more
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: safe places for young kids is better for the community,
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: it's better for the kids. So we'll wait and see
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: what happens. You know, it's sort of a business as
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: usual approach thought Bush has been there for a little while.
• 1:25
  Speaker 2: The only worry I have is that the kids can
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: freely leave and so you know they're going to get
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: dropped there. Is it just a halfway house effectively, But look,
• 1:34
  Speaker 2: time will tell, and obviously I welcome the announcement by NTG. Yeah.
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: Well, and the Chief Minister didn't really reveal the exact
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: locations with us yesterday. I don't know whether that detail
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: has come out in Alice Springs. But in terms of
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: the location, I know that Counselor Michael Little had raised
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: some concerns about it being too close to the city.
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: Is that a concern?
• 1:59
  Speaker 2: Look it is. I mean, you know it is in
• 2:02
  Speaker 2: the in the suburbs. It's down Gap Road, so it
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: is you know, only a kilometer and a half walking
• 2:07
  Speaker 2: to the CBD, which we know that these kids will
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: will do if they choose to. So look, I think
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: you know, there's got to be other places that can work.
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: But you know, time will tell, and I think that,
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: as I said, I'm not going to knock any anyone
• 2:20
  Speaker 2: or any level of government for trying things. It's just
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: going to be you know, funded, probably resource or propably,
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: let's see if it works or it doesn't work, and
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: then adjusted as we go from there. So, as I said,
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: time will tell, and the stats will we'll be able
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: to give us some numbers and has been utilized or not.
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: Has the Minister sort of given any time frame as well,
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: or the KPIs that they're going to be keeping an
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: eye on as to whether it is or isn't working.
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: I reckon the people of value are going to be
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: certainly keeping a real close eye on it and able
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: to tell pretty quick whether it's working or not.
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, you know, the one thing that is
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: working that we can see is the forty five police
• 2:57
  Speaker 2: we've got and so you know that is just the
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: perception of the community starting to feel safe again, which
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: is obviously quite difficult to get back once you've lost that.
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: So you know, in regards to this, I mean there's
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: still kids out on the street and you know, yes
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: it might not be illegal to be out on the street,
• 3:15
  Speaker 2: but it doesn't mean it's safe either. So you know,
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: the kpies whatever they are for the minister, we'll wait
• 3:20
  Speaker 2: and see. But look, as I said, if it's funded
• 3:23
  Speaker 2: properly resource probably then it has my support as a trial.
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: Matt, you mentioned just before that it's not going to
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: be sort of compulsory for kids to stay there if
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: they are if they do go there at night, or
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: if they are taken there that like, that does sound
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: a bit of a worry that they can just come
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: and go as they please.
• 3:43
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that's right. And then it does turn you know,
• 3:45
  Speaker 2: what we've seen is for many years, you know, there
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: is a UTH bus that picks up kids off the
• 3:51
  Speaker 2: street and takes them home, and the kid that gets
• 3:54
  Speaker 2: dropped off first usually beats the bus back into town.
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: So it does turn into a bit of a game
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: of caut and mouse, And I hope that it does
• 4:04
  Speaker 2: have some positive change for these kids, because being on
• 4:08
  Speaker 2: the street at two am is not a safe place
• 4:11
  Speaker 2: and there's really no future there. You know, we keep
• 4:15
  Speaker 2: doing the same thing over and over again. It's not
• 4:17
  Speaker 2: going to change anything. So That's why I do welcome
• 4:19
  Speaker 2: this change and hopefully it does work.
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I think everybody is hoping that it's going to
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: have an impact. And like you touched on before, one
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: thing that certainly had an impact is that increased police presence.
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: Any word at this stage match as to how long
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: that increased police presence is going to be sticking around
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: or whether there is going to be some additional police
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: over the Christmas period.
• 4:42
  Speaker 2: Yes, So I met with the commissioner last week. He
• 4:44
  Speaker 2: was in our springs and obviously I put my peace
• 4:47
  Speaker 2: thought about don't take them away at all. Look, I
• 4:50
  Speaker 2: think it will go in to early next year. We
• 4:52
  Speaker 2: won't have the full forty five, but we will get
• 4:54
  Speaker 2: some extra police through graduation that gets sent down to
• 4:58
  Speaker 2: our springs, so that will be welcome as well. You know,
• 5:01
  Speaker 2: we're ramping up. We know that it's going to be
• 5:02
  Speaker 2: a busy few months, as it always is this time
• 5:05
  Speaker 2: of year in regards to crime. So we're just hoping that,
• 5:08
  Speaker 2: you know, the presence of the police is felt within
• 5:10
  Speaker 2: the community. As I said Katie last week, they were
• 5:14
  Speaker 2: you know, they're on the horses, they are on the motorbike.
• 5:16
  Speaker 2: It's just the visual presence of the police made people
• 5:19
  Speaker 2: feel safe and so completely welcome on behalf of the
• 5:23
  Speaker 2: community with the extra police here.
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: Yeah, Matt, what have people been saying around town? You know,
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: as those additional police are there and as things have
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: calmed down, and I'm assuming that the place has started
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: to feel like the good old Alice Springs, what have
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: people been saying?
• 5:38
  Speaker 2: Ah, Look, just that you know, the big one is
• 5:40
  Speaker 2: that people have said that they feel safer in the
• 5:44
  Speaker 2: streets because of the police. And you know, crime happening
• 5:48
  Speaker 2: is one thing, the perception of feeling unsafe is another.
• 5:51
  Speaker 2: But when you were starting to feel safe again, then
• 5:53
  Speaker 2: you can start to get some hope back that other
• 5:55
  Speaker 2: Springs is, as you said, going back to the good
• 5:59
  Speaker 2: old days. And I don't think that it's you know,
• 6:02
  Speaker 2: I think clearly more resources here on the ground and
• 6:05
  Speaker 2: what is needed, and we've seen that through you know,
• 6:08
  Speaker 2: the numbers of alcohol tip dowt, the people that have
• 6:11
  Speaker 2: been taken off the streets. So look, it is a positive,
• 6:15
  Speaker 2: positive feedback from the community and very.
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: Welcomed because there's always that discussion. You know, you can't
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: arrest your way out of these issues, and no one's
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: suggesting that you can, but it does, like it has
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: really shown that with additional police, there does seem to
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: be people behaving in a much better way and a
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: way that a lot of people, you know, just expect
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: you to behave.
• 6:36
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, that's right, and you know that that old
• 6:39
  Speaker 2: analogy can't arrest our way out of it. But what's
• 6:42
  Speaker 2: happening is you've got proactive police and so the crime
• 6:46
  Speaker 2: is actually not happening in the first place because they
• 6:49
  Speaker 2: can you know, they put water on the fire straight
• 6:52
  Speaker 2: away and it happens before an event occurs. And so
• 6:56
  Speaker 2: that's what we're seeing is you know, with the presence
• 6:59
  Speaker 2: is because it's not getting to that stage of a
• 7:02
  Speaker 2: crime happening, and it limits antisocial behavior. So, as I said,
• 7:06
  Speaker 2: it is very welcomed. More police are having an effect
• 7:10
  Speaker 2: on the community and we clearly we don't want the
• 7:13
  Speaker 2: police to leave our springs.
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: Well, Matt Patterson, the mayor of Alice Springs, good to
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: speak to you again this morning, and good to hear
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: that there is some action, you know, taking place in
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: Alice Springs right now, and I do hope that it
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: continues to remain calm.
• 7:27
  Speaker 2: Yes, me too, Kadion, Thank you for the chat as
• 7:29
  Speaker 2: away Yeah, thanks mate,