Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Member for Tennant Creek Stev Edgington on what is being done as the allegations of violence and fears for staff safety at Tennant Creek High School escalate

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Member for Tennant Creek Stev Edgington on what is being done as the allegations of violence and fears for staff safety at Tennant Creek High School escalate · 360 with Katie Woolf

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  Speaker 1: But one of the issues that we spoke about a
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  Speaker 1: little earlier this morning and also discussed last week after
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  Speaker 1: it was revealed by the ABC and Tenant Creek that
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  Speaker 1: there is a situation at the Tenant Creek High School
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  Speaker 1: where teachers have signed a letter to the Northern Territory
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  Speaker 1: Education Department stating that every one of them felt unsafe
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  Speaker 1: at work, describing those conditions as traumatizing for students and staff.
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  Speaker 1: Now joining me on the line to talk a little
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  Speaker 1: bit more about the situation is the member for the
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  Speaker 1: Tenant Creek or the Barkley It is Steve Edgington. Good
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  Speaker 1: morning to you, Steve.
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  Speaker 2: Good morning Cody, and good morning to all the listeners.
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  Speaker 1: Steve, what are some of the concerns that are being
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  Speaker 1: raised at the moment by teachers and parents around the
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  Speaker 1: Tenant Creek High School.
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  Speaker 2: Well, certainly at the moment, looking at the ABC report
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  Speaker 2: and certainly speaking to different people in Tenant Creek, there
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  Speaker 2: has been some concern about the safety of teachers in
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  Speaker 2: the classroom. And my assessment at this point is clearly
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  Speaker 2: there are issues in the classroom, but some of these
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  Speaker 2: issues I believe are flowing into the classroom from what
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  Speaker 2: we're seeing in the community at the moment.
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  Speaker 1: In what way do you mean?
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  Speaker 2: Well, at the moment, if you look at we have,
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  Speaker 2: you know there's a range of issues, conflict between different
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  Speaker 2: groups in the community. But also when you look at
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  Speaker 2: the crime statistics. We've seen the crime statistics that have
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  Speaker 2: recently come out, which are extremely high numbers. And if
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  Speaker 2: you look at it, just in the last twelve months,
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  Speaker 2: three hundred and sixty three assaults, domestic violence related to
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  Speaker 2: assaults two hundred and seventy nine, alcohol related assaults two
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  Speaker 2: hundred and sixty And this is very alarming because when
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  Speaker 2: you start looking at these numbers together, that's nine hundred
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  Speaker 2: and two assaults over the last twelve months. And we're
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  Speaker 2: talking of a population of just three thousand, five hundred,
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  Speaker 2: So look at a third of the people when you
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  Speaker 2: add these numbers together, are victims of some type of assault. Now,
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  Speaker 2: we know that when we look at children, some of
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  Speaker 2: their behaviors at different times it can be seen as
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  Speaker 2: conflict between students. But what we're seeing at the moment
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  Speaker 2: is I believe some of their behavior is reflective of
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  Speaker 2: what's going on in the community. And when you look
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  Speaker 2: at the child protection statistics as well, it presents a
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  Speaker 2: very alarming picture and quite clearly the government has failed
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  Speaker 2: in this area. We need to be out there. There
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  Speaker 2: needs to be early intervention and prevention. There are children
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  Speaker 2: at risk, but the government doesn't seem to be acting
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  Speaker 2: anywhere near quick enough at the moment.
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  Speaker 1: And Steve, when you do talk about the situation then
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  Speaker 1: at the school, like it sounds like it's a much
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  Speaker 1: broader issue within the whole community. But when you look
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  Speaker 1: at that situation, then at the school, have there been
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  Speaker 1: issues of safety concerns raised with you as the local member,
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  Speaker 1: by parents as well?
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  Speaker 2: Let me think back, but look, I think there has
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  Speaker 2: over the last few years. You know, Look, I spent
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  Speaker 2: three years as the mayor of the Berkley Regional Council
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  Speaker 2: and there's certainly been a range of issues raised, mainly
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  Speaker 2: isolated incidents where students have fought each other. And when
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  Speaker 2: it comes to safety, it's about students fighting each other.
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  Speaker 2: But at the moment, what we're hearing is that the
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  Speaker 2: teachers themselves feel unsafe in the classroom. Now, this is
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  Speaker 2: very concerning because the teachers that I know and speak
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  Speaker 2: to in Tenant Creek, you know, we're talking about some
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  Speaker 2: fantastic teachers very professional people, and when these sort of
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  Speaker 2: incidents happen for a teacher to feel unsafe in the workplace,
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  Speaker 2: it says to me that more action needs to be
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  Speaker 2: taking because if you look at the classrooms set up
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  Speaker 2: right across the board in the Northern Territory, we are
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  Speaker 2: talking about some complex issues in Tenant Creek and it
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  Speaker 2: says to me that perhaps we haven't got sufficient resources
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  Speaker 2: to be able to tackle these issues in Tenant Creek.
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  Speaker 1: So what do you reckon needs to happen here or
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  Speaker 1: what do you do you think would see some improvements.
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  Speaker 1: I know we caught up with Tabby Fudge from nt
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  Speaker 1: COGSO a bit earlier this morning and she spoke about
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  Speaker 1: some different things that could potentially be occurring to try
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  Speaker 1: to help. From your perspective as a local member, what
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  Speaker 1: do you think could be happening in this space.
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  Speaker 2: Well, there's a whole range of issues and what we've
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  Speaker 2: seen over the last few years is certainly those assault
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  Speaker 2: numbers getting very high. But we've only got to go
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  Speaker 2: back to two thousand and eighteen. The government promised a
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  Speaker 2: four hundred and fifty thousand dollars integrated Specialist Family and
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  Speaker 2: Sexual Violence Hub to support women and children. Now, after
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  Speaker 2: four years that hasn't been delivered. We've seen the government
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  Speaker 2: promise family responsibility agreements. Now family responsibility agreements is an
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  Speaker 2: opportunity for an agreement to be put in place with
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  Speaker 2: the family with the children so that territory families can
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  Speaker 2: work directly with those families to tackles some of these
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  Speaker 2: underlying issues. When it comes to behavioral problems with young people,
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  Speaker 2: there needs to be parent responsibility. Territory families need to
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  Speaker 2: be working with parents, need to be working with families
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  Speaker 2: so that there's a proper structured intervention and identify and
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  Speaker 2: diagnose what some of the issues are with these young
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  Speaker 2: people so that proper treatment and programs and services can
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  Speaker 2: be put in place to work with these families.
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  Speaker 1: Well, Steve Edgington, we really appreciate your time this morning,
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  Speaker 1: and no doubt it is something that we'll talk more about.
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  Speaker 1: Thanks so much for coming on.
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  Speaker 2: Thank you very much, Katie, Good morning to all the listeners.
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  Speaker 1: Thank you