Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / NT Police Association President Paul McCue says members are insulted by comments from the Chief Minister that police need to “step up”

Transcript

NT Police Association President Paul McCue says members are insulted by comments from the Chief Minister that police need to “step up” · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Yesterday's interview with the Chief Ministers raised eyebrows around the nation.
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: Many disheartened by her response with the issues in what's
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: going on in Alice Springs and left many wondering how
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: will the Northern Territory get out of this miss now?
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: The Northern Territory Police Association and members of the force
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: were quite rovable after some of the comments that the
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: Chief Minister had made. Take a listen to part of
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: that interview from yesterday.
• 0:25
  Speaker 2: One of the tasks of the Central Australian Regional Controller
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: is to look at those services and make sure they're
• 0:31
  Speaker 2: being funded and they're being run appropriately. I was briefed
• 0:34
  Speaker 2: yesterday afternoon and what the work that she is doing
• 0:38
  Speaker 2: is bringing together what is happening, what needs to be achieved,
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: and how we can deliver that. The Commonwealth Government are
• 0:46
  Speaker 2: at the table in terms of funding. For example, we
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: see people coming into Alice Springs to access services. Why
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: does a place like you and Demou not have those
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: basic services. It's identifying the issues around why people are
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: in townaging them with the services, and I think it
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: is Katie in two parts. There's the alcohol part, but
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: there's also the youth and the young kids and sadly
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  Speaker 2: that's generational. But we can't just say that as a response.
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  Speaker 2: We have to have an immediate response, which is why
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: police have been asked to step up, and I have
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: contacted the Police Commissioner to say I expect every resource
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  Speaker 2: to be placed into Alice Springs to support that community
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  Speaker 2: right now.
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  Speaker 1: So that was part of the interview yesterday with the
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  Speaker 1: Chief Minister. Now I caught up with the Police Association
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: President Paul Mchughe a little earlier this morning as he's
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: in meetings all morning. Take a listen to what he
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: had to say. Good morning to you.
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  Speaker 3: Paul, Good morning, Katie.
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  Speaker 1: Thanks so much for your time this morning. Now, what
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: were your concerns with the Chief Minister's comments yesterday?
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  Speaker 3: Well, I guess it was fairly insulting to hear the
• 1:51
  Speaker 3: words the police need to step up, and that certainly
• 1:54
  Speaker 3: came through loud and clear from the numerous members that
• 1:58
  Speaker 3: contacted us. Outraged at that statement, given what police have
• 2:03
  Speaker 3: really done for our government and our community over the
• 2:06
  Speaker 3: last three years. Particularly, you know, we had many officers
• 2:10
  Speaker 3: some contact us yesterday who have been up for twenty hours,
• 2:13
  Speaker 3: you know, dealing with law and order issues in remote
• 2:16
  Speaker 3: communities in major centers, and they just said, well, what
• 2:20
  Speaker 3: on earth do they want us to do? You know,
• 2:22
  Speaker 3: step up? What do they mean? I mean, we are
• 2:24
  Speaker 3: giving everything we've got. We clearly don't have enough to
• 2:26
  Speaker 3: do what's being asked, and to hear comments like that
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  Speaker 3: was pretty upsetting for them.
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: How are the police feeling at this point, Paul, I
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  Speaker 1: mean you touched on it, but just paint a picture
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: for our listeners of how police are feeling at the
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: moment in Alice Springs grappling with the issue of crime
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  Speaker 1: and alcohol issuse.
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  Speaker 3: Look, I guess I mean Alice Springs is certainly the focus,
• 2:46
  Speaker 3: but we know many officers have been dragged from other
• 2:49
  Speaker 3: areas across the entire territory, including our remote areas, to
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  Speaker 3: help deal with this issue, which is heavily Alice Springs focused.
• 2:56
  Speaker 3: But right now, of course they feel under attack. They
• 3:00
  Speaker 3: have been doing enormous amounts of work given the increased
• 3:03
  Speaker 3: levels of crime, and we've seen the statistics, you know,
• 3:07
  Speaker 3: in relation to our cohorelated harm and assaults, etc. So
• 3:11
  Speaker 3: you know, particularly over the last six months, those crime
• 3:14
  Speaker 3: levels of skyrocketed, yet our police numbers are still already
• 3:19
  Speaker 3: behind the apall and you get alone with those additional
• 3:21
  Speaker 3: crime increases. So they're doing it tough, they're doing enormous
• 3:25
  Speaker 3: amounts of overtime, and of course the impact on them
• 3:27
  Speaker 3: personally and their families is immeasurable.
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: What were officers saying to you yesterday after they'd heard
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: those comments, the step up comment, Well.
• 3:38
  Speaker 3: Some of them I can't read out to you on radio, Katie.
• 3:40
  Speaker 3: They were that upset. Emails, phone calls, text messages to me,
• 3:45
  Speaker 3: our team, many of our representatives. They were pretty upset
• 3:48
  Speaker 3: across the board, given you know, many of them sacrificing
• 3:53
  Speaker 3: enormous amounts to make sure you know, there is a
• 3:55
  Speaker 3: response capability there in Alison, across the entire territory. They
• 4:00
  Speaker 3: are working, as I've said, multiple hours of overtime each
• 4:03
  Speaker 3: fortnight to just meet roster demand. And so they were
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  Speaker 3: pretty upset. They were very, very upset, And you know,
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  Speaker 3: I think these sorts of careless statements don't have a
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  Speaker 3: place in the solution that people trying to find.
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: Have you had any response from the Northern Territory government,
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  Speaker 1: Has anybody reached out to you or anything like that?
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  Speaker 1: Following on from that discussion yesterday, but also then you
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: know the subsequent response from the Northern Territory Police officers.
• 4:31
  Speaker 3: Yeah, look, this morning, the Chief Minister did telephone me
• 4:35
  Speaker 3: to apologize for that statement. And no doubt she in
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  Speaker 3: hindsight listened to those comments and realized the impact that
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  Speaker 3: probably had on police officers. And we're hoping to see
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  Speaker 3: a statement from her or her office in relation to
• 4:51
  Speaker 3: this issue. Now, we did ask her to apologize. She
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  Speaker 3: has to me personally, but of course it's the members
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  Speaker 3: out on the road that really want to hear that,
• 5:00
  Speaker 3: and we're hoping to see that today.
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  Speaker 1: Right, So, I mean that's a pretty big movement. I
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: guess that she's actually made contact with you, so she's
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: recognized that that probably wasn't the right words to say.
• 5:13
  Speaker 3: Yeah, undoubtedly, And I guess that's all we ask. If
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  Speaker 3: people are you know, making statements and upsetting the very
• 5:20
  Speaker 3: people out there keeping us safe. You know, people should
• 5:24
  Speaker 3: never be too proud to pick up the phone and
• 5:26
  Speaker 3: make that apology, and the Chief Minister has done that.
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  Speaker 3: But of course, you know, there were several others statements
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  Speaker 3: made recently in relation to the forty additional officers and
• 5:35
  Speaker 3: making sure they remain in Alice Springs. I mean, those
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  Speaker 3: sorts of things are not achievable in the long term.
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  Speaker 3: We've only got several We've got you know, maybe twenty
• 5:45
  Speaker 3: or thirty police left there and al as a top up.
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  Speaker 3: That's not sustainable in the long term and there needs
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  Speaker 3: to be a better solution now.
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  Speaker 1: Paul, I know that you in that post that you
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  Speaker 1: put on social media yesterday following on from the interview
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  Speaker 1: you had said, you know that there's legislative changes that
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: have impact the force. What you know what legislative changes
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  Speaker 1: specifically do you feel as though I've had a massive
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: impact for the Northern Territory Police Force in terms of
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: them trying to do their jobs right now.
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  Speaker 3: Well, we've seen changes to the Liquor Act over the
• 6:15
  Speaker 3: last few years. We've seen changes obviously to the Bail
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  Speaker 3: Bail Act and you know what it means in terms
• 6:21
  Speaker 3: of breaching bail. And then of course probably the biggest one,
• 6:24
  Speaker 3: of course, was the cessation of the stronger futures and
• 6:27
  Speaker 3: not having any plan in place to ensure there was
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  Speaker 3: a transition period, you know, to enable communities to determine
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  Speaker 3: if they want alcohol in those communities or not. The
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  Speaker 3: switch was flipped overnight, and of course that impact was enormous.
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  Speaker 3: We're talking, you know, increases in attendance, you know, sixty
• 6:49
  Speaker 3: seventy percent to some jobs over that period since since
• 6:53
  Speaker 3: that legislation was removed, So that's probably been the biggest impact. Yeah.
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: I mean, I'll tell you what, I think everybody that
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: listens to this show knows how incredibly hard the Northern
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  Speaker 1: Territory police work and what difficult conditions it can be.
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  Speaker 1: Are our police getting fed up with having to you know,
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: to clean up and be there for a lot of
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: these different situations where you know, some of these policy
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  Speaker 1: settings could be better and could be different so that
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: it doesn't fall on them.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, And I think really we just want governments to
• 7:29
  Speaker 3: listen to the concerns of police. I mean, we undertook
• 7:32
  Speaker 3: a survey as you know last year. Over a thousand
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  Speaker 3: of our frontline officers responded to that survey ninety three percent.
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  Speaker 3: So we currently don't have enough police to do what
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  Speaker 3: we're being asked to do. That was before the significant
• 7:45
  Speaker 3: impacts of this stronger futures that we're removed. So you know,
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  Speaker 3: they are the people living and breathing the response requirements
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  Speaker 3: in our community every day. Yet whilst the governments say
• 7:58
  Speaker 3: we're listening. It doesn't have here to be the case.
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  Speaker 3: You know, we've got ninety three percent of police saying
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  Speaker 3: we don't have enough, and yet what are we doing
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  Speaker 3: about that? Nothing?
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  Speaker 1: Now, Paul, how are we going with those police numbers?
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  Speaker 3: Right now? We've got recruits, squads in but their and
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  Speaker 3: biggest concern remains, Katie, the attrition of police in the
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  Speaker 3: Northern Territory. We know the figure in the annual report
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  Speaker 3: from last year was in excess of ten percent. I mean,
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  Speaker 3: when that's one hundred and sixty officers per year walking
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  Speaker 3: out the door, that is incredible numbers when you think
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  Speaker 3: how challenging the recruitment of police around the countries at
• 8:39
  Speaker 3: the moment. We can ill afford to have an attrition
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  Speaker 3: rate like that, and I think that really comes back
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  Speaker 3: to lack of numbers on the road, that lack of
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  Speaker 3: feeling of support having enough police to do the job,
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  Speaker 3: and all of that falls back on the government to
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  Speaker 3: make a difference and they're clearly not. When you've got
• 8:54
  Speaker 3: those sort of numbers walking out of the door.
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  Speaker 1: Now, where are the pay negotiations at because let's be honest,
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  Speaker 1: it's obviously having a big impact here as well. I
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: was imagined I would imagine in terms of recruiting and
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  Speaker 1: retaining staff.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, huge impact, Katie. I mean we've been eighteen months
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  Speaker 3: now our members without a pay rise. In the same
• 9:11
  Speaker 3: time we've seen other jurisdictions such as Queensland, you know,
• 9:15
  Speaker 3: sign up a deal where their officers are going to
• 9:17
  Speaker 3: be getting well on excess of four four and a
• 9:20
  Speaker 3: half percent each year and other factors. So here we
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  Speaker 3: are eighteen months since a pay rise. It's twelve months
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  Speaker 3: since negotiators negotiations commenced with government and were yet to
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  Speaker 3: see an offer put to us that really justifies the
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  Speaker 3: incredible work that our police do out on the street.
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  Speaker 3: So we've got another meeting today. We look forward to
• 9:42
  Speaker 3: going to that meeting and hopefully seeing something put on
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  Speaker 3: the table that we're willing to put to our members.
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  Speaker 3: But I'm not overly confident at this stage.
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  Speaker 1: Now, Paul, I have been seen this morning as well
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  Speaker 1: a link to a story which has been posted by
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: the NTI Independent. Now it's been reported that a confidential
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: cabinet document photographed in the Police Minister Kate Warden's hands,
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: appears to show the files government intends to cut the
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: police budget in the middle of a crime crisis by
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: sixteen million dollars next financial year and are staggering thirty
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: one million dollars the subsequent three financial years later, with
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  Speaker 1: frontline staff reductions expected. That is what the Northern Territory
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: of the Anti Independent has said in a story. Have
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: you I mean as this, have you heard anything about this?
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  Speaker 1: And what is your reaction if that is indeed the
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: case iver heard thing about that?
• 10:38
  Speaker 3: Of course, no doubt governments are always looking at ways
• 10:41
  Speaker 3: to save money. But the last thing you want to
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  Speaker 3: do right now, regardless of what that document says, is
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  Speaker 3: to cut frontline staffing. I mean, policing is critical. We've
• 10:50
  Speaker 3: seen that, you know, no more than the COVID pandemic,
• 10:53
  Speaker 3: where we needed to deploy enormous amounts to numbers to
• 10:57
  Speaker 3: various parts of the territory. I mean, if you've got
• 10:59
  Speaker 3: any any hope of you know, regaining the trust of
• 11:03
  Speaker 3: the territory, regaining you know, the trust of the police
• 11:06
  Speaker 3: officers here, the last thing you want to be doing
• 11:08
  Speaker 3: is looking at cutting those services. But certainly nothing we've
• 11:12
  Speaker 3: seen and we sincerely hope that he's not going to
• 11:15
  Speaker 3: be the case, and he is to come because that
• 11:17
  Speaker 3: would be a disaster for the Northern Territory.
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: Well particularly you know, we've just spoken about those pay negotiations.
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  Speaker 1: We're just talking about the issues that we're grappling with
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: here in the Northern Territory. I, like I I'd be
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: absolutely stunned if they go down that path, given the
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: crime crisis that we've got.
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  Speaker 3: It dumbfounds me really when you've got obviously there's there's
• 11:39
  Speaker 3: a lot of talk at the moment around you know,
• 11:41
  Speaker 3: should we bring in the FED. Shouldn't we bring in
• 11:43
  Speaker 3: the FEDS? We need forty extra cops here or forty
• 11:45
  Speaker 3: extra police here. You know, we actually don't have a
• 11:50
  Speaker 3: deployment capability in the long term for those sorts of
• 11:52
  Speaker 3: numbers as it is yet alone looking at cut cutting
• 11:55
  Speaker 3: staff into the future, that would be that would be
• 11:57
  Speaker 3: an absolute disaster.
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: Yeah, Paul, just on those on the calls for the
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: FEDS to come in. And I know that you and
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: I have spoken about this before, but you know, look,
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: would it actually help? And you know this in no way,
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: shape or form is a criticism towards our Northern Territory police.
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: I see it as being a support for our Northern
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: Territory police to be able to potentially assist them if
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: that is what is required.
• 12:24
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean we've seen it in the past. Obviously
• 12:26
  Speaker 3: under the Stronger Futures on the Intervention of two thousand
• 12:30
  Speaker 3: and seven and then of course through COVID, we had
• 12:32
  Speaker 3: several federal police deployed across the territory to assist. So
• 12:36
  Speaker 3: it is a short term measure. But more importantly, and
• 12:40
  Speaker 3: something we've been putting out to the government for some time,
• 12:43
  Speaker 3: is you know we've got seventy five or thereabout some
• 12:47
  Speaker 3: police auxiliary liquor inspector positions across the territory that are
• 12:52
  Speaker 3: really restricted in the duties they can do. Now quite simply,
• 12:56
  Speaker 3: those positions, frankly need to be converted to constable positions,
• 13:00
  Speaker 3: seventy five more comfortable positions that can be deployed across
• 13:04
  Speaker 3: the entire territory, and you wouldn't need that, or that
• 13:06
  Speaker 3: question wouldn't be there about support from the FED.
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: Well, Paul mchue, the president of the Northern Territory Police Association,
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: I always appreciate your time. I'm pleased to hear that
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: the Chief Minister did get in contact with you yesterday
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: following on from those remarks and we'll wait and see
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: if a statement comes out, but thank you very much
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: for having a chat with us this morning.
• 13:25
  Speaker 3: No worry, Thanks Katie, thank you