Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Katie Woolf spoke to Larrakia Nation CEO Robert Cooper

Transcript

Katie Woolf spoke to Larrakia Nation CEO Robert Cooper · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Three sixty with Katie Wolf thanks to Joyce Main Darwin
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: Homes own Stuart Highway, Berrima.
• 0:06
  Speaker 2: It's thirteen minutes away from eleven o'clock and we'll joining
• 0:10
  Speaker 2: us live in the studio right now is the CEO
• 0:13
  Speaker 2: of Larakia Nation, Robert Cooper.
• 0:15
  Speaker 3: Good morning to you, Robert.
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: Good morning Katie.
• 0:17
  Speaker 3: It's good to be back.
• 0:18
  Speaker 2: It's great to have you in the studio now. Last
• 0:21
  Speaker 2: week you and I and Michael Solo caught up. I
• 0:24
  Speaker 2: think it was about this time last week as well,
• 0:27
  Speaker 2: ahead of the forum that was being held with well
• 0:31
  Speaker 2: with a number of different groups and politicians of each
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: level of government trying to find a solution with some
• 0:38
  Speaker 2: of the issues that we've got at the moment in
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: the territory when it comes to the misuse of alcohol.
• 0:42
  Speaker 3: How did that forum go?
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: It went really well, Katie. We had round about forty
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: five to fifty people there. We had all three tiers
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: of government, we had a whole heap of the NGOs,
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: we had people there from the police. We even had
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: some traditional owners from what I turn up for a
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: short time to join us and to listen to the conversation.
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: So we came away with a series of outputs, and
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: we are now in the process of forming a steering
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: group to take the whole proposal forward.
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: That's fantastic that you had such a good turnout and
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: such a diverse turnout.
• 1:16
  Speaker 3: By the sounds of it. What were some of those outputs.
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: So the identified some of the barriers. One of the
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: decisions we've made is to keep the discussion around the
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: facility and the public domain so that those people who
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: don't understand it or who are initially opposed to it
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: get their their views and we can then have that
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: discussion with them before we put the proposal up to government,
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: so that there are no hidden agendas coming out, so
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: that there are the opportunities to address the problems we've identified.
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: The first one obviously is going to be location, where
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: are we going to put the facility. The second one
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: is the time frame and the ramp up to get
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: it operating, because initially we don't necessarily need a lot.
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: Our clients are telling us somewhere safe to sleep, an
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: ablution's block and someone to current their phones. And probably
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: the third one will be how we manage the safety
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: at the facility. So there's been one of the issues
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: raised is that it's going to allow people just to
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: have uncontrolled drinking in a safe space, and that's not
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: the issue at all. All we're looking to do is
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: to take what is happening in the public space now
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: put that into a safe space where we can start
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: to manage the behaviors of the people, where we can
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: keep everybody safe, so we can reduce the fighting, we
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: can reduce the domestic violence, we can keep women and
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: children safe, and we can then lead that into the
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: longer term game of how do we solve the issues
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: that these poor people face.
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: And I know that there's been a lot of discussion
• 2:50
  Speaker 2: about a wet camp, but to me, it doesn't sort
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: of sound like it's going to be a wet camp.
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: It sounds like it's going to be a location where,
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: like you said, people are able to be safe, will
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: they be able to have a couple of drinks there.
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: One of the suggestions made for the facility, and it
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: wasn't by me and it may well get me into
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: trouble with other Larikia, was that it should be called
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: the Larakia Sports Club, because the intention is that you
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: will in the same way other people tourists come to
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: town and go into Mitchell Street to drink. If you're
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: a community visitor, there isn't really anywhere that you can
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: go and have a drink or two or three in
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: a safe place. So we're looking that we will have
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: somewhere where yes you can come and stay u Yes
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: you can have a drink, but we are going to
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: monitor your health and you're drinking and make sure that
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: you keep yourself safe and you keep the people around
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: you safe.
• 3:37
  Speaker 3: Where do you reckon? This could be Robert like what location?
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: So we had eight separate tables at the workshop, about
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: six people at each table. Just on our table alone,
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: we came up with over twenty potential sites from out
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: around Marra where the short stay is, through Leanya Casarina,
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: We're Nolli, and to some of the other community camps
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: in town. And bear in mind none of this has
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: been raised with any of them yet, so it's all
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: just it's a wish list. And then the working party
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: will talk to Department of Infrastructure Planning about where we
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: could actually.
• 4:15
  Speaker 3: Put it and who would run it. Would it be
• 4:17
  Speaker 3: Larakie running it.
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: We will talk to the clients who will stay there
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: about how they would like to see it. I can
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: see a role for the land councils because the people
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: staying there are not Larakiir, but it is on Larachie country,
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: So clearly the Larakir will want a role because we
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: look after, as the custodians of the land look after
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: the safety and the respect issues. But there also needs
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: to be some involvement from people who represent the communities
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: that will be staying there. So I think between those
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: two groups and the other indos who help keep the people.
• 4:53
  Speaker 2: Safe, do you foresee that there could be issues out
• 4:57
  Speaker 2: there if you've got people coming in from lots of
• 4:59
  Speaker 2: different communities and sort of you know, do you think
• 5:02
  Speaker 2: that there could be issues out there or do you
• 5:04
  Speaker 2: think that it's realistically we need to get past that
• 5:08
  Speaker 2: and actually think about this being a solution.
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: There will be issues, but as you just said, we
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: need to be realistic and we need to look past
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: that to find a solution. As I said last time
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: I was talking to you, we cannot continue to do
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: for the next five years what we've been doing for
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: the last fifteen.
• 5:27
  Speaker 2: Where are things that in terms of some of the
• 5:29
  Speaker 2: other suggestions that maybe came forward, like this facility sounds
• 5:33
  Speaker 2: like it was one of the big ones, was there
• 5:34
  Speaker 2: other issues that were raised in other potential solutions for
• 5:38
  Speaker 2: some of the other concerns we've had.
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: Or not really don't give me going. There's been a
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: lot of debate recently about managing supply. Our concern is
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: that we are dealing with people who have addictions and
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: simply closing off supply from one space is going to
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: push them into something else. We've been hearing a story
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: this morning out people who can't get access to their
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: alcohol moving to substitute products and they are less controlled
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: and more toxic. We've also had a lot of discussion
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: this morning around the moving of people on from Mindle Beach.
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: So the people who have moved from Mindle have gone
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: to Bundilla, or to East Point, or at Caserina, or
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: at to Palmerston. So it's the water balloon effect.
• 6:21
  Speaker 2: And it's something that you and I and Michael spoke
• 6:23
  Speaker 2: about last week, didn't we. You know that just because
• 6:26
  Speaker 2: alcohol is banned from Mendele Beach doesn't mean that they're
• 6:28
  Speaker 2: not going to be drinking somewhere else. Tell me about this,
• 6:33
  Speaker 2: you know the other products that people are drinking. I
• 6:36
  Speaker 2: mean we quite often hear about mouthwash and and even
• 6:39
  Speaker 2: people maybe trying to get their hands on vanilla escence
• 6:42
  Speaker 2: and things like that.
• 6:44
  Speaker 3: Is that what you're talking about?
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: Cockroach bombs? What cockroach bombs?
• 6:50
  Speaker 3: You're telling me people are drinking cockroach bombs. They're yep, sorry, that.
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: Was insect repellent ricksna deodorant sniffing here bleach my goodness,
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: drinking drinking hand sanitizer.
• 7:07
  Speaker 3: Oh no, this is terrible.
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: It's it's an absolute shocker. Yeah, and this is these
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: are some of these are young people who have their
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: lives ahead of them, so it's a completely separate issue.
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: But we are now looking at how we can engage
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: with those kids to show them there was a bitter way,
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: to reconnect them with their culture and give them an
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: opportunity to basically do something better.
• 7:33
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 7:34
  Speaker 2: You know, it's interesting that you bring up that culture
• 7:37
  Speaker 2: discussion as well, because this is something that I was
• 7:39
  Speaker 2: talking to a friend of mine about off air, and
• 7:42
  Speaker 2: and he'd sort of, you know, he'd suggested that maybe
• 7:45
  Speaker 2: we do need to have in the community if we've
• 7:48
  Speaker 2: you know, if we've got some young some of our
• 7:50
  Speaker 2: young Indigenous population who maybe aren't is in touch with
• 7:53
  Speaker 2: their culture, is what they could be or should be
• 7:57
  Speaker 2: having some of those I don't know whether they be
• 8:00
  Speaker 2: lessons or how exactly you do it, but being able
• 8:03
  Speaker 2: to provide them with some of that connection to their
• 8:07
  Speaker 2: culture to hopefully really instill that respect and culture within
• 8:11
  Speaker 2: them as well for not only their elders but the
• 8:13
  Speaker 2: rest of the community.
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: Absolutely, we are currently talking to anti families about the
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: two different strategies. One being intensive family support, so where
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: we have kids in care, working with those families to
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: make sure that those kids do reconnect with your culture.
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: And the other one is duplicating the Palmerston Drop and
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: Center into the northern suburbs so that the kids who
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: are out there get the same opportunity. And part of
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: the drop and Center is that reconnection with culture. That's
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: not my responsibility to talk about because I'm not very chia,
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: but I'm certainly making sure that my staff are enabled
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: to get that level of involvement and get those kids reconnected.
• 9:00
  Speaker 2: Robert, can I just go back to that discussion about
• 9:02
  Speaker 2: those cockroach bombs. Clearly I haven't let one off for
• 9:04
  Speaker 2: a while if I thought someone was drinking them rather
• 9:07
  Speaker 2: than inhaling. But how do you like, what's the you know,
• 9:09
  Speaker 2: how do you know that that is that that's happening.
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: First hand information from somebody who's working with a child
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: who is so addicted that they will do whatever they
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: can to get a fix. Now, I'm not saying this
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: is widespread. This is one instance that I've heard of, ye,
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: but the comment was made in that meeting that it
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: brings back memories of ten to fifteen years ago when
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: people came in across the way border and they couldn't
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: get alcohol, so they were resorting to things like cockroach bombs.
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: That's right, because deodorant wasn't on the shelves in the supermarket.
• 9:47
  Speaker 2: And we've spoken about you know, chroming in the community
• 9:52
  Speaker 2: out in koramaor is actually where we'd spoken about it previously.
• 9:57
  Speaker 2: I know that you and I have discussed it. I
• 9:59
  Speaker 2: can't remember with it was all fair or on air,
• 10:01
  Speaker 2: but I've certainly spoken to the local member Nri are
• 10:04
  Speaker 2: Kish about some of the concerns in Karama around that
• 10:06
  Speaker 2: criming and people utilizing those cans.
• 10:10
  Speaker 3: Of reck Zoner in the wrong way.
• 10:13
  Speaker 2: To me, it's absolutely mortifying then to think that there
• 10:15
  Speaker 2: could be young people, you know, getting their hands on
• 10:18
  Speaker 2: things like the insect spray and hand sanitizer.
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: It's a really it's a complex problem. What we're seeing
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: in the abuse of the volatile substances is the tip
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: of the iceberg. What we don't know is what the
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: level of trauma is that's driven them to that point.
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: And for me, that's the long game. It's addressing those
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: issues so that the kids don't feel the need to
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: go to those links, and if they do, it's simply
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: an experiment and then it passes over. The last thing
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: we want is kids who grew up with that level
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: of addiction as they mature.
• 10:54
  Speaker 2: Yeah, Robert Cooper, just quickly.
• 10:57
  Speaker 3: We are fast running out of time. But where to
• 11:00
  Speaker 3: from here? With some of the plans and some of
• 11:02
  Speaker 3: the outputs from the.
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: Forum, we're too I am in the process of appointing
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: our business development manager who is going to take on
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: accountability within the Laroche Nation for all of these strategies
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: that deal with lifestyle outcome improvements for young people and
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: for community visitors.
• 11:20
  Speaker 2: Well, Robert Cooper, it's always good to catch up with you.
• 11:23
  Speaker 2: I really appreciate your time. Thanks for chatting with me today.
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: Thanks Cotie