Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Member for Lingiari Marion Scrymgour says Aboriginal leaders hold the solutions to addressing youth crime

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Member for Lingiari Marion Scrymgour says Aboriginal leaders hold the solutions to addressing youth crime · 360 with Katie Woolf

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  Speaker 1: We do know as I said, that these issues that
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  Speaker 1: we are seeing with crime and anti social behavior, they
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  Speaker 1: have been on the agenda for quite some time now.
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  Speaker 1: I know this overnight or yesterday, as I understand it,
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  Speaker 1: Marian Scrimjaw and Melanderie McCarthy brought together a number of
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  Speaker 1: Aboriginal organizations to discuss youth crime and justice.
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  Speaker 2: Now.
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  Speaker 1: In a post on social media, Marion said about forty
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  Speaker 1: people attended who helped to develop a clear pathway forward.
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  Speaker 1: Marian Scrimjaw is the member for Lingiari and she joins
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  Speaker 1: me on the line right now.
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  Speaker 2: Good morning, Marion, Good morning Katie. How are you? Yeah?
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  Speaker 1: Really well, thank you Marion. What were some of those
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  Speaker 1: solutions that were discussed at the meeting?
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  Speaker 2: Look, I think what came through very clearly, Katie, from
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  Speaker 2: all of the organ and most of them weren't organizations.
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  Speaker 2: They were Aboriginal women, grandmothers, people who are really concerned about,
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  Speaker 2: you know, the demonizing, but also the issues to do
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  Speaker 2: with children running the streets and nowhere to take these kids.
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  Speaker 2: So there was a whole number of It wasn't as
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  Speaker 2: simple as you know. These kids have got families and
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  Speaker 2: their house running a muss there's a lot of kids
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  Speaker 2: that are actually homeless and have come in and they're
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  Speaker 2: without their families, but they're living roughly in Alice Springs.
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  Speaker 2: So look, we've got to work together with the Northern
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  Speaker 2: Territory government ministers, particularly territory families to try and look
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  Speaker 2: at ways in which we can deal with because it
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  Speaker 2: is escalating. It is out of control, and we need
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  Speaker 2: to try and look at you know, like some of
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  Speaker 2: the women are saying, it's simple solutions. Put it, you know,
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  Speaker 2: give the responsibility to Aboriginal leaders and people to resolve
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  Speaker 2: some of this rather than you know, government thinking they've
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  Speaker 2: got the answers for it. And I actually agree with that.
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  Speaker 2: I think it's got to be Aboriginal led solutions to
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  Speaker 2: deal with what has been an ongoing problem for some time, Katie.
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  Speaker 2: And this is right across the UDN territory. It's not
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  Speaker 2: just Ella Springs that I see these issues are.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, and this is the thing, isn't it. You know,
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  Speaker 1: there has been so many issues and like you said,
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  Speaker 1: there's been an escalation. Alice Springs seems to be really
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  Speaker 1: copying it right now, Marion.
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  Speaker 2: I look, it seems to be in the media a
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  Speaker 2: lot Katie and look, I you know, having moved down
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  Speaker 2: here people and as I said to some of the
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  Speaker 2: Aboriginal leaders yesterday, government can't ignore this either. It's got
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  Speaker 2: to be you know, people have got to feel safe
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  Speaker 2: in their homes and and you know a lot of
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  Speaker 2: people feel unsafe, and you know it's in your face
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  Speaker 2: every day, and businesses that are under you know, under under,
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  Speaker 2: you know they're under siege. And you know, we've got
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  Speaker 2: to get some res bite here. And I had a
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  Speaker 2: long discussion and it was a great discussion last night
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  Speaker 2: with achievements. So we do need to there's a lot
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  Speaker 2: of resources that are going to come into Alice Springs.
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  Speaker 2: But I'm also conscious that there's this issues in Darwin,
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  Speaker 2: it's in Catherine, it's in you know, Can and Craig.
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  Speaker 2: So we've got to look at a territory wide solution
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  Speaker 2: and not just do knee jerk reactions across you know,
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  Speaker 2: in different parts. Because you know there's a spike in
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  Speaker 2: crime in Alice Springs. We've got to get some sustainable
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  Speaker 2: solutions to this so that we can deal with what's
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  Speaker 2: been an ongoing problem, particularly where we're seeing a lot
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  Speaker 2: of these young people don't have somewhere to go.
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  Speaker 1: Now tell me, Marian, what are the next steps or
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  Speaker 1: what are your next steps following on from that meeting yesterday.
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  Speaker 2: Look, I'm going to facilitate another discussion with all of them.
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  Speaker 2: I'm going to keep ongoing discussions with all of the people.
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  Speaker 2: I'm hoping that I can have some discussions with business,
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  Speaker 2: because business there's a lot of frustration, Katie. So that's
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  Speaker 2: costing people a lot of money because they're windows, and
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  Speaker 2: you know they're being broken into every day. No, it
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  Speaker 2: needs government to put and the federal government. I know that,
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  Speaker 2: you know the federal government. There was a number of
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  Speaker 2: promises that we made during the election that'll be forced
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  Speaker 2: coming in terms of working with the Alice Springs Town Council,
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  Speaker 2: for instance, to get CCTV, you know, capability and other
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  Speaker 2: issues around Alice Springs so that we can at least
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  Speaker 2: address some of the problems that are happening in and
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  Speaker 2: around Alice Springs. So I meet with Melanderry McCarthy this
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  Speaker 2: afternoon with Matt Patterson and the Alice Springs and Council
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  Speaker 2: to look at what we need to do in terms
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  Speaker 2: of rolling out that capacity for them to be able
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  Speaker 2: to put in place, these these strategies to deal with
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  Speaker 2: the antisocial and crime issues in Malice.
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  Speaker 1: And Marian you said that, you know this needs to
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  Speaker 1: be Aboriginal lead. How do we make that happen? How
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  Speaker 1: do we you know, how do we get leaders out
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  Speaker 1: there and make it happen.
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  Speaker 2: Well, I'd put out the call, Okadie, I've just I've
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  Speaker 2: just you know, we I've put out the call to
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  Speaker 2: Aboriginal leaders because and it's not just up to myself
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  Speaker 2: or Melandari or members of parliament or government. You know,
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  Speaker 2: everyone has a responsibility here and I think that if
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  Speaker 2: we talk about Aboriginal lead, well, I'm saying to those leaders,
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  Speaker 2: we'll get to the table, let's sit down and let's time,
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  Speaker 2: let's result it, because there's no point in us saying
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  Speaker 2: just give us the government money and go away. And
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  Speaker 2: just we need people to put their hands up, put
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  Speaker 2: their money where their mouth is, and let's resolve this
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  Speaker 2: together because it's all of our territory and we need
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  Speaker 2: to work together to make sure that we can overcome this.
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  Speaker 1: Now, Marion, I know there has been calls from just
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  Speaker 1: Enterprise for the Prime Minister to visit Alice Springs. Do
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  Speaker 1: you think that needs to happen.
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  Speaker 2: No, Look, Katie, I've offered, and I've extended my handout
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  Speaker 2: to reach the center. I think that I'd like to
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  Speaker 2: work with her to look at how do we you know,
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  Speaker 2: given she's a Senator for the Law and Territories, to
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  Speaker 2: go Melandarie McCarthy work with MELANDERI and I to put
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  Speaker 2: in place these strategies. Let's bring people together, and let's
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  Speaker 2: get the resources of government and the machinery to try
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  Speaker 2: and deal with some of this stuff. But let's get
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  Speaker 2: the Aboriginal leadership to say end up and you know,
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  Speaker 2: deal with this issue and lead it so that we
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  Speaker 2: can overcome these issues that are often always in the
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  Speaker 2: media in a negative way case. And I think that
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  Speaker 2: we can all work together. And I'm urging just inter
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  Speaker 2: you know, it makes a great headline story to call
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  Speaker 2: for the Prime Minister that I want her, you know,
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  Speaker 2: I'd like her to sit down with MELANDERI night and
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  Speaker 2: look at how we can move forward to better Alice Springs.
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  Speaker 2: But the whole of the Northern.
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  Speaker 1: Territory now in the short term, because I know that
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  Speaker 1: you know, much of what we're discussing is obviously it's
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  Speaker 1: going to take a little while I would suspect to
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  Speaker 1: get into you know, to get into play Marion. Is
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  Speaker 1: there anything that can be happening in the short term
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  Speaker 1: to help, you know, to help the community of Alice Springs.
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  Speaker 1: It does seem to be hurting right now.
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  Speaker 2: Yeh. Look, we're going to and it's not just talking
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  Speaker 2: to the Aboriginal leadership I've got I'm going to be
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  Speaker 2: talking to. There's some discussion happening with Jeanette Kerr, who
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  Speaker 2: used to be quite singer and the police. She's now
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  Speaker 2: heading up a response unit in Alice Springs. When I
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  Speaker 2: go back this afternoon, I'm actually in yun Demo at
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  Speaker 2: the moment, Katie, Okay, So when I get back to
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  Speaker 2: Alice Springs, it'll be meeting with Matt Patterson, but Jeanette Kerr,
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  Speaker 2: who's the Deputy CEO of Territory Family and I'm hoping
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  Speaker 2: and I spoke to the Chief Minister last night and
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  Speaker 2: I'm waiting for Minister Warden to give me a ring
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  Speaker 2: whether I can also meet with the police to look
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  Speaker 2: at what do we need to do and how do
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  Speaker 2: we put this in place with you know, Aboriginal lead
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  Speaker 2: ambassadors around the streets of Ella Springs to try and
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  Speaker 2: deal with some of.
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  Speaker 1: These issues, Marion, Are you confident it's going to make
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  Speaker 1: a difference.
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  Speaker 2: Oh, look, I think so, Katie. I think, Look, it
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  Speaker 2: needs to be you know, I think the Aboriginal leadership
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  Speaker 2: needs to take control of this and lead this and
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  Speaker 2: work hand in glove with the police, with territory families
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  Speaker 2: and with both levels this government or three levels of
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  Speaker 2: government to make this work. Katie, I think, you know,
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  Speaker 2: governments for a long time has been throwing a lot
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  Speaker 2: of money, and you know there's been different strategies and
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  Speaker 2: policies to overcome this. The missing piece has been Aboriginal
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  Speaker 2: people leading this and I think that's what needs to
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  Speaker 2: happen here. And I'm merging all of those leaders and
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  Speaker 2: yesterday it was fantastic. It was actually quite humbling to see,
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  Speaker 2: you know, over forty of our women come and there's
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  Speaker 2: a young man who's running a you know, quite a
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  Speaker 2: good program and Alice Springs called King's Narrative and doing
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  Speaker 2: it differently on country. You know, we need to pull
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  Speaker 2: those people in and get them to lead the and
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  Speaker 2: to work with the police and territory family so that
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  Speaker 2: we can give people some respite and people can feel
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  Speaker 2: safe in their home bar and we.
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  Speaker 1: Are going to have to wrap up. What are you
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  Speaker 1: up to in you and to move?
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  Speaker 2: Oh, I look visiting getting around having a look at
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  Speaker 2: this fantastic electorate of mine, Katie. I'm coming up the top.
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  Speaker 2: I've got to go to the Chiwey Island unfortunately for
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  Speaker 2: a funeral for mister Rioli, and then I'll come back
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  Speaker 2: down again and go through down the Stuart Highway and
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  Speaker 2: you know, I've got Barunga. There's these visits to Bori,
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  Speaker 2: Lula and a number of places, so I'm trying to
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  Speaker 2: get as much travel to some of the remote communities
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  Speaker 2: but into our evens that you know, some of our
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  Speaker 2: regional town before I've got to go back to sitting
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  Speaker 2: parliamentary sittings in early September.
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  Speaker 1: Well, we always appreciate your time in screen. Jaw the
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  Speaker 1: Member for Lingiari, thanks very much for having a chat
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  Speaker 1: with us today.
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  Speaker 2: Thanks, thank you.