Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Opposition Leader Lia Finocchiaro believes Territorians have a right to know how much the former Police Commissioner was paid out amount because the government bungled the process

Transcript

Opposition Leader Lia Finocchiaro believes Territorians have a right to know how much the former Police Commissioner was paid out amount because the government bungled the process · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Wanting me in the studio right now is the opposition
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: leader Leo fanocchi Airo.
• 0:04
  Speaker 2: Good morning Leah, Good morning Katie and your listeners.
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: Well, i'll tell you what bit of a change of
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: tact I think you'd have to say by the Chief
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: Minister just a short time ago after really revealing no
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: detail about the police commissioners for the former police commissioner's payer,
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: and we are still none the wiser as to how
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: much it's going to cost. But the Chief Minister saying, well,
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: sort of the opposite to what we heard last week,
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  Speaker 1: that she is prepared to provide a treasurer's advance if
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: required to the Northern Territory Police if they are out
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  Speaker 1: of pocket as a result of this payer.
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  Speaker 3: Well, we know they are out of pocket, Katie, and
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  Speaker 3: the treasurer. When it pains to tell me why they
• 0:43
  Speaker 3: couldn't get a treasure as advanced, the Police Minister said
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  Speaker 3: she would not be asking for a treasure as advanced.
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  Speaker 2: And so it's interesting.
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  Speaker 3: Now on radio that the Chief Ministry is making comments
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  Speaker 3: about it, because she certainly didn't say that in front
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  Speaker 3: of me yesterday during estimates. So again, this is a
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  Speaker 3: Chief Minister whose sole purpose in life is to manage
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  Speaker 3: the media, not the territory, and I think it's all
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  Speaker 3: bluff and bluster after what has been a very bad
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  Speaker 3: fortnight for the Labor government.
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  Speaker 1: So do you reckon that they're actually going to be
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  Speaker 1: prepared to top up the budget if needed.
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  Speaker 3: No, I don't have any confidence in that whatsoever. This
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  Speaker 3: budget we saw a measly one point eight million dollar
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  Speaker 3: increase in territory funds to the police budget, despite the
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  Speaker 3: high rates of attrition, the overworking of our police, and
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  Speaker 3: of course the insane levels of crime. And now this
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  Speaker 3: impact to the bottom line on police in the Chalker
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  Speaker 3: payout is just another blow to our cops who are
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  Speaker 3: beside themselves trying to fight the good fight and keep
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  Speaker 3: themselves sane. It's just an untenable situation for our community
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  Speaker 3: to be in. And yesterday in estimates, the Chief Minister
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  Speaker 3: made it very clear that crime is not her responsibility.
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  Speaker 1: Leah, why do you think that Territorians deserve to know
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  Speaker 1: how much this payout has.
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  Speaker 3: Cost because the community feel, you know, it is their money,
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  Speaker 3: you know they have ownership over it. Of course, I
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  Speaker 3: think the predominant reason is because it was a Natasha
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  Speaker 3: Files's bungle. If there had been a better process or
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  Speaker 3: performance management process or any of these other things, then
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  Speaker 3: they wouldn't be a payout. But because it was clearly bungled,
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  Speaker 3: the taxpayer is now on the hook. And to have
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  Speaker 3: unveiled last week in estimates that it's our police paying
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  Speaker 3: the price has just captured people because territories feel so
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  Speaker 3: bad for our police who go out every day to
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  Speaker 3: protect us. They're not supported by the government and now
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  Speaker 3: this is just another.
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  Speaker 2: Blow to them. It's just more buck passing.
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  Speaker 3: And we saw that yesterday the Chief Minister, when at
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  Speaker 3: great lengths to make everything someone else's problem, someone else's fault,
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  Speaker 3: absolved herself of all responsibility for crime and any action
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  Speaker 3: you would expect from your leader to deal with it.
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  Speaker 2: So it was very disappointing to see the least.
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  Speaker 1: Another important piece of information which was claimed and I
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: asked the Chief Minister about this as well. Is that
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  Speaker 1: revelation that you guys made from estimates that police have
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: worked one hundred and fifty nine thousand hours of overtime
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  Speaker 1: in the financial year to March thirty one. Now, the
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  Speaker 1: Police Association President Nathan finn says that that's on average
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: five hundred and eighty hours per day. If you divide
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: that by an eight hour shift, it means at least
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  Speaker 1: seventy two additional officers are needed each day to meet
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  Speaker 1: current demand.
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  Speaker 2: How soon?
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  Speaker 1: And I know you guys have pushed for a review,
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  Speaker 1: but let's step away from that for a sec. How
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  Speaker 1: soon do you think that this review that has been
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  Speaker 1: agreed to through the EBA negotiations, how soon do you
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  Speaker 1: think it needs to happen?
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  Speaker 3: It needed to be done years ago, Katie, it could
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  Speaker 3: be done immediately. This is something we asked the Police
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  Speaker 3: Minister about again. They're relying on some sort of new
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  Speaker 3: IT system where there's no date insight for that.
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  Speaker 2: I mean police Jason.
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  Speaker 1: Finn said that that is not required. He said you
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  Speaker 1: can do it without the electronic rostering. He said he
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: wants it before the end of the year. The Chief
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  Speaker 1: Minister just said on the show that she thinks a
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: good period of time to gauge would be April May June.
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  Speaker 1: So going back and looking at those months up until
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  Speaker 1: the end of this month, I think, well, let's start
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  Speaker 1: it in July.
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  Speaker 2: Let's start the review in July.
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  Speaker 3: This is a nonsense and what we've seen over the
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  Speaker 3: last week and a half and I, you know, Territorians,
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  Speaker 3: I feel really bad for you because this is a
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  Speaker 3: government deliberately trying to trick and deceive you. They say
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  Speaker 3: one thing under oath in Parliament and they say another
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  Speaker 3: thing on radio. When I asked this the Police Minister
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  Speaker 3: about this review in parliament, she said that they had
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  Speaker 3: to wait for the system. She said pockets of work
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  Speaker 3: had been done so that perhaps later this year it
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  Speaker 3: could be provided to an independent person to undertake the review.
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  Speaker 3: You've got the Chief Minister making it sound like they
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  Speaker 3: could do it even faster. The reality is is that
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  Speaker 3: there is no political will to get this done. When
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  Speaker 3: we can do rough mass on the back of an
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  Speaker 3: envelope Katie that show we need seventy two extra police
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  Speaker 3: a day, it is not rocket science. You get someone
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  Speaker 3: who's very intimately has intimate knowledge of how police forces run.
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  Speaker 3: They come in, they look at everything and they make
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  Speaker 3: their assessment. We do not need Natasha Files or Kate
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  Speaker 3: Warden packaging up nice little pockets of information that they
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  Speaker 3: want to give someone so that it's a carefully scripted review.
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  Speaker 3: This needs to be open up the doors, turn the
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  Speaker 3: light on and let someone go in there and support
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  Speaker 3: our police so we can have a strong community and
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  Speaker 3: a strong police force.
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  Speaker 2: I think that's a fair enough call.
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  Speaker 1: Now overnight, Samara Lavity, Decklon Lavity's mum has taken to
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  Speaker 1: social media to really take aim at the Chief Minister
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  Speaker 1: and what she sees as lack.
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  Speaker 2: Of action around crime.
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  Speaker 1: It follows your attempt s yesterday in estimates to get
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  Speaker 1: some information about the government's response to crime. Now Samara
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  Speaker 1: is questioning why the Chief Minister is not doing more
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: around bail laws. Leah, have you seen that post?
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  Speaker 2: I have.
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  Speaker 3: It's heartbreaking, gut wrenching, and I've spoken to Samara Lavity
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  Speaker 3: many times and this is just this situation of escalating
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  Speaker 3: crime across the territory is not okay. The increases in
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  Speaker 3: the number of deaths, the knife crime, the violence. People
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  Speaker 3: can't take it anymore. You and I both know, Katie
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  Speaker 3: and your listeners are acutely aware. People are changing how
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  Speaker 3: they live their life. They're deciding am I going to
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  Speaker 3: go to the shop, what time am I going to go?
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  Speaker 2: Will I bring the kids?
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  Speaker 3: You know, they're really every facet of our lives is
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  Speaker 3: now under very careful planning. You know, will the kids
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  Speaker 3: sleep in their own bedroom? Tonight or am I going
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  Speaker 3: to have.
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  Speaker 2: Them in my room?
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  Speaker 3: You know, these are the conversations I have with the community.
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  Speaker 3: And so when Declan was killed, Natasha Files came out
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  Speaker 3: with a press release to again manage the media. Not
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  Speaker 3: the issue around stamping out knife crime? I asked her repeatedly.
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  Speaker 3: They were my first questions to her yesterday around you know,
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  Speaker 3: what's the KPIs on this?
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  Speaker 2: Have you stamped out knife crime? Where is this policy
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  Speaker 2: up to?
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  Speaker 3: You know, she used those famous comments around we want
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  Speaker 3: to stamp out knife crime before it takes hold, And
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  Speaker 3: I asked her, do you think it's taken hold? She
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  Speaker 3: just refused to answer any question, showing complete disrespect and
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  Speaker 3: disregard the single biggest issues in our community. And even
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  Speaker 3: worse was that she explained that she's now taking all
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  Speaker 3: crime and basically fobbing it off getting it out of
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  Speaker 3: chief ministers.
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  Speaker 2: So it's not even her responsibile.
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  Speaker 1: So, Leiah, you obviously think there needs to be some
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  Speaker 1: really serious change when it comes to bail. You've spoken
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  Speaker 1: about that before. Yes, just explain to our listeners very simply, Yes,
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  Speaker 1: exactly what you want to see when it comes to
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  Speaker 1: the bail change. We don't believe that if you are
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  Speaker 1: a violent offender, that you should go before court or
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  Speaker 1: police and have everything in your favor to be bailed.
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  Speaker 1: And what we want to see is serious violent offenders,
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  Speaker 1: whether or not they have a weapon, because we know
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  Speaker 1: as territories you can inflict a lot of pain and
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  Speaker 1: suffering and misery on someone with arms and legs and head.
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  Speaker 2: You know you can.
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  Speaker 3: It doesn't matter if there's a weapon or not. If
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  Speaker 3: you're a serious violent offender, you should not be given
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  Speaker 3: the privilege of a starting point where you should be bowed.
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  Speaker 2: You start with.
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  Speaker 1: The comment that she said that it's police who decide.
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  Speaker 3: This is a government again blaming police for their own failures.
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  Speaker 2: It is disgusting.
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  Speaker 1: So you know, the police don't decide whether that person
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  Speaker 1: gets bailed or not.
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  Speaker 3: All police can only bail someone if they comply with
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  Speaker 3: the laws.
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  Speaker 2: And the laws are broken.
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  Speaker 3: They are broken, just like territorians are on this issue.
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  Speaker 3: And for our government to know that they have weakened
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  Speaker 3: b oil laws, refuse to make them stronger and then
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  Speaker 3: turn around yesterday and today and point the finger at
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  Speaker 3: police and say it's up to them. It's what she
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  Speaker 3: effectively said today, Katie was police are letting criminals out
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  Speaker 3: on the street. That's what Natasha faz is saying. It
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  Speaker 3: is a disgrace. This is the leader of our jurisdiction.
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  Speaker 3: This is the person who's sole job is to keep
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  Speaker 3: us safe and provide opportunity for our family, and she
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  Speaker 3: has failed.
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  Speaker 1: So you want the lord to change so that it's
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  Speaker 1: the police aren't having to make that difficult decision.
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  Speaker 2: Is that what you're saying.
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  Speaker 3: We want to make it easier for police and the
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  Speaker 3: courts to be able to say no, you're not going
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  Speaker 3: to get bad.
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  Speaker 2: Remind people on custody.
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  Speaker 3: Make it easier so that that criminal rocks up and
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  Speaker 3: is on the back foot. Why should the criminal have
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  Speaker 3: all the rights and our community be left to barricade
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  Speaker 3: themselves into their businesses and their homes.
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  Speaker 1: Lea, we are going to have to get ready to
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  Speaker 1: wrap up. We've got the Lord Mayor just outside waiting
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  Speaker 1: for his turn to come in. And I know you've
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: got to get two budget estimates. Hey, it's being reported
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: obviously that the i CAAC is more than a million
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: dollars in the red embracing for a further reduction. The
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: Chief finisters saying this morning it is not a reduction.
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: There was always going to be additional funding in those
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: first three years to get the eye CAC up and running.
• 9:55
  Speaker 2: Do you think that this is do you know lock?
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: What do you make of this? Do you actually think
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: that the IKAK needs further funding?
• 10:02
  Speaker 2: What do you reckon needs to happen here?
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  Speaker 3: Well, it wasn't even just the ik We had all
• 10:06
  Speaker 3: three scrutiny heads in front of us yesterday, the Ombudsman,
• 10:11
  Speaker 3: the Order to General and the IKAK, and all of
• 10:13
  Speaker 3: them said they are under serious budget pressures. They've either
• 10:17
  Speaker 3: had cuts or they're going to have to look to
• 10:19
  Speaker 3: cut stuff, or they're going to have limited ability to
• 10:22
  Speaker 3: conduct investigations. This is a government that promised to be
• 10:25
  Speaker 3: open and transparent. They've been anything but that. And to
• 10:29
  Speaker 3: have witness after witness come forward yesterday and say that
• 10:32
  Speaker 3: this government is not giving them the capability to investigate
• 10:36
  Speaker 3: what they need to shows that this government will stop
• 10:39
  Speaker 3: at nothing to shut down any scrutiny on their performance.
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: Leah Finocchiaro, thank you very much for your time this morning.
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: We'll let you get into back into budget estimates, no
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: doubt we'll talk to you
• 10:49
  Speaker 2: Again, So thank you, take care, Thank you,