Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Member for Lingiari Marion Scrymgour says alcohol is the top cause of domestic and family violence across the NT with urgent measures needed

Transcript

Member for Lingiari Marion Scrymgour says alcohol is the top cause of domestic and family violence across the NT with urgent measures needed · 360 with Katie Woolf

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  Speaker 1: Joining me on the line right now is the Member
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  Speaker 1: for ling Gyiari, Marian Scrimjaw.
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  Speaker 2: Good morning, Marion, Good morning Katie, Happy New Year.
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  Speaker 1: Happy New Year to you as well. Now, Marian, you've
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  Speaker 1: been very upfront for quite some time now about the
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  Speaker 1: issues in Alice Springs, and you also have said that
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  Speaker 1: you were concerned about the ending of the Stronger Futures legislation.
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  Speaker 1: It has had a massive impact. Do you think that
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  Speaker 1: the restrictions announced yesterday are going to go far enough?
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  Speaker 2: Look, I can I just say at the outset for
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  Speaker 2: Katie before I answer your important question. I just want
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  Speaker 2: to acknowledge the leadership of the Chief Minister, the Prime
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  Speaker 2: Minister and Minister Bernie. It's not easy and I know
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  Speaker 2: that there are many people. There are a lot that
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  Speaker 2: won't be happy with this, but there are many who
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  Speaker 2: are happy. I think we're just this is a start.
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  Speaker 2: We're just going to have a look at how do
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  Speaker 2: we get some respite. And the police have been heavily
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  Speaker 2: involved in the design of this, so it's not as
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  Speaker 2: if this was just a thought bubbles and government. This
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  Speaker 2: has been carefully negotiated both with the industry but also
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  Speaker 2: toy to try and minimize the impact that we are
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  Speaker 2: seeing not just in our springs. We have to look
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  Speaker 2: at throughout the territory because we're seeing this issue. I'm
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  Speaker 2: going to Catherine next weekend. I think we're seeing it
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  Speaker 2: in Catherine and I was up at tennin Creek, so
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  Speaker 2: a lot of travel around and in some of the
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  Speaker 2: remote communities we're seeing huge impacts with grog with unreached
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  Speaker 2: and it's got to be dealt with. We can't, you know,
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  Speaker 2: it can't be ignored that alcohol is probably the number
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  Speaker 2: one cause of all of the domestic and family violence
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  Speaker 2: issues that we're seeing where Pete women are falling off
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  Speaker 2: the cliffs and they're in the hospital on life supports.
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  Speaker 1: It's terrible, Like I don't know what else to say.
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  Speaker 1: It's terrible, and it is right around the place at
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  Speaker 1: the moment. You know, you don't have to go too
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  Speaker 1: far at all. You can walk down the streets of
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  Speaker 1: Darwin and see how alcohol is having an impact right
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  Speaker 1: around the place.
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  Speaker 2: Marion.
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  Speaker 1: Do we just need to buite the bullet here though?
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  Speaker 1: Does the Northern Territory government need to do a bit
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  Speaker 1: of a backflip and just reintroduce the stronger futures legislation.
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  Speaker 2: Well, I think there's what they've had in place comes
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  Speaker 2: to an end on the thirty first, Katie, yep. Now,
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  Speaker 2: I'm going to work closely with Natasha Files, with young
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  Speaker 2: Darella Anderson, who I think is a fantastic young woman
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  Speaker 2: down here, to have a look at what is the
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  Speaker 2: what do we need to do? The Prime Minister said
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  Speaker 2: very clearly, so he's not going to accept, you know,
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  Speaker 2: like we will look at and continue to work with
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  Speaker 2: the Northern Territory government going forward as what is in
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  Speaker 2: the interest of the community in the Northern Territory. So
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  Speaker 2: all community. At the moment, the focus is on Alice Screens.
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  Speaker 2: It's a great community and we do have to deal
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  Speaker 2: with issues here, but we've also got to look at Darwin,
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  Speaker 2: Catherine Tennant, some of our remote communities. I've been saying
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  Speaker 2: from the outset, Katie, if you neglect the bush, the
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  Speaker 2: bush is going to come into town. And that's what
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  Speaker 2: we've been seeing for a number of years, that urban
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  Speaker 2: drift where if you're not going to put programs and
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  Speaker 2: other infrastructure out in the bush so that young people
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  Speaker 2: in particular can stay out there. But the biggest driver, Katie,
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  Speaker 2: we've got to get right is CDP and employment. And
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  Speaker 2: if we don't engage you know, families and young people,
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  Speaker 2: well we know, as we'll all just give up our
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  Speaker 2: jobs and walk away. But we can't give up on this.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, you know, we've just got to try and
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  Speaker 2: take every measure and try it and you know, and
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  Speaker 2: get it to work because you know, the Northern Territory,
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  Speaker 2: it's all our homes and we've got to look after
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  Speaker 2: the territory and we've got to get Aboriginal people to
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  Speaker 2: see that, you know, alcohol is not part of our
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  Speaker 2: cultural meats and it is destroying our family and I
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  Speaker 2: think that the restrictions that you know, Natasha, I know
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  Speaker 2: that the Northern Territory government has wrestled with this, but
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  Speaker 2: I think this is a start and we've just got
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  Speaker 2: to try and make it work. And I'm willing to
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  Speaker 2: work with hers to try and get the best outcome
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  Speaker 2: for not just Ella Springs, but we need to do
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  Speaker 2: this right throughout the Northern Territory.
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  Speaker 1: I agree with you, Marian. We know that the Prime Minister,
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  Speaker 1: as you've touched on there, has appointed Darrell Anderson as
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  Speaker 1: a Central Australia Regional Controller to deliver that alcohol review
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  Speaker 1: now she's doing to report back as I understand it,
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  Speaker 1: on the first of February, that's only a few days away.
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  Speaker 1: Do you think that that's an unrealistic timeline?
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  Speaker 2: Now, Look, there's been a lot of work that's been
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  Speaker 2: done Katie, and I think it's pulling all of that together.
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  Speaker 2: The still discussions happening about what what happens next and
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  Speaker 2: how do we you know, how do we unpack what's
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  Speaker 2: been done previously, and how do we make all these
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  Speaker 2: new measures work, and how does Durrell get the support
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  Speaker 2: to make sure that she's it's just not tokenistic, but
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  Speaker 2: that you know, she can get the support to make
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  Speaker 2: the changes, and not just over the Northern Territory government agencies.
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  Speaker 2: She's we've got to have a look at how does
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  Speaker 2: she work with the com walths, governments and all of
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  Speaker 2: the agencies that are funded by the Commonwealth to get
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  Speaker 2: this coordination and outcome so we get outcome based funding
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  Speaker 2: so that it's going to make a difference. We're not
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  Speaker 2: just trusting money because there's a lot of organizations in
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  Speaker 2: this town that are funded yep, and they should be
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  Speaker 2: you know, making a difference to people's lives. And you know,
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  Speaker 2: I know Minnies Bernie is quite keen to get better
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  Speaker 2: outcomes and what we've seen to date, so we're all
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  Speaker 2: trying to work together to make a good situation unfold
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  Speaker 2: right throughout the authentarity that there is for the first
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  Speaker 2: time a real commitment to try and work towards some
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  Speaker 2: of that change in Alice Springs, Marion.
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  Speaker 1: What about welfare payments. I know that you touched on
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  Speaker 1: this and on the cash list debit card. I think
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  Speaker 1: it was a bit earlier in the week and saying
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  Speaker 1: that there needed to be some change in this space.
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  Speaker 1: Was there any discussion about that yesterday?
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  Speaker 2: No, And look I'm looking I'm going to have some
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  Speaker 2: conversations with Minister Rishworth when I go back down to
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  Speaker 2: Canberra next week, Katie, I'll have some discussions with Minister Bernie.
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  Speaker 2: Senator McCarthy and I have talked about it. I think
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  Speaker 2: we've got to use every measure available to us to
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  Speaker 2: try and reduce the harm that's being done, particularly to
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  Speaker 2: young people and to kids. A lot of kids are
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  Speaker 2: roaming the streets right throughout the Northern Territory. You have
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  Speaker 2: to be blind pretty not to see it. In Darwin
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  Speaker 2: or Catherrain or Tennants, or Alice. There's a lot of
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  Speaker 2: kids you roam in this and a lot of it
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  Speaker 2: is because they're homes aren't safe. Yeah, and we've been
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  Speaker 2: hearing that from a lot of service providers. Well, let's
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  Speaker 2: all work together try and turn this around. And how
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  Speaker 2: do we if income management is part of that, Well,
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  Speaker 2: that needs to be part of the consideration that goes
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  Speaker 2: forward in this report in February.
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  Speaker 1: Marian, I'm glad that you've said that, and you know,
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  Speaker 1: I think that they're so often, you know, people are
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  Speaker 1: wondering if this kind of thing would actually work, and
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  Speaker 1: they're afraid to say it because they're afraid that they're
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  Speaker 1: going to get called racist, or they're afraid that you know,
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  Speaker 1: that that somebody is going to you know, to think
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  Speaker 1: that they're yeah, that they that they're being racist. And
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  Speaker 1: the fact of the matter is we've got women and
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  Speaker 1: children who are not.
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  Speaker 3: Safe, absolutely, Katie, And you know, special measures are applied,
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  Speaker 3: and I don't care what anyone says that it's trade based,
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  Speaker 3: and it's you know, it's it's about racism.
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  Speaker 2: It's not about racism. It's about what is in the
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  Speaker 2: interest of those children and how do we get better outcomes.
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  Speaker 2: So that women are empowered to make good decisions for
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  Speaker 2: their families and also men because there's a lot of
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  Speaker 2: men that struggle in this process too, Katie. And we've
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  Speaker 2: got to look at are the program men's behavior programs
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  Speaker 2: that we're funding. Are they making a difference. Why are
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  Speaker 2: our jail systems full of men or you know that
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  Speaker 2: are in there because of domestic and family violence. So
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  Speaker 2: I think we've got to start having some honest assessments
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  Speaker 2: and be brave enough to call out, you know, all
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  Speaker 2: of this stuff because if the situation has gotten worse
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  Speaker 2: because we've allowed it to get to that point, and
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  Speaker 2: we can't allow that anymore.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, I agree with you now Marian. We are fast
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  Speaker 1: running out of time. But before I let you go,
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  Speaker 1: what impact is this situation in Ella Springs going to
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  Speaker 1: have when it comes to the referendum for the Voice
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  Speaker 1: to Parliament?
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  Speaker 2: Look, Katie, one of the things that I've been wanting
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  Speaker 2: and I've been at pain to clear up when I
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  Speaker 2: said that people don't want to and you know, talk
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  Speaker 2: about constitutional reform. It's not that I don't support the
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  Speaker 2: voice or you know, constitutional so I support it one
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  Speaker 2: hundred percent. But we've got to fix start people's daily
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  Speaker 2: lives and we can do this together. And I think
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  Speaker 2: that I will continue to support the Voice and Constitutional
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  Speaker 2: reform and talk about it and get communities to understand
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  Speaker 2: what it is. At the same time advocate to get change,
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  Speaker 2: better change happening in the community where there's crime and
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  Speaker 2: other anti social behavior. It's not good enough that people
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  Speaker 2: should just think that this is okay and leave me
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  Speaker 2: alone and don't talk about, you know, this other stuff
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  Speaker 2: because I want to continue my bad behavior. I'm saying
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  Speaker 2: that people know and that's enough, and we can do this.
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  Speaker 2: We can have both conversations, Katie, and I think it's
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  Speaker 2: important that we continue the important national conversation about the
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  Speaker 2: Voice and Constitutional reform.
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  Speaker 1: Marian Strimjaw, we are going to have to leave it there.
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  Speaker 1: I've got to get across to the news. Always appreciate
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  Speaker 1: your time. Thank you very much for speaking with me
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  Speaker 1: this morning.
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  Speaker 2: Thank you, Katie, thank you