Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Ruth Palmer from the Property Council says antisocial behaviour needs to be seriously addressed to avoid a decline in the NT's population

Transcript

Ruth Palmer from the Property Council says antisocial behaviour needs to be seriously addressed to avoid a decline in the NT's population · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: The situation with public drunkenness, and people are obviously returning
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: to country, but more so you know some of that
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: behavior that we are seeing around public intoxication and what
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: we're doing in this space to try to make some change.
• 0:15
  Speaker 2: Now. I know that the.
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  Speaker 1: Property Council of the Northern Territory's executive director, Ruth Palmer,
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  Speaker 1: had written an opinion piece for the Northern Territory News
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  Speaker 1: over the weekend about this, but also the decline in
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: population that we saw in the latest Bureau of Statistics.
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  Speaker 2: And she joins me on the line right now. Good
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  Speaker 2: morning to you, Ruth.
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  Speaker 3: Good morning Katie. Thanks for having me.
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  Speaker 2: Ruth, great to have you on the show.
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  Speaker 1: We know that those recent Australian Bureau of Statistics population
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  Speaker 1: report for March this year, it painted a pretty sad picture.
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  Speaker 1: I think that we have yet again returned to negative
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  Speaker 1: population growth. You pend a piece for the Sunday Territory
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  Speaker 1: and outline some of the things that you do think
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  Speaker 1: at this point are contributing to that population decline.
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: Talk us through your concerns.
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  Speaker 3: That's right, Katie. We you know, we're sort of hearing
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  Speaker 3: that we are to come back capital, but we're not
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  Speaker 3: going to be to come back capital unless we have
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  Speaker 3: a big change to some of the issues that are
• 1:10
  Speaker 3: detracting people from wanting to live in the territory, but
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  Speaker 3: also people who actually live here who are leaving, And
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  Speaker 3: people are leaving for various reasons, but one of the
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  Speaker 3: ones we are seeing recently, which we've been talking about before,
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  Speaker 3: is this antisocial behavior and the public intoxication and also
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  Speaker 3: crime that's occurring, and that is becoming a real issue.
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  Speaker 3: But it's not just in Darwin, it's obviously now all
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  Speaker 3: across the territory. And frightening now is they're sort of
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  Speaker 3: becoming physical sort of assaults to which is which is
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  Speaker 3: something that is very concerning when you're trying to entract
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  Speaker 3: people to want to come here.
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  Speaker 1: Well, what sort of you know what has sort of
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  Speaker 1: prompted you to write this piece, but to also speak
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  Speaker 1: publicly about it and some of the concerns that the
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  Speaker 1: Property Council have got and you know, ways that you
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: think this needs to be worked out.
• 1:59
  Speaker 3: We've been involved with the sort of attraction of people
• 2:02
  Speaker 3: wanting to come here. We've always been strong supporters of
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  Speaker 3: growing the Northern Territory, but we can't do that unless
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  Speaker 3: we sort of really looked out at the key reasons
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  Speaker 3: as to why people want to come here, but also
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  Speaker 3: why people are leaving. There's three main things that will
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  Speaker 3: always bring people somewhere. It's people, it's jobs, but it's
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  Speaker 3: lifestyle and amenity. So you know, those are three things
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  Speaker 3: that go hand in hand and these are things we
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  Speaker 3: addressed in our report we also released this year. So
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  Speaker 3: we just know that we need to keep the pressure
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  Speaker 3: on that this situation isn't going to change unless some
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  Speaker 3: real action is taken and unfortunately the government's current policy
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  Speaker 3: around the any social behavior and their five point plan
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  Speaker 3: has failed to our belief.
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  Speaker 2: Bruce.
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  Speaker 1: We did catch up with the Chief Innessty yesterday and
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: we spoke a little bit more about this and certainly
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  Speaker 1: spoke about the return to Country program. He said that
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  Speaker 1: in the month of March we've now seen four hundred
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  Speaker 1: people return to country through that program, which is more
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  Speaker 1: than what we've seen in the three months prior. There
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: is no doubt we've heard it from the Northern Territory
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: Police as well. There is a lot more people in
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  Speaker 1: town at the moment. The reasons that the Chief min
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  Speaker 1: Ister gave with things like COVID having an impact do
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  Speaker 1: you think that you know what from your perspective, do
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  Speaker 1: you think that we need to have a closer look
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  Speaker 1: in this space as to you know, what people are doing,
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  Speaker 1: why they're in town, you know, and why then I
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  Speaker 1: guess they're not wanting to go home.
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  Speaker 3: That's right. I mean, it is a complex social problem,
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  Speaker 3: and we believe that people that do come into town,
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  Speaker 3: they don't usually have a place to stay, so they
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  Speaker 3: are homeless, they are in the on the streets, or
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  Speaker 3: they're out which may then turn into unacceptable behavior. So
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  Speaker 3: that is what we're seeing. But we know that through
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  Speaker 3: our wet seasons as well, people can't get back to country.
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  Speaker 3: Our roads are closed and it's very difficult for people
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  Speaker 3: to get in and out of around the territory, especially
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  Speaker 3: to those remote communities. So that is something that needs
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  Speaker 3: to be to be looked out of how those people
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  Speaker 3: can get home safely or how people in the territory
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  Speaker 3: have a home to sleep in. So we're not seeing
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  Speaker 3: people out two or three am in the morning, but
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  Speaker 3: we know now that it is something that is occurring
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  Speaker 3: also through the day. So we need to make sure
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  Speaker 3: that we have a collective group together, we have all
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  Speaker 3: the councils or the land councils, the traditional owners, because
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  Speaker 3: it isn't just segregated to a certain amount of certain
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  Speaker 3: people either, So it is everybody in the territory that
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  Speaker 3: has this responsibility and there are other people that are
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  Speaker 3: obviously involved in this unacceptable behavior. So we need to
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  Speaker 3: make sure we have a collective group around how we
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  Speaker 3: can deal with these issues that are a real detractor
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  Speaker 3: to wanting to grow our population but also to have
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  Speaker 3: our economy boosting and have Darwin as the place that
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  Speaker 3: we know and love. And I know that's some miritry really.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, well, absolutely right around the territory. I know.
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  Speaker 1: That's something that you did point out in that piece
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  Speaker 1: that you wrote on the weekend was not only you know,
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  Speaker 1: you looked at those crime statistics, which we've reported on
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  Speaker 1: this show on numerous occasions, about some of those crime
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: stats going right up, but then you also questioned, you know,
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  Speaker 1: why don't we have some of those statistics on antisocial
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  Speaker 1: behavior and public intoxication.
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  Speaker 3: That's correct, We see the statistics coming around on the
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  Speaker 3: crime on property damage, on assault, but one thing that
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  Speaker 3: is not clear and is not reported on is any
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  Speaker 3: social behavior and public intoxication. And we believe to be
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  Speaker 3: able to provide some greater transparency. The government needs to
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  Speaker 3: release these figures because once we have those details, it
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  Speaker 3: gives us more opportunity to be able to put together
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  Speaker 3: a framework or work with the government maybe so they
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  Speaker 3: can get some kind of vision in place to how
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  Speaker 3: this situation can be reverted, how we can sort of
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  Speaker 3: lower that trend because at the moment, the current policies
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  Speaker 3: are failing. And you know, that's an eight point nine
• 5:41
  Speaker 3: million dollar plan that went in and it's not working.
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  Speaker 3: We have no doubt Return to the Country is doing
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  Speaker 3: what it was aimed to do, but unfortunately the other
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  Speaker 3: policies around it simply aren't good enough. I know.
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: The Health Minister also said on the show this morning
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: that they're going to be introducing a policy change when
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: it comes to alcohol in some of those communities. It
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: is something that had previously fallen under the federal realm,
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  Speaker 1: but they're going to be introducing this policy change to
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  Speaker 1: allow some in some communities. If it is something that
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  Speaker 1: those communities want alcohol licenses or liquor licenses, it is
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  Speaker 1: going to have to go through the approvals process. But
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: that's something that they're looking at doing pretty well straight away.
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  Speaker 1: I did question, though, is that just going to be
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  Speaker 1: moving some of the issues that we see on the
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  Speaker 1: streets in Darwen out to communities.
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  Speaker 3: Oh, a lot of the things in the city at
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  Speaker 3: the moment. With Darwin City and especially down in our springs,
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  Speaker 3: you do have access to alcohol in a very close
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  Speaker 3: proximity to certain area. So I know in the Dahin
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  Speaker 3: city alone, there's about six or seven bottle shops within
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  Speaker 3: almost arms for each of each other. So you know,
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  Speaker 3: it is minimizing that risk. We've got to remember that
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  Speaker 3: when people are back in their home country, when they
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  Speaker 3: are back on country, they're in their own space, so
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  Speaker 3: they have access to the healthcare. They've also got access
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  Speaker 3: to shelter and access to a safer environment. So when
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  Speaker 3: they are out of their zone, if it may then
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  Speaker 3: occur to be seen as they might turn into some
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  Speaker 3: unacceptable behavior. So that's the sort of conversations we need
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  Speaker 3: to start having, and we need to start making sure
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  Speaker 3: that there are services available and that we do provide
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  Speaker 3: the right environment for people, because everybody deserves somewhere safe
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  Speaker 3: and everyone deserves a home right.
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  Speaker 1: So I know there'll be people listening this morning thinking
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  Speaker 1: how come the property councils sort of involving themselves in
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  Speaker 1: this discussion. But I guess from your perspective, it's looking
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  Speaker 1: at things in terms of that population decline and some
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  Speaker 1: of the issues that we've got that people are raising.
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  Speaker 3: Well, that's right, and a lot of it, Katie, is
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  Speaker 3: property crime. So we obviously look after the entire property industry.
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  Speaker 3: Anything sort of that we're in is a property related thing.
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  Speaker 3: So you know, this is obviously something that affects our industry,
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  Speaker 3: but it affects the retailers, it affects landlords, it affects everyone.
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  Speaker 3: So we all love the territory and we all want
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  Speaker 3: to stay and remain here and make it the best
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  Speaker 3: place that we can. But if we want to encourage
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  Speaker 3: people to come here, and if we want to encourage
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  Speaker 3: people to stay here, these are a key This is
• 8:00
  Speaker 3: the key part of that transition. So we do all
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  Speaker 3: need to collectively get together, everybody gets involved, and there
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  Speaker 3: really needs to be some change because at the moment
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  Speaker 3: we are going downwards and we're not going to see
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  Speaker 3: this reverse until there's some bigger changes that are made,
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  Speaker 3: and it has to be immediate, and the government really
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  Speaker 3: needs to sort of step on that and get that
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  Speaker 3: action in well.
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  Speaker 1: Ruth Palmer, the executive director of the Property Council of
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: Australia's Northern Territory branch, we appreciate your time, thanks for
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: having a chat.
• 8:30
  Speaker 2: With us this morning. Thanks a lot, Katie, thank you.