Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Katie Woolf spoke with Central Australia Youth Link Up Service CAYLUS in Alice Springs Blair McFarlane

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Katie Woolf spoke with Central Australia Youth Link Up Service CAYLUS in Alice Springs Blair McFarlane · 360 with Katie Woolf

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  Speaker 1: Well, we have spoken quite a bit in recent weeks
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: about some of the issues on world which are happening
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  Speaker 1: in Alice Springs, particularly with youth crime and youth being
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  Speaker 1: on the street. I think you'd say sort of later
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  Speaker 1: in the night. Now we know that there's no silver
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  Speaker 1: sort of bullet to be able to fix things. There's
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  Speaker 1: always plenty of issues and plenty of different concerns when
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  Speaker 1: it comes to youth being out on the streets and
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  Speaker 1: in some cases kids just don't have anywhere else to go.
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  Speaker 1: Now joining us on the line to talk a little
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  Speaker 1: bit more about something which is now happening in Central Australia.
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  Speaker 1: It's the Central Australia Youth Link Up Service, Kyless, I
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  Speaker 1: believe are the the crew that are running things in
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  Speaker 1: Alice Springs. Now joining me on the line right now
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  Speaker 1: is Blair McFarland from Kalas. Good morning to you.
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  Speaker 2: Blair, good morning, but just correct you. We're not running
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  Speaker 2: the government initiative.
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  Speaker 1: I apologize then, I do apologize, Blair talk us through
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  Speaker 1: the Central Australia Youth Link Up Service.
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  Speaker 2: We were an anti substance misuse program really aimed at
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  Speaker 2: young people and we've been working since two thousand and two,
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  Speaker 2: but primarily to stop petrol smiththing and chroming and all
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  Speaker 2: of that sort of stuff. And so we do that
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  Speaker 2: in two ways, one by making the substances harder to
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  Speaker 2: get or rolling out an unsniffable fuel like Opal into
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  Speaker 2: the region. And the other way is to enrich people's
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  Speaker 2: personal lives so that they don't resort to drugs. And
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  Speaker 2: so as part of that, we support youth programs like
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  Speaker 2: in we support that the Aureo program, and we support
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  Speaker 2: to Alice Springstown Council and all of the youth work
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  Speaker 2: providers in the southern part of the Northern Territory. So
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  Speaker 2: that's our role, and that's we've been doing that job
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  Speaker 2: since two thousand and two.
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  Speaker 1: Wow, and it sounds like incredibly important work which is
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  Speaker 1: happening I know that throughout the territory. Unfortunately, we've had
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  Speaker 1: real issues over the years when it comes to some
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  Speaker 1: of those different substances, particularly with our young people.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly. It's been it's been really rewarding to see
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  Speaker 2: that the reduction in particularly in patrol snipping that's happened
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  Speaker 2: since Open rolled out and since we've started, since the
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  Speaker 2: retailers have been cooperating with us about keeping other inhalants
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  Speaker 2: in cages and behind the counter and stuff, and they
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  Speaker 2: do that just out of community spirit. There's no legis
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  Speaker 2: let of requirement for them to do that, but they
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  Speaker 2: live here too, and they improve their own environment, in
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  Speaker 2: the environment for their kids.
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  Speaker 1: And so Blair speaking about that Youth Outreach and re
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  Speaker 1: Engagement Team hub, is that something that you guys are
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  Speaker 1: working working with as in KALs is working through.
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  Speaker 2: That, Well, we support it and we've given them some
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  Speaker 2: youth type equipment computers and recently beanbags, and we're certainly
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  Speaker 2: there to support them in the same way that we
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  Speaker 2: support youth programs right across the region with resources and
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  Speaker 2: funds and sort of equipment and advice. You know, we've
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  Speaker 2: got we've been in the game a long time and
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  Speaker 2: we sort of know what works with young people and
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  Speaker 2: what's going on on the street. We've got really good
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  Speaker 2: community contacts through through all of our years of work
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  Speaker 2: with the community in that space.
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  Speaker 1: And how are things going, you know, from your perspective
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  Speaker 1: in Alice at the moment, we talk a lot about
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  Speaker 1: sort of well we hear a lot, I guess you'd
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  Speaker 1: say about the youth crime and some of the issues
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  Speaker 1: which are which are impacting residents. But then we've also
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  Speaker 1: on the flip side, got a situation where there are
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  Speaker 1: young people who in many cases have nowhere to go.
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  Speaker 2: Well, I think you put your finger on the main problem,
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  Speaker 2: and that's why CALYS is always trying to work to
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  Speaker 2: improve the quality of life's people as a way of
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  Speaker 2: addressing behavioral issues. And the issue that you've identified is
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  Speaker 2: a really key one. The Aboriginal communities in Central Australia
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  Speaker 2: are the poorest in Australia. There there and that they've
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  Speaker 2: got the lowest income, the lowest demographics, the worth sort
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  Speaker 2: of like overcrowding. This is this is where there is
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  Speaker 2: a sort of a whole lot of forces that act
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  Speaker 2: on kids that are really negative. And this so like
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  Speaker 2: we really support youth programs as a sort of like
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  Speaker 2: you know, a door open into a into a space
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  Speaker 2: that shows that the wider community really cares for those kids.
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  Speaker 2: Partly because in a sense, like the people down here
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  Speaker 2: ablishing people down here are like refugees living in you know,
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  Speaker 2: who've been living in refugee camps in their own country
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  Speaker 2: for generations now, and if ever there was a sort
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  Speaker 2: of like condition where that breeds up the potential for
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  Speaker 2: serious terrorism, that's it. And so the more that we show,
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  Speaker 2: you know, particularly the kids, that they're not excluded from everything,
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  Speaker 2: that we don't hate them, and that we're trying to
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  Speaker 2: we're trying to make good things happen for them, the
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  Speaker 2: more I think that we can, you know, protect ourselves
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  Speaker 2: against growing up a racist sort of like cohortive terrorist
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  Speaker 2: in the future.
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  Speaker 1: And I understand that. You know, as we mentioned that
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  Speaker 1: Youth Outreach and re Engagement Team Hub, obviously I believe
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  Speaker 1: it only opened on November twenty, and there's been a
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  Speaker 1: real influx of kids going in there.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's already really working. It's fantastic to see the
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  Speaker 2: kids take to it so quickly because but basically, you know,
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  Speaker 2: it's what the reason they opened was because and I
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  Speaker 2: really support the minister for sort of taking this line.
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  Speaker 2: She came down. She's only taken on the portfolio recently.
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  Speaker 2: She came down. I had a good look around and
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  Speaker 2: talk to everybody and realized one of the key things
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  Speaker 2: that everybody in the region has known, which is that
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  Speaker 2: at night there's lots of kids on the street and
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  Speaker 2: there's lots of patrols on the street. There's night patrol
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  Speaker 2: and youth patrol, children patrol, police patrol. There are patrols
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  Speaker 2: and patrols, and the areos used to go around patrolling
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  Speaker 2: as well. That was all that there was nowhere to
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  Speaker 2: take anybody. Once so the two funded youth programs finished,
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  Speaker 2: and they finished it during during the week, during the
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  Speaker 2: working school week at nine, then there's there's really nowhere
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  Speaker 2: to go. And so the so to their credit, the
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  Speaker 2: areas have opened up. They've got a fantastic resource. The
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  Speaker 2: hall that they've got down there is just great and
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  Speaker 2: they so now they've they've opened it up, and so
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  Speaker 2: now there is somewhere and all of those patrols have
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  Speaker 2: suddenly got somewhere really attractive and friendly and safe to
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  Speaker 2: take the kids. Because that's that's one issue that's come
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  Speaker 2: up recently in terms of safety is talking to kids
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  Speaker 2: on the street. They're they're more frightened of other kids
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  Speaker 2: than they're frightened of the police or any of the patrollers.
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  Speaker 2: And there's lots of kid on kid violence out there,
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  Speaker 2: and with bigger kids beating up and big bigger kids
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  Speaker 2: forcing the little kids to do crime. So the fact
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  Speaker 2: that the aros have opened up this space where that's
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  Speaker 2: not going to happen. I think it's going to be
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  Speaker 2: going to be great and does explain some of the
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  Speaker 2: popularity with the little kids. Yeah, yeah, somewhere.
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  Speaker 1: Safe, right, So, I mean from from what you're being
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  Speaker 1: told and what you've seen, has it has it been
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  Speaker 1: those younger ones that have that have gone there?
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  Speaker 2: Uh, they are there. It's a range of them. But
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  Speaker 2: yet like they're about the average about twelve, I think,
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  Speaker 2: so they're all pretty young. So yeah, the young ones,
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  Speaker 2: it's not not the older teenagers who are sort of
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  Speaker 2: around the little possibly escaping from those bigger ones.
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  Speaker 1: And I tell you what, it's something that we've spoken
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  Speaker 1: about on air about even here in the Northern suburbs.
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  Speaker 1: You know, we had a situation last week where the
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  Speaker 1: police had said to us that some nights they're you know,
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  Speaker 1: they're dropping kids home ten times in a night and
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  Speaker 1: and it does sort of you know, it does really
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  Speaker 1: make your question whether where they're being dropped to, you know,
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  Speaker 1: if they're if they're then sort of getting back out
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  Speaker 1: and they're and they're not staying there. It's it makes
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  Speaker 1: you wonder what's going on at home.
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  Speaker 2: Well, that's right, And interestingly, there is a potential solution
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  Speaker 2: to this, but it'll take to political solution, but it's
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  Speaker 2: one that we benefit the community in so many different ways,
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  Speaker 2: like the as well as as well as because like
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  Speaker 2: the really the real root issue is that is poverty.
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  Speaker 2: Those kids are then dropped back to a house that
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  Speaker 2: maybe has got even no electricity, you know, they might
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  Speaker 2: have run out of power cards. You know, there's no food,
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  Speaker 2: there's only a few scraps of furniture, and it's overcrowded
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  Speaker 2: and possibly you know, there are drunks there or you know, strangers,
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  Speaker 2: and it's not a really safe and conducive environment. And
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  Speaker 2: one of the main reason why Aboriginal communities are so poor,
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  Speaker 2: given that we live in a welfare state when there
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  Speaker 2: is supposed to be income security to stop people dropping
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  Speaker 2: into that desperate poverty, it's because the sinneling system is
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  Speaker 2: too complicated. And research from the recent senses shows that
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  Speaker 2: about forty percent of Aboriginal people are on no income.
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  Speaker 2: They have no they don't get the dole, they don't
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  Speaker 2: get a pension, they don't have anything. All they're doing
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  Speaker 2: is living off their relations, which they've done for tens
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  Speaker 2: of thousands of years. It's you know, part of their
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  Speaker 2: culture is supporting each other when they're and sharing. But
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  Speaker 2: the problem is in the cash economy that just impoverishes
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  Speaker 2: everybody to a huge degree. So if they if you know,
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  Speaker 2: if the if the government could fix up settling so
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  Speaker 2: that it wasn't so incredibly complicated and people could stay
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  Speaker 2: on it and they'd be able to feed their kids.
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  Speaker 2: You know, they'd be able to have more furniture, they
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  Speaker 2: have electricity in their homes and all these things that
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  Speaker 2: they just currently dream about, and that would that would
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  Speaker 2: go a long way towards giving the kids a better
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  Speaker 2: option there walking around the streets.
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  Speaker 1: Well, Blair, I really appreciate your time this morning. I
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  Speaker 1: think you've given us some much further scope when it
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  Speaker 1: talks about when we talk about some of the issues
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  Speaker 1: that we're seeing in Alice Springs and and really you know,
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  Speaker 1: territory wide. I think you'd have to say, Blair McFarlan
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  Speaker 1: from Kalus, we really appreciate you having a talk with
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  Speaker 1: us today.
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  Speaker 2: Thank you, Thank you,