Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Opposition Leader Lia Finocchiaro says the NT should follow Queensland and make breach of bail a criminal offence

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Opposition Leader Lia Finocchiaro says the NT should follow Queensland and make breach of bail a criminal offence · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: We know that we cover crime a lot on the show,
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: particularly youth crime, and we've been keeping a close eye
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: on the way in which other states are handling the issue. Now,
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: I've spoken before about changes coming into place in Queensland,
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: and yesterday the Queensland government, well, they announced a major
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: backflip on a contentious youth crime reform and they're going
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: to be reintroducing breach of bail as an offense. The
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: state government had previously dismissed the opposition's demands to reintroduce
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: the measure. They declared the measure would not be effective.
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: Now the reforms are going to be detailed when Parliament
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: returns in Queensland today, along with the well with its
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: youth crime bills. So the Premieer there, Anastasia Palichet, she
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: said that a petition which called for the reintroduction of
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: breach of bail had also contributed to this flip. The
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: governments also revealed in Queensland that they're going to be
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: investing forty two million dollars to spend on flying police
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: officers to hotspot areas as part of it, it's initiative
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: to ease community concerns about the youth crime crisis. Very
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: keen to hear from you this morning. Whether you think
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: these moves that are being made in Queensland are a
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: step in the right direction, send us a message now.
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: There is no doubt though that these moves and what
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: are happening in Queensland, well, it's probably making your question
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: whether we should be doing more here in the Northern territory.
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: I mean, just yesterday we heard of a youth in
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: another stolen car in Alice Springs, well a number of
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: youths police having to use road spikes to stop that car.
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: No matter how you look at it, this issue of
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: youth crime, it's not going away in the Northern Territory.
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: In fact, many would argue that it's getting worse now.
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: The Opposition leader Leo Fanocchiaro reckons that the files government
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: would do well to heed Queensland's example by protecting citizens
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: from repeat offenders. And she joins me on the line
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: right now. Good morning to you, Leah.
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: Good morning Katie, and to your wonderful listener.
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: Now, Leah, what is the current situation with breach of
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: bail in the Northern Territory.
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: It's a very sad state here, Katie, because of course
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: in March twenty nineteen, the Labor government here remove breach
• 2:07
  Speaker 2: of bow condition as an offense. So what that means
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: is when a young person breaks the law, they might
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: be bailed to the judge says, okay, you can have
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: another chance, and these are the rules around which you're
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: allowed to have your freedom. You can't do this, you
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: have to do that, et cetera. Now, if a young
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: person breaches those conditions, so for example, if it's a curfew,
• 2:28
  Speaker 2: they're not allowed out after eight pm, and yet a
• 2:31
  Speaker 2: young person's found out in the middle of the night,
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: that is no longer an offense. The government essentially did
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: criminalize breaching bow conditions and of course that sends a
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: very bad message to offenders because of course why do
• 2:46
  Speaker 2: they have to keep to the conditions that the judge
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: has sent if nothing happens to them. And we've just
• 2:50
  Speaker 2: seen this as well as the weakening of bail laws
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: raising the age of criminal responsibility. It is just this
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: Labor government's folk on the rights of the offender above
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: the rights of a community to be safe. We've long
• 3:05
  Speaker 2: called for the reinstatement of breach of bail. We brought
• 3:08
  Speaker 2: it into Parliament ourselves Katie back in two thousand and one,
• 3:11
  Speaker 2: only to have labor voted down. It's something we talk
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: about often and if labor in Queensland can do it, well,
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: labor in the territory can do it.
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: Now. What do you make of the moves that have
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: been made in Queensland? Obviously Anastasia Palachet making this announcement
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: yesterday afternoon. Today Parliament resumes in Queensland. It is all
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: as a result of the youth crime situation that they're
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: seeing there, which resulted in a woman being killed in
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: her own home allegedly at the hands of youths. What
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: do you make of these changes in Queensland? Do you
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: think that this is a step that the Northern territory
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: needs to take.
• 3:48
  Speaker 2: There's no question Territory labor needs to follow in Queensland
• 3:52
  Speaker 2: Labour's footsteps and bring back breach of boil condition as
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: an offense. In Queensland, they're having similar issues to us,
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: and I know the LMP opposition over there has been
• 4:02
  Speaker 2: fighting hard for the reinstatement of breach about just like
• 4:06
  Speaker 2: we have Katie. So I mean, this is about community safety,
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: This is about understanding that people who break the law
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: need a consequence. This is not about, you know, making
• 4:17
  Speaker 2: bail and making the justice system this wonderful, cushy place
• 4:21
  Speaker 2: in which you can just go and continue to victimize
• 4:24
  Speaker 2: people who are just going about their daily life. I
• 4:27
  Speaker 2: don't know what it is going to take for Natasha
• 4:30
  Speaker 2: Files to understand that her job as a chief ministry
• 4:33
  Speaker 2: is to protect the community. Instead she's protecting the criminals.
• 4:37
  Speaker 2: And as a result, we've got escalations in violence, escalations
• 4:40
  Speaker 2: in offending, and we've got people fleeing the territory because
• 4:43
  Speaker 2: they just have absolutely had a gut balled Katie. But
• 4:47
  Speaker 2: you know what if Natasha Files wakes up today and thinks, oh,
• 4:49
  Speaker 2: I'm going to be like Ana Sergia Paliche today, well
• 4:52
  Speaker 2: it'll be a good day for the territory.
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: Lea, do you have any evidence to support that this
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: would actually make a difference in the Northern Territory.
• 5:01
  Speaker 2: It would make a difference because what would then happen
• 5:03
  Speaker 2: is police can then charge a young person for the
• 5:06
  Speaker 2: breach of bail, which then brings them back before the court.
• 5:09
  Speaker 2: The court then has the opportunity to revoke that young
• 5:13
  Speaker 2: person's bail, which is what the COLP advocates for. We
• 5:18
  Speaker 2: think if you're given a chance by the courts and
• 5:21
  Speaker 2: you completely go against that opportunity to continue to be
• 5:26
  Speaker 2: in the community, then that's it. I mean, everyone deserves
• 5:30
  Speaker 2: a second chance, Katie, and I think what we know
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: to be true from all the stories you hear and
• 5:35
  Speaker 2: the reporting you see, is that these youth offenders are
• 5:38
  Speaker 2: not getting one chance, They're getting ten chances, twenty chances.
• 5:42
  Speaker 2: I mean, how many times does a police report come
• 5:45
  Speaker 2: through and the offenses are from a young person who
• 5:49
  Speaker 2: was on bail at the time. Now, by making that
• 5:52
  Speaker 2: a chargeable offense, not only as a community are we
• 5:55
  Speaker 2: standing together and saying enough is enough. We do not
• 5:58
  Speaker 2: accept this behavior, but we're giving police the tools they
• 6:02
  Speaker 2: need to be able to take those actions and charge
• 6:04
  Speaker 2: these offenders and show them that there's not infinite chances
• 6:08
  Speaker 2: in life. You actually, as an offender, have to do
• 6:11
  Speaker 2: your bit and play by the rules of our community.
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: Lea, do we actually have kids in the Northern Territory
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: right now? And I think that this is really you know,
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: it's an important point for listeners to know. Do we
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: have kids in the Northern Territory right now who are
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: committing offenses while they're on bail?
• 6:29
  Speaker 2: One hundred percent, Katie one hundred percentage. Almost daily you
• 6:34
  Speaker 2: see a police media release come through and it might
• 6:37
  Speaker 2: be that a young person has been charged with shoplifting,
• 6:40
  Speaker 2: stealing cars, assaults, whatever it might be. And often then
• 6:44
  Speaker 2: the police will detail that they were on bail at
• 6:47
  Speaker 2: the time of that offending. Particularly in Alice Springs, you
• 6:50
  Speaker 2: hear it all too well. If you talk to police
• 6:53
  Speaker 2: service providers, they will tell you that young people are
• 6:56
  Speaker 2: getting infinite chances and it's just not okay. There is
• 6:59
  Speaker 2: just no minimum standard in the territory anymore for offenders
• 7:03
  Speaker 2: because this government puts their rights above our right to
• 7:06
  Speaker 2: live safely, go to work, raise our kids, have a
• 7:09
  Speaker 2: great life. They're instead chooting to back in the criminal leah.
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: In Queensland, we know that a petition was started by
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: a grandmother to overhaul youth crime laws. It reached almost
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: one hundred and fifty thousand signatures, so Julie West was
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: her name. She launched this petition calling on the government
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: to create Emma's Law, which would include mandatory minimum sentences
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: for serious violent crimes. And it was in the wake
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: of the alleged murder of that mother of two, Emma
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: Lovell on Boxing Day last year. Now it seems that
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: this petition has made a difference and it's made the
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: Premiere realize that change needed to happen in Queensland. Do
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: you think that we've reached that point? Do you think
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: that we've reached a point where you know, some regular
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: territory and needs to actually stand up and do this
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: because the government doesn't seem to be listening to the
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: concerns that are being raised through the other channels like
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: the met and through their local members.
• 8:03
  Speaker 2: Well, Territorians have done many petitions, Katie. We've tabled petitions
• 8:08
  Speaker 2: in Parliament on a wide range of issues and the
• 8:11
  Speaker 2: government has ignored them all. And I think all of
• 8:14
  Speaker 2: us together feel like what is it going to take
• 8:17
  Speaker 2: to get them to listen. But if there are territorians
• 8:20
  Speaker 2: out there who want to put their name and their
• 8:23
  Speaker 2: time behind that, we will support you all the way.
• 8:26
  Speaker 2: We've done it before. There have been petitions in the past.
• 8:29
  Speaker 2: But absolutely the power of the people is incredibly important
• 8:33
  Speaker 2: and that's why we're doing this no confidence motion in
• 8:36
  Speaker 2: the government in March, Katie. And we've stood in them
• 8:38
  Speaker 2: all last week collecting signatures on a petition of no confidence.
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  Speaker 2: We call on the community to write to your labor
• 8:46
  Speaker 2: local members of Parliament and vote with us to get
• 8:49
  Speaker 2: rid of this appalling government who has completely forgotten to
• 8:52
  Speaker 2: put the rights of territorians above the rights of criminals.
• 8:56
  Speaker 2: And if there needs to be petitions on crime, we
• 8:58
  Speaker 2: will support that.
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: All the other things that the Queensland Government's revealed is
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: that they're going to be investing forty two million dollars.
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: It's going to be spent on flying police officers to
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: hotspot areas as part of its initiative to ease community
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: concerns about the youth crime crisis. I mean even that
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: like it seems to be a step so much so
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: in the right direction. What like, is that something that
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: we need to be looking at doing here in the territory.
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: I know that the police always surged to the areas
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: that are required, but the fact is it does seem
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: as though there needs to be further investment.
• 9:33
  Speaker 2: There's no question our police are under resourced and of
• 9:36
  Speaker 2: course late last year the government sent forty police officers
• 9:39
  Speaker 2: to Alice Springs. What they forgot to tell people is
• 9:42
  Speaker 2: that took police out of Darlin, Palmerston, Catherine Tannet Creek,
• 9:46
  Speaker 2: it's even shut down remote communities, and so you have
• 9:50
  Speaker 2: this situation where you know, we want extra resources in
• 9:54
  Speaker 2: areas like Alice Springs, but then you're actually depriving the
• 9:57
  Speaker 2: rest of the community who are also from this crime
• 10:01
  Speaker 2: crisis because it is not isolated to certain parts of
• 10:04
  Speaker 2: the community. It is everywhere. In Our police under resource,
• 10:09
  Speaker 2: they can't cope with the volume of calls coming in
• 10:13
  Speaker 2: the serious nature of the task that they're being having
• 10:17
  Speaker 2: to do with the domestic violence increases, that alcohol related assaults,
• 10:21
  Speaker 2: violent crime. It is a tragic situation for territories because
• 10:26
  Speaker 2: this government is not only supporting our police, they've disempowered
• 10:30
  Speaker 2: our police by weakening their laws and their powers. They've
• 10:33
  Speaker 2: also then created a crime crisis of a scale that
• 10:37
  Speaker 2: our police can't even cover just because of the sheer
• 10:41
  Speaker 2: volume of crime that is happening in our community. So
• 10:44
  Speaker 2: this government needs to take a good hard look at
• 10:46
  Speaker 2: itself and decide whether or not it's capable of governing
• 10:50
  Speaker 2: any further. Because I can tell you, Katie, people tell
• 10:52
  Speaker 2: me that this government has failed and they can't even
• 10:55
  Speaker 2: govern and do the very basic Now.
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: One of the things that is a bit confusing to
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: me at the moment is the Northern Territory Police do
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: continue to send out statements when they obviously when they
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: arrest somebody and when they do arrest a youth. And
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: I do know that they keep putting on those pressure releases,
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: you know, if somebody has had a serious breach of bail.
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: So if bail, like, if breaching bail is not an offense,
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: how come we're still seeing that, you know in those
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: pressure releases.
• 11:23
  Speaker 2: Well, I don't know, Katie. The sink in me is
• 11:27
  Speaker 2: that that's come from Kate Warden's office to say, please
• 11:30
  Speaker 2: make it look like we're a good government and add
• 11:32
  Speaker 2: this to your press release. I mean, it doesn't mean anything.
• 11:35
  Speaker 2: It just shows the community that someone was on bail.
• 11:38
  Speaker 2: But a police officer cannot charge someone for breaching their bail.
• 11:43
  Speaker 2: And so a serious breach of bao does come under
• 11:47
  Speaker 2: one of the many ridiculous amendments that government have made
• 11:50
  Speaker 2: to the Bail Act, but there's no charge, there's no
• 11:56
  Speaker 2: additional offense to preach about.
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: Ton Okay, I'm just simply trying to wrap my head
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: around it. Now lea onto another.
• 12:03
  Speaker 2: Confusing and they've made it that way deliberately.
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: So yeah, now onto another issue. We know that the
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: CLP held their Central Council meeting on the weekend and
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: members voted to back the no campaign in the upcoming
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: referendum on an Indigenous Voice to Parliament. The move has
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: been welcomed by the colp's sole federal representative, Just Enterprise,
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: the Senator, but as of yesterday it was not clear
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: what the vote would mean for the CLP's parliamentary wing.
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: Now you've said that you support the voice in theory,
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: but hold concerns about a lack of detail from the
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: federal Labor government. Lea, do you support the voice?
• 12:40
  Speaker 2: So we've been really clear in our position, Katie, and
• 12:43
  Speaker 2: that position hasn't changed. So we are absolutely open to
• 12:48
  Speaker 2: a voice to Parliament and that type of concept, but
• 12:52
  Speaker 2: what we want is more detail. We do not want
• 12:55
  Speaker 2: territories having to vote in a referendum to change our
• 12:58
  Speaker 2: constitution without knowing what it is. And the overwhelming feedback
• 13:03
  Speaker 2: we receive from our community and even within the party
• 13:05
  Speaker 2: is that people do not know what this is and
• 13:08
  Speaker 2: people should be afforded the opportunity to understand and make
• 13:12
  Speaker 2: up their own mind about how they're going to vote
• 13:14
  Speaker 2: in this referendum. Later in the year.
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: It sounds though, as though the rank and file don't
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: actually support it. They don't you know that they don't
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: support that voice to Parliament, but that you're still undecided.
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: So in theory, do you support the Voice to Parliament?
• 13:30
  Speaker 2: So our party membership took a vote over the weekend.
• 13:33
  Speaker 2: We had a fantastic debate which the parliamentary team absolutely
• 13:38
  Speaker 2: respect and value, and it highlighted the fact that the
• 13:43
  Speaker 2: majority of the party membership feel that they don't support
• 13:47
  Speaker 2: the voice and that's perfectly fine. Ultimately, as a parliamentary team,
• 13:51
  Speaker 2: we don't feel this is a role for politicians because
• 13:54
  Speaker 2: it is a referendum, so it is a federal matter,
• 13:57
  Speaker 2: which is why of course a senator is highly involved.
• 14:01
  Speaker 2: And ultimately for us, as territory based members of Parliament,
• 14:04
  Speaker 2: we're really focused on the issues affecting territories in their
• 14:07
  Speaker 2: lives today. So we're really focused on law and order
• 14:10
  Speaker 2: and crime, on growing out. I get that, living.
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: I totally get that, and you know, I think that
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: a lot of people listening will feel the same that
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: they are at the four you know, the crime issue
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: and also the cost of living. But I suppose the
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: thing that people are concerned about at this point in time,
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: is that they're wondering whether there is a bit of
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: a rift between the parliamentary wing of the CLP and
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: between the rank and file of the CLP. It seems
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: as though the party is saying that they don't support
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: the voice. Yeah, the parliamentary wing is saying that, you know,
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: there's still more detail that is required.
• 14:42
  Speaker 2: Look, there is absolutely no rift. These are very normal things.
• 14:45
  Speaker 2: I'll give you an example. So the last time the
• 14:47
  Speaker 2: Labor Party in the territory had their conference, they voted
• 14:50
  Speaker 2: against on your Gas but you've got the Labor government
• 14:53
  Speaker 2: supporting and on your gas position. So it comes up
• 14:56
  Speaker 2: from time to time where there is that difference. Gromound
• 14:59
  Speaker 2: does affect though. We're just really calling for more information.
• 15:02
  Speaker 2: We've called on the government, the Prime Minister to work
• 15:05
  Speaker 2: with territorians. We want to make sure people know what
• 15:08
  Speaker 2: it is they're voting for and we respect the fact
• 15:11
  Speaker 2: that we have one vote just like any other territory
• 15:14
  Speaker 2: and Katie in the referendum when it comes. So you know,
• 15:17
  Speaker 2: we're looking forward to more information being provided. I had
• 15:20
  Speaker 2: a brief chat with Senator McCarthy at the bombing of
• 15:24
  Speaker 2: Darwin and it's important that we open our minds to
• 15:29
  Speaker 2: what this thing actually is a problem is nobody really
• 15:32
  Speaker 2: knows what.
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: It could potentially do though, is create a real weed.
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: You would have to suspect between the CLP and the
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: Labor Party when it comes to some of those bush
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: seats that obviously you know the CLP is going to
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: be vying for, it will mean that you know, Labor
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: can potentially go out there to those bush seats and say, see,
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: the COLP doesn't support an Indigenous voice to Parliament, so
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: how are they going to represent you? Are you worried
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: about the ramifications for you and for your parliamentary wing,
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: particularly seats like Bill Yams and you know the one
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: intenant Craig Steve Edgington's When the Labor Party is going
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: to be able to do that.
• 16:13
  Speaker 2: Well, I'm not surprised ever, when the Labor Party and
• 16:17
  Speaker 2: Natasha Files weaponizes an issue that's not a territory issue, but.
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: It is a territory issue if the if you know,
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: like we're talking about constitutional change, so it is going
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: to be a territory issue.
• 16:29
  Speaker 2: Well, it's an issue that Territorians get to devote, sorry
• 16:32
  Speaker 2: vote directly on. But when you walk around any community.
• 16:36
  Speaker 2: I can you know from our feedback, from our connection
• 16:39
  Speaker 2: on the ground, any of our electors which are far
• 16:41
  Speaker 2: and wide across the territory, the number one issue on
• 16:44
  Speaker 2: people's mind is not about the voice. And so ultimately,
• 16:48
  Speaker 2: if Labour want to weaponize this in a bush campaign,
• 16:51
  Speaker 2: then that's what they're going to do. We're on the ground,
• 16:54
  Speaker 2: We're going to be talking to people about the issues
• 16:56
  Speaker 2: that matter to them and we're going to be standing
• 16:59
  Speaker 2: up for territory to make sure that they understand what
• 17:02
  Speaker 2: the concept is, how it's going to work, so that
• 17:05
  Speaker 2: they can make the best educated decision. And when it
• 17:08
  Speaker 2: comes to voting in the referendum.
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: Leah, does the decision by the colp over the weekend
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: demonstrate that Senator just enterprise is running the show.
• 17:18
  Speaker 2: I think it's an important discussion. Of course, we're a
• 17:20
  Speaker 2: political party and it's a it's a major national news
• 17:25
  Speaker 2: headline runner at the moment, Katie, and so it's really
• 17:28
  Speaker 2: important for our senator to raise these issues, important for
• 17:31
  Speaker 2: the membership to debate policies. I mean we debated a
• 17:35
  Speaker 2: wide range of things over the weekend, Katie. It wasn't
• 17:38
  Speaker 2: just this topic. And we're extremely supportive and respectful of
• 17:42
  Speaker 2: all of those processes. That's why democracy is so brilliant
• 17:46
  Speaker 2: because everyone gets to have their stay and our party,
• 17:49
  Speaker 2: unlike Labor, support the freedom of the individual and respect
• 17:53
  Speaker 2: the individual's decision to have control over their destiny, their
• 17:56
  Speaker 2: mind and ultimately what they do with their life.
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: I mean, does CLP risks sort of blowing themselves up
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: here though? If you've got a situation where you as
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: the parliamentary leader, you know you're still in the process
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: of sort of determining whether you do or don't support
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: the Voice to Parliament based on the information. But then
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: you have got you know, your senator and the party
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: members that very much are saying that they don't.
• 18:22
  Speaker 2: So because ultimately, this is a referendum, so every single
• 18:25
  Speaker 2: person in this country will be able to place their vote.
• 18:29
  Speaker 2: It will be private, they will be able to exercise
• 18:31
  Speaker 2: their democratic right and if they feel like they don't
• 18:34
  Speaker 2: support it at the time because there's not much information,
• 18:36
  Speaker 2: or they just absolutely oppose the principle, and don't get
• 18:40
  Speaker 2: me wrong, Katie, for a lot of people, this is
• 18:42
  Speaker 2: an incredibly divisive issue. I absolutely recognize that a lot
• 18:47
  Speaker 2: of people feel like this is you know, race based discrimination.
• 18:51
  Speaker 2: But equally a lot of people feel like, well, the
• 18:54
  Speaker 2: system's broken at the moment, maybe this will fix it.
• 18:57
  Speaker 2: And so the real task here is for the Edril
• 19:00
  Speaker 2: government to be providing that impartial information the force and
• 19:04
  Speaker 2: the against. Just like every referendum that's ever come before
• 19:08
  Speaker 2: us in our history, Katie, that for and against narrative
• 19:12
  Speaker 2: needs to be put out there. People need to be
• 19:14
  Speaker 2: able to understand it, engage in it and make up
• 19:16
  Speaker 2: their mind about where they stand on this issue.
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: Well, Lea Finocchiaro, the opposition leader, always appreciate your time.
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: Thank you very much for taking the time to speak
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: with me this morning.
• 19:27
  Speaker 2: Thanks Katie, take care. Thank you.