WEBVTT - This is Alice Springs: Mparntwe 0:00:00.120 --> 0:00:02.759 This episode is the third part of a three part series. 0:00:03.160 --> 0:00:05.440 If you haven't yet, start with Children of the Intervention 0:00:06.040 --> 0:00:09.280 and then listen to the Coppers. Also, it contains some 0:00:09.280 --> 0:00:15.680 strong language. 0:00:15.720 --> 0:00:17.920 Most of us have lived in his camps all their life. 0:00:18.320 --> 0:00:23.080 I've moved out, I've come back, grew up in Charles Creek. 0:00:24.520 --> 0:00:27.680 So you got some kids on your own, yep, what 0:00:27.720 --> 0:00:28.920 are your hopes and dreams for them? 0:00:29.320 --> 0:00:32.360 They've got brains, they do go to school all the time. Yeah, 0:00:32.400 --> 0:00:35.360 I've got my eldest daughter and who's almost finished year twelve, 0:00:35.360 --> 0:00:38.240 and she's straight into her health worker's course straight after 0:00:38.760 --> 0:00:42.760 school holidays and the other ones in year ten and yeah, 0:00:42.800 --> 0:00:45.920 she's pursuing what she wants to do now through the 0:00:46.040 --> 0:00:47.200 VET courses through school. 0:00:48.159 --> 0:00:50.600 I'm at Charles Creek Camp, just on the edge of 0:00:50.600 --> 0:00:54.080 Alice Springs. It's its own little community at the bottom 0:00:54.120 --> 0:00:57.600 of a hill. I'm talking to her an a while 0:00:57.600 --> 0:01:01.200 we talk. Her kids are playing nearby, still in their uniforms, 0:01:01.240 --> 0:01:04.280 just home from school. They're burning off that last bit 0:01:04.280 --> 0:01:06.880 of energy before dinner and settling in for the night. 0:01:07.920 --> 0:01:09.880 I wouldn't know what it's been like to live here 0:01:10.360 --> 0:01:13.760 under the glaring spotlight of governments, but never to be seen, 0:01:14.319 --> 0:01:17.840 only monitored, to live a life within the ever tightening 0:01:17.840 --> 0:01:22.280 parameters decided by the state, the latest one being the 0:01:22.319 --> 0:01:25.880 curfews imposed earlier this year. Kids weren't allowed on the 0:01:25.880 --> 0:01:27.840 streets after six pm. 0:01:28.600 --> 0:01:32.040 It was horrible. Like I've just finished the season being 0:01:32.080 --> 0:01:35.399 an under seventies coach for the girl's side into Alice. 0:01:35.880 --> 0:01:37.520 It was a bit hard because we had to bring 0:01:37.560 --> 0:01:41.240 our training times earlier just so the kids could be 0:01:41.280 --> 0:01:44.319 home before the certain time, which was silly because none 0:01:44.360 --> 0:01:47.600 of my girls was involved with any of the rubbish 0:01:47.680 --> 0:01:50.600 that was going on around town and it really affected 0:01:50.600 --> 0:01:53.640 our training ways. So yeah, it was pretty stupid that 0:01:53.800 --> 0:01:55.559 we got affected from it really bad. 0:01:56.640 --> 0:01:58.680 So it's kind of the typical thing that happens in 0:01:58.720 --> 0:02:00.880 the territory is that everyone gets tired with the same 0:02:01.040 --> 0:02:04.600 brush because you know, a certain number of people are 0:02:04.640 --> 0:02:06.680 playing up and then everyone has to suffer as a result. 0:02:06.720 --> 0:02:08.840 Is that the way you feel, Yep, exactly the way 0:02:08.880 --> 0:02:11.120 I feel. It's you know, it's not our problem. It 0:02:11.120 --> 0:02:14.680 should be brought upon their guardians, their parents or whatever 0:02:14.760 --> 0:02:16.480 with whoever's doing wrong. 0:02:17.280 --> 0:02:20.160 Yeah, and so no one's talking to each other. I mean, 0:02:20.160 --> 0:02:22.840 that's what it seems to me. No one's actually you 0:02:22.880 --> 0:02:26.600 can sort of like enforce the law. You can bring 0:02:26.639 --> 0:02:31.400 in curfews, you can bring in the interventions through the 0:02:31.520 --> 0:02:33.880 army and stuff, but actually no one's actually sitting down 0:02:33.880 --> 0:02:36.800 and talking with people to find out what the problem 0:02:36.880 --> 0:02:38.600 is and what the solution is. 0:02:39.080 --> 0:02:41.040 Yeah, that'll be right if we could do that. But 0:02:41.160 --> 0:02:43.799 no one's game enough to get out and talk about it. 0:02:43.840 --> 0:02:46.760 So, yeah, it must be pretty exhausting. 0:02:47.400 --> 0:02:50.200 Yeah, it is being locals and lived all our life. 0:02:50.240 --> 0:02:54.680 So yeah, do you see a long term future here 0:02:54.680 --> 0:02:59.240 for yourself and your family at the moment? No, So 0:02:59.280 --> 0:02:59.880 where would you. 0:02:59.840 --> 0:03:03.000 Go somewhere out of Alice Springs? 0:03:03.040 --> 0:03:10.359 Hopefully it's not so much the crime wave that's driving 0:03:10.360 --> 0:03:13.760 Renee out of Alice Springs. It's been the response to it. 0:03:14.800 --> 0:03:17.840 People who are trying their best are looked on with suspicion. 0:03:18.880 --> 0:03:21.760 It's tiring having to prove yourself time and time again 0:03:22.080 --> 0:03:25.240 to do the little things, go to the shops, drive 0:03:25.240 --> 0:03:29.440 a car, raise a family. Every Aboriginal person here is 0:03:29.520 --> 0:03:33.720 under the same pressure. The thing that needs fixing is 0:03:33.720 --> 0:03:37.480 not Renee or her family, but they continue or trespassing 0:03:37.520 --> 0:03:41.320 on their lives by clerks and coppers. She's not alone 0:03:41.400 --> 0:03:43.960 wanting to leave Alice. Those who can afford it are 0:03:43.960 --> 0:03:47.640 packing up and leaving. There are for sale signs everywhere 0:03:47.680 --> 0:03:50.080 you go in town. There's a glut of homes on 0:03:50.120 --> 0:03:53.480 the market. So what are the people that remain want? 0:03:54.320 --> 0:03:57.080 What's working or needs to happen to make things work, 0:03:57.560 --> 0:04:03.480 the little things that can make a big difference. I'm 0:04:03.560 --> 0:04:07.960 Daniel James and you're listening to seven am. This is 0:04:08.000 --> 0:04:13.200 Ala Springs Episode three in part way. This episode was 0:04:13.240 --> 0:04:15.200 first published in October last year. 0:04:19.160 --> 0:04:23.640 Thank you everyone. What an incredible group of dedicated, hard 0:04:23.680 --> 0:04:28.239 working Territorians. How good is it to be Territorian tonight? 0:04:31.960 --> 0:04:34.919 There's a new government in the territory and its leader 0:04:35.040 --> 0:04:39.800 has promised solutions. Earlier this year, Lea Finiguiaro became the 0:04:39.839 --> 0:04:43.400 new Chief Minister of the Northern Territory. She won on 0:04:43.440 --> 0:04:47.040 a landslide, almost completely wiping out the Labor Party from parliament, 0:04:47.480 --> 0:04:49.880 reinstalling the Country Liberal Party to power. 0:04:50.440 --> 0:04:54.240 As a born and bred's second generation Territory King, the 0:04:54.320 --> 0:04:57.680 granddaughter of Italian migrants, I grew up living in an 0:04:57.920 --> 0:05:04.280 iconic territory. Childhood camping, fishing and playing outside I always 0:05:04.360 --> 0:05:07.520 knew the territory was a special place, and I was 0:05:07.680 --> 0:05:11.159 lucky to be a Territorian growing up here. 0:05:11.200 --> 0:05:14.120 The new Chief Minister's just turned forty, but she's been 0:05:14.160 --> 0:05:17.880 in Parliament for thirteen years. She's clp through and through 0:05:18.440 --> 0:05:20.960 as much a part of the political establishment as you 0:05:20.960 --> 0:05:24.040 can get here. The dawn of this era looks strangely 0:05:24.120 --> 0:05:26.960 like the old one. It's another territory and looking back 0:05:26.960 --> 0:05:29.560 at this place as they remember to get back to 0:05:29.600 --> 0:05:32.520 those times. The new Chief Minister will be implementing her 0:05:32.520 --> 0:05:33.640 tough on crime agenda. 0:05:34.080 --> 0:05:38.240 Territorians have stood up against nearly two decades of escalating 0:05:38.279 --> 0:05:41.960 crime and economy going backwards, and the erosion of our 0:05:42.000 --> 0:05:46.640 once iconic lifestyle. But tomorrow is the start of a 0:05:46.720 --> 0:05:47.520 new day. 0:05:47.600 --> 0:05:48.760 And a new shutter. 0:05:53.279 --> 0:05:56.720 She's promised to lower the age of criminal responsibility to ten, 0:05:57.520 --> 0:06:01.960 tightening already type by all laws. Skills will have truancy officers, 0:06:02.320 --> 0:06:05.400 and there's the threat to restrict government benefits for parents 0:06:05.400 --> 0:06:10.400 of kids who misbehave. Police will be given more powers 0:06:10.440 --> 0:06:14.040 to search kids as young as ten if they're considered suspicious. 0:06:14.760 --> 0:06:20.120 The greyest of law enforcement criteria spit hoods banned after 0:06:20.160 --> 0:06:24.000 the dondal Ryal Commission will be back the prison itself 0:06:24.240 --> 0:06:27.039 in the midst of a makeover, new and improved the house, 0:06:27.080 --> 0:06:28.839 all the incarcerated children to come. 0:06:29.800 --> 0:06:32.440 CLP are proposing on the issue of you with crime 0:06:32.600 --> 0:06:35.880 to reducing the age of criminal responsibility back to ten 0:06:35.920 --> 0:06:39.160 from twelve years of age. Yes, what experts have said 0:06:39.160 --> 0:06:40.880 that this is a good idea? And what have they said? 0:06:41.160 --> 0:06:43.440 Well, the experts of the CLP listen to are the 0:06:43.560 --> 0:06:46.440 everyday territories who are out there sick and tired of 0:06:46.480 --> 0:06:49.440 being victims of crime. We had Holo promises. 0:06:49.800 --> 0:06:54.159 So they're her solutions. But what about the locals. Before 0:06:54.200 --> 0:06:58.080 we came to Waller Springs, we called a lot of people, elders, lawyers, 0:06:58.120 --> 0:07:00.880 health workers, a lot of people who have been fighting 0:07:00.920 --> 0:07:03.159 over decades to try and improve the plight of people 0:07:03.200 --> 0:07:10.840 living here. Blair McFarland's name kept on coming up, so 0:07:10.880 --> 0:07:13.640 we set up a meeting with him. We meet him 0:07:13.640 --> 0:07:17.880 at the Olive Pink Botanical Gardens, the desert gardens, nestled 0:07:17.920 --> 0:07:19.320 at the base of one of the hills of the 0:07:19.360 --> 0:07:23.320 East McDonald Rangers. The sky is blue and the morning 0:07:23.360 --> 0:07:28.880 sun is warm ay blaze. After decades of work on 0:07:28.920 --> 0:07:32.160 the front line. He's approaching retirement and is at the 0:07:32.200 --> 0:07:34.640 point where he can tell it like it is, Call 0:07:34.680 --> 0:07:37.400 that anyone or any agency that needs to be called out. 0:07:38.240 --> 0:07:43.520 Yes, I'm Blair McFarland. One of my things is that 0:07:43.560 --> 0:07:47.360 I'm twenty twenty four inty Australian. Every year I say that, 0:07:47.440 --> 0:07:49.640 so you know, I've got a little bit of generally 0:07:49.760 --> 0:07:52.720 sort of acknowledged cred in case you've never heard of me, which, 0:07:52.720 --> 0:07:54.240 of course the vast majority of. 0:07:54.240 --> 0:07:57.320 Will never have. Blair arrived here in the mid eighties 0:07:57.440 --> 0:07:59.800 from Melbourne and fell in love with the place and 0:07:59.840 --> 0:08:04.360 the people. Petrol sniffing was a sporadic problem when he arrived, 0:08:04.640 --> 0:08:07.119 but by the start of the New millennium the problem 0:08:07.200 --> 0:08:09.960 became more and more prevalent, until it turned into an 0:08:10.040 --> 0:08:12.360 unrelenting wave with no sign of stopping. 0:08:13.280 --> 0:08:17.000 It's an issue that's plagued remote indigenous communities for decades 0:08:17.320 --> 0:08:19.200 and its effects are devastating. 0:08:19.520 --> 0:08:21.840 Petrol sniffing is on the rise. In the top of. 0:08:21.840 --> 0:08:25.120 Two thousand and two, Blair established the Central Australian Youth 0:08:25.200 --> 0:08:30.520 Linkup Service KALOS to support young people sniffing petrol. Blair 0:08:30.600 --> 0:08:33.760 himself had first hand encounters with people he'd attempted suicide 0:08:33.800 --> 0:08:36.640 as a result of sniffing. One man he saved went 0:08:36.679 --> 0:08:39.079 on to save another from a similar attempt. 0:08:39.559 --> 0:08:41.679 Blair McFarland is the manager of KALUS. 0:08:41.800 --> 0:08:43.320 He's speaking with Kathy van Extell. 0:08:43.400 --> 0:08:45.240 And so the youth are raming around with a real 0:08:45.280 --> 0:08:48.280 feeling as like nobody cares about us. It's definitely contributed 0:08:48.320 --> 0:08:51.320 to a feeling of unease on the street in our springs, 0:08:51.360 --> 0:08:53.240 like a lot of people are really concerned about it, 0:08:53.280 --> 0:08:55.040 like they're nice kids around it. 0:08:55.160 --> 0:08:58.200 Through KALs, he advocated for the Low Aromatic Fuel Act 0:08:58.280 --> 0:09:02.160 in twenty thirteen, which resulted in a ninety five percent 0:09:02.280 --> 0:09:05.440 drop in petrol sniffing. It was as close as you 0:09:05.440 --> 0:09:07.840 could get to ever solving a complex problem in this 0:09:07.920 --> 0:09:11.760 part of the world. But this is different. This crisis 0:09:11.840 --> 0:09:12.480 is much worse. 0:09:14.040 --> 0:09:17.520 It's really quite different because basically a petrol snipper is 0:09:17.559 --> 0:09:20.160 like a zombie, you know, they sort of they stumble around, 0:09:20.840 --> 0:09:23.160 They've got a can against their face. They that didn't 0:09:23.160 --> 0:09:26.800 seem to see anything. So that's what it was like. Then, 0:09:27.360 --> 0:09:31.160 I they're doing themselves serious damage. But now it's really 0:09:31.200 --> 0:09:34.960 contrasting to that. And then now is a bunch of 0:09:35.040 --> 0:09:40.720 kids with ADHD fas D global developmental delay. They're hungry, 0:09:41.080 --> 0:09:44.720 they're wired, they're sort of their traditional authority systems have 0:09:44.760 --> 0:09:49.200 been underblined by colonization for generations. And this is what 0:09:49.240 --> 0:09:53.439 Alice Springs is now facing, the karma that we're facing 0:09:53.800 --> 0:09:55.800 because of policy thats just made a generation. 0:09:57.040 --> 0:10:00.280 But no one in politics is talking about that, like 0:10:00.320 --> 0:10:02.680 they're only thinking as far ahead as the next electoral 0:10:02.679 --> 0:10:03.640 cycle will allow. 0:10:04.480 --> 0:10:09.160 I think that there are so many players here operating 0:10:09.160 --> 0:10:12.000 in their own on their own agendas, that it's actually 0:10:12.880 --> 0:10:16.079 what a mathematician will call a chaos field, a field 0:10:16.080 --> 0:10:18.480 where there are so many decisions being made that it's 0:10:18.559 --> 0:10:22.600 really unpredictable in which direction things will go. And that's 0:10:22.720 --> 0:10:25.000 I think what you're feeling here. There is no plan, 0:10:25.320 --> 0:10:27.760 like you know, the crime stuff. They're saying, oh, we'll 0:10:27.760 --> 0:10:30.400 put everybody in jail, so like, is that the plan 0:10:30.480 --> 0:10:32.520 that everybody in the Northern churchy will either be a 0:10:32.520 --> 0:10:35.280 prisoner or a warden by the year twenty fifty. 0:10:36.280 --> 0:10:39.040 Lowering the age of criminal responsibility back to ten. 0:10:39.200 --> 0:10:41.160 I know what, let you do six that'll be moore. 0:10:41.240 --> 0:10:44.120 Fut this is crazy. 0:10:44.280 --> 0:10:45.520 What do you got to say about it. 0:10:45.640 --> 0:10:48.720 Oh, it just it's a crazy, desperate, foolish thing that 0:10:48.840 --> 0:10:52.920 in no way affects you know, what's making those kids criminal. 0:10:54.520 --> 0:10:56.600 If they wanted to do something about that whole scene, 0:10:56.640 --> 0:10:59.559 you'd put a lot more resources into diagnosing and treating 0:11:00.360 --> 0:11:01.439 all of those things. 0:11:03.120 --> 0:11:05.680 His view echoes experts who say, not only does tough 0:11:05.720 --> 0:11:08.680 on crime not work, it's a potential breach of human 0:11:08.760 --> 0:11:12.480 rights when it comes to kids in prison or detention 0:11:12.640 --> 0:11:14.920 or whatever you want to call it. What the state's 0:11:15.000 --> 0:11:18.200 doing is swapping one culture for another one where the 0:11:18.240 --> 0:11:22.320 cycle of crime and punishment becomes the norm. Throwing children 0:11:22.320 --> 0:11:25.160 in detention and placing them in previously banned spit hoods 0:11:25.760 --> 0:11:29.520 can and will have psychological and cognitive impacts on kids development. 0:11:30.880 --> 0:11:34.080 Even though the strategies won't work, people have lost hope 0:11:34.120 --> 0:11:37.880 to fight against them. This is the mandate the government has. 0:11:38.240 --> 0:11:41.160 Despite less than forty five percent of enrolled voters in 0:11:41.200 --> 0:11:45.480 Bush electorates casting a ballot, Blair says the low voter 0:11:45.600 --> 0:11:48.280 turnout is linked to the outcome of the Voice referendum 0:11:48.320 --> 0:11:48.720 as well. 0:11:49.520 --> 0:11:53.000 Yeah, I think the referendum made Aboriginal people even more 0:11:53.000 --> 0:11:57.520 cynical than before. About what's the point because I think 0:11:57.559 --> 0:12:01.360 a whole lot of Aboriginal people became really this enheartened 0:12:01.400 --> 0:12:04.640 but the whole voting thing and didn't vote. Like in 0:12:04.720 --> 0:12:06.839 the electric I ran and there were six and a 0:12:06.880 --> 0:12:09.520 half thousand people registered to vote and two and a 0:12:09.520 --> 0:12:10.440 half thousand voted. 0:12:13.679 --> 0:12:16.040 Blair ran as a Greens candidate in the recent election 0:12:16.240 --> 0:12:20.200 and lost. Green threw a rare breed in the territory, 0:12:20.360 --> 0:12:23.280 perhaps his last attempt to force change in Alice Springs 0:12:23.600 --> 0:12:27.800 and beyond. So Blair, what needs to be done? 0:12:28.320 --> 0:12:28.840 I don't know what. 0:12:28.960 --> 0:12:29.320 I don't know. 0:12:29.360 --> 0:12:31.920 I've tried everything, nothing nothing works. 0:12:33.280 --> 0:12:38.160 Blair contributed a lot more than most, but ultimately change 0:12:38.200 --> 0:12:46.280 here is going to come from somewhere else. After the 0:12:46.320 --> 0:12:48.720 break one man in his family in the middle of 0:12:48.760 --> 0:12:51.240 the desert, trying their best to help the children of 0:12:51.280 --> 0:12:55.240 him Bantua break the cycle. It means Ruby and I 0:12:55.400 --> 0:12:56.480 are going on country. 0:12:58.080 --> 0:13:00.440 There's the biggest forces you've ever seen. 0:13:27.600 --> 0:13:29.079 So have we seen Amy you the other day? Just 0:13:29.160 --> 0:13:32.320 over there, we just picked up a baby printy about 0:13:32.360 --> 0:13:35.400 that big. His head was stuck in a cairn, so 0:13:35.480 --> 0:13:36.120 we surrounded. 0:13:36.920 --> 0:13:41.000 Can you describe where we are? I mean we're surrounded 0:13:41.040 --> 0:13:44.360 by rocky escarments with McDonald Ranges. 0:13:44.440 --> 0:13:47.720 East of McDonald Ranges. I think this is the Onulia 0:13:47.800 --> 0:13:52.240 side of the Banto country. And over here there's a 0:13:52.240 --> 0:13:57.400 great significance of connection to this country. That's the three caterpillars. 0:13:57.800 --> 0:14:02.600 And Jelka is my great great great father, and he's 0:14:02.640 --> 0:14:03.600 not too far from here. 0:14:05.040 --> 0:14:07.960 We've come here at a cracking time of day, late afternoon, 0:14:08.360 --> 0:14:10.880 the sun low over the McDonald Rangers on the horizon. 0:14:11.840 --> 0:14:15.040 I'm with Damien, the fellow who's been our unofficial tour guide. 0:14:15.440 --> 0:14:17.839 We're out at his favorite place, the place where he 0:14:17.920 --> 0:14:21.640 tries to make a difference to what's happening here. His 0:14:21.800 --> 0:14:25.400 generosity helped us a great deal for this series. But 0:14:25.520 --> 0:14:28.400 now we're at his outstation, the spot that made us 0:14:28.440 --> 0:14:30.160 want to speak with him in the first place. 0:14:31.120 --> 0:14:33.640 All what you see is what I've accumulated out of 0:14:33.680 --> 0:14:37.240 my own pocket. This machiney, I've only bought that cheap, 0:14:37.280 --> 0:14:39.760 but it's done in me some some world of greatness. 0:14:41.160 --> 0:14:43.640 There's caravans for smokeo and to shelter from the weather. 0:14:44.480 --> 0:14:50.360 There's fences, gates and pens, and there's horses and this 0:14:50.440 --> 0:14:51.000 fellow's name. 0:14:51.480 --> 0:14:52.160 There's a malon. 0:14:53.000 --> 0:14:56.920 She's a mayor. How much I know about horses. 0:14:58.200 --> 0:15:02.360 That's my melon chopsticks. 0:15:03.640 --> 0:15:06.360 This is my my big ouse. He's a big fella 0:15:06.800 --> 0:15:07.760 many answers. 0:15:07.480 --> 0:15:12.160 Sixteen sixteen nuns. That's big funny and the other one's 0:15:12.360 --> 0:15:14.520 other side of the DJ and groom up the back. 0:15:15.800 --> 0:15:17.840 That's the biggest source of ever scene in my life. 0:15:18.080 --> 0:15:19.720 He's a most gentlest one. 0:15:20.000 --> 0:15:23.720 Yeah right, he's raised all the emma, melon and chopsticks. 0:15:23.840 --> 0:15:26.280 I looked after by kids who come here from town, 0:15:26.800 --> 0:15:30.000 kids who spent time in detention, or kids with substance issues. 0:15:30.880 --> 0:15:33.280 Damien calls the program all rounder. 0:15:34.240 --> 0:15:37.200 I've got a young black that I'm training justin and 0:15:37.480 --> 0:15:40.800 he's getting ready to race again, so he's probably going 0:15:40.880 --> 0:15:44.520 to raise chopstick or this big follow you. So we'd 0:15:44.520 --> 0:15:48.040 get kids out of here. Numbers of thirty twenty nine 0:15:48.880 --> 0:15:52.960 different different young fellows, different ages. We could either be 0:15:53.040 --> 0:15:58.160 doing identifying bush medicine or trees to make bush tools 0:15:58.200 --> 0:15:58.520 out of. 0:15:59.520 --> 0:15:59.880 We do. 0:16:01.640 --> 0:16:05.280 What do you call it? A cultural conversation. Half of 0:16:05.320 --> 0:16:09.680 the group might want to do the horses, like brush 0:16:09.760 --> 0:16:11.920 them down, and we'll get the other half prepared to saddle, 0:16:12.480 --> 0:16:15.680 and then we'll switch so they both get two learning 0:16:15.720 --> 0:16:19.400 sessions out of one day, and that could be the mechanics, 0:16:19.520 --> 0:16:21.080 or that could be the fencing, or that could be 0:16:21.080 --> 0:16:25.080 the cooking or the artwork or the fitness side of things. 0:16:25.400 --> 0:16:27.560 So we break it down for the one day, but 0:16:27.600 --> 0:16:29.040 split it in two. 0:16:29.720 --> 0:16:33.120 So by the time the kids have come through the program, 0:16:32.160 --> 0:16:35.520 what will I know how to do that they didn't 0:16:35.520 --> 0:16:38.240 know how to do before I got eat. Well, here's 0:16:38.240 --> 0:16:38.560 the thing. 0:16:39.600 --> 0:16:42.840 When you talk about pioneering days, everything was built on 0:16:43.280 --> 0:16:46.920 how much skills you had and how useful you could 0:16:46.920 --> 0:16:49.440 be on country. So we tried to give them all 0:16:49.480 --> 0:16:53.080 those skills. So I for job presented itself. They'll be 0:16:53.120 --> 0:16:56.040 trained in multiple ways, so a job wouldn't sort of 0:16:57.120 --> 0:17:00.440 cause them any fear to apply for one. Or We 0:17:00.640 --> 0:17:05.439 normally aim to explore their talents and expose out of 0:17:05.440 --> 0:17:09.119 talent and push them into that sort of workforce because 0:17:09.160 --> 0:17:11.440 then they'll stick at it because they love doing it. 0:17:11.920 --> 0:17:18.920 So we do you know, all sorts of stuff worlding, fencing, mechanics, cooking, artwork, horsemanship. 0:17:20.640 --> 0:17:23.680 I believe from what I've seen, I've seen a lot 0:17:23.680 --> 0:17:27.560 of change. I've seen a chemical here that actually works. 0:17:28.080 --> 0:17:32.520 Was that chemical the chemical is back on country and 0:17:32.680 --> 0:17:36.400 just being that peace with country and animals. It gives 0:17:36.440 --> 0:17:39.920 a different approach when you're trying to educate someone or 0:17:40.240 --> 0:17:43.280 talk to someone. They have the time to take it in. 0:17:45.320 --> 0:17:48.040 All round. Her is a working work in progress, and 0:17:48.200 --> 0:17:50.680 Damien's reasons for starting the program a deep. 0:17:52.240 --> 0:17:56.240 The origin behind it is my dad is a cattleman 0:17:56.280 --> 0:17:59.120 and a person before him grew up in a home 0:17:59.200 --> 0:18:04.720 starting generation and very resilient. Yeah, took on different skill 0:18:04.760 --> 0:18:08.800 set because that's what was required back in the day. 0:18:09.960 --> 0:18:13.920 As a kid, Damien's dad, Dennis, was forcibly removed from 0:18:13.920 --> 0:18:17.919 his family and sent to Darwin. Somehow he escaped and 0:18:18.000 --> 0:18:20.879 returned to his country, where he became a ringer on 0:18:20.920 --> 0:18:24.639 a cattle station. Through years of skilled and hard toil, 0:18:25.359 --> 0:18:27.160 he went on to become one of the first Aboriginal 0:18:27.200 --> 0:18:30.480 owners of a cattle station. I've seen footage of Deennis. 0:18:31.119 --> 0:18:33.680 Damien looks and sounds just like him. 0:18:34.240 --> 0:18:38.480 I was raised and bush on cattle stations seeing my 0:18:38.560 --> 0:18:42.960 dad doing it, but to be creative was the key 0:18:43.040 --> 0:18:45.000 for me in life. 0:18:45.119 --> 0:18:48.600 Damien, like many of us do, worked a series of jobs, 0:18:49.119 --> 0:18:51.120 many of them a long way from his true passion, 0:18:51.840 --> 0:18:54.880 but in aid of his people. Nonetheless, well we're doing 0:18:54.960 --> 0:18:59.520 Before you started the program. 0:18:58.240 --> 0:19:04.240 I was an officer Bailey facility called Sodwish and we're 0:19:04.320 --> 0:19:07.600 trying to keep him from not getting locked up and 0:19:07.840 --> 0:19:11.000 keep him from coming back. And then I heard about 0:19:11.000 --> 0:19:14.000 his other programs that's been delivered, but his kids were 0:19:14.040 --> 0:19:17.960 still re offending. But they was receiving so much funding 0:19:18.200 --> 0:19:22.080 every year. And come to think about it, where's all 0:19:22.160 --> 0:19:24.200 his money going? Because there's a lot of money getting 0:19:24.240 --> 0:19:28.960 chucked around, but there's no change. So I created an 0:19:29.000 --> 0:19:32.960 idea for my program that was based on my dad's 0:19:33.040 --> 0:19:38.080 upbringing from his pioneering days. 0:19:38.080 --> 0:19:40.840 To find the path forward, not only for himself but 0:19:40.960 --> 0:19:44.960 his community. Damien would be guided from within. He could 0:19:44.960 --> 0:19:47.200 look to his own flesh and blood for the trail 0:19:47.280 --> 0:19:49.760 out of the mess. He would look to his own father. 0:19:51.240 --> 0:19:54.119 Dennis passed away a couple of years ago, but his 0:19:54.240 --> 0:19:57.760 name and memory, Levonne Damien has called the land we're 0:19:57.800 --> 0:20:02.720 on r DK outstation after result Man Roy Dennis Kunos. 0:20:03.720 --> 0:20:05.720 It means that every kid that gets a helping hand 0:20:05.760 --> 0:20:08.520 here will have Dennis to think as much as Damien. 0:20:09.880 --> 0:20:12.320 He believes a small black run and own programs like 0:20:12.400 --> 0:20:16.800 this can help kids heal, reorientate their lives, and help 0:20:16.840 --> 0:20:19.119 them in a way that locking them up never will. 0:20:22.840 --> 0:20:24.960 I don't think there's too many programs like mine. I 0:20:25.000 --> 0:20:28.400 think it's pretty unique how it was designed and where 0:20:28.440 --> 0:20:29.560 the origin comes from. 0:20:32.440 --> 0:20:33.840 I've done a little bit of work. Most of my 0:20:33.880 --> 0:20:34.760 work's been pretty good. 0:20:35.240 --> 0:20:37.320 I'd like to expand. I like to have young people 0:20:37.320 --> 0:20:40.600 out here full time, just caretaken for the animals and 0:20:40.880 --> 0:20:43.920 getting a wage. At some point in time, eventually I 0:20:44.000 --> 0:20:46.760 can run a little bit of cattle. I can introduce 0:20:46.800 --> 0:20:50.720 that cattle industry back in to these young people's lives, 0:20:51.320 --> 0:20:54.760 giving them an opportunity to chase cattle in the yard, 0:20:54.840 --> 0:20:57.520 brand them and mark them, and just teach them a 0:20:57.520 --> 0:21:00.119 bunch of skill to be self sufficient. Back on down 0:21:01.520 --> 0:21:03.560 and I've seen a lot of programs like I was saying, 0:21:04.080 --> 0:21:06.440 they get a lot of funding, but there's no real outcome. 0:21:06.680 --> 0:21:09.119 I'd like to be the first that could create outcomes 0:21:09.640 --> 0:21:11.399 before I receive any type of funding. 0:21:12.520 --> 0:21:15.520 I was mesmerized by the setting and what Damian was doing, 0:21:16.400 --> 0:21:19.880 but there was one question I was dreading, would. 0:21:19.680 --> 0:21:20.720 You like to go for iron? 0:21:21.160 --> 0:21:28.920 Not a chance? I mean, it's not that I'm not 0:21:28.960 --> 0:21:31.320 a fan of horses. It's that I fear that they 0:21:31.359 --> 0:21:34.520 won't be a fan of me. Damien's son, Bison, is 0:21:34.520 --> 0:21:37.520 of a similar mindset. He's been with us all day, 0:21:37.520 --> 0:21:41.960 but he's quiet and shy, especially around the animals. Do 0:21:42.040 --> 0:21:43.720 you ride the do you want anything? Bison? 0:21:44.160 --> 0:21:45.920 I don't know for animals. 0:21:46.240 --> 0:21:49.240 Yeah, he'm hered my big one that was last year. 0:21:50.240 --> 0:21:50.440 Yeah. 0:21:50.480 --> 0:21:53.520 This plug lives up and down. Yeah, but he occasionally 0:21:53.600 --> 0:21:55.679 come down and visit check out. I'm doing check out 0:21:55.720 --> 0:21:57.560 the program doing so. 0:21:57.600 --> 0:22:01.960 Bison's eighteen, but he's a young eighteen. Despite his shyness, 0:22:02.200 --> 0:22:04.359 he's been warm and friendly with us and has a 0:22:04.440 --> 0:22:08.040 dry sense of humor, well aware of his surroundings and 0:22:08.200 --> 0:22:12.160 mindful of what he has to say. What's it? What's 0:22:12.160 --> 0:22:13.399 it like living in al Springs? 0:22:14.119 --> 0:22:16.120 Slip messed up there? 0:22:16.800 --> 0:22:17.520 You're eighteen? 0:22:18.119 --> 0:22:18.280 Yea? 0:22:19.200 --> 0:22:21.280 And what do you want to do with your life 0:22:21.520 --> 0:22:25.560 from here? I haven't got to that point yet. It's 0:22:25.560 --> 0:22:30.000 a big question. What about what your old man does? 0:22:31.040 --> 0:22:34.080 Nah, I don't know, to ride horses and stuff. 0:22:36.359 --> 0:22:38.800 You feel lucky that you've got someone like your dad 0:22:38.800 --> 0:22:42.760 as a as a role model. That's kind of you know, 0:22:42.840 --> 0:22:46.280 been a bit of a beacon for you and your siblings. 0:22:47.320 --> 0:22:49.040 Yeah, pretty much. 0:22:52.480 --> 0:22:54.600 In my mind, Bison was an example of a kid 0:22:54.640 --> 0:22:57.360 on the right path. If he played his cards right, 0:22:57.720 --> 0:23:01.160 he could stay at arms distance from the system, avoid 0:23:01.200 --> 0:23:03.760 becoming hoovered up by it, and part of the cycle. 0:23:04.880 --> 0:23:07.720 He has a loving family. His dad's a local leader 0:23:07.800 --> 0:23:11.840