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Speaker 1: Now the opposition leader Leah fan Occhiaro joins me in

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Speaker 1: the studio right now. Good morning to you, Leah.

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Speaker 2: Good morning kid into your listeners, Leah.

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Speaker 1: Is certainly a sad time right around the world right now,

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Speaker 1: is not, I.

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Speaker 3: Know, I mean, her majesty, Queen Elizabeth I was just

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Speaker 3: such a main pillar in a lot of our lives

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Speaker 3: and a lot.

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Speaker 2: Of people's lives.

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Speaker 3: I mean, I spoke to a few people over the

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Speaker 3: weekend who'd seen a number of reigns, which is interesting obviously,

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Speaker 3: being you know, a.

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Speaker 2: Below forty I've only ever known Queen Elizabeth.

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Speaker 3: But yeah, people are people are absolutely mourning and reflecting

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Speaker 3: on the amazing life and the courage and the way

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Speaker 3: in which she did preside over so many decades. But

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Speaker 3: also people are really excited about welcoming a new king,

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Speaker 3: which again is a once in a lifetime, you know,

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Speaker 3: historical moment for a lot of people.

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Speaker 2: So it is it is a very unusual time.

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Speaker 1: It certainly is, And we are going to be catching

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Speaker 1: up with her honor, the Honorable Vikio Heller and the

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Speaker 1: Administrator of the Northern Territory in around twenty minutes time.

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Speaker 1: Just to find out a little bit more about what

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Speaker 1: is happening in the Northern Territory over the next week

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Speaker 1: or so. But Leah, what did you think of the

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Speaker 1: September twenty two public holiday.

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Speaker 3: I thought it was right near my birthday and that

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Speaker 3: would be great. Now it is actually right near my birthday. Look,

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Speaker 3: I know, I know a lot of it's going to

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Speaker 3: hurt a lot of businesses and that is a really

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Speaker 3: important factor. I don't know what considerations the Prime Minister

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Speaker 3: looked at, and I can only imagine that there must

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Speaker 3: be a day of mourning, and I think, you know,

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Speaker 3: ultimately you don't have this situation arise very often. My

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Speaker 3: understanding is it's a one of public holiday. It's not

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Speaker 3: a feature going forward. If it was, then that would

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Speaker 3: definitely be something we needed to have a big debate about.

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Speaker 3: But hopefully those businesses can get through that and perhaps

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Speaker 3: there is some support for them coming forward. But you know,

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Speaker 3: it is also appropriate that we mourn the death of

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Speaker 3: our queen.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, it is certainly like it's a difficult one because

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Speaker 1: you go, any date that's chosen is probably not going

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Speaker 1: to be ideal for everybody. But the point is that

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Speaker 1: does need to be a public holiday for this and

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Speaker 1: I think that, you know, the reality of it is,

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Speaker 1: no matter what, it's going to be a difficult time.

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Speaker 1: But we do need to make sure that this that

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Speaker 1: this moment is indeed you know, respected, and yeah, so

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Speaker 1: September twenty second is the date that's been chosen. I

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Speaker 1: know there are real concerns for small business and a

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Speaker 1: lot of businesses around the Northern Territory that have had

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Speaker 1: a tough few years through COVID. So I'm not too

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Speaker 1: sure whether we're going to see some of those businesses

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Speaker 1: sort of close their.

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Speaker 3: Doing yes for the day, or what's going to happen,

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Speaker 3: And that will be the disappointing thing. Obviously, businesses have

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Speaker 3: to make those decisions and if it's too difficult to

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Speaker 3: pay staff at those types of levels, and they will

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Speaker 3: have to make that difficult decision to close.

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Speaker 2: And that's not easy and I don't say that lightly.

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Speaker 3: You know, that is a huge pressure and imposts that

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Speaker 3: many people don't have to ever worry about in their life.

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Speaker 3: You know, they get their salary, they go home and

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Speaker 3: it's fine. But there'll be many business people thinking, gee,

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Speaker 3: how we going to shoulder that, how we're going to

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Speaker 3: pass on those costs, How we're going to be able

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Speaker 3: to get through it. But I think like other public holidays,

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Speaker 3: I mean, we've got some random public holidays.

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Speaker 2: Of course, when Labor first came in, they.

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Speaker 3: Did the half part public holidays around Christmas and New Year's.

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Speaker 3: You know, things like that just have no rhyme or reason.

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Speaker 3: But something like a queen dying after seventy years rain

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Speaker 3: is caused to stop and mourn and honor. So it's

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Speaker 3: undoubtedly difficult, but something we have to do as a nation.

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Speaker 1: Now, Leah, moving along because the Opposition have released figures

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Speaker 1: which you've obtained through written questions put to the government

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Speaker 1: earlier this year. Now, in Alice Springs, these numbers that

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Speaker 1: you've got back show that there were one hundred and

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Speaker 1: seventy nine domestic violence related police call outs over a

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Speaker 1: seven day period in July. Leah, the numbers are shocking.

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Speaker 1: What do you think that these numbers tell us?

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Speaker 3: Well, to have twenty five domestic violence callouts in a

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Speaker 3: twenty four hour period means our police more than every

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Speaker 3: hour are responding to a DV call. Now you take

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Speaker 3: into consideration the pressure we've got on policing with other crime,

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Speaker 3: and particularly in Alice Springs, use crime, anti social behavior,

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Speaker 3: everything else. You imagine the police resource that has to

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Speaker 3: go into responding to a domestic violence call every single hour.

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Speaker 3: It's not possible to cover all of those crimes, and

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Speaker 3: it's a terrible, terrible toll on victims, on the community.

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Speaker 3: And these figures are are hideous. We really need the

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Speaker 3: government to take a good hard look at itself and

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Speaker 3: see that what it's doing isn't working. But I think

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Speaker 3: what alarmed me even more than those figures, and those

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Speaker 3: figures are absolutely hideous, Katie, is the fact that this

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Speaker 3: government brought in a men's behavioral change program, which is

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Speaker 3: essentially a get out of jail free card, and yet

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Speaker 3: we've only seen five people complete that program since it

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Speaker 3: came in.

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Speaker 2: I mean a period of time sat.

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Speaker 3: I think it was since it came in, or it

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Speaker 3: might have been that reporting period of nine months.

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Speaker 2: I'll have to double check.

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Speaker 1: But you know, so only five people you're saying have

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Speaker 1: actually completed that program.

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Speaker 2: That's right.

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Speaker 3: And what this program does and it just just de

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Speaker 3: fires our position, which is the opposite of labors. But

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Speaker 3: what that program does is allows someone who's committed a

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Speaker 3: domestic violence assault to then be effectively bailed to a program,

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Speaker 3: to complete that program in the community and then be

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Speaker 3: able to take that to the judge and say, hey,

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Speaker 3: look I finished this. I shouldn't have to go to jail.

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Speaker 2: Now.

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Speaker 3: We are really concerned about allowing domestic violence perpetrators just

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Speaker 3: straight back out and to the community, straight back in

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Speaker 3: the presence of the victim, and able to continue to offend.

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Speaker 3: And so we think that men's behavior change programs are important,

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Speaker 3: but they should be done while in carcarrat You've got

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Speaker 3: a captive audience there, You've got someone who's in prison.

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Speaker 3: They can spend all day learning about.

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Speaker 1: Are these numbers only low because there's only a low

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Speaker 1: number of people that have been sent to do that program.

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Speaker 2: Well it could be.

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Speaker 3: I'll have to get the total numbers of people in

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Speaker 3: that program. But even still, if if the lumbers are

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Speaker 3: low going into the program, then the program's clearly not

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Speaker 3: working either. I think it was a twenty five percent

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Speaker 3: success rate, Katie, so very very low.

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Speaker 1: Leah, what I mean, what was the aim of asking

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Speaker 1: these questions of the government around me stick violence.

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Speaker 3: To expose how bad things really are? I mean, often

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Speaker 3: we get the sugar coating from government. We even just

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Speaker 3: last sittings a couple of weeks ago. There was a

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Speaker 3: lot of talk from the minister about the plans and

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Speaker 3: programs and reports and all these types of glossy brochures

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Speaker 3: which you know, try and show that the government's doing something.

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Speaker 3: But the statistics are raw and they're brutal, and they're

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Speaker 3: they're disgraceful. I mean, to have one hundred and seventy

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Speaker 3: odd offenses in a seven day period, twenty five a day,

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Speaker 3: what are we doing about that as a community?

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Speaker 1: Now, the opposition has made a pretty serious claim. I

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Speaker 1: think you'd say that this was just days after the

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Speaker 1: Stronger Futures legislation ended, where police reported fifty four incidents

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Speaker 1: of domestic violence that had occurred as well over a

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Speaker 1: forty eight hour period. I mean, do you have any

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Speaker 1: evidence to support this claim that these high levels of

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Speaker 1: domestic violence are indeed related to that Stronger Futures legislation ending.

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Speaker 2: No, it's obviously just a timing issue.

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Speaker 3: This data was collected once that legislation had ended, once

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Speaker 3: the free flow of grog was back in the community,

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Speaker 3: and we'll continue.

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Speaker 1: Do you think that it is as a result of

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Speaker 1: that legislation.

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Speaker 3: I'm absolutely sure that there's a correlation there without a doubt.

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Speaker 3: But we'll continue to ask these questions so that we

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Speaker 3: can look at the trend overall. But I think there's

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Speaker 3: no question and everyone didn't want that to happen. Everyone

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Speaker 3: felt like there needed to be more consultation, a better plan,

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Speaker 3: more support for our police, our nurses, the community, better

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Speaker 3: community control over that decision making. There was never a

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Speaker 3: governance framework set up to allow people to decide and

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Speaker 3: make those decisions about opting in or opting out to

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Speaker 3: having takeaway grog. So the whole thing is a mess.

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Speaker 3: What we know is there is carnage on our streets.

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Speaker 3: Crime is out of control, police are being pushed to

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Speaker 3: the brink, people are leaving because they just can't take

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Speaker 3: it anymore. And yet we've got a government just happy

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Speaker 3: to walk around panning itself on the back.

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Speaker 2: And these numbers are real.

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Speaker 1: I mean, what do you reckon needs to happen here? Though?

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Speaker 1: With this domestic violence issue, we know that it is

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Speaker 1: a scooge in the Northern Territory, there is no doubt

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Speaker 1: about that. But then you know, sort of putting these

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Speaker 1: two things together with these high number that we've seen

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Speaker 1: in the last few months and those figures that you've received,

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Speaker 1: obviously through the recent questioning, but then obviously the Stronger

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Speaker 1: Futures legislation ending. I mean, what do you think needs

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Speaker 1: to happen here? Are we wanting to then reintroduce the

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Speaker 1: Stronger Futures legislation, which I know we can't do anyway,

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Speaker 1: But what do you think needs to happen?

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Speaker 2: I think we should put a pause on it.

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Speaker 3: I think we need to now do the consultation that

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Speaker 3: the files government should have done at least starting two

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Speaker 3: years ago. I think there needs to be an absolute pause.

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Speaker 3: We need to make sure that there are living with

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Speaker 3: alcohol programs rolled out, that there are proper frameworks for

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Speaker 3: people to make these decisions about. We also need to

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Speaker 3: make sure that our police are supporter We've currently got

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Speaker 3: a police force stretch to the limit. We've got to

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Speaker 3: get on top of this issue of you know, we're

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Speaker 3: really concerned about domestic violence perpetrators being bailed. I mean,

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Speaker 3: we just think if the mandatory sentencing kicks in, they

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Speaker 3: should absolutely be going to prison. Provide the whatever programs

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Speaker 3: they need, but do it from within the prison, because

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Speaker 3: you know that repeat offending is a real thing. Those

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Speaker 3: stats don't lie, and so by just churning people out

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Speaker 3: of prison is not going to do anything to support

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Speaker 3: victims and stop more victims in their wake.

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Speaker 2: So there's lots of things.

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Speaker 3: I mean, there's reviewing the band drinker registered to make

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Speaker 3: it more effective, you know. There's ensuring that we've got

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Speaker 3: better local decision making.

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Speaker 2: You know.

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Speaker 3: There's plenty to it, and I don't pretend to have

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Speaker 3: all the answers, but what I do know is what's

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Speaker 3: happening now is not working well.

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Speaker 1: Look, we are going to catch up with the Police

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Speaker 1: Association in about half an hour's time, so I'm keen

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Speaker 1: to ask them as well about these numbers and the

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Speaker 1: impact that the ending of the Stronger Futures legislation is

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Speaker 1: having from their perspective with officers on the ground. But

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Speaker 1: one of the other things that we are going to

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Speaker 1: be speaking to the Police Association about this hour is

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Speaker 1: those concerns around exit interviews and also mental health support.

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Speaker 1: It is an issue that we've spoken about on so

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Speaker 1: many occasions.

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Speaker 3: Lea.

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Speaker 1: Do you feel as so enough is happening in this

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Speaker 1: space right now?

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Speaker 3: Absolutely not, And this is something we have been fighting

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Speaker 3: for in Parliament for two years in government keep re

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Speaker 3: rejecting us. You know, we have had to expose the

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Speaker 3: fact that exit interviews aren't properly being done. The government

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Speaker 3: doesn't want to get to the bottom of why police

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Speaker 3: are leaving in droves. When you have eleven percent attrition,

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Speaker 3: you have an absolute responsibility to work out what on

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Speaker 3: earth is going on, what the crisis is, so that

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Speaker 3: you can stop the bleed. I mean we are literally

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Speaker 3: hemorrhaging police for a variety of reasons that this government

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Speaker 3: doesn't want to get to the bottom of. And that's

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Speaker 3: not okay. We've tried now three times to have an inquiry,

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Speaker 3: a parliamentary inquiry into this, most recently just a couple

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Speaker 3: of weeks, and of course again have been knocked back.

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Speaker 3: This government is doing nothing about the police survey which

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Speaker 3: showed eighty percent of respondents don't have the confidence in

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Speaker 3: the commissioner, ninety percent don't want the public service pay free.

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Speaker 3: I mean there's a huge volumes of police.

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Speaker 1: On that note. So I don't know if you heard

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Speaker 1: the interview that I'd done with the Northern Territory Police

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Speaker 1: Commissioner following on from that survey as well, but that

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Speaker 1: was a couple of weeks ago. Now. I mean he

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Speaker 1: had said that the reality is that, you know, those

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Speaker 1: numbers would be lower because some people didn't take part,

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Speaker 1: and pointed to all the different things that he says

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Speaker 1: that he is doing right now to try and lead

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Speaker 1: the police force through these issues. I mean, do you

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Speaker 1: accept what both he and the Police Minister have now

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Speaker 1: said is happening in this space?

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Speaker 3: Well, I think that they have been sitting on a

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Speaker 3: report since May into mental health, and yet what on

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Speaker 3: earth is going on? You know, we still have major

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Speaker 3: vacancies for psychology support to our police. Of course, Pat

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Speaker 3: Our wonderful chaplain, she's leaving and needs to be replaced

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Speaker 3: as a vacancy I believe in Alae Springs as well.

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Speaker 3: So you know, May, what are we in now September?

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Speaker 3: And yet the government still haven't got any runs on

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Speaker 3: the board in terms of providing this support. We've seen

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Speaker 3: tragedy after tragedy this year, so that the urgency around

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Speaker 3: this couldn't be greater, and yet we've got a police

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Speaker 3: minister burying her head in the sand, happy to devolve

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Speaker 3: all the responsibility to the commissioner. The Commissioner's got his

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Speaker 3: own problems clearly, and so the whole thing is a mess.

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Speaker 3: But you can't run a jurisdiction. You can't have a

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Speaker 3: save community in a strong community if the police force

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Speaker 3: is in crisis. And there's no question, I mean Paul

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Speaker 3: McKee said it himself. The police force is in crisis,

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Speaker 3: and yet everyone's pretending that it's not. I mean it's

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Speaker 3: you know, at what point are we going to wake

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Speaker 3: up to ourselves and deal with this issue?

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Speaker 1: Well, we will be catching up, like I said, with

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Speaker 1: the Police Association, in around well a bit over or

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Speaker 1: a bit under half an hour's time now before I

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Speaker 1: let you go. We know that there is a report

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Speaker 1: in the Northern Territory News that two candidates are expected

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Speaker 1: to contest the Country Liberal Party's presidency at the weekend

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Speaker 1: Central Council and Annual Conference in Alice Springs. So incumbent

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Speaker 1: president Fiona Darcy is expected to be it's being reported

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Speaker 1: by the NT News. Challenged by Somerville Community Services Chief

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Speaker 1: executive Lawson Broad, who has previously worked as a ministerial advisor, lea,

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Speaker 1: who do you think would be best place to be

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Speaker 1: president of the COLP?

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Speaker 2: Well, I know that I only have one vote, Katie's.

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Speaker 2: I don't come.

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Speaker 1: Down for thee.

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Speaker 3: Oh look, look, it'll depend on the day, but I

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Speaker 3: just want to say how exciting it is for the

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Speaker 3: Country Liberal Party to have two really high caliber candidates.

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Speaker 3: They may very well be more, I don't know, but

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Speaker 3: it's an exciting time to be part of the CLP.

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Speaker 3: We've just hit the two year mark to the countdown

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Speaker 3: to the next territory election, and you know, the result

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Speaker 3: in Fanny Bay showed that there's a you know, appetite

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Speaker 3: for change and that our message is good. So it's

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Speaker 3: just about continuing to build, stay connected, and work towards

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Speaker 3: that goal in twenty four.

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Speaker 1: One of the other names so that has been thrown

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Speaker 1: into the mix through this report is Dave Tolner. Would

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Speaker 1: that be an option or would just sort of be

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Speaker 1: going back to the old guard by going down that path.

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Speaker 3: Oh look, Dave hasn't nominated, and I just don't think

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Speaker 3: that's going to happen.

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Speaker 2: I think it makes a good story. But other than that,

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Speaker 2: you know.

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Speaker 3: But Dave, you know, Dave has a lot of value

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Speaker 3: to add, but you know, he's not a contender in

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Speaker 3: that presidential race at the moment. But yeah, we're super

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Speaker 3: excited for our Central Council meeting heading down to Alice.

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Speaker 3: It'd be great to connect with people down there, and

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Speaker 3: you know, may the best person win.

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Speaker 1: I mean you have just said though two years out

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Speaker 1: obviously from the next Northern territory election. Obviously you're boyed

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Speaker 1: by those results in the Fanny Bay by election, but

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Speaker 1: it's pretty important that you do get this right when

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Speaker 1: it comes to the president and that you're actually able

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Speaker 1: to bring the COLP together. Yes, you know there has

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Speaker 1: been reports in recent years of really you know, some

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Speaker 1: of those party members not being able to get it together.

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Speaker 1: So how important is that the team actually gets it right? Oh,

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Speaker 1: it's incredibly important. I mean this is the leadership of

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Speaker 1: the party. I obviously lead the parliamentary team, and then

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Speaker 1: you need someone at the party level to lead all

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Speaker 1: of the grassroot members and you know, build and prepare

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Speaker 1: us ready for twenty twenty four.

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Speaker 2: So it's an exciting time.

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Speaker 3: The CLP is in great shape and I think we

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Speaker 3: showed that the level of volunteers, the force that we

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Speaker 3: could bring to the Fanny Bay by election, and you know,

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Speaker 3: territories are really looking now to us as a viable alternative.

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Speaker 3: There's that clear pathway to government in twenty twenty four.

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Speaker 3: Now we just need to keep our head down, work hard,

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Speaker 3: develop good policies and connect with people.

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Speaker 1: Well Lea Finocchiaro, we will leave it there. Thanks for

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Speaker 1: catching up with us this morning, as you do each Tuesday.

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Speaker 1: We'll catch you again next week.

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Speaker 2: Thank you, Take care, thank you.

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Speaker 1: It is just twenty three minutes after nine o'clock. If

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Speaker 1: you want to get in contact with us today, we

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Speaker 1: always love hearing from you. Eight nine four one one

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Speaker 1: oh four nine. You can also send me a message

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Speaker 1: if you'd like. Zero four double nine seven double one

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Speaker 1: three six zero