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Speaker 1: Now, as many of you would have seen, the Northern

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Speaker 1: Territory Chief Minister Natasha Files was allegedly physically assaulted at

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Speaker 1: the Nightcliff Market yesterday. The Northern Territory Police so that

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Speaker 1: they've now charged a fifty six year old woman with

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Speaker 1: aggravated assault following that incident, which happened just before midday.

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Speaker 1: Now the woman has been bailed to appear in the

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Speaker 1: Darwin Local Court on the tenth of October. And the

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Speaker 1: Chief Minister joins me in the studio right now. Good

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Speaker 1: morning to your Chief Minister.

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Speaker 2: Morning Katie, Morning listeners.

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Speaker 3: Are you okay?

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Speaker 4: She gave me a good wat Katie, that's for sure,

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Speaker 4: in a bit of pain, but it's okay.

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Speaker 2: I'll get on with it. But it's just not acceptable.

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Speaker 4: Violence is never acceptable, and especially just out in the

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Speaker 4: community at a community event. I don't care if you

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Speaker 4: try and dress it up by throwing a crate. You know,

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Speaker 4: she gave me a fair shove and it's not acceptable.

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Speaker 1: Well, you can actually see your eye does look as though.

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Speaker 1: Correct me if I'm wrong that it is blackening slightly?

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Speaker 2: It is, Katie, But that's okay.

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Speaker 4: I'll catch up with the GPS later on and just

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Speaker 4: make sure my eye is okay. But it just I

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Speaker 4: don't understand in our community how it can get to

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Speaker 4: this point. I'm happy to have the tough conversations, Katie.

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Speaker 4: I talked to people. Ironically, I'd had a couple of

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Speaker 4: chats earlier that day, you know, with people on the

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Speaker 4: far right and the far left. You know, I'm happy

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Speaker 4: to have those conversations. I won't always necessarily agree with you,

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Speaker 4: but we need to be able to do it through words.

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Speaker 2: Violence is never acceptable.

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Speaker 1: Can you talk me through what happened exactly as I

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Speaker 1: understand it. You'd been in the bank for their celebration,

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Speaker 1: their fifteen year anniversary celebration.

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Speaker 3: You walked out the door. What happened?

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Speaker 4: So like my Sunday's Katie down at the markets, catching

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Speaker 4: up with people. Bendigo Bank a great community bank, putting

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Speaker 4: back into the community, and I feel terrible for them

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Speaker 4: that the tail end of their event was ruined. They

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Speaker 4: were handing out checks to community organizations donating back into

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Speaker 4: the community, and I was leaving that event to head

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Speaker 4: back over to my office, walked out the door, and

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Speaker 4: you know, the attack happened. So I've provided a statement

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Speaker 4: to police and I'll let them continue their investigations. I'd

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Speaker 4: just like to thank everyone. A number of people did come.

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Speaker 2: To support me.

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Speaker 4: Obviously, I was quite shocked after it happened, but you know,

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Speaker 4: it certainly was a fair whack. But up and at

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Speaker 4: it today and I'll just make sure that that eye's okay.

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Speaker 4: And as I said, violence is never okay in our community.

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Speaker 4: I'm always up for the conversation, and you know, I

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Speaker 4: make myself available, you know, right across the territory to people.

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Speaker 2: You know, it doesn't matter who you are or what

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Speaker 2: you issue is.

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Speaker 4: I'll help you provide that pathway, whether it's talking to departments,

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Speaker 4: talking to my staff or talking to me.

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Speaker 3: Do you have any idea what her concerns were.

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Speaker 2: I have no idea.

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Speaker 4: I've never I don't ever recall interacting with her before.

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Speaker 1: It's been reported by the Australian the woman Well, they're

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Speaker 1: reporting that the detectives are canvassing whether that incident occurred

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Speaker 1: due to the woman's husband's experience with COVID nineteen vaccination

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Speaker 1: side effects and a medical operation. I mean, do you

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Speaker 1: have any idea if that's the case.

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Speaker 4: Katie, I don't have any commentary on that, As I said,

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Speaker 4: I don't recall meeting.

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Speaker 2: Her before.

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Speaker 3: This. Does this incident indicate for you a need.

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Speaker 4: For further security, Katie, I'm not asking for anyone's sympathy,

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Speaker 4: but no one expects to go to work and expect

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Speaker 4: to be assaulted. Here in the territory particularly, I think

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Speaker 4: we make ourselves very much available as members of Parliament

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Speaker 4: and I've had a number of my colleagues from across

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Speaker 4: the Chamber and former members of Parliament reach out to

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Speaker 4: me because that's what's unique about us here in the territories.

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Speaker 4: You can go to the Sunday markets and talk to

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Speaker 4: the Chief Minister. People into state say a premier would

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Speaker 4: never do that, and you know that's how you make

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Speaker 4: sure you keep in touch with your community, that you're

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Speaker 4: up to date on what's concerning every day mums and

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Speaker 4: dads and territorians.

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Speaker 3: Well, I think that.

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Speaker 1: That's the really disappointing part of this is, you know,

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Speaker 1: I advocate every day for Territorians to have a voice,

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Speaker 1: so I certainly i've and you know what, I'm all

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Speaker 1: for people having a crack at your policies, having a

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Speaker 1: crack about crime, having a crack about their concerns, but

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Speaker 1: you do not crack someone in the face.

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Speaker 3: It's never acceptable.

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Speaker 1: And you know, I feel quite strongly about that that

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Speaker 1: whether whether it's you, whether it's Leofanocchiaro, whether it's me,

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Speaker 1: no matter who it is, just enterprise chancey Paike, I

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Speaker 1: don't care.

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Speaker 3: You do not go and smack someone in the face,

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Speaker 3: whether it's with a crape or whether it's with your fist.

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Speaker 3: It's not all right. None of us think that violence

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Speaker 3: is okay.

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Speaker 1: Now, I do note that you are very accessible. You know,

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Speaker 1: are you going to have to change the way that

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Speaker 1: you do things, O Katie.

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Speaker 4: I want to get out there and engage with the community.

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Speaker 4: I love our community, and as I said, I was

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Speaker 4: talking to people earlier that morning that have quite different

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Speaker 4: views to me, and I try and make people with

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Speaker 4: different views comfortable to talk to me about it, because,

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Speaker 4: as I said, I can either articulate the facts and

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Speaker 4: disagree with them, or I can actually take on board

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Speaker 4: their points and then help that in the policies and

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Speaker 4: legislation and the things we do as a government. So

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Speaker 4: I don't necessarily expect everyone to agree with me. I

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Speaker 4: don't want them to agree with me. Part of democracy

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Speaker 4: is being able to have that robust debate and that's

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Speaker 4: what it should be, a debate, not a whack in

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Speaker 4: the face.

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Speaker 1: Now it is being as I said, it is being

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Speaker 1: reported that the Police Commissioner, Michael Murphy is potentially considering

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Speaker 1: ramping up protection for you and the cabinet.

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Speaker 3: Is that required, Katie.

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Speaker 4: Police make assessments on our security, not just me and

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Speaker 4: my cabinet members, but all members of the Northern Territory Parliament,

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Speaker 4: and as I have said previously, we do need to

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Speaker 4: take our security seriously, and there is support through legislative

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Speaker 4: Assembly and anti police and will let them make those assessments.

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Speaker 3: Chief Minister.

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Speaker 1: There are people on social media saying, while I don't

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Speaker 1: condone what has happened, the Chief Minister now has a

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Speaker 1: better understanding of what every day people are facing when

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Speaker 1: it comes to crime.

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Speaker 3: What do you say to those people?

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Speaker 4: Crime is not okay, violence is not okay, it's it's

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Speaker 4: never okay, and it's not a competition any incident that

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Speaker 4: takes place. I absolutely condone that, and we work incredibly hard, Katie.

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Speaker 4: We've talked endlessly around short term, long term measures, but

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Speaker 4: what I'd say is crime is not a competition here

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Speaker 4: in the territory. And I take territory as concerns very seriously,

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Speaker 4: but it needs to be through debate.

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Speaker 1: I mean, like I say, the situation seems to be

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Speaker 1: really polarizing people. I think the large majority of people

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Speaker 1: do not feel that violence is okay in any way,

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Speaker 1: shape or form. But there is certainly, you know, there

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Speaker 1: are certainly people saying I hope that this changes the

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Speaker 1: way that the Chief Minister thinks about the impact that

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Speaker 1: crime is having on us.

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Speaker 4: So, Katie, for eleven years, my door has been open.

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Speaker 4: I have heard from our community and worked through the issues.

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Speaker 2: That we face.

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Speaker 4: But I don't think we need to have an incident

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Speaker 4: like that for me to realize that I understand crime,

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Speaker 4: antisocial behavior, what happens in our community. I don't need

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Speaker 4: an assault in my workplace to make me realize that

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Speaker 4: I already know that, and that's why every day I

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Speaker 4: fight so passionately for territorians and community safety.

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Speaker 1: I mean, the sentiment though from people again is they're

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Speaker 1: saying things like this demonstrates how de escalation training, for example,

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Speaker 1: is much easier said than done.

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Speaker 4: Oh Katie, I'm not going to get into the incident.

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Speaker 4: It's under police investigation. People can view the footage and

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Speaker 4: make a decision. But there was no you know, it

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Speaker 4: was a whack in the face in a public place

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Speaker 4: while I was doing my job.

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Speaker 1: Look, you know, I can see that you're physically shaken

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Speaker 1: by it. I can see that you you know, you

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Speaker 1: are emotional from what's gone on. And I can absolutely

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Speaker 1: understand why nobody should have to go through that when

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Speaker 1: they are in their workplace. Nobody should have to go

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Speaker 1: through that when they're walking down the street. But again,

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Speaker 1: I just you know, I've read even on the Justice

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Speaker 1: for Deckl and Lavity Pay, and they have seen violence

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Speaker 1: is not okay. That's what I'm advocating for on this

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Speaker 1: page too, in some of the violence it's so prevalent

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Speaker 1: in society. And I hope the Chief Minister is okay

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Speaker 1: physically and psychologically. And you know, I will say that,

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Speaker 1: you know, you're talking about a mum here and a

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Speaker 1: family here who've lost a loved one as a result

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Speaker 1: of violent offending and of assault of the most extreme kind.

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Speaker 3: They are saying that.

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Speaker 1: I do hope that the Chief Minister takes that scared

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Speaker 1: feeling that she had during it and turns it around

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Speaker 1: to understand a little bit of what people are telling

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Speaker 1: her they feel right now.

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Speaker 4: So, Katie, I'm not asking for sympathy. What I have

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Speaker 4: been doing since the moment I was elected to Parliament

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Speaker 4: eleven years ago, since the moment I became a minister

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Speaker 4: and a chief Minister, is trying to make the territory

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Speaker 4: a better place, a safer place to tackle the issues

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Speaker 4: we have. But for people to think that politicians are

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Speaker 4: fair game is completely unacceptable. We live in a beautiful

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Speaker 4: democracy and that democracy is, especially in the territory, unique,

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Speaker 4: and you'll see members of Parliament who are on different sides,

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Speaker 4: and we'll go into that chamber and we'll debate, we'll

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Speaker 4: debate in here on the radio. Yeah, we'll be able

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Speaker 4: to joke around and be jovial and find things in common.

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Speaker 4: And so I hope we don't lose that. But what

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Speaker 4: took place yesterday is completely unacceptable. I never condone violence,

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Speaker 4: I never condone crime, and I will continue to work

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Speaker 4: to make the territory safer.

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Speaker 1: Are you worried that what you saw yesterday demonstrates that

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Speaker 1: we are losing that as a community.

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Speaker 4: Katie, I think we do need to think about that

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Speaker 4: specialness of our democracy and make sure that we keep

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Speaker 4: what is special, the fact that we're small communities that

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Speaker 4: we see people out and about that. You know, most

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Speaker 4: members of the Northern Territory Parliament are always up for

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Speaker 4: a chat. It doesn't matter whether you're in woollies or

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Speaker 4: down at the markets or in Parliament. And so I

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Speaker 4: think it is important because that's how we can understand

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Speaker 4: the issues right across the territory and work to an

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Speaker 4: proof the territory.

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Speaker 1: Well Ross is just called in to say that she's

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Speaker 1: flabbergasted about the assault on the Chief Minister. She's not

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Speaker 1: happy with that behavior at all, saying we don't we

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Speaker 1: don't saying don't we have.

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Speaker 3: A voice at the polls? You know, it's just not

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Speaker 3: called for.

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Speaker 1: And you know, again I will say, I know that

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Speaker 1: that people may or may not have may or may

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Speaker 1: have may or may not have differing opinions, but it's

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Speaker 1: not okay to assault somebody. I call it out in

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Speaker 1: this studio every single day. When I see everyday Territorians

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Speaker 1: that are faced with assault, I'll call it out. When

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Speaker 1: people are involved in domestic violence incidents.

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Speaker 3: I'll call it out.

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Speaker 1: Whether it's your workplace or somebody else's workplace, it's not okay.

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Speaker 1: It's not all right to do, and we should not

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Speaker 1: as a community, except that it's the right thing to do.

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Speaker 4: Katie, I agree. I got hit in the face. I'm

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Speaker 4: back at work today. It's not okay. But every assault

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Speaker 4: has the same reaction for me, and that is that

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Speaker 4: it's not okay.

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Speaker 3: All right.

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Speaker 1: I want to move along because there is quite a

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Speaker 1: bit still happening around the place this morning, and according

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Speaker 1: to a report in the Australian newspaper, Defense Minister Richard

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Speaker 1: Marles and the Chief of Army Simon Stewart, are scheduled

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Speaker 1: to announce the Army's new structure on Thursday, which flows

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Speaker 1: from the Defense Strategic reviews focus on Northern Australia and

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Speaker 1: the government's decision to slash the number of new infantry

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Speaker 1: fighting vehicles. The service is going to go from four

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Speaker 1: point fifty to one hundred and twenty nine, but the

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Speaker 1: changes are expected to include the relocation of the seventh Battalion,

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Speaker 1: Royal Australian Regiment from Adelaide's Edinburgh Barracks to the Roberts

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Speaker 1: And Barracks in Darwin, where it would combine the fifth.

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Speaker 3: Battalion of the Royal Australian regiment.

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Speaker 1: Now the changes reverse that twenty ten decision which cost

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Speaker 1: about a billion dollars at the time to shift those

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Speaker 1: units to Adelaide because the wet season was making year

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Speaker 1: round training too difficult.

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Speaker 3: Chief Minister, is this on the agenda?

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Speaker 1: Are we going to see a greater are we going

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Speaker 1: to see more know more defense personnel posted here relocated

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Speaker 1: back Madelaide to Darwin.

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Speaker 4: So, Katie, I've been working really hard as Chief Minister

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Speaker 4: to diversify our economy to grow those projects so we

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Speaker 4: have jobs for territorians and Defense is a key part

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Speaker 4: of that. The Defense Strategic Review points to Northern Australia

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Speaker 4: and particularly to Darwin. So Katie I will be briefed

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Speaker 4: during the week, but I can just point to that

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Speaker 4: Defense Strategic Review which talks about the importance of Northern Australia.

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Speaker 4: Defense will make the decisions that are best strategically for Australia,

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Speaker 4: but there is no doubt that the top end is

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Speaker 4: a key part of that.

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Speaker 3: How many soldiers will we see move back to the northern.

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Speaker 4: Territory, So Katie, I don't have specific numbers, but in

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Speaker 4: terms of the Defense Strategic Review, it points to the

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Speaker 4: importance of Northern Australia and the top end, and that

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Speaker 4: we need to have our services here. I take on

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Speaker 4: board you know why they perhaps left with the wet season,

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Speaker 4: but I think you can work around those factors and

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Speaker 4: the reality is, you know, for the world and for Australia,

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Speaker 4: Northern Territory is a key part of that defense strategic

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Speaker 4: into the strategy into the future.

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Speaker 1: Expecting that by Thursday when you have that meeting, that

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Speaker 1: you're going to know whither we are going to see

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Speaker 1: those personnel move back here.

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Speaker 4: So Katie, we will continue to work with the Commonwealth

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Speaker 4: and also allies as we have been. As soon as

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Speaker 4: we have information that's confirmed, will share that with.

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Speaker 2: Territory, all right.

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Speaker 1: Finally, this morning, the ABC is reporting that the government's

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Speaker 1: appealing a court order to pay nearly a million dollars

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Speaker 1: in damages to former don Dale Youth Detention inmates who

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Speaker 1: were unlawfully tear gassed in twenty fourteen. So again, the

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Speaker 1: ABC is reporting that lawyers for the Government of Lodge

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Speaker 1: documents challenging the recent Anty Supreme Court decision, arguing the

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Speaker 1: penalty against them was manifestly excessive and the judge who

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Speaker 1: approved the compensation got it wrong. What's the government hoping

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Speaker 1: to achieve here? Should these detainees be paid out?

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Speaker 4: So, Katie, it is a matter before the courts, but

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Speaker 4: I wish we weren't spending money on this.

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Speaker 2: If people do the.

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Speaker 4: Wrong thing, they are incarcerated, they pay the consequences for

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Speaker 4: their crime. It is a matter from twenty five fourteen

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Speaker 4: to some time ago. And as I said, it's before

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Speaker 4: the court, so we'll make sure that we're acting in

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Speaker 4: the best interests of territory taxpayer dollars.

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Speaker 1: I mean, the fact is though they were in detention,

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Speaker 1: obviously they would tear gass. They were in detention for

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Speaker 1: a reason. If they do get a payout, should they

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Speaker 1: have to pay restitution to some of their victims of crime?

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Speaker 4: So, Katie, as I said, I wish we weren't spending

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Speaker 4: money on this matter. It is complex in terms of

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Speaker 4: that step second step that you mentioned around You know,

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Speaker 4: people have committed a crime, if they get penalties awarded

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Speaker 4: to them, that restricution. But as I said, I wish

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Speaker 4: we weren't. It's a matter from twenty fourteen historical I

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Speaker 4: wish we weren't, you know, using taxpayer dollars to be

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Speaker 4: in the courts. I think our frontline agencies work incredibly hard.

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Speaker 4: We often talk about police and medical, but those in

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Speaker 4: corrections and youth justice work incredibly hard in complex situations

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Speaker 4: and they make decisions at the time.

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Speaker 2: But it sounds so.

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Speaker 1: That the government does not want to have to pay

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Speaker 1: this money, which I think most territories would agree with.

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Speaker 1: Most of us are going, well, hang on a second.

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Speaker 1: You know, we don't want this money to be paid out,

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Speaker 1: and obviously the judge has gone through the process to

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Speaker 1: make that determination. But you know, I think a lot

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Speaker 1: of people would like to see that money invested in

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Speaker 1: other things.

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Speaker 2: And Katie, it is a matter before the courts.

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Speaker 4: I need to be concise with my commentary, but as

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Speaker 4: I said, I wish we weren't spending money in this

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Speaker 4: situation in awarding those damages.

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Speaker 1: The Justice Jenny Blocklin had said that the NT government

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Speaker 1: had not acknowledged the incident was unlawful and that it

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Speaker 1: contravened the Weapons Control Act and there has been no apology.

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Speaker 3: Should there be an apology to those detainees.

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Speaker 4: So, Katie, as I said, our frontline work is when

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Speaker 4: they are dealing with incredibly complex situations, make the decisions

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Speaker 4: at the time, and we of course review things and

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Speaker 4: make sure that we provide the support and training going forward.

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Speaker 4: But I'll allow the courts to settle this matter.

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Speaker 1: Chief Minister Natasha Files will leave it there. Thank you

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Speaker 1: for your time this morning.

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Speaker 2: Thank you