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Speaker 1: Now we know.

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Speaker 2: Leah Finocchio was last week officially sworn in as the

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Speaker 2: territory's fourteenth Chief Minister. The party deputy leader Jered Mailey

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Speaker 2: also sworn in as a minister by the Northern Territory

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Speaker 2: Administrator Hugh Higgey at Government House. Now, missus Finocchio is

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Speaker 2: the first woman to serve as a non labor chief Minister.

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Speaker 1: She joins me in the studio right now. Good morning

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Speaker 1: to you, Leah.

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Speaker 3: Good morning Katie, and to all your listeners.

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Speaker 1: How has that first week been in the role.

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Speaker 3: Oh, it's been an excellent week, Katie. It's such an

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Speaker 3: honor and a privilege to be the Territory's Chief Minister.

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Speaker 3: And I wasted no time. It was really important to

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Speaker 3: me that Territorians saw that I understand the huge job ahead,

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Speaker 3: and so Sunday morning I met straight away with the

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Speaker 3: Police Commissioner and the Chief executive of all of government

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Speaker 3: and it's been an excellent week of turning the time.

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Speaker 3: I mean, this is a very big ship that was

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Speaker 3: going in the wrong direction, Katie, and so that work

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Speaker 3: to turn her around is going to take some time,

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Speaker 3: but I think for the first time in a long time,

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Speaker 3: we're going forwards, not backwards as a territory and people

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Speaker 3: feel they feel hopeful and optimistic, which is really important.

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Speaker 2: One of the first things that you're going to have

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Speaker 2: to do as well this week is head along to

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Speaker 2: the first National Cabinet meeting as the Chief Minister.

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Speaker 3: When's that happening, So that's happening on Friday and Thursday.

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Speaker 3: There are meetings as well, so it's a really excellent

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Speaker 3: opportunity for me to go down and meet all of

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Speaker 3: my counterparts at the other state and territory levels and

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Speaker 3: the Prime Minister and make sure we reset that relationship

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Speaker 3: and reset the agenda. We know the territory relies very

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Speaker 3: heavily on the federal government, but it needs to be

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Speaker 3: a partnership and I want him to know we're here

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Speaker 3: to work collaboratively with the federal government. I know domestic

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Speaker 3: and family violence will be a big part of our

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Speaker 3: agenda and the COLP committed one hundred and eighty million

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Speaker 3: dollars over those five years, but we're going to need

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Speaker 3: important levels of support from the federal government and it's

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Speaker 3: important for me to make sure my state and territory

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Speaker 3: colleagues also understand that the territory has the worst levels

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Speaker 3: of domestic and family violence in this country and we

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Speaker 3: have a lot of needs that have to be met.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, look, I'm going to get to that a little

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Speaker 2: bit more in just a moment before we go there. Though,

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Speaker 2: I understand that Jared Maylee is also off to the

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Speaker 2: North Australia Forum, so I mean he's taking on that

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Speaker 2: North Australia portfolio this point in time. But what's that

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Speaker 2: meeting all about?

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Speaker 3: So, Madeline King, the federal minister reached out, which was excellent,

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Speaker 3: and Jared will head along to that meeting. Again, it's

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Speaker 3: about state and territory counterparts coming together to discuss that agenda. Now,

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Speaker 3: right throughout the campaign, I've been very very vocal about

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Speaker 3: the importance of resetting the Northern Australia agenda. There's a

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Speaker 3: lot of talk about it at a federal level, but

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Speaker 3: as Territorian's experience right now, you know, there's been very

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Speaker 3: little by way of actually delivering on those commitments. So

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Speaker 3: it's important we put our best foot forward on all

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Speaker 3: of these national platforms to make sure people acutely understand,

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Speaker 3: most importantly that the territory has everything that the rest

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Speaker 3: of this country needs. Katie, we are here to help.

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Speaker 3: We can change the economy for this country and of

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Speaker 3: course for Territorians, but people have to understand that we

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Speaker 3: need investment in infrastructure and we need a change in

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Speaker 3: policy framework to deliver it.

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Speaker 2: Should they expect a constructive yet tough approach from the

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Speaker 2: new government here in the Northern Territory.

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Speaker 3: Absolutely, it's got to be constructive because we have to

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Speaker 3: take people on this journey with us, but we have

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Speaker 3: to hold each other accountable and the territory will have

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Speaker 3: to do its share of the lifting as well, and

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Speaker 3: we're very ready for that. But we've got to reset

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Speaker 3: that relationship. We have to make sure that the rest

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Speaker 3: of this country understands what the territory has to offer

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Speaker 3: and what our role is in this nation going forward,

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Speaker 3: and then in response to that be supported to unlock

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Speaker 3: that opportunity and potential.

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Speaker 1: All right, Lea.

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Speaker 2: One of the biggest questions that I keep getting asked

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Speaker 2: at this point in time, and I'm sure all you're

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Speaker 2: getting asked, is when are we going to learn who's

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Speaker 2: taking on what portfolios, who's going to be minister for wash.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, So next Tuesday we will there'll be nine cabinet

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Speaker 3: ministers sworn in you should find out next Monday afternoon,

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Speaker 3: once everything's finalized from the Electoral Commission perspective. But I

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Speaker 3: know people are excited to see the change. We will

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Speaker 3: make sure everyone understands very clearly it's about reshaping our

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Speaker 3: public service to be more agile, to respond to our

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Speaker 3: policy platform as well. We've got very clear priorities, Katie,

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Speaker 3: and that's what Territorians voted for, and so we must

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Speaker 3: deliver on those, starting with law and order.

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Speaker 2: So nine nine cabinet positions because it was eight? Wasn't

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Speaker 2: there under labor?

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Speaker 3: Yeah, that's right. In the at the end of labor

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Speaker 3: they had eight. I'm not sure of the reasons for that.

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Speaker 3: Traditionally it is nine, and I think predominantly it's been nine,

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Speaker 3: and that's about sharing the load to make sure we

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Speaker 3: can have the focus and when people see how we

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Speaker 3: will reshape the government sector, people will really clearly be

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Speaker 3: able to see that it aligns with those three priorities

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Speaker 3: around law and order, rebuilding our economy and our lifestyle.

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Speaker 2: Is it going to be more expensive though, I suppose

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Speaker 2: it's something that people are going to ask if we're

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Speaker 2: going from eight to nine.

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Speaker 3: Oh no, the budget remains the same it's just spent

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Speaker 3: across less people up there, and really, in the scheme

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Speaker 3: of eleven billion dollar debt, it's not something people need

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Speaker 3: to be worried about. What we're really focused on is

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Speaker 3: delivering change. That's what people have voted for and so

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Speaker 3: that's what we need to get on with.

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Speaker 2: Now. How come waiting until next Tuesday because people were

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Speaker 2: hoping I suppose that it was going to happen this week.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, Look, we as the Electric Commission, will no doubt

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Speaker 3: explain for your listeners that counting continues. There's a couple

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Speaker 3: of close seats there and so Monday, once the declaration's done,

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Speaker 3: that means Tuesday we're ready to go and we are

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Speaker 3: hitting the ground running. It's been an excellent first week.

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Speaker 3: This week will reset the agenda at a federal level,

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Speaker 3: and importantly, and remissing me not to mention earlier in

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Speaker 3: my conversations with the Prime Minister, I will also be

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Speaker 3: raising with him the significant law and order issues we

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Speaker 3: have and the role the federal government can play. We

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Speaker 3: know they promised two hundred and fifty million dollars to

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Speaker 3: Alice Springs quite a while ago and that hasn't been

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Speaker 3: delivered and so we must be again holding each other

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Speaker 3: accountable for our part in turning the territory around.

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Speaker 2: Now, on that issue of law and order, one of

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Speaker 2: the moves that we saw from you last week was

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Speaker 2: this step for more Northern Territory police officers to be

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Speaker 2: out in uniform and those unmarked cars being transitioned to

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Speaker 2: police branding in an effort to make their presence seen

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Speaker 2: and felt. Now, was that a directive from you to

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Speaker 2: the Commissioner. No.

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Speaker 3: No, we sat down and expressed to him in no

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Speaker 3: uncertain terms that we must do whatever it takes. We

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Speaker 3: talk through a number of things that we could do

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Speaker 3: to strengthen community safety, but of course support our police

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Speaker 3: and I have been very very clear we must back

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Speaker 3: our men and women in blue so that we can

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Speaker 3: be safe, and so this was one of the options

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Speaker 3: that was put forward. I think it's an excellent idea

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Speaker 3: to have as many police as possible in uniforms on

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Speaker 3: the front line. It will make people not only feel safe,

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Speaker 3: but it allows that proactive policing to make sure things

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Speaker 3: don't escalate and get so severe. And it's all part

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Speaker 3: of a bigger response we need to have.

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Speaker 2: Well, part of that bigger response that you have indeed

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Speaker 2: promised as well is the raising of the sorry, the

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Speaker 2: re lowering i should say, of the age of criminal responsibility,

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Speaker 2: as well as the introduction of Decklan's Law when Parliament

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Speaker 2: sits now that re lowering of the age, when's that

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Speaker 2: going to happen?

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Speaker 1: Yep.

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Speaker 3: So that's all set for the first sittings of Parliament,

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Speaker 3: which at this stage indicatively will be around late October.

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Speaker 3: And it's very very important that that legislative reform is done.

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Speaker 3: We know we need to be resetting and reframing law

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Speaker 3: and order in the territory and a lot of that

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Speaker 3: comes down to consequences for offending, dealing with the root causes,

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Speaker 3: and backing our police with the laws that they need

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Speaker 3: to do their job. So we are working very very

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Speaker 3: busily on being prepared to deliver on all of those

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Speaker 3: commitments at that first sittings as we promise, and all

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Speaker 3: of that is on track, which is excellent news for

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Speaker 3: territorians and our police.

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Speaker 2: Spi hood's going to be back on youth as well.

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Speaker 1: Yep.

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Speaker 3: So that was a commitment we've made for a number

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Speaker 3: of years that we need our police in corrections officers

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Speaker 3: to have every tool available to them. I'll be meeting

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Speaker 3: with the Police Commissioner later today and that's one of

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Speaker 3: the items on our agenda. And so it's about making

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Speaker 3: sure that we have practical mechanisms for our police to

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Speaker 3: keep themselves and our community safe. We know that our

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Speaker 3: police assaults are through the roof, which is why we're

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Speaker 3: also having that minimum mandatory sentencing for assaults on any worker.

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Speaker 2: Now I touched on this just a moment ago. Yesterday

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Speaker 2: there was an incident at will Worth CBD. We're really

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Speaker 2: quite a large group of people were fighting. Witnesses will

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Speaker 2: say that you know, well, I've actually I mean I've

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Speaker 2: seen the vision these not only people fight, but there's

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Speaker 2: people then sort of trying to run to their cars

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Speaker 2: trying to get away. One of those witnesses was a

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Speaker 2: ten year old boy with special needs. Now he's been traumatized,

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Speaker 2: according to his parents, and I'm not surprised. What can

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Speaker 2: you sort of say to Territorians this morning that have

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Speaker 2: this behavior has become all too common? Right, We've reached

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Speaker 2: a point where you go, well, is something like this

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Speaker 2: going to happen when you're out and you change the

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Speaker 2: way that you're doing things, you change the places that

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Speaker 2: you're shopping, you're changing how you're living your life. What's

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Speaker 2: your message to Territorians this morning, including you know, the

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Speaker 2: family of this little ten year old, who are no

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Speaker 2: doubt questioning whether this is the place that they should

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Speaker 2: continue to raise their kids.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, and people have been asking themselves that question for

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Speaker 3: a really long time, Katie. And that's exactly why I'm

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Speaker 3: sitting here. It's because I stood up with my team

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Speaker 3: and said enough is enough, and Territorians voted resoundingly for

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Speaker 3: that change. So you know that change will take some time,

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Speaker 3: but it's well underway, and it's about backing those police,

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Speaker 3: getting our laws ready. And at the end of the day,

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Speaker 3: this is totally unacceptable. No one deserves to be unsafe,

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Speaker 3: let alone see these high levels of violence. Our kids

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Speaker 3: don't deserve to be traumatized, and we shouldn't be planning

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Speaker 3: how we go to buy our groceries based around a

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Speaker 3: personal safety response. That's just out of control.

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Speaker 1: But in a lot of cases, people are drinking in public.

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Speaker 3: Yes, players as well, So is that.

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Speaker 1: A priority to try and get under control?

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Speaker 3: It certainly is. Those laws are already being drafted. I

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Speaker 3: met with Parliamentary Council last week We committed to making

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Speaker 3: sure our police have better powers to deal with public

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Speaker 3: drinking problem drunks, and this is all part of it.

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Speaker 3: It's not just the police response, it's the other agencies.

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Speaker 3: It's about public drinking and dealing with things early. It's

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Speaker 3: health as well. You know a lot of people come

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Speaker 3: in from community to receive health care and then they're

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Speaker 3: stranded in Darwin. So I've said in my meetings with

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Speaker 3: all agencies CEE that this is everyone's responsibility and I

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Speaker 3: am expecting them to come back to me with how

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Speaker 3: their agency can support safer communities.

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Speaker 2: I want to talk about that and talk about police

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Speaker 2: response because that issue of domestic violence as well is

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Speaker 2: something that's absolutely crippling the Northern Territory. I mean you

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Speaker 2: touched on it just a couple of moments ago, and

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Speaker 2: last week the Australian newspaper was reporting that Northern Territory

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Speaker 2: police were too busy to conduct a welfare check for

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Speaker 2: a malacc woman nine hours before.

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Speaker 1: She was allegedly murdered by her partner.

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Speaker 2: The forty three year old woman was found dead in

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Speaker 2: her home on the twenty first of August following a

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Speaker 2: report to police at twelve ten am Now. A man

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Speaker 2: was later charged with murder as well as breaching a

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Speaker 2: domestic violence order. The Australian reported that on Thursday, Territory

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Speaker 2: families had requested a welfare check for that woman at

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Speaker 2: about three pm, just nine hours before her death. But

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Speaker 2: it's been that police were unable to attend due to

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Speaker 2: higher priority incidents. What's been your reaction to.

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Speaker 3: This, Well, it's devastating, Katie, and it's again another loss

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Speaker 3: of life that shouldn't have happened. And this domestic violence

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Speaker 3: issue is significant and we i mean, it's the agenda

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Speaker 3: for that national Cabinet come Friday. But you know, this

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Speaker 3: is why we can't ignore crime escalating or our police.

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Speaker 3: What we have now is a situation in the territory

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Speaker 3: where the volume of crime is so high that our

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Speaker 3: police can't even keep on top of it. Now, that's

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Speaker 3: not their fault, that's a failure of policy a very

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Speaker 3: very long a very very long time, and so you

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Speaker 3: know it's just heartbreaking. This is this is what we

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Speaker 3: are here to address, and this is the work that

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Speaker 3: now has to take place so that we can free

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Speaker 3: up our police, be making sure other agencies are doing

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Speaker 3: their role as well, and that we have the right

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Speaker 3: support and funding in the right areas to make the

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Speaker 3: territory safer.

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Speaker 2: I mean. The Australian reported that police initially said at

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Speaker 2: a press conference that they'd received no calls from neighbors

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Speaker 2: in relation to that incident until the alleged murder was reported,

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Speaker 2: but a Northern Territory Police spokesperson had then told the

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Speaker 2: Northern Territory News as I understand it, that at least

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Speaker 2: one report had been made to police in the afternoon prior, like,

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Speaker 2: have you spoken specifically to the police about.

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Speaker 1: This or are you going to be speaking to the

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Speaker 1: commissioner about it?

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Speaker 3: Thesavo, That's what we're talking about this afternoon, katiom. So

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Speaker 3: you know, again, this is a demand issue, and this

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Speaker 3: is an issue of other agencies playing their part as well,

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Speaker 3: and I've made it very clear to all agency CEOs

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Speaker 3: that that is my expectation and so that will be

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Speaker 3: around information sharing, it will be around reshaping the public service.

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Speaker 3: I've also been very clear that Territory Families needs to

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Speaker 3: be focused on the care and protection of children and

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Speaker 3: that there are other agencies that need to do the

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Speaker 3: other work.

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Speaker 2: So you reckon in this instance, maybe could other agency

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Speaker 2: have done a welfare check or is that the job

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Speaker 2: the police?

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Speaker 3: Yeah, potentially. I don't know those details, but what we

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Speaker 3: know is that we all need to be doing more

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Speaker 3: to reduce crime overall, so that our police are dealing

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Speaker 3: with the really important issues and that we're seeing a

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Speaker 3: lowering of the levels of crime in the first place.

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Speaker 2: Now, I do want to ask as well, just as

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Speaker 2: a follow on from that situation in the CBD, because

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Speaker 2: I think people are so supportive of the Northern Territory

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Speaker 2: Police right and we understand that they've got a huge,

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Speaker 2: huge job on their hands. But even yesterday, my understanding

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Speaker 2: is that some of the people that were fighting had

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Speaker 2: hammers wow, And that then when the police turned up.

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Speaker 1: I don't know whether all of.

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Speaker 2: Those people dispersed or exactly what went on, but nobody

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Speaker 2: was taken away in the paddy wagon, is my understanding.

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Speaker 2: So I think this is where the breakdown is starting

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Speaker 2: to happen as well. Right from the public, we're going, well,

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Speaker 2: hang on, there can be a huge fight and people armed,

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Speaker 2: and then it seems like nothing happens afterwards.

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Speaker 1: It's rightly or wrongly, that's the perception then.

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Speaker 2: From a lot of people where they go, well, how

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Speaker 2: come some people are breaking the law and there's no

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Speaker 2: consequence to.

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Speaker 3: Us exactly, and that's what we need to be restoring

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Speaker 3: as consequences. So some of that is legislative reform. Some

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Speaker 3: of that is, you know, supporting our police to be

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Speaker 3: doing the things they need to be able to do.

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Speaker 3: I certainly will follow that up with the Police Commissioner

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Speaker 3: in my meeting with him today. But you're right, people

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Speaker 3: who don't meet the community's expectation and who are serious

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Speaker 3: and violent offenders. This is why we're preparing that law

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Speaker 3: because we cannot have this. This is totally unacceptable. People

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Speaker 3: deserve to be saved. And I've said it once, I've

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Speaker 3: said it a thousand times. We need to do whatever

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Speaker 3: it takes to restore community safety.

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Speaker 2: No, I am jumping around a bit here, so I

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Speaker 2: do apologize, but just jumping back to domestic violence and

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Speaker 2: the situation there. We've spoken about this situation last week

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Speaker 2: as well with Robin Lamley the Independent. We'd also spoken

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Speaker 2: with just Enter Price, the COLP Senator for the Northern Territory,

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Speaker 2: and it's sort of been questioned whether we need like

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Speaker 2: a domestic violence task for so I don't know how

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Speaker 2: I'm not an expert in this space, so i don't

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Speaker 2: know how things are currently dealt with, but to have

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Speaker 2: a woman in that situation is nothing short of heartbreaking,

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Speaker 2: and it just makes me question the way in which

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Speaker 2: we are dealing with things and how it may be

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Speaker 2: approached differently, or how we can listen to those experts

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Speaker 2: that are maybe calling for some really serious reform and

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Speaker 2: that needs based funding, and what can potentially be done

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Speaker 2: to stop this from happening again.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, exactly. I know we have an excellent unit within

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Speaker 3: our police, but again it comes down to that there's

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Speaker 3: not enough women's shelters. Is there enough support at that

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Speaker 3: end to be protecting women and children also our work

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Speaker 3: so we are now commencing work around electronic monitoring of

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Speaker 3: domestic violence offenders and what we can do there to

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Speaker 3: better protect victims around knowing where their perpetrator is, police

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Speaker 3: having oversight of that. So there is a lot of

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Speaker 3: work that can be done to strengthen this area. It's

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Speaker 3: what I will talk to my colleagues, federal colleagues about

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Speaker 3: on Friday as well. But we were very clear around

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Speaker 3: electronic monitoring for domestic violence offenders, and I'm very keen

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Speaker 3: to hear from the sector as well as from our police,

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Speaker 3: because they're different responses. Police response is one thing, but

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Speaker 3: then sector support is another about how we can strengthen that.

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Speaker 3: And again we've put that one hundred and eighty million

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Speaker 3: on the table and so now is now the process

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Speaker 3: commences of doing things differently to make sure that we're

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Speaker 3: supporting safer communities.