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Speaker 1: And we know that the Northern Territory Police have sent

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Speaker 1: a message to the Northern Territory Government around their pay negotiations,

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Speaker 1: that message we will not be taken for granted now

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Speaker 1: in what the Union sees is a clear show of

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Speaker 1: unity and frustration. One thousand, one hundred and twenty members

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Speaker 1: of the Northern Territory Police Force participated in the consent

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Speaker 1: agreement ballot, with a staggering eighty one percent voting no

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Speaker 1: to the government's latest offer. Now joining me on the

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Speaker 1: show is the Northern Territory Police Association President Nathan Finn.

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Speaker 1: Good morning to you, Finny.

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Speaker 2: Good morning Katie, Good morning to your listens. And I

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Speaker 2: note the Assistant Commissioner steering me up on the way

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Speaker 2: out of the studio this morning saying getting stuck in

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Speaker 2: the media as he walked down, I didn't have a

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Speaker 2: chance to listen to the entirety.

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Speaker 1: No, Well, we did ask him about, you know, about

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Speaker 1: the pay negotiations and he said, well, it was an

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Speaker 1: overwhelming result and obviously they'll be for the further discussions.

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Speaker 1: Had Finny, where are things at from your perspective, I mean,

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Speaker 1: you had anticipated that this result would indeed come through.

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Speaker 2: Definitely members are quite frustrated. They're voted. As you can see,

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Speaker 2: eighty one percent of our members that actually voted. Was

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Speaker 2: about sixty four percent of our members that actually could

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Speaker 2: vote did vote. So it provides a positive response back

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Speaker 2: to the government to say, hey, this is not good enough.

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Speaker 2: We need to come back to the table. We need

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Speaker 2: to start renegotiating what that looks like for police and

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Speaker 2: how that going to be, how they're going to be

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Speaker 2: respected going forward. So I've had an opportunity to provide

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Speaker 2: some correspondence back to the OCP and also the Commistry

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Speaker 2: of Police yesterday in regards to this result and hoping

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Speaker 2: to get back to the table to renegotiate some of

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Speaker 2: the terms and conditions of the offer that's currently on

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Speaker 2: the table. Yep, we haven't seen any correspondence back as yet.

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Speaker 2: I had a meeting with the Chief Minister this.

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Speaker 1: Morning, okay, and what was said there.

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Speaker 2: Definitely it wasn't something that she wanted to discuss with me.

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Speaker 2: She basically stated it was out of her wheelhouse at

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Speaker 2: the moment and it was with the Minister for Public

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Speaker 2: Employment being Joe Heersey.

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Speaker 1: So she reckons she can't discuss it with you. It's

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Speaker 1: got to go through the Minister for Public going to the.

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Speaker 2: Minister of Public Employment that's actually dealing with it, Katie.

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Speaker 2: So I've reached out tried to reach out to her

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Speaker 2: again this morning. I tried to reach out to the

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Speaker 2: Commission for a Public Employment yesterday and didn't return my call.

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Speaker 2: And I've asked Joehersey to give me a ring is

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Speaker 2: today to discuss where they want to go with it.

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Speaker 1: Finny, what are the sticking points from the Police Association's perspective, like,

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Speaker 1: what are members saying to you?

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Speaker 2: The sticking points, which we've clearly identified to our members

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Speaker 2: were the actual length of the agreement being the four

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Speaker 2: years and the unknown CPI increased, et cetera. For Darwin,

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Speaker 2: et cetera. We've seen that outstrip our last concent agreement.

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Speaker 2: We don't want to make that same mistake again for

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Speaker 2: our members. We want to make sure they're supported and

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Speaker 2: the quantum actually the percentage increased. So we're obviously negotiating

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Speaker 2: with three percent wage policy currently, which we've been trying

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Speaker 2: hard to get over for our members, and we got

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Speaker 2: to a point where we're just over the wages policy now.

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Speaker 2: But again, I think our membership has voted eighty one

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Speaker 2: percent of them saying that's not good enough. We need

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Speaker 2: to come back to the table. You need to rethink

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Speaker 2: what you're doing. Our members are frustrated. Our members are tired, Katie.

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Speaker 2: I don't have to keep going on about it. They

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Speaker 2: feel this pressure and they want this government to make

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Speaker 2: sure that they're being supported by this government.

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Speaker 1: What are they saying would be unacceptable payoffer at this point?

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Speaker 2: As we've said, Katie, we wanted a percentage increases of

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Speaker 2: over five percent, and that's what their members are predominantly

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Speaker 2: asking for. And we want to see that. We want

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Speaker 2: to see come back to the table, whether that's in

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Speaker 2: annual increases or whether that's in with other benefits as

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Speaker 2: well attached to this agreement. We're happy to discuss that.

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Speaker 2: We're happy to work through that and what that looks

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Speaker 2: like for our members.

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Speaker 1: But look, I know we've like we've had some people

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Speaker 1: message in and go, you know, woofee. We can't afford

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Speaker 1: to give everybody a pay increase. You know, if every

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Speaker 1: public servant's asking for five percent pay increase, how's the

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Speaker 1: government going to be able to afford it? Now? I

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Speaker 1: get what people are saying, but I think we are

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Speaker 1: literally like the police are there. We're expecting the police

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Speaker 1: to turn up to the worst of the worst situations.

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Speaker 1: You know, you're heading out to fatalities. You're heading out

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Speaker 1: when you know we've got ten and eleven year olds

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Speaker 1: breaking into homes Like this morning, I'm reporting on a

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Speaker 1: police vehicle being rammed by a group of kids and

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Speaker 1: adults in Alice Springs. Like the police are dealing with

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Speaker 1: some of the most ordinary situations you can imagine. Are

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Speaker 1: they saying to you that they're feeling seriously undervalued right now?

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Speaker 2: They are feeling undervalued, Caddie, And this government was a

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Speaker 2: point on a law and order platform. Who delivers that

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Speaker 2: law and order platform is the police. Who delivers the

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Speaker 2: legislative changes that they're introducing. Who polices this legislation, It's

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Speaker 2: the police. So the reliance on the police to make

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Speaker 2: sure that the community is safe. And we all want

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Speaker 2: a community that's say for our members live here, they

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Speaker 2: want to work here, they want to do the best

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Speaker 2: thing for their community. They want to provide that service

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Speaker 2: to the community to make sure the community is protected.

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Speaker 2: All we're saying is you need to sacrifice some of

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Speaker 2: this monetary value for the benefit of our police officers

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Speaker 2: going forward to make sure they are staying and our

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Speaker 2: experienced members are staying. I know, we're trying to recruit heavily. Again,

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Speaker 2: attritions at that same point. It's quite low at the moment,

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Speaker 2: or has lower than what it has been for the

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Speaker 2: highs of four or five years ago. But again we're

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Speaker 2: still losing that percentage of members. Our increase is not

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Speaker 2: very increasing too much over this time. So we're still

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Speaker 2: trying to get and our biggest thing is to maintain

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Speaker 2: that experience and experienced police officers. Experienced police officer in

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Speaker 2: the Northern Territory go through a hell of a lot

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Speaker 2: more than other jurisdictions right across Australia. The level of

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Speaker 2: offenses we deal with, the veracity of the offenses that

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Speaker 2: we deal with is tenfold compared to other jurisdictions right

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Speaker 2: across Australia. So their experience is quite vital and how

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Speaker 2: we operate here in the Northern Territory.

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Speaker 1: Where too from here from the association's perspective, I mean,

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Speaker 1: you said you met with the Chief Minister this morning,

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Speaker 1: and you know, I really didn't get to where you

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Speaker 1: wanted to get to.

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Speaker 2: Have a discussion with where they see fit, where we

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Speaker 2: want to go, what we can do for our police officer,

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Speaker 2: our hard working members that are protecting the community every day, Coatie.

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Speaker 2: We want to get to a position where we can

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Speaker 2: actually put an offer to them so they feel valued,

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Speaker 2: they feel supported by this government. We've seen a number

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Speaker 2: of decisions being made without the input of our members

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Speaker 2: and our thoughts of our members, and unfortunately, our members

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Speaker 2: are quite frustrated about this, and they will vote for

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Speaker 2: their feet, Katie, and I don't want to see that.

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Speaker 2: I don't want to see experienced members being from the

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Speaker 2: Northern Territory Police Force. That's who we rely upon to

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Speaker 2: keep our community safe, and they're the ones that have

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Speaker 2: done the hard yards and been through everything and always

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Speaker 2: putting themselves forward, missing sacrifices they make every year to

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Speaker 2: go to work.

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Speaker 1: Finny, before I let you go, I mean to anybody

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Speaker 1: that is listening this morning that's sort of going, oh,

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Speaker 1: come on, guys, you know you're expecting too much. What

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Speaker 1: do you say to those people?

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Speaker 2: Put yourself in our shoes every single day. Our members

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Speaker 2: struggle every single day, the violence that they see, the

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Speaker 2: traumatic events that they go to every single day. We

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Speaker 2: are losing police officers at alarming rate right across nationally.

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Speaker 2: Right across Australia, average police officer career is about just

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Speaker 2: over six years. That's because of the trauma and the

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Speaker 2: impacts they have and the scrutiny that they're under. Our

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Speaker 2: members work in the hardest conditions within Australia. In the

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Speaker 2: Northern Territory. We see the highest number offenses per capita

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Speaker 2: being committed within the Northern Territory. They are working extremely

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Speaker 2: hard and they want to feel supported and they want

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Speaker 2: to feel valued in their role and when decisions are

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Speaker 2: being made about their wage and going forward, they're seeing

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Speaker 2: offers from other jurisdictions right across Australia where they're going. Well,

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Speaker 2: if I can choose where I live, choose where I

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Speaker 2: go to and get more money, why wouldn't I? And

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Speaker 2: I want to see that is the main thing for

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Speaker 2: the Northern Territory to make sure we're attracting and retaining

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Speaker 2: our experienced members to remain in the Northern Territory so

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Speaker 2: they can provide the job that they love to do

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Speaker 2: and being supported in the role they want to do well.

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Speaker 1: Nathan Finn, President of the Northern Territory, Police Association just

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Speaker 1: very quickly before I let you go. I mean this

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Speaker 1: situation from overnight in Alice Springs. Six male offenders have

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Speaker 1: now been arrested. There are five that still remain outstanding.

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Speaker 1: This vehicle stolen a land Cruisers, stolen this car, then

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Speaker 1: allegedly driving at the police without any warning and ramming it,

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Speaker 1: causing significant damage. Have you spoken to those members?

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Speaker 2: No, I haven't. I I wasn't aware of it until

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Speaker 2: I was driving in this morning and actually heard you

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Speaker 2: speaking about it. I did get a message from Alice

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Speaker 2: Springs just before I walked into the studio too this morning.

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Speaker 2: Another person that's on on leave because of an injury

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Speaker 2: because of the same similar event that happened some five

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Speaker 2: months ago, Coatie. He still hasn't returned to work because

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Speaker 2: the injuries received by being rammed. We've asked for different

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Speaker 2: techniques and tactics to be deployed to the Northern Territory

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Speaker 2: and be trained in other tactics to stop these kind

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Speaker 2: of events, and obviously to tour these types of events

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Speaker 2: as well. They're extremely dangerous and I'm surprised that none

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Speaker 2: of our members have actually died because of these.

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Speaker 1: Events, which is terrible.

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Speaker 2: And no member goes to work thinking they're going to

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Speaker 2: have a stolen car ram their police vehicle. Again, when

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Speaker 2: there's consequences that flow from this, when they continually target

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Speaker 2: our police, we're going to have to take lethal force

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Speaker 2: options and it's going to end up in another crisis

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Speaker 2: in a media circus we've seen and all the members

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Speaker 2: are trying to protect their own lives.

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Speaker 1: So essentially, what the association's calling for in this space

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Speaker 1: is for some other tactics to be able to be

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Speaker 1: deployed so that you're actually able to deal with these situations.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, we've spoken about a number of times CATIE and

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Speaker 2: vehicle interdiction and I obviously boxing in vehicles, having technical collisions, etc.

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Speaker 2: We're asking for those training to be expedited to our

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Speaker 2: General Duties members and now obviously our Task force members

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Speaker 2: such as Viper and that sort of stuff that operate

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Speaker 2: NALLA springs, to make sure they're adequately trained so they

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Speaker 2: can deal with these situations as they rise instead of

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Speaker 2: being sitting ducks as like they are at currently at

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Speaker 2: the moment.

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Speaker 1: Well, Northern Territory Police Association President Nathan Finn, good to

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Speaker 1: catch up with you, as always.

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Speaker 2: Always, Katie, and thank you to the women and men

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Speaker 2: out there in blue that serve our community. Will continue

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Speaker 2: to have the fight that we need to have to

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Speaker 2: fight to make sure that you're recognizing your value is

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Speaker 2: worth

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Speaker 1: Good on your finny thank you, thanks so much for

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Speaker 1: your time this morning,