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Speaker 1: Well, when Parliament resumes today, we know that Justine Davis,

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Speaker 1: the Independent Member for Johnson, is going to seek leave

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Speaker 1: to table the coroner's recommendations which we yesterday handed down

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Speaker 1: into the deaths of four Indigenous women. She will move

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Speaker 1: that motion demanding that the government take immediate and decisive

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Speaker 1: action to fully resource and implement these recommendations. The Member

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Speaker 1: for Johnson says lives are at stake and the time

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Speaker 1: for excuses and delays is over. She says that we've

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Speaker 1: heard from the colp them say over and over again

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Speaker 1: that they're going to deliver the one hundred and eighty

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Speaker 1: million dollars for domestic, family and sexual violence that they

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Speaker 1: promised before the election. Now joining us on the line

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Speaker 1: is Justine Davis. Good morning to you, Justine.

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Speaker 2: Hi, Katie, how are you going?

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Speaker 1: Not too bad? Justine? What was your reaction to the

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Speaker 1: findings and recommendations that were handed down yesterday?

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Speaker 2: I think the Corona did an incredible job both in

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Speaker 2: honorary the women whose lives were lost and outlining a

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Speaker 2: really clear map for what needs to happen from here

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Speaker 2: to make sure that this stops happening and does not happen.

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Speaker 1: Ever, again, what do you think the most urgent recommendations

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Speaker 1: are to get in place.

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Speaker 2: I think the most I think she stepped through a

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Speaker 2: really clear pathway to address those recommendations. So she said,

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Speaker 2: we need to have leadership to make sure that the

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Speaker 2: recommendations can be put in place and can be followed

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Speaker 2: and implemented in a really clear way. So re establishing

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Speaker 2: the ECRO, which was the inter departmental committee which developed

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Speaker 2: the plan, that the one hundred and eighty million dollars

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Speaker 2: refers to establishing a peak body. Incredibly, the northern territory

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Speaker 2: with the highest rates of domestic violence in Australia is

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Speaker 2: the Islands, and then from there I'm working through the

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Speaker 2: it's the rest of the recommendations. They're very clear, they're

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Speaker 2: very accessible, they're very well spelt out well.

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Speaker 1: And she said yesterday that many of her recommendations are

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Speaker 1: not radical and that a lot of the evidence is

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Speaker 1: issues which have previously been raised. She said, though, that

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Speaker 1: there really is no way to turn this around unless

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Speaker 1: those perpetrating the violence. It lies with the men who

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Speaker 1: are choosing to use this violence. They must stop blaming

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Speaker 1: someone else. They must take responsibility and change their attitudes

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Speaker 1: and behaviors. How do we do that?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, and look, I'm I was really glad to hear

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Speaker 2: this is a problem that where men are killing women,

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Speaker 2: and I was really glad to hear her say that

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Speaker 2: very directly, and we need to put things in place

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Speaker 2: to change and address that. There is hardly anything she

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Speaker 2: made reference that in her report, there is hardly any

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Speaker 2: work being done with men at the moment. We know

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Speaker 2: the kind of work that needs to be done where

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Speaker 2: there are men who are able to secure places in

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Speaker 2: some of the very limited men's behavior change programs at

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Speaker 2: the moment they only operate in Dawe and Allie Springs

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Speaker 2: and a little bit of reach into your communities. We

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Speaker 2: know that when men the data is that has an impact.

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Speaker 2: So we need to put things in place to make

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Speaker 2: sure that we're addressing this problem, this problem before that happened,

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Speaker 2: including addressing men's violence.

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Speaker 1: So Justine today you are indeed going to be moving

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Speaker 1: that motion in Parliament. What is your hope with doing that?

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Speaker 2: Oh? Look, my great hope is that we see some action.

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Speaker 2: I heard the Chief Minister say earlier this morning that

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Speaker 2: the intention of the government is to take their time

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Speaker 2: in looking at the recommendations of the coroner. It's kind

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Speaker 2: of heartbreaking, Katie. Women are dying. This is a really

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Speaker 2: clearly a clean map. One of the things that the

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Speaker 2: current is said, which I think we all can take

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Speaker 2: hope from, is that the story is not it's not hopeless.

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Speaker 2: We know what we need to do, We know that

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Speaker 2: we can put things in place, and every delay is

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Speaker 2: another delay that puts women and children at risk. So

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Speaker 2: my hope is that fellow, my fellow members of Parliament

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Speaker 2: will join with me in saying, yes, we need to

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Speaker 2: take action now. We needed to take action yesterday, we

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Speaker 2: needed to take action last month. We cannot keep delaying this.

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Speaker 2: We don't need more research, we don't need more consultation.

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Speaker 2: We need to be putting in place what we know

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Speaker 2: will work well.

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Speaker 1: We actually had in August last year. In August twenty

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Speaker 1: twenty three, there were domestic violence advocates calling for one

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Speaker 1: hundred and eighty million dollars in funding back then and

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Speaker 1: at the time the Labor government only committed twenty million dollars.

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Speaker 1: We then know that we're heading into an election and

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Speaker 1: both sides of politics decided to you know that they

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Speaker 1: then commit to that one hundred and eighty million. But

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Speaker 1: now we have very clear framework of what needs to

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Speaker 1: be done, but it's not the first time that we've

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Speaker 1: actually had a bit of a framework in place and

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Speaker 1: not acted over a lot of years.

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Speaker 2: That's right, that's right, and I mean I think you know,

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Speaker 2: there's been a very clear commitment within the Chamber, within Parliament,

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Speaker 2: a bipartisan commitment that this is an urgent issue that

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Speaker 2: needs to be addressed. It's been going on for far

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Speaker 2: too long. I mean, I want to look forward, not backwards.

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Speaker 2: At this point we have an opportunity to do something

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Speaker 2: about it. The COLP we've seen in government. They are

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Speaker 2: very clear that they're a government of action. They're clear

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Speaker 2: that they can take urgent action on things like locking

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Speaker 2: out ten year olds. Why can't they take urgent action

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Speaker 2: on this? You know, that would be my question.

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Speaker 1: Now, Justine. I also know that the COLP government today

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Speaker 1: announcing that they're going to be introducing legislation this week

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Speaker 1: to reduce the floor price of alcohol. This is something

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Speaker 1: that quite a few Territorians have been calling for on

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Speaker 1: this show, saying it hasn't worked. I mean, what are

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Speaker 1: your concerns though with it being scrapped.

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Speaker 2: I think that we know that there's an incredibly that

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Speaker 2: there's a completely clear correlation. Alcohol does not cause violence,

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Speaker 2: but it can exacerbates it, particularly physical violence and physical

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Speaker 2: harm in terms of domestic violence, Jess, alcohol is frequently

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Speaker 2: a contributor. Anything that we can do to make women safer,

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Speaker 2: we need to be doing. I know on your show

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Speaker 2: before we've had conversation about you know, what is the data,

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Speaker 2: and you know there's lots of backlipsing forwards about what

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Speaker 2: does the data show in terms of the impact of

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Speaker 2: reducing floor prices. I think that we know that it

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Speaker 2: doesn't do harm. Sorry, sorry. We know that reducing floor

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Speaker 2: prices is not going to make things better, and that's

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Speaker 2: all we should be doing. And we know that there's

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Speaker 2: a risk that might make things worse, and to make

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Speaker 2: things worse if this government does anything that's going to

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Speaker 2: make things work and put women more at risk, I

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Speaker 2: think that's shameful. My understanding of the data, and I've

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Speaker 2: spent a lot of time trying to understand this and

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Speaker 2: talk to people who are experts in this field, is

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Speaker 2: that there is a definite correlation between reducing the fraud

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Speaker 2: price and people's access to alcohol and therefore harm that

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Speaker 2: can be caused by alcohol, whether or not, you know,

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Speaker 2: we can debate about that data. But the issue is

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Speaker 2: that if there's any kind of risk that this is

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Speaker 2: going to cause harm. I heard Matt Cunningham on your

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Speaker 2: show say, well, it's not really a biggie a little

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Speaker 2: bit of inconvenience for me. If it's going to keep

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Speaker 2: people safe, why wouldn't we do it? I agree, why

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Speaker 2: wouldn't we do it?

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Speaker 1: Yeah? I suppose the other side of it is, you know,

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Speaker 1: there's a lot of people going, well, I'm a law

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Speaker 1: abiding citizen. I'm somebody who doesn't, you know, drinking excess

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Speaker 1: and then choose to commit domestic violence. So why does

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Speaker 1: there need to be a rule that's across the board,

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Speaker 1: you know, just to play devil's advocate.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, and I hear people say that, and I mean

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Speaker 2: I give the same kind of response I think that

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Speaker 2: Matt did that This isn't a big inconvenience to people,

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Speaker 2: This isn't a violation of our fundamental human rights. It's

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Speaker 2: something that we're putting in place to try and keep

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Speaker 2: the most vulnerable people in our community safe, and that

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Speaker 2: needs to be our driving principle in the decisions that

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Speaker 2: we're making right now.

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Speaker 1: Just before I let you go this morning, someone's message

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Speaker 1: through and said, Hey, Katie, I understand that Justine and

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Speaker 1: Cash might be working together on a private member's bill,

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Speaker 1: but that person can't find out exactly what it's to

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Speaker 1: do with. Is that something that you're in a situation

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Speaker 1: to tell us about or are we preempting a little

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Speaker 1: bit there?

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Speaker 2: Oh no, they may be talking about the Voluntary Assistant

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Speaker 2: Dying bill. So yeah, So kat Member for Nightcliff cabled

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Speaker 2: the report on that, and I moved or gave nose

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Speaker 2: of a motion that the recommendations be implemented. That would

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Speaker 2: mean that we would then try and put legislation. It's

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Speaker 2: a bit of a long journey from here I've talked about,

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Speaker 2: but I know it's something incredibly important to people in

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Speaker 2: this community. So we will be continuing to do everything

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Speaker 2: we can to try and bring back the right to

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Speaker 2: people in the Northern Territory to die with dignity.

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Speaker 1: Well, if you can keep us up to date, that

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Speaker 1: would be really great. I know that a lot of

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Speaker 1: our listeners do want to be aware of what's going

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Speaker 1: on with that Voluntary Assistant Dying bill, and a lot

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Speaker 1: of support really for that. Justine have you been out

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Speaker 1: to Have you been at that rally this morning on

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Speaker 1: the territory part.

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Speaker 2: I was it that rally this morning? Yes, many people,

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Speaker 2: they're the concerns. Yeah, I couldn't give you a number,

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Speaker 2: but there there were a lot of people out the

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Speaker 2: front of Parliament House. I wasn't there for all of it,

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Speaker 2: but I share the concerns of people that you know,

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Speaker 2: we've talked about that. I've talked about that with you

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Speaker 2: before that this is a really big challenge to our democracy,

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Speaker 2: to I democratic principles, to the good, good process and

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Speaker 2: good decision making. We don't have to be anti develop Sorry.

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Speaker 2: The drive is not being anti development. The drive is

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Speaker 2: let's do things properly. Let's respect the laws that we

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Speaker 2: have in place at the moment. They're there for a reason.

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Speaker 2: I think people are really concerned at the person who's

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Speaker 2: been put in as the interim territory coordinator. The fact

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Speaker 2: that whoever you know, however great he is, and you know,

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Speaker 2: people have been you know, including you, I think you

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Speaker 2: said word. The fact that he headed up impacts for

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Speaker 2: ten years rings alarm bells from me.

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Speaker 1: If I'm about the fact that he works for the

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Speaker 1: Labor Party, Like are you concerned that he works for

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Speaker 1: the Labor Party.

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Speaker 2: Well, what I want to know if I've got decisions,

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Speaker 2: if I've got someone who's making decisions about my future,

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Speaker 2: my kid's future, the territory future, what I want to

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Speaker 2: know is that they have no vested interests. It doesn't

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Speaker 2: pass the pub test for me. If people have clear

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Speaker 2: links to to industry, to political parties. I want them

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Speaker 2: to be properly independent. I get to have in play.

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Speaker 1: But I know, even when I started this job, Justine,

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Speaker 1: people criticize me because I worked for a labor minister,

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Speaker 1: and they said that there was no way that I'd

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Speaker 1: be able to hold a labor government to account or

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Speaker 1: to be able to do my job properly. And so

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Speaker 1: I kind of like, I sort of don't subscribe to

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Speaker 1: that that you can't still do your hello. I don't

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Speaker 1: really subscribe to the fact that I think it can

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Speaker 1: still do your job despite your work experience.

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Speaker 2: I think there's a very very big issue about what

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Speaker 2: about people's trust in our processes, whether or not you

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Speaker 2: can do your job. If people don't trust you to

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Speaker 2: do it well, then it's going to undermine your ability

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Speaker 2: to do it. And I don't think it's the same

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Speaker 2: working as an advisor for government as heading up a

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Speaker 2: major industry for ten years, an industry that this legislation

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Speaker 2: is designed to protect and promote. Luck, I think it

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Speaker 2: raises serious of putting these laws in place, and what

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Speaker 2: the intentions are of the law well.

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Speaker 1: I will certainly leave it open to discussion for our listeners. Justine,

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Speaker 1: I really appreciate you coming on the show this morning.

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Speaker 1: I know you're busy, busy and have to get into Parliament,

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Speaker 1: so thank you so much for having a chat with me.

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Speaker 1: Thiss Q, thank you to talk soon you too,