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Speaker 1: Joining me live on the line is the Senator for

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Speaker 1: the Northern Territory, the CLP Senator Center, naberjimpa Price.

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Speaker 2: Good morning to.

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

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Speaker 2: Good to have you on the show this morning.

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Speaker 1: Now, Jacintra, I first want to take you to a

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Speaker 1: couple of stories that have just sort of broken overnight.

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Speaker 1: A pretty concerning report by the ABC online this morning

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Speaker 1: that emergency departments across the Northern Territory are seeing an

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Speaker 1: increase in serious injury presentations due to family and domestic violence.

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Speaker 2: Now, the Northern.

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Speaker 1: Territory, as we know, already sees far higher rates of

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Speaker 1: this type of violence than anywhere else in Australia. But

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Speaker 1: the Australasian College of Emergency Medicine, their president, Steve Gooley,

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Speaker 1: works as the director of the Alla Springs Hospital Emergency Department.

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Speaker 1: Now he has told the ABC that the department collected

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Speaker 1: data throughout the territory on the incidents of family violence

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Speaker 1: and found there was a steady increase over time. He's

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Speaker 1: also told the ABC the types of injuries being presented

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Speaker 1: were also much worse than usual due to the type

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Speaker 1: of weapons that perpetrators are using. Senator, what do you

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Speaker 1: make of this report? Are you surprised by what I've

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Speaker 1: just read out?

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Speaker 3: Like it's deeply saddening, But no, I'm not surprised. I'm

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Speaker 3: not surprised at all because both tears of government, the

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Speaker 3: labor governments that are in place are absolutely failing to

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Speaker 3: address any of these issues in any way that provides

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Speaker 3: a positive impact. And these issues have been allowed to fester.

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Speaker 3: And you know, we know that those high rates DV

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Speaker 3: are predominantly Indigenous women, which is an ongoing issue. But

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Speaker 3: apparently because those who like to push ideology don't want

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Speaker 3: to face up to the fact that there is a

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Speaker 3: problem within our indigenous kimmunity of DV. And if we

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Speaker 3: can't face up to that, honestly, we're not going to

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Speaker 3: be able to address these issues.

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Speaker 1: Honestly, how do you think we do that as a community? Like,

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Speaker 1: how do you think we get past this and make

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Speaker 1: sure that we're making some inroads Because you know that

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Speaker 1: we're talking about the most vulnerable in the community and

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Speaker 1: the kind of domestic violence that we often report on.

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Speaker 2: On this very show. It's heartbreaking, to put it mildly.

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Speaker 3: Well, we've got to stop making excuses for perpetrators, you know,

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Speaker 3: especially if they're indigenous perpetrators. We've got to stop making excuses.

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Speaker 3: They have to be condemned. We can't allow for people

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Speaker 3: who have perpetrated violence to be in significant positions of power,

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Speaker 3: like on the boards of you know, Aboriginal corporations or

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Speaker 3: councils or even as we know Naja. We can't make

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Speaker 3: excuses for these individuals. They have to be held to

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Speaker 3: account and if you do the crime, then you do

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Speaker 3: at the time. But we have to protect our vulnerable

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Speaker 3: which is our women and children. We know when we've

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Speaker 3: got these high rates, the children are being exposed to

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Speaker 3: this in their homes, the kids that are running around

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Speaker 3: on our streets, they're the kids of the families that

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Speaker 3: experience the high rates of domestic and family violence. We

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Speaker 3: have to protect these kids and uphold their human rights

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Speaker 3: and intervene at an appropriate time in their lives so

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Speaker 3: that they don't become perpetrators later on in life. But

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Speaker 3: we've got to be honest about this and instead of

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Speaker 3: trying to cover up what's going on because of ideological reasons.

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Speaker 1: I will get to Naja in just a moment, but

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Speaker 1: I know one of the things that the local You

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Speaker 1: know that labor on a territory scale have spoken about

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Speaker 1: quite a lot. Is that needs based funding. When it

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Speaker 1: comes to dealing with domestic violence, I mean, if a

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Speaker 1: coalition were elected, is that something that is going to

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Speaker 1: be looked at.

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Speaker 3: Oh, look, all of that's going to be looked at.

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Speaker 3: We'll also look at what the significant factors are. You know,

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Speaker 3: when it comes to substance abuse, we need to invest

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Speaker 3: more in rehabilitation for those who are suffering with substance

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Speaker 3: abuse and effectively ensure that we can support these people

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Speaker 3: better and their families as well going forward. But ultimately,

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Speaker 3: you know, we've called for a Royal commission into the

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Speaker 3: sexual abuse of Indigenous children. These are the sort of

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Speaker 3: things that needs to happen. You know, the national body

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Speaker 3: snake that likes to play down the levels of sexual

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Speaker 3: abuse of Indigenous children need to wake up to themselves

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Speaker 3: and stop trying to cover that up as well. But

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Speaker 3: these are all the issues that we want to address honestly,

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Speaker 3: all right.

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Speaker 1: I want to move along to NAJA, the Australian newspaper

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Speaker 1: this morning reporting that they are once again making headlines.

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Speaker 1: The North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency has lost its fifth

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Speaker 1: chief in executive in eighteen months, as the upper management

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Speaker 1: of the besieged organization continues.

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Speaker 2: To be gripped by chaos.

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Speaker 1: According to this report in The Australian, Phil Brown has

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Speaker 1: stepped down in a shock departure from his position as

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Speaker 1: the acting CEO, having only been in that role for

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Speaker 1: four months. The Australian newspaper understands that mister Brown advised

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Speaker 1: NAGER Board and the Northern Territory Attorney General's Department of

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Speaker 1: his decision this month. And well, it's been reported here's

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Speaker 1: the nephew of NAJA Deputy chair Colleen Ross, whom the

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Speaker 1: Federal Court last month found had engaged in corrupt behavior

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Speaker 1: when sacking former CEO Priscilla Atkins. What do you make

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Speaker 1: of this latest headline, Senator.

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Speaker 3: It's just a continued train wreck, and it's about time

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Speaker 3: that Minister Linda Bernie and Attorney General Dress actually stepped

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Speaker 3: in and flashed out. This board got rid of them

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Speaker 3: all together, because we know everybody is telling us what

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Speaker 3: we all can see for ourselves that they do not

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Speaker 3: know how to effectively govern this organization. The funding needs

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Speaker 3: to stop. I mean, what more evidence do they need

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Speaker 3: to tell us? That it's completely failed and they keep

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Speaker 3: propping it back up only for it to fail again.

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Speaker 3: It's blatant, it's ridiculous, it's becoming an absolute joke, and

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Speaker 3: it's such a shame because so many vulnerable people are

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Speaker 3: suffering as a result.

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Speaker 1: Well, there has been a former senior NAGE lawyer speak

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Speaker 1: to The Australian on the condition of remaining anonymous, saying

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Speaker 1: that the government should have torn down the organization following

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Speaker 1: the findings of Miss Atkins's case. Now the lawyer has

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Speaker 1: said there is a culture of nepotism within NAJA and

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Speaker 1: it's getting worse and worse. There are all these young

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Speaker 1: lawyers who come in from interstate who are eager and

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Speaker 1: want to help, but the upper management makes it impossible.

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Speaker 1: This senior lawyer, former senior NAGE lawyer says that NAJA

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Speaker 1: should be shut down and started over.

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Speaker 2: Do you agree absolutely?

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Speaker 3: I agree? And you know what, both governments, both labor governments,

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Speaker 3: are walking around with their eyes closed. If Mark Drapers

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Speaker 3: and if Linda Burnie want to continue to allow this

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Speaker 3: this surface to continue, well then Prime Minister should sack

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Speaker 3: them both for not doing their jobs effectively. I mean,

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Speaker 3: it's just it's become absolutely ridiculous, and I agree with

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Speaker 3: the former lawyer. They obviously are close to the action,

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Speaker 3: they know what needs to be done. I will back

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Speaker 3: them all the way.

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Speaker 1: Now, look, I want to take you across to Alice Springs, Senator,

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Speaker 1: your hometown, and I know in Alice Springs there has

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Speaker 1: been a lot going on over.

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Speaker 2: The last week.

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Speaker 1: To put it mildly, some more chaotic scenes as we

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Speaker 1: widely reported on last week, but there's also been plenty

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Speaker 1: of calls from various voices, including yourself, for a serious

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Speaker 1: look into the organizations receiving funding to deliver youth services

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Speaker 1: and other services to minimize the issues.

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Speaker 2: That are being experienced in the Red Center.

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Speaker 1: Now. Earlier this year, The ABC Online had reported that

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Speaker 1: Tongue and Gier Council Aboriginal Corporation, who we know are

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Speaker 1: paid tens of millions of dollars in government grants to

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Speaker 1: help improve social issues in Alice Springs. They'd come under

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Speaker 1: fire for declining meetings, also allegedly failing to deliver services

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Speaker 1: adequately and allowing a convicted domestic violence offended to sit

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Speaker 1: on the board.

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Speaker 2: Now, according to the report.

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Speaker 1: By the ABC, this is back in May and I

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Speaker 1: know it's something you've spoken about before as well, that

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Speaker 1: in this past financial year they collected more than thirty

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Speaker 1: million dollars in government grants and contracts, including for servicing

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Speaker 1: sixteen town camps across the Alice Springs fringes and a

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Speaker 1: women's safety group and family violence prevention program. Now, the

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Speaker 1: organization we know employees about three hundred people. They hadn't

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Speaker 1: released an annual report since twenty eighteen. Now last week

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Speaker 1: we discussed this on the week that was and the

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Speaker 1: Minister for Prevention of Domestic and Family Violence, Kate Warden,

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Speaker 1: confirmed on the show on Friday that Tongue in Geer

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Speaker 1: had their funding doubled for the men's behavior change program

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Speaker 1: despite those concerns that had been raised in May.

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Speaker 3: Do you think that's appropriate, No, it's it's utterly disgraceful.

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Speaker 3: And you know, this is the standard that the Labor

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Speaker 3: government that Kate Warden upholds, This is the standard that

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Speaker 3: the Albanese government upholds. They would turn a blind eye

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Speaker 3: and this is why average organization failed, because they turn

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Speaker 3: a blind eye to the fact that you know, no

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Speaker 3: other organization it was a non averaginal organization with a

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Speaker 3: DV offender on their board. Would they continue to fund

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Speaker 3: these organizations? I mean, evidently their domestic violence program isn't

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Speaker 3: working if in fact, we're seeing an increase in presentations

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Speaker 3: in the hospital system. But what I will tell you

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Speaker 3: is that Tongue Jira are always out there handing out

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Speaker 3: how to vote, rounding up town campers to ensure that

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Speaker 3: they've got their how to Vote for Labor cards on

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Speaker 3: them and sending them straight to the voting boots. So,

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Speaker 3: you know, we've got to keep this in mind. We're

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Speaker 3: all questioning why the labor governments on both federal and

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Speaker 3: the territory continue to fund an organization like this when

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Speaker 3: the entire community have expressed their concerns with how the

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Speaker 3: place is run over and over again. Why they keep

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Speaker 3: funding organizations in millions.

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Speaker 2: It's a big call to make. It's a big call.

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Speaker 2: So like are you are you.

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Speaker 1: Saying that you know that they turn that blind eye

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Speaker 1: because they're reliant on those votes.

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Speaker 3: Absolutely, I mean I've witnessed it myself. I've witnessed the

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Speaker 3: way that Tongue Jira kicks in the gear at every

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Speaker 3: election to ensure that labor is supported. I mean, what

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Speaker 3: other explanation do we have considering their continued failure to

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Speaker 3: deliver effectively. The state of the town camps in Alice Springs,

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Speaker 3: you would think that they would be in much better

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Speaker 3: state given the money that this council is provided. I mean,

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Speaker 3: the fact that the Alice Springs Town Council ended their

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Speaker 3: MoU speaks volumes as to the lack of the lack

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Speaker 3: of the community support to get behind such an organization.

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Speaker 1: Senator, before I let you go, I mean, do you

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Speaker 1: think that it could have been an opportunity to actually

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Speaker 1: say to the organization, Hey, you know, we aren't going

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Speaker 1: to increase that funding until we can see that you're

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Speaker 1: prepared to work with other organizations like the council, file

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Speaker 1: those annual reports and remove people from the board.

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Speaker 3: Well you think so. I mean, that's the common sense

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Speaker 3: approach you'd think that a government would take. But unfortunately,

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Speaker 3: we've watched these governments. This is why I've called for

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Speaker 3: an audit into the spending of money and to Indigenous organizations,

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Speaker 3: because what we continue to experience is good money thrown

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Speaker 3: after bad and absolutely no outcome to account for the

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Speaker 3: spending of those funds.

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Speaker 1: Well, it is always good to catch up with you, Senator,

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Speaker 1: Thank you very much for your time this morning.

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Speaker 2: Much appreciated.

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Speaker 3: Thanks for having me, Katie, thank you