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Speaker 1: Now, yesterday you may have heard us catch up with

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Speaker 1: the Education Minister Lauren Moss and speak a little bit

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Speaker 1: more about teacher safety at Unbecomber, following on from concerns

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Speaker 1: being raised by the Education Union earlier in the week

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Speaker 1: about the safety of those that are working in the community.

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Speaker 1: Now we were told that there were situations at Unbercomber

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Speaker 1: where some teachers that had their houses broken into on

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Speaker 1: numerous occasions by intruders and again in some cases wielding

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Speaker 1: machetes and axes. No matter how you look at this,

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Speaker 1: it's totally unacceptable that our teachers have had to go

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Speaker 1: through this. Now joining us on the line right now

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Speaker 1: is Jarvis Ryan from the Northern Territory Education Union. Good

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Speaker 1: morning to you, Jarvis.

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Speaker 2: Good to be with you.

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Speaker 1: Katie Jervis, how is this situation currently sitting after raising

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Speaker 1: those concerns earlier in the week.

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Speaker 2: Well, I can tell you that the principle is no

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Speaker 2: longer on the island. She's been asked to leave the

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Speaker 2: island by the community there, which is disappointing because she

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Speaker 2: raised legitimate concerns about her safety and the response was

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Speaker 2: no longer welcome here. Ultimately, we have no control over

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Speaker 2: that as the community is not making someone welcome, then

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Speaker 2: they need to leave. So we're focused on supporting her

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Speaker 2: and on people who are still not feeling safe about

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Speaker 2: negotiating for them to move elsewhere. So I know that

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Speaker 2: the Land Council did make some comments about criticizing the

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Speaker 2: position we took, but from our point of view, we're

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Speaker 2: not seeking to get into dispute with the community of

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Speaker 2: Unbecomber or with the Land Council. Our issue is about

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Speaker 2: the employer, which is the Department of Education. In our view,

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Speaker 2: there's a sort of normalized acceptance that this is just

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Speaker 2: what you have to put up with when you work

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Speaker 2: in remote communities, and in our view, it's very clear

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Speaker 2: this is a safety issue. People should be able to

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Speaker 2: sleep safely in their homes at night, they should not

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Speaker 2: be subject to potential home intrusion, people with machetes of

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Speaker 2: whatever age, And we just want to see a faster,

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Speaker 2: more rapid response to these situations to really make them

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Speaker 2: top priority about keeping keeping employees safe. And I'm told

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Speaker 2: things are settled down somewhat Numbercomer in the last couple

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Speaker 2: of days. But I would also point out that Unbecomer

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Speaker 2: has been an issue of late but this is something

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Speaker 2: we see crop up in different places around the territory sadly,

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Speaker 2: quite commonly, and you know, it's a real challenge for us. Yeah,

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Speaker 2: we're talking about a workforce where we often have particularly

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Speaker 2: single females living in these communities, and we do have

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Speaker 2: concerns for their safety when these situations arise.

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Speaker 1: Javis, what kind of impact or what has been the

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Speaker 1: reaction from the other teachers based out there in Unbecomer

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Speaker 1: following on from the principle being asked to leave?

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Speaker 2: Well, look, we raised this issue at the in response

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Speaker 2: to concerns from our members. Last week I conveyed the

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Speaker 2: letter signed by six of our members asking to be relocated.

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Speaker 2: In response to those concerns, I understand there are some

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Speaker 2: people who are happy to remain there and they're not

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Speaker 2: They're not worried, they're not concerned. So you know, ultimately

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Speaker 2: there is a decision people can make about that. Again,

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Speaker 2: I just highlight the point that this community has actually

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Speaker 2: cycled through quite a lot of principles in recent times,

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Speaker 2: and we know there are challenges in these communities. The

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Speaker 2: question often goes to people given enough support to manage

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Speaker 2: in very difficult and trying circumstances. And the point I

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Speaker 2: made this week as well is it's not just about education,

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Speaker 2: it's about police, it's about housing, it's about territory families.

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Speaker 2: You know, there's actually a whole range of different levels

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Speaker 2: of support that we need. So one of the challenges

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Speaker 2: we've had at Unbecomer is there's no criticism of the

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Speaker 2: police and that those officers that do a very fine

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Speaker 2: job under difficult circumstances, they've often not had the means

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Speaker 2: to be out with a continual presence in Unbecomer to

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Speaker 2: deal with some of the challenges there. So I understand

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Speaker 2: in response to us raising the flag this week that

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Speaker 2: there's increased presence out there now people get cross from

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Speaker 2: we go to the media. But I have to tell you, Katie,

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Speaker 2: if we don't go to the media, we don't get

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Speaker 2: the response. And it's sad that it has to come

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Speaker 2: to that.

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Speaker 1: And I would also think that realistically that's a last resort.

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Speaker 1: You know, I've got family members that work in remote communities,

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Speaker 1: not in education, but in the health sector, and you

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Speaker 1: know the reality is that you don't people don't go

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Speaker 1: to the media. They also don't go to the union

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Speaker 1: unless they are genuinely concerned about what's going on now.

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Speaker 1: We had the we had the minister on the show

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Speaker 1: yesterday and and you know, she had said that, you know,

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Speaker 1: like she again had it seemed as though she and

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Speaker 1: the government had taken offense to one of the comments

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Speaker 1: that you had made around around a particular policy that

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Speaker 1: community led decision making process with one of the policies

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Speaker 1: that you know as one of their policies that they

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Speaker 1: sort of hang their hats on. You know, what did

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Speaker 1: you make of that commentary from the government, And you know,

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Speaker 1: I'm ultimately I'm assuming that for you, all that you're

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Speaker 1: concerned about right now is just the safety of those teachers.

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Speaker 2: That's right. And look, I mean I wrote a submission

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Speaker 2: to the Department on the weekend where I think one

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Speaker 2: of the most important things to improve education outcomes in

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Speaker 2: remote communities is we do have to give those communities

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Speaker 2: more ownership about make sure the curriculum is culturally appropriate

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Speaker 2: and relevant, and we increase our capacity to provide first

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Speaker 2: language instruction, bi lingual programs, all of those things. I

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Speaker 2: guess my point was to say, it's all very well

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Speaker 2: to have this high level agreement about local decision making,

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Speaker 2: all the rest of it. When the reality on the

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Speaker 2: ground is people can't sleep safely in their beds at night,

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Speaker 2: I would say take a reality check and go We've

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Speaker 2: got to get these basic things right around making sure

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Speaker 2: our workforce, our government workforce. These teachers are only going

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Speaker 2: in there because they want to make sure these kids

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Speaker 2: get an education at every effort made to ensure that

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Speaker 2: they're safe, and that when those concerns are raised, that

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Speaker 2: they have dealt with as the highest priority and not

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Speaker 2: kind of a sort of normalized attitude of well, that's

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Speaker 2: just what you have to put up with. I don't

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Speaker 2: think that's good enough, and we've made it clear this

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Speaker 2: week we're not going to stand for it. And I

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Speaker 2: can tell you that our membership is very solidly behind

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Speaker 2: that view. Our remote workforce, there's a lot of other stores,

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Speaker 2: as we could tell that they want to know that

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Speaker 2: they've got the backing of the Minister and the Department

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Speaker 2: and the Chief Minister ultimately on this issue.

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Speaker 1: Jervis right now, how many teachers are based out of

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Speaker 1: Unbecomber and how many are really thinking about, you know,

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Speaker 1: the need to relocate and to stay will in an

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Speaker 1: effort to stay safe.

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Speaker 2: Well as I said, the principal has departed this week.

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Speaker 2: One teacher and his family have helped negotiate a transfer

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Speaker 2: for them. For the others, at this stage, I can't say,

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Speaker 2: but obviously anyone who's continuing to be concerned about things

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Speaker 2: will support them around relocation if needed.

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Speaker 1: Well, it sounds like it's certainly a continuing situation at

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Speaker 1: this point in time. I really, you know, I do

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Speaker 1: hope that something is able to be sorted out. The

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Speaker 1: teachers are able to stay safe and obviously, you know,

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Speaker 1: fundamentally those kids are able to be you know, to

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Speaker 1: go to school and to obviously have their teachers there.

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Speaker 1: It must be really difficult, I think for it to

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Speaker 1: get to this point because you know, ultimately teachers do

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Speaker 1: want to be able to do their jobs and educate

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Speaker 1: the kids.

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Speaker 2: That's exactly right, and that's what we all want. But

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Speaker 2: there are also some important issues of safety that need

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Speaker 2: to need to be addressed.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, Java Shrian, always appreciate your time. Thank you so

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Speaker 1: much for having a chat with us this morning, and

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Speaker 1: we'll try to keep in contact to find out how

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Speaker 1: this situation evolves.

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Speaker 2: Thanks for your interest, Katie.

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Speaker 1: Thank you, Java Shrian. There the principal, Sorry, the President,

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Speaker 1: I should say of the Northern Territory Education Union