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Speaker 1: We had been talking to the Education Department a little

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Speaker 1: earlier this morning about the situation with a few fights

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Speaker 1: and some vision on social media doing the rounds. Now

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Speaker 1: joining me on the line right now from COGSO the Council,

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Speaker 1: the Northern Territory Council of Government School Organizations is Tabby Fudge,

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Speaker 1: the President. Let me just press the buttons here. Good

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Speaker 1: morning to you, Tabby.

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Speaker 2: Good morning Katie, and good morning to your listener.

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Speaker 1: It is wonderful to have you back on the show.

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Speaker 1: First day back at work, as I understand.

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Speaker 2: It, Yes, yes, first day back at work. I had

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Speaker 2: to have a favoit of time last year when I

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Speaker 2: came down with a little bit of cancer. But it's

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Speaker 2: all good now. I love the weather than before. I hope.

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Speaker 1: Love the way you said that, Tabby, a little bit

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Speaker 1: of cancer. I don't know if it works that way.

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Speaker 1: You're a bloody legend and we're so glad to have

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Speaker 1: you back on the job and back on the radio.

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Speaker 1: Let's talk school based police because I know that there's

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Speaker 1: something This is something that NT Coggs I've been talking

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Speaker 1: about for some time. Obviously, some pretty terrible vision emerged

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Speaker 1: over the course of the weekend. Of fights in school

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Speaker 1: How important is it from your perspective that we have

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Speaker 1: school based place back back in our schools.

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Speaker 2: Well, as you rightly said, Anti Coso, on direction of

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Speaker 2: our school councils across the length and the breadth of

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Speaker 2: the north of the territory advocated very very hard for

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Speaker 2: our school based policing model to be put back into

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Speaker 2: schools after it was back in twenty thirteen, and through

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Speaker 2: quite lengthy amount of meetings, discussions and backwards and forwards,

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Speaker 2: we did get the program re implemented in term four

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Speaker 2: twenty eighteen, and it was wonderful and it was just

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Speaker 2: it was just so widely applauded by the school communities

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Speaker 2: and the wider community that it had been re implemented.

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Speaker 2: But the thing is it was so successful. The positive,

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Speaker 2: proactive relationship building between our school based constables, between our

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Speaker 2: students and school communities and then out into the white

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Speaker 2: community was such a positive thing because you know, as

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Speaker 2: we all know, our schools are a microcosm of our

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Speaker 2: society at large. You know, if we can get it

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Speaker 2: right now schools, we get it right in our communities.

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Speaker 2: And the thing about school based policing, it's partnering for prevention.

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Speaker 1: And tabby, I understand all. We caught up with the

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Speaker 1: Education Minister on Friday and she said that she believes

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Speaker 1: that there are three of those constables back in schools.

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Speaker 1: I believe they're sort of on a rotation program at

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Speaker 1: this point. But I'm also of the understanding that in

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Speaker 1: Parliament last week the Police Minister said that they may

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Speaker 1: even be looking more at an auxiliary based program. Is

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Speaker 1: that something that Cogso would see is a good thing.

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Speaker 2: We don't want to see our program watered down. It all,

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Speaker 2: and the fact that we've only got three or four

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Speaker 2: police officers in the Darwin Palmerston region and they're not.

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Speaker 2: In the past in the rural area and Palmerston we

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Speaker 2: had four police officers at a full time basis in

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Speaker 2: middle school. Now we have one police officer working part

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Speaker 2: time between two schools, and we have one police officer

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Speaker 2: based in a school in Darwin, and there's another one

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Speaker 2: based in another school in Darwin, but I think he's

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Speaker 2: on the leaves. And we've just last Friday had the

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Speaker 2: reinstatement of a police officer down in Catherine, so we've

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Speaker 2: gone from thirteen police officers down to three or four

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Speaker 2: police officers. So we've seen a massive watering down of

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Speaker 2: the program, and to bring auxiliaries into it, I think

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Speaker 2: he's a further diminishment of the program. I think there

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Speaker 2: is possibly a place for auxiliaries to perhaps work alongside

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Speaker 2: our school based police in like a mentoring kind of

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Speaker 2: a role, perhaps in another support role, maybe out into

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Speaker 2: our primary schools. But to have simply auxiliaries would be

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Speaker 2: a further diminishment of the program and would be walking

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Speaker 2: away from the commitment that we have had in the past.

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Speaker 1: So Tabby, what is your message really for the government

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Speaker 1: today is that you know, we need to get these

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Speaker 1: school based constables back in our schools as quickly as possible.

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Speaker 2: Absolutely, that is what the community is calling for. This

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Speaker 2: is what the communities and the wider communities want. They've

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Speaker 2: been very very explicit in their instruction to Cogfit at

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Speaker 2: the last AGM through motions put forward saying we want

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Speaker 2: a reinstatement of our school based police program. While we

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Speaker 2: understand that there was some need to read a boy

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Speaker 2: officers out onto boarders, last year, once again we saw

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Speaker 2: that school based policing was the only unit that went

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Speaker 2: done doing that on a rotational basis, So I think

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Speaker 2: while there is definitely a commitment from our Chief Minister

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Speaker 2: who said a few weeks ago that it was his

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Speaker 2: understanding that school based police should all be back in

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Speaker 2: the schools now and last week we heard our Minister

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Speaker 2: for Police, Nicole Manison commit to building the program and

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Speaker 2: furthering it, what we're actually seeing on the ground is

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Speaker 2: far from that.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, Tabby. For those out there listening who maybe have

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Speaker 1: just moved to the territory or don't have a clear

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Speaker 1: understanding of why school based constables are so important, why

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Speaker 1: are they so important and why is it such a

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Speaker 1: big thing for us to get them back in schools.

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Speaker 2: Well, as I said earlier, Katie, it's all about partnering

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Speaker 2: for prevention. It's about being proactive. It's about building positive

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Speaker 2: relationships between our police and our school communities and our students.

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Speaker 2: But it's also about our police delivering programs in the

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Speaker 2: classrooms around cyber safety, safety, around consent, around well being

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Speaker 2: and all of those other programs that they once were

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Speaker 2: delivering and quite obviously are not now because they're simply

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Speaker 2: not in our schools. And the thing is some people

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Speaker 2: need positive role models. You know, a lot of children

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Speaker 2: may not necessarily have positive role models at home, and

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Speaker 2: a police officer is a trusted role model within our community.

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Speaker 2: And you know that's wonderful for us all to have

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Speaker 2: in our lives. You know, we all need to have

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Speaker 2: positive role models. It doesn't matter who you are, but

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Speaker 2: it's especially important for our young and impressionable children.

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Speaker 1: Yes, well, Tabby Fudge, the president of nt cogso I

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Speaker 1: always appreciate your time, but come back. We're so please

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Speaker 1: get you back on the job and doing well health wise.

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Speaker 1: It's wonderful to hear your voice.

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Speaker 2: Thank you so much, Katie. I look forward to speaking

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Speaker 2: to you some more in the future.

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Speaker 1: Sounds great.

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Speaker 2: Wonderful day everyone, you two.

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Speaker 1: Thanks Tabby,