1
00:00:00,320 --> 00:00:02,520
Speaker 1: Now you may have heard or read the news that

2
00:00:02,640 --> 00:00:07,160
Speaker 1: the former Northern Territory Administrator Ted Egan and his wife

3
00:00:07,560 --> 00:00:11,080
Speaker 1: have also been the victims of a terrifying home invasion

4
00:00:11,320 --> 00:00:16,120
Speaker 1: in Alice Springs. The former Northern Territory Administrator and all

5
00:00:16,200 --> 00:00:19,479
Speaker 1: round Northern Territory legend Ted Egan joins me on the

6
00:00:19,520 --> 00:00:20,279
Speaker 1: line right now.

7
00:00:20,360 --> 00:00:22,520
Speaker 2: Good morning, Ted, hellokadi.

8
00:00:23,440 --> 00:00:28,440
Speaker 1: Ted, can you tell me what happened with you and

9
00:00:28,480 --> 00:00:30,800
Speaker 1: your wife when your home was invaded last week?

10
00:00:32,240 --> 00:00:36,720
Speaker 2: While we were in bed, sound asleep at four am,

11
00:00:37,640 --> 00:00:42,400
Speaker 2: and suddenly nurse was alerted by a strange noise and

12
00:00:42,440 --> 00:00:46,159
Speaker 2: a flashing, a flashing of torches, and she wondered why

13
00:00:46,280 --> 00:00:50,040
Speaker 2: what I was doing for the torch? Perhaps going to

14
00:00:50,120 --> 00:00:52,680
Speaker 2: the toilet or something, but I don't need a torch.

15
00:00:53,159 --> 00:00:57,800
Speaker 2: Another way, and suddenly she realized there were two young

16
00:00:57,920 --> 00:01:01,880
Speaker 2: Aborigin little men in our bedroom four am. So she

17
00:01:02,000 --> 00:01:04,720
Speaker 2: set up in bed and roared, get out of my house?

18
00:01:05,040 --> 00:01:07,800
Speaker 2: Who are you? Get out of my house? And that's

19
00:01:07,840 --> 00:01:12,040
Speaker 2: frightened them sufficiently too, caused them to head for the

20
00:01:12,040 --> 00:01:15,200
Speaker 2: door that they'd come through, and it also me and

21
00:01:15,280 --> 00:01:18,959
Speaker 2: I followed them. I didn't actually chase them. I went

22
00:01:19,040 --> 00:01:23,199
Speaker 2: after them and through the cross that We've got quite

23
00:01:23,200 --> 00:01:26,759
Speaker 2: a large house across the breezeway into the living room,

24
00:01:27,480 --> 00:01:29,680
Speaker 2: and they're in front of me, and I'm yelling out

25
00:01:29,720 --> 00:01:38,600
Speaker 2: in somewhat insufficient Aboriginal language and so on. Then the

26
00:01:38,640 --> 00:01:43,960
Speaker 2: police are coming here. I'm a person of some status

27
00:01:43,959 --> 00:01:47,840
Speaker 2: in Aboriginal society. There's no money, get out, and I

28
00:01:48,000 --> 00:01:51,040
Speaker 2: kept drawing, give us cash and we'll leave. Give us

29
00:01:51,160 --> 00:01:55,040
Speaker 2: my cash money and we'll go. And they then went

30
00:01:55,080 --> 00:01:58,840
Speaker 2: out on the veranda, and somewhat injudiciously, I followed them.

31
00:01:59,400 --> 00:02:04,040
Speaker 2: And I've realized later that how injudicious that was, because

32
00:02:04,080 --> 00:02:06,680
Speaker 2: if the three there was a third one waiting on

33
00:02:06,720 --> 00:02:09,720
Speaker 2: the veranda, and if the three of them had suddenly

34
00:02:09,840 --> 00:02:12,400
Speaker 2: said let's kill the old bus, and they could have

35
00:02:12,760 --> 00:02:17,520
Speaker 2: killed an old, ninety year old fella pretty quickly. And

36
00:02:18,320 --> 00:02:21,720
Speaker 2: that's constantly on my mind, that that's one of the

37
00:02:22,200 --> 00:02:26,560
Speaker 2: many what ifs, And it makes one very sad to

38
00:02:26,639 --> 00:02:30,360
Speaker 2: be in this once beautiful town and towards it's not

39
00:02:30,480 --> 00:02:36,680
Speaker 2: burgers generally, it's Aboriginal burgess. Mainly nowadays teenagers who are

40
00:02:36,760 --> 00:02:42,919
Speaker 2: under the direction of other members of society, almost certainly

41
00:02:42,960 --> 00:02:47,240
Speaker 2: black and perhaps even white, who are organizing the saguan

42
00:02:47,400 --> 00:02:51,960
Speaker 2: esque crime scene in Alice Springs. That is just devastating

43
00:02:52,000 --> 00:02:52,400
Speaker 2: the town.

44
00:02:53,120 --> 00:02:58,040
Speaker 1: So it's utterly terrible, Tea. You know, there's no other

45
00:02:58,080 --> 00:03:00,280
Speaker 1: way to put it. And we've just spoken, and we

46
00:03:00,360 --> 00:03:03,040
Speaker 1: just spoke to Marion Scrimjaw. She's she said, she's been

47
00:03:03,040 --> 00:03:06,200
Speaker 1: in contact with you quite often following on from what

48
00:03:06,320 --> 00:03:06,880
Speaker 1: had happened.

49
00:03:06,880 --> 00:03:11,800
Speaker 2: She's right today, we've spoken, yes, and to her great credit,

50
00:03:11,880 --> 00:03:15,120
Speaker 2: she's on the alert and she's as sad and as

51
00:03:15,160 --> 00:03:19,240
Speaker 2: angry as I am. Yeah, so many of her her

52
00:03:19,280 --> 00:03:24,160
Speaker 2: own Aboriginal friends have been assaulted and broken into by

53
00:03:24,240 --> 00:03:29,320
Speaker 2: this gang of tugs of Aboriginal societies that are nothing

54
00:03:29,400 --> 00:03:33,080
Speaker 2: short of criminals. And the sooner they're all locked up

55
00:03:33,120 --> 00:03:37,280
Speaker 2: and punished accordingly. And let's not go soft on them

56
00:03:37,280 --> 00:03:40,760
Speaker 2: because the poor little darleys have had such a sad

57
00:03:40,840 --> 00:03:41,800
Speaker 2: time in the past.

58
00:03:42,320 --> 00:03:49,160
Speaker 1: But Marion said, Marion said, the time for excuses is over.

59
00:03:49,280 --> 00:03:51,520
Speaker 1: You know, she's she's quite over it. I think the

60
00:03:51,560 --> 00:03:55,120
Speaker 1: whole community is ted. When you hear a story then,

61
00:03:55,760 --> 00:03:59,760
Speaker 1: or a situation unfold like the one that unfolded yesterday,

62
00:03:59,760 --> 00:04:03,120
Speaker 1: We're a mom was holding her eight week old baby

63
00:04:03,360 --> 00:04:07,040
Speaker 1: and was struck with a weapon, and that little Bubbs

64
00:04:07,080 --> 00:04:10,000
Speaker 1: had to be flown to Adelaide with serious head injuries.

65
00:04:10,560 --> 00:04:13,320
Speaker 1: When you when you know something like that has happened

66
00:04:13,360 --> 00:04:16,120
Speaker 1: to a mum and their little child, I mean, how

67
00:04:16,120 --> 00:04:18,240
Speaker 1: do you feel knowing what you and near us have

68
00:04:18,320 --> 00:04:22,240
Speaker 1: been through and and just thinking that people are behaving

69
00:04:22,279 --> 00:04:23,080
Speaker 1: in such a way.

70
00:04:23,960 --> 00:04:27,600
Speaker 2: Well you are, you're constantly you can't help, but they

71
00:04:27,720 --> 00:04:29,880
Speaker 2: come into your mind and you have no control over

72
00:04:30,320 --> 00:04:32,960
Speaker 2: things that come into your all. Or what if? What

73
00:04:33,120 --> 00:04:37,480
Speaker 2: if they had decided just to both and quite happily

74
00:04:37,480 --> 00:04:39,680
Speaker 2: have a cup of coffee or a glass of air

75
00:04:39,720 --> 00:04:43,680
Speaker 2: and until the car fill their stolen car with our goods.

76
00:04:43,720 --> 00:04:50,359
Speaker 2: But fortunately our behavior, which was automatic in both cases,

77
00:04:52,040 --> 00:04:55,960
Speaker 2: must have impressed them in some fashion because we weren't

78
00:04:56,000 --> 00:04:59,839
Speaker 2: physically attacked. But I spoke to a dear friend and

79
00:05:00,080 --> 00:05:04,080
Speaker 2: town who i'd been I was told had been burgled,

80
00:05:04,080 --> 00:05:07,159
Speaker 2: And I said, would you say five times? He said,

81
00:05:07,600 --> 00:05:11,159
Speaker 2: try ten? What is the last last one? For the knife?

82
00:05:11,160 --> 00:05:14,400
Speaker 2: And he said, I sort of expected to happen as

83
00:05:14,400 --> 00:05:16,719
Speaker 2: a matter of course every week in Alice Springs now,

84
00:05:17,520 --> 00:05:22,960
Speaker 2: But again, what if and if you then get vigilandiaction

85
00:05:23,160 --> 00:05:27,600
Speaker 2: and someone shoots a burglar the underworld cooks will very

86
00:05:27,680 --> 00:05:32,520
Speaker 2: quickly provide guns for the Aboriginal thugs, and it'll be,

87
00:05:32,200 --> 00:05:33,840
Speaker 2: it'll be, it'll.

88
00:05:33,640 --> 00:05:38,679
Speaker 1: Be on well this it's it's scary, It's it's beyond scary.

89
00:05:38,720 --> 00:05:40,560
Speaker 1: I think it's reached the point where it feels like

90
00:05:40,600 --> 00:05:43,599
Speaker 1: it's out of control. I mean, Marian Scrimsjaw saying herself

91
00:05:43,920 --> 00:05:45,960
Speaker 1: she doesn't feel safe in her own home. I would

92
00:05:46,000 --> 00:05:50,120
Speaker 1: imagine you definitely don't after what's occurred, Ted, I mean,

93
00:05:50,160 --> 00:05:53,760
Speaker 1: what do you think needs to happen in Alice Springs?

94
00:05:53,760 --> 00:05:54,000
Speaker 2: Do you?

95
00:05:54,120 --> 00:05:57,200
Speaker 1: I mean, we asked Mary in the same question. Are

96
00:05:57,240 --> 00:05:59,680
Speaker 1: we at the point where the you know, maybe we

97
00:05:59,760 --> 00:06:03,320
Speaker 1: need the support of the of the Australian Federal Police

98
00:06:03,400 --> 00:06:06,160
Speaker 1: or the defense for so somebody else to help us

99
00:06:06,240 --> 00:06:09,120
Speaker 1: really just get a hold of things. In the first instance,

100
00:06:09,880 --> 00:06:10,560
Speaker 1: you need to do.

101
00:06:11,680 --> 00:06:15,200
Speaker 2: Move on is what Marian's proposing at the moment, A

102
00:06:15,279 --> 00:06:19,160
Speaker 2: group of people who have who have knowledge and an

103
00:06:19,279 --> 00:06:24,200
Speaker 2: understanding of life in the Northern Territory. And she wants

104
00:06:24,240 --> 00:06:26,360
Speaker 2: me to be one of the chairs of this group.

105
00:06:27,120 --> 00:06:31,039
Speaker 2: And I've suggested Donna rt from Congress to be the

106
00:06:31,080 --> 00:06:36,680
Speaker 2: other chair because Donna herself has had her house and

107
00:06:36,839 --> 00:06:41,640
Speaker 2: she's she's the hardest working Aboriginal person in town. And

108
00:06:41,720 --> 00:06:47,240
Speaker 2: when her house gets gets broken into and she's physically

109
00:06:48,240 --> 00:06:52,120
Speaker 2: or she's attacked mentally and physically by the same sort

110
00:06:52,160 --> 00:06:55,719
Speaker 2: of onslaught, what's the town coming to. That's the first

111
00:06:55,760 --> 00:06:58,640
Speaker 2: thing that needs to happen. But the Prime Minister needs

112
00:06:58,680 --> 00:07:02,479
Speaker 2: to stop going to Indian national gatherings and declare himself

113
00:07:02,520 --> 00:07:06,680
Speaker 2: to be the Minister for first Australian Affairs and do

114
00:07:06,800 --> 00:07:10,040
Speaker 2: what Bob Hawk did in his first week of office.

115
00:07:11,120 --> 00:07:14,320
Speaker 2: Have a summit of people who do know what they do,

116
00:07:14,600 --> 00:07:17,640
Speaker 2: not just all these southern activists who know bugger all

117
00:07:17,680 --> 00:07:20,480
Speaker 2: about life in the church. They're just in it for

118
00:07:20,600 --> 00:07:24,640
Speaker 2: the sixth figure incomes they all derive and enjoy as

119
00:07:24,680 --> 00:07:29,320
Speaker 2: a consequence of their Aboriginal connections. And we don't want

120
00:07:29,320 --> 00:07:32,920
Speaker 2: it in the town. And so the sooner that happens

121
00:07:32,920 --> 00:07:40,400
Speaker 2: the better. And the Colp government was elected about a

122
00:07:40,480 --> 00:07:43,360
Speaker 2: couple of months ago on the basis that they would

123
00:07:43,360 --> 00:07:46,520
Speaker 2: tackle and win this crime situation. Well let's hear it

124
00:07:46,560 --> 00:07:48,160
Speaker 2: from them.

125
00:07:48,320 --> 00:07:53,120
Speaker 1: Well, Ted Eagan, former Administrator of the Northern Territory, we

126
00:07:53,280 --> 00:07:56,080
Speaker 1: really appreciate your time this morning. Thank you very much

127
00:07:56,120 --> 00:08:00,080
Speaker 1: for having a chat to me, and yeah, all my

128
00:08:00,160 --> 00:08:03,760
Speaker 1: best wishes to you and near us. My heart goes

129
00:08:03,800 --> 00:08:05,600
Speaker 1: out to you both and to all the people of

130
00:08:05,640 --> 00:08:09,840
Speaker 1: Alice Springs. You know, I can't even I feel quite

131
00:08:09,880 --> 00:08:12,400
Speaker 1: lost for words, to be honest with you. I hear

132
00:08:12,440 --> 00:08:14,600
Speaker 1: about these crimes all the time, you know, I report

133
00:08:14,640 --> 00:08:17,800
Speaker 1: on them every single day. But it's utterly heartbreaking to

134
00:08:17,880 --> 00:08:21,160
Speaker 1: me that there's just no respect for, you know, for

135
00:08:21,280 --> 00:08:23,080
Speaker 1: other humans by some.

136
00:08:25,160 --> 00:08:28,400
Speaker 2: It's not just Alice, but it's Alice is perhaps the worst.

137
00:08:28,400 --> 00:08:34,000
Speaker 2: At the moment, we have two hundred police here in

138
00:08:34,080 --> 00:08:38,520
Speaker 2: a town of twenty eight thousand people, and the great

139
00:08:38,559 --> 00:08:41,520
Speaker 2: problem is that the police are so busy with last

140
00:08:41,600 --> 00:08:46,959
Speaker 2: night's cases and events and tragedies that ours is now

141
00:08:47,000 --> 00:08:50,920
Speaker 2: a week old and we might just gradually fade away.

142
00:08:50,960 --> 00:08:54,520
Speaker 2: Because I've never heard of anyone who can say my

143
00:08:54,679 --> 00:08:58,240
Speaker 2: house was burgled on such and touch a day. A

144
00:08:58,280 --> 00:09:01,920
Speaker 2: person named x y it was ed, was arrested and

145
00:09:02,280 --> 00:09:06,320
Speaker 2: is now in jail for x y z months on

146
00:09:06,720 --> 00:09:12,400
Speaker 2: having invaded my privacy. And the sourner of the public

147
00:09:12,520 --> 00:09:15,360
Speaker 2: is told who has done more than which witch, and

148
00:09:15,480 --> 00:09:20,000
Speaker 2: to whom the better I'll like it, and I'm so

149
00:09:20,160 --> 00:09:23,480
Speaker 2: pleased that Marian has taken the initiatives that he had.

150
00:09:23,679 --> 00:09:27,520
Speaker 1: Yeah, I agree with you, Ted. Thank you so much

151
00:09:27,559 --> 00:09:30,600
Speaker 1: for having a chat with me this morning and talk

152
00:09:30,640 --> 00:09:32,880
Speaker 1: to you again. So good on you. Thanks Ted, thanks

153
00:09:32,920 --> 00:09:35,240
Speaker 1: so much. Bye,