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Speaker 1: Now, obviously we've just heard from the Northern Territory Police Commissioner,

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Speaker 1: Michael Murphy, following on from the apology speech at the

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Speaker 1: Gama Festival over the course of the weekend. Now, following

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Speaker 1: on from that, the Northern Territory Police Association issued a

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Speaker 1: statement saying that they acknowledge the apology speech delivered by

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Speaker 1: the Commissioner, and they also said it was important to confront,

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Speaker 1: acknowledge and learn from the past without letting it define

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Speaker 1: the Northern Territory Police. But they raise concerns about the

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Speaker 1: timing and lack of consultation. The acting president, Lisa Bayless,

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Speaker 1: joins me on the show right now. Good morning to you, Lisa.

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

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Speaker 1: Now we've just heard from the Northern Territory Police Commissioner.

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Speaker 1: I mean, first off, talk us through whether the association

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Speaker 1: supports the apology.

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Speaker 2: Well, look, it's really important for our members that they

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Speaker 2: are brought along in this process. I just want to

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Speaker 2: make this clear. It's the lack of consultation that occurred

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Speaker 2: meant that a lot of our members were caught unaware

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Speaker 2: and in particular our notification to the association we were

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Speaker 2: sent a letter on the morning on a Saturday morning

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Speaker 2: saying that there was going to be an apology without

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Speaker 2: any details of what the apology was. And I think

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Speaker 2: that for its start was just caught us unaware that

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Speaker 2: Saturday morning with mark the twenty fifth year shooting and

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Speaker 2: death of Glenn Hewittson, So we were all on our

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Speaker 2: way to the memorial and that sort of took up

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Speaker 2: most of our morning on that Saturday. So they're the

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Speaker 2: things that we were focused on. We weren't actually we're

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Speaker 2: just completely caught, caught unaware of what was happening in

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Speaker 2: that sense.

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Speaker 1: And so that you know that by the sounds of

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Speaker 1: it has been. What's what's been quite a concern for

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Speaker 1: members of the association is the fact that you know

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Speaker 1: that there wasn't that further consultation and not a bit

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Speaker 1: more of a you know, raising, I guess it was

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Speaker 1: going to happen.

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Speaker 2: Look, I think the issue has been is the lack

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Speaker 2: of communication, and it's unfortunate that it happened. It's happened.

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Speaker 2: You know that the horse has bolted and from this

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Speaker 2: point on we work with the commissioner in terms of

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Speaker 2: his resignation from the association. We were disappointed, and I

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Speaker 2: did convey that to him, and that's the matter for him.

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Speaker 2: And as he's explained on the radio and explained and

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Speaker 2: progressive interviews, his reasons behind that. But it doesn't stop

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Speaker 2: the fact that we'll continue to work with him. Our

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Speaker 2: role is to ensure that our members work in a

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Speaker 2: safe and healthy environment. We want all of our members

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Speaker 2: to be free from discriminate, discriminatory behavior, including racism. You know,

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Speaker 2: really important that no one should suffer harassment or racism

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Speaker 2: or any racist language in the workplace. And that's something

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Speaker 2: that we strongly advocate for for our members.

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Speaker 1: So what are members saying to you following on from

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Speaker 1: the apology on the weekend? I mean, the union of

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Speaker 1: the association represents I believe ninety eight seen of the workforce.

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Speaker 1: Have people been contacting you.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, Look, the association has received a number of phone calls, emails,

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Speaker 2: text messages. We haven't had a lot of people in

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Speaker 2: support of the apology that was made. We've had a

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Speaker 2: lot of people, including some of our Aboriginal community, police

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Speaker 2: officers and Aboriginal members, who've been disappointed with how this

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Speaker 2: was done. A lot of them feel that they should

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Speaker 2: have been taken along on this journey in a sense

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Speaker 2: and included in what was happening. We've had other members

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Speaker 2: in the police force who also feel that they were

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Speaker 2: just completely caught unaware. And in particular, and I have

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Speaker 2: rasis in relation to the work that we do. When

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Speaker 2: we're given a direction by government, federal government or non

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Speaker 2: tertiary government, and those directions are lawful, legislation has passed

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Speaker 2: and we carry out those directions, we often don't get

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Speaker 2: much of a saying that there's decisions made at a

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Speaker 2: high level and when we carry out those those you know,

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Speaker 2: following that legislation. It's often you know, with working in

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Speaker 2: remote communities, we're away for months, sometimes years on end,

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Speaker 2: serving the community and working with the community. There's a

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Speaker 2: lot of police and the feel that they've been thrown

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Speaker 2: to the side the work, the good work that they've done.

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Speaker 2: They sort of feel that that's been ignored. They don't

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Speaker 2: feel supported a lot of them, which is which is unfortunate.

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Speaker 2: I don't think that was the intent behind the commissioner's apology,

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Speaker 2: but that's been as a consequence of some of the

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Speaker 2: things that were said.

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Speaker 1: Lisa. When you say a number of officers, I mean,

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Speaker 1: would you say you've had a handful one hundreds fifty

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Speaker 1: contact you.

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Speaker 2: I'm not going to give into the numbers we've We've

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Speaker 2: had over ten We've probably had closer to twenty people

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Speaker 2: that have contacted. I've had different messages of support that

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Speaker 2: have just come through with text messages. A lot of

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Speaker 2: text messages have come through. When people have gone ahead

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Speaker 2: and written email, there's been a lot more information in there.

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Speaker 2: And I think it's really important that you understand as

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Speaker 2: an association we totally do not support racism. Idea in

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Speaker 2: comment by the Chief Minister saying you know around that

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Speaker 2: it's more about the consultation would be to just include

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Speaker 2: that when you consult with your members and if there's

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Speaker 2: going to be a change in policy direction or a

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Speaker 2: new strategy that they're implementing, when you consult, you include

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Speaker 2: people in that journey. They actually get an opportunity to

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Speaker 2: put forward some ideas, they get an opportunity to maybe

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Speaker 2: tell some of their experiences, and they're brought on that

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Speaker 2: journey together. And absolutely we want to see a better

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Speaker 2: police force. Absolutely want to see an improvement and morale.

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Speaker 2: That should be a focus of everyone in the normal

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Speaker 2: teritary police and I think that it's probably it's just

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Speaker 2: the way it was done, and it was probably the

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Speaker 2: timing of it as well. I've heard I've heard commentary

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Speaker 2: around that I don't like to get involved in that

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Speaker 2: side of things, but I think from the association we

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Speaker 2: just it would have been probably a better outcome if

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Speaker 2: we'd been consulted and the membership have been consulted as well.

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Speaker 1: Now, in terms of you know, in terms of some

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Speaker 1: of the evidence it has been provided throughout the Coronial inquest,

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Speaker 1: do you believe that a bridge does need to sort

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Speaker 1: of be mended? I guess is the right word following

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Speaker 1: those revelations of racism through the Coronial inquest.

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Speaker 2: Well, look, I am not going to comment on the coronial.

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Speaker 2: I think that's currently before the courts and I'm reluctant

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Speaker 2: to make any comment on that until it's completed. In

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Speaker 2: terms of our relationship with original communities, our members work

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Speaker 2: in some of the most difficult and remote places in

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Speaker 2: the territory and often their living conditions, their working conditions

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Speaker 2: are harsh and difficult, and that's been our focus to

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Speaker 2: improve that. And I think then the relationships you have

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Speaker 2: within the community, the living and working conditions if they're improved.

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Speaker 2: Often that's also improved. But our members get burnt out

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Speaker 2: from the amount of work that do, the amount of

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Speaker 2: calls that they do, the overtime that they do, and

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Speaker 2: and I'm going to sort of just you know, our

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Speaker 2: thoughts are with them because they put a lot on

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Speaker 2: the line and serve and sacrifice a lot for the community.

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Speaker 2: And and I know that's often recognized and welcome within

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Speaker 2: many of the different communities that they serve. And I

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Speaker 2: think some of the comments that are made often they

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Speaker 2: can feel that maybe that's that's not been acknowledged. They

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Speaker 2: would like to see the more support from senior the

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Speaker 2: senior executive and and I think that's that's some of

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Speaker 2: the that's some of the commentary that we're getting. They

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Speaker 2: feel that the apology may be undermine how they how

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Speaker 2: they're doing their work, the good work that they're doing

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Speaker 2: in the community. You know, at the moment, over the weekend,

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Speaker 2: even we had our members who out out on the road.

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Speaker 2: There we had members who were assaulted. We had someone

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Speaker 2: who was a stolen car did a random police car

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Speaker 2: and officer was injured. We had another member who was

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Speaker 2: kicked while arresting a youth. There was another officer who

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Speaker 2: was a bit over the weekend, and these are sorts

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Speaker 2: of things we like to focus on what we can

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Speaker 2: do to improve the workplace of our members, to ensure

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Speaker 2: it's a healthy it's a healthy place now. It's a

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Speaker 2: very difficult job that they do it.

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Speaker 1: Sure is now. The Northern Territory Police Commissioner had just

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Speaker 1: said to us on the show a short time ago,

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Speaker 1: the morale was in the force is good. At the moment,

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Speaker 1: things are tracking along quite well. Morale is high. Would

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Speaker 1: you agree with that sentiment?

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Speaker 2: Well, look, I'd say there has been a definite improvement

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Speaker 2: since we've had a change of commissioner. Genuinely, I've seen that.

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Speaker 2: I've heard that on the ground. But it's been a

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Speaker 2: number of years since we've done a survey and it's

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Speaker 2: probably time that we did that again, and just we've

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Speaker 2: got the temperature of the organization to see how that's tracking.

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Speaker 2: And I think that's usually reflected by a decrease in

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Speaker 2: the attrition rate, which has happened. So we got up

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Speaker 2: to almost close to twelve percent at one point, it's

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Speaker 2: now dropped down, and that shooting indication of the healthiness

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Speaker 2: of an organization. I think like that's still high. That's

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Speaker 2: probably one of the highest ones in Australia. We do

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Speaker 2: have a high attrition rate. The decrease is good and

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Speaker 2: I think, yeah, there's probably we needed a bit of

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Speaker 2: work in that space and find out because it's it is,

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Speaker 2: it's important that you we check with the membership what's

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Speaker 2: important to them, what's more important and that always that

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Speaker 2: makes up part of our concent agrament negotiations going into

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Speaker 2: next year as well.

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Speaker 1: Lisa, you know, just finally the fact that the Police

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Speaker 1: Commissioner has resigned from the association. I mean, what was

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Speaker 1: your reaction to that? Was it? Were you disappointed? Do

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Speaker 1: you feel as though it's going to have an impact

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Speaker 1: on the work in which the association does with the

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Speaker 1: with the police commissioner.

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Speaker 2: Look, no, I was disappointed, and I think but our

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Speaker 2: relationship goes beyond just his membership and the association. He's

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Speaker 2: got an important job to do as a commission of

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Speaker 2: Police and our job is to support our members to

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Speaker 2: get the best possible working conditions and I think probably

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Speaker 2: to that end, our actual you know that the outcome

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Speaker 2: is probably the same, the means how we do it

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Speaker 2: might be different, and that's potentially sometimes we have a disagreement,

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Speaker 2: and I think that's that's healthy, that's normal. It's it's

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Speaker 2: how we go about from here. And he has indicated.

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Speaker 2: I've since spoken to him since he's resigned, and I'll

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Speaker 2: be meeting with him as well later later on today

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Speaker 2: around around these you know, what's what's happened, because I

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Speaker 2: think it's really important that we continue to work together.

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Speaker 2: It's it's no good and if we're having a public stash,

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Speaker 2: and I think it would have been probably I wish

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Speaker 2: he just sent an email like most people do and

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Speaker 2: and had resigned. He made a public and that's a

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Speaker 2: decision for him. So that's an unfortunate that happened. That's

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Speaker 2: now become this is what the conversations become in the

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Speaker 2: public space, and it's probably not not something that that

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Speaker 2: was necessary because it's not around that. It's actually about

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Speaker 2: our members. It's about the community. It's about the highest

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Speaker 2: levels of crime that we've we've ever had, and that

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Speaker 2: the question should be pointing at why is this happening,

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Speaker 2: And that's around probably government policies. It's not about the

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Speaker 2: disagreement that the Association and the Commissioner have.

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Speaker 1: Well, Northern Territory Police Association Acting President Lisa Bayless, I

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Speaker 1: really appreciate your time this morning. Thanks very much for

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Speaker 1: having a chat with us.

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Speaker 2: Thank you, Katie, thank you