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Speaker 1: Joining me on the line right now. We've got a

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Speaker 1: quick interview lined up because I know she's got to

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Speaker 1: get into Parliament and joining me on the line ahead

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Speaker 1: of Parliament sitting again today is the Independent Member for Johnson,

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Speaker 1: Justine Davis.

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Speaker 2: Good morning to you, Justine.

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Speaker 3: Hey, Katie, how are you going?

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Speaker 1: Yeah? Really well, I know your press for time with

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Speaker 1: Parliament heading in very shortly, Justine, keen to get your

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Speaker 1: take on the situation yesterday in Parliament the Domestic Violence

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Speaker 1: Prevention Minister Robin Carl calling out the Northern Territory Coroner

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Speaker 1: when tabling the government's response in Parliament to the coroner's

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Speaker 1: recommendations from the inquest into the deaths of four Aboriginal

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Speaker 1: women whose lives were lost in domestic violence incidents. Justine

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Speaker 1: she accused the coroner of not being brave enough to

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Speaker 1: make any recommendations related to Aboriginal culture, pointing to examples

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Speaker 1: noted elsewhere in the findings of cultural pressure used as

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Speaker 1: a form of coercive control. Do you feel as though

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Speaker 1: the recommendations hit the mark?

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Speaker 3: The first thing I want to say is that I

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Speaker 3: feel really concerned about the ongoing blurring of the separation

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Speaker 3: of powers between the courts and Parliament. The coroner's job

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Speaker 3: is to investigate what's caused to death and make recommendations

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Speaker 3: to make sure it doesn't happen again. And when Parliament

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Speaker 3: starts to make the kind of commentary or ministers that

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Speaker 3: we heard yesterday in Parliament about their findings, I think

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Speaker 3: that's really concerning to all of us. If they don't

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Speaker 3: like them, that's fine. But if they're talking about the

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Speaker 3: individual coroner, which they did yesterday and the approach they take,

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Speaker 3: I think that's really worrying. I think we've waited. We

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Speaker 3: waited for a really long time which the ministers finding,

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Speaker 3: but we waited for more than eight months for the

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Speaker 3: government response to that finding. Those findings. You and I

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Speaker 3: have talked before about, you know how this is our

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Speaker 3: most urgent issue here in the Northern Territory. I have

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Speaker 3: no doubt that every single member of the Parliament agrees

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Speaker 3: that this season erging issue that we need to deal with,

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Speaker 3: you know, and we need to deal with as a

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Speaker 3: matter of priority. I think the response that we saw

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Speaker 3: yesterday that was table to those recommendations, I was really

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Speaker 3: disappointed with that response, Like it was not robust.

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Speaker 1: It.

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Speaker 3: You can talk about what was actually going to happen

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Speaker 3: when those you know, what were their performance measures? Where's

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Speaker 3: the budget for different things? What does it actually mean?

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Speaker 3: When are we going to get reporting against it so

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Speaker 3: that we can know the recommendations that the government has

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Speaker 3: accepted whether or not they're actually making it different.

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Speaker 1: And I know the government said that they've obviously said

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Speaker 1: that it's they're going to you know, like they've gone

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Speaker 1: through it. Twenty four of the thirty five recommendations related

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Speaker 1: to programs are related to programs or processes already in place,

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Speaker 1: is what they say in relation to those recommendations. Are

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Speaker 1: there any specific recommendations that you think need to sort

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Speaker 1: of be implemented immediately?

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Speaker 3: Well, I think all of them should be implemented immediately.

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Speaker 3: I think that we owe that to the women and

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Speaker 3: the families who gave testimony to that coronium who are

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Speaker 3: continue to be harmed here. I think that's the expertise

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Speaker 3: that we have heard will work. So I think all

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Speaker 3: of them need to be implemented urgently. I think when

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Speaker 3: we hear from the Minister that twenty four of them

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Speaker 3: are already happening, I want to actually know what that means.

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Speaker 3: I want to know what money is going to them,

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Speaker 3: how it's going to be played out because the detail

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Speaker 3: is just not there, and saying we're accepting the recommendations

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Speaker 3: with a one liner in the report for I just

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Speaker 3: don't think that's good enough in terms of us feeling

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Speaker 3: confident that these things are going to be addressed. Hearing yes, sorry, yeah,

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Speaker 3: I'm I'm going to say, we know you go.

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Speaker 2: Sorry the minister, that's okay.

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Speaker 1: The Minister said some of the measures have been in

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Speaker 1: place for years without delivering the results we need, and

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Speaker 1: that that's why they're developing a domestic family Violence Roadmap

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Speaker 1: for the prevention of further incidents like this.

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Speaker 2: I mean, what is your response to that?

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Speaker 1: Do you think that we continue to go down the

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Speaker 1: path that we are or do we actually need a

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Speaker 1: bit of a shake up here to try and change

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Speaker 1: the way that things are happening.

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Speaker 3: I think we absolutely need to do more, There's no

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Speaker 3: question about that at all. I don't really know, once again,

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Speaker 3: exactly what the Minister means when she says that, so

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Speaker 3: I'd love to have more detail when she says this

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Speaker 3: has been this particular thing has been happening for years

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Speaker 3: and it hasn't had you know, the impact that we

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Speaker 3: wanted to have. The information we had before us doesn't

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Speaker 3: tell me what she actually means by that. If there

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Speaker 3: are things that we need to change, we absolutely should

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Speaker 3: change them. One of the things that we know this

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Speaker 3: minister has disbanded was the Advisory Advisory Council. I think

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Speaker 3: it's all that's not quite the right name on Zebe,

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Speaker 3: which was you know, government sector experts, people have lived

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Speaker 3: experience working toge ever to try and make sure that

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Speaker 3: whatever we're doing is working most effectively. The Minister has

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Speaker 3: a different approach to that, and that's that's her prerogative.

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Speaker 3: But I feel really concerned that this is another example

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Speaker 3: of not listening to people who are going to tell

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Speaker 3: us what's going to work to make women and children safer.

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Speaker 3: You know, whatever of you is, that's that's what we

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Speaker 3: all want, and we want to do things that are

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Speaker 3: going to be the most effective, and that's that's what

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Speaker 3: we owe to the women and children in the territory.

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Speaker 1: Justine, I do also want to ask you before I

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Speaker 1: let you go this morning. I know that you are due,

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Speaker 1: as I understand it, today you're going to be calling

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Speaker 1: on the federal government to urgently establish a national body

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Speaker 1: with oversight of Aboriginal deaths in custody. The Inti News

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Speaker 1: reporting that while law and order usually falls under the

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Speaker 1: State and territory government's remit, you've given that notice that

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Speaker 1: you're going to bring that motion calling for Commonwealth oversight

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Speaker 1: into Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander deaths in police and

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Speaker 1: is in custody. What exactly do you want to see here?

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Speaker 3: So just that that actually won't come up today because

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Speaker 3: I think, as we've talked about before, the way Parliament

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Speaker 3: works if you give notice of emotion and sometime we

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Speaker 3: get to it down the track. So we won't be

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Speaker 3: debating that today. But what But just so people understand

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Speaker 3: Aboriginal rrest Radia deaths in place and prison custody, there's

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Speaker 3: more than five hundred in Australia since the Royal Commission.

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Speaker 3: We're not doing what needs to happen to address this.

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Speaker 3: It's not just a problem in the Northern Territory. It's

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Speaker 3: a problem across Australia and we need a national response

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Speaker 3: to it.

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Speaker 1: Okay, So you actually think it should be a body

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Speaker 1: that oversees all Aboriginal and Torres Straight Islander deaths in

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Speaker 1: custody across Australia.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, not not not only the Northern Territory, across Australia.

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Speaker 3: I mean, I think here we have specific issues that

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Speaker 3: we're dealing with, but they're not unique to here, Justine.

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Speaker 1: Or just about let you go. I know you've got

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Speaker 1: to get in there. What's on your agenda today in Parliament?

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Speaker 3: It's going to be a big day, so we know

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Speaker 3: that they're going to be tabling the changes to you.

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Speaker 3: Just in fact, I know your listeners are very interested

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Speaker 3: in that. I have seen the same as everyone else.

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Speaker 1: I e.

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Speaker 3: I don't actually know what's in that bill. I feel

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Speaker 3: very concerned about our kind of democratic process and what

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Speaker 3: I'm elected to do, which looks to represent my constituents

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Speaker 3: when I'm going to be asked to vote on a

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Speaker 3: bill with a lot of detail in it without having

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Speaker 3: time to actually understand what the implications are. But we'll

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Speaker 3: be seeing that for the first time today, we'll be

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Speaker 3: voting on it tomorrow.

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Speaker 2: So were you not briefed by the government.

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Speaker 3: We were briefed on Monday, So we were brief with

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Speaker 3: a sort of you know, a general overview of what's happening.

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Speaker 3: It's really difficult to know what questions for us when

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Speaker 3: you haven't seen the detail of the bill, and so

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Speaker 3: I mean it's great that we've had a briefing, just

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Speaker 3: like you. We got to see what a sighood looks like.

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Speaker 3: I know you had that opportunity as well. But in

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Speaker 3: terms of the actual detail of the bill and what

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Speaker 3: it's going to mean, we haven't had the opportunity to

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Speaker 3: do that. We know that governments am very open that

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Speaker 3: they haven't consulted with the Children's Commissioner, with Legal Services

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Speaker 3: in developing it. There's no time to do that now.

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Speaker 3: And I guess just what I want to say very

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Speaker 3: quickly is part of my job is to represent my constituents.

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Speaker 3: If there's anyone in my community who has concerns about this,

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Speaker 3: whatever you think I want to hear from you, let

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Speaker 3: me know, because my job, along with everyone else there

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Speaker 3: in Parliament, is to represent the views of the community

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Speaker 3: and make good laws for everyone. And this process is

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Speaker 3: not allowing me to do my job.

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Speaker 1: Well well, Justine, I can hear those bells ringing, go

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Speaker 1: Thank you very much, Thanks for your time, you too,

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Speaker 1: Thank you