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Speaker 1: The estimates process is running through at the moment. So

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Speaker 1: what that means is obviously the opposition and the independent

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Speaker 1: members of Parliament have got the opportunity to scrutinize the

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Speaker 1: government and ask them a number of questions in every portfolio,

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Speaker 1: not only of the government but also of those government departments.

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Speaker 1: Now joining me on the line to talk more about

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Speaker 1: what's happened so far this week is the independent member

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Speaker 1: for our lun Robin Lamley. Good morning, Robin, Good morning Katie. Robin.

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Speaker 1: How's it all going there in estimates?

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Speaker 2: Well, it's been as expected as it is every year,

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Speaker 2: quite grueling long hours. Yesterday we had about seven or

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Speaker 2: eight hours of the Chief Minister who invariably told us

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Speaker 2: how wonderful everything is and how even though the budget

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Speaker 2: is extremely bleaked, that there's life at the end of

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Speaker 2: the tunnel and all the indicators are showing that things

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Speaker 2: are in proving, which I'm not sure whether I believe

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Speaker 2: or not. And now at the moment we've got the

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Speaker 2: Police Minister who's answering some grueling questions from the leader

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Speaker 2: of the Opposition, Lea Fanocchiaro. So yeah, look, it's a

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Speaker 2: great process. It's a pity that we've got sixty hours

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Speaker 2: crammed in the four and a half days. That's probably

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Speaker 2: my main complaint.

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Speaker 1: Makes it hard, Robin, how are you guys getting many

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Speaker 1: answers from the police Minister at the moment with some

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Speaker 1: of the issues that we're seeing around the Northern Territory.

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Speaker 2: Well, once again, it's a very glowing picture of what's

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Speaker 2: been done and what's going to happen in the future,

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Speaker 2: despite the fact that most of us are still complaining

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Speaker 2: about unacceptable crime right throughout the Northern Territory, with maybe

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Speaker 2: the exception of Darwin itself. But look, I guess the

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Speaker 2: main message I'm hearing is that they do have a plan.

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Speaker 2: Jamie Chalker is still reasonably new in the job as

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Speaker 2: the Police Commissioner, and he clearly has a plan and

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Speaker 2: is very committed to sorting out the problems in places

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Speaker 2: like Alice Springs, which of course is always my main concern.

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Speaker 2: But look at you know, Lee has been asking all

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Speaker 2: sorts of very technical questions, lots of questions about statistics,

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Speaker 2: trying to sort of drag it out of them. What

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Speaker 2: happens to all these kids that are apprehended and summoned

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Speaker 2: and arrested. You know what actually happens to them, and

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Speaker 2: you know, are they in some way sort of assisted

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Speaker 2: to change their behavior or even indeed incarcerated. It's all

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Speaker 2: very vague and obtuse, and we're not getting many answers. No,

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Speaker 2: I think, you know, the general message is that I

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Speaker 2: think this government has finally worked out that a really

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Speaker 2: soft on crime approach doesn't really serve anyone any well.

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Speaker 1: It doesn't And Robin, even here in Darwin City, well,

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Speaker 1: yesterday we had a situation where three teenagers a seventeen

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Speaker 1: year old and two sixteen year olds read tavoc on

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Speaker 1: the CBD Woolworths. They assaulted a thirty two year old man.

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Speaker 1: They then threw rocks at other people at the car

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Speaker 1: park and inside, injuring some. They are then, as I

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Speaker 1: understand it, assaulted a worker at Woolworths. So, you know,

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Speaker 1: I guess for us all around the Northern Territory we're

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Speaker 1: seeing that these issues when it comes to crime, and

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Speaker 1: there is that real perception that it's its youth crime.

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Speaker 1: But Robin, I caught up with the Minister for Territory

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Speaker 1: Family's Kate Warden yesterday and asked her how things were

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Speaker 1: going in Alice Springs. Take a listen to what she

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Speaker 1: had to say. Minister, did you meet with general members

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Speaker 1: of the public as well while you were there to

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Speaker 1: hear their concerns about some of the issues that they've

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Speaker 1: been experiencing.

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Speaker 3: I engage regularly, often online with people that are talking

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Speaker 3: about crime and often the perception of crime. When I

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Speaker 3: met with Congress, they felt that things had really calmed

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Speaker 3: down recently, which was pleasing. The police are saying the

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Speaker 3: same thing, and certainly my observations indicated there were less

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Speaker 3: kids out and about during the evening.

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Speaker 1: I just find it strange that you, the Police Minister

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Speaker 1: and the Chief Minister were there and didn't sort of

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Speaker 1: think maybe we should have a bit of a meeting

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Speaker 1: with members of the public to see how they are feeling.

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Speaker 2: Well.

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Speaker 3: I think indirectly, Katie, we are catching up with people.

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Speaker 3: The people out of the multicultural community that I met with,

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Speaker 3: the people out of the sporting groups that I met with,

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Speaker 3: they're all people that live every day in other springs,

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Speaker 3: and they certainly didn't raise it directly with me. Well,

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Speaker 3: I think things have really calmed down in Olic Springs,

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Speaker 3: and I think VIPA has done an amazing job down there.

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Speaker 1: Robin, I think we'd all agree that tax Vipra is

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Speaker 1: doing a great job. But if things really calmed down

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Speaker 1: in Alice Springs.

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Speaker 2: Well, I think to here the minister say that things

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Speaker 2: have really calmed down is a stretch. It's early days, Katie.

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Speaker 2: It's very premature to say that it's been a resounding success.

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Speaker 2: And depending on who you talk to, you get a

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Speaker 2: different story. Some people are saying that in some ways

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Speaker 2: it's calmed down, but in other ways it hasn't. And

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Speaker 2: just before I came on air, I rang around a

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Speaker 2: number of people I talked to regularly, and one of

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Speaker 2: them said, yes, maybe kids that are offending. Opera special

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Speaker 2: Unit VIPER. It focuses on property crime particularly, so you

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Speaker 2: know they've identified kids that are committing those kids but

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Speaker 2: he said, this guy said to me that they're still

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Speaker 2: a car speeding around town at night, more than likely

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Speaker 2: driven by people who are under the influence of alcohol.

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Speaker 2: There's still a lot of rog running in town. We've

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Speaker 2: got a long way to go. Look, and people are

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Speaker 2: quite optimistic that we've finally got the attention of the government.

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Speaker 2: The police have put extra resources in there. The signs

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Speaker 2: are good, But Katie, to say, that it's a great

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Speaker 2: success already and that things have really changed is a

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Speaker 2: little bit rich. It's too soon to say that. Too

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Speaker 2: many people are saying that there is still a big

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Speaker 2: problem and there are still heaps of kids on the streets.

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Speaker 2: Late at night, I checked out the situation with a

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Speaker 2: couple of young people and they said, Yep, Saturday night,

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Speaker 2: the streets were just full of kids, just like it

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Speaker 2: normally is. So we've got a long way to go, Katie, Yeah,

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Speaker 2: I'm optimistic.

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Speaker 1: Well, I think we're all hoping we can be, Robin,

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Speaker 1: but it seems like even up here in the top

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Speaker 1: end people are fairly fed up. I think it is

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Speaker 1: sort of reaching that point of boiling over or bubbling

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Speaker 1: over again. Robin. Hee's seen much else that's come out

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Speaker 1: of estimates over the last couple of days that might

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Speaker 1: be of interest to our listeners.

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Speaker 2: Oh, look, there was a stack that came out yesterday.

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Speaker 2: I was pleased to see the NT News reported on

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Speaker 2: a lot of that, A lot of the more interesting things,

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Speaker 2: I suppose. One of the interesting things for me is

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Speaker 2: what the IKA Commissioner talked about and the fact that

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Speaker 2: pretty much conflicts of interest within the public service and

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Speaker 2: I know a lot of public service listen to your

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Speaker 2: program is right that people don't really understand what a

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Speaker 2: conflict of interest is. And what he suggested is that

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Speaker 2: the government employ and ethics advisor. So if there's any

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Speaker 2: query around do I have a conflict of interest because

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Speaker 2: you know of you know where your husband might work,

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Speaker 2: or your relationship to your boss or whatever you've got

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Speaker 2: with the government, has someone there to just put it

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Speaker 2: to rest and give really good solid advice. So obviously

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Speaker 2: it's the k Commissioner has been swamps. Yes, complaints about

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Speaker 2: public servants that have conflicts of interests very interesting.

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Speaker 1: I thought, Yeah, do you reckon that's a good idea?

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Speaker 1: Do we need to implement someone like that?

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Speaker 2: Absolutely? Yes, several other states have them, and I've heard

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Speaker 2: of this before, and I absolutely think that in a

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Speaker 2: place like the Northern Territory we don't really need another bureaucrat,

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Speaker 2: but I think this one would be. Well, want some

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Speaker 2: money in a place like the territory where we're all

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Speaker 2: so closely connected and we've got the problems that we have, Yes,

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Speaker 2: bring on an ethics advisor. I thought it was a

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Speaker 2: great idea, an absolute Pearla Well.

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Speaker 1: Robin Lambley It's always good to catch up with you.

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Speaker 1: I think we were trying to see whether we might

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Speaker 1: be able to get you on for the week. That

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Speaker 1: was on Friday. I can't remember.

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Speaker 2: I'm stuck here, yeah are.

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Speaker 1: You're stuck in there?

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Speaker 2: That's all right.

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Speaker 1: We'll talk to you again very soon, Robin, thanks for

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Speaker 1: your time.

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Speaker 2: See.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, that is Robin Lamley there, the independent member for

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Speaker 1: our Lewis