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Speaker 1: Now we have been continuing to break down the coroner's

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Speaker 1: report into the deaths of four Aboriginal women at the

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Speaker 1: hands of their partners, and the thirty five recommendations that

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Speaker 1: Judge Elizabeth Armitage handed down yesterday after the landmark inquiry.

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Speaker 1: Now joining me on the line is the Shadow Minister

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Speaker 1: for Protection and the profamily violence. On a federal level,

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Speaker 1: it is the Senator Karen Little. Good morning to you.

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Speaker 2: Senator, good morning and everyone in the top end.

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Speaker 1: Now, what was your reaction to the coroner's findings yesterday?

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Speaker 2: Well, I think there are a couple of things that

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Speaker 2: jumped out straight away to me, and that was the

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Speaker 2: word senseless, shocking, and preventable. She made thirty five recommendations,

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Speaker 2: and unfortunately what she said about those recommendations were that

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Speaker 2: none of them were new and there is no reason

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Speaker 2: for further delay or action on changing this style. They're

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Speaker 2: the things that stay with me after having a good

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Speaker 2: look at that report.

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Speaker 1: Yeah. Well, and you know, this is the thing we've

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Speaker 1: been grappling with, this senseless violence in the Northern Territory

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Speaker 1: for such a long period of time. I mean, even

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Speaker 1: over the recent months, eight deaths of Northern Territory women

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Speaker 1: at the hands of domestic violence. It beggars belief that

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Speaker 1: we are still in this situation.

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Speaker 2: Well, it beggars belief. We focused at the moment on

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Speaker 2: the deaths of four women, tragic deaths, but people live

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Speaker 2: with near death experiences every single day. Let me explain.

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Speaker 2: Eighty seven women in the Northern Territory have died since

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Speaker 2: the year two thousand and the majority of those around

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Speaker 2: seventy percent were Aboriginal women. This is horrific. As a

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Speaker 2: person who's lost an immediate family member to the same

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Speaker 2: violence in the Northern Territory, to a perpetrator who had

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Speaker 2: an endless number of breaches and convictions. You know, these

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Speaker 2: things are terrible. They have lifelong consequences and much much

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Speaker 2: broader than that's just the individual who's harmed. I just

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Speaker 2: want to and I know your listeners, you know, I

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Speaker 2: just want them to understand that. You know, in the

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Speaker 2: explanations of some of the way these women's died, you know,

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Speaker 2: a woman bleeding from her lungs which had been torn

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Speaker 2: by protruding ends of her nineteen fractured ribs, nineteen fractured ribs.

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Speaker 2: You know, a person who had so many abrasions lacerations

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Speaker 2: and bruises. Both her arms were broken and she suffered

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Speaker 2: from five broken ribs. But you know what that didn't

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Speaker 2: kill her. It was the blunt force trauma to the head. Now,

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Speaker 2: that is a disgrace that this kind of behavior is

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Speaker 2: allowed to fester yep, is allowed to be meeted upon

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Speaker 2: innocent people, and that there are children often who are

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Speaker 2: witnessing this disgusting, terrible behavior.

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Speaker 1: Senator, you touched on there that you know within your

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Speaker 1: own sadly you've lost a loved one to domestic violence.

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Speaker 1: I mean, how heart wrenching is it. Then when you

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Speaker 1: continue to hear details like what you've just spoken about,

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Speaker 1: then you continue to hear this happening in the Northern

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Speaker 1: Territory and the prevalence at which it's happening, Well.

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Speaker 2: You know what frustrates me is the shadow minister responsible

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Speaker 2: for policies that actually create some change. I say, you know,

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Speaker 2: yesterday I stood up in Parliament and our questions about

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Speaker 2: the three hundred million that went into Central Australia by

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Speaker 2: this Albanize labor government for a better, safer, Central Australian

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Speaker 2: And you ask locals, they won't necessarily say they feel

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Speaker 2: better or safer, and I've been asking questions about how

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Speaker 2: does funding an ice skating rink and a playground make

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Speaker 2: it safer for residents and victims. I just don't understand that.

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Speaker 2: The coroner also mentioned the terrible consequences from this government

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Speaker 2: standing by and watching the then Northern Territory Labor government

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Speaker 2: remove those alcohol restrictions and what happened to violence during

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Speaker 2: that period. It was horrific. We've heard just recently from

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Speaker 2: organizations right across Australia that the government has come out

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Speaker 2: and talked about its big announcement about an increase in funding,

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Speaker 2: but in real terms they say their funding is actually reduced.

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Speaker 2: So these are things that we need to come to

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Speaker 2: terms with that We need to have tougher conversations about violence,

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Speaker 2: about men and violence, and about women and violence because

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Speaker 2: this is a family violence issue. The horrific violence meeted

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Speaker 2: also a factor in all of this. We have to

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Speaker 2: address this stuff from a very early age and we

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Speaker 2: have to make sure that when people perpetuate this behavior

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Speaker 2: that there aren't there isn't just punishment. But unfortunately, these

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Speaker 2: people who are perpetrators will unfortunately be released into the community,

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Speaker 2: and if they are released without some effective programs to

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Speaker 2: help them change their behavior. Then that is a terrible,

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Speaker 2: terrible risk. Yeah, people in the future.

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Speaker 1: Senator, I know you grew up in Central Australia. You're

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Speaker 1: born I believe in Alice Springs. Is that correct?

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Speaker 2: I was born and raised now Springs a regular visitor.

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Speaker 1: Yep, an Alice Springs girl. Senator. Tell me, you know

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Speaker 1: we like here in the Northern Territory. We've got the

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Speaker 1: Northern Territory government, the current Country Liberal Party government, saying

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Speaker 1: that they're going to be investing one hundred and eighty

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Speaker 1: million dollars into into domestic violence to try and make

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Speaker 1: some headway here. The federal government really haven't committed to

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Speaker 1: the needs based funding that the Northern Territory government and

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Speaker 1: actually the opposition are both being calling for. As far

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Speaker 1: as you are concerned, where are things at with the

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Speaker 1: federal investment into the Northern Territory when it comes to

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Speaker 1: domestic violence.

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Speaker 2: Well, the government announced a whole lot of new money.

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Speaker 2: It's big on announcement, but pretty slack on action. You know,

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Speaker 2: we've got the frontline workers that were promised for the

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Speaker 2: Northern Territory where we've only seen eight full time equivalent

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Speaker 2: out of the twenty that were promised for the Northern

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Speaker 2: Territory actually in place. We've seen funding that they announced

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Speaker 2: in response to the National Rapid Review, but the funding,

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Speaker 2: the majority of it, won't actually fall to those services

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Speaker 2: until after one July, and of course after the federal election.

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Speaker 2: The Coroner was saying we need funding. There is no

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Speaker 2: reason for further delay or action. And what I was

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Speaker 2: saying in the Parliament yesterday is people need to understand

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Speaker 2: why they have decided not to transfer that money quickly.

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Speaker 2: But you know what money can be spent. As we

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Speaker 2: saw in Central Australia, it's about money that's spent on

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Speaker 2: evidence based, effective programs and not just funding programs. Because

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Speaker 2: people are putting up their hands saying we've been doing

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Speaker 2: this for years, you have to know that there is

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Speaker 2: a return on that investment. Victims deserve that, citizens in

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Speaker 2: the Northern Territory deserve that. Yep, everyone deserves that.

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Speaker 1: Senator, before I let you go, you know, if after

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Speaker 1: the next federal election you do become the Shadow Minister

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Speaker 1: for Child Protection and the Prevention of Family violence, what

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Speaker 1: will you be pushing to make sure happens in this

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Speaker 1: space sooner rather than later.

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Speaker 2: Well, I'd be going for the hard stuff, which is

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Speaker 2: not building a playground, which is not building an ice

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Speaker 2: skating rink. So it's temporary and now soon we need

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Speaker 2: to increase the work that we are doing with them

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Speaker 2: and the efficacy of the work that we do with

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Speaker 2: them to ensure they don't just go straight back out

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Speaker 2: to their families and communities and wreak the havoc that

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Speaker 2: saw them get back into and go into custody. That's

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Speaker 2: the tough stuff, that's where the greatest risk is and

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Speaker 2: we have to do more work with children. Children not

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Speaker 2: just as victim survivors, not just as witnesses, but also unfortunately,

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Speaker 2: when they become perpetrators, we have to intervene early. It

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Speaker 2: would be great if we invested more in prevention, but

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Speaker 2: we also need to make sure that those services that

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Speaker 2: we're funding right now are well placed and effective in

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Speaker 2: delivering what they should be delivering well.

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Speaker 1: Shadow Minister for Child Protection and the Prevention of Family Violence,

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Speaker 1: Senator Karen Little, I really appreciate your time this morning.

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Speaker 1: Thanks so much for having a chat with us. Thank you,

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Speaker 1: thank you,