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Speaker 1: We'll head across right now. Matt Cunningham from Sky News

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Speaker 1: joining us live on the line. Good morning to you, Matt.

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Speaker 1: Matt with the Coronial inquest. Let's talk about the cost

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Speaker 1: of the Coronial inquest. Last week we were told it

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Speaker 1: was we thought it was about seven point four million

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Speaker 1: dollars for this inquest to be able to happen. Mate,

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Speaker 1: you've got the receipts. How much did it cost and

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Speaker 1: what's the go who had to pay?

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Speaker 2: Well, you were right on the money as always wife,

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Speaker 2: So the cost for two government departments, So the cost

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Speaker 2: is probably actually quite a bit more than seven point

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Speaker 2: four million dollars. But we do have the cost for

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Speaker 2: two government departments, that's the Department of Attorney General Injustice

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Speaker 2: and the Northern Territory Police This has been revealed in

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Speaker 2: answers to questions in budget estimates. So the cost for

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Speaker 2: the Department of Attorney General Injustice was just over one

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Speaker 2: point nine million dollars for this Coronial inquest, and the

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Speaker 2: cost for the Northern Territory Police Force, which of course

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Speaker 2: was represented throughout this in quest, was almost five point

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Speaker 2: five million dollars. So that comes to a total of

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Speaker 2: just over seven point four million dollars. But then you

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Speaker 2: have to remember that the Northern Territory Health Department was

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Speaker 2: also represented pretty much throughout this inquest as well, So

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Speaker 2: these documents don't include the cost for the Northern Territory

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Speaker 2: Health Department, nor does it include the cost for other

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Speaker 2: government funded organizations like NAGER that were also represented at

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Speaker 2: the inquest, but it does reveal that figure of just

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Speaker 2: over seven point four million dollars for the Department of

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Speaker 2: Attorney General and Justice and the Northern Territory Police Force.

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Speaker 2: To put that in a bit of context, these documents

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Speaker 2: also show the cost of the coronial inquiry that was

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Speaker 2: conducted into the deaths of the four Aboriginal women who

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Speaker 2: were killed in domestic violence incidents. The cost for the

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Speaker 2: Coroner's Office the Department of Attorney General and Justice for

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Speaker 2: that inquiry was just under five hundred thousand dollars, which is,

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Speaker 2: for that department about a quarter of the cost of

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Speaker 2: the coinjoy Walker inquiry. It also reveals the average cost

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Speaker 2: in the past financial year of each inquest, so of

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Speaker 2: two hundred and eighty three coronial inquiries. Obviously, they don't

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Speaker 2: all proceed to public hearings and some are far more

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Speaker 2: complicated than others, but the average costs for each of

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Speaker 2: those inquiries was just six one hundred and twenty dollars.

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Speaker 2: So you can see that the Walker Inquiry and subsequent

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Speaker 2: findings has has come a pretty extraordinary cost compared to

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Speaker 2: the average inquests. It's a huge cost and it was,

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Speaker 2: you know, it was an inquiry like it was a

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Speaker 2: coronial inquiry like no other I've seen in my time

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Speaker 2: in the Northern Territory. You know, I've seen plenty of

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Speaker 2: coronial inquiries that you know, had hearings that ran for

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Speaker 2: two or three days, or perhaps a week or two.

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Speaker 2: This coronial inquiry, if you count the days that the

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Speaker 2: Supreme Court sat here legal challenges, it actually sat for

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Speaker 2: seventy one day. It was an inquiry that when it

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Speaker 2: started was supposed to run for three months and in

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Speaker 2: the end it ran for almost three years. So it

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Speaker 2: has been a long drawn out affair. It has cost

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Speaker 2: a lot of money. And I think that the other

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Speaker 2: extraordinary thing is that at the end of this there's

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Speaker 2: no guarantee that the government's going to implement any of

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Speaker 2: the thirty three recommendations that were handed down by the coroner.

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Speaker 2: Lepanokiiro was asked about this on Monday, and she said

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Speaker 2: that it had been an affair that had been long

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Speaker 2: and drawn out, had run for longer than most people

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Speaker 2: would have liked. And she made the point that much

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Speaker 2: has changed in the six years since the police shooting

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Speaker 2: of Kumenjoi Walker at Yindamu in November two and nineteen,

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Speaker 2: almost six years ago now, and she says that the

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Speaker 2: government will take a look at them. But you know,

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Speaker 2: we spent a lot of money on this inquiry. Would

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Speaker 2: be an extraordinary thing to spend that much money and

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Speaker 2: then have a government not implement any of the any

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Speaker 2: of the recommendations that come from that inquiry.

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Speaker 1: Matt, I know your press for time. I know that

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Speaker 1: you also have your commitments with Sky this morning, so

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Speaker 1: please feel free to cut me off whenever it's required.

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Speaker 1: And look, I just I just sort of thinking out loud.

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Speaker 1: I think to myself, you know, the deaths of for

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Speaker 1: Aboriginal women to domestic violence is something that absolutely, you know,

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Speaker 1: should be looked into and should have the attention that

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Speaker 1: it deserves. Any death you know in the Northern Territory

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Speaker 1: that the coroner is looking at to their loved ones

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Speaker 1: and the people that it impacts is incredibly important, and

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Speaker 1: the broader, you know, depending on the circumstances surrounding. Obviously,

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Speaker 1: the broader impact to the community is something that is

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Speaker 1: incredibly important as well. But I know so many people

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Speaker 1: listening this morning will be going scratching their heads saying,

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Speaker 1: you know, what made this inquest more important than another,

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Speaker 1: that it should cost and take that period of time comparatively,

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Speaker 1: you know, to other debts.

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Speaker 2: Absolutely, it's a good point, and I mean to put

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Speaker 2: that into some context, and that is not to say

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Speaker 2: that an incident as serious as this should not be

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Speaker 2: properly inquired into it. I think there have been two

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Speaker 2: fatal police shootings in the Northern Territory in the last

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Speaker 2: twenty five years or so. If you look at it

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Speaker 2: to make a comparison, I think they've been five, potentially

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Speaker 2: six deaths of people who have suicided in prison over

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Speaker 2: a similar period, and yet we haven't seen anywhere near

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Speaker 2: the resource put into inquiries into those deaths. So if

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Speaker 2: the purpose of a coronial inquiry is to prevent a

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Speaker 2: similar death from happening, and you could make the same

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Speaker 2: point in relation to domestic violence, which you touched on before,

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Speaker 2: then you could quite easily make the argument that perhaps

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Speaker 2: more resourcing should be put into those deaths rather than

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Speaker 2: a police shooting, of which we've had two in the

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Speaker 2: last twenty five years. Now. You know, there are and

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Speaker 2: I stress the points. You know, there were serious issues

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Speaker 2: with what happened on the night of November nine, twenty nineteen,

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Speaker 2: and serious issues that needed to be investigated. And there

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Speaker 2: were serious elements of racism within the Northern Territory Police

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Speaker 2: Force that were uncovered during this inquiry. Ironically, perhaps the

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Speaker 2: most serious of them, revealed by Constable Zacholf himself. But

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Speaker 2: you know, I think people will rightly be asking whether

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Speaker 2: seven point four million dollars plus is a good use

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Speaker 2: of taxpayers money and whether perhaps an inquiry like this

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Speaker 2: could have been done in a more efficient way.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I think that it is certainly something that we'll

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Speaker 1: discuss tomorrow on the week. That was as well, Matt Cunningham,

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Speaker 1: good to speak with you this morning. Thanks so much

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Speaker 1: for having a chat with us.

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Speaker 2: No worries, Thanks Kate, thank you