Subjects: Visit to Darwin; International Women’s Day; Labor turns its back on the Northern Territory; Labor’s cost of living crisis; MH370 10th anniversary; youth crime in the NT; the Albanese Government’s failure to deliver on domestic violence workers; the Northern Territory Police Minister’s conduct; relocation of Ozanam House.
E&OE
LIA FINOCCHIARO:
I’m thrilled to have the Federal Opposition Leader, Peter Dutton, here in Darwin today to celebrate International Women’s Day and, of course, a woman who needs no introduction – our wonderful CLP Senator, Jacinta Nampijinpa Price.
It’s been a fantastic opportunity to gather with like-minded Territorians here today, and have discussions about how we can further advance the Territory and of course, the issues important to women. So, to have Peter and Jacinta here today, on such a special day and an important occasion, is just emblematic of the fact that Peter is such a good friend of the Territory. He’s always in the Top End and across into our regions, as is Jacinta.
So, with no further ado, I’d like to pass on to our wonderful CLP Senator, Jacinta Price.
JACINTA NAMPIJINPA PRICE:
Thanks Lia, and thank you all for being here. As Lia has said, we’re really pleased to have Peter here in the Northern Territory, in Darwin. This event has been a wonderful event to recognise women, women of the Northern Territory, those who have been pioneers, those who are mothers, those who are businesswomen, that are doing a tough, in fact, at a time when cost of living is such an issue that we’ve been hearing across the board, for a lot of Territorians: a lot of women who are trying to ensure that their businesses stay afloat, that they can keep food on the table, for their children as well. But it’s been a celebration, a recognition of the women who have fought hard in the Northern Territory for the benefit of their families, for our communities, and of course, more broadly.
There are a number of issues that are concerning Territorians. I’m so pleased that today Lia has been here, that our female candidates going forward for the next Territory election are here. We’re here as part of the Federal Coalition to ensure and support the CLP across the board, and those going toward the next Territory election, because there are, as I mentioned, some really serious issues that need to be addressed, and, of course, crime is at the top of those issues.
We’ve seen some devastating news about young people involved in a car accident in my hometown of Alice Springs overnight, and unfortunately, a fatality as a result of that. But we knew that this was going to happen, we knew it was going to occur, because this current Government is incompetent. They haven’t been able to ensure the safety of community members, to address the issue of crime, to address the issue of alcohol within our communities, to protect our most vulnerable who are our children, who should not be on the streets late at night – every night. But this is what we’ve seen.
I think all of us have said previously that when something like this occurs, when a death occurs because of their inability to look after the community, to ensure that crime, levels of crime are decreased and people’s homes and communities are safer, that a death will occur, if not several deaths.
So therefore, the responsibility sits on the shoulders of the Territory Government during this very difficult time. It should not be the case. We should not be confronted with these circumstances. But Territorians, no matter where you go, will tell you that this is a huge issue and one that I know, that Lia and her team will be fighting hard toward the next election to ensure that we can gain government to turn things around finally, because we’ve had enough of it.
So, I’m very pleased today that we’ve all been able to come together, to get across these issues once more, to demonstrate our support that we will fight hard for Territorians across the board, whether it’s federally, whether it’s here in the Northern Territory. With that, I would like to hand it over now to Peter Dutton.
PETER DUTTON:
Jacinta, thank you very much.
Look, it’s great to be here with two phenomenal leaders. Lia, thank you very much for hosting us today, and to Jacinta as well – two strong Territorian leaders, and Lia with a plan to deliver for Territorians.
We met with some of the candidates here today who are accomplished in their own rights. They’re very involved in the community and they want to plan a future for the Northern Territory which is better than what the Territory Government at the moment is able to provide people.
The cost of living pressures that local families are living is even more acute here in the Northern Territory, than it is in some other capital cities around the country. We know that there are a lot of people who are losing their businesses at the moment, a lot of people who are losing their jobs, there are businesses who just aren’t seeing the customers come through the door.
This morning we had the opportunity to catch up with a small business and just talk to them about the increasing electricity prices. The Prime Minister promised on 100 occasions that electricity prices would go down by $275, and yet we know that they’re up by double digits, we know that gas is up by almost 30 per cent. We know now that the Government’s proposing a new family car and ute tax, and why would you, during the cost of living crisis that Labor’s created, propose a new tax that’s going to force up the price of a Ford Ranger or Toyota HiLux by about $14,000, a Toyota LandCruiser by about $23,000?
For the tourism industry, where you’ve got people towing caravans, or in the Northern Territory where people driving long distances – or towing a boat, as a tradie, working in different industries where people need to be as sales staff on the road on a regular basis – the Government’s proposing to whack a new tax on your ute or on your car. It’s why the motor dealers at the moment are pushing back very hard on this, because they know that new car sales are going to plummet, and, as a result, they lose jobs in their own industry.
It’s clear now that the Government is switching to a big-spending budget, and that would be a disaster for inflation in our country, which is already very high. We know that our core inflation in this country is higher than most other comparable economies in the world, and we know that the Reserve Bank Governor has been very clear about the fact that inflation in this country is a product of Labor’s making – it’s a domestic issue, as the Reserve Bank Governor points out. That’s why you’re paying higher interest rates, and it’s why interest rates will stay higher for longer. People with an average mortgage are paying $24,000 a year more for that mortgage after tax. People have got a lot of pressures on them at the moment, and I just don’t think the Prime Minister understands the real pressure that families and small businesses are under.
If you’re a union rep and you’ve got a car and you’ve got a credit card expense account, well, you know, that’s one scenario that the Prime Minister understands, but he doesn’t understand the small business owner, who at the moment is putting staff off, working extra hours themselves and going backwards at the same time. It is acute here in the Northern Territory, as it is in other parts of the country. It’s why, I think, the Prime Minister has to start living up to his word, delivering on his promises, because at the moment, every decision he makes is just making it harder for Australians.
Also, I just want to point out, of course, the 10th anniversary of the lost Malaysian flight, (MH370). Families today will still be grieving here in Australia and around the world. It’s a devastating effect on a family to lose a loved one, but not to know the final steps or have an understanding of what went wrong, the resting place, etc. is still a very heavy burden for those families to carry. We support the Government in any steps they take to try and recover that crash site and to put the resources in required to deliver closure to those families.
I’m happy to take any questions.
QUESTION:
Just in relation to the incident Jacinta was talking about in Alice Springs this morning. Last January, you made an offer to go to Alice Springs and meet the Prime Minister there to see first-hand the issues with that town. I know we’re not in a Voice campaign this year, but does that offer still stand?
PETER DUTTON:
Matt, I’m happy to meet with the Prime Minister in Alice Springs any day of the week, because the residents in Alice Springs, as in Darwin and other parts of the Territory have been screaming out for the attention of the Prime Minister to address and to fix this problem.
It’s obvious that it’s beyond the capacity of the local Labor Government here in the Northern Territory. Residents have been predicting tragedy for a long time, and of course, it’s not the first death, and it won’t be the last. But I think it’s important to point out that there is a response required from the Federal Government, and we will stand ready to work with the Prime Minister, but he hasn’t taken that offer up. He should be listening to the residents – as Jacinta and I did, as Lia does regularly in Alice Springs – because people are at a breaking point and these tragedies are preventable. I feel terribly for the family and for everybody involved. There are just no winners out of any of these scenarios. Whilst crime is rife, we will see tragedy, and that’s what we’ve seen.
I think the Prime Minister needs to really roll his sleeves up here. You can do a hundred Welcome to Countries in Sydney and Melbourne, it doesn’t improve the situation on the ground in Alice Springs. This is a Prime Minister who’s more interested in what’s going on in inner city Sydney and Melbourne, than he is what’s happening here in the Territory and you need to get out and talk to people about their experience, about the fact they’ve had their homes or their businesses broken into on multiple occasions. The problem is getting worse, not better, and we’re going to see more tragedy unless the Prime Minister steps up, listens to Territorians and provides the response that’s required.
QUESTION:
If you’re elected to power, what would you actually do from a federal level to manage the crime rates in Alice Springs?
PETER DUTTON:
Well, we’ve been very clear about the fact that there are more federal resources required. We see reports of the Federal Government making announcements, of hundreds of staff being employed in different programmes. It turns out that very few staff have been employed in many of those programmes. Money’s being spent on bureaucracy, not on frontline services. We need to make sure that the police and the social workers and those around them are receiving more of that money, not less. Creating big new bureaucracies, or extra bureaucrats in Canberra, that Labor’s famous for creating – that is not going to fix the problem.
We’ve suggested to the Prime Minister – I think it’s a suggestion he should take up sooner than later – that the federal laws are amended that would stop the content being posted on TikTok and on Instagram. The trophy photos that these young kids hold up as their currency, their mates applaud them and they rate their photos of the odometer on the car that they’ve stolen, of the handbag that they’ve stolen, of the elderly lady asleep behind them, somebody that they’ve assaulted – that content should be removed immediately, and those people should be banned from using those social media platforms. That ability exists, the technology’s there to be able to do it, and we’ve suggested that the Prime Minister should implement such a regime. We will introduce our own bill to do it, but the Prime Minister should have done that by now. He’s been in office close to two years, and the problems are getting worse because they don’t have any idea as to what they should do. We’re seeing that with Labor at a Territory level here as well.
QUESTION:
Australia has rocketed up the world rankings on gender equality to 26th. Does the Government deserve some credit for that?
PETER DUTTON:
Well, I think if you look at what’s happened over the last couple of years, there’s a lot of work that’s gone into improving those rates. When we were in government, we created 2 million jobs – 60 per cent of those positions were filled by women. We’re proud of the fact that small businesses – 169,000 extra were started by women, and we want to see that continue. We’ll support good measures, but we also acknowledge the fact that this hasn’t happened overnight.
There’s great intent from all sides of politics to make sure that we increase participation and equality and make sure that we provide support to women – regardless of the choices that they’re making – whether they’re in the workplace, whether it’s in the home, providing choice to people allows them to do what’s best for their own circumstances, for their family, and that’s an important value that the CLP and the Liberal Party and the National Party hold dear.
I was really pleased to be here today with some amazing women led by Jacinta and by Lia, candidates at the next election here at a territory level, other women that I’ve spoken to. Some very sad stories as well that I’ve heard today at this International Women’s Day event: people who are losing their businesses, people who are saying it’s tougher now than they’ve ever known it in their working life. I think the Prime Minister has a lot to answer for, because ultimately, it’s all Australians – women and men – who are adversely affected when you get a Labor Government increasing the numbers of bureaucracy in Canberra, but not providing support on the ground in Alice Springs and Darwin.
QUESTION:
Do you support topping up superannuation for working women on maternity leave?
PETER DUTTON:
I don’t know whether this is a thought bubble or whether it’s government policy. You read in the excellent piece by James Massola in the Nine newspapers, that there are serious divisions within the Government now about how their processes work. Ministers are being excluded from discussions within the Expenditure Review Committee, and public servants are being deputised to make the decisions. The Prime Minister is skin deep on detail on any issue. It’s abundantly obvious in every decision that he makes and every comment that he provides.
So, I don’t know whether it’s government policy. There are no costings available, and there’s no detail about eligibility. It’s a thought bubble, and I think we should wait to see the detail and respond then.
QUESTION:
The Government’s delivered just two of the 500 frontline domestic violence workers that it promised before the last election, including none in Queensland and just one here in the Northern Territory. What do you make of their performance on this?
PETER DUTTON:
Well, I think it’s a debacle. At a time when the Government’s talking a big game, just like the Prime Minister’s promises that he’s made and broken since the election, this is another one, where the Prime Minister – in huge fanfare – said that they’d have another 500 workers because they were rightly, and I’m sure quite genuinely worried about providing support to women who wanted to get out of a relationship or needed protection, or domestic violence services otherwise. As it turns out now, the Government’s delivered two or I think the Minister’s updated the figure this morning to 17 out of 500, at a cost of literally hundreds of millions of dollars. I just don’t think the Government gets the basics right, and when the Albanese Government makes mistakes, when they make bad decisions, it’s average families and individuals who pay that price.
QUESTION:
The CLP’s called for the resignation of our Northern Territory Police Minister after some controversial Facebook posts were revealed. Do you back that?
PETER DUTTON:
Well, I’ll let Lia take that question in a second. But obviously, people need to live by the standard that they set. In politics, people don’t like double standards and they don’t like hypocrites, and they don’t like people who say one thing and then do another themselves. So, I think the decision is obvious. I think the police in the Northern Territory have really been under the pump, and still are, and they’ve been pressured for a number of years, because of a bad Government, because of bad Ministers and bad Chief Ministers, and ultimately, they’re sharing the same frustration that many people are in the community, who want the crime to stop, want the laws in place, want the support and the funding from the Chief Minister that’s just not there, and I’ll let Lia comment further in relation to that.
QUESTION:
Can I just ask you on that, though..
PETER DUTTON:
Yes. Yeah sure.
QUESTION:
The same MLA that Roxanne just mentioned then, in his defence of the posts that he’d been making, said that there’s a different mindset, a different way of communicating in the Defence Force, and that’s really what led to these posts being shared and placed online. Is that something you’d buy? Is that a cop-out, or is there…?
PETER DUTTON:
I think it’s a cop-out, and I think it’s a sign of incredibly weak leadership when you need to start blaming others for your own actions. Adults make decisions and they stand by the consequences. I think it’s obvious here when you look at the facts, and you’re objective about it, as to what the honourable decision is, and we’ll see whether he’s capable of making that.
QUESTION:
You and Jacinta, last year, highlighted the issue of child abuse and neglect in the Territory, particularly in Central Australia. The Northern Territory Government next week is going to put forward legislation that the Children’s Commissioner, who deals with lots of these issues, can only be Aboriginal in the Northern Territory. Do you think that’s a good move considering most of the children that they would be seeing here are indeed Aboriginal?
PETER DUTTON:
Look Matt, I, to be honest, I just want an outcome, like most Territorians, and most Australians, that sees vulnerable kids protected. The difficulty is that we were told by Labor, by the Prime Minister, by the then Chief Minister, ‘there was nothing to see’, ‘what were we talking about?’, ‘Why were we being racist and singling this out as an issue?’. I find it an abhorrent situation that there’s essentially denial of what is reality. These are young kids. Where I come from in Brisbane, it wouldn’t be tolerated to read on the front page of the paper what Territorians read on a regular basis or know is happening in their own communities. It’s why we took the position on the Voice, because the Voice wasn’t going to make that outcome better for those families, for those women who are suffering from domestic violence in town camps or in communities.
I want a better outcome for Indigenous Australians. I want the practical outcomes for them, and that means appointing the right position, merit-based, to make the decisions that ultimately will help stop the violence, stop the sexual abuse.
I hope the Prime Minister can look past the Sydney view that he has, and make sure that he can make a decision that’s in the best interests of Territorian kids. He’ll do that through proper funding and making sure that the money’s spent on the frontline.
I might ask Lia to…
QUESTION:
Can I just ask Jacinta on that same issue?
PETER DUTTON:
Yeah, sure, sure.
JACINTA NAMPIJINPA PRICE:
Yeah, sure. I think the Albanese Government has not made an appropriate decision in terms of what to do to support our most marginalised children in the community.
Instead of segregating our community further and treating Indigenous children differently, we should be maintaining the same standards for all Australian children in this country. I don’t necessarily believe that a specified Indigenous Children’s Commissioner is necessarily going to lead to the better outcomes. Again, it’s investing in the bureaucracy, and not investing in our communities.
I would have, if it was needed, invested more resources for the Children’s Commissioner, because the Children’s Commissioner is supposed to identify issues and advocate on behalf of all Australian children, not just one cohort of our children. If they’re going to make determinations like this, then, you know, why wouldn’t they then appoint a Commissioner for Children of Asian Australian background or some other background? I just think it’s ridiculous that they have taken this step. Again, we have called for a Royal Commission into the rates of sexual abuse and neglect of Indigenous children, especially in places where those rates are incredibly high, which is within the Northern Territory and remote parts of this country. That’s where we should be maintaining our focus.
Again, we’re always being told to look at the statistics of how Indigenous Australians are adversely affected on a many number of issues like incarceration, for instance. When it comes to our children, why doesn’t this Government focus on the fact that Indigenous children experience the highest rates of sexual abuse? I would hate to see the appointed new Commissioner now try to suggest, you know, go along the line of, the continued line of pointing out our history, is why we’re here, instead of looking at the current circumstances. We all know in the Northern Territory what those circumstances are, and that’s what we want, because we want a bit of honesty and integrity, and we want common sense action to support our most vulnerable.
QUESTION:
And sorry, just real quick, one more questions from me. In relation to the incident that happened in the early hours of this morning, what do you think needs to be done to tackle youth crime in the Northern Territory?
JACINTA NAMPIJINPA PRICE:
Look, again, this is a matter of protecting our most vulnerable. I have always said that the children that have been on our streets are children who have been in and out of the child protection system. I have always said that Indigenous children – and we know that the majority of those children are Indigenous children – but they are viewed differently through the child protection system because of our country’s history, because of the policy around the Stolen Generation. We have a situation where Indigenous children are kept in dysfunctional circumstances, for no other reason, but because of their racial heritage. That has to stop.
We have to be protecting our most vulnerable, no matter who they are, including Indigenous children. These children that are on our streets are those children. Their human rights aren’t being upheld. Because when the families have failed them, the system that’s supposed to uphold their human rights has failed them – and it’s fast tracking them on a road to incarceration, to early death, and to all the issues that we’re seeing play out.
So, we have to move away from this notion that Indigenous children are to be treated differently. No more, no more can we apply this method of doing things, because evidently, and you can see right here in the Northern Territory, it is not working.
QUESTION:
Can I ask you just a very suburban issue? There’s a lot of retailers and residents in Stuart Park very happy that Ozanam House is going to be relocated. There’s an equal number in Coconut Grove who are unhappy. What would be the best resolution to this?
LIA FINOCCHIARO:
Well, what we know is that Mark Monaghan, as he was begging the people of Stuart Park to vote for him last election, promised that he would see the relocation of Ozanam House, and now, over the course of the last four years of this Government, he has totally failed in his ability to be able to achieve that. Eva Lawler, our Chief Minister, who has been Infrastructure Minister for most of this term, is the very person who is supposed to be working with Saint Vincent de Paul to find a more suitable location.
So, what we have here is Labor disunity and a hot potato issue, which completely sits at the feet of Eva Lawler, who’s been unable to work with Saint Vincent de Paul to find a new location. Of course, I think Mark Monaghan thought that he could easily get this moved into Coconut Grove, the former Chief Minister’s electorate, and due to a boundary redistribution, it now falls in Brent Potter’s electorate.
All of them are blueing and burring up about it. None of them have answers or solutions, and where is Eva Lawler on this issue, who is supposed to be the one finding a new, suitable location for Saint Vincent de Paul to help the homeless?
Any other questions? Thank you.
PETER DUTTON:
Thank you very much. Thank you.
[ends]