Subjects: Improving community safety in Alice Springs and the Northern Territory; Lisa Siebert – Country Liberal Party Candidate for Lingiari; Royal Commission into Child Sexual Abuse in Indigenous Communities; Australian flag; Labor’s cost of living crisis; the Coalition’s plan for a cheaper, cleaner, and more consistent energy plan for Australia; Labor’s energy policy shambles; Labor’s watering down of Operation Sovereign Borders.
E&OE.
LIA FINOCCHIARO:
Good afternoon, everyone. Thank you very much for coming. It’s wonderful to be back in Alice Springs. I’ve been down six times now since the Northern Territory’s August election, and at that election we took a promise to Territorians and that was to reduce crime.
We know that Alice Springs has been the victim of a Labor Government that’s left it behind, turned their back on victims, and did not put community safety as their number one priority.
On coming into government, we urgently passed our Reducing Crime package through the Parliament, which meant our police had more powers to protect Territorians from the ever-escalating increases in crime that they saw under Labor.
On coming into Alice Springs, we immediately stood up – come November – Operation Ludlow, along with the Fugitive Task Force and increased police from South Australia to support reducing crime efforts here in Central Australia, and the data we’ve seen is looking really good – but there is much more work to do. But it just reinforces our commitment to make sure that this region is safe, and that people have an opportunity to live a thriving life here without always looking over their shoulder.
Over this school holiday period, I’ve been keeping a watchful eye on Alice Springs with my colleague, Treasurer Bill Yan, and, of course, Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price has been a strong advocate for this community, walking with us every step of the way to make sure community safety is restored to this town and to this beautiful part of our nation.
I wrote to the Prime Minister and the Federal Government with seven key asks coming out of all the consultation I’ve been doing with the community over the school holiday period. I’m pleased that the Prime Minister immediately supported our calls to give CASA exemptions for our police to have greater usage of our drones, and that enhanced drone capability has made a huge impact on reducing crime.
By allowing our police to use drones more freely, it means they’ve been able to support the stopping of stolen vehicles, the apprehension of offenders, and act as a very strong deterrent on the ground. When that drone is in the sky, would-be offenders know that they are going to get caught. So, I thank them for that. We also continue to work in good faith around the other six remaining items, but none have been secured.
On the ground today, of course we have Federal Opposition Leader Peter Dutton, and it’s wonderful to have him and his team, with Senator Liddle, back in Alice Springs. I know they have great affection for this town and want to see it – going forward – be strong and vibrant once again.
So, we had a briefing with our police who showcased all of the work they’ve been doing as a result of Operation Ludlow, where we’ve had over 300 arrests in this period, and the Fugitive Taskforce, 60 arrests. Now, these are high-harm, high-risk offenders that are now out of circulation. On coming to government, we have more than 400 additional people incarcerated than under Labor. These are people that under Labor have been left on our streets to perpetrate violence and crime against innocent Territorians, and so our hard work continues.
I wrote to the Federal Opposition Leader with our plea for seven very simple, but effective tools that are going to help reduce crime and tackle the root causes of crime longer term for this town. We’ve also had a meeting today and sat down around those key priorities.
I’m very thrilled that a future Dutton Coalition Government will support, in principle, all seven of our recommendations to the Federal Government, to help the Northern Territory Government restore community safety and reduce crime here in Alice Springs. We’ll work through the details, and I look forward to this partnership going forward. It’s a very strong signal to people here in Alice Springs who are crying out to be listened to, to be heard and to have people actually make meaningful change.
This announcement by the Federal Coalition will send a very clear message that they are listening, they care, and that they willing to step up and take action alongside a Territory Government, whose focus is community safety.
I’d now like to pass on to Lisa Siebert, who is the CLP candidate for Lingiari, and then we will hear from the rest of the team.
Thank you.
LISA SIEBERT:
Thank you, Chief Minister, Lia Finocchiaro.
Good afternoon, everyone. My name is Lisa Siebert, I’m the CLP candidate for Lingiari. It’s such a pleasure to have the Federal Opposition Leader, Mr Peter Dutton, visit us in Alice Springs seeing first-hand the issues that are facing the communities that we are seeing.
I am committed to advocating and supporting the NT Government in community safety, law and order, in reducing crime in our communities in the Northern Territory. As a career police woman, this is the affirmation that I have taken to protect and serve the community, and I will continue to do so.
Thank you. I’d now like to pass you back on to Peter Dutton.
PETER DUTTON:
Lisa, thank you. Thank you very much. Lisa’s a fantastic candidate. She’s given most of her professional life to law enforcement, and she’s passionate about making sure that the people of Lingiari can improve their lives and that safety can be restored to the community. Lisa, I really pay full tribute to you for the dedication that you’ve applied in your career, and I’m very excited to have you as the CLP candidate for the seat of Lingiari coming into the next election.
It’s also wonderful to be here with the Chief Minister and with Bill as well, and obviously with my two good friends and colleagues in Kerrynne Liddle and Jacinta Nampijinpa Price. Thank you very much all for being here.
It is an important day. It’s not my first visit to Alice Springs, as you well know. We’ve been taking an interest in trying to support the people of Alice Springs for a long period of time. In the previous Labor Government here in the Territory, there was no will to listen to the people of Alice Springs. I think the breath of fresh air that is this Government, it’s quite amazing – the turn around. The briefing that we just received from the Deputy Commissioner and the other officers going through the statistics, going through the impact of some of the decisions that the Government’s made – it really has made a tangible difference on the ground.
So, Chief Minister, to you and to your Government, I just say where there is a will, there’s a way. In Canberra at the moment, there’s not much will either. The Prime Minister spoke a big game in relation to the Voice and spent $450 million but essentially has forgotten about Indigenous communities during the period since then. We’re on the eve of an election and the Prime Minister really has nothing to say in relation to these important issues.
I’m very pleased to have worked with the Chief Minister to go through the seven point plan and on behalf of the Coalition, we have said that we will commit in principle to those issues and to those points because it will lead to a reduction in crime and it will lead to a safer environment here in Alice Springs, and for those reasons, I’m very happy to work hand in glove with the Government and to make sure that we can provide the police with every resource and provide them with every support we can so that people can live a happy life and live a life free of crime. When people go home to their homes of a night-time, I want them to do so safely, when they turn up to their businesses in the morning, I don’t want there to have been damage to the front window or damage to property that they own otherwise.
I think if we have a determination, there is a way to make things better, and that’s exactly what Lia’s plan does here.
So, I’m very grateful to be here at this great business as well. I’d just say thank you very much to Bobby and the staff for showing us around. They’re obviously an integral employer here in the Territory, employing 22 people. Not just do they have Indigenous employees, but they have a big growth plan, and they have a great reputation in the local community. So, I’m very happy to be here as well.
I’ll hand over to my two colleagues, and then we’re happy to take some questions.
JACINTA NAMPIJINPA PRICE:
Thank you very much, everyone. Thank you, Peter, for being here once more in Alice Springs. To the locals that have been concerned with those leadership attending our community of Alice Springs, I can tell you that we as the Coalition, are committed to improving the situation on the ground, not just here in Alice Springs and Central Australia, but right across the Northern Territory, and Peter has demonstrated that over and again.
Peter doesn’t just speak to heads of organisations when he comes here to Alice Springs. He speaks to people on the ground to understand what’s occurring for individuals and how they’ve been impacted, particularly by crime in the Northern Territory.
I’m so pleased that we as the Coalition will commit to the seven points, the request made by our Chief Minister, who is doing a wonderful job at overcoming the crime and the violence that our local community has been experiencing.
I think it’s really important, and we need to realise that the Prime Minister has failed in basically ignoring the ask from the Chief Minister to better support Central Australia through those seven key points. Locals here understand the fact that when we have alcohol restrictions put in place, the positive impact that that has.
So, to be able to change Centrelink recipients, the way they get their payments to coincide with those days, well, then, the likelihood of those individuals spending their money on things that they need increases: things like food, bills, and their children. We know that that will have a positive impact going forward. So, there’s no doubt at all that we are prepared to support this, and we do need an audit into the spend that occurs right across the board.
So I guess, in that vein, I’m very pleased and very honoured to have been appointed Shadow Minister for Government Efficiency, but that is something that we will support this Government, the Territory Government, in doing going forward to make sure that we are effectively supporting and investing where outcomes will be produced, and it will create a positive impact to overcome some of the things that we in the Territory have been confronted with – things like royalties payments. Now, I have been saying for such a long time that we are committed to holding an inquiry into land councils’ statutory authorities. The reason for this is to understand things like how royalty payments impact our communities. Speaking to police this morning, it’s been confirmed, once more, something that we already knew, that when royalties payments – another form of passive welfare – are distributed, quite often this leads to an increase in alcohol-related crime, because we know that those who would be welfare recipients have now got cash to go and spend. We’d love to support those individuals to purchase things like whitegoods; the things that they need that are necessary for them.
So, these are all things that we will, under a Coalition Government, look at how we can improve. But our Chief Minister has called for this, and we will absolutely get behind her and support her with these key points going forward.
Thank you.
KERRYNNE LIDDLE:
Well, it’s terrific to be here with the CLP and also with my Coalition colleagues. Peter has recognised from the very beginning, that safety of the individual and safety of communities is paramount to improve people’s lives. We haven’t just turned up today to talk about this, we’ve been talking about this since 2022. We’ve talked about lifting of those alcohol restrictions and the devastation – and I don’t know why the Prime Minister didn’t know that was going to happen, but everybody else seemed to know it, and Territorians are living with the consequences right now.
We also have to look at domestic violence in this Territory, because the rate of domestic violence is increasing at 20 per cent. The numbers are not going down. The Albanese Government also spent nearly $300 million in Central Australia for a ‘Better, Safer Central Australia’ is what he called it, but he hasn’t delivered that given the amount of money that’s been invested. We have to ask questions such as: where is the money? Where has it gone? How effective has it been? And these are tough questions. You need courage to be able to address these issues, and we intend to have the opportunity to do that.
PETER DUTTON:
Kerrynne, thank you. Well, I’m happy to take some questions and Lia, I’m sure is as well. So happy to take your questions.
QUESTION:
Yeah, Gilmore Johnston from ICTV. Just a question for the Chief Minister. Communities are tired of hearing the same promises without seeing results. What will you do personally to make sure the Government delivers this time round?
LIA FINOCCHIARO:
Great question, because this is the mandate we’ve been given by Territorians: to deliver change for the better. It’s our entire platform, and I want our Government to be judged on our actions, not our words.
We very clearly walked into Parliament within eight weeks of taking government, and gave police the powers they need to keep people safe. We’ve continued to show that Alice Springs has an important place in this country and in the Territory’s future, and not just with our response to law and order which has had terrific results, but also through our investments. We’ve seen $15 million committed to the Town Council to upgrade community infrastructure, $5 million to multicultural communities to build a new hall, we’ve saved the iconic Anzac Oval and will deliver the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Gallery for Central Australia.
So, we’re putting Territorians hard-earned taxpayer dollars where it’s going to make the most impact, and our seven asks of the Federal Government are really, really important to empowering all communities across Central Australia, and we’re very proud to see that federally we’re being listened to.
QUESTION:
Mr Dutton, the Royal Commission into Child Sexual Abuse, how soon would we likely see that under a Dutton Government? And what would the terms of reference be? Would it include the issue that Senator Liddle was talking about a minute ago, the domestic violence that’s affecting the Territory so badly?
PETER DUTTON:
Well, it’s an absolute priority of the Government that I lead. I think I demonstrated as Home Affairs Minister in the establishment of the Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation, where we invested about $80 million. Children were saved from paedophile networks, children were withdrawn from environments where they were being sexually abused and it has given us a global engagement so that as we know with offences that take place online, sharing of images, the conveying of those images and videos, etc., where victims are repeatedly violated against whatever that video has demonstrated. I think we’ve got the runs on the board in terms of our absolute desire to stamp out the assault and the degradation of children in our society. We shouldn’t treat children in Alice Springs any different to any other part of the country. Children deserve the sanctity of their childhood and they deserve the protection of their government. It would be a priority for us to establish the Royal Commission. I’m certain it will be a task within the first hundred days of government and we will make an appointment and announce the terms of reference at that time. It will include whatever we need to include to make sure that we can stamp out the scourge of child sexual abuse because it should have no place in a civilised society.
QUESTION:
Within this month, we’ve seen what’s believed to be the first domestic violence related death in the Territory in Todd River. What will the federal government commit to further supporting legal services here in Central Australia to help tackle the issue of domestic violence?
PETER DUTTON:
Well, I think if somebody comes from Canberra and tells you that they know what’s best for the Territory – firstly, their name’s probably Anthony Albanese; and secondly, I don’t think you’d believe what they said. I’m listening to the Chief Minister because the Chief Minister has engaged with the local community in Darwin, in Alice Springs, in many of the parts of the Territory where there really needs to be further support.
The Chief Minister has identified seven key priorities and we’ve committed to those key priorities. There’s some further work, I’m sure, that we can continue to do, there will be further investment that needs to be made. I’m absolutely serious, which is why we’ve got a candidate of the calibre of Lisa on our team to make sure that we can have a greater presence in the Northern Territory so that we can show that will, and show the way to improving the outcomes. A reduction in domestic violence and homicide obviously will be a key part of our commitment to supporting the great work of the Government.
QUESTION:
Mr Dutton, Social Services Minister Amanda Rishworth pushed back against some of those asks from the NT Government. One of them being about the settling payments. She said there could be unintended consequences if the Centrelink payments, welfare payments, are delivered to people on Mondays and Tuesdays when they know, and everyone knows what day’s money might be going into their bank accounts. There could be issues around humbugging and such. What do you make of those comments?
PETER DUTTON:
Well, I just think have a look at Amanda Rishworth’s track record. She is responsible for withdrawing the Cashless Debit Card and it resulted in significant crimes being committed, including against women and children. So, I don’t think she has any credibility in this space whatsoever. I’m going to take my advice from Lia and her Government, because they have a better understanding of what’s happening on the ground. They’re speaking with police and the other agencies about the priorities and the best ways to address those concerns and the incidences of domestic violence, etc..
So, frankly, instead of listening to a failed Minister from the failed Albanese Government – that Government is failed. The wheels are falling off the Albanese Government. It’s not just in relation to Indigenous policy, it’s in relation to economic policy where many families across the country, including in the Territory, just can’t keep up with their monthly mortgage repayments as well as their grocery bill, their insurance premiums have gone up. This has been a wrecking ball through the economy over the course of the last two and a half years.
I just don’t think they’ve got any credibility, frankly, in any area, which is why they’re always negative and always attacking as opposed to putting forward ideas that will make a difference for people and their communities.
QUESTION:
Mr Dutton, Malarndirri McCarthy has unveiled a proposal to rework the jobs for the dole scheme. What do you make of it? And what is the Liberal Government’s plan for remote communities if elected?
PETER DUTTON:
Well, again, one of the points here that Lia’s identified is exactly in relation to helping people into meaningful employment. I think it’s a very important part of the picture and response. We strongly supported the Work for the Dole programme during the Howard years. I was a Workforce Participation Minister in a period of the Howard Government. I strongly believe in the dignity that comes with work. It’s not just for paid employment, that obviously helps the worker and his or her family. It’s also the dignity that comes with turning up to work. Some of the workers we’ve spoken with today who are here doing meaningful work, helping build houses or renovate houses, providing accommodation, repairing damage. It’s meaningful work and there’s engagement in the workplace as well. Of course, Anthony Albanese has never seen fit to reintroduce the scheme or anything like it. So, on the eve of an election, the Prime Minister’s got his chequebook out because he knows that he’s diving in the polls and he’s writing cheques for projects that he cancelled earlier in the term and now he’s announcing policies in the dying weeks of a bad Government. I can tell you, in a minority government with Anthony Albanese and Adam Bandt, they won’t get any of that through because the Greens just won’t support it. And it would be an even more incompetent Government than it is now.
QUESTION:
Just touching back on what you said – you said bringing people into ‘meaningful employment’, especially within remote communities. Can you elaborate – what is meaningful employment for someone within a remote community?
PETER DUTTON:
Well, I think engagement in relation to some of the programmes that we’ve spoken about before. In the delivery of health services, delivery of law and order services and outreach services that government departments may not be able to provide on a daily basis. I think there’s work around the environment and obviously around country, given the importance of connection to country as well. There’s a lot of work meaningfully that can be done in communities around housing projects. Obviously an essential part of a functioning community is to make sure we’ve got housing, particularly for young families.
There are many, many aspects of work that can be meaningful and you need to have a will to do it. The Territory Government has that will, the Albanese Government in Canberra doesn’t. That’s why there’s just been a wasted two-and-a-half year period of bad Government and unfortunately Territorians have suffered as a result of that.
When you look at the current Member for Solomon and for Lingiari, they’re just ineffective.
That’s why I think we need a change of government in Canberra so that we can really get behind the Government here in the Territory.
QUESTION:
Mr Dutton, the Aboriginal flag is now owned by the Commonwealth, meaning it belongs to all Australians. Do you acknowledge that refusing to stand behind it could be seen as an act of cultural disrespect, undermining trust in your leadership in reconciliation?
PETER DUTTON:
No, I think it’s actually a major step forward in the reconciliation debate because I want all Australians to be, and I want every Australian, to come together. I want us to have a greater respect for and admiration for our Indigenous heritage, and I also want us to pay true homage to people who have fought for our country in uniform, who are equal Australians, people who have come from every part of the world as part of our amazing migrant story, who in many cases came without anything but the shirt on their back, and a suitcase with a few belongings, and they’ve educated their children, they’ve contributed to society, they’ve served in our defence forces, they’ve been involved in philanthropic causes, they’ve become the Governor-General, they’ve been involved in government, and we have the best country in the world and we should unite as one. If we do that, then we have, I think, the best chance of providing a bright future for all Australians and in particular Indigenous Australians.
I have the utmost respect for the Indigenous flag and for the Torres Strait Islander flag, but we have one national flag and there is not another country comparable to ours – not another Western democracy – that asks of people to separate on separate flags. People can have a cultural connection to different flags – and I honestly respect that – but we have one national flag and we treat every Australian equal.
QUESTION:
Some pretty encouraging inflation data out today. Does the Government deserve some credit for the fact it’s managed to bring down inflation from as high as it was in May of 2022 to where it is now?
PETER DUTTON:
Well Matt, as I’ve said before, I hope that we can bring inflation down so that interest rates can come down because interest rates have already come down in the United Kingdom, the United States, in New Zealand, and in Canada – and they should have already come down here. They’ve gone up 12 times under Mr Albanese’s leadership. So, clearly, in successive budgets they’ve made bad decisions. I think the other point that’s making is that electricity and gas are up by over 30 per cent. People are paying the about 11 or 12 per cent more for food under this Government.
There are seven consecutive quarters of household recession in this country. People are selling their homes because they can’t keep up with the repayments. People are taking the items out of their grocery basket or trolley when they get to the supermarket checkout because they can’t afford to pay for everything in the basket. People are cancelling their insurance policies. People are stopping insurance of their car just to make sure that they’ve got enough money in the bank to eat.
So, I don’t think the Government’s got too much to crow about.
I really hope that interest rates come down as quickly as possible, but ultimately the Reserve Bank Governor is independent and will make the decision that she believes to be in the best interest of all Australians, and that will be based on the economic settings.
There’s obviously some influence in relation to the energy rebate which distorts some of the figures, as you’re aware, but we need to make sure that we’ve got our country back on track, and at the moment, our country is heading in the wrong direction under Mr Albanese, and we should frankly, not be listening to the self-praising of Jim Chalmers. We should be listening to families who are really struggling under this bad Government, and be doing everything we can to help them.
QUESTION:
David Littleproud said this morning on Sky News that a Coalition Government will begin building a nuclear reactor on day one. Are you still going to do two years of community consultation or are we turning the first sod as soon as you win the election?
PETER DUTTON:
I think the point David obviously was making was that we need to start work from day one, on community engagement, engagement with partners internationally, we need to look at what – as we’ve already done in part – but of the top 20 economies in the world, Australia is the only one that hasn’t got or hasn’t signed up to nuclear power. There are 19 of the top 20 economies in the world, who know something I think that Chris Bowen doesn’t, which wouldn’t be hard, and I think Chris Bowen with his renewables only policy, is now seeing a situation where we’ve had a three-fold increase in the number of manufacturing businesses close – they’ve just offshored, they’ve gone to Malaysia, or they’ve gone to the United States, and they’re making the aluminium extrusion that we saw here today, and then they’re just reimporting it. It makes no sense, because we lose the jobs, we lose the economic activity and there are more emissions going into the air.
This trainwreck of a Government is forcing an energy policy on us, which is going to see blackouts and brownouts like South Africa. We pay some of the highest electricity costs in the world – three times, for example, the cost in Ontario or Tennessee, where they do have nuclear firming up renewables. I’m a strong believer in renewables, but we can’t pretend that the solar panels work of a nighttime or that the batteries last longer than four hours, they just don’t. No modern economy can operate without baseload power. That’s why, we will take what I think is a great vision for our country to the election.
To the Prime Minister’s credit, he signed up to the AUKUS nuclear submarine deal, which we negotiated when we were in government. It’s exactly the same technology, he had no concerns about the safety or disposal, and we’ve identified the seven sites for the locations, and we think it will transform the economy into a modern economy, which will underpin a re-establishment of that manufacturing and those jobs in regional towns which otherwise are wilting.
QUESTION:
Do you think the Federal Government and Border Force Operation LUNAR, to clamp down on illegal boat arrivals is sufficient? And if not, what extra should be provided?
PETER DUTTON:
Well, I think the first question you have to ask yourself is why has this Government lost control of our borders again? People are turning up to Australian territory without any knowledge. They’re being notified by Indigenous owners of the land or people who are residents in those local communities. I mean, how is that possible? Well, it’s possible because the Albanese Government reduced the investment that they were making into aerial surveillance and on water surveillance.
If you take money out of Australian Border Force and out of the surveillance operations that are going on, of course you’re going to see more boat arrivals, and if you get one or two or three or a dozen of those boats through, we’ll end up in the same situation that Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard put us in.
Don’t forget that Anthony Albanese was a central figure sitting around the Cabinet table during the Rudd-Gillard years when they last lost control of the borders. We cleaned up Labor’s mess when we went into government, we stopped the boats, we got every child out of detention, and we put in place Operation Sovereign Borders, which this Government has watered down.
So, if you ask yourself about why the boats would restart? And why we’ve got problems again with people smugglers? Well, it’s because we’ve got a weak Prime Minister who is taking our country in the wrong direction, and l want to get our country back on track. We’ve got a plan to do so, and we’ll work very hard to help Australians, not hurt them, as this Government’s done, and we’ll work with fantastic Chief Ministers and Premiers across the country to make sure that we can deliver, with the support of Commonwealth funding, the programmes that are actually going to make a big difference in people’s lives, which is exactly what we’re proposing to do through this seven point plan here in Alice Springs.
Thank you very much.
[ends]