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Topics: $2.6 million for Danila Dilba Health Service to support First Nations women, children and families, addressing family and domestic violence, NT Coroner’s recommendations, Central Australia Justice Reinvestment Initiative.

KATIE WOOLF, HOST: Now we know that there has been a huge focus on the response to domestic violence in the Northern Territory with Coroner Elisabeth Armitage handing down her findings into the death of four Indigenous Territory women last week. The Albanese Labor Government say that they are going to be investing $2.6 million to trial a new approach to support First Nations women, children and families at risk of or impacted by family and domestic violence and reduce the number of children entering the child protection system in the greater Darwin region. Danila Dilba Health Service is going to receive the funding over two years and the project is trialling a new approach. So, joining me on the line to tell us a little bit more about this is the Federal Minister for Indigenous Australians, Senator Malarndirri McCarthy. Good morning to you, Senator.

MINISTER FOR INDIGENOUS AUSTRALIANS, MALARNDIRRI McCARTHY: Good morning, Katie, and good morning to your listeners.

KATIE WOOLF: Now, how exactly is this program going to work?

MALARNDIRRI McCARTHY: Well, this is really important, certainly for the Darwin area, and I do commend the staff at Danila Dilba for being able to come together on this and the board. It is important that they deal with certainly the families that we have in Darwin. This funding will go towards assisting Danila Dilba to work with at least 200 families, First Nations families in the Darwin region, which I think’s quite significant, Katie, in that we are concerned around the high rates of family and domestic violence, but also the issues of out‑of‑home care where children are removed as a result of this. So, we do need our First Nations families and organisations actually involved; it cannot just be governments and it cannot just be the police. This is about investing in Aboriginal community organisations.

KATIE WOOLF: And so how exactly will it work, and what’s the aim of the program?

MALARNDIRRI McCARTHY: Well, the aim of course is to do a couple of things; one is to be there for those families who do require extra assistance, but secondly, to actually encourage them to get on the right path, if there are difficulties, and finding out what those hurdles are. But also to help reduce the numbers as part of Closing the Gap. We see that the removal of First Nations children is one of those targets that we’re trying to reduce in Closing the Gap. But also, Katie, the high incarceration of young people in our prisons across the country, of First Nations people, so we do need to invest in local Aboriginal organisations to actually be a part of the solution.

KATIE WOOLF: And look, I understand that certainly, you know, we don’t want to see children in jail, we don’t want to see a situation where children are being removed from their families, but we also don’t want to see them in unsafe situations –

MALARNDIRRI McCARTHY: Absolutely.

KATIE WOOLF: – if that is what’s happening. So, I mean what happens there?

MALARNDIRRI McCARTHY: Well, this would have to be a call that those working in the sector, and in this case working in Danila Dilba, would have to make. I mean there are certain requirements under Northern Territory law that if children are in those situations, well of course, there has to be action taken. But again, if the health workers and health practitioners of an Aboriginal Community-Controlled Organisation are the first port of call, then they can give that advice directly to the departments of the Northern Territory Government, which are responsible.

KATIE WOOLF: Now, in relation to the crisis that we are seeing when it comes to domestic violence, we know that last week the Coroner made 35 recommendations when she handed down her findings into the deaths of four Indigenous women to domestic violence, including calling for a significant funding boost to the sector, including for frontline emergency service responses and women’s shelters. I mean the funding that we’ve just spoken about, it is a drop in the ocean really, isn’t it?

MALARNDIRRI McCARTHY: Well, certainly for Danila Dilba it’s going to be quite important for them to be able to have that over $2 million specifically for them, but we’ve also got other organisations across the Northern Territory as well, Katie. For example, Galiwin’ku on Elcho Island, you know, the Women’s Space there has been provided with $500,000. In Darwin, the Aboriginal Islander Women’s Shelter Indigenous Corporation, around $980,000. In Central Australia, Ngaanyatjarra, Pitjantjatjara, over $1.8 million. So, we know that it has to be spread across the different organisations, it’s not up to just one organisation to deal with it, and nor is it up to one government department.

KATIE WOOLF: No, you’re right, it definitely ‑ you know, we need to make sure that that money’s being invested into the right areas. The Coroner has given that roadmap though, and I know that many within, you know, the domestic violence sector that are working in this area every single day, as well as both sides of the Government here in the Northern Territory, both the CLP and the ALP are saying, “we need this needs‑based funding from the Federal Government”. Where are we at with that?

MALARNDIRRI McCARTHY: Well, there’s a couple of things I just want to say there. Firstly, can I just say in regards to Coroner Armitage’s report last week, it was incredibly important, not just for the Territory, but nationally for all Australians to be aware of how difficult it is here in the Northern Territory. Our police deal with it every day, they have to deal with it because it’s such ‑ it’s one of the most violent situations with regards to the activities that police have to contend with. The second thing is that in terms of the money, there is money between the Commonwealth and the Northern Territory that has not been spent, Katie, there’s around $180 million that has to be spent. That is a conversation that does need to occur between myself, the Chief Minister, and certainly the, I think it’s Robyn Cahill, who’s the Minister responsible.

KATIE WOOLF: Yeah.

MALARNDIRRI McCARTHY: I want to see that spent.

KATIE WOOLF: So, are you talking about the money that they’ve committed?

MALARNDIRRI McCARTHY: Well, there’s two lots. So, there’s money that’s actually provided to the Northern Territory, prior to the Northern Territory Government, or the CLP Government, making that commitment. So, at a national level, we have invested in 500 extra positions across the country. Now, eight of those are here in the Northern Territory. It would be good to see more of those, so that the government here today, which has been in for about 100 days, knows it has access to that funding. I did read in the reports last week, so I haven’t spoken drectly to Robyn Cahill on this, but I did read that she was looking at an audit and wanting to do a review. I’d seriously urge them to actually act with the current requests from organisations across the Territory now to get them through the Christmas and New Year. I do understand that audits are a relevant part of making sure funding’s being spent, but we are coming to one of the most difficult times of the year, family and domestic violence does seem to escalate around Christmas and New Year.

KATIE WOOLF: Minister, has the Federal Government committed to those recommendations that the Coroner handed down? I mean are the Federal Government committed to seeing some really serious change in this space?

MALARNDIRRI McCARTHY: We’re always absolutely committed to wanting to see the reduction in violence, Katie. I know that the Commissioner has certainly made recommendations which I’ll have to go through more closely in terms of the federal side of things, in terms of our responsibility. But I can say this to your listeners, and in particular those people who work in the family and domestic violence sector, we are absolutely committed. We’ve not only looked at trying to support our organisations, we’ve looked at legislation to ensure that women experiencing domestic and family violence can take leave, we want to make sure there’s other issues that support, in particular in our communities, the disadvantage that women in particular experience, so we want to see the build‑up of housing and jobs. So, we know that there has to be so many more aspects to this, not just around funding the crisis centres.

KATIE WOOLF: Minister, where do we go from here though, because I mean you’ve got a situation locally where we are seeing an absolute crisis when it comes to domestic violence. The level of women being killed to domestic violence is a shame, it’s an absolute national shame. You’ve got the Northern Territory Government, they’ve obviously said that they’re committing $180 million, you know, you’ve got both sides of the Parliament here in the Northern Territory and those sitting on the crossbench saying, “we need this needs‑based funding”. I mean, you know, you live in the Northern Territory, you know what it’s like. Could the Federal Government be doing more in terms of that funding?

MALARNDIRRI McCARTHY: Well, we certainly need to look at what’s happening with the men, Katie, and this is where the investment in working with men who are either in our jails or either going through difficult problems at home, and what kind of support do they have. I know we’ve seen people like Charlie King in the No More Program, but I do believe there needs to be a greater support in that space. Working in the justice reinvestment space is also part of that, but we have to change behaviours. You know, when I was Minister here in the Northern Territory, I was part of introducing, making it mandatory to report family and domestic violence, we never did that in the Northern Territory, we were the first jurisdiction. And when I was Minister here, I had carriage of carrying that through to make sure it was mandatory that anyone and everyone who saw family and domestic violence reported it. There was an outcry across the country saying, “don’t do that, don’t do that”, but we did do it, we led the way. The problem is the behaviour, and we have to contribute as much as we can, whether it’s at Federal Government funding or Northern Territory, to make sure the behaviour changes in our families.

KATIE WOOLF: It truly has to change, and we spoke last week about this with John Paterson, and he said, you know, he put a call‑out on air and said, “Blokes, you know, if you are committing domestic violence or if you are, you know, hurting your partner, stop. The behaviour has to stop”. You know, and what we are seeing is appalling. I mean even in the last 24 hours the Northern Territory Police have been out and said that they, you know, as part of another operation, Operation Jardine, they’ve arrested 80 domestic violence offenders since the start of September. Like it is, it’s appalling what we’re seeing.

MALARNDIRRI McCARTHY: And the point you’re making there raises the question of those 80, how are they going now in terms of learning about behaviour? This isn’t just a woman’s problem, it certainly isn’t just a man’s problem, but we still have to look at the violence that’s occurring in families. So, you’ve raised an important point there, Katie, and this is where we’ve got to push through with a lot more support in the men’s behaviour programs.

KATIE WOOLF: Hey, a very quick one. I know we are keen to ask you about this Justice Reinvestment in Central Australia program. The Federal Government, obviously making the announcement yesterday. What exactly is it going to mean?

MALARNDIRRI McCARTHY: Yes, sure, Katie. This was largely to do a couple of things, again, with the high rates of incarceration, we have to look at what’s going on, and reaching out to the local Aboriginal community organisations. So, certainly in Central Australia, I’m conscious that this time of year it does become really difficult in Alice Springs, so we’ve been able to work with Mparntwe mob there, with Tangentyere, with Lhere Artepe, with quite a number of organisations to make sure the Peacemaking Project is in place. I was just in Alice before the last parliament sittings, to actually go out with the group at night in terms of, you know, the buses and how the First Nations people are working in the local community in terms of safety. So, we want to keep supporting them. We know that there has to be local solutions to these local problems.

KATIE WOOLF: Yeah, there absolutely does. Malarndirri McCarthy, Senator for the Northern Territory and also the Minister for Indigenous Australians, really appreciate your time this morning. We’ll talk to you again soon.

MALARNDIRRI McCARTHY: No worries, Katie, thank you.