THOMAS ORITI, HOST: Can you firstly tell us about the meetings and discussions you've been having with people in the community? What has been the reaction?
MALARNDIRRI MCCARTHY: Yes. Thomas, it was very good to have the Prime Minister and also the Indigenous Affairs Minister, Linda Burney with us yesterday meeting with the Chief Minister and others. It's clearly important that both levels of government are working very strongly on this and I think the message that's been sent from yesterday's announcement is one that's been received with perhaps cautious optimism. I'm certainly very aware of how much work is ahead of us, Thomas, over the next 3 to 6 months to ensure that people do feel safe here in Alice Springs.
ORITI: There does appear to be a level of scepticism, though, based on the initial response. I mean, are you confident these measures will actually work? It's not banning alcohol at all. It's just it's just limiting the times when you can get it.
MCCARTHY: I'm confident that this is a really important first step, Thomas, that there needs to be relief and some peace. And by reducing the alcohol on those two days immediately, plus the hours outside of those two days is going to have a direct impact. According to the information that we received directly from Northern Territory police and their data, but also from Congress, the Aboriginal Community Health Organisation here, and Dr John Boffa. So we know that doing what we're doing is going to have a direct and immediate impact. Whether it will be enough is what we have to monitor over the next three months.
ORITI: You're not at all concerned though, that I'm just thinking about during COVID, you know, the panic buying that we saw in general. Are you concerned that just by limiting the time you can get it, it could lead to stockpiling it at other times of the week?
MCCARTHY: Well, of course, we're going to also watch secondary supply, which is where we are very conscious here in the Northern Territory, not just Central Australia. But there is also, you know, grog that is sold across the borders from South Australia and Queensland and WA. So we know that there's secondary supplies anyway and this is what the police also have to concentrate on as part of the policing duties across the Territory, not just Alice Springs. So we know that with alcohol, you know, people will get it wherever. But for Alice Springs and this is important for the residents of Alice Springs, they need a sense of peace, and they need to feel safe. And what the Prime Minister and the Chief Minister have done is said to the people of Alice Springs that we hear you and we're acting immediately to do that.
ORITI: Just how bad is it getting there? I mean, we've heard we've heard the statistics, but you're on the ground. Is there a sense there from the broader community that they do not feel safe walking around Alice Springs?
MCCARTHY: Well, that has been the concern. I mean, we saw one of our leading health professionals with Congress give an explanation to the Prime minister yesterday about having been broken into and the trauma that she's experiencing now. She's just one person of so many across Alice Springs who've experienced the same thing. So we recognise that we had to act. The police know that this has been important. The other thing to keep in mind too, Thomas, is by reducing the alcohol, it's also about reducing the family and domestic violence which Northern Territory Police spend so much time on. And we're very mindful of the hospital system and the amount of work that health practitioners have to focus on with people who are either under the influence of alcohol or victims come in as a result of the impacts of alcohol.
ORITI: When we speak about police resources and resourcing more generally, I do know this is not just about alcohol sales. There's been a regional controller appointed as well. Dorrelle Anderson, a long time Northern Territory public servant, an Indigenous woman as well. What's the role of that regional controller? What the point of that position? Because we have heard some scepticism as well from from some locals saying, well, we're not quite sure what really this is going to be doing.
MCCARTHY: Well, that's going to be what's important to communicate over the next couple of weeks. Dorrelle Anderson is the right person for this position. Very well known, interconnected. She certainly speaks a number of languages, works with Territory Families now, and understands that working with the families and our young people is where we have to go now, beyond the alcohol situation, our families are in crisis. There needs to be parental support and again, parental education of how to raise your children. And this will be done in Alice Springs, but also in the surrounding communities, on outstations around Alice Springs.
ORITI: Would you, just touching on that from what you said to me a short time ago, we heard from Natasha Fyles, the Northern Territory Chief Minister, I guess sort of leaving open the possibility that this will extend beyond Alice Springs remote communities and town camps. Would you support that to see an extension of these restrictions beyond the borders of Alice Springs?
MCCARTHY: Well, I think that we're talking firstly, when I mentioned the young people, this is what we've recognised here is that the families have real problems. When the youth programs have the young people with them up until 9 to 10 at night and they try to take them home. there's nowhere to take them or there's overcrowding. So we have to deal with the family situation. By having the alcohol restrictions, it gives police, it gives the departments and it gives the local organisations around Alice Springs breathing space to actually concentrate on the real issue here. And that is the fundamental issue of breakdown of families in our region.
ORITI: So it sounds like you would entertain just to the question, would you support extending them beyond Alice Springs?
MCCARTHY: In terms of the grog restrictions. You mean the Monday and Tuesday?
ORITI: Yeah, the alcohol restrictions we're currently seeing in Alice Springs. Should they extend beyond the town of Alice Springs.
MCCARTHY: Well, at the moment the focus is Alice Springs. I guess when you say beyond Alice Springs, you'd be talking about the other towns like Tennant Creek, Katherine. Now Tennant Creek already has its own form of restrictions and they are working, from my understanding quite well at the moment. Katherine is another area that we are concerned about and I know that Marion Scrymgour, the Member for Lingiari, will be meeting with residents in Katherine. So we are mindful that this is an issue beyond Alice. But at the moment clearly the major problem is right here in Alice Springs.
ORITI: Okay. Can I ask you as well about these calls for the ADF, you know, the Defence Force and Federal Police to be brought in? Those calls were met with alarm, it seems, by many in the community. We heard that from Indigenous elders. Can you understand why that might be?
MCCARTHY: Absolutely. You know, 2007, if I may remind your listeners, it was when the Howard Government intervention came in and they did come in with the Army, they did come in with soldiers. They did come in with army trucks, and it terrified and traumatised people until they realised that that was perhaps not the approach that should take place. So of course there is a scar that comes with that memory for many men and women in particular of 2007. I know that sounds like a long time ago, but when you've lived under a regime for 15 years, which was how the intervention then became the stronger futures legislation. When there is no exit strategy out of that particular regime, that failure to plan causes problems and causes a mess. And we saw that in June, July last year.
ORITI: In saying that as well, the intervention year of bans on alcohol came to an end in July. There have been some suggestions and we've heard this morning there's not a whole lot of love lost between the Northern Territory Labor Government and the Federal Opposition at the moment. But there have been some suggestions that the Territory Government should have been better prepared. Is there merit to that argument?
MCCARTHY: Well, I think a lot of people should have been better prepared, Thomas. Certainly, the Australian Parliament who was responsible for the intervention into the Northern Territory should have been better prepared. All of us, both in the House and the Senate. The fact that there was no preparation for the expiration of the Stronger Futures, what did people think was going to happen?
ORITI: Including from the Northern Territory Labor Government though? including not only the Federal Government at the time, the Liberal government, but the Northern Territory Labor government. Do they have questions to answer here?
MCCARTHY: Everyone's responsible, you know. No one can walk away blameless in this, Thomas. Everyone's responsible. And that's why yesterday's gathering of both the Chief Minister of the Northern Territory and the Prime Minister of the Australian Government and also the Mayor of Alice Springs, was absolutely critical for a turning point. A new chapter for the Northern Territory.
ORITI: Senator, are you worried about the timing of all of this? You know, tomorrow is January the 26th. Your government's about to launch its Voice to Parliament campaign. There have been concerns that we've heard about it being politicised, perhaps in a very timely manner.
MCCARTHY: I'm more concerned about the fact that people feel unsafe here in Alice Springs. And we have to provide that reassurance and safety for the women and children and the families of Alice Springs and Central Australia. That's my absolute priority.
ORITI: But has it gotten too political, though? You're absolutely right, these critical issues where people do not feel safe and people are being assaulted. No question about that. But you've got this argy bargy between, you know, Peter Dutton and Anthony Albanese as well that seems to be making headlines. Is it getting too political at a very, very critical time?
MCCARTHY: First Nations people have been political all our lives, so much so we don't see this as anything different. We see that the needs and in fact dealing with poverty and the impacts of that is what this is about. And if political leaders debating and arguing over what the future looks like, well, that's all well and good and important. So long as First nations people's voices are in there as well.
ORITI: You're not concerned though it's fuel for opponents to the Voice to Parliament.
MCCARTHY: Oh, look, this is a democracy. We recognise that there are going to be people who want to support the Voice to Parliament and there are people who do not want to support it. What's important for those of us who do want to see a Voice to Parliament is that we can articulate and give confidence to all Australians that this is the way to go. We want to see a better Australia and we do believe a voice to Parliament is the way to do that.