KATIE WOOLF, HOST: We have got the federal Assistant Minister for Social Security, Ageing and Women, Kate Thwaites, in town at the moment. And she is in Darwin this week and plans to visit new emergency accommodation for women and children experiencing family and domestic violence. She's also set to take part in a roundtable with senior Territorians to talk about the kinds of federal government support available to them, and she joins me on the line right now. Good morning to you, Assistant Minister.
KATE THWAITES, ASSISTANT MINISTER FOR SOCIAL SECURITY, AGEING AND WOMEN: Good morning. Lovely to be with you and to be in Darwin today.
HOST: Great to have you on the show. Now, Kate, can you tell me more about the new emergency accommodation for victims of domestic violence, which as we know, is a massive issue in the Northern Territory?
THWAITES: Absolutely. Well, this is part of our federal Safe Places emergency funding and in the Northern Territory, there are two organisations who, from a federal perspective, are receiving $10.6 million to build crisis and emergency accommodation here in the Territory. So today I'll be meeting with the Salvation Army. Now they've received more than $5.6 million to create 36 safe places under this program, so I'll be taking a closer look at that today. And they're also doing some work in Alice Springs, where they've got $8 million to create 56 safe places there. So that's a really important part of the work we are doing to keep women and children safe in the Territory. I should also mention, and I think this is relevant in this space as well, that at the moment we are developing the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Family Safety Plan. Of course, Katie, we do know that First Nations women and children are 34 times more likely to be hospitalised due to violence than non-Indigenous women. And so this plan is really important in making sure that we are tackling that crisis in the right way, and we want input into that plan. So consultation is now open and that's being led by SNAICC. So if people want to input into that plan, please head to the SNAICC website and do put your input into that plan for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. It is going to be a really important part of the work we're doing.
HOST: I mean, you said just a moment ago, we know that this is an incredibly serious issue here in the Northern Territory. I mean, just this morning, we are reporting that the Northern Territory Police have now charged a 36 year old man in relation to the death of a 22 year old female in Katherine. Now he's been charged with one count of murder in relation to the death on Monday and one count of aggravated assault for a separate historic incident against the same woman. We were earlier told by the Northern Territory police that this was indeed a domestic violence related incident. I mean, it feels as though here in the Northern Territory right now we are reporting on, we have far too much of this violence happening, but the rate at which women are being killed in the Northern Territory, I mean, it's an absolute disgrace.
THWAITES: Katie you're right. What's happened is a tragedy. And of course, my condolences are with that immediate family and of course, with that whole community in Katherine, because this is devastating. It shouldn't happen. We do have a National Plan to end family violence within a generation, and we're putting $3.4 billion against that plan. We're doing the work now, as I said, on this National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Family Safety Plan, and we're putting some of those, as I was talking about earlier, emergency pieces in place as well - Safe Places for women and children. But of course, I can't pretend that this is problem solved. There is so much more work to be done, and as a federal government, we will keep doing that with the Northern Territory government and with communities and women and all the organisations that are working in this space, because it is a national crisis, and we do need to continue to bring a national focus to it.
HOST: Assistant Minister, we also know that over recent months and years, there have been calls for needs-based funding when it comes to domestic violence here in the Northern Territory. I know the former Labor government here in the NT was certainly pushing for that, the now CLP government certainly pushing for that. Are we ever going to get to a point where there is needs-based funding for the Northern Territory around domestic violence?
THWAITES: We work really closely with the Northern Territory government and will continue to tackle family and domestic violence. And so with the funding that the federal government does provide to the Northern Territory, we do recognise that there are additional needs, particularly around the remoteness of where people are living. And so we do provide significantly more funding to the Northern Territory than to other areas.
HOST: I understand that, but you would have to agree that if women were being murdered at the rate at which they are in the Northern Territory, in any other capital city, I mean it it's appalling. You would have to agree that you guys would be jumping up and down more so than what you are right now and looking at providing more funding or doing things differently.
THWAITES: Katie, it is appalling. We are tackling it in a way and with a focus that it has never received before. As I said, I'm not going to pretend that this is something that you click your fingers and you fix overnight. This is deeply entrenched, and it comes at us from a number of fronts. And so we need to work on a number of fronts to fix it. And that's what we will continue to do. So across the board, the Territory receives more than $183 million at the moment from the Commonwealth to address this at a whole range of levels.
HOST: But a ruling out of that needs-based funding…
THWAITES: No. What I'm saying is we will keep working with the Northern Territory government, and communities, and women and children, to make sure that we are doing everything we can to keep them safe. And this is part of that work and there's more work to be done as well, Katie.
HOST: All right. Now, I know you are also attending a roundtable with the Council on the Ageing here in the Northern Territory. What's on the agenda at that?
THWAITES: I'm looking forward to meeting with older people here in the Territory, talking with them about how our Government is supporting older people with cost of living pressures at the moment. We know, just like for everyone at the moment, the cost of living pressures are very real for older Australians. So we've had some recent indexation to the pension. We’ve been making it easier for people to get access to the Commonwealth Seniors Health Card and the associated benefits with that - that's a card that helps with you particularly with your healthcare costs - and we've increased the limit of income at which you can receive that. So there's a lot more people who are receiving support under that at the moment. I'll also be talking about some of the broader issues that we know affect older people. Issues like whether they want to keep working and how they combine that with the pension. Issues like age discrimination, which we know does play out in the workforce sometimes, and more broadly in our community. So I'm really looking forward to having those discussions, both about work our government's got underway, as well as other work that we need to do well.
HOST: Kate Thwaites, the federal Assistant Minister for Social Security, Ageing and Women, really appreciate your time this morning.