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ADAM STEER: Oxford Dictionary defines fairness as impartial and just treatment, and that’s what the Northern Territory Council of Social Services are calling on both sides of politics to be during the upcoming Northern Territory election. Recently appointed NT costs chief executive Sally Stevens. Good morning, Sally. Welcome back to the programme are asking for fairness and equity in this election What does that mean?
SALLY SIEVERS: In the NT there are such large disparities. And so you’re talking supercars. Um, and then I’m going to events where we’re talking about people in Central Australia not having enough money to keep the power on for their homes. And so it’s really about across the Northern Territory community, people who are in different circumstances, getting what they need for themselves and their families, um, to be able to thrive. And so the Northern Territory is a place which,is great for everyone to live.
AS: You’ve listed a couple of key policy and budget reforms. NTCOSS wants to see in this election. Can you explain them? What are they?
SS: The major one really. And the all pervasive issue for the Northern Territory is, , really strengthening our approach to family violence so that women and children are safe. So there’s the cost of actually continuing to provide, pointy end services. So that’s, refugees and transitional housing. But there’s also the real cost for the long term change of the prevention and early intervention measures that we need to put in place, because with domestic and family violence, we know that it impacts on, the biggest group of people accessing homelessness services. The costs to our, hospital system, the lost days of people not being able to attend work. And so for us, that’s actually the number one, issue that needs to be dealt with because it has such pervasive impact across our community. Yeah.
AS: And this is about accommodation, particularly isn’t it crisis.
SS: No, it’s not. No. So one of the things that, you know, if you talk about indexation, yes, the real money that’s going to those services has declined in the last, five years. But really to make the long term difference, we have to invest in all of those other things which enable us as a community to deal with and prevent domestic and family violence. So we have to do that early prevention work. We have to work with communities about what will stop, domestic and family violence in the Northern Territory.
AS: Yeah, but we’ve been covering this for quite a while in terms of, uh, crisis accommodation. Where is the crisis accommodation for women and children to go? Where is the crisis accommodation for teenagers to go if they are escaping that situation? And in fact, where is the accommodation for people coming in, particularly from communities into town to, uh, seek services or seek medical appointments? All of those that lack of that accommodation, doesn’t that bleed into some of the causation behind domestic violence?
SS: So there are 4 or 5 components to actually address domestic and family violence comprehensively. And yes, investing in housing options so people don’t have to return to violent situations so that young people can be in places where they’re safe so that, you know, they’re not out on the streets, at night because their residents are unsafe. All of those things are needed. But there’s actually like a really comprehensive approach and a longer term approach, because that’s the point here. And that’s when something’s gone wrong. What we really need to invest in is the things at the prevention. And if things are going a little bit wrong, trying to nip things in the bud, , as early as possible.
AS: You say you want to invest $180 million over five years into domestic family and sexual violence prevention early intervention, response and healing. I mean, how much money is earmarked for that, as you understand at the moment?
SS: So I think my calculations being new in the sector is, um, when the piece of work was done, the mapping piece of work was done. There was 38 million being invested. There’s then been another 33 million, so 10 more in this. And so about 68 million of that. 180 million is what’s been committed by the Northern Territory. But also noting it’s not just a Northern Territory investment. There needs to be substantially more investment, um, from the Commonwealth in addressing this issue
AS: You’re an ABC radio Darwin. Adam Steer with you this morning. Northern Territory Council of Social Services chief executive Sally Sievers is your special guest. Let’s move to some of the other wish lists, including fixing the concession scheme and improved protection for renters. Tell me about that.
SS: Yeah. So two things. One of the things that’s just really interesting moving into this space, Adam, is that if we’re talking about there being, you know, only a certain amount of money available for concession schemes, the ask from NTCOSS is that it’s targeted. So the people who need the assistance the most are the people who receive the concessions. And so that’s in relation to the general concession scheme expanding it out. So people who are on JobSeeker and Youth Allowance are able to receive it. but also updating concession schemes. So you’ll notice that NT motor vehicle registration concession scheme, it’s been at $77 since 2009. And it hasn’t increased as the cost of insurance has increased. And so that needs to just increase to keep up with the cost of registration. Yeah. Those things seem to be, you know, it should be yearly indexed to the cost going up. Surely Yeah. And that’s generally across the board for the community sector. That’s the issue in relation to whether the community and social sector is sustainable at all, because in fact, actually there hasn’t apart from some indexation last year for frontline services, there hasn’t been indexation for this sector. And so I’m totally surprised having come into it, I thought the legal sector was pretty dire. But the community sector is on its knees really. So without, indexation and the removal of efficiency dividends for the community sector, for, lots of the sector, it is nearly unsustainable.
AS: Domestic and family violence estimated cost $600 million per year in the Northern Territory and social health and economic costs. And you’re only asking for 180 million over five years for prevention and support Why not more?
SS: so that’s the minimum. So that was the work that was done by, you know, a particular body. But that was the NT government’s own work, said that the minimum for that sector was 180. So I’m not saying that’s the sector couldn’t do with substantial more.
AS: NT Council of Social Services chief executive Sally Sievers is your guest on 105.7 ABC Radio Darwin. Law and order will be a big talking point in this upcoming Northern Territory election. Interestingly, you’ve called for an increase to the minimum age of criminal responsibility up to 14. You’ve also said you want to fund programmes not prisons. Tell me about those two.
SS: Yeah. No. So in relation to, you know, our justice system, it’s really clear in the Northern Territory that, prisons aren’t keeping us safe and we need to break the cycle and make our community safer with solutions that work. And what we know are the solutions that work are early intervention. So drug and alcohol treatment programmes mental health programmes things that stop people entering the prison system. We also know that things like post-release programmes work as well. So life skills training and job support, they’re the sorts of things that cut reoffending and reduce, you know, future contact with the criminal justice. And basically they keep our community safe. So if we give local families, local communities, community services, the resources they can address the causes of crime.
AS: What do you say, though, to the many people yelling at the radio now saying, no, it is out of hand. I mean, I know we have the Northern Territory, we have some of the highest incarceration rates in the world, and we have some of the highest recidivism rates in the country. We know that more prisons are going to be built. What do you say to people yelling at the radio now going, no, we don’t need programmes We need the big stick approach. We need to lock more people up.
SS: Yeah, but they get out Adam. That’s the thing. So that’s a short term solution. what we know is it’s not the solution because it hasn’t worked. It’s not keeping the community safer. People don’t stay in prison or children don’t stay locked in detention forever. In fact, what we need to do is actually put that investment back in our community so that we keep the whole community safe. So the people who may have drug and alcohol problems are given the help that they need. Children who make mistakes actually are given the assistance they need so that they continue with their, growth and their development. So the prisons, the police, they’re all the short term quick fixes or being sold as quick fixes. But what we actually know is if in fact prisons and detention of children worked, we should be the safest place in the world. It does not work. And so we need to do something different. We need to work with communities, the community sector and come up with long term solutions. So, you know, lots of the situation that we’re in now, and I’ve lived here for over 30 years, are due to the lack of investment in children and family services, lack of investment in drug and alcohol programmes and working with, you know, the sector, the mental health sector, so that people who are experiencing mental ill health are, given the best support that they possibly can be.
AS: Yeah. But there’s a perception in community that there is no consequence, particularly for young people doing the wrong thing.
SS: So the thing about that is if they’re in custody and then they’re harmed, they don’t come out, being able to cope in the community. So what we need to do is work with community for community to have those consequences. And so there’s a campaign called Smarter Justice, for a Safer Community. And in that they talk about some of the programmes So one of the films there is a young woman who,nicks a bottle of grog from the Tennant Creek pub, and then the publican works with her and her family and older women in that community for her to come into the pub and do the cleaning and the tidying up. And so she works with her community for the solution. So the community actually holds the young people to account. So actually harming children by them being in detention or harming adults by being in prison where there are no programmes that’s not the way forward. We actually need to ensure that people who, as you say, that there are consequences, but the consequences are around working with their families and their communities for reform.
AS: Sally Sievers, we’ve run out of time. Thank you so much for your chat this morning. We’ll talk again soon, no doubt. Yeah. Great. Thanks.