Minister for Indigenous Australians
SALLY SARA, HOST: Senator Malarndirri McCarthy is the Minister for Indigenous Australians and is in Alice Springs this morning. I spoke to the Minister a short time ago. Minister, thank you very much for joining me.
MALARNDIRRI McCARTHY, MINISTER FOR INDIGENOUS AUSTRALIANS: Good morning Sally, good to be with you.
HOST: You're in Alice Springs. What's the feeling in the community this morning?
MINISTER: Well, it's pretty calm this morning and that's important Sally, given what occurred last night outside the Alice Springs hospital. There was certainly a lot of anger and certainly a lot of fear and it's important that this morning I think the community of Alice Springs brings this calm because we need calm to come into this space and remember that there's families who are grieving and justice now needs to take its course with Mr Lewis now in custody.
HOST: What's your message to members of the community who may have been involved in that violence?
MINISTER: I would certainly say to families, there's been absolutely deep trauma and we're still going through that Sally. Whether you're family or not and have been a part of the volunteers walking, whether you're a police officer, who's been there for days and days, everyone is impacted by what has occurred here in this past week and it's important that we just look out for one another. I will certainly be talking with leadership groups today around Alice. We're going to come together at around 10 o'clock to meet with Congress, with the Tangentyere Council, with Northern Territory Police, just to sort of be together. There needs to be calm and there needs to be a proper process now in terms of this criminal investigation and it must not be jeopardised by foolishness in terms of the work that has to be done for police and by police to get this investigation done appropriately. The police have done a tremendous job here with the Alice Springs community and families, and I totally understand the deep grief that people are experiencing. But we do now have Mr Lewis in custody and he has been taken to Darwin in order for calm to be restored here in Alice Springs.
HOST: Was he taken to Darwin overnight?
MINISTER: Early this morning, I understand.
HOST: Do you think that was a good decision to try and bring some calm in Alice Springs?
MINISTER: Absolutely. It's important. The Police Commissioner's doing what he knows is the best. He's from Alice Springs, but even he's said in his three decades of policing that this is an incredibly difficult time. So, the important thing, Sally, is to de-escalate the situation. People are deeply traumatised, and what we need to do now is ensure there's appropriate counselling, there's appropriate cultural work that's done with Warlpiri, with family groups and with those families who are not here that are so much a part of this, like as far up as Gurindji Country, in Wave Hill, they're very much a part of this as well. So, there are people across the Northern Territory who are really hurting. And what I want to do today is make sure that appropriate counselling, trauma counselling, interpretive language, in terms of being able to reach out to people and the appropriate messaging is out there and that we have an opportunity here to heal together.
HOST: Earlier, I spoke with the president of the Northern Territory Police Association, Nathan Finn. He had this to say, "a show of force had to be maintained by our police force. And I encourage all our members to use whatever force they need to do to protect themselves and protect the community as well. And they'll have our support in doing their police job that they need to do." Are you worried that things could still escalate further in Alice Springs?
MINISTER: Well, our job today is to make sure that we de-escalate all of this and the appropriate communication is going out in terms of the discussions that we can have around Alice, around the town camps, with Elders, certainly with peacekeeping groups, whose role is to assist in these circumstances from a cultural perspective. We're going to keep trying to do that. It's tough, Sally. People, as I said, are really deeply traumatised, hurting, angry, because we've lost a beautiful little girl and a lot of people want to blame people. And I just think that now we have to just let justice take its course. Mr Lewis has been arrested and taken into custody, and we have to see the appropriate investigation take place. But I do want to say this Sally, when we were searching for our beautiful little girl here, the whole of Alice Springs came together. Hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of people walked the Todd River. They walked and scoured the bushland and scrub to look for this beautiful girl. And that coming together of this community is what I am going to keep calling for. We need to stay together as a community, even through this, and come out the other side of this. We have a mother still grieving, wanting to bury her child, and let's be there for her.
HOST: Coalition Senator Jacinta Nampijimpa Price has written an opinion piece in the Australian today and she says for too long there's been a reluctance to speak plainly about the conditions in and around town camps in Alice Springs. Is it time for more of a conversation about that? What do you think?
MINISTER: Now's not that time, Sally. Now's not that time at all. And now's the time to come together as a community in sorry business and be with this mum and her son as they prepare to bury their daughter.
HOST: Will the federal government be offering any further assistance or sending any further resources to Alice Springs at this time, Minister?
MINISTER: We're definitely here. We have been here all the time and we've been beside the Northern Territory community and Alice Springs community and as I've said to both Aboriginal organisations, whether it's Congress, whether it's Tangentyere Council or the Northern Territory police in their search, whether it's the hospital here, I have said we're here, let us know what you need. And they know that.
HOST: Minister, thank you very much for your time this morning.
MINISTER: Thank you.
