Northern Territory

As government legislatures, politicians sort of, you know, talk about they're tough on crime and, you know, one-fought-size-fits-all approach, mandatory sentencing, et cetera, just it's taught me they generally produce sort of poor outcomes and...

You know, another thing that has always stayed with me, and this happened within the last decade, and it might still even be the case, but some people remember some of the stuff in the Northern Territory.

And for me, the gobsmacking statistic that came out of that was child detention in the Northern Territory, 100% were Indigenous.

And it's like...

How does that work? You know, something seriously crook with sort of, you know, the criminal justice system, if you've got one ethnic group making up the entirety of that sort of, you know, that child population that is in detention.

36% also admit they'd had to travel more than two hours to give birth.

And in the Northern Territory, that figure skyrockets to 91%.

It's not because they don't know how to look after their health.

They're receiving less health care and less policy that fits their purpose.

And while Millat's victims were eventually found, the same cannot be said for Peter Falconio.

In July 2001, British backpackers Peter Falconio and Joanne Lees were travelling through the Northern Territory when they were attacked near Barrow Creek.

Bradley John Murdoch was convicted in 2005 of Falconeo's murder and of assaulting and attempting to abduct Lees.

But Falconeo's body has never been recovered, and Murdoch died in July 2025 without revealing where he left the remains.

For the family, Murdoch's death meant that the man convicted of killing Falconio took whatever knowledge he possessed to his grave.

Police, however, made one more public appeal.

In July 2026, ahead of the 25th anniversary of Falconio's disappearance, Northern Territory Police released a previously unseen footage of officers questioning Murdoch in the final weeks of his life.

In the new footage released by Northern Territory Police, filmed three weeks before Murdoch's death, two police officers can be seen questioning the killer in the Alice Springs Correctional Center.

Well, there's been several Northern Territory schools that have celebrated major milestones this year across the Territory.

And the latest is the Tennant Creek High School, which over the weekend celebrated its 40-year anniversary.

And while you'd think a school in the heart of the Barclay may not have as colourful a history as some...

Tennant Creek High School has welcomed some pretty high-profile visitors over the years for a humble school in the Northern Territory.

And joining us now is the principal, Petrina Haywood.

Good morning to you, Petrina.

Which regions are you hoping to target here? We'd love to target around Winton, Matabara, anywhere up to Heornden.

We should have cattle coming out of the Northern Territory as well, you know, being a good centre point between Rama and sort of the Northern Territory, Longreach.

Traditionally, a lot of Northern Territory cattle are sold here.

But, you know, whether it be Stonehenge or, you know, some areas sort of south along the way down towards the channels, anywhere really.

But, you know, obviously you're not going to bring cattle to the east back to the west.

And we've seen in the areas that these have rolled out, it's been really successful.

And so is, like obviously we've got a number of schools here in the NT, is it just about getting additional support from the Northern Territory Government, the Federal Government? What would, you know, what would it look like to try and expand it further?

Look, as I said, everybody needs to play a role in supporting those that are struggling and especially with programs such as the school breakfast program.

So it's not just about government, but we need business, we need community partners and those people in the community that can.

Well, I think I kind of made that point last time I was on the week that was, Katie, and that at the end of all of this, you know, there's going to be serious questions asked about one of these men.

The other point I think that's relevant to the point you're making is Luke Gosling said agreed eventually to stand down from his roles as Special Envoy for Defence Veterans Affairs in Northern Australia after the breach of bail charge was laid.

So he didn't see the need and clearly the Prime Minister didn't see the need after the first charge was laid for him to stand down.

It was only after that breach of bail charge was laid that Luke Gosling then said he was standing down from those roles.

We've got weather up next, but in the meantime, Rural Business Support SANT has secured $11.8 million in funding from the federal government for another five years.

It's part of the recent $100 million nationally announced by the federal government, and it's going to allow the organisation to continue to offer free financial counselling across South Australia and the Northern Territory.

But they do a broad range of things as well, and CEO Brett Smith says the team is delighted to have secured the funding.

It's really important that we secure that funding, firstly, for the tenure of our team who work really, really hard day to day, right across the state, across many different issues.

And houses in Queensland aren't doubling necessarily double the growth of a smaller unit in Bondi or Manly or whatever, and vice versa.

Otherwise, you'd all go to the Northern Territory and buy a million acres for a million dollars or whatever it costs, because you think, oh, I've got a million acres, surely that's going to grow by more.

Valid quality rather than quantity.

Thank you, Chris.