Kimberley Crime Wave

The Kimberley Crime Wave gets mentioned but amongst it all is the now most high profile.
A 17 year old & an 18 year old allegedly stealing a motor vehicle and deliberately, wilfully chasing police vehicles with a view to do damage and/or harm...with easily proven prior intent.

What was said on the radio was...

• There are other members of their "crew" that range from 10 to 18 years of age
  
  
• They film their exploits & post them on Social Media (apparently on FB & TikTok)
  
  
• There is not argument that Police are doing the best they can with what they've got.
  
  
• They do not consider themselves un WA Law nor Aboriginal Lore
  
  
• They are out of control, a police officer has been injured
  
  
• It is consider the judiciary response is problematic and there is no consequences. No real lasting punishment, not real lasting deterrant, just very small amounts of time spent in remand where the offences by those held is on temporary pause.
  
  
• Aboriginal elders are unable to intervene and control them
  
  
• Other younger kids are on the streets all hours
  
  
• There are large & very real fears these offenders may cause the death of themselves, a member of the public or the police
  
  
• There are very real fears frustrated locals living in fear may take the law into their own hands and the offenders may get injured or killed, or the vigilante might get killed or injured whilst trying to "deal with them outside the law". It also means its possible a frustrated member of the public may end up in court or court & jail.
  
  
• Everyone is asking where are the parents, what consequences should the offenders & their parents face. In the case of the 17 & 18 year old, it's likely the parents, especially the 18 year old's parents will have absolutely no legal responsibility. The 18 year old is a legal adult.
  
  
• 
  

So in the WA Upper House the Hon Rosie Sahanna MLC (WALabor member for Mining & Pastoral) said 

"I refer to an ABC interview given by the Leader of the Opposition, Mia Davies, in Broome. She was asked if they were in government, where they would start, and she responded, according to my notes, “We are solutions orientated. We want to talk to the community about what they think will work, what we have seen work in other jurisdictions and meet other people to gather the information and provide a report.” I think everybody does that. It is just all a talkfest—report, report, report"  

Odd thing for Hon Rosie Sahanna to bring up, she is in the Government, a government that has been in power since March 2017. She has been in Parliament herself since March 2021. She has had every opportunity to do or say something both within & outside the Parliament on Youth Crime in the far north. Its the opposition's role to take the Government to task, to see the best results occur. 
Hon Rosie Sahanna MLC should probably take the government departments to task, the minister responsible or have been on board with them and shaping the solutions in her nearly 12 months in office or in her previous employment just prior to joining Parliament as Student Support and Counsellor, Djaringo RTO, 2014 onwards & Operations Manager, Nirrumbuk Aboriginal Corporation...in that capacity with & to the previous & current Mining & Pastoral members

For her to say "I think everybody does that. It is just all a talkfest—report, report, report" is rather telling. Its someone else's fault but she's just admitted the current government that she's a member of has for the last 5 years has done nothing but do talkfests & reports with seemingly no positive outcomes at all. 
Straight away I knew she's going to have to have a follow up commentary the next day to try & lessen the flak she unwittingly fired at her own party. Other members will have to make sure they give up time to allow Rosetta to try & fix this for Hansard.

She went onto say the very telling words

"Aboriginal people have been the most microscopic people on the earth. Everybody wants to have a bit of them. They want to write reports, and where do they end up? They end up under the carpet, mate."
Well whats the solution Rosie, there's the unlawful behaviour that will highly likely result in a death or deaths & there's your claim nothing is done except produce reports that go "under the carpet, mate."

So there's a problem that goes back a long way, long before she entered Parliament but have not been addressed or fixed since WALabor formed government nearly 4 years ago.
Intruiging view.

She went onto say...
"Anyway, one thing that has been raised during these forums is funding cycles. That is what the Leader of the Opposition has said. We have lots of non-government organisations delivering funding programs in the region, but they are only provided in one or three-year contracts"

So the problem is funding is only on 3 year cycles. There's lots of "non-government organisations delivering funding programs in the region"

Really?? Well who are they, what are they supposed to deliver apart from delivering funding programs, what are the programs & why are they not working? Because no progress can be made in a 3 year timeframe? So the 17 year old only began his/her alleged crime spree in the last 12 months and it can only be saved over an unspecified time that exceeds 3 years of funding?

Which NGOs only had a programme with 3 year funding, that ran out & wasn't renewed that then caused this current crime spree?
You have to remember, WALabor has been in power since March 2017 and they could & would have have renewed funding whenever it came due in the last (almost 5 years).

Hmmm, WALabor pointing the fault of inaction & funding timing at WALabor & then blaming the opposition. Pretty incredible position for Rosie Sashanna to not only hold but to say out loud

She then finished off (as time had run out) with "These are long-term problems and need long-term solutions. Did you just wake up from a deep sleep? It has always been a one-year to three-year contract."

Long term problems are they? How long? Map them out so they can be followed, measured & reviewed. How long does it take to get a child not yet a teenager to stop breaking the law? 
MORE THAN 3 YEARS???

Who exactly is asleep because those wanting longer funding cycles seem to want an open cheque with no performance metrics & no expectation of results under 3 years because its a "long-term problem & 1 to 3 year funding is not going to work.

Hon Rosie Sahanna MLC went onto say...

"Always. It has never been any different. We are talking about issues that have been around for a very long time. They did not just happen in the last six months—a very long time. All of a sudden, there is an election coming up, and members of the Liberal and National Parties are out there canvassing the Kimberley, trying to see if they can find solutions to the issues. They are not going to find them. As an Aboriginal person who has been here, working with the youth, I can stand here and say that this is the result of decades of failed social— can I finish?

Issues that have been around a very long but not determined time but long than 6 months. 
WE KNOW

If politicians heading up north to talk with locals to try & find solutions is electioneering then her own minister is doing what up there? By her own account it must also be electioneering and he hasn't fixed the problem causing funding cycles if Rosie can be believed. He's going up their to talk, talk, talk and put reports under the carpet.

I am amazed she is so angry at governments about funding long term solutions to long term problems when its her government that she is a member of who have been responsible for nearly 5 years...and yet somehow tries to blame it on the opposition or the previous Government that left office as the Government nearly 5 years ago.

So apparently "this is the result of decades of failed social..." 
Failed social what?
If parents have no role in a child's raising, no parental guidance, structure, instilling values of right & wrong it's decades of failed social what?
Social funding? 

It may well be a result of decades of failed solutions that perhaps should not have began in the first place. 

If there are no parents, no structure, no respect for the law, no respect for traditional lore, no ability of the elders to step in & get kids back on track then changing it from 1-3 year funding cycles to unlimited money until the 12th of never is not going to help.

If there is no strong family units, parenting and raising kids well and the kids turn to US Gang culture as an outlet for belonging, worth, direction & purpose then no funding will help anyone except those wishing to be a regional bureacrat managing the funding, delievring the funding...the funding that won't help.

If a strong family unit is not a solution then just stop now.
Send a message to the elders & whoever in the community is also interested and tell them...
You have 6 months to get together & get your solutions sorted. If after 6 months you cannot agree on a suite of solutions, then the authorities will enter the region with massive Police Task Force just as they would if it were an Outlaw Motorcycle Gang in Perth and resolve this matter quickly & decisively with brand new tailor made legislation for Northern offenders just as the Government is doing with Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs.

Set a date, ensure its spread throughout the region. Let their be no mistake, no surprise the hammer is coming. You want to prevent that, get it sorted yourself before someone gets killed. 
We do not have the luxury of time & long term highly funded cycles. Someone could get killed today or tomorrow. YOU CANNOT WAIT FOR THE LONG TERM SOLUTIONS. 
May already be time for Rosie to resign because being an Upper House legislator may not be her thing.
She may sadly be nearly as useless as Kyle McGinn MLC.

Hon Rosie Sahanna MLC's comments below from Hansard.