Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Darwin Lord Mayor Kon Vatskalis think roller door legislation needs a re-think

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Darwin Lord Mayor Kon Vatskalis think roller door legislation needs a re-think · 360 with Katie Woolf

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  Speaker 1: It is just twenty minutes away from ten o'clock and
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  Speaker 1: joining me live in the studio as the Lord Mayor
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  Speaker 1: of Darwin, convat Scarlets. Good morning to you, con.
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  Speaker 2: Good morning, and this Wednesday.
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  Speaker 1: It is so what did I say it was Tuesday?
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  Speaker 3: No, I didn't you look worn out. It's been very
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  Speaker 3: busy week, which actually I don't mind. That makes a
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  Speaker 3: week go faster.
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  Speaker 1: Absolutely, it's always good to be busy. Hey, Corn, You
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  Speaker 1: and I have spoken I reckon for the last three
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  Speaker 1: weeks about the issue, if not longer, about the issue
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  Speaker 1: that we've been seeing in Darwin and also further afield
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  Speaker 1: in Palmerston and the likes of Alice Springs and Catherine,
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  Speaker 1: about this alcohol misuse that we are seeing on the streets,
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  Speaker 1: anti social behavior, people sleeping rough. We've heard from the
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  Speaker 1: Northern Territory Police that the domestic violence rates are up.
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  Speaker 1: We heard from one of the Assistant commissioners last week
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  Speaker 1: about what he described as a borring behavior in some situations. Corn,
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  Speaker 1: are you you know I'll ask you again. I know
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  Speaker 1: I asked you this last week, but are you seeing
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  Speaker 1: still increased numbers of people sleeping rough around the city
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  Speaker 1: and what impact is that having on council.
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  Speaker 3: Well, I've been advised last night by a government official
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  Speaker 3: there are about two thousand people from the communities in
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  Speaker 3: town and that's a tribute to the fact that the
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  Speaker 3: wetcisions here. So people can't go back. But even worse,
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  Speaker 3: they couldn't go back at all because of the declaration
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  Speaker 3: of biosecurity zones. Now that's been lifted. Let's see what
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  Speaker 3: will happen. My prediction is some people will go back,
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  Speaker 3: others will not go back. The trend at the moment
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  Speaker 3: is more people to come here, and it's not only alcohol.
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  Speaker 3: Let's let's be clear about that. Alcohol is one reason.
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  Speaker 3: There are other reasons why people coming here. First of all,
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  Speaker 3: what are you going to do in the community. They're
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  Speaker 3: not much there, they're not jobs, housing people living twenty
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  Speaker 3: thirteen a house. Then there's not even alcohol to have
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  Speaker 3: a drink or to go to somewhere. So these factors
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  Speaker 3: combine and make people to drink to the city. We
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  Speaker 3: have to address some of them. Some of the ideas
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  Speaker 3: is let's put clubs in the communities it can work
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  Speaker 3: and communities it can't work in others. Let's communities decide
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  Speaker 3: about that. We've seen Baranga. Now they got the club
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  Speaker 3: various street conditions beautiful. I've been to Thio Islands a
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  Speaker 3: bit to Calcarini. They've got clubs that work really, really well.
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  Speaker 3: The communities are not overrun by drugs. The people they
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  Speaker 3: can access alcohol certain period of time, certain kind of
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  Speaker 3: alcohol that gives them an escape.
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  Speaker 1: But it's got to be a community there has to.
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  Speaker 3: Be a community decision, and it has also to be supported.
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  Speaker 3: We can't just say here's a club and nothing that's
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  Speaker 3: We have to have the support services. The other thing
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  Speaker 3: is everything's in Dowin. Why people cannot access a clinic
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  Speaker 3: in communities, why everything has to be to dowin an
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  Speaker 3: enormous costs. We get them well and then we set
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  Speaker 3: them back to the same conditions to get sick again.
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  Speaker 1: Well, I mean in a lot of those communities, I
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  Speaker 1: do obviously have clinics, but for some things that they
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  Speaker 1: need treatment for, there are people that need to come
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  Speaker 1: into the city. But I take that point that then
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  Speaker 1: they're in the city here in down and they may
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  Speaker 1: be not able to get home or decide to stay
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  Speaker 1: for a little bit longer and then unable to get.
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  Speaker 3: Home exactly, and they get stuck here till they come
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  Speaker 3: here because somebody is sick, the family come to support,
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  Speaker 3: they get to get in the long grass and they
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  Speaker 3: get Now I know there other cities like Kerns which
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  Speaker 3: I want to actually go with some government members to
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  Speaker 3: have a look at it. They've got a ruling that
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  Speaker 3: you can't come to the city unless you've got a
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  Speaker 3: risen and only with an escort and you have to
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  Speaker 3: go back. I want to see how this one work,
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  Speaker 3: how they put the place because he has to be
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  Speaker 3: government regulation, but the government has to look seriously at the.
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  Speaker 2: Whole issue of alcohol and crime.
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  Speaker 3: Now to find out that you can't put it all
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  Speaker 3: the door or your shop just in case somebody breaks
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  Speaker 3: in and there is a fire and that build the truck.
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  Speaker 2: What tough big is, well, don't break in, you don't
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  Speaker 2: start the fire.
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  Speaker 1: It's something that we spoke quite a bit about last
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  Speaker 1: week after after the Funny By supermarket was in the
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  Speaker 1: situation that they were in where they were broken into,
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  Speaker 1: and I know they'd said right from the get go,
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  Speaker 1: you know, before people start saying what you have, roll
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  Speaker 1: the doors on your business, we're not actually able to
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  Speaker 1: do to exactly.
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  Speaker 3: I've been around town and I see drive in shops,
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  Speaker 3: alcohol SOPs.
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  Speaker 2: They've got all the doors.
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  Speaker 3: I don't know. I mean, somebody has to come out
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  Speaker 3: and tell us what the real story is. And at
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  Speaker 3: the same time, it's like give you instructions what you
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  Speaker 3: can do in your house just in case somebody breaks
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  Speaker 3: in and hear themselves.
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  Speaker 1: So do you think that realistics that the government needs
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  Speaker 1: to rethink.
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  Speaker 2: Go back to the drawing board and say, well, it
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  Speaker 2: does work like that.
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  Speaker 3: We have to do something to protect our citizens. And
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  Speaker 3: that's the all of the government.
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  Speaker 2: I know very well.
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  Speaker 3: I was in government, and you know we did everything
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  Speaker 3: we could about alcohol bdas and another example VideA is
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  Speaker 3: really good. It records the people who have done something
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  Speaker 3: wrong they can't get alcohol. But the problem is we've
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  Speaker 3: got the purist about privacy that wouldn't allow you use
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  Speaker 3: the BDR to find who buys large quantities of alcohol regularly,
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  Speaker 3: because that's an indication that something fish is happening there.
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  Speaker 3: I've got a second supply where it comes from.
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  Speaker 1: I want to go back to this issue though, with
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  Speaker 1: the roller doors. So it is something that's obviously been
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  Speaker 1: raised with us on a number of occasions. I'm assuming
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  Speaker 1: you've heard the same when you've been out to those
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  Speaker 1: businesses that aren't able to actually have the roll the
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  Speaker 1: doors installed, what are you saying. Are you calling on
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  Speaker 1: the government to relook at what the legislation is around This.
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  Speaker 2: Does take a lot of brains to think this is
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  Speaker 2: a problem.
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  Speaker 3: Somebody came with this idea, which actually if you go
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  Speaker 3: to ask people, who says, Jesus, this is a dumb idea. Okay,
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  Speaker 3: ask yourself, come on, is it clever idea? Well, I'm
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  Speaker 3: telling you it's not. And if you ask every territorian there,
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  Speaker 3: not only the business owner, every territorian about this, they
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  Speaker 3: will tell you a dumb idea. Sometimes we over regulate
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  Speaker 3: good intentions, don't get me wrong, but in reality it's dumb.
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  Speaker 1: Well con just on again on the antisocial look, I
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  Speaker 1: think it's a very fair call. I think what you're
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  Speaker 1: saying is a really fair call. I can understand that,
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  Speaker 1: you know, I can understand that obviously they want people
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  Speaker 1: to be able to get out if there is a fire,
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  Speaker 1: and what had been pointed out to me last week,
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  Speaker 1: it's also if there is somebody who actually maybe owns
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  Speaker 1: or works in the shop that needs to be able
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  Speaker 1: to get out. Also entry no and if you've got
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  Speaker 1: a shop that's being continuously broken into or continuously having
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  Speaker 1: the same issue, you've got to think, well, what solution
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  Speaker 1: can we find for them here? And I think that's
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  Speaker 1: where the community's at right now.
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  Speaker 3: The issue with the roller dolls, these arguments, they're rabbits.
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  Speaker 3: I mean, I had roller door in my house in
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  Speaker 3: the garage Dore. There was always a way to get
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  Speaker 3: out if there was a fire that wants electricity. It's
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  Speaker 3: a chain you can pull down to lift it up.
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  Speaker 3: A shop will have not one front entry. We have
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  Speaker 3: a back entry or exit because they get the supplies,
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  Speaker 3: so there are ways of people if they are in
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  Speaker 3: to escape, okay, but to have not roller dolls. At
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  Speaker 3: the same time, the police have to spend time and
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  Speaker 3: money to address breakings, the owners have to clean out
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  Speaker 3: of the shop because of breakings, and the fact that
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  Speaker 3: we allow people to break in without control.
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  Speaker 2: I think it's done well.
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  Speaker 1: Corn Just still on this note, but talking about some
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  Speaker 1: of the alcohol issues that we are saying around the place,
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  Speaker 1: are you finding that like our rangers having to, you know,
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  Speaker 1: to clean up excessive amounts of rubbish around the place
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  Speaker 1: at this point in ten as.
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  Speaker 3: We do yesterday we clean hart place. Day before we
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  Speaker 3: clean another place. We have to clean the old car
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  Speaker 3: car yat. Now there's another double matters there, which actually
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  Speaker 3: we are going to step in and tell the owner
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  Speaker 3: to clean up. So we clean up all the time
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  Speaker 3: that people now coming in this point. We clean that up.
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  Speaker 3: In Jiguerly, we cleaned that up. In Bandilla, we clean
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  Speaker 3: that up. We keep cleaning all the time. That's our job.
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  Speaker 3: The problem is it's okay to clean up every time,
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  Speaker 3: you know, the regular rubbish, but people drink and leave
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  Speaker 3: behind a lot of rubbish and bedding and everything else.
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  Speaker 1: Is it getting frustrating?
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  Speaker 2: It is getting frustrated.
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  Speaker 3: I get really angry that we have to have so
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  Speaker 3: many people in town and we can't do nothing about it.
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  Speaker 1: All right, come, let's move along. Because one of the
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  Speaker 1: other things that is happening at the moment, which is
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  Speaker 1: a positive thing, is the my Darwin vouchers.
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  Speaker 2: Have they all gone? Yes, Oh they aren't. They haven't.
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  Speaker 3: One hundred and eighty thousand dollars have been spent to date,
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  Speaker 3: which is great news. That means actually people spent in
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  Speaker 3: a different part and than before. Also we put them
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  Speaker 3: out in a different pattern. Forty dollars every two days.
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  Speaker 3: We spread it out.
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  Speaker 2: We've got six hundred hundred dollars at the table. They're
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  Speaker 2: going to be spent. They're going to be spent locally.
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  Speaker 3: That will be translated to about nearly five million dollars
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  Speaker 3: to the local economy and anybody can use it from
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  Speaker 3: Berrima to Karrama, to coconut growth to Casarina to down
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  Speaker 3: anywhere in the city.
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  Speaker 1: It seems like it's spent a little bit slower this
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  Speaker 1: time round.
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  Speaker 3: As long as they spend the money, I don't care
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  Speaker 3: how they spend them. My idea is these are the
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  Speaker 3: money we put to support the local economy, the local
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  Speaker 3: businesses and give you help as a private rateway.
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  Speaker 1: Are the businesses like it's the feedback from businesses that
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  Speaker 1: you're getting. Are they quite positive about it or are
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  Speaker 1: any of them saying maybe we could do it slightly
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  Speaker 1: different this time or next time? Sorry?
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  Speaker 3: I asked them, And the answer I get is what
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  Speaker 3: a great idea. We had such a busy day over
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  Speaker 3: the weekend, blah blah blah, which means that business is
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  Speaker 3: benefiting because people asking their vouchers.
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  Speaker 2: Now.
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  Speaker 3: The funny thing is there's people now talk to each
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  Speaker 3: other where you can go, and because this shop's got
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  Speaker 3: my down voucher, don't go there because they don't have it.
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  Speaker 2: My wife keeps getting phone cause where to go, and
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  Speaker 2: we go. She goes and.
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  Speaker 3: Spends them, which is really good because she goes your discountants.
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  Speaker 3: She's happy and the business gets your business and their
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  Speaker 3: happy too well.
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  Speaker 1: And this is the thing I do think if it's
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  Speaker 1: able to support some of our local businesses. It's been
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  Speaker 1: a bloody tough couple of years.
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  Speaker 3: It has been very tough, and even now, especially February
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  Speaker 3: March is always a very slow one. We have no
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  Speaker 3: tourists in town. So let's help our local business. If
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  Speaker 3: you don't hear a local business, you don't have a business.
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  Speaker 3: You don't have a business, you don't have.
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  Speaker 1: Employ Hey con a message from one of our listeners
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  Speaker 1: this morning saying Katie, good morning, Katie. Could you please
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  Speaker 1: ask Corn what's happening with the highway in Motel. It's
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  Speaker 1: been closed for some time and it's a bit of
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  Speaker 1: an eyesore. I don't even know where that one is.
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  Speaker 3: Your highway, Sture high a way. As far as you're
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  Speaker 3: coming to town, I don't know. I have to find out.
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  Speaker 3: I think it was bought by a non government organization
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  Speaker 3: to be converted to a celter. But I think the
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  Speaker 3: plans have been stalled. I don't know about it. I
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  Speaker 3: have to find out.
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  Speaker 2: I cannot come back. Yeah you can let us know,
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  Speaker 2: all right.
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  Speaker 1: Com Well, it's always great to have you on the show.
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  Speaker 1: Thank you very much for your time.
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  Speaker 2: This is my pleasure.
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  Speaker 3: Have a good Wednesday and the rest of the week,
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  Speaker 3: and the weekend is nearby, it's not far away.
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  Speaker 1: Good on your context so much.
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  Speaker 2: Few times this morning, so you