Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Property Council of Australia, NT Executive Director Ruth Palmer says 35 per cent of business owners who took part in its survey say they’ve been spat on while trying to move someone on, with 67 per cent receiving threats

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Property Council of Australia, NT Executive Director Ruth Palmer says 35 per cent of business owners who took part in its survey say they’ve been spat on while trying to move someone on, with 67 per cent receiving threats · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: We know that the Property Council of Australia's Northern Territory branch,
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: they've launched a survey. They're conducting this survey really because
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: they say that they've witnessed over recent times the increase
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: in commercial property crime in the Northern Territory and they
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: know that Territorians are feeling the impact that this is
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: having on businesses and the wider community. So joining me
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: on the line right now to tell us a little
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: bit more about this survey is the Chief Executive of
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: the Property Council here in the Northern Territory, Bruth Palmer.
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  Speaker 1: Good morning to you, Ruth.
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  Speaker 2: Good morning Katie, Ruth.
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: Tell me a little bit more about why you've launched
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: this survey.
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: Thanks Katie. Yes, So we launched our survey to basically
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: identify what's sort of happening in businesses around the Northern Territory.
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: So we get daily emails, we get daily phone calls,
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  Speaker 2: daily photos coming through from our members that basically show
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: the level of behavior that's happening within their premises, outside
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: their premises, but also the breakings that are also occurring.
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: We thought it would be really handy to be able
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: to collate this data and have some clean data around
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  Speaker 2: statistics that we could then present to the Chief Minister,
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: because we know that property crime and vehicle test is
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: having that significant impact on the lives of people living here,
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: and that's what we're really talking about, the cost that's involved,
• 1:18
  Speaker 2: but also around how people are actually feeling in their business,
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: but also just in general around the Northern Territory.
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  Speaker 1: So rose who can take part? Is it just people
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  Speaker 1: who own property like commercial property around the territory that
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: are members of the Property Council or who can actually
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: do it?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, So I did send it out to all our
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  Speaker 2: member recks yesterday because basically we only need one response
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  Speaker 2: from each business, otherwise that can change the numbers a
• 1:41
  Speaker 2: bit too much if we've got five people within the
• 1:43
  Speaker 2: business doing the survey. So we send it out to
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  Speaker 2: Property Council members yesterday and already received like an eighty
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  Speaker 2: percent response rate within the first few hours. We did
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  Speaker 2: ask our members to forward it onto businesses that they
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  Speaker 2: know that may have been impacted, just so we could
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  Speaker 2: get a higher sort of data set. And then we've
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: obviously just asked other businesses as well to participate in
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  Speaker 2: the survey. So it is a commercial for business or
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: retail or tenancies that we're sort of looking at because
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  Speaker 2: we're really trying to gauge what's happening around the investment space,
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: but also around the cost that this is putting onto
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: the back pocket of those territories.
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: Yeah, well, look, I think it's interesting. It's going to
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: be interesting to find out because I would imagine that's
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: you know, even business owners like Sentinel that we've spoken
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: about a bit earlier this morning, who've got Casuarina Square
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: now spending an enormous amount of money on you know,
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: on their security and also cleaning up.
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that's right. Intentinal our members of ours, and they
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: have undertaken this survey as well, so you know, like
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: doing an early indication. We've had around eighty responses within
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  Speaker 2: those first couple of hours yesterday, which was great, and
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  Speaker 2: they're already jumping up all through today as well, so
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  Speaker 2: we are hoping to get a good number. But just
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: to give you a little bit of an idea on
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  Speaker 2: the early insights that I've seen, we've had people saying
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: that they've spent over one hundred thousand dollars just on
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: repairs and damages, and some of these people have been
• 3:05
  Speaker 2: hit more than eleven times with crime and property crime,
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  Speaker 2: so that's like over eleven times they've been impacted and
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  Speaker 2: that's costing over one hundred thousand dollars that they've spent
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  Speaker 2: all up, So we did ask the question how much
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  Speaker 2: you think you've spent on repairs. But also what is
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  Speaker 2: shocking to read and to see is that thirty five
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  Speaker 2: percent said that they've been bath on while trying to
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  Speaker 2: sort of remove the behavior, and sixty two percent, sixty
• 3:31
  Speaker 2: seven percent said that they had threats against them or
• 3:34
  Speaker 2: their property. So they're really high numbers that are concerning,
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  Speaker 2: especially with that being spath on. But you know, eighty
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  Speaker 2: one percent have got verbal abuse, seventy five percent experienced
• 3:44
  Speaker 2: urination and fec within their property, with thirty nine percent
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  Speaker 2: of businesses having vehicles stolen. So this is a started
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  Speaker 2: we've only gotten, you know, the first few hours, and
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  Speaker 2: you know, listening to Paul me q before talking about
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  Speaker 2: the response of his survey with the ninety seven and
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: of police, they're saying it's under resource. We had eighty
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  Speaker 2: five percent felt that there was not enough resourcing for
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  Speaker 2: police to deal with this issue as well, so you know,
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  Speaker 2: it is it is correlating to other statistics. So you know,
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  Speaker 2: ninety six percent said there's an impact on the population
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  Speaker 2: growth and ninety seven percent said that it's impacting our tourisms.
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: Goodness, mate, And I mean this is just early days.
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  Speaker 1: How long is the survey opened for Yes, I'll.
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  Speaker 2: Keep it open for a week because we really want
• 4:25
  Speaker 2: to sort of get that that number that we can
• 4:28
  Speaker 2: really sort of have a really good percentage around. But
• 4:30
  Speaker 2: we're also asking for feedback as well, so asking what
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  Speaker 2: people believe that the government should be looking at or
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  Speaker 2: measures that can be taken. You know, I've had comments
• 4:40
  Speaker 2: that in my survey saying staff have required counseling due
• 4:44
  Speaker 2: to witnessing traumatic events. So these had territory staff in
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  Speaker 2: our buildings, you know, trying to do the best things
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  Speaker 2: in their community that are witnessing horrendous crimes or things
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  Speaker 2: that are happening outside of their building. And you know,
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  Speaker 2: one of the last question we did ask was, you know,
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  Speaker 2: do you feel safe? And year sixty five percent of
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  Speaker 2: people said that they don't feel safe in the territory.
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  Speaker 2: And you know, very we asked if you would recommend
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  Speaker 2: the NT to their friends, family, or colleagues, and you know,
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  Speaker 2: very unlikely. Ranked the highest, So I really like the
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  Speaker 2: very confronting results. And when we're talking about a commercial perspective,
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  Speaker 2: seventy one percent said that they've been commercially impacted, and
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  Speaker 2: seventy five percent have said that this has impacted their
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  Speaker 2: decisions commercial decision to further invest, but also to acquire
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  Speaker 2: new property or put on new tenants.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, well, what exactly are you going to do with
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  Speaker 1: the survey results once it's complete. You're obviously going to
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  Speaker 1: take it to the government. I mean, like, how do
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  Speaker 1: you think it's going to help in any way in
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  Speaker 1: terms of shaping their response to some of what is
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: going on at this point.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, so that's why we asked some questions of what
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  Speaker 2: do we believe, Well, what do you believe that Northern
• 5:54
  Speaker 2: Territory government should do or could look at? And there's
• 5:56
  Speaker 2: some really good suggestions coming through on that. So we'll
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  Speaker 2: be presenting all the data that we've got, all the
• 6:02
  Speaker 2: suggestions that have come from that ground up response, but
• 6:05
  Speaker 2: also around just being able to highlight that these are
• 6:09
  Speaker 2: impacting commercial decisions, it is impacting investment into the Northern
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  Speaker 2: Territory and we are at risk of losing our population.
• 6:17
  Speaker 2: So if we've got the data that we're able to
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  Speaker 2: present in a clear, clean way, then I feel that
• 6:24
  Speaker 2: that should go a long way in opening those discussions
• 6:27
  Speaker 2: on further reform. You know, we know we've got the
• 6:29
  Speaker 2: Liquor Act review at the moment, so we'll have this
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  Speaker 2: available for the Chief Minister and the Police Minister to
• 6:36
  Speaker 2: be able to assess while they're looking at that liquor
• 6:39
  Speaker 2: review as well, because these are things that you know,
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  Speaker 2: we need to be able to address. And you know,
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  Speaker 2: the Property Council has always been behind this sort of conversation.
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  Speaker 2: For the last couple of years now, we have been
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  Speaker 2: working very hard to try and ENCOURAGEJAF members to want
• 6:54
  Speaker 2: to stay in the territory, but also you know how
• 6:57
  Speaker 2: we can go about getting the the reform right. Yeah.
• 7:01
  Speaker 2: I think that's the conversation, Bruce.
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: If there is anybody out there listening who's a business owner,
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: they're a property owner, they want to take part in
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: the survey, where can they head to? Yeah?
• 7:12
  Speaker 2: So it is on the Property Council of Australia and
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  Speaker 2: the Facebook page. I did put it up there yesterday
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  Speaker 2: for businesses and also they can always contact me if
• 7:22
  Speaker 2: they need to have a discussion or Yeah. So it
• 7:25
  Speaker 2: is on the Facebook page there and I'm happy to
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  Speaker 2: email it as well. So yeah, the more numbers that
• 7:31
  Speaker 2: we can get, the better. But it's also the more
• 7:33
  Speaker 2: feedback and comment that we can get that can help.
• 7:36
  Speaker 2: Is also really beneficial to the data.
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: Oh absolutely, And look there might be people out there
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: listening thinking, oh it has an impacted me in any way.
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: You're happy to hear from them as well. It doesn't
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  Speaker 1: matter what the feedback is, you're happy to hear us.
• 7:47
  Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly, exactly. And we've had people say no, I
• 7:51
  Speaker 2: haven't had to deal with it, and you know these
• 7:53
  Speaker 2: are business owners, so we are getting a mix. But
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  Speaker 2: I am teen to do a add up after we've
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  Speaker 2: had all the numbers on the actual amount territories have
• 8:01
  Speaker 2: spent on their repairs and damages or even through their security,
• 8:05
  Speaker 2: like we know that there are dog patrols happening in
• 8:08
  Speaker 2: business premises. So it's really about getting all that data
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  Speaker 2: that we can then present and also you know, looking
• 8:15
  Speaker 2: at the measures that the government can look at to
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  Speaker 2: sort of reduce this. And we know that Queensland's now
• 8:20
  Speaker 2: going through the same thing at the moment we're hearing,
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  Speaker 2: you know, the mayors in North Queensland looking at options
• 8:25
  Speaker 2: for a BDR. So this is now becoming an Australia
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  Speaker 2: wide issue. And if we can put some measures in
• 8:31
  Speaker 2: place and sort of be the benchmark or even sort
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  Speaker 2: of be the front runners in getting some really good
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  Speaker 2: reform up, I think that's that we can get in
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  Speaker 2: that same well.
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  Speaker 1: And fundamentally, I think what every like, what needs to
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  Speaker 1: be remembered is that what everybody wants is for the
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  Speaker 1: Northern Territory to thrive. You know, like, this isn't about
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: us trying to talk the territory down or you know,
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: you guys conducting a survey so that you can go
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: to the government to talk the territory down. It's about
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: trying to work through these issues so that we can
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  Speaker 1: be the bustling place we were.
• 9:01
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and that's right. And you know some of the
• 9:03
  Speaker 2: comments I've had is we just want to go back
• 9:05
  Speaker 2: to the territory we had. So you know, these are
• 9:07
  Speaker 2: the comments that are coming through, and we've put the
• 9:10
  Speaker 2: survey out to right across the territory. We've had responses
• 9:12
  Speaker 2: in our springs, Catherine, you know, the Greater daw and
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  Speaker 2: DH and CBD. So it isn't just the CBD isolated issue.
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  Speaker 2: We are making sure we have a business reach across
• 9:22
  Speaker 2: the entire territory so we can get back to spread
• 9:25
  Speaker 2: across our data. But you know, we don't want to
• 9:27
  Speaker 2: see that very unlikely. Is the highest for you know,
• 9:31
  Speaker 2: recommending the Northern Heritory to our friends and families because
• 9:34
  Speaker 2: we all love the territory and we want people to
• 9:36
  Speaker 2: come here. But you know, unfortunately this is this is
• 9:39
  Speaker 2: what we're hearing, and we all need to be able
• 9:42
  Speaker 2: to sort of sort of get on the right page
• 9:44
  Speaker 2: and really sort of try and tidy up this behavior.
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: Well, Ruth Palmer, we always appreciate your time. Thank you
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: very much for coming on the show this morning and
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: having a chat with us.
• 9:54
  Speaker 2: Yeah, thanks a lot, Kate. I look forward to be
• 9:56
  Speaker 2: able to share in the full results when we're finished.
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: Yeah, we'll be care to hear them. Ruth, thanks so
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: much for speaking with us this morning,