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Katie Woolf spoke with Bus and Coach Drivers Association Inc. Queensland-NT Secretary Darren Dixon · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Three sixty with Katie Wolf.
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  Speaker 2: Join the conversation with Katie Wolf. You are our eyes
• 0:05
  Speaker 2: and ears in the territory Mixed one oh four point nine.
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  Speaker 2: There has been some reports and we've certainly received some
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  Speaker 2: emails in recent times. So the last couple of weeks,
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  Speaker 2: i'd have to say about some concerns that people have
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  Speaker 2: had while on public buses. Now joining me on the
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  Speaker 2: line is the Queensland and Tie Secretary of the Bus
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  Speaker 2: and Coach Drivers Association. It is Darren Dixon. Good morning
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  Speaker 2: to you, Darren, Morning Joy Darren. I understand that there
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  Speaker 2: has been some concerns when we talk about drivers safety
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  Speaker 2: on our public bus system. What has been reported to
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  Speaker 2: you guys in recent times.
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  Speaker 1: From our perspective, we've zeen an increase. We're getting a
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  Speaker 1: spike at this time in time, we would like to
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  Speaker 1: be conservative in our estimates. Estimation in the process. We're
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  Speaker 1: saying that, you know, we're getting three a week. The
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  Speaker 1: driver is a bit more focused on saying they're getting
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  Speaker 1: one every second day. They're saying that there's an increase
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  Speaker 1: in the assaults for them, they're feeling a lot more
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  Speaker 1: traumatized by the assaults. They're saying the assaults are a
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  Speaker 1: lot more violent than they've experienced before, and there's a
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  Speaker 1: lot of heightened awareness about that rise in assaults.
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  Speaker 2: Darren, what kind of assaults are we talking? Are we
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  Speaker 2: talking verbal? Are we talking physical?
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  Speaker 1: Yeah? The driver is, unfortunately or are you driving around
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  Speaker 1: in cages now? And I'm sure that's no surprise to
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  Speaker 1: the territory residents as they see the buses and travel
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  Speaker 1: on the buses. But even those cages aren't stopping the
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  Speaker 1: drivers from being spat on, having fluids thrown on. A
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  Speaker 1: One poor driver I spoke to in the weee how
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  Speaker 1: as of last week, thought he'd had lighter feels thrown
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  Speaker 1: on him. It turns out that when we had that analyzed,
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  Speaker 1: it was an alcoholic mouth flash. But that's beside the point,
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  Speaker 1: because the smell for the driver triggered a whole lot
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  Speaker 1: of insecurity that come by the smell of it not
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  Speaker 1: being like a softrin that they're normally having to wear.
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  Speaker 1: They're concerned that they're raising these matters, they're asking to
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  Speaker 1: be taken off the road. The shortages of drivers mean
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  Speaker 1: that the companies aren't able to take the drivers off
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  Speaker 1: the day, so they're left being forced to drive with
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  Speaker 1: essentially still wearing the trauma that last asst.
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  Speaker 2: And Darren, sorry, just getting my breath there. What is
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  Speaker 2: the response that you're receiving from the government at this
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  Speaker 2: point in time when those drivers are really raising some
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  Speaker 2: of the concerns that they've got about about their safety.
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  Speaker 1: The disheartening thing is is that the non territory government
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  Speaker 1: essentially saying to us that they don't have to take
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  Speaker 1: on the responsibility of driver or passenger safety. Yeah, they're
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  Speaker 1: saying that, yeah, and I'm quite happy to send you
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  Speaker 1: this response from entry tegment that says that I'm just
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  Speaker 1: fund It goes on to say that the anxiety and
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  Speaker 1: stress are not injuries that would entitle a driver or
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  Speaker 1: a passenger to cover compensation from an incident on a bus,
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  Speaker 1: that a reasonable for seable incident is not sufficient to
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  Speaker 1: establish a claim and negligent on behalf of the employer,
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  Speaker 1: and the negligence doesn't require the existence of a breach
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  Speaker 1: of legally enforceable duty of care. Whilst the apartment treats
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  Speaker 1: are transport take you with the utmost seriousness, the territory
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  Speaker 1: does not owe a due to your care to take
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  Speaker 1: reasonable steps to the even harm to drivers or passengers
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  Speaker 1: on buses.
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  Speaker 2: So I don't understand how they don't have a duty
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  Speaker 2: of care here, because I mean, if we're talking about
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  Speaker 2: our public bus network, surely they do to some degree.
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  Speaker 1: And that's what we've been arguing since twenty twenty with
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  Speaker 1: the Northern Territory government, with the Department of Infrastructure, with
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  Speaker 1: the minister. But we go around in circles. It's the
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  Speaker 1: old story of the chicken. In the end, the contractor
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  Speaker 1: says that he's not responsible because it's a territory government,
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  Speaker 1: and the territory government says it's not responsible because it's
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  Speaker 1: a contractor. The problem is that drivers and the passengers
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  Speaker 1: are the ones we're in the brunt of.
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  Speaker 2: This process, and how I mean, what kind of impact
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  Speaker 2: does it have on some of those people that are
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  Speaker 2: on our bus network, because it is obviously it's the drivers,
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  Speaker 2: but it is also the those passengers and presumably you know,
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  Speaker 2: in some cases it makes people quite scared.
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  Speaker 1: And unnually they should be. Drivers are locked in the cage,
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  Speaker 1: they're told they're not allowed to get out to assist
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  Speaker 1: a passingly because in doing so they expose themselves to
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  Speaker 1: more harm. The drivers and the tos are reporting that
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  Speaker 1: powers are being reduced. They're not allowed to move people on.
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  Speaker 1: Now there was a new ruleg just recently passed that
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  Speaker 1: they can't ask people who are causing trouble to move on.
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  Speaker 1: The bus drivers are saying they're calling to the toos,
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  Speaker 1: but the toos are already too busy and they can't
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  Speaker 1: get there, and the police are struggling to get there
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  Speaker 1: as well, and they're calling the toos to try to
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  Speaker 1: give them more flexibilities. So it's a circle of potential failure.
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  Speaker 2: What is the answer here, because you know, I just
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  Speaker 2: think our bus drivers deserve to be safe in their jobs.
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  Speaker 2: There is no doubt about that, as do all of
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  Speaker 2: those passengers. So what is the answer here do you think, Darren?
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  Speaker 1: Well, it needs to be a bigger approach on accountability
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  Speaker 1: right now. We would argue that there needs to be
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  Speaker 1: a mandatory reporting in this contract, so every incident report
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  Speaker 1: goes into the Department of Infrastructure that they're required to
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  Speaker 1: put out a quarterly report on the number of assaults
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  Speaker 1: and incidences that are reported across the networks for the
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  Speaker 1: Northern Territory. By getting that data, we can then stuff
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  Speaker 1: analyze the potential issues that need to be addressed right
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  Speaker 1: now to bid. The companies are obligated to provide that
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  Speaker 1: for the government. The government's obligated to share that with
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  Speaker 1: the public. So we're relying on the stats to come
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  Speaker 1: out of the teos, but that's not indicative of the
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  Speaker 1: reports the drivers are providing. The drivers are asking that
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  Speaker 1: they know that there's which runs are potentially threatening to them,
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  Speaker 1: and they know what times they are, and they're asking
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  Speaker 1: for the government to put in the money to put
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  Speaker 1: the toos on the buses or pay for private beyond
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  Speaker 1: the buses to protect.
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  Speaker 2: The pump yep to give them that additional support, which really,
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  Speaker 2: you know, I know it would be tough to have
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  Speaker 2: to have them on all of those routes. However, they
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  Speaker 2: need to ensure that our drivers and passengers are kept safe.
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  Speaker 1: Yes, it's a universal duty of care. No one should
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  Speaker 1: have to work in a cage, no one should lose
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  Speaker 1: their job for trying to protect another person, and everybody
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  Speaker 1: should have the right to trouble freely without being the
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  Speaker 1: opportunity for being assaulted or abused or threatened.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, well, Darren, it sounds like a really it sounds
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  Speaker 2: like a difficult situation. We might see whether we're able
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  Speaker 2: to get the department on about this and get a
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  Speaker 2: bit further detail, because, like I say, I think it's
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  Speaker 2: really important that everybody gets to work safely and is
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  Speaker 2: able to stay save while they are at work. But
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  Speaker 2: this is also about that passenger safety.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah. And the bus drivers will tell you they're focused
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  Speaker 1: on their passengers. Yeah, and the passenger safety that's what
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  Speaker 1: they really want to care about. Yeah, but they become
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  Speaker 1: the drunt of course social behavior.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah. Well, I really appreciate your time this morning. Darren Dixon,
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  Speaker 2: Queensland NT, Secretary of the Bus and Coach Drivers Association,
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  Speaker 2: Thanks so much for having a chat with me. Thank
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  Speaker 2: thank you. Tell you what you know, we have got
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  Speaker 2: so many wonderful bus drivers around the territory. I think
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  Speaker 2: anybody you know that that has been on Look, I
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  Speaker 2: haven't been on a public bus for quite some time,
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  Speaker 2: but when you talk about those buses that are driving
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  Speaker 2: our kids to and from school and that kind of thing,
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  Speaker 2: they do a fantastic job and wonderful people. And I
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  Speaker 2: think that it is really important that whether you are
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  Speaker 2: driving a bus for you know, privately, or whether you're
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  Speaker 2: driving one that is a public bus network and on
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  Speaker 2: that network, we've got to keep those drivers safe. It
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  Speaker 2: is so important, and it's also so important to keep
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  Speaker 2: our passengers safe on the public bus network.