Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Katie spoke with Darwin's MAd Snake cafe owner Sam Weston, a Vet himself, about his thoughts on the Last Post being played at protests

Transcript

Katie spoke with Darwin's MAd Snake cafe owner Sam Weston, a Vet himself, about his thoughts on the Last Post being played at protests · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: It is just on twenty minutes after ten o'clock. Now
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: I know I've received numerous messages over the last couple
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: of days from people quite concerned that anti mandate ralliers
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: will gathered at the Sanotaph on the weekend, and also
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: played the last post. Now I read in the paper
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: today that a Darwin veteran has called for calm after
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: a social media post well caused a stir among some
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: of those protesters.
• 0:26
  Speaker 2: Sam Weston, you may know him.
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: He owns the Mad Snake Cafe in the CBD and
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: he has done a lot with veterans and continues to
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: and his one himself and he joins me on the
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: line this morning.
• 0:38
  Speaker 2: Good morning to you, Sam, Good morning Katie. Thanks so
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: much for your time this morning.
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: Now, Sam, I understand that well that you'd posted on
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: Facebook on Monday asking for the Senotaph to not be
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: used as a prop and well for the last post
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: to be reserved for the use by the military.
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: Tell me exactly what happened.
• 1:03
  Speaker 3: I got a lot of abusive tech messages, comments, threat
• 1:08
  Speaker 3: people jumped on and gave me bad reviews on my
• 1:10
  Speaker 3: cafe that has never been in here and got told
• 1:14
  Speaker 3: and it got quite ugly, and I also noticed other veterans,
• 1:17
  Speaker 3: but I know that we're on there as well, got
• 1:18
  Speaker 3: a sort of shot down as well. So I only
• 1:22
  Speaker 3: asked them not to do the last post, and I
• 1:24
  Speaker 3: only asked them to show the bit of respect of
• 1:26
  Speaker 3: the cenotaph. I saw there were scooters and people sitting
• 1:28
  Speaker 3: on the cenotaph. I thought that was a bit disrespectful.
• 1:31
  Speaker 3: That was my opinion, on top of all the veterans
• 1:33
  Speaker 3: that I know and go, and as you know, I
• 1:34
  Speaker 3: have a lot to do with the veterans up there,
• 1:36
  Speaker 3: and I just simply said, you know, can we please
• 1:38
  Speaker 3: not do that at the next protest, And then I've
• 1:40
  Speaker 3: just been abused really ever since. To be honest with you, make.
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: That is disgraceful, Like, honestly, you are voicing an opinion
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: which I think is absolutely fair enough one that I
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: agree with.
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: It is the cenotaph. It needs to be respected.
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: The last post is something which should be reserved for
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: the use of those in the military and for those
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: very you know, really commemorative occasions that we all pay
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: our respects for, you know, for those who have served,
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: I mean.
• 2:13
  Speaker 3: And the other thing that upset I mean, I can't stop.
• 2:15
  Speaker 3: This is some of some of these people were comparing
• 2:17
  Speaker 3: their cause to that of a veterans cause, and no way,
• 2:22
  Speaker 3: please don't compare what you're doing on a Saturday, comparing
• 2:25
  Speaker 3: that freedom to what we did in the in the military.
• 2:27
  Speaker 3: They're not even in the same ballpark.
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: It's not even close to being in the same ballpark.
• 2:34
  Speaker 3: And you know, Okay, we're dealing with a royal commission
• 2:36
  Speaker 3: right now, We're dealing with a lot of veterans are
• 2:38
  Speaker 3: going for a lot of stuff right now. The last
• 2:41
  Speaker 3: thing we needed is all we politely asked was just
• 2:43
  Speaker 3: don't do that on your protests. I support them. I've
• 2:46
  Speaker 3: got no drama with the protests. I've got no drama
• 2:47
  Speaker 3: with the mandate. By all means, the reason these people
• 2:50
  Speaker 3: get to do that is because of us fighting overseas.
• 2:53
  Speaker 3: But you know what, just don't do don't bring the
• 2:55
  Speaker 3: military stuff into it to help your court. That's all
• 2:58
  Speaker 3: we are.
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: Then.
• 2:58
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I feel like I've vilified, abused, and my business
• 3:02
  Speaker 3: has been trashed because I, as a veteran, I stood
• 3:05
  Speaker 3: up for my rights.
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: Sam, I'm really sorry that that's happened to you.
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: I think that that is just absolutely out of line
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: that people are.
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: Then trolling you and trolling other veterans on.
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: Social media when you have absolutely every right to voice
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: your concern and voice your opinion.
• 3:23
  Speaker 2: You've served our great country.
• 3:26
  Speaker 3: It's actually it's heartbreaking. I'm really upset. The past twenty
• 3:29
  Speaker 3: four hours have just been you know. Yeah, I mean
• 3:33
  Speaker 3: I've been you know, destroyed and bagged because of my
• 3:37
  Speaker 3: believer as a veteran. If I wasn't a veteran, if
• 3:39
  Speaker 3: I didn't know veterins, I get it. But this is
• 3:41
  Speaker 3: something that I'm proud of. This is something that veterans
• 3:44
  Speaker 3: are proud of. And some of these people, I've got
• 3:46
  Speaker 3: to say, some of these people, Katie, some have been good.
• 3:49
  Speaker 3: Some have texted me and said, okay, this and what
• 3:51
  Speaker 3: is it specifically you don't like about it? But you know,
• 3:55
  Speaker 3: my majority of these people have been quite abusive towards me.
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: But I, as I say, I'm really I'm very disappointed
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: to hear that that's happened, and I do think it's shocking.
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: You're a good bloke. I've you know, I know that
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: that the business you run is a great business. But
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: I also know that you do a lot of work
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: with other veterans and I think that anybody out there
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: who's having a crack at you for actually standing up
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: for our veterans is really ordinary behavior. And it also
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: demonstrates to me that they know absolutely nothing about you.
• 4:29
  Speaker 3: No, yeah, I mean, yeah, yeah, I'm bewildered it really,
• 4:34
  Speaker 3: it really has hit me home because it's like, what
• 4:38
  Speaker 3: do I do? Do I just not do? I keep
• 4:39
  Speaker 3: my opinions to myself and at these people, you know,
• 4:41
  Speaker 3: they're fighting for their cause, but yet they're bagging my course.
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: Yeah, mate, I's you know, I know it's really hard
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: and I can't I don't know how you're feeling this morning,
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: but I know how we feel here at the station
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: when you know, I get pretty disgraceful messages from people
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: about this very same you know, very same issue, and
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: threats and some pretty gross messages. I've got to say,
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: but I actually think that the likes of you need
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: to continue to stand up because do you know what,
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: You've got the large majority of those in the community
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: who actually agree that the cenotaph should not be used
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: as a prop for any kind of rally. And I,
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: you know, I firmly believe that people have the right
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: to protest and that they should have the right to protest,
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: but don't use Do not use a place like the
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: cenotaph to do that.
• 5:36
  Speaker 3: Yeah, please don't use it. I'd been nice about and
• 5:38
  Speaker 3: I'll be nice about it. If you look at it's
• 5:41
  Speaker 3: hard not to lose get angry, but I've been really
• 5:45
  Speaker 3: nice and personal. Please don't do the last post.
• 5:47
  Speaker 2: That's all of our Yeah, mate, I I agree what.
• 5:52
  Speaker 3: They're trolls and keyboard wardies as well. Ok, most of
• 5:55
  Speaker 3: them don't have faces and pretend profile pics sad.
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's yeah, look, it's not it's not fair at all,
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: and it's I'm really, like I say, I'm really quite
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: disgusted that then you've had to put up with that
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: kind of shit on social media.
• 6:11
  Speaker 2: It's not okay.
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: But please know that there are so many people in
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: the community who really respect you, respect the point of
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: view and perspective that you've put forward as well.
• 6:23
  Speaker 3: All right, thank you very much, thanks mate, have been good.
• 6:27
  Speaker 3: I have a business morning this morning. The person that
• 6:30
  Speaker 3: told me last night said I hope your business failed
• 6:32
  Speaker 3: this week. Today was one of my busiest wednesdays I've
• 6:34
  Speaker 3: had a long time.
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: So good on you, well, good on your mate. And
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: I reckon you're going to find that you do have.
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: So many territorians come in and support you the Mad Snake.
• 6:44
  Speaker 2: It's a great cafe. Good on your mate, Thank you
• 6:47
  Speaker 2: so much, Thanks, thank you,