Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Alice Springs tour operator Patrick Bedford says he's fed up with teens hurling rocks at his vehicles which are full of passengers

Transcript

Alice Springs tour operator Patrick Bedford says he's fed up with teens hurling rocks at his vehicles which are full of passengers · 360 with Katie Woolf

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  Speaker 1: But as I'm sure you've heard, there were more issues
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  Speaker 1: in Central Australia over the weekend. When it comes to crime,
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  Speaker 1: chaos is how i'd described it. It literally looks like there
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  Speaker 1: were gangs of youths running a mark on the streets.
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  Speaker 1: Police have made a rest following one of those vehicle
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  Speaker 1: thefts and also honing on the streets. But it wasn't
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  Speaker 1: the only issue. One tourism operator was targeted for the
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  Speaker 1: fourth time since March. Patrick Bedford from EMU Run Experience
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  Speaker 1: joins me on the line right now. Good morning to you, Patrick,
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  Speaker 1: Good morning Katie. Patrick. Tell me what happened on the weekend.
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  Speaker 2: So this is the fourth time this year since the
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  Speaker 2: seasons fatter than March, that we come back into town
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  Speaker 2: late at night, around midnight, and again our boss was
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  Speaker 2: just basically a projectile lot of rock's been thrown right
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  Speaker 2: in the middle of town and took the windows with
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  Speaker 2: customer city on the bus and yeah, like it's getting
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  Speaker 2: me on the joke. The first week we went touring
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  Speaker 2: back in March, the n thing happened. We comes to
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  Speaker 2: the gap three windows that got taken out on the
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  Speaker 2: bus with forty people sitting on the boss so they
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  Speaker 2: just had a great day at Ularu, coming back in
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  Speaker 2: townly a big day out and to finalize the day,
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  Speaker 2: you know, these kids are just using our vehicle for
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  Speaker 2: tager practice.
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  Speaker 1: Patrick, Hang on a second, can you just spell that
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  Speaker 1: out for us? So you are traveling back into town
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  Speaker 1: into Alice Springs, You've got passengers, you've got all of
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  Speaker 1: those tourists on the bus, and you've got kids allegedly
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  Speaker 1: hurling rocks at your bus.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, so Saturday night was actually not kids. Their fifteen
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  Speaker 2: year olds standing in the middle of the roundabout underneath
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  Speaker 2: the cameras just to tide the CBD. And they've seen
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  Speaker 2: the bus come and they picked up the rocks, lined
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  Speaker 2: it up and then they just took a couple of shots.
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  Speaker 2: They took out the side window with passengers sitting on
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  Speaker 2: the bus, and just kind of stood there and left. Mate.
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  Speaker 1: How concerned are you then about the safety of yourself,
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  Speaker 1: of your staff and of those passengers.
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  Speaker 2: Oh, look, it's been like this now since nat year,
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  Speaker 2: so it's nothing new. And look, anything happened to Tenny
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  Speaker 2: Creek for example, when the Tenant Creek Greyhound bus comes through,
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  Speaker 2: they won't go into the town till the police scored
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  Speaker 2: the bust in because every night the same thing happens,
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  Speaker 2: they get their windows taken out, so the police have
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  Speaker 2: they score them. So I think it's only fair that
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  Speaker 2: than other Springs, I should get that because our town
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  Speaker 2: seems to be a war gone at the moment, Like
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  Speaker 2: last weekend, I'm watching all these videos of these teens
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  Speaker 2: and kids just having a great old time inside in
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  Speaker 2: town and doesn't seem to be any police are out
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  Speaker 2: of stuff.
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  Speaker 1: Mat What impact is this having on yourself and also
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  Speaker 1: on tourists.
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  Speaker 2: It's a lot of financial costs. For one, because we
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  Speaker 2: don't have any window insurance. They won't give us window
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  Speaker 2: insurance and meant one two, obviously I'm getting phone calls
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  Speaker 2: at midnight to get out of bed and go in,
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  Speaker 2: so I leave my kids at the home and I'm
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  Speaker 2: a single dad, so I got to deal with that stuff.
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  Speaker 2: And of course my staff then are trying to traumatize
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  Speaker 2: going I know one of the staff who in his
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  Speaker 2: first week here, same thing, he got his windows broken
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  Speaker 2: going through town and left the next day. So you're
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  Speaker 2: trying to recruit staff into all of Springs for your business,
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  Speaker 2: which we're all short staff to cross into Australias. I'm
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  Speaker 2: sure on the top of any the same thing, we
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  Speaker 2: can't get staff. They walk in and see all listen,
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  Speaker 2: they go, this is like believe this is worse than
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  Speaker 2: their route and off they go.
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  Speaker 1: It's unbelievable. Honestly, you know, I've got to stop being
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  Speaker 1: surprised by it, I suppose because it seems to be
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  Speaker 1: something that's becoming all too common, which is even more disappointing.
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  Speaker 1: But you know, to hear that and to hear the
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  Speaker 1: impact then not only financially but when it comes to
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  Speaker 1: trying to secure staff, but when it comes to people
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  Speaker 1: feeling frightened. Like what do those tourists say to you
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  Speaker 1: that are on the bus after those rocks are thrown
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  Speaker 1: on the weekend.
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  Speaker 2: Look, they're they're just kind of I suppose in all
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  Speaker 2: of just what happened, because they just had a great
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  Speaker 2: day out that comes toent to Australia to experience all
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  Speaker 2: the culture and you know this this kind of this
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  Speaker 2: place that we call the Alis. You know, it's amazing
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  Speaker 2: and U rue and then all of a sudden they
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  Speaker 2: had a great day out. Just find it aftery're tired
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  Speaker 2: the buckley going to bed because were dropping them off
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  Speaker 2: at their hotels, had a great day, and then to
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  Speaker 2: finish it off we go. This is what Alice Springs
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  Speaker 2: is really like. Let's just take out a few windows
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  Speaker 2: and show you what Alice Springs is really like. It's
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  Speaker 2: ridiculous and this isn't something that's happened this year, has
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  Speaker 2: been happening last year and the year before. Like our
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  Speaker 2: government needs to stop giving these kids. You know, the
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  Speaker 2: staff touch and the police need to get in. If
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  Speaker 2: you read what was in the newspaper this morning, they
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  Speaker 2: know these kids are doing it in town. They won't
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  Speaker 2: go near the kids because they're afraid the police. If
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  Speaker 2: any happens with the kids, the police actually get arrested
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  Speaker 2: because it's the best in custody. If there's someone crashes,
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  Speaker 2: Like how do we end up at this date where
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  Speaker 2: the kids can run the roofs and our town we
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  Speaker 2: have to stay home and lock ourselves in, Like it's
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  Speaker 2: got to change. The government needs to hard enough, or
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  Speaker 2: police need to get in there and do the job
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  Speaker 2: they're paid to do it. Enough enough.
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  Speaker 1: But you mentioned before that in Tenant Craig, you're being
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  Speaker 1: told that the Greyhound buses actually have an escort. So
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  Speaker 1: police escort, you know, bringing them into town. So what
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  Speaker 1: do you reckon needs to happen for you guys in Alice.
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  Speaker 2: The same thing will need to happen for my buses
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  Speaker 2: because we come back into town from Olaru, Like we
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  Speaker 2: leave after sunset, so we get back late at night,
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  Speaker 2: like we're back at midnight. So I'm going to be
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  Speaker 2: asking for an escort from my bus to the gap
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  Speaker 2: around all the drop offs. I'm like, well, all of
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  Speaker 2: these bottle shops that you know, Audiliery police there to
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  Speaker 2: control the alcohol. Well, I want an escort to protect
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  Speaker 2: my customers as well. So I think it's only fair.
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  Speaker 2: If they can't bring the streets back on the control,
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  Speaker 2: then you need to help the people to do their
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  Speaker 2: jobs and be out there. And actually, you know, it's
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  Speaker 2: a visitor economy and Alice Springs is tourism, so we
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  Speaker 2: need to protect.
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  Speaker 1: The So Patrick, are you going to be sort of
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  Speaker 1: putting in a formal request to the police for this?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah?
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  Speaker 1: I will, Yeah, But like, I think it's incredible that
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  Speaker 1: you know that it's reached the point where you're having
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  Speaker 1: to do that. It's I wish I could say that
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  Speaker 1: it's unbelievable, but nothing's nothing's really unbelievable at this point.
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  Speaker 2: No, And look, the other operators in town who want
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  Speaker 2: to won't do like powerd my festival because their bosses
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  Speaker 2: get smashed the windows and stuff like that previous years.
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  Speaker 2: You know, this is not something that's happening just now.
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  Speaker 2: It's been going for years and most of the time
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  Speaker 2: business operators keep their head down and get home with it.
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  Speaker 2: But that's you know, enough to knock. I want my
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  Speaker 2: town back. I want to be able to go out
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  Speaker 2: and have a few drinks in town with over you know,
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  Speaker 2: get in my head, put you know, smashed in or
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  Speaker 2: you know, wouldn't put a gang of kids like it's kids,
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  Speaker 2: Like really, it's in this day and age, we're just
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  Speaker 2: standing aside letting kids run the roost.
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  Speaker 1: Really, Patrick, I really appreciate you having a chat to
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  Speaker 1: me this morning. Like I'm exasperated. I think that you're exasperated.
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  Speaker 1: Everybody's bloody exasperated. We just want to see some change.
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  Speaker 1: But I really appreciate you speaking to me. I think
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  Speaker 1: that it needs to continue to be spoken about or
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  Speaker 1: the government is going to be able to pretend that
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  Speaker 1: nothing's wrong.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, absolutely, I don't need to be accountable
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  Speaker 2: for this. That their job is to protect the public
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  Speaker 2: and they're not doing a great job. Within our police
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  Speaker 2: as well. I know they've got a hire a job,
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  Speaker 2: but you know, something's got to change. These kids can't
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  Speaker 2: just run amock and the police stand back and go.
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  Speaker 2: You know what, I'm not going to chase them because
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  Speaker 2: I'm going to go and be investigated if something happens
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  Speaker 2: to them. There's something not right in that situation.
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  Speaker 1: Patrick, thanks so much for having a chat with me
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  Speaker 1: this morning. It is very much appreciated.
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  Speaker 2: No problem. Have a good day you too.