Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Casuarina Square Centre Manager Polly Lamond says students from two local schools will be banned from the complex for four weeks after more fights and rowdy behaviour

Transcript

Casuarina Square Centre Manager Polly Lamond says students from two local schools will be banned from the complex for four weeks after more fights and rowdy behaviour · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: We know that Casuarina Square management they're set to band
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: students from two Darwin schools from attending the shopping center
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: for four weeks after more fights between students at the complex.
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: So commencing from today, the four week ban is going
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: to be imposed on all students from Casarina Senior College
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: and Sanderson Middle School.
• 0:20
  Speaker 2: The band's going to run until.
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: The third of April, and it follows the decision by
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: Casarina about well last month where they barred six schools
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: from the center for forty eight hours. Now joining me
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: on the line to tell us more about the situation
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: is Polly Lamonde, the Casarina Square shopping center manager.
• 0:38
  Speaker 2: Good morning to you.
• 0:39
  Speaker 3: Polly, Good morning, Katie, Thanks.
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: So much for your time this morning. Polly. What happened
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: in the.
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: Latest situation which has seen the banning of these two schools.
• 0:50
  Speaker 3: Yeah, so late last week we had some similar behavior
• 0:54
  Speaker 3: to what we had last time we put a band
• 0:55
  Speaker 3: in place. Is really disappointing to see that that was again,
• 1:00
  Speaker 3: but I guess on a positive note, it was only
• 1:05
  Speaker 3: two schools that were represented this time, so you know,
• 1:07
  Speaker 3: we're pleased that we don't have to put a band
• 1:10
  Speaker 3: in place. For six schools this time, and that four
• 1:13
  Speaker 3: schools have done the right thing and that those students
• 1:15
  Speaker 3: can come and attend the shopping center.
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: And so was it more sort of fighting Polly in
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: the food court again or what had happened last week?
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: Yeah?
• 1:23
  Speaker 3: Yeah, So on Thursday afternoon, we had a series of
• 1:27
  Speaker 3: incidents of you know, general nuisance behavior of vandalism. There
• 1:33
  Speaker 3: was an incident up in one of our seating areas
• 1:36
  Speaker 3: where a table was flipped over and one of our
• 1:38
  Speaker 3: floor tiles was broken, exposing all the frame underneath. Then
• 1:44
  Speaker 3: on Friday, we had really large groups of students from
• 1:47
  Speaker 3: those two schools in the shopping center, generally being loud
• 1:52
  Speaker 3: and rowdy and pretty disrespectful of those around them. And
• 1:55
  Speaker 3: then also a series of fights as well, and one
• 1:57
  Speaker 3: of those fights ended up inside a retailer store, which
• 2:00
  Speaker 3: I'm sure we can understand, we just can't accept that.
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: Oh my goodness, were those the people running that retail store?
• 2:06
  Speaker 2: Okay?
• 2:07
  Speaker 3: Yeah, they were fine, Yeah they were fine, But you
• 2:09
  Speaker 3: know that would be distressing for them. They shouldn't have
• 2:11
  Speaker 3: to see that in a shopping center environment.
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: Oh, one hundred percent.
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: Like I just think if I was there with my kids,
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: I'd be quite frightened. And is something like that spilled
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: into the shop where I was with them?
• 2:21
  Speaker 3: Absolutely? Absolutely, So you know, we understand that it's again
• 2:26
  Speaker 3: the minority that are affecting the majority, but we have
• 2:29
  Speaker 3: an obligation to keep our retailers, our customers, and other
• 2:33
  Speaker 3: school students safe as well.
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: Yeah, Polly, how difficult is this becoming for Casuarina Square?
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: You know, when you end up with sort of mobs
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: of kids turning up and really not treating other people
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: in a respectful manner.
• 2:47
  Speaker 3: Yeah, it is difficult and it is disappointing, you know.
• 2:50
  Speaker 3: I think if you go on to social media and
• 2:52
  Speaker 3: read a lot of the comments, people are fed up too,
• 2:55
  Speaker 3: I think overwhelmingly, and hopefully people are supportive of what
• 2:58
  Speaker 3: we're doing, because if we keep doing the same thing,
• 3:00
  Speaker 3: nothing's going to change.
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: Look, I am someone who frequents the shopping center very often,
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: and I think anything that you can do to try
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: and make it a safer place is going to be
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: a good thing. I know that there'll be some parents
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: listening who maybe have kids that go to to those
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: two schools that are thinking, well, this isn't fair on them.
• 3:19
  Speaker 2: They go and they behave themselves.
• 3:22
  Speaker 3: Yeah, absolutely, and look to be fair, we acknowledge that
• 3:25
  Speaker 3: it's a minority that will affect the majority. But our
• 3:29
  Speaker 3: approach in the past has been to try and ban
• 3:32
  Speaker 3: those students that are involved in the fights itself. But
• 3:35
  Speaker 3: it's not just the students that are involved in the fights.
• 3:37
  Speaker 3: You could have a crowd of fifty or sixty people
• 3:39
  Speaker 3: around them, filming and egging them on. And you can
• 3:42
  Speaker 3: imagine for us if we tried to ban sixty individuals
• 3:45
  Speaker 3: or even trying to identify sixty individuals who are standing around,
• 3:49
  Speaker 3: you know, sticky beaking and filming and egging people on.
• 3:51
  Speaker 3: That's almost near impossible. So we have to change our approach.
• 3:55
  Speaker 3: We have to do something different.
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: Yeah, hey, tell me, how are you sort of going
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: to manage it in terms of making sure that you
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: know that these young people don't come in? Are you
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: going to need additional security? How's it going to work?
• 4:08
  Speaker 3: Yeah, we will for the next four weeks put additional
• 4:10
  Speaker 3: security on, which you know, that's a cost to us.
• 4:13
  Speaker 3: So that's disappointing that we've had to do that again,
• 4:17
  Speaker 3: but yeah, we will manage it similarly to last time.
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: And in terms of I've just had somebody message through
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: and say, Katie, if the students don't wear uniforms, how
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: can they tell where they're from? Doesn't that doesn't take
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: them time to work around this, So obviously you know
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: some of those students are going to cot normal.
• 4:36
  Speaker 2: I'm guessing Polly.
• 4:38
  Speaker 3: Yeah, it's never perfect. Nothing's ever going to be perfect.
• 4:41
  Speaker 3: We acknowledge that. But I would say that a lot
• 4:44
  Speaker 3: of the students who come and are causing trouble, we
• 4:49
  Speaker 3: do know them by faith. A lot of them they
• 4:52
  Speaker 3: won't be able to pull the wall over our eyes
• 4:54
  Speaker 3: in that respect.
• 4:55
  Speaker 2: So are they allowed there on the weekends?
• 5:00
  Speaker 3: Yeah, on the weekends if they're with a parent or
• 5:02
  Speaker 3: a guardian.
• 5:03
  Speaker 2: Yeah, right, And.
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: So it is obviously something that you know that has
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: reached the point where it is it's becoming a big
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: concern for the different retailers. I know, even on Friday,
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: I was there during school hours with my daughter who's
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: only eleven, and we were in a shop and they
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: actually the shop attendant actually came up to her and
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: said are you here with a parent? And she said, yeah,
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: I'm here with my mum. And you know, we were
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: there because she'd been the swimming carnival. But so it
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: is obviously something that a lot of those retailers are
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: grappling with, is what I had thought.
• 5:31
  Speaker 2: As that exchange it unfolded.
• 5:33
  Speaker 3: Yeah, they're pretty fed up, to be honest, and so
• 5:36
  Speaker 3: are we. So you know, I hope that the community
• 5:39
  Speaker 3: gets behind us. Like I said, if nothing changes, nothing changes,
• 5:43
  Speaker 3: We're pretty committed to improving the situation here.
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: And Polly, if that behavior doesn't change, is the center
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: going to consider a more permanent ban.
• 5:55
  Speaker 3: We will look at how the students behave when they're
• 5:59
  Speaker 3: allowed to return on that Monday, the third of April,
• 6:01
  Speaker 3: and we really do hope that they can come back
• 6:04
  Speaker 3: into the shopping center and enjoy the environment like it's
• 6:06
  Speaker 3: meant to be used. And if not, we'll, like I
• 6:09
  Speaker 3: said last time, readgroup of the business and see what
• 6:11
  Speaker 3: we need to do in that respect.
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: Yeah, well, Polly, you know, I think that it's sort
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: of hard to argue with what you're doing at this point.
• 6:18
  Speaker 2: Like I'm supportive of it.
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: If you've got kids that are in there and they're
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: getting into punch ups and they're making other people feel
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: as though they're in danger, you've got to do what
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: you have to do to make sure that people are
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: able to shop there safely, that they are able to
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: enter those stores safely. Have you had any of the
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: shop owners or shop managers sort of complain that, you
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: know that maybe they are seeing less foot traffic as
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: a result of any of these kinds of bands.
• 6:46
  Speaker 3: To be fair, we you know, overwhelmingly we've had support.
• 6:49
  Speaker 3: We have had one retailer complain to us, and I'm
• 6:53
  Speaker 3: happy to sit down with that retailer and talk through
• 6:55
  Speaker 3: why this has been our response to this situation. But
• 6:59
  Speaker 3: I do think if you went around and surveyed the retailers,
• 7:03
  Speaker 3: they'd be pretty happy that we're doing something like this
• 7:05
  Speaker 3: because they're fed up with this.
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: Yeah, Polly, what did that one retail and what was
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: their issue with it?
• 7:12
  Speaker 2: With the band?
• 7:14
  Speaker 3: With the band? Yeah, that it may have affected their
• 7:17
  Speaker 3: foot traffic for that afternoon.
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: Yeah right, Well, look, I think it'll be interesting to
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: see how it all rolls out. I know that you've
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: obviously got plenty of security there. You're trying to do
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: your best to make sure that you don't have that
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: bad behavior inside Casuarina Square, which I think is a
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: fair enough thing to do. Keep us up to date,
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: let us know how it is tracking no problem at all.
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: Thank you so much for your time this morning.