Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / NT Chief Minister Natasha Fyles announces a raft of crime and safety measures following the murder of a bottle shop worker in Darwin

Transcript

NT Chief Minister Natasha Fyles announces a raft of crime and safety measures following the murder of a bottle shop worker in Darwin · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Yesterday we learned that the nineteen year old man charged
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: with murdering twenty year old Declan Lavity was also facing
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: a charge of breach of bail in relation to prior
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: well prior allegedly assaulting assault involving a weapon. Now, I
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: know that the situation is one which the community is
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: hurt by. It's one that a lot of people are
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: also feeling pretty angered by, particularly the fact that this
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: person was on bail at the time of allegedly murdering Decline. Now,
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: the governments this morning announced an immediate review of bail
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: laws for offenses involving a weapon and a review of
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: penalties for people carrying weapons. There will be transit safety officers,
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: crowd controllers and security guards equipped with capsicum spray. There's
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: also going to be a workplace safety review, increased police
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: presence funding for crowd controllers up until June this year,
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  Speaker 1: and there will be an alcohol secure relaunch as I
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: understand it, or a launch so businesses can incre is
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: physical safety and support in their establishments. Now the Chief Minister,
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: Natasha Files joins me on the line right now. Good
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: morning to you, Chief Minister.
• 1:09
  Speaker 2: Good morning Katie.
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: Now, Chief Minister, the community has been screaming out for change.
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: A young man's lost his life. Why have you waited
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: this long to do what people have been calling for
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: for quite some time?
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: Katie, It's been an extremely difficult few days for our community.
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  Speaker 2: There is a lot of hurt, there's a lot of anger,
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  Speaker 2: and I gain pay my condolences to the family of
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: this young victim and the friends along with industry. But Katie,
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: in the wake of anything, we must review to make
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: sure that the laws we have, the penalties are adequate
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: and that they are in line with community expectations. We've
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: seen an increase of carriage of edge weapons along with
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: violent crime, and that's not normal and we want to
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: stop that before it takes hold.
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: So what exactly is going to be reviewed when it
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: comes to bail.
• 1:59
  Speaker 2: So, Katie, what we are doing is not a knee
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: jerk reaction which potentially could have an inadvertent you know,
• 2:06
  Speaker 2: down the track. It could invertently put in place measures
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: that are not what we need. So we are reviewing
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: the provision of bail around edge weapons. This is something
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: that police think is important and so that review will
• 2:20
  Speaker 2: be undertaken by the Department of Attorney General Injustice along
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: with police, and we will also review the penalties, Katie,
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: to make sure that they are adequate and meet that
• 2:28
  Speaker 2: community expectation.
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: So where does the presumption sit right now?
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: So, Katie, the presumption sits now, It can sits either
• 2:38
  Speaker 2: for bail against bail, or it can be neutral. And
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: so we'll be looking at all those presumptions when we're
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: talking about an offense that involves an edge weapon.
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: So in the situation that we find ourselves in this week,
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: we're a nineteen year old has breached bail and has
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: allegedly been involved in a previous situation with an aged weapon.
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: Why was that person on bail for KT?
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: As you would understand, I can't comment on that. It's
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: a matter before the courts and I don't want to
• 3:08
  Speaker 2: prejudice that case, so I need to be very careful.
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: But we are looking at, particularly around this edge weapons,
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  Speaker 2: where we want to stop this behavior before it takes
• 3:16
  Speaker 2: a hold in our community. So let's those presumptions.
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: Let's step away from that for a second. Then, if
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: somebody is arrested and charged for a situation where they
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: have threatened somebody with an edged weapon, where does the
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: presumption of bail currently sit to Kti.
• 3:34
  Speaker 2: My understanding, the presumption of bail would sit It doesn't
• 3:38
  Speaker 2: have a description. It could sit for against or neutral
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: in relation to the offense. It would take into account
• 3:43
  Speaker 2: all the matters. So what we're doing is looking at
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  Speaker 2: edged weapons and do we need to have a presumption
• 3:50
  Speaker 2: and is it first defense, second defense, multiple offenses? Where
• 3:54
  Speaker 2: should that sit? Should it stay as it is, should
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: it change and before? Should it be against both police
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: bail and also court ordered bail? So it is complicated,
• 4:03
  Speaker 2: but we're looking at that specific offense involving an edged weapon.
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: I think that most people listening this morning would assume
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: that if you threaten somebody with a knife for an
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: edged weapon, that or if you hurt somebody with an
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: edged weapon, that you wouldn't be on bail.
• 4:19
  Speaker 2: So, Katie, this is looking at the presumption of bail.
• 4:21
  Speaker 2: The court and police, of course, always take the factors
• 4:24
  Speaker 2: of any incident into account when they look at bail
• 4:29
  Speaker 2: for that individual case.
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  Speaker 1: So how long is this review going to take because
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: the community is screaming out for this change right now, So.
• 4:38
  Speaker 2: Katie, it's immediate. As I did outline, we need to
• 4:41
  Speaker 2: be careful that we don't inadvertently by having a knee
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  Speaker 2: jerk reaction put in place something that's not contemporary. But
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  Speaker 2: I absolutely am angry with the community and we need this.
• 4:50
  Speaker 2: It could be that we see a change that could
• 4:53
  Speaker 2: come through the legislative process quite quickly, or it could
• 4:56
  Speaker 2: be looking at these positions of bail. It could be
• 5:01
  Speaker 2: that things are contemporary and that it might be the
• 5:03
  Speaker 2: penalties that need to be changed, but that review, that
• 5:06
  Speaker 2: work will start immediately.
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: So will there be stronger sentences for people who go
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: armed in public?
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  Speaker 2: That is also part of the review, Katie, is the
• 5:16
  Speaker 2: bail penalties, the penalties to ensure that they are adequate.
• 5:20
  Speaker 2: And the other change, Katie that is important for your
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  Speaker 2: listeners is police have asked for a review of the
• 5:27
  Speaker 2: police powers to ensure that they are adequate and to
• 5:29
  Speaker 2: meet community expectations. So we're looking at that threshold because
• 5:33
  Speaker 2: at the moment it has to be reasonable where they
• 5:36
  Speaker 2: may have operationally some information. An example of this is
• 5:39
  Speaker 2: a member of the public sees a person with a
• 5:41
  Speaker 2: knife and they put it in their bag. Police might
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  Speaker 2: not at the moment have the threshold to act on that.
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  Speaker 2: So making sure that police have got really clear support
• 5:52
  Speaker 2: that they can act on any information around edge weapons.
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: So is it a situation here where it's not only
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: being reviewed these changes and not only being reviewed for
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: adults but also for kids. Yes, Okay, Now, last night
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: there was literally four youths on a crime spree across Darwin,
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: a stolen vehicle to ram raid and break into three locations.
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  Speaker 1: Presumably they did not have knives. How are these changes
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: going to help in a situation like this?
• 6:24
  Speaker 2: So Katie again need to be careful because that will
• 6:26
  Speaker 2: be a matter It is a matter before.
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: Well, well, it's a very simple question. How are the
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: changes going to help in a situation. Let's step away
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: from this one, because there's been others where somebody uses
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: a vehicle and ram raids a location.
• 6:40
  Speaker 2: So we're always looking at making sure we have contemporary
• 6:43
  Speaker 2: legislation and penalties. But what we've announced today is work
• 6:47
  Speaker 2: around edge weapons, around the fact that we are seeing
• 6:50
  Speaker 2: more violent crime and that we are seeing more people
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  Speaker 2: carrying edge weapons, and that is from police, not from
• 6:55
  Speaker 2: just my own view. And so this is specifically around
• 6:59
  Speaker 2: edge weapons, as well as the other suite of measures
• 7:01
  Speaker 2: we announced to support retail workers in these higher risk.
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: Venues, and so you can assure the community right now,
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: that these changes that are going to come into place
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: are going to see an impact when it comes to
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: the lawlessness that we are seeing around the Northern territory.
• 7:20
  Speaker 2: That is what police are telling me, Katie.
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  Speaker 1: Now talk me through how we're going to how we
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: are going to see this increase in police presence. So
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: I know that there's going to be the police at
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: announced this morning. There will be operations that are overt
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: and covert. Where are the police coming.
• 7:37
  Speaker 2: From, so, Katie, police will respond with a high visibility
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  Speaker 2: policing patrols targeting known hotspots and also these types of locations.
• 7:46
  Speaker 2: It's not just our bottle shops, Katie, it's service stations,
• 7:50
  Speaker 2: those twenty four hour fast food, those venues that operate
• 7:53
  Speaker 2: later at night and therefore a higher risk. Police have
• 7:56
  Speaker 2: assured me they have the resources to undertake this operation
• 8:00
  Speaker 2: as we put in place, and you read out those
• 8:02
  Speaker 2: measures a range of other measures to support industry and
• 8:05
  Speaker 2: to support our retail workers.
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: Are you concerned that by arming security guards, those that
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: work in bottle shop transit offices with capsicum spray, that
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: it's going to make them more of a target. Then
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  Speaker 1: help so, Katie.
• 8:19
  Speaker 2: The transit safety officers is something that's been worked through
• 8:22
  Speaker 2: to allow for the protection of people using public transport.
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  Speaker 2: I'm confident that there is strong processes in place, and
• 8:28
  Speaker 2: we've also outlined that the crowd controllers would also there
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  Speaker 2: is training that can be provided to them to utilize
• 8:36
  Speaker 2: that nonviolent, non lethal tool to help keep the community safe.
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: Chief Finister, there are a lot of messages coming through
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  Speaker 1: this morning. There was a lot of commentary even on
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  Speaker 1: the live stream this morning as you were speaking on
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  Speaker 1: Channel nine's live stream. People are absolutely fed up. They
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: feel that these changes are going to be a band
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: aid and that the governments lost control. Have you lost control?
• 9:03
  Speaker 2: No, Katie, these are measures that police and Justice tell
• 9:07
  Speaker 2: me will have an impact. These are measures, Katie, that
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  Speaker 2: are supporting the industry so that we can have a
• 9:12
  Speaker 2: safer workplace for both workers and also patrons. And these
• 9:16
  Speaker 2: are measured. These are immediate, short term as well as
• 9:20
  Speaker 2: building into the longer term what can keep people safe.
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: I'm very mindful that you need to get into Parliament.
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: We don't have a lot of time. But yesterday you
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: are very emotional when speaking to the ABC about the
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: death of young Declan Lavity. But then in Parliament the
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: government performed, I've got to say, in a pretty embarrassing way.
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  Speaker 1: Instead of answering questions about community safety, bail laws and
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: concerns raised by the community, the government spent time mocking
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  Speaker 1: the opposition and really behaving very poorly. Do you think
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: that the community deserves better than that on a.
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  Speaker 2: Week like this, Katie? The Parliament is a place of debate.
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  Speaker 2: It is a long many hours of debate. There is
• 10:02
  Speaker 2: a you know, it's how parliament operates. But we absolutely
• 10:05
  Speaker 2: outlined to the community our response to this tragic event.
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: Are you proud of the way that your team act
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: did yesterday.
• 10:13
  Speaker 2: Cary, Katie. We're in a place of debate in Parliament
• 10:17
  Speaker 2: and that will continue, but we absolutely are responding strongly,
• 10:22
  Speaker 2: supporting the community and looking at how we can ensure
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  Speaker 2: that we don't see the carriage of edge weapons along
• 10:28
  Speaker 2: with violent crime increase in our community.
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  Speaker 1: Chief Finister, it's being reported this morning that Decland's mother
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: had stones thrown at her and was spat at after
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: arriving in the Northern Territory. What do you think that
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: that says about the place that we are living in
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: right now?
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  Speaker 2: What is terrible behavior? It's disgusting and we have to
• 10:49
  Speaker 2: lift our community standards. We cannot.
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: But does the government have to lift their game? Does
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: the government have to lift their game?
• 10:58
  Speaker 2: Everyone has a role to play. The g is absolutely
• 11:01
  Speaker 2: at that table tackling these issues. But when someone in
• 11:05
  Speaker 2: our community thinks that that type of behavior is acceptable
• 11:08
  Speaker 2: to visitor or local, it is not, and we all
• 11:11
  Speaker 2: have to look at the standard that we have in
• 11:13
  Speaker 2: our community.
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: Chief Finister, the messages coming through this morning, people feel
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: as though the government have lost control of the Northern
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: Territory right now.
• 11:24
  Speaker 2: Katie, I have outlined to you a response that will
• 11:27
  Speaker 2: make a difference. We need to be careful that it's
• 11:29
  Speaker 2: not a knee jerk response with unintended consequences. But this
• 11:32
  Speaker 2: is a strong response around edge weapons and that violent
• 11:36
  Speaker 2: crime to stop that behavior before it takes hold and normalize,
• 11:40
  Speaker 2: as well as other measures to make sure that we
• 11:42
  Speaker 2: have safe workplaces for retail workers in late night venues.
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: How long can people expect before we start to see
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: some change on the streets.
• 11:50
  Speaker 2: Immediately, police will be out there today. We will work
• 11:54
  Speaker 2: on those other measures immediately. We are working with industry.
• 11:57
  Speaker 2: I met with them yesterday so that we can be
• 12:01
  Speaker 2: working together to create that safe working environment and safe community.
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: Chief Minister, we will leave it there. Thank you for
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: your time this morning. We appreciate it.
• 12:10
  Speaker 2: Take care,