Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / New owners of Casuarina Square keen to tackle crime and anti-social behaviour

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New owners of Casuarina Square keen to tackle crime and anti-social behaviour · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: As we know, there are new owners of the Northern
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  Speaker 1: territories biggest shopping center, Casarina Square, and they have said
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: that they're going to focus really on some of the
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  Speaker 1: issues that we've seen at the shopping center when it
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  Speaker 1: comes to anti social behavior in an effort to try
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  Speaker 1: and well improve security not only for those store owners
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  Speaker 1: and those operating businesses in the center, but also for
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  Speaker 1: those of us that go there to shop. Now joining
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  Speaker 1: me on the line is Warren Ebersh who is Sentinel
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  Speaker 1: Property Groups Executive chairman. Good morning to you, Warren.
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  Speaker 2: Good morning Katie. Thank you for having me on.
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  Speaker 1: Thank you so much for your time. Warren. Firstly, when
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  Speaker 1: did Sentinel take over the ownership of Casarina.
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  Speaker 2: We settled on the thirty first of March, so three
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  Speaker 2: weeks ago. Three weeks ago to my three.
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  Speaker 1: Weeks ago, Warren, how are things going in terms of
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  Speaker 1: getting into the center and really getting a good look
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  Speaker 1: at some of those issues that we as locals have
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  Speaker 1: been pretty concerned about a little while around crime and
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  Speaker 1: anti social behavior.
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  Speaker 2: Well, I think for what we've been told, it's a
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  Speaker 2: bit worse now than what it has been in the
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  Speaker 2: past because there's a concentration of bad elements around the
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  Speaker 2: center at the moment. And while you know, we've received
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  Speaker 2: comments from locals on Facebook and we won't run away
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  Speaker 2: from any issues, and we've got senior people. Murray scandal
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  Speaker 2: has sead of our retailies up there for a few weeks.
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  Speaker 2: We're more than happy to sit now if people have
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  Speaker 2: a coffee, and we do really want to fix it.
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  Speaker 2: It's not just not just a claw press. But I
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  Speaker 2: think people need to remember that last year there was
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  Speaker 2: eight point two million visits to Casarina Square, and certainly
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  Speaker 2: there have been some problems, but when you have a
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  Speaker 2: look as a percentage of eight point two million, it
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  Speaker 2: isn't as bad as you know. If you have a problem,
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  Speaker 2: it's a real worry to you, not taking it lightly.
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  Speaker 2: But we do have to keep in perspective. Also if
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  Speaker 2: we shift the bad element from Kasarina, they go somewhere else.
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  Speaker 2: So we understand the last couple of weeks they've increased
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  Speaker 2: security patrols sporting club beside us, which has then shifted
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  Speaker 2: the bad element of a night over to Casarina Square.
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  Speaker 2: So two nights ago some news got shopping trolleys are smashed,
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  Speaker 2: some of the glass doors in got in broke into
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  Speaker 2: a number of shops. So we have got some security
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  Speaker 2: experts coming in the next few days to talk to
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  Speaker 2: some work on a security plan. But it's not only
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  Speaker 2: about securing Casarina. There needs to be a bigger focus
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  Speaker 2: on how do we reduce the bad element. And I've
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  Speaker 2: got to say that any discussions that we have had
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  Speaker 2: with the dah And City Council, with the Lord Mayor,
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  Speaker 2: with the territory government from the Chief Minister down, they're
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  Speaker 2: very open to working out how we can change things
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  Speaker 2: and where relph the New Boys Town. Even though we've
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  Speaker 2: had investments up there for six years. We're not coming
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  Speaker 2: to town and saying that so we know how to
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  Speaker 2: fix it. The UFLO state if was it easy to
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  Speaker 2: fix it, wor to be fixed, well.
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  Speaker 1: That's exactly right. And Warren, look, it's been an issue
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  Speaker 1: that we you know, we've had people call into the
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  Speaker 1: show about. In recent weeks, we had a situation where
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  Speaker 1: two women in their sixties had been one in particular,
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  Speaker 1: had been going to get money out at one of
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  Speaker 1: the ATMs inside and had been knocked to the ground
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  Speaker 1: and had a couple of hundred dollars stolen from her.
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  Speaker 1: The police caught up with that offended pretty quickly. We
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  Speaker 1: had another woman who'd called through who was depositing money
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  Speaker 1: at the ATMU and had it snatched off her five
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  Speaker 1: hundred dollars. We've spoken before about, you know, some of
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  Speaker 1: the other incidents that we've seen there, and even last
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  Speaker 1: week just nearby the bus exchange or there, you know,
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  Speaker 1: right there where the buses are, there were kids pegging
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  Speaker 1: rocks at you know, one of the buses. So there
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  Speaker 1: is no doubt that it's it's a tough one and
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  Speaker 1: I would imagine it's going to be quite tough for
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  Speaker 1: you guys to grapple with this. What sort of plans
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  Speaker 1: have you got in place?
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  Speaker 2: Well, we certainly want to talk to all the stakeholders,
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  Speaker 2: but would we have to be mindful if we get
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  Speaker 2: all of the stakeholders together that we don't want it
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  Speaker 2: to be just a brain test if I'm blame someone
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  Speaker 2: else why they didn't fix it. As I said, I
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  Speaker 2: it was easy to fix. It would have been fixed. Now.
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  Speaker 2: We're quite happy to hear from people and genuine to
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  Speaker 2: sit down and have a coffee and if they have
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  Speaker 2: a suggestion. While we need to know what the problems
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  Speaker 2: are we've got to work at how we fix it. Yeah.
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  Speaker 2: So you know, there was an article in the paper
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  Speaker 2: that the other day where I mentioned that previously there
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  Speaker 2: used to be the shack across the road whe now
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  Speaker 2: McDonald's are and that was managed by Red Cross. So
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  Speaker 2: we want to work with the Darwine City Council and
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  Speaker 2: the territory government about setting something up like that. Again
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  Speaker 2: where Katie, you know, you sound very young. She might
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  Speaker 2: be old enough to have children. But the people with
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  Speaker 2: if you've got idle idle hands, get into mischief, whether
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  Speaker 2: they're children are adults, so there needs to be something
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  Speaker 2: for them to do. So if we can work on
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  Speaker 2: and having some facility around where people that can go
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  Speaker 2: sit down, have a coffee and have a talk and
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  Speaker 2: do something rather than coming to Casina Square and creating
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  Speaker 2: problems for to pushoppers and just trying rocks at cars
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  Speaker 2: or none of that is acceptable. But somehow you've got
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  Speaker 2: to get these people to understand that it isn't it.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, Oh absolutely, Warren. You'll be interested to know I
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  Speaker 1: am old enough to have kids. I've got two of them,
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  Speaker 1: and I've got to tell you I'm a regular. I
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  Speaker 1: am a regular shopper at Casarina, and it's reached the
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  Speaker 1: point over the last couple of months where my kids
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  Speaker 1: are really scared to be in the car park at Casina.
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  Speaker 1: And I think that that's the sentiment probably of you know,
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  Speaker 1: of others who are listening to the show as well.
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  Speaker 1: And I guess you know, we're really hopeful for you know,
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  Speaker 1: a lot of us are really hopeful as locals that
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  Speaker 1: now that the new owners yourselves are stepping in, that
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  Speaker 1: will hopefully see some change in this space.
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  Speaker 2: Well, I guarantee you'll see some change, Katie, but you
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  Speaker 2: might see it today because we have to be mindful
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  Speaker 2: that we don't upset some of the current programs that
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  Speaker 2: they may have planned. So we are wanting to engage
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  Speaker 2: with the police because they do seem genuine about client dissolve,
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  Speaker 2: and so I have to be careful what I say
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  Speaker 2: about some of the things. You know, some of the
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  Speaker 2: things are do we close off some of the entrances
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  Speaker 2: in the car park. We don't want to make it
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  Speaker 2: look like a jail or something. If there's limited entrance points,
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  Speaker 2: then you could control that a little bit more. Where
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  Speaker 2: fifty different entrance points people can run across, guards get
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  Speaker 2: in and out making course trouble with if you have
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  Speaker 2: limited access points. But we've got to work with the governor.
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  Speaker 2: And also we don't want it to look like a
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  Speaker 2: DMZ with cages up all that.
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  Speaker 1: Absolutely, Yeah, so we know.
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  Speaker 2: It's a problem. Listen. We are happy to catch up
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  Speaker 2: with people and if they have some suggestions where you know,
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  Speaker 2: we're open because things do have.
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  Speaker 1: To change, absolutely, and you know, I would imagine that
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  Speaker 1: that sends certainly wants the you know, wants the shopping
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  Speaker 1: center to succeed, and I've got to say, some fantastic
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  Speaker 1: new additions, some fantastic new shops in there. So it's
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  Speaker 1: you know, there's no doubt that there is plenty of
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  Speaker 1: different things that we all want to go in there
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  Speaker 1: and see, and plenty of different places we want to
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  Speaker 1: shop at. But yeah, that issue at the moment, with
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  Speaker 1: some of the anti social behavior that we're saying, it's
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  Speaker 1: a tough one.
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  Speaker 2: Well, we are genuine and happy to speak on a
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  Speaker 2: regular basis report on the progress and certainly, you know,
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  Speaker 2: sometimes it might be things that are easy to discuss
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  Speaker 2: offline as to because you know, we've got to be
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  Speaker 2: careful we don't say that the wrong thing. But when
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  Speaker 2: you're talking about the tenants. That's one of our folkus
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  Speaker 2: is to try and get best to breed. There was
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  Speaker 2: one international tenant open there in December. I won't give
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  Speaker 2: them any free free publicity, but their budget for the year,
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  Speaker 2: and I will say was anyway, I won't so many
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  Speaker 2: minion but they did what they did twenty five percent
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  Speaker 2: of their annual budget in the first three weeks.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah. Right, so they're doing well, there's no doubt about it.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah. There was another store that opened a week ago.
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  Speaker 2: It was just a little pop up ten square meters
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  Speaker 2: like the size of a couple of toilets, and within
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  Speaker 2: the after two days it was their number three store
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  Speaker 2: in Australia.
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  Speaker 1: Wow.
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  Speaker 2: We also, while there's security issues, people do like going there.
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  Speaker 2: We want to improve that experience. But we know that
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  Speaker 2: the people have to feel have to feel safe, and
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  Speaker 2: that is the highest priority. And we've got people working
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  Speaker 2: out now and certainly within the next sixty days. I
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  Speaker 2: would like to think that there's going to be a
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  Speaker 2: noticeable difference. But if people have a suggestion, please don't
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  Speaker 2: hesitate contact us because if they've got a suggestion that works,
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  Speaker 2: we're happy to take it up. We're not running away
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  Speaker 2: from the problem.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, well, Warren, we really appreciate your time this morning,
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  Speaker 1: and certainly you guys have been incredibly open with us,
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  Speaker 1: always happy to come on the show, and we appreciate that.
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  Speaker 1: We will talk to you again in the near future
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  Speaker 1: let us know how those you know, how some of
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  Speaker 1: those updates are going, and when there is progress in
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  Speaker 1: this space. But yeah, I'm certainly a frequent shopper mate,
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  Speaker 1: so I'll be able to let you know as well. Thanks,
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  Speaker 1: thank you, We appreciate your time. That is Warreny. But
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  Speaker 1: there he is the Sentinel Property Group executive chairman. And yeah,
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  Speaker 1: by the sounds of things, they are looking at a
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  Speaker 1: few different options in terms of really trying to curb
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  Speaker 1: some of those issues that we're saying with crime and
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  Speaker 1: anti social behavior in that area. As you've heard there
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  Speaker 1: though from him, it's not something that they alone can do.
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  Speaker 1: They do need to have options, you know, with the government,
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  Speaker 1: with the council, with the police, need to look at
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  Speaker 1: at you know, quite a wide ranging approach.