Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Hospitality NT CEO Alex Bruce says many in the industry had seen an escalation in crime which tragically resulted in the death of a bottle shop worker

Transcript

Hospitality NT CEO Alex Bruce says many in the industry had seen an escalation in crime which tragically resulted in the death of a bottle shop worker · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Joining me on the line right now is Hospitality Int
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: CEO Alex Bruce.
• 0:05
  Speaker 2: Good morning to you.
• 0:06
  Speaker 3: Alex, Good morning Katie.
• 0:09
  Speaker 2: Alex. You and I have spoken over recent weeks.
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: We've spoken about the escalation in violence and bottle shops.
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: You and I spoke about this just a couple of
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: weeks ago. I mean, did you ever think that something
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: so violent and tragic was going to occur as what
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: happened just a couple of days ago.
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  Speaker 3: Look, the sad truth is that there are many in
• 0:33
  Speaker 3: our industry that feel like it was heading to something
• 0:37
  Speaker 3: like this occurring. And it's just absolutely horrific that it's
• 0:43
  Speaker 3: happened and we weren't able to stop it happening. And
• 0:47
  Speaker 3: absolutely now there's red hot anger as well as emotion
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  Speaker 3: on how we try to make sure it never happens again.
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: Yes, spot on.
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  Speaker 1: You know, there's there's that emotion, there's that anger that
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: people are feeling as well, you know, to sort of
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: learn this morning as well that the nineteen year old
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: who has been charged with murder is also facing court
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  Speaker 1: on breach of bail. I don't know what the right
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  Speaker 1: word is for how the community is feeling right now.
• 1:19
  Speaker 3: Yeah, obviously some of my industry are strong listeners of
• 1:23
  Speaker 3: your show, and already I'm getting texts from some of
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  Speaker 3: them after they found out listening to you earlier about
• 1:29
  Speaker 3: the breach of bail. And you know, we do focus
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  Speaker 3: a lot on the bottle shops. It's not just a
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  Speaker 3: bottle shop issue. You know, how did that journey from
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  Speaker 3: Karama over to Nightcliff over to tragically jingly at the
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  Speaker 3: end there? How was that allowed to occur for as
• 1:46
  Speaker 3: long as it was. I think of all the agencies
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  Speaker 3: that have touch points with that nineteen year old before
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  Speaker 3: he steps out of the car brandishing a weapon. Think
• 1:57
  Speaker 3: of our cafe in the city that someone sledge hammered
• 2:02
  Speaker 3: their way in to access water and then passed out
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  Speaker 3: on the street out of the front and police came
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  Speaker 3: an hour and a half later and told the cafe
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  Speaker 3: that they should do that at job securing their venue.
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  Speaker 3: Think of the guy with the axe in the back
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  Speaker 3: of his pants, visibly just walking down one of the
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  Speaker 3: main suburban streets of Darwin a couple of weeks ago.
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  Speaker 3: This has been building that We've been in countless meetings
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  Speaker 3: with government and police that apply pressure on bottle shops
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  Speaker 3: to increase our refuse to serve, and big and small,
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  Speaker 3: our industry has been saying, yep, we'll do that. We
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  Speaker 3: want to play our part, but it's getting more aggressive.
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  Speaker 3: This is not just a bottle shop issue. This is
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  Speaker 3: not an alcohol fueled violence issue. This is just plain
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  Speaker 3: old violence and it's unacceptable. We don't need to wrap
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  Speaker 3: up other words about it. This is about the standard
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  Speaker 3: of community behavior that we're willing to accept and if
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  Speaker 3: you fall below that, you're taken out of the commune.
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  Speaker 3: I'm sick of hearing, and I've got this loud and
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  Speaker 3: clear from me in our industry yesterday. Don't tell us
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  Speaker 3: about how we can't police our way out of this.
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  Speaker 3: It would be a bloody good start. Don't tell us
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  Speaker 3: that the jails are full. Build an even bigger one.
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  Speaker 3: We are not allowing the system to appropriately deal with
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  Speaker 3: these people and tragically failed when that individual stepped out
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  Speaker 3: of their car with a knife.
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  Speaker 2: Have you spoken with the Chief Minister?
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  Speaker 1: Yes?
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  Speaker 3: Yes, the Chief and a lot of her parliamentary colleagues,
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  Speaker 3: but on both sides were very good and reached out
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  Speaker 3: yesterday direct to us, direct to endeavor group that runs
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  Speaker 3: the BWS and the ALH venues, and there is strong
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  Speaker 3: support and a lot of feeling right across everyone in
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  Speaker 3: the community, our industry and the politicians that are being
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  Speaker 3: touched by this. I agree with his sentiments about not
• 3:57
  Speaker 3: wanting to politicize it or trying to politicize it. This
• 4:00
  Speaker 3: cuts through everyone, and we just need to get together
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  Speaker 3: and work as hard as we can to fix it,
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  Speaker 3: whatever fix looks like, to ensure this never happens again.
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  Speaker 1: What can be done at this point, because I would
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  Speaker 1: imagine from your perspective and in your role right now,
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  Speaker 1: you are probably getting calls, You're probably getting messages and
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  Speaker 1: emails from people that work in bottle shops and that
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  Speaker 1: work in licensed premises who are bloody scared.
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  Speaker 3: Yes, And apart from the shock, the sadness, absolute sadness,
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  Speaker 3: and the anger, there's a bit of resentment that this
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  Speaker 3: has been building. There's been a range of measures taken
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  Speaker 3: across a number of years that is allowed the standard
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  Speaker 3: in the community on the streets to fall to such levels.
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  Speaker 3: We're meeting with the chief later today and I'm aware
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  Speaker 3: that AIH group and BWSR as well, and they're showing
• 5:02
  Speaker 3: a lot of support behind their staff and really, you
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  Speaker 3: know that brought the AMATA up from into state overnight,
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  Speaker 3: which is absolutely amazing to see their support for their
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  Speaker 3: local workers and we're very appreciative of that. You know,
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  Speaker 3: we're meeting with the chief and I know it'll be
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  Speaker 3: centered around how we keep our workers safe and workplace safety.
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  Speaker 3: We've absolutely got a role and responsibility to do that,
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  Speaker 3: but it only goes so far. You only need to
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  Speaker 3: look out of the streetscape and we need to get
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  Speaker 3: control of that. If we end up having to look
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  Speaker 3: like banks when sawn Off shotgun bank robberies were a thing,
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  Speaker 3: that shows you that we've failed to keep the streetscape
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  Speaker 3: at a higher standard.
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  Speaker 1: Can you tell me, I mean, from your perspective, what
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  Speaker 1: do you think needs to happen right now.
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  Speaker 3: Oh look, we don't think rushing any legislation in today
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  Speaker 3: is the right answer. Necessarily. We all do need to
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  Speaker 3: sit down and look at everything. If bail's an issue,
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  Speaker 3: it's an issue. If prison capacity is an issue, it's
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  Speaker 3: an issue. If police have stopped using their watch houses
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  Speaker 3: cycling people through, they've got different policies now to the
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  Speaker 3: ones that they had for thirty or forty years about
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  Speaker 3: how long and what kind of cohort they cycle through
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  Speaker 3: their watchhouses. I think we've got to run a rule
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  Speaker 3: through a lot of that. We've got recommendations on what
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  Speaker 3: liquor lords can change. But I think we said this
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  Speaker 3: before when I gave you that Knucky Street example. By
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  Speaker 3: the time a vulnerable person's walking into our bottle shop,
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  Speaker 3: whether they're armed or not, whether they're thinking to doing
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  Speaker 3: a smash and grab, whether they're purchasing to then go
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  Speaker 3: and drink in appropriately in a public space, think of
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  Speaker 3: all the touch points of agencies and NGOs on that
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  Speaker 3: person before they've stepped the foot in our shop. If
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  Speaker 3: we wanted to change things, we've really got to run
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  Speaker 3: the ruler through all of that.
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: Alex, do there need to be alcohol restrictions? So do
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  Speaker 1: we need to be looking at what's going on in
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  Speaker 1: the likes of Alice Springs. I know that we've already
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  Speaker 1: got some of those bottle shops that are closing at
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  Speaker 1: nine o'clock because they do not feel like it's safe
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  Speaker 1: enough to operate later.
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  Speaker 2: In the evening.
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  Speaker 1: Do there need to be some other measures like this
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  Speaker 1: put in place right now?
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  Speaker 3: Well? So this occurred at a venue that was limiting
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  Speaker 3: its hours voluntarily, has had a very long relationship with
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  Speaker 3: having guards there has had to manage the safety and
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  Speaker 3: was really concerned of it. Of their work as leading
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  Speaker 3: up into this, well, you know with issuing, don't chase,
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  Speaker 3: don't interact if it's too violent, was complying with the
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  Speaker 3: request from government that yeah, they put more pressure and
• 7:53
  Speaker 3: refuse to serve, asking everyone where they're planning on drinking it.
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  Speaker 3: And again, none of that actually stops the outcome that happened,
• 8:00
  Speaker 3: and it's brazen, it's daylight hours, it's nighttime hours. Unfortunately,
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  Speaker 3: a tragic incident can happen at eight forty five pm
• 8:09
  Speaker 3: at night or it can happen at four forty five.
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  Speaker 3: So I don't know that going down any of that
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  Speaker 3: knee jerk path. You ask Gallas Springs and I don't
• 8:19
  Speaker 3: think they think everything is awesome down there either. With
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  Speaker 3: all those initiatives in place, and again we'll constantly do
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  Speaker 3: our bit, but we're looking at the wrong end of
• 8:31
  Speaker 3: the journey for some of these people. Where is the
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  Speaker 3: intensive case management on that nineteen year old. How many
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  Speaker 3: agencies have had interactions with him or should have had
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  Speaker 3: interactions with him? Has he been out of don Dale
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  Speaker 3: multiple times or not? You know, we've got to actually
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  Speaker 3: start case managing these these wrap bags.
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  Speaker 1: Can I ask, I know that you mentioned this a
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  Speaker 1: moment ago, like, are we going to get to the
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  Speaker 1: point where you know you're having to serve alcohol behind
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  Speaker 1: sort of lows so to avoid this kind of situation?
• 9:03
  Speaker 2: I mean, do you think we're heading down that path? Alex?
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  Speaker 3: You're already seeing more and more product locked behind cabinets
• 9:11
  Speaker 3: that only staff can access. On your behalf, you are
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  Speaker 3: already seeing stores in supermarket shopping center environments closing their
• 9:21
  Speaker 3: automatic doors earlier in the night and posting their security
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  Speaker 3: out the front and then being discreet about who and
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  Speaker 3: how they let into the store to try and limit
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  Speaker 3: that smash and grab, all the grab and runs. You'll see.
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  Speaker 3: The question, and it's a live one that everyone's thinking about,
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  Speaker 3: is what physical barriers can be put in place? So
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  Speaker 3: I think ultimately all of those things are on the table,
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  Speaker 3: and we are going down that path, and yeah, doesn't
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  Speaker 3: it What does that say about the standard?
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  Speaker 4: Well?
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  Speaker 3: Will it do accept on our street?
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  Speaker 1: And the other thing is, Alex, you know, while this
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: incident has happened at a bottle shop, the fact is
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  Speaker 1: there are people that are facing incredibly dangerous situations, not
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  Speaker 1: only at bottle shops, you know, at petrol stations, in
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  Speaker 1: retail outlets, you name it. You know. I was in
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  Speaker 1: a shopping center on the weekend and I got told
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  Speaker 1: by a young group of girls that worked in a
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  Speaker 1: store that there had been a pair of scissors pulled
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  Speaker 1: on one of the girls. So you just sort of gone,
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  Speaker 1: what have we come to?
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  Speaker 3: This is happening in our cafes that aren't even licensed.
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  Speaker 3: There are people smashing in to get access to water
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  Speaker 3: or to a packet of chips. Alcohol absolutely is part
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  Speaker 3: of it, and often the sharpest part is the bottle shops.
• 10:41
  Speaker 3: You saw that horrible footage, Yeah, the stuff out in
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  Speaker 3: Palmerston Way. But I raised this September on your show
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  Speaker 3: last year. Around then, I think, yep, a lady with
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  Speaker 3: scissors tried to stab staff in the Kazi's bottle shop.
• 10:58
  Speaker 3: She then got picked up very quickly issued bailed by
• 11:02
  Speaker 3: the police. There was an incident with the same lady
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  Speaker 3: two days later at another outlet in Palmerston, got picked
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  Speaker 3: up very quickly, issued bailed. My understanding, my police, and
• 11:14
  Speaker 3: it took a third event in the course of about
• 11:16
  Speaker 3: seven days before that lady got taken out of society
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  Speaker 3: for a while. I don't know why it's three strikes
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  Speaker 3: policy when you're trying to stab our staff.
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  Speaker 1: But then you hear from the government that they've changed
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  Speaker 1: the laws and that they're the toughest laws.
• 11:33
  Speaker 4: That we've ever had, and that our prisons are full,
• 11:37
  Speaker 4: and that we can't police our way out of it
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  Speaker 4: the system, and maybe it's not police, And I know
• 11:42
  Speaker 4: there's a lot of good, hard working.
• 11:44
  Speaker 3: People right across there that are just frustrated. We're watching
• 11:48
  Speaker 3: the standard of behavior deteriorate. Holistically, let's all come together
• 11:53
  Speaker 3: and work out how we can lift it back up.
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: Yeah, we have to. Something has seriously got to change.
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: Young Declan's life cannot be lost in Vain. Something seriously
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: got to.
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  Speaker 3: Change, absolutely, and it was you did a phenomenal interview yesterday.
• 12:10
  Speaker 3: It was so heartbreaking to hear. But yeah, we are
• 12:15
  Speaker 3: getting a lot of requests from people in our industry
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  Speaker 3: and I'm sure across the community they want to know
• 12:20
  Speaker 3: how they can support Declan's family. We know Crystal's been
• 12:25
  Speaker 3: a good conduit in talking to the dad. If if
• 12:30
  Speaker 3: they or a family friend are looking at setting something
• 12:33
  Speaker 3: up that we can direct and encourage people to show
• 12:37
  Speaker 3: their support that way to APIs that family. We stand
• 12:41
  Speaker 3: ready and not able to hit the go button way
• 12:44
  Speaker 3: out on that, Katie.
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: Yeah, well, let us see, let us see what we
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: can what we can do, and if there is somewhere,
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: because I've been getting similar messages, people really just wanting
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: to pay their respects and do anything that they can
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: to support his family, Alex, we are going to have
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: to leave it there. I really appreciate your time this morning.
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: Thank you, and please let us know how those discussions
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: go with the Chief Minister.
• 13:06
  Speaker 2: Thanks Cotie, thank you,