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Speaker 1: As we know, an incident at Marion Shopping Center a

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Speaker 1: few Sundays ago, about a month or so ago now,

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Speaker 1: where a couple of boys are before the courts over

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Speaker 1: a brawl that erupted in the food court there. The

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Speaker 1: evacuation system has been looked at by Safe Work Essay

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Speaker 1: and they have issued legal orders to Westfield to get better,

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Speaker 1: to improve the communication system. It says the communication system

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Speaker 1: breached workplace safety lows. What does this mean for shoppers

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Speaker 1: and staff working in Marian moving forward? Josh Peak, Secretary

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Speaker 1: Shopping Union, Shoppers Union. They're say the SDA on the line, Josh.

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Speaker 2: Good morning, good morning, thanks coming me on.

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Speaker 1: There were concerns, weren't there. The audio levels were too low,

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Speaker 1: was one of them at the time, if I recall correctly. Yeah.

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Speaker 2: Look, I'm really pleased that has conducted this investigation and

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Speaker 2: it's found exactly what we found immediately following the the events,

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Speaker 2: and that was in our view and the view of

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Speaker 2: our members. What they were telling us was that the

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Speaker 2: emergency warning system just wasn't working effectively. There were a

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Speaker 2: whole bunch of parts of the center where you couldn't

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Speaker 2: hear the alarms going off at all. And the audio

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Speaker 2: was particularly muffled, it was confused, it wasn't clear, and

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Speaker 2: in many cases people reported to us that actually the

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Speaker 2: PA was found in paniced itself, and so we think

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Speaker 2: that actually added to the confusion and chaos that was

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Speaker 2: very well reported by the media following the event. But

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Speaker 2: the other thing that's concerning is that I think we're

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Speaker 2: all really thankful that it wasn't the serious incident that

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Speaker 2: it was originally reported to be, but had it been,

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Speaker 2: had it been a serious incident, these emergency warning systems

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Speaker 2: are really important. West Marian is a massive public public place.

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Speaker 2: Thousands and thousands of stout Australians go there every single day,

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Speaker 2: and whilst the likelihood of something occurring, the consequences when

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Speaker 2: something does happen could be enormous. And I think it's

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Speaker 2: really important that Westfield, you know, make it really clear

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Speaker 2: to the public that this system is working problem properly,

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Speaker 2: because we all should be reassured. Savastrating deserved to be

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Speaker 2: reassured that that shopping center is a safe place to be,

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Speaker 2: that it's a safe place to work. And that's also

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Speaker 2: why we've spoken and we've said to the government, let's

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Speaker 2: coordinate with Safe work, I say, and staypole and let's

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Speaker 2: make sure these systems are working in all of our

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Speaker 2: major shop shopping centers because they need to work properly.

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Speaker 2: Whether it's you know, the kind of concerning incident that

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Speaker 2: was been at major shopping centers over the last few months,

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Speaker 2: something you know, or you know, whether it's just an

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Speaker 2: emergency evacuation of five those kinds of things, these systems

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Speaker 2: need to work properly. It's clear it wasn't working properly,

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Speaker 2: and it's really I think a good thing that safe

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Speaker 2: workers say have stepped stepped in here. But I think

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Speaker 2: we all do need to be reassured about this.

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Speaker 1: Well, not only Westfield Marion. Now surely every major shopping

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Speaker 1: center from I don't want to name them, but right

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Speaker 1: across the metro area and beyond regionals too should check

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Speaker 1: their PAS.

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Speaker 2: Surely, absolutely absolutely it wasn't. And what was concerning is

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Speaker 2: that it's the PA not reaching to the whole center.

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Speaker 2: The warning system, the alert noise that run through that

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Speaker 2: PA wasn't working either, and so you know, the announcements

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Speaker 2: weren't clear. People didn't know what was going on. That's

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Speaker 2: why you know, we had for some time, for hours

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Speaker 2: in some people. In some cases people being stuck in

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Speaker 2: stores not being aware of what was going on. And

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Speaker 2: so we've also provided feedback about the lack of clear

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Speaker 2: communication from Centema management right through the stores about what

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Speaker 2: what what was occurring. And it's not just about Westfield Marion,

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Speaker 2: You're exactly right, it's every major shop shopping center should

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Speaker 2: have a fire review to make sure that these systems

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Speaker 2: are working, because it's really important that if something happened,

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Speaker 2: that kind of queer communication can get through to every

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Speaker 2: single worker and everything single customer.

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Speaker 1: You know, you scratch your head a bit, Josh, because

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Speaker 1: a couple of weeks before this happened, two or three

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Speaker 1: or four, police had a training exercise in the Marian

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Speaker 1: shopping Center for an emergency scenario. It was in the

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Speaker 1: wake of Bondai, and they did whatever they did there.

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Speaker 1: But obviously these systems weren't tested. Do they not test

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Speaker 1: these because this is the thing, is the average shopper

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Speaker 1: who occasionally goes to Marion walks around aimlessly while my

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Speaker 1: wife goes and does a thing. We would expect that

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Speaker 1: amongst fire equipment being tested regularly and fired drills and

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Speaker 1: everything else, the PA, the evacuation system would be tested routinely.

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Speaker 1: I mean, you get buildings doing this, office buildings doing

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Speaker 1: this on a regular basis, including the one I'm in,

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Speaker 1: so surely they would do it there.

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Speaker 2: Well, this is exactly the question that we've asked of Westfield,

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Speaker 2: and it's exactly the question that we want Safe Work

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Speaker 2: and Safehold to coordinate on. You know, these are really

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Speaker 2: significant public precincts and we need to know that these

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Speaker 2: systems are working properly. It's incredibly concerning for us, and

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Speaker 2: that's what our correspondence has gone through to all of

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Speaker 2: those stakeholders as well, which is particularly after Bondie to

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Speaker 2: think that this wasn't working only a few weeks later later,

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Speaker 2: dust isn't good enough? You know, I think we would

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Speaker 2: all expect that these systems work properly, that they're tested regularly,

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Speaker 2: and that's part of the confidence that we have in

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Speaker 2: going to these centers in the first place. So you're

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Speaker 2: exactly right where please that safe work if they have

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Speaker 2: begun in investigation and calls for change, but I think

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Speaker 2: you know there is a please explain out to Westfield

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Speaker 2: on this is why this wasn't properly working, why this

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Speaker 2: wasn't tested in in in the first place, and you

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Speaker 2: know to the extent that you know, obviously what occurred

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Speaker 2: there was concerning, but I think we're all grateful it

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Speaker 2: wasn't more significant than it was. In some ways. It

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Speaker 2: was a massive test, a massive, massive test, and clearly

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Speaker 2: the center failed. And now I think we need to

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Speaker 2: please explain and we need to be reassured that it's

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Speaker 2: working at Westfield, that it's working at West Lakes, that

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Speaker 2: it's working at Tea Tree Plaza and every other major

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Speaker 2: shopping center right across the state.

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Speaker 1: And Bondo should have been the wake up call then

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Speaker 1: and there, because I think that's a Westfield as well.

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Speaker 1: But even if it's not irrelevant, you've got a big

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Speaker 1: shopping area like that, test your systems out. That was

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Speaker 1: your wake up call. And for every you know, whether

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Speaker 1: it's a Westfield or not, just check it out, check

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Speaker 1: it out today and see if it works after the

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Speaker 1: shops close, and make sure you can hear it out

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Speaker 1: of every speaker and every part of the center. For

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Speaker 1: goodness sake, but anyway, a common sense I would have thought, Josh,

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Speaker 1: but there it is. Thank you for your time this morning.

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Speaker 1: Thanks Thank you Josh Peak from the SDA the shop

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Speaker 1: Workers Union