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Speaker 1: Talking about this terrible incident Agalla Adelaide bound train yesterday morning.

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Speaker 1: It occurred just before nine o'clock. Four women assaulted, terribly assaulted,

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Speaker 1: spat on, allegedly spat on, shoved, punched, slapped and verbally abused.

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Speaker 1: Just appalling and no other words that I can use

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Speaker 1: on the radio anyway to describe this, and how strongly

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Speaker 1: I feel about what this person has done to innocent

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Speaker 1: people traveling on a train going about perhaps to their

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Speaker 1: job at that time of the morning and have this

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Speaker 1: happened to them. Just awful. Michael O'Connell, victim's advocate, Michael,

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Speaker 1: good morning.

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Speaker 2: A morning to you, Matthew ANTR listener.

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Speaker 1: I can't believe we're talking about this sort of thing again.

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Speaker 1: And this bloke must be living under a rock to

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Speaker 1: not realize the abuse of women in terms of physical abuse,

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Speaker 1: in whether it's in a relationship or outside it. It's

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Speaker 1: been the hot topic of the last twelve months.

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Speaker 2: It certainly has, and this isn't just unruly disorderly behavior.

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Speaker 2: These four cases are a stuck reminder that violence against women,

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Speaker 2: gender based violence is not limited to the sanctity of

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Speaker 2: the home or even within family. It's a problem. It's

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Speaker 2: a social issue that women confront every single day.

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Speaker 1: Bail laws, in police bail laws, should they be reviewed

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Speaker 1: because you'd look at this and say, okay, he's out

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Speaker 1: now till August. There's no way you'd let him out

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Speaker 1: before he faces the court.

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Speaker 2: Surely, Well, that would be the expectation of many people

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Speaker 2: in the public at large. I mean, let's start at

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Speaker 2: the beginning. Every member of the public has a right

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Speaker 2: to use public transport, a right to use public space

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Speaker 2: freely without the fear of that someone's going to assault them.

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Speaker 2: And when someone breaches that rule, they show that they

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Speaker 2: can't be trusted, then to apprehend them and release them

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Speaker 2: back into the community just seems incomprehensible too many people,

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Speaker 2: as pointed out on a program just recently, with other

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Speaker 2: things where people make decisions in life, such as purchasing

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Speaker 2: an electrical item or even purchasing a home, there's always

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Speaker 2: a call off period. So perhaps it's about time there's

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Speaker 2: a call off period during which someone would be kept

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Speaker 2: in custody and some interventions could be made to reduce

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Speaker 2: the risk to the public at large.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, and you think as well, you know, on

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Speaker 1: top of that, he's arrived at the railway station in

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Speaker 1: the city and then he's run from police seeking to

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Speaker 1: arrest him. Well, there's another good reason to refuse police

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Speaker 1: bail for goodness sake and let him face a magustrate today,

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Speaker 1: who then can decide whether he's bailed ahead of a

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Speaker 1: court appearance in August. Maybe the remand center was full.

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Speaker 1: Well that's that's not anyone else's fault. I mean, look

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Speaker 1: at space reck and pack them and stack them.

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Speaker 2: Well, we need circuit breakers, but we need the interventions

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Speaker 2: that protect the community. The protection of the community and

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Speaker 2: particularly protection of people using public transport going to and

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Speaker 2: from work or to and from social events, especially women

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Speaker 2: and children who are over represented in victims on public transport.

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Speaker 2: We need to be able to leave them people, leaving

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Speaker 2: them feeling confident they can use our public transport system.

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Speaker 2: They will get from A to B without some form

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Speaker 2: of injury or humiliation or someone behaving unruly or disorderly

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Speaker 2: on our public transport system. And those who choose to

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Speaker 2: behave in that manner we should come down hush. We

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Speaker 2: should be sending a clear message this is not the

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Speaker 2: way that we are allowed to behave on our public

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Speaker 2: transport system. We want more people on that system and

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Speaker 2: less cars on our own rate.

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Speaker 1: As an advocate for victims today, Michael, and you've got

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Speaker 1: a many years experience in this as former commissioner. These

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Speaker 1: women today, you can only imagine what they're thinking. You know,

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Speaker 1: why me, What do I do now? Can I have

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Speaker 1: a look at catching public transport again? Maybe they can't.

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Speaker 1: Maybe that was their last trip for the rest of

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Speaker 1: their lives on public transport, depending on their state of mind,

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Speaker 1: What would they be thinking with your experience wearing that

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Speaker 1: hat and what would you say to them?

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Speaker 2: Well, many victims of assault feel unsafe. They begin to

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Speaker 2: question what they have done, possibly to draw attention to themselves.

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Speaker 2: Some go as far as actually blaming themselves for the

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Speaker 2: fact that they became a victim of crime. I want

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Speaker 2: to emphasize that no victim is guilty one. Victims should

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Speaker 2: be blamed for what happened. Yes, in these incidents were

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Speaker 2: solely the responsibility of the person accused of committing them.

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Speaker 2: He made the decision to attack these women. And what

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Speaker 2: we need to do now is to reinform in the

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Speaker 2: minds of and also through our deeds, assists these victims

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Speaker 2: in ensuring that their needs are met and their rights

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Speaker 2: are fulfilled. We can't just have promises that will do things.

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Speaker 2: We actually have to deliver on those things to help

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Speaker 2: people heal.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, what do you make of what seems to be

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Speaker 1: just madness? He's been barred from traveling on trains but

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Speaker 1: can use buses and trams. That's just insanity. Isn't it

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Speaker 1: that the money python sketch, Well, well it is.

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Speaker 2: I had to read twice that they were the conditions

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Speaker 2: under which he had now been released back into the community.

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Speaker 2: I'm not sure that someone of his behavior and the

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Speaker 2: violence he's perpetrated, is going to distinguish between whether it's

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Speaker 2: a bus, a train, or a tram. If he wants

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Speaker 2: to behave in this manner, and he's shown he's prepared

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Speaker 2: to do so, then he's likely to do so on

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Speaker 2: any form of public transport.

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Speaker 1: Indeed, Michael, appreciate your insights. Thank you so much, all the.

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Speaker 2: Best, and thank you for asking, and please extend through

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Speaker 2: your radio sympathy towards those women who quite rightly were

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Speaker 2: entitled to use public transport and they should never have

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Speaker 2: been treated that way.

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Speaker 1: Absolutely one hundred percent well said. Thank you, Thank you

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Speaker 1: very much, Michael, Michael O'Connell, victim's advocate,