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Speaker 1: Good morning to your minister. Good morning now, thanks so

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Speaker 1: much for your time. Minister, tell us a little bit

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Speaker 1: more about what prompted these changes.

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Speaker 2: So these changes are about the safety of passengers, so

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Speaker 2: in making sure that when you're traveling on a bus

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Speaker 2: it's is actually a pleasurable experience. But it is also

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Speaker 2: about the safety of our drivers as well. So I've

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Speaker 2: had a number of meetings with the Transport Workers Union

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Speaker 2: over well since I've been Minister obviously for a quite

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Speaker 2: a considerable amount of time. So we bought in the

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Speaker 2: legislation earlier this year. The admin and the training has

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Speaker 2: been undertaken and so that legislation has been enacted and

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Speaker 2: so as of today there are penalties in place. So

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Speaker 2: people can be banned from getting on a bus at

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Speaker 2: the bus stop or the bus interchange. So there's always

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Speaker 2: been that power of arrest for our transit safety offices,

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Speaker 2: but the legislation removes that ambiguity and broadened like geographically

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Speaker 2: it can be in the vicinity of a bus interchanges well,

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Speaker 2: so people can be banned for three to six months.

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Speaker 2: The transit safety officers can arrest somebody who may be

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Speaker 2: damaging a bus, throwing locks at the bus. Always doing

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Speaker 2: the wrong thing on a bus, causing trouble on the bus.

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Speaker 2: They can be then detained by the transit safety officers

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Speaker 2: or conveyed to the closest police station.

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Speaker 1: Now, Minister, we did catch up with the union just

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Speaker 1: a little bit earlier this morning. We'd spoken to them

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Speaker 1: last week as well, following on from some pretty bad

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Speaker 1: anti social behavior on the bus network. There was one

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Speaker 1: instance in particular that Ian Smith, the secretary of the

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Speaker 1: Transport Union, had spoken to us about last week where

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Speaker 1: a bus driver actually ended up turning that bus back

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Speaker 1: to the depot. As I understand, after some pretty bad

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Speaker 1: anti social behavior. How concerned are you about some of

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Speaker 1: whatsh those drivers and indeed the public have had to

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Speaker 1: put up with.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, very concerned, Katie. That's why we've bought in this legislation. Now,

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Speaker 2: as a minister, that's the highest power that you can do,

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Speaker 2: is to bring in new leglegislation, go through the process

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Speaker 2: of writing legislation, addressing the issue, introducing it in parliament,

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Speaker 2: you know, debating passing that legislation, and that's what we've done.

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Speaker 2: So I think we've taken some really solid strong action

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Speaker 2: around that. It's also about making sure those security contractors,

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Speaker 2: So at the at the depot, sorry, at the interchanges,

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Speaker 2: we have security contractors as well, and it's been it's

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Speaker 2: also giving them payers they can't arrest, but it is

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Speaker 2: also giving them the powers to be able to ask

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Speaker 2: somebody from their name, their data, birth, but also provide

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Speaker 2: directions to them saying, you know, leave the vicinity, go

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Speaker 2: away off, you know, move away sort of thing as well.

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Speaker 2: So it's giving those security contractors additional powers, but also

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Speaker 2: particularly the trends of safety officers.

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Speaker 1: How many of those transit safety officers have we got.

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Speaker 2: So we've got nineteen. We're putting on additional two. But

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Speaker 2: I've already said to Andrew Kirkman, you know, let's keep

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Speaker 2: looking at this if they're you know, if they have

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Speaker 2: an impact, if we need additional resources. We've seen fuel

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Speaker 2: prices go up, we've seen them starting to come down,

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Speaker 2: but there are more people who are looking at using

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Speaker 2: public transport, people who are very conscious about their emissions

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Speaker 2: as well. So probably ninety percent of people who travel

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Speaker 2: on the bus do the right thing, but there is

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Speaker 2: a small percentage in our community who don't do that.

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Speaker 2: We meet and we've got the powers to be able

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Speaker 2: to say, well, you've lost that privilege of catching a bus.

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Speaker 2: You can't hang around loiter at the bus interchange causing trouble.

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Speaker 2: You're gone. You have to move away, and so I

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Speaker 2: think it's important to be able to do that.

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Speaker 1: Minister. How exactly will a ban work? I suppose you know.

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Speaker 1: The thing that I sort of wonder is if somebody

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Speaker 1: is banned by one of the transit officers, how can

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Speaker 1: it then be policed.

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Speaker 2: I'm not the expert, but apparently there's like a database

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Speaker 2: where all that information goes. So there is the police

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Speaker 2: use the same database. There are also CCTVs the transit

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Speaker 2: slafety officers where body worn cameras as well, so that

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Speaker 2: information then is held. I think most of them. The

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Speaker 2: information I have is most of these venders are people

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Speaker 2: who are well known to the SERRIC security guards as

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Speaker 2: well as the security contractors as well as the transit

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Speaker 2: safety officers, so they have that information. That information on

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Speaker 2: who's been banned is with the bus drivers, but the

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Speaker 2: transit safety officers have that information. So then they can

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Speaker 2: you know, if somebody gets picked up at a bus

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Speaker 2: into change the bus stop, they can then ring that

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Speaker 2: in or the transit safety officers or the CCTV from

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Speaker 2: the bus can pick that up. So yeah, there's I mean,

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Speaker 2: I haven't got the exact details, but it is a

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Speaker 2: database that police access as well as the transit safety

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Speaker 2: officers that has that information.

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Speaker 1: Minister when it comes to the transit safety officers arresting people,

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Speaker 1: have they had to do much of that in the past.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, they have had to do that in the past,

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Speaker 2: but this broadens their power. So they are able to

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Speaker 2: remove somebody who's on the bus that's causing trouble at

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Speaker 2: a bus interchange, but now also in the vicinity of

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Speaker 2: a bus interchange. So sometimes people are beyond the fenced

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Speaker 2: area and they're causing trouble by throwing rocks for example,

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Speaker 2: And so they are able to either detain them till

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Speaker 2: the police arrives, or they can take them to a

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Speaker 2: police station. And like Casarine is quite close to the

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Speaker 2: Casuine police station, Parlersan Interchange is just across the road

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Speaker 2: from the Palms and Police Interchange. Cabina Street is relatively close,

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Speaker 2: so they can detain them or they can take them

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Speaker 2: to a police station. But that said, earlier this year

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Speaker 2: I did an event where it was Larachie Nation, the

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Speaker 2: transit safety offices, the security, you know, the police, all

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Speaker 2: of them work together anyway, and this is, as I said,

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Speaker 2: giving those transit safety offices more power to be able

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Speaker 2: to act Minister.

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Speaker 1: When we caught up with the Transport Workers Union a

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Speaker 1: bit earlier this morning, Ian Smith said that this is

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Speaker 1: definitely a step in the right direction. He was very

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Speaker 1: positive about the fact that the government has been continuing

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Speaker 1: to meet with the union, but he did say that

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Speaker 1: he thinks there needs to be more of those transport officers,

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Speaker 1: transport safety officers, and also he wants to see those

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Speaker 1: driver protection screens or better driver protection screens. Is that

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Speaker 1: something that you are speaking with the union about.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, so these driver protection screens. They're trialing that at

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Speaker 2: the moment. So there's a number of versions of those,

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Speaker 2: and some people don't some of the drivers don't necessarily

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Speaker 2: like the Perspex ones, but that's being trialed at the moment. Yeah,

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Speaker 2: some mechanisms for the bus drivers to keep the bus

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Speaker 2: drivers safe, So those are being trialed. The other positive

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Speaker 2: thing or and I know if it's positive, but an

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Speaker 2: additional thing is now we have one bus company, so

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Speaker 2: CDC manage all our dal and buses, so you know,

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Speaker 2: in the past you're dealing in the Union also was

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Speaker 2: dealing with two companies. You now have one company CDC

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Speaker 2: that managers or that runs our whole bus network. So

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Speaker 2: it's yeah, you have that direct line. So I think

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Speaker 2: that's one less step basically where you're dealing with two

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Speaker 2: different bus companies, all.

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Speaker 1: Right, and so with that trial as well, then on

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Speaker 1: the protection screens, is that something that may be implemented

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Speaker 1: across the network.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, so yes, definitely, So there are you know, if

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Speaker 2: you could travel on the bus, they do have some

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Speaker 2: sort of cage already, a mesh sort of area, but

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Speaker 2: with some of those the bus drivers feel and there

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Speaker 2: are passengers that can reach over or get over the

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Speaker 2: top of those. So it is about increasing and improving

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Speaker 2: the safety for the bus drivers. And so I think

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Speaker 2: into the future any new buses will be fitted with

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Speaker 2: those screens anyway, And I mean that's we're not unique

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Speaker 2: in the Northern Territory around bus safety, bus driver safety,

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Speaker 2: it's probably a worldwide issue. So they're fitting those anyway

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Speaker 2: in new buses. But it's how do we also fit

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Speaker 2: those or CDC then have those fitted in buses currently.

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Speaker 1: Well, Minister for Transport Infrastructure and Logistics, Evil Lawler. Were

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Speaker 1: appreciate you taking the time to have a chat with

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Speaker 1: us this morning and just talking us through those changes.

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Speaker 1: I hope that they do make a make a difference.

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Speaker 2: Absolutely, yeah, I mean yeah. We want more people to

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Speaker 2: be going on our buses. We want them to feel

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Speaker 2: comfortable and safe on our buses.

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Speaker 1: Thanks so much for your time this morning.

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Speaker 2: Thank you, Katie, Thank you.

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Speaker 1: That is Minister Evil Laula there, who is indeed the

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Speaker 1: Minister for Infrastructure, Planning and Logistics. And look, I think

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Speaker 1: I speak for most of you this morning when I

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Speaker 1: say that we really do hope that these changes do

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Speaker 1: make a difference. By the sounds of it from what

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Speaker 1: the Minister had said there, they're certainly open to the

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Speaker 1: potential for more transit safety officers based on what the

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Speaker 1: Minister had said, but also in terms of those screens

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Speaker 1: that the union had spoken about as well, because fundamentally

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Speaker 1: it's not just about making sure that all the passengers

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Speaker 1: are safe that are on those buses, but also about

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Speaker 1: making sure that drivers are safe. And some of what

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Speaker 1: we've heard that they've been subjected to not only over

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Speaker 1: the last few weeks, but certainly over the years is

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Speaker 1: pretty horrendous and we want to make sure that people

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Speaker 1: are able to be safe in their workplaces. Now, if

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Speaker 1: you would like to send us a message this morning

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Speaker 1: zero four double nine seven double one three six zero,

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Speaker 1: we're going to take a really short break. When we

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Speaker 1: come back, you're going to hear from Saint John's