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Speaker 1: Last night, the Northern Territory government made amendments to the

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Speaker 1: Transport Legislation Bill. The government says the changes we'll make

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Speaker 1: our road, bus and rail networks and our waterways safer

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Speaker 1: for all Territorians. The changes include strengthening legislation to allow

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Speaker 1: transit safety officers to ban people from entering buses and

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Speaker 1: bus stations when they behaved in an offensive, threatening or

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Speaker 1: violent or disorderly manner. The Minister for Infrastructure, Planning and Logistics,

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Speaker 1: Eva Laula joined me a little bit earlier this morning.

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Speaker 2: Good morning, Katie, Minister.

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Speaker 1: Why were these changes to the legislation required?

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Speaker 2: So, Katie, there were six pieces of legislation that were

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Speaker 2: amended last night in Parliament and there is a wide range,

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Speaker 2: but there's a couple that are really meeting and I

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Speaker 2: think are really important to talk about. So the first

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Speaker 2: one was around having a midstep for careless driving causing

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Speaker 2: death or serious harm. So in the past and a

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Speaker 2: Victorian and t were the only two states that don't

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Speaker 2: have this mid step. But in the past, you know,

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Speaker 2: you could through the Criminal Act, you could be charged

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Speaker 2: with the dangerous driving but if it didn't meet that

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Speaker 2: threshold then it would drop down to just driving without

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Speaker 2: due care. And so as local MLAs, we've been approached

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Speaker 2: by families as well as the Attorney General. We've been

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Speaker 2: lobbied hard about having a, as I said, a step

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Speaker 2: down level for careless driving causing death or serious harm.

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Speaker 2: So really good news for families who you know, they

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Speaker 2: suffer additional stress, they've lost the loved one through a

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Speaker 2: motor vehicle accident and they felt those penalties didn't meet

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Speaker 2: the seriousness of harm.

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Speaker 1: And so hopefully these changes mean that if there is

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Speaker 1: a serious, serious crash causing death, that those families will

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Speaker 1: feel as though there is adequate punishment.

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Speaker 2: Yes, so if if somebody is driving carelessly and they've

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Speaker 2: caused a death or serious injury, then there will be

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Speaker 2: consequences for that. And as I said, we have been

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Speaker 2: lobbied about this, and I mean it probably has been

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Speaker 2: slower than some families would have liked, but you know,

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Speaker 2: it has been had to go through the Attorney General,

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Speaker 2: it's had to also go through Parliamentary Council. But we

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Speaker 2: have arrived here and as I said, I think it's

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Speaker 2: really good news for some of those families.

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Speaker 1: And Minister it's not the only change from overnight One

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Speaker 1: of the other big changes to this legislation is that

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Speaker 1: for the transport system. Now, what exactly is it going

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Speaker 1: to mean for our drivers. We know that some of

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Speaker 1: our bus drivers have been subjected to some pretty vile behavior,

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Speaker 1: even just in recent weeks, So what will it mean

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Speaker 1: for them?

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Speaker 2: Yeah? Absolutely, And as I said, we want to make

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Speaker 2: sure that people who troublic travel on public transport are safe.

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Speaker 2: So you know there are about a quarter of a

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Speaker 2: million trips on public transport in the Greater Darwin Northern Territories.

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Speaker 2: So it is increasing the powers to deal with behaviors

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Speaker 2: on the network. So our transit safety officers, I mean yes,

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Speaker 2: first and foremost they should be diffusing a situation, but

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Speaker 2: if not, they having great powers to deal with that behavior.

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Speaker 2: So they can ban people from the network. There's either

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Speaker 2: a ninety day or one hundred and eighty day ban

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Speaker 2: to that. They can deal with people who assault them

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Speaker 2: or throw rocks as well. So it is about broadening

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Speaker 2: the definition around where a bus station is so those

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Speaker 2: people who throw rocks at buses they will be able

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Speaker 2: to act on that. It will give the transit officers

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Speaker 2: the powers to arrest people who assault them as well.

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Speaker 2: And also the security guards, So besides transit officers, there

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Speaker 2: are security guards that bus interchanges. It will provide those

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Speaker 2: security guards with to be able to have the powers

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Speaker 2: of a transit officer to demand people's names and addresses

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Speaker 2: and take action. So it is about government putting in

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Speaker 2: place increased powers to make sure that the people who

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Speaker 2: are doing the wrong things on buses know that they

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Speaker 2: cannot continue to do that.

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Speaker 1: Minister, does it potentially put those transit officers in a

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Speaker 1: more dangerous situation? Did you say they'll actually be able

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Speaker 1: to arrest people.

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Speaker 2: So they'll be able to arrest yes, they Well, transit

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Speaker 2: officers already have body worn cameras and they also have handcuffs,

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Speaker 2: so they will be able to hold those people. Of

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Speaker 2: course they will then contact police immediately, but they will

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Speaker 2: be able to do that.

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Speaker 1: And do you think that it puts them in a

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Speaker 1: more dangerous situation or is this really required? Like I said,

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Speaker 1: we know that we've heard some terrible situations of bus drivers,

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Speaker 1: you know, being spat at, being attacked. It sounds as well,

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Speaker 1: it can be pretty rough out there.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, we absolutely know the transit officers do

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Speaker 2: an amazing job and it's a damn tough job. So

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Speaker 2: it is about giving them the powers to deal with people.

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Speaker 2: Hopefully the message is then getting out loudly and clearly

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Speaker 2: to people who do the wrong things on buses that

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Speaker 2: it's not acceptable. As they said, they will be banned

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Speaker 2: from buses. They will then have to look for other

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Speaker 2: forms of transport. They'll be off the buses. And as

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Speaker 2: I said, it is about trying to clean up the

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Speaker 2: buses and make sure that the people who do catch

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Speaker 2: those buses then feel safe.

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Speaker 1: Minister, do you reckon? We've got enough of those transport officers.

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Speaker 2: We're actually recruiting at the moment, so the numbers have

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Speaker 2: moved up from fifteen to eighteen transit officers, but we're

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Speaker 2: actually underway with recruiting more transit officers. So it is

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Speaker 2: as I said, it is a continuous It is continuous

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Speaker 2: around making sure that our bus drivers are safe, that

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Speaker 2: our passengers are safe. So there's always work to do

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Speaker 2: in this space.

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Speaker 1: And does this go far enough in terms of making

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Speaker 1: sure that those drivers and also the passengers and everybody

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Speaker 1: using that bus network that they are safe enough.

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Speaker 2: So as a minister, this is the highest level that

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Speaker 2: I can do and get involved in is by changing legislation.

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Speaker 2: We have done that and as I said, it is

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Speaker 2: increasing the powers of those transit officers to deal with

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Speaker 2: behavior on the bus network will continue to do that.

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Speaker 2: There are consultative groups underneath that involve police, DIPPLE as

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Speaker 2: well as the union. I'm always open to suggest around

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Speaker 2: how we can continue to make our buses safer. But

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Speaker 2: this legislation is a big step forward around giving transit

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Speaker 2: officers as well as those security guards more power to

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Speaker 2: control behaviors on bus. But you know the message is

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Speaker 2: out there. If you're going to be an idiot and

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Speaker 2: muck around and be drunk or ineborated or falling around

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Speaker 2: on buses, you will be walking.

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Speaker 1: Minister. I know that you are pressed for time this morning,

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Speaker 1: as am I I just want to ask you as

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Speaker 1: well about the rail reopening. Obviously we've had some real

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Speaker 1: issues when it came to those supermarket shelves. You and

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Speaker 1: I had spoken about this previously. That rail line, as

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Speaker 1: I understand, reopened yesterday.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, so really good news. That was a few days

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Speaker 2: ahead of schedule, a mammoth task on the South Australian side.

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Speaker 2: To have that happening. One Rail have said that they

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Speaker 2: will have seven day a week services, so increasing the

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Speaker 2: services till they clear the backlog. But I think people

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Speaker 2: will start to see not just in the not just

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Speaker 2: you know the goods, the perishables in chills, but you

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Speaker 2: know things like spare parts and other things that have

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Speaker 2: been backlogged as well that need to come into the territory.

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Speaker 2: So we'll start to see that clear.

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Speaker 1: Has it also meant a bit of a delay, like

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Speaker 1: for Australia Post because I know we've had a couple

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Speaker 1: of messages through on the text line people asking that.

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Speaker 2: I would say definitely around if you if you're not

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Speaker 2: airfreighting something, so if you've had maybe a larger parcel

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Speaker 2: that you've ticked the box saying that it can not

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Speaker 2: be expressed, it would be coming up on trucks and

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Speaker 2: so that there would have been some delays around that.

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Speaker 2: I don't think they go on rail, but i'd say

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Speaker 2: with the trucks.

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Speaker 1: Well, Minister for Infrastructure, Planning and Logistics Evil Aula, like

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Speaker 1: I said, I know it's a busy day with Parliament sitting.

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Speaker 1: We really appreciate your time this morning. Thank you.

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Speaker 2: Thanks Katie Popa.

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Speaker 1: You are listening to Mix one oh four point nine

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Speaker 1: three point sixty