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Speaker 1: There has been quite a bit of discussion in recent

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Speaker 1: days and weeks about the bus services being canceled on

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Speaker 1: the Darwin Bus network due to a shortage of bus

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Speaker 1: drivers and also ongoing crime. Late yesterday though, the Northern

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Speaker 1: Territory government announced more security measures for the public transport sector,

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Speaker 1: which does include safety screens and more security on board.

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Speaker 1: The Department of Infrastructure, Planning and Logistics has launched a

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Speaker 1: three month trial which is going to see an additional

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Speaker 1: fourteen security officers positioned on those key bus routes, riding

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Speaker 1: alongside the passengers and providing a visible deterrent to anti

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Speaker 1: social behavior. Joining me on the line to tell us

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Speaker 1: a little bit more about his thoughts and the thought

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Speaker 1: thoughts of those drivers is Ian Smith from the Transport

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Speaker 1: Workers Union.

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Speaker 2: Good morning to you, Ian.

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Speaker 3: Good morning Katie. How are you going?

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Speaker 2: Not too bad? And what is your reaction to this trial?

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Speaker 3: I think it's extremely important. I think the government's finally

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Speaker 3: starting to listen to the concerns of not only the

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Speaker 3: drivers but the community about what's happening on the network.

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Speaker 3: We need to stop this behavior, and we need to

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Speaker 3: do it in there lots and lots of ways and

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Speaker 3: the additional security officers on the riding on the buses

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Speaker 3: has got to be a deterrent, and with some of

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Speaker 3: the little little extra powers I have, there's got to

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Speaker 3: be the terrent and we should see some improvement. But

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Speaker 3: time will tell.

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Speaker 2: I agree with you. I agree with you. I think

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Speaker 2: it's a good move.

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Speaker 1: Anything that can be done to try to keep those

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Speaker 1: on the bus network safer and to try to help

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Speaker 1: those drivers as well.

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Speaker 3: I'm assuming yes, absolutely, you know the drivers the current

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Speaker 3: security cages or as of such that they have are insufficient.

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Speaker 3: We're are pushing very, very hard, and I'll be quite

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Speaker 3: quite frank. It's really the responsibility CDC. Most of the

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Speaker 3: buses they own out right, their r own buses. They

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Speaker 3: need to provide a safe workplace for their employees. Now

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Speaker 3: you know we have provided with them with a screen,

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Speaker 3: a proper screen. It gets over the issues of reflection.

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Speaker 3: That actually makes the cabin secure and are secure cabin

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Speaker 3: where it means that you know they can do their

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Speaker 3: job safely. They can't be if people spit on them,

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Speaker 3: it's not going to get to them. If people you

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Speaker 3: are going to throw stuff over them, they can't get

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Speaker 3: to them. It's so important that the drivers can do

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Speaker 3: their job, then what happens behind them, we can take

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Speaker 3: care of it. And the introduction of these bordering new

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Speaker 3: security office from the problem roots is a fantastic stet.

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Speaker 3: And do you know what services?

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Speaker 1: Do you know what services the extra guards are going

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Speaker 1: to be on, Well.

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Speaker 3: Not off hand, but they'll be on there as well.

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Speaker 3: I think the tsos and the animal government and our

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Speaker 3: drivers are pretty well aware of the services in the

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Speaker 3: problem and they'll be the ones that target. And you know,

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Speaker 3: we're constant reporting of what's going on the network. If

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Speaker 3: you've got to trust that those people replaced in the

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Speaker 3: in the right areas for the right times are never

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Speaker 3: going to be able to stop every bit of anti

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Speaker 3: social behavior. But if we can stop the practice and

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Speaker 3: make sure that people have responsibility to do the right thing,

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Speaker 3: and when they do miss behaved, there's going to be

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Speaker 3: some action taking against them. Sure, they's got to help

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Speaker 3: the improved. And it's also to give the public confidence

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Speaker 3: they can ride on the buses safely. That's the most important.

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Speaker 3: But our drivers need to be able to do their

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Speaker 3: job safely, which will encourage more people to get back

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Speaker 3: into the industry. And second of that, the public needs

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Speaker 3: to be confident. They need a good public transport network.

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Speaker 3: We've got a great network up there, but it's unfortunately

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Speaker 3: it's been proven to not be safe because of this

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Speaker 3: anti social behavior.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, this is the thing. It's you know, it's right

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Speaker 2: across the board.

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Speaker 1: It's something that we talk about all the time, whether

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Speaker 1: it's on the bus network or you know, whether it's

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Speaker 1: on the streets.

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Speaker 2: It's something that's a real concern for people.

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Speaker 1: Talk us through though as well in does it have

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Speaker 1: an impact on being able to fill those jobs, Like

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Speaker 1: are we seeing bus drivers maybe decide to take a

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Speaker 1: different career path because of that anti social behavior and crime.

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Speaker 3: Look, I don't think that we're seeing problems across the

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Speaker 3: whole in all industries as far as filling filling positions,

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Speaker 3: and obviously bus driving although it's not the lowest paid

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Speaker 3: job out there, it's not a highly paid job, and

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Speaker 3: people are going chasing the money where the better money

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Speaker 3: is and the better conditions, They're going to do that,

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Speaker 3: and that's what we're saying. But we need to make

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Speaker 3: it more attracking and safety is a pretty big, pretty

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Speaker 3: big part of it. And you know, it is a

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Speaker 3: good job. You know, bus drivers would have been doing

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Speaker 3: their job for logs on. They love their job, they

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Speaker 3: love their customers, they just want to they just don't

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Speaker 3: feel safe and that problem that we need to address,

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Speaker 3: you know. And it's really realistically. Darwin's not the only

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Speaker 3: place that we've got the same problem. I know in

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Speaker 3: South Australia we have across the country if you follow

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Speaker 3: the two w's web pages that we're seeing similar behavior

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Speaker 3: across the country. So we've had in Queensland. I think

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Speaker 3: this week the queens Ain't Governm has just announced up

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Speaker 3: in Canca they're going to be installing full driver protection

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Speaker 3: screens in all the cans buses in Victoria. Just about

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Speaker 3: the whole network has now been completely filled field with

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Speaker 3: these driver protection screens to protect the cabin and I

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Speaker 3: think it's just what we have to expect. And I

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Speaker 3: think if we're looking at this moving forward, we probably

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Speaker 3: need to look at the design of the buses in

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Speaker 3: the future and they replace them to make absolute cabin

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Speaker 3: safe and give the driver's confidence to the job. And

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Speaker 3: if the drivers are confident on the sell, the passengers

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Speaker 3: and the people riding on a network will see that

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Speaker 3: it is safe and we'll see the patronage growing because

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Speaker 3: of all the well is no different. Darwin is a

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Speaker 3: sophisticated system city that has it's like none other that's

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Speaker 3: having congestion problems and the cost of living pressures. So

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Speaker 3: a great public transfert network's going to go.

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Speaker 1: And I know that you've been very voical and you

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Speaker 1: mentioned this before on the need for those security screens

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Speaker 1: means to protect drivers. Has there been much of an

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Speaker 1: update on that.

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Speaker 3: Not at this date. I'll be up in Darla next

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Speaker 3: week and we're going to meet with a new head

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Speaker 3: of the transport, the new department, and we'll certainly be

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Speaker 3: talking with a company. But we have supplied there's a

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Speaker 3: retrofitted screen that a Victorian company has put in all

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Speaker 3: the buses of Victoria, but that could be retrofitted to

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Speaker 3: the buses, which was about twelve hundred dollars the bus.

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Speaker 3: Now is a cost that what is the cost of

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Speaker 3: someone's life or someone's injury and it's a small cost.

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Speaker 3: You know, they need to be safe. Well, the company

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Speaker 3: has a responsibility to make it safe and our purse

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Speaker 3: will be we need to come up with something better

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Speaker 3: because what we have is not quite good.

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Speaker 1: Not Transport Workers Union President Ian Smith, we always appreciate

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Speaker 1: your time.

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Speaker 2: Thanks for having a chat with us this morning. Thank you, by,

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Speaker 2: thank you,