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Speaker 1: Now the Catherine Town Council yesterday confirmed that five laneways

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Speaker 1: in Katherine East have now been closed in a bit

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Speaker 1: to curb antisocial behavior. The council began trialing the approach

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Speaker 1: on a number of streets back in June, with the

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Speaker 1: Northern Territory Government contributing funding in order to make it happen. Now,

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Speaker 1: after securing more funds, the trial is being expanded and

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Speaker 1: Liz Clark, the Mayor of Catherine, joins me on the

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Speaker 1: line to tell us more. Good morning to you, Liz.

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Speaker 2: Oh, good morning Katie, and good morning listeners.

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Speaker 1: Now, Liz, why did the council have to take this

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Speaker 1: fairly serious measure to close laneways?

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Speaker 2: We found that we as well as complaints from the

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Speaker 2: people that live next to the laneway. That's been an

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Speaker 2: ongoing issue for Catherain Town Council for a number of

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Speaker 2: years because it's amazing what seems to happen in those

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Speaker 2: lane ways. The police also had a hard time trying

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Speaker 2: to catch people because they would dash down a lane

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Speaker 2: way and then you know, be able to use them

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Speaker 2: as an escape roupe basically to go to other places.

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Speaker 2: But there's so many things that happen in a lane way,

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Speaker 2: which is just amazing, and so they're no longer considered

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Speaker 2: to be safe.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, well they're not just being used as thoroughfyes by

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Speaker 1: the sounds of it. Liz, what kind of things are

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Speaker 1: happening in those lane ways or were happening?

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Speaker 2: Well? People, for instance, they would have rocks thrown on

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Speaker 2: their roofs, they were all on their cars. They'd have

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Speaker 2: their car windows smashed. People would jump into the backyards

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Speaker 2: of people's houses and try and break into the houses.

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Speaker 2: You know, make a lot of noise going through the

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Speaker 2: laneways that not you know, nearly hours of the morning,

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Speaker 2: you know, to make people awake and generally scaring people

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Speaker 2: you know that live opposite the lane waves.

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Speaker 1: That is no good at all. I mean, it's terrible

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Speaker 1: when that kind of thing happens. So, Liz, are the

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Speaker 1: council taking the measure initially as a trial to close

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Speaker 1: off some of those laneways. Talk us through which lane

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Speaker 1: ways and how that trial went.

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Speaker 2: Okay, there were five original lane ways in Kathernica were identified.

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Speaker 2: We worked with the Captain polices to the ones that

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Speaker 2: they thought were they were the you know, we're considered

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Speaker 2: the worst ones. And now we have another three lane

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Speaker 2: ways to add to those, you know, that have also

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Speaker 2: been identified as an issue. So yeah, so that'll make

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Speaker 2: eight lane ways all together that will be closed.

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Speaker 1: And what's the reaction been from locals, particularly those that

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Speaker 1: have properties near those laneways.

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Speaker 2: Oh they're absolutely ecstatic. Yeah, like they are absolutely Yes,

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Speaker 2: you wouldn't, Yeah, they are. So that these lame waves

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Speaker 2: have have been closed, and the council is a huge

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Speaker 2: process because we also have to look at the you know,

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Speaker 2: the legal side of things, because the lame waves are

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Speaker 2: you know that their council land. Some of them are

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Speaker 2: easements of course, so they won't ever be able to

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Speaker 2: we can't ever do anything with those. But some of

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Speaker 2: them that are land, it can be offered to people

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Speaker 2: on either side of that lame way if they want

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Speaker 2: to buy that piece. It's a huge process, like we

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Speaker 2: can't just closing a lame way for a council is

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Speaker 2: not an easy process. It can take months.

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Speaker 1: So let's talk us through what you sort of have

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Speaker 1: to do. Is it a matter of just kind of

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Speaker 1: barricading up those entrances and exits to the lame way?

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Speaker 1: What do you have to do.

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Speaker 2: At the moment we have there's a sense going across

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Speaker 2: each end of the lame way, and of course, you know,

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Speaker 2: at the moment it's a trial, yes, and then maybe

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Speaker 2: down the track if it's successful. Then what often what

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Speaker 2: councils do is they approach the people on either side

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Speaker 2: to see if they have an interest in buying that

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Speaker 2: parcel of land. If it's going to be permanently closed. However,

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Speaker 2: if it's an easement, the fencing just stays there so

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Speaker 2: that the you know, the water, you know, if it's

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Speaker 2: a drain or an easement of some kind, we have

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Speaker 2: to keep you know, we will still block them off,

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Speaker 2: but we won't be able to do anything else with them.

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Speaker 1: Liz, is it a costly process? I understand that the

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Speaker 1: Northern Territory government's contributed as well. How much does it

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Speaker 1: cost to get this, you know, to get the trials

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Speaker 1: underway and to do what you've done so far.

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Speaker 2: There's quite an expensive exercise, Katie. I know this next

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Speaker 2: lot we were given, we've been given another twenty thousand

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Speaker 2: dollars by the government and councils putting in extra money

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Speaker 2: towards it. Yeah, no, it's not cheap. It's not a

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Speaker 2: cheap cost. However, if it's going to help her the

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Speaker 2: antisocial behavior, you know, and make people walk out on

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Speaker 2: the streets because the streets are well lived, whereas the

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Speaker 2: lame waves are not. Yeah, so they're therefore you know,

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Speaker 2: it'll force people to walk around because instead of cutting,

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Speaker 2: you know, having shortcuts.

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Speaker 1: Well, and the thing is, if it's making a huge

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Speaker 1: difference to antisocial behavior, and it means that the people

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Speaker 1: that live near those lane ways are not seeing the

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Speaker 1: same level of bad behavior, it's a move well worth making.

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Speaker 2: I would think, oh absolutely, Like I've had residents and said,

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Speaker 2: you know, they've been you know, they're away half the

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Speaker 2: night because of the noise that comes from those lane waves.

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Speaker 2: I'm just surprised how much happens in a lay way.

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Speaker 2: And every year council has always had a number of

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Speaker 2: complaints from people that live next to lane waves. So

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Speaker 2: they are an issue, and I believe in I think

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Speaker 2: they're an issue where that they you know, where ever

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Speaker 2: they are. I believe they've closed lane waves and I

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Speaker 2: know the new subdivision won't have any lane waves at all.

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Speaker 2: It'll go back to just people having to walk around

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Speaker 2: around the streets.

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Speaker 1: Now, Liz, do you expect to make the closure? I mean,

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Speaker 1: you've sort of already discussed this. You've said that that

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Speaker 1: you'll look at making those closures more permanent, and what

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Speaker 1: it might mean in some cases is that if you

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Speaker 1: live on either side, you may be able to purchase

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Speaker 1: that land or if there's an easement there. Obviously the

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Speaker 1: lame way will need to stay. But what might those

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Speaker 1: permanent closures look like.

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Speaker 2: It'll just mean that people will have to just go

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Speaker 2: around through that, you know, they won't have that access anymore.

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Speaker 2: And yeah, they will just have to walk out, walk

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Speaker 2: around in a in a circle.

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Speaker 3: They won't be able to have that access, you know,

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Speaker 3: the shortcuts through these places. So but it'll be you know,

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Speaker 3: the same thing just goes straight across on both sides,

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Speaker 3: and it will.

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Speaker 2: You know, it can become permanent. But again we still

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Speaker 2: have to once the trial is completed, then we will

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Speaker 2: reassess that, yep, and decide what am what we're going

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Speaker 2: to be doing next.

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Speaker 1: Well, I've no doubt if there's anybody listening this morning

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Speaker 1: that is in Catherine that lives next to one of

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Speaker 1: those lane ways, they're probably hoping that you know that

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Speaker 1: the trial is going to end and that it's going

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Speaker 1: to happen permanently. When exactly will that be decided?

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Speaker 2: I think that I think it's I think from the

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Speaker 2: offsets it was going to be a six month trial

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Speaker 2: to see how whether how much of that has helped,

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Speaker 2: you know, in making people walk down streets, so and

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Speaker 2: it was going to be six months to begin with.

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Speaker 1: Now, Liz, just very quickly. I'm not sure whether you were,

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Speaker 1: whether you're aware or not, and if you're not, that's

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Speaker 1: totally fine. But we're catching up with the Northern Territory

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Speaker 1: Police after ten o'clock the morning, and from what I

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Speaker 1: can see, Catherine was the first location to have the

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Speaker 1: handheld scanning or wanding for knives happen over the weekend.

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Speaker 1: Were you aware of it and had that go from

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Speaker 1: your perspective?

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Speaker 2: Oh? No, I wasn't aware of that one at all.

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Speaker 1: Well, No, it happened apparently on Friday between twelve pm

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Speaker 1: and twelve am, and the Northern Territory Police say that

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Speaker 1: you know that there was there were a couple of

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Speaker 1: situations as I understand it, where there were one hundred

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Speaker 1: and twenty four people scanned, three positive results and a

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Speaker 1: warning was issued to one individual with a pair of

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Speaker 1: scissors and they were seized and disposed of. So it

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Speaker 1: sounds as though it's gone quite well. I mean, from

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Speaker 1: your perspective, do you think the people of Catherine are

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Speaker 1: pretty open to, you know, to this this wanding or

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Speaker 1: scanning happening to try to minimize knife crime.

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Speaker 2: I think so, Katie, because it seems that were you know,

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Speaker 2: and not just Catherine, but all over you know, people

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Speaker 2: are resorting to weapons. It's not something that's usual for

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Speaker 2: the territory. So it's really sad to see us heading

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Speaker 2: in the same direction as some of the places down

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Speaker 2: South Pass.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I agree, you know, it is an ordinary situation

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Speaker 1: for us to be in. But hopefully this does make

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Speaker 1: a difference and hopefully it makes people think twice about

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Speaker 1: about carrying a knife with them, or carrying any kind

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Speaker 1: of weapon.

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Speaker 2: Lee's class, it's wonderful. I think it's a wonderful initiative.

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Speaker 2: And the police have been working hard in Catherine. You know,

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Speaker 2: we've had police coming on a regular basis here at times,

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Speaker 2: you know, to have more of a presence in town.

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Speaker 2: So I think all of those initiatives to certainly help.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, they do. How have things been in Catherine as

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Speaker 1: the you know, has the crime and antisocial behavior of

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Speaker 1: things settled down a little bit.

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Speaker 2: Sometimes they seem as though they've settled down and then

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Speaker 2: they start up again, you know. So it's no, it's

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Speaker 2: on going. Yeah, well I'm going.

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Speaker 1: And it does sound as though the council, you know,

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Speaker 1: the police, everybody is trying to work together though to

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Speaker 1: minimize it. I mean, even with what you've done with

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Speaker 1: those lane ways, I've no doubt that the people that

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Speaker 1: live nearby those laneways are happy with the decision that

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Speaker 1: the council's made. Liz Clark, the Mayor of Catherine, lovely

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Speaker 1: to speak to you this morning. Thank you so very

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Speaker 1: much for your time.

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Speaker 2: Thank you very much.

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Speaker 1: Thank you