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Speaker 1: As I mentioned a couple of moments ago, we have

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Speaker 1: been contacted about staff at Darwin service stations being targeted

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Speaker 1: by youth, particularly in the late night and early mornings

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Speaker 1: when there is only one worker rostered on. Now joining

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Speaker 1: me for their perspective is the SDA NT Director Schlock Sharma.

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Speaker 2: Good morning to your schlog.

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Speaker 3: Good morning, Katie, Thanks so much.

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Speaker 2: For your time this morning, Schlock.

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Speaker 1: I want to ask how often are you hearing about

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Speaker 1: assaults and abuse on service station workers.

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Speaker 3: Oh, Katie. Abuse to wort service station workers has been

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Speaker 3: an issue that we've been paying attention to for a

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Speaker 3: very long time. It is a national issue. I mean

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Speaker 3: recently there were the cas Ins out Australia where a

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Speaker 3: worker was cable tied and left on the ground for

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Speaker 3: a number of hours during an armed robbery. So the

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Speaker 3: working editions of service station workers have been something we

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Speaker 3: have been worried about for a while. Recently the SDA

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Speaker 3: as partnered up with the MCHEL Center to do a

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Speaker 3: bit more research into how we how we can improve

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Speaker 3: the conditions of service station workers around the country in

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Speaker 3: the territory of course. Look, they have been a number

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Speaker 3: of particularly violent incidents recently that are concerning us, but

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Speaker 3: we are committed to, you know, working with employers and

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Speaker 3: regulators to see if to see what we can do

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Speaker 3: to make the lives of our servo workers a little

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Speaker 3: bit safe.

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Speaker 1: What kind of safeguards do you think could be put

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Speaker 1: in place in an effort to try and help them immediately?

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Speaker 3: I think employees immediately reviewing the practices they have for

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Speaker 3: late night workers for instance, you know, exclusively operating through

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Speaker 3: night windows, adding security, even reviewing whether or or not

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Speaker 3: they can rejig their service stations so that payments can

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Speaker 3: be made without the need to you know, go up

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Speaker 3: to a night window. There are a few things that

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Speaker 3: we think can be tried, but obviously we know that

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Speaker 3: this requires a bit of investment on the part of employees.

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Speaker 3: So before we make any grand suggestions, we want to

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Speaker 3: do a bit of work in the background to see,

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Speaker 3: you know, what they can do definitively to make the

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Speaker 3: lives of workers safe.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, do you know if any of the servos in

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Speaker 1: the territory are sort of looking at trialing anything different

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Speaker 1: like those different things that you suggested.

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Speaker 3: Look, we know a lot with a lot of the

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Speaker 3: major change, they are constantly reviewing their practices and a

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Speaker 3: lot of them now are encouraging their staff not to

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Speaker 3: admit any patrons after seven pm. We think that's a

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Speaker 3: good step, and it's a very necessary one. We know

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Speaker 3: the issue also extends to, you know, the personal items

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Speaker 3: of workers. Obviously, you know there are some troublemakers out there.

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Speaker 3: When they can't access the store, they may start targeting

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Speaker 3: cars at a servo. So there are a number of

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Speaker 3: touch points that I think need to be looked at.

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Speaker 3: But certainly the feedback what you're getting from workers is

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Speaker 3: that service station owners are willing to try a number

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Speaker 3: of measures to make the lives of workers safer.

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Speaker 1: How often are you sort of getting reports of service

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Speaker 1: station workers being targeted in the Northern Territory.

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Speaker 3: Look, it's a weekly occurrence, and I think, you know,

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Speaker 3: I don't think anyone's blind to the fact that late

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Speaker 3: night workers in any industry right now are working working

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Speaker 3: in some unsafe environments. But as I've said, the union

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Speaker 3: is committed to working with all stakeholders to see if

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Speaker 3: we can find a fix to some of the solutions

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Speaker 3: in the short term.

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Speaker 1: Do you reckon companies should be rostering all more staff

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Speaker 1: during those graveyard shifts. I know it's really tough because

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Speaker 1: you're talking about sort of business balancing the books and

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Speaker 1: also trying to keep staff members safe and service the community.

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Speaker 3: Absolutely, I think having multiple people on during those graveyard

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Speaker 3: shifts certainly does make work safer for all involved. Even

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Speaker 3: having security after certain hours we think can be a

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Speaker 3: useful step. I think you know how some of these

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Speaker 3: service station's crede is an important factor in determining whether

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Speaker 3: or not work is safe for workers, and as I've said,

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Speaker 3: we were willing to try anything at this stage to

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Speaker 3: make sure that work remains safe for our members and

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Speaker 3: for our late night workers.

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Speaker 1: Now we've also been spoke speaking this morning about the

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Speaker 1: government's plans to introduce this legitimate residence clause for bottle shops.

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Speaker 1: So stepping away from those servos and to the bottle

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Speaker 1: shops for a moment, it means that people from outside

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Speaker 1: of the Greater Daal and have to prove where they're

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Speaker 1: going to be consuming alcohol, potentially leaving staff to either

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Speaker 1: proceed or refuse sales. Are you concerned that it could

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Speaker 1: potentially make workers vulnerable to attacks.

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Speaker 3: Well, firstly, I should say that at least this time around,

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Speaker 3: we were consulted prior to the changes being made. Look,

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Speaker 3: we are always concerned that you know, our bottleshop workers,

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Speaker 3: especially on too much of the burden when it comes

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Speaker 3: to some of these measures. We have been assured by

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Speaker 3: the government that there will be extra resources put in

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Speaker 3: through licensing and the police to make sure there is

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Speaker 3: a greater presence around bottle shops, especially during the early

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Speaker 3: stages of this. Okay, as I understand it, you know,

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Speaker 3: the long term aim of this measure is to make

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Speaker 3: sure that our bottle shops are a little bit safer.

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Speaker 3: So we are hopeful that this is a measure that

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Speaker 3: works and that you know, work for a lot of

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Speaker 3: these frontline workers is just that little bit better. But

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Speaker 3: we are we are concerned that yes, I'm having to

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Speaker 3: do ask ask an extra question, may make work, may

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Speaker 3: cause some people to lash out at them. The advice

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Speaker 3: that we have from government is is that you know,

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Speaker 3: the police are ready to respond, and there we're certainly

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Speaker 3: going to be holding the government to that promise.

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Speaker 1: Schlock, I mean, could they have done things a little

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Speaker 1: bit different or do you think that there could be

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Speaker 1: something that they could do slightly different to approach this

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Speaker 1: better or really is you know, is this an option

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Speaker 1: that we need to be taking well.

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Speaker 3: I think that the feedback we've certainly gotten from industry

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Speaker 3: is that this is an option worth trialing. At the

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Speaker 3: very least. I come, I'm like many other territories. I've

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Speaker 3: had a gut full of some of the behavior that

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Speaker 3: we've witnessed in our bottle shops. So look, we're keen

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Speaker 3: to see the trial through and hopefully it will produce

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Speaker 3: them better outcomes in our bottle shops.

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Speaker 1: Now, Schlocke, before I let you go, word on the street, mate,

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Speaker 1: is that you are going to run for pre selection

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Speaker 1: for the seat of Wongouri.

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Speaker 2: Is that the case for the Labor Party?

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Speaker 3: Look, I am going to put my hand up for

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Speaker 3: pre selections. Obviously, at this stage of the game, I

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Speaker 3: can't really say more than that other than that the

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Speaker 3: party will work through it will work through their process

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Speaker 3: and hopefully in a couple of weeks we'll have more

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Speaker 3: to say on it.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, when will you find out?

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Speaker 3: I'm not exactly sure on that. There will be a

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Speaker 3: question for the party, So I understand it. Probably a

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Speaker 3: couple of people that would be interested in putting their

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Speaker 3: hand up, but the party will just work it through

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Speaker 3: and hopefully in a couple of weeks they'll be in

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Speaker 3: a position to announce more information to the public.

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Speaker 1: It does look as though there's going to be a

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Speaker 1: bit of a battle. I suppose, what makes you think

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Speaker 1: you'd be a good member.

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Speaker 2: For Longerie.

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Speaker 3: Katiegitimate questions, of course, but right now, while it's at

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Speaker 3: the stage of a pre selection, my hands are kind

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Speaker 3: of tired about what I can say publicly. Hopefully it'll

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Speaker 3: go my way and I can come on again and

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Speaker 3: chat more about it, but at this stage that's all

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Speaker 3: I can say for now.

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Speaker 1: Oh mate, you know I'll always ask the questions, never

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Speaker 1: let the chance go by.

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Speaker 2: Schlock Sharma.

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Speaker 1: I really appreciate your time this morning, and we'll talk

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Speaker 1: to you again soon.

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Speaker 2: Thank you, Thank you,