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Speaker 1: We know that a popular Darwin cafe has seen a

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Speaker 1: spike in vandalism and also anti social behavior after a

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Speaker 1: new bus stop was installed right on its doorstep. Sweet

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Speaker 1: Brawn co owner Bridgard Bilbi has told the paper she

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Speaker 1: now fears for the safety of her staff and customers.

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Speaker 1: She joins me on the line, good morning to.

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Speaker 2: You, Bridgard, good morning, how are you?

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Speaker 1: Yeah, really well, thanks so much for your time. Now,

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Speaker 1: I know you've been operating that business for several years

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Speaker 1: and well a little earlier this year the bus stop

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Speaker 1: was planted right outside. Tell me what's happened since that

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Speaker 1: bus stop well ended up out the front.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, well, pretty much since that first day moved. It

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Speaker 2: started mainly with rubbish issues, just constant lettering and loitering,

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Speaker 2: and then within a week we started having pretty anti

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Speaker 2: social behavior where we were having patrons who were waiting

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Speaker 2: on the bus coming in and expecting you know, water

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Speaker 2: or standing space just for air con and things like that,

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Speaker 2: and when we ask them to move on, obviously things

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Speaker 2: got started to get a little bit heated, to the

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Speaker 2: point where some of my staff felt uncomfortable even asking

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Speaker 2: them to leave. So, yeah, it's just started snowballing really

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Speaker 2: and then on top of that, we're finding we're now

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Speaker 2: finding needles out the front, broken glass and yeah, all

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Speaker 2: sorts of paraphernalia that go along with that.

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Speaker 1: Bridget what's that like for you? I mean, I know

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Speaker 1: you guys have had that business for a number of years.

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Speaker 1: It's a wonderful business. It must be a real kick

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Speaker 1: in the guts to wind up, you know, with the

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Speaker 1: bus stop out front and now be dealing with this.

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Speaker 2: Yeah. Absolutely, It's just it seems in any other state

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Speaker 2: we want to bus stop out the front at a cafe,

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Speaker 2: but in Darwin it's an absolute liability. We just feel

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Speaker 2: at a loss when it's day in, day out, constantly

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Speaker 2: trying to pick up the pieces from whatever may have

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Speaker 2: happened overnight, or yeah, if we have rough sleeters who

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Speaker 2: are still sleeping there. Yeah, it's just I've told myself

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Speaker 2: pretty much to not engage with them and just walk

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Speaker 2: away from our business if they're confronted, because we don't

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Speaker 2: know who's got weapons or who's a danger, you know,

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Speaker 2: So it's just a bit stressful for everyone. I think, Well, it.

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Speaker 1: Must be quite frightening for you then as well, making

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Speaker 1: sure that your staff are okay, and I know that

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Speaker 1: they'd have to be there at different times, very early

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Speaker 1: in the morning, maybe even later in the evenings, but

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Speaker 1: anytime of the day really.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, So we our bakery team starts at four am.

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Speaker 2: And the irony in it is we started giving the

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Speaker 2: front door key for my bakery staff to enter years

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Speaker 2: ago when we opened YEP, because we felt like that

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Speaker 2: was the safer entry point because the back Rameira Streak

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Speaker 2: can also be it's quite dark and not well lit.

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Speaker 2: But now we've absolutely flipped that and we're like, don't

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Speaker 2: go in the front, go in the back because the

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Speaker 2: day injuries more out the front now than it was.

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Speaker 1: The Yeah, which is crazy. Bridget Have you had a

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Speaker 1: situation where, i mean, have any of your staff sort

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Speaker 1: of been you know, threatened in quite a frightening way

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Speaker 1: or has it been, Yeah, tell us a little bit

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Speaker 1: about what they've endured.

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Speaker 2: Well, simply asking someone to leave because they were just

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Speaker 2: standing in the front of our doors, so just for

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Speaker 2: ask them to leave and go outside. One of my

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Speaker 2: staff members was confronted within centimeters of his face and virtually, yeah,

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Speaker 2: just abused, just slurred abuse towards him that he was

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Speaker 2: being you know, racist or all that normal. Stuff that

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Speaker 2: comes out to the point where our six foot chef

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Speaker 2: needed to come out. He felt like there was danger looming.

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Speaker 2: But both of those men now they've come to me

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Speaker 2: and even been like, oh, look, this is pretty bad,

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Speaker 2: Like they're no longer feeling comfortable. So I can't imagine

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Speaker 2: how the majority of my staff who are female feel

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Speaker 2: on a day to day basis.

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Speaker 1: It's absolute bullshit that they have to deal with that. Like,

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Speaker 1: to put it really bluntly, it is absolute garbage that

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Speaker 1: they've got to deal with that kind of behavior day

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Speaker 1: in and day out. And I think it's safe to

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Speaker 1: say that anybody who's having to deal with that kind

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Speaker 1: of behavior in their workplace, you know, would be mortified.

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Speaker 1: What discussions have you had with the with the government

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Speaker 1: or with the department, I guess in terms of whether

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Speaker 1: that bus stop can now be moved or where too?

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Speaker 2: From here, Well, we've just been handbored. We've just been

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Speaker 2: handbored left, right and center, from one department to the other.

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Speaker 2: It's no one's fault. You know, they can't do something,

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Speaker 2: but maybe these people can. But it just feels like

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Speaker 2: a bit helpless. I understand that there are probably bigger

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Speaker 2: issues at play. But I keep coming back to the

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Speaker 2: fact that you know, decl and Lavity didn't go to

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Speaker 2: work expecting what happened to him, and it goes the

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Speaker 2: same for my business. We never know what kind of

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Speaker 2: could happen. But yeah, I haven't had much luck getting help,

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Speaker 2: And I mean, I've had some support from our local member,

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Speaker 2: and I get that he has a hard job to

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Speaker 2: kind of push it further. There's only so much he

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Speaker 2: can do directly, but yeah, I just feel like, you know,

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Speaker 2: KFC moved in and they must have big pockets, and

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Speaker 2: they wanted to move the bus stop, and that was

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Speaker 2: pretty much the end of the discussion. So from there

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Speaker 2: it's just left to us to pick up the pieces.

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Speaker 1: Bridget let us let us get in contact with the

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Speaker 1: department and see, you know why they've made that decision

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Speaker 1: to move the bus stop, and you know what could

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Speaker 1: potentially be done to try to make this a safer

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Speaker 1: scenario for everybody. I mean, I just think it's totally

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Speaker 1: unacceptable that a business is having to deal with threats

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Speaker 1: of violence and you know, all sorts of things happening

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Speaker 1: every single day, not only for your staff, but for

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Speaker 1: your customers, for everyone there. It's there, you know, if

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Speaker 1: you're in a situation where this cannot be sorted, what

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Speaker 1: is it going to mean for you? And what's it

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Speaker 1: going to mean for your business? Really?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, well, it would absolutely closed doors. If it becomes

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Speaker 2: more unsafe than it already feels. It's not worth it

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Speaker 2: for us emotionally financially because this rolls on to customers

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Speaker 2: as well. When you're tossing up where you go for brunch,

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Speaker 2: you've got to go to the place where potentially you

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Speaker 2: might encounter antisocial behavior, or you're going to go somewhere

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Speaker 2: which doesn't have that issue. So it's already tough enough

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Speaker 2: in this economy if we yeah, we would hate to

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Speaker 2: do that because we're hopefully fifty six people in the territory,

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Speaker 2: so that might not seem like a huge number, but

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Speaker 2: in hospitality that's a pretty big it's a massive number

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Speaker 2: a bunch of people, it's a massive number.

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Speaker 1: And it's not just you don't just have sweep brow.

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Speaker 1: You've got a number of different businesses across the top.

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Speaker 2: Absolutely, and we're not the irony in it is our

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Speaker 2: city venues used to be the issue. They used to

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Speaker 2: be the ones we expected to be called to when

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Speaker 2: there was break in Ververnight and all that, but now

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Speaker 2: it's sweep Berue and for me, that is just proof

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Speaker 2: that it is definitely a direct result of the bus

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Speaker 2: stop moving, because we've been there for eight years with

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Speaker 2: almost no issue and now.

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Speaker 1: Oh, I feel for you. You know, it is not easy.

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Speaker 1: I would imagine running a business as it is in

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Speaker 1: anywhere in Australia with the current economy and with the

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Speaker 1: cost of living crisis that a lot of people are facing.

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Speaker 1: But then when you add to that you know issues

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Speaker 1: like antisocial behavior and you know, threats towards staff, it's

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Speaker 1: it's just not good enough. We've all had a gutfull.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely, Bridgard.

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Speaker 1: I really appreciate you speaking to us this morning. We're

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Speaker 1: going to follow this up with the department. We'll see.

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Speaker 1: I don't look, I don't know whether they'll come back

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Speaker 1: to us in a hurry or what will happen, but

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Speaker 1: we'll certainly try our best to have a discussion with them,

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Speaker 1: because you know, to be honest, it's probably not only

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Speaker 1: the bus stop that's there on the Stuart Highway outside

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Speaker 1: sweet Brow that's an issue. But I know that there's

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Speaker 1: been concerns raised before about the one that's near Woolworths

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Speaker 1: in the CBD. There's concerns about other bus stops and

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Speaker 1: the associated anti social behavior that's seen when there. You know,

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Speaker 1: when there is a bus.

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Speaker 2: Stop there, absolutely I agree.

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Speaker 1: Thank you so much for having a chat with me

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Speaker 1: this morning. I really appreciate it.

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Speaker 2: Thank you so much.

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Speaker 1: Thank you,