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Speaker 1: Yesterday we learned that the nineteen year old man charged

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Speaker 1: with murdering twenty year old Declan Lavity was also facing

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Speaker 1: a charge of breach of bail in relation to prior

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Speaker 1: well prior allegedly assaulting assault involving a weapon. Now, I

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Speaker 1: know that the situation is one which the community is

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Speaker 1: hurt by. It's one that a lot of people are

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Speaker 1: also feeling pretty angered by, particularly the fact that this

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Speaker 1: person was on bail at the time of allegedly murdering Decline. Now,

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Speaker 1: the governments this morning announced an immediate review of bail

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Speaker 1: laws for offenses involving a weapon and a review of

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Speaker 1: penalties for people carrying weapons. There will be transit safety officers,

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Speaker 1: crowd controllers and security guards equipped with capsicum spray. There's

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Speaker 1: also going to be a workplace safety review, increased police

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Speaker 1: presence funding for crowd controllers up until June this year,

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Speaker 1: and there will be an alcohol secure relaunch as I

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Speaker 1: understand it, or a launch so businesses can incre is

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Speaker 1: physical safety and support in their establishments. Now the Chief Minister,

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Speaker 1: Natasha Files joins me on the line right now. Good

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Speaker 1: morning to you, Chief Minister.

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Speaker 2: Good morning Katie.

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Speaker 1: Now, Chief Minister, the community has been screaming out for change.

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Speaker 1: A young man's lost his life. Why have you waited

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Speaker 1: this long to do what people have been calling for

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Speaker 1: for quite some time?

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Speaker 2: Katie, It's been an extremely difficult few days for our community.

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Speaker 2: There is a lot of hurt, there's a lot of anger,

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Speaker 2: and I gain pay my condolences to the family of

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Speaker 2: this young victim and the friends along with industry. But Katie,

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Speaker 2: in the wake of anything, we must review to make

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Speaker 2: sure that the laws we have, the penalties are adequate

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Speaker 2: and that they are in line with community expectations. We've

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Speaker 2: seen an increase of carriage of edge weapons along with

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Speaker 2: violent crime, and that's not normal and we want to

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Speaker 2: stop that before it takes hold.

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Speaker 1: So what exactly is going to be reviewed when it

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Speaker 1: comes to bail.

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Speaker 2: So, Katie, what we are doing is not a knee

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Speaker 2: jerk reaction which potentially could have an inadvertent you know,

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Speaker 2: down the track. It could invertently put in place measures

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Speaker 2: that are not what we need. So we are reviewing

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Speaker 2: the provision of bail around edge weapons. This is something

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Speaker 2: that police think is important and so that review will

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Speaker 2: be undertaken by the Department of Attorney General Injustice along

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Speaker 2: with police, and we will also review the penalties, Katie,

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Speaker 2: to make sure that they are adequate and meet that

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Speaker 2: community expectation.

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Speaker 1: So where does the presumption sit right now?

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Speaker 2: So, Katie, the presumption sits now, It can sits either

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Speaker 2: for bail against bail, or it can be neutral. And

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Speaker 2: so we'll be looking at all those presumptions when we're

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Speaker 2: talking about an offense that involves an edge weapon.

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Speaker 1: So in the situation that we find ourselves in this week,

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Speaker 1: we're a nineteen year old has breached bail and has

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Speaker 1: allegedly been involved in a previous situation with an aged weapon.

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Speaker 1: Why was that person on bail for KT?

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Speaker 2: As you would understand, I can't comment on that. It's

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Speaker 2: a matter before the courts and I don't want to

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Speaker 2: prejudice that case, so I need to be very careful.

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Speaker 2: But we are looking at, particularly around this edge weapons,

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Speaker 2: where we want to stop this behavior before it takes

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Speaker 2: a hold in our community. So let's those presumptions.

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Speaker 1: Let's step away from that for a second. Then, if

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Speaker 1: somebody is arrested and charged for a situation where they

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Speaker 1: have threatened somebody with an edged weapon, where does the

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Speaker 1: presumption of bail currently sit to Kti.

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Speaker 2: My understanding, the presumption of bail would sit It doesn't

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Speaker 2: have a description. It could sit for against or neutral

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Speaker 2: in relation to the offense. It would take into account

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Speaker 2: all the matters. So what we're doing is looking at

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Speaker 2: edged weapons and do we need to have a presumption

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Speaker 2: and is it first defense, second defense, multiple offenses? Where

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Speaker 2: should that sit? Should it stay as it is, should

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Speaker 2: it change and before? Should it be against both police

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Speaker 2: bail and also court ordered bail? So it is complicated,

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Speaker 2: but we're looking at that specific offense involving an edged weapon.

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Speaker 1: I think that most people listening this morning would assume

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Speaker 1: that if you threaten somebody with a knife for an

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Speaker 1: edged weapon, that or if you hurt somebody with an

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Speaker 1: edged weapon, that you wouldn't be on bail.

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Speaker 2: So, Katie, this is looking at the presumption of bail.

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Speaker 2: The court and police, of course, always take the factors

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Speaker 2: of any incident into account when they look at bail

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Speaker 2: for that individual case.

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Speaker 1: So how long is this review going to take because

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Speaker 1: the community is screaming out for this change right now, So.

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Speaker 2: Katie, it's immediate. As I did outline, we need to

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Speaker 2: be careful that we don't inadvertently by having a knee

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Speaker 2: jerk reaction put in place something that's not contemporary. But

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Speaker 2: I absolutely am angry with the community and we need this.

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Speaker 2: It could be that we see a change that could

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Speaker 2: come through the legislative process quite quickly, or it could

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Speaker 2: be looking at these positions of bail. It could be

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Speaker 2: that things are contemporary and that it might be the

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Speaker 2: penalties that need to be changed, but that review, that

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Speaker 2: work will start immediately.

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Speaker 1: So will there be stronger sentences for people who go

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Speaker 1: armed in public?

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Speaker 2: That is also part of the review, Katie, is the

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Speaker 2: bail penalties, the penalties to ensure that they are adequate.

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Speaker 2: And the other change, Katie that is important for your

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Speaker 2: listeners is police have asked for a review of the

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Speaker 2: police powers to ensure that they are adequate and to

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Speaker 2: meet community expectations. So we're looking at that threshold because

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Speaker 2: at the moment it has to be reasonable where they

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Speaker 2: may have operationally some information. An example of this is

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Speaker 2: a member of the public sees a person with a

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Speaker 2: knife and they put it in their bag. Police might

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Speaker 2: not at the moment have the threshold to act on that.

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Speaker 2: So making sure that police have got really clear support

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Speaker 2: that they can act on any information around edge weapons.

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Speaker 1: So is it a situation here where it's not only

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Speaker 1: being reviewed these changes and not only being reviewed for

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Speaker 1: adults but also for kids. Yes, Okay, Now, last night

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Speaker 1: there was literally four youths on a crime spree across Darwin,

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Speaker 1: a stolen vehicle to ram raid and break into three locations.

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Speaker 1: Presumably they did not have knives. How are these changes

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Speaker 1: going to help in a situation like this?

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Speaker 2: So Katie again need to be careful because that will

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Speaker 2: be a matter It is a matter before.

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Speaker 1: Well, well, it's a very simple question. How are the

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Speaker 1: changes going to help in a situation. Let's step away

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Speaker 1: from this one, because there's been others where somebody uses

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Speaker 1: a vehicle and ram raids a location.

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Speaker 2: So we're always looking at making sure we have contemporary

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Speaker 2: legislation and penalties. But what we've announced today is work

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Speaker 2: around edge weapons, around the fact that we are seeing

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Speaker 2: more violent crime and that we are seeing more people

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Speaker 2: carrying edge weapons, and that is from police, not from

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Speaker 2: just my own view. And so this is specifically around

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Speaker 2: edge weapons, as well as the other suite of measures

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Speaker 2: we announced to support retail workers in these higher risk.

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Speaker 1: Venues, and so you can assure the community right now,

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Speaker 1: that these changes that are going to come into place

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Speaker 1: are going to see an impact when it comes to

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Speaker 1: the lawlessness that we are seeing around the Northern territory.

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Speaker 2: That is what police are telling me, Katie.

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Speaker 1: Now talk me through how we're going to how we

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Speaker 1: are going to see this increase in police presence. So

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Speaker 1: I know that there's going to be the police at

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Speaker 1: announced this morning. There will be operations that are overt

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Speaker 1: and covert. Where are the police coming.

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Speaker 2: From, so, Katie, police will respond with a high visibility

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Speaker 2: policing patrols targeting known hotspots and also these types of locations.

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Speaker 2: It's not just our bottle shops, Katie, it's service stations,

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Speaker 2: those twenty four hour fast food, those venues that operate

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Speaker 2: later at night and therefore a higher risk. Police have

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Speaker 2: assured me they have the resources to undertake this operation

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Speaker 2: as we put in place, and you read out those

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Speaker 2: measures a range of other measures to support industry and

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Speaker 2: to support our retail workers.

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Speaker 1: Are you concerned that by arming security guards, those that

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Speaker 1: work in bottle shop transit offices with capsicum spray, that

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Speaker 1: it's going to make them more of a target. Then

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Speaker 1: help so, Katie.

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Speaker 2: The transit safety officers is something that's been worked through

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Speaker 2: to allow for the protection of people using public transport.

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Speaker 2: I'm confident that there is strong processes in place, and

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Speaker 2: we've also outlined that the crowd controllers would also there

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Speaker 2: is training that can be provided to them to utilize

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Speaker 2: that nonviolent, non lethal tool to help keep the community safe.

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Speaker 1: Chief Finister, there are a lot of messages coming through

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Speaker 1: this morning. There was a lot of commentary even on

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Speaker 1: the live stream this morning as you were speaking on

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Speaker 1: Channel nine's live stream. People are absolutely fed up. They

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Speaker 1: feel that these changes are going to be a band

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Speaker 1: aid and that the governments lost control. Have you lost control?

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Speaker 2: No, Katie, these are measures that police and Justice tell

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Speaker 2: me will have an impact. These are measures, Katie, that

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Speaker 2: are supporting the industry so that we can have a

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Speaker 2: safer workplace for both workers and also patrons. And these

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Speaker 2: are measured. These are immediate, short term as well as

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Speaker 2: building into the longer term what can keep people safe.

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Speaker 1: I'm very mindful that you need to get into Parliament.

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Speaker 1: We don't have a lot of time. But yesterday you

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Speaker 1: are very emotional when speaking to the ABC about the

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Speaker 1: death of young Declan Lavity. But then in Parliament the

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Speaker 1: government performed, I've got to say, in a pretty embarrassing way.

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Speaker 1: Instead of answering questions about community safety, bail laws and

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Speaker 1: concerns raised by the community, the government spent time mocking

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Speaker 1: the opposition and really behaving very poorly. Do you think

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Speaker 1: that the community deserves better than that on a.

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Speaker 2: Week like this, Katie? The Parliament is a place of debate.

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Speaker 2: It is a long many hours of debate. There is

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Speaker 2: a you know, it's how parliament operates. But we absolutely

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Speaker 2: outlined to the community our response to this tragic event.

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Speaker 1: Are you proud of the way that your team act

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Speaker 1: did yesterday.

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Speaker 2: Cary, Katie. We're in a place of debate in Parliament

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Speaker 2: and that will continue, but we absolutely are responding strongly,

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Speaker 2: supporting the community and looking at how we can ensure

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Speaker 2: that we don't see the carriage of edge weapons along

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Speaker 2: with violent crime increase in our community.

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Speaker 1: Chief Finister, it's being reported this morning that Decland's mother

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Speaker 1: had stones thrown at her and was spat at after

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Speaker 1: arriving in the Northern Territory. What do you think that

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Speaker 1: that says about the place that we are living in

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Speaker 1: right now?

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Speaker 2: What is terrible behavior? It's disgusting and we have to

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Speaker 2: lift our community standards. We cannot.

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Speaker 1: But does the government have to lift their game? Does

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Speaker 1: the government have to lift their game?

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Speaker 2: Everyone has a role to play. The g is absolutely

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Speaker 2: at that table tackling these issues. But when someone in

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Speaker 2: our community thinks that that type of behavior is acceptable

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Speaker 2: to visitor or local, it is not, and we all

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Speaker 2: have to look at the standard that we have in

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Speaker 2: our community.

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Speaker 1: Chief Finister, the messages coming through this morning, people feel

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Speaker 1: as though the government have lost control of the Northern

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Speaker 1: Territory right now.

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Speaker 2: Katie, I have outlined to you a response that will

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Speaker 2: make a difference. We need to be careful that it's

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Speaker 2: not a knee jerk response with unintended consequences. But this

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Speaker 2: is a strong response around edge weapons and that violent

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Speaker 2: crime to stop that behavior before it takes hold and normalize,

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Speaker 2: as well as other measures to make sure that we

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Speaker 2: have safe workplaces for retail workers in late night venues.

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Speaker 1: How long can people expect before we start to see

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Speaker 1: some change on the streets.

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Speaker 2: Immediately, police will be out there today. We will work

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Speaker 2: on those other measures immediately. We are working with industry.

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Speaker 2: I met with them yesterday so that we can be

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Speaker 2: working together to create that safe working environment and safe community.

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Speaker 1: Chief Minister, we will leave it there. Thank you for

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Speaker 1: your time this morning. We appreciate it.

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Speaker 2: Take care,