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Speaker 1: The discussion continues to be around the situation in Nightcliff

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Speaker 1: last week and the alleged stabbing of a petrol station

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Speaker 1: worker and alice springs that happened as well over the weekend.

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Speaker 1: We are now also receiving further information that the police

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Speaker 1: have arrested a seventeen year old in relation to an

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Speaker 1: aggravated robbery that occurred in Kurama overnight seven forty five.

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Speaker 1: Police received reports that two male youths entered a licensed

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Speaker 1: premises and one of them threatened a staff member with

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Speaker 1: an aged weapon and stole a quantity of cash from

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Speaker 1: the register. Security staff attended and the youths fled the

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Speaker 1: scene on foot. But look, I'll take you further through

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Speaker 1: that information throughout the morning, but it is another example

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Speaker 1: of what our businesses, our customer service workers, those working

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Speaker 1: in retail are facing every day. Now joining me on

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Speaker 1: the line from the SDA, the secretary of the union

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Speaker 1: which represents our retail workers, Josh Pete, good morning to you, Josh.

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Speaker 2: Good morning Katie, thank you for having me on.

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Speaker 1: Thank you so much for your time this morning. Josh.

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Speaker 1: I mean, what has been the reaction from retail workers

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Speaker 1: after the tragedy last week and the subsequent situation in

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Speaker 1: Alice Springs on the weekend, and now we're hearing more

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Speaker 1: from overnight.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, we look thank you, Katie. And it's been a

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Speaker 2: pretty rough few days. And you know, I think it

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Speaker 2: was a couple of years years ago and we were

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Speaker 2: dealing with the death of Declan Lavity, and you know,

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Speaker 2: fatalities in our sector are generally pretty rare, and you

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Speaker 2: think that when something like that occurs as shocking as was,

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Speaker 2: that it was something that we wouldn't have to deal

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Speaker 2: with too often. And to be facing another situation where

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Speaker 2: someone in our sector has been murdered while just doing

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Speaker 2: their job is particularly shocking, and so it sent shockwaves

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Speaker 2: through the entire retail community across the Northern Territory. And

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Speaker 2: I think obviously all of our thoughts got to Linford's

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Speaker 2: family and as they're dealing with the shocking loss of

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Speaker 2: his life, but I think our thoughts should also go

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Speaker 2: to all retail workers who are continuing to attend work

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Speaker 2: every single day in what was probably previously considered a

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Speaker 2: pretty safe sector to work in. And you know, no

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Speaker 2: one expects that when you go to work in the

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Speaker 2: shop that you're not going to come home at the end,

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Speaker 2: at the end of the day. And unfortunately that's something

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Speaker 2: that has now happened to territory and workers and their

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Speaker 2: fam families and uh and is something that is I

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Speaker 2: think just terrifying for the workers in this sector. And

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Speaker 2: then obviously to have it follow with another stabbing of

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Speaker 2: a retail worker linked to a theft or an alleged

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Speaker 2: theft on Sunday in our Springs, it's really it's a

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Speaker 2: really tough tough times for our members.

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Speaker 1: Josh. How often would you say that retail workers are

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Speaker 1: being threatened with violence?

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Speaker 2: Oh? Every day? And we know that this is something

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Speaker 2: that unfortunately, you know, like that the issue is obviously

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Speaker 2: there are threats made and then you know, but I

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Speaker 2: think across the territory you would see that that that

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Speaker 2: the threats of violence are incredibly common and have been

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Speaker 2: coome and i have become more common over the years.

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Speaker 2: But then to actually see actual violence and harm harm

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Speaker 2: occurring in the frequent rate that that that's occurring, it's

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Speaker 2: particularly shocking.

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Speaker 1: Josh. What are some of the measures that are being

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Speaker 1: taken to try and stay safe in the workplace. I

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Speaker 1: know a lot of businesses are put on security what

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Speaker 1: are some of the other measures or you know or

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Speaker 1: mitigation methods that people are using.

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Speaker 2: Well, there's lots of things. I think. Firstly, one of

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Speaker 2: the things that is that that is industry lead leading

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Speaker 2: and has been implemented across across the territory is a

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Speaker 2: significant upgrading of security guards in the major shopping centers,

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Speaker 2: but also across major supermarkets. And one of the things

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Speaker 2: that we're particularly continuing to focus on is to making

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Speaker 2: sure that where it is feasible and reasonable and the

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Speaker 2: proper step to keep workers safe, that we do have

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Speaker 2: proper security guards, but not just the low grade levels,

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Speaker 2: that we have security guards that are trained at level

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Speaker 2: four level level five security offices that are trained and

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Speaker 2: have the ability to safety intervene in incidents when they

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Speaker 2: do do potentially occur. Where that's the case, we've seen

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Speaker 2: a dramatic four in incidents at those major retailers. The

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Speaker 2: problem that we do have, though is the at risk locations,

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Speaker 2: the standalone retail outlets, the standalone pepal stations, the standalone

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Speaker 2: bottle shops, where we continue to see those more exposed

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Speaker 2: sites that frankly just have great greater risk and that's

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Speaker 2: why we've called for and we're continuing to call for

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Speaker 2: a really significant review about what the safety measures are

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Speaker 2: for those standalone at risk retail outlets. We want to

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Speaker 2: make it mandatory, but if you do have a worker

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Speaker 2: working alone at an exposed location, that security screenings are mandatory,

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Speaker 2: that people have somewhere safe to go. That's really important.

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Speaker 2: You know. The idea that someone who is just sitting

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Speaker 2: potentially at an exposed counter, or that they even potentially

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Speaker 2: can be trapped at that counter depending on where it

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Speaker 2: is located to the exit, we think is particularly dangerous.

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Speaker 2: So we think work Safe are a really important role

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Speaker 2: to play here to make sure the actual physical design

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Speaker 2: of those standalone and at risk retail locations is upgraded.

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Speaker 1: I mean you start to wonder and look, I you know,

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Speaker 1: I agree with you that workers should absolutely feel safe,

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Speaker 1: and I'd be quite petrified if I was working, depending

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Speaker 1: on where you're working, if you're on your own and

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Speaker 1: you're in a situation where you felt like you couldn't

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Speaker 1: get away. But start to wonder whether it's going to

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Speaker 1: be economically viable for some businesses to actually stay open,

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Speaker 1: like you know after five or six o'clock in the afternoon.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, well, I think that's right. I mean, one of

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Speaker 2: the things that we that we think is potential is that,

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Speaker 2: you know, what can we do particularly you know, and

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Speaker 2: so we've seen, for example, some of the bigger retailers,

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Speaker 2: indeavor groups for example, have done a lot of work

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Speaker 2: on their shop hardening is what they call it, where

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Speaker 2: they will go through and refit those outlets to make

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Speaker 2: sure that there's secondary exit, safe places, et cetera. But

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Speaker 2: that's not potentially practical for small business businesses. So we

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Speaker 2: do think constant support of that grant program that can

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Speaker 2: go to support small operators because they should be able

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Speaker 2: to participate in the in the nighttime economy and the

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Speaker 2: marketplace as well, but do so safely. So those physical

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Speaker 2: design measures I think are really really important. Obviously, over

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Speaker 2: the last few days we've been engaging with not just

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Speaker 2: our member's, got a whole range of businesses throughout Nightcliffe

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Speaker 2: and we understand there is going to be additional call

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Speaker 2: for some funding to put high grade security guards or

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Speaker 2: indeed more police to make sure that they are present

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Speaker 2: in that area as well. So we're going to be

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Speaker 2: you know, looking forward to partnering with the business community

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Speaker 2: across Nightcliffe to see if there is a way that

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Speaker 2: we can support additional security offices there, I think, and

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Speaker 2: so that's.

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Speaker 1: All will come or that certainly, you know you're starting

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Speaker 1: to have those discussions now for either more police in

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Speaker 1: that area or greater police presence or more security.

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Speaker 2: Absolutely. I mean, the number one thing that we know

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Speaker 2: is that physical deterrence is absolutely the best measure measure

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Speaker 2: of defense. So we've got physical security officers, physical police presence,

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Speaker 2: we know crime is far less likely to occur. It's

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Speaker 2: not just about making people feel safer, it's about their

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Speaker 2: actually being people having safer outcomes. And we really want

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Speaker 2: what we want to see, particularly high risk exposed locations,

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Speaker 2: greater police presence and great greater opportunities to see properly

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Speaker 2: trained security staff there to keep the public, public and

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Speaker 2: our members.

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Speaker 1: Josh, I think that is an absolutely fair call to make. Mate,

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Speaker 1: we are going to have to leave it there. I

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Speaker 1: really appreciate your time this morning. Thank you so very

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Speaker 1: much for having a chat with us.

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Speaker 2: Thanks Gage, thank you