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Speaker 1: And we do know that in recent weeks there has

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Speaker 1: been a bit more discussion about safety on our buses.

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Speaker 1: Even yesterday, obviously we saw that pressure release come through

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Speaker 1: from the Northern Territory Police saying that there was an

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Speaker 1: eighteen year old who'd been identified as an offender in

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Speaker 1: an aggravated assault on a bus in Palmerston on Monday afternoon.

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Speaker 1: And this type of thing we've spoken about it before,

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Speaker 1: particularly when you talk about the safety of our bus

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Speaker 1: drivers as well. Now joining us on the line to

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Speaker 1: talk a little bit more about this is Simon Saunders,

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Speaker 1: the executive director of Transport Safety and Services here in

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Speaker 1: the Northern Territory. Good morning to you, Simon.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, good morning Katie.

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Speaker 1: Simon. How are things going on our buses at the

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Speaker 1: moment when we talk about well driver safety but also

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Speaker 1: passenger safety.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, it is unfortunate that the anti social behavior that

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Speaker 2: we have occurring in the community across Darwin does find

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Speaker 2: its way under the bus network, which is extremely unfortunate.

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Speaker 2: Over the last or in twenty twenty, we recorded one

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Speaker 2: hundred and fifty nine assaults on the public transport system

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Speaker 2: in Darwin and one assault is way too many. Everyone

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Speaker 2: who travels on the bus should be safe. Having said that,

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Speaker 2: those assaults were mainly regarding people that were known to

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Speaker 2: each other, so there certainly is an issue with assaults occurring.

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Speaker 2: To put some context around it, we have approximately over

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Speaker 2: three point five million passenger boardings each year on the

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Speaker 2: Darwood bus network, which is an average of around nine

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Speaker 2: thy six hundred a day, So to put that in

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Speaker 2: some sort of context, there's an extensive, obviously security presence.

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Speaker 2: We have eighteen dedicated transit safety officers that men go

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Speaker 2: across the network and patrol the network for all the

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Speaker 2: hours it's operating. They work closely with police and Larite

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Speaker 2: and Nation as well, so it's a coordinated approach as

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Speaker 2: well as with housing trying to address that anti social

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Speaker 2: behavior in our community.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, and it would have to be you know, it

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Speaker 1: did really have to be a coordinated approach. I mentioned

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Speaker 1: just a moment ago. We know that there was an

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Speaker 1: eighteen year old who'd been identified earlier in the week

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Speaker 1: as the offender in an aggravated assault on a bus

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Speaker 1: in Palmerstan on Monday afternoon. Do we know what the

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Speaker 1: situation was there now?

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Speaker 2: I haven't got the details of the situation. It was

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Speaker 2: obviously subject to a police investigation. I know that someone

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Speaker 2: there was a sort of a weapon involved and someone

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Speaker 2: was injured as a result of that weapon being used.

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Speaker 2: So I'm not sure whether the assailant was known to

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Speaker 2: the person that was hurt or not, but there was

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Speaker 2: something to a police investigation, and police would be able

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Speaker 2: to provide further details on that CODID.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, simon, it must be quite frightening for some people though,

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Speaker 1: when you do have something like a you know, like

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Speaker 1: an assault, an aggravated assault in this situation, occurring on

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Speaker 1: a bus, how do those poor drivers go?

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Speaker 2: Yes, exactly, I mean it is certain, as I said,

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Speaker 2: it's unfortunate and it just shouldn't be happening. Unfortunately, aggravated

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Speaker 2: assaults are fairly minimal. There is a lot of disturbances

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Speaker 2: and antisocial behavior which obviously shouldn't be tolerated as well,

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Speaker 2: that occurs on the bus network. But certainly drivers do

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Speaker 2: have security. I mean there is they have cages around

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Speaker 2: the drivers themselves. They were in radio contact with the

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Speaker 2: operators of the bus network. There also that radio is

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Speaker 2: monitored by Transit Safety who are also in communication with

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Speaker 2: police as well as them as night patrol. So there

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Speaker 2: was a coordinator approach there for driver.

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Speaker 1: Safety, and I know that quite recently there was some

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Speaker 1: data which had been released that had shown that there

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Speaker 1: were seven six hundred and fifty anti social incidents on

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Speaker 1: the public transport network across the territory. So that was

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Speaker 1: between July one, twenty twenty and May thirty one, twenty

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Speaker 1: twenty one. It was a jump from what I can

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Speaker 1: gather from those from those previous previous years. Simon, do

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Speaker 1: you think that it is just a situation, like you

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Speaker 1: touched on a moment ago, that we are seeing more

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Speaker 1: anti social behavior in the community and so then it

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Speaker 1: is sort of flowing on to our public bus network.

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Speaker 2: Well, certainly, certainly the numbers have recorded by Transit Safety

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Speaker 2: on the bus network have increased between twenty nineteen to

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Speaker 2: twenty twenty, which is the twenty twenty data that was quoted.

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Speaker 2: The numbers for twenty twenty one are similar to twenty

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Speaker 2: twenty to date, so there's certainly that sort of is

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Speaker 2: a concern. As I said, there's lots of resources thrown

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Speaker 2: at this. We have security cameras on all buses at

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Speaker 2: all interchanges. The interchange is monitored by police in real time,

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Speaker 2: and Transit Safety so a lot of work goes into

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Speaker 2: try and prevent this happening, but unfortunately, it is happening

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Speaker 2: in our community.

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Speaker 1: And I know that you've also said that there's a

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Speaker 1: lot of work there or a lot of different things

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Speaker 1: done to try to keep our drivers safe as well.

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Speaker 1: Is there work that also aside from what you've said there,

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Speaker 1: there's obviously work that happens to just make sure that

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Speaker 1: those passengers stay safe as safe as possible on the

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Speaker 1: buses that aren't known to those who are behaving badly.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, well, I said, there's lots of coordination that occurs.

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Speaker 2: It's on a weekly basis with police as well as

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Speaker 2: housing and transit safety. Obviously, hotspots are known where antisocial

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Speaker 2: behaviors occurring in the community as well as on bus

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Speaker 2: routes and particular bus routes and things that may be

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Speaker 2: affected by that, and those areas are targeted, and there's

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Speaker 2: also a range of measures including bus loading to transit

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Speaker 2: safety do so there's a lot of proactive work that

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Speaker 2: occurs where transit safety are at the doors of the

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Speaker 2: buses when they're loaded, when they're loading on Pacific routes

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Speaker 2: where there may be incidents occurring and preventing issues before

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Speaker 2: they happen.

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Speaker 1: Well, Simon, I know that, Like I said, it is

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Speaker 1: certainly an issue that plenty of us are aware of.

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Speaker 1: We get called about it sometimes about those different concerns

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Speaker 1: on the buses. But yet it did sort of concern

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Speaker 1: us earlier in the week when we took a phone

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Speaker 1: call from somebody saying that yes, there had been an

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Speaker 1: aggravated assault on one of those buses in Palmerston on

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Speaker 1: Monday afternoon. The police have since charged that person. So

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Speaker 1: I know there's not a huge amount that we can say,

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Speaker 1: but yeah, we all obviously want to make sure that

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Speaker 1: people are able to travel on those buses and feel

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Speaker 1: safe doing so.

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Speaker 2: Oh too right, I mean, as I said, one incident's

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Speaker 2: one too many. It shouldn't be happening. There is phone

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Speaker 2: numbers posted on all the buses to contact Transit Safety directly,

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Speaker 2: and we encourage people to report every incident, no matter

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Speaker 2: how big or how minor. Is also the Larakei Antisocial

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Speaker 2: Behavior app, which is great for recording statistics and all

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Speaker 2: this data helps us to notice to see what routes

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Speaker 2: and what areas in particular are concerns so that we

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Speaker 2: can target those areas and do as much as we

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Speaker 2: can in coordination with police.

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Speaker 1: Well, Simon Saunders, the Executive Director of Transport Safety and

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Speaker 1: Services here in the territory, we really appreciate your time

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Speaker 1: this morning.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, thank you lot. Katie, thank you