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Speaker 1: As I was mentioning just a couple of moments ago,

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Speaker 1: we know that tougher trespassing laws. It is something that

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Speaker 1: the Union for Retail and Fast Food Workers have been

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Speaker 1: pushing for for some time, and last week, well it happened.

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Speaker 1: Business owners are now going to have more powers to

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Speaker 1: issue and enforce warnings to trespasses under new laws passed

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Speaker 1: by the Northern Territory government. So under the bill, legal

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Speaker 1: occupiers and NT police can issue individuals, including youth, with

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Speaker 1: a direction to leave a premises for up to seven days.

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Speaker 1: A warning to stay off can also be issued, banning

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Speaker 1: an individual from entering a premises for up to twelve months.

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Speaker 1: Now the offense can result in arrest and a possible

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Speaker 1: prison term of up to six months or a fine

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Speaker 1: of up to three thousand, two hundred and forty dollars.

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Speaker 1: Now Shlock Shama from the Shop Distributive and Allied Employees

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Speaker 1: Association joins me on the line right now.

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Speaker 2: Good morning, Schlock, Good morning Gatie.

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Speaker 1: What's your response to the new laws.

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Speaker 2: Well, we think that this is a good and rational

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Speaker 2: step taking by the government. The old Trespath Act was

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Speaker 2: difficult to use to a point where industry and retailers

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Speaker 2: just gave up on The feedback that we received was

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Speaker 2: was that it was hard to issue a notice, It

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Speaker 2: was unclear who could issue a notice, and concerningly, concerningly

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Speaker 2: for notices to be effective, and two individuals were required

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Speaker 2: to directly engage violent and abuse of customers and not

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Speaker 2: only hand them a physical notice, but to make sure

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Speaker 2: that they understood it. And we know that there is

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Speaker 2: a cohort of troublemakers in the community who are armed

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Speaker 2: and dangerous, and we felt that the onus on retailers

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Speaker 2: and business owners was just too high and unworkable and

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Speaker 2: we needed to see change. And I mean as a union,

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Speaker 2: you know, we had no way to compel employers to

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Speaker 2: take steps to better protect their workers because the legislation

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Speaker 2: at the time prevented any action from being taken just

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Speaker 2: because it was heavy hazi. And we felt that the

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Speaker 2: government needed to make a change the Act, and that's

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Speaker 2: why we partnered with industry groups like the Chamber of

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Speaker 2: Commerce and called on the government to the government to

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Speaker 2: change the act.

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Speaker 1: So by the sounds of things, those changes, the changes

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Speaker 1: are in line with what you were calling for. Yep.

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Speaker 2: We think that it is a good and simple change

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Speaker 2: to the Act and it will make it easier for

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Speaker 2: businesses to issue trespass notices to ban violence and abuse

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Speaker 2: of customers.

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Speaker 1: Schlock. I know a lot of people are going to

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Speaker 1: be listening this morning thinking to themselves, will it make

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Speaker 1: a huge difference, because in some situations, shop owners or

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Speaker 1: property owners going to be putting themselves in a dangerous

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Speaker 1: situation by having to issue those notices.

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Speaker 2: Look, one of the things that the Act clears up

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Speaker 2: is is it clears up how a verbal notice can

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Speaker 2: be delivered. Basically, it lowers the evidentiary requirement that a

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Speaker 2: business owner has to prove in court if they just

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Speaker 2: want to issue a verbal notice. I should say that,

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Speaker 2: you know, like our advocacy on this issue was never

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Speaker 2: based on, you know, making a Trespass Act to act

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Speaker 2: as a silver bullet to solve all the issues we

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Speaker 2: have in store. Our simple expectation of the government is

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Speaker 2: is that above everything else, that they need to prioritize

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Speaker 2: the safety of our members. And we think that, yeah,

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Speaker 2: this was a simple step that could take here and

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Speaker 2: now to just make their lives a little bit safer.

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Speaker 1: Do you expect that the changes will sort of I mean,

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Speaker 1: I'm sure that you're hoping that it is going to

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Speaker 1: help to keep staff safe.

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Speaker 2: Look, we certainly are like, we certainly believe that, you know,

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Speaker 2: increasing fines and jail sentences for repeated breaches of trespass orders,

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Speaker 2: you know, making it easier for police to take enforcement

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Speaker 2: action and empowering security guards to step in an issue

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Speaker 2: notices our steps which should increase the lives of our members.

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Speaker 2: But look, like, like I said, we don't expect this

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Speaker 2: to be a silver bullet, and we think it will

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Speaker 2: make and it will make a positive incremental difference to

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Speaker 2: the lives of our members.

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Speaker 1: Now, I know, following on from the deaths of Decklan Lavity,

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Speaker 1: you told us that you'd been contacted by workers concerned

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Speaker 1: about going to work. Have we seen people resign or

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Speaker 1: leaving the industry or how are things going a week on?

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Speaker 2: Look, we're certainly aware of fifteen bottle shop workers that

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Speaker 2: have left the industry all together. They've pretty much told

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Speaker 2: us that it's not worth writting your life to go

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Speaker 2: into work and they'd rather try something else, or even

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Speaker 2: you know, being unemployed for a short period of time

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Speaker 2: rather than going into work. Wow, it is like it

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Speaker 2: is going to add a lot of stress to the

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Speaker 2: workers that are left, and we're certainly calling on all

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Speaker 2: employers to work with their staff and operate in a

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Speaker 2: way in which the staff are comfortable comfortable working in.

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Speaker 2: If that means you know, shutting earlier or restricting the

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Speaker 2: way that trade operates, we're certainly calling on employees leave

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Speaker 2: all options on the table.

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Speaker 1: So Schlock, did you say fifteen have already left over

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Speaker 1: the last week.

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Speaker 2: Look, that's what we're aware of. The numbers probably higher

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Speaker 2: than that.

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Speaker 1: Wow, I mean, like, honestly, I'm not overly surprised, though

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Speaker 1: I suppose.

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Speaker 2: Yeah. Look, they're doing it tough. Tough. I mean generally,

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Speaker 2: you know, the workers and who work in exposed locations,

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Speaker 2: they are quite that they are still very raddled from

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Speaker 2: from last week's horrible, horrible tragedy. And look, I think

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Speaker 2: that's why we are certainly calling on the government to

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Speaker 2: prioritize the workplace safety review that they announced last week.

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Speaker 2: You know, when, where and how our exposed workers in

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Speaker 2: the recent hospitality industry are currently working needs to be

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Speaker 2: looked at because we know that they can't even sorry

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Speaker 2: to continue to work in settings where they're coming face

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Speaker 2: to face with armed members of the community. And threatened

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Speaker 2: with their lives and so.

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Speaker 1: Mate, So you've have you spoken again into the government

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Speaker 1: about that or you know, or is or is this

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Speaker 1: you call out really that they need to they need

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Speaker 1: to make that happen really quickly.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, well that's my call out to the government. We

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Speaker 2: have met with government and they certainly are making it

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Speaker 2: a priority. But our call out to them is is

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Speaker 2: that we need this to happen sooner rather than later.

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Speaker 1: Schlock, are you worried that you're going to end up

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Speaker 1: with more than fifteen people, you know, leaving leaving bottle

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Speaker 1: shops because they are afraid to go to work.

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Speaker 2: Look, we are certainly afraid of that, and you know,

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Speaker 2: obviously that will mean that some sites won't be able

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Speaker 2: to open. Like obviously the workers are our bottle shops

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Speaker 2: of some of the lowest paid workers in the country

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Speaker 2: and for a lot of them, not going to work

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Speaker 2: isn't an option. You know, getting an extra shift or

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Speaker 2: two can can be the difference between making rental, you know,

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Speaker 2: making sure that they can that they can buy groceries

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Speaker 2: for the week. So well, we think you know the

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Speaker 2: government has taken some positive steps and reassuring our members

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Speaker 2: that their safety is a priority. But obviously, you know,

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Speaker 2: we need to do to take a good look at

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Speaker 2: the nature of their work they do to give them

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Speaker 2: the confidence they need to stay in the industry.

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Speaker 1: Mate, do you reckon I mean, look, you may or

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Speaker 1: may not be able to answer this, but it was

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Speaker 1: something that somebody texts through just before about the BDR.

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Speaker 1: And you know, when people do actually have to refuse

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Speaker 1: service to some people, whether that becomes a dangerous situation.

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Speaker 1: How big an impact do you reckon that that is

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Speaker 1: potentially having on staff when they're serving people in bottle shops.

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Speaker 2: Look, I mean it is a point where you know,

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Speaker 2: an incident can occur. I mean, you know, this is

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Speaker 2: why we're calling on employers and regulators to look at

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Speaker 2: things like you know, secondary exits, safe places for workers

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Speaker 2: to go they are confronted with a dangerous situation and

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Speaker 2: physical barriers around the till and how the stores are

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Speaker 2: laid out. Just to make sure that you know, when

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Speaker 2: a particularly violent incidents occurs that a worker can you know,

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Speaker 2: can still work in a way where their safety isn't

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Speaker 2: too badly harmed. I think, well, like I said, I

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Speaker 2: think that's why we need to look at every patht

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Speaker 2: of the work they do to see if what we're

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Speaker 2: doing currently currently is making their lives unsafe.

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Speaker 1: Well, schlock Shama, I always appreciate your time. Thank you

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Speaker 1: very much for having a chat with us this morning,

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Speaker 1: and no doubt we'll talk again soon.

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Speaker 2: Thanks Dabie, thank you,