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Speaker 1: Now. Yesterday Parliament was dominated by debate around the petition

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Speaker 1: Justice for Declan Lavity. About twenty people sat in the

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Speaker 1: public gallery throughout the morning while Samara Lavity sat in

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Speaker 1: the chamber and her grief was laid bare as the

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Speaker 1: opposition leader Leofanocchiaro read a statement which she'd written. Samara

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Speaker 1: Lavity joins me on the line.

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Speaker 2: Now, Hi, Samara, good morning Katie.

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Speaker 1: Samara. Hearing your statement read in the Parliament yesterday was heartbreaking.

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Speaker 1: As I said, your grief was laid bare for everybody

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Speaker 1: in the Parliament and around the Northern Territory to hear.

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Speaker 1: Why did you decide to do that?

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Speaker 2: It came down to whether or not we were going

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Speaker 2: to have enough time to debate each point, and I

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Speaker 2: was asked to write it down just in case we

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Speaker 2: weren't able to do that, so that we could sort

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Speaker 2: of get through just how important and how much this

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Speaker 2: has affected our family. To just make it clear how

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Speaker 2: devastating this has been for us, and try and get

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Speaker 2: people to in the chamber to understand, yeah, just how

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Speaker 2: awful it's been and what we are going through.

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Speaker 1: Samara. What was the reaction from everybody in the chamber yesterday.

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Speaker 2: Look, everyone, every single person who spoke, every single person,

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Speaker 2: every politician was extremely nice and kind to us and

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Speaker 2: I very very much appreciated the kindness and compassion that

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Speaker 2: was shown to me yesterday.

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Speaker 1: Now from your perspective, how did the debate go? Do

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Speaker 1: you think that you know, do you think that enough

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Speaker 1: time was allowed? And were the points that you wanted

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Speaker 1: to get across did they come across?

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Speaker 2: I don't think there was enough time for everyone to

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Speaker 2: say what they needed to say. A lot of the

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Speaker 2: point were spoken about and discussed, but I don't think

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Speaker 2: it went far enough in terms of looking at using

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Speaker 2: those points for real change. There have been a number

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Speaker 2: of changes already done, which I'm very grateful for, and

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Speaker 2: the effort and time that's been put into the bail

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Speaker 2: review and the knife crime strategy, but without any changes,

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Speaker 2: I don't think it's gone far enough at all.

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Speaker 1: That was going to be my next question. I mean,

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Speaker 1: we know that the government have announced a number of changes,

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Speaker 1: and even yesterday, to me, it seemed as though they

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Speaker 1: rushed through some changes with the knife crime strategy on

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Speaker 1: Monday afternoon, announcing that on Monday afternoon. But a lot

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Speaker 1: of it is very much educative, which I understand that

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Speaker 1: they want to make sure that people are being educated

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Speaker 1: into terms of the dangers of those edge weapons. It

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Speaker 1: also looks at de escalation training. I mean, from your perspective,

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Speaker 1: is that going to make a difference.

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Speaker 2: I'm not actually sure. I think the escalation in those

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Speaker 2: moments are very important, but it's also going to be

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Speaker 2: very hard to talk down someone who is already hyped

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Speaker 2: up on adrenaline and energy and whatever they're there to do.

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Speaker 2: And I don't think not sorry, education and the escalation

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Speaker 2: is going to work in those heat of the moment situations.

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Speaker 1: So Samara, by the sounds of it, I mean, it

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Speaker 1: does sound as though you still want to see some

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Speaker 1: legislative changes when it comes to bail reform and also knives.

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Speaker 2: No absolutely. At the moment, it seems like they're looking

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Speaker 2: at trying to shut the gate after the horse has vaulted.

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Speaker 2: But we need to get in front and try and

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Speaker 2: stop that from happening in the first place, instead of

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Speaker 2: waiting for it to happen and then managing it from there.

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Speaker 1: Samara, do you think that that debate yesterday has helped

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Speaker 1: Do you think it's going to help in any way

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Speaker 1: to see any of that change that you're after, I hope.

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Speaker 2: So there was a lot more acknowledgment around the issues

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Speaker 2: of crime in the Northern Territory. So I was really

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Speaker 2: pleased to see that. But we just need to wait

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Speaker 2: and see now whether or not that follows through and

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Speaker 2: that we get some real on the ground change. I

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Speaker 2: believe there is going to be some legislative requests from

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Speaker 2: the opposition to be try and put through today, so

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Speaker 2: hopefully we can get something out of that and trying

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Speaker 2: it in front of everything before it gets to the

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Speaker 2: stage where you know that we've had to go through.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, we will certainly try to catch up with the

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Speaker 1: opposition tomorrow and get a bit further detail about how

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Speaker 1: that goes. I know that they are pushing, as you said,

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Speaker 1: for that change today, Samara. I do want to ask,

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Speaker 1: and I want to be really cautious of what I

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Speaker 1: say here because I don't want to jeopardize the case

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Speaker 1: in any way, shape or form. But I know that

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Speaker 1: further detail has been published in the NT News today

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Speaker 1: about the alleged defender who was on bail when he

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Speaker 1: allegedly entered the bottle shop where Decklan was working. And

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Speaker 1: as I say, I do want to make sure that

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Speaker 1: I'm really conscious of what I say. I don't want

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Speaker 1: to jeopardize anything in any way. But reading that, hearing

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Speaker 1: the government's response following the loss of your son, how

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Speaker 1: are you feeling today?

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Speaker 3: Tired and overwhelmed? Yeah, looking looking at what happened yesterday,

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Speaker 3: I mean it goes in some direction.

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Speaker 2: To show that the bail awaws, even with you know

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Speaker 2: what happened in parliament yesterday, just have not gone far enough.

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Speaker 2: And unfortunately for our family, we can never change that.

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Speaker 2: But to have an offend of that thread out on

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Speaker 2: bail too, to go and commit that sort of crime,

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Speaker 2: it just shows that, yeah, it's not working and we

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Speaker 2: need to make sure that this doesn't happen to anyone else.

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Speaker 1: Samara Lavity, I really appreciate your time this morning. I

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Speaker 1: know you're not well today as in addition to that,

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Speaker 1: so I appreciate you having a chat with us this morning.

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Speaker 1: And it was incredibly brave what you did yesterday, putting

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Speaker 1: your words to paper for the opposition leader to read

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Speaker 1: out in the Parliament. It must have been bloody hard

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Speaker 1: sitting there and even hearing your own words read out,

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Speaker 1: I could see that it was really emotional for you,

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Speaker 1: so I really appreciate your efforts and your time.

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Speaker 2: Thank you. It was very hard to hear and to

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Speaker 2: have I guess my soul laid there, but I also

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Speaker 2: just wanted to express for everyone in that room. But

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Speaker 2: this is the result of what happened to us from

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Speaker 2: somebody who was out on bail that really should never

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Speaker 2: have been allowed out on bail.

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Speaker 1: Samara Lavity, thank you, thanks very much for talking to

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Speaker 1: us again.

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Speaker 2: Today, no worries. Thank you so much for having me

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Speaker 2: on again.

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Speaker 1: Thank you