NT government to review bail laws, policing powers after bottleshop worker’s death
NT Chief Minister Natasha Fyles has announced a review of bail laws and more policing powers after the alleged murder of a Darwin bottleshop worker. Read our in-depth explainer of the plan.
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Bail laws and policing powers will be probed, particularly around incidents where offenders use a weapon, the Territory government has announced.
A review into the penalties for offences involving a weapon is another key promise made on Wednesday.
Chief Minister Natasha Fyles and NT Police Deputy Commissioner Michael Murphy revealed a seven-point plan to make the Territory safe again.
It comes just days after the death of 20-year-old Declan Laverty, who was allegedly fatally stabbed while working at BWS Airport Tavern on Sunday.
The tragedy has sent shockwaves through the NT and the country, as well as in the young man’s hometown of Cairns.
“This is not normal. We want to stop it before it takes hold,” Ms Fyles said.
“We are a government that acts and today’s measures, along with an increase of high visibility policing, are just the beginning.
“(There are) multiple initiatives we are looking to implement.
“The safety of our community is paramount.”
Immediate review of bail laws, penalties for weapon offences
The government’s bail laws review will focus on offences involving a weapon.
It comes after the court heard the teenager charged with Declan Laverty’s alleged murder was on bail at the time following an earlier alleged assault “involving a bladed weapon”.
Chief Minister Natasha Fyles said the review would start immediately but would not commit to a time frame on when changes would be made.
“It will take some time,” Ms Fyles said.
“This is particularly around the presumption for or against bail around edged weapons.”
Ms Fyles said under current laws police or the courts could deny bail for alleged offences involving a weapon but the opposition said that rarely happened.
“Right now violent offenders under Natasha Fyles’ government enjoy a presumption in favour of bail,” Opposition Leader Lia Finocchiaro said.
Ms Fyles also said her government would review the penalties for people carrying weapons in public and the powers of police to deal with these issues.
Currently, possessing a weapon can carry a jail term of up to two years, depending on the type of weapon.
NT Police Deputy Commissioner Michael Murphy said the changes to policing powers would better enable police to search someone they or a community member suspected was holding a weapon, rather than needing ‘reasonable’ grounds to believe a weapon was being concealed.
“It’s a ‘reasonable’ grounds to believe when you think someone’s in possession of a controlled weapon or an offensive weapon,” he said.
“This lowers that burden of proof to suspicion.
“It could be an officer’s hunch, it could be a piece of information from community to allow us to enact some powers to go into depth in someone’s behaviour before it escalates.”
Boosted police presence
The government has committed to more police on the streets in both covert and high-visibility operations across the Territory.
Ms Fyles said police would be “highly visible” across communities but “particularly focused around these locations where retail workers deserve to go to work, work safely and come home to their families”.
But speculation surrounds where the additional police will be drawn from, with Deputy Commissioner Murray Smalpage earlier this month stating the Territory needed another 300 officers to meet current demand for service.
Mr Murphy on Wednesday said police operations would be “flexible and based on demand”.
“With an additional 45 police in Alice Springs, part of their remit now is to engage retail service stations,” he said.
While Mr Murphy said the demands on police were increasing, particularly on dealing with domestic violence, the force had more officers than ever before.
“The demand environment hasn’t abated,” he said.
“We see between 60 and 95 domestic violence incidents across the Northern Territory every night, every 24 hour period, which is alarming.
“Our police force are working tirelessly, 24-7, 365 days a year trying to reach that demand.
“(But) we’ve got lots of cops, we’ve got more cops than we’ve ever had, we are above attrition.”
Capsicum spray, crowd controllers expansion
Transit safety officers and licensed crowd controllers will be given capsicum spray and defensive tactic training under the new measures.
“This is not your static security guards – these are crowd controllers that are licenced, they go through a process,” Ms Fyles said.
“We would have a reportable mechanism if they were to use the capsicum spray.”
Hospitality NT chief executive Alex Bruce said crowd controllers had previously fulfilled a bouncer role at nightclubs.
“We very much do think that this will be something that we can roll out through the retail network a bit more broadly, where appropriate,” he said.
“We know that there is a strong interest from industry for that kind of de-escalation training.”
It marks a step towards having boots on the ground at risky outlets but falls short of having designated Police Auxiliary Liquor Inspectors at every takeaway grog store as the Darwin mayor has called for.
PALIs have been used in Alice Springs for several years but police have said they lacked resources to place them in Darwin.
Ms Finocchiaro welcomed the step for transit safety officers but questioned whether the measure would protect retail workers.
“Last year, there were nearly 8000 incidences on public buses right across the Northern Territory,” she said.
Crowd controllers at takeaway outlets
Taxpayers will fund private crowd controllers at takeaway alcohol stores for the next three months to “provide support” while further measures are enacted.
“Talking to industry, they believe this is important, particularly for the safety of our retail frontline workers,” Ms Fyles said.
“Police have a huge role to play, an important role … but we want to change the system into the future.
“Police should be that last resort when there is an emergency.”
The government is yet to determine how much it will spend on placing the crowd controllers at liquor outlets but the funding is set to run until the end of June.
It also remains unclear whether it will be wholly government-funded or co-contributed with the private sector.
Funding to secure liquor stock
The Territory government will relaunch its Alcohol Secure program, which provides grants to licenced businesses to boost the security of their liquor stock.
“(It’s) a program that provides support to industry so that they can secure their premises, not only when they are closed, but when they are trading,” Ms Fyles said.
The previous Alcohol Secure program was launched in 2018 and gave businesses access to up to $10,000 for security works.
A dollar-for-dollar co-contribution of another $10,000 was also on offer.
It remains unclear how much businesses will be able to access under the relaunched program, or how it will differ to existing grants.
The program came under fire by industry bodies when it was announced five years ago, with Retail Drinks Australia labelling the offer as “offensive” in the face of true security costs.
Workplace safety review
An audit will be made into all late-night retail outlets, including service stations, food outlets and liquor stores across the Territory.
It will also provide business owners advice on how the security of their premises can be improved, particularly through environmental design such as lighting.
“We know that the layout, the physical infrastructure in a business can deter certain behaviours,” Ms Fyles said.
It comes after the union representing retail workers called on NT WorkSafe to conduct physical checks of all liquor stores across the Territory, probing measures such as physical screens, barriers and alternative exits.
Whether the government’s audit meets these requests remains to be seen.
Endeavour Group – the major alcohol retailer, pub and pokies operator behind the Airport Tavern where Mr Laverty was allegedly stabbed – has already commenced an internal review into each of its NT sites.
A government review into workplace health and safety legislation will also be made although specifics remain unclear.
Support for retail workers
The government is partnering with industry groups to make sure retail staff are trained to deal with anti-social behaviour.
“We will work together to develop a best-practice training guide for retail workers when they are dealing with confronting situations,” Ms Fyles said.
“Training will include de-escalation tactics as well as refresher training for the responsible service of alcohol.
“These measures will complement the changes that will be debated in the Northern Territory parliament this week around the Trespass Act.”
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