Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Yesterday. You may have heard on the show as well. Declan.
Lavity's mum, Samara, had written what can only be described
really as a heart wrenching post on social media earlier
this week. Now she called out the Chief Minister, really
questioning what the government is doing in the wake of
her son's death. Now joining me on the line right
(00:22):
now is Samara Lavity. Good morning to you, Samara.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Good morning, Thank you for having me back.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
Thank you so much for your time this morning. Samara,
You've had an unimaginable year. Before I asked the other questions,
how are you traveling at the moment?
Speaker 2 (00:44):
Not great?
Speaker 1 (00:46):
Oh I'm so sorry, Samara. I honestly I can't. Like
I've said before, I cannot imagine how you're feeling at
the moment. And when I read your post on social
media earlier this week, I thought I can, Like you know,
you must be in a lot of pain, and you
must be incredibly frustrated by what you're seeing unfolding in
(01:08):
the territory.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
Unbelievably, it is just it's phenomenal, Like I just like
I don't even have words for it right now. I'm sorry.
It's just it's just pain that my kids definite siblings
and the rest of his family and the wider community
(01:32):
are experiencing as a result of this. Is has just
it's shaken us all completely to our core.
Speaker 1 (01:41):
Samara, Please don't apologize for your emotion, because you know
the like, honestly, the whole of the territory is with you,
and and you know we like just know that we
have our arms around you right now. So please don't
apologize for your emotion. What prompted you to like that post?
Speaker 2 (02:04):
I read the comments made by natashaphiles in regards to.
Speaker 1 (02:11):
That.
Speaker 2 (02:11):
It wasn't it was tragic that Declan had passed away,
but he was just one of a number of other
tragic passings and we can't figle out one particular person,
which to me just completely disregarded and minimize the nature
of Declan's death and the impact that it had on
(02:32):
the community. And it just it just seems like the
biggest slap in the face to both me, my family
and yet the broader community because Declan's death was completely preventable.
Speaker 1 (02:50):
Samara, I spoke to the Chief Minister yesterday and I
read out a part of the post that you had
that you put up online. I want you to take
a bit of a listen to what she had said
yesterday in relation to the government's response. Overnight, Samara Lavity,
Declan Lavity's mum, has taken to social media to really
(03:14):
take aim at you and what she sees as a
real lack of action around crime. It follows the opposition's
attempt to get some information yesterday during estimates around your
government's response to crime. Samara is questioning why you're not
doing more around bail laws. Why aren't you acting on
urgency with this.
Speaker 3 (03:34):
Katie, I again my condolences to Samara and her family
and Declan's friends. This is a matter before the courts,
and I know that that family and those friends what
they need is justice and I don't want to make
commentary that may interrupt that. But stepping away from that,
we may changes at the time in March on urgency
around the presumption of bail for edge weapon offenses. So
(03:55):
we acted immediately and we have built upon that. We
are not only reviewing the bail offenses, we are also
looking at the work around that knife crime strategy, and
that has been underway for some time. So Katie, there
is a number of things happening in this space, and
there has already been action.
Speaker 1 (04:12):
Samara. Do you think that the government's presumption of no
bail for edged weapon offenses is enough? And do you
think that what the Chief Minister outlined then is enough? No?
Speaker 2 (04:23):
Absolutely not. The bail changes apply to twenty two different
types of control weapons and thirty one prohibited types of weapons,
which is all great in theory, but you need to
have the ability to enforce those fail laws, and at
the moment they're not being enforced. You can have all
(04:43):
the laws you want in the world, but unless they're
being enforced, they're not going to be of any use.
Speaker 1 (04:49):
Samara. The opposition wants serious violent offenders to start with
a position of no bail. Do you think that that
is more in line with the communities expectatortions?
Speaker 2 (05:02):
Absolutely, to pick up a weapon, whether it's an edged
weapon or a blunt weapon or any sort of weapon
and take it with you into a place or use
it to straighten a person requires several steps. You have
to pick it up, you have to have the in print,
you have to be willing to use it. And at
(05:22):
this stage none of that seems to have diminished. These
laws and these changes are not changing anything. It just
it looks like the offenders out there are just laughing
at the system because they know they can get away
with it. Nothing's changed. She did say that we need
(05:47):
to wait for that three month period for the statistics
to come back. But and it's totally when you look
at what's being reported and what people are reporting, and
I getting a lot of messages from a lot of
different people who are terrified to be in their homes
at night, They're terrified to go out shopping. I had
(06:12):
a friend that I made sadly as a result of
my son's death, who were shopping and thought she was
being followed and ended up absolutely sobbing in her car
because she thought she was going to get nice just
putting her groceries in the back of her vehicle. So,
(06:32):
and this was only about four or five weeks ago.
So and this is the members and just laughing at it.
Speaker 1 (06:42):
And you know, people are changing their way of life,
They're changing the way that they do things because they
want to make sure that they stay safe or try
their best to Samara, can you talk me through you
know what, Look, what do you think needs to happen
here and what would declan law look like?
Speaker 2 (07:04):
I think The very first thing that needs to happen
is there needs to be an acknowledgment by Natasha File
and her government of the concerns that the people have.
Instead of being diminished, disregarded, disrespected and outright gaslighted. People
are screaming that this is happening and she is just
(07:26):
completely ignoring and making fun of people who are really
really stressed.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
It's, you know, and I think that when people sit
down and watch Parliament and watch question Time and you know,
watch some of what goes on, that's where it becomes
incredibly infuriating. And that is the actual place, you know,
inside Parliament where we actually want laws to be debated.
We want changes to be debated, and we want it
done in a serious way so that we can see
(08:00):
some change, so that so that no other family has
to go through what your family is experiencing.
Speaker 2 (08:08):
Absolutely, and whiles I am fairly physically removed from what
is happening over there, I live in ken I am
seeing what's happening. When questions are being put to the
Chief Minister, she's either completely ignoring or sigueing away onto
(08:28):
something else, and she will not outright answer anything. People
just want an acknowledgement that this is happening. They want
her to go, Yes, I can see that this is happening,
and this is what we're going to do as opposed
to I know it's just fair aware and tear, or
it's this, or it's that. Just the government just needs
(08:54):
to say, yes, we can see this and we are
working towards it. And that's that's the feedback that I'm getting,
is that people feel like they're being a gas lighted. No, No,
this isn't happening. No, that's not happening. Oh it's fair
wear and hair. People are angry and frustrated that they're
not being listened.
Speaker 1 (09:14):
To, Samara. On top of you know that acknowledgment of
the concerns that people have, what do you want to
see change when it comes to the legislation that the
Northern Territory government have in place right now to avoid
a similar situation or to avoid another young person's life
(09:37):
being lost or person of any age. You know, I
like what your family's gone through.
Speaker 2 (09:43):
Well, presumption of fail for a first defense is a
big start. If you've gone out and you've already started someone,
there's a reasonable expectation that you're not going to be
particularly afraid to go and do that again. So that
needs to be seen as a fairly strong starting point
(10:04):
that against presumption of bail. If it was a heat
of the moment thing, and someone's been opportunistic, that's a
very different thing and to inclined intent, and that needs
to be looked at as a as a separate issue.
(10:25):
But somebody who's picked up a weapon and taken it
with them, the intent is there, whether or not you
intend to use it. You've gone to the effort to
pick up something and take it with you, and the
person on the other end has a reasonable expectation that
they're going to be on the receiving end or in
assault of sub court.
Speaker 1 (10:45):
So, Smar, it sounds for me to stop that. Yeah,
it sounds like you have You've actually done. You know,
you've done quite a bit of homework and research in
terms of our laws at the moment, in terms of
our bail law. And I have no doubt that it
is research and homework that you never ever thought you
would have had to do.
Speaker 2 (11:07):
No, never, definitely used to tell me how bad it was,
and I thought he was joking. I thought he was
being a little dramatic. He wasn't. And when the night
after he died, when I came to Darwin to bring
(11:27):
my son home, I was assaulted with an hour of
being there on a completely separate, unrelated event that had
nothing to do with why I was there, And that
just really brought home to me that he hadn't been exaggerating.
(11:47):
That seems really were as bad as he was telling
me they were.
Speaker 1 (11:51):
Samara, what happened in the incident where you were assaulted
or are you able to say or is there a
legal action? I don't want to put you in any
kind of, you know, any bad situation.
Speaker 2 (12:03):
No, it was a youth offender and I was struck
in the back with a rock.
Speaker 1 (12:12):
Oh my god, So on top of what you were
already dealing with, then that happened.
Speaker 2 (12:18):
Yep. We had literally flown into dar when dropped our
bags at the hotel and gone over to pick up
some groceries. And it was whilst we were walking back
to the hotel with our groceries I had my back
to the offender and I was hit quite hard in
the back with a rock.
Speaker 1 (12:40):
Ohesome A. Honestly, I don't even know what to say
after what your family's been through and the absolute heartache
and tragic circumstances that you've had to face to have
something like that go on as well. When you arrive
in dar and, yeah, you must have been thinking to yourself,
what kind of place is this?
Speaker 2 (12:59):
I I didn't really cried up until that point. I'd
been in too much shop. I got back to my
hotel and I just fell apart and could not stop
crying because all of a sudden it was so real
that not only had my son I had been stabbed
(13:20):
to death the night before, but as soon as I
get into town, I'm assaulted. And all I had done
was going and pick up some groceries for my daughter
and I to be able to have something to eat
that night, and completely unprovoked, I had my back to
the offender and just got slammed in the back with
(13:41):
a rock that left a bruise that hurt for quite
a few days.
Speaker 1 (13:49):
Oh, Samara, I'm so sorry for what your family has endured,
and I'm so like, I just feel really bad that
you've You know that when you're hear that that's what
you've experienced as well, And you know, I do know
that you You've had a lot of love from the
community as well, and I really hope that you feel
that love and that support as well throughout you know
(14:11):
what the indescribable circumstances what you've been through. But I
just I do really want you to know that that
Territorians support you. And I know you've had such a
shitty time and you know, hearing that that has happened
as well, I do just want you to know that
that we're you know, us locals are not okay with
(14:31):
what's happened to you.
Speaker 2 (14:34):
The amount of support and love that we have had
has just been phenomenal. When I wrote my post the
other night, it was a bit of a dut punch
reaction and it's just really really hurts that the support
that I've had both when this all happened and through
the period of death one funeral and then the memorial
(14:57):
and now there has just been so and overwhelm me.
And I cannot tell you how grateful I am to
the Border community for the sheer love and support and
care that we have been shown.
Speaker 1 (15:12):
Well, Samara, I really appreciate you speaking to me this morning.
I know it's not been easy for you, and you know,
I just really appreciate you speaking to us, and I
know that the community appreciates it as well. To me,
there is nothing more powerful than your voice at this
point in time, so I really do appreciate your time
(15:32):
and thank you for coming and having a.
Speaker 2 (15:34):
Chat with us. Thank you so much for having me
on and leaving me be able to say this.
Speaker 1 (15:40):
Thanks Samara. We will talk to you again soon and
hopefully we'll start to see some change.
Speaker 2 (15:47):
Thank you. I hope so too.
Speaker 1 (15:48):
Thanks
Yesterday. You may have heard on the show as well. Declan.
Lavity's mum, Samara, had written what can only be described
really as a heart wrenching post on social media earlier
this week. Now she called out the Chief Minister, really
questioning what the government is doing in the wake of
her son's death. Now joining me on the line right
(00:22):
now is Samara Lavity. Good morning to you, Samara.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Good morning, Thank you for having me back.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
Thank you so much for your time this morning. Samara,
You've had an unimaginable year. Before I asked the other questions,
how are you traveling at the moment?
Speaker 2 (00:44):
Not great?
Speaker 1 (00:46):
Oh I'm so sorry, Samara. I honestly I can't. Like
I've said before, I cannot imagine how you're feeling at
the moment. And when I read your post on social
media earlier this week, I thought I can, Like you know,
you must be in a lot of pain, and you
must be incredibly frustrated by what you're seeing unfolding in
(01:08):
the territory.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
Unbelievably, it is just it's phenomenal, Like I just like
I don't even have words for it right now. I'm sorry.
It's just it's just pain that my kids definite siblings
and the rest of his family and the wider community
(01:32):
are experiencing as a result of this. Is has just
it's shaken us all completely to our core.
Speaker 1 (01:41):
Samara, Please don't apologize for your emotion, because you know
the like, honestly, the whole of the territory is with you,
and and you know we like just know that we
have our arms around you right now. So please don't
apologize for your emotion. What prompted you to like that post?
Speaker 2 (02:04):
I read the comments made by natashaphiles in regards to.
Speaker 1 (02:11):
That.
Speaker 2 (02:11):
It wasn't it was tragic that Declan had passed away,
but he was just one of a number of other
tragic passings and we can't figle out one particular person,
which to me just completely disregarded and minimize the nature
of Declan's death and the impact that it had on
(02:32):
the community. And it just it just seems like the
biggest slap in the face to both me, my family
and yet the broader community because Declan's death was completely preventable.
Speaker 1 (02:50):
Samara, I spoke to the Chief Minister yesterday and I
read out a part of the post that you had
that you put up online. I want you to take
a bit of a listen to what she had said
yesterday in relation to the government's response. Overnight, Samara Lavity,
Declan Lavity's mum, has taken to social media to really
(03:14):
take aim at you and what she sees as a
real lack of action around crime. It follows the opposition's
attempt to get some information yesterday during estimates around your
government's response to crime. Samara is questioning why you're not
doing more around bail laws. Why aren't you acting on
urgency with this.
Speaker 3 (03:34):
Katie, I again my condolences to Samara and her family
and Declan's friends. This is a matter before the courts,
and I know that that family and those friends what
they need is justice and I don't want to make
commentary that may interrupt that. But stepping away from that,
we may changes at the time in March on urgency
around the presumption of bail for edge weapon offenses. So
(03:55):
we acted immediately and we have built upon that. We
are not only reviewing the bail offenses, we are also
looking at the work around that knife crime strategy, and
that has been underway for some time. So Katie, there
is a number of things happening in this space, and
there has already been action.
Speaker 1 (04:12):
Samara. Do you think that the government's presumption of no
bail for edged weapon offenses is enough? And do you
think that what the Chief Minister outlined then is enough? No?
Speaker 2 (04:23):
Absolutely not. The bail changes apply to twenty two different
types of control weapons and thirty one prohibited types of weapons,
which is all great in theory, but you need to
have the ability to enforce those fail laws, and at
the moment they're not being enforced. You can have all
(04:43):
the laws you want in the world, but unless they're
being enforced, they're not going to be of any use.
Speaker 1 (04:49):
Samara. The opposition wants serious violent offenders to start with
a position of no bail. Do you think that that
is more in line with the communities expectatortions?
Speaker 2 (05:02):
Absolutely, to pick up a weapon, whether it's an edged
weapon or a blunt weapon or any sort of weapon
and take it with you into a place or use
it to straighten a person requires several steps. You have
to pick it up, you have to have the in print,
you have to be willing to use it. And at
(05:22):
this stage none of that seems to have diminished. These
laws and these changes are not changing anything. It just
it looks like the offenders out there are just laughing
at the system because they know they can get away
with it. Nothing's changed. She did say that we need
(05:47):
to wait for that three month period for the statistics
to come back. But and it's totally when you look
at what's being reported and what people are reporting, and
I getting a lot of messages from a lot of
different people who are terrified to be in their homes
at night, They're terrified to go out shopping. I had
(06:12):
a friend that I made sadly as a result of
my son's death, who were shopping and thought she was
being followed and ended up absolutely sobbing in her car
because she thought she was going to get nice just
putting her groceries in the back of her vehicle. So,
(06:32):
and this was only about four or five weeks ago.
So and this is the members and just laughing at it.
Speaker 1 (06:42):
And you know, people are changing their way of life,
They're changing the way that they do things because they
want to make sure that they stay safe or try
their best to Samara, can you talk me through you
know what, Look, what do you think needs to happen
here and what would declan law look like?
Speaker 2 (07:04):
I think The very first thing that needs to happen
is there needs to be an acknowledgment by Natasha File
and her government of the concerns that the people have.
Instead of being diminished, disregarded, disrespected and outright gaslighted. People
are screaming that this is happening and she is just
(07:26):
completely ignoring and making fun of people who are really
really stressed.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
It's, you know, and I think that when people sit
down and watch Parliament and watch question Time and you know,
watch some of what goes on, that's where it becomes
incredibly infuriating. And that is the actual place, you know,
inside Parliament where we actually want laws to be debated.
We want changes to be debated, and we want it
done in a serious way so that we can see
(08:00):
some change, so that so that no other family has
to go through what your family is experiencing.
Speaker 2 (08:08):
Absolutely, and whiles I am fairly physically removed from what
is happening over there, I live in ken I am
seeing what's happening. When questions are being put to the
Chief Minister, she's either completely ignoring or sigueing away onto
(08:28):
something else, and she will not outright answer anything. People
just want an acknowledgement that this is happening. They want
her to go, Yes, I can see that this is happening,
and this is what we're going to do as opposed
to I know it's just fair aware and tear, or
it's this, or it's that. Just the government just needs
(08:54):
to say, yes, we can see this and we are
working towards it. And that's that's the feedback that I'm getting,
is that people feel like they're being a gas lighted. No, No,
this isn't happening. No, that's not happening. Oh it's fair
wear and hair. People are angry and frustrated that they're
not being listened.
Speaker 1 (09:14):
To, Samara. On top of you know that acknowledgment of
the concerns that people have, what do you want to
see change when it comes to the legislation that the
Northern Territory government have in place right now to avoid
a similar situation or to avoid another young person's life
(09:37):
being lost or person of any age. You know, I
like what your family's gone through.
Speaker 2 (09:43):
Well, presumption of fail for a first defense is a
big start. If you've gone out and you've already started someone,
there's a reasonable expectation that you're not going to be
particularly afraid to go and do that again. So that
needs to be seen as a fairly strong starting point
(10:04):
that against presumption of bail. If it was a heat
of the moment thing, and someone's been opportunistic, that's a
very different thing and to inclined intent, and that needs
to be looked at as a as a separate issue.
(10:25):
But somebody who's picked up a weapon and taken it
with them, the intent is there, whether or not you
intend to use it. You've gone to the effort to
pick up something and take it with you, and the
person on the other end has a reasonable expectation that
they're going to be on the receiving end or in
assault of sub court.
Speaker 1 (10:45):
So, Smar, it sounds for me to stop that. Yeah,
it sounds like you have You've actually done. You know,
you've done quite a bit of homework and research in
terms of our laws at the moment, in terms of
our bail law. And I have no doubt that it
is research and homework that you never ever thought you
would have had to do.
Speaker 2 (11:07):
No, never, definitely used to tell me how bad it was,
and I thought he was joking. I thought he was
being a little dramatic. He wasn't. And when the night
after he died, when I came to Darwin to bring
(11:27):
my son home, I was assaulted with an hour of
being there on a completely separate, unrelated event that had
nothing to do with why I was there, And that
just really brought home to me that he hadn't been exaggerating.
(11:47):
That seems really were as bad as he was telling
me they were.
Speaker 1 (11:51):
Samara, what happened in the incident where you were assaulted
or are you able to say or is there a
legal action? I don't want to put you in any
kind of, you know, any bad situation.
Speaker 2 (12:03):
No, it was a youth offender and I was struck
in the back with a rock.
Speaker 1 (12:12):
Oh my god, So on top of what you were
already dealing with, then that happened.
Speaker 2 (12:18):
Yep. We had literally flown into dar when dropped our
bags at the hotel and gone over to pick up
some groceries. And it was whilst we were walking back
to the hotel with our groceries I had my back
to the offender and I was hit quite hard in
the back with a rock.
Speaker 1 (12:40):
Ohesome A. Honestly, I don't even know what to say
after what your family's been through and the absolute heartache
and tragic circumstances that you've had to face to have
something like that go on as well. When you arrive
in dar and, yeah, you must have been thinking to yourself,
what kind of place is this?
Speaker 2 (12:59):
I I didn't really cried up until that point. I'd
been in too much shop. I got back to my
hotel and I just fell apart and could not stop
crying because all of a sudden it was so real
that not only had my son I had been stabbed
(13:20):
to death the night before, but as soon as I
get into town, I'm assaulted. And all I had done
was going and pick up some groceries for my daughter
and I to be able to have something to eat
that night, and completely unprovoked, I had my back to
the offender and just got slammed in the back with
(13:41):
a rock that left a bruise that hurt for quite
a few days.
Speaker 1 (13:49):
Oh, Samara, I'm so sorry for what your family has endured,
and I'm so like, I just feel really bad that
you've You know that when you're hear that that's what
you've experienced as well, And you know, I do know
that you You've had a lot of love from the
community as well, and I really hope that you feel
that love and that support as well throughout you know
(14:11):
what the indescribable circumstances what you've been through. But I
just I do really want you to know that that
Territorians support you. And I know you've had such a
shitty time and you know, hearing that that has happened
as well, I do just want you to know that
that we're you know, us locals are not okay with
(14:31):
what's happened to you.
Speaker 2 (14:34):
The amount of support and love that we have had
has just been phenomenal. When I wrote my post the
other night, it was a bit of a dut punch
reaction and it's just really really hurts that the support
that I've had both when this all happened and through
the period of death one funeral and then the memorial
(14:57):
and now there has just been so and overwhelm me.
And I cannot tell you how grateful I am to
the Border community for the sheer love and support and
care that we have been shown.
Speaker 1 (15:12):
Well, Samara, I really appreciate you speaking to me this morning.
I know it's not been easy for you, and you know,
I just really appreciate you speaking to us, and I
know that the community appreciates it as well. To me,
there is nothing more powerful than your voice at this
point in time, so I really do appreciate your time
(15:32):
and thank you for coming and having a.
Speaker 2 (15:34):
Chat with us. Thank you so much for having me
on and leaving me be able to say this.
Speaker 1 (15:40):
Thanks Samara. We will talk to you again soon and
hopefully we'll start to see some change.
Speaker 2 (15:47):
Thank you. I hope so too.
Speaker 1 (15:48):
Thanks
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