Samara Laverty says she’s disappointed the NT Government has made no changes following its bail review claiming not enough has been done since her son’s alleged murder

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
So we brought you the news at the Bail and
Weapons Offenses Review was released and recommended no changes to
bail laws. There is a change in definition of machetes
and axes, meaning people committing offenses with these weapons will
now be subject to bail laws passed in late March March,
I should say now the laws were passed following, as

(00:21):
we know, the tragic death of twenty year old bottle
shop worker Declan Lavity. Now Declan's mum, Samara, joins me
on the line right now. Good morning, Samara, good morning,
Thank you for having me, Thank you, thanks so much
for your time this morning. Samara, what was your reaction
to this announcement made by the Northern Territory Government yesterday.

Speaker 2 (00:45):
Disappointment. I was very very disappointment, as disappointed to see
that there are no changes, Samara.

Speaker 1 (00:56):
I think that your disappointment is certainly support by Territorians
this morning. You know, we understand that this review has happened.
We've all sort of had a read through it and
we're looking at, you know, at the numbers that have
been provided by the Northern Territory Government and provided by
this review, saying that the large majority of people that
are on bail, don't re offend. But I asked the

(01:19):
Chief Minister this morning, if that is the case, how
have we wound up in a situation where your young
fellows lost his life at the hands of somebody who
is allegedly on bail for a previous offense.

Speaker 2 (01:36):
Exactly, it's just biggest belief. This morning, I jumped online
to have a look at the cases that are going
before court this morning in the Northern Territory and there
are one hundred and thirteen breaches of bail and one
hundred and ten aggravated assaults listed for being heard. Now,

(01:58):
a lot of those breaches of fail probably aren't particularly violent, however,
when you put them with the amount of aggravated assaults
there have been, and that's not including things like contravening
a DVO within a sense of weapon unlawfully causing serious
harm or domestic violence or whatever it is. But those

(02:22):
numbers are just pretty big for one day of court hearing.

Speaker 1 (02:30):
They're staggering. I mean, they're absolutely staggering when you put
it that way. And I obviously haven't been online and
had a look, but from what you are saying to me,
it's a staggering number, and I think it really hits
the heart of why people are feeling pretty disillusioned this morning.

Speaker 2 (02:47):
Oh I agree, just sitting down and looking through this,
A lot of them were particularly the breach of fail
and aggravated assault. A lot of them were the same
names for four or five different charges. And I just
don't understand how they can think that these so called

(03:09):
and mental laws are going to prevent that it needs
to go further. And that's what they're just not acknowledging, Samara.

Speaker 1 (03:19):
Fifteen thousand people, more than fifteen thousand people agree with you,
and they've signed a petition which is going to be
presented in Parliament today by the opposition leader Leofanocchiaro. What
exactly is that petition calling for and what are you
hoping that the presentation of that petition to Parliament today
is going to say?

Speaker 2 (03:41):
Well, when I have just had a look about five
minutes ago at how many signatures we've got, we're now
up to sixteen thousand, eight hundred and thirty six. Wow,
I saw I know that. That's just it's amazing to
see the amount of support that has been raised following
deck and murder. What we want out of this is

(04:05):
we did our specifically for that Wanding trial. Obviously they
had already after JACKLINSMTH had planned to send people over
and I think that's a really really great start. But
I did hear I think Robin Lamley, so you was
thinner saying about racial profiling. So with this trial of

(04:30):
Wanding there should be and then maybe I don't know,
but a way for police to avoid specifically racially profiling people.

Speaker 1 (04:42):
Now the Opposition has this morning said, as has Robin Lamley,
the Independent Member for Aarah Lawn, and Keziapuricus, the Independent
Member for Gorda. They have said that when it comes
to the Wanding and when it comes to the changes
with the knife crime legislation, they've literally been briefed this morning.
Robin and Kesier have not even been briefed on this

(05:03):
urgent legislation that is set to go into to Parliament.
I think we're all hoping that it's going to make
some kind of change to the concerns that we've got
around knife crime. I mean, do you worry that this
is sort of being rushed through with minimal opportunity for
the Independence and the Opposition to really kind of thoroughly

(05:26):
go through the legislation.

Speaker 2 (05:30):
Yeah, it's I was notified about this at about eleven
o'clock yesterday and all I was told was about the
wandering at the times of potential imprisonment if you are
caught with an offensive or a controlled weapon. Yeah, it's

(05:53):
just yes, sorry, feel really hard to talk about, Samara.

Speaker 1 (06:00):
I want to tell you right now that as you
and I are talking that petition, those numbers have raised
up to seventeen than fifty five people. So you know,
the emotion that you're feeling is being felt by territories
this morning as well, and they're actually stepping up in
droves to make sure that you realize that they support you,

(06:25):
which I think is a really strong thing and hopefully
something that you can take some heart in after the
absolute tragedy that you're still living.

Speaker 2 (06:38):
I am absolutely so grateful, and I know Declin's Dade
and his siblings are all very grateful for that support.
But I would also like to say thank you to Mitchell,
who started this petition the day after Declan's death. It
was a handed over to me a couple of months
ago and we've done work from there, but Mitchell did
a really, really great job getting it off the ground,

(07:00):
and that seems to have resonated with so so many people,
and I just really hope that the incumbent government can
look at that, look at the size of the petition
that's being handed in and realize that, no, they're not
meeting community expectations. It's I have not been one person

(07:24):
in favor of any of this. It's all really sadly
quite negative stuff about people not feeling heard or acknowledged.

Speaker 1 (07:34):
I didn't realize that this was the petition that Mitchell
had started, you know, back at that at that terrible time.
We'd spoken to him at the time, and I know
that even you know, from that day, there are a
lot of Territorians jumping online to support what he you know,
what he'd done, and the fact that these numbers continued

(07:55):
to grow, they're growing as we speak. Samara, what is
your message for Territorians this morning? Firstly, I know that
you still want to see change. What do you want
Territorians this morning to know?

Speaker 2 (08:12):
But definitely has been the catalyst for change. This is
not something that four and a half months ago I
could ever have seen myself doing. But I will make
change for my son. I promised him that, and I
will follow through, and the follow through with that will
have hopefully a really positive effect on the lives and

(08:34):
the lifestyle and the safety of the people in the
Northern Territory. And if I can work towards that and
make help make it a safer place to live in
such a beautiful area with the support that we have gotten,
I will absolutely do my best.

Speaker 1 (08:52):
Samara, Have you heard from the Chief Minister or any
representatives from the Northern Territory government in the recent days. No.

Speaker 2 (09:04):
All I've had was the one frame conversation yesterday and
an email sector on a fat sheet over it. That
has been it. I've heard nothing from anyone.

Speaker 1 (09:16):
Would you like them to sit down with you again?

Speaker 2 (09:20):
Absolutely, because they haven't sat down with me yet.

Speaker 1 (09:25):
So if the opportunity was there, you would be keen
to sit down with the Chief Minister and have a genuine,
you know, mom to mom conversation with her.

Speaker 2 (09:37):
I would absolutely do that because all I've received from
them is politics. There's been there's been no emotion. If
only people could understand how horfic it is to know
that that is your son and maybe she needs to

(09:58):
look at it from everybody else's of you and she's
a mom, what if it was her child. It comes
back to I guess humanity as well.

Speaker 1 (10:11):
Samara. I honestly, I've got so much admiration for the
strength that you have shown and your whole family has
shown in the wake of the tragedy of losing your
young fella. And I really really hope that we see
the change that I know you want to see and

(10:31):
that I know territorians want to see. And you know,
I'm really grateful every time that you do come on
and the strength that you show when you speak to
me and to all of our listeners.

Speaker 2 (10:46):
Thank you so much. I'm just a mom who doesn't
want this to happen to any other mom. Edward again,
if there's anything that we can do to stop that from.

Speaker 1 (10:55):
Happening, Samara, thank you as all ways for your time.
Thank you for taking the time to talk to me,
for taking the time to talk to our listeners. I
cannot imagine how hard it is every time that you
are out in public reliving your pain. And we are
really incredibly grateful that you speak, that you've spoken to

(11:16):
us this morning again.

Speaker 2 (11:18):
And thank you so much for having me and letting
me have this way.

Speaker 1 (11:22):
Thank you, Samara and we'll keep in contact. I appreciate
your

Speaker 2 (11:25):
Time great thank you so much.