Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Now. Yesterday Parliament was dominated by debate around the petition
Justice for Declan Lavity. About twenty people sat in the
public gallery throughout the morning while Samara Lavity sat in
the chamber and her grief was laid bare as the
opposition leader Leofanocchiaro read a statement which she'd written. Samara
Lavity joins me on the line.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Now, Hi, Samara, good morning Katie.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
Samara. Hearing your statement read in the Parliament yesterday was heartbreaking.
As I said, your grief was laid bare for everybody
in the Parliament and around the Northern Territory to hear.
Why did you decide to do that?
Speaker 2 (00:43):
It came down to whether or not we were going
to have enough time to debate each point, and I
was asked to write it down just in case we
weren't able to do that, so that we could sort
of get through just how important and how much this
has affected our family. To just make it clear how
(01:09):
devastating this has been for us, and try and get
people to in the chamber to understand, yeah, just how
awful it's been and what we are going through.
Speaker 1 (01:21):
Samara. What was the reaction from everybody in the chamber yesterday.
Speaker 2 (01:27):
Look, everyone, every single person who spoke, every single person,
every politician was extremely nice and kind to us and
I very very much appreciated the kindness and compassion that
was shown to me yesterday.
Speaker 1 (01:46):
Now from your perspective, how did the debate go? Do
you think that you know, do you think that enough
time was allowed? And were the points that you wanted
to get across did they come across?
Speaker 2 (02:02):
I don't think there was enough time for everyone to
say what they needed to say. A lot of the
point were spoken about and discussed, but I don't think
it went far enough in terms of looking at using
those points for real change. There have been a number
(02:24):
of changes already done, which I'm very grateful for, and
the effort and time that's been put into the bail
review and the knife crime strategy, but without any changes,
I don't think it's gone far enough at all.
Speaker 1 (02:38):
That was going to be my next question. I mean,
we know that the government have announced a number of changes,
and even yesterday, to me, it seemed as though they
rushed through some changes with the knife crime strategy on
Monday afternoon, announcing that on Monday afternoon. But a lot
of it is very much educative, which I understand that
they want to make sure that people are being educated
(02:59):
into terms of the dangers of those edge weapons. It
also looks at de escalation training. I mean, from your perspective,
is that going to make a difference.
Speaker 2 (03:13):
I'm not actually sure. I think the escalation in those
moments are very important, but it's also going to be
very hard to talk down someone who is already hyped
up on adrenaline and energy and whatever they're there to do.
(03:34):
And I don't think not sorry, education and the escalation
is going to work in those heat of the moment situations.
Speaker 1 (03:47):
So Samara, by the sounds of it, I mean, it
does sound as though you still want to see some
legislative changes when it comes to bail reform and also knives.
Speaker 2 (04:00):
No absolutely. At the moment, it seems like they're looking
at trying to shut the gate after the horse has vaulted.
But we need to get in front and try and
stop that from happening in the first place, instead of
waiting for it to happen and then managing it from there.
Speaker 1 (04:26):
Samara, do you think that that debate yesterday has helped
Do you think it's going to help in any way
to see any of that change that you're after, I hope.
Speaker 2 (04:36):
So there was a lot more acknowledgment around the issues
of crime in the Northern Territory. So I was really
pleased to see that. But we just need to wait
and see now whether or not that follows through and
that we get some real on the ground change. I
believe there is going to be some legislative requests from
(05:02):
the opposition to be try and put through today, so
hopefully we can get something out of that and trying
it in front of everything before it gets to the
stage where you know that we've had to go through.
Speaker 1 (05:19):
Yeah, we will certainly try to catch up with the
opposition tomorrow and get a bit further detail about how
that goes. I know that they are pushing, as you said,
for that change today, Samara. I do want to ask,
and I want to be really cautious of what I
say here because I don't want to jeopardize the case
in any way, shape or form. But I know that
further detail has been published in the NT News today
(05:40):
about the alleged defender who was on bail when he
allegedly entered the bottle shop where Decklan was working. And
as I say, I do want to make sure that
I'm really conscious of what I say. I don't want
to jeopardize anything in any way. But reading that, hearing
the government's response following the loss of your son, how
(06:01):
are you feeling today?
Speaker 3 (06:05):
Tired and overwhelmed? Yeah, looking looking at what happened yesterday,
I mean it goes in some direction.
Speaker 2 (06:17):
To show that the bail awaws, even with you know
what happened in parliament yesterday, just have not gone far enough.
And unfortunately for our family, we can never change that.
But to have an offend of that thread out on
(06:40):
bail too, to go and commit that sort of crime,
it just shows that, yeah, it's not working and we
need to make sure that this doesn't happen to anyone else.
Speaker 1 (07:00):
Samara Lavity, I really appreciate your time this morning. I
know you're not well today as in addition to that,
so I appreciate you having a chat with us this morning.
And it was incredibly brave what you did yesterday, putting
your words to paper for the opposition leader to read
out in the Parliament. It must have been bloody hard
sitting there and even hearing your own words read out,
(07:23):
I could see that it was really emotional for you,
so I really appreciate your efforts and your time.
Speaker 2 (07:29):
Thank you. It was very hard to hear and to
have I guess my soul laid there, but I also
just wanted to express for everyone in that room. But
this is the result of what happened to us from
somebody who was out on bail that really should never
(07:51):
have been allowed out on bail.
Speaker 1 (07:55):
Samara Lavity, thank you, thanks very much for talking to
us again.
Speaker 2 (07:58):
Today, no worries. Thank you so much for having me
on again.
Speaker 1 (08:02):
Thank you
Now. Yesterday Parliament was dominated by debate around the petition
Justice for Declan Lavity. About twenty people sat in the
public gallery throughout the morning while Samara Lavity sat in
the chamber and her grief was laid bare as the
opposition leader Leofanocchiaro read a statement which she'd written. Samara
Lavity joins me on the line.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Now, Hi, Samara, good morning Katie.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
Samara. Hearing your statement read in the Parliament yesterday was heartbreaking.
As I said, your grief was laid bare for everybody
in the Parliament and around the Northern Territory to hear.
Why did you decide to do that?
Speaker 2 (00:43):
It came down to whether or not we were going
to have enough time to debate each point, and I
was asked to write it down just in case we
weren't able to do that, so that we could sort
of get through just how important and how much this
has affected our family. To just make it clear how
(01:09):
devastating this has been for us, and try and get
people to in the chamber to understand, yeah, just how
awful it's been and what we are going through.
Speaker 1 (01:21):
Samara. What was the reaction from everybody in the chamber yesterday.
Speaker 2 (01:27):
Look, everyone, every single person who spoke, every single person,
every politician was extremely nice and kind to us and
I very very much appreciated the kindness and compassion that
was shown to me yesterday.
Speaker 1 (01:46):
Now from your perspective, how did the debate go? Do
you think that you know, do you think that enough
time was allowed? And were the points that you wanted
to get across did they come across?
Speaker 2 (02:02):
I don't think there was enough time for everyone to
say what they needed to say. A lot of the
point were spoken about and discussed, but I don't think
it went far enough in terms of looking at using
those points for real change. There have been a number
(02:24):
of changes already done, which I'm very grateful for, and
the effort and time that's been put into the bail
review and the knife crime strategy, but without any changes,
I don't think it's gone far enough at all.
Speaker 1 (02:38):
That was going to be my next question. I mean,
we know that the government have announced a number of changes,
and even yesterday, to me, it seemed as though they
rushed through some changes with the knife crime strategy on
Monday afternoon, announcing that on Monday afternoon. But a lot
of it is very much educative, which I understand that
they want to make sure that people are being educated
(02:59):
into terms of the dangers of those edge weapons. It
also looks at de escalation training. I mean, from your perspective,
is that going to make a difference.
Speaker 2 (03:13):
I'm not actually sure. I think the escalation in those
moments are very important, but it's also going to be
very hard to talk down someone who is already hyped
up on adrenaline and energy and whatever they're there to do.
(03:34):
And I don't think not sorry, education and the escalation
is going to work in those heat of the moment situations.
Speaker 1 (03:47):
So Samara, by the sounds of it, I mean, it
does sound as though you still want to see some
legislative changes when it comes to bail reform and also knives.
Speaker 2 (04:00):
No absolutely. At the moment, it seems like they're looking
at trying to shut the gate after the horse has vaulted.
But we need to get in front and try and
stop that from happening in the first place, instead of
waiting for it to happen and then managing it from there.
Speaker 1 (04:26):
Samara, do you think that that debate yesterday has helped
Do you think it's going to help in any way
to see any of that change that you're after, I hope.
Speaker 2 (04:36):
So there was a lot more acknowledgment around the issues
of crime in the Northern Territory. So I was really
pleased to see that. But we just need to wait
and see now whether or not that follows through and
that we get some real on the ground change. I
believe there is going to be some legislative requests from
(05:02):
the opposition to be try and put through today, so
hopefully we can get something out of that and trying
it in front of everything before it gets to the
stage where you know that we've had to go through.
Speaker 1 (05:19):
Yeah, we will certainly try to catch up with the
opposition tomorrow and get a bit further detail about how
that goes. I know that they are pushing, as you said,
for that change today, Samara. I do want to ask,
and I want to be really cautious of what I
say here because I don't want to jeopardize the case
in any way, shape or form. But I know that
further detail has been published in the NT News today
(05:40):
about the alleged defender who was on bail when he
allegedly entered the bottle shop where Decklan was working. And
as I say, I do want to make sure that
I'm really conscious of what I say. I don't want
to jeopardize anything in any way. But reading that, hearing
the government's response following the loss of your son, how
(06:01):
are you feeling today?
Speaker 3 (06:05):
Tired and overwhelmed? Yeah, looking looking at what happened yesterday,
I mean it goes in some direction.
Speaker 2 (06:17):
To show that the bail awaws, even with you know
what happened in parliament yesterday, just have not gone far enough.
And unfortunately for our family, we can never change that.
But to have an offend of that thread out on
(06:40):
bail too, to go and commit that sort of crime,
it just shows that, yeah, it's not working and we
need to make sure that this doesn't happen to anyone else.
Speaker 1 (07:00):
Samara Lavity, I really appreciate your time this morning. I
know you're not well today as in addition to that,
so I appreciate you having a chat with us this morning.
And it was incredibly brave what you did yesterday, putting
your words to paper for the opposition leader to read
out in the Parliament. It must have been bloody hard
sitting there and even hearing your own words read out,
(07:23):
I could see that it was really emotional for you,
so I really appreciate your efforts and your time.
Speaker 2 (07:29):
Thank you. It was very hard to hear and to
have I guess my soul laid there, but I also
just wanted to express for everyone in that room. But
this is the result of what happened to us from
somebody who was out on bail that really should never
(07:51):
have been allowed out on bail.
Speaker 1 (07:55):
Samara Lavity, thank you, thanks very much for talking to
us again.
Speaker 2 (07:58):
Today, no worries. Thank you so much for having me
on again.
Speaker 1 (08:02):
Thank you
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