The Northern Territory government has continued to try make bus drivers safer in the Territory with confirmation that driver protection screens have been installed in every bus across the Darwin and Alice Springs bus network.
The government says it swiftly completed the installation of upgraded screens to ensure bus drivers receive better protections.
These upgrades follow two serious incidents on the public transport network.
When the CLP came to government, it says only 17 of the 79 buses in the Territory fleet had upgraded safety screens and progress had stalled to nothing over the past nine months.
Minister for logistics and infrastructure Bill Yan says community safety was the CLP’s top priority, and he thanked the department for completing the installation of the remaining protective screens so quickly.
“Territorians gave us a very clear mandate to reduce crime, rebuild the economy and restore our iconic lifestyle, and that is exactly what we are doing,” Yan says.
“Everyone has the right to be safe at work and violence and cowardly assaults against our front-line workers’ is completely unacceptable.”
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Last month, Yan tabled a petition in Parliament, on behalf of the Transport Workers Union, calling for the installation of these protective screens.
The CLP government is further enhancing protections for bus drivers and other frontline workers through the introduction of mandatory sentencing for assaulting frontline workers.
This emergency legislation was introduced and passed in Parliament last month.
“It is abhorrent that for eight years the safety of our frontline workers was simply not a priority for the former government,” Yan says.
“We are behind our frontline workers entirely, and these protective screens and this legislation will ensure our bus drivers can get on with their job of transporting Territorians to their location safely.
“Our discussions with the TWU remain constructive and we’ll continue working with the Union to ensure their members are kept safe.”
The mandatory sentencing for assaulting a frontline worker legislation now ensures:
- Assaults on police or emergency workers involving physical harm, or spitting on a frontline worker, carries a mandatory minimum sentence of three months’ imprisonment, including for first-time offenders. Previously, no mandatory minimum existed for spitting.
- Assaults on police or emergency workers without physical harm will result in a mandatory Community Correction Order, even for first-time offenders. Previously, no mandatory minimum applied.
- Assaults on workers where physical harm is caused and the offender has a prior conviction for a violent offence, will now carry a mandatory minimum sentence of a term of actual imprisonment. Previous, no mandatory minimum applied.
- Assaults on workers by a first-time offender where physical harm is caused, will attract a mandatory Community Correction Order. Previously, no mandatory minimum existed.
In further efforts to improve frontline worker safety, the CLP government is providing free travel across its public transport network until June 2025.
This will further ease pressure on drivers and security staff who report a dramatic reduction in anti-social behaviour during periods of free travel.
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