Challenges of Shift Work and Gambling

Speaker 1 0:00

that we can talk about between now and whenever .

Speaker 2 0:02

Roger , good morning . Good morning to you , Tony . How are you this ?

Speaker 1 0:06

morning Did you make a lot of things , as many of us did . What happened in our beautiful city of Melbourne today , yesterday ? Now there's so much to unpack as we go through this next hour or so together .

Speaker 2 0:20

Yeah , there is , and I saw my former boss , the Chief Commissioner , really unloaded today as well , which is really good to see . I think it's time that we look . We seem to protest at the opening of an envelope at the moment Like we really do . We protest at absolutely everything and I think our poor city really is suffering and I've got to tell you as well I can speak now about it it's such a drain on Victoria Police resources and if the public were aware of how much resources having to be put into all of this to manage this and taking away from those general patrols and people can't answer those triple zero calls not answer the phone , because that's a different company , but can't attend to those triple zero calls .

Speaker 1 1:08

It's a real issue Massive Driving down Collins Street . So there's a couple of buses pull out of a big hotel just here on Collins Street and coppers are pouring out of that , still in uniform . They've been on their feet for probably more than eight or ten hours today , I would have thought .

Speaker 2 1:22

Absolutely Well and truly , and what you don't realise as well is , and they're not going home .

Speaker 2 1:26

No , no , no , they're not going home . This is the thing that we have totally lost sight of . Well , not lost sight of , but it's not reported and the public need to be aware of it . A lot of those members that you would have seen getting off the bus today would have come from country areas and they've been parked in hotels to stay there . And you would think , oh , that's all very glamorous , isn't it ? Well , I think we kind of forget they don't have their own creature comforts at home . They're only getting food packs at those jobs and then they finish up . Food packs , Just food packs . What would that consist of ? A bagel , Well , I can tell you that there's been a lot of problems . There's a bagel and it might be a chocolate bar .

Speaker 2 2:11

What was the big discussion around it was the sparkling water with watermelon-flavoured sparkling water with electrolytes in it and things like that , which don't get me wrong . I actually made a comment in relation to it . It's actually really good . Sparkling water with electrolytes in it is really good for officers that are standing on their feet for a long time . But we've got to feed people . Well , you know . We've got to look after them . Well , We've got to , and this is what I wanted to talk about today on the show Tony is . We forget that these members are fathers , they're partners . We forget that these members are fathers , they're partners , they're mothers .

Speaker 1 2:50

You- know , and mothers of children , and what they are is they're away from home . I drove around yesterday morning . I drove past the convention centre and they were getting set for this . Yesterday it must have been the day before Yep and they're getting set and there's eight or nine , ten on each of those entrances standing up , many of whom were young women .

Speaker 2 3:03

Yes , Now a lot of them young women and women that have got their own children at home that the husband's having to step up to the plate and do that because these members just get rostered . These jobs , they just get rostered . Here's your roster . You're going to go and do the operation for this and they don't have any choice . You can't turn around and say I'm sorry , it doesn't suit me . You signed up to this and this is what you've got to do , so off they go . And while they're standing there , they've got the thoughts of little Johnny's , got to go to kinder , they've got book week . What happens if I get home late ? And then , when they do get home , the husband goes here's the kids , I've had them all day and you're going , but I've been standing at a demo all day and it causes conflict at home as well and I think we lose sight of a lot of that .

Speaker 1 3:48

And that's a model for most people where two people are working in a family , so that's not unusual , except that this is extraordinary pressure , intensely focused on some dreadful behaviour . Arguably , people would say . Most would say it's dreadful behaviour . Yeah , I agree . And they're standing there and doing the right thing , just doing their job , and being abused for doing their job .

Speaker 2 4:10

Continual abuse goes in , tony , when you're being continually abused , it goes in hard and really impacts on your mental health .

Speaker 1 4:19

Come and join in . Anything you'd like to add to us , you're more than welcome to have your say . It's been an intriguing 24 . 133693 .

Speaker 3 4:29

Cole , good morning to you . Good morning Tony and Dennis .

Speaker 1 4:33

I believe we've got no Cole . It's not Dennis , it's Roger Sutherland . Roger is a former now retired police officer who's a regular contributor to the Overnight Program here on 3RW and 5AA .

Speaker 3 4:47

Roger yeah , sorry mate , sorry mate . Look , I just want to say I've been on the opposite side of the law and I've been treated with absolute beautiful treatment by the Victorian police . I have nothing bad to say about the Victorian police , but I would like to say something bad about the casinos .

Speaker 1 5:04

if I don't yeah , go , just whip into it , cole Go .

Speaker 3 5:08

Well , look , anyone that is having a bet . I urge you severely not to have it online , because what they do is they make it very easy to put money in and you don't have to prove your ID or identification to put money in , but to withdraw it you've got to go through backflips . To withdraw any money from the casino online , You've got to state where you live , everything . You've got to give so much ID . Now why are they ?

Speaker 1 5:47

asking . So what are you saying ? When you go round to the pokies , you go round to the casino , you reckon it's a little too accessible . Cole , Is that the point you're making ?

Speaker 3 5:55

Not that it's too accessible . I'm not a gambler really I don't gamble but I like to have a little fling every now and again and I won some money . I won some money and then I couldn't withdraw it unless I had ID and you know , proof of where I live and all this stuff , you know . I mean really . I mean , they've got my bank card , they know I'm 18 , you know I mean yeah .

Speaker 1 6:21

So I'm not too sure what you're saying . Then , colin , are you saying you've got to be careful when you're on the punt , in those circumstances , which most people would agree with ?

Speaker 3 6:28

Well , yeah , of course you have to be careful on the punt . The cards are stacked against you to begin with , you know what I mean , but then they're doubly stacked against you because when you win , they don't make it easy for you to withdraw money . All right , colin , you've made some great points .

Speaker 1 6:42

Thank you for that . We've just got to move on . We want to get through some of these calls In your experience issues around the punt . Does that come up in some issues linked to other behaviours ? Oh , absolutely .

Speaker 2 6:54

I think gambling is so addictive to people , it's a disease gambling , you know , it really does take over . So therefore people do things which they wouldn't normally do out of desperation to get the funds . It becomes so obsessive . One win , one good win at a casino or on a poker machine or something like that can really really trigger an obsessive behaviour .

Speaker 1 7:20

Moving forward and it's so heavily advertised which I know . Oh , it is , yeah , massively . We will do this when we come back . For Pete Waiting , chris , maggie Len , we'll come to you . 133693 for Australia . Overnight Roger Sutherland is here , 40-year retired police officer . Lots of things that we can talk about . A healthy shift for those shift workers that are listening all around Australia via the 3AW app , the Ace Radio Network 5AA in Adelaide . Come and join us . 133693 . You're listening to Australia Overnight on 3AW 693 .

Speaker 1 7:58

Sonny McManus in the chair for Australia . Overnight we're here right through . You can join any time . 133693 . Roger Sutherland is here as well , a retired after 40 years police officer Only not long retired , but watches these things very , very closely and now specialises in working with people that are involved or have been involved for a long time in shift work . And so what does shift work do ? And the price that we pay for shift workers in the community you say it is a massive price . Now it's not going to change , but it can be managed .

Speaker 2 8:34

We have to understand the impact that that shift work is actually having on them . And we have to build shift work environments for our shift workers to work in .

Speaker 1 8:43

All right , we'll get to some of these texts in just a moment as well . Pete's in Port Melbourne Say hello to Roger , pete hello .

Speaker 5 8:50

Good morning guys . Just want to speak to the Roger To Roger , sorry , Yep , just regarding the difference between the government sending police to protect these extingraditions they're having for the next couple of days and letting the cops sit on the sidelines for these parties , these raves , when people can bring their own drugs .

Police and Protesters

Speaker 1 9:19

Sorry , you're just breaking up a bit there , Pete . So you're talking about rave parties , are you ?

Speaker 5 9:24

I'm talking about the difference between the government setting up barricaded police to protect the show for the guns and not protecting the people who have gone to the rave . So they have pill-testing facilities .

Speaker 1 9:43

At big concerts .

Speaker 2 9:46

I think , yes , I'm going to go back to this again . We covered this and we did it to death two weeks ago . But we have to understand that the police are not the ones that are actually making any of these rules at all , and they are literally told where to be by the government , right ? So the government charges the police with responsibility of security by the government , right ? So the government charges the police with responsibility of security . So the police plan and do what they can to protect . They're not making the rules , they're not the ones that are putting things in place . Pill testing at rave parties is a government decision to do that . Whether I agree with that or not , I can tell you I categorically disagree with it . But that's for the government to decide that . So the police have to stand by and watch . It's like the injecting house . The police have to stand by and watch . It's very , very political , but it is political . It's not to do with the police . It's not a police matter .

Speaker 1 10:36

It's not a police matter . Good on you , pete . Can we just take some of these texts G'day Tony , mac and Roger . Regarding the protests in Melbourne , I have a question for the protesters . If you're protesting against these matters , whether it be war or indeed violence , why do you use violence to make your point ? Just asking Siv , great question .

Speaker 2 10:55

And why are you taking it out on the people who have absolutely nothing to do with it , absolutely nothing to do with it in any way whatsoever ? You know on the lines , they're told to stand there and remain mute , and you do . And the biggest problem that we do have is we end up having these , as we just spoke about before , these people , members that have been brought down to do these jobs , to stand there , and they're the brunt of all the problem .

Speaker 1 11:25

Sandra , good morning in Swan Hill .

Speaker 6 11:28

Actually , it's good I've had a bit of a wait so I've calmed down a bit . I am so disgusted with these today . It was just incredible . I mean it was throwing things , attacking horses . I mean we're talking about it now , but the aftermath's going to be tomorrow . These poor police are going to have memories of this . They're going to be . I haven't got a word . I'm so pissed off .

Speaker 2 11:57

Good on , you Love it .

Speaker 6 11:59

I love to hear it . And you know . I mean , they've arrested these Cretins . What are they going to do ? Oh , we'll let them off with a bond . So let's do it again , because we're only going to get a damn bond .

Speaker 2 12:14

That's right . What's the incentive ? See , this is what I talk about . There's no consequence . There's got to be a consequence for it Somewhere along the line , there's got to be . Could you imagine going and protesting and doing this on the Gaza Strip ? What would happen ?

Speaker 1 12:28

There would be outrage . Yeah , just dreadful . Alright , g'day , Tony and Roger . Protesters are professional students . I don't know whether that's true or false , but this is what the text is saying , that keep enrolling in a program or a course just so they can go on protests . I'm not too sure that anybody rolls into programs just purely for protesting .

Speaker 2 12:48

I can promise you that majority of the people that are protesting have no idea what the protest is about . They're just there to make up the numbers . We call it rent-a-crowd in Vicpol . They're the same people that turn up to all the different protests to make up the numbers . They're rallied and they turn up and a lot of them have absolutely no idea what they're even there for and they just get caught up in it all .

Speaker 1 13:11

Which is disturbing . Lenny , good morning , go ahead .

Speaker 7 13:14

Hi , yeah , I agree . Look , my heart goes out to the police out there , but I think like I don't know if you were listening to me when I was talking to Dennis . Yeah , can we get some ADF into this ? Because I mean , put it this way , the police are good , very good , but all they do is hold the line . And then , when they get attacked and this by no means was a protest , this was an attack when you start cutting lines on trucks and doing all sorts of other damage around the place , that's not a protest , that's an attack .

Speaker 2 13:56

But , len , I think what you've got to really understand is the police and even the military . If you bring the military in , they're still working to government regulations . It's not the fact that they're the army doesn't make them exempt . Unless you call , you know , unless you start reading the Rite Act literally . And in fact I can remember the Rite Act being read in Frankston . How long ago was that ? Oh , it would have been . I'm going to have to Google that . But the Rite Act was actually read in Frankston . Now that would probably be the only time in Victoria it's probably been read and it wouldn't have been read before . But you know , we've got to remember and I really do , everyone that's

Police Powers and Public Protesters

Speaker 2 14:34

listening today .

Speaker 2 14:34

I do want the police to try and understand that police are not the lawmakers . The ADF are not the lawmakers . They can only work to the tools that are given to them . And this is where the frustration comes from the Chief Commissioner of Police today as well , very frustrated because they haven't got these powers to just go in and move . And do you know ? You could get the fire brigade in with their hoses and just hose them away , but there's no power to do that and the government don't want to see this happening or whatever . I don't know what the topic , what's being discussed in the past to be , but it's bringing the military in . They're still working to the same rules as the police are , of course they would be .

Speaker 1 15:11

The other thing is , too , that the idea of Australian pitted against Australian , with one side just doing their job yes , doing the job that the community demands that's what probably gets under the skin of many .

Speaker 2 15:27

And the members . What really annoys the members most of all standing on the line is they know that that person tomorrow will be looking for help from the police for something that's happened to them in society , and that's the thing that really annoys them .

Speaker 1 15:41

Chris , good morning you wanted to say to Roger .

Speaker 8 15:44

Yeah , roger . Look , I have a different aspect . I don't support violence , but you know we've lost a lot of our stature since Federation and our democracy . And people are fighting for that now because since 1999 , the referendum I would have become a Republican . We overwhelmingly voted to maintain the monarchy with all the powers to be , and when I wrote to Her Excellency Queen Elizabeth II in July 2006 , she made me aware in August when she wrote back to me through Miss Jenny Viner , the correspondent here in Buckingham Palace , that a lot of her executive powers had been removed from her . So where are they finding these loopholes in our Constitution ? And that's given the Victoria Police and other police forces around the Commonwealth . Unprecedented powers are an open book . And did you know professional standards and IBAC ? And I've contacted many times they've got no powers to deal with out of control of vigilante members .

Speaker 1 16:36

Sorry who ? Sorry Chris , who has no power ?

Speaker 2 17:34

IBAC and professional standards police conduct unit . They've got no power . No power . I think this is a conversation that could literally go on forever . But what are you talking about ? Because I know IBAC and Professional Standards have been given enormous investigative repowers yeah , enormous . And even though they're the , I can assure you from my perspective , even though they're the police , I can assure you from my perspective , even though they're the police investigating the police , they're still the greatest fear 133693, .

Speaker 1 18:06

Roger is here . Roger , sutherland , it's a healthy shift . We're just looking at some of the issues that have taken place here in Melbourne yesterday . You can join in as well , and this is probably relevant to some of the things that may or may not happen in places like South Australia from time to time , the role that our officers play in these sorts of matters we're Australian going literally head to head with each other . Is that the country that you and I know and love ? You're listening to Australia Overnight on 3AW693 .

Speaker 1 18:41

If you would like to be part of it . 133693 , australia , overnight . Plenty of things to talk about , given what transpired and will presumably continue today , to different levels , one would hope , but we don't know that . 133693 , just your feelings . A lot of people are very uneasy . Morning , lefty mate . The cops just need to move in and attack back . Well , by definition , they're not permitted that's not their role to do that , roger , is it ?

Speaker 2 19:09

No , it's absolutely not . They can't . They've got to hold the line .

Speaker 1 19:13

And so another caller then goes on to say bring in the military . If you bring in the military I think it was the Phantom who said bring in the military and that way you then have the option of freeing up officers to do what they should be doing , which is what the community also demands .

Speaker 2 19:29

I totally . Now the Phantom's made a really , really good call here . If we bring the military in and line the military up , I personally believe that that sends a very , very clear message to the protesters full stop and our public , victorian public , get our police force back on the road doing what they're actually supposed to be doing .

Speaker 1 19:48

What about the question from Rob who talks about masks and disguise ? Is there regulations around that ? How's that to be navigated historically ? I know you're not a spokesperson for the service and I don't want you to be , except that you've been on the ground . You've seen it . You've had discussions for many , many years . Masking Is that a new thing that we're seeing ?

Speaker 2 20:09

It seems to be . We've taken the colours off . Bikies just wearing colours . But what now ? Protesters are allowed to completely mask up and go and do whatever they like . Something's not right there .

Speaker 1 20:22

Paul , did you want to say something to the great Roger Sutherland here in the studio this morning in Australia overnight ?

Speaker 9 20:27

Good morning Tony . Thank you for your show , roger . Good morning to you . Good morning Paul . Yeah , good morning . Just quickly , something that doesn't make the news for a start People morning , just quickly , something that doesn't make the news for a start people the memories are very short . Christine Nixon , the Chief Commissioner of Police , said we don't need the word force

Police Protesters and Public Resources

Speaker 9 20:49

.

Speaker 2 20:50

Yeah , that's good . Yeah , she wanted it to . And I think , do you know even the Queensland Police ? They changed their logo on their badge . It used to be firmness with courtesy and oh , that's too far . I don't know whether anyone's actually noticed . Have you noticed that the police written on police cars is actually in lowercase , not in uppercase ? No , that changed in my time because they felt it was too bold and scary to the public to have it in uppercase . So it's actually written in lowercase and it's been that way for . I don't know how long it would have been since the , I reckon , mid to late 80s .

Speaker 1 21:33

Good morning , roger and Tony . Why is it a particular group of protesters are allowed to get away with this kind of behaviour and protest week after week after week ? We don't know the answer to that . I suppose in a free society , roger , people are permitted to protest by definition . At that point they're not breaking the law .

Speaker 2 21:54

No , they're not breaking the law by protesting . The point that I really , really want to make is how draining it is on police resources and a lot of the people don't realise , like the public are jumping up and down and carrying on that the police can't attend their job . They get a phone call back saying , oh , we can't attend that job , and people jump up and down . Well , you can't have hundreds of police at a demonstration and have the same people driving the div van around looking after your community as well . This is the problem 133693 .

Speaker 1 22:28

The other conversation that came up just a couple of nights ago and I'm glad you're here to talk about it the idea of police AMBOs , fireys , putting comments on their taxpayer-funded vehicles . Most honest , most often some thought that that wasn't really justifiable .

Speaker 2 22:46

I think it's totally justifiable . I think there's no other way . I want people to be aware , too , that Fair Work have actually sanctioned police time to write them . End of story , all right . So I think that's something that's really important as well . The union has and the police association the police association issued a list of the banners that the officers were allowed to write on the car . The one that I absolutely love more than anything else is the ambulances , and I think our public needs to see where an ambulance comes from , and I love that the Ambos are actually riding on their ambulance . We're from Windsor , yeah .

Speaker 1 23:24

Where are we now ? It's clever , isn't it ?

Speaker 2 23:25

Oh , it's very , very clever because the public thinks what is it ? I was over in Avondale Heights and the ambulance that was there was from Geelong . You've got to ask what nurse on an ambulance from Geelong who's in Geelong ? Yeah , probably Avondale Heights . You know it's crazy . They're all over the place and I know now paramedics are working 14-hour night shifts and they are starting at their work location and they could end up anywhere , absolutely anywhere in the Melbourne metropolitan area , and then they've got to get back at the end of a 14-hour shift . There's no rest .

Speaker 1 24:00

Tech says protesters blocking the Westgate Bridge police allow them to stay there for hours and don't remove them to allow traffic flow . Is that part of the role , to your knowledge ? How is that managed , that's a decision .

Speaker 2 24:16

I think it's probably safer if I don't comment on that . And the reason why I say probably safer if I don't comment on that , and the reason why I say that is because I don't know what . The decision made by the commander to either move them on and allow traffic or to allow them to protest , I would argue . If I was the supervisor , I would argue that them protesting on the West Gate Bridge is a massive hindrance and dangerous because we don't want cars and trucks stopping on the Westgate Bridge is a massive hindrance and dangerous because we don't want cars and trucks stopping on the Westgate Bridge . At the best of the time , I get nervous going over it any time . Yeah , you and me both .

Speaker 1 24:46

Thanks for reminding me . It's an interesting question . I don't know whether you can comment Police per hour , so what is this costing you , me , the community ? Ballpark figures .

Speaker 2 25:01

I can tell you that the powers to beat VicPol will tell you exactly , to the dollar , what it's costing them , and enormous Majority of the members will be on overtime because there aren't the staff to actually run stations at this point in time . So a lot of the members will be on paid overtime going to these functions . That's a double time . That's , you know , probably $100 plus an hour Yep $100 each member . So , and not to mention , what we have to understand as well is it's not just the police that are standing on the line . We have logistics and everything running in the background . There is , you know , commanders and high-ranking officers , helicopters that are flying over the top of it , that are getting out of it and feeding it back , and horses , it's just . It goes on and on and on . The cost is enormous .

Speaker 1 25:45

Those poor horses . G'day , tony , mac and Roger . I believe our police should use water cannon to disperse the rioters . This is from Dean in South Australia . Adding some sort of dye , here we go , st . Adding some sort of dye , here we go . Stains of protesters that make them easy to round up and prosecute them . Well , that's the . Presumably this is an outsider speaking . Now , dean , prosecute them for what ? Protesting , yeah , protesting . They're not breaking any laws . At this point , there's no .

Speaker 2 26:16

the protest , by definition , is not breaking the law .

Speaker 2 26:17

No , no , it's not . You're allowed to protest . And also , you could have people that are caught up . I mean , there's agitators in a crowd , no doubt about it . There are agitators that are trying to stir people up . This is what I was saying before about the people that are there that don't really know why they're there . They're just there protesting , but what they're doing is they're getting stirred up by the agitators in the groups , and these people are closely monitored . Yeah , give them a squirt so that there's a dye and you can clean them up later .

Speaker 2 26:43

I'll tell you one thing I did notice was those riots that were in Liverpool a while ago in the UK Liverpool , I think it was , or anyway in the UK . Yeah , the police did an amazing job of rounding up the troublemakers and the agitators there . Afterwards , within days , they had them rounded up . Within days , they were receiving jail sentences off the spot bank . None of this . Oh , you've been naughty . Here's bail . They were given jail sentences straight out as what they caused the problems . Kudos to the UK police for the way that was handled as well . They were punching bags for days there , but when they cleaned them up , they were supported by the judicial system and really well supported .

Speaker 1 27:26

The text line . As you can imagine , Roger is going into overtime , so I'll just clear a couple of these and you can comment , should you wish to , If you don't feel you shouldn't . Please don't , Tony and Roger . Protesters throwing things , certainly at officers , police officers Is that under the Act ?

Speaker 2 27:46

assault yeah well , it's actually discharge . A missile is the offence . I can promise you that the police will be there and they will be videoing everything that's going on and they will break it all down later on and they will go through them and identify the people out of it that are throwing things and they will be charged .

Speaker 1 28:02

And then they have to go through due process as they should , and then that costs even more money , More money you get More money gets spent on , that , ties up the court , and then they front court .

Speaker 2 28:13

six months later , after all , the heat's gone out of this and that's the end of it . You months later after all , the heat's gone out of this and that's the end of it , you know . And then it just becomes Because it's in the past . Oh , it's so long ago now and he's been a good boy for the last six months . So we'll give him a smack .

Speaker 1 28:25

Police , who were very tough on two old ladies sitting on a park bench , according to Bruno , also took their mobile phone . Took away their mobile phone . Are you sure what that was ? Yeah , I'm not too sure what that was .

Speaker 2 28:35

Yeah , well , neither am I . I'm not familiar with the story , but let's just not let the truth get in the way of a good story there . Do you know what I ?

Speaker 1 28:41

mean , yeah , I do , we love that . And Phantom , who brings a little bit of joy to us , says give those ferals an exquisite torture . Tony and Roger , make them become Carlton supporters . That would kill you . That would kill you . Sentence your accountant supporter from here on out . I don't know why , jay , the other side of the glass is laughing . Rob in Richmond , go ahead , rob Good morning to you .

Speaker 10 29:04

Good morning , gentlemen . Gentlemen , why can't authorities go around to each protester , ask them to remove their masks or disguise and record their ID so we can build a profile on who these people are , whether they're repeat , you know , whether it's climate or you know this protest or the next protest . Is it the same people all the time ? Are these people getting welfare ? Can they be fined through their welfare ? That sort of aspect Like identify these people . We need to know who they are and , you know , build a profile .

Speaker 2 29:49

So much common sense , rog . So much common sense there . But once again , we've talked about this there's no offence to protest . You're allowed to protest . Are you allowed to wear masks ?

Speaker 2 30:00

Now , I'm going to be open and honest here .

Speaker 2 30:02

I'm not up to speed with that as to what the latest is in relation to being masked , but I would say that it's time for the government to come out and say and put legislation in place and say if you attend or you're in a public place and you are masked , then the police should have the right to identify who you are , take a photo of you and get your details so that they can cross-match that to the trouble later on . But that's an opinion , that's an opinion . That's absolutely . I want to be very clear , that is my opinion . But you have to remember that unless it's legislated and I'm going to say I'm not aware of it , right so because I've not been involved in a lot of these sort of things for some time so I don't know whether there is an offence to wear a mask , but if there is , then you're right . The police should be able to remove the mask , take a photo of them so that they know exactly who they are and identify them or they get arrested until they cough up their details .

Speaker 1 30:53

But it's a bit like I mean , you can go into a bank . Well , you can't go into a bank because there's a sign up there that says take your helmet off . Correct , no mask wearing into a bank , or even , I think , into a petrol station .

Speaker 2 31:01

Yeah , that's right . Yeah , yep , yep , and that's just their instruction , so they won't open the door to you . But let's make it , let's legislate it . Sammy , thank morning guys . How are we doing ?

Speaker 1 31:18

Yeah , we're good . What do you want to say , Sam ? Good morning to you .

Speaker 11 31:21

Yeah , I was just wondering if I could sort of put something on you guys and if I could get your opinion on what the difference

Protests, Police, and Public Perception

Speaker 11 31:27

is when we had people protesting about the COVID lockdown . How about the brutality that the police showed on a lot of innocent ladies and whatever thrown to the ground and sprayed in the face ? Why aren't these officers employed to deal with these sort of protesters ?

Speaker 2 31:51

You'll find they're sitting in buses around the corner and maybe that's the situation . I don't know , but I totally take your point and understand that's the situation . I don't know , but I totally take your point and understand that it sends a wrong message and it does a lot of damage to Victoria Police , because we actually are seeing what would be a COVID demonstration a great long use of force , and then we see a demonstration like today and the police seem to be backing off . But let me just say this to you , and it's really important the police copped a lot of criticism out of the COVID protests . They did , yeah , a lot of criticism Right around Australia , by the way , right around , well , worldwide , everywhere . They copped a lot of criticism everywhere . So what we now want them to do it this is the problem . So , and then what ? All of a sudden it becomes ?

Speaker 2 32:39

I think what we've got to be very careful of as well is when the media shows particular incidents . We don't know what led up to that Very rarely Good point . And we don't know what led up to it . We don't know . And when I say it's not like sticks and stones might break your bones , we don't know what that Like the two old ladies sitting on the chair . Who's to say that they're not monitoring drone footage or whatever on a phone ? You know , we don't know , and we don't know , we don't know what anyone's doing .

Speaker 1 33:12

In a . Certainly , if you're watching , say , a 9 News bulletin , you may only see 22 seconds of something .

Speaker 2 33:20

It's hard to make an evaluation sitting on the couch and you shouldn't make an evaluation because it's not clickbait , unless it's showing the police doing something that they deem is .

Speaker 1 33:28

You know this is use of force 133693 . I'd be fascinated , sam . Thank you , did you want to add anything else at this stage ? No , no , no , I'm good , thank you .

Speaker 1 33:37

Good on you , sam . Thanks for your contribution . For those who are waiting , we'll come back to . Calls the other side 693 133693 . Keep those texts coming 0477 693 693 . The issue , I think and I'm sure people want to jump on board is the horrendous cost to the community , because we're all paying for this , and so when , in the next hour , you and I might have a conversation , for example , about the fact that it's really difficult to get into a hospital , or it's really difficult to get into a hospital , or it's really difficult to go for a drive across Victoria because the roads are so bad . So whilst we're spending money on this sort of stuff our hospitals are going to , there's no money left for that and our roads aren't being repaired .

Speaker 2 34:24

Metaphorically , but you're actually 100% right . Let's simplify it . That's exactly what the problem is .

Speaker 1 34:31

Google , you can wear a face mask at a protest . It is prohibited by Victorian law , according to Bruno . But thank you , bruno , we'll take your word on that . And yet there were some wearing masks . I think , yeah , yeah , yep , we'll do this when we come back . More Australia , your call's the other side too , 133693 . Come and join us , come and have your say , because it's a major issue for not only Victoria , it's a major issue for Australia , the states that's spending this sort of money horrendous cost to each and every state . Therefore , those funds aren't going to the things for which you and I demand . You're listening to Australia Overnight on 3AW693 .

Speaker 1 35:14

We're just doing a little math about accommodation for officers that are probably down from the bush , that are staying overnight . So , let's say , accommodations are $300 a head , 300 a head . So you've got maybe 35 jumped off that bus . Yep , so they've jumped off the bus , so there's a considerable cost there and they're not being paid whilst they're snoozing . But they're being paid from the time they get off the bus , on the bus , on the bus to when they get off the bus To get off the bus .

Speaker 2 35:40

Okay , that's the time they're getting paid for .

Speaker 1 35:42

And with overtime and lots of things , maybe 12 hours , it could be close on $100 an hour .

Speaker 2 35:48

Minimum , yep , I'd say it'd be about it . Let's just say it's $100 an hour , bull pack , yep . Plus they're claiming living away from home with what they do for their incidentals and things like that as well , to which they're entitled . So we're not begrudging this . No , no , that's one bus that you saw . That's just one bus . It's not 30 members .

Speaker 1 36:09

There was a lot more than 30 members involved yesterday . Siv , you wanted to add something . Good morning .

Speaker 13 36:15

Yes , good morning Tony and Roger . Yeah , just a quick question . Why is it that this so ? Apparently ? These protests are about apparently anti-war and anti-violence and all that stuff ? Well , that's great , but why do you guys want to use violence to make your ? Point . Well , we are , isn't that ? Just yeah , isn't that just so against exactly . I mean , you're a bunch of hypocrites , you fools Yep , that's what I think , anyway , yeah .

Speaker 2 36:42

I totally agree . And the other thing is what are their solutions that they're offering ? They're not offering any solutions to the problem either . They're just protesting . No one's don't get me wrong , but no one's intelligent enough to sit down and go right now . This is the solution and this is what we need to push .

Speaker 1 36:57

Yeah , last week , week before , I was talking to a lot of people over coffee . Usually you know what I'm like with the coffee store Over coffee . Usually you know what I'm like with a coffee store and you talk about the idea of the elements of democracy that don't work particularly well . Yeah , yeah , that's interesting , yeah , in that people are clear about the problems , yep , but don't always have the solution . No , clear about the issues .

Speaker 2 37:25

Yep , but don't have the solution . No , and I think issues , but don't have the solution . No , and I think in my organisation , if you raised an issue , you needed to raise what the solution is , and I think that's the right way to go . If someone came to me and said to me I've got a problem with this , I'd say what's the solution ?

Speaker 1 37:43

Yeah , and often bosses , great leadership would say don't bring me the problem .

Speaker 2 37:47

No , bring me the solution , bring me the solution . Yeah , I agree with that Totally . This is Australia Overnight with Tony McManus .

Speaker 1 37:57

And we haven't even touched yet on the presidential debate . I didn't see it .

Speaker 2 38:04

I saw it was on , but I didn't watch it .

Speaker 1 38:06

Oh , it was worthwhile . Oh was it ? Oh yeah , just well , for those that find that interesting and most don't somebody in the shared house said why would you even bother ? And I just thought because it gives you an insight . It's an insight . There is so much at stake . Oh yeah , there is . It's an insight . It's an insight . There is so much at stake . Oh yeah , there is .

Speaker 2 38:27

There is so much at stake . Well , you've become one of the most powerful people in the world . Yeah , pretty much the most , arguably , arguably , it would say , the most powerful .

Speaker 1 38:35

It was part of the collective . I guess in that sense we're just talking any social problems . Joy , we'll come to you in just a moment . Hang in there , joy , we'll come to you in just a moment . Hang in there , I promise you , we'll get to you next . 1-double-3-6-9-3 . Dennis Walter , on this program on 3RW , just before midnight , not long before midnight , took an incredible call . It was a caller who made the point . I think had a very special overseas guest who just spent a period of time in Sydney and enjoyed everything that that great city had to offer . Then came to Melbourne and talked about driving this guest , who'd just arrived in Australia , loved Sydney , came to Melbourne and was really in awe of the fact that Melbourne looked really tired and dusty and dirty and unkempt and grubby compared to the time in . Specifically it's a big word the enormous amount of graffiti around the place . Do you agree with that ? I think , coming back after 25 years to live here , I'm aghast . Yeah , I agree At the shabbiness .

Speaker 2 39:43

It's tired , it's tired how they make it one of the world's most liveable cities . I'm not too sure we'd get that title at the moment , would we ? Culturally , we are an amazing city . Fantastic , you know , we've got . No matter what food you want , you can get it . Coffee's great . It was always a good-looking city . Sporting , like anything . Sport is here . All the rock bands , too , are here . Everyone's great , fantastic , great city . We have some great features , but but , my God , it's embarrassing now , like it is severely embarrassing the city , and I've been into the city a number of times . Obviously , I've come in the city tonight . It's tired , tired , tired is what it is . I think we've buckled under COVID in a big way . Yeah , in a big way .

Speaker 1 40:29

But every other place has also had issues with COVID . It's not just a Victorian thing , or just not an Adelaide thing or a Perth thing . Why do Victorians feel that they were worse off during COVID than anybody else ?

Speaker 2 40:48

Oh , because we were locked down for so long , but others were as well , not as long as us . I had friends . Melbourne metropolitan area was horrendous . We were locked down for excessive time and they took away . I mean , this is a topic that could go on forever but they took away all the things .

Speaker 1 41:06

But it goes to health issues and mental health issues that people are now .

Speaker 2 41:10

They're now surfacing . It was surfacing well and truly . Yeah , no , I say that the impact of COVID is now starting to surface . That's what I would say in a big way , because we're suffering and the city is dying and some people are fighting for it , but it's just not there . It is dying and some people are fighting for it , but it's just not there . It's dead . It's got no Marbo about it .

Speaker 1 41:31

No , marbo , that's it , thank you . No , marbo . It's the vibe , no , marbo . Thank you , that's very funny . Victoria is a slum due to Dan , jacinta and Sally .

Speaker 2 41:42

Yeah , I totally agree .

Speaker 1 41:44

It does have a bad feel . We'll take some calls . Yeah , I totally agree it does have a kind of look . It's got a bad feel yeah .

Speaker 2 41:48

Bad feel .

Speaker 1 41:48

And so we'll take some calls on that . 133693 , come and have your . Say what are the things that you've noticed ? Intelligent people . Another one here , ending in 713 , says intelligent people would not put on this type of expo . Can you blame the people that are not breaking any laws by way of this Expo , as he says , moving his fingers in the air ? Yep .

Speaker 2 42:12

They're not breaking the law . Can I just say this to you as well ? When they sat around the table and they went oh now here's a good idea for an Expo guns and arms and ammunition . That should be great , and we'll have it in Melbourne . It'll be fantastic . It'll bring everybody . That should be great and we'll have it in Melbourne . It'll be fantastic . It'll bring everybody From around the world . Who made that decision ? Don't get me wrong . And why do we need to have it here ? Melbourne ? Let's be honest . Melbourne is so far from anywhere in the world , anywhere in the world . It is so far , and I don't know the background behind what the Expo is or anything like that . So , in fairness , I'm speaking from a real place of ignorance . And we all are . We all are Because none of us can understand it .

Speaker 1 42:54

You're not by yourself there , because everybody that's called in tonight are all on the same page , but what we do know is things like Expos do put money into the economy . Absolutely , it's an event People come from around the world .

Speaker 2 43:06

There's no way this has been run as a profit . Not this one , not this one , not this one .

Speaker 1 43:12

That's a very good point 133693 , anything you'd like to raise on the program 133693 , 0477-693-693 . If you've just tuned in Roger Sutherland , a retired officer of the law after 40 years and now is very involved in a project called A Healthy Shift . Roger's been coming in but since retirement has been able to speak about some of the other things about which we have been talking . If you would like to join in 133693 . Hello , joy in Adelaide .

Speaker 15 43:43

Oh , hello . Look , I'd just like to make a small observation of what I watched on the television tonight about my hometown where I was born and bred , in Melbourne . It reminds me of quite a few years ago when I stood in Colham Street on the first floor of the building at the top of Colham Street and watched the Vietnamese war people , or the Vietnamese protesters , walk down that same street . Yeah , all their walking down and all their carrying on did not stop the Vietnamese war . No , all they're doing at the moment is not going to stop a thing .

Speaker 2 44:17

No , it's not .

Speaker 15 44:18

It's just going to make fools of themselves .

Speaker 1 44:20

And Joy . Do you reflect on watching those protests all those years ago , from the 70s ?

Speaker 15 44:28

I just thought it reminded me of what happened then . The only difference today is if I'd have been one of those policemen on the horse and I did ride a horse I'd have swung my horse around and kicked it so that it would have bucked the hell out of the whole lot of them .

Speaker 1 44:42

Gee Joy fighting words . Good on you Good on you , Joy .

Speaker 2 44:45

I love the fighting spirit , though .

Speaker 15 44:51

For how long have you been living in beautiful Adelaide , joy ? Well , I left Melbourne in oh my goodness . I went to Darwin at the cyclone . I lived in Darwin for 28 years , I came back to Melbourne for 12 years and now I've been in Adelaide since 2012 .

Speaker 1 45:05

Good on you . It's nice to hear Make years and now I've been in Adelaide since 2012 . Good on you .

Speaker 15 45:08

It's nice to hear . Make sure you call from time to time . Joy , I listen to 3AW . I have a special phone that I bought , especially an iPhone , where I can listen to 3AW

City Cleanliness and Public Support

Speaker 15 45:16

all day . I listen to the boys in the morning and to all the rest of them through the day .

Speaker 1 45:22

How good's that ? Yeah , that's lovely , that's great Joy . That's great Joy , that's fantastic . See , it's the old thing , Joy . Once a Melbourne girl , always a Melbourne girl .

Speaker 15 45:29

Yeah , so once you're born and bred there , you're always a Melbourne girl , that's right .

Speaker 1 45:33

Good on you , joy . Thank you , what a lovely call . Have you had a look at some of these texts coming through ? Melbourne has become very dirty . Graffiti graffiti-eyed Is that a word ? Graffiti-ed Graffiti-ed A congested rat race , often lots of crime around the place . Why would you want to go into the city ? So that's the question . I mean , you've got certainly the mayoral race on at the moment where people are saying come into the city , come into the city , come into the city . This is not helpful to some of those projects where we want people in to keep the city punching along . I don't want to go in there when I can go to Chadston .

Speaker 2 46:10

Okay . So how many people today will not come into the city ? They see all this sort of stuff and they just won't come into the city anymore , which is impacting greatly . Go and have a walk around the city and have a look at all the shops that are closed now . A lot of people since COVID have not come back into the city to work , so they're not conditioned to coming back into the city in any way whatsoever . It's a really , really good observation that's been made , and I'll make a political comment here as well . Uh-oh , here we go . This will be good kids . If this sub-mayor , this bloke running for mayor , was under Sally Capp , he had every opportunity to do something about this in the whole time that he's been there , so why would people believe him now ?

Speaker 1 46:51

Okay , right , so you're not talking about a particular candidate , the one that's currently in the chair . Yeah , okay , all right , got it . Let's have a look at some of these other texts . Ending in 713 , who also says why would King Charles , why would he want to come to Melbourne with so many homeless people in there ? Well , I don't think the homelessness is not just in Melbourne . I think that is a bit of a global issue , in fairness .

Speaker 2 47:12

Well , let's have a look at the Paris Olympic Games . They absolutely cleaned up Paris just before the Games to paint the picture . So they put people away , they got rid of the homeless and do the same thing .

Speaker 1 47:24

If King Charles comes to Melbourne , I can guarantee you this city will be schmick as Is that somewhat of a facade , though , where they'll clean it up for a visit from a member of royalty ? But you're just hiding the issues .

Speaker 2 47:40

Of course you are . That's exactly what happens . I know it . I know that that's what actually happens . We do this all the time .

Speaker 1 47:49

David says good morning . I will get to that text in just a moment from David . I bet it'll be a ripper . We'll take your calls the other side 133693 . Roger Sutherland's here . I'm Tony McManus , australia , overnight . You're listening to Australia Overnight on 3AW693 . I refer to the text line as part of the program a young Roger only on the basis that there are so many interesting comments . I recently visited Melbourne and had the grime of my life , says the phantom . He's still on fire . He is .

Speaker 1 48:21

More seriously , dr John says is New York still the world's graffiti capital ? Even if it is , new York City is still a fun city like Melbourne . Well , it's interesting . Now , on this great radio station 3AW Ross Stevenson , from our Bricky program , he made the comparison between New York of today as compared to Chicago . He said Chicago is squeaky , clean , tidy , fun . What a place to visit . He said New York's looking really dowdy , tired , grubby a bit like .

Speaker 2 48:51

Melbourne yeah , very much like Melbourne . The observation here , though Melbourne's still a fun city . My God , it is a fun city . It is , it is absolutely a fun city . I went to the footy on Friday night , go Hawks . I went into the footy on Friday night . I met my daughter at Flinders Street . I stood at the Flinders Street steps and I just watched people and watching people and you know everything was going on .

Speaker 1 49:14

The great thing about people watching costs you nothing .

Speaker 2 49:17

No , it's great . No , and you know what I love about this city as well and our AFL how you can go to a crowd of 98,000 people with two competing clubs . Everyone walks to the ground together and they're all happy and jovial . Everyone goes to battle in the ground and then they all walk out and walk back again , happy and jovial . And anyone that knows me knows I love the walk to the MCG from Flinders Street and the walk back after the game . It is truly special where they've put that stadium . It's a little thing but it's such Gorgeous thing to do . And the walk back after the game . It is truly special where they've put that stadium .

Speaker 1 49:49

It's a little thing but it's such a gorgeous thing to do . Hello , Brian , Good morning . G'day Tony . Hey Roger , how are you going ?

Speaker 2 49:56

Well , thank you . How are you ?

Speaker 14 49:58

Good . Thank you , Roger . I've got no idea . After all , this rubbish is over , if we support our police with , you know , some cakes or something like that to take to the station , how would that go down ?

Speaker 2 50:16

It would go down like an absolute treat .

Speaker 1 50:18

Oh , you mean into your local police station ?

Speaker 2 50:20

Yeah , well , they're the ones in fairness . Tony , just so that you know and so that the listeners are aware , it's the resources from the local police stations that are actually at these events . Yeah , of course . So you're hitting the police in exactly the right place by doing that . And not only that , but what I love about this call is if you went to the local police station and dropped in your biscuits or cakes or whatever and did that , it would be a great blessing to them , because they're the ones that were there and that station , that police station , was probably closed because their staff were all at this demonstration , you know , and they're back in their own digs . Police are very careful accepting gifts from the public , especially foodstuffs and things like that , obviously , yeah , you've got to be very careful

Police and Public Appreciation

Speaker 2 51:07

. Package things yeah , package things are great . And even just the thought . Go in and tell them and just say to them we talked about this the other week that when people pull up at the lights and they just wave and smile , it's life-changing .

Speaker 1 51:21

Hey , brian , what's a fantastic idea . Have you ever done it , brian ? Brian , what's a fantastic idea . Have you ever done it , brian ? Just walked in and randomly said to anybody whether it be somebody making a coffee or in a police office where you say just sort of , stick my head in , love your work and walk out again .

Speaker 14 51:36

Yeah , I've done it once before , about four or five years ago . Something was going on the police not in support , so I just got some cakes and just took them to the local station .

Speaker 2 51:46

Love it , I love it . I'll tell you another thing that people should do too . In the cold light . A day after this , make an appointment to see your local member and go and sit down , say let's have a coffee and let's talk about what you can do to support those police .

Speaker 1 51:59

Yeah , it's a very good idea . A fortnight ago we were talking about that , about acknowledging or even waving or thanking a police officer . Yep , as I drove around the convention centre after picking up a car in Port Melbourne and came back into the city for a coffee meeting on Tuesday morning , I noticed myself just waving to a lot of those younger officers who were standing there starting their work day around the convention centre . On every one of them I waved from the car . By the way , yeah , yeah , they're monitoring people in the cars . Yep , I just waved and many of them waved back . How cool , very cool .

Speaker 2 52:36

Now , we spoke about this two weeks ago . Did you do that on response to that ?

Speaker 1 52:40

Just no response to what you said . How welcome that is .

Speaker 2 52:44

And you noticed it . You said how welcome that is . And you noticed it is very , very welcome . It is extremely . It almost makes me emotional that . But I tell you the fact that you took a moment . What did it cost you to do that SFA ? Nothing , just waved and just acknowledged our junior bunnies that are out there on the front line doing the job , kitted up , carrying that heavy gear , all of that stuff , putting up with having urine thrown at them , acid thrown at them , all of those sort of things , cold , miserable , yeah , in the rain , pouring rain , standing there , just dreadful . And yet Tony McManus drives past and he's blown .

Speaker 1 53:23

No , no , no , don't , I can't . No , don't , don't . However , that's the funny side of the story , I suppose , because they're looking at the colour of that particular car .

Speaker 2 53:29

That's what would have drawn their attention . They're wondering who's the moron driving this . That's right .

Speaker 1 53:33

So it's lime green who cares Jimmy ? Jimmy in Warrnambool . Good morning , maybe that . Hello Jim . Good morning to you . Good morning , tony . Hello Jimmy .

Speaker 16 53:46

Hey , hey , you said something before about Clem Melbourne . Our bit of old Charlie visits . I'm pretty sure he's not visiting .

Speaker 1 53:52

No , he's not . No , but one wonders why he's not , why is he not yeah ?

Speaker 16 53:59

Talking about Clem that joined up . If you go and have a look at a documentary called Once we're Kings , yep , you're familiar with it . Yes , I am the Rumble In the Jungle , yep . Can you remember the part where the local dictator over in Zaire I can't remember if it was 1,000 or 10,000 criminals locked him up in the cells at the soccer ground ? He made cells at the soccer ground , yep , and he took one in 10 out , shot him in front of the others and the message was we know where yous are , we can get you at any time , any crime , while the Westerners are in town for the fight and yous are at it , and what's your analogy there ?

Speaker 2 54:40

What would you ? Okay , I'll ask you this question . No , no , I'm just saying .

Speaker 16 54:44

I understand it's always made me what do you think ? I've always thought about it and I thought well , it's getting a bit extreme , but sometimes it could call for measures . At times A bit extreme what I wanted to say was Jim . In relation to that , it's extreme .

Speaker 2 55:00

But in relation to that , what would you do ? If someone put you in charge at the protest there in the city at the moment , what would you do ?

Speaker 16 55:09

Bearing in mind that you're bound . I haven't heard you talking about it , I only just tuned in on the way home . The truck I'm in hasn't got a wireless in it , right , yep , and I'm only just going to wear a little bit . What's on telly , as you blokes said before , unless you're there , unless you see everything . Unless you're there , unless you see everything , unless you see the lead up to it , unless you know who you're dealing with , you could have Marxists , anarchists , anyone . Exactly , it could be people who want to . Just , well , you know that . Steve Bannon , the great mate of Trump , yep , yeah , he describes himself as a feminist . He wants to get in power and wreck the joint . Wreck the joint as we know it Now . So there's . He wants to get in power and wreck the joint , wreck the joint as we know it Now . So there's people getting around with those ideas . They just get different badges , haven't they ? Yeah , well , you've got to know who you're dealing with . Yeah , you do .

Speaker 9 55:55

That's a story for another day , but it's a great question that , roger puts though .

Speaker 1 55:58

Jimmy , if you had 48 hours and you were in charge of a situation like we've seen today or yesterday , now and probably today and tomorrow , what would you do ? If you were a leader in a position to actually ensure that we didn't have to go through that again ? What was the one decision you would make ?

Speaker 16 56:19

I don't really know , because it's hyper-tech .

Speaker 1 56:21

This is the issue it's not easy , it's not easy .

Speaker 2 56:25

You're bound by the law as well . You've got to remember , the police are bound by the law , with what they're doing and how they're going about it . They're bound by the legislation .

Speaker 1 56:34

Phantom . I'll get back to your funny ones , but there's a lot of other ones that are trying to make some great points . Let's wait and see how the police go on stress leave in the coming weeks . So there's another cost , there's another cost . The coppers are sort of saying , look , we've had this dreadful time . My wife hates me . My husband hates me . When I get home it's very stressful . It's been a tough time . I'll take some leave , to which they are entitled .

Speaker 2 56:58

And they will . I can categorically tell you that the junior bunnies and I call them the junior bunnies With love , yeah , absolutely the newer members are all with their shiny uniforms and loving life and they're all wanting to do the police job . And then they go out and they do this role . It's going to have a severe psychological impact on them and they're going to think , oh , I don't think this is for me at all and they'll walk away . And then , therefore , we end up with a whole series of members that would have been out at stations that are now had to work these riots away from their station .

Speaker 2 57:35

I'm going to call it a riot , but we'll call it a demonstration , right ? So they're working the demonstration away from their own normal policing . They've been exposed to all of that yesterday and today and tomorrow they will be exposed to some horrendous stuff . It's only going to take one of those poor police women or police men standing there and they will end up with a bottle that's going to hit them and there's going to be psychological or physical damage . That's just terrible . And there will be another cost , an ongoing cost , yeah , which ?

Speaker 1 58:05

costs us all because that's so traumatising . But it also all of a sudden , when we ring through or we need some urgent attention from police , there's no one Not available . They're not available . Not available . It's an issue . I want to have a look at this one from Michael down the bottom there . Jay , if I can Roger , you're wrong . They're idiots at AFL games getting full of P155 , punching in on stands . So you're wrong about those comments regarding AFL . I don't know . I'm not too sure that I've seen a blue at the footy for a long time there was a blue at the footy on Saturday .

Speaker 2 58:40

Friday night At the G . At the G yeah , there was one , but once again , please , and I beg people .

Speaker 1 58:50

There's 100,000 , close to 100,000 people .

Speaker 2 58:53

So if there is one , quickly onto it , but the media wanted to flag that as the big problem in the game . What about I could talk about ? We had Bulldog supporters next to us and all the rest . It was a jovial atmosphere . Fun , fun , fun . How'd you like to go to the games in the UK ? Some of those soccer matches where this crowd they have to schedule trains to come in from particular areas and they funnel them into the ground and then the home supporters come in and there's police Give us a spell . We are seriously in a really , really good environment here .

Speaker 4 59:28

You're listening to Australia Overnight on 3AW693 . Don't you love washing the ?

Speaker 1 59:34

car . It's one of life's great joys washing the car .

Speaker 2 59:39

I haven't washed it for some time because I've never really had a position , a place to wash it . I know that sounds bizarre , without going into too much detail , no , thank you . But I've got a pressure washer and Melissa does get out there with a washer and she washes there .

Speaker 1 59:54

Morning , melissa . I went to the soccer , says Bruno , four hours ago . Some of the great Turkish community sat next to the Greek community and me Italian community , south Melbourne . We all laughed and barracked together , had a whole lot of fun . And that's what you're supposed to do with those . Of course it's sport . There are so many texts and we're not going to get to them . Isabel , yours is there , I'll get to that at some point . Cutting airlines on semi-trailers is dangerous . Cutting airlines on semi-trailers is dangerous . Cutting airlines on semi-trailers is dangerous . At least $1,000 to fix . Not too sure what that means , trev , you'll have to explain more details . A couple of quick calls . Phil , dear Phil , in Kwinana , good morning .

Speaker 17 1:00:32

Good morning . I've heard all the problems and I like proposing solutions . So the solution I've got is it's got four key points . The first one is political will , either state or local government area , and the parallel I draw if I want to put on a rock concert or a cooking show , on that I have to apply and provide a bond . So I think that the easiest answer is if anyone wants to do a protest , they must register and indemnify either LGA or the state government for things like traffic control and this and this and this . That then translates down to the individual people who wish to attend either a rock concert or a protest where they put up a fee . And I think that could be easily done because you start hitting the people with the wallet that tells you how sincere they are .

Speaker 2 1:01:31

It's not a bad idea . Charge , but a fee . Tony , I said to you before off air that one of the biggest problems that we have is the organisers of the actual protest are well organised and they are well organised and they liaise with the police and we organise who's going to do what and where and how and everything else , so they're communicating . Oh , yeah , absolutely .

Speaker 1 1:01:52

So this is not random . We're going to arrive at 6 o'clock next Thursday morning . No , there's heads up about that .

Speaker 2 1:02:00

Oh no , there's plenty of heads up about that . Oh no , there's plenty of heads up about that and that's a communication that actually occurs . But what I will say is then we end up with these agitators in the groups . I could practically guarantee to you that the people that organised the protest yesterday the main organisers I'm not going to say I wouldn't categorically , but the people that might would be very , very disappointed in the violence displayed by some of the people that were actually there . There's professional agitators in those groups that fire up . Now I may be wrong , I might be showing some ignorance there , but I know that in past protests that I've been to , the organisers have been excellent , but what's actually happened is the professional agitators have turned the group into a bunch of monsters .

Speaker 1 1:02:42

For which we're all paying the price , enormous price . Phil is a regular contributor from WA . Phil , just while you're there , let me put this question to you , because we've been talking

Post-Covid Impact on Australian Cities

Speaker 1 1:02:51

about the so-called post-COVID malaise of the great city of Melbourne , victoria , and probably in other cities too , around Australia . If you were to make an observation , phil as you no doubt would the distinction between lockdown through Western Australia at that time , certainly around Perth , as opposed to what you read or understood to be in Melbourne , adelaide or Sydney , what comparison would you make ?

Speaker 17 1:03:18

The comparison is we're all brothers in distress . It affected people in different areas . I think Melbourne did it pretty hard . I know Western Australia did it pretty hard . I'm not sure about New South Wales , vic and Queensland , but from my observation it has destroyed families . It kept my wife away from me for 22 months and you know people died and a couple of people in Roger's ex-job . We also lost three police here who were good at sergeant and above level , who committed suicide . Yeah , so the cost to the community is still being seen and I think from an earlier comment it's now just starting to translate because it takes a long while to work it through . So some of the contagion that was put in by earlier is now just coming up because families are just starting to realise what it is . But we went through a change . There was like a reset and not all the reset was for good .

Speaker 2 1:04:30

No , I agree , I totally agree with you there .

Speaker 1 1:04:32

Well done , Phil . Thank you for that .

Speaker 2 1:04:34

Good comment . It is a really good comment and I was the one that actually said . Psychologists at the time warned that this would take years before it started to come out , and I believe we're just starting to see it all come out now .

Speaker 1 1:04:46

You're not a spokesperson for police associations around Australia no associations around Australia but you can probably make an observation about the cost to community , cost to family life of those that serve past and present that , for a range of reasons , have mental health issues and perhaps sometimes resulting in loss of life . Absolutely so . This is not going to make headline news , but we know it happens .

Speaker 2 1:05:18

Oh well , it's not reported , but I can tell you in our circles we are very aware of it . I don't know whether you're aware Were you aware that a Queensland police member today was killed on the wall-to-wall ride ? Queensland police sergeant who's just recently become a grandfather was on the wall-to-wall ride . Now you know what the wall-to-wall ?

Speaker 2 1:05:39

ride is Just remind everyone Well , everyone , from each state , rides from their police honours wall to the police honours wall in Canberra , and they all do it as a fundraiser and a get-together . Yeah , that one , yeah , and we lost a Victorian policeman years ago as well . Doing that , his son was following and witnessed what had actually happened as well . Rest in peace , alex . But the thing is , we are in a position where the impacts of this is really Look , the police were very scrutinised through COVID , but there was certain police and then there was other police , but all police were tarred with the same brush , and I think it's just been so unfairly done .

Speaker 2 1:06:18

And there's a lot of members now that are really suffering , and let's not forget our nurses , let's not forget our paramedics and our fire brigade as well . The emergency services and frontline health really took the full brunt of COVID and they are now now really suffering because I believe they've been failed by the government , because we've lost the staff . Everyone was locked down to help to take the pressure off , and what it's actually done is it's put more pressure on the staff .

Speaker 1 1:06:50

Pete's in Mount Dunedin . Good morning Pete . Welcome to Australia Overnight .

Speaker 18 1:06:55

How you going , tony ? Yeah , six weeks ago we stayed in the centre of Perth and we couldn't get over how clean and magnificent it was . And yesterday we went into Melbourne to go to the Shrine . There was a protest at the Flinders Street intersection some kind of protest there we had to walk through . The police actually stopped the traffic and turned them back at the Vic Gallery . What if they had doctor's appointments and the like ? You know , these protesters put them in the park , round them up in the park . They just want all the publicity . Then , after the shrine visit , we walk back past Flinders Street Station , the graffiti all over it . Here's people sitting there in the steps getting photos taken . It's just a disgrace Melbourne . It's filthy . And this Lord Mayor that's sitting there now he has to go . He has to be voted out . And this Lord Mayor that's sitting there now he has to go . He has to be voted out . He's as bad as Sally Capp . He had time in the office to do something and failed and now he wants people to vote for him .

Speaker 1 1:07:53

Yeah , I'm disappointed to hear you say that , but I think there's a lot of people would agree with your observation , peter .

Speaker 18 1:08:00

In what way ?

Speaker 1 1:08:01

Tony In that , having come back to Melbourne , it's like giving up smoking . You've got to comment . For those that continue to smoke , I suppose yeah , but coming back to Melbourne after being 25 years living in Western Australia and loving it , no , no , no , oh you , yeah me , Sorry . Coming back to Melbourne , my observation in the last 12 months . Going back to Melbourne my observation in the last 12 months city and suburbs not all but many are in a state of disrepair and look shabby and tired and dreadful .

Speaker 18 1:08:32

Yeah it is . It's terrible they are . It's disgraceful the amount of graffiti , but a lot of it , I think , is to do with they advertise some lane in Melbourne to go and see graffiti . You know , yeah , but these clowns they climb up on top of buildings , awnings , it's absolutely everywhere , and it's not just in Melbourne , it's in the close-by suburbs and there's no repercussions when they catch them . No , you know . Yeah , good on you , peter , Chain them up to a tree Chain them up to a tree and get a can of spray and cover them .

Speaker 2 1:09:01

Listen to the frustration in Peter's voice though Tony . Yeah good on you , Pete . Thank you for that . Peter is a representative of someone who's went to Perth had a look , noticed how clean it was . Comes to Melbourne , how dirty and disgusting it is , and you could hear like almost the shame from him , as in this is our city and this is where we're at it's bad .

Speaker 1 1:09:28

We'll take some calls the other side 133693 , 133693 , because I think it opens up another sort of slight topic , but it's all related in the sense of what , by definition , is shabby and one of the most shabby suburbs . If you look at suburbs around Melbourne , suburbs around Adelaide and we joined after two o'clock in from the Perth audience as well suburbs or areas that are shabby and have been let go .

Speaker 2 1:09:51

Yeah , I know , but I think the CBD is the showpiece of the city . Should be .

Speaker 2 1:09:55

should be Because when you travel , you go into , like , if you go to Italy , you go to Rome and you want to see Rome , right , if you go to , you know you go to Italy , you go to Rome and you want to see Rome . Right , if you go to , you know you go to Spain , you want to go to Madrid or Barcelona , and they're the main cities . So that's the representation Paris , but Melbourne , you know you come to Melbourne , you want to see , wow , the vibe . Like everyone talks about Melbourne , it's the most livable city Really , like I've been to Vienna , I'm questioning it .

Speaker 1 1:10:23

Yeah , that's right . It's interesting about how proud or not we should be of our cap cities and , as you say , international visitors in particular , but certainly interstate visitors that come to Victoria . They probably go to Melbourne . That's where they go . They're not necessarily going to , dare I say , a Dandenong or Broadmeadows , for instance , for their visit . No , they're not no , they're not . They would like to go to . Maybe the Peninsula or Yarra Valley in Victoria might be a visit , but that's a different space .

Speaker 2 1:10:56

again , yes , if they've got the time and the money to do so , but most people will come to Australia and they'll go to Sydney . They'll go to Sydney , they'll go to Melbourne right to start off with , and we need to showcase it . We need to showcase it . I've got an overseas guest coming to do the Melbourne 70.3 , the triathlon in St Kilda in November and I'm always extremely proud to show my guests , international guests , around this . Where do you take them first up ? I love to take them down to St Kilda and show them around St Kilda . I'd love to just catch a train and go into the city and have a wander around the city as well .

Speaker 1 1:11:33

But jeez , you know like See a walk through the garden . The Bot Gardens is fantastic . Oh , it's beautiful .

Speaker 2 1:11:38

Gorgeous , absolutely beautiful .

Speaker 1 1:11:40

I'll tell you it's funny .

Speaker 2 1:11:41

I was walking through the Bot Gardens the other week and as you walk down towards the lake you can see the city buildings . It reminded me of Central Park in New York , where you know you're walking through the gardens and you can see the city buildings over the top , but it's this peaceful , tranquil area right in the middle of the city . I loved it . You know really , really good . But , yeah , it's an interesting thing . What do you do with people ? And you don't want to have something like a demonstration on and the dirty and there's a text message here about . It's the unwashed that we find in the city here at the moment .

Speaker 1 1:12:16

The undesirables in the city the unwashed , the unwashed , that's what we call it the undesirable . So how do we determine who's desirable , who's undesirable ?

Speaker 2 1:12:23

Well , I think you can go into the city and work that one out yourself . Really Don't get me wrong , but you can .

Speaker 1 1:12:30

I don't know what the solution to it is , but what do you do if you walk up to someone ? I'm sorry , you look a little undesirable out of the city . Well , how do you manage ?

Speaker 2 1:12:37

that , tony , I can say . I've lived in Moonee Ponds for some time and there's a lot of undesirable in Moonee Ponds . Now Moonee Ponds is known as a what would you call it ? A reasonably affluent suburb , full of undesirables . Now , a lot of undesirables .

Speaker 1 1:12:57

Sorry for anybody living in . Moonee Ponds no , but what I'm saying is they will tell you there's undesirables in Moonee Ponds .

Speaker 2 1:13:03

They will tell you .

Speaker 1 1:13:08

They will tell you that sitting up and down Puckle Street . I hope Barry Humphries is listening , are you OK , are you ?

Speaker 2 1:13:12

choking on . I'm choking on a nut . You've been eating those nuts over there . Now you can hardly speak . I'm right , I'm OK now .

Speaker 1 1:13:16

Let me take a couple of these calls . Hold that thought . It Thoughts an interesting thought . 133693 . Arthur , good morning .

Speaker 12 1:13:23

Good morning Tony , roger and Jay . Now , roger , if you live in Moonee Ponds , you'll surely know Puckle Streets Club , which I DJed once in a while , which was regimes and probes right on the junction .

Speaker 2 1:13:34

I guess you'll know it . To be honest with you , I actually don't .

Speaker 12 1:13:39

They're quite down as cactus club and maybe the Baby Grand . Anyway , that's not the question I want to ask . That's not why you rang no , you being the police force for a long time to become a PSO . Most security guards , like yourself , have to give up their licence to become a PSO . The question I want to ask Sorry , sorry , sorry .

Speaker 1 1:13:57

Sorry , acronyms really give me the irrits PSO .

Speaker 2 1:14:00

Yeah , Protective Services . Officer , which is the people that do the stations . Sorry , go on .

Speaker 12 1:14:06

What I wanted to ask . It used to apply that if a police officer wanted to do security or some sort of work in security or loss prevention or anything like that , they would need an exemption . Does that still apply ? I was just wondering .

Speaker 2 1:14:21

To do a second job , in other words , oh , in other words oh sorry , yes , yeah , if you want to have a second job while you're a sworn member of Victoria Police or a PSO , then you actually have to apply for secondary employment .

Speaker 12 1:14:36

It can't be a conflict of interest yeah , I thought it might still apply , but I wasn't sure . I thought it might have been overturned . But you'd be the right one to answer that question . You did so . Thank you very much .

Speaker 2 1:14:46

No , you're welcome because I had to apply for secondary employment to run my business well over the last two years .

Speaker 1 1:14:52

Four years actually . Do they investigate that , yep ?

Speaker 2 1:14:55

absolutely they do .

Speaker 1 1:14:56

I had to provide everything I had to provide insurance , my qualification everything . Very good . Can you just put up Tanya's there for me , jay , because Tanya writes beautifully . She says great . Listening to you both , roger , I've been a peninsular girl all my life , first Frankston and then Frankston South , now Mornington the past 15 . And even Frankston at its worst , much better than Melbourne at the moment . There you go . These are really interesting observations . Tanya , the lady that doesn't sleep much at all . Tanya , good morning to you . Interesting observations .

Speaker 2 1:15:27

And the one at Pakenham as well . I think that's a great observation .

Speaker 1 1:15:31

Where's the one from Pakenham ? Just get rid of that one .

Speaker 2 1:15:34

It was a beautiful country town in 2004 . It's now a run-down slum that ends in 717 , that text .

Speaker 1 1:15:40

Yeah , there you go and that's true too . And then another one , trev , says come down to Dandenong . You can't walk into the main streets after a certain time of night . The place is dirty , shabby , shabby , rather full of drugs and crime . See all these again , resources taken up by police to do these sorts of things .

Speaker 2 1:15:58

You just know ? It's exactly what I was about to say . They overrun because the police are off doing all these other things .

Speaker 1 1:16:06

It kills us . There's a lot happening . All right , we'll do this when we come back . We'll wrap up with Roger Sutherland A healthy shift . I think we've moved through a fair bit this morning . Four to two , it's Australia overnight morning . Maggie says thank God , tony , you respectfully redeemed the reputation of our darling Dame from Moonee Ponds . Can you turn your microphone on ? Yeah , I've got it . You've been doing this a long time now . Turn his microphone on , jay , it's Jay's fault . No , it's not . You can't blame the person behind the glass . Oh , okay , never blame your . What is it ? If you can't look after your tools or whatever it is ? Never blame your own tools . It's lovely to see you . Thank you for coming in . You're welcome . Lots of cool calls , loved it .

Speaker 1 1:16:46

We could do another couple of hours . We won't . We'll move on to other topics . You wanted to say about a healthy shift .

Speaker 2 1:16:53

I'll be back on night shift . The way we're going you will

Thriving as a Shift Worker

Speaker 2 1:16:56

, yes , wanted to say about a healthy shift , about my business as well is I'm actually here to help shift workers and that's that's the core of what I do . I help shift workers to thrive , not just survive . It's a really , really exciting area of research . At the moment , like really , really exciting area of research , we're learning a lot about light and the impact circadian disruption . Um , it's really really new research over the last 20 years and I stay on top of all of the latest research and provide evidence-based strategies to actually help shift workers and coach them one-to-one A healthy shiftcom .

Speaker 1 1:17:33

A healthy shiftcom . Watch what Roger's doing Nice to see you . We'll see you in a couple of weeks . Thank you for having me again .