00:00 They've patrolled these city streets since 2019, but private security, known as the Blue
00:07 Shirts, brought in to stamp out anti-social behaviour in Darwin CBD, have been revealed
00:13 to be taking their duties too far.
00:15 These people are sleeping on the street, they wake up at 4 o'clock, 5 o'clock in the morning
00:20 to get up and move from where they're sleeping.
00:22 And I've experienced that a few times.
00:25 Rosemary has a home, but when there are problems, she joins other families living on the street.
00:29 Coming here for breakfast at Osmond House, where demand is growing at alarming rates.
00:36 The city council sometimes hunts us out to another place, we move to another place.
00:41 Rodney doesn't understand why, and says it's unfair because there's nowhere else to go.
00:47 The Blue Shirt, they think they're copper or something, and they wait in the bottle
00:51 shop and they tell you what to do.
00:54 Now documents leaked to the ABC show they've been unlawfully moving on people sleeping
01:00 rough.
01:01 The documents show a letter from former Chief Minister Michael Gunner in 2019 requesting
01:06 the Darwin City Council authorise private security guards to deal with illegal camping,
01:11 noise and loitering under its Local Government Act.
01:15 Mr Gunner saying it is entirely within council's jurisdiction to enforce its bylaws to prevent
01:21 unacceptable behaviour in public places.
01:24 But after seeking legal advice that found there was a reputational risk, the council
01:29 rejected that request, saying it wasn't willing to make that authorisation, only granting
01:35 the guards permission to operate on council land.
01:38 People are demonised and unfairly put into the anti-social and crime bracket, but the
01:43 reality is we don't have enough accommodation.
01:46 However, the NT government says the guards are aware of their obligations and several
01:51 business owners say they help maintain safety.
01:54 [BLANK_AUDIO]
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