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Speaker 1: From the Australian. Here's what's on the front. I'm Claire Harvey.

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Speaker 1: It's Tuesday, June fourth. The Northern Territory's anti corruption boss

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Speaker 1: is embroiled in a personal drama, with The Australian revealing

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Speaker 1: today Michael Rich's lawyers offered his wife twenty thousand dollars

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Speaker 1: as a settlement after she applied for a domestic violence

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Speaker 1: order against him. Mister Riches had made no admissions and

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Speaker 1: denies any wrongdoing. You can read that story right now

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Speaker 1: at the Australian dot Com dot u. Later in today's episode,

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Speaker 1: a very unusual guest at the wedding of Brittany Higgins

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Speaker 1: and David Charraz plus all the latest in a case

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Speaker 1: that just keeps rolling. First up today, the immigration disaster

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Speaker 1: engulfing the federal government is getting worse. The latest embarrassing

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Speaker 1: admission from the minister and why the Prime Minister is

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Speaker 1: standing by his man. It was a remarkable claim by

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Speaker 1: embattled Immigration Minister Andrew Giles on Sky News last week.

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Speaker 2: There is a quarter of a billion dollars that we've invested

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Speaker 2: in supporting our law enforcement agencies to enforce that and

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Speaker 2: that's enabled things like using drones to keep track of

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Speaker 2: these people win over where they are.

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Speaker 1: He was talking about more than one hundred and fifty

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Speaker 1: people with criminal records who've been released by the High

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Speaker 1: Court of Australia. They were all non citizens of Australia

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Speaker 1: and some had been convicted of serious violent offenses, including

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Speaker 1: murder and child sex abuse. The High Court said the

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Speaker 1: government couldn't keep these people in indefinite detention. The government

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Speaker 1: had tried to deport them to their home countries with

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Speaker 1: no success, so they were set free and it's set

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Speaker 1: off a political nightmare now entering its fifth month. Two

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Speaker 1: of the convicts, convicted murderers, had no electronic monitoring.

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Speaker 2: I just have them all with electronic monitor because the

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Speaker 2: law doesn't allow it.

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Speaker 1: Turns out the claim about the drones was wrong. There

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Speaker 1: are no drones, and on Monday the minister, who's already

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Speaker 1: at the center of this and another catastrophe, had to

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Speaker 1: admit it.

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Speaker 2: I relied on information provided by my department at the time, which.

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Speaker 3: Has since which has since been clor of members on

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Speaker 3: my land.

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Speaker 1: Giles attacked Opposition Leader Peter Dutton.

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Speaker 3: This is a blake who trashed our immigration system, who

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Speaker 3: trashed integrity who trashed enforcement, who let nearly thirteen hundred

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Speaker 3: people out, not buy a court, not by a tribunal,

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Speaker 3: without any constraints on their behavior. That's the measure of

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Speaker 3: the man's That.

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Speaker 1: Other catastrophe I mentioned, that's where the minister issued a

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Speaker 1: new policy that has inadvertently resulted in more violent criminals

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Speaker 1: remaining in Australia after the government tried to kick them out.

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Speaker 3: The last week, I've canceled thirty visas in the national interest.

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Speaker 3: By the end of this week we will have in

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Speaker 3: place a new revised ministerial direction.

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Speaker 1: And the Prime Minister is backing him in.

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Speaker 4: We continue to refuse and cancel visas on character grounds.

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Speaker 4: We continue to deport people who have no right to

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Speaker 4: be here. Since coming to government, we've deported over four

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Speaker 4: two hundred individuals from immigration detention.

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Speaker 1: Bruce Lemmon is appealing his loss in the Giant defamation

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Speaker 1: battle with Network ten and Lisa Wilkinson watched his appeal

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Speaker 1: on Friday, and he'll be arguing that Justice Michael Lee

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Speaker 1: got it wrong when he found Lahman did on the

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Speaker 1: balance of probabilities rape Brittany Higgins. Lamman has run out

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Speaker 1: of lawyers willing to represent him on a no win,

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Speaker 1: no fee basis, so he'll be representing himself up against

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Speaker 1: the expert defamation barristers Ten and Wilkinson will no doubt engage.

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Speaker 1: They'll likely request the court order Laman to pay a

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Speaker 1: surety upfront to ensure they do get paid if they win.

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Speaker 1: If the appeal goes ahead, Brittany Higgins will likely need

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Speaker 1: to spend more time in court. But on Saturday, Higgins

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Speaker 1: got to enjoy a moment of pure joy. The former

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Speaker 1: Liberal staffer married her partner of four years, David Cherraz.

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Speaker 1: The wedding was held at the Ritzy Valley estate in

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Speaker 1: Crumbin on the Gold Coast. The bride wore a dress

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Speaker 1: by Australian designer Paolo Sebastian and a big beaming smile.

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Speaker 1: Higgins posted to Instagram after the ceremony today I married

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Speaker 1: my best friend. Security at the event was tight, with

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Speaker 1: members of the media kept well away, although some did

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Speaker 1: make the guest list. Among the eighty or so people

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Speaker 1: invited was TV producer Judy mccrosson whose option the movie

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Speaker 1: rights to Brittney Higgins's unpublished memoir about her Parliament House

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Speaker 1: ordeal and everything that followed. One guest caught ris David

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Speaker 1: Shiraz's psychic friend, Carrie de Bloc. The Australian's Margin Call

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Speaker 1: column is reporting Sharaz has turned to du Bloc for

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Speaker 1: guidance many times over his years in Canberra. Coming up,

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Speaker 1: what's waiting for Brittaney Higgins and David Sharaz on the

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Speaker 1: other side of the honeymoon. While I've got you, we'd

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Speaker 1: love you to get more of this journalism. By subscribing

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Speaker 1: to The Australian. Our subscribers get breaking news alerts directed

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Speaker 1: their phones, newsletters, special events, and the most lively and

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Speaker 1: detailed news analysis and commentary around the clock. Check us

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Speaker 1: out at the Australian dot com dot au and we'll

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Speaker 1: be back after this break. Just last week, as former

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Speaker 1: Liberal staff for Brittany Higgins prepped for her big day,

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Speaker 1: her legal representatives were back in front of a judge

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Speaker 1: at the David Malcolm Justice Center in Perth. Higgins is

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Speaker 1: being sued by her former boss, Senator Linda Reynolds for

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Speaker 1: social media posts made last year. Reynolds says her reputation

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Speaker 1: was damaged by the posts made separately on Instagram and

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Speaker 1: x formerly known as Twitter.

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Speaker 5: I would like to commend Justice Lee on all of

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Speaker 5: his findings, and I think it is time that all

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Speaker 5: parties in this except all of his judgments, and that

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Speaker 5: includes Scinance Minister, Attorney Generals and the Attorney General's Apartment,

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Speaker 5: is signed for them to admit they got it wrong.

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Speaker 1: David Charaz was also on the hook, but he's stepped

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Speaker 1: back from the matter, saying a trial would bankrupt him.

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Speaker 1: This latest legal action has had several false starts, with

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Speaker 1: mandated mediations breaking down more than once. Now, Senator Reynolds

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Speaker 1: is attempting to uncover the details of a protected trust

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Speaker 1: in Brittney Higgins's name. Her lawyers believe it's been set

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Speaker 1: up to shield a two point four million dollar compensation

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Speaker 1: payout from litigation. Reynolds lawyer Martin Bennett said last month

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Speaker 1: he's been waiting to receive a copy of the trust

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Speaker 1: deed since March. He believes it holds important details that

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Speaker 1: will clarify its purpose. Basically, what they're trying to decipher

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Speaker 1: is if Brittney Higgins could actually pay damages or legal

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Speaker 1: costs to Linda Reynolds. If a judge finds the former

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Speaker 1: senator was defamed, the matter will head to trial in

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Speaker 1: late July. Late last month, the other defamation matter where

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Speaker 1: Bruce Laman unsuccessfully sued Network ten and Lisa Wilkinson, was

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Speaker 1: back before the fees Court Front Listeners.

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Speaker 4: No.

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Speaker 1: Laman lost overall because, just as Michael Lee found he

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Speaker 1: did on the balance of probabilities rape Brittany Higgins in

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Speaker 1: twenty nineteen. As you know, he's appealing that verdict.

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Speaker 6: Having escaped the lines dead, mister Lehmott made the mistake

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Speaker 6: of coming back.

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Speaker 1: For his hat. By Justice Lee had big problems with

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Speaker 1: the Network ten and Lisa Wilkinson's journalism, and they lost

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Speaker 1: on their other defense, which was qualified privilege. That is,

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Speaker 1: their journalism was reasonable. The judge said it wasn't reasonable.

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Speaker 1: Laman will have to pay most of Ten and Wilkinson's costs,

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Speaker 1: but it's unlikely he has the multi millions required to

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Speaker 1: settle their bills. Now, Wilkinson and tenned trying to sort

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Speaker 1: out who pays which parts of her legal bills. This

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Speaker 1: after the trial ensured all ten's dirty laundry was well

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Speaker 1: and truly aired. How it effectively sacked Wilkinson from her

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Speaker 1: on air roll after she made an unfortunate logi speech,

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Speaker 1: even though Ten had legaled and approved the speech, how

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Speaker 1: it tried to persuade her not to engage her own lawyers,

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Speaker 1: and how after Brittany Higgins indicated she didn't like Wilkinson's

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Speaker 1: chosen lawyers, how TEN tried to get its former start

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Speaker 1: to choose different representatives.

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Speaker 6: Good afternoon, We start with breaking news and the judge

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Speaker 6: has just had done his decision in Lisa Wilkinson's case

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Speaker 6: against Network ten. She was asking for ten to cover

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Speaker 6: her costs in the defamation case against Bruce Lehreman.

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Speaker 1: Ten is still quibbling about how much of Wilkinson's bills

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Speaker 1: it should pay, but it all came out in the

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Speaker 1: open at the most recent hearing. Wilkinson's total bill so

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Speaker 1: far is one point eight million dollars. That includes eight

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Speaker 1: thousand dollars per day in court for top deformation silk

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Speaker 1: sue chrisanthe sc plus eight hundred dollars per hour for

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Speaker 1: preparation work, sending emails and travel time. It also includes

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Speaker 1: another three and a half thousand per day for the

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Speaker 1: junior barrister working with Chrisanthu, Barry Dean, and then the

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Speaker 1: solicitors who charged Wilkinson up Todome seven hundred and fifty

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Speaker 1: dollars per hour for their work on the case. That

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Speaker 1: firm Gillis Delaney charged three hundred and ninety dollars for

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Speaker 1: one phone call and sixteen dollars for a subscription to

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Speaker 1: The Australian. At least they've got impeccable taste. You can

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Speaker 1: join them by subscribing to The Australian Today, and needless

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Speaker 1: to say, it's a lot cheaper than a top barrister's time.

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Speaker 1: Check us out at the Australian dot com dot au