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Speaker 1: We've had a great relationship with this lady over the years.

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Speaker 1: She's doing an amazing job. Adop Change or they work

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Speaker 1: towards every child having an access to a safe, nurturing

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Speaker 1: and stable family upbringing.

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Speaker 2: Not many people know this, but there's over.

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Speaker 1: Fifty thousand Australian children currently in temporary out of home care.

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Speaker 1: She looks after the vulnerable, the displaced children. We love

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Speaker 1: what she does. It's the magnificent Debora Leef. And now

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Speaker 1: she joins us.

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Speaker 3: Now say you guys, we've been talking so long.

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Speaker 2: I know where are you dead? Where are you at

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Speaker 2: the moment?

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Speaker 4: I'm actually well, I'm in the ecpicenter in New York.

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Speaker 4: But we're actually we've just headed out. It's our summer holiday,

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Speaker 4: so we've just come down to the beach. But so

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Speaker 4: we're by the beach and a gorgeous view and the

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Speaker 4: puppies are in quarantine.

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Speaker 5: What's the weather like at the moment?

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Speaker 2: Devon?

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Speaker 5: Then, is the big guy out in the surf with

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Speaker 5: the rig with a rig out?

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Speaker 3: Is no, he's in the kitchen baking bread.

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Speaker 2: Man got him beauty? Do you get waves there down

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Speaker 2: at the beach there?

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Speaker 3: And we're on the bay. We're paddleboarding and kayaking.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, god, yeah beautiful, Yeah, so so dead.

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Speaker 1: We're got to talk about Neighbors in a minute, because

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Speaker 1: you got involved with Neighbors to get your cause out there,

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Speaker 1: which is amazing. But did you when lockdown happened, did

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Speaker 1: you guys get out just in time?

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Speaker 2: Did you did you get to finish what you were

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Speaker 2: doing on Neighbors?

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Speaker 3: I had one day to go. Just so you know.

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Speaker 4: James Jason her I kick calling him James Jason Herberson,

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Speaker 4: who's the producer, reached out to me about a year

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Speaker 4: ago and said, this is a storyline I want to

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Speaker 4: touch and I love Neighbor. You know, it's thirty five years,

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Speaker 4: has been going. It's the soap opera, but they really

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Speaker 4: touch on, you know, important social issues and the outliers

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Speaker 4: and they're sort.

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Speaker 3: Of highlighting that through the genre of soap opera.

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Speaker 4: Anyway, Jason has an adopted daughter also, and he reached

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Speaker 4: out to me and said, I'd love to do this.

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Speaker 4: So with Adopt Change, we all nuanced the storyline so

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Speaker 4: that it could be told truthfully, not sugarcoated, and tell

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Speaker 4: the reality of it, and to do it through beloved

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Speaker 4: characters that people knows it gives people a much better

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Speaker 4: understanding of what it's like both for the care and

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Speaker 4: for the child.

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Speaker 5: Like we touched on, you know, we've been talking for

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Speaker 5: a long time now deb on this topic. Have you

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Speaker 5: seen mass improvements for what you need to do and

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Speaker 5: the red tape and the process.

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Speaker 3: I think I picked one of the hardest challenges in

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Speaker 3: the world. It's so to traverse this.

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Speaker 4: And like you know, I'm not into politics, and I

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Speaker 4: realized how heart it is you can see to get

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Speaker 4: any legislation changed or to what it takes. And I've

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Speaker 4: gone through many Prime ministers and I've had to learn

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Speaker 4: how to navigate it.

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Speaker 3: There is change. And when we first started out there

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Speaker 3: was an anti adoption culture.

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Speaker 4: That's what we started and that Brohman Bishop did an

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Speaker 4: inquiry in two thousand and five and that was what

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Speaker 4: was established within the system and in the community anyway.

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Speaker 3: So that's where we started.

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Speaker 4: We now have polimental friends of adoption, So we do

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Speaker 4: have senators who are you know, going out there and

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Speaker 4: fighting for us. We are at the moment trying to

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Speaker 4: bring in time span so that there is a time

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Speaker 4: limit that the children are in foster care. The longer

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Speaker 4: child is in fostercare, and I've had heard kids have

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Speaker 4: sixty platements placements. It's not okay. The metal and emotional damage.

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Speaker 4: The true makes is with that child ongoing for life.

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Speaker 4: So as soon like the fifty thousand kids you talk

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Speaker 4: about their infost care, three quarters of those.

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Speaker 3: Children are permanently removed.

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Speaker 4: So we need to find permanent placement doesn't even have

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Speaker 4: to be adoption. Permanent placement placement asap.

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Speaker 2: Well, that's a crucial thing, isn't it. Who are the

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Speaker 2: shining lights then there? But what countries are doing the

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Speaker 2: right thing?

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Speaker 1: Because you would think when you hear this story with

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Speaker 1: vulnerable kids, you think it's common sense that we need

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Speaker 1: to put them into families with beautiful backgrounds. Who are

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Speaker 1: some of the shining lights that you look up to?

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Speaker 1: And the countries that are doing this.

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Speaker 3: I think Swims done it well New.

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Speaker 2: Zealand, New Zealand.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, it's become with international adoption.

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Speaker 4: What's happened is it's just become so controversial and politicians

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Speaker 4: and governments are too nervous to do the wrong thing,

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Speaker 4: so they just shut it down or like trues, I

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Speaker 4: got to be careful what I say here, But it's

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Speaker 4: like they just would rather just shut down a relationship

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Speaker 4: rather than getting into trouble.

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Speaker 3: Well, Russia did.

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Speaker 4: That thing where they shut down international adoption to America

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Speaker 4: just to prove a political point.

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Speaker 3: Let's stuck in orkhages. I mean.

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Speaker 4: So it's so rife with dangers and backlash. It's like

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Speaker 4: a domino effect. So all we can keep doing is

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Speaker 4: advocating for the most ethical, best placements for children. And

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Speaker 4: what I wanted to do with the change was always

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Speaker 4: to have a pre and post adoption support because unless

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Speaker 4: you have that ongoing for life with both the care

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Speaker 4: and of course, it's going to be a breakdown.

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Speaker 1: Are you acting dev in Neighbors? Are you just directing

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Speaker 1: or do you come in as a character on the show.

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Speaker 1: This is interesting? Are you back behind the screen again?

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Speaker 3: No, I did do Neighbors quite a while back.

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Speaker 4: I made sure a little clip the other night on

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Speaker 4: TV shows Big Hair. But no, this was just directing,

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Speaker 4: and that's really what I want to be when I

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Speaker 4: grow up.

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Speaker 3: I love the directing.

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Speaker 4: I've done a short film, I've directed theater, and I

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Speaker 4: love working with the actors. I love storytelling and it's

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Speaker 4: like the canvas that you get to play on and

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Speaker 4: create these nuances.

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Speaker 3: I find it thrillings.

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Speaker 5: And that's the great thing about neighbors too, is that

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Speaker 5: so many great successful careers have stemmed from one little

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Speaker 5: court called Ramsay Street.

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Speaker 3: Yeah. It's extraordinary, isn't it. And it's a great learning ground.

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Speaker 4: Like I say to all you know kids coming out

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Speaker 4: of directing school, drama stool the ass to do soap operate.

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Speaker 3: You've got like a time limit.

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Speaker 4: So imagine it's like getting on the treadmill pushing fast

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Speaker 4: and just go.

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Speaker 3: I mentor director, I said, so what happens if you

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Speaker 3: don't get it all done?

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Speaker 4: Because you get it done you like, you get it

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Speaker 4: right in a hurry and creatively.

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Speaker 3: And it was a great learning curve.

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Speaker 1: Well, you've also had great experience at home because because

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Speaker 1: it was a beautiful story that you did. Recently in

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Speaker 1: Stellar magazine talking about you, saying that Deb is born

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Speaker 1: to be a director. I've been directed by her for

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Speaker 1: twenty five years. She has an unbelievable eye, She's always right,

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Speaker 1: and she's incredibly decisive. Deb has so much tougher on

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Speaker 1: me than any director I've worked with. There's no audition

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Speaker 1: I've ever gone into where I don't run it through.

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Speaker 1: Deb First, Wow, are you quite critical if he's going

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Speaker 1: into an audition and.

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Speaker 2: You don't think he's doing the right thing.

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Speaker 3: Deb, I think he's exaggerating a bit.

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Speaker 4: We're a team, so I wanted to be great. So

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Speaker 4: you know, I'm like, he does the same for me.

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Speaker 4: When I have to do stuff, I'll run it by him.

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Speaker 4: You know, you're a team when you're married. It's like

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Speaker 4: you want the best for each other.

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Speaker 3: So you know, mind you. I was the one that

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Speaker 3: got you, know, that said, what do you do this movie?

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Speaker 3: With plause? And what a wainer? I mean, really, it's

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Speaker 3: put my kids through college.

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Speaker 2: Go and bake some bread in the kitchen, you know

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Speaker 2: what I mean, Get back in, bake me some bread

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Speaker 2: right now. Oh that is funny.

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Speaker 1: Dev We love you to death. You're doing an amazing job.

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Speaker 1: Don't ever stop with this. I know how much it

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Speaker 1: means to you. But you're advocating and what you're doing

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Speaker 1: with this, it'll finally get there. And I know it's

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Speaker 1: a long drawn out process, but you're doing an amazing Devi.

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Speaker 2: And we just want to thank you for that.

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Speaker 4: Thank you guys, and thank you for all your support

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Speaker 4: over the years, because I need you guys to sort

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Speaker 4: of get the message out there, so I'm full of gratitude.

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Speaker 3: Thank you.

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Speaker 1: You always deb no worries and you can catch neighbors

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Speaker 1: weekdays six point thirty on ten peats. Thanks Devin, enjoy

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Speaker 1: your time on the beach.

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Speaker 3: Thanks guys.

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Speaker 5: Con Neva