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Speaker 1: After eleven long days, police have officially ended all recovery

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Speaker 1: operations at the mount. All six victims have formerly been identified.

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Speaker 1: Cordon's remain in place around the Adams Avenue and the

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Speaker 1: mall and the Marine parade. Mark Mitchell, as Emergency Management Minister,

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Speaker 1: joins us Now, Mark, good morning, Good morning, Ryan. So

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Speaker 1: it's all over then, well at.

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Speaker 2: The moment, yes, in terms of the scene. Thankfully the

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Speaker 2: bodies have been returned to their families, which means now

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Speaker 2: they can start making arrangements for funerals and services. The

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Speaker 2: USR teams have left our DVI police DVI teams have

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Speaker 2: so the scene now is still being corded and protected

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Speaker 2: by police. Police will be taking the families onto the

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Speaker 2: site today, those that want to go. There's been invitations

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Speaker 2: sent out as a way to have a service with

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Speaker 2: them and then it'll be handed over to back to

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Speaker 2: the kill.

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Speaker 1: Gosh, today will be hard for them, won't it.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, it's just been so difficult for the families because

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Speaker 2: as you can imagine, right right from the morning of

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Speaker 2: the tragedy happening, it's just been torturous for them because

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Speaker 2: the uncertainty. I mean, you know that we went initially

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Speaker 2: into a rescue phase, just the uncertainty. We know how

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Speaker 2: we would all feel if it was one of our

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Speaker 2: loved ones that was trapped under that that landslide, and

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Speaker 2: then obviously into the recovery phase and just the challenging

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Speaker 2: and difficult scene that it was. It took time, so

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Speaker 2: it's been very tough on the family. I mean, the

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Speaker 2: thing that I've been that's been lovely to see is

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Speaker 2: that the communities got behind in them. Our police liaison

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Speaker 2: officers who quite something, you're just outstanding and have been

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Speaker 2: right alongside them the whole time, and the families that

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Speaker 2: I've spent time with all commented on that and said

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Speaker 2: that they feel as police the aison officers are actually

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Speaker 2: part of their family now right through the count you know,

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Speaker 2: the country got behind them. And the funny thing is

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Speaker 2: I went for Sarah and I went for a walk

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Speaker 2: on the beach, a river beach and man Literate yesterday

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Speaker 2: and I spoke to a lot of people on the

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Speaker 2: beach and they have a connection to Mount Longer Aly,

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Speaker 2: whether it be for a holiday or down the sif

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Speaker 2: life saving or just passing through. So I think it's

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Speaker 2: had a big impact on the country. Without a doubt.

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Speaker 1: What's your feeling mark about whether the mount will ever

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Speaker 1: open again.

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Speaker 2: That's a really good question, and there's going to have

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Speaker 2: to be obviously a process that's going to have to

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Speaker 2: go through. In terms of that. The first concern is

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Speaker 2: just going to quite quite simply safety. You know that

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Speaker 2: the reality it is through this weather event, we had

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Speaker 2: over eight hundred slips, So that's something that obviously is

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Speaker 2: a priority for regardless of what council or you know

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Speaker 2: you are, you going to be kind of do as

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Speaker 2: much diffidence as you can in terms of anticipating with

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Speaker 2: it's going to be any other fear of the slips.

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Speaker 2: With weather events that we have, we're going to continue

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Speaker 2: to have them.

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Speaker 1: Would you walk on it again or would it feel wrong.

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Speaker 2: If it was? If it was if it was opened again,

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Speaker 2: I would walk around it and and I think a

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Speaker 2: lot of people are like keeps would like to have

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Speaker 2: access to it again. I don't think that, and I

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Speaker 2: think that it would be a tie. It would be

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Speaker 2: somewhere that you reflect and you think about I'd like

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Speaker 2: to see the memorial, I think long I think in

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Speaker 2: the medium to long term, it definitely has to be

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Speaker 2: a memorial down there for us to be able to

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Speaker 2: remember the people that we lost. So yeah, but that

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Speaker 2: question is obviously one for the future.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, Mark, I've been thinking about your health because in

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Speaker 1: October you were hospitalized, you had chess issues and there's

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Speaker 1: a lot of dust been around where the traps where

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Speaker 1: you've been lately holding up all right, Well.

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Speaker 2: Thank you, mate, I mean, I appreciate that it's not

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Speaker 2: about me. Yeah. I had when I was a young

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Speaker 2: fellow at police Dollcaner over in Gisbone, we had an

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Speaker 2: active arsness that that I was tracking and he lit

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Speaker 2: a residential house on fire. I had to go into

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Speaker 2: that to get the mum and her son out and

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Speaker 2: then haled some toxic fumes that damaged my lungs. But

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Speaker 2: needs to get older. These so sometimes come back and

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Speaker 2: cause your problems. But but look, it wasn't about me, mate.

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Speaker 2: I'm so proud of the you know, our firefighters, our

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Speaker 2: police officers, the first responders, our contractors, you know the

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Speaker 2: saber guys that are normally just out there moving dirt

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Speaker 2: away around and on houses that have been built and

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Speaker 2: slips and that they are in there in a very

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Speaker 2: very difficult environment trying to recover people and so you know,

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Speaker 2: I just want to acknowledge them and just thank everyone

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Speaker 2: involved in that response. And of course the community got

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Speaker 2: hit very hard, and I went to a couple of

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Speaker 2: the visuals down there, which for me personally was really

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Speaker 2: you know, it helped me a lot because just to

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Speaker 2: be there with the community, it's cathartic and you can

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Speaker 2: sort of talk things through and take a moment to

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Speaker 2: breathe the families. You know, everyone's heart's break with the families,

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Speaker 2: and everyone wishes that somehow we could carry that weight

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Speaker 2: with them, because you know, it's just been so difficult

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Speaker 2: on them and and will continue to be. And I

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Speaker 2: think the big thing with that, Ryan is that is

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Speaker 2: that they formed the family group, formed a very very

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Speaker 2: strong group together, are all very supportive of one another,

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Speaker 2: and they had all agreed that no one was leaving

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Speaker 2: until we had the last person out. And they've had

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Speaker 2: all that support around them, and now they have to

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Speaker 2: go to a phase where they're actually having to leave

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Speaker 2: that support, go back to their own their own homes

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Speaker 2: and think about funerals. And that's why at that stage

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Speaker 2: it's even more critical to make sure that we continue

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Speaker 2: to have support around them.

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Speaker 1: Hey, appreciate your time this morning, Minister Mark Mitchill, the

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Speaker 1: Emergency Management Minister.

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Speaker 2: For more from Earlily Edition with Ryan Bridge. Listen live

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