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Speaker 1: So faly we go, Leslie Yumman's back. Let us Leslie,

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Speaker 1: very good morning to you.

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Speaker 2: Good morning.

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Speaker 1: So the Hornsby Shire Council, how does this work in Australia?

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Speaker 1: So how is it they're owing the government money?

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Speaker 2: Well, they're owing the government money because they were granted

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Speaker 2: quite a lot of money about six years ago under

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Speaker 2: the community the Community Stronger Communities Fund and what happened

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Speaker 2: was thirty six million dollars of the money they were

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Speaker 2: granted under that fund was for a special park with

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Speaker 2: sporting facilities. But they've been unable to get that park

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Speaker 2: up and running and get the sporting facilities built. So

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Speaker 2: the state government has said, you've had plenty of time

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Speaker 2: to get it done, you've been going past your deadline.

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Speaker 2: You haven't been able to prove that you're even on

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Speaker 2: track track to have anything developed, and so it's time

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Speaker 2: to pay the money back now. The Stronger Communities Fund

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Speaker 2: was actually described as pork barreling on steroids back six

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Speaker 2: years ago when Premier Gladys spiagically and when the then

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Speaker 2: Premier sort of agreed that yes, it was pork barreling,

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Speaker 2: but a lot of governments did it and it wasn't illegal,

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Speaker 2: so it was okay, okay.

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Speaker 1: So what's interesting also about this is the Hornsby mayor

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Speaker 1: is a bloke called Philip Ruddick. And Philip Ruddick used

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Speaker 1: to be a very senior federal minister. So what's he

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Speaker 1: going to say for himself.

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Speaker 2: Well, he's not a happy man about this. He left

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Speaker 2: federal politics. He used to be the Attorney general, federal

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Speaker 2: attorney general. He left politics back in twenty sixteen, but

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Speaker 2: he became the Hornsby mayor and a Hornsby counselor in

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Speaker 2: twenty seventeen, so it didn't take him too long to

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Speaker 2: miss public life to a sort of lesser degree at Hornsby.

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Speaker 2: And he's not happy because he says that he shouldn't

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Speaker 2: have to be paid back, that the state government's just

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Speaker 2: trying to get some more money in before it releases

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Speaker 2: its state budget. So yeah, he sort of is not happy.

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Speaker 2: He says, you'll pay it, they'll pay it back, but

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Speaker 2: they shouldn't have to.

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Speaker 1: Right take me to Melbourne, so you had you have

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Speaker 1: King's Birthday yesterday of course, Now this King George statue.

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Speaker 1: The vandals have they got the video and all of

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Speaker 1: that on.

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Speaker 2: This or no, yes, they have. What happened was on

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Speaker 2: Sunday night, the eve of the King, the King's Birthday

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Speaker 2: public holiday, a couple of people have gone to the

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Speaker 2: statue in King's Domain in the CBD in Melbourne and

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Speaker 2: they've decided to chop its head off and spray paint

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Speaker 2: it with some red paint. Now there is a video

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Speaker 2: that's been uploaded to social media. You can see the

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Speaker 2: person then a hives or the person. I don't We

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Speaker 2: don't know if it's a he as there with a

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Speaker 2: headlight and it's chopped the head off, the heads fall

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Speaker 2: into the ground and then someone else has come along

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Speaker 2: and spray painted the statue, so they don't know who

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Speaker 2: it is as yet. The police and Melbourne City Council

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Speaker 2: don't know who it is yet, but it has been

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Speaker 2: uploaded to social media, so where they're still trying to

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Speaker 2: ascertain who that is and also if it's the same

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Speaker 2: people who who did some similar things back on the

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Speaker 2: eve of Australia Day back in January, when a couple

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Speaker 2: of statue statues were also vandalized.

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Speaker 1: World is full of too many pillocks, Leslie, good to

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Speaker 1: catch up with you appreciate Leslie Emman's out of Australia

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Speaker 1: for US this Tuesday morning.

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Speaker 2: For more from News Talks B listen live on air

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Speaker 2: or online, and

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