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Speaker 1: Police are running out of daylight to find the two

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Speaker 1: youngest children of Tom Phillips. His twelve year old daughter

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Speaker 1: is understood to be with police. She was with Tom

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Speaker 1: Phillips when he was confronted by an officer this morning,

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Speaker 1: shot at the constable and was shot dead in response.

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Speaker 1: Police Minister Mark Mitchell is with me right now.

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Speaker 2: How much hey afternoon?

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Speaker 1: Either any updated all on the kids?

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Speaker 2: Well, I mean just the fact that obviously it's good

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Speaker 2: to have one of the children in safe custody with police,

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Speaker 2: n ot, you know, just a very tough, tragic situation

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Speaker 2: now with one of our police officers obviously badly injured

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Speaker 2: in the hospital undergo surgery. You know, Tom Phillips obviously

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Speaker 2: killed in that same incident. I think it just highlighted

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Speaker 2: for me, It just holighted the fact that I felt

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Speaker 2: very strongly all along is that you know, you're dealing

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Speaker 2: with a very disturbed individual that had three children in

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Speaker 2: high powered firearms and it made an extremely difficult situation

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Speaker 2: to deal with.

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Speaker 1: Yeah. Now the police are clearly searching in an area

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Speaker 1: where they think the kids are. Do you know how

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Speaker 1: big this area is?

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Speaker 2: No that I know that they've got lots of resources there,

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Speaker 2: They've got the AoE, S STG. They've got every piece

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Speaker 2: equipment that they need to make sure that they locate

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Speaker 2: and get these kids safely out of the bush and

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Speaker 2: looked after.

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Speaker 1: Has the daughter told them roughly where to look?

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Speaker 2: So I'm not going to say too much around what

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Speaker 2: information or what she's done, because we're trying we're not

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Speaker 2: going to talk about the kids too much. But all then.

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Speaker 1: So that they we take the cat out of it.

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Speaker 1: Have they been told roughly where to look?

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Speaker 2: They have a rough idea, they've worked out roughly where

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Speaker 2: they need to look, they've got all the resources in there,

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Speaker 2: and they've put a knife and no fly zone in

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Speaker 2: place obviously for obvious reasons. Look, I'm very, very confident

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Speaker 2: that that will that the police will find and recover

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Speaker 2: those children safely.

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Speaker 1: What makes you so confident?

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Speaker 2: I just well, number one a world class police force.

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Speaker 2: They'll take their time, they'll be careful, they'll understand that

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Speaker 2: it's a very sensitive situation, and they get a prior

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Speaker 2: to the safety of those kids, and they'll do whatever

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Speaker 2: they need to do to make sure they get them

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Speaker 2: back safely.

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Speaker 1: Is there a chance or a risk that the kids DeCamp.

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Speaker 2: Well, there's always a risk with kids because kids are

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Speaker 2: unpredictable the best of times, and obviously these kids have

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Speaker 2: been heavily influenced by Tom Phillips himself. But I just

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Speaker 2: know that our police will be very cautious as they

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Speaker 2: always have been in this situation, and they'll make sure

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Speaker 2: that the children's welfare is put first in forefront. And

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Speaker 2: but I just I'm very confident our police. I know

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Speaker 2: how deeply capability is and I'm very confident I'll recover

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Speaker 2: those children safely.

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Speaker 1: Is there a chance or a risk that somebody comes

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Speaker 1: to get the kids?

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Speaker 2: Well? Having you know, I think it's pretty clear that

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Speaker 2: someone's probably been helping him, assisting him over the time

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Speaker 2: that he's been at large with these with the kids.

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Speaker 2: But the police will have control of this of the

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Speaker 2: area now, they'll have cordons up. Like I said, there's

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Speaker 2: no live zone. They've got all the police resource that

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Speaker 2: they need to be able to control that area. So

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Speaker 2: it'd be very, very highly unlikely that anyone would be

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Speaker 2: able to get through that cordon.

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Speaker 1: How many people are the cops looking for.

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Speaker 2: Well, they're looking for the remaining children obviously, so you

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Speaker 2: know that's no one else that's what's no, that's what

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Speaker 2: they're folks at the moment. They're full focus at the

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Speaker 2: moment is just making sure they recover those children safely.

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Speaker 1: Have we've got the army in there? Are we thinking

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Speaker 1: about that?

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Speaker 2: I don't know if they've got the army in there.

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Speaker 2: If that, the army've obviously got specialist capability and the

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Speaker 2: police won't use the take to use that specialist capability

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Speaker 2: if they need it in terms of equipment and things

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Speaker 2: like that. But all I know is that they've got

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Speaker 2: the specialist squads in there. They've got all the equipment

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Speaker 2: they need. They're very confident in the area that they're searching,

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Speaker 2: and they've got it caughted and contained. They're controlling it.

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Speaker 2: They're going to be very careful about making sure that

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Speaker 2: they get those kids back safely.

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Speaker 1: Listen, they've got the infrared on the on the eagle.

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Speaker 1: Is that any good out in the bush?

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Speaker 2: It is? Yeah, the infrared is very effective without a doubt,

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Speaker 2: and the guys and the eagle, you know, a specialist

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Speaker 2: official and using that technology. So you know, the police

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Speaker 2: will be using everything that they need to make sure

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Speaker 2: that they recover these children safely.

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Speaker 1: Do you know what the kids have been told to

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Speaker 1: do if the dad doesn't come back, Like, have they

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Speaker 1: been told to DeCamp? Will go somewhere else or sit

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Speaker 1: in place? You know?

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Speaker 2: No, No, no, we don't know. I don't know any

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Speaker 2: of that, and that neither would that be a level

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Speaker 2: of detail that I'd be briefed on. All we know,

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Speaker 2: obviously is that he's had them in there for a

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Speaker 2: long time. He's obviously, you know, got a lot of

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Speaker 2: influence over them. He's probably the only adult that they've

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Speaker 2: really had much contact with. We can see clearly the

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Speaker 2: risks around dealing with him, and the high end the

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Speaker 2: fact that he's got numerous firearms, and so you know,

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Speaker 2: the police will be treating it. Like I said to you,

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Speaker 2: that their priority is going to be the safety of

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Speaker 2: those kids, and I've got very high levels of confidence

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Speaker 2: of the professional deployment of our place officers in the

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Speaker 2: way they'll deal with us.

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Speaker 1: Mitch. Why did the police officer when they stopped their

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Speaker 1: car and saw Tom Phillips get out of the vehicle,

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Speaker 1: do we know yet?

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Speaker 2: No? And I never second police officers that are actually

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Speaker 2: during an operation or when they're deployed and when they're

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Speaker 2: making decisions quickly, and you know, and in situations that

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Speaker 2: often unfolding rapidly as well. So although I know is

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Speaker 2: that we've got a police officer that is badly injured,

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Speaker 2: we are getting back both myself and the Commissioner getting

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Speaker 2: home as quickly as we can. We will be down

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Speaker 2: there tomorrow with him and with the family, and obviously

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Speaker 2: we'll be getting a full briefing and update in terms

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Speaker 2: of where we are in recovery of the children.

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Speaker 1: Why was his boot open? Was he trying to get

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Speaker 1: a firearm?

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Speaker 2: I'm not going to speculate on that because that is

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Speaker 2: operational and.

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Speaker 1: I mean, given what was going on, was he armed.

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Speaker 2: Well, again, I'm not going to speculate on that because

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Speaker 2: there will be an inquiry. There'll be two or three

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Speaker 2: internal inquiries. There will be an I b C in

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Speaker 2: Quirry obviously a police internal inquiry, M corral is inquiry,

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Speaker 2: so you know, all of that information will come out

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Speaker 2: in due course. I'm not going to speculate on that

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Speaker 2: now because that is operational. That's the guys. All I'd

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Speaker 2: say is they've done an outstanding job. You know, we've

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Speaker 2: we've we've got tragically, we've got one of our police

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Speaker 2: officers serious injuries. It's in the forefront of my mind

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Speaker 2: at the moment, and also of course the recovery of

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Speaker 2: the remaining children.

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Speaker 1: Okay, listen, how many times are the cop shot? Have

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Speaker 1: you been told? How many times was the police officer shot?

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Speaker 2: No, so that that information I'm not going to make public.

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Speaker 2: All I know is that obviously he's undergoing surgery and.

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Speaker 1: Involved shot, but with just one weapon or multiple.

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Speaker 2: Look, I don't know. I don't know whether he was,

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Speaker 2: whether it was one or multiple, But you know, the

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Speaker 2: important thing is that what we do know is that

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Speaker 2: he's he's been shot, he's in a critical condition, and

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Speaker 2: he's under getting surgery. So you know, we just we

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Speaker 2: want to make sure that we've got the support around

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Speaker 2: him and his f that they need. And as colleagues,

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Speaker 2: of course, if.

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Speaker 1: The police haven't been able to track these guys down

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Speaker 1: in four years, why do you feel confident? And I

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Speaker 1: want you to basically need you to convince me that

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Speaker 1: they're going to be able to track these kids down quickly.

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Speaker 1: What makes you so confident?

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Speaker 2: Well, I just back our police and we're very lucky

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Speaker 2: in our country that we've got one of the best,

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Speaker 2: most professional services in the world. I don't say that lightly.

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Speaker 2: With lots of law enforcement agencies around the world, and

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Speaker 2: we've got some of the best people and they deeply

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Speaker 2: care and take their job seriously. The professionals consumate professionals

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Speaker 2: and they'll be out there now working hard to try

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Speaker 2: and recover those children and do that in a safe way.

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Speaker 2: So you know, I just say that, you know, don't

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Speaker 2: keep people for rush to judgment. The one thing that

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Speaker 2: I would say, and what has made this difficult in

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Speaker 2: my mind, this situation, in my mind, very very difficult,

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Speaker 2: is that you've obviously got a disturbed father that has

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Speaker 2: got three children and high powered hunting rifles and the

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Speaker 2: bush and it is a very difficult situation for anyone

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Speaker 2: to deal with in terms of making sure that you

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Speaker 2: can recover those children safely. Now he is in there,

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Speaker 2: out of the picture, which means that the police have

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Speaker 2: got a really good chance and will, I have no doubt,

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Speaker 2: recover those children safely.

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Speaker 1: Mitch, thank you very much and safe travels. Back this

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Speaker 1: Mark Mitchell, police minister who's obviously over in Australia with

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Speaker 1: the Police Commissioner for the funeral of the officers over

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Speaker 1: in Australia, who have been shot in unfortunately quite similar circumstances.

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Speaker 2: For more from Heather Duplessy Allen Drive, listen live to

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