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Speaker 1: But as I mentioned earlier this morning in tragic news

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Speaker 1: from overnight, one person is dead and six passengers were

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Speaker 1: transferred to the Allie Springs Hospital from the scene of

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Speaker 1: a tour bus crash about five kilometers east of Hermannsburg.

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Speaker 1: The crash, as we understand it, happened late yesterday afternoon,

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Speaker 1: sending shockwaves through Central Australia. Now joining me on the

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Speaker 1: line is the CEO of Central Australian Tourism, Daniel Rochford.

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Speaker 1: Good morning to you, Daniel, Yeah.

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Speaker 2: Good morning, Katie, Good morning to.

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Speaker 1: Your listener, Daniel. This is a terribly tragic situation. What

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Speaker 1: do you know at this point.

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Speaker 2: Well, Katie, we certainly knew that this incident occurred late

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Speaker 2: yesterday afternoon. Our thoughts and prayers are obviously with the

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Speaker 2: families involved in this tragic accident, and you know, we

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Speaker 2: can only but thank the first responders who supported at

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Speaker 2: the scene yesterday. And you know, it is an unfortunate

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Speaker 2: and tragic situation and the thoughts and prayers are definitely

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Speaker 2: with all those involved at the moment.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, one hundred percent. As I say, I'm sure it

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Speaker 1: has absolutely sent shockwaves through Central Australia and particularly the

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Speaker 1: tourism industry, Daniel, do we know where the bus was traveling?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, it was a four wheel drive bus around twenty

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Speaker 2: a capacity of around twenty passengers. It was coming back

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Speaker 2: from one of our national parks back into our springs

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Speaker 2: like yesterday afternoon. I really don't have any other detail

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Speaker 2: beyond that what occurred. Obviously the matter quite appropriately is

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Speaker 2: with the Anti Police and NT work Safe at the

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Speaker 2: moment to investigate.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, our thoughts and prayers, as you said, with absolutely

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Speaker 1: everybody involved. What a terribly tough time for everyone in

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Speaker 1: Central Australia. We know in a community like Central Australia

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Speaker 1: that it is so close knit, a place where everybody

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Speaker 1: really does care about one another, and when something like

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Speaker 1: this happens, particularly within the tourism industry, I would imagine

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Speaker 1: it's really tough going.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, we're all family here and we all know one another,

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Speaker 2: and you know it's a difficult situation for everyone and

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Speaker 2: that all the families.

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Speaker 3: Involved look certainly from what I know is that the

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Speaker 3: company involved has put all the resources they have available

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Speaker 3: to support their passengers and their staff at this difficult time.

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Speaker 2: And you know that the ideas have said, is it

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Speaker 2: with the NT police and in ta work safe at

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Speaker 2: the moment.

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Speaker 1: Now, Daniel, you and I would do to speak this

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Speaker 1: morning to obviously talk about the phenomenal amount of various

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Speaker 1: things that are coming up over coming weeks, but certainly

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Speaker 1: over the coming days in Central Australia. The Think Desert

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Speaker 1: Race due to kick off in a few days time.

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Speaker 1: I've no doubt that it's all starting to bust.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, you bet you it's you know, the events is

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Speaker 2: expected to bring around ten thousand people extra people into

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Speaker 2: town and looking at many of our shops and I

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Speaker 2: was at all Worth last night. The place was packed

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Speaker 2: with people keen to get out on the track and

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Speaker 2: to be involved in Think this weekend. So it's great

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Speaker 2: to see so many people. And you know, I've talked

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Speaker 2: about over the last couple of years, you know, the

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Speaker 2: challenges we faced as a results of the pandemic, and

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Speaker 2: it's great to see visitors returning back to Central Australia.

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Speaker 1: One hundred ten thousand. How does that compare to previous years?

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Speaker 1: Is that a pretty good number, particularly post COVID.

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Speaker 2: I'm not too sure how it compares against previous years,

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Speaker 2: but it's bloody awesome in my mind, because you know,

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Speaker 2: what that sees, you know, people coming in and spending

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Speaker 2: money in our local economy, and you know, it's great

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Speaker 2: to see that influx of people in the town after

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Speaker 2: what has been a really terrible two years.

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Speaker 1: Oh it's you know, you and I have spoken on

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Speaker 1: so many occasions about the tough time that you know

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Speaker 1: that al tourism operators are obviously facing, and the tourism

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Speaker 1: industry has faced over the last couple of years, but

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Speaker 1: particularly for you guys in Central Australia. And I know

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Speaker 1: that the THINK is a wonderful event. I haven't been

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Speaker 1: for quite a large number of years, but I tell

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Speaker 1: you what, the town goes off, doesn't it, Daniel?

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Speaker 2: It does? And look at you know, tomorrow night we've

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Speaker 2: got our night market, which is kind of the start

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Speaker 2: of the whole affair, and then obviously over the weekend

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Speaker 2: we'll rev up to fever pitch levels and you know,

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Speaker 2: it's great to see so many people. And also hats

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Speaker 2: off to the organizing committee. This is a massive event

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Speaker 2: to put on and they do an amazing job putting

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Speaker 2: THINK on. It's one of many events that we have

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Speaker 2: here in Central Australia, and there's so many on the books.

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Speaker 2: Coming forward, and it's great to see some of our

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Speaker 2: iconic events like the Henley on Todd Wrigatta returning this year.

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Speaker 2: And you no better time to come and visit Central

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Speaker 2: Australia this winter.

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Speaker 1: Oh well, you know what, I think a lot of

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Speaker 1: people I don't know whether they realize how beautiful Central

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Speaker 1: Australia is over that winter period as well, because obviously

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Speaker 1: it gets very cold in the mornings and at night,

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Speaker 1: but it is glorious throughout the day.

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Speaker 2: Absolutely, you know, you could be loosely described as a

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Speaker 2: brass monkey season in the early mornings, but you know,

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Speaker 2: absolutely pleased, beautiful sunny days and a great time to

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Speaker 2: visit and get out and get amongst it. So you know,

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Speaker 2: it certainly encourages many people from the top end to

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Speaker 2: come down this winter's come and experienced Central Australia. And

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Speaker 2: you know, as we've talked before, you know we've got

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Speaker 2: many of our icons now returning. Glen Helen Resorts to

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Speaker 2: reopen this week and the newly refurbished King Creek Station

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Speaker 2: and King's Canyon resorts have come back online, so you

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Speaker 2: know we're back at full capacity again and you know,

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Speaker 2: now's that time to have that said Red Tender Holiday.

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Speaker 1: Oh absolutely. Now you and I have spoken as well

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Speaker 1: over the months about you know, about staff and some

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Speaker 1: the shortages that we're seeing right around Australia, but particularly

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Speaker 1: for us here in the Territory and in Central Australia.

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Speaker 1: How are you going with those with the staffing numbers

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Speaker 1: and that kind of stuff.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, no, it's still diabolical levels. You know, we're still

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Speaker 2: challenge as we as most of the industry is right

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Speaker 2: across the country. I guess that we have some challenges

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Speaker 2: that we need to overcome. And I certainly echo the

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Speaker 2: comments made by Alex Bruce in your text that you

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Speaker 2: read out just before okame online. You know, we do

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Speaker 2: need to see that mandate finish because there are people

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Speaker 2: here in the Northern Territory or wanting to come to

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Speaker 2: the Northern Territory to work in the tourism and hospitality

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Speaker 2: industries that just can't do so because of that mandate.

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Speaker 2: And given the circumstances that we face ourselves, that's an

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Speaker 2: important change that the government needs to do. We also

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Speaker 2: need to be as proactive as we possibly can, and

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Speaker 2: you know the government as doing some work in this space,

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Speaker 2: but we need our federal government to start looking at

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Speaker 2: increasing caps for migration into Australia, and we certainly echo

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Speaker 2: the words of the National Federal Chamber of Commerce who

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Speaker 2: wanting to see that cap increase by forty thousand people.

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Speaker 2: We have to do an amazing array of different things.

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Speaker 2: You know, we need to encourage Gray Army and retirees

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Speaker 2: to come to the Northern Territory this winter to come

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Speaker 2: and work. You know, there is no one answer here.

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Speaker 2: We need to do a series of things.

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Speaker 1: Daniel, how many staff do you reckon you need at

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Speaker 1: this point? Have you any idea or yeah?

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Speaker 2: You know, probably six months ago I remember talking with

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Speaker 2: you about needing a thousand. We're way less than that

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Speaker 2: at the moment. We're probably around five hundred staff required,

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Speaker 2: but that's still when things are at fever pitch levels

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Speaker 2: in terms of demand. You know, to get that extra

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Speaker 2: five hundred staff would be the absolute difference. And I

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Speaker 2: was only speaking to one of our iconic tour operators

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Speaker 2: this morning who was telling me that he just cannot

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Speaker 2: go to full capacity at the moment because he just

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Speaker 2: doesn't have the staff. So he's having to say no

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Speaker 2: to business just because he doesn't have the staff to

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Speaker 2: be able to meet that demand.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, gee, that makes it hard part. You know, we've

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Speaker 1: got so many wonderful businesses there in Central Australia, so

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Speaker 1: many amazing tourism operators, and you know, if they don't

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Speaker 1: have the staff to be able to fill those jobs,

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Speaker 1: it makes it really tough. But it sounds as though

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Speaker 1: there are a few levers that could be pulled to,

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Speaker 1: you know, to really try to get things moving.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, and that's certainly what we need our new federal

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Speaker 2: government to be doing to support especially internal migration into Australia.

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Speaker 2: We need to be getting rid of things like the

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Speaker 2: vaccination mandates. We need to be as proactive. The South

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Speaker 2: Australian government just recently did a ten pound pome initiative

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Speaker 2: to encourage people to come into South Australia. All these

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Speaker 2: things are great, and you know we need to be

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Speaker 2: having our government support our tourism and hospitality industries rebound.

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Speaker 2: We've faced down the darker stages in the pandemic where

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Speaker 2: we also need that support now to rebound because what

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Speaker 2: we're going to have to see is and now the

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Speaker 2: challenge is over to us. You know, we've got a

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Speaker 2: big challenge here in the northern territory to become the

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Speaker 2: forty billion dollar economy that the government is looking to do.

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Speaker 2: For us to do that, we need to overcome some

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Speaker 2: of these short term challenges and we need the help

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Speaker 2: of government to do that.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, you spot on. It is an incredibly important point

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Speaker 1: to make, and I think that it's one of those

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Speaker 1: issues at the moment that is bubbling along that unless

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Speaker 1: you own a business, or unless you are trying to

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Speaker 1: run a business and trying to actually employ people, you

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Speaker 1: probably don't realize just how pressing it is right now.

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Speaker 1: But there, you know, it's there, and it's bubbling along

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Speaker 1: and it really needs to get sorted.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, it's probably the most disheartened and disheartening thing. And

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Speaker 2: you know I've talked about it as well. Yes, this

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Speaker 2: is the second fun army after the pandemic. Is that

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Speaker 2: you know when you get a phone call after phone

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Speaker 2: call saying can I make a booking? And unfortunately the

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Speaker 2: parat it just doesn't have the room or the ability

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Speaker 2: to service that booking because they don't have the staff.

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Speaker 2: That's almost as disheartening as what it was back in

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Speaker 2: the days of the pandemic with no business. At least

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Speaker 2: there is some business and that's growing and come back online.

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Speaker 2: But we could be doing better right here right now.

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Speaker 1: Well, let's hope that we can get some more people

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Speaker 1: into the Northern Territory to fill some of those jobs.

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Speaker 1: Get people into those jobs and get everybody to Central

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Speaker 1: Australia over winter to check it out and experience the

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Speaker 1: gloriousness that is Central Australia.

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Speaker 2: And of course the best way to do that is

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Speaker 2: jump onto our website at discover at Central Australia dot com.

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Speaker 2: Great deals and experiences on there, and yeah, we'd certainly

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Speaker 2: welcome everyone from the top end to come down to

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Speaker 2: the Central Australia and get amongst it.

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Speaker 1: Oh, good on you, Daniel. It's always lovely to speak

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Speaker 1: to you. I appreciate your time this morning. I know

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Speaker 1: plenty to cover off on there, and it's been a

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Speaker 1: tough twenty four hours or so for you guys in

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Speaker 1: Central Australia. But we'll talk again in soon.

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Speaker 2: Thanks Katie, Thank you,