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Speaker 1: We know that there is so much happening around the

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Speaker 1: nation at the moment, particularly when it comes to the

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Speaker 1: terrible floods that we've seen in Queensland and New South

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Speaker 1: Wales and the Northern Territory. Well we've got some of

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Speaker 1: the Northern Territory Emergency Service volunteers being sent to those

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Speaker 1: flood areas to help out. And joining me in the

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Speaker 1: studio right now is the Northern Territory Emergency Services Director,

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Speaker 1: Flur O'Connor. Good morning to you, Flir.

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Speaker 2: Good morning Katie, thank you for having me this morning.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, lovely to have you in the studio. We really

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Speaker 1: appreciate your time. How many of our volunteers have we

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Speaker 1: got going into those flood affected areas.

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Speaker 2: So yesterday we deployed eight volunteers to New South Wales.

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Speaker 2: They had a bit of a long trip down there

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Speaker 2: last night. Their flight was delayed by two hours. They

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Speaker 2: arrived in tweed Heads at two am this morning. So

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Speaker 2: they're meant to be undertaking twelve hour shifts from today onwards,

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Speaker 2: but because of their long trip, they stood down until

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Speaker 2: twelve o'clock today and we'll start their duties well, so

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Speaker 2: they're coworking with wa SS volunteer team as well, so

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Speaker 2: they'll be starting those duties at twelve today.

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Speaker 1: And what type of duties are they expected to be

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Speaker 1: involved in.

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Speaker 2: Well, the team that we've deployed are storm damage teams,

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Speaker 2: so obviously with the widespread rain that New South Wales

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Speaker 2: has been experiencing since the twenty second of February, there's

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Speaker 2: been a lot of storms even as over the last

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Speaker 2: few days, so they'll be undertaking storm damage assessments and

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Speaker 2: duties that might be associated with trees down, clearing access,

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Speaker 2: assessing whether there needs to be any temporary repairs made

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Speaker 2: to a house and that might just be putting a

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Speaker 2: tarp over a hole in a roof and whatnot.

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Speaker 1: And it's so I suppose for our emergency service volunteers,

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Speaker 1: we go through these types of situations really very regularly,

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Speaker 1: and I guess we're lucky in some ways in the

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Speaker 1: territory in the sense that we're always so prepared for

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Speaker 1: terrible weather because it is something that we've got to

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Speaker 1: deal with every year, isn't it exactly.

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Speaker 2: Our volunteers are well versed in dealing with such incidents

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Speaker 2: or events. So we've got a well prepared team of

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Speaker 2: eight people. Two of them female as well. Mind you,

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Speaker 2: you're awesome. So we've got a great team that are

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Speaker 2: down there now that we'll be spending the next three

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Speaker 2: days working in hot and humid conditions. When we say

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Speaker 2: hot and humid, it's probably not the same as what

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Speaker 2: we experience here in Darwin, but you know, the conditions

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Speaker 2: aren't that great down in New South Wales.

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Speaker 1: How important do you reckon it is for for our

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Speaker 1: territory volunteers to be able to get to those other

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Speaker 1: states when something like this happens, to be able to

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Speaker 1: help out you know, well our fellow Aussies.

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Speaker 2: It's extremely important and we're very fortunate that we had

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Speaker 2: volunteers that were available to be deployed at the drop

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Speaker 2: of a hat. We only requested by New South Wales

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Speaker 2: sees on what day was it? On Wednesday? Tuesday, and

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Speaker 2: we deployed them yesterday.

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Speaker 1: So wow.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, the replaced is you know, the turnaround time in

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Speaker 2: getting people out to be deployed quite quickly. Yeah, So yeah,

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Speaker 2: they're very very good and fortunate that they were available

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Speaker 2: and also to their employers because most of our volunteers

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Speaker 2: do have a permanent job yep, that their employers were

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Speaker 2: able to release them for the time that they're being deployed.

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Speaker 1: Good on them. What fantastic territories. So I know that

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Speaker 1: all of our emergency services volunteers do a phenomenal job.

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Speaker 1: You're always on the lookout for volunteers, aren't.

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Speaker 2: You, Exactly. We've got to call out to action actually

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Speaker 2: all the time or here around. We're looking for volunteers.

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Speaker 2: At the moment on our books we have around two

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Speaker 2: hundred and forty four volunteers. We're always looking for more.

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Speaker 2: And you know, if you are interested in joining, go

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Speaker 2: on to the PFS website and there is a contact

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Speaker 2: number there that you can call if you want more

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Speaker 2: information about how to join and what we're about.

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Speaker 1: I think it's a great thing to do. And I

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Speaker 1: know that our volunteers as well, our emergency service volunteers

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Speaker 1: help out with all sorts of things around the community.

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Speaker 1: At different times. We've had them help out it run

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Speaker 1: with Dad, the Father's Day Fund run that I organize

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Speaker 1: on the track there over the years. They do a

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Speaker 1: great job and they're a huge part of the community.

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Speaker 1: On this International Women's Week, and you are actually the

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Speaker 1: Northern Territories first Emergency Services Director female director on this

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Speaker 1: international Women's Week. How important is it as well that

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Speaker 1: we have those female volunteers?

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Speaker 2: Extremely important? I mean women are you know what we're

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Speaker 2: looking for within Northern Territory Emergency Services a volunteer base

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Speaker 2: that is representative of our community. And like I mentioned,

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Speaker 2: we have two hundred and forty four volunteers. Out of

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Speaker 2: those two hundred and forty four volunteers, forty percent of

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Speaker 2: them or just shy of forty percent we have you know,

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Speaker 2: those are female. And it's extremely important that we have

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Speaker 2: a representative base. And I really like the theme of

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Speaker 2: International Women's Day which is around break the bias and

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Speaker 2: women can do many things and can do anything. So

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Speaker 2: you know, while it might sound like a you know,

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Speaker 2: volunteering for Northern Churchy Emergency Service might sound like something

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Speaker 2: that you don't think that you can do, you know what,

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Speaker 2: give us a call, ask us what you know what

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Speaker 2: we're about, and you know, I'm sure we have a

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Speaker 2: position for you and might not be operational. We have

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Speaker 2: different roles that are not always hands on. We accept

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Speaker 2: anyone and everyone and we would love to have you

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Speaker 2: volunteer with us.

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Speaker 1: Wonderful stuff, O Reckon, that's a really you know, a

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Speaker 1: really great way of looking at it, and don't think

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Speaker 1: that you can't do something. Don't ever tell the ladies

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Speaker 1: out there think that you maybe can't do something because

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Speaker 1: you maybe think it's more of a male dominated area,

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Speaker 1: because there are you know, there are so many opportunities

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Speaker 1: for us, and we've got to embrace them. Flur. I

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Speaker 1: want to ask as well, we know that cyclone season, Well,

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Speaker 1: it sort of feels like it's the build up again

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Speaker 1: at the moment, but cyclone season is still upon us

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Speaker 1: at this point in time. Are we still, you know,

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Speaker 1: having to make sure that we're prepared for anything, or

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Speaker 1: are we sort of coming towards the end of things.

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Speaker 2: Well, I'd love to say we're coming towards the end

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Speaker 2: of things, but you know, past experience, we have had

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Speaker 2: cyclones in April, so always be prepared. And yeah, I

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Speaker 2: think while we still were coming closer to the end

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Speaker 2: of our wet season, there's still the risk of a

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Speaker 2: cyclone impacting the top end in particular, So yeah, I

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Speaker 2: would say stay prepared. The dry season is coming, but

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Speaker 2: not so well away.

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Speaker 1: It feels like it could be a long way away

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Speaker 1: at this point. Flour, great to speak with you this morning.

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Speaker 1: I really appreciate your time. Thank you so much for

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Speaker 1: coming in.

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Speaker 2: Thank you so much