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Speaker 1: Earlier this week we spoke to Long Term Territory and

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Speaker 1: Bead about rockspand thrown at one of his trucks on

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Speaker 1: Monday night outside Catherine. That rock shattered the windscreen of

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Speaker 1: the truck, with the shattered glass all over the cabin

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Speaker 1: of the truck. It was a dangerous situation and we've

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Speaker 1: heard that it is far from isolated. We then spoke

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Speaker 1: to the Northern Territory Police yesterday they confirmed there'd been

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Speaker 1: eleven incidents over the last couple of weeks. Now joining

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Speaker 1: me on the line is Nick. He's the manager of

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Speaker 1: Road Trains of Australia. Nick Verka is his name.

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Speaker 2: Good morning Nick, Morning Catty, how are you?

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Speaker 1: Yeah?

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Speaker 3: Really good mate, Thanks for joining us this morning.

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Speaker 1: Nick. I know this issue with rocksband thrown, it's far

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Speaker 1: from isolated, is it Isn't that?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, it happens through It happens more often than you think. Obviously,

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Speaker 2: we haven't had an incident as as bad as beads.

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Speaker 2: You know, I've seen the photos. We've had rocks thrown,

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Speaker 2: a truck's going through Catherine, Tane Creek, Alice Springs and

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Speaker 2: you know you do all the right things. Ring the ring,

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Speaker 2: the police, and I understand everyone's busy, but you know

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Speaker 2: we never hear back and it's you know, it's generally

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Speaker 2: not time. So you've got you've got kids who are

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Speaker 2: board and that's where it comes from.

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Speaker 1: And it's it's so dangerous. I mean, you'd messaged me

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Speaker 1: earlier in the week and you said that you guys

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Speaker 1: are transporting livestock as well, which brings a whole other

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Speaker 1: element to it.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, business is is livestock transport. So you know you've

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Speaker 2: not only got you know, he's throwing rocks at trucks,

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Speaker 2: and and you know we've got dints inside of prime murders.

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Speaker 2: And then obviously all they're not the best aim so

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Speaker 2: they'd be probably hitting the hitting the cargo in the

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Speaker 2: back as well, which is which is disgraceful.

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Speaker 3: It is disgraceful. And I mean there's like, there's so many.

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Speaker 1: Aspects to this that there'll be firing people up. I

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Speaker 1: think listening this morning, you know, you think to yourself,

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Speaker 1: you're talking about kids. I don't understand how anyone thinks

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Speaker 1: it's fun to throw rocks at a vehicle, at a truck,

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Speaker 1: no matter you know who it is or what's going on.

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Speaker 1: But you know, when you're driving and you're you're transporting

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Speaker 1: something like livestock, we're like, we're talking massive vehicles here,

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Speaker 1: aren't we.

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Speaker 2: Oh yeah, you know when we're loader, we're one hundred

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Speaker 2: and one hundred and thirty tons, So you know, you've

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Speaker 2: you've got a big weight and you know, driver's got

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Speaker 2: a big responsibility. And also it's not just that you know,

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Speaker 2: our drivers, our trucks are set up, they live in them,

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Speaker 2: so that's their home. You know, they leave they leave

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Speaker 2: here at Nunamar or leave at Catherine from the depot.

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Speaker 2: Some of them don't come home for three months, two months,

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Speaker 2: just depends on where the work goes. So it's not

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Speaker 2: only you know, and the drivers look after their look

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Speaker 2: after their machinery. So so it's you know, it's not

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Speaker 2: just it's not just throwing stones. Potentially, obviously the greater

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Speaker 2: at risk is that this can be a catastrophic accident.

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Speaker 2: So you know, the rock comes through a side window

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Speaker 2: and hits the driver, Well, and you're moving, doesn't mean

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Speaker 2: if you're going forty or if you're doing one hundred

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Speaker 2: and that driver is injured, well there's going to be

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Speaker 2: there's going to be drama.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, Nick, tell me, I mean you touched on this before.

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Speaker 1: You've reported incidents to police, but you've not had follow up.

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Speaker 2: No, I haven't had any follow up. No, I've of

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Speaker 2: each time the boys ring me in, let me know,

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Speaker 2: I ring straight away.

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Speaker 1: Yep.

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Speaker 2: And you know your system's under pressure. We all know that.

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Speaker 2: But surely there'll be a note somewhere. You get given,

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Speaker 2: you get given the file number, so you just just

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Speaker 2: wonder why, wonder why I don't even hear you know,

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Speaker 2: just be nice to just get a return call.

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Speaker 3: Absolutely, tell me Nick.

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Speaker 1: For you guys in recent weeks, obviously we spoke to

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Speaker 1: bed the police. Have seed there was eleven incidents over

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Speaker 1: the last couple of weeks. Have your like, Have your

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Speaker 1: drivers over the last couple of weeks had rocks thrown

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Speaker 1: at them outside.

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Speaker 2: Of Catherine yeatting Catherine, We have them actually thrown at

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Speaker 2: us in the main street in seat of I'm not

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Speaker 2: sure if you're familiar with Catherine, but in the main

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Speaker 2: street you've got there's the old service station in the

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Speaker 2: middle on the left hand side of heading north at

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Speaker 2: the coffee club. We had we had two trucks go

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Speaker 2: through there the other night who had rocks train at them.

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Speaker 2: If that was in Catherine, then about similar time in

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Speaker 2: TenneT Creek the truck was going through TenneT Creek North

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Speaker 2: and just on the north side of town he got

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Speaker 2: rocked as well. But it's not isolated to those three

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Speaker 2: towns either, Like Creek fitture A Crossing we have Trump

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Speaker 2: we have troubled there as well. So it's all what's

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Speaker 2: the solution. I don't know.

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Speaker 3: I don't know, I believen.

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Speaker 1: Yesterday though, when we were speaking to Louise Blato about

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Speaker 1: the issue, she said, you know, Katie, is it getting

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Speaker 1: to the point where they're going to need a police

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Speaker 1: aescort or a security escort to get you know, in

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Speaker 1: and out of Catherine.

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Speaker 3: Like we're talking about our.

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Speaker 1: Main sort of freight, whether it's lives, whether it's other freight,

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Speaker 1: you know, and not only like, not only that, not

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Speaker 1: only the transportation and the logistics of getting those things

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Speaker 1: around Australia, but then like you've rightly touched on the

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Speaker 1: safety of those drivers and it's your livelihood then, you know,

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Speaker 1: and if your truck gets damaged, I can't even begin

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Speaker 1: to imagine the impact, the flow on impact that that

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Speaker 1: has in so many ways.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I don't think you know, obviously escorts and stuff.

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Speaker 2: I think the core, the core problem is that you've

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Speaker 2: got kids in towns and the board. So it has

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Speaker 2: to come back to, you know, the core issue. And

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Speaker 2: you know, yes, picking up a rock and throwing a rock,

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Speaker 2: you know, the perpetrator should be dealt with, but there

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Speaker 2: is there's more behind that. So you've got the core problem,

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Speaker 2: isn't The core problem is the kids throwing rocks. It's

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Speaker 2: why they do it because they've got the board during

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Speaker 2: the day and then no time they you know, to

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Speaker 2: get a kick out of it, not understanding the ramification.

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Speaker 2: So I think I think, you know, there's got to

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Speaker 2: be a look into certain departments and where you know,

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Speaker 2: there's all these different community patrol groups and corporations and

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Speaker 2: where a lot of money goes to. I just want

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Speaker 2: to where is that money being well spent in those

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Speaker 2: areas and making sure that eventually these kids led on

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Speaker 2: the right path.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, good point.

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Speaker 2: If kids are board at home, or they're not safe

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Speaker 2: at home, or they're not going to go home, so

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Speaker 2: so then yeah, I think I think it's got to

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Speaker 2: be looked beyond just throwing the rocks. It's going to

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Speaker 2: be it's going to be further back.

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Speaker 1: No, I think it's a good point Nick, Before I

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Speaker 1: let you go, mate, we've been talking quite a bit

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Speaker 1: over the recent days and I know the NT News

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Speaker 1: has been covering this as part of their Bush summit.

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Speaker 1: But the state of some of the roads around the place,

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Speaker 1: some of those highways, how are things looking from your perspective?

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Speaker 2: Well, if you want the truth, the roads a ship house.

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Speaker 2: Excuse my language, but there is twenty years ago you

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Speaker 2: drive into the Northern Territory and you had some of

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Speaker 2: the best roads in Australia and today some of the

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Speaker 2: roads that we drive on, you know, as a business,

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Speaker 2: just for the Northern Territory, we pay close to seven

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Speaker 2: thousand dollars a year registration and you know that's to

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Speaker 2: have and that's you know, road worthy trucks and trailers

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Speaker 2: and all the gear that comes with it. But the

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Speaker 2: roads that we drive on are not roadworthy. So for

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Speaker 2: our damage trucks and trailers, should we be sending invoices

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Speaker 2: to you know, to the roads department to fix a

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Speaker 2: gear that gets broken because of their roads. But there's

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Speaker 2: there's roads that we use which are critical to to

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Speaker 2: the beef industry. Tablelands Highway, the Buchanan Highway, Stuart Highway

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Speaker 2: in parts, the Victoria Highway in parts, all these key

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Speaker 2: roads which which which link the cattle travel on to

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Speaker 2: get the market, some of them. At the moment, I've

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Speaker 2: actually had trucks loads this morning which were meant to

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Speaker 2: go from Top Springs across the Duma and then onto

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Speaker 2: onto Queensland. We've had to come around by a castine,

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Speaker 2: which is it puts an extra four and a klometer

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Speaker 2: them on the trip. Because the road, the road between

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Speaker 2: Top Springs and d Mar you know, informally known in

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Speaker 2: the transport groups, is called the Maringai. Well it's it's

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Speaker 2: it's on the verge of being impassible. Wow. The cost

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Speaker 2: of the cost of us going across there and and

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Speaker 2: the damage it causes to our gears, it's better to

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Speaker 2: go around. And that's terrible shame, which obviously had to

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Speaker 2: flow and effect to our customers have to pay more

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Speaker 2: because we charged by the kilometer. There's a flow and

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Speaker 2: effect for that.

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Speaker 1: Yeah. Look, I mean that's like, that's pretty terrible to hear.

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Speaker 1: And then, like you said, four hundred extra k's onto

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Speaker 1: each and the flow on I mean, what is your

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Speaker 1: message for the nt and the federal governments on these roads, well.

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Speaker 2: The message'll be to come and have a look. You know,

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Speaker 2: it's all, it's all. It's all good sitting in town

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Speaker 2: and making decisions on maps. But I think you're going

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Speaker 2: to come out and have a look with industry and

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Speaker 2: get us out there with you, and we'll show you.

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Speaker 2: You know, there's a lot of talk at the moment

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Speaker 2: about chest beating about you know, stealing the tantamine, stealing

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Speaker 2: the Plenty Highway and all these other roads, which is great,

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Speaker 2: that's that's long term, fantastic, But how about we fix

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Speaker 2: what we've got first, and you know we're just there's

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Speaker 2: band aid solutions. You know. The the running joke in

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Speaker 2: the transport industries they put these little triangle signs up

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Speaker 2: next to where there's a pothole, and that triangle sit

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Speaker 2: there for twelve or eight eight months before they come

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Speaker 2: and repair the road. Wow, the NTG just gone past

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Speaker 2: again to fix another pothole. So it's got to.

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Speaker 3: Get it sorted. There's got to be sous.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, and it's not just for what it's not just not

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Speaker 2: just lifet or trucks. It's all trucks. These machines we

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Speaker 2: drive on the road worth a lot of money and

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Speaker 2: we're self destructing going across some of these roads and

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Speaker 2: no one, no one gives us a hand to pay

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Speaker 2: for the repairs. But we're expected to have roadworthy gears,

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Speaker 2: so you know, it's a bit of a catch, you know. Yeah,

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Speaker 2: it's an odd.

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Speaker 1: One, it is, well, Nick, mate, I really appreciate you

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Speaker 1: having a chat to us, so I think it gives

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Speaker 1: people a bit of perspective as well. And you know,

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Speaker 1: for those of us that aren't traveling those roads every day,

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Speaker 1: we've got no idea. So I think that message is

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Speaker 1: really actually a really good one, even to our police.

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Speaker 3: If you get out there, go out there with you guys.

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Speaker 1: And have a look and see what it is actually like,

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Speaker 1: well it gives them a much better understanding of what

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Speaker 1: work is required.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, exactly. I think he's just think through is

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Speaker 2: getting with us or jumping the truck with us, or

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Speaker 2: jumping the ut and go for the look. It's you know,

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Speaker 2: it's pretty it's pretty.

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Speaker 3: Ordinary, Nick, Really good to talk to you this morning, mate.

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Speaker 3: Thank you very much for your.

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Speaker 2: Time, no worries at all, Thanks for having me.

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Speaker 1: Thank you.

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Speaker 3: We'll talk again. Soon