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Speaker 1: Three sixty with Katie Wolf thanks to Joyce Main Darwin

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Speaker 1: Homes own Stuart Highway, Berrima.

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Speaker 2: It's thirteen minutes away from eleven o'clock and we'll joining

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Speaker 2: us live in the studio right now is the CEO

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Speaker 2: of Larakia Nation, Robert Cooper.

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Speaker 3: Good morning to you, Robert.

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Speaker 1: Good morning Katie.

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Speaker 3: It's good to be back.

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Speaker 2: It's great to have you in the studio now. Last

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Speaker 2: week you and I and Michael Solo caught up. I

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Speaker 2: think it was about this time last week as well,

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Speaker 2: ahead of the forum that was being held with well

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Speaker 2: with a number of different groups and politicians of each

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Speaker 2: level of government trying to find a solution with some

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Speaker 2: of the issues that we've got at the moment in

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Speaker 2: the territory when it comes to the misuse of alcohol.

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Speaker 3: How did that forum go?

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Speaker 1: It went really well, Katie. We had round about forty

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Speaker 1: five to fifty people there. We had all three tiers

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Speaker 1: of government, we had a whole heap of the NGOs,

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Speaker 1: we had people there from the police. We even had

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Speaker 1: some traditional owners from what I turn up for a

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Speaker 1: short time to join us and to listen to the conversation.

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Speaker 1: So we came away with a series of outputs, and

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Speaker 1: we are now in the process of forming a steering

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Speaker 1: group to take the whole proposal forward.

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Speaker 2: That's fantastic that you had such a good turnout and

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Speaker 2: such a diverse turnout.

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Speaker 3: By the sounds of it. What were some of those outputs.

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Speaker 1: So the identified some of the barriers. One of the

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Speaker 1: decisions we've made is to keep the discussion around the

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Speaker 1: facility and the public domain so that those people who

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Speaker 1: don't understand it or who are initially opposed to it

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Speaker 1: get their their views and we can then have that

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Speaker 1: discussion with them before we put the proposal up to government,

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Speaker 1: so that there are no hidden agendas coming out, so

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Speaker 1: that there are the opportunities to address the problems we've identified.

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Speaker 1: The first one obviously is going to be location, where

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Speaker 1: are we going to put the facility. The second one

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Speaker 1: is the time frame and the ramp up to get

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Speaker 1: it operating, because initially we don't necessarily need a lot.

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Speaker 1: Our clients are telling us somewhere safe to sleep, an

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Speaker 1: ablution's block and someone to current their phones. And probably

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Speaker 1: the third one will be how we manage the safety

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Speaker 1: at the facility. So there's been one of the issues

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Speaker 1: raised is that it's going to allow people just to

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Speaker 1: have uncontrolled drinking in a safe space, and that's not

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Speaker 1: the issue at all. All we're looking to do is

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Speaker 1: to take what is happening in the public space now

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Speaker 1: put that into a safe space where we can start

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Speaker 1: to manage the behaviors of the people, where we can

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Speaker 1: keep everybody safe, so we can reduce the fighting, we

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Speaker 1: can reduce the domestic violence, we can keep women and

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Speaker 1: children safe, and we can then lead that into the

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Speaker 1: longer term game of how do we solve the issues

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Speaker 1: that these poor people face.

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Speaker 2: And I know that there's been a lot of discussion

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Speaker 2: about a wet camp, but to me, it doesn't sort

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Speaker 2: of sound like it's going to be a wet camp.

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Speaker 2: It sounds like it's going to be a location where,

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Speaker 2: like you said, people are able to be safe, will

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Speaker 2: they be able to have a couple of drinks there.

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Speaker 1: One of the suggestions made for the facility, and it

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Speaker 1: wasn't by me and it may well get me into

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Speaker 1: trouble with other Larikia, was that it should be called

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Speaker 1: the Larakia Sports Club, because the intention is that you

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Speaker 1: will in the same way other people tourists come to

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Speaker 1: town and go into Mitchell Street to drink. If you're

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Speaker 1: a community visitor, there isn't really anywhere that you can

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Speaker 1: go and have a drink or two or three in

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Speaker 1: a safe place. So we're looking that we will have

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Speaker 1: somewhere where yes you can come and stay u Yes

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Speaker 1: you can have a drink, but we are going to

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Speaker 1: monitor your health and you're drinking and make sure that

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Speaker 1: you keep yourself safe and you keep the people around

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Speaker 1: you safe.

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Speaker 3: Where do you reckon? This could be Robert like what location?

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Speaker 1: So we had eight separate tables at the workshop, about

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Speaker 1: six people at each table. Just on our table alone,

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Speaker 1: we came up with over twenty potential sites from out

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Speaker 1: around Marra where the short stay is, through Leanya Casarina,

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Speaker 1: We're Nolli, and to some of the other community camps

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Speaker 1: in town. And bear in mind none of this has

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Speaker 1: been raised with any of them yet, so it's all

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Speaker 1: just it's a wish list. And then the working party

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Speaker 1: will talk to Department of Infrastructure Planning about where we

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Speaker 1: could actually.

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Speaker 3: Put it and who would run it. Would it be

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Speaker 3: Larakie running it.

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Speaker 1: We will talk to the clients who will stay there

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Speaker 1: about how they would like to see it. I can

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Speaker 1: see a role for the land councils because the people

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Speaker 1: staying there are not Larakiir, but it is on Larachie country,

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Speaker 1: So clearly the Larakir will want a role because we

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Speaker 1: look after, as the custodians of the land look after

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Speaker 1: the safety and the respect issues. But there also needs

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Speaker 1: to be some involvement from people who represent the communities

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Speaker 1: that will be staying there. So I think between those

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Speaker 1: two groups and the other indos who help keep the people.

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Speaker 2: Safe, do you foresee that there could be issues out

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Speaker 2: there if you've got people coming in from lots of

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Speaker 2: different communities and sort of you know, do you think

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Speaker 2: that there could be issues out there or do you

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Speaker 2: think that it's realistically we need to get past that

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Speaker 2: and actually think about this being a solution.

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Speaker 1: There will be issues, but as you just said, we

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Speaker 1: need to be realistic and we need to look past

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Speaker 1: that to find a solution. As I said last time

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Speaker 1: I was talking to you, we cannot continue to do

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Speaker 1: for the next five years what we've been doing for

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Speaker 1: the last fifteen.

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Speaker 2: Where are things that in terms of some of the

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Speaker 2: other suggestions that maybe came forward, like this facility sounds

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Speaker 2: like it was one of the big ones, was there

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Speaker 2: other issues that were raised in other potential solutions for

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Speaker 2: some of the other concerns we've had.

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Speaker 1: Or not really don't give me going. There's been a

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Speaker 1: lot of debate recently about managing supply. Our concern is

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Speaker 1: that we are dealing with people who have addictions and

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Speaker 1: simply closing off supply from one space is going to

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Speaker 1: push them into something else. We've been hearing a story

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Speaker 1: this morning out people who can't get access to their

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Speaker 1: alcohol moving to substitute products and they are less controlled

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Speaker 1: and more toxic. We've also had a lot of discussion

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Speaker 1: this morning around the moving of people on from Mindle Beach.

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Speaker 1: So the people who have moved from Mindle have gone

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Speaker 1: to Bundilla, or to East Point, or at Caserina, or

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Speaker 1: at to Palmerston. So it's the water balloon effect.

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Speaker 2: And it's something that you and I and Michael spoke

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Speaker 2: about last week, didn't we. You know that just because

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Speaker 2: alcohol is banned from Mendele Beach doesn't mean that they're

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Speaker 2: not going to be drinking somewhere else. Tell me about this,

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Speaker 2: you know the other products that people are drinking. I

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Speaker 2: mean we quite often hear about mouthwash and and even

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Speaker 2: people maybe trying to get their hands on vanilla escence

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Speaker 2: and things like that.

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Speaker 3: Is that what you're talking about?

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Speaker 1: Cockroach bombs? What cockroach bombs?

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Speaker 3: You're telling me people are drinking cockroach bombs. They're yep, sorry, that.

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Speaker 1: Was insect repellent ricksna deodorant sniffing here bleach my goodness,

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Speaker 1: drinking drinking hand sanitizer.

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Speaker 3: Oh no, this is terrible.

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Speaker 1: It's it's an absolute shocker. Yeah, and this is these

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Speaker 1: are some of these are young people who have their

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Speaker 1: lives ahead of them, so it's a completely separate issue.

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Speaker 1: But we are now looking at how we can engage

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Speaker 1: with those kids to show them there was a bitter way,

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Speaker 1: to reconnect them with their culture and give them an

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Speaker 1: opportunity to basically do something better.

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Speaker 3: Yeah.

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Speaker 2: You know, it's interesting that you bring up that culture

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Speaker 2: discussion as well, because this is something that I was

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Speaker 2: talking to a friend of mine about off air, and

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Speaker 2: and he'd sort of, you know, he'd suggested that maybe

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Speaker 2: we do need to have in the community if we've

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Speaker 2: you know, if we've got some young some of our

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Speaker 2: young Indigenous population who maybe aren't is in touch with

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Speaker 2: their culture, is what they could be or should be

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Speaker 2: having some of those I don't know whether they be

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Speaker 2: lessons or how exactly you do it, but being able

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Speaker 2: to provide them with some of that connection to their

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Speaker 2: culture to hopefully really instill that respect and culture within

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Speaker 2: them as well for not only their elders but the

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Speaker 2: rest of the community.

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Speaker 1: Absolutely, we are currently talking to anti families about the

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Speaker 1: two different strategies. One being intensive family support, so where

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Speaker 1: we have kids in care, working with those families to

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Speaker 1: make sure that those kids do reconnect with your culture.

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Speaker 1: And the other one is duplicating the Palmerston Drop and

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Speaker 1: Center into the northern suburbs so that the kids who

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Speaker 1: are out there get the same opportunity. And part of

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Speaker 1: the drop and Center is that reconnection with culture. That's

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Speaker 1: not my responsibility to talk about because I'm not very chia,

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Speaker 1: but I'm certainly making sure that my staff are enabled

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Speaker 1: to get that level of involvement and get those kids reconnected.

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Speaker 2: Robert, can I just go back to that discussion about

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Speaker 2: those cockroach bombs. Clearly I haven't let one off for

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Speaker 2: a while if I thought someone was drinking them rather

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Speaker 2: than inhaling. But how do you like, what's the you know,

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Speaker 2: how do you know that that is that that's happening.

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Speaker 1: First hand information from somebody who's working with a child

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Speaker 1: who is so addicted that they will do whatever they

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Speaker 1: can to get a fix. Now, I'm not saying this

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Speaker 1: is widespread. This is one instance that I've heard of, ye,

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Speaker 1: but the comment was made in that meeting that it

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Speaker 1: brings back memories of ten to fifteen years ago when

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Speaker 1: people came in across the way border and they couldn't

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Speaker 1: get alcohol, so they were resorting to things like cockroach bombs.

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Speaker 1: That's right, because deodorant wasn't on the shelves in the supermarket.

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Speaker 2: And we've spoken about you know, chroming in the community

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Speaker 2: out in koramaor is actually where we'd spoken about it previously.

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Speaker 2: I know that you and I have discussed it. I

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Speaker 2: can't remember with it was all fair or on air,

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Speaker 2: but I've certainly spoken to the local member Nri are

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Speaker 2: Kish about some of the concerns in Karama around that

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Speaker 2: criming and people utilizing those cans.

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Speaker 3: Of reck Zoner in the wrong way.

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Speaker 2: To me, it's absolutely mortifying then to think that there

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Speaker 2: could be young people, you know, getting their hands on

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Speaker 2: things like the insect spray and hand sanitizer.

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Speaker 1: It's a really it's a complex problem. What we're seeing

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Speaker 1: in the abuse of the volatile substances is the tip

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Speaker 1: of the iceberg. What we don't know is what the

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Speaker 1: level of trauma is that's driven them to that point.

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Speaker 1: And for me, that's the long game. It's addressing those

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Speaker 1: issues so that the kids don't feel the need to

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Speaker 1: go to those links, and if they do, it's simply

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Speaker 1: an experiment and then it passes over. The last thing

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Speaker 1: we want is kids who grew up with that level

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Speaker 1: of addiction as they mature.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, Robert Cooper, just quickly.

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Speaker 3: We are fast running out of time. But where to

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Speaker 3: from here? With some of the plans and some of

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Speaker 3: the outputs from the.

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Speaker 1: Forum, we're too I am in the process of appointing

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Speaker 1: our business development manager who is going to take on

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Speaker 1: accountability within the Laroche Nation for all of these strategies

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Speaker 1: that deal with lifestyle outcome improvements for young people and

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Speaker 1: for community visitors.

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Speaker 2: Well, Robert Cooper, it's always good to catch up with you.

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Speaker 2: I really appreciate your time. Thanks for chatting with me today.

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00:11:25,880 --> 00:11:26,559
Speaker 1: Thanks Cotie