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Speaker 1: Now joining me on the line is the principle of

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Speaker 1: you bring your school. Gavin Morris, Good morning to you, Gavin.

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Speaker 2: Good morning morning listeners.

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Speaker 1: Gavin, you were messaging us yesterday afternoon and letting us

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Speaker 1: know what was going on in Alice Springs. I've got

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Speaker 1: to tell you, it wasn't until I saw that vision

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Speaker 1: on the action for Alice page that I could truly

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Speaker 1: comprehend how bad things were.

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Speaker 2: It's something I've never experienced before. And I was only

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Speaker 2: on yours or your show twenty four hours ago saying that,

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Speaker 2: you know, these is the sort of stuff I've never

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Speaker 2: seen in a quarter of a century of work on

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Speaker 2: the frontline in education in Aboriginal communities. And yesterday afternoon

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Speaker 2: and last night both better than that, you know, it

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Speaker 2: was absolutely scenes that I've never experienced before. Fifty or

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Speaker 2: sixty people running through taking hostage of the CBD of

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Speaker 2: Ala Springs, or weaponized chasing security card guards into into businesses,

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Speaker 2: and people literally fleeing for their lives. And that's well

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Speaker 2: into town camps last night, and we were working myself

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Speaker 2: and staff members right across deep into the night. Two

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Speaker 2: three o'clock this morning, we're receiving phone calls from staff

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Speaker 2: members saying someone needs to come and get me out,

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Speaker 2: and we're hiding staff where, we're getting staff out of

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Speaker 2: the town camp, particularly the town camp and Hidden Valley,

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Speaker 2: which is a real hot spot, and trying to get

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Speaker 2: them out of harm's way. It's absolute anarchy.

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Speaker 1: Kevin, What needs to happen right now? What do you

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Speaker 1: think needs to happen to try to restore a level

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Speaker 1: of safety for everybody.

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Speaker 2: Absolutely, this is way beyond the capacity of the Northern

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Speaker 2: Territory government and police with the numbers that we've got

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Speaker 2: on the ground. The AFP needs to be brought in immediately.

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Speaker 2: I mean, I'm a principal of three hundred and fifty

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Speaker 2: Aboriginal kids who come from the town camps, all of them.

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Speaker 2: We we've mapped our families and who were involved with

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Speaker 2: the payback and who's likely to be public payback today

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Speaker 2: and tomorrow, and basically every single one of the three

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Speaker 2: hundred and fifty kids is somehow implicated. We know that

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Speaker 2: we had kids in Humsway last night. We know that

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Speaker 2: we had kids watching watching the violence, and then coming

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Speaker 2: to school today. I met with all of my staff.

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Speaker 2: I have seventy full time staff who majority of which

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Speaker 2: comes from the town camp. And I said to them,

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Speaker 2: I was the heart was on my sleeve. I said

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Speaker 2: to them, I cannot promise you this is a safe

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Speaker 2: workplace today. My duty of care is to provide you

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Speaker 2: a safe workplace to come and enjoy your work, but

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Speaker 2: more importantly, be safe at work. And today I cannot

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Speaker 2: guarantee you of that. And if you feel that your

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Speaker 2: safety is at risk and he don't feel comfortable to

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Speaker 2: be here, then come and see me and we can

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Speaker 2: work on leave provisions. We've got strategies in place at

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Speaker 2: the school. We've got security guards at the front of

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Speaker 2: the gates. We're very concerned that the payback and what

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Speaker 2: you saw running through the hour of spring CBD yesterday afternoon,

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Speaker 2: and that could have happened anywhere. And given who we are,

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Speaker 2: the amount of Aboriginal people we have from the town camp,

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Speaker 2: family members of those kids who were involved with the

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Speaker 2: car accident, family members of the driver of those cars,

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Speaker 2: family members of those girls that were involved in that

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Speaker 2: horrific vision from the other day. They all work and

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Speaker 2: live here and always got a very very concerned workforce

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Speaker 2: in community.

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Speaker 1: So, Gavinor, you worried that things could potentially be worse

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Speaker 1: over the next twenty four hours.

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Speaker 2: There is no question at all. When I met with

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Speaker 2: our Aboriginal staff this morning at seven am, there is

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Speaker 2: no question that this is that this will continue and escalate.

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Speaker 2: You just have to look at some of the Facebook

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Speaker 2: messages which are flying around on social media. This is

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Speaker 2: by no means over. I mean, potentially it was the

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Speaker 2: ray last night that sort of well, whatever was going

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Speaker 2: to happen last night, But let's be clear, it was

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Speaker 2: the mob that stopped the fighting. It wasn't the police

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Speaker 2: that stopped the mob. So at the moment, our community

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Speaker 2: is taken hostage by an absolutely lawless mob who are

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Speaker 2: out of control. I'm yet to hear from any of

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Speaker 2: the major traditional owners and there a tipper and you

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Speaker 2: know there should be calls from the AFP to come

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Speaker 2: in and take over. There need to be accountability from

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Speaker 2: the traditional owners here as well. Around right, this is

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Speaker 2: central arnder Land. If you aren't Central Arrander and you're

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Speaker 2: causing this, you need to be removed.

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Speaker 1: Gavin Mate, I am at a loss for you guys.

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Speaker 1: I don't know if you heard about fifteen minutes ago

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Speaker 1: or maybe twenty minutes ago, we spoke to the Chief

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Speaker 1: Minister of the Northern Territory. Did you happen to hear

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Speaker 1: that interview?

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Speaker 2: I did, yes, I have y.

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Speaker 1: Do you feel confident that the government's got this thing

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Speaker 1: under control?

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Speaker 2: Or twenty an AFL team less of police officers in

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Speaker 2: addition to what's already here, and by the sound of it,

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Speaker 2: many of those officers we get there anyway. You know,

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Speaker 2: with all due respect, that's being in the ocean, absolute anarchy.

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Speaker 2: We have been taken hostage and when the bob decided

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Speaker 2: they want to start again, that's when it will start again.

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Speaker 2: There is no control. You can feel the tension in

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Speaker 2: the air. You can feel it with our six and

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Speaker 2: seven year old students who waitness last night. You walk

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Speaker 2: through the community, it's a tinder box ready to explode.

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Speaker 2: And you know, I absolutely feel for the Northern Territory

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Speaker 2: Police who are doing that. Beats work yesterday where we

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Speaker 2: thought one or two police officers were twenty or thirty

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Speaker 2: people that they were dealing with running through, smashing cars,

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Speaker 2: jumping on top of vehicle, chasing patrons through the CBD

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Speaker 2: And we're absolutely concerned and we're not trying to sensatialize it.

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Speaker 2: We've got strategies in place for lockdown procedures today Yeprenia School,

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Speaker 2: we're working on a moment's notice. On a moment's notice,

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Speaker 2: what could happen if the payback comes in the gates

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Speaker 2: of yourthrena like we went through the gates for the

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Speaker 2: CBD yesterday, right.

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Speaker 1: I mean, that's pretty frightening for you when you talk

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Speaker 1: like you literally just said you've got six and seven

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Speaker 1: year old kids you know that are there. That's incredibly

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Speaker 1: scary stuff.

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Speaker 2: I've got duty of care from students from preschool all

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Speaker 2: the way through the year twelve and all the staff,

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Speaker 2: and I'm responsible for their safety and it's not enough

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Speaker 2: for things to happen and they look back and go, well,

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Speaker 2: it was too hard or we didn't have enough resources,

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Speaker 2: or we should have done more. If things go south

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Speaker 2: and I had an opportunity to get it right and

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Speaker 2: I miss it, then I'm sure be hard responsible. And

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Speaker 2: I didn't get much sleeve last night, Katie. I was

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Speaker 2: moving staff members out of rule games and hiding them

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Speaker 2: away in accommodation facilities in Oil Springs. Family member calling up,

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Speaker 2: fleeing for their lives, begging to be for help and

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Speaker 2: assistance because you know they're the next one on the

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Speaker 2: list will payback. And we know for sure, Katie, we

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Speaker 2: know absolutely, for sure that this is not over by

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Speaker 2: a long shot.

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Speaker 1: Kevin, what is your message to the Chief Minister and

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Speaker 1: the Prime Minister this morning?

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Speaker 2: This is beyond this is beyond acceptable. We need the

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Speaker 2: strongest assistant immediately. That needs to come from the federal government. Well,

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Speaker 2: let's get it from a federal government. It's only a

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Speaker 2: matter of time until until there's another debt, you say,

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Speaker 2: two in the last fortnight. And we've been saying this

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Speaker 2: now for quite a while, but what we're seeing now

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Speaker 2: is a manifestation. What we've been dreading is actually happening.

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Speaker 2: My call out to Chief Minister, Evil Law and the

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Speaker 2: Prime Minister is this. This is a community in absolute

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Speaker 2: crisis that's been taken hostage by the mob, and when

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Speaker 2: the mob think it's time to start again, this will

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Speaker 2: reopen and the tension, the feeling community I'll never experience

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Speaker 2: anything like it, and we need assistance urgently as of today.

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Speaker 1: Gavin Morris made I feel for you guys. I feel

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Speaker 1: for everybody in the community today, Like I don't know

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Speaker 1: what to say. It's horrible, it's horrible what you're all experiencing.

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Speaker 1: I'll do my best to try to keep pushing for you,

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Speaker 1: to try to keep pushing for you guys to get

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Speaker 1: some level of safety. But we're thinking of you all today.

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Speaker 2: Thank you, And you've been a great advocate Katie, and

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Speaker 2: really appreciate the work that you do. And let's let's

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Speaker 2: be honest. You know, let's be clear. This is this

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Speaker 2: is Days like today aren't nice, but days like today

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Speaker 2: are the reasons why I'm in a position that I'm in.

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Speaker 2: And you need to step up and step in and

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Speaker 2: advocate for your community and keep them safe and do

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Speaker 2: what's right. And if you don't want to do that work,

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Speaker 2: well then bager off and let someone else do it.

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Speaker 2: And that philosophy needs to be applied right across all

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Speaker 2: service delivery, all program delivery, right across Central Australia. Otherwise

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Speaker 2: this conversation will not change.

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Speaker 1: You are spot on, doctor Gavin Morris. You bring your

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Speaker 1: school principle. We really appreciate your time today. Please stay

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Speaker 1: safe and I hope you know everybody in the community

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Speaker 1: is able to stay safe.

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Speaker 2: Thanks Katie, and good morning.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, thank you