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Speaker 1: Joining me on the line right now is a member

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Speaker 1: for Braklan, Joshua Burgoing good morning to you.

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Speaker 2: Josh, Good morning, can Josh.

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Speaker 1: How are people in Ellice Springs feeling this morning?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, just sat up Coty. I think everyone in the

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Speaker 2: community has had enough. I've spent my entime morning basically

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Speaker 2: just walking around either speaking with people or speaking to media.

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Speaker 2: In regards to what occurred last night, I think I

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Speaker 2: think it all really happened obviously, when we got a

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Speaker 2: report this morning from police that there was a vehicle

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Speaker 2: driving dangerously in our CBD last night. It was targeting

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Speaker 2: some of the marked police vehicles, so driving at them

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Speaker 2: head on, and police then basically issued a directive to

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Speaker 2: the public to avoid the CBD in the early hours

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Speaker 2: of this morning. So very very sad day for Olers

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Speaker 2: Springs when you know, people are basically told to stay

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Speaker 2: away from the CBD because it's too dangerous. And I

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Speaker 2: think that really just highlights the position we're now in

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Speaker 2: where our CBD at night is not safe for the

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Speaker 2: public and police police are basically advising people of that.

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Speaker 1: Yeah. Well, and we did speak to Martin Dole a

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Speaker 1: little while ago, the Assistant Commissioner for the Southern region,

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Speaker 1: and he had said that there are enough police. I'd

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Speaker 1: ask whether there'd be a surge to the workforce or

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Speaker 1: whether there was going to be the terg or anybody

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Speaker 1: sent to Central Australia. He said that there wouldn't be.

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Speaker 1: Do you think that's good enough, Josh.

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Speaker 2: Well, let's be really clear here. The police are doing

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Speaker 2: their absolute best, but they're also in a tough position

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Speaker 2: where their boss is the minister. You know, they have

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Speaker 2: to answer to them at the end of the day

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Speaker 2: when there's a situation where kids are stealing vehicles and

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Speaker 2: driving them around our CBD, and the police are having

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Speaker 2: a pullback for their own safety and for the community

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Speaker 2: safety because if one of those vehicles was to plow

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Speaker 2: into a group of people or to crash whilst it

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Speaker 2: was being pursued by a police vehicle, those classes are

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Speaker 2: death in custody. So we definitely need more resources down

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Speaker 2: here to ensure the police are being properly resourced and supported.

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Speaker 2: But it's more than that. You spoke about the justice

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Speaker 2: system and how it's just failing as well. Right now.

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Speaker 2: Five of those young people that were driving dangerously around

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Speaker 2: the CBD last night, three of them were returned home.

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Speaker 2: Now that's police that are telling us that three will

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Speaker 2: return home after driving a car radically around the CBD

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Speaker 2: last night. Now those three could go out again tonight

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Speaker 2: and nick another vehicle for all window. And that maybe

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Speaker 2: what's been occurring all this week with the amount of

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Speaker 2: vehicles red seen stolen. And I don't know whether you

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Speaker 2: spoke to anyone after we had five vehicles stolen from Daffa,

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Speaker 2: our drug and Alcohol services down here, but this week

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Speaker 2: has really just been a tipping point where the Minister

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Speaker 2: for Territory, Families and Police has to choose is she

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Speaker 2: going to support our police or is she going to

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Speaker 2: support these young criminals and allow them to get away

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Speaker 2: with this absolutely consequence free, Because that's what's happening right now.

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Speaker 1: Josh. We asked Tourism Central Australia this earlier this morning.

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Speaker 1: Is Ellie Springs in a state of emergency?

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Speaker 2: Well, that's exactly what I'm calling it. You know, we've

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Speaker 2: known this has been a crisis for a long time.

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Speaker 2: But when now at a point we've had someone killed

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Speaker 2: in our community already from a stolen motor vehicle, it's

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Speaker 2: not a matter of if that happens again it's a

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Speaker 2: matter of when and when we have these events occurring

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Speaker 2: nightly in our community where police are having to pull

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Speaker 2: back and allow young offenders to drive vehicles dangerously around

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Speaker 2: our CBD. I just don't know where this ends, Katie.

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Speaker 2: I do not know where this ends. And we need

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Speaker 2: to take control of our streets. We've heard Tourism Central

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Speaker 2: Australia say that on many occasions the government, the Labor government,

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Speaker 2: lost control of the streets of Alice Springs and I

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Speaker 2: think when we look at the videos that are posted

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Speaker 2: online and we see everything that's happening, it really just

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Speaker 2: leaves everyone in this town feeling sick because where does

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Speaker 2: it end? Where does it end? And meanwhile, I haven't

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Speaker 2: heard boo from the Territory Families and police Minister. I

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Speaker 2: don't know. I think you had the Chief Ministry this morning.

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Speaker 2: But it's the same line, old lines every time. People

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Speaker 2: know our springs are sick of it and we need

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Speaker 2: something to happen.

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Speaker 1: Well, it's not only the people of Alice Springs, people

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Speaker 1: right across the board are sick of it. But you

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Speaker 1: know you've also like we'd also spoken yesterday to a

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Speaker 1: tourism operator Patrick who told us about how, you know,

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Speaker 1: driving the bus back into Alice Springs and having those

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Speaker 1: those rocks hurled at the bus while there's tourists still inside.

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Speaker 1: We've then spoken to Sushira from Kota who told us

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Speaker 1: that seniors don't feel safe not only in Alice but

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Speaker 1: in the top end as well.

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Speaker 2: Enough enough, absolutely enough enough. And I visited one of

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Speaker 2: those elderly people who's been mentioned in the media recently.

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Speaker 2: I went around and sat with her so she could

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Speaker 2: feel safe enough just to go outside and listen to

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Speaker 2: the radio and enjoy your guarden, which is something that

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Speaker 2: you know she used to do every day. And she's

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Speaker 2: felt extremely unsafe recently because of repeated unlawful entries into

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Speaker 2: our own home. So this is what communities dealing with

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Speaker 2: we need. We just need a response from this government,

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Speaker 2: you know, absolutely. I think you even said before we

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Speaker 2: need additional police resources. You spoke about the TIG. That's

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Speaker 2: just an additional police resource. We need this to be

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Speaker 2: treated like a COVID response. They pulled out all the

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Speaker 2: stops when COVID came. Well, right now, this is an

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Speaker 2: emergency as well, and we need a response. Just ignoring

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Speaker 2: it and hoping it's going to go away is not

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Speaker 2: working down here in our springs, and I often talk

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Speaker 2: about the resourcing. When I walk around Darwin late at night,

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Speaker 2: I see a golf buggy with security being driven around constantly.

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Speaker 2: We know about the security patrols out in Malac and Grama.

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Speaker 2: At the end of the day, I would really just

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Speaker 2: love to see increase police resources because I think police

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Speaker 2: are the best placed organization and people to deal with this.

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Speaker 2: They just need to back up from the government and

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Speaker 2: the youth justice space.

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Speaker 1: And the tough part is, you know, it feels as though,

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Speaker 1: and please correct me if I'm wrong, but it feels

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Speaker 1: as though Ella Springs at the moment, even if you

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Speaker 1: had additional security around the place. You know, if you've

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Speaker 1: got kids that are then allegedly trying to ram a

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Speaker 1: marked police car, what are they going to do to security?

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Speaker 2: Well, this is exactly right, and I think we need

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Speaker 2: to realize a lot of these young people are getting

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Speaker 2: off when they do go before court because the prosecutors

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Speaker 2: cannot prove that they knew what they were doing wrong

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Speaker 2: was wrong. What's happened in our Springs is that our

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Speaker 2: local radio station was targeted a few nights ago. An

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Speaker 2: alarm went off and the offenders left. They've now gone

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Speaker 2: back to the same premises, smashed the alarm so it

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Speaker 2: stopped going off, broken in, stolen a vehicle and driven

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Speaker 2: around dangerously. These young people know exactly what they're doing

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Speaker 2: and they're doing it repeatedly. And that's what I'm really

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Speaker 2: really worried about, is that we have young people now,

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Speaker 2: because there have been no consequences, think they can act

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Speaker 2: with impunity. That's where we need to really be driving

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Speaker 2: this message home to the government is that the current

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Speaker 2: youth justice space, which they made huge changes to in

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Speaker 2: twenty nineteen, is failing our community. They need to seriously

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Speaker 2: look at that and look at rolling back some of

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Speaker 2: the changes they've made so that police have the necessary

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Speaker 2: laws in place to back them up, because they're arresting

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Speaker 2: in a lot of these cases in young offenders, but

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Speaker 2: they're getting away scot free.

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Speaker 1: Before I let you go, Josh, ten vehicles over the

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Speaker 1: weekend stolen in Alice is what Martin Dole had told us.

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Speaker 1: Three of those overnight. Have you spoken to any of

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Speaker 1: those people who had their cars stolen? I mean, what

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Speaker 1: are they saying to you right now?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, obviously when you speak to the CEO of DASA

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Speaker 2: here in Ala Springs, and I just absolutely absolutely gutted

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Speaker 2: because they provide a sobering up shelter as well as

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Speaker 2: outreach services. Their community barbecue was attached to one of

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Speaker 2: the vehicles that was stolen, and I don't know whether

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Speaker 2: that's still outstanding. It was at the time when I

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Speaker 2: last doneheard from Mellowy's page there at Data. So this

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Speaker 2: is these are community organization that have just been absolutely

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Speaker 2: gutted by the fact that they've rocked up in the morning.

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Speaker 2: Their workplaces have been trashed and the vehicles that they

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Speaker 2: rely on to do their jobs have been basically stolen,

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Speaker 2: you know. And I went past MPT Fleet here in

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Speaker 2: Other Springs this morning just to have a look over

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Speaker 2: the fence. It's carnage. There are RFDS cars, there's vehicles

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Speaker 2: that look like they've been involved with the tire spikes

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Speaker 2: and it's got tires missing. It's just absolute carnage. And

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Speaker 2: you're right, like ten vehicles over the weekend, but over

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Speaker 2: a longer period of time we've had our local anglic

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Speaker 2: care off. It's broken into and a large number of

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Speaker 2: vehicles stolen from there in one night. So this is

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Speaker 2: this is a game for these kids, and we need

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Speaker 2: to really make sure that the message is loud and clear.

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Speaker 2: This sort of behavior is not okay, and there will

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Speaker 2: be consequences when you steal, when you break in and

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Speaker 2: drive recklessly throughout our CBD and our town.

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Speaker 1: Josh Burgoyne, I appreciate your time, are really honestly, I

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Speaker 1: don't even know what to say. I really hope that

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Speaker 1: we're going to see some change in Alice Springs because

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Speaker 1: what's going on is just it's unacceptable.

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Speaker 2: Exactly right now, I hear the government are coming down

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Speaker 2: near to Alice Springs, and I'll be really interested to

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Speaker 2: find out who they do meet with, because if it's

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Speaker 2: the same, the same people they meet with every time,

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Speaker 2: they need to get out of their comfort. So I

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Speaker 2: need to stand in the CBD and really hear what

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Speaker 2: people have got to say because it breaks my heart.

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Speaker 2: But every day I walk down the street, people are

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Speaker 2: packing up, they're leaving, they've had enough. You know, this

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Speaker 2: is the town I've grown up in. I don't want

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Speaker 2: to see it continue down this this way. And the

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Speaker 2: labor government has got a lot to answer answer for

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Speaker 2: when it comes to turning this all around.

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Speaker 1: Josh Bergoin. Thank you as always for having a chat

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Speaker 1: with us this morning.

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Speaker 2: Thank you for the opportunity Ken, Thank you