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Speaker 1: Now. Yesterday we heard from Sky News that a judge

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Speaker 1: tore into Channel nine for broadcasting a story on the

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Speaker 1: eve of the crocodile wrangler Matt Wright's Supreme Court trial,

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Speaker 1: which gave the idea he's guilty of something and is

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Speaker 1: going to jail. Now joining us on the line from

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Speaker 1: Sky News Matt Cunningham, who was in court yesterday following

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Speaker 1: that case.

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Speaker 2: Good morning, Matt, Morning Katie, Matt.

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Speaker 1: What was the go yesterday with this report on a

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Speaker 1: current affair?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, look, just to tellon blow appeared someone unimpressed about

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Speaker 2: this report that went to air on Tuesday night, just

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Speaker 2: after the jury had been paneled in this case. He

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Speaker 2: actually brought the members of the jury. He brought them

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Speaker 2: in the lake and asked them if they had watched

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Speaker 2: this program that had gone to air. One of them

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Speaker 2: said that he had, and many were subsequently asked whether

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Speaker 2: it would affect his ability to remain impartial in this case.

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Speaker 2: Now he said that it wouldn't, and so the trial

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Speaker 2: was able to continue. But didn't look at one point

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Speaker 2: as though there was the potential for the trial to

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Speaker 2: be aborted very early on, and that would have meant

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Speaker 2: that the jury would have needed to have been dismissed

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Speaker 2: and a new jury selected, so he would have been

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Speaker 2: delayed another week or so but had eventuated. Yeah, but

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Speaker 2: fortunately that didn't happen.

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Speaker 1: Yeah. Well, and I think everybody wants to see this

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Speaker 1: get underway. What else happened on that first day of proceedings.

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Speaker 2: Well, basically we heard the beginning of the prosecution's opening address.

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Speaker 2: So the Crown Prosecutor, Jason Galachi sc has been outlining

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Speaker 2: the Crown's case against Matt Wright. Now he's been at

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Speaker 2: pains to point out to the jury that matt Wright

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Speaker 2: isn't accused of any wrongdoing in relation to the crash itself,

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Speaker 2: that crash in February twenty twenty two that killed Chris

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Speaker 2: Wilson and seriously injured the pilot of that helicopter, Sebastian Robinson. Basically,

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Speaker 2: what the prosecution is alleging is that matt Wright and

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Speaker 2: his company, Hollybrook had failed to properly maintain the helicopter

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Speaker 2: that was involved in that crash, something that the prosecution

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Speaker 2: said was actually common practice in the Northern Territories aviation industry.

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Speaker 2: But the charges he said relate to the fact that

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Speaker 2: they say matt Wright was concerned about the fact that

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Speaker 2: he knew the helicopter hadn't been properly maintained, and so

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Speaker 2: after the crash occurred, the prosecution said, he then said

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Speaker 2: about basically trying to obstruct the investigation into the crash

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Speaker 2: so that those issues with the maintenance of that helicopter

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Speaker 2: would not be discovered. So one of the things that

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Speaker 2: we heard yesterday was that Matt Wright was accused of

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Speaker 2: regularly disconnecting the Hobbs meter in that helicopter. The Hobbs

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Speaker 2: meter is essentially the helicop coopter's a dominant. It records

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Speaker 2: the number of hours that it flies, and there's also

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Speaker 2: what's called a maintenance release that also manually records those hours.

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Speaker 2: So the court was told that that Hobbs meter was

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Speaker 2: regularly disconnected and that there was a practice at Matt

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Speaker 2: Right's company, But to be fair, the prosecution said, a

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Speaker 2: widespread industry practice of not properly recording those hours. So

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Speaker 2: the reason that this happened, we heard was that once

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Speaker 2: a helicopter reaches a certain number of hours, there are

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Speaker 2: maintenance requirements. When it gets to twenty two hundred hours,

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Speaker 2: it has to either be retired the helicopter or undergo

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Speaker 2: a significant overhaul of its engine that costs anywhere between

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Speaker 2: four hundred and four hundred and sixty thousand dollars. That's

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Speaker 2: where the court was told yesterday, and so that is

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Speaker 2: the motivation, according to the prosecution, of people in the

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Speaker 2: industry not to properly record these hours. So the case

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Speaker 2: basically the prosecution out now outlined all of that as

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Speaker 2: background to the case and said that it was Matt

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Speaker 2: Wright's concern about the failure to properly maintain that helicopter

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Speaker 2: that then was his motive to go about trying, they say,

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Speaker 2: to obstruct the investigation into that crash.

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Speaker 1: Right, And so have the defense now begun their opening

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Speaker 1: arguments as well, or what are we expecting today?

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Speaker 2: No, today we'll hear the prosecution finish its opening address.

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Speaker 2: So we've heard basically about one in detail, about one

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Speaker 2: of the three charges against Matt Right. He's facing three

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Speaker 2: charges of attempting to pervert the course of justice. He's

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Speaker 2: pleaded not guilty to all three charges. So yesterday afternoon

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Speaker 2: we heard mainly about charge one, and this is an

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Speaker 2: allegation that he lied to police in a statement that

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Speaker 2: he gave them three days after that helicopter crash. Now,

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Speaker 2: in that statement he told police that when he fled

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Speaker 2: out to the crash scene. So he flies out to

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Speaker 2: the crash scene after the crash occurs. He flies out

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Speaker 2: there with businessman Nick Burne and off duty police officer

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Speaker 2: Neil Mallen. They fly out to the crafts in. The

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Speaker 2: court heard yesterday that matt Wright inspected the fuel tank

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Speaker 2: of the helicopter when he was out there, and he

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Speaker 2: told police in that interview that the fuel tank was

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Speaker 2: half full. We then heard from the prosecution that there

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Speaker 2: had subsequently been covertly recorded conversations of matt Wright speaking

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Speaker 2: with friends and with his wife Kiah, and in those

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Speaker 2: covertly recorded conversations, it's alleged that he said to them

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Speaker 2: that the fuel tank was empty and that he suspected

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Speaker 2: that there were issues with a potential leak in the

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Speaker 2: fuel line. And so that basically amounts to the first

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Speaker 2: charge that's been laid against him, and that is that

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Speaker 2: he lied to police in that statement. We've just started

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Speaker 2: to hear some elements of the second charge, which related

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Speaker 2: to his attendance at a Brisbane hospital where Sebastian Robinson

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Speaker 2: was recovering after the crash. But we really only just

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Speaker 2: got into the beginning of that charge yesterday afternoon before

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Speaker 2: the court concluded. So we'll hear more about that today

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Speaker 2: and about the third charge from the prosecution, and then

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Speaker 2: we'll hear from Matt Wright's defense barrister David Edwardson k C,

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Speaker 2: who will outline the defense's case. And then the first

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Speaker 2: person on the witness list if we get that far

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Speaker 2: today is mc burns and Matt.

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Speaker 1: Who else are we expecting to be called as witnesses? Well?

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Speaker 2: Sebastin Robinson is expected to be called as a witness.

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Speaker 2: His mother, Nolan Chullingworth, is also expected to be called.

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Speaker 2: I think there are about twenty five witnesses in total

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Speaker 2: who have been listed to potentially give evidence in this case,

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Speaker 2: which is expected to run for about four weeks, but

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Speaker 2: I think we've already been going for nearly a week

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Speaker 2: and a half, most of that with legal arguments, so

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Speaker 2: they run a little bit longer than that.

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Speaker 1: Ye, And so what time does things kick off? This morning?

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Speaker 2: So ten o'clock we're underway, So what's that about? Forty minutes?

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Speaker 2: Forty minutes from the court at the moment, and we're

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Speaker 2: waiting for what's.

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Speaker 1: It like, Matt. I mean, I asked you this last

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Speaker 1: week in terms of, you know, the volume of journalists

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Speaker 1: et cetera there, but also what's it like in the

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Speaker 1: courtroom at the moment. I mean, there's no doubt it's

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Speaker 1: probably absolutely packed in there.

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Speaker 2: Oh look at to not packed to the rafters. There's

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Speaker 2: there's a few people in there. There's Matt Wright has

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Speaker 2: some supporters here. Danny Wilson, who is Chris Wilson's widow,

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Speaker 2: has been here every day, I think so, And there's

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Speaker 2: quite a few there's quite a few journalists here. Channel

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Speaker 2: seven and Channel nine are both both find trees up

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Speaker 2: here from interstate. So you know, there is quite a

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Speaker 2: bit of interest around this case, as you would expect,

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Speaker 2: but you know, probably not as much as I've seen

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Speaker 2: in some other high profile trials, but that that might

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Speaker 2: change as we get closer to the pointy end of things.

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Speaker 1: Well, and Matt has there been much reaction from Matt

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Speaker 1: Wright so far.

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Speaker 2: Not a lot, to be honest, He has not said

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Speaker 2: anything to the media. As he's come in and out

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Speaker 2: of court each day. He's been with his wife Kia

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Speaker 2: on each occasion and his legal team, so you know,

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Speaker 2: There's obviously been questions that have been fired off at him,

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Speaker 2: but he hasn't said anything at this stage. And the

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Speaker 2: only thing you've heard from you in the court really

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Speaker 2: was on the first day of the trial last week

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Speaker 2: when he entered those three not guilty please, when each

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Speaker 2: of the charges were read out against him.

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Speaker 1: Well, Matt Cunningham, no doubt, a busy time for you.

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Speaker 1: I am sure we're going to be talking regularly as

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Speaker 1: this case continues, and not really sure for how much longer,

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Speaker 1: but at this stage it's looking like four weeks.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, that's the idea, Katie, but who knows?

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Speaker 1: Who knows? Bat Cunningham, thank you very much for keeping

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Speaker 1: our listeners up to date and keeping the territory up

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Speaker 1: to date with what's going on. Good to catch up

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Speaker 1: with you. We'll talk to you again soon, no worries. Thanks,

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Speaker 1: thank you,