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Speaker 1: Now. Eva Laula yesterday delivered her first budget as the

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Speaker 1: Chief Minister, saying that it is a budget that's going

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Speaker 1: to deliver a common sense plan to lower crime and

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Speaker 1: get more Territorians into work. Now, the Chief Minister joins

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Speaker 1: me on the line. Right now, Good morning to your

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Speaker 1: chief Let's try that again. Good morning to your Chief Minister.

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Speaker 1: Good morning Katie, thanks for your time this morning.

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Speaker 2: Yet really good now, Chief Minister.

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Speaker 1: The budget delivers massive spends on police and corrections, something

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Speaker 1: that a lot of Territorians are really going to be

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Speaker 1: quite pleased about, especially.

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Speaker 2: Those who've been victims of crime.

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Speaker 1: But many are questioning why it's taken so long for

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Speaker 1: the government to take the issue as seriously as what

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Speaker 1: you are right now.

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Speaker 3: Well, yeah, Katie, I'm the new Chief Minister, obviously, I

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Speaker 3: am my Electric's Parmeston. I hear loudly and clearly about crime.

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Speaker 3: I hear the issues that territory around Territorians. I've been

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Speaker 3: here for a long time. I have a very wide

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Speaker 3: friendship base. I have a very wide number of people

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Speaker 3: that know me, Katie, so we're wherever I go, people

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Speaker 3: come and talk to me about the issue of crime.

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Speaker 3: So when you're doing the budget and that's a good

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Speaker 3: thing about being Chief Minister as well as being Treasurer

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Speaker 3: when we're sitting down doing the budget. And that work

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Speaker 3: started actually late last year December January. We did the

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Speaker 3: hard slog around the budget and we knew we had

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Speaker 3: to do something about crime. So a record spend for

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Speaker 3: police five hundred and seventy million dollars over five years,

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Speaker 3: their largest budget ever. The ball now is in the

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Speaker 3: court of Michael Murphy, and I know he's got some

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Speaker 3: really clear plans because he's got the review document also

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Speaker 3: that will drive where they need to go. But two

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Speaker 3: hundred extra police is a great news story for the territory.

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Speaker 1: The Northern Territory Police Association President Nathan Finn said the

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Speaker 1: increase to the operational budget compared with the twenty twenty

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Speaker 1: three twenty four revised budget is twenty three point four

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Speaker 1: million dollars and the department anticipates a deficit of twenty

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Speaker 1: two point two million dollars in the twenty three twenty

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Speaker 1: four financial year and nineteen point six in the twenty

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Speaker 1: twenty four to twenty five financial year. I mean, is

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Speaker 1: this the case We actually in a situation where it's

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Speaker 1: a big headline, but it's not actually going to mean

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Speaker 1: much on an operational perspective.

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Speaker 3: So no, that's not correct. So the budget will be

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Speaker 3: spread over the five years, so there will be an

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Speaker 3: increase of a specific amount in the first year. That

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Speaker 3: will increase because two hundred officers. They need to be

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Speaker 3: able to obviously have a plan on how they're going

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Speaker 3: to deliver on those two hundred officers, so there will

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Speaker 3: be budget increase, and overall there will be five hundred

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Speaker 3: and seventy over five years. And that money also does

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Speaker 3: include one hundred and twenty five million dollars for police housing,

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Speaker 3: a police new upgrades to police stations, to watch houses,

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Speaker 3: the work that needs to be done with police. So

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Speaker 3: overall the whole package is five hundred and seventy million

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Speaker 3: dollars over five years. Treasury will work with police to

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Speaker 3: make sure that that money's rolled out.

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Speaker 1: So I'm keen to find out from you because, as

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Speaker 1: I said, we've been talking about crime so extensively over

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Speaker 1: recent years. You know, honestly, everywhere I go, it's all

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Speaker 1: that people want to talk to me about, like sometimes

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Speaker 1: to the point where you know, it makes you feel

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Speaker 1: really quite down on the place. So I'm keen to

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Speaker 1: know from you, like what was the turning point for you,

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Speaker 1: because some people are going, well, the government's just announced

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Speaker 1: this because there's an election three months away.

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Speaker 3: No, nothing to do that with that, Katie. I'm the

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Speaker 3: new Chief Minister. As I say, I was born here,

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Speaker 3: I'll die here, Katie. I've got children and grandchildren in

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Speaker 3: the Northern Territory. I've got five brothers and sisters. I

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Speaker 3: want the territory and it's not just about me personally,

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Speaker 3: but you know, I want the territory to be a

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Speaker 3: great place. As I said, I grew up where you

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Speaker 3: didn't lock your car. Literally our house, my first house

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Speaker 3: that I grew up in, we didn't even have any

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Speaker 3: fly screens. We didn't have any doors on our place.

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Speaker 3: I grew up in Barrimar, out in the bush where

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Speaker 3: you wouldn't even dream of any crime all. So of

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Speaker 3: course I want to and I know we'll never get

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Speaker 3: back to that, but I do want to see all

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Speaker 3: of us, me included, but everybody feeling safe in the

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Speaker 3: Northern Territory. I love the territory, as I said, it's

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Speaker 3: a beautiful place. People who come to the territory I

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Speaker 3: always say, there's people that come and go instantly. I

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Speaker 3: love this place. I'll never leave. My husband was one

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Speaker 3: of them, and that's what you want. You want people

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Speaker 3: to come here and go. This is paradise. I want

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Speaker 3: to stay. And one of the issues, just like you, Katie,

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Speaker 3: you're in the same situation as me. Lots of people

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Speaker 3: come up to you and say around crime. So of

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Speaker 3: course that's going to be the focus for me if

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Speaker 3: I can do anything as Chief Minister. That's absolutely my

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Speaker 3: focus on how we can reduce crime. The other side

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Speaker 3: of that leder is around education, and everybody knows my

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Speaker 3: background in education. We've got to start with those kids

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Speaker 3: when they're very young and get them on a pathway

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Speaker 3: to work. I am not going to have another generation

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Speaker 3: of kids, particularly Aboriginal kids, that have no future. I

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Speaker 3: want all kids to get a good education and get

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Speaker 3: on a pathway to jobs. And that's particularly around our

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Speaker 3: remote schools. That money that gained big money, an extra

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Speaker 3: hundred million funding for our schools has to be around

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Speaker 3: vocational education trade. Yes, there can be the academic pathways,

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Speaker 3: but there also has to be pathways to jobs. What

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Speaker 3: are the jobs in those communities, What can those kids

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Speaker 3: aspire to and get a job. That also, to me

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Speaker 3: is the solution around crime as well. If you have

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Speaker 3: a good education, you're in a job, then you're not

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Speaker 3: going to be getting up to mischief creating crime. So

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Speaker 3: I know, the education stuff is aspirational. The police stuff

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Speaker 3: is immediate. But it has to be done, Katie, somebody

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Speaker 3: has to bite the bullet. I'm the locals. I'm the

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Speaker 3: new Chief Minister. Absolutely, that is my focus and that's

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Speaker 3: where the big dollars are in the budget.

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Speaker 2: Chief Minister.

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Speaker 1: Does the rest of your cabinet and caucus agree though,

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Speaker 1: because up until you were the Chief Minister, we had

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Speaker 1: the Deputy Chief Minister or the Attorney General of the time,

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Speaker 1: Chancey Paig saying that jailing is failing and that you

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Speaker 1: can't police your.

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Speaker 2: Way out of these issues.

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Speaker 1: We've heard Minister Kate Warden, you know, say that you

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Speaker 1: can't police your way or you can't arrest your way out.

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Speaker 2: Of these issues.

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Speaker 1: So I mean, have you got the rest of the

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Speaker 1: cabinet and the rest of the caucus on board because

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Speaker 1: your budget last last year was a very different one

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Speaker 1: where crime wasn't even mentioned.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, one hundred percent, I've got them. They're backing, you know,

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Speaker 3: that's what you get with a strong leader. Katie. I'm

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Speaker 3: not young. I've been around a long time. I've been

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Speaker 3: in leadership roles for probably about thirty years of my career,

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Speaker 3: and people do want direction and people want boundaries, whether

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Speaker 3: they're kids in a classroom, whether it's your community, we

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Speaker 3: all want to make sure that we're very clear around

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Speaker 3: where government's heading and what we're doing. I have got

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Speaker 3: one hundred percent backing of all my cabinet colleagues, all

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Speaker 3: of my core because you know, Katie, one of the clear,

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Speaker 3: clear turning points also was around the curfew, and I

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Speaker 3: think that is also given the community and understanding is

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Speaker 3: that you can do these things because it actually made

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Speaker 3: a big difference to the whole community in our springs

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Speaker 3: and will continue to do that. I've always been a

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Speaker 3: firm believe if are in clear messages, strong boundaries, and

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Speaker 3: I've seen that in workplaces everywhere and in classrooms and

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Speaker 3: across the territory. People want to know and territories need

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Speaker 3: to know that their government is addressing the issue of crime.

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Speaker 1: Jamnis, what do you think though, of some of the

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Speaker 1: decisions of your predecessors that led to this increase in crime?

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Speaker 3: So as I said Katie, I'm hoping somebody is going

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Speaker 3: to do a PhD around this increase in crime. I

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Speaker 3: don't think it's just one thing. We have seen increases

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Speaker 3: in crime across Australia. A large amount of that's after COVID,

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Speaker 3: and I do not know why lots of people come

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Speaker 3: up to me again and have those discussions. Crime was

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Speaker 3: actually in a reasonable place in those years around sixteen seventeen,

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Speaker 3: eighteen nineteen, and then obviously during COVID we saw less

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Speaker 3: crime because people were all locked locked in their houses

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Speaker 3: or whatever else it was. But we have seen everywhere

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Speaker 3: a steep increase, whether it's to do with money, more money,

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Speaker 3: more access, people access their superannuation. But most I mean

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Speaker 3: our huge issues around domestic violence. Sixty five percent of

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Speaker 3: people in our jails are there because of domestic violence

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Speaker 3: is shocking statistics. So but why is that? Why have

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Speaker 3: we seen such a huge increase in those statistics. So again,

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Speaker 3: that's why we have departments. They are the people who

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Speaker 3: are doing the work around that. We need to continue

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Speaker 3: to make sure then that the money that we have

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Speaker 3: hits the mark and addresses the issues. And that's what

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Speaker 3: you've see in this budget. A real focus on those things.

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Speaker 3: The other one is cost of living, of course, Katie, Well,

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Speaker 3: that's another one that I get asked about, particularly with

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Speaker 3: younger Territorians. You know, I've paid off my house, but

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Speaker 3: for younger Territorians around the cost of living. So a

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Speaker 3: good announcement from the federal governor around the three hundred

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Speaker 3: dollars last night.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, and look we'll get to that.

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Speaker 1: We're going to We're going to catch up with Jim

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Speaker 1: Charmers this morning at about nine forty five.

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Speaker 2: But look, I do want to ask charms I do

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Speaker 2: want to ask that how old tell him.

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Speaker 3: When it came to town. He was just charmed befo. All

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Speaker 3: I can tell you, I'll tell him.

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Speaker 1: I'll tell him now the hospital upgrade, when will that

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Speaker 1: be delivered? And how are these modulars going to sort

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Speaker 1: of look, I mean, I don't know what they mean

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Speaker 1: when it says that they're going to be modulus.

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Speaker 3: So that's actually that works underway right now. I think

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Speaker 3: they're doing the clearing and the headworks and so. And

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Speaker 3: what it is is a like transportable transportable units that

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Speaker 3: can be built quickly and will go in place, so

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Speaker 3: it will be up to health then to workout which

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Speaker 3: and I presume it will be a certain category of people,

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Speaker 3: whether it's leg broken legs or I don't know that

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Speaker 3: we'll go into that, but it will be modular facilities

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Speaker 3: that will be built because it can be built very quickly.

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Speaker 3: So we'll reduce the well hopefully reduce the issue around

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Speaker 3: the code yellows. The other thing in the budget, Katie

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Speaker 3: will just up, we say, because it's a palmest one

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Speaker 3: that work around getting another age care facility that is

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Speaker 3: really important. There's about fifty five geriatric, poor old people

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Speaker 3: who are stuck in our hospital system where they shouldn't be.

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Speaker 3: But we have struggled to get anybody to put their

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Speaker 3: hand up to build a new age care facility, even

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Speaker 3: at Southern Cross, the one out at peerl we've given

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Speaker 3: them additional land. They still haven't gotten moving around extending there.

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Speaker 3: We've put out expressions of interest. So what we're doing

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Speaker 3: now is we're putting the money into the headworks, the

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Speaker 3: design work, and then we'll go back out to try

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Speaker 3: and get a developer to build and then also run

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Speaker 3: a new age care facility, because if you can clear

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Speaker 3: that large number of people, which is probably even growing

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Speaker 3: that will also improve the issues around Code yellow too.

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Speaker 3: So yeah, she's one thing.

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Speaker 2: No it's not just one thing.

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Speaker 1: Do we have the staff though, I mean or where

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Speaker 1: are we going to get the staff to manage these

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Speaker 1: extra beds?

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Speaker 2: And are they cost it with the budget?

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Speaker 1: Yeah?

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Speaker 3: No, no, really a really important question, Katie, because that

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Speaker 3: is another issue, and that's I think one of the

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Speaker 3: inhibitors around age care is the age care facilities are

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Speaker 3: struggling to get staff, which gets back to that complex

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Speaker 3: question around migration. We want more migrants to come to

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Speaker 3: the Northern Territory to fill those jobs because we know

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Speaker 3: they're just you know, there's plenty of jobs, we just

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Speaker 3: don't have the workers, which is again why my focus

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Speaker 3: is on getting territories working. But yeah, that absolutely is

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Speaker 3: a concern because then you have to have agency nurses.

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Speaker 3: Then we see the budget start to blow out, which

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Speaker 3: was seen with health. So nothing straight to lend. There's

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Speaker 3: no y line in any of This is always one

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Speaker 3: thing and then the next.

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Speaker 1: And Chief Minister speaking of that budget and speaking of

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Speaker 1: things blowing out, there is record investment. We've gone through

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Speaker 1: those headlines and some of the good announcements that have

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Speaker 1: been made, but Territorians are going to be paying almost

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Speaker 1: twice as much interest on debt in coming years due

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Speaker 1: to that surge in net debt on the back of

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Speaker 1: that government spending. Now, the debt is forecast to hit

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Speaker 1: a historic high of eleven point zero four billion dollars

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Speaker 1: by the end of next financial year. Are you concerned

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Speaker 1: about this level of debt that we're in.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, of course I am. You know, a beautiful day

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Speaker 3: when we have no debt in the Northern Territory, but

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Speaker 3: even WA has debt. Every government has a certain amount

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Speaker 3: of debt, and you know some of that debt, but.

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Speaker 2: Eleven billion dollars, I mean it's massive.

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Speaker 3: Chief, Yeah, yeah, yeah, Well as it still isn't the

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Speaker 3: worst when you look at the net debt ratio, there's

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Speaker 3: Victoria's worst nows. But that's why those that's why I

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Speaker 3: front the you know, the Middle Arm Senate inquiry, because

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Speaker 3: they're the things that we need to see happen. We

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Speaker 3: need to see Middle Arm get you get moving, because

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Speaker 3: that is a solution. That's also why our government has

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Speaker 3: said yes to an onshore oil and gas industry. You know,

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Speaker 3: that was a tough decision.

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Speaker 1: Would have been.

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Speaker 3: Easy to say, oh, we won't frack easy easy decision,

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Speaker 3: but that's what we need. We need to see the royalties,

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Speaker 3: we need to see the revenue come through from that industry.

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Speaker 3: That's what we need to do. So we will get

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Speaker 3: we'll get to a surplus. Once you get to a surplus,

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Speaker 3: that's when you can pay down debts.

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Speaker 1: But you're not even like, you're not even close to

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Speaker 1: being anywhere near a surplus.

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Speaker 2: And I mean the way that we're tracking at the moment.

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Speaker 1: We're literally in a situation where you know where we

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Speaker 1: are at record like, we're at record debt levels, and

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Speaker 1: there doesn't appear to be any measures from what you

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Speaker 1: announced yesterday to try and rain any of that spending in.

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Speaker 3: So, Katie, the first thing is in the budget. If

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Speaker 3: something reaches FID, it's not in the budget. So even

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Speaker 3: though Tambourine are very close to getting FID, probably by

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Speaker 3: the middle of the year, none of their none of

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Speaker 3: their income, none of their revenue, none of that, none

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Speaker 3: of the jobs, are all of the money, that revenue

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Speaker 3: that will flow, the royalties that will flow, none of

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Speaker 3: that's in the budget. None of There are a few

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Speaker 3: resources in the budget. Even our projects like Middle Arm

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Speaker 3: Arrows none of that's in the budget, So the budget

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Speaker 3: will look very different next year when we see some

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Speaker 3: of these projects get their FID.

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Speaker 1: So are you saying that our I mean, are you

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Speaker 1: saying that our debt is going to are we like?

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Speaker 1: Are we Are we not going to blow out as

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Speaker 1: has been forecast next year? Are you saying that once

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Speaker 1: these projects get up and running, did our that we're

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Speaker 1: not going to be at that level?

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Speaker 3: Well, that's that's the aim, KDIE is to get these

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Speaker 3: projects up and running, to get FID. Once they're up

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Speaker 3: and you know, being having input into our economy, we

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Speaker 3: will see then, as the said, a change to where

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Speaker 3: we are fiscally, but at this stage they're not. So

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Speaker 3: if you, I mean, all those details are in the

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Speaker 3: budget books around which projects are at f IDE, in

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Speaker 3: which I mean we aren't included. So yeah, I'm always

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Speaker 3: optimistic about the territory and optimistic about our budget position.

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Speaker 3: I guess we don't want to see debt, but we

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Speaker 3: also you can't say you don't want you don't want debt,

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Speaker 3: but that you want me to address the issue of

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Speaker 3: crime or.

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Speaker 1: Now I totally agree, I absolutely agree. But the problem

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Speaker 1: that we're in at the moment is there doesn't seem

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Speaker 1: to be any ambition from the government to try to

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Speaker 1: rain in any of that spending.

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Speaker 2: And I get what you're saying. You know, we can't.

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Speaker 1: We can't sort of say we want additional police and

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Speaker 1: not expect that there's going to be a blowout to

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Speaker 1: the budget. But people do expect that you manage that

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Speaker 1: budget to a point where it's actually reasonable. And eleven

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Speaker 1: billion dollars it's hard to even wrap your head around.

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Speaker 1: But you know, the thinking from a lot of people

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Speaker 1: is that our children are going to be having to

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Speaker 1: pay that debt off, and our grandchildren are going to

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Speaker 1: be having to pay that debt off.

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Speaker 3: But that's that's the reality of all of us. We

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Speaker 3: all have to pay debt. You know, if you want,

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Speaker 3: if we're ont a house, all of those sorts of things.

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Speaker 3: But what government does a.

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Speaker 2: House worth that much money? I'd be buggeting no.

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Speaker 3: No, But that mean relatively, it is around making sure

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Speaker 3: then that you have that you address issues around what

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Speaker 3: you can do to increase your the money coming in.

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Speaker 3: So that's the work that we're doing around diversifying the economy.

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Speaker 3: But you know, Katie, it's also the work that we

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Speaker 3: do with the federal government. So you know, my great

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Speaker 3: relationship with my labor colleagues federally has seen us get

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Speaker 3: a better deal than any other state around education, a

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Speaker 3: better deal than any others around remote housing, around homelessness,

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Speaker 3: So of course you'd work on those and a KTI.

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Speaker 3: Good news the gsp our GST went up seven hundred

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Speaker 3: and fifty million dollars from what they have twenty three

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Speaker 3: twenty four budget predictions, So well, that is good around GST.

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Speaker 3: There are good news in the budgete Kat. I actually

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Speaker 3: have to go because I've got to I've got to

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Speaker 3: head down because I've got to listen to Lia's budget.

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Speaker 1: Can I just ask you very quickly, why should we

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Speaker 1: vote for labor when a large number of your membership

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Speaker 1: don't support, including cabinet members don't support gas. I know

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Speaker 1: that you do, but some who are going to go

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Speaker 1: to the Poms in August, we'll be concerned.

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Speaker 3: Oh my, No, absolutely, We've been very clear around our

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Speaker 3: policy position since twenty eighteen, since the AHFI report came out.

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Speaker 3: All of my caucus colleagues all support nonchol and gas industry.

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Speaker 3: We know the importance of that for the future of

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Speaker 3: the territory.

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Speaker 1: So if you guys get elected come August, you're not

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Speaker 1: going to have a situation where you've got some within

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Speaker 1: labor who are trying to oppose this happening.

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Speaker 3: No, there's no way that decision's too far down the track.

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Speaker 3: Absolutely won't happen. And hey, federally, we've seen now alban

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Speaker 3: Easy and the federal government come out loudly in support

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Speaker 3: of a gas industry and I think I led the

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Speaker 3: charge around that, Katie chief Inness.

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Speaker 2: So we'll let you go.

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Speaker 1: Thanks for your time this morning, much appreciated, Thank you

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Speaker 1: very much.

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Speaker 2: Thank you,