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Speaker 1: I do want to take you across and speak about

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Speaker 1: the fact that the NT Chamber of Commerce has written

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Speaker 1: to members and the business community reassuring them that their

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Speaker 1: concerns about crime and the toll that it's taking on

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Speaker 1: people are being heard and passed on to the Northern

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Speaker 1: Territori's decision makers. Now joining us on the line to

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Speaker 1: tell us more is the CEO of the Chamber of Commerce,

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Speaker 1: Greg Island. Good morning to you. Greg.

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Speaker 2: Good morning Katie. It certainly sounds like you've flat out

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Speaker 2: in there today.

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Speaker 1: It's very busy here this morning, There's no doubt about it. Greg.

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Speaker 1: What is the current sentiment among the business community when

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Speaker 1: it comes to crime at the moment.

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Speaker 2: I think, as we've spoken about many many times, Katie,

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Speaker 2: businesses at the end of its tenor with crime, which

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Speaker 2: it does depend on your element of risk, particularly those

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Speaker 2: with street frontages that are regularly having windows broken or

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Speaker 2: accent any social behavior carried out on all within their

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Speaker 2: businesses are just about to have enough. But when you

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Speaker 2: do talk to the community as a whole, there's a

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Speaker 2: variety of viewpoints all the way from the very far

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Speaker 2: left to the very far right, and I think we

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Speaker 2: need to have that sort of balance in between, but

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Speaker 2: we certainly need to be focused on making some improvements

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Speaker 2: in the outcomes that we're seeing today.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, and look, I saw the alert that was sent

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Speaker 1: out yesterday to some of the members within the Chamber.

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Speaker 1: What sort of prompted you to get to that point?

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Speaker 2: Again, it's internal discussions with our membership base. There is

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Speaker 2: a high level of frustration out there and now there

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Speaker 2: are people that are keen to see us involved in

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Speaker 2: that political process and generally that means getting on the

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Speaker 2: front put and making statements that aren't necessarily supportive of

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Speaker 2: the process. It is, in fact what we believe that

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Speaker 2: we need to be remain firmly part of that process

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Speaker 2: and then get our hand up in the air. So

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Speaker 2: to that end, we've been talking directly with police, directly

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Speaker 2: with Minister Warden and others and encouraging some positive outcomes

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Speaker 2: into the future.

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Speaker 1: And Greg, are you finding I mean, is it something

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Speaker 1: that you're hearing across the board from businesses from the

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Speaker 1: top end to Central Australia or is it worse at

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Speaker 1: the moment in Central Australia.

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Speaker 2: Look, I think it is amplified in Central Australia has

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Speaker 2: been for some time that said, there's no discounting that

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Speaker 2: the problems being seen and the experienced here in the

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Speaker 2: top end, but we're certainly very very keen to participate

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Speaker 2: as part of that process. And I think one of

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Speaker 2: the significant changes has been the amalgamating of territory families

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Speaker 2: and anti police under the one ministery or control has

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Speaker 2: allowed a lot more conversation, a lot more interaction internally,

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Speaker 2: and we're starting to see some of the benefits come

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Speaker 2: through the system, although it's probably not hitting the road

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Speaker 2: just yet.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, and is that a concern what our business is

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Speaker 1: saying to you at the moment.

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Speaker 2: Primarily it's about consequences. Business in general doesn't believe there's

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Speaker 2: enough consequences being felt by people that are committing these

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Speaker 2: acts around the place. We concur with that. We also

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Speaker 2: think that there's a huge amount of opportunity there or

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Speaker 2: the processes to be putty in place for diversions for

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Speaker 2: kids that are at risk and that sort of thing,

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Speaker 2: and conversations that we've had with police, we're strongly encouraging

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Speaker 2: getting back to a focus on community policing, being more visible,

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Speaker 2: getting out there and having conversations with business and the

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Speaker 2: kids say fine, on the streets and are becoming more engaged.

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Speaker 1: That seems to be a real call, you know, across

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Speaker 1: the board at the moment, is that you know that

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Speaker 1: people do want to see more of that policing where

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Speaker 1: there are police walking the streets or you know, on

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Speaker 1: the segways or even on the horses like we used

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Speaker 1: to see a bit more often previously.

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Speaker 2: Strangely enough to say that, Katie, just a couple of

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Speaker 2: days ago, I had two horses ride past my office windows.

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Speaker 2: First time I've seen that for a long time. And

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Speaker 2: yesterday there was three guys on a segways driving around.

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Speaker 2: So I think some of that message is getting out there,

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Speaker 2: and let's hope we see some improvements across the board

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Speaker 2: in that regard.

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Speaker 1: And Greg, I know that you guys obviously meet with

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Speaker 1: the government quite a bit, but have you had those

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Speaker 1: discussions with them sort of over recent days.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, literally this week and last week. Katie. It's entirely

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Speaker 2: on our list of priorities. We're certainly encouraging the formation

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Speaker 2: of a committee around some of the processes that have

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Speaker 2: been put in place. Our recommendation is that independently chaired

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Speaker 2: and have some real teeth making sure those outcomes are

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Speaker 2: followed through.

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Speaker 1: Okay, so tell us again, Sorry, what was that? What

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Speaker 1: do you want to see?

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Speaker 2: So government's releasing a plan in the foreseeable future that

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Speaker 2: drives some outcomes in certain timing and allocates responsibilities. We

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Speaker 2: think that there should be a committee formed around that

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Speaker 2: that's independent chaired to monitor those activities and make sure

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Speaker 2: they are being effective and being able to have direct

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Speaker 2: input into making changes should they be required. So I

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Speaker 2: think it's going to be quite a powerful arrangement once

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Speaker 2: us put in place, and we're expecting to hear more

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Speaker 2: about that pretty soon.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, and look, I actually reckon you know, that sounds

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Speaker 1: like a good idea to me because there needs to

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Speaker 1: be that constant sort of interaction with let's be honest,

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Speaker 1: with those that are the victims of a lot of

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Speaker 1: these different terrible situations that we're dealing with.

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Speaker 2: Yeah. Absolutely, Victim conferencing is one of the key criteria

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Speaker 2: that starts to humanize the actions between the victim and

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Speaker 2: the perpetrator and those who are bring some of the

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Speaker 2: reality of this home on both sides of the fence.

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Speaker 2: They're important discussions. There's a heap of other measures that

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Speaker 2: have been put in place in this plan. I don't

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Speaker 2: think any of them as specifically new and going to

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Speaker 2: be groundbreaking in their changes, but the fact that they're

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Speaker 2: actually going to be monitored and actively enforced I think

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Speaker 2: is a positive thing because in the past it hasn't

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Speaker 2: always been the case.

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Speaker 1: Well, we will keep a very close eye on that.

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Speaker 1: We're due to have the Police Minister I believe, on

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Speaker 1: the show on Tuesday morning next week, so we'll be

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Speaker 1: keeping a very close eye on that. Greg Ireland, the

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Speaker 1: CEO of the Chamber of Commerce, I appreciate your time

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Speaker 1: this morning, thanks for having a chat with us.

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Speaker 2: You're welcome, Katie, have a great day you too,