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Speaker 1: Three US Marines who died in an Allspray crash on

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Speaker 1: the Tiwi Islands on Sunday arrived in Darwin yesterday evening,

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Speaker 1: while a fourth Marine continues to fight for their life

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Speaker 1: in hospital. A sacred ramp ceremony was carried out by

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Speaker 1: the R Double AF Base at the R Double AF Base,

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Speaker 1: I should say last night to honor well the twenty

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Speaker 1: one year old Corporal Spencer Collard, twenty nine year old

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Speaker 1: Captain Eleanor Lebau and thirty seven year old Major Tobin Lewis.

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Speaker 1: One marine, as I said, remains in a critical condition

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Speaker 1: and has been transferred as we understand, to the Alfred

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Speaker 1: Center Hospital in Melbourne, while another two are in Royal

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Speaker 1: Darwin Hospital in a stable condition. Now joining me on

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Speaker 1: the line is the Assistant Minister Ford Defense, Matt Thistlethwaite.

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Speaker 1: Good morning to your minister.

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Speaker 2: Good morning Katie, thanks having me on again.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, thanks so much for your time. Now what is

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Speaker 1: the latest from your understanding with this tragic situation and

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Speaker 1: that unfolded on the weekend.

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Speaker 3: Yeah. Well, firstly, Katie, our thoughts with the families of

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Speaker 3: the three deceased marine Such a terrible tragedy Unfortunately.

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Speaker 2: There was an accident involving a V twenty two Osprey

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Speaker 2: on Melville Island at about nine forty am on Sunday morning.

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Speaker 2: There were twenty three passengers on board, and obviously there's

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Speaker 2: still a number that are in a critical condition in

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Speaker 2: the hospital and our thoughts and prayers are with those people.

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Speaker 3: Hopefully they'll recover.

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Speaker 2: There's a great bond of makeship that exists between the

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Speaker 2: Australian Defense Force and the Marine Rotational Force that comets

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Speaker 2: through the top end every dry season, and that bond

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Speaker 2: goes way back to the Second World War. So our

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Speaker 2: colleagues in the US Marines and the US Air Force

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Speaker 2: are hurting at the moment, and we're hurting with them,

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Speaker 2: and that's why our thoughts are with those that have passed,

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Speaker 2: their families and of course those that are recovering in

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Speaker 2: the hospital. Now.

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Speaker 1: As I understand it, you are also going to be

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Speaker 1: meeting with the US Marine Commander today, Is that correct?

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Speaker 3: Yeah?

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Speaker 2: I'm heading this morning to meet with Colonel Brendan Sullivan

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Speaker 2: to pass on on behalf of the Australian Government and

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Speaker 2: the people of Australia. Our sincerest condolences are our thoughts

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Speaker 2: but to be there in solidarity with them, to say

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Speaker 2: that the Australian community, particularly the community of Darwin and

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Speaker 2: the top end, stand side by side with our US

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Speaker 2: counterpart at this difficult time and we'll work together to

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Speaker 2: get them through this difficult period.

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Speaker 1: What support is the Australian government going to be providing

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Speaker 1: or how are you going to be working with the

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Speaker 1: US from this point?

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Speaker 2: Well, when the Marine Rotational Forces come through here, they're

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Speaker 2: based obviously in Darwin predominantly and they are able to

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Speaker 2: access a number of the services that are provided to

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Speaker 2: the Australian Defense Forces. Obviously they bring their own their

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Speaker 2: own service providers as well, but in this case, if

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Speaker 2: they need access to counseling services and other trauma support services,

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Speaker 2: they're certainly available. And as well, of course the wonderful

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Speaker 2: expertise and skill and components that's provided by the medical

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Speaker 2: staff at Darwin Hospital as well help through this difficult situation.

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Speaker 2: So we'll work as closely as we possibly can with

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Speaker 2: our US counterpart to get them through this difficult period.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, and the response by all of our first responders

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Speaker 1: here in the Northern Territory following on from that terrible

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Speaker 1: crash has been quite phenomen all the way that the

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Speaker 1: likes of the National Critical Care and Trauma Response Center, CareFlight,

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Speaker 1: our Police. You know, I know that if I try

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Speaker 1: and name everybody, I'm going to miss someone, but it

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Speaker 1: has been an incredible response. And the other point as well,

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Speaker 1: I guess two Assistant Minister is like you were saying,

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Speaker 1: those Marines are really part of the Northern Territory community.

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Speaker 1: When they do, you know, come for their rotation in

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Speaker 1: the territory, they're volunteering at events. They are well and

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Speaker 1: truly part of our community.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I agree, Katie. I think that we need to

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Speaker 2: pay tribute to the first responders from the area that

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Speaker 2: did an excellent job and their skill and confidence really

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Speaker 2: showed through in the manner in which they've dealt with

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Speaker 2: this difficult situation. And I think it's because of their

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Speaker 2: great work that we're fortunate that there weren't more casualties.

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Speaker 2: You're right that the marine an important part of the

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Speaker 2: fabric of the Darwin unity, and they do participate in

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Speaker 2: community activities. I know that they're beloved, that they contribute

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Speaker 2: to the local economy and the local community, and that's

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Speaker 2: why I think we're all feeling the pain that the

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Speaker 2: US Marines are feeling its environment.

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Speaker 1: We most certainly are now, Assistant Minister. I will move

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Speaker 1: along because I know there's public forums been held in

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Speaker 1: Catherine overnight giving locals the chance to raise concerns about

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Speaker 1: toxic firefighting foam around the RAAF base there at Tindall.

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Speaker 1: What prompted that PFAS meeting that was held overnight.

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Speaker 2: I did one in Tindall and Catherine last night, and the.

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Speaker 3: Night before I was in Darwin. Yeah, right, in respective.

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Speaker 2: Art of the left based Darwin. So we do these

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Speaker 2: periodically around the country to update communities that have been

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Speaker 2: affected by PFAS contamination. They're about twenty eight defense bases

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Speaker 2: across the country that have higher levels of PFAS contamination

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Speaker 2: and Defense is working to reduce that. And we do

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Speaker 2: these community forums to update the community about the work

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Speaker 2: that we're undertaking and ensuring that if any one in

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Speaker 2: the community has concerns, we can work with them to

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Speaker 2: alleviate those concerns as quickly as possible.

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Speaker 1: Have many people come along to those two sessions.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, in dah when we had about probably about fifty

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Speaker 2: people come through over the two sessions, and in Catherine

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Speaker 2: last night we had about thirty people show up. What

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Speaker 2: we've been doing is basically updating the community on the

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Speaker 2: remediation work that's taking place in both Darwin and in Catherine.

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Speaker 2: The main sites where prefas is detected are around the

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Speaker 2: areas where they used firefighting funds in the past, so

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Speaker 2: typically at the fire station or fire training grounds on

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Speaker 2: both of those bases. And there's a process called stabilization

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Speaker 2: where the land is excavated, activated carbon is added to

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Speaker 2: the soil, and then the land is remediated. That's very

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Speaker 2: effective at capturing PFASs when it rains and ensuring that

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Speaker 2: it doesn't spread beyond those highly contaminated areas. So we're

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Speaker 2: updating about that. Also in Katherine, there's four water treatment

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Speaker 2: plants that have been installed to treat the water that's

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Speaker 2: coming from the ground to make sure that it's safe

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Speaker 2: into the future. So we're updating about that and answering

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Speaker 2: any questions that the community have about that process.

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Speaker 1: And Assistant Minister, I mean, our residents still concerned. Do

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Speaker 1: they feel as though that goes far enough?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, residents aren't concerned and that's understandable, and that's why

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Speaker 2: I've apologized to local residents because this has caused some

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Speaker 2: inconvenience to their lives. The health authorities and the EPA

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Speaker 2: puts restrictions on the amount of produce that can be consumed,

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Speaker 2: that's produced on areas where there's PREFAS contamination, the livestock

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Speaker 2: that be consumed, So it's an inconvenience to people, and

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Speaker 2: that's naturally a concern. Had been very proactive. They're trying

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Speaker 2: to get ahead of the issue and work with local

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Speaker 2: communities to reduce the inconvenience and the incidents on local

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Speaker 2: communities and residents and try and work as best they

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Speaker 2: can with them to alleviate this problem as quickly as possible.

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Speaker 1: Are they still raising concerns about health as well or

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Speaker 1: is it more so about the points that you've made there.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, people are naturally concerned about the health consequences. In

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Speaker 2: twenty nineteen, the Commonwealth Department of Health commission to study

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Speaker 2: from the Australian National University to look at whether or

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Speaker 2: not there was a causal link between high levels of

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Speaker 2: PREFAS in the blood and certain diseases or ailments. They

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Speaker 2: found that high levels of pfas in the blood can

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Speaker 2: cause high cholesterol, but beyond that there was no causal

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Speaker 2: link with any other particular diseases or ailments. Look, this

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Speaker 2: is an area that's evolving where constantly updating research and

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Speaker 2: evidence and looking to find out if there is links,

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Speaker 2: and certainly if there is then government will act. But

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Speaker 2: at the moment there's no evidence to indicate any cause

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Speaker 2: or link beyond that issue of cholesterol.

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Speaker 1: Now a system Minister, I know you are pressed for time.

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Speaker 1: So just before I let you go, we know the

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Speaker 1: Prime Ministers expected to announce the date today for the

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Speaker 1: referendum for the Indigenous Voice to Parliament. We're all thinking

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Speaker 1: it's going to be October fourteen. What time is he

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Speaker 1: making this announcement? Is that going to be the date?

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Speaker 2: Look, it to be made in about an hour's time.

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Speaker 2: And I'm certainly not going to steal the Prime funder Katie.

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Speaker 2: But I did meet a couple of Indigenous gentlemen yesterday

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Speaker 2: and Catherine at the forum and they were telling me

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Speaker 2: they were voting yes because they believe it will make

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Speaker 2: a real difference to the lives of the communities that

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Speaker 2: they live in. I think it's fair to say that

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Speaker 2: the current system's not working. Aboriginal Australian have a number

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Speaker 2: of health issues, educational issues. We know that they're one

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Speaker 2: of the most incarcerated groups of people in the world.

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Speaker 2: Current system is not working. We need to try something new.

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Speaker 2: It's been a request that's been made from Aboriginal and

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Speaker 2: to strata under leaders, and we think it's worth respecting

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Speaker 2: that request and trying to institute a voice in the

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Speaker 2: Constitution so that we can get better results in the

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Speaker 2: long run.

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Speaker 1: Well, Assistant Minister for Defense, Matt Thistles, I've got my

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Speaker 1: tongue tied. There's Thistles wait. Thank you as always for

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Speaker 1: your time today.

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Speaker 2: Thanks Katie, thank you.