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Speaker 1: We know that there is a mask mandate in place

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Speaker 1: at the moment in Catherine, and it's due to end

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Speaker 1: at five o'clock today. Joining us on the line right

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Speaker 1: now as the memberfore Catherine, Joe Hersey. Good morning to.

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Speaker 2: You, Joe, Good morning, Katie, and good morning listeners. Joe.

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Speaker 1: I don't know how you guys felt in Catherine towards

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Speaker 1: the end of last week, but it sort of seemed

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Speaker 1: to fly under the radar a little bit, this mask mandate.

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Speaker 2: It certainly did, Katie, and I would just like to

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Speaker 2: first say that the communication has been confusing and poor

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Speaker 2: at best for the community of Catherine. The media release

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Speaker 2: went out less than an hour before the mandate was

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Speaker 2: about to finish on Friday afternoon, So if you're not

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Speaker 2: signed up to the MTG media releases, or you're not

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Speaker 2: sitting in front of your Facebook, you wouldn't have known

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Speaker 2: that the mask mandate in actual fact was continuing till

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Speaker 2: five o'clock this afternoon.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, right, And you know the thing is, even you know,

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Speaker 1: we were having a discussion or fair in here this morning,

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Speaker 1: even for our news room and others. By sort of

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Speaker 1: five pm on a Friday afternoon, a lot of that info. Well,

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Speaker 1: yet it sort of goes under the radar. As I

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Speaker 1: said in.

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Speaker 2: The intro, absolutely, and you know I would I would

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Speaker 2: have thought the Health Minister would have done a media conference.

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Speaker 2: People in Catherine need to know if they were going

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Speaker 2: to be needing to wear their mask for the whole

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Speaker 2: of the weekend. That was not the case. Yesterday. When

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Speaker 2: I was at the servo shueling up, I was wearing

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Speaker 2: my mask and a girl says, oh, we're still wearing

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Speaker 2: a mask and I said, yeah, it's till five o'clock today.

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Speaker 2: So there was a lot of confusion, and I'd say

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Speaker 2: there'd be a lot of people across Catherine that did

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Speaker 2: not know that it had continued on not everyone's on Facebook.

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Speaker 2: But there was no media, you know, there wasn't like

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Speaker 2: a media conference to say this is what's going on

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Speaker 2: for Catherine. So very poor communication at best.

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Speaker 1: Katie and Joe, any idea if it is indeed going

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Speaker 1: to be lifting today at five o'clock. Has there been

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Speaker 1: much communication? Well obviously not, but has there been any

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Speaker 1: communication today in relation to this mask mandate.

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Speaker 2: I did ring the Health Minister this morning knowing that

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Speaker 2: I was coming to talk to you and the information

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Speaker 2: I've got is there will be a discussion this afternoon

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Speaker 2: on the situation in Katherine, and I've just asked them

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Speaker 2: to let me know as soon as possible whether we

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Speaker 2: will continue that on. It is concerning that the wastewater

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Speaker 2: is still showing positive so hopefully by five o'clock the

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Speaker 2: residents of Catherine and the community can remove the mask

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Speaker 2: like you can up here in Darwin, Joe.

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Speaker 1: Is there much concern from locals about the fact that

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Speaker 1: there was obviously positive results in the wastewater.

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Speaker 2: It has been confusing because if there is no further

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Speaker 2: people in the community, like we haven't heard that there's

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Speaker 2: anyone else that's contracted COVID, so it is it'll be

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Speaker 2: interesting to understand more about why the wastewater is showing

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Speaker 2: a positive result, and I haven't been able to get

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Speaker 2: that from the Health minister.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, it certainly sounds like it's confusing. But people in

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Speaker 1: Catherine feeling a little bit sort of left out. I mean,

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Speaker 1: when there is a mask mandate called for Darwin or

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Speaker 1: for a broader area, and you know, if there was

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Speaker 1: those test results were the same up here in Darwin,

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Speaker 1: you would think that there'd be a press conference call.

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Speaker 1: Are you guys feeling a little bit left out.

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Speaker 2: I do feel a bit left out there in Catherine.

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Speaker 2: And when I was talking to a business owner on

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Speaker 2: Friday night, their attendance at their cafe was very low.

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Speaker 2: They're normally quite busy on a Friday, and they put

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Speaker 2: that down to the confusion with the mask mandate, and

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Speaker 2: they had to tell quite a few people coming in

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Speaker 2: that the mask mandate had continued on people were not aware.

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Speaker 1: Joe. On the subject of mandates, how's that vaccine mandate

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Speaker 1: rolled out in Catherine.

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Speaker 2: It's when we were in lockdown last weekend. It was

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Speaker 2: really good to see that a lot of people had

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Speaker 2: gone out and got vaccinated. We have still been struggling

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Speaker 2: to get the correct vaccination rates for Catherine. They helped.

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Speaker 2: The Chief Minister did come out last week and say

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Speaker 2: seventy five and sixty five we have. Still we're still

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Speaker 2: waiting for any updated I would have thought after last

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Speaker 2: weekend there would have been a considerable amount more. We

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Speaker 2: are still waiting for information to know actually what those

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Speaker 2: rates are.

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Speaker 1: Well, we'll see what we can find out.

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Speaker 2: Joe.

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Speaker 1: How about for those businesses in Catherine, has there been

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Speaker 1: any that have been forced to shut shop or are

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Speaker 1: really concerned earned about the mandate and have lost staff

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Speaker 1: as a result.

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Speaker 2: The fear that I've spoken to Katie, there has been concern.

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Speaker 2: A couple of businesses I know have lost staff. There

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Speaker 2: have been a lot of pressure on business to implement

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Speaker 2: the mandate. We have been asking for a long time

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Speaker 2: for industry specific support to be rolled out. For weeks

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Speaker 2: We've been calling on hr support, fair works support, legal

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Speaker 2: advice for these business and it is just not good

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Speaker 2: enough that the government has been very slow and clunky

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Speaker 2: at best in giving specific information to industry on the

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Speaker 2: implementation of the mandate.

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Speaker 1: Hey, join, what appears to be some good news over

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Speaker 1: the weekend. It looks like there's going to be some

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Speaker 1: flood mitigation work happening. I saw that it's been announced

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Speaker 1: that a multimillion dollar pro project to provide protection to

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Speaker 1: properties and businesses in Catherine South from up to a

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Speaker 1: Q twenty flood event. So that's similar to what we

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Speaker 1: saw in the two thousand and six flood. It's been

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Speaker 1: given the green light with significant funding. That's from the

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Speaker 1: Australian Government's four billion dollar Emergency Response Fund. My understanding

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Speaker 1: is that it's nine point four million dollars in federal funds,

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Speaker 1: the territory government contributing around six hundred thousand dollars for

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Speaker 1: what is going to be a ten million dollar project.

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Speaker 1: I've no doubt still a bit of detail to come through,

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Speaker 1: but is this being viewed as a positive thing by

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Speaker 1: the people of Catherine.

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Speaker 2: That was a positive story that I read over the weekend, Katie,

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Speaker 2: and I certainly welcomed that announcement from and thank the

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Speaker 2: federal government for the nine point four million in funding.

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Speaker 2: And we certainly don't want the community to go through

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Speaker 2: another flood after being through both floods myself, I know

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Speaker 2: what it's like personally, and this is a great announcement

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Speaker 2: and I look forward to hearing more detail on it

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Speaker 2: in the future. Katie.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, we'll see what else we can find out on

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Speaker 1: that one as well. Joe Hersey, can you keep in

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Speaker 1: contact with us, let us know how it goes a

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Speaker 1: bit later today with the mask and yeah, we'll try

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Speaker 1: and find out a bit more detail as well when

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Speaker 1: it comes to that wastewater.

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Speaker 2: I certainly will, Katie, and thank you and thank you listening.

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Speaker 1: Thanks for your time today.

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Speaker 2: Joe