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Speaker 1: But let's get straight into it because there is so

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Speaker 1: much on the agenda this morning. And as I said,

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Speaker 1: there is no doubt that the way in which the

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Speaker 1: Northern territories two major political parties want to deal with

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Speaker 1: crime are very different. And the Northern Territory government yesterday

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Speaker 1: will they release their domestic violence strategy Phase two. There's

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Speaker 1: no funding attached to it, but there is that call

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Speaker 1: for needs based funding from the federal government. This follows

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Speaker 1: their knife crime strategy which we'll see de escalation training

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Speaker 1: as well as education. Two reviews now, one into bail

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Speaker 1: and one into knife crime, have shown that the government, well,

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Speaker 1: they say that they do not need to make legislative changes,

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Speaker 1: that their evidence based and the government feels that there

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Speaker 1: needs to be will generational change and we need to

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Speaker 1: tackle these issues from the root cause. Meanwhile, the COLP

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Speaker 1: says we need to get a bit tougher on crime.

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Speaker 1: They attempted to introduce their own legislation yesterday in an

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Speaker 1: effort to strengthen those bail laws. They didn't have the

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Speaker 1: numbers and the changes were outed down by Labour's majority.

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Speaker 1: Now joining me on the line is the Opposition leader

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Speaker 1: Leah Finocchio Good morning, Leah.

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Speaker 2: Good morning Katie, and to your listeners.

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Speaker 1: Now, Leah, what exactly would this bill have seen if

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Speaker 1: it passed yesterday?

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Speaker 2: So bail is a really important issue. What we know

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Speaker 2: in the territory is that lots of people who are

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Speaker 2: bailed so they've committed a crime, they are then released

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Speaker 2: back into the community awaiting their court date, and during

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Speaker 2: that period that they are released back into the community,

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Speaker 2: they go on to reoffend. And just to give people

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Speaker 2: an idea, for example, in today's court list, there are

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Speaker 2: thirty people in there for breaching their bail. We know

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Speaker 2: that fifty five percent of youths who are bowed by

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Speaker 2: police go on to commit multiple offenses while on bail,

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Speaker 2: So bail counts for a significant portion of crime on territories.

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Speaker 2: In order to fix that and address that issue of

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Speaker 2: people committing offenses while they're out on bail, we try

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Speaker 2: to pass ledgius that would put these criminals on the

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Speaker 2: back foot. It means when they're going to get bail

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Speaker 2: in the first instance, that they start on the back foot,

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Speaker 2: that they have a presumption against bail, and that ultimately

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Speaker 2: it means their starting point is of no bail instead

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Speaker 2: of what it is under the current law, which is

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Speaker 2: a starting point of them getting bail.

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Speaker 1: Leah. Will it mean though that we end up with

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Speaker 1: more people in jail clogging up the system when they

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Speaker 1: maybe haven't done something that's as you know, like that's

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Speaker 1: bad enough to actually keep them in Remand No.

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Speaker 2: Because this targeted serious violent offenders. So what we wanted

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Speaker 2: is all serious violent offenders to start with a position

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Speaker 2: of no bail because they are the people causing physical

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Speaker 2: harm to Territorians who are becoming victims of crime. And

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Speaker 2: just this week alone we've seen that horrendous attack on

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Speaker 2: the women in the CBD. Of course there was the

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Speaker 2: knife attack in Parmesan with the mother putting the child

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Speaker 2: in the car. These are daily occurrences happening in people's

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Speaker 2: lives that are absolutely traumatizing people and making them too

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Speaker 2: afraid to do the basics like going to the shop

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Speaker 2: or putting peel in the car, Katie. So crime is

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Speaker 2: a very significant issue. We felt that by addressing bail

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Speaker 2: we stopped that revolving door, which will also better support

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Speaker 2: our police because they won't be out chasing the same

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Speaker 2: criminal they caught the night before. And ultimately it puts

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Speaker 2: the rights of people to be safe above the rights

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Speaker 2: of criminals. But Labor, did.

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Speaker 1: You consult with the police. Did you consult with the

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Speaker 1: police on this legislation.

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Speaker 2: Yet we have been consulting with police for years on

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Speaker 2: bail and this isn't our first bowel legislation to come

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Speaker 2: into Parliament. The Police Association support our legislation going forward,

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Speaker 2: but Labor feel that they literally, here's the words, Katie.

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Speaker 2: It was amazing. They said, it's not crime prevention. But

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Speaker 2: if you stop someone from being out on the street

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Speaker 2: who shouldn't be on the street, from committing further crimes,

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Speaker 2: then that absolutely is crime prevention. So we're very disappointed.

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Speaker 2: We heard the calls of the thousands of people who've

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Speaker 2: rallied at Parliament House, the twenty six thousand people who

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Speaker 2: signed the petition for Samara Lavity, every victim, and the

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Speaker 2: government literally said that we were acting on perception and gossip,

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Speaker 2: that the calls for our community for greater action on

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Speaker 2: crime is nothing more than perception and gossip, which shows

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Speaker 2: just how out of touch they are. Lea.

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Speaker 1: I listened to some of the debate yesterday and the

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Speaker 1: independent Member of Formulka Yinya, Mark Giola, who obviously is

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Speaker 1: out in a Bush electorate says tough on crime. The

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Speaker 1: tough on crime slogan is no longer what we need.

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Speaker 1: We need programs and tough on crime doesn't work. Is

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Speaker 1: he right?

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Speaker 2: There is no question that we need programs, But ultimately

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Speaker 2: we have to stop people becoming victims right now, and

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Speaker 2: the only way to deal with that is through strengthening

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Speaker 2: the laws and empowering our police. Programs take a long

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Speaker 2: time to come into effect, and I think your listeners, Katie,

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Speaker 2: know that we don't have any time to lose on

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Speaker 2: this issue. It is totally out of control right across

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Speaker 2: the territory and so we need to address Unfortunately that

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Speaker 2: point end, which is the offending that's happening now.

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Speaker 1: Inside now, Leah. I mean this legislation or the bill

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Speaker 1: that you guys had put forward rightly or wrongly's been

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Speaker 1: voted down. Obviously, the government's got the numbers. They are

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Speaker 1: going through with what they're saying is an evidenced based

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Speaker 1: approach based on their knife crime strategy and also based

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Speaker 1: on their bail review. They say it's evidence based.

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Speaker 2: Well, they say a lot of things, Katie that just

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Speaker 2: aren't true. And I think the reality is we are

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Speaker 2: all living a nightmare that labour thing doesn't exist. I mean,

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Speaker 2: this is a bail review that has no funding and

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Speaker 2: no legislative change, a knife crime strategy that has no

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Speaker 2: funding and no legislative change, and a DV review that

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Speaker 2: has no funding and no legislative change attached to it.

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Speaker 2: It is quite literally all talk and glossy brochures. And

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Speaker 2: in the meantime, people can't even go to the shop

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Speaker 2: without being worried that their car will be broken into

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Speaker 2: or they'll be assaulted.

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Speaker 1: As we're too from here, you know, because the fact

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Speaker 1: is twenty six thousand people have signed that petition, The

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Speaker 1: petition's now been debated, the COLP has tried to enforce

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Speaker 1: those bail changes and they've not been voted up, they've

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Speaker 1: been voted down. So where to from here, Leah, Well.

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Speaker 2: We will keep finding for territories to be safe. It

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Speaker 2: is a number one issue. And just like with Gella

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Speaker 2: at Stomp yesterday whose staff member was attacked, crime is

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Speaker 2: not just a personal safety issue or a safer community

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Speaker 2: safety issue anymore. It is now a major economic issue.

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Speaker 2: Our shopping centers are spending millions of dollars on security,

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Speaker 2: which is being passed onto retailers, affecting small business and

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Speaker 2: passed on to us the consumers. We having insurance premiums

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Speaker 2: going through the roof people leaving the territory, which means

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Speaker 2: it's difficult to find staff. It goes on and on

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Speaker 2: and on. The price we are paying for crime is

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Speaker 2: now even so much more than our own safety and

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Speaker 2: the safety of our children and our family. And so

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Speaker 2: this is that breaking point. If the government wants to

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Speaker 2: continue to ignore our community who are desperately crying out

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Speaker 2: for change, then Territorians will have to vote for change

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Speaker 2: next year so we can get the territory back on track.

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Speaker 1: Lea. I listened well, as I said, I listened to

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Speaker 1: that debate yesterday, and I know that a lot of

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Speaker 1: Territori ins did. I know that there's a lot of

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Speaker 1: people who are incredibly frustrated. At this point. We're actually

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Speaker 1: going to be catching up with the victim of that

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Speaker 1: terrible assault on Tuesday afternoon. She's going to be joining

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Speaker 1: us this morning at nine forty five. So I know

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Speaker 1: a lot of people are going to be really interested

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Speaker 1: and probably quite sad when they hear that interview. But

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Speaker 1: I do want to move along because there are calls

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Speaker 1: again this morning for spithoods to be banned. We know

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Speaker 1: that the Ombudsman well has really quite an extensive report

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Speaker 1: one hundred and forty pages on the use of those

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Speaker 1: devices in police custody, and the report recommends Northern Territory

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Speaker 1: Police extend a ban on spit hoods to people of

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Speaker 1: all ages, as well as a recommendation prohibiting spit hoods

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Speaker 1: and emergency restraint chairs being used all together. As I said,

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Speaker 1: that report tabled in Parliament yesterday makes a number of recommendations. Leah,

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Speaker 1: Should they be banned?

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Speaker 2: Absolutely not. This is I honestly sometimes wonder what kind

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Speaker 2: of world we live in where we have people calling

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Speaker 2: for a disempowerment of our police to be able to

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Speaker 2: protect themselves from people who spit it them. I have

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Speaker 2: a very good recommendation for criminals. Don't bite your tongue

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Speaker 2: and then split spit blood and saliva in the face

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Speaker 2: of cops. Then you won't have to wear a spit hood.

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Speaker 2: This is just craziness at its best, Katie. We need

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Speaker 2: to be making sure our police are protected vile and

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Speaker 2: disgusting acts and stop putting the rights of criminals to

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Speaker 2: destroy other people's lives above the rights of people to

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Speaker 2: be safe.

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Speaker 1: Lea. I think that advice is very good advice, and

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Speaker 1: I reckon there's a lot of people that would agree

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Speaker 1: with you. You know, if you don't want to have a

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Speaker 1: spi hood, don't spit on somebody. It's pretty simple, pretty

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Speaker 1: simple now it is. Now, I do just want it

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Speaker 1: for me. It makes sense to me as well. Now

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Speaker 1: I do just want to ask you the voice. We

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Speaker 1: know that it's now that vote is happening on October sixteen.

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Speaker 1: Are you going to be campaigning for the no vote?

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Speaker 2: No. I've been very clear right from the start that

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Speaker 2: either way, I wouldn't be campaigning. I will be voting

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Speaker 2: no personally because I don't believe that there's adequate information

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Speaker 2: that I'm really concerned about the territory being pushed around

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Speaker 2: by the big states who will have much bigger representation

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Speaker 2: on a Voice than the territory, and I think that's

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Speaker 2: going to slow down progress for us and just delay

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Speaker 2: things that need to be done. So that's why I'm

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Speaker 2: voting no, and I encourage everyone to get as much

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Speaker 2: information as they can and make their own informed decision.

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Speaker 2: But it's good to see a date is set and

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Speaker 2: what will be will be.

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Speaker 1: Leah Finocchio, the opposition leader, appreciate your time this morning.

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Speaker 1: Thanks so much for speaking with us.

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Speaker 2: Take care everyone, Thank you,