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Speaker 1: Now the Northern Territories work of vaccine mandate is set

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Speaker 1: to come to an end. Now we know that the

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Speaker 1: Chief Minister, Natasha Files made that announcement at a press

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Speaker 1: conference last week, saying that the mandate, along with the

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Speaker 1: Public Health Emergency will indeed finish on June sixteenth, So

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Speaker 1: at midnight tonight, as of midnight tonight, that mandate lifts.

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Speaker 1: So what does it mean for local businesses? Well, joining

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Speaker 1: me on the line is the owner of the much

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Speaker 1: loved Moorish Good morning to you, Gertrude.

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Speaker 2: Good morning Katie, and thank you for that lovely intro.

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Speaker 3: That's all right, well, I love going there, love the food.

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Speaker 1: Now tell us how has this mandate impacted you guys

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Speaker 1: at Moorish.

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Speaker 2: Oh, look, I think mainly we've been really lucky. All

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Speaker 2: of our staff have followed all of the directions. But

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Speaker 2: I think for me personally as a business owner, as

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Speaker 2: a work colleague, I didn't feel comfortable at all asking

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Speaker 2: people to go and get back to date. But I

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Speaker 2: didn't feel comfortable having those conversations and imposing on people,

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Speaker 2: especially some of them went very keen on it. So

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Speaker 2: I really did take a lot of imploring and you know,

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Speaker 2: good relations to get them across the line.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, and that's a.

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Speaker 1: Hard conversation to have really, as you know, as a

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Speaker 1: boss and somebody who owns a business. It's certainly not

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Speaker 1: a conversation that you would have anticipated that you were

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Speaker 1: really ever going to have.

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Speaker 3: To have pre COVID.

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Speaker 2: Absolutely, like it's you know, for me, it's very very personal.

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Speaker 2: People's choices about their bodies, their health, you know, is

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Speaker 2: not my area. It's not for me to judge. It's

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Speaker 2: money for me to choose for myself. What's there.

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Speaker 1: So, as of midnight tonight, obviously that regulation or that

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Speaker 1: rule mandate is lifted.

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Speaker 3: Is that a good news thing for you guys?

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Speaker 2: Oh? Absolutely, I think you know, even if we don't

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Speaker 2: get any new staff, and hopefully we do get a

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Speaker 2: few people will putting your hands up, then I think

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Speaker 2: it's good for everyone. It's just so I think for

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Speaker 2: everyone's head space, it's good to know that we're moving

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Speaker 2: closer to moving away from what has been a really

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Speaker 2: chaotic period. You know, over the last couple of years

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Speaker 2: have been really stressful for all different sorts of people

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Speaker 2: for you know, a mirrorad of reason. But look, I

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Speaker 2: think ultimately maybe in the consumer's mind. It makes everyone

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Speaker 2: think that everything is back to normal, everything is fine,

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Speaker 2: But ultimately, for our industry it's not at all. You know,

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Speaker 2: we're having a fantastic dry season this year, but we're

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Speaker 2: ridiculously short staffed. And I know people I run into

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Speaker 2: will say, oh, how are you going? I know this

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Speaker 2: summit that you know, stuff's so short, there's no you know,

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Speaker 2: it must be really hard, and it is absolutely. You know,

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Speaker 2: it's scary at times, and it's really difficult because you know,

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Speaker 2: you put more pressure on the staff that you have

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Speaker 2: and then you've got the fear of losing them. But

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Speaker 2: I think I hope that people in Darwin do realize

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Speaker 2: the pressure that people are under when they are short stuffed.

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Speaker 2: I know we know it, but when we go out

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Speaker 2: for dinner, be great if if perhaps people are a

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Speaker 2: little bit more understanding that everyone's trying their best, but

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Speaker 2: they're really stretched.

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Speaker 3: So gotra talk us through that.

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Speaker 1: You know, when it comes to that staff shortage right now,

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Speaker 1: how tough is it for a lot of our old

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Speaker 1: and territory businesses.

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Speaker 2: Oh look, I think it's huge And I think for me,

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Speaker 2: probably I put a little bit more pressure And I

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Speaker 2: hope other people do as well. In that I'm really

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Speaker 2: proud of Darwin. I'm so pleased to see so many

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Speaker 2: tourists up here and the feedback that I'm getting from

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Speaker 2: people is brilliant. I think it's really good for our

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Speaker 2: community spirit to hear from visitors about how great our

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Speaker 2: town is, you know, so that we can have civic pride.

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Speaker 2: But my fear is, because this staff shortages are so

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Speaker 2: extreme and we're under so much pressure, my fear is

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Speaker 2: that people will come and not be able to dine

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Speaker 2: out and then have a bad impression of Darwin. I mean,

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Speaker 2: I've done it before. We've gone without a reservation. We've

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Speaker 2: been chomping around Melbourne in the rain with two small children,

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Speaker 2: in so desperately and being shut away from every single

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Speaker 2: door we went to, and it was really disheartening and

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Speaker 2: it left you in Melbourn's my hometown. It left a

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Speaker 2: really bad taste in my mouth of that holiday because

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Speaker 2: we just couldn't get a seat in a restaurant. We

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Speaker 2: just wanted to have a lovely meal with our family

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Speaker 2: and we just couldn't get a seat. So I don't

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Speaker 2: want people to go through that and do and I

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Speaker 2: want people to have great experiences. So we're trying our

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Speaker 2: best not to turn people away, but because of the

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Speaker 2: staff shortages that we face, I think inevitably I have

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Speaker 2: to start cutting numbers because I can't keep doing this

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Speaker 2: to my staff. It's not fair on them. They're doing

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Speaker 2: a fantastic job and I'm so grateful and I love

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Speaker 2: working with them, but I think I will lose them

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Speaker 2: if we keep putting this amount of pressure on them.

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Speaker 3: So, Gurtro, what do you think sort of needs to happen?

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Speaker 1: Because I know that there's you know, we kind of

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Speaker 1: hear that there's work being done to try and entice

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Speaker 1: people from Intero State. We know that there's work being

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Speaker 1: done to sort of, you know, try to grow our

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Speaker 1: own to some degree as well. But some of those

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Speaker 1: different things sound like they're pretty you know, a bit

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Speaker 1: of a distance away or a bit of a you know,

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Speaker 1: still a bit of a weight. What kind of things

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Speaker 1: do you think could be happening in this space?

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Speaker 2: Well, look, I think you know, given how low the

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Speaker 2: unemployment rate is in Australian we know that, you know,

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Speaker 2: it's been low for a very very long time. I

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Speaker 2: think most able people are working. I don't think, you know,

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Speaker 2: I really, I don't think there's a huge pool of

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Speaker 2: people that are able to step out of unemployment into

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Speaker 2: jobs immediately. There will be a few, of course, but

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Speaker 2: I don't think there's there's not the numbers that we need.

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Speaker 2: So I think we really do need to look overseas,

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Speaker 2: and I know that the backpacker industry and you know,

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Speaker 2: just people holidaying and touring and traveling and working has

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Speaker 2: been great for the whole of Australia and I think

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Speaker 2: perhaps what we need to do is start working out

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Speaker 2: incentives to bring those people back into the country and

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Speaker 2: to reassure them that we will look after them and

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Speaker 2: that we really want them to be here. Yeah, around

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Speaker 2: the world as far as I know, like there are

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Speaker 2: staff shortages everywhere, so it's a really competitive market. So

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Speaker 2: sitting incentives, you know, whether it's air flights as South

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Speaker 2: Australia has done, and then signing people up saying you know,

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Speaker 2: you have to stay for X amount of time and

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Speaker 2: then you know we will reimburse you for your flight.

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Speaker 2: Anything like that would be really welcome to get people

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Speaker 2: up here.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I reckon, you're right, you know, it has reached

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Speaker 1: that point where we do need to try and incentivize

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Speaker 1: things to some degree, and I thought that was interesting

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Speaker 1: actually what South Australia had done. And I guess we

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Speaker 1: don't want to leave it too long either. You don't

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Speaker 1: want to sort of get left behind.

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Speaker 2: Well, look, I think now is the time we've through COVID,

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Speaker 2: We've had a lot of visitation from down South. As

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Speaker 2: I said to you, like, the feedback has been phenomenal.

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Speaker 2: We've all been really proud of our town. Through COVID,

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Speaker 2: everyone came together. But to get that reinforced view from

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Speaker 2: outsiders about how fantastic Darwin is, what a great place

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Speaker 2: that is, and how great you know it is outside

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Speaker 2: of town as well, we really want to keep that

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Speaker 2: momentum going. So we need to make sure that this

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Speaker 2: drive season is another phenomenal one for us, that people

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Speaker 2: go back and tell their friends and family to come

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Speaker 2: to Darwin. But in order to get that all across

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Speaker 2: the line, we really need people now, yeah, wanting jobs. Yes,

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Speaker 2: So it's kind of urgent.

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Speaker 3: It is, well, and it sounds that way, you know.

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Speaker 1: Honestly, every business person or every person that I speak

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Speaker 1: to who owns a business, that is what they are

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Speaker 1: saying at the moment that they've got serious issues with

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Speaker 1: staff shortages, and I know that it's the case in

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Speaker 1: other states and other locations as well, But you know,

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Speaker 1: I hate the idea of hard working territories like yourself

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Speaker 1: and and everybody that works there and other businesses around

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Speaker 1: the place. You know, you've got all these tourists sort

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Speaker 1: of knocking on our door wanting to be here and

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Speaker 1: not having you know, the staffing levels that you need

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Speaker 1: to be able to make sure that you can you

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Speaker 1: can welcome them all.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, that's right, And I get you know, where all

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Speaker 2: human beings, everyone's you know, got things going on in

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Speaker 2: their lives, and that little extra bit of aggressiveness from

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Speaker 2: customers because they've waited a little bit longer that really

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Speaker 2: impacts strongly on people. Yeah, and yeah, I think, you

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Speaker 2: know kind I think what we can do as a

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Speaker 2: community is certainly be kinder. Maybe if people want to

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Speaker 2: take a second job through life season and come and

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Speaker 2: work in hospitality, that would be really really welcome as well. Yeah,

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Speaker 2: I think anything we can do as a community to

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Speaker 2: come together to make it easier for people who are

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Speaker 2: trying to do their best would be great.

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Speaker 1: Yes, spot on, Will Gertrude. It is always lovely to

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Speaker 1: speak to you. I appreciate your time today and and

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Speaker 1: I hope that yeah, that you have a very busy

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Speaker 1: dry and that you're able to find well, that you've

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Speaker 1: got enough staff as well to be able to deal

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Speaker 1: with it.

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Speaker 2: Fingers crossed. We live in Hope.

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Speaker 3: Thank good on you, Gertrude. Thank you,