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Speaker 1: Oh, I mentioned this a little bit earlier this morning,

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Speaker 1: but I want to just take you back to it

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Speaker 1: because we are going to be catching up with Senator

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Speaker 1: Melandery McCarthy in a few minutes time now. We know

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Speaker 1: that Parliament is sitting in Canberra, so I'm just trying

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Speaker 1: to juggle those timeframes with the very.

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Speaker 2: Busy senator this morning.

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Speaker 1: But a fiery debate in the Senate yesterday which saw

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Speaker 1: Melanderie McCarthy take on Lydia Thorpe. The Labor Front bencher

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Speaker 1: called Thorpe a disgrace to your people in a fiery

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Speaker 1: exchange about funding for First Nations people. Now, according to

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Speaker 1: this report by the ABC Independent, Senator Lydia Thorpe used

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Speaker 1: the Senate estimates to push government officials about how much

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Speaker 1: money was being spent in the Northern Territory to support

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Speaker 1: Indigenous communities, particularly younger people. And I know that Rachel

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Speaker 1: Jackson from the National Indigenous well the National Indigenous Australians Agency,

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Speaker 1: outlined how some of that cash had been assigned to

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Speaker 1: the Northern Territory Police Force to help address safety and

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Speaker 1: security concerns.

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Speaker 2: And I think for most of us here in the

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Speaker 2: Northern Territory.

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Speaker 1: We can understand why that money has been invested into

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Speaker 1: the Northern Territory Police Force. The police do a bloody

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Speaker 1: good job under what can be really difficult circumstances at

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Speaker 1: different times. But some of the comments that followed from

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Speaker 1: Lydia Thorpe I thought were disgraceful. But joining me on

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Speaker 1: the line right now is Senator for the Northern Territory

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Speaker 1: Malandariye McCarthy.

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Speaker 2: Good morning to you, Mallandiie.

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Speaker 3: Hey, good morning Katie, and good morning to your listener.

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Speaker 3: It's nice to be on your program.

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Speaker 2: It is great to have you on the show now, Mellandiary.

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Speaker 1: I understand that both you and Senator Thorpe have since

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Speaker 1: withdrawn those comments following on from that fiery debate in

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Speaker 1: the Senate, but honestly, I've never heard you so fired up.

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Speaker 3: Very very important to always stand up for the Northern Territory, Katie,

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Speaker 3: especially when people don't really understand what it is that

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Speaker 3: we deal with, and I'll always do that. It was

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Speaker 3: not correct what we were being accused of in trying

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Speaker 3: to assist with the issues of crime in the Northern Territory,

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Speaker 3: trying to assist our organizations, our police, our young people.

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Speaker 3: And yes, it made me very passionate. And you know,

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Speaker 3: sometimes you've just got to say what needs to be.

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Speaker 2: Said, you really do. And I take my hat off

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Speaker 2: to you.

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Speaker 1: I thought, go Melan, Dearie, tell her how it is

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Speaker 1: in the territory, because honestly, it made me really really

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Speaker 1: angry to hear what she was saying. And I thought,

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Speaker 1: when you think about all the bloody, hard working people

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Speaker 1: in the territory that are trying to work on these

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Speaker 1: issues of crime and anti social behavior and the work

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Speaker 1: that our police do, it just made me really angry

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Speaker 1: to hear what she was saying.

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Speaker 3: Well, it certainly made a lot of people feel that way,

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Speaker 3: and certainly myself included in terms of the complete disregard

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Speaker 3: that we've we are working hard on this. You know,

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Speaker 3: we're not a perfect place, but we had terrific people

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Speaker 3: right across the territory trying to do the best so

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Speaker 3: they can to improve circumstances. And this is both black

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Speaker 3: and white people. I don't care what color you are,

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Speaker 3: or how old you are, or where you live, so

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Speaker 3: long as we try and work out a way to

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Speaker 3: make it a better place. And that's where I'm always

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Speaker 3: coming from. So that kind of focus, so I had

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Speaker 3: to correct and you know, it became what it was

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Speaker 3: and obviously was quite confronting for many people on the

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Speaker 3: committee and for those watching. But I think for Territorians,

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Speaker 3: we know that. You know, you've just got to call

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Speaker 3: a spade a spabe.

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Speaker 1: You truly do, I mean, were you disappointed in the

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Speaker 1: way that she was talking about our Northern Territory Police Force.

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Speaker 3: Look, I just felt we had to correct the record, Katie.

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Speaker 3: It was wrong and it doesn't do anything in terms

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Speaker 3: of trying to help bring communities together. We have our problems,

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Speaker 3: there is no two ways about it, but that kind

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Speaker 3: of commentary was completely unhelpful and I had to point

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Speaker 3: that out and keep going until it stopped. And you know,

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Speaker 3: and I certainly have no regrets about that. I mean,

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Speaker 3: I certainly don't enjoy it, but you know, you've got

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Speaker 3: to call things out for what they are, and you know,

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Speaker 3: the chair then rightly ask both of us to pretty

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Speaker 3: much settle down and withdraw, which we both did in

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Speaker 3: the instance of trying to continue with the committee. I mean,

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Speaker 3: just to tell your listeners, I was sitting in that

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Speaker 3: chair from nine am till nine point thirty pm last night,

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Speaker 3: answering all questions, every question that I could to the

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Speaker 3: best of my ability, and then I just had enough. Yeah,

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Speaker 3: he said, listen, you cannot keep talking about people like that.

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Speaker 3: You know, you cannot do that.

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Speaker 1: And there's a respectful way to ask those questions, and

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Speaker 1: the way that she was asking them. I didn't think

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Speaker 1: we're overully respectful at all from the vision that I

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Speaker 1: have seen, But I think that a lot of territories

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Speaker 1: take quite a bit of offense to some of what

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Speaker 1: she was saying. Melandery, it sounds like it was a

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Speaker 1: long day yesterday as well. Talk us through some of

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Speaker 1: really what was discussed, and you know, I guess what

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Speaker 1: it's going to mean for the territory.

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Speaker 3: Look, it was an important day Senate estimates. Just for

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Speaker 3: your listeners, Katie is a really vital part of our

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Speaker 3: democratic system and ministers need to be held accountable and

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Speaker 3: I'm very aware of that and I take my responsibilities

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Speaker 3: very seriously. So we sit there at different committee meetings.

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Speaker 3: The one I was at was in Indigenous Affairs and

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Speaker 3: I had to answer questions from nine am till nine

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Speaker 3: pm about how moneys were being spent across Australia, not

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Speaker 3: just the Northern Territory, and I did speak very passionately

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Speaker 3: about Central Australia, of course, and you do have a

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Speaker 3: number of senators who are from the territory as well

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Speaker 3: on their senator little Senator man Perjinka Price. So everyone's

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Speaker 3: screwed it and as they should. This aspect of the

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Speaker 3: debate got out of hand. And you know, we've we've

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Speaker 3: said what we had to say, but I've certainly spoken

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Speaker 3: about the money's the Center Australia Kadias. We know two

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Speaker 3: fifty million identified. We still have ninety four million to

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Speaker 3: spend in terms of continually working with organizations in our

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Speaker 3: springs and surrounds, and we want to do it with

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Speaker 3: the people, not just impose it. And so that's you know,

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Speaker 3: that's what I was explaining to the committee.

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Speaker 1: And the thing is, you know, anybody that's spent a

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Speaker 1: bit of time in the Northern Territory at the moment

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Speaker 1: would know that the majority of Territorians are more than

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Speaker 1: happy for money to be invested into our Northern Territory

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Speaker 1: Police Force to really try to help with some of

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Speaker 1: the issues that we are facing.

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Speaker 3: Well, that's right, but it's also about how we ensure

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Speaker 3: that we reduce the issues that we've been facing, especially

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Speaker 3: in Alice Springs, Katie, and we've seen some very visible

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Speaker 3: reductions in crime in assults. We know that it's impacting

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Speaker 3: in terms of good work as being done by organizations

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Speaker 3: like lu Tepper as well. You know, we have Philip Bellis,

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Speaker 3: who's a former police officer himself, who is actually heading

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Speaker 3: the ranger group that walks the streets of Alice Springs

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Speaker 3: and they do it in two groups, one in the

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Speaker 3: morning till late in the afternoon, and the second group

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Speaker 3: starts late in the afternoon till two or three in

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Speaker 3: the morning, and that's local people with local solutions. And

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Speaker 3: he's a former police officer. So you know, I guess

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Speaker 3: I was just trying to get all of that on

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Speaker 3: the record and just say, look, yeah, sure we might

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Speaker 3: have it a bit rough in the territory, but we're

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Speaker 3: damn we're good at trying to get it better too.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, Melandarie McCarthy, I always appreciate your time. I know

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Speaker 1: that you pressed for time this morning, so thanks so

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Speaker 1: much for having a quick chat with us.

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Speaker 3: No worries, Katie. Thanks you m