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Speaker 1: Good morning everybody. Welcome to the Daily OS. It is Wednesday,

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Speaker 1: the fifteenth of December. Bill of Wright's Day in the

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Speaker 1: United States, so wrong, it's right. That's the tagline they've

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Speaker 1: just come up with. And for those in the Netherlands

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Speaker 1: it is Kingdom Day. I'm really liking looking at Wikipedia

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Speaker 1: and understanding what days it is. It's become my new

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Speaker 1: daily habit. Billy Fitzimon's, our political journalist, is joining us

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Speaker 1: on the podcast this morning. Billy, a big day for

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Speaker 1: New South Wales. What is going down in the state today.

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Speaker 2: New South Wales is set to further ease COVID nineteen

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Speaker 2: restrictions today despite the spread of the omicron variant, and

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Speaker 2: we also importantly had eight hundred and four cases yesterday,

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Speaker 2: which is a big jump from what we've seen in

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Speaker 2: the past two weeks. The new freedoms will apply to

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Speaker 2: everyone in New South Wales, regardless of vaccination status. So

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Speaker 2: that does mean that unvaccinated people will be at the

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Speaker 2: restaurants and at the pubs and at the clubs. Masks

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Speaker 2: will only be required in some high risk settings, and

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Speaker 2: there will be no capacity limits for gyms or hospitality venues.

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Speaker 2: Among other freedoms.

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Speaker 1: On the vaccination front, Moderna's COVID nineteen vaccine will be

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Speaker 1: manufactured in Victoria from twenty twenty four, and we know

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Speaker 1: this after a joint agreement between the Federal Government, the

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Speaker 1: Victorian government and Maderna was announced yesterday. The manufacturing facility

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Speaker 1: will also have the potential to increase its capacity to

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Speaker 1: produce up to one hundred million doses per year to

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Speaker 1: combat future pandemics.

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Speaker 2: A seven point three magnitude earthquake struck of eastern Indonesia

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Speaker 2: on Tuesday. According to the US Geological Survey, the Pacific

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Speaker 2: Tsunami Warning Center said hazardous ways are possible for coasts

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Speaker 2: located within one thousand kilometers of the quake epicenter.

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Speaker 1: And your hump day good news. India has tripled the

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Speaker 1: number of solar panel installations in the country in the

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Speaker 1: last twelve months alone, bringing the current share of non

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Speaker 1: fossil fuel sources of electricity to forty percent of the

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Speaker 1: country's power. We know this after the Minister of the

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Speaker 1: Environment and Energy announced it in Parliament yesterday. Some really

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Speaker 1: good news from the subcontinent. Justa heads up before we

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Speaker 1: dive into this deeper discussion about Larry NASA and US Gymnastics.

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Speaker 1: We are going to be discussing sexual abuse and sexual assaults.

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Speaker 1: So if this is a difficult topic for you, this

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Speaker 1: might be a good podcast to skip and we can

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Speaker 1: speak to you tomorrow.

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Speaker 3: I am also a survivor of sexual abuse, and I

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Speaker 3: believe without a doubt that the circumstances that led to

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Speaker 3: my abuse and allowed it to continue are directly the

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Speaker 3: result of the fact that the organizations created by Congress

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Speaker 3: to oversee and protect me as an athlete, USA Gymnastics

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Speaker 3: and the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee failed to

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Speaker 3: do their jobs.

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Speaker 1: So, Billy, that was US Gymnastics icon Simone Biles testifying

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Speaker 1: in front of a Senate committee earlier this year into

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Speaker 1: the US Gymnastics dot com Larry Nasa. It was part

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Speaker 1: of a five year legal battle which has somewhat culminated yesterday,

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Speaker 1: and we're going to take you through a really sizeable

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Speaker 1: settlement and what that actually means for the athletes. So,

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Speaker 1: after this five year period, the victims of former US

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Speaker 1: Gymnastics doctor Larry Nasa have reached a settlement of five

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Speaker 1: hundred and thirty three million dollars with US Gymnastics. The

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Speaker 1: US Olympic and Paralympic Committee and their insurers. So initially

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Speaker 1: a settlement proposal of six hundred million dollars was submitted

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Speaker 1: by the parties in August. However, the parties reached this

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Speaker 1: modified settlement of five hundred and thirty three million yesterday.

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Speaker 1: So in terms of who's going to pay this money,

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Speaker 1: it's actually going to be insurers of the US Olympic

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Speaker 1: and Paralympic committees. They're going to pay the majority of

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Speaker 1: the sum. But the US Olympic and Paralympic Committee will

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Speaker 1: still pay around forty eight million Australian dollars and loan

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Speaker 1: around eight point five million Australian dollars to USA Gymnastics

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Speaker 1: to pay its part of the settlement. We know all

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Speaker 1: of this after the settlement was announced during a hearing

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Speaker 1: in a federal bankruptcy court this week, after USA Gymnastics

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Speaker 1: filed for bankruptcy in twenty eighteen amid the lawsuits against NASA. Billy,

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Speaker 1: to give us some context onto this story, can you

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Speaker 1: take us back a few years and actually explain what

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Speaker 1: the original allegations were.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, So, as you said, Sam, this has been a

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Speaker 2: five year legal battle, so it's been going on for

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Speaker 2: a long time now. Nasa was accused of sexually abusing

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Speaker 2: hundreds of women and girls, many of whom were gymnasts,

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Speaker 2: and like you said, he was the team doctor. So

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Speaker 2: he did all of this under the guise of medical

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Speaker 2: treatment over three decades, and his victims include Olympians Simone Biles,

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Speaker 2: Mikhayla Maroney, and also Ali Raisman. In twenty eighteen, Nasa

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Speaker 2: was sentenced to up to three hundred years in prison

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Speaker 2: for multiple sex crimes, many involving a minor, and it

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Speaker 2: came after he had already been sentenced to sixty years

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Speaker 2: in prison on child pornography charges in two thousand and seventeen.

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Speaker 2: So if you do the mass, that is three hundred

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Speaker 2: and sixty years in prison. Do we know where the

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Speaker 2: money is actually going.

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Speaker 1: We will know more in future when we hear more

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Speaker 1: from the victims and their representatives. But according to The

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Speaker 1: New York Times, the funds are going to go to

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Speaker 1: more than five hundred abuse victims, and it's going to

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Speaker 1: help cover the medical costs associated with the abuse, including

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Speaker 1: importantly mental health treatment. Court documents also revealed that the

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Speaker 1: settlement means at least one seat is going to be

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Speaker 1: dedicated on the US Gymnastics Board of Directors to a survivor.

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Speaker 1: This is actually not the first time there's been a

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Speaker 1: nine figure settlement for victims of NASA. There was a

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Speaker 1: previous settlement in NASA's capacity as the doctor as part

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Speaker 1: of the Michigan State University team. Michigan State University agreed

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Speaker 1: to pay five hundred million US dollars in twenty eighteen

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Speaker 1: after the case was brought on by three hundred and

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Speaker 1: thirty two victims. We did hear from USA Gymnastics yesterday.

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Speaker 1: They said US Gymnastics is deeply sorry for the true

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Speaker 1: and pain that survivors have endured as a result of

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Speaker 1: this organization's actions and inactions, clearly taking some responsibility from

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Speaker 1: an institutional level for what has happened to hundreds of

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Speaker 1: young athletes. The chief executive of USA Gymnastics, Lely Lung,

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Speaker 1: said in a statement that individually and collectively, survivors have

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Speaker 1: stepped forward with bravery to advocate for enduring change in

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Speaker 1: the sport. They said that they're committed to working with them,

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Speaker 1: and I think that board seat really shows a long

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Speaker 1: term institutional recognition that the body needs to do better

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Speaker 1: and have a voice around the decision making table that

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Speaker 1: can bring the interests and insights of young athletes to

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Speaker 1: the table.

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Speaker 2: So that was from the USA Gymnastics who facilitated the abuse.

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Speaker 2: We also heard from an attorney representing NASA's victims. His

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Speaker 2: name is John Manly, and he said in a statement,

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Speaker 2: survivors have now received a total of eight hundred and

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Speaker 2: eighty million US dollars in compensation for their pain and

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Speaker 2: suffering at the hands of this monster and the institutions

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Speaker 2: who enabled him, Michigan State University, USA Gymnastics, and the

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Speaker 2: US Olympic and Paralympic Committee. These organizations spent more than

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Speaker 2: one hundred million US dollars on corporate lawyers to evade

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Speaker 2: their legal and moral responsibility. He continued, saying, we prevailed

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Speaker 2: for one simple reason, the courage and tenacity of the survivors.

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Speaker 2: These brave women relived their abuse publicly in countless media interviews,

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Speaker 2: so that not one more child will be forced to

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Speaker 2: suffer physical, emotional or sexual abuse in pursuit of their dreams.

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Speaker 2: And if this topic has raised any issues for you,

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Speaker 2: help is available. You can call one eight hundred respect

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Speaker 2: on one eight hundred seven three seven seven three to two.

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Speaker 1: That's all we've got time for on the Daily OS today,

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Speaker 1: But Happy hump Day for many people working. It's one

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Speaker 1: of the last hump days of the year. We hope

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Speaker 1: you enjoy it and find us on Instagram. It's where

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Speaker 1: over two hundred and eighty five thousand Australians get their news.

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Speaker 1: We're not switching off over summer and we'll be there

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Speaker 1: every step of the way. Have a great day.