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Speaker 1: Joining me on the line right now. We are due

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Speaker 1: to catch up with him about the Red Center NATS

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Speaker 1: that took place over the weekend. Daniel Rochford, the CEO

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Speaker 1: of Tourism Central Australia. Good morning to you, Daniel.

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Speaker 2: Good morning Katie, and good morning to you listeners.

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Speaker 1: Now, Daniel, I'll get to Red Center NATS in just

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Speaker 1: a sec. But I'm sure that you've seen this breaking

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Speaker 1: news this morning that the Quantus Group CEO Alan Joyce

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Speaker 1: has advised the board that he's going to bring Ford

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Speaker 1: his retirement by two months to help the company accelerate

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Speaker 1: its renewal. So as a result, the CEO designate Vanessa

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Speaker 1: Hudson's going to assume the role of Managing Director of

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Speaker 1: Group CEO, effective as of tomorrow. Alan Joyce has said

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Speaker 1: in the last few weeks the focus on Quantus and

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Speaker 1: events of the past make it clear to me that

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Speaker 1: the company needs to move ahead with its renewal as

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Speaker 1: a priority. Daniel, what was your reaction to this announcement

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Speaker 1: a little earlier this morning.

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Speaker 2: Well, actually I've only just picked it up little in

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Speaker 2: the last ten minutes, Katie. And look, I think this

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Speaker 2: is is a very good decision of mister Joyce's I

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Speaker 2: think that period of renewal and refreshment that needs to

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Speaker 2: occur in Hondas needs to happen straight away. There is certainly,

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Speaker 2: and we've seen this time and time again, that culture

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Speaker 2: inside that business that needs change. And you know, I

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Speaker 2: think having a new CEO come in is very timely

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Speaker 2: and I think you know that that is going to

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Speaker 2: be good news for regional and remote Australia.

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Speaker 1: Daniel, from your perspective as the head of tourism in

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Speaker 1: Central Australia, what do you hope that this changing of

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Speaker 1: the guard means for territorians.

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Speaker 2: I think I touched on that culture inside our national airline. Look,

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Speaker 2: you know, we've certainly, as you know Katie, been quite

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Speaker 2: critical of Cornices straight Jes as it comes to particularly

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Speaker 2: fairs and particular service delivery and regional and remote Australia

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Speaker 2: for some time now, and you know, effectively Corners has

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Speaker 2: been strangling the tourism industry of Central Australia and really

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Speaker 2: really keeping at the heart of the general livability of

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Speaker 2: towns like Ourice Springs. And I think in the hope

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Speaker 2: that the new CEO coming in will reflect on that

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Speaker 2: will reflect on the brand damage that has occurred, the

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Speaker 2: issues that all Australians have been talking about our national airline,

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Speaker 2: and hopefully change will occur, and that's.

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Speaker 1: What we all hope, Yeah, you spot on. We are

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Speaker 1: certainly all hoping to see that. And I really hope Daniel,

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Speaker 1: that this does mean a bit more of a focus on,

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Speaker 1: you know, on regional Australia, on places like the Northern

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Speaker 1: Territory where we can fly for a reasonable amount of

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Speaker 1: money again, because it is seriously strangling us. It's you

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Speaker 1: know in so many ways.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, very much so. And look, you know we've all

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Speaker 2: read Matt Cunningham's piece in the Entiing Years over the

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Speaker 2: weekend and his voints were very true. You know that

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Speaker 2: there's almost been a culture of arrogance against regional and

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Speaker 2: rural Australia in many respects, and you know, we're hopeful

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Speaker 2: that this is, this decision today is the start of

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Speaker 2: change for our national airline. We all want to be

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Speaker 2: we all want to back our national airline. We need

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Speaker 2: a strong cornice, but we also need a fair corners

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Speaker 2: and that's what we calling on and ultimately, you know,

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Speaker 2: if that does not change, we need to start looking

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Speaker 2: at alternative options.

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Speaker 1: Yeah you spot on now Daniel red Center NAT's on

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Speaker 1: the weekend. Mate. How did it go? Was Central Australia alive?

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Speaker 2: Mate? It went off like a frog and a sock

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Speaker 2: here in Central Australia. And it was great to see

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Speaker 2: so many people out and about throughout the town on

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Speaker 2: you know, in t mech and the organizers tried some

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Speaker 2: new things this year with the Fringe Festival on the

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Speaker 2: Thursday night and you know it was great to see

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Speaker 2: so many visitors to our town but also so great

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Speaker 2: to see our community and a credit to all the organizers,

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Speaker 2: credit to all the support people, the police force that

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Speaker 2: supported us. You know, everything came together and credit to

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Speaker 2: everyone involved.

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Speaker 1: Was there plenty of people in town? Like what was

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Speaker 1: the response you know in terms of the number of

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Speaker 1: people that were there for our local businesses?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, look, I think we're certainly hearing there was a

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Speaker 2: pretty you know, you could physically see the number of

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Speaker 2: people in town. So, you know, I don't know what

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Speaker 2: the official statistic was, but you know, this is an

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Speaker 2: event that injects millions of dollars into the local business

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Speaker 2: community and you know, I certainly saw evidence of that

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Speaker 2: in our pubs and clubs and restaurants and in places

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Speaker 2: like the More. You know, we certainly had a very

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Speaker 2: busy weekend in the Information center as well. So look,

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Speaker 2: you know these events are such critical part and you know,

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Speaker 2: without the support of nt MECH through the Anti government,

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Speaker 2: you know, we can't bring these events together. And you know,

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Speaker 2: credit to ant MECH for making it happen.

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Speaker 1: And how are things going in Alis and in the

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Speaker 1: Red Center at the moment, Daniel, You know, in terms

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Speaker 1: of some of the issues that we've had over recent months,

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Speaker 1: how would you say it's tracking.

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Speaker 2: Look, it's not been the greatest of seasons for us.

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Speaker 2: It's that tale of two stories. Some are doing well

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Speaker 2: and some aren't. You know, certainly, if you're a caravan

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Speaker 2: park owner in Alice Springsleton and Creek, things are certainly

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Speaker 2: way down and we're talking thirty to forty percent down

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Speaker 2: compared to last year and pre COVID numbers. So you know,

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Speaker 2: it's certainly it is that tale of two stories. You know,

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Speaker 2: Gan numbers going really well. You know, it's it's certainly

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Speaker 2: not going to hit any record books by far, but

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Speaker 2: you know it has been ticking along. Ultimately, we do

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Speaker 2: need to deal with many of our some of our

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Speaker 2: challenging issues. You know, we need to get that aviation

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Speaker 2: piece right, o Katie. If we cannot get people to

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Speaker 2: Central Australia more cheaply, then we are going to have

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Speaker 2: a slow decline of our industry. And you know, we

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Speaker 2: were very happy that the government released their aviation and

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Speaker 2: attraction and subsidy a few weeks ago and hopefully, well

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Speaker 2: it won't be too far away until we get some

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Speaker 2: potential good news on that front.

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Speaker 1: Well, yeah, I really hope that, you know, I hope

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Speaker 1: that we are able to get things moving again. Just

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Speaker 1: tell me very quickly in terms of the vans, the

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Speaker 1: caravan parks, I mean, is that like being forty to

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Speaker 1: fifty percent down. Is that as a result of the

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Speaker 1: issues that we have experienced when it comes to crime

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Speaker 1: and people just being a bit frightened to travel there?

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Speaker 2: Yeah? Yeah, that and also competition in them in that market.

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Speaker 2: It same market, so for instance, cruise shipping as just

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Speaker 2: obviously started to retake off in the last last year.

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Speaker 2: So you know we're starting to see a huge you know,

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Speaker 2: when you're seeing the packages for that cruise ships are

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Speaker 2: offering versus how much it's going to cost her fill

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Speaker 2: your van and fill your car and take your van

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Speaker 2: up to Central Australia, you know, and we are non

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Speaker 2: cost competitive there. But that said, crime does play a

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Speaker 2: critical part. You know, a lot of the people, a

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Speaker 2: lot of our grown nomads listened to ben Fordham and

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Speaker 2: listen to Sky News and you know they hear, they

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Speaker 2: heard that national firestorm of negative media about our springs

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Speaker 2: and you know they are they are telling us that

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Speaker 2: that that's one of the reasons why there either not

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Speaker 2: coming or staying less in the town. And you know

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Speaker 2: that that's what we're seeing day in day out.

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Speaker 1: How do we rebuild that reputation, Daniel, when unfortunately there

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Speaker 1: are still issues that you know that continue to play gallus.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I think we need to get you know, you

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Speaker 2: and I have talked about this many times. We need

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Speaker 2: to get on top of this crime issue and the

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Speaker 2: anti social behavior. I've sat in a number of meetings

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Speaker 2: in the last couple of days where you know, the

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Speaker 2: government has been telling us what their plans are for

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Speaker 2: the summer and hopefully that those actions will help alleviate

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Speaker 2: our issues and hopefully we won't see what we saw

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Speaker 2: in January this year. But that still said, you know,

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Speaker 2: who knows. We need to throw all the available resources

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Speaker 2: at this. We also need to focus on our destination

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Speaker 2: and focus on making sure that whenever a visitor comes

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Speaker 2: to our beautiful region they have the best experience, because ultimately,

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Speaker 2: we know the best fall of advertising is that word

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Speaker 2: of mouth. And you know, when a visitor leaves Central Australia,

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Speaker 2: we want them to be leaving having an amazing experience

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Speaker 2: and that's our job as the tourism industry to do

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Speaker 2: that well.

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Speaker 1: It is always good to hatch up with you, Daniel Rochford.

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Speaker 1: We appreciate your time this morning and no doubt we'll

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Speaker 1: talk to you again very soon. Good to hear the

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Speaker 1: Redcenter nats went off like a.

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Speaker 3: Frog in a sock and you know it's and of

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Speaker 3: course this week we've got a Desert's Mob and Desert

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Speaker 3: Yeah De festival, so it's absolutely coming alive in Central

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Speaker 3: Australia for September.

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Speaker 1: Oh wonderful stuff. Daniel Rochford, good to speak with you.

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Speaker 1: We'll talk to you again very soon.

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Speaker 2: Thanks Coatie, Thank you,