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Speaker 1: Now, the Alice Springs Town Council has moved to put

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Speaker 1: a stop to footy finals from being held on the

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Speaker 1: grounds due to a spate of crime which they believe

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Speaker 1: could be linked to those games. Now, the council moved

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Speaker 1: the motion on Tuesday that would see the grounds no

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Speaker 1: longer available to AFL NT for those finals games, which

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Speaker 1: typically attracted larger crowds, but crowds from other communities, is

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Speaker 1: my understanding. Now joining me is the local mayor, Matt Patterson.

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Speaker 2: Good morning to you, Matte morning Katie.

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Speaker 3: Thanks for having me.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, good to have you. Now I understand we'll talk

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Speaker 1: us through this motion first.

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Speaker 3: Yes, I mean it's a pretty long wind that has

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Speaker 3: been going on for a few years.

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Speaker 2: Yeah.

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Speaker 3: You know, two years ago we stopped football community football

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Speaker 3: all together and then worked with al N and AFL

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Speaker 3: to come up with a better outcome FRULL parties. And

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Speaker 3: so where we landed with that was a week in town,

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Speaker 3: a week in remote communities. So I have to remember

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Speaker 3: remote communities, we're traveling eight hundred climeter around trips to

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Speaker 3: come and play in our springs and then drive back

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Speaker 3: to their community often stay for a period of time.

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Speaker 3: So the outcome was a week in our springs a

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Speaker 3: week out Bush. Now throughout the year, I would say

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Speaker 3: that that it's been quite successful, and I acknowledge that

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Speaker 3: it's been quite successful. We didn't have back to back

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Speaker 3: weeks now with the finals. We had the semi finals

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Speaker 3: two weeks ago in Alice Springs and then just the

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Speaker 3: weekend gone we had the final in Alp Springs as well.

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Speaker 3: We sent an influx of visitors, we sent an influx

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Speaker 3: of illegal camping we've seen and in increased of a

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Speaker 3: spate of crime over the weekend, which was a horrendous weekend. Now,

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Speaker 3: I appreciate that the logistical challenges that it faces for

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Speaker 3: the afl NT. However, as counsel, we are trying to

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Speaker 3: limit the impacts that happened to Alice Springs through a

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Speaker 3: lack of planning, so this doesn't happen again. Now, it

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Speaker 3: will have no impact on the rest of this season.

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Speaker 3: It's going to impact next season and this season after that.

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Speaker 1: Right, So any games so are there's still a few

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Speaker 1: outstanding games to happen for this season and they are

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Speaker 1: still going to happen.

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Speaker 3: So the community competition had finished and there was the

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Speaker 3: Grand Final on Saturday, and that's where we've seen a

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Speaker 3: few thousand people come in from remote community and we've

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Speaker 3: seen another weekend of crime. Now I can compare it

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Speaker 3: to the show when we've seen a few thousand people

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Speaker 3: come in from remote communities. You didn't saying we don't

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Speaker 3: want people to come in from remote communities. We're just

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Speaker 3: trying to limit the impact. Now on the show weekend,

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Speaker 3: we've seen that a few thousand come in and we've

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Speaker 3: seen that lead to more crime, and then we've seen

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Speaker 3: a curfew implemented. So you know, Okadi, if it walks

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Speaker 3: and talks like a duck, it's a duck. And we're

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Speaker 3: just as I said, we're trying to work with AFL

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Speaker 3: and tews it less dot com for all parties.

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Speaker 1: And so what's sort of been in terms of that motion,

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Speaker 1: you know, being moved what came through yesterday. So it

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Speaker 1: is now a situation where you have to be you've

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Speaker 1: got to have some meetings with AFL and T because

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Speaker 1: it's clearly not working moving forward in terms of those

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Speaker 1: games happening. I know the season's over now for community footy,

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Speaker 1: but there has to be some kind of agreement moving forwards.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, and we we have lots of meetings of AFL

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Speaker 3: and T. They're an important stakeholder in ourur springs and

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Speaker 3: you know I've reached out to the CEO and you

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Speaker 3: know we'll meet later this week hopefully. You know, it's

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Speaker 3: just about managing the expectations of community as well and

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Speaker 3: appreciate we didn't want back to backgrounds. We've said that

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Speaker 3: from the very start, and unfortunately we've had the semi

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Speaker 3: final and final back to back weeks, so you know,

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Speaker 3: the decision has been made from council. We'll work with

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Speaker 3: AFL and T to deliver that outcome. Last year we

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Speaker 3: were having these discussions as the season was starting and

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Speaker 3: so it was moving very rapidly. This point is we've

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Speaker 3: got twelve months to get to get to a suitable outcome,

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Speaker 3: so you know there's enough advanced warning for all parties

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Speaker 3: involved to come up with a certain outcome.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, what's been the reaction so far from AFL n T.

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Speaker 1: I mean, have you had much of a chat to

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Speaker 1: them since since the council meeting?

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Speaker 3: No, not since yesterday. It was a very quick It's

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Speaker 3: obviously a big day from us. Yesterday it's our monthly meeting. Look,

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Speaker 3: as I said, I text the CEO and said, probably

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Speaker 3: need to have a chat, and you know, he come

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Speaker 3: back and said absolutely. So you know, we'll organize that

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Speaker 3: during the week and hopefully reach out. And you know,

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Speaker 3: as I said, it's not I got your moment. This

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Speaker 3: conversation has been happening for a few years.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, hey, MAT's obviously change of government over the weekend.

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Speaker 1: What was your reaction as those results started to flow through?

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Speaker 3: Not necessarily surprised, you know, I thought there was a

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Speaker 3: change coming. I think the Greens polled extremely well, which

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Speaker 3: wasn't a surprise either. You look down here in Brakling

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Speaker 3: there was a massive swing to the Greens. I think

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Speaker 3: it's the biggest swing to a Greens candidate ever in Australia.

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Speaker 3: I think that, you know, that's that's got to mean

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Speaker 3: something for our springs. But not surprised. We'll just wait

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Speaker 3: and see, you know. I congratulate the new Chief Minister

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Speaker 3: and look forward to working with her in her government

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Speaker 3: and hopefully we can deliver some outcomes for our springs.

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Speaker 3: And I'll just take the time to say thank you

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Speaker 3: to former Chief Evil Lawler and her predecessors and thank

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Speaker 3: the government for working with the town Council Ola Springs

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Speaker 3: as well.

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Speaker 1: Now I know that Chief Minister elect to Lifanokiaro had

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Speaker 1: told me on Monday that the first Parliament sittings aren't

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Speaker 1: expected to be until mid till late October. Are you

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Speaker 1: worried about Alice Springs with summer fast approaching when crime

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Speaker 1: does typically increase in the town.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, absolutely. You know, I would assume that all their

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Speaker 3: legislation will be drafted. But you know, it does make

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Speaker 3: a challenging when you got October November and then you

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Speaker 3: know we sort of peak from that November to January period,

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Speaker 3: So what sort of changes can you make in that

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Speaker 3: short amount of time. And you know, you know, we'll

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Speaker 3: wait and see. But you know, if you run on

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Speaker 3: a platform and people vote for you for that platform,

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Speaker 3: then they expect that change to happen. And the community,

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Speaker 3: I can say to us, and I com mendicated, the

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Speaker 3: community is not very forgiving if they're voted for your

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Speaker 3: reason and that that reason is not implemented straight away

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Speaker 3: when you know we're talking about pretty emotional things of

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Speaker 3: breaking enters.

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Speaker 1: And yeah, crime, well even on the weekend, you know,

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Speaker 1: by the sounds of it, we're all sort of covering

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Speaker 1: the election and all the while it sounds like there

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Speaker 1: was there was car thefts, there was breaking entries that

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Speaker 1: Alice Springs was dealing with at that same time.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, and you know, we've said this many times. You've

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Speaker 3: become desensitized to a lot of it. But when you

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Speaker 3: see Congress getting smashed windows, you know, they're buses that

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Speaker 3: transport the most vulnerab are Indigenous people to their health

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Speaker 3: appointments that now they can no longer do that because

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Speaker 3: they've got no windows left in their buses. You know,

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Speaker 3: you've just got to sit back and just you know,

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Speaker 3: so this isn't actually normal.

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Speaker 2: This is you know, was that on the weekend, Matt.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, it was on Saturday night. Yeah, I think there

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Speaker 3: was every window the Congress facility and pre Street was smashed.

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Speaker 3: There was a lot of car windows that were smashed,

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Speaker 3: and you know, these, as I said, these cars transport

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Speaker 3: the most vulnerable people. It's incredibly disappointing and it's another

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Speaker 3: frustrating weekend.

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Speaker 4: I mean to put it mildly, right, Yeah, that this

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Speaker 4: was the weekend of the community football and people are saying, well,

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Speaker 4: you can't connect it, but as I've said, we've had

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Speaker 4: another influx and we just need to manage all.

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Speaker 3: Of these scenarios and avoid bottlenecks in our springs.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, it looks it sounds really tough to me, And

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Speaker 1: like you said, we've become desensitized to some degree, I think,

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Speaker 1: and I can't imagine what it's like for you guys there.

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Speaker 2: But but the new government.

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Speaker 1: Has been elected on a mandate to get this crime

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Speaker 1: under control.

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Speaker 2: It's not going to be easy for them to do.

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Speaker 1: And I think that they've got a little bit of

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Speaker 1: you know, like they've got a bit of grace and

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Speaker 1: goodwill from the community in terms of, you know, understanding

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Speaker 1: that they'll need a little bit of time to find

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Speaker 1: their feet. But I don't think there's going to be

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Speaker 1: a huge amount of time. I think people are going

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Speaker 1: to have fairly high expectations.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, and I one hundred percent agree with you. But

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Speaker 3: as I've said, they've run and won, and I wish

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Speaker 3: them all the best, and hopefully, you know, things need

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Speaker 3: to change. I think that's first and foremost things need

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Speaker 3: to change, and hopefully you know, they change, and the

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Speaker 3: communities put their trust in the CLP to change the

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Speaker 3: territory's vision. And so I do wish them all the best,

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Speaker 3: because my fingers and toes across that things change in

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Speaker 3: our springs, because they certainly need to and needs to

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Speaker 3: be pretty quick before these people who were talking about

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Speaker 3: leaving before they leave because of the things that are happening.

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Speaker 3: And so you know, yep, it is what it is.

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Speaker 3: But we'll get there.

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Speaker 1: We've got to get cracking, got to get cracking well,

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Speaker 1: Matt Patterson, the Mayor of Vella Springs.

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Speaker 2: Always good to catch up with your mate. Thanks so

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Speaker 2: much for your time this morning, anytime. Thanks Katie, Thank you,