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Speaker 1: You're listening to mix ONEOW four point nine's three sixty. Now,

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Speaker 1: the federal government has thrown the tourism sector a massive lifeline,

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Speaker 1: set to have nearly eight hundred thousand airline tickets as

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Speaker 1: part of a one point two billion dollar package aim

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Speaker 1: getting more Australians to spend big on domestic holidays. Now

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Speaker 1: joining me on the line is the Federal Minister for Trade,

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Speaker 1: Tourism and Investment, Dan Tee.

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Speaker 2: And good morning, Katie.

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Speaker 3: Wonderful to be with you.

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Speaker 2: Minister. What's the aim of today's announcement.

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Speaker 3: The aim is to get people traveling again, in particular

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Speaker 3: traveling interstate again. We want Australians traveling, we want them

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Speaker 3: spending money when they do travel, and we want them

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Speaker 3: supporting the six hundred thousand jobs that are in our

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Speaker 3: tourism industry. So this package is about discount airfares and

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Speaker 3: then with your money you save on your discount airfair,

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Speaker 3: make sure you spend that in your pubs, your clubs

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Speaker 3: on that wonderful tourism experience that you'll remember for the

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Speaker 3: rest of your life.

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Speaker 1: Now, can you talk us through the thirteen locations firstly

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Speaker 1: that are included in this package.

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Speaker 3: So the locations that we've chosen are those that have

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Speaker 3: been impacted by the loss of international tourism and we've

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Speaker 3: worked with the airlines to identify where those routes have

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Speaker 3: struggled because they haven't had the demand that's needed. And

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Speaker 3: this is about supporting those places. So, for instance, when

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Speaker 3: it comes to the Northern Territory, Darwin, the as Rock

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Speaker 3: and Alice Springs will all be part of the incentive

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Speaker 3: to get people traveling again.

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Speaker 1: So obviously, as you've said, they're airs Rock and Alice

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Speaker 1: Springs are included on that list. Our understanding is that

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Speaker 1: Darwin isn't at this stage.

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Speaker 2: Is that correct?

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Speaker 3: No, Darwin is one of the locations that we we've

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Speaker 3: also identified and so it will be a beneficiary as well.

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Speaker 3: So the Northern Territory is very well covered by this package,

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Speaker 3: all right, So.

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Speaker 1: We will actually be able to get those half priced

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Speaker 1: flights to Darwa.

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Speaker 3: There will be half price flights that will be available

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Speaker 3: to go to Elie Springs, as Rock and to Darwen.

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Speaker 3: This is all about making sure that Australians travel right

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Speaker 3: across Australia. This is the Federal government making sure that

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Speaker 3: we're supporting those areas which are heavily reliant on international tourists,

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Speaker 3: and as I've said, it's all about encouraging Australians to

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Speaker 3: book that holiday and not only book that holiday, but

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Speaker 3: spend big when you do well.

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Speaker 1: So Minister, that's some good news because we didn't think

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Speaker 1: that Darwin was included on that list of destinations that

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Speaker 1: other Aussies could actually travel too to take advantage of

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Speaker 1: these flights.

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Speaker 3: Yes, no, Darwin is included as one of those destinations.

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Speaker 3: So the Northern Territory has been very well covered by

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Speaker 3: this announcement.

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Speaker 2: All right.

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Speaker 1: Obviously there's going to be a lot of people wondering

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Speaker 1: whether our airlines are just going to jack up the

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Speaker 1: prices so that, you know, so that we're still going

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Speaker 1: to struggle to get our hands on fair price tickets.

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Speaker 1: That's always a big issue for us here in the territory.

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Speaker 1: Has there been any agreement from those airlines not to

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Speaker 1: jack up the prices.

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Speaker 3: Yes, the airlines have been very cooperative and what we've

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Speaker 3: done is we've taken a benchmark from the prices that

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Speaker 3: they were charging in February and the discount will be

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Speaker 3: based on those prices. So we've got a benchmark that

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Speaker 3: we will use to be able to ensure that the

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Speaker 3: airlines do the right thing. But I've just come back

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Speaker 3: from an announcement with that CEO of Quantas and the

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Speaker 3: CEO of virgin and can I tell you they are

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Speaker 3: both incredibly excited by this announcement. They want to see

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Speaker 3: bums on seats, they want to see people on planes,

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Speaker 3: they want to see people traveling. And I can tell

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Speaker 3: you they're already offering discount flights to many locations and

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Speaker 3: this has just wet their appetite to do more.

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Speaker 1: Minister, at the moment, we don't have, you know, a

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Speaker 1: huge number of flights sort of going to some locations

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Speaker 1: from Darwin or even from Alice Springs from Ularu. Are

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Speaker 1: those airlines committed to increasing the number of flights as well?

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Speaker 3: That's the idea. The idea is to additional use this

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Speaker 3: to put additional capacity on route, so we get more

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Speaker 3: bums on seats and more flights.

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Speaker 1: Now, when are these flights going to be able to

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Speaker 1: be purchased?

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Speaker 3: So the idea is that this is to help the

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Speaker 3: tourism sector post job keeper. So as of April you

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Speaker 3: will be able to get these discount flights.

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Speaker 1: I tell you what I reckon there's going to be

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Speaker 1: plenty of people who are pretty happy to hear this.

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Speaker 1: And I know that there's been a lot of tourism

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Speaker 1: businesses up here in the Top End and indeed in

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Speaker 1: Central Australia.

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Speaker 2: Who've been doing it tough. Is this enough? Is this

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Speaker 2: going to be enough to keep them going?

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Speaker 3: We want to make sure that we're there supporting the industry.

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Speaker 3: We're also providing additional assistance once again to our travel agents.

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Speaker 3: There's also additional systems for our zoos and aquariums, and

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Speaker 3: there is we've got a package out for business events

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Speaker 3: which we will also be making sure that that is

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Speaker 3: fully expended. So we are supporting the industry. We want

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Speaker 3: to be there to make sure they're there once we

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Speaker 3: can open, in particular our international borders and get the

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Speaker 3: international tourists back. We think this is a really good

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Speaker 3: package and if I could just once again give a

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Speaker 3: call out to everyone who's listening today, book a holiday,

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Speaker 3: get the discount, and then make sure you spend big

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Speaker 3: when you take your holiday, because you'll be supporting six

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Speaker 3: hundred thousand jobs when you do so.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I tell you what, That's what we're all going

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Speaker 1: to be hoping for. We're hoping that people come to

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Speaker 1: the territory with deep pockets. Can I just just to

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Speaker 1: go back to this, because I know, I'm just looking

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Speaker 1: at those destinations there in front of me, the Gold

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Speaker 1: Coast cans with Sunday Region, Sunshine Coast, the Lasseter Region

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Speaker 1: that includes obviously Alice Springs and u LaRue. Darwin wasn't

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Speaker 1: on that list that has come through to us. But

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Speaker 1: by the sounds of it, what you're saying is that

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Speaker 1: people will be able to travel to Darwin.

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Speaker 3: There is and if you go on to the Department

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Speaker 3: of Transite Transport website, you will see that Darwin is listed.

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Speaker 3: So it says where the TANS program, which is the

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Speaker 3: Travel Assistance Program will reduce the cost of flying to

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Speaker 3: the following initial regions Adelaide, Broom, Darwin, Great Ocean Road, Hobart, etc.

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Speaker 3: So it's there on the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional

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Speaker 3: Development and Communications website. What we gave initially was a

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Speaker 3: list of the destinations as examples. Yeah, but quite clearly

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Speaker 3: Darwin is part of them. So you've done well in

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Speaker 3: the NT. Yeah.

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Speaker 1: Look like I said, I think that's going to be

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Speaker 1: good to hear for a lot of our operators. We

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Speaker 1: do know, as you've said that there are sort of

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Speaker 1: eight eight hundred thousand tickets available. Some in the industry, though,

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Speaker 1: are still struggling and are wondering, you know why the

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Speaker 1: federal government's not going down the path of keeping job

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Speaker 1: Keeper in place for those tourism and certainly for the

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Speaker 1: airline industry.

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Speaker 2: Minister, it has I mean, has it been.

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Speaker 1: Totally ruled out that there's no possibility that job Keeper

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Speaker 1: is going to be extended for those industries.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, job Keeper will end that at the end of

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Speaker 3: the month. And this is all about helping and supporting

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Speaker 3: the tourism industry, in the aviation industry post job Keeper,

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Speaker 3: and that's why we're calling on all Australians to make

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Speaker 3: sure you've been through a pandemic take that holiday now,

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Speaker 3: make sure you take the holiday and spend big, because

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Speaker 3: that's how you'll help the six hundred thousand jobs in

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Speaker 3: our tourism industry.

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Speaker 2: Minister.

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Speaker 1: The only other concern that plenty of people will have

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Speaker 1: no doubt today is wondering are they going to book

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Speaker 1: a flight and then find out that you know, Queensland

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Speaker 1: shut off their borders, or that somebody's going to close

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Speaker 1: their borders one of the governments and make it more

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Speaker 1: difficult for them to actually take these cheaper airfares.

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Speaker 2: Is that a worry for you as a tourism minister?

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Speaker 3: It is and what I did yesterday would speak to

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Speaker 3: all our state and territory tourism ministers and I asked

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Speaker 3: them to make sure that they use border closures as

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Speaker 3: a last resort. It's tapping the confidence out of people's

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Speaker 3: want and will to travel. And what we need is

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Speaker 3: our contact tracing and our testing used as a first

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Speaker 3: response and give people the confidence to travel again. And

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Speaker 3: if they do that, I've got no doubt there is

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Speaker 3: pent up dem People want a holiday and if we

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Speaker 3: can give them some assurances that borders won't be snap sharp,

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Speaker 3: I think people will travel and spend when they do travel.

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Speaker 1: Minister, is there any kind of caveats on the number

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Speaker 1: of flights that can travel into certain locations or the

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Speaker 1: number of flights obviously that eight hundred thousand, but is

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Speaker 1: there an expectation that a certain number will be in

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Speaker 1: certain states or anything like that.

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Speaker 3: So we're working with the airlines on that. The idea

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Speaker 3: is to build more demand and more capacity on these

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Speaker 3: routes and so this very much is not setting stone.

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Speaker 3: If they think we need extra support to get an

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Speaker 3: extra flight going to a certain destination, then that's what

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Speaker 3: we'll use it. And it'll be partly driven by the

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Speaker 3: demand of people wanting to take a holiday. So this

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Speaker 3: is very flexible in the approach that we're taking. We've

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Speaker 3: got initial destinations, but if we see demand pick up

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Speaker 3: strongly in some of those destinations, we'll then look whether

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Speaker 3: there's other destinations that need support. We want to make

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Speaker 3: sure we're doing everything we can, as I've said, to

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Speaker 3: get bums on seats, get people traveling, and get them

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Speaker 3: spending when they do travel.

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Speaker 1: Well, I'll tell you what, Minister, there's going to be

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Speaker 1: plenty of happy people this morning because we were certainly

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Speaker 1: of the understanding or we had thought that Darwin hadn't

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Speaker 1: been included on this list. Very happy for those in

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Speaker 1: Central Australia. But by the sounds of it, Darwin is

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Speaker 1: now part of that list. That it's going to be

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Speaker 1: music to the years of plenty of our tour operators.

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Speaker 3: Great, that's excellent, Glad to bring you great news this morning,

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Speaker 3: because this is all about great news not only for

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Speaker 3: those destinations, but also for the tourism industry, the six

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Speaker 3: hundred and sixty thousand jobs, and for Australians get out there,

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Speaker 3: get traveling and start spending well.

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Speaker 1: Federal Tourism Minister Dan Tian, we really appreciate your time

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Speaker 1: this morning.

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Speaker 2: Thanks so much for having a chat with us.

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Speaker 3: Been a pleasure.

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Speaker 2: Thank you.

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Speaker 1: You're listening to Mix one oh four point nine's three

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Speaker 1: sixty eight nine four one one oho four nine if

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Speaker 1: you'd like to call through today