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Speaker 1: Look after many months, as of yesterday, security guards at

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Speaker 1: bottle shops across the Northern Territory are going to be

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Speaker 1: able to equip OC spray at work, which we'll add

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Speaker 1: another layer of protection for workers and shoppers. So private

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Speaker 1: security personnel, well they've got to have completed that training,

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Speaker 1: and all security personnel who apply them to carry the

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Speaker 1: OC spray once they've completed that training, well they're going

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Speaker 1: to be able to have the OC spray. And to

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Speaker 1: further crack down on alcohol related antisocial behavior, the governments

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Speaker 1: say that they're also looking to increase fines for refusing

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Speaker 1: to leave a licensed premises. So joining us on the

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Speaker 1: line to talk a little bit more about this is

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Speaker 1: the CEO of Hospitality here in the Northern Territory, Alex Bruce.

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Speaker 1: Good morning to you, Alex.

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Speaker 2: Good morning Katie mate.

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Speaker 1: This seems like a really good step in the right direction.

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Speaker 1: First we might talk about these the eight hundred and

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Speaker 1: eighty dollars fines if you fail to well if you refuse,

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Speaker 1: I suppose to leave a licensed premise. Tell us a

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Speaker 1: bit more about why are you keen to see this

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Speaker 1: penalty height.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, and listen to the previous interview and it is

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Speaker 2: a situation where this specific fine has gone up in

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Speaker 2: the past, is currently quite low, and we are keen

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Speaker 2: and supportive of Parliament putting it back up in a

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Speaker 2: couple of weeks time, and just to coincide with the

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Speaker 2: start of the dry season, we've kicked off that campaign

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Speaker 2: to raise a bit of awareness in anticipation of it.

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Speaker 2: So look as eight one hundred and eighty dollars, it's

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Speaker 2: quite a sting. What you'll find is, you know, you'll

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Speaker 2: get people coming to our venues. They may have been elsewhere.

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Speaker 2: They may have been at house parties, they might have

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Speaker 2: been on things other than alcohol world before they come

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Speaker 2: to one of our venues. They might be getting turned

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Speaker 2: away at the door and refused entry at point of entry,

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Speaker 2: and they can get aggressive, or they might come in

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Speaker 2: enoughter just a couple of drinks because they may have

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Speaker 2: already continued on their journey elsewhere, it might be time

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Speaker 2: for them to go. You know, they're they're, they're they're

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Speaker 2: the two classic situations where the customer doesn't understand particularly

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Speaker 2: as much why maybe that venue thinks they've had enough

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Speaker 2: if they have not had that much in that particular venue,

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Speaker 2: that scenario and so you know, we're just appealing for

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Speaker 2: people come, continue to come out, have fun, look after

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Speaker 2: yourself and your mates. Try not to be you know,

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Speaker 2: nasty or rude to our staff and our guards. We've

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Speaker 2: got obligations as venues, they've got obligations of responsible services

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Speaker 2: as our workers and as our guards, and we all

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Speaker 2: just you know, we want to create safe and enjoyable

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Speaker 2: spaces there during the day or at night for people

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Speaker 2: to enjoy. But if you're asked to leave, just leave.

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Speaker 2: And the hook that we're trying to hang off a

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Speaker 2: little bit is, you know, sometimes in some of those situations,

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Speaker 2: if you have had enough and you might be quite

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Speaker 2: worked up, you might not be in the best state

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Speaker 2: to be trying to make the best rational choice. So

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Speaker 2: we're appealing to you, hopefully a little bit more sober mate,

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Speaker 2: to say, look, get him out of here, and saving

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Speaker 2: from an eight hundred and eighty all the hangover in

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Speaker 2: the morning.

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Speaker 1: What will the process be like? How does it work?

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Speaker 1: And I know that you know that lead mentioned this,

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Speaker 1: the opposition leader a few moments ago, and you just

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Speaker 1: mentioned it as well, that the fine over time has

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Speaker 1: sort of been lower than it's going up. What's the

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Speaker 1: process in actually issuing these fines. Who does it.

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Speaker 2: Look it's police and so that is a comment I'm

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Speaker 2: already hearing from some of the venues following yesterday's announcement,

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Speaker 2: and we do need police to support on this. They

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Speaker 2: are collaborating with us, they're part of this campaign. I

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Speaker 2: know the police ministers on board and he's looking forward

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Speaker 2: to Ana I think, I said Deputy Commissioner Janelle Ton

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Speaker 2: can her area community. So that safety division. So they

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Speaker 2: do get out and about, they do patrol late night

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Speaker 2: and through our venues. They are there to assist at times.

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Speaker 2: Would we like more presents, Absolutely, like the rest of

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Speaker 2: the community, But you know it is it is a

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Speaker 2: benefit for us, even if the it doesn't get to

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Speaker 2: the point where the police attend, because it is that

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Speaker 2: verbal de escalation. As I say, you know, we will

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Speaker 2: use this, Our guards will use this and hopefully rationalize

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Speaker 2: with people to move on if they've been asked to

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Speaker 2: do so.

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Speaker 1: How soon do you reckon it could roll out, Alex Oh.

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Speaker 2: Well, as soon as it passes Parliament. We're hoping to

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Speaker 2: see this this out. So we've launched the campaign. Now

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Speaker 2: we're starting to see a trickle of backpackers and tourists

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Speaker 2: in town where we're looking forward to it ramping up.

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Speaker 2: It doesn't look on the numbers that it's going to

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Speaker 2: be as strong a tourism season as last year for us,

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Speaker 2: but it's still going to get busy and the town's

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Speaker 2: going to be full of people hoping to come out

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Speaker 2: and have fun and enjoy themselves. So that's why we've

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Speaker 2: kicked off this campaign.

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Speaker 1: Now, now tell me the OC roll out or the

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Speaker 1: rollout of the OC spray it will it kind of

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Speaker 1: happened yesterday. How many venues or how many security guards

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Speaker 1: do we currently have that are equipped with OC spray?

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Speaker 2: Well, from yesterday or from this morning, you know, they

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Speaker 2: can start submitting their applications to police for approval. So

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Speaker 2: we're aware of individual guards that have previously done the

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Speaker 2: equivalent training. We're aware of some security companies that have

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Speaker 2: cohorts and all the plans and are ready rearing and going. Look,

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Speaker 2: it is a bit of a mixed one. Not all

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Speaker 2: of our bottle shops are going to going to use

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Speaker 2: it or are keen to see it, but there are

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Speaker 2: a few that are absolutely chomping at the bed and

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Speaker 2: we do see it a little bit like you know,

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Speaker 2: the transit police. They've had their OC spray for a

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Speaker 2: while now. I don't think it's been deployed. It has

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Speaker 2: come out of the pouts a few times, is what

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Speaker 2: I'm aware. And that's enough. Yeah, the ideally this is

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Speaker 2: a great thing for our guards to have and never

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Speaker 2: use and that be the deterrent, you know.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I agree. Look, I think if they don't have

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Speaker 1: to use it, that's an ideal scenario. But I think

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Speaker 1: you and I both know, following on from the discussions

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Speaker 1: that we've had over the past twelve months, if not longer,

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Speaker 1: that there's been some bloody dangerous situations for our bottle

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Speaker 1: shops and the fact that then they've now got this tool,

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Speaker 1: at least if that is what the you know, the

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Speaker 1: business signed choose is to have roll out. They have

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Speaker 1: got a tool that is there in their belt, able

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Speaker 1: to be used if required.

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Speaker 2: Look, that's it, and it's not it's not lethal, it's

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Speaker 2: not life threatening, and some of the behavior our bottle

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Speaker 2: shop staff and their guards are having to deal with

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Speaker 2: is life threatening from the perpetrator towards them. So you know,

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Speaker 2: it would be a last resort measure, but we just

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Speaker 2: don't want to see any more tragedy and I ideally, look,

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Speaker 2: you know, I'll get myself in a trouble for talking

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Speaker 2: this way, but it only needed a couple of deployments

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Speaker 2: and it probably would rip around that cohort of of

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Speaker 2: of troubled people. I'd think twice about some of the

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Speaker 2: behavior that they're doing right across our network.

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Speaker 1: Alex, before I let you go this morning, I mean

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Speaker 1: you touched on this a moment to go the dry season, Well,

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Speaker 1: it feels like it arrived just on time. I mean

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Speaker 1: it's glorious the last couple of mornings. How are our

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Speaker 1: hospitality venues going as we lead in to the dry season?

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Speaker 1: You mentioned a moment ago that there are concerns that

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Speaker 1: it's not going to be a real busy dry Yeah.

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Speaker 2: Look, our forward projections numbers are down this dry season.

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Speaker 2: It is what it is. Cost and capacity of aviation

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Speaker 2: is a key dampna for us, along with cost are

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Speaker 2: living and everything else. Do people have enough or as

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Speaker 2: much money to go out and have fun and as

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Speaker 2: regularly and all of that. But you know, we're still

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Speaker 2: we will still post good numbers. Walking around the town

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Speaker 2: last week, you're definitely starting to see people that aren't

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Speaker 2: from this area coming up and enjoying the best that

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Speaker 2: we have to offer. Right now, we're getting a lot

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Speaker 2: of cvs across the bars from working holiday makers trying

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Speaker 2: to get jobs, so you know, we're building. It's going

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Speaker 2: to be positive. All the big events start to roll

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Speaker 2: through now too, So I think it is the time

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Speaker 2: for us to enjoy at Darwin in all its glory.

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Speaker 2: So yeah, looking forward to it.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely. Let's hope that we do get plenty of

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Speaker 1: visitors here and you know, putting their hands in their

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Speaker 1: pockets to spend their money at various different locations across

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Speaker 1: the Northern Territory to keep things taken along.