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Speaker 1: It is getting to that time of the year though,

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Speaker 1: when we're all heading out doing our last trips to

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Speaker 1: the shops and heading off to get everything that we

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Speaker 1: need for Christmas. And joining me on the line right

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Speaker 1: now is the CEO of Well, one of the city's

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Speaker 1: biggest shopping centers. It is indeed Warren Ebbett, who is

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Speaker 1: the CEO of Sentinel Property Group. Good morning to you, Warren.

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Speaker 2: Good morning Katie, and yes everyone please get out and

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Speaker 2: spend big at the Catherina.

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Speaker 1: Squad Well, spend local. Get out there and go and

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Speaker 1: do your shopping. Warren. How are things going and how

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Speaker 1: have they been at the center? Has there been a

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Speaker 1: mad rush?

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Speaker 2: Katie? I'm actually in towns Well at the moment, but

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Speaker 2: I was up there a couple of weeks ago. And

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Speaker 2: even though we own this send either drive ram be

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Speaker 2: half now to find a car park. So it was

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Speaker 2: at six o'clock on a Friday night, and yeah, we

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Speaker 2: had to wait for someone to walk out of the

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Speaker 2: cinemas then follow them to their car like a stalker.

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Speaker 2: To get a car.

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Speaker 1: You get yourself reported.

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Speaker 2: The first time. And then I actually on the Saturday morning,

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Speaker 2: we were flying back to Brisbane and I got a

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Speaker 2: SMS from a friend of ours the same thing, trying

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Speaker 2: to find a car park. So yeah, that's one of

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Speaker 2: the things we found when we're doing the new diligence

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Speaker 2: on Kasarina Squared. I think I've said it before in

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Speaker 2: your show. I used to go to Asia regularly, and

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Speaker 2: you need to think, why all these people in these

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Speaker 2: shopping centers and when it's hot and humid, h you

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Speaker 2: know that that's what you want to do. And it's

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Speaker 2: got to be a big shopping center to walk around

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Speaker 2: so you can spend the day there without just sitting

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Speaker 2: in the one place. So no, it's trading, trading very well.

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Speaker 2: We've we've had a couple of new shops open. We've

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Speaker 2: got a few more shops coming next year, so we

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Speaker 2: can't complain, you know that the one bugbear of security

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Speaker 2: which everyone knows about, we've you know, we've done a

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Speaker 2: few things there and we've got some other changes coming in.

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Speaker 2: Sorry I'm not here. We've got some other changes come

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Speaker 2: up to try and and change it. I'm sure we will,

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Speaker 2: but it takes time. And like any change, Katie, you've

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Speaker 2: got to do one thing at the time. It's a

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Speaker 2: gradual process and it's probably going to take us twelve

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Speaker 2: months to instigate all the things we want to do.

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Speaker 2: But we are and certainly that the Canaine Controls people

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Speaker 2: have noticed that we've put on some more security staff,

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Speaker 2: and yeah, we are things people will see the gradual improvement.

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Speaker 1: Warren, how big an issue has the crime and the

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Speaker 1: anti social behavior been at Casuarina? I know that you

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Speaker 1: know that you and I have spoken about it before,

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Speaker 1: But how does it compare to shopping centers that you've

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Speaker 1: got in other states? Oh?

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Speaker 2: By far the worst? Yeah, there are no there are

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Speaker 2: no comparisons. I suppose I'd like to compare Casarina Square

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Speaker 2: with our of Springs. At least we didn't have to

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Speaker 2: lock the whole place down for a couple of days.

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Speaker 2: So it's not good. But you've got to crime in

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Speaker 2: the NT. It's just terrible, you know, it's and it's

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Speaker 2: a community white thing. You know, they have it in

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Speaker 2: the CBD, they have it everywhere. But just when we

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Speaker 2: have eight point two minion visitors to Casarina Square every year,

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Speaker 2: of course we are going to get more. And it's

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Speaker 2: you know, we now have the youths with their weapons

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Speaker 2: of choice. They don't bring them into the center because

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Speaker 2: we know we try to confiscate them where we can. Yeah,

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Speaker 2: they'll wrap them up in a bit of plastic or

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Speaker 2: something and hide them in the gardens outside. So when

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Speaker 2: they choose their their fighting companion, I'll try to outside

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Speaker 2: and then go to get their weapons. So our security

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Speaker 2: people regularly can patrol the gardens and yeah, they'll find

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Speaker 2: them wrapped up and they built plastic or something. So's

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Speaker 2: it's a problem, but it's a you know, it's a

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Speaker 2: problem all through the NT and it's I think on

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Speaker 2: the positive side, we come in at a time when

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Speaker 2: the NT government have realized that they've got to things

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Speaker 2: have to change. And you know, I know that the

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Speaker 2: wokes out there would rather give them a cubble than

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Speaker 2: a slap, but that doesn't work. They just treat that

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Speaker 2: as a joke, as we see with how they laugh

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Speaker 2: at police and in Townsvill, you know that the kids

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Speaker 2: stealing the council just drive straight into a police cartee boning.

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Speaker 2: It means that they'll get away with it. So it's

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Speaker 2: it's not good, but we've all got to work together

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Speaker 2: and I'm not trying to make light of it. Is education.

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Speaker 2: When these kids who are nine or ten. What are

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Speaker 2: their bloody parents doing.

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Speaker 1: Well, it's it's tough, you know, and like that's the thing.

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Speaker 1: And then you're trying to deal with that obviously from

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Speaker 1: the shopping center perspective, but then trying to keep customers

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Speaker 1: and trying to keep staff and everybody that's at the

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Speaker 1: center safe.

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Speaker 2: Well, one of the things that we're actually from many

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Speaker 2: from next week is we will have a gathering point

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Speaker 2: for staff and I don't have the time for something

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Speaker 2: that the center management could supply it to you. Where

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Speaker 2: we're staff if they're concerned about going back to the vehicle,

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Speaker 2: they'll be able to gather in a couple of different

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Speaker 2: locations and security people will walk them to their carts. Now, wow,

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Speaker 2: of course we would, we would. That's not what we

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Speaker 2: want to do, but we've got to try and keep

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Speaker 2: people safety and say, yeah, you've got crime everywhere, but

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Speaker 2: it's concentrated there. And I think one day this week

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Speaker 2: we had there was four hundred move ons by our

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Speaker 2: security people alone. Now we spend two point two many

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Speaker 2: a year, enormous amount army. Wow, and people have to

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Speaker 2: remember it's not just our center, it is everywhere, and

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Speaker 2: we're spending the money and doing what we can to

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Speaker 2: try and make people as safe as possible. But we

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Speaker 2: are implementing something else in the next ten days or

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Speaker 2: so that I don't want to talk about yet because

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Speaker 2: I don't have people that complain about before we even instigata,

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Speaker 2: but we are. There's a number of different measures we're

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Speaker 2: putting in. We do treat it serious. And I've said before,

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Speaker 2: if someone out there has got the magic solution, please

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Speaker 2: tell us.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, Warren. The fact that you're having to

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Speaker 1: have sort of meet up points for staff then to

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Speaker 1: be able to get back to their cars safely, that's

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Speaker 1: a pretty incredible, like, that's pretty incredible that it's reached

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Speaker 1: that point.

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Speaker 2: Absolutely disgraceful, Katie, Absolutely disgraceful. But that's some of the

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Speaker 2: and the stop to us. And I'll tell this, but

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Speaker 2: it is mostly used because they know that there is

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Speaker 2: very little that can be done. And I don't think, say, oh,

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Speaker 2: but the don Dale's full, will it make it bigger

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Speaker 2: and fill it up with more. If you don't do

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Speaker 2: the crime, you don't do the time warrant. I know

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Speaker 2: we've got to educate, but it's it's terrible.

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Speaker 1: I know you touched on more than two million dollars

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Speaker 1: being spent then on security. Is that something that Sentinel's

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Speaker 1: footing the bill for or are the businesses that are

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Speaker 1: inside Casarina having to pay for that security?

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Speaker 2: Well? What the businesses do? Because that's part of your

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Speaker 2: or income. So you know we have outgoings of well,

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Speaker 2: we spend over five million dollars a year on cleaning

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Speaker 2: and security and the tenants Yah, the our income comes

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Speaker 2: from rental. Yeah, so you know when we have higher expenses,

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Speaker 2: we have to put the rental up to cover it. Now, certainly,

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Speaker 2: if we weren't spending it on that, we would be

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Speaker 2: able to make a bigger profit. But you know, we

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Speaker 2: if the center isn't safe, and if it's not clean

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Speaker 2: and airconditioning working, then you don't have a decent center.

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Speaker 2: So indirectly, the tenants certainly pay for it. On I

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Speaker 2: suppose the public and say they pay for it, yeah,

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Speaker 2: because the tenants. The tenants have got to charge a

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Speaker 2: certain price for the goods in order to make a profit,

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Speaker 2: so we all pay for it.

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Speaker 1: Eventually, Wall and I am running out of time, but

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Speaker 1: I do want to ask you, you know, in terms

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Speaker 1: of the bus exchange, I know that that's something that

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Speaker 1: you and I had spoken about before. Has there been

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Speaker 1: much of an update in terms of the relocation of that.

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Speaker 2: Well, we have a final design in with I think

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Speaker 2: it's for their approval, so we believe we've agreed on

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Speaker 2: a location for that. Now the costs have blown out

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Speaker 2: about another ten million rather than a bit over twenty

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Speaker 2: in total, it's getting to thirty which is not good.

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Speaker 2: So the government have been good to work with, but

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Speaker 2: they can't control the costs. So we're hoping that we

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Speaker 2: can start work mid next year or something like that.

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Speaker 2: So we have made progress. The design that the previous

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Speaker 2: owners had just didn't work, so in six months we've

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Speaker 2: completely redone the design and we have something that all

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Speaker 2: parties have agreed. Obviously, just going through the approval process.

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Speaker 1: Well, Warren, Unfortunately we've run out of time. Always appreciate

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Speaker 1: you having a chat with us. Thank you very much

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Speaker 1: for your time this year, and I hope you have

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Speaker 1: a merry Christmas.

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Speaker 2: Thanks your time, Katie. We're up from the seventeenth to

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Speaker 2: twentieth of February sorry January, so we may be able

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Speaker 2: to catch up there and discuss some issues a bit further.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, good on you, Warren. Thanks for your time this morning.

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Speaker 1: I appreciate it.

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Speaker 2: Thanks very much, Katy, thank you