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Speaker 1: Anti Police Superintendent Daniel Sheen. Good morning Daniel, Good morning Kaddy.

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Speaker 1: Now we know the Northern Territory Police are appealing for

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Speaker 1: any information that may assist in locating a Victorian tourists

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Speaker 1: believed to be missing in nit Maluk National Park.

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Speaker 2: Can you talk us through the current situation.

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Speaker 3: Sure. So we know that mister ness has visited visit

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Speaker 3: Lordon Territory from Victoria. He's done his time in quarantine,

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Speaker 3: came out. He's keen to look around the Northern Territory.

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Speaker 3: So we know that on the weekend he was down

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Speaker 3: to the Litchwood National Park where he's been busying some

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Speaker 3: of the fools down there, and we know that on

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Speaker 3: Monday he came in to Catherine. On Tuesday, we know

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Speaker 3: that he did some things around town here and he

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Speaker 3: had a conversation with friends on Tuesday and said that

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Speaker 3: he was going out to nip Look Gorge. He was

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Speaker 3: going to go canoeing on Wednesday and he booked his

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Speaker 3: tours on Tuesday afternoon. We know that he came for

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Speaker 3: a drive out to nip Look, parked at the car

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Speaker 3: park of the Visitor Information Center and unfortunately that's the

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Speaker 3: last time that anyone's known of mister Ness's whereabouts?

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Speaker 1: Can you talk us through the search that is now

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Speaker 1: underway and how many police and emergency services crew you've

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Speaker 1: got out there looking for him?

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Speaker 4: Sure?

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Speaker 3: So, upon becoming aware of this on Wednesday afternoon, they

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Speaker 3: immediately launched a search and rescue operation in the Netlook Gorge. Worked.

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Speaker 3: We are working very closely with the Territory Parks and

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Speaker 3: Wildlife Commission in that space, and so we tried to

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Speaker 3: do so. We did do some helicopter searching on Wednesday

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Speaker 3: afternoon of local tracks around the Netlook Information Center. We

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Speaker 3: flew the helicopter for as long as we could that afternoon.

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Speaker 3: We reconvened at six o'clock the next morning and that's

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Speaker 3: when we went into a full search phase. So the

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Speaker 3: first thing we did was did a look on the

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Speaker 3: trail which goes from Nipmlook through to Edith Fools and

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Speaker 3: back to confirm that no one was out there. We've

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Speaker 3: had two helicopters in the air all day Wednesday sorry Thursday,

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Speaker 3: doing all searching of all walking trails around the Netlook

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Speaker 3: National Park. And then we've done grid searching with the

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Speaker 3: helicopters as well. So the two helicopters and the police

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Speaker 3: and Parks and Model I their commissioner have been working

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Speaker 3: together to do that under the direction of our Search

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Speaker 3: and Rescue mission coordinator at the which is a police

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Speaker 3: officer here at the Nipmook Range of Station, which is

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Speaker 3: where our incident control post is. On what we started

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Speaker 3: doing this morning on account of here search not being

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Speaker 3: able to identify anyone. And mind you, we've stopped and

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Speaker 3: spoken to a number of people that are walking on

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Speaker 3: all of those tracks around the Nitok National Park. At

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Speaker 3: the moment, no one has seen mister ness unfortunately, so

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Speaker 3: this morning at six o'clock this morning, we started doing

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Speaker 3: some foot Sorry last night we started doing foot searching

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Speaker 3: and again we've continued that on at six o'clock this

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Speaker 3: morning the trails up to perhaps Lookout jet As Rock,

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Speaker 3: Butterfly Gorge, Lily Pond's and the Dunlop Swamp at the moment.

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Speaker 1: Now, Daniel, obviously we've had some pretty hot conditions out

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Speaker 1: that way over the last few days. Do you know

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Speaker 1: what kind of provisions he has with him?

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Speaker 3: Unfortunately, that's one of the unknown factors. We're not really sure.

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Speaker 3: We do know that he went to ull West on

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Speaker 3: Tuesday before he came out to the gorge. What he

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Speaker 3: actually purchased is not known at this stage. How much

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Speaker 3: what he had on him at this stage is not

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Speaker 3: known either. So you're right, it is hot. It's been

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Speaker 3: very hot every day that we've been out. Here's a

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Speaker 3: little bit humny creeping into that equation as well, so

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Speaker 3: it's very difficult to know how long in the conditions

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Speaker 3: he will last or survive out there. Yeah, there's one

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Speaker 3: of those unknowns of the stage.

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Speaker 1: Okay, So obviously police out and like you said, the

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Speaker 1: Agency services rangers out today. What is the plan for

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Speaker 1: the rest of the day of full scale search.

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Speaker 3: Yes, so that's correct. So we still have air assets

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Speaker 3: doing searching from the sky. There's some particular points that

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Speaker 3: we want to have a little bit more closer look at.

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Speaker 3: We have Parks of Wildlife commissioned staff assisting the tactical

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Speaker 3: response grouper down here at the moment, assisting with the

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Speaker 3: searching by foot, and they've been given specific areas to

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Speaker 3: concentrate on. So as you know, Katie that the train

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Speaker 3: out here can be quite harsh. It's a lot of

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Speaker 3: rock and our concern is, yes, it's hot coming from

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Speaker 3: the sun, but it's also hot coming from the rock

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Speaker 3: up as well, so hence the reason that we've gone

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Speaker 3: into the full scale search to try to find this

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Speaker 3: the neces as soon as we can.

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Speaker 1: Absolutely now we are still obviously calling for anybody out

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Speaker 1: there who's got any information to getting take with the

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Speaker 1: police on one three to one triple four.

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Speaker 2: Daniel.

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Speaker 1: We really appreciate your time this morning, and no doubt

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Speaker 1: we are going to be making sure that we keep

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Speaker 1: in contact with you to find out exactly how that

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Speaker 1: search and rescue is going over well over the next

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Speaker 1: twenty four hours and beyond. Thank you so very much

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Speaker 1: for taking the time to have a chat with us

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Speaker 1: this morning.

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Speaker 2: Thank you, thank you.

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Speaker 1: That's Northern Territory Police Superintendent there, Daniel Sheen. Now joining

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Speaker 1: me on the line is Damon's father, William Ness.

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Speaker 2: Good morning to you.

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Speaker 1: William, Hi, Katie, William your son.

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Speaker 2: Obviously there is this full full scale.

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Speaker 1: Search underway at the moment for him. Can you talk

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Speaker 1: us through how these events have unfolded over the last

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Speaker 1: couple of days.

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Speaker 4: Well, he came up to the Northern Territory to be

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Speaker 4: able to have a bit of a whole day because

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Speaker 4: he's planned for the year of falling falling over because

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Speaker 4: of the pandemic. And we spoke to him on Saturday

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Speaker 4: and he was going to be making his way to

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Speaker 4: Alice Springs to catch up with friends who are in

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Speaker 4: the air services industry, and he said he was going

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Speaker 4: to stop at Catherine and a couple of other places

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Speaker 4: on the way. He spoke to my wife on Sunday

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Speaker 4: and said that he had a car and they had

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Speaker 4: a sleeping bag and a yoga mat if it broke down.

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Speaker 4: And then all we know after that is that he

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Speaker 4: missed a zoom call on Tuesday night with a friend

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Speaker 4: and he had said to the friend that if he

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Speaker 4: didn't make that zoom call, they should make contact with

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Speaker 4: the police. And we've then got a call to let

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Speaker 4: us to let us know that they've done that, and

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Speaker 4: was then trying to assist him anyway we can.

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Speaker 2: William.

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Speaker 1: Is it out of character for you know, for for

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Speaker 1: you to not hear from Damon and and you know,

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Speaker 1: for for him.

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Speaker 2: To be in a situation like this, Yeah, very much

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Speaker 2: out of character.

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Speaker 4: He h He does, he does enjoy the outdoors and

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Speaker 4: go for hikes, but you know it's they're never an

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Speaker 4: overnight hike. And he's he's always always been in contact

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Speaker 4: with us.

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Speaker 2: How are you and your wife feeling at this point awhere?

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Speaker 4: We're extremely worried, obviously with we're at Melbourne Airport at

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Speaker 4: the moment, waiting to catch a plane to Darwin, and

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Speaker 4: we've applied for an exemption to be able to come

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Speaker 4: from quarantine, to be able to come down to Catherine,

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Speaker 4: but at this stage that's been rejected and we have

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Speaker 4: to go into the Howard Springs for ability. But I've

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Speaker 4: called again this morning and I'm just hoping that they'll

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Speaker 4: let us get down to Catherine.

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Speaker 1: I bet mate, what a bloody tough situation that you

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Speaker 1: guys are in. I think any parent would certainly be

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Speaker 1: feeling for you at this point in time. Can you

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Speaker 1: can you tell us a little bit about Damon? Obviously

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Speaker 1: we've got a description of him for anybody out there

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Speaker 1: who may be listening who has some information, but as

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Speaker 1: a dad, can you tell us a little bit about

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Speaker 1: your son.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, he's a really cheerful, positive person who who is

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Speaker 4: always willing to help people. He's he's, as I said,

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Speaker 4: he's not a risk taker, but he you know, he

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Speaker 4: does like doing the outdoor activities. He is a wonderful

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Speaker 4: uncle to his two nephews. And he's got a wonderful

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Speaker 4: relationship with his oldest cousin who's in Germany, and they

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Speaker 4: communicate all the time, and he's paid for her to

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Speaker 4: have holidays with him when he's been to Europe. So

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Speaker 4: he's you know, he's a very generous person. And yeah, yeah,

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Speaker 4: this is just as I said, it's out of character.

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Speaker 4: And yeah, it's just a wonderful, wonderful son, you know,

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Speaker 4: someone that we've been really really proud of.

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Speaker 2: William. My heart goes out to you and your wife. Damon.

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Speaker 1: Sounds like a really lovely young man and and you know,

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Speaker 1: incredibly loved and important to your family and friends. I

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Speaker 1: know that the police have obviously got full scale search

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Speaker 1: underway today.

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Speaker 2: Mate, what would you.

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Speaker 1: Say to anybody out there who you know who may

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Speaker 1: have some information which could assist them this morning?

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Speaker 4: Yeah, just if anyone has seen him at all or

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Speaker 4: thinks they might have seen him, if they can please

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Speaker 4: call the police, because you know, just a small you know,

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Speaker 4: I think it's insignificant that it could be really really

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Speaker 4: helpful for the for the police. Yeah, and you know,

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Speaker 4: because he's now been out there since Tuesday, and like

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Speaker 4: I heard you talking to the police to Daniel before,

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Speaker 4: it's been very hot. So if anyone's seen any sign,

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Speaker 4: please just call the police.

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Speaker 1: Absolutely well, William, so much love to you and your

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Speaker 1: wife and your family at this point in time, I

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Speaker 1: must I know it must be such a difficult situation

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Speaker 1: for you boys. We will keep in contact with you,

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Speaker 1: and may I think that it goes without saying that

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Speaker 1: everybody is hoping that the police are able to locate

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Speaker 1: Damon today.

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Speaker 4: Thank you, Katie, thank you very much.

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Speaker 1: We will keep in contact with you. William, thanks so

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Speaker 1: much for your time this morning.

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Speaker 4: You're welcome to thank you for everything.

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Speaker 2: Thank you.

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Speaker 1: I tell you what. Our hearts really go out to

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Speaker 1: William and his family. As you've just heard there from

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Speaker 1: Damon's dab William, he is incredibly important to their family.

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Speaker 2: He's incredibly important.

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Speaker 1: If you've got any information at all which could assist

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Speaker 1: the police, please get in contact with them.

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Speaker 2: One three, one triple four.

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Speaker 1: As William had said, it may seem like something small

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Speaker 1: and insignificant to you, but it may be the clue

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Speaker 1: that the Territory Police require.

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Speaker 2: One three, one triple four is the number