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Speaker 1: Now, as we've been discussing, this report, which was commissioned

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Speaker 1: by the Northern Territory and federal governments, has recommended that

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Speaker 1: the Territory urgently legislate further alcohol restrictions in Central Australia.

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Speaker 1: Now Darrell Anderson was tasked with advising on whether intervention

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Speaker 1: era alcohol bans should be temporarily reinstated in the face

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Speaker 1: of that spiking crime and alcohol fueled violence. We just

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Speaker 1: spoke to the Member for Lingiari, Marion Scrimjaw. She has

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Speaker 1: said yes that she does believe that the Northern Territory

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Speaker 1: government needs to make sure that there is draft legislation

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Speaker 1: ready to go by February thirteen. I believe it's the

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Speaker 1: first day that the Northern Territory Parliament sits. She believes

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Speaker 1: that legislation needs to be ready to go and that

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Speaker 1: it shouldn't only be for Central Australian town camps, but

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Speaker 1: it should be for communities across the Northern Territory. So

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Speaker 1: she pointed to the likes of Baggett community and she

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Speaker 1: said that if there is to be a ballot happen

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Speaker 1: for you know, I let sew those town camps in

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Speaker 1: Central Australia, as the Chief Minister had suggested that that

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Speaker 1: could happen, but that happens after the legislative changes come

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Speaker 1: into play and those restrictions are put back in place,

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Speaker 1: and then a community would have the opportunity to obviously

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Speaker 1: put together their alcohol management plan and if they wanted

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Speaker 1: to conduct a ballot to see whether their residents want

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Speaker 1: to opt in or to opt out, that would come

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Speaker 1: down to the residence after that legislation is already in place.

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Speaker 2: So that's part of it.

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Speaker 1: Now we're yet to see the full report. And joining

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Speaker 1: me on the line right now though, to talk more

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Speaker 1: about the report and plenty of other things, it is

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Speaker 1: the mayor of Alice Springs, Matt Patterson.

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Speaker 2: Good morning, Matt, Good morning Katie. I'll just say that

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Speaker 2: I don't think you need a interview, man. I agree

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Speaker 2: with what Marian has said there, to be completely honest,

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Speaker 2: it's the same message that I've been talking about for

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Speaker 2: a little while. So Foy endorse what the memical Indiari

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Speaker 2: has said.

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Speaker 1: She spoke common sense. I think in so many ways

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Speaker 1: she said that it's you know, obviously Alice Springs is

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Speaker 1: hurt right now, you know, to paraphrase her, and you know,

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Speaker 1: to put my own words on word on things, but

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Speaker 1: she said that, you know, Alice Springs is in a

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Speaker 1: really difficult situation, as you and I have discussed on

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Speaker 1: so many occasions, but these issues right around the territory

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Speaker 1: when it comes to alcohol, and so she does think

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Speaker 1: that the legislation needs to be for right across the

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Speaker 1: northern territory, which I reckon is fair enough. So essentially,

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Speaker 1: you know, going back to what people had been calling for,

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Speaker 1: and that was that stronger futures legislation.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, and that's right. I mean, I'm reluctant to speak

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Speaker 2: about those communities up in Dalwin that will be affected,

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Speaker 2: but I think as a community down here, we certainly

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Speaker 2: weren't ready for the lapsing. And I just you know,

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Speaker 2: if they want to set a precedence with the ballot,

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Speaker 2: that's okay, but let's put it in place first, and

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Speaker 2: let's get our ducks in a row to have the

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Speaker 2: community be ready for that, and you know, let's undertake

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Speaker 2: the necessary education piece as well. So you know, I

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Speaker 2: am waiting to see what other restrictions will be in place.

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Speaker 2: You know that if you read between it, it doesn't

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Speaker 2: seem like it will just be stronger futures. But we

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Speaker 2: will wait and see. And I just hope as well, Katie,

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Speaker 2: that it's not just the alcohol that's in the report,

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Speaker 2: because I've said many times that yes, there's an alcohol

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Speaker 2: problem on one hand, but on the other hand, it's

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Speaker 2: the anti social behavior side as well. So that's the

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Speaker 2: pace that has been forgotten about during all this.

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Speaker 1: It feels like you're spot on, like we've kind of

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Speaker 1: taken this total other path which is all about alcohol,

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Speaker 1: and I get it, but all the while there's still

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Speaker 1: kids running a mark on the streets in Allie Springs.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, that's right. And you know I've been, you know,

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Speaker 2: pretty vocal about there being two challenges here and whilst

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Speaker 2: we can address one, we can't we've still got to

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Speaker 2: address the other one at the same time. So look,

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Speaker 2: we'll wait and see. I mean, I sit on some

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Speaker 2: committees with Darell, so you know she's quite across the

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Speaker 2: Council's perspective on the matter. And I look, I think

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Speaker 2: that the Northern Territory government need to reintroduced stronger futures

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Speaker 2: at their earliest convenience.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I think a lot of people are in agreement

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Speaker 1: with you on that, Matt, Now, how have things been

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Speaker 1: over the last couple of days.

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Speaker 2: The perception of any social behavior still here, and it's happening,

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Speaker 2: and it's still in our face. We're still seeing edged

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Speaker 2: weapons in the community. I will say to me, it

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Speaker 2: feels like there are more place here, more boots on

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Speaker 2: the ground, which is welcome. But look, it is still happening.

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Speaker 2: It's still it's still in your faith, Katie. So you know,

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Speaker 2: everyone's very hopeful that this is going to be the

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Speaker 2: tipping point for change. And you know we've seen that

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Speaker 2: the other day with three thousand people at a town

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Speaker 2: hall meeting, make.

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Speaker 1: Three and a half thousand people at that town hall meeting.

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Speaker 1: We spoke to the organizer, Gath, and I don't think

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Speaker 1: I've ever heard of that many people in the Northern

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Speaker 1: Territory turning up to a meeting to have the voices

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Speaker 1: heard on something. And you know, the message was pretty clear.

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Speaker 1: People have had enough.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely, and you know there was people from all

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Speaker 2: backgrounds at that town meeting. Garth, the organizer, undertook it

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Speaker 2: very well. He was very sensitive to the issues. But

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Speaker 2: as I said, that just goes to show that the

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Speaker 2: community as a whole demanding change to what we're going through.

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Speaker 2: And Katie, I just want to say it was completely

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Speaker 2: disappointed with the ABC's take from it, and I've asked

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Speaker 2: the chair Ida Buttrose to retract the article that went

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Speaker 2: up that was in regards to white supremacy, and of

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Speaker 2: been quite open with that in premising that, I just

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Speaker 2: want to say as well that it's got nothing to

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Speaker 2: do with the local ABC journalists on the ground here,

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Speaker 2: but ABC National really need to retract that because it's

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Speaker 2: kicking the teeth to the residents and it was an

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Speaker 2: embarrassing article.

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Speaker 1: Quite frankly, have you heard anything back from the ABC

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Speaker 1: at this point in time, Yeah.

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Speaker 2: We got some. I got the standard media release that

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Speaker 2: was you know, it didn't Yeah, it was. It was

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Speaker 2: a very hollow media release from ABC that I've seen,

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Speaker 2: you know, in print media. Look, I'll just say that again,

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Speaker 2: was at that I was at that meeting, the town

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Speaker 2: hall meeting. That couldn't be further from the truth. There

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Speaker 2: was over three thousand people there. That media organization's just

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Speaker 2: got the view of a select few, so completely inappropriate,

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Speaker 2: wasn't It wasn't a fair I know, a fair story

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Speaker 2: as a as a journalist, I know.

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Speaker 1: The shadow Communications Minister federally Sarah Henderson has unleashed on

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Speaker 1: the public broadcaster, saying it was absolutely disgraceful coverage and

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Speaker 1: demanded an urgent apology as well as a retraction and

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Speaker 1: an internal review into journalistic training. Matt, I know you

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Speaker 1: touched on it just a moment ago, but Mate, was there, like,

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Speaker 1: was there any racism in that room?

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Speaker 2: No, there was no racism in that room. There was

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Speaker 2: a few protesters to my knowledge, Yeah, Kai, there was

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Speaker 2: no racism in that room. It was obviously there was

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Speaker 2: a lot of people in there. There was a few

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Speaker 2: protesters that were protesting about the kids, And I mean,

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Speaker 2: isn't that what we're all protesting for right now at

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Speaker 2: the moment, is the safety of the kids. There was

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Speaker 2: a really you know, I didn't hear it. They added

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Speaker 2: it onto the story at the end. But there was

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Speaker 2: a racist comment from someone who remained anonymous. And again

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Speaker 2: I say that person, it was an absolutely appalling comment

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Speaker 2: that was outside the meeting, that had nothing to do

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Speaker 2: with the way that the meeting was handled. And I

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Speaker 2: say that the organizer Gars did a fantastic job at

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Speaker 2: handling it. There was a racist comment that was put

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Speaker 2: forward on ABC's new channel that was outside the meeting

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Speaker 2: from someone who wasn't on camera, so you know that

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Speaker 2: it was a disgusting comment and that the meeting itself

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Speaker 2: had nothing to do with what was printed.

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Speaker 1: And you know, to go back to the whole reason

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Speaker 1: that we're talking this morning, the whole reason that all

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Speaker 1: of us have been talking for really quite some time.

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Speaker 1: You know, the issues in Alice Springs remain ongoing. Things

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Speaker 1: are not getting better. You know. I know that you've

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Speaker 1: said that that definitely there has been a greater police

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Speaker 1: presence by the sounds of it. You know, i'd heard

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Speaker 1: from some of the police comments to the ABC locally

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Speaker 1: and Alice Springs that there's been a decrease in the

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Speaker 1: number of callouts over those two days where the restrictions

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Speaker 1: had been in place. You know, but as we've discussed,

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Speaker 1: the concerns still remain in place about children being on

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Speaker 1: the street, whether they do not have a safe place

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Speaker 1: to go, or exactly what's going on. That is work

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Speaker 1: that the Northern Territory and the federal government really need

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Speaker 1: to get into and they need to try to get

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Speaker 1: to the bottom of because right now we're continuing to

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Speaker 1: do the same thing over and over again and expecting

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Speaker 1: a different result.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, that's right. And you know, as a human being,

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Speaker 2: it's pretty sad to see children on the street. Is

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Speaker 2: it's safer for them to be on the street than

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Speaker 2: at home. And that's the heartbreaking thing right at the

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Speaker 2: end of the day, these are little human beings that

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Speaker 2: we're setting up to fail because governments don't intervene. And

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Speaker 2: I've been quite clear Katie that we need to have

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Speaker 2: the uncomfortable conversations, and that is to call out the

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Speaker 2: service providers that aren't doing their job, that are on

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Speaker 2: the government ticket, that are clearly not meeting KPIs quite

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Speaker 2: It's the easy thing to do is say it's territory

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Speaker 2: families roles and responsibilities to intervene here. That the way

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Speaker 2: that I look at it is the government through tertiary

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Speaker 2: families is the ambulance at the edge of the cliff.

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Speaker 2: You know, there are thirty five service providers in our

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Speaker 2: springs that should be intervening with these kids or these

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Speaker 2: children before it gets it's the government's responsibility. So you know,

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Speaker 2: whilst we're here, we need to have those conversations about

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Speaker 2: putting everyone on notice and calling out the service providers

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Speaker 2: because again we continue to do the same thing and

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Speaker 2: throw money at the problem, but we don't actually sit

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Speaker 2: down and blank canvas. So the time for all that

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Speaker 2: change is right now, and whilst we've got the attention

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Speaker 2: of the federal government and the Prime Minister, we need

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Speaker 2: to have those conversations now.

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Speaker 1: I agree. Well, Matt Patterson, the Mayor of Alice Springs,

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Speaker 1: thank you as always for your time. No doubt we'll

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Speaker 1: talk to you again very soon.

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Speaker 2: Good on your Katie. Thanks, thank you,