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Speaker 1: Well, it has been a busy time as we know

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Speaker 1: over the new year period when it comes to managing

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Speaker 1: the jails and also the courts. Now, towards the end

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Speaker 1: of last year we spoke a lot about those jails

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Speaker 1: being overrun. We know that law changes then indeed came

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Speaker 1: into place at the beginning of the year, making it

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Speaker 1: harder for repeat offenders to be granted bail. So how

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Speaker 1: are things tracking well. Joining me on the line live

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Speaker 1: from Alice Springs for the first time for twenty twenty five,

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Speaker 1: the Chief Minister of the Northern Territory, Lea fanocchi Aro.

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Speaker 2: Good morning Leah, Good morning Katie and to your listeners.

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Speaker 2: It's wonderful to be back. Happy New Year to you

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Speaker 2: and your family and your listeners you too.

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Speaker 1: And happy first day of school for most of the

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Speaker 1: Northern Territory kids as well.

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Speaker 2: I know my little one was off today so unfortunately

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Speaker 2: I wasn't there being Mother of the Year again that

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Speaker 2: alank that my hobby took care of it.

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Speaker 1: Well, look, you've got to do what you got to

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Speaker 1: do when you're the Chief Minister, and I'm sure she

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Speaker 1: was fine. Now, Chief, we know that the ABC was

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Speaker 1: last night reporting that have once again reached record highs

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Speaker 1: how many people have we got our jails at the.

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Speaker 2: Moment, So as of Monday, we had about two thousand,

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Speaker 2: six hundred and fifty just short of that. So it's

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Speaker 2: extremely high numbers, but we're really proud to be delivering

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Speaker 2: space the streets and reducing crime. Ultimately, what's happened is

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Speaker 2: since the August election, we've got an additional four hundred

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Speaker 2: and eight people incarcerated. Now, it's never a good thing

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Speaker 2: to have people in prison, but people have to remember

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Speaker 2: what that means is there were four hundred people out

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Speaker 2: on the streets who shouldn't have been and our reducing

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Speaker 2: crime package has delivered a better outcome for our police

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Speaker 2: to be able to undertake more arrest and put the

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Speaker 2: safety of people first. So it's a good result. And

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Speaker 2: now what we've got to do is use that opportunity

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Speaker 2: in prison to turn people's life around and deal with

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Speaker 2: those root causes of crime.

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Speaker 1: Now, in terms of the changes to the law in

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Speaker 1: the Northern Territory and some of those different changes that

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Speaker 1: we've seen making it more difficult for people to be bailed,

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Speaker 1: I mean, what impact do you think that that is

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Speaker 1: having on our corrections facilities at this point, and do

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Speaker 1: you have a better understanding at this point of really

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Speaker 1: just how many people have gone to jail rather than

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Speaker 1: being bailed again.

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Speaker 2: I don't have the separate bowl numbers on me, Katie,

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Speaker 2: but that's something I'm very happy to provide. What we

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Speaker 2: know is Declan's Law was a signature election commitment, and

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Speaker 2: of course we still with Samara Laviny and said enough

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Speaker 2: is enough, just like thousands of other Territorians. And so

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Speaker 2: it's all making an impact. There's much more work to

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Speaker 2: do and I don't want any of your listeners to

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Speaker 2: think that our reducing crime package in October last year

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Speaker 2: was the end. It's really important people understand this is

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Speaker 2: just the beginning for us. But undoubtedly it is putting

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Speaker 2: pressure on our correction system and that's why our Corrections

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Speaker 2: master Plan is so important. So we were able to

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Speaker 2: put online forty eight more beds over the weekend. There'll

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Speaker 2: be another ninety six by the end of the week.

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Speaker 2: We're on track to hit that milestone. So the plan

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Speaker 2: is working. And we've also got a record number of

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Speaker 2: corrections recruits who've just gone into their training on Monday,

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Speaker 2: and that'll see about thirty two corrections officers go through

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Speaker 2: their training and be out on the ground from April.

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Speaker 2: So lots of work to do. But the plan is

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Speaker 2: coming together and we've got to stay the course if

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Speaker 2: we want to reduce crime right across the territory.

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Speaker 1: Well, I mean, at the end of the day, people

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Speaker 1: don't want violent offenders on the street. You know, it's

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Speaker 1: not ideal that our jails are overflowing. From what the

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Speaker 1: ABC News reported last night, up to sixteen prisoners per cell,

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Speaker 1: is that the case, And from your perspective, is it appropriate?

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Speaker 2: So I don't want people to picture, you know, in

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Speaker 2: the movies, perhaps it's really not like that at all.

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Speaker 2: Our watchhouses and our prisons have different sized cells with

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Speaker 2: different categories of prisoners, and so some of them are large. Now,

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Speaker 2: I'm not trying to sugarcoat that it's cozy in there,

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Speaker 2: and nor should it be. You know, these are prisons

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Speaker 2: at the end of the day for criminals. It's not

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Speaker 2: luxury hotels for people going on a holiday. So I'm

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Speaker 2: not going to make excuses. It's not ideal and we

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Speaker 2: accept that fully. But I'll tell you what, Katie, our

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Speaker 2: police and our corrections officers are just going above and beyond.

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Speaker 2: We can't thank them enough, and on behalf of our

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Speaker 2: entire community who are starting to feel that different as

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Speaker 2: we move towards this disuit of law and order above

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Speaker 2: everything else. You know, I just thank them for the

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Speaker 2: work they're doing. It's just incredible.

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Speaker 1: Now, Leah, the Police Association has made some claims that

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Speaker 1: officers have been given an instruction that non urgent arrests

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Speaker 1: are to be avoided if possible. Is that the case.

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Speaker 2: No, and the Police Commissioner came out yesterday and clarified

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Speaker 2: all of It's certainly not something I've heard, Katie, and

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Speaker 2: I wouldn't like to see happening. We've got to continue

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Speaker 2: policing duties and that's been made really, really clear across

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Speaker 2: the board. Obviously, we've got those acute pressures from time

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Speaker 2: to time in our correction system, but we've hit a

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Speaker 2: magical point where with those forty eight beds in Darwin

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Speaker 2: and the ninety six, you know, hours away from being

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Speaker 2: ready to go in Alice Springs, we know we're going

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Speaker 2: to create that little bit of reprieve we need to

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Speaker 2: get through. And let's not forget our design work on

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Speaker 2: the women's prison, the changes inside Holts and the new

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Speaker 2: workers camp for men. That's all happening as well. So

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Speaker 2: our corrections plan is something that doesn't happen like a domino.

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Speaker 2: It's happening. Everything has to start at once so that

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Speaker 2: we meet all of our deadlines and milestones of the

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Speaker 2: plan to make sure we've got that space in the system.

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Speaker 2: And of course we're operating up the back of it

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Speaker 2: of Labour's legacy, which was not to find corrections properly,

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Speaker 2: not to invest in the infrastructure we need. So we're

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Speaker 2: playing catch up. But that catch up will not come

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Speaker 2: at the expense of community safety. I can guarantee that.

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Speaker 1: Well, it was the number one issue for Territorians at

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Speaker 1: the election. Now part of the bigger puzzle I guess

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Speaker 1: is those changes that have been announced as well to

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Speaker 1: try and speed things up through the courts. I know

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Speaker 1: that there were new judges appointed over the Christmas and

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Speaker 1: New Year period. Is that having a positive impact in

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Speaker 1: terms of things moving along more.

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Speaker 2: Quickly, Yeah, it is, but it's still not enough. And

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Speaker 2: so there are really three pillars to reduce in crime.

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Speaker 2: One is police and police are doing really really well.

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Speaker 2: Corrections is obviously struggling because there's a lack of infrastructure,

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Speaker 2: and our court is struggling. I mean something like sixty

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Speaker 2: seven percent of our sorry, not sixty seven percent, that's

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Speaker 2: the dB numbers. What I'm meant to say was around

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Speaker 2: forty seven percent of all people in custody are on remark,

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Speaker 2: which means they haven't been sentenced by the court yet.

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Speaker 2: So our focus is to clear that backlog that's been

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Speaker 2: handed to us by the previous government and make sure

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Speaker 2: we have enough judges. We've obviously done all of the

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Speaker 2: work pouring millions of dollars additional money into legal aid

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Speaker 2: and all of those other areas so that the justice

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Speaker 2: system works. But it's not just a situation where you

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Speaker 2: can give police more powers. You've got to be sorting

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Speaker 2: out the mess in the courts and also sorting out corrections.

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Speaker 2: So we continue to work as fast as we can

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Speaker 2: to get that moving.

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Speaker 1: Now, Chief Finister, you are indeed in Alice Springs today,

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Speaker 1: and we know that Alice has continued to have some

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Speaker 1: issues when it comes to crime, well quite a few

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Speaker 1: issues really when it comes to crime. You're there at

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Speaker 1: the moment. It's just sixth trip as I understand, as

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Speaker 1: what exactly is on the agenda this time round YEP.

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Speaker 2: So I have made a number of visits to Alice Springs,

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Speaker 2: as you said, because this town really needs support, and

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Speaker 2: we stood up Approach and Ludlow and it's had really

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Speaker 2: good results. We've seen three hundred and thirty four arrests

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Speaker 2: since it was stood up, and our Fugitive Task Force,

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Speaker 2: which was targeting those high harm, high risk offenders, they

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Speaker 2: had a total of sixty two arrest which is amazing.

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Speaker 2: So it's made an impact. Now what we've got to

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Speaker 2: do is transition into that stabilizing phase for Alice Springs,

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Speaker 2: and it's important to us we have a comprehensive and

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Speaker 2: consistent approach. So today I'll be meeting with the mayor,

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Speaker 2: Matt Patterson. Of course, as the mayor, he's acutely aware

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Speaker 2: of the law and order issues and so Deputy Commissioner

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Speaker 2: Martin Dole and I will meet with him. I'll also

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Speaker 2: be meeting with federal opposition leader Peter Dunton, expressing our

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Speaker 2: desire to see a bipartisan or a commitment around our

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Speaker 2: seven items that we put to the federal government.

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Speaker 1: So is he is he in Alie today?

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Speaker 2: Yes, he'll be in Alice Springs today. So I'm looking

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Speaker 2: forward to meeting with him about those issues. For example,

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Speaker 2: we'd really like to see Centralink payments aligning with alcohol

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Speaker 2: free days in our springs. We want to see work

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Speaker 2: people having to work, people who are on siniling having

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Speaker 2: to work, Royalties not being distributed in our springs being

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Speaker 2: distributed out in communities, so number of matters there. I

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Speaker 2: acknowledge the federal government has come on board with kassa

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Speaker 2: exemption so our police can use their drones, which has

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Speaker 2: been great, and I'd like to see bipartisan commitment on

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Speaker 2: that because Katie, I'm trying to secure the best deal

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Speaker 2: for the territory no matter what happens at the federal election.

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Speaker 1: Absolutely absolutely, and I guess we still don't have a

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Speaker 1: clearer date of exactly when that federal election is going

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Speaker 1: to happen, but it's meant to happen, as I understand it,

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Speaker 1: before May. So really, you know, we need a commitment

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Speaker 1: from the current the current Prime Minister and the possible

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Speaker 1: Prime Minister in Peter Dutton to know exactly where they

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Speaker 1: stand when it comes to the Northern Territory, particularly when

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Speaker 1: it comes to pulling some of these levers around crime.

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Speaker 2: On Katie, I couldn't be a more furious agreement with you.

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Speaker 2: So you know today I'm also catching up with frontline police.

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Speaker 2: I want to go out tonight again and see how

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Speaker 2: drone operations are going because that increased capacity has allowed

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Speaker 2: us to engage better in car pursuit, stolen vehicles breaking

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Speaker 2: into it. It's been really positive. So yeah, lots on

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Speaker 2: the agenda today. I'll be holding a mobile office, which

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Speaker 2: I always do when I'm in Alice, so that every

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Speaker 2: day Alice brings residents can come past and have a

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Speaker 2: chat about what's important to them. So yeah, busy days

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Speaker 2: and looking forward to it now.

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Speaker 1: Lea just on you know the fact that you had

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Speaker 1: met with the Prime Minister over the Christmas period and

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Speaker 1: you discuss those center link payments and income management. Was

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Speaker 1: there any movement from the Prime Minister and from the

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Speaker 1: federal Labor government in that area.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, Look, I have to be fair. I've met with

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Speaker 2: the Prime Minister and I've also met with Minister Rishworth.

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Speaker 2: I've met with Minister McCartney, I've met with Marian Scrimjaw,

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Speaker 2: so I have been engaging on those issues. There's less

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Speaker 2: appetite for some of them, so but they have made

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Speaker 2: a very strong indication that if the territory was to

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Speaker 2: expand its referral pathways for income management to the Commonwealth,

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Speaker 2: that they would be very receptive to accepting those referrals.

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Speaker 2: So I'm very pleased about that. We're working really hard

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Speaker 2: to do that. So, for example, currently it's quite limited

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Speaker 2: to if a parent is neglecting a child, they can

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Speaker 2: be referred for income management. We'd like to expand that

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Speaker 2: to look at where parents are willfully withdrawing their children

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Speaker 2: from school, where their children are use criminals, for example.

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Speaker 2: So we're doing that work now, and we're also they're

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Speaker 2: also rolling out a work program for people on SENTI length.

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Speaker 2: But I've asked very specifically for there to be a

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Speaker 2: cap so a target for Alice springs in Central Australia.

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Speaker 2: I want to quarantine some of those jobs to the

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Speaker 2: territory so that I can hold them to account on

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Speaker 2: whether or not local territorians are getting those jobs. So

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Speaker 2: I haven't secured that yet, but that work is being

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Speaker 2: done in good faith and I'm very hopeful they come

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Speaker 2: on board.

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Speaker 1: Well, I'll be keen to get an update when you

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Speaker 1: do know more, Chief Minister. I want to ask you

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Speaker 1: about a couple of things that sort of fall into

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Speaker 1: the federal realm, but I think they're very much worth

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Speaker 1: us taking a closer look at because Territorians are pretty

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Speaker 1: worried about them at the moment. One of those is

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Speaker 1: this private health fund issue. Now, there's been concerns that

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Speaker 1: the dispute between the country's only private hospital, sorry between

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Speaker 1: well the only private hospital operation and healthcare provider health Scope,

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Speaker 1: and the two major private health insurers is well, it's

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Speaker 1: causing concern for locals. We caught up with a few

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Speaker 1: locals yesterday health Scope announcing those plans to cancel contracts

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Speaker 1: of course with Booper effective February and the Australian Health

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Speaker 1: Services Alliance from March. Now, as I said, we caught

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Speaker 1: up with a couple of territories about this yesterday and

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Speaker 1: then we continue to sort of get calls and messages

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Speaker 1: about this when we got off air. It is I mean,

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Speaker 1: it is a concern and it is something that potentially

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Speaker 1: has the risk of causing additional pressure on our public

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Speaker 1: health system if people are no longer able to go

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Speaker 1: through the private hospital. Are you aware of this issue

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Speaker 1: and is it something that you are prepared to maybe

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Speaker 1: try and reach out to the federal government about.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, we are aware of this issue, and Steve Edgington

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Speaker 2: as Health Minister, is taking the lead. It's something that's

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Speaker 2: impacting you know, hundreds, if not thousands of people, myself

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Speaker 2: included Katie, right, And so it's a big issue for people.

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Speaker 2: We're hoping it resolves. But I think even the greater

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Speaker 2: I mean that is a big enough concern as it is,

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Speaker 2: Make no mistake, The bigger concern for me is we're

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Speaker 2: starting to see that's pull out from the territory, and

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Speaker 2: that's off the back of years of economic decline, population,

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Speaker 2: you know, people leaving the territory and lack of confidence

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Speaker 2: about the future. And so even though it might seem

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Speaker 2: like a hard link to make it matters like Virgin

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Speaker 2: pulling flights out or Hellescope pulling out, sense of even

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Speaker 2: stronger message to me and our government that we must

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Speaker 2: do everything it takes to get the territory back on

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Speaker 2: the right footing and back on track. We have no

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Speaker 2: time to lose because if we continue on this decline,

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Speaker 2: we will see more services decline also, so we must

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Speaker 2: be strong to be able to deliver the best opportunities

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Speaker 2: and options for Territorians, and so this just strengthens my

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Speaker 2: resolve to make sure we're growing our economy, we're reducing crime,

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Speaker 2: and we're rebuilding that important territory lifestyle.

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Speaker 1: Oh and you've touched on it there. I mean these

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Speaker 1: Virgin flights they're cutting their direct Owen Adelaide route well

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Speaker 1: for so for at least a period of time. But

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Speaker 1: it's just another kick in the guts when it comes

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Speaker 1: to connectivity for Territorians. And I mean someone's message through

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Speaker 1: before and said, you know, Katie, how do they expect

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Speaker 1: their planes to be full? If you go one day

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Speaker 1: it's six hundred bucks one way to fly somewhere and

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Speaker 1: then it's one hundred and eighty the next day. And

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Speaker 1: this is the thing. We've been treated like mugs.

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Speaker 2: Yeah we are. I mean we've seen Channel nine pull

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Speaker 2: out of the territory. It's not good. And we've got

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Speaker 2: to show the corporate Australia and the rest of this

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Speaker 2: country the territory has everything this country needs for the future.

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Speaker 2: We have the gas that energy security. We have this

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Speaker 2: strategic defense positioning and strategic location in the Indo Pacific.

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Speaker 2: We have the minerals and the rare earths. We have

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Speaker 2: the can do spirit and the opportunity, and so we

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Speaker 2: need to be working over time to change our regulatory

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Speaker 2: environments to make the most of the territory's opportunity and

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Speaker 2: show players like Virgin and Channel nine and Hellscope that

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Speaker 2: they were wrong. They should have backed us in. And

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Speaker 2: I tell you what, Katie, I'm backing the territory in.

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Speaker 2: And when these things happen, I just worked twice as

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Speaker 2: hard and that's what we've got to do to turn

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Speaker 2: it around.

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Speaker 1: So, Lea, is this where you know the Territory Coordinator

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Speaker 1: bill comes into fruition and comes into play as well.

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Speaker 1: I know that there is opposition around this. You know,

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Speaker 1: we've got the Greens, you've got environmentalists, you've got others

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Speaker 1: saying they feel that this is going to give one

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Speaker 1: person too much power and it's a step too far.

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Speaker 1: But you've gone through that consultation process. Now more than

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Speaker 1: five hundred and fifty submissions received. Are people positive or

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Speaker 1: negative towards this role? In those submissions that have been received.

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Speaker 2: You've hit the nail on the head. This is why

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Speaker 2: major economic reform like Territory Coordinator couldn't come fast enough.

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Speaker 2: And we've done the proper due diligence on this. We've

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Speaker 2: put it out to several layers of public consultation, Katie.

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Speaker 2: When I introduced the draft in February, I will also

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Speaker 2: refer it to the Parliamentary Scrutiny Committee, so there is

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Speaker 2: more public opportunity and scrutiny to come. But we had

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Speaker 2: about five hundred applications. We held public meetings right across

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Speaker 2: the territory in our region stakeholder engagements. There was probably

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Speaker 2: about two hundred or maybe three hundred performer sort of

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Speaker 2: opposition to it, you know where groups get together and

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Speaker 2: all send the one letter from a number of people

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Speaker 2: and the rest were individual pieces of feedback. So we

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Speaker 2: received some great constructive feedback. Other people oppose it for

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Speaker 2: opposing at stake and that's fine, that's their democratic rights

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Speaker 2: and not like the direction.

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Speaker 1: But what do you mean you've had like a certain

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Speaker 1: group all send the same submission in.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, so what happens. This happens often, Katie, across a

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Speaker 2: range of topics. But one group will take issue with

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Speaker 2: something that's happening and then they'll sort of draft up

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Speaker 2: a bit of a performer letter and then people who

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Speaker 2: subscribe to that view will then send that letter to

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Speaker 2: whoever it is from themselves, so you often get the

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Speaker 2: same letter but from different people, and that's still valid.

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Speaker 2: It shows that there is a portion of the community

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Speaker 2: who share that exact same view and that there's nothing

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Speaker 2: wrong with it. I guess I'm just highlighting. Probably half

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Speaker 2: of the submissions were those performer type and the other

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Speaker 2: half were individual you know feedback. So some people didn't

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Speaker 2: provide feedback. Some people just said no, we don't like this,

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Speaker 2: it's bad. Other people said we think this is great

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Speaker 2: and didn't provide any constructive feedback either. And then there

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Speaker 2: was a group of people who said, we think this

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Speaker 2: is a step in the right direction. We'd like to

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Speaker 2: see safeguards on this, or we'd like to see this enhanced,

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Speaker 2: or we'd like to see this improved. So there's a

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Speaker 2: whole mix in there. We're going to publish a summary

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Speaker 2: of all of that feedback to be transparent and people

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Speaker 2: can see what that people did like, didn't like, etc.

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Speaker 2: I've got nothing to hiden space, and then we'll move

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Speaker 2: forward with the bill ready fore brue sinning so big

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Speaker 2: piece of reform, flagship piece of economic change for the territory.

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Speaker 2: We're very excited about the opportunity and this year, Katie,

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Speaker 2: will be a year of action. Year of the Snake

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Speaker 2: is about rejuvenation, rebuild, shedding that old skin and we

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Speaker 2: can't wait to get stuck into it.

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Speaker 1: Well, sounds like you've hit the ground running. Leah Finocchiaro,

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Speaker 1: the Chief Minister of the Northern Territory, always appreciate your time.

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Speaker 1: Thanks so much for joining us this morning from.

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Speaker 2: Alice, love to speak to you. Happy New Year everyone,

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Speaker 2: take care and I'll speak next week.

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Speaker 1: Thank you.