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Speaker 1: Now yesterday, if you were listening to the show, the

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Speaker 1: member for Catherine Joe Hersey says that she recently met

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Speaker 1: with the Liquor Accord, the local liquor Accord, hoping to

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Speaker 1: address an alcohol fueld some of the alcohol fueld issues

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Speaker 1: in the town, but she said there wasn't any industry

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Speaker 1: lead solutions. Now, she reckons police have recommended capping alcohol

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Speaker 1: sales to one transaction per day, but the industry wasn't

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Speaker 1: keen on that, citing the restrictions already in place like

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Speaker 1: the BDR.

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Speaker 2: Now.

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Speaker 1: Miss Hersey says it's also not as simple as reducing

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Speaker 1: bottle shop trading hours, with more work needed to find

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Speaker 1: a solution. Now, this is just a little bit of

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Speaker 1: what she had to say on the show yesterday. If

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Speaker 1: you missed it, there was a.

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Speaker 2: Liquor Accord meeting Katie on the third of June, and

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Speaker 2: I did attend that meeting. One thing that did you know,

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Speaker 2: I was sort of going there hoping that there would

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Speaker 2: be some industry lead solutions coming out of that meeting,

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Speaker 2: but there wasn't anything. It was a bit disappointing, So

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Speaker 2: you know, I' further conversation could probably happen with them,

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Speaker 2: But yeah, it was. So we have had a few

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Speaker 2: issues and we've had some funerals and people in town

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Speaker 2: for royalties and things, and there was a few weeks

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Speaker 2: ago where it was it was it was shocking, So yeah,

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Speaker 2: it was. It was disappointing at that meeting that there

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Speaker 2: was nothing really coming from them as solutions. I mean,

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Speaker 2: you know, government can come down and say this is

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Speaker 2: what you need to do, but I think it's better

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Speaker 2: when it comes from industry for some solutions.

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Speaker 1: So that was the minister and also the local member

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Speaker 1: for Catherine Joe Hersey on the show yesterday. Now joining

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Speaker 1: me on the line is the CEO of Hospitality here

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Speaker 1: in the Northern Territory, Kathy Simmons.

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Speaker 3: Good morning, Kathy, Morning Katie.

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Speaker 1: Kathy. What's your reaction to the minister's comments on the

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Speaker 1: show yesterday.

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Speaker 3: Look, I do want to front end this call and

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Speaker 3: response by saying, to be really clear, we think the

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Speaker 3: Chief Minister and her entire cabinet, the anti government, including

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Speaker 3: Minister Hersey in her role as a cabinet member, are

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Speaker 3: doing a fantastic job of living up to their election

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Speaker 3: promises on crime and anty social behavior and in acting

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Speaker 3: to try and address that and to try and help

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Speaker 3: Territori and feel safe, and we think the Northern Territory

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Speaker 3: Police is doing a really good job too. The social

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Speaker 3: change we need to see for things to get better

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Speaker 3: takes time, and the government should be afforded that time

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Speaker 3: for these solutions to roll through.

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Speaker 2: As you raise.

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Speaker 3: I heard Minister Johersey on your show yesterday and we

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Speaker 3: heard a bit there, and so did a lot of

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Speaker 3: my members. And I've got to tell you my text

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Speaker 3: line ran pretty hot yesterday too from some of my

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Speaker 3: Catherine members. Absolutely with respect to the Member for Catherine,

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Speaker 3: she attended the meeting for the first thirty minutes. The

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Speaker 3: meeting went for over an hour. We don't determine outcomes

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Speaker 3: and next steps in the first part of a meeting.

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Speaker 3: We line it up at the end. So my members

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Speaker 3: were very disappointed to hear those comments and feel that

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Speaker 3: there's an impatience or a pressure right. The next thing

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Speaker 3: my members have been disappointed in from yesterday's interview is

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Speaker 3: the continued push for industry led solutions. Thank you Katie

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Speaker 3: for reading out my text response to you yesterday, and

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Speaker 3: your listeners will note that I've been here now many

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Speaker 3: times saying the same thing over and over. The hospitality

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Speaker 3: industry in the Northern Territory has never been more regulated

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Speaker 3: and the problems have never been worse.

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Speaker 2: There is very little.

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Speaker 3: Elsement that industry can do that will effectively produce demand

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Speaker 3: and reduce harmful behaviors without government and police assistance. We

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Speaker 3: have responsible service of alcohol. We have private security in

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Speaker 3: venues and in takeaway outlets, but these don't address root causes.

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Speaker 3: They don't address demand, they don't address harm. Just to

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Speaker 3: go to the restriction that was discussed on, you know,

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Speaker 3: one transaction per person per day. This is a restriction

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Speaker 3: that is already in place in the social utopias of

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Speaker 3: Alice Springs and Ten and Creek. Wholesale alcohol volume data

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Speaker 3: shows that even with all the restrictions, liquor sales are

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Speaker 3: actually going up in Ten and Creek. Problem drinkers find

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Speaker 3: alcohol wherever they can, either legal sales or secondary supply

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Speaker 3: from elsewhere. Were not prepared as an industry to entertain

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Speaker 3: ideas that just don't work. We need more demand side

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Speaker 3: strategies that will have a real effect.

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Speaker 1: So from your perspective, you said there at the start

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Speaker 1: that the Liquor Record meeting happened. It went for over

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Speaker 1: an hour. The Minister was only there for the first

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Speaker 1: half of us. Were there, you know, were there any

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Speaker 1: sort of other discussions had or any ideas of what

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Speaker 1: may be able to happen differently from the industry's perspective,

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Speaker 1: or are they sort of feeling at this point in

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Speaker 1: time that you know, they're doing everything they can and

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Speaker 1: others need to step up.

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Speaker 3: We're certainly not, you know, abrogating our own responsibilities here,

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Speaker 3: you know, to be clear, my members want to be

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Speaker 3: part of the solution with programs and policies that will work.

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Speaker 3: And we know a few things that do work. There's studies,

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Speaker 3: independent studies, research studies that show what in the Northern

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Speaker 3: Territory works. We know, full coverage of palis at takeaway

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Speaker 3: outlets works. We now know from the Anti Police telling

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Speaker 3: us at this Liquor coord meeting in Katherine that police

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Speaker 3: applying a lot more band drinker orders, going on a

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Speaker 3: bit of a blitz for band drinker orders works. They

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Speaker 3: told us in this meeting, even without full coverage of

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Speaker 3: pallis at the takeaway outlets. They told us that all

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Speaker 3: the band drinker orders applied over the months of sort

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Speaker 3: of February March April. It's been effective at bringing anti

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Speaker 3: social behavior and crime back down to the level that

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Speaker 3: was there with full coverage of PALIS. This is great,

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Speaker 3: This is good to know that there are multiple solutions

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Speaker 3: here that do work. But continuing to restrict supply the

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Speaker 3: supply side things that industry is already doing or could do,

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Speaker 3: they're not effective. We just we want solutions that are effective.

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Speaker 3: The solutions of PALLIS and applying band drink or orders.

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Speaker 3: We the industry, we can't implement those what we have.

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Speaker 1: From your perspective, I mean, is anything from the industry's

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Speaker 1: perspective in Catherine that you know that they sort of

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Speaker 1: feel could be happening differently or I don't know, you know,

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Speaker 1: like what are they saying to you?

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Speaker 3: Absolutely, you know, it's part of the problem with full

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Speaker 3: coverage of PALIS is trying to get people who want

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Speaker 3: to be PALIS. It's really hard to recruit here in

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Speaker 3: the territory. You've just heard you before talking about whether

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Speaker 3: NT police are paid the most or middle or whatever

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Speaker 3: it is. Even if they were paid the most, like,

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Speaker 3: they're still struggling to get the recruitment numbers that we

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Speaker 3: need to see here, so it's going to be very

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Speaker 3: difficult to recruit palis. So a discussion that was at

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Speaker 3: this meeting was what information can police share with our

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Speaker 3: private security staff that can meet them halfway on palis?

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Speaker 3: What is the effective information that Pali's had that made

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Speaker 3: them effective on those bottle shop doors, on those takeaway

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Speaker 3: outlet doors that private security can step in and assist

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Speaker 3: with because they are the private security is going to

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Speaker 3: be there anyway, So let's work together. That's the kind

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Speaker 3: of industry led solution that was discussed. That is what

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Speaker 3: we're trying to come together with the government and try

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Speaker 3: new things because we can't keep going on the way

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Speaker 3: that we are and expecting things to change.

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Speaker 1: Kathy tell me, I mean his industry people getting a

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Speaker 1: bit pisced off that the you know, the questions always

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Speaker 1: come up, should there be a reduction in alcohol, Should

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Speaker 1: there be changes to the way in which alcohol, you know,

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Speaker 1: is served, when, as you've said, you know, problem drinkers

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Speaker 1: are already going to get their hands on alcohol no

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Speaker 1: matter what.

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Speaker 3: Oh, look, it's an easy policy response. I suppose to

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Speaker 3: restrict supply because it's controllable, it's you know, it's already

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Speaker 3: regulated it's controllable. So I think my industry members understand

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Speaker 3: where government or other commentators are coming from when they

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Speaker 3: call for it, But the response is still that yep,

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Speaker 3: I know that it's easy to do, but it's not effective.

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Speaker 3: Why don't we try something that's going to be more effective?

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Speaker 3: And we know what's effective? As I said, they're study

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Speaker 3: after study saying what is effective?

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Speaker 1: Before I let you go this morning, can I ask?

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Speaker 1: Obviously the government have made the announcement earlier in the

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Speaker 1: week plans to trial OC spray, allowing Territorians to buy

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Speaker 1: it under strict conditions as a tool for self defense.

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Speaker 1: What's been the reaction from industry to this announcement.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, well, I'm still talking to members and hearing their views,

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Speaker 3: and we'll certainly be speaking to counterparts in Western Australia

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Speaker 3: to work through what experiences they've had with OC spray

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Speaker 3: and what this trial will mean for our industry the person.

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Speaker 3: It seems like the personal choice to carry OC spray

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Speaker 3: will be a matter for individuals. As an industry, we

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Speaker 3: work very hard to ensure our staff and security provide

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Speaker 3: a safe space for people to enjoy themselves. So you know,

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Speaker 3: probably wouldn't want to see it out on the dance floor.

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Speaker 3: But again, like I really want to acknowledge what the

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Speaker 3: government is trying to do with this policy and putting

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Speaker 3: it to the community for discussion and for this feedback.

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Speaker 3: Is they're trying to make territories feel safer and acknowledge

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Speaker 3: again the hard work that anti police have been doing

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Speaker 3: and continue to do to address crime and anti social

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Speaker 3: behavior and keep our community safe. It's a good thing

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Speaker 3: for them community as a whole to be able to

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Speaker 3: have this discussion because trying nothing new and expecting things

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Speaker 3: to get better is just not going to work.

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Speaker 1: Good Point Hospitality and TCEO Kathy Simmons, good to speak

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Speaker 1: with you this morning. Thanks for your time.

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Speaker 3: Thanks so much, Katie, Thank you