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Speaker 1: Tell you what, it's been quite difficult to line up

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Speaker 1: a show this morning because every man and their dogs

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Speaker 1: seems to be at this year a head speech that

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Speaker 1: the Chief Minister is delivering. And well, joining me from

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Speaker 1: I believe from the convention center where it's happening is

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Speaker 1: Matt Cunningham from Sky News. Good morning to your matute.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, just outside will be I've just come outside to

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Speaker 2: talk to you. Yes, because the Chief Minister was still

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Speaker 2: going when I was in there. There's a lot of

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Speaker 2: hangers only. I was at the press conference before the

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Speaker 2: before the speech, and I counted eleven eleven people who

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Speaker 2: were either from the fifth floor or the public service

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Speaker 2: who were there just at the press conference. Why, I

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Speaker 2: don't know. I don't know. I had a look at

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Speaker 2: about twenty three seven hundred public servants in the Norman

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Speaker 2: Territory last time I.

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Speaker 1: Checked, and were they all there this morning?

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Speaker 2: Something to do?

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Speaker 1: Oh goodness me? Well, Matt, you know, back in the day,

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Speaker 1: I used to be a media adviser. As you know,

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Speaker 1: I've worked as a media manager for government departments. And

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Speaker 1: I'll tell you what I'd.

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Speaker 2: Run eleven You could ever meet eleven people to run

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Speaker 2: a press confery?

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Speaker 1: Well, you shouldn't, that's what you're for sure, You definitely shouldn't.

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Speaker 1: It's quite the waste of it. It's quite the waste

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Speaker 1: of resources. Any lay Matt, What did she have to say?

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Speaker 1: What can we expect for the year ahead?

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Speaker 2: Well, I guess the main announcement was already in the

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Speaker 2: paper this morning, and that's the extension of the homeowner grants,

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Speaker 2: which have been a bit of a hit and I

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Speaker 2: think they've been a good thing. The other announcement that

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Speaker 2: they made this morning, look, I was a little bit

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Speaker 2: underwhelmed by it, to be honest. It's to do with

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Speaker 2: the ship lift, which we know is already blown out

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Speaker 2: from one hundred million dollars to a billion dollars, and

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Speaker 2: it was this the Northern Marine Complex set up for

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Speaker 2: development of a territory. First, they're saying the Territory Coordinator

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Speaker 2: using his powers for the first time to create to

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Speaker 2: create a territory development area whatever that is. Away A

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Speaker 2: lot of acronyms will be yeah, but well, I don't know.

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Speaker 2: Seemed like mostly a reannouncement of stuff that we knew already.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, well, so that was what I wondered, because I

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Speaker 1: had a look through the pressure lease. Are they they're

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Speaker 1: wondering And yep, they're wondering what you're up to now, Matt.

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Speaker 1: I tell you I read the pressure release and I

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Speaker 1: wasn't one hundred percent sure what to make of it

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Speaker 1: all either. And I know that when you talk ship lift,

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Speaker 1: a lot of people's eyes sort of glaze over because

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Speaker 1: we've been waiting for so long for it to be

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Speaker 1: built and it's cost such a phenomenal amount of money

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Speaker 1: and it's still not up and running. That I think

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Speaker 1: for a lot of Territorians, a lot of people listening

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Speaker 1: to the show this morning, they're probably going, well, what

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Speaker 1: does this mean and how's it actually going to help

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Speaker 1: the Northern Territory in terms of making us any money

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Speaker 1: or being economically viable.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, it's like a really bad episode of You Took Here,

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Speaker 2: isn't it? It is with the barcle And you know,

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Speaker 2: I think people now are just like, if we're going

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Speaker 2: to spend a billion dollars on this, can we just

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Speaker 2: get a built and get on with the job and

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Speaker 2: get it sort of putting a bit of cash back

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Speaker 2: into the economy At the moment, I think you're right.

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Speaker 2: People just hear the word shiplift and they just think

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Speaker 2: the barcle exactly. Well, the other part of it would

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Speaker 2: like to the government there.

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Speaker 1: Yeah. Well, the other part of it, Matt is I'm

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Speaker 1: pretty sure that they announced in Queensland that they're no

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Speaker 1: longer going ahead with their shiplift in far North Queensland

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Speaker 1: is my understanding, and I will go and double check that.

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Speaker 1: But they'd been talking about building one, but then because

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Speaker 1: it had sort of run into so many, you know,

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Speaker 1: so many roadblocks and so many different issues. You know,

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Speaker 1: some are saying that they're pushing for solutions there, but

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Speaker 1: I don't know whether it's going to happen there. So

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Speaker 1: I don't know what that means for us in the

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Speaker 1: Northern territory. Whether it may mean that we get more business,

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Speaker 1: but we still sort of I was every day people

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Speaker 1: can't see how it's going to stack up or whether

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Speaker 1: it's going to help us.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm going across the Queensland situation. I've got to

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Speaker 2: say them. I checked that out myself. But I think

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Speaker 2: one of the motivating factors when they went ahead and

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Speaker 2: confirm they are going to do the ship lift was

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Speaker 2: the fact that it was going to cost them hundreds

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Speaker 2: of millions of dollars to not build it, so they

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Speaker 2: think they better spend a billion dollars and build it anyway.

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Speaker 2: I mean, look, I don't know, honestly, I don't know.

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Speaker 2: All I know is that this project is so far

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Speaker 2: over budget. It's not funny. It hasn't been you know,

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Speaker 2: it's nowhere near completion, and you know, the economic benefits

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Speaker 2: I guess are questionable. So let's hope that you know,

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Speaker 2: it does get built and it does provide some of

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Speaker 2: that there we could salvage something out of it.

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Speaker 1: Yes, the situation, Yeah, I think that's what everybody wants

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Speaker 1: to see. We're in you know, we're up to our eyeballs,

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Speaker 1: so we may we'll make sure that it works for

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Speaker 1: the territory.

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Speaker 2: Matt.

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Speaker 1: In terms of you know what the Chief Minister outlined

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Speaker 1: for twenty twenty six, you know what was the focus?

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Speaker 2: Last year?

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Speaker 1: We heard a lot about crime, rebuilding the economy. I

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Speaker 1: can't remember what the three taglines are. I should have

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Speaker 1: remembered because.

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Speaker 2: It restoring the great territory lifestyle the third one, that's right,

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Speaker 2: Come on, what are they this year? Matt? Well, no,

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Speaker 2: I know that's been. It's been, it's been whistled down

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Speaker 2: it's just three words now, growth, certainty and security. There

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Speaker 2: feel like you couldn't remember the last one was too

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Speaker 2: many works in well words both certainty and security. What

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Speaker 2: were that was what the Chief Minister speech. It was

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Speaker 2: about in many ways, it was sort of in some

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Speaker 2: ways a year in review more than a year ahead.

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Speaker 2: She went, she and threw many of the things the

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Speaker 2: government had done over the past sort of twelve or

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Speaker 2: sixteen months since they came to come to power. She

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Speaker 2: spoke a lot about the crime issue and what the

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Speaker 2: government had done to address it is and I think

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Speaker 2: to give them credit, you know, they deserve credits for

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Speaker 2: the fact that they have turned around what was a

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Speaker 2: pretty suppressing situation when it came to crime right across

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Speaker 2: the territory. So she said that victims were down ten

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Speaker 2: percent from January to November last year, in commercial breakings

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Speaker 2: down twenty six percent. She read out an email she

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Speaker 2: received from someone in our Springs just saying how there

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Speaker 2: are no sirens around town anymore. My wife and I

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Speaker 2: are even going to the movies tonight. So basically her

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Speaker 2: message there was that what we're doing is working. We

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Speaker 2: went through the temper spray, which I think we talked

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Speaker 2: we reported on while you were away, Wolf You basically

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Speaker 2: saying that they're going to extend or that they're going

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Speaker 2: to if the trial continues the way it's going, they're

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Speaker 2: going to make that law later this year, so it'll

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Speaker 2: be a permanent thing. And she talked a lot about

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Speaker 2: the reforms in the justice system and corrections, including seven

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Speaker 2: hundred new prison beds that they brought online. So there

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Speaker 2: was a lot of talk about that. There was a

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Speaker 2: lot of talk on the economic front. There's lot of talk,

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Speaker 2: as you'd expected, about the Beaterloo, the fact that they're

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Speaker 2: expecting Begloo gas by a quarter four this year to

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Speaker 2: be powering anti homes, and as you know, that's a

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Speaker 2: pretty dire situation at the moment, given what's happened with

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Speaker 2: black kids, so it would be pretty keen to get

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Speaker 2: that happening. There was talk about, you know, the five

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Speaker 2: key pillars, will we can remember five words, energy, agriculture, mining,

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Speaker 2: and tourism. She said she'd been traveling to Pearl Harbor

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Speaker 2: to talk defense with the Americans, talk about the ulary category,

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Speaker 2: the Signature Walk which will open this year. But the

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Speaker 2: most exciting thing she spoke about that was an ounce

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Speaker 2: on the weekend, Wilkie, is that test cricket is to

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Speaker 2: Darwin this year, which is your best news ever? It

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Speaker 2: is on shortly, so I'm, for one, I'm very excited

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Speaker 2: about that.

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Speaker 1: Do you know what we all love fought in the

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Speaker 1: Northern Territory, don't we, Whatever sport it is, the more

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Speaker 1: we can have of it here I think the better.

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Speaker 1: So we'll talk more about that with Gavin in just

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Speaker 1: a couple of minutes. Matt at that press conference with

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Speaker 1: what was there other topics that the Chief Minister was

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Speaker 1: asked about. I know this issue of the administrator has

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Speaker 1: obviously been bubbling along for quite some time.

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Speaker 2: Well, she was asked about that at the press conference,

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Speaker 2: and basically the response was, well, he's being sworn in

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Speaker 2: and it's happening, so he starts in the role today,

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Speaker 2: she said, even though he hasn't officially been sworn in,

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Speaker 2: so you have limited limited powers from now until he's

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Speaker 2: sworn in. I think it's the twenty seventh of February

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Speaker 2: when he warning. But that is she's not backing away

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Speaker 2: from that decision. The last time she spoke of press convice,

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Speaker 2: she said she hadn't seen the social media post she's

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Speaker 2: obviously seen them now, but no change of position when

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Speaker 2: it comes to that. She spoke at the press competent

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Speaker 2: as well about the situation in what Air, which is

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Speaker 2: pretty alarming if you've seen it. Yeah, it's been published

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Speaker 2: on the Anti News about what's happening there. And the

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Speaker 2: other thing that's of interest that she spoke about was

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Speaker 2: this five percent home deposit scheme of the federal government

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Speaker 2: and the fact that it's tapped in the Norman territory

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Speaker 2: at six hundred thousand dollars.

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Speaker 1: I think you and I've spoken about it.

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Speaker 2: There's not a single house you can buy in the

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Speaker 2: Greater Darwin area really for under six hundred thousand dollars.

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Speaker 2: So they had asked to say to up that and

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Speaker 2: they refused to. So the entity is obviously aren't happy

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Speaker 2: about that, right situation.

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Speaker 1: All right, Well, understandably, I've got I have got Luke

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Speaker 1: Gosling on after ten o'clock, so I'll ask him a

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Speaker 1: few more questions about that. I know I certainly raised

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Speaker 1: it within months ago because that was something that we're

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Speaker 1: starting to see towards the end of last year. So

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Speaker 1: we'll continue that discussion. But Matt, I'm going to have

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Speaker 1: to leave it there because Gavin Dove's about to step

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Speaker 1: into the studio and tell us more about the I.

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Speaker 2: Guess well, his news is far more interesting than mine.

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Speaker 1: Oh Matt, good to talk to you as always. Thank

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Speaker 1: you for letting us know how that Year Ahead speech

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Speaker 1: went this morning. Good stuff, Thanks Matt. That's Matt Cunningham there,

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Speaker 1: of course, the bureau chief for the Northern Territory. It's

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Speaker 1: Sky New