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Speaker 1: Now joining me on the line right now is the

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Speaker 1: Independent Member for Ara lun Robin Lambley.

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Speaker 2: Good morning to.

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Speaker 3: You, Robin, Good morning Katie.

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Speaker 1: Now, Robin, we just heard from the Attorney General about

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Speaker 1: the changes that are set to come into Parliament this morning.

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Speaker 1: What was your reaction to yesterday's announcement.

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Speaker 3: Well, another day, another backslip, But I guess this one's

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Speaker 3: a good backslip. This is well over due. We've been

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Speaker 3: calling for changes to the Bail Act for a long time.

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Speaker 3: Over the duration of this Northern Territory Labor government, we've

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Speaker 3: seen as softening on crime, a softening on legislation like this.

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Speaker 3: So this is a good thing. But the most popular

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Speaker 3: weapon of choice in a place like Alice Springs is

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Speaker 3: the rock and this doesn't include rock. And I think

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Speaker 3: that that's a big deficit or shortcoming of these amendments.

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Speaker 3: Rocks caused so much damage in our town. A rock

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Speaker 3: took out the eye of a local chap a couple

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Speaker 3: of weeks ago. I think this is an opportunity to

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Speaker 3: include damage caused by serious damage caused by rocks.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, it's a point not lost on me, Robin, and

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Speaker 1: it is something that I'd raised with the Attorney General

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Speaker 1: a few minutes ago he said that at this point

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Speaker 1: in time, it's going to be those prescribed weapons. You know,

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Speaker 1: our listeners before I even got on air this morning,

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Speaker 1: we're already messaging through to say what about rocks, what

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Speaker 1: about star pickens, you know, what about bottles, all those

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Speaker 1: types of things, but rocks, as you've just pointed out,

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Speaker 1: you know, we've seen some really serious harm in Central

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Speaker 1: Australia with rocks.

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Speaker 3: Every day there's an incident involving rock throwing in Alice Springs.

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Speaker 3: That's just that's just how we live, that's how we roll.

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Speaker 3: And rocks cause serious, serious damage and they have for

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Speaker 3: a very long time. There's been multiple incidentss of people

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Speaker 3: being seriously by rock throwing. So this comes as no surprise.

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Speaker 3: So it's a lost opportunity I think. I guess we

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Speaker 3: have to be thankful for anything we get from this

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Speaker 3: government when it comes to sensible legislation, and this is

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Speaker 3: a piece of sensible legislation, I won't be I'll be

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Speaker 3: supporting it without doubt that it could have gone a

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Speaker 3: lot further.

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Speaker 2: Now they've got this review underway.

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Speaker 1: It's continuing as well, Robin, it's not going to be

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Speaker 1: made public. He said that it's something that the you know,

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Speaker 1: that the department or are going through. It's not sort

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Speaker 1: of a line by line review that's going to be

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Speaker 1: made public.

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Speaker 3: You know.

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Speaker 1: Do you accept that because I sort of think to myself,

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Speaker 1: up until this far, they've really not been listening to

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Speaker 1: the community and the concerns from the community. And let's

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Speaker 1: be frank, you know, had these changes been made a

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Speaker 1: couple of years ago, we may not be in the

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Speaker 1: situation that we're in.

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Speaker 3: Exactly. Look, my take on the government at the moment

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Speaker 3: is that they are completely conflicted. They they've been trying

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Speaker 3: to please certain groups in the community, Aboriginal welfare and

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Speaker 3: human rights and justice groups for many, many years. They've

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Speaker 3: taken the Royal Commission into Juvenile Justice and Child Protection

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Speaker 3: recommendations very seriously. But what it's proven over the last

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Speaker 3: five years is taking this really soft approach towards crime

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Speaker 3: just doesn't work. So now you've got a government that

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Speaker 3: is completely conflicted because all their supporters are driving the

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Speaker 3: agenda of giving kids more opportunity and cutting them flack

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Speaker 3: around even committing heinous and horrible and violent crimes. Now

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Speaker 3: they're under so much pressure and so they should be

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Speaker 3: from the vast majority of the territory public to turn

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Speaker 3: this around. They are so conflicted because are jails areful.

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Speaker 3: There is no capacity at all to take on more prisoners.

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Speaker 3: We've heard over the last month or so how congested

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Speaker 3: our prisoners are, to the extent that you've got present

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Speaker 3: prisoners being reminded in our watchhouses in Darwin and Alice Springs.

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Speaker 3: So they've packed to the rafters. They're going to turn

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Speaker 3: this legislation on within days of it going through Parliament,

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Speaker 3: where we're going to put all these people. So this

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Speaker 3: government is under enormous pressure, completely through their own making,

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Speaker 3: through their inaction and inability to balance the needs and

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Speaker 3: requirements of yes, the disadvantaged, disengaged youth and people in

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Speaker 3: our community that have had a tough life with the

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Speaker 3: rest of us who just want to have a peaceful,

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Speaker 3: happy existence. So you know, they've bordered on themselves because

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Speaker 3: they have been inactive in this space. They've missed managed

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Speaker 3: the whole thing. They've been unable to balance the needs

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Speaker 3: and the rights of all Territorians. And here we are,

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Speaker 3: well and the thing's going to close the door on

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Speaker 3: a consultation process, on a reform process. They don't want

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Speaker 3: anyone to see the mess that they are in, even

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Speaker 3: though it's plain and clear to all of us. So yeah, yeah,

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Speaker 3: they did, and they're in a real pickle.

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Speaker 1: And the thing is, Robin, nobody is suggesting that we

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Speaker 1: do not have programs to try to reform people. In fact,

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Speaker 1: the very opposite. There needs to be those programs. There

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Speaker 1: absolutely needs to be early intervention. But you cannot have

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Speaker 1: a situation where people are committing serious crimes and are

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Speaker 1: on bail and able to commit another serious crime.

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Speaker 3: It's all about balance, and it's all about plain old

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Speaker 3: common sense, Katie. And that's what our Attorney General lacks

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Speaker 3: and our chief minister lack. They don't have an ability

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Speaker 3: to see things in a balanced way. They are narrow minded,

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Speaker 3: one eyed, and quite frankly, not smart enough to be

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Speaker 3: in the positions that they're holding.

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Speaker 1: Robin, can I ask how are things going in Alice Springs,

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Speaker 1: Because we did get some information this morning from well

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Speaker 1: out of the out of Alice Springs from the hospital

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Speaker 1: data showing that there's been massive drops in alcohol related

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Speaker 1: crime as well as admissions as soon as those well

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Speaker 1: reinstated grog bands came into the town camps just a

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Speaker 1: little while back. It shows also that those numbers went

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Speaker 1: right up after the bands were lifted last July, so

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Speaker 1: after stronger futures ended.

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Speaker 2: But since these bands that you've got in.

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Speaker 1: Place right now came into play, it shows that those

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Speaker 1: hospital emissions admissions have gone down drastically.

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Speaker 3: Yeah. Well, the emergency department at the Ala Springs Hospital

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Speaker 3: has always been the barometer of time in Central Australia,

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Speaker 3: so exactly what you describe has happened time and time again.

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Speaker 3: Turn on the grog, they're inundated with people with alcohol

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Speaker 3: related injuries and illness. Turn off the grog and it drops.

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Speaker 3: That's the way it's always been in Alice Springs. So

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Speaker 3: if you ever want to know what's going on, go

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Speaker 3: and talk to the staff at the emergency department, who

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Speaker 3: work incredibly hard, and I might add our acutely short

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Speaker 3: of staff. So you know, the fact that Chancey Paik

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Speaker 3: advocated at the end of last year and even into

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Speaker 3: this year that alcohol restrictions on those hundreds of Aboriginal

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Speaker 3: living areas in town camps were race based policies and

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Speaker 3: should not exist, was just the most destructive thing I

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Speaker 3: have ever seen happen in the Northern Territory, the single

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Speaker 3: most destructive policy, and those people were looking at the

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Speaker 3: emergency department at the Alice Springs Hospital can vouch for that.

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Speaker 3: The damage, the harm, the destruction, the hurt that women

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Speaker 3: and children suffered for those seven months the Chancey Paig

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Speaker 3: and the Chief Minister advocated for those restrictions to be

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Speaker 3: lifted is inexcusable. It is just beyond belief that they

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Speaker 3: could have sat back and watched that. So, you know,

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Speaker 3: I will never forgive them for what they did to

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Speaker 3: those people and the people throughout the Central Australia during

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Speaker 3: that period. It was just beyond comprehension how they could

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Speaker 3: have justified that. And then you see them walk into

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Speaker 3: Parliament and talk about how they care about children and

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Speaker 3: how they're great advocates of domestic violence. They are too

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Speaker 3: stupid to work out that what they did was probably

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Speaker 3: the single most destructive thing to women, Aboriginal women and

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Speaker 3: children we've seen for many, many years. So yeah, Katie,

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Speaker 3: I could go on about distinction.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, well, and you're passionate about it, You're angry about it, because,

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Speaker 1: let's be honest, things in Ellice Springs. You know, while

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Speaker 1: the Hospital of Missions may have gone down, you're still

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Speaker 1: facing very serious issues. We saw that on the weekend.

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Speaker 1: We saw a number of There was bushfires. There was

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Speaker 1: also a couple of house fires. There was also cars

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Speaker 1: that had been lit on fire, and various other issues

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Speaker 1: going on with crime, all the while the Attorney General

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Speaker 1: was campaigning for the Labor Party in Sydney. It's been

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Speaker 1: likened by our listeners to Scott Morrison being on holidays

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Speaker 1: in Hawaii while bushfires burned.

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Speaker 2: What did you make of it?

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Speaker 3: The room, Well read the room. One thing that you

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Speaker 3: don't see from our Attorney General is him taking any

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Speaker 3: responsibility for anything. I call him the Peter Pan of

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Speaker 3: Northern Territory politics. He flits around, no responsibility, no care,

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Speaker 3: lots of words, but no real understanding and compassion around

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Speaker 3: what he's acted and decisions. Mean, given what happened last

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Speaker 3: week in the Northern Territory, no one went on leave

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Speaker 3: over the weekend. They might have gone home, they might

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Speaker 3: have done personal things of course around their families and

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Speaker 3: you know, just whatever. But I don't think anyone apart

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Speaker 3: from Chancey Peg would have considered running off and campaigning

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Speaker 3: for the New South Wales Labor party on the weekend.

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Speaker 3: He got caught out. I mean, Linda Burney posted that Facebook,

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Speaker 3: that photo of him on Facebook, and he got caught

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Speaker 3: out big time unintentionally. I don't think she probably meant

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Speaker 3: to cause as much.

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Speaker 2: I just wonder.

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Speaker 1: I wonder while he was talking to Linda Bernie whether

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Speaker 1: he'd raised any of the issues that Alice Springs was

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Speaker 1: facing on the weekend, or whether he spoke to her

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Speaker 1: about any of the issues that are incredibly serious that

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Speaker 1: we're facing here in the Northern Territory right now. Because

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Speaker 1: if not, then why the heck are you opposing with?

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Speaker 2: Why are there?

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Speaker 1: You know, like, we have honestly gone through such an

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Speaker 1: incredibly tough time.

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Speaker 2: This year, and not just this year.

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Speaker 1: You know how many times have you and I spoken

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Speaker 1: Robin about the issues in Alice Springs.

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Speaker 3: Countless times. Look, don't forget Linda Bernie and the Prime

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Speaker 3: Minister were forced to come to Alice Springs on the

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Speaker 3: twenty fifth of January to sort out the problems made

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Speaker 3: by Chancey Paik and the Chief Minister, So I don't

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Speaker 3: know what their conversations would have been. Like, I'm sure

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Speaker 3: she's found him charming and chance he is a charming,

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Speaker 3: good sort of bloke, but as a politician, he's useless

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Speaker 3: and he doesn't really understand the impact of his decision.

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Speaker 3: So I hope that Linda Bernie used the opportunity to

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Speaker 3: explain a few truths to him that he is in

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Speaker 3: a position of significant power. He's the most underqualified Attorney

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Speaker 3: General that Australia has ever seen. He has no qualifications

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Speaker 3: at all to be in a position like that, nothing

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Speaker 3: close to what would be any sort of reasonable threshold

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Speaker 3: of qualifications, education, experience, and he's misusing his power. He's

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Speaker 3: causing more trouble than good.

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Speaker 1: Well, Robin Lanley, we are going to have to leave

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Speaker 1: it there. You'll be supporting this legislation today. I know

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Speaker 1: that you would like to see some further well weapons

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Speaker 1: added to that list, but nonetheless you will be supporting it.

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Speaker 1: Let's hope it makes a bit of a difference.

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Speaker 3: Well, yes, and they've assured me that it will go

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Speaker 3: through very very quickly, within days of passing, so that

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Speaker 3: will be interesting. Where are they going to all these

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Speaker 3: people that were given bail under the existing legislation, they

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Speaker 3: will be incarcerated. Where are they going to be put?

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Speaker 3: Good question, They're going to find the beds to put

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Speaker 3: all these people that will no longer be eligible for mail.

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Speaker 3: This is a mess that's getting bigger and bigger and bigger.

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Speaker 1: Katie, Robin Lamley always appreciate your time. Thank you very

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Speaker 1: much for having a chat with me today.

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Speaker 2: Thanks Katie, thank you,