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Speaker 1: And I tell you what a massive three days of

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Speaker 1: racing for the Darwin Triple Crowns Supercars Championships. It's wrapped

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Speaker 1: up at Hidden Valley and it was a fantastic weekend.

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Speaker 1: Joining me on the line with a full wrap up

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Speaker 1: of the event is the Minister for Major Events, Paul Kirby.

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Speaker 1: Good morning to you.

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Speaker 2: Good morning Katie.

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Speaker 1: How are you very well? I'll tell you that my

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Speaker 1: throat's a bit scratchy, and I reckon that is from

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Speaker 1: trying to talk on Friday over the supercars and the superbikes.

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Speaker 2: They go all right, I don't know. There's nothing like

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Speaker 2: that noise and the energy around the track, and that

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Speaker 2: does translate into town as well. For the amount of

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Speaker 2: people around town. You can just tell the people with

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Speaker 2: it with the singlets that are with the thing that's

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Speaker 2: on that are saying that it's still hot even though

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Speaker 2: it's as cool as it gets here in dow and

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Speaker 2: you can tell they're from in the state. And I

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Speaker 2: know on Friday, yep, about half of the people at

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Speaker 2: the track and we had a big day out there.

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Speaker 2: Over half the people at the track on Friday we're

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Speaker 2: from in the state. So yeah, a really good result

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Speaker 2: of bringing money into the town and into the territory.

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Speaker 1: Well, you can sort of you can tell that it

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Speaker 1: brings in a huge number of tourists and it seems

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Speaker 1: to me that that event tourism is having a really

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Speaker 1: positive impact for the territory.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, certainly and this year. Yeah, it's twenty fifth year

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Speaker 2: next year, so we'll plan to make it bigger and better. Again.

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Speaker 2: It's a massive effort to do, you know, to bring

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Speaker 2: a circus of that size to the town and what

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Speaker 2: it does bring is bring to other big investors as well.

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Speaker 2: What Shane Howard is the see of the supercar conglomerate

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Speaker 2: and he brought his entire board up here this year.

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Speaker 2: There's some major investors that are looking at other opportunities.

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Speaker 2: They're always looking to expand their investment opportunity. So it's

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Speaker 2: not just about the fun at the track anymore. That

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Speaker 2: they genuinely bring people here to show off what supercars

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Speaker 2: can do because it's one of the most light circuits

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Speaker 2: and events around the nation. They talk about the convoy

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Speaker 2: and the turnout that it has was great to go

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Speaker 2: out to Palmerston this year, but they do those convoys

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Speaker 2: in other places of the nation. But I just don't

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Speaker 2: get the buying that they do from the territory public.

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Speaker 2: So they love doing it up here. The drivers, the

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Speaker 2: trucks love to do it. So yeah, just some really

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Speaker 2: good results all round for the town and for the territory.

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Speaker 1: Now tell me, have we got an indication at this

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Speaker 1: stage of the crowd numbers.

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Speaker 2: We know it was over forty two thousand for the weekend.

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Speaker 2: Like I said, we knew that it was a big

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Speaker 2: day on Friday. I think last year might have been

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Speaker 2: a record for Friday and I think we've broken that

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Speaker 2: record again this year and we know early early numbers

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Speaker 2: are over forty two thousand, So yeah, really good result.

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Speaker 2: As we know, there's a lot of those people that

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Speaker 2: come from in the state. A lot of the board

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Speaker 2: members that we caught up with over the course of

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Speaker 2: the weekend are from Melbourne and they're just so happy

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Speaker 2: to get out of Melbourne this time year. So it

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Speaker 2: does make just to have the drags, to have the superbikes,

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Speaker 2: to have the supercars. They don't get events like that

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Speaker 2: other place of around the nation all over one weekend,

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Speaker 2: so it really has to make it a unique territory event.

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Speaker 1: With that forty two thousand is that a record attendance.

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Speaker 2: I know we're around that forty thousand mark last year

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Speaker 2: and we thought, you know, that would continue to get bigger.

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Speaker 2: But we wondered whether this year, now that people can

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Speaker 2: travel back overseas, whether it might plat oh or a bit.

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Speaker 2: But it really does signal how strong the brand and

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Speaker 2: the event is that it stayed up around that forty

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Speaker 2: two thousand. Like I said, being the twenty fifth anniversary,

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Speaker 2: we're having a laugh with the Supercar board. Some of

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Speaker 2: those guys that have been involved for quite some time

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Speaker 2: can remember when it was all dead grass around the

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Speaker 2: track and if the cars ran off the track, start

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Speaker 2: a fire underneath them because the grass was dead. To

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Speaker 2: see how it was presented on the weekend, you know,

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Speaker 2: massive thanks to all of the staff and all the

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Speaker 2: volunteers make it happen, and certainly to the major Events

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Speaker 2: team that just tips so much into it and do

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Speaker 2: so much good work.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, it has come a long way.

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Speaker 2: A premier events come.

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Speaker 1: A long way, no doubt about it. Hey, when we

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Speaker 1: talk about those numbers over forty two thousand, any idea

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Speaker 1: what percentage or how many of those were from interstate?

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Speaker 2: Now, as I mentioned, we know that on Friday, about

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Speaker 2: half of the people at the track, and we know,

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Speaker 2: you know, obviously locals working on Friday, that number would

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Speaker 2: be diluted, that percentage of be diluted across the weekend.

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Speaker 2: But we will over the coming weeks get a really

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Speaker 2: sharp indication of the exact percentage of people are from

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Speaker 2: in the state and the exact financial worth of that

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Speaker 2: to the Northern Territory. So when you couple that we've

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Speaker 2: seen last weekend down in the Red Center, it's a

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Speaker 2: real you know, it's a great track for motorsport enthusiasts

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Speaker 2: stopping at our springs coming up here and make it

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Speaker 2: a great couple of weeks of it. Hopefully they continue

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Speaker 2: to encourage people to stay a couple of weeks the

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Speaker 2: rape and that really enjoy the territory we know.

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Speaker 1: As well, Like it was obviously wonderful event. Unfortunately, we

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Speaker 1: did have a drag race competitor who was critically injured

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Speaker 1: on Saturday night after his vehicle was clipped or clipped

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Speaker 1: a wall and failed to deploy its safety parachute, sending

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Speaker 1: that driver straight into the end barrier at two hundred

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Speaker 1: and fifty kilometers no hour. And I think we all

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Speaker 1: understand that there's always risk associated with such a such

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Speaker 1: a high level fast sport. But what was your reaction

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Speaker 1: upon hearing that that terrible situation had unfolded.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, you're dead right at his motorsport is a dangerous

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Speaker 2: sport and people understand the risks. We had the opportunity

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Speaker 2: to get up close to the top fuel as to

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Speaker 2: the really fast drag cars on Friday night, the energy

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Speaker 2: that they produce, and she was the guts and the

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Speaker 2: determination of the drivers, the men and the women in

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Speaker 2: those situations. You do take your hat off to them,

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Speaker 2: and our thoughts go to the guy Kilvin that was involved.

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Speaker 2: We do understand he is in a stable condition and

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Speaker 2: being monitored now, so hopefully he'll be he'll be up

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Speaker 2: and about in the not too distant and certainly think

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Speaker 2: of his family and his team mates and friends as well.

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Speaker 1: But absolutely got the best of.

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Speaker 2: Care at the track. And yeah, just a very scary

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Speaker 2: set of circumstances we did here. We think he was

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Speaker 2: knocked out early when the car quit the wall and

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Speaker 2: that's why the shoot might not have come out. And yeah,

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Speaker 2: obviously a very scary set of circumstances there.

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Speaker 1: It truly is curbs were people generally pretty well behaved

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Speaker 1: on the weekend.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I think so. People are just you know, it's

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Speaker 2: come a long way as an event, and you know,

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Speaker 2: whilst as much as you do see a good presence

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Speaker 2: around the track of police and different people, people are

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Speaker 2: pretty well behaved now. I see a couple of people

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Speaker 2: getting pulled over here and there, but yeah, people are

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Speaker 2: pretty well behaved now and understand that it's a big event.

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Speaker 2: That's going to be a big presence there and we

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Speaker 2: want people to have a great time. It's such a

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Speaker 2: great family event now we're able to take lalor out

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Speaker 2: there on Saturday, we take your emas because it's loud forever. Yeah,

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Speaker 2: it's a great event. There's a great family set up

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Speaker 2: on the infield of the track with Faery, Jill and

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Speaker 2: a bunch of others, so it really is a family

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Speaker 2: event now. So we look forward to continuing to grow

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Speaker 2: that and to really celebrate the twenty fifty next year.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, So any changes earmarked for next year because I

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Speaker 1: know that there'd been some rumors some people are a

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Speaker 1: bit concerned that the top fuelers may not be back

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Speaker 1: next year.

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Speaker 2: Yell, we're having those discussions now, Katie about how it

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Speaker 2: might all come together with the programming around the nation. Obviously,

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Speaker 2: you know it is a big draw card to have

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Speaker 2: those top fuelers here. The concerts sort of dropped off

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Speaker 2: because the top fuelers started to started to take over

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Speaker 2: on that Friday and Saturday night. So we'll certainly keep

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Speaker 2: in discussions with all of those key people and make

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Speaker 2: sure that we've got the best entertainment that we can

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Speaker 2: for people across the weekend and give people a real

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Speaker 2: reason to come out and celebrate the twenty fifth year.

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Speaker 1: Now, I know some people were wondering if there's if

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Speaker 1: we're gonna see a return of like some of those

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Speaker 1: really big name entertainment acts as well next year for

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Speaker 1: the twenty five years.

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Speaker 2: Well, we're having some discussions around that. Like you're saying,

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Speaker 2: we were just saying, if you've got the top fuelers

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Speaker 2: and things like that that are going on the Friday

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Speaker 2: and Saturday night, then it makes it hard to put

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Speaker 2: one of those massive conscients on as well. It's a

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Speaker 2: bit of a one or the other sort of situation.

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Speaker 2: So they're the things that will sit down with major

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Speaker 2: sports will sit down. Supercars have got a lot of

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Speaker 2: big events. I think they've got a big anniversary for

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Speaker 2: Baffirst coming up as well, so they're going to do

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Speaker 2: some really big things for Baffist. They'll learn a bit

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Speaker 2: from that. They'll put on a big show down in

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Speaker 2: Adelaide with the supercars returning to their city. So yeah,

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Speaker 2: they'll continue to learn a bit about expanding their horizons

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Speaker 2: and putting on big shows. And our major Events team

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Speaker 2: will be right at the front of those discussions with

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Speaker 2: them to see how we can prevent dar and the

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Speaker 2: best and what the fans want.

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Speaker 1: As they say, yeah, well that's right, Curb, someone's just

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Speaker 1: a messaged through and asked, so has a deal been

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Speaker 1: done to take the drag championships elsewhere?

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Speaker 2: I think it's just a scheduling and a financing arrangement

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Speaker 2: at the moment, so I'm not sure that they're locked

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Speaker 2: in elsewhere. I think we've still got the opportunity to

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Speaker 2: steal them back to Darwin. If we can get those

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Speaker 2: discussions here's in the right direction. We'll do that sooner

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Speaker 2: rather than later. And perhaps we should do a little

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Speaker 2: survey Katie and c the top fuelers back and if

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Speaker 2: we have to tip some money into doing that rather

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Speaker 2: than a concert, if that's what people want, then then

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Speaker 2: we'll push energy into that.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, so I suppose that's where it's maybe at that

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Speaker 1: is it a situation where it's a bit divided. You know,

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Speaker 1: some people want more action on the track, you know

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Speaker 1: for that Saturday night and Friday night, but you know

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Speaker 1: others want there to be a big concert.

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Speaker 2: Well, you do see like people that haven't been able

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Speaker 2: to get their Friday during the day, you see people

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Speaker 2: leaving the track that have been there, watched the warm

204
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Speaker 2: ups and had their fun and they're going home, and

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Speaker 2: you see tons of other families coming in, whereas when

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Speaker 2: you have a conference, normally the people that are at

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Speaker 2: the track just stay there and watch the entertainment have

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Speaker 2: a good time. But you do genuinely see other people

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Speaker 2: coming into the venue late in the afternoon, specifically to

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Speaker 2: watch those big drag Ye. There certainly be something that

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Speaker 2: we keep an eye on and hopefully can continue to

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Speaker 2: do into the future.

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Speaker 1: Well let's see exactly where it all lands. Minister for

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Speaker 1: Major Events, Paul Kirby, good to catch up with you.

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Speaker 1: Thank you very much for your time this morning.

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Speaker 2: Thanks very much, capping.

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Speaker 1: Thank you