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Speaker 1: Joining me on the line is the Opposition leader, Leah Fanochiaio.

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Speaker 1: Good morning to you, Leah.

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

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Speaker 1: Now, Leah. Over the weekend we knew there was positive

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Speaker 1: wastewater testing, but until Monday, we really didn't know how

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Speaker 1: this situation was going to unfold. Are you concerned that

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Speaker 1: we're on the verge of a major outbreak?

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Speaker 2: Well, I certainly hope that with all the measures we've

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Speaker 2: now put in place, that it's really going to slow

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Speaker 2: down any spread of the virus. Of course, it's really important,

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Speaker 2: particularly for people in Catherine and Robinson River and surrounding

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Speaker 2: areas to be extremely vigilant, but for every territory, and

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Speaker 2: it's our turn now to make sure that we are

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Speaker 2: wearing masks and sanitizing our hands properly and getting tested

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Speaker 2: if we have any symptoms at all. And it's just

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Speaker 2: a really important measure to take so that we can

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Speaker 2: hopefully minimize the spread.

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Speaker 1: From your perspective, as the opposition leader, do you feel

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Speaker 1: as so enough as being done at this point.

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Speaker 2: Well, it looks certainly. We're very pleased with the rapid

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Speaker 2: response teams that have been deployed. Of course, our police

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Speaker 2: and other healthcare workers will be working around the clock

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Speaker 2: at the moment to contact trays, to set up roadblocks

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Speaker 2: and all of those other types of measures. It's just

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Speaker 2: really important that communication is clear. We're certainly getting feedback

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Speaker 2: out of Catherine that some people are finding it confusing,

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Speaker 2: and of course the information is ever changing and it

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Speaker 2: just requires people to be keeping abreast of those public

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Speaker 2: health channels. But that's why it's so important that the

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Speaker 2: Chief Minister isn't leading with his Facebook page on communications

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Speaker 2: when it comes to people getting a very serious disease

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Speaker 2: in our community. This has got to be led by

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Speaker 2: the health professionals so that people can get the accurate

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Speaker 2: advice from the official channels.

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Speaker 1: Well, I one hundred percent agree with that. I mean,

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Speaker 1: even over the last twenty four hours, we know that

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Speaker 1: the situation with the hospitals has indeed changed, visiting and

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Speaker 1: visitation to the hospitals has changed, as had the situation

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Speaker 1: with electives surgeries. We all understand that this is an

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Speaker 1: ever evolving situation. But do you think that it's appropriate

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Speaker 1: that those messages then are posted on department Facebook pages only?

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Speaker 2: Well, look, we know that there's a lot of people

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Speaker 2: who are on Facebook but there's a lot of people

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Speaker 2: who aren't, and this is something incredibly serious. And what

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Speaker 2: you don't want is to have people visiting loved ones

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Speaker 2: in hospital, taking all that time to get to hospital,

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Speaker 2: thinking that they're going to be supporting their loved one,

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Speaker 2: only to be turned around at the door. You know,

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Speaker 2: this is a health pandemic. We've got to be making

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Speaker 2: sure our lines of communication are clear, that officials are

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Speaker 2: providing that information in every format possible, and that it

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Speaker 2: is consistent, and that's what's most important. And certainly these

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Speaker 2: changes to hospital visitation arrangements are going to really severely

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Speaker 2: impact some people and it's a very difficult process. Of course,

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Speaker 2: the cancelation again of elective surgeries, it just reinforces how

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Speaker 2: the government have had eighteen months to prepare our health

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Speaker 2: system for this, and of course we've seen the four

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Speaker 2: Code yellows at Royal dau And Hospital this year without

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Speaker 2: having any COVID impact in our hospital system. So the

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Speaker 2: fragility of our healthcare system is there, and we haven't

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Speaker 2: seen the government provide a bailout or any additional enhancement

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Speaker 2: and support like we have seen in other jurisdictions, which

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Speaker 2: of course is probably because they spend all our money

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Speaker 2: on shade structures and we're stone cold broke.

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Speaker 1: Well Lea, I guess you know the situation right now

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Speaker 1: with COVID, while it is a concerning one, there'll be

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Speaker 1: a lot of people listening this morning thinking is it

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Speaker 1: just a situation that we're realistically going to have to

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Speaker 1: learn to live with? I mean, the home quarantine trial

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Speaker 1: is due to end next week and we are looking

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Speaker 1: towards opening up those borders.

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Speaker 2: Yeah. Well, and the government are finally starting to talk

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Speaker 2: about that. They're starting to say that this is something

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Speaker 2: we are going to have to live with. But it's

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Speaker 2: still really important our response, and it's still really important

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Speaker 2: how we have those social measures which of course help

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Speaker 2: slow down and stop the spread of the disease, but ultimately,

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Speaker 2: something like our health system has to be robust enough

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Speaker 2: to provide everyday care to Territorians because people will still

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Speaker 2: unfortunately be involved in car crashes, people will still have

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Speaker 2: heart attacks, people will still need a health system there

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Speaker 2: for them that's non COVID related. And every single time

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Speaker 2: we have cases that it's not sustainable, that elective surgeries

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Speaker 2: and everything else is scaled right back, and that just

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Speaker 2: shows that the government haven't planned ahead for this crisis

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Speaker 2: despite having eighteen.

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Speaker 1: Months to do though, so obviously at this point in time,

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Speaker 1: you're feeling as though there hasn't been enough redundancy planning

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Speaker 1: for want of a better word, when it comes to

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Speaker 1: our health system.

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Speaker 2: No, we haven't strengthened it at all. We haven't provided

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Speaker 2: that additional funding that it required. We haven't been able

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Speaker 2: to get the additional staff in To have four code

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Speaker 2: yellows this year with no COVID is appalling, and of

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Speaker 2: course now COVID is. You know, this is the most

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Speaker 2: cases we've seen in the territory and hopefully it doesn't grow,

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Speaker 2: but I'm sure we're going to get some more numbers

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Speaker 2: in at the press conference today.

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Speaker 1: You know.

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Speaker 2: The question mark then becomes what kind of pressure will

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Speaker 2: this put on the health system that is already crippled

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Speaker 2: under the pressure. So it's a very challenging time and

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Speaker 2: we certainly hope that this is a bit of a

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Speaker 2: wake up call for the Gunner government that they can't

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Speaker 2: just sit around, you know, they've got to be taking

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Speaker 2: action now. Leah.

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Speaker 1: I know that you are actually in Alice Springs at

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Speaker 1: the moment. How are people feeling in Alice at this

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Speaker 1: point in time. I know that they are quite a

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Speaker 1: distance away from Catherine, but are they feeling concerned about

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Speaker 1: this current situation?

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Speaker 2: Yes, well I'm back now, but yeah, people in Alice

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Speaker 2: Springs are concerned, certainly. Everyone that I saw yesterday was

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Speaker 2: wearing masks as required from that lunchtime on. When people

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Speaker 2: are really concerned. It's a very you know, tight knit,

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Speaker 2: small community and of course you know they're taking those

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Speaker 2: obligations really seriously. But yeah, they are concerned as well.

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Speaker 2: And of course being so far away means that any

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Speaker 2: additional pressure on their health system is also a huge concern.

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Speaker 2: You know, they are a regional area and I know

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Speaker 2: when there's pressures in the top hand, it makes you know,

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Speaker 2: it puts pressure in Central Australia as well. So people

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Speaker 2: are waiting anxiously and hoping that this becomes gets under

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Speaker 2: control soon.

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Speaker 1: Lea, I'm getting a lot of messages this morning from

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Speaker 1: our listeners saying, you know, I thought that once we

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Speaker 1: were double vaxed we wouldn't have to worry about these

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Speaker 1: lockdowns anymore. They're obviously concerned and people are feeling quite worried.

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Speaker 1: I think at this point in time, this morning, wondering

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Speaker 1: what it's all going to mean for Darwin. We know

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Speaker 1: that obviously the situation in Catherine is ever changing and

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Speaker 1: very concerning. So there are people listening this morning in

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Speaker 1: Catherine feeling that way. Obviously in Darwin, they're wondering what

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Speaker 1: it's all going to mean for them. I mean, do

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Speaker 1: you think that realistically, once we do get to that

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Speaker 1: stage which we apparently have, of eighty percent double vaccination,

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Speaker 1: that we shouldn't have lockdowns anymore and shouldn't have to

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Speaker 1: wear those masks.

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Speaker 2: Well, the chiefiness certainly does keep changing the goalposts on this,

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Speaker 2: and we've been saying for a long time that there's

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Speaker 2: been a lot of change really in a short period

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Speaker 2: of time. Of course, we've had the mandatory vaccination policy,

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Speaker 2: we've had the quarantine at home trial, We've got half

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Speaker 2: a plan to get us through to January, but people

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Speaker 2: are really really unclear on the detail. There's government talks

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Speaker 2: a lot about incentives for people who are double vags,

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Speaker 2: but a lot of people don't feel like that incentivization

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Speaker 2: is actually there. It is a balancing act. And of

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Speaker 2: course we don't have access to the health advice like

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Speaker 2: the Gunner government do. We have to beg kick and

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Speaker 2: screen to get briefings, Katie, which is entirely unacceptable. But

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Speaker 2: we will continue to get as much information from the

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Speaker 2: Deputy Chief Health Officer as government will allow. But in

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Speaker 2: the meantime, what we really need is the government and

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Speaker 2: Michael Gunner to stand up at a press conference and

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Speaker 2: give a level of detail that people deserve, because often

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Speaker 2: the important points are glossed over at these ceremonious press

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Speaker 2: conferences with flags flying high, but the detail that people

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Speaker 2: need to either implement what the Chiefminess is saying or

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Speaker 2: to understand a pass so they can plan forward is lacking.

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Speaker 2: And that's just a fundamental problem in the Gunner Government's

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Speaker 2: communication at the moment, Leah, we.

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Speaker 1: Are going to have to get ready to wrap up,

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Speaker 1: but I know that. Earlier in the week, the Shadow

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Speaker 1: Minister for Territory Families, Josh Burgoyne, had said that the

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Speaker 1: Gunner government needed to explain why it didn't oppose an

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Speaker 1: extension for teenage criminals to sign up to a thirty

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Speaker 1: five million dollar payout, and whether it will scale back

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Speaker 1: that payout figure if the expected twelve hundred eligible detainees

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Speaker 1: from don Dale aren't found. Why do you think that

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Speaker 1: the Gunner government needs to explain why it didn't oppose

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Speaker 1: that extension.

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Speaker 2: Well, we can't understand why the government isn't finding this

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Speaker 2: thirty five million dollar payout to use criminals as hard

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Speaker 2: as it possibly can. To agree to a thirty five

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Speaker 2: million dollar settlement is atrocious and just shows how a

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Speaker 2: fender focus rather than victim focus they are. We've said

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Speaker 2: right from the start that if these criminals are getting

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Speaker 2: any payout, they should be paying their victims back first,

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Speaker 2: and that's thing the Gunner government aren't forcing them to

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Speaker 2: do as part of the settlement. But what was revealed

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Speaker 2: is that the legal team for the youth criminals has

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Speaker 2: only found about a third of the number of criminals

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Speaker 2: that they anticipated would be able to access that thirty

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Speaker 2: five million dollars. And so we're saying the government should

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Speaker 2: one be fighting this as hard as they can at

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Speaker 2: number two, if they're not going to, then they need

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Speaker 2: to cut the settlement figure down to a third because

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Speaker 2: it's you know, they've originally anticipated twelve hundred offenders to

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Speaker 2: get a share of thirty five million. There's only about

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Speaker 2: four hundred and fifty offenders now, So scale that money

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Speaker 2: right back and make sure that their victims are paid first.

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Speaker 1: Well, I know that there will be so many people

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Speaker 1: in the community who agree with that. So many of

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Speaker 1: our listeners obviously impacted by very senseless crime and would

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Speaker 1: be feeling that any payout that occurs that they need

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Speaker 1: to be actually compensated for what they've been through as well. Leah,

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Speaker 1: we are going to have to leave it there. Thank

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

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Speaker 2: Thank you, take care everyone. You two