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Speaker 1: Joining me on the line this morning is the Chief Minister,

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Speaker 1: Lea Finocchiaro.

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Speaker 2: Good morning to your chief, Good morning Katie, and to

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Speaker 2: your listeners. To what a weekend?

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Speaker 1: Oh, what a weekend? All right? What's the current assessment

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Speaker 1: of the damage across the top end and which areas

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Speaker 1: are sort of going to be prioritized, I guess in

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Speaker 1: the recovery efforts.

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Speaker 2: Yes, so yesterday we had crews out. We had about

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Speaker 2: thirty three field crews from power and water corporations. So

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Speaker 2: to give you an idea, that's about ninety people going out,

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Speaker 2: and that's just reviewing the damage to water and sewage infrastructure.

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Speaker 2: You add on top of that the dozens of emergency

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Speaker 2: services volunteers and police and other people who were out

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Speaker 2: surveying all the damage so that we could get a

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Speaker 2: good idea of what needed to be done next. And

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Speaker 2: then of course, you know, removing trees from roads, people's

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Speaker 2: driveways like yours, Katie, you know, doing all of that

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Speaker 2: work to allow that sort of free movement of people

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Speaker 2: was and safe movement of people. Obviously we're down power

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Speaker 2: lines and things like that. So as it stands right now,

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Speaker 2: and we continue to have crews out, but right now.

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Speaker 2: We got we had sixty six schools affected, all except

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Speaker 2: two back up and running and good to go.

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Speaker 1: So they're probably springs.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, that's right, that's right. So only Berry Springs and

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Speaker 2: Halerbris are closed today. So that's an excellent outcome and

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Speaker 2: I really thank our teams for working literally around the

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Speaker 2: clock to make that happen. We then have had another

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Speaker 2: two and a half thousand homes come back on with

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Speaker 2: power overnight thanks to Power and.

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Speaker 3: Water, so in total and now back on, so there's

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Speaker 3: about five thousand that might have updated since my last briefing,

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Speaker 3: but we had nineteen and a half thousand without and

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Speaker 3: we've done five.

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Speaker 2: So that work will continue on along with the assessments.

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Speaker 2: And if people are curious about that, Power and Water

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Speaker 2: has this excellent map that shows you the area.

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Speaker 1: I've got to tell you chief's actually not that useful.

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Speaker 1: I mean, we've got so many people that are without power,

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Speaker 1: and you know, even when you click on it, there's

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Speaker 1: sort of saying that it's being assessed. There's not really

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Speaker 1: any kind of, you know, accurate up to date information

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Speaker 1: for people as to when the power could be coming

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Speaker 1: back on.

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Speaker 3: And we all get.

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Speaker 1: It like it's a moving feast. I don't want to

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Speaker 1: be critical, but there's a lot of people really feeling,

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Speaker 1: you know, pretty uninformed. I think you'd say this morning.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, look, and that that's fair, Katie. All I meant

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Speaker 2: by the website is you get a good picture of

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Speaker 2: what though, like just how expansive it is. You can

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Speaker 2: see the most of it's red, right. So there's a

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Speaker 2: lot of people still without power, and I get it.

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Speaker 2: You know, people are waking up for the second morning

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Speaker 2: today without power and it's getting real old, real fast.

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Speaker 2: You know, I appreciate it very much. So we've got

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Speaker 2: to be doing and that's why we've had the around

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Speaker 2: the clock teams out there. We've got to bring that

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Speaker 2: power on as fast as possible. And it's not just Darwin.

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Speaker 2: You think we've got Warmy Younger for example. Yeah, Al

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Speaker 2: Louise sense four specialists have traveled there this morning to

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Speaker 2: do that restoration works and they'll need a line crew

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Speaker 2: to head out over there as well. So a lot

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Speaker 2: to do, no doubt's patience.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, and we'll catch up with power and water hopefully

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Speaker 1: throughout this morning. Well, I bloody hope they come on

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Speaker 1: because there's a lot of people asking a lot of

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Speaker 1: questions and I think they need to get out there

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Speaker 1: in front foot it so that people have an understanding

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Speaker 1: of where things are at Chief Minister. In terms of

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Speaker 1: Royal and Hospital, we know that they suffered some structural

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Speaker 1: damage during the cyclone. How are things going out there

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Speaker 1: at the hospital?

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Speaker 2: Yes, they did, and just on that point, I agree

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Speaker 2: with you and Power and Water. You know, we've we've

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Speaker 2: really asked them to up the communications with the community

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Speaker 2: because it's the single biggest point of banks at the

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Speaker 2: moment and it's my expectation that they do that. So

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Speaker 2: will you'll hold them to get.

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Speaker 1: To be honest with you, I think it's bullshit that

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Speaker 1: their social media platforms haven't been updated for hours. I

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Speaker 1: mean somebody had messaged through and said workers are doing

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Speaker 1: a great job and it's really appreciated. However, their head

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Speaker 1: honcho should have been out much sooner than last night

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Speaker 1: to make an announcement really let the workers in the

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Speaker 1: community down. That's from Donelina in lud Miller. Somebody else's

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Speaker 1: messaged through said well, for you know, we're in a

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Speaker 1: situation where we've got two little kids in a hotel

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Speaker 1: room and we've got no idea what's going on with

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Speaker 1: the power, you know, like they've got to be front

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Speaker 1: footing it here and they've got to make sure that

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Speaker 1: they're getting that message out to people.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I agree with you, because people need to know

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Speaker 2: are we dealing with this for one more day, two

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Speaker 2: more days, three more days a week? And it's my expectation.

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Speaker 2: I mean, I know you can never you know, guess

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Speaker 2: with a great degree of accuracy, but people need to

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Speaker 2: know what they have to be prepping one hundred. So

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Speaker 2: I've been very clear at my end on that, and

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Speaker 2: so certainly my expectation will improve as of this morning.

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Speaker 2: Good on the hospital and the hospital.

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Speaker 1: Sorry, there's lots to cover off on the hospital. Are

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Speaker 1: things going out there?

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Speaker 3: Yeah?

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Speaker 2: Good, So we'll now start to undertake the work required

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Speaker 2: to fix all of that. It was obviously a huge

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Speaker 2: shock and the vision is very confronting, but excellent and

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Speaker 2: very lucky that no one was injured, it didn't impact operations.

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Speaker 2: We were able to move very quickly to isolate the

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Speaker 2: power to that area so that it was safe and

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Speaker 2: our staff and our patients were not impacted by it,

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Speaker 2: which is great news and very lucky.

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Speaker 1: Now chief in terms of public transport, and that kind

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Speaker 1: of thing. Is it back up and running today or

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Speaker 1: when do you anticipate that it will be?

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Speaker 2: Yes? So school buses were as per normal this morning

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Speaker 2: as a public buses. So again my focus is on

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Speaker 2: getting back to business as usual, which is why the

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Speaker 2: power is central to all of that. But school and

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Speaker 2: public buses have are fully operational. The airport is open,

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Speaker 2: which is again really important. And the one issue we

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Speaker 2: are having which is extremely disappointing, I have to say,

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Speaker 2: is around dumps of Darwin have made the decision to

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Speaker 2: not allow people to dump green waste at a tip.

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Speaker 2: It's crazy, which is ridiculous. And Lichfield have made a

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Speaker 2: similar decision. We are working with them very closely to

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Speaker 2: urge them to do the right thing by their rate payers.

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Speaker 2: And I don't think any ratepayer who pays their fees

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Speaker 2: expects to be locked out of their own tri facility.

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Speaker 1: Yep.

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Speaker 2: So we are building and equally congrats to Palmerston have

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Speaker 2: done the right thing. Arches open and ready to go

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Speaker 2: for there, yeah, which.

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Speaker 1: Is good news.

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Speaker 2: And we should have an announcement by lunchtime of an

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Speaker 2: alternative because it's just not acceptable that people can't dump

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Speaker 2: their greenwaytement will.

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Speaker 1: Step Chief Finster, is that out at Hidden Valley?

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Speaker 2: It's yes, it is. It will be out at Hidden Valley.

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Speaker 2: And I expect a public update on that bible.

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Speaker 1: Okay, because we were being told that it had opened.

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Speaker 1: But you're expecting some further further detail or what's your

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Speaker 1: understanding at this point.

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Speaker 2: There should be direct communications with people's civicallyiant issue, so

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Speaker 2: there's exact clarity on location, open times, all of that details.

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Speaker 2: I don't want people, you know, rocking up and thinking

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Speaker 2: it's open and it's clos Just it's just more annoying

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Speaker 2: that everything is already annoying, and it has to be

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Speaker 2: clear info.

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Speaker 1: Chief. I know your press for time, so I just

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Speaker 1: want to get through a few things. In terms of

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Speaker 1: undergrounding power, I mean people are already questioning now as

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Speaker 1: there is still nearly twenty thousand people without power or

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Speaker 1: nineteen thousand without power, a lot of people questioning, you know,

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Speaker 1: what's a go are we going to look at undergrounding

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Speaker 1: those older suburbs.

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Speaker 2: Look, this has been a really a perpetual issue for

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Speaker 2: the territory and I would love to do it, Katie,

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Speaker 2: I really would, But the debt situation we are in

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Speaker 2: is astronomical, and when we're talking about undergrounding power, we're

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Speaker 2: talking hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars. And unfortunately,

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Speaker 2: you know, and now he's got the time to play

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Speaker 2: pointment politics finger But you know, we had ten years

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Speaker 2: where we were told that was happening and it just wasn't.

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Speaker 2: And I guess this is evidence of that. You're get

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Speaker 2: in there without power in the northern suburbs, this is why.

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Speaker 3: Yeah.

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Speaker 2: So look, it's always on the table and we've got

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Speaker 2: a lot of reform we're doing with power and water.

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Speaker 2: Even just last Parliament we did some introduced legislation for

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Speaker 2: major changes. So all of that is on the cards

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Speaker 2: for us. I don't want to hype it up and

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Speaker 2: over commit to people. This are an astronomical cost.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, look, I think that'll be a discussion that we

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Speaker 1: continue to have over coming days, no doubt about that,

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Speaker 1: because I think at this point in time, people are

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Speaker 1: just really wanting their.

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Speaker 3: Power back on.

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Speaker 1: And I do want to ask you though, in terms

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Speaker 1: of the Tiwi Islands, what's the plan for the residents

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Speaker 1: out there? Do they have enough food? Do they have

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Speaker 1: what they're they're acquiring at this point.

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Speaker 2: Yes, So I spoke to the chair of the Tiberlan

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Speaker 2: Council last night to check in. They've had a tree

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Speaker 2: down and those types of things, just like here in Darwin.

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Speaker 2: But everyone is in good spirits now that travel is

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Speaker 2: opened back up, can get food and water in and

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Speaker 2: out as required, so there's no pressing strain on those

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Speaker 2: resources because we have access and I would expect that

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Speaker 2: the ferry and barge services would be able to commence again. Well.

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Speaker 2: So I'm just trying to find out a time frame

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Speaker 2: on that because anything that we can give certainty on

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Speaker 2: I want that comms out the door for people so

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Speaker 2: they know where they stand or a really clear critical.

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Speaker 1: Issue, Chief Finister, what's the federal response? What are we

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Speaker 1: expecting from the feeds? Is there going to be you know,

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Speaker 1: if some people are going to be without pound now

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Speaker 1: for days? What's the situation?

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Speaker 2: Yep. So I'm literally after my phone call with UKD

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Speaker 2: meeting with Minister McBain, the federal Minister for Emergency Management,

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Speaker 2: and we will be doing a press conference at quarter

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Speaker 2: to ten, I believe, giving an update on how the

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Speaker 2: funding works. But we have activated the disaster recovery assistance.

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Speaker 2: So all of that was pre done last week as

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Speaker 2: part of our Emergency Operations Center State and up and preparedness,

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Speaker 2: so we're ready to go. There's different tiers of funding

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Speaker 2: for all sorts of different things, so I won't get

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Speaker 2: into the detail because it's just it's just complicated to

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Speaker 2: talk to. But there is a range of support available

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Speaker 2: and we will then now be going through that detail

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Speaker 2: on what that looks like and what can be paid

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Speaker 2: and when, or.

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Speaker 1: We'll be keeping a very close eye on that. So

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Speaker 1: about nine forty five we're expecting that announcement. From what

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Speaker 1: you've said their Chief Minister, what is your message to

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Speaker 1: territori Ines this morning? I know that you were certainly

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Speaker 1: pleased with how well people had prepared over the weekend

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Speaker 1: and the way in which people have come together, But

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Speaker 1: what's your message today? You know, as the sun comes

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Speaker 1: out and some of us are maybe feeling a bit

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Speaker 1: deflated as we've got trees across our roads, people you know,

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Speaker 1: feeling a bit sort of stuck at the moment without

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Speaker 1: the power on.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, and we're all in this together as a community,

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Speaker 2: you know. I just want to say thank you to

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Speaker 2: everyone heeded the advice early you prepared yourself and you

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Speaker 2: did an excellent job. That's Businesses, Territory and our emergency services.

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Speaker 2: We are stronger together. And I know that people's patience

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Speaker 2: is tiring, and I know the coming days are going

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Speaker 2: to really really test people, and I absolutely get that

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Speaker 2: we will do everything we can as fast as we

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Speaker 2: can because I want business as usual and I want

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Speaker 2: the resumption of people's lives back to normal, and so

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Speaker 2: we will continue to make sure people have clear understanding

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Speaker 2: of what is happening when as we know it, so

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Speaker 2: that people can make the right decisions for themselves and

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Speaker 2: their family. But I just want to say thank you

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Speaker 2: very much for all of your cooperation and understanding through

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Speaker 2: what has been a very big weather event over the weekend.

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Speaker 1: Chief finis a quick one. Someone's just called through saying,

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Speaker 1: you know, they're pretty upset with the council regarding well Lichfield,

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Speaker 1: regarding the green ways. They say that Lichfield councilors should

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Speaker 1: have been prepared with a maulta or something to be

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Speaker 1: ready to take that greenways to me idiately. He said

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Speaker 1: that we as Terra Torends have all been prepared and

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Speaker 1: as have the messaging. Yet they're not open. They should

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Speaker 1: have something, even if not in the main area. And

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Speaker 1: I think that's how quite a few people are feeling

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Speaker 1: at the moment, is even as we you know, with

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Speaker 1: the power, we get that it's going to take time

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Speaker 1: to get it online, but no communication, you know, with

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Speaker 1: the councils and with the dumps not being opened for greenways,

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Speaker 1: people are like, well, hang on, we're all out helping

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Speaker 1: each other to bloody chainsaw trees done and we've got

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Speaker 1: nowhere we can.

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Speaker 2: Take it exactly, Katie. I was gobsmacked. And when I

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Speaker 2: worked out yesterday that that was the situation, I made

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Speaker 2: it very well known that it was unacceptable to have

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Speaker 2: two counsels think that they can lock people out of

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Speaker 2: the public dums is ridiculous. And at the end of

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Speaker 2: the day yesterday was Sunday, people were out lending a

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Speaker 2: hand on the chainsaws, getting things done, just being an

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Speaker 2: incredible community. They wanted to fill their utes through their

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Speaker 2: trailers and get rid of this stuff and move on

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Speaker 2: with their lives. And to have a tier government like

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Speaker 2: local government stop that is gobsmacking. I mean, that is

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Speaker 2: their job. They are literally responsible for rubbish and then

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Speaker 2: they've abrogated that responsibility. So I'm not happy. They know

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Speaker 2: I'm not happy, and I think they will fill that

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Speaker 2: from territorians as well. We will now step in as

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Speaker 2: a government because I'm just not going to have this

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Speaker 2: drag on any longer. Why they work out what their

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Speaker 2: actual job is, we'll stand up a public dump. Palmerston

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Speaker 2: have done the right thing and I thank them for that.

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Speaker 2: But at the end of the day, this is an emergency.

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Speaker 2: Counsels don't get to decide when they do and don't

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Speaker 2: do their job.

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Speaker 1: Do you know if there's going to be and it's

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Speaker 1: probably a question for counsel, but do you know if

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Speaker 1: there's going to be like verge side collection of some

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Speaker 1: of the you know, like we've got a lot of

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Speaker 1: seniors serving out in our communities at the moment who've

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Speaker 1: had massive trees fall down. You know, Dave Tolna was

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Speaker 1: up my street over the weekend cutting down trees for

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Speaker 1: some of the more senior residents. But what happens then

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Speaker 1: is there going to be sort of curbside collection? That's

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Speaker 1: probably more a question for counsel. But if they don't

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Speaker 1: step up, is the government?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, well again, if they can't even open a dump,

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Speaker 2: I'm not holding my breath on curb site. But this

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Speaker 2: is what needs to be worked out and fast, because

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Speaker 2: the uncertainty doesn't support a community restoring itself back to normal.

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Speaker 2: So I think we will know more about this over

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Speaker 2: the coming hours, Katie, and that is my expectation. And

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Speaker 2: as I said, if they are going to fail, we

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Speaker 2: will not join that bandwagon. We will step in, but

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Speaker 2: first and foremost councils need to step up.

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Speaker 1: All right, Chief, I better let you go meet with

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Speaker 1: Minister McBain so we can work out what the federal

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Speaker 1: government's emergency response is for us. Thank you so much

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Speaker 1: for your time.

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Speaker 2: Thank you, and take care everyone look after each other.

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Speaker 1: Thank you.