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Speaker 1: Returning to that major story of the week, we know

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Speaker 1: that questions have been raised about what it means for

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Speaker 1: the construction industry as a whole after three people were

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Speaker 1: charged for allegedly defrauding the commonwealth. Now it's also been

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Speaker 1: speculated what it means for contractors impacted and indeed workers.

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Speaker 1: Now to answer some of those questions as much as

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Speaker 1: she came without speaking on what is before the court

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Speaker 1: at the moment, is Saliane in us from Master Builders

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Speaker 1: here in the Northern Territory. The CEO, good morning to you, Sally.

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Speaker 2: Anne morning Katie. Thanks for having me.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, thank you so much for your time. Now, Saliane.

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Speaker 1: The Board of Master Builders acted fairly swiftly in its

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Speaker 1: response to this situation, specifically specifically referencing Master Builders NT

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Speaker 1: was founded on principles of fairness, ethical conduct, and integrity,

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Speaker 1: particularly in relation to contracting and procurement.

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Speaker 2: Why was that important, Well, it sums up our industry, Katie,

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Speaker 2: represent and Master Builders represents businesses, life members and a

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Speaker 2: wider construction industry who have quite literally built and continue

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Speaker 2: to build the territory. So we felt that it was

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Speaker 2: important and the Board and President absolutely felt it was

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Speaker 2: important that the alleged actions of one person do not

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Speaker 2: define our industry.

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Speaker 1: Are there concerns for the reputation of the industry as

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Speaker 1: a whole? Following on from the breaking of this story.

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Speaker 2: Katie, again, the action or the alleged actions of one

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Speaker 2: person should not define our industry. These builders are wider

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Speaker 2: construction industry members have built, whether it's defense, whether it's

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Speaker 2: houses in the Northern Territory, they have built this reputably.

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Speaker 2: So I really want to make it absolutely certain that

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Speaker 2: the alleged actions of one individual does not define it.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, that's certainly not yet. I know that you certainly

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Speaker 1: you know you can't speak on behalf of the business

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Speaker 1: or anything like that, But there are a lot of

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Speaker 1: people out in the community at the moment who are

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Speaker 1: quite concerned about what this may mean for the industry.

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Speaker 1: First off, I guess as a whole, you know, what

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Speaker 1: impact do you think that it has the potential to have?

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Speaker 2: Well, Katie, I think we should now weave it up

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Speaker 2: to the authorities. But there are questions there for the government,

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Speaker 2: you know, and the government and the departments really do

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Speaker 2: need to have a look at how this alleged behavior

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Speaker 2: was allowed to happen, Like I'm sure and I hope

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Speaker 2: on behalf of the industry that they're looking around tendering

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Speaker 2: and the processes in the community are procurement and that's

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Speaker 2: all under review. Like where the checks and balances there,

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Speaker 2: the right people, the right line authorities. All of those

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Speaker 2: questions need to be answered by the government. That's not

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Speaker 2: an industry question, it's a government question.

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Speaker 1: So you know, I mean with that when you say government,

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Speaker 1: because we're talking defense contracts here, so I'm presuming that

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Speaker 1: they're managed through the Australian government or the federal.

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Speaker 2: Government, right correct denness, Yes.

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Speaker 1: So those questions really being asked of them, I mean,

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Speaker 1: is that something that Master Builders has written to the

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Speaker 1: federal government about or what are your plans on this?

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Speaker 1: Because as you're pointed to, right from the get go,

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Speaker 1: you know, it's important that we get this right, and

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Speaker 1: it's really important that you know, not you know, not

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Speaker 1: sort of anticipating any outcomes of a court case or

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Speaker 1: anything like that, but making sure that you know nothing

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Speaker 1: like this can happen again and it doesn't tarnish the

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Speaker 1: industry one percent.

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Speaker 2: Katie. Most importantly that the investigations that are ongoing by

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Speaker 2: the correct authorities are allowed to take the course that

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Speaker 2: they need to and to the resolution that needs to come.

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Speaker 2: It is something that Master Builders we're working. I've been

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Speaker 2: speaking to our members, I've been speaking to the wider

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Speaker 2: community over the last couple of days. I've been in

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Speaker 2: touch with local members of parliament about this. We will

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Speaker 2: continue to advocate to make sure one that these processes

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Speaker 2: that through the governments, are the tendering, the procurement, those

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Speaker 2: kind of things are looked into and we will work

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Speaker 2: to make sure that this never happens again. And this

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Speaker 2: is not something that's reflected on our industry anywhere.

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Speaker 1: Sallyan, have you had you know, contractors staff getting contact

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Speaker 1: with Master Builders over the last sort of twenty four

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Speaker 1: to forty eight hours and what are they saying.

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Speaker 2: Look, I have Katie, and I'm not going to go

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Speaker 2: into personal situations or individual situations, but as an industry group,

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Speaker 2: we will advocate and make sure that we help everybody.

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Speaker 2: It's a big thing going on obviously as media is reporting,

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Speaker 2: but we will make sure that our members are listened

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Speaker 2: to and this behavior is never allowed to happen again.

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Speaker 1: And in terms of you know, like presumably you know,

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Speaker 1: work is still continuing on staff is still able to operate.

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Speaker 1: I do have a statement from em and Jay Builders

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Speaker 1: that they did send out to contractors and also I

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Speaker 1: believe staff earlier in the week, so I'll read that

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Speaker 1: out in a little while, But presumably things are still

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Speaker 1: operating as they were.

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Speaker 2: Look again, I won't go into individual situations, but by

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Speaker 2: all accounts it is business as usual. But we are

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Speaker 2: certainly speaking to people on behalf of our members.

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Speaker 1: Sallyanne, before I let you go, I mean, what is

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Speaker 1: your message to the industry, to everybody out there this morning,

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Speaker 1: but particularly I know Master Builders have a lot of

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Speaker 1: members and people will be feeling quite concerned at the moment.

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Speaker 1: What is your message for them today?

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Speaker 2: Absolutely, Katie, this is not a reflection of our members,

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Speaker 2: our wider industry, our members young, old starting in the industry,

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Speaker 2: wanting to get into the industry. We have an amazing

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Speaker 2: opportunity here in the territory. This is a great industry.

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Speaker 2: We have some amazing contractors and builders and I encourage

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Speaker 2: everybody to look at this as a learning opportunity, but

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Speaker 2: more so those once those questions have been answered by

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Speaker 2: the government, we move forward.

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Speaker 1: Salianne, just very quickly, you know, I guess we all

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Speaker 1: know that defense contracts can be quite difficult to win,

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Speaker 1: or that's the word that I hear around the place

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Speaker 1: quite often. Do you worry in any way that this

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Speaker 1: is going to make it even tougher for territory businesses

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Speaker 1: to win some of those defense contracts.

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Speaker 2: Look, Katie on, you know, master Builders will hold the

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Speaker 2: government to account around the processes that were in place

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Speaker 2: that allow this behavior to happen. So hopefully in the

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Speaker 2: full course of time and once the investigations of you

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Speaker 2: know happened and we've got some answers, all those processes

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Speaker 2: will will hopefully be in place.

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Speaker 1: Well, Sally Anne in a CEO of master Builders here

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Speaker 1: in the Northern Territory. I appreciate your time. Thank you

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Speaker 1: very much for having a chat this morning.

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Speaker 2: Thanks Katie, thank you,