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Speaker 1: Mix one at four point nine dot com for all

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Speaker 1: the latest news and information. Now three sixty with Katie Wolf.

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Speaker 1: Everyone is listening Mixed one oh four point nine one

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Speaker 1: hundred percent.

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Speaker 2: Joining us on the line is the Minister for Federal Well,

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Speaker 2: the Federal Minister for Agriculture and Northern Australia, David Little Proud.

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Speaker 3: Good morning to you, Oh, good morning, good to be

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Speaker 3: with you.

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Speaker 2: Great have you on the show, Minister, and good to

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Speaker 2: hear that you've been announced as the Minister for Northern Australia.

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Speaker 2: Were you pretty pleased when you found out that you'd

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Speaker 2: been appointed to that role? Oh?

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Speaker 3: I am, it's been quite exciting. I did have Agricultural

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Speaker 3: Emergency Management and I've seen a lot of trauma over

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Speaker 3: the last couple of years. It's been great to be

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Speaker 3: part of that. But it's now good to be part

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Speaker 3: of something's exciting, that's fresh, that's new, and the opportunities

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Speaker 3: in the North have been untapped and I think it's

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Speaker 3: now particularly since COVID australnger waking up to the fact

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Speaker 3: that living in capital cities in the South isn't all

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Speaker 3: of us cracked up to me and the opportunities that

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Speaker 3: are up here are ones that I think we'll get

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Speaker 3: that entrepreneurial spirit in Australia that built Australia back on

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Speaker 3: track and being able to have that opportunity to be

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Speaker 3: the Minister of Northern Australia is a great honor.

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Speaker 2: Well, it's certainly one that we're here in the territory

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Speaker 2: think is incredibly important. So, you know, making sure that

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Speaker 2: Northern Australia, particularly the Northern Territory, is high on the agenda.

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Speaker 2: We now know that the newly appointed chair of the

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Speaker 2: KNAFE for the first time ever a territory in Tracy Hayes.

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Speaker 2: I mean, are we going to finally really see a

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Speaker 2: real push for the territory.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, definitely. I actually met with Tracy yesterday and have

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Speaker 3: a great deal of conference in some of the reforms

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Speaker 3: we put through that she'll be able to drive them,

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Speaker 3: and she's very energetic and enthused about the opportunities that

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Speaker 3: are here. There's been over seven hundred million committed through

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Speaker 3: the NAPE to the Northern Territory, about one point two

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Speaker 3: and about one point three for Queensland WA. And that's

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Speaker 3: why I'm up here is that obviously the main Office

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Speaker 3: of Northern Australias here in Darwin. I want to make

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Speaker 3: sure that those guys are working with the NAITH and

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Speaker 3: also the Northern Australia Research Center to make sure we're coordinating.

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Speaker 3: I think there's been a lot of silos and now

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Speaker 3: the opportunity to bring it all together and really have

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Speaker 3: a strategic direction that they get a return on an

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Speaker 3: investment to the Israil taxpayer, which I know will. So

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Speaker 3: there's been three point one billion dollars worth of commitments

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Speaker 3: through the NATH about twenty projects. But we think obviously

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Speaker 3: now there's another two billion that we will have some

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Speaker 3: commitments over the next twelve months, and I think the

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Speaker 3: territory is looking to play a role in that. I'm

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Speaker 3: trying to catch up with the Northern Territory government as

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Speaker 3: well while i'm here, because they also have a role

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Speaker 3: to play. But it's going to take some encouraging conviction

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Speaker 3: from our state and territory governments as well. They own

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Speaker 3: the resources such as water and the minerals that are

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Speaker 3: in the earth, and so we need them to have

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Speaker 3: some courage and conviction to think outside of the square

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Speaker 3: a little bit, because that can sometimes be a barrier.

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Speaker 3: We've got the checkbook. We just need them to work

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Speaker 3: with us because that's where the opportunities are and I

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Speaker 3: think that's what will not just drive this is what

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Speaker 3: will drive our nation's economy. Is Lord in Australia if

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Speaker 3: we get it right, and having someone like Tracy there

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Speaker 3: is a big advantage to make sure that you have

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Speaker 3: a strong voice at the table in those investment decisions.

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Speaker 2: Minister, what is top of the agenda for you upon

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Speaker 2: taking that role of the Northern Australia Portfolio.

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Speaker 3: Well, the simple is getting stuff done. I mean, the

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Speaker 3: NAFE had been sitting there languishing for a long time

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Speaker 3: and now we're getting some real commitments and some real approvals.

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Speaker 3: We've got it up to three point one billion. I

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Speaker 3: want the other two billion dollars committed as quickly as

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Speaker 3: we can with projects so that we can give investment

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Speaker 3: conferences the business to come up and to continue invest

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Speaker 3: But it's more than just the NATHE and I think

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Speaker 3: we've just had that as a signature piece. What we've

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Speaker 3: also done is we've moved Northern Australia into the Department

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Speaker 3: of Infrastructure. Because the KNAFE is just one program about

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Speaker 3: the developing Northern Australia. If we use some of the

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Speaker 3: other infrastructure programs that the federal government puts out to

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Speaker 3: compliment and supplement the NAFE, then we actually get a

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Speaker 3: better bang for buck and we can actually get a

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Speaker 3: better coordinated approach in building the supply chains and the

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Speaker 3: infrastructure to support those supply chains quicker. And this is

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Speaker 3: about speed to market. And I think this is our

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Speaker 3: window of opportunity. So you know, I'm going line by

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Speaker 3: line with the NAPE as we speak, as well as

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Speaker 3: the Office in Order Australia, sitting down expectations and making

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Speaker 3: sure that I'm inspecting what I expect in terms of delivery.

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Speaker 3: Getting stuff done is just so important at the moment,

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Speaker 3: and that means delivera those NAFE, delivera the infrastructure programs.

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Speaker 3: So there's something being built, and we're building infrastructure creating

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Speaker 3: jobs not just in building infrastructure, but we're creating jobs

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Speaker 3: in the operation of that infrastructure. We don't want to

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Speaker 3: just build infrastructure that just sits there and doesn't create

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Speaker 3: jobs or productivity or profitability. That helps nobody. And that's

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Speaker 3: why we need some smart decisions, quick decisions that gives

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Speaker 3: a return and investment. And that's what Tracy's job is.

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Speaker 2: To do, Minister, we are fast running out of time.

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Speaker 2: We've got an incredibly busy show on the agenda this morning. Hey,

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Speaker 2: just a couple quick though. We know that farmers and

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Speaker 2: t or certainly here in the territory, we've been having

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Speaker 2: real issues when it comes to picking and packing heading

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Speaker 2: into the mango season. Our farmers are really struggling to

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Speaker 2: make sure that they've got that workforce in order to

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Speaker 2: get these jobs done. It's something that we've been talking

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Speaker 2: about for such a long period of time across this show.

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Speaker 2: Are we going to see some movement in this space?

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Speaker 2: And he says something that the federal government can do

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Speaker 2: to try and make sure that they're able to get

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Speaker 2: the workforce that is required to ensure that those mangoes

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Speaker 2: don't rot on the ground.

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Speaker 3: Well, we've already done it. We've made twenty five thousand

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Speaker 3: men and women available in ten Pacific countries that the

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Speaker 3: states and territories can bring across now some states, and

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Speaker 3: what we've also done is not just bring them across

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Speaker 3: and quarantine here in Australia. We now open up the

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Speaker 3: opportunity in country quarantining in Figi and Vanilatu, South Australia's

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Speaker 3: taking it up. The territory hasn't. They still want to

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Speaker 3: use the facilities here, so that's great, they can do that,

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Speaker 3: but we can only stamp the v is once they

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Speaker 3: give the health approval, so the territory government in fact

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Speaker 3: can solve this with the twenty five thousand men and

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Speaker 3: women that are sitting in the Pacific. We've also just

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Speaker 3: fine lines in the new agriculture of visa that will

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Speaker 3: extend to ten as yarm countries and maybe even beyond that.

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Speaker 3: So we're actually putting in all the opportunity to bring

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Speaker 3: men and women in to do the work. But we

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Speaker 3: need the health tics approval by each state and that's

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Speaker 3: the only impediment of us bringing in new people. In

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Speaker 3: every state and territory our own sovereign government, they have

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Speaker 3: their ownership of the health protocols in the quarantine and

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Speaker 3: how they want it done, and if they make that decision,

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Speaker 3: we'll back them. We'll stand for visas. So we're just

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Speaker 3: saying the NTE government, here's your opportunity. That's get the

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Speaker 3: man goes off and then you know, once you finished

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Speaker 3: our pre you can move across the bowl and we

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Speaker 3: can leave these workers around into state and across the

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Speaker 3: country as well once they finished up here. So there's

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Speaker 3: just some common sense needed, some coordination and we just

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Speaker 3: need the states and territories to come with us.

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Speaker 2: David Little Prie, we are going to have to leave

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Speaker 2: it there. Thanks so much for your time.

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Speaker 3: This morning, Thanks for having me. Great to be in Darwin.

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Speaker 2: Thank you. That is the Federal Agriculture and also Minister

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Speaker 2: for Northern Australia there, David Little Proud