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Speaker 1: In what is some good news, the federal governments announced

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Speaker 1: two point five million dollars is going to be invested

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Speaker 1: to establish a technical trades Training center at Charles Dalen

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Speaker 1: University's Catherine campus. The center is set to provide training

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Speaker 1: in current and emerging skills priority in the region, including

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Speaker 1: building and construction, engineering, electro technology, plumbing and automotive. Now

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Speaker 1: joining me on the line is the Federal Minister for

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Speaker 1: Skills and Training, Brendan O'Connor. Good morning to your minister.

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Speaker 2: Good morning Katie. How are you?

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Speaker 1: Yeah, really good, Thank you so much for your time

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Speaker 1: this morning and well due to catch up yesterday. But unfortunately,

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Speaker 1: you know, the situation in Alice Springs is dominated. I

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Speaker 1: might ask you a question about that in a bit, sure,

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Speaker 1: but tell me a little bit more about this new

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Speaker 1: center in Catherine and what exactly it's going to do.

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Speaker 2: Yeah. So, Charles Darwin University put a submission into the

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Speaker 2: Koonmworf government, the Albanezi government, as did many many VET

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Speaker 2: providers taste colleges across Australia and we had it was

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Speaker 2: a very competitive field. But their submission was to establish

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Speaker 2: a technical trades Training center at the Catherine campus which

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Speaker 2: I was at yesterday with the Vice Chancellor of Scott

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Speaker 2: Bowman and with Minister Selena Ubo and others, and we

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Speaker 2: were announcing the two point five million dollar investment. That

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Speaker 2: million dollars has also been added to that by the

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Speaker 2: set by CDU and this will provide fantastic training opportunities

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Speaker 2: in areas in the traditional trades. And what that means

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Speaker 2: is for the locals in Katherine, they won't have to

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Speaker 2: go so far to acquire these skills. It will mean

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Speaker 2: for the economy that region. It will mean that they'll

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Speaker 2: get at the skills that they need. They won't have

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Speaker 2: to import labor in every circumstance. There might be some

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Speaker 2: of that. That will mean there's homegrown tradees because we'll

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Speaker 2: put the investment and we'll put the teachers and we'll

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Speaker 2: have fee free tape as well, giving people access to

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Speaker 2: those skills which give them great jobs and give businesses

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Speaker 2: the skills that they need to prosper.

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Speaker 1: And Britain, what will locals be able to study? You know,

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Speaker 1: what kind of areas of study are they going to

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Speaker 1: be able to get stuck into.

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Speaker 2: So we're looking at primarily the traditional trades. But that's

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Speaker 2: that can be plumbing, engineering, housing and construction trades and

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Speaker 2: skills automative because as you know, these skills there are

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Speaker 2: shortages across the country and they're certainly acute in regional

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Speaker 2: or remote Australia, and one of the ways to fix

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Speaker 2: that is to invest in local regional campuses. Now I'm

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Speaker 2: not sure if you've been there, but the Catherine CDU

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Speaker 2: campus is a magnificent place and it does some fantastic things,

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Speaker 2: obviously helping those cattle stations and those businesses in the area.

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Speaker 2: But one of the thing things that it lacks is

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Speaker 2: the focus on the traditional trades, you know, automotive, engineering, housing, construction.

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Speaker 2: And if we can ensure that we can provide a

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Speaker 2: teaching and training to Catherine and in that region, then

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Speaker 2: it will mean that there'll be a more successful supply

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Speaker 2: of skills to the local economy. It will mean that

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Speaker 2: local young people in particular will acquire skills so they

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Speaker 2: can get good jobs. So it really is a win

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Speaker 2: win win for the region. And I want to thank

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Speaker 2: and congratulate CDU for putting in a very good submission

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Speaker 2: in a very competitive field. And the Albanezi government is

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Speaker 2: very proud of this investment. And announcement made yesterday.

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Speaker 1: Minister, do you know how many people will be able

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Speaker 1: to sort of have the capacity to do that training there.

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Speaker 2: I haven't seen all of that yet. What we've done

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Speaker 2: is so right now we need to build the trade

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Speaker 2: training center at the campus. It's a very large campus,

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Speaker 2: but it needs capital investment and this will provide the center.

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Speaker 2: This will provide all of the things that we needed,

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Speaker 2: whether it's well or drilling or the traditional trades, and

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Speaker 2: it needs the capital investment. You need the tools, you

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Speaker 2: need the equipment to ensure people can acquire schools. I mean,

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Speaker 2: you know, TAFE colleges have to have sort of workplace

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Speaker 2: like infrastructure so people can learn there while they're not

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Speaker 2: on the job. Yes, and look in terms of the

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Speaker 2: ship the numbers, well, we'll talk to CDU about that,

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Speaker 2: but we're already providing further fee free tape places in

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Speaker 2: areas of demand, and that includes the traditional trades. It

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Speaker 2: also includes the care sector because there's demands across the

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Speaker 2: labor market in the NT. So we'll negotiate that with

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Speaker 2: the NT government and I spoke to Minister Joel Bowden

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Speaker 2: about that only yesterday. And we'll obviously look to roll

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Speaker 2: out those courses once that trade training set is established.

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Speaker 1: So any idea when it's going to sort of be

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Speaker 1: up and running, just how quickly it might happen.

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Speaker 2: Well, so this this will take some time. It will

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Speaker 2: take I can so to build the actual trade training

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Speaker 2: fount will probably take up two years. In the meantime,

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Speaker 2: obviously courses are available in Catherine in other areas, and

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Speaker 2: of course courses and fee free TAPE places are available

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Speaker 2: at the Charles Dalwin University Campus and Tape Campus in Darwin.

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Speaker 2: And obviously there are other VET providers providing really important

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Speaker 2: training across the end. In fact, on Monday night I

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Speaker 2: was in Darwen with Joe Bowden with meeting the recipients

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Speaker 2: of the NT Training Awards. They were VET providers that

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Speaker 2: are providing skills to apprentices and trainees and I are

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Speaker 2: meeting the apprentices too. And that's what we need to

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Speaker 2: focus on skills in areas of current and emerging demand,

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Speaker 2: so that when people gain those skills they have great

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Speaker 2: chances of jobs. And when they gain those skills that

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Speaker 2: are in demand, businesses obviously prosper because they can fill

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Speaker 2: the places with people who are qualified to undertake the work.

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Speaker 2: Look there's a lot going on in this but we're

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Speaker 2: very pleased to have made this announcement this week.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, look, it seems like a really good announcement. I

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Speaker 1: think that if we're able to expand the skills and

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Speaker 1: training opportunities there in Catherine and right across the Northern Territory,

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Speaker 1: it is a really good thing. It's also a really

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Speaker 1: good thing, you know when you look at some of

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Speaker 1: the communities that are nearby, particularly in the likes of Catherine.

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Speaker 1: If people are able to come in from the Big

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Speaker 1: Rivers region and other areas to get in there and

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Speaker 1: study and learn a skill, it can only be a

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Speaker 1: good step. But Minister, I do want to ask you

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Speaker 1: this situation in Alice Springs. It continues to rage on.

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Speaker 1: There are questions really being asked this morning. We spoke

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Speaker 1: to Warren Mundine on the show yesterday as well, sort

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Speaker 1: of some questioning whether Indigenous Affairs Minister Linda Bernie is

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Speaker 1: up to the job given what continues to happen in Alice.

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Speaker 2: I think, firstly, what people in our springs are doing

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Speaker 2: tough and the curfew that was determined by the Anti

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Speaker 2: Chief Commissioner of Police Commissioner was understandable in the circumstances,

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Speaker 2: some of the problems with ALLIES cannot be fixed overnight.

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Speaker 2: You can't fix issues that are deep seated immediately, but

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Speaker 2: you have to start as fast as we can, and

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Speaker 2: that's why we've made that two hundred and fifty million

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Speaker 2: dollar investment. In fact, some of that money is actually

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Speaker 2: in the areas of skills that I've just been talking

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Speaker 2: about city of training hubs in Central Australia, because we

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Speaker 2: need people to find purpose. At the same time, there

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Speaker 2: has to be a law enforcement response, and that's what's happened.

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Speaker 2: But to really fix the problems over the medium to

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Speaker 2: long term, Kadi, I really do think we have these

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Speaker 2: issues are complicated and complex and they need to be

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Speaker 2: dealt with in a multifaceted way as across government, both

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Speaker 2: working that is, working with the anti government, the federal government,

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Speaker 2: in areas of health, in areas of law enforcement, in

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Speaker 2: education and training, in employment, because often these things are

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Speaker 2: compounded when people don't have hope or they've got there's

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Speaker 2: drug dependency issues, there's liquor issues as well as we know,

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Speaker 2: so there's it really does need a a whole of

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Speaker 2: government approach and I don't think, I mean, the people

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Speaker 2: who want to stand on the sideline sort of attacking

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Speaker 2: people for trying to make decisions. I'm not sure they've

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Speaker 2: had the solutions either, But we do need to work

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Speaker 2: together and this should not this should be beyond politics. Frankly,

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Speaker 2: it's so dire in Alice that we don't want to

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Speaker 2: plant turn Alice Springs into a political football. So I

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Speaker 2: think we should just try to work in a bipartisan

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Speaker 2: way across parties and across governments to try and deal

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Speaker 2: with these really difficult issues confronting the people of Alice Springs.

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Speaker 1: There is no doubt it like it has to get sortered,

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Speaker 1: and the people of Alice Springs have been screaming out

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Speaker 1: for that help for such a long period of time.

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Speaker 1: I mean, the thing that I worry about at the

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Speaker 1: moment is with all of the issues that continue to

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Speaker 1: rage on, with some of the know, those crime and

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Speaker 1: anti social behavior issues that we're experiencing right across the

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Speaker 1: Northern Territory that you know that it's it's almost becoming

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Speaker 1: normalized in some ways for us here in the NT.

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Speaker 1: But then you have people coming from other states who

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Speaker 1: step in and think, goodness me, what is going on

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Speaker 1: and you know, even as it's being reported on a

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Speaker 1: national stage, we're once again in the headlines for all

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Speaker 1: the wrong reasons. And I guess that there are still

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Speaker 1: a lot of territory ands sort of going well. Could

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Speaker 1: the federal government be doing more well?

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Speaker 2: There's ben efforts in the past, some have worked to

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Speaker 2: some extent, some have failed. The intervention did not work

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Speaker 2: by the Howard government for off a Talk and all

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Speaker 2: the money that was spent, in fact it did not work.

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Speaker 2: I think we really need to make sure, Yes, we

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Speaker 2: need to crack down on any form of violence. It

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Speaker 2: is utterly unacceptable, utterly unacceptable for that to occur, and

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Speaker 2: that's why I would support the decision made by the

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Speaker 2: NC Police to do what they've had to do. But

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Speaker 2: to fix this issue, I think we really need a

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Speaker 2: cross government approach. We need to focus on the causes

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Speaker 2: of these issues. We need to make sure that if

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Speaker 2: you want to ensure people have purpose in life, they

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Speaker 2: have to have education and training access, they have to

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Speaker 2: have health services, and they have to have employment prospects

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Speaker 2: that will be better for not just ALLOS but for

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Speaker 2: Central Australia. Now we've looked to invest two hundred and

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Speaker 2: fifty million dollars into dealing with these issues across the spectrum.

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Speaker 2: In my case, I'm establishing training hubs which will make

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Speaker 2: sure that in particular Indigenous people get access to training.

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Speaker 2: But obviously we need all Territorians to get access to

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Speaker 2: training for their future prospects. In employment, we know if

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Speaker 2: people have education and training, they have good job prospects.

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Speaker 2: If they've got good job prospects, they often have much

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Speaker 2: better lives. So there's a lot of things that need

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Speaker 2: to go on here, but have to I fully appreciate

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Speaker 2: the decision made by the Anti Police and the circumstances.

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Speaker 2: And yes, the federal government is focused on this, not

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Speaker 2: just one minister, but are cross portfolios in education, in skills,

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Speaker 2: in health, because these challenges are complex and they require

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Speaker 2: across a government approach, and it's also important that the

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Speaker 2: two governments work together rather than at odds with each other.

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Speaker 2: So again I would hope people could come together in

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Speaker 2: a sort of spirit of by partnership and realize this

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Speaker 2: is a beyond a political issue. It needs to be sorted.

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Speaker 2: It is urgent. I agree with you, but some of

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Speaker 2: the problems are deep seated and can't be fixed overnight.

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Speaker 2: And throwing money at certain things doesn't always end up

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Speaker 2: in fixing the problem. So we have to think this

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Speaker 2: through and we have to bring the community with us.

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Speaker 2: That's the people that are most the people that are

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Speaker 2: concerned about what's happening. But also we have to make

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Speaker 2: sure that we aim to have long term solutions to

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Speaker 2: this problem.

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Speaker 1: Well, Federal Minister for Skills and Training, Brendan O'Connor, really

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

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Speaker 1: joining us on the show.

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Speaker 2: Not at all, Katie, thanks very much for having us on.

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Speaker 1: Thank you