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Speaker 1: Now we know that the situation in Afghanistan. I think

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Speaker 1: that if you have been watching the news or listening

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Speaker 1: to the news in any way, shape or form, you'd

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Speaker 1: be pretty mortified by some of what we're hearing. But

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Speaker 1: certainly some of the vision and images that we have

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Speaker 1: seen come out of Kabul, and we know that the

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Speaker 1: Member for Solomon, Luke Gosling, is calling on the federal

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Speaker 1: government at this point to open Darwin's Bladon Village to

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Speaker 1: approved Afghans fleeing for their lives in the wake of

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Speaker 1: what is happening in Kabul, and Luke Gosling joins us

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Speaker 1: on the line right now. Good morning to you, Luke.

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Speaker 2: Good morning Katie.

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Speaker 1: Luke. Obviously you and I spoke earlier in the week

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Speaker 1: about this situation. It has been absolutely devastating really to

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Speaker 1: see what's going on in Afghanistan. I know that you're

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Speaker 1: now saying that you think some of those approved Afghans

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Speaker 1: should be able to come here to day and to

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Speaker 1: Bladon Village.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, Katie, I think that we've got the campassion there

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Speaker 2: to quarantine those rivals when we finally evacuate them out.

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Speaker 2: And I just want to remind your listeners that we're

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Speaker 2: not talking about a large amount of people. We're talking

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Speaker 2: about people who have been security vetted and vou's for

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Speaker 2: by Australian's gone through all those checks and if for

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Speaker 2: those they should be able to be evacuated back to

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Speaker 2: Australia Quarantine in Bladen and then be resettled by the

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Speaker 2: federal government. Obviously we're going to need the federal government's assistance.

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Speaker 2: The anti government's been doing a great job without Springs,

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Speaker 2: but that's got them fully tied up. So the proponents

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Speaker 2: out of Blayden had lined up the health staff that

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Speaker 2: they need to operate that facility. In fact, defense Forces Singaporeans,

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Speaker 2: the US Marines and the Austraine Defense Force personnel are

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Speaker 2: already using that facility. I think we can continue to

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Speaker 2: play that great role that we have been playing and

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Speaker 2: get and help with the process of getting some of

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Speaker 2: those people that are really in a lot of danger

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Speaker 2: to safety.

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Speaker 1: Look, how would we decide who wou'd actually bring across

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Speaker 1: to the territory. Like I know, there's still a lot

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Speaker 1: of ifs in this discussion, but watching some of that

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Speaker 1: vision it has been absolutely heartbreaking and it seems as

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Speaker 1: though it's a heartbreaking situation for so many, So how

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Speaker 1: will we determined who actually would be able to come

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Speaker 1: here to the territory.

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Speaker 2: Well, obviously the first ones are the Australians and said

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Speaker 2: are stealing cable yea, they need to be evacuated out.

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Speaker 2: But then also those that have worked with the Australian

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Speaker 2: embassy or for the Australian ause AI program, all the

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Speaker 2: interpreters that have worked with our soldiers. A lot of

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Speaker 2: that vetting has already been done, so they would be

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Speaker 2: the priority for lifting out. After that, it'll be a

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Speaker 2: matter for our humanitarian program to again do those checks

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Speaker 2: that are required. I'm personally and I obviously won't go

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Speaker 2: into too much details, but working with the Home Affairs Minister,

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Speaker 2: the Foreign Affairs Minister and the Defense Minister for some

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Speaker 2: people who are really in the gun, no matter what

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Speaker 2: the Taliban pr is saying, there are people who are

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Speaker 2: in a lot of danger and are basically hiding until

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Speaker 2: they can get out. And if it is possible to

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Speaker 2: get some of those people out, there will be great

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Speaker 2: contributors to our country if they're able to come here

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Speaker 2: on humanitarian visas. But we're just encouraging the federal government.

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Speaker 2: That's already very late to the game when it's safe

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Speaker 2: to do so, to get in there and get those

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Speaker 2: approved people out, and we can play a role here

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Speaker 2: in the territory in that resettlement process. Obviously the non

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Speaker 2: territory will be part of a national settlement program. At

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Speaker 2: this stage, we're not talking about large amounts of people,

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Speaker 2: but I guess that depends on how unsafe cabul and

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Speaker 2: that understand becomes.

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Speaker 1: So, look, did you say that those discussions are already

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Speaker 1: underway or that is something that you're hoping to get underway.

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Speaker 2: Now. I've been in I've been sending through information. I've

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Speaker 2: been receiving a lot of phone calls and for people

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Speaker 2: that are in need of assistance, there are channels through

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Speaker 2: which information can be passed on and there's assessments made.

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Speaker 2: So's there's a lot of people that are very concerned

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Speaker 2: for their loved ones. Obviously, we have some people who

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Speaker 2: from Afghanistan in our DA and community and they're obviously worried.

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Speaker 2: The reality is that we won't be able to take

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Speaker 2: everyone out that wants to get out, But we have

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Speaker 2: a moral responsibility and we've been saying this for months

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Speaker 2: to in particular get those out that we're fighting side

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Speaker 2: by side or protecting our embassy. Those people have known,

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Speaker 2: those people have been security checked, and those people are

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Speaker 2: currently extremely frightened in Cabul. So our soldiers, when they're

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Speaker 2: given the go ahead by the federal government, can do

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Speaker 2: the job that they've trained for and get our people out.

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Speaker 1: Look. You and I spoke earlier in the week, as

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Speaker 1: I've mentioned, and I know that you know you have

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Speaker 1: real concerns and you wanted to make sure that our

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Speaker 1: veterans who have served over in Afghanistan are aware that

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Speaker 1: you know that we still stand by them and we

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Speaker 1: are proud of the work that they have done. Have

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Speaker 1: you spoken to more of them throughout the week and

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Speaker 1: what of those discussion has been about.

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Speaker 2: The phone calls Just we're just supporting each other and

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Speaker 2: talking through feelings about what's happened and what they could

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Speaker 2: what they can do, and wondering what the future holds

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Speaker 2: for people in the areas that they worked. And I

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Speaker 2: spoke with Scottie Palmer's dad Ray the other day and

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Speaker 2: what he said is absolutely true is that Australians have

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Speaker 2: the ability to connect with people on the ground in

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Speaker 2: ways that I think most of the nations don't do

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Speaker 2: the same way. So they actually when Scottie and his

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Speaker 2: mates come back from their tours of Afghanistan, they would

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Speaker 2: talk about the way they were in the villages and

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Speaker 2: how proud they were that, you know, young women in

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Speaker 2: particular were able to go to school and they were

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Speaker 2: doing something good, provide some security so that they could

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Speaker 2: have some sort of freedoms, and they're really proud of

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Speaker 2: the job they did. So part of it is just

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Speaker 2: reminding them of the great job that was done there

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Speaker 2: and knowing that they've got support here when they needed.

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Speaker 2: Of course, today also is Vietnam Veterans Day, Katie, and

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Speaker 2: for a lot of Vietnam veterans this has been a

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Speaker 2: bit of a retraumatization because they had similar feelings when

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Speaker 2: they got back from and their tours of duty over

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Speaker 2: in Vietnam. Yeah, was it all worth it? Did we

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Speaker 2: make a difference? How are the people going to cope

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Speaker 2: now that we were ostensibly there to protect and to assist.

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Speaker 2: So I'm thinking about all veterans today because seeing those scenes,

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Speaker 2: they know that it's a dangerous environment and they know

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Speaker 2: that it's a difficult road ahead for Afghanistan, but they

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Speaker 2: can be proud and they should just keep continue to

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Speaker 2: keep reaching out to their mates.

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Speaker 1: Luke Gosling, I appreciate you having a chat with us

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Speaker 1: this morning. Please keep us up to date with those

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Speaker 1: discussions and exactly you know what ends up happenings as

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Speaker 1: we move forward and where the blading point is indeed utilized.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, good only, Caddy. We're a good country and we

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Speaker 2: should be doing the right thing and continue to keep

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Speaker 2: having those conversations. Thanks very much, thanks, Luke.

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Speaker 1: Luke Gosling, there are the member for Solomon