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Speaker 1: Now joining me on the line right now is the

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Speaker 1: CLP member for the Barkley Steve Eedgington.

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Speaker 2: Good morning to you.

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Speaker 3: Steve, Good morning Coty, and good morning to the listeners.

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Speaker 2: Steve.

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Speaker 1: Before we get into the issues in Tenant Creek, what

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Speaker 1: did you make of the comments being made by the

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Speaker 1: Deputy Chief Minister, Chancey Pake on the show just moments ago.

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Speaker 3: Well, I did hear some of the comments being made

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Speaker 3: by the Deputy Chief Minister and it's very concerning to

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Speaker 3: me to firstly hear about another sharre scandal, but it's

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Speaker 3: clear that he was dancing around the real question, and

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Speaker 3: the real question I think Katie that needs to be

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Speaker 3: answered is was that conflict declared at the cabinet meeting

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Speaker 3: during discussion about the cessation of stronger futures? And you know,

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Speaker 3: we know that the cessation of stronger futures had a

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Speaker 3: massive impact on crime, domestic violence and a whole suite

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Speaker 3: of issues going on there in Alice Springs at the time.

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Speaker 3: To look there is one way to clear it up,

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Speaker 3: of course, and one way would be to not only

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Speaker 3: for the Cabinet to agree, but for the Deputy Chief

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Speaker 3: Minister to agree to release the redacted minutes of Cabinet.

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Speaker 3: We know that Cabinet is the highest decision making body

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Speaker 3: in government, and you know the types of matters considered

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Speaker 3: by Cabinet have huge and significant implications for the Northern Territory.

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Speaker 3: So one way to clear this up completely would be

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Speaker 3: to release the redacted minutes regarding conversations and discussions around

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Speaker 3: the cessation of stronger Future.

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Speaker 2: I mean, Steve, they're not going.

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Speaker 3: To do that. Who declared, who declared the conflict and

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Speaker 3: who didn't.

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Speaker 1: Well, look, I like the way you think, but I

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Speaker 1: don't think they're going to do that. I mean, the

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Speaker 1: fact is here he could just say yes or no.

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Speaker 1: We're not asking him to reveal any kind of detail

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Speaker 1: about what was you know, what else was said in

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Speaker 1: those discussions. But you know, it's a real yes or

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Speaker 1: no question which he just did not seem to be

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Speaker 1: able to answer, and that actually speaks volumes.

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Speaker 2: The fact that he's not able to answer.

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Speaker 1: That speaks volumes when you've got the Chief Minister yesterday

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Speaker 1: saying that she doesn't recall him declaring us before those discussions.

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Speaker 3: Oh exactly, And the Chief Minister has cast doubt on

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Speaker 3: whether that was declared any discussion around stronger future. So

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Speaker 3: I think you know what the Chief Minister said yesterday

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Speaker 3: versus what the Deputy Chief Minister said today skirting around

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Speaker 3: the issue. I think the Chief Minister yesterday was very

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Speaker 3: clear that she couldn't recall that declaration of a conflict

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Speaker 3: being made during those discussions, and I think that's very important,

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Speaker 3: but you know, to continue to dig his heels in

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Speaker 3: and I think the Chief Minister needs to step up

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Speaker 3: because you know, you've only got to go back to

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Speaker 3: November twenty sixteen restoring integrity to government. There was a

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Speaker 3: plan put out by the government back then and what

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Speaker 3: it said, Katie was restoring integrity to government requires leadership

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Speaker 3: at the highest level of government through action not words,

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Speaker 3: and I think this really highlights whether the Chief Minister

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Speaker 3: is really going to step up and show some leadership here,

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Speaker 3: because what the Chief Minister said yesterday is that she

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Speaker 3: couldn't recall that conflict being declared when there was discussions

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Speaker 3: around stronger futures. So what the Chief Minister needs to

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Speaker 3: do is step up through actions not just words, and

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Speaker 3: make a decision to end Chancey Pake's position as a

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Speaker 3: Deputy Chief Minister.

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Speaker 1: Steve Parliament descended into a bit of a farce. I've

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Speaker 1: got to say yesterday during question time in the sense

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Speaker 1: that when questions were being asked about this, the Chief

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Speaker 1: Minister stood up. She started yelling out which members of

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Speaker 1: Parliament held shares in different different companies.

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Speaker 2: I believe she yelled out your name.

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Speaker 1: I mean, do the likes of you, Robin Lambley, whoever

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Speaker 1: else has got shares do you need to get rid

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Speaker 1: of those?

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Speaker 3: Look, nobody in the COLP is holding any shares at

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Speaker 3: the moment. Certainly the CLP made a very strong decision

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Speaker 3: late last year and all of our shares have been divested.

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Speaker 3: The thing to remember with we're in opposition, we're not

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Speaker 3: at cabinet making decisions an impact on territories. But what

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Speaker 3: we have done is made it very clear that we've

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Speaker 3: divested our shares because come August, if we're successful and

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Speaker 3: get into government, we want to be in a position

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Speaker 3: where there are no conflicts, there are no scandals, there

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Speaker 3: are no suggestions that there may be conflicts of interest

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Speaker 3: or perceive conflicts of interest. So we're well prepared at

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Speaker 3: the moment to take on government in August twenty twenty four.

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Speaker 1: Now, Steve I actually invited you on this morning because

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Speaker 1: I wanted to find out if there been any updates

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Speaker 1: on the situation in Tenant Creek. It's something that was

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Speaker 1: top of mind last week and I think continues to

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Speaker 1: be for a lot of people. That you guys are

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Speaker 1: going through a really tough time when it comes to crime.

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Speaker 2: And then there was.

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Speaker 1: The absolutely abhorrent situation last week where a small child

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Speaker 1: was assaulted.

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Speaker 2: Is there any update in this space.

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Speaker 3: There hasn't been any particular updates, Sir Katie. But today

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Speaker 3: in Alice Springs, a fifty two year old mayor will

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Speaker 3: be appearing in Alice Springs in custody today. So this

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Speaker 3: is the latest information about the four year old being

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Speaker 3: sexually assault allegedly being sexually assaulted the Intendant Creek. The

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Speaker 3: person has been charged with gross indecency against the child

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Speaker 3: under ten years old and aggravated assault. So that person

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Speaker 3: will be appearing in court in custody today in Alice Springs.

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Speaker 1: You were strident last week in your calls that there

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Speaker 1: needs to be more action in terms of the delivery

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Speaker 1: of the stronger well, sorry, the delivery of the Barkley

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Speaker 1: Regional deal. I know that Malcolm Turnbull had been inten

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Speaker 1: Creek five years ago to announce this, and it.

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Speaker 2: Really just seems to be lagging and no real.

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Speaker 3: Movement well exactly, and I think, you know, if we

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Speaker 3: look at this incident in itself, if we just go

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Speaker 3: back to December last year, there was a report in

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Speaker 3: the media of another young child being sexually assaulted back

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Speaker 3: in December. Now that took roughly about six days for

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Speaker 3: the government and the police to do a media release

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Speaker 3: in respect of that. In fact, the reports originated in

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Speaker 3: the media and police eventually confirmed that there was an

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Speaker 3: investigation underway for that further alleged sexual assault of a

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Speaker 3: seven year old. You know, we're talking about a four

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Speaker 3: year old recently a seven year old back in December,

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Speaker 3: So there's two cases just within months of each other.

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Speaker 3: And on top of that, if we do go back

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Speaker 3: to twenty eighteen, there was the sexual assault of a

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Speaker 3: two year old. So what we're seeing in Tenant Creek

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Speaker 3: at the moment is some very serious offenses being committed

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Speaker 3: against children. So as a matter of course, I did

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Speaker 3: write to the Police Minister about the absence of information

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Speaker 3: around the allegations of a seven year old being assaulted.

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Speaker 3: And really what I was looking for was some reassurance

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Speaker 3: that children were safe in Tenant Creek. But in the

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Speaker 3: response that I received from the Police Minister two days ago,

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Speaker 3: there was no reassurance that all children are safe in

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Speaker 3: TenneT Creek. There was no information being provided on what's

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Speaker 3: actually being done to ensure that children are safe in

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Speaker 3: Chennet Creek. So, in regard to that December issue, yes,

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Speaker 3: we know that the fifty two year old is in custody,

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Speaker 3: but when we go back to December, what we don't

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Speaker 3: know is whether there's an offender on the loose in

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Speaker 3: TenneT Creek that poses a risk to other young people. Now,

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Speaker 3: these are issues that really need to be resolved quickly

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Speaker 3: intennt Creek, because if we go back to February, the

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Speaker 3: Children's Commissioner was involved and identified forty odd previous notifications

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Speaker 3: where a two year old has been sexually assaulted. What

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Speaker 3: we haven't heard so far is whether the territory families

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Speaker 3: have been involved with the family of the four year old,

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Speaker 3: whether the territory families have been involved in the family

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Speaker 3: of the seven year old back in December, And we

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Speaker 3: haven't heard from the Children's Commissioner whether whether that office

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Speaker 3: is looking into the circumstances surrounding all of these issues.

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Speaker 1: Well, Steve, can you please keep us up to date

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Speaker 1: with this situation. We'll try our best to ask questions

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Speaker 1: when we're able to. I really appreciate you having a

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Speaker 1: chat with me this morning. We will talk to you

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Speaker 1: again very soon.

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Speaker 3: Good thank you, Katie, and good morning to all the listeners.

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Speaker 2: Thank you,