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Speaker 1: Now we know a new agreement has been struck between

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Speaker 1: the Northern Territory Search and Rescue Section and Surf Life

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Speaker 1: Saving nt cementing their working relationships. So the two organizations

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Speaker 1: have worked together for more than a decade, but they've

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Speaker 1: now signed this memorandum of understanding formalizing well the ways

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Speaker 1: in which I'm formalizing, I guess how they're going to

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Speaker 1: work together to serve the community on the water. Now

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Speaker 1: joining me in the studio right now to talk a

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Speaker 1: little bit more about this MoU. We have got NT

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Speaker 1: Police Search and Rescue Section Acting Sergeant Chris growth A.

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Speaker 1: Good morning to you, Chris.

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Speaker 2: Ok, thanks for having me.

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Speaker 1: Lovely to have you in the studio. And we've also

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Speaker 1: got Surf Live Saving nt CEO Andrew McGinnis. Good morning

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Speaker 1: to you, Andrew.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, good morning TK.

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Speaker 1: Lovely to have you both in this studio. Now, tell

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Speaker 1: me what exactly does this MO you mean? Chris?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, So, as you mentioned before, we've been working together

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Speaker 2: for over a decade, about fifteen years now. But what

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Speaker 2: this does. This agreement puts penda paper and it kind

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Speaker 2: of puts clear left and right arcs around how we're

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Speaker 2: going to operate together and importantly, it sets those KPIs

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Speaker 2: and operational targets that we aim to achieve each year,

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Speaker 2: so that we can meet at around table discussion from

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Speaker 2: time to time and just make sure that we're on track. Yeah.

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Speaker 1: Right, And in terms of I guess the more practical

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Speaker 1: times that you may have already worked together. Andrew, has

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Speaker 1: there been a few situations.

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Speaker 3: Already, Yeah, there's been quite a few. In twenty twenty four,

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Speaker 3: we had quite a few combined search and rescue exercises

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Speaker 3: Sarrex's part of me. One in particular, where we dropped

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Speaker 3: a dummy, so simulating a person in the water, which

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Speaker 3: is probably the most time critical, and that was off

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Speaker 3: lea point in the dry season, so the wind is

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Speaker 3: actually going to be pushing the body out to see

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Speaker 3: and police had two vessels and Surflo Saving had one vessel.

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Speaker 3: They tasked us with doing a certain search area and

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Speaker 3: I think it was in about within four hours that

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Speaker 3: dummy was found and lucky we did because it didn't

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Speaker 3: have any tag on us. It had a message contact

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Speaker 3: police if you find this.

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Speaker 1: Lucky you didn't find it. But look, you know being

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Speaker 1: can you I mean, you guys can imagine it because

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Speaker 1: you go out on these rescues very often. But for me,

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Speaker 1: I think, can you imagine being stuck in Northern Territory

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Speaker 1: water for four hours? I know this was a dummy,

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Speaker 1: but this is a real thing that can happen. And

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Speaker 1: there's crocodiles, there's all sorts of you know, creatures in

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Speaker 1: our waters that are quite frightening, let alone, depending on

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Speaker 1: what time of the day, it may or may not

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Speaker 1: happen and you're swimming capabilities.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely, And as you mentioned earlier, we have some

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Speaker 2: quite unique dangerous animals and the water up here, and

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Speaker 2: notwithstanding the tidle factors that we have to put up

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Speaker 2: with as well. But those cyrexes are quite important because

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Speaker 2: we're going to extrapolate that kind of data that we

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Speaker 2: get following those exercises and we can work together to

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Speaker 2: bridge any gaps that we might identify in our efforts.

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Speaker 1: And why is a formal sort of agreement such unnecessary

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Speaker 1: thing or such a good thing? Yeah?

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Speaker 2: So, as I mentioned before, it kind of it just

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Speaker 2: clarifies or provides some clarity around what we're trying to

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Speaker 2: achieve each year. So with this MoU, it does go

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Speaker 2: for a period of two years and will measure its

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Speaker 2: success as time goes on. But as you know, we're

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Speaker 2: both going to be beneficiaries of this, but more broadly

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Speaker 2: and the bigger winners are going to be the wider

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Speaker 2: community because we're going to really grip up where we

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Speaker 2: might be falling down to make sure that we're operating

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Speaker 2: much better.

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Speaker 1: Does it also mean that there's going to be more

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Speaker 1: access to land and air resources for life saving, you know,

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Speaker 1: for you guys in terms of some of those rescues

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Speaker 1: and things like that.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, I suppose it's combining our assets. Yeah, surfl Saving

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Speaker 3: has quite a few maritime water assets, which gives police

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Speaker 3: that sort of different scope and then mining with their assets.

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Speaker 3: And also yeah, there's a lot of demand on police,

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Speaker 3: so they could be involved in multiple rescues because SRS

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Speaker 3: actually does land sea air searches as well, which means

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Speaker 3: that they can call upon us to assist them. We're

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Speaker 3: required and as Chris mentioned, at the end of the day,

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Speaker 3: we just want to work together the best we can

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Speaker 3: through that training for the benefit and the safety of

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Speaker 3: the community.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely for all territories. I'm assuming it does mean

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Speaker 1: that there might be some more training exercises. Are we

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Speaker 1: going to see more dummies floating in the water.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely, and that's part of the agreement. But even

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Speaker 2: more formally, the Surf Life Saving Anties supply us with

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Speaker 2: critical training for search and rescue, particularly as it relates

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Speaker 2: to rescue watercraft, operational jet skis, even advanced RESUS and

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Speaker 2: O two and also the Silver Medallion, which is quite

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Speaker 2: important for our members to stay fit and to be

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Speaker 2: operational in that space.

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Speaker 1: Yes, it sounds like there's sort of certain things that

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Speaker 1: you both and teach each other and help each other with.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, it's quite a symbiotic relationship. Yeah. Yeah, there's training

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Speaker 3: that police can offer us their professionalism and working with

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Speaker 3: us majority of our members of volunteers. But it's really

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Speaker 3: good being able to look at that interoperability, how we

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Speaker 3: work together and how sometimes we might actually be able

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Speaker 3: to assist each other on our vessels as well.

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Speaker 1: And has there been I know we have spoken about

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Speaker 1: some of those training exercises, but has there been sort of,

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Speaker 1: you know, some real time incidents that have occurred in

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Speaker 1: recent years where it's been really quite critical that you

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Speaker 1: do work together. Yeah.

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Speaker 2: Absolutely, And they range from things like flare sidings to

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Speaker 2: actual incidents where we know that there's a distress situation.

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Speaker 2: So we have from time to time had flare signings

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Speaker 2: that we've needed to investigate, and we leverage off surf

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Speaker 2: Life stating who are happy, We're always happy to come

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Speaker 2: out and insist us to investigate those sightings. But also

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Speaker 2: in the operational space where we have had people fall

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Speaker 2: into the water more recently last year out near nightcliff,

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Speaker 2: a gentleman fell off his outrigger and surf Life saving

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Speaker 2: we're more than happy to come out and assist us.

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Speaker 2: And that was quite a dangerous situation because it was

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Speaker 2: that nighttime and it was a person in water scenario

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Speaker 2: which as Andrew mentioned earlier as time critical, and luckily

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Speaker 2: he was located safe and well. But yeah, just in

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Speaker 2: that space, it's just important that you know, we do

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Speaker 2: work together, and that's what the MOO used for, just

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Speaker 2: to make.

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Speaker 1: Sure that I think I remember that one where he

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Speaker 1: was holding on to the boy in the water, that's correct.

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Speaker 1: It would be an incredibly frightening situation to be and

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Speaker 1: if you were that person and you'd be thinking, I

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Speaker 1: really hope someone's able to find me and find me quickly. Yes, definitely, Yeah,

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Speaker 1: it sounds like that's where you guys kick in and

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Speaker 1: certainly help out those when they need it the most. Well,

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Speaker 1: it's lovely to speak to you both. I really appreciate

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Speaker 1: you coming in. It's really good to hear that this

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Speaker 1: MoU has been signed because it sounds as it's going

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Speaker 1: to be to the benefit of territory ands, particularly anybody

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Speaker 1: in a you know, in what can be quite a

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Speaker 1: dangerous situation out there in the water.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I think so. And we're working with the Violin

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Speaker 2: Tiers Police. They tend to have a bit of a

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Speaker 2: harder or more clinical approach, but having the volunteers present

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Speaker 2: from time to time they bring a different light to

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Speaker 2: the operation and perhaps make us look at things from

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Speaker 2: a different perspective, which can really help us out a lot.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, good stuff. Good on you both. Thank you so

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Speaker 1: much for your time. MT Police Search and Rescue Section,

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Speaker 1: Acting Sergeant Chris Growther and NT Surf Life Saving CEO

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Speaker 1: or Surf Life Saving NT, I should say CEO Andrew McGinnis.

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Speaker 1: Lovely to speak to you both.