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Speaker 1: As we know, the Chief Minister are set on the

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Speaker 1: show yesterday that Salt Bush Social Enterprises are going to

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Speaker 1: be partnering with the Northern Territory Government to increase safe

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Speaker 1: spaces for children through the Safe Place Accommodation and Support

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Speaker 1: Program in Alice Springs. This program is going to be

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Speaker 1: providing expanded temporary accommodation for young people who are out

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Speaker 1: at night, unsupervised, considered to be at risk, and who

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Speaker 1: have nowhere safe to go. The Mayor of Alice Springs,

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Speaker 1: Matt Patterson, joins me on the line. Hi, Matt, good.

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Speaker 2: Morning, Katie, Good morning listeners. Thanks for having me again.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, good to speak to you. And look, you know

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Speaker 1: you and I have spoken on numerous occasions about the

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Speaker 1: issues being experienced in Alice Springs and now it does

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Speaker 1: seem azoh we're seeing some action. What was the reaction

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Speaker 1: to yesterday's announcement in Alice Springs when the Minister for

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Speaker 1: Police and Territory Families, Kate Warden, came out and said

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Speaker 1: that there is going to be an increase in these

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Speaker 1: safe spaces for kids.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I think it's welcomed. Time will tell Katie about

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Speaker 2: if it's effective or not and I'm certain they're not

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Speaker 2: going to knock anything that's being implemented. You know, it's

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Speaker 2: a trial and they're a peace and so obviously more

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Speaker 2: safe places for young kids is better for the community,

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Speaker 2: it's better for the kids. So we'll wait and see

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Speaker 2: what happens. You know, it's sort of a business as

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Speaker 2: usual approach thought Bush has been there for a little while.

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Speaker 2: The only worry I have is that the kids can

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Speaker 2: freely leave and so you know they're going to get

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Speaker 2: dropped there. Is it just a halfway house effectively, But look,

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Speaker 2: time will tell, and obviously I welcome the announcement by NTG. Yeah.

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Speaker 1: Well, and the Chief Minister didn't really reveal the exact

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Speaker 1: locations with us yesterday. I don't know whether that detail

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Speaker 1: has come out in Alice Springs. But in terms of

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Speaker 1: the location, I know that Counselor Michael Little had raised

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Speaker 1: some concerns about it being too close to the city.

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Speaker 1: Is that a concern?

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Speaker 2: Look it is. I mean, you know it is in

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Speaker 2: the in the suburbs. It's down Gap Road, so it

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Speaker 2: is you know, only a kilometer and a half walking

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Speaker 2: to the CBD, which we know that these kids will

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Speaker 2: will do if they choose to. So look, I think

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Speaker 2: you know, there's got to be other places that can work.

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Speaker 2: But you know, time will tell, and I think that,

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Speaker 2: as I said, I'm not going to knock any anyone

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Speaker 2: or any level of government for trying things. It's just

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Speaker 2: going to be you know, funded, probably resource or propably,

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Speaker 2: let's see if it works or it doesn't work, and

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Speaker 2: then adjusted as we go from there. So, as I said,

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Speaker 2: time will tell, and the stats will we'll be able

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Speaker 2: to give us some numbers and has been utilized or not.

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Speaker 1: Has the Minister sort of given any time frame as well,

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Speaker 1: or the KPIs that they're going to be keeping an

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Speaker 1: eye on as to whether it is or isn't working.

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Speaker 1: I reckon the people of value are going to be

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Speaker 1: certainly keeping a real close eye on it and able

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Speaker 1: to tell pretty quick whether it's working or not.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, you know, the one thing that is

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Speaker 2: working that we can see is the forty five police

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Speaker 2: we've got and so you know that is just the

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Speaker 2: perception of the community starting to feel safe again, which

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Speaker 2: is obviously quite difficult to get back once you've lost that.

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Speaker 2: So you know, in regards to this, I mean there's

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Speaker 2: still kids out on the street and you know, yes

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Speaker 2: it might not be illegal to be out on the street,

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Speaker 2: but it doesn't mean it's safe either. So you know,

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Speaker 2: the kpies whatever they are for the minister, we'll wait

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Speaker 2: and see. But look, as I said, if it's funded

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Speaker 2: properly resource probably then it has my support as a trial.

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Speaker 1: Matt, you mentioned just before that it's not going to

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Speaker 1: be sort of compulsory for kids to stay there if

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Speaker 1: they are if they do go there at night, or

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Speaker 1: if they are taken there that like, that does sound

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Speaker 1: a bit of a worry that they can just come

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Speaker 1: and go as they please.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, that's right. And then it does turn you know,

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Speaker 2: what we've seen is for many years, you know, there

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Speaker 2: is a UTH bus that picks up kids off the

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Speaker 2: street and takes them home, and the kid that gets

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Speaker 2: dropped off first usually beats the bus back into town.

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Speaker 2: So it does turn into a bit of a game

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Speaker 2: of caut and mouse, And I hope that it does

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Speaker 2: have some positive change for these kids, because being on

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Speaker 2: the street at two am is not a safe place

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Speaker 2: and there's really no future there. You know, we keep

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Speaker 2: doing the same thing over and over again. It's not

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Speaker 2: going to change anything. So That's why I do welcome

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Speaker 2: this change and hopefully it does work.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I think everybody is hoping that it's going to

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Speaker 1: have an impact. And like you touched on before, one

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Speaker 1: thing that certainly had an impact is that increased police presence.

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Speaker 1: Any word at this stage match as to how long

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Speaker 1: that increased police presence is going to be sticking around

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Speaker 1: or whether there is going to be some additional police

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Speaker 1: over the Christmas period.

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Speaker 2: Yes, So I met with the commissioner last week. He

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Speaker 2: was in our springs and obviously I put my peace

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Speaker 2: thought about don't take them away at all. Look, I

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Speaker 2: think it will go in to early next year. We

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Speaker 2: won't have the full forty five, but we will get

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Speaker 2: some extra police through graduation that gets sent down to

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Speaker 2: our springs, so that will be welcome as well. You know,

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Speaker 2: we're ramping up. We know that it's going to be

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Speaker 2: a busy few months, as it always is this time

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Speaker 2: of year in regards to crime. So we're just hoping that,

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Speaker 2: you know, the presence of the police is felt within

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Speaker 2: the community. As I said Katie last week, they were

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Speaker 2: you know, they're on the horses, they are on the motorbike.

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Speaker 2: It's just the visual presence of the police made people

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Speaker 2: feel safe and so completely welcome on behalf of the

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Speaker 2: community with the extra police here.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, Matt, what have people been saying around town? You know,

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Speaker 1: as those additional police are there and as things have

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Speaker 1: calmed down, and I'm assuming that the place has started

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Speaker 1: to feel like the good old Alice Springs, what have

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Speaker 1: people been saying?

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Speaker 2: Ah, Look, just that you know, the big one is

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Speaker 2: that people have said that they feel safer in the

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Speaker 2: streets because of the police. And you know, crime happening

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Speaker 2: is one thing, the perception of feeling unsafe is another.

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Speaker 2: But when you were starting to feel safe again, then

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Speaker 2: you can start to get some hope back that other

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Speaker 2: Springs is, as you said, going back to the good

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Speaker 2: old days. And I don't think that it's you know,

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Speaker 2: I think clearly more resources here on the ground and

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Speaker 2: what is needed, and we've seen that through you know,

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Speaker 2: the numbers of alcohol tip dowt, the people that have

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Speaker 2: been taken off the streets. So look, it is a positive,

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Speaker 2: positive feedback from the community and very.

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Speaker 1: Welcomed because there's always that discussion. You know, you can't

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Speaker 1: arrest your way out of these issues, and no one's

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Speaker 1: suggesting that you can, but it does, like it has

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Speaker 1: really shown that with additional police, there does seem to

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Speaker 1: be people behaving in a much better way and a

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Speaker 1: way that a lot of people, you know, just expect

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Speaker 1: you to behave.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, that's right, and you know that that old

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Speaker 2: analogy can't arrest our way out of it. But what's

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Speaker 2: happening is you've got proactive police and so the crime

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Speaker 2: is actually not happening in the first place because they

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Speaker 2: can you know, they put water on the fire straight

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Speaker 2: away and it happens before an event occurs. And so

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Speaker 2: that's what we're seeing is you know, with the presence

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Speaker 2: is because it's not getting to that stage of a

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Speaker 2: crime happening, and it limits antisocial behavior. So, as I said,

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Speaker 2: it is very welcomed. More police are having an effect

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Speaker 2: on the community and we clearly we don't want the

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Speaker 2: police to leave our springs.

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Speaker 1: Well, Matt Patterson, the mayor of Alice Springs, good to

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Speaker 1: speak to you again this morning, and good to hear

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Speaker 1: that there is some action, you know, taking place in

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Speaker 1: Alice Springs right now, and I do hope that it

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Speaker 1: continues to remain calm.

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Speaker 2: Yes, me too, Kadion, Thank you for the chat as

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Speaker 2: away Yeah, thanks mate,