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Speaker 1: Joining me on the line right now is Matt Williams,

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Speaker 1: the editor of the Northern Territory News. Good morning to you, Matt.

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Speaker 2: MORNINGTI good to speak to you.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, you too, now, Matt, Well, this situation around these

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Speaker 1: very serious allegations is really taking on a mind of

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Speaker 1: its own. I guess you'd have to say the Chief

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Speaker 1: Minister again this morning dodging questions on this topic.

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Speaker 2: Yeah.

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Speaker 3: Look, it's a really interesting play the chief ministers taking

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Speaker 3: in terms of responding to these serious allegations. Now, this

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Speaker 3: sort of what sort of kicked it off yesterday We

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Speaker 3: ran a little item in our Bushranger column on Sunday

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Speaker 3: which implicated a territory political party member in the incident.

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Speaker 3: Now we didn't name which a political party it was

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Speaker 3: on Sunday. However, Leah Finocchio, the opposition leader, was quick

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Speaker 3: to come out yesterday morning and say it wasn't anyone

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Speaker 3: in her party who was involved. And she put out

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Speaker 3: that statement calling for the Chief Minister to address the issue.

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Speaker 2: And look, look what we can say.

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Speaker 3: The allegations are serious, as Leah said, So look it's

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Speaker 3: obviously very we've got to be very careful what we

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Speaker 3: say about it, you know, no names have been mentioned

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Speaker 3: that at this point, but look, it is a serious

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Speaker 3: situation that I think the Chief Minister needs to address

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Speaker 3: and a little bit more detail.

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Speaker 1: Order thought, yeah, And so then he responded to you

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Speaker 1: guys via a statement yesterday, because there has been a

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Speaker 1: lot sort of floating around on various social media pages

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Speaker 1: about these allegations. But then he put out a statement

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Speaker 1: yesterday via the NT News and I guess it really

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Speaker 1: focused more so on COVID than what it did in

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Speaker 1: actually addressing the allegations that are being made.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, look, it was a bit of a bizarre statement.

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Speaker 3: I thought to be Yeah, you know, you got something

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Speaker 3: serious like this floating around, and I think the best

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Speaker 3: way to do its front up and answer the question.

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Speaker 3: And we said inctorial today, you know, we saw what

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Speaker 3: happened to Eddie McGuire when he tried to spin his

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Speaker 3: way out of trouble a couple of weeks ago. It

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Speaker 3: just didn't go down well with the public.

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Speaker 2: Or indeed his club or former plats or anyone. So

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Speaker 2: I think, look, there's a there's obviously a lot at

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Speaker 2: stake for the people who are.

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Speaker 3: Allegedly involved, and you know, I'm not going to go

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Speaker 3: into too much detail about what the connections are with

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Speaker 3: those people and other people out in the community and

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Speaker 3: indeed their connections with the Chief Minister. But yeah, look,

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Speaker 3: I think it is something. You know, things like this

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Speaker 3: just don't go away. So I think this is where,

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Speaker 3: you know, real leaders need to stand up and make

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Speaker 3: a stand.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, look, I agree with you, and you know, I'm

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Speaker 1: certainly aware of the allegations. I know that you guys

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Speaker 1: have put in a number of calls, so you certainly

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Speaker 1: made contact with some of the people allegedly involved. You

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Speaker 1: yet to hear or there yet to respond at this point, aren't.

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Speaker 3: They No, we made several calls last week and also

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Speaker 3: text message the people who are allegedly involved, and look,

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Speaker 3: there's been no response welsoever. So I think the listeners

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Speaker 3: can probably put to and two together to work out

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Speaker 3: why they haven't responded.

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Speaker 2: And I also have to say, throughout.

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Speaker 3: This since we've been chasing this story, there there has

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Speaker 3: never been one phone call to me or one phone

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Speaker 3: call to our journalists denying these allegations. So again, I

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Speaker 3: think the listeners can probably work that out for themselves.

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Speaker 3: Something to this and you know, let's be honest. Cocaine

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Speaker 3: is a prohibited drug, it's legal to use it, and

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Speaker 3: you know some other things that were going on as well.

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Speaker 3: We're probably a little bit below the belt.

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Speaker 1: Well, I tell you what, Matt, I'll be watching parliament

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Speaker 1: this week much more interested than than usual. I guess

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Speaker 1: it's going to be an interesting one, isn't it.

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Speaker 3: Well, you know the Territory Parliament's then, you know, since

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Speaker 3: the Jobs government has been pretty short on scandals really,

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Speaker 3: so you know, this is one that's certainly bubbling a lot.

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Speaker 3: It will it will cause Labor a lot of trouble,

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Speaker 3: no doubt about that. You know, they can sit on

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Speaker 3: it and try and sweep it under the carpet. But

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Speaker 3: I think there's planning more to play out. And we

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Speaker 3: actually first became aware that this was going on. You know,

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Speaker 3: there was a lot going on on social media pages

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Speaker 3: last week, but we actually became aware of it before that.

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Speaker 3: So we've sort of been working on this story for

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Speaker 3: a little while and now, so it was always going

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Speaker 3: to come out eventually.

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Speaker 2: But as I said, we have to be a little

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Speaker 2: bit careful what we say. But there's plenty more to come.

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Speaker 1: Well, Matt, We'll be keeping a very close eye on

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Speaker 1: it and I know plenty of others will be as well.

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Speaker 1: I'm also due to catch up with Erin early who

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Speaker 1: is of course with the United Workers Union, but she's

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Speaker 1: the president of the Labor Party, so we'll ask her

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Speaker 1: a couple of questions at about nine thirty as well.

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Speaker 1: Always appreciate your time, Matt Williams, thank you very much

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Speaker 1: for having a chat with me.

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Speaker 3: Thanks Katie, thank you.

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Speaker 1: And Matt Williams is of course the editor of the

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Speaker 1: Northern Territory News