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Speaker 1: Now joining us on the line though, to talk about

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Speaker 1: how businesses are going and the way that they're pivoting

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Speaker 1: in Lockdown is Greg Island, the CEO of the Chamber

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Speaker 1: of Commerce.

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Speaker 2: Good morning to you, Greg, Good.

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Speaker 3: Morning Katie, Morning everyone listening.

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Speaker 2: Greg.

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Speaker 1: How are some of our territory businesses feeling this morning?

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Speaker 3: I think a lot of them are sitting at home

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Speaker 3: twiddling their films, Katie and then really would love to

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Speaker 3: be out there doing business, but we're in a situation

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Speaker 3: where that's not always possible.

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Speaker 1: Now. I don't know if you heard our catch up

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Speaker 1: with the Health Minister just a little while ago, but

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Speaker 1: you know we'd sort of ask some for the questions

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Speaker 1: about the testing regime for international travelers coming into the

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Speaker 1: Northern Territory. We know that this latest case is somebody

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Speaker 1: who tested positive on day seventeen. Unfortunately, then you know

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Speaker 1: he's traveled around a little bit in the territory to

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Speaker 1: Catherine as well.

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Speaker 2: We then realize that he's positive.

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Speaker 1: Now, I'm not saying this blog's done anything wrong, because

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Speaker 1: the rules the way that they are at the moment,

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Speaker 1: it doesn't seem that he has. But do we need

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Speaker 1: to look at doing things differently? So we don't plunge

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Speaker 1: thousands of Territorians into a lockdown when maybe you know,

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Speaker 1: he could have stayed in quarantine a bit longer and

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Speaker 1: we could avoid this situation.

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Speaker 3: It's certainly a difficult one, is an Akkadian, and I

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Speaker 3: think we're going to be in a situation where we're

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Speaker 3: continuing to learn from these errors as they do occur.

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Speaker 3: You're right, all the protocols seem to have been followed.

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Speaker 3: It's hard to say whether this gentleman entered quarantine with

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Speaker 3: the virus or whether he can contracted it during that stay,

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Speaker 3: in which case Day seventeen might have actually been day twelve.

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Speaker 3: Who knows.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, and look, there is still so much for us

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Speaker 1: to learn at this point in time.

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Speaker 2: Greg.

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Speaker 1: Just to go back to those businesses and how they're

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Speaker 1: going this morning, you said that there's probably a lot

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Speaker 1: of them at home twiddling their thumbs. How big a

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Speaker 1: loss is it for some of our businesses that three days?

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Speaker 1: I mean, you know, to me, three days, I still

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Speaker 1: can go to work, and you know, I'm in a

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Speaker 1: lockdown obviously when I get home, but it doesn't change

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Speaker 1: my life a huge amount. For a business owner, it's

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Speaker 1: pretty catastrophic i'd imagine, Oh, look.

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Speaker 3: It absolutely is. We're still very much in our peak season.

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Speaker 3: We know that we've had significant numbers of tourists in

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Speaker 3: town despite lockdowns in other areas. We know historically that's

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Speaker 3: worth many millions of dollars a day. So you add

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Speaker 3: that together with every other industry that's now we impacted,

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Speaker 3: and we are talking about a substantial amount of money

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Speaker 3: for the one person. As you pointed out earlier.

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Speaker 1: Now, I know that some businesses have been able to

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Speaker 1: pivot and do different things.

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Speaker 2: Some of those are, obviously are the ones that are

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Speaker 2: allowed or able to do takeaway or click and collect.

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Speaker 1: How has that been going, you know, for those businesses

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Speaker 1: that are.

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Speaker 3: Able to do that, Yeah, we've probably reasonably well practiced

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Speaker 3: that they're dropping into takeaway mode. I know I certainly

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Speaker 3: took advantage of the cancelation of the hospitality NT Gold

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Speaker 3: played awards last night and went down and got some

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Speaker 3: of their meals that were excess. We also were aware

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Speaker 3: of a number of others that went straight into takeaway mode.

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Speaker 3: So that's all good. Click and collect is there for

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Speaker 3: certain industries, but it's certainly not there for everybody. So

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Speaker 3: we've been talking with government about broadening the capability of

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Speaker 3: businesses to operate in a click and collect mode. But yeah,

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Speaker 3: those are changes that were certainly keen for government to

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Speaker 3: adopt as soon as practically possible.

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Speaker 1: What would they look like, Greg, what kind of changes

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Speaker 1: are you talking about.

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Speaker 3: The majority of the larger stores such as Harvey Norman

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Speaker 3: and those other larger retailers, as well as many other

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Speaker 3: smaller businesses, are capable of running click and collect services,

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Speaker 3: but they are not currently on the essential list. To

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Speaker 3: see that bartoned so that those businesses can take opportunity

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Speaker 3: of consumer needs during these times.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I had actually seen this on social media yesterday.

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Speaker 1: One of our wonderful florists had been shut down again

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Speaker 1: after initially being told that they were able to provide

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Speaker 1: a click and collect is my understanding, I know that

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Speaker 1: you know that some would say, all right, well, the

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Speaker 1: florist isn't deemed essential, but if they are still able

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Speaker 1: to operate without being in close contact with anybody and

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Speaker 1: provide that click and collect service, surely that would be

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Speaker 1: a good thing to keep the territory moving.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, that's been the point of our discussion with government

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Speaker 3: around maximizing the opportunities for as many people as we can.

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Speaker 3: We understand that the Chief help Officer wants to keep

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Speaker 3: moving to a minimum and that's fine, But as you say,

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Speaker 3: if we can do that safely, why not do it? Now?

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Speaker 2: What support?

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Speaker 1: I know that the government has made an announcement around

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Speaker 1: some of the support that is going to be available.

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Speaker 1: We'll be catching up with Paul Kirby, the Minister for

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Speaker 1: Small Business in about fifteen minutes time. But Greg, what

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Speaker 1: kind of support mechanisms are available for our business operators

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Speaker 1: who aren't actually able to operate over this lockdown?

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Speaker 3: Well, the government has switched back on the thousand dollar

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Speaker 3: payment that was available for business last time. And if

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Speaker 3: you call apifter that by earning over seventy five thousand

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Speaker 3: dollars a year and under ten million, then you fit

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Speaker 3: their criteria and you can apply straight away. There was

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Speaker 3: something like two hundred and twenty businesses and took advantage

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Speaker 3: of that. Makes two hundred businesses took advantage of that

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Speaker 3: last time, so I can expect the numbers to be

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Speaker 3: pretty similar. But there is talkers some other support packages,

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Speaker 3: but at this point we don't have the details of

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Speaker 3: what they might look like.

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Speaker 1: Well, well, like I said, we will catch up with

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Speaker 1: the Minister in a little while. One of the questions

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Speaker 1: that we get asked all the time when well, last

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Speaker 1: lockdown and then this lockdown, we've already had about five

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Speaker 1: people last this morning. Is there anything available for those

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Speaker 1: who were under seventy five thousand?

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Speaker 3: To my knowledge, no, there's not. And then you know,

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Speaker 3: the intent is that three days is not hopefully a

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Speaker 3: period that's going to create that issue for those smaller

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Speaker 3: contractors that are out there. But I know many of

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Speaker 3: them are certainly feeling pain and carrying the brunt of

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Speaker 3: these lockdowns from a financial perspective. So that's where we're

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Speaker 3: talking to government about broadening that. And I believe that

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Speaker 3: there's been some opportunities for the federal government to get

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Speaker 3: involved in support on the Eastern seaboard, and they should

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Speaker 3: look at doing the same thing here.

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Speaker 1: Greg, lots of Territorians out there listening this morning, you know,

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Speaker 1: a lot of people wondering how they can still try

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Speaker 1: to support business through what's a pretty tough time. What

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Speaker 1: is your message for everybody? Is it come and buy

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Speaker 1: some takeaway? What can we do to help each other

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Speaker 1: out here?

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Speaker 3: Look, that's certainly a good starting point. You get out

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Speaker 3: there and support as many local businesses as you can.

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Speaker 3: It's a little bit challenging during these three days, but

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Speaker 3: once we can get out about again, keep going to

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Speaker 3: your local businesses, keep supporting them, and that will certainly

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Speaker 3: help get them through these tough times.

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Speaker 2: Greg.

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Speaker 1: Just finally, I know that it's been reported today in

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Speaker 1: the Cans Post in Queensland that a vaccine passport's a

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Speaker 1: step closer for Queenslanders after the Palachet government dramatically mandated

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Speaker 1: precedent setting COVID jabs for workers crossing the border. Now

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Speaker 1: the Premiere, Anastasia Palachet issued well. She issued this change

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Speaker 1: on Monday, saying that all essential workers wanting to cross

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Speaker 1: the border from Friday would have to have had at

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Speaker 1: least one coronavirus shot. Experts say that the move could

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Speaker 1: be the start of a new way of life where

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Speaker 1: people will need proof of vaccination to travel and other

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Speaker 1: everyday events such as going to a restaurant, concert or

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Speaker 1: football match. Do you think that this is going to

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Speaker 1: be something we need to look at for the territory.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, we've chatted about this one before, Katie, and the

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Speaker 3: Chamber certainly supports the fact that we need to make

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Speaker 3: living the safest possible for everyone concern and I think

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Speaker 3: it is going to form part of our new life

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Speaker 3: moving forward. There's still some debate around the technicalities of that,

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Speaker 3: but I think if we see it adopted and other

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Speaker 3: jurisdictions will certainly be certainly seriously considering it. Picking you,

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Speaker 3: I think it's going to be the way of the future.

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Speaker 1: Well, it's always good to catch up with you. Greg Island,

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Speaker 1: Chamber of Commerce CEO. Thanks so much for your time

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Speaker 1: this morning, mate. I hope you're at traveling okay in Lockdown.

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Speaker 3: I'm doing well, Katie, but thinking about all the others

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Speaker 3: that are really struggling out there.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely, Thanks so much, Greg. We'll talk to you soon.

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Speaker 3: See you later.

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Speaker 1: That's Greg Ireland there, the CEO of the Chamber of

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Speaker 1: Commerce