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Speaker 1: And we know that this situation, as I'm sure plenty

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Speaker 1: of you have probably heard about Buy Now and discussed

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Speaker 1: on the week that was on Friday, Projects Sea Dragon, well,

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Speaker 1: it has stalled. Seafarms has conceded that Projects Sea Dragon,

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Speaker 1: the world's largest prawn farm, located on leg Une Station,

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Speaker 1: about three hundred and forty k's southwest of Darwin, it's

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Speaker 1: not viable in its current form and has recommended against

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Speaker 1: proceeding now. The Northern Territory government, as plenty of you

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Speaker 1: will know, had committed fifty six million dollars to upgrading

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Speaker 1: three roads to support the project, including about seventeen point

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Speaker 1: five million dollars to provide year round access to a

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Speaker 1: remote road between Kuananara and the farm in the remote northwest.

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Speaker 1: Now joining me on the line to talk more about

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Speaker 1: the concerns around that taxpayer dollars being spent prior to

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Speaker 1: the project getting underway is the Independent Member.

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Speaker 2: For Ara lun Robin Lamley. Good morning to you, Robin.

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Speaker 3: Good morning Katie.

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Speaker 2: Robin. What are your concerns in the space?

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Speaker 3: Katie? I think that this has been managed very badly.

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Speaker 3: I mean, the whole idea of the world's largest braw

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Speaker 3: and farm is exciting and obviously people got exploded, sting

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Speaker 3: the Chief Minister, and I don't blame him for that,

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Speaker 3: but I think if you go through the history of

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Speaker 3: this over the last couple of years, there's lots of

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Speaker 3: comments about how it was it was bordering on too big,

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Speaker 3: a little bit unrealistic. Things just didn't stack up. There

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Speaker 3: were a lot of there was quite a bit of

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Speaker 3: commentary around the fact that this was a great idea

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Speaker 3: if they can pull it off, but the big question

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Speaker 3: was if, and I just find it astounding that the

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Speaker 3: government didn't do their due diligence, didn't do a proper investigation,

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Speaker 3: hold back on investing millions and millions of taxpayers money

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Speaker 3: on this project before they know they should have done

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Speaker 3: it properly. Seventeen and a half million dollars just on

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Speaker 3: the access road between Cunninara and the farm, that lagoon

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Speaker 3: station where this proposed town time was supposed to go.

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Speaker 3: I mean, that's money that could have been spent on

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Speaker 3: so many other things. Katie. I'm just a called at

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Speaker 3: how the government has been fire tracked by this. You know,

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Speaker 3: you can't throw money that isn't yours around in this way.

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Speaker 1: Well, just not accept and we're talking about a phenomenal

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Speaker 1: amount of money, I mean fifty six million dollars into

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Speaker 1: upgrading three roads to support the project, including that seventeen

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Speaker 1: point five million to provide year round access to that

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Speaker 1: remote road between Cuninara and the farm in the northwest

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Speaker 1: Northern Territory. Robin, I don't know how much more sort

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Speaker 1: of checking off you need to do before investing in

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Speaker 1: something like this, But should there be you know, should

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Speaker 1: there be more checking off before we actually invest such

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Speaker 1: a phenomenal amount of taxpayers dollars into a project before

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Speaker 1: it gets Underwhy I.

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Speaker 3: Don't recall anything like this happening before. Certainly during my time, Katie,

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Speaker 3: you know that there were warning signs back in twenty

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Speaker 3: twenty June twenty twenty, this company, the Project Sea Dragon

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Speaker 3: company called sea Farm failed to get a Northern Australian

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Speaker 3: Infrastructure loan. They failed to secure a NAFE loan. Now

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Speaker 3: to my mind, that's a warning sign. Why didn't their

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Speaker 3: proposals stack up to get a nafeline? You know, this

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Speaker 3: is clearly a big project. They pouted that it would

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Speaker 3: employ a thousand people, that it would bring in enormous

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Speaker 3: amounts of revenue for everyone concerned. Why didn't that stack

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Speaker 3: up two years ago? That was just one alarm bell

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Speaker 3: that should have resounded in the government's mind. Look, I

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Speaker 3: just don't know what they were thinking to start building

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Speaker 3: roads to the tune of fifty six million dollars before

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Speaker 3: the projects even really got past the first stage of

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Speaker 3: planning and being funded, is really quite incredible. I read

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Speaker 3: the ABC an ABC report just prior to coming on air,

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Speaker 3: and the Wyndham East kimberly Shire president, a guy called

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Speaker 3: David Menzl, said he wasn't surprised that the project has

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Speaker 3: been wound back. I mean everyone had a degree of

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Speaker 3: skepticism around this, apart from the Chief Minister and Eva

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Speaker 3: Lawler and the Cole Madison, who's still seen the thing

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Speaker 3: that spending fifty six million dollars of our money in

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Speaker 3: one of the most remote parts of the Northern Territory

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Speaker 3: where pretty much not no one goes, particularly north of Kamanara,

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Speaker 3: to this random property where it was meant to be cited.

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Speaker 3: They're still saying that it was money well spent. Well,

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Speaker 3: I'm sorry, I can think of so many different ways

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Speaker 3: fifty six million dollars could have been spent. Try housing

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Speaker 3: for once. Yeah, I think for people that are living

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Speaker 3: an overcrowded squalor well throughout the Northern Territory.

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Speaker 1: And I know that the Northern Territory Mining and Industry

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Speaker 1: Minister of Cole Madison this week insisted that the money

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Speaker 1: was a worthwhile investment in the region, saying that road

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Speaker 1: funding has gone out in good faith and again I

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Speaker 1: think that does unlock the region for more economic development

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Speaker 1: and it does create new and exciting opportunities there.

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Speaker 2: Robin, does that cut it?

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Speaker 3: I don't think it cuts it. I mean it's just

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Speaker 3: in a very very isolated, remote part of the Northern

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Speaker 3: Territory on the western Australian border. It may in time

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Speaker 3: be a reasonable investment. But every dollar that a government

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Speaker 3: spend on behalf of us territory, you know, the people

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Speaker 3: of the Northern Territory. You've got to look at the

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Speaker 3: opportunity cost, the economic cost. Is it best spent here

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Speaker 3: or is it best spent somewhere else? And that fifty

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Speaker 3: six million dollars could have been better spent in a

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Speaker 3: myriad of other places throughout the Northern Territory and in

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Speaker 3: a myriad of other ways. They're just covering themselves off,

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Speaker 3: this was a bad decision. They were taken by what

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Speaker 3: must have been a pretty incredible sales pitch. I mean

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Speaker 3: even the federal government got on board. But you know,

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Speaker 3: the people with better minds than our politicians and our

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Speaker 3: leaders were sitting back saying, this doesn't really stack up,

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Speaker 3: This doesn't make sense. Certainly, the NAIFE, the people that

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Speaker 3: were presiding over giving loans from the NAFE fund, they

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Speaker 3: didn't think it stacked up either, obviously. I mean, I'm

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Speaker 3: probably reading too much into it, but you know, the

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Speaker 3: warning signs were their, Katie, and I just think it

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Speaker 3: shows incompetence by this government. They're being led by their nose.

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Speaker 3: They're being taken by the bright lights and the neon

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Speaker 3: signs of some people's ability to spin and sell. And

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Speaker 3: I don't think it's not instilling any confidence in me.

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Speaker 3: And I think many people will be listening today thinking

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Speaker 3: what the heck, fifty six million dollars.

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Speaker 2: It's an awful lot of money and on.

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Speaker 3: A project that didn't even get to first base. What

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Speaker 3: were they thinking?

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Speaker 2: Robin?

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Speaker 1: Before I let you go, I know that you're also

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Speaker 1: concerned this week, and we will have to keep it brief,

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Speaker 1: but you're pretty concerned this week about some ministerial changes

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Speaker 1: which have happened.

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Speaker 2: What changes have gone ahead.

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Speaker 1: I know that Kate Warden's been given an additional portfolio,

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Speaker 1: but what's happened here?

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Speaker 3: Well, the thing that relates to us down here in

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Speaker 3: Central Australia is that our Minister for Central Australia Economic Reconstruction,

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Speaker 3: Chancey Paig, has lost that portfolio that's been scrapped and

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Speaker 3: he is now the Minister for Desert Knowledge. And I

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Speaker 3: think down here at thinking, what on earth is that?

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Speaker 2: I mean knowledge?

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Speaker 3: Well, we've got a Desert Knowledge Precinct down here which

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Speaker 3: was set up almost twenty years ago and it sort

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Speaker 3: of has never found its legs. It was set up

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Speaker 3: with great intentions to stimulate economic opportunities in the desert,

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Speaker 3: set up unique desert industries, support desert people. But why

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Speaker 3: on earth they've chosen this particular title for Chancey Cake

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Speaker 3: is really quite intriguing though that we'll find more as

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Speaker 3: time goes on.

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Speaker 1: But yeah, thank you, it does sound very peculiar. Well,

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Speaker 1: let's see what else we can find out. Robin Lanley,

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Speaker 1: it is always good to catch up with you. I

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Speaker 1: really appreciate your time this morning.

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Speaker 3: Maddie. Thanks Katie, thank you,