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Speaker 1: Now the popular Nightcliff Seabreeze Festival is looking as though

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Speaker 1: it's going to be canceled for next year due to

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Speaker 1: funding challenges. The organizers have taken to social media saying

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Speaker 1: that they heavily rely on sponsorship and government grants, but

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Speaker 1: the City of Darwin has cut its contribution by five

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Speaker 1: thousand dollars and have sent them a bill that they

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Speaker 1: can't afford to pay. Now, joining us on the line

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Speaker 1: to explain what's going on is Andrew Arthur, who is

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Speaker 1: the festival committee chair. Good morning to you, Andrew.

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Speaker 2: Good morning Katie, Thanks for your.

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Speaker 3: Time this morning. Andrew. How much funding has the City

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Speaker 3: of Darwin cut.

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Speaker 2: Well, this year's festival. They cut us back, as you mentioned,

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Speaker 2: by five thousand dollars from twenty five thousand down to

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Speaker 2: twenty which sounds like a lot of money, but when

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Speaker 2: we're talking about a festival that really costs half a

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Speaker 2: million dollars, it's not that much money. But at the

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Speaker 2: end of the day, for a little a committee that's volunteers,

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Speaker 2: we have to manage that budget and losing that five

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Speaker 2: thousand made it very tight for us to put on

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Speaker 2: this three day festival. We expanded to the three day festival,

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Speaker 2: and then we were most shocked to receive this power

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Speaker 2: bill for one thousand, three hundred and fifty dollars which

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Speaker 2: actually powered our security lighting over the three nights.

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Speaker 1: Yea, dear right, So how much was the power bill?

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Speaker 1: More than one thousand dollars.

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Speaker 2: One thousand, three hundred and fifty k d and it

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Speaker 2: was the four power points over mainly three days, and

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Speaker 2: as I said, mainly for security lighting, just to make

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Speaker 2: sure the infrastructure that we've brought onto the foreshore is

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Speaker 2: lit up and our security personnel can see what's going on.

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Speaker 1: Andrew, in terms of the funding being cut back by

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Speaker 1: five thousand dollars from twenty five thousand to twenty thousand dollars,

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Speaker 1: what reason did they give for that reduction?

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Speaker 2: It's their budget. They didn't have the money, they said, So,

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Speaker 2: I mean, I understand the counsel. They're very tight with

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Speaker 2: their budget and they chose to, I guess, spend the

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Speaker 2: money elsewhere.

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Speaker 1: I know there'll be some people out there listening thinking

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Speaker 1: how come the festival then doesn't have the money to

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Speaker 1: be able to pay that thousand odd dollar bill.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, because as I said, we moved to the three

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Speaker 2: day format. We didn't get any extra funding and our

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Speaker 2: funding was actually cut from council. We've got the shame

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Speaker 2: amount of funding from the MTG, which I've got to

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Speaker 2: say have been looking after us after we had a

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Speaker 2: bit of a clash in twenty twenty two with the

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Speaker 2: anti government. They stepped up and they're looking after us.

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Speaker 2: And it was a bit of a shock to all

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Speaker 2: of us on the committee that Council was now backing

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Speaker 2: away from this community festival.

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Speaker 1: Where do things stand now? What's going to happen with

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Speaker 1: the festival?

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Speaker 3: Andrew? Is it not going to go on next year?

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Speaker 2: Well, we need a lead time. It's a major event.

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Speaker 2: We got over thirty thousand people to this year's festival, Katie.

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Speaker 2: It's a major event. You know, the liquor license applications,

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Speaker 2: the traffic management plans, bringing on staff for a short term.

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Speaker 2: It all takes time and a lead up. And now

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Speaker 2: it's getting very tight where less than six months away

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Speaker 2: and where we haven't been able to do anything because

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Speaker 2: you know, we've got just several hundred dollars in the

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Speaker 2: bank and be Counsel have said unless we pay this

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Speaker 2: one three hundred and fifty dollars electricity bill, then they

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Speaker 2: will not consider us for any funding next year. We've

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Speaker 2: tried to negotiate with Counsel. We've asked them for an

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Speaker 2: extension on the payment and they've said they're happy to

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Speaker 2: discuss an extension, but it still makes us ineligible funding

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Speaker 2: next year. So you know, our hands are tired. And

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Speaker 2: the funny thing is, well, it's not funny. It's the

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Speaker 2: tragic thing is that because we have a application in

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Speaker 2: for sponsorship with Counsel, we are not allowed to talk

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Speaker 2: to any elected members about the festival. So the elected

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Speaker 2: members would have been broadsided by this decision.

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Speaker 3: So where to from here?

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Speaker 1: I mean, is there a potential that you could maybe

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Speaker 1: go back to it being less days or modifying this

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Speaker 1: in some way, because I know that, you know, I'm

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Speaker 1: just sort of thinking out loud. For a lot of

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Speaker 1: those dance groups and those schools and that kind of thing,

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Speaker 1: it's a wonderful event for them to be able to

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Speaker 1: be part of and to showcase some of the work

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Speaker 1: that they've been been doing throughout the year.

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Speaker 2: It's true, it's a wonderful opportunity. And for all our

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Speaker 2: young musicians and dances, they work towards the performance. When

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Speaker 2: you've got a performance coming up, you practice and you

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Speaker 2: take your art form a lot more seriously. It is

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Speaker 2: tragic stage, you know, throwing together a major event, you know,

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Speaker 2: with less than six months lead time is going to

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Speaker 2: be even more stressful. Our committee, we're all we're all volunteers.

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Speaker 2: We have no paid staff at all, and so you

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Speaker 2: can imagine the you know, what we're all going through.

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Speaker 2: It's very nerve wracking. And to balance a little volunteer

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Speaker 2: committee has to balance this massive budget. When you get

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Speaker 2: you know, cuts like five thousand dollars, it just makes

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Speaker 2: everything so much tighter. It means that the volunteers have

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Speaker 2: to work harder, it means staff has to work harder.

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Speaker 2: And myself, personally, I'm not prepared to put my people

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Speaker 2: through that. I know that some on the committee are

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Speaker 2: still keen to do it. The committee, so we have

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Speaker 2: to discuss that. We can sit around the table at

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Speaker 2: a meeting and and we're going to make our decisions.

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Speaker 1: Tell me, are there other avenues for funding or sponsorship here,

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Speaker 1: because you know that seems like the you know, the

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Speaker 1: logical thing to do is to try and get some

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Speaker 1: further sponsorship dollars.

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Speaker 2: Yes, well, we've had an outpouring of consideration from lots

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Speaker 2: of people in the community saying we had one bloke

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Speaker 2: saying that he'll pay the bill. But I guess it's

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Speaker 2: it's like for me personally, I think that this is

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Speaker 2: a festival that is on City of darwen Land and

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Speaker 2: we need them to get behind us. And if we

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Speaker 2: crowdsawce some funding to pay this electricity bills, like it's

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Speaker 2: saying to counsel, yes, you can screw the little community

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Speaker 2: group and charges ridiculous amounts for power. I want to

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Speaker 2: point out that we in a massive amount of generators

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Speaker 2: maybe twelve generators last year, over sixty kVA and we

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Speaker 2: power the festival on those generators. This power bill that

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Speaker 2: we've got, this is the first time we've ever got

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Speaker 2: a power bill from council. It's just over the top

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Speaker 2: and it's like if we pay it, is that you know,

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Speaker 2: justifying Council's stance and you know, allowing them to set

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Speaker 2: a precedent for us and other community groups.

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Speaker 1: Or yeah, like it's a really tricky one because I know,

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Speaker 1: even for myself when I organize, when our little committee

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Speaker 1: organizers run with Dad every Father's Day, there are different

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Speaker 1: bills or there are different fees that we do have

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Speaker 1: to pay council, you know, to be able to utilize

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Speaker 1: that area. And I know, like I feel the same.

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Speaker 1: It is tough, really tough when you're trying to organize

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Speaker 1: an event on a shoe string budget. But I just

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Speaker 1: like I sort of wonder as well though, with the council,

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Speaker 1: if they change it for you guys, do they need

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Speaker 1: to change it for everybody?

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Speaker 2: Well, the council will. This year they upped the in

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Speaker 2: kind support to fifteen thousand dollars, So they cut back

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Speaker 2: the cats by five grand to twenty thousand dollars, but

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Speaker 2: they uped the in kind to fifteen thousand dollars. We

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Speaker 2: were as a committee, we were impressed, but when we

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Speaker 2: tried to leverage that fifteen thousand dollars in kind, we couldn't.

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Speaker 2: We were I think we were lucky to get two

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Speaker 2: thousand dollars in kind out of council. So they're promising

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Speaker 2: fifteen thousand dollars in kind, delivering two thousand and then

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Speaker 2: charging us on that.

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Speaker 3: Andrew, can I ask you dodgy?

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Speaker 2: It's pretty dodgy?

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Speaker 3: Yeah, Can I ask you?

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Speaker 1: You did say in terms of councilors, like you said

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Speaker 1: that they're not able to discuss this now with you

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Speaker 1: guys or with the committee.

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Speaker 3: I mean, do you think they're being gagged? What do

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Speaker 3: you think is happening.

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Speaker 2: Oh, they've definitely been gagged. It's just isn't that. It

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Speaker 2: just sounds to me outrageous that at the community festival

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Speaker 2: we would like to communicate with our local members and

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Speaker 2: let them know what we need and what our requirements

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Speaker 2: are and what we can do. But according to the

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Speaker 2: council rules, if we have an application in with council,

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Speaker 2: we're not permitted to talk to anyone, any elected member.

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Speaker 2: We're forced to talk to the council offices. And this

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Speaker 2: is what they've done to us.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, right, Look, this is it's a tough one.

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Speaker 1: I just I really wonder where to from here, you know,

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Speaker 1: for the festival, what it means to the community and

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Speaker 1: in terms of it being able to continue on.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, well, getting back to that earlier question you asked about,

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Speaker 2: you know, maybe reducing the number of days. The reason

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Speaker 2: why we increased the number of days is because of congestion.

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Speaker 2: That was a major concern of the City of Darwin.

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Speaker 2: And you know, the traffic management plan is a very

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Speaker 2: costly part of process, and by moving it to three days,

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Speaker 2: we're able to reduce congestion and make it much safer

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Speaker 2: for you know, the community to attend, much easier, to

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Speaker 2: get a park, you much safer. So we're happy with

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Speaker 2: that three day format. The way the way forward, I

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Speaker 2: guess is you know, we're looking at hopefully renegation, renegotiating

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Speaker 2: with counsel, hoping that they'll be able to see what

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Speaker 2: we do, see what we need, and maybe they'll come

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Speaker 2: to the party. It's the balls in their court basically.

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Speaker 1: Yeah. Oh look, I feel for you guys. I know

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Speaker 1: it's a really tough juggle. Like I know, in terms

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Speaker 1: of getting that sponsorship and trying to make sure that

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Speaker 1: you're able to keep it sustainable. There'll be people listening

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Speaker 1: that are thinking, well, just go and get some more sponsors.

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Speaker 1: You've got to be commercially viable like any other festival.

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Speaker 1: But I'm hearing you like on things like you know

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Speaker 1: that traffic management and on things like those different fees

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Speaker 1: that come up, and when you talk about the vibrancy

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Speaker 1: of the Northern Territory and wanting these wonderful events to

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Speaker 1: be able to go ahead, you know, you don't want

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Speaker 1: to be stifled by bureaucratic processes and different fees and

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Speaker 1: charges that you weren't aware of.

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Speaker 2: Yes, that's true, Andrew.

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Speaker 1: I really appreciate your time this morning. Thank you very

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Speaker 1: much for having a chat with us, and please do

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Speaker 1: keep us up to date on where things are at

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Speaker 1: and you know whether it does look as it's going

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Speaker 1: to continue on or exactly what ends up happening.

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Speaker 2: Well, we hope we'll be back in twenty twenty five, Katie.

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Speaker 2: Certainly it's this festival is it's so special. You know,

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Speaker 2: the last festival we had one thousand, eight hundred local

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Speaker 2: artists showcase and that is astounding in itself for Darwin,

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Speaker 2: who's a very small little place in a really up

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Speaker 2: in the top end, so having that degree of community

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Speaker 2: participation is quite astounding. It's wonderful.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, and so many of those students and the youngsters

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Speaker 1: around the territory as well being able to take part. Andrew,

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Speaker 1: I really appreciate you chatting with me this morning. Thank

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Speaker 1: you so much for your time.

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Speaker 2: Thanks for your concerns, Katie.

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Speaker 3: Thank you