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Speaker 1: Now a bit of confusion at the early voting centers

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Speaker 1: yesterday with some candidates getting in contact with me to

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Speaker 1: say that they were advised yesterday morning that they couldn't

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Speaker 1: hand out how to vote cards at Darwin City council facilities,

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Speaker 1: so the Entertainment Center and also Casarina Library. Now joining

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Speaker 1: us on the show is the CEO of the City

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Speaker 1: of Darwin, Simone Saunders.

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Speaker 2: Good morning to you morning Katie.

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Speaker 1: Now, Simone, what is the situation at the early voting

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Speaker 1: centers in terms of can candidates hand out how to

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Speaker 1: vote cards at council you know locations or not? So?

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Speaker 2: City of Darwin's got two early voting centers. One's the

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Speaker 2: Darwin Entertainment Center and one is the Casharina Library and

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Speaker 2: at both those City of Darwen premises there is no

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Speaker 2: campaigning during the early voting period. There will be campaigning

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Speaker 2: on election daying, but councils made the decision that there's

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Speaker 2: no campaigning during early voting period. And this is the

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Speaker 2: same as the same decision council made in twenty twenty

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Speaker 2: one no campaigning in early voting and also for the

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Speaker 2: previous couple of council by elections, the same premise was used.

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Speaker 1: So why has the council made that decision.

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Speaker 2: It's probably really it's a decision that council made so members,

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Speaker 2: so I can't comment more in that space, but some

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Speaker 2: of the considerations may be that, you know, the library premises,

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Speaker 2: there's a lot of traffic, there's a lot of people

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Speaker 2: still using the library over this period of time, and

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Speaker 2: we want residents to be able to use the library

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Speaker 2: without having to be in that campaigning space with Darwin

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Speaker 2: Entertainment Center. Also, there's functions on there. I believe there's

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Speaker 2: a function on there today, so a lot of traffic

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Speaker 2: that comes in and out of there as well, potentially

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Speaker 2: blocking those those access ways.

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Speaker 1: But it's a different situation, isn't it. For the Northern

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Speaker 1: Territory election and also the federal election. People can campaign

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Speaker 1: for those. I mean, I know that you can't speak

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Speaker 1: for elected members, but I guess it's a little bit

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Speaker 1: ironic that the elected members you know, have made that

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Speaker 1: decision and those that have put their hand up then

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Speaker 1: to run for counselors saying that it's unfair because those

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Speaker 1: that are you know, that have previously been in those

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Speaker 1: positions have got an unfair advantage.

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Speaker 2: And It probably depends where that the premises are. So

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Speaker 2: these are both City of Darwen premises. Federal election. For instance,

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Speaker 2: the old Sprout building in Smith Street was the federal

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Speaker 2: election early voting center in town. And as you would see,

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Speaker 2: there was outside that there was where was campaigning as

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Speaker 2: part of that not necessarily City of Darwen trup front.

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Speaker 2: The verge was and during that time it was an

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Speaker 2: area that was authorized for campaigning. That building was only

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Speaker 2: being used though for elections, and there wasn't any alternative

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Speaker 2: traffic accessing.

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Speaker 1: At the moment. I mean, can like, can those candidates

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Speaker 1: stand on the verge or where can they Where's the

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Speaker 1: closest they can stand.

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Speaker 2: So the rangers have been educating people yesterday and they've

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Speaker 2: advised candidates. You might see there's some aframes across the

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Speaker 2: road at noodle House. They can absolutely stand over there.

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Speaker 2: And also it casually in a line. There's a down

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Speaker 2: the corner, there's like a mound, and rangers will be

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Speaker 2: educating people that they can gather there and not at

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Speaker 2: the actual front of the library.

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Speaker 1: So I know the other concern yesterday morning with some

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Speaker 1: of the people that have put their hand up is

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Speaker 1: that they were expecting that there was going to be

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Speaker 1: a table where they'd be able to have their how

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Speaker 1: to vote cards. That's something that it sees on the

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Speaker 1: website of those tables now up, because I don't think

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Speaker 1: they were yesterday when things actually first got underway.

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Speaker 2: So previously they're facilitated tables. They were done by the

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Speaker 2: Electoral Commission. The Electoral Commission at this election has said no,

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Speaker 2: we're not going to facilitate a table and elected members.

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Speaker 2: So again council said no, we'd like to facilitate a table. Yesterday,

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Speaker 2: Unfortunately it was due to open and the table set

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Speaker 2: up eight o'clock. We had a flat battery in the

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Speaker 2: city of Darwin, Van and the team didn't get out there.

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Speaker 2: They didn't get out there till just after nine. But

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Speaker 2: I can tell you it was set up at eight

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Speaker 2: o'clock this morning because I actually went to the library

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Speaker 2: myself it's not far from my house, yep, and facilitated

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Speaker 2: that with the library center and will be those tables

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Speaker 2: will there. They've got the d our flyers of candidates

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Speaker 2: and there's one at the Darwin Entertainment Center and also

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Speaker 2: at Casarina Library.

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Speaker 1: Look, I know that I had one at least one

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Speaker 1: listener say yesterday, you know who's running this campaign or

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Speaker 1: who's running this election, the Northern Territory Electoral Commission or

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Speaker 1: the City of Darwin. I mean, what do you say

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Speaker 1: to anybody listening this morning who thinks the City of

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Speaker 1: Darwin's being a bit over zealous with you know, with

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Speaker 1: stopping people from having those how to vote cards. I

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Speaker 1: know it's the previous elected members that have made that decision,

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Speaker 1: but unfortunately for you, I suppose you're the one in

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Speaker 1: here having to answer those questions this morning.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I no, that's right. So from political perspective, I

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Speaker 2: can't answer those questions. So what City of Darwen rangers

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Speaker 2: need to do and myself, we need to there's been

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Speaker 2: a decision made by council and we need to enforce

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Speaker 2: and make sure that you know, campaigning happens in accordance

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Speaker 2: with those you know, those things that have been that

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Speaker 2: have been outlined. And also we see this at other premises.

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Speaker 2: So you might see at the shopping center for instance,

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Speaker 2: and we've seen that before. There's no campaigning within so

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Speaker 2: shopping centers. So it's a similar concept. And like I said,

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Speaker 2: it was the same for the twenty twenty one election

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Speaker 2: and also for the by election, so nothing's changed with

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Speaker 2: the approach of counsel in that regard.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, look, I can see even by the tech s

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Speaker 1: line this morning that you know that people are still

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Speaker 1: pretty concerned by it. They're sort of questioning why it's

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Speaker 1: okay for a Northern Territory election and not the federal

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Speaker 1: election I mean sorry, and the federal election, but not

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Speaker 1: the local council election. I mean, Simons. Some will be thinking,

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Speaker 1: you're the CEO. You know, you've got to obviously you've

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Speaker 1: got to carry out whatever the elected members choose, but

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Speaker 1: you know, like they're not happy about it is I

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Speaker 1: guess the point that I'm trying to make.

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Speaker 2: Well, I thought I think there might be mixed views.

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Speaker 2: I've had mixed views from candidates walking past it to

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Speaker 2: said great, I can get into the library. And there

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Speaker 2: has been previous negative feedback where people don't want to

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Speaker 2: be harassed going to particular places. At the same time,

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Speaker 2: part of the whole political process is being able to campaign,

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Speaker 2: so I'd encourage, you know, people to talk to talk

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Speaker 2: to the candidates in Apergarde. I really just can't. I

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Speaker 2: can't step into that space. We've just got to follow

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Speaker 2: this decision made.

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Speaker 1: Hey, there's a few bits and pieces coming through from

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Speaker 1: our listeners this morning and throughout the week. We know

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Speaker 1: that the Shoal Bay Open Day is being held on

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Speaker 1: the seventeenth of August. I know the community really liked

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Speaker 1: the Shoal Bay Open Day, so it's this Sunday, isn't

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Speaker 1: it correct?

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Speaker 2: So this Sunday the seventeenth out at Schole Bay from

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Speaker 2: nine am to twelve noon, and it was really really

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Speaker 2: popular last year. It was the first time we'd run it,

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Speaker 2: and we really encourage people to come out. We process

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Speaker 2: over two hundred thousand tons of waste annually at Shoal Bay,

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Speaker 2: and there's a opportunity to come out, have a sausage sizzle.

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Speaker 2: The best piece though, you want to get out there,

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Speaker 2: and there's tours. So there's a twenty minute tour that

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Speaker 2: will take people actually onto the landfill site, have a

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Speaker 2: look at the state of the artleek tape processing that's

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Speaker 2: out there, that the ponds, and also the start of

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Speaker 2: our next that's being out there. So visit the education

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Speaker 2: shop while you're there, and the Reviver store.

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Speaker 1: Now, someone had messaged through and said, Hi, Katie, I

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Speaker 1: had calls to go to the shol Bay Tip at

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Speaker 1: the weekend, and most noticeable was that there's been a

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Speaker 1: new electronic entry box installed at the boomgate. Can you

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Speaker 1: please ask the CEO or representative from council if the

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Speaker 1: new entry condition is specifically to monitor the number of

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Speaker 1: times each local resident with a FORB enters the tip,

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Speaker 1: as to move to ultimately limit the number of free

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Speaker 1: visits locals will be permitted to access the tip.

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Speaker 2: So there is absolutely a new entry board when you

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Speaker 2: come in into Shoal Bay, and it still works on

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Speaker 2: the same fob. You'll sit down the bottom. You just

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Speaker 2: use exactly the same flop fob and ticket. So in

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Speaker 2: the current system that we had the little wobbly box

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Speaker 2: that you used to kind of hit, we could monitor

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Speaker 2: how many visits on fob, So nothing's changed in the

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Speaker 2: back end of the system. It's exactly the same. We

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Speaker 2: knew who'd come in two hundred and fifty times, and

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Speaker 2: we knew who'd come in twelve times a year, so

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Speaker 2: nothing's changed in that regard.

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Speaker 1: So you're not going to be limiting people's number of

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Speaker 1: visits to the dump.

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Speaker 2: That that's not within the within the municipal plan for

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Speaker 2: this year, and it's not on the agenda as far

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Speaker 2: as I know from elected members, But if anybody had

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Speaker 2: been out there, you would have noticed sometimes your fob,

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Speaker 2: even though it was it wouldn't work and the boomgate

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Speaker 2: would take a long time. So that's why we've got

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Speaker 2: the new tech out there, because the old tech wasn't

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Speaker 2: working well, so a lot quicker now. Also there's an

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Speaker 2: electronic board, so if there's any particular messages that we

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Speaker 2: need to put on that board, we can put them

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Speaker 2: on as you're entering the facility as well. So just

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Speaker 2: purely just an upgraded front end to that old wobbly box.

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Speaker 1: Say, another quick question from Paul Katie, can you please

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Speaker 1: ask the City of Darwin CEO will the property developers

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Speaker 1: be paying rates for the top ten floors of the

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Speaker 1: new council building. Second question, how's the maintenance of the

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Speaker 1: building being split between the two partners of the property questions?

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Speaker 2: Paul, Yeah, So the ownership arrangement for the building is

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Speaker 2: that the City of Darwin will own the bottom own

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Speaker 2: a create the bottom ten floors besides fifty car parks

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Speaker 2: that will be owned and operated by DECO, and the

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Speaker 2: top ten floors are all deco, so same as any

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Speaker 2: other tenant in town. Once the space is there, they

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Speaker 2: will pay rates to the City of Darwin completely independently.

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Speaker 2: As far as the actual building, there'll be maintenance the top,

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Speaker 2: you know, the top part of the building will be

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Speaker 2: maintained by deco bottom, bass and any common areas as

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Speaker 2: in any body corporate arrangement would be would be joint

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Speaker 2: joint spaces that will be maintained.

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Speaker 1: Hey, before I let you go, I know the City

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Speaker 1: of Darwin has now completed the infrastructure upgrades at Aloa Oval.

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Speaker 1: What exactly what work has has been completed and what

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Speaker 1: will people see when they head out that way.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, so City of Darwen took recently the Alowa Oval

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Speaker 2: back CD You've had it for many, many years and

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Speaker 2: as a result of that we've seen upgrading to the

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Speaker 2: irrigation infrastructure there, mainly a water tank that's been installed

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Speaker 2: out there, and also some improvements to the playing surface

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Speaker 2: out there. So really just the you know, the upgrading

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Speaker 2: irrigation really changes the viability the playing surface out there

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Speaker 2: as well.

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Speaker 1: And does it mean that there'll be sort of does

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Speaker 1: sporting clubs currently use it or will they potentially be

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Speaker 1: able to Now, yes.

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Speaker 2: Sporting clubs can use it and it's a fantastic, fantastic facilinovle.

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Speaker 2: One of the challenges sometimes there is the backing onto

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Speaker 2: the mosquitos. So it's one of those future considerations I

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Speaker 2: think for council potentially you know, fogging or something in

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Speaker 2: that area. We know we're short of ovals in space,

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Speaker 2: so again another another great space with lots of parking

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Speaker 2: and lots of access.

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Speaker 1: Well, this is the thing, right if we're able to

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Speaker 1: use it, and if we're able to utilize it in

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Speaker 1: different ways for different sports, that's surely a great thing.

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Speaker 1: But what's the issue there's heaps of mosquitoes.

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Speaker 2: Is it's generally mosquitos and midges in that area because

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Speaker 2: of the stagnant kind of along the back, and so

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Speaker 2: it's something that's sort of I guess on the future

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Speaker 2: radar and consideration for council.

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Speaker 1: Yep, well some minds Saunders see of the City of

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Speaker 1: Daral and good to catch up with you this morning.

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Speaker 1: Thank you very much for your time.

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Speaker 2: Thanks Katie,