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Speaker 1: We do know, or you might recall, that the Northern

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Speaker 1: Territory government's moving ahead with proposed changes to trespass laws

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Speaker 1: which would see tougher penalties introduced and greater power given

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Speaker 1: to police to enforce band notices. It is a move

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Speaker 1: that the Union for Businesses and Shop Employees has been

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Speaker 1: pushing for for quite some time. Now. Joining me in

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Speaker 1: the studio to talk a little bit more about this

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Speaker 1: is the Shop Distributed and Allied Employees Association NT Director

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Speaker 1: Schlock Shama. Good morning to your Shlock.

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Speaker 2: Good morning Katie.

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Speaker 1: Good to have you on the show. Now, before I

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Speaker 1: get to the trespass changes, I do want to ask

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Speaker 1: you over the weekend, we've obviously heard from Casarina Square

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Speaker 1: that they're going to be banning school students from today

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Speaker 1: right up until close a business tomorrow afternoon as a

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Speaker 1: result of well up to one hundred kids basically running

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Speaker 1: a mark in the shopping center. Schlock, what are your

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Speaker 1: members telling you?

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Speaker 2: Look, I think a majority of our members will deplorge

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Speaker 2: Casarina Square for the action they've taken. There has been

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Speaker 2: a noticeable increase and troublemakers wandering through the shopping center,

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Speaker 2: anything from foul language being held to our members to

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Speaker 2: you know, fights in stores, and I mean the impact

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Speaker 2: that that has on our members is immeasurable. I mean,

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Speaker 2: nobody wants to go to work and witness some of

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Speaker 2: the stuff that our members are witnessing. So look, we

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Speaker 2: do applaud Casine Square for the steps that they're taking

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Speaker 2: to better protect our workers in the center.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I really hope it makes a difference, because it

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Speaker 1: must be like, it must be tough for some of

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Speaker 1: those workers then going to work. You know, we know

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Speaker 1: that there's lots of young people that work in retail

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Speaker 1: as well. It can be their part time job or

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Speaker 1: it can be a full time job obviously each and

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Speaker 1: every day, but having to deal with that can be

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Speaker 1: quite frightening.

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Speaker 2: Look, it's incredibly confronting for our members. Look, they've had

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Speaker 2: a tough three years from you know, panic buying to

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Speaker 2: lockdowns to the ever present danger of COVID running through supermarkets,

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Speaker 2: and to have this on top of that, it's just

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Speaker 2: nuts saying I feel for the people working in retail,

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Speaker 2: especially in Cashirina Square, just because they are having to

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Speaker 2: see stuff nobody should have a witness at work.

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Speaker 1: How frequently would you say that members are sort of

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Speaker 1: coming to you guys and saying that they've been abused

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Speaker 1: or that something has happened, like, is it pretty regular?

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Speaker 2: Look, it is quite regular. I mean every time one

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Speaker 2: of our organizers does a visit to one of our

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Speaker 2: major sites, they will come back with a new story

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Speaker 2: of you know, a member that was being racially abused,

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Speaker 2: spat on, had something thrown with them, and otherwise is

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Speaker 2: feeling sorry and otherwise feeling a little bit unsafe at work.

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Speaker 2: So it is a fairly frugent occurrence that we do

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Speaker 2: get feedback from a members saying that what's happening in

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Speaker 2: store isn't great.

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Speaker 1: Now. One of the things that the Northern Territory Government

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Speaker 1: is moving ahead with, of course, is these proposed changes

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Speaker 1: to trespass laws, hoping you know that those tougher penalties

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Speaker 1: introduced will mean that you know that it might make

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Speaker 1: some change in this space if passed. How would these

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Speaker 1: changes work in a practical sense from your perspective?

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Speaker 2: Look, firstly, look, we welcome the changes that announced by

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Speaker 2: the Northern Territory Government. It's great to see that they

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Speaker 2: have prioritized the safety of our members by bringing them forward.

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Speaker 2: And the first sitting week of Parliament. Look, I mean

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Speaker 2: the issue with the Trespassed Act was was that it

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Speaker 2: was previously an impractical act, like store owners and police

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Speaker 2: didn't really have confidence in it. People didn't know, you know,

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Speaker 2: how to properly serve a trespass notice on somebody, and

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Speaker 2: the effect of that was was that it wasn't being

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Speaker 2: utilized at all. What the anti government is doing as

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Speaker 2: we understand it, and we do have a formal briefing

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Speaker 2: on this later in the week. They are clearing the

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Speaker 2: ambiguity up on the act. They're clearing up you know,

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Speaker 2: who can serve a notice, you know, can security serve

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Speaker 2: and notice. And more importantly, we're hoping that it will

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Speaker 2: give you police the confidence to actually utilize it a

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Speaker 2: bit more and take enforcement action. We know that police

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Speaker 2: can't be everywhere, we know they're strutch pretty thin thin

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Speaker 2: right now, but we're hopeful that it will mean that,

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Speaker 2: you know, those people who do go into supermarkets and

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Speaker 2: regularly abuse individuals will can now be removed. And more importantly,

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Speaker 2: when they are going into a retail outlet for the

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Speaker 2: purpose of abusing somebody, that they can you know that

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Speaker 2: more action can be taken against that. That can be

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Speaker 2: you know, in some cases stop before they go in.

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Speaker 1: Well, and that was one of the things as well

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Speaker 1: that I was wondering, is is thee for sort of

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Speaker 1: employees to be able to issue a trespass notice as well?

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Speaker 1: Or how's it going to work? And I guess that's

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Speaker 1: what you're going to be waiting to be briefed on.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, Look, as we understand it, with the changes, it

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Speaker 2: will broaden the scope of who can actually issue a

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Speaker 2: trespass notice obviously. You know in a supermarket setting, there's

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Speaker 2: always confusion around you know, if the store manager or

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Speaker 2: if you know, the officer in charges and around who

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Speaker 2: can actually do it. And as we understand it, the

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Speaker 2: Act will clear up some of that confusion, so it

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Speaker 2: will be easier for businesses to take matters into their

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Speaker 2: own hands and issue those notices on those people that

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Speaker 2: come into cause trouble in store schlock.

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Speaker 1: Are these fines going to be a big enough deturrent?

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Speaker 1: I mean there's sort of been that argument as well,

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Speaker 1: that you know, you can issue somebody a fine, but

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Speaker 1: are they actually going to pay it? All that kind

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Speaker 1: of thing.

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Speaker 2: Look, we're keeny to see how the Act obviously goes.

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Speaker 2: This is the biggest change to the act pretty much

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Speaker 2: since its inception. Look, I will never un stand people

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Speaker 2: who go into the store with the with the purpose

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Speaker 2: of abusing a retail worker. So look, well we'll have

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Speaker 2: to wait and see whether or not the fines are

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Speaker 2: big enough to turrent, but we certainly think that, you know,

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Speaker 2: the new finds and measures are a step in the

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Speaker 2: right direction, a shock.

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Speaker 1: Really, what have your members been saying to you. I mean,

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Speaker 1: obviously we've spoken about Casuarina, But what have they been

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Speaker 1: saying to you over the last few months or in

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Speaker 1: recent times. Do they feel us though some of that

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Speaker 1: anti social behavior and some of what they're dealing with

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Speaker 1: is getting worse or what do they think?

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Speaker 2: Look, the feedback up and down the highway from obviously Alice, Catherine, Nolan, Boyan,

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Speaker 2: even Darwin has been that year of things. They have

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Speaker 2: seen an uptick in recent months, especially in those incidents

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Speaker 2: where you know they have been you know, physically assaulted

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Speaker 2: and verbally abused. It's terrible to see. I mean, like

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Speaker 2: I said, these are the workers that you know had

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Speaker 2: to carry us during COVID. These are these are the

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Speaker 2: workers that didn't have the opportunity to work from home.

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Speaker 2: They had to go in every day and risk COVID

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Speaker 2: spreading throughout their workplace, and it's just it's disgraceful some

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Speaker 2: of some of the behavior winessing inside of our supermarkets.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, it's not good. It's not good at all. And

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Speaker 1: I do feel for those employees in Alice Springs as well,

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Speaker 1: how they tracking along over the last week or so.

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Speaker 2: Look, it has been tough for them. We do have

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Speaker 2: organizers there right now who are chatting to the workers

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Speaker 2: down there, and I'll obviously be touching base on our

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Speaker 2: organizers to see how they go. But you know, the

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Speaker 2: members that we have, they love the work they do.

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Speaker 2: They love you know, they love serving the community and

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Speaker 2: making sure that you know, people have food on their tables,

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Speaker 2: and you know, we're able to get the essential goods

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Speaker 2: that they have. But one thing we are concerned about

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Speaker 2: is that if things don't get any better, that these

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Speaker 2: people will leave the workforce. And you know, retail hasn't

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Speaker 2: been immune to the labor shortages that we've seen in

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Speaker 2: every other industry, and it's going to be hard for

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Speaker 2: supermarkets to recruit stuff if things don't get better.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, spot on, Like, you don't want to lose these

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Speaker 1: people particularly in places like Central Australia, even here in Darwin.

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Speaker 1: If you've got great employees, you want to be able

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Speaker 1: to keep them absolutely, you know you want them to

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Speaker 1: stay for as long as possible.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, no, absolutely, And you know, like I worked in

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Speaker 2: retail as a kid. You know, I want to see

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Speaker 2: you know, other young territories entering the workforce and you know,

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Speaker 2: getting into retail and you know having the same experiences

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Speaker 2: that I did. But obviously, you know, if the behavior

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Speaker 2: within stores doesn't improve, I think supermarkets will struggle to

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Speaker 2: track staff.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I reckon your spot on Well SCHLOCKSHAMA, the Union,

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Speaker 1: well the Shop Distributive and Allied Employees Association NT director

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Speaker 1: really appreciate you coming in this morning. Thanks so much

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Speaker 1: for your time.

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Speaker 2: Thanks Katie,