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Speaker 1: Now, plenty of us around the nation are of course wondering,

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Speaker 1: you know, what's going to be happening, well, with when

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Speaker 1: it comes to travel and with the vaccine roll out,

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Speaker 1: and when things really could get back to some kind

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Speaker 1: of normal. I know that over the weekend, unfortunately, there

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Speaker 1: were a number of people protesting around Australia. Now I

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Speaker 1: know that obviously protesting is something that you can choose

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Speaker 1: to or to not do, but in some of those

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Speaker 1: locations we're talking about people protesting where it goes against

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Speaker 1: the rules of a lockdown. Even here in the Northern

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Speaker 1: Territory we saw people protesting at Raintree Park in the

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Speaker 1: city on the weekend in those freedom rallies. But one

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Speaker 1: healthcare professional has started a petition to ensure that Australians

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Speaker 1: do indeed get vaccinated, and she joins me on the

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Speaker 1: line right now. Good morning to you, Robin Carr.

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Speaker 2: Good morning Katie. How are you going very well?

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Speaker 1: Robin, thanks so much for your time this morning. What

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Speaker 1: is the aim of this petition?

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Speaker 2: Well, I guess when New South Wales hit what is

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Speaker 2: really the second wave of COVID in Australia, myself and

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Speaker 2: my colleagues just when oh my goodness, we're in a

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Speaker 2: worse position than we were eighteen months ago. How could

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Speaker 2: this possibly be? And how are we ever going to

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Speaker 2: see the end of this? And we spend a lot

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Speaker 2: of time, I guess, winging a little bit to each

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Speaker 2: other about what people are and aren't doing, and I

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Speaker 2: just thought, you know what if people genuinely do believe

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Speaker 2: that vaccination is the solution, and our politicians are saying

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Speaker 2: that they really can't make people get vaccinated, and they

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Speaker 2: don't really want to put any kind of requirement to

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Speaker 2: get vaccinated on people because they don't feel that they

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Speaker 2: have the general support for that, I thought, well, why

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Speaker 2: not try and show them that really the majority of

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Speaker 2: people do support them and do believe that there should

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Speaker 2: be a consequence for not getting vaccinated. You don't want

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Speaker 2: to get vaccinatedbsolutely, fine, but then you have to accept

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Speaker 2: that there might be things that you can't do. And

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Speaker 2: the logical thing is that if you've vaccinated, you can

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Speaker 2: travel pretty much anywhere once we reach that magic eighty

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Speaker 2: percent number, and if you're not vaccinated, well then you

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Speaker 2: just have to stay home.

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Speaker 1: Robin, I know that the government to ease out this morning,

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Speaker 1: the Chief Minister, I think and the Health Minister out

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Speaker 1: this morning talking about those vaccine rates. Six months since

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Speaker 1: that rollout began here in the territory, we've apparently hit

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Speaker 1: I think the sixty percent on the first dose. Are

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Speaker 1: we sitting well in the Northern Territory? Do you reckon

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Speaker 1: or do we realistically need to push harder here?

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Speaker 2: Look, I think territorians have done an amazing job and

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Speaker 2: we certainly have been overwhelmed with people talking about getting

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Speaker 2: vaccinated and wanting to get vaccinated, and it's so reassuring

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Speaker 2: to see Territorians leading the way. But the reality is

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Speaker 2: if the whole country doesn't get there, it won't matter

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Speaker 2: what we do, we will still be stuck. We won't

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Speaker 2: be able to go visit our family and friends. Well's

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Speaker 2: I have a very dear friend who lost her dad

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Speaker 2: last week overseas. She couldn't go and see it. She's

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Speaker 2: not going to be able to say goodbye to him.

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Speaker 2: He couldn't get home because of the lockdowns across the

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Speaker 2: international borders. And he wasn't because he was choosing to

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Speaker 2: stay away. He was still away because he simply couldn't

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Speaker 2: get home. So when we hear businesses disintegrating, you had

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Speaker 2: the gentleman speaking about the tourism industry and the hospitality industry.

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Speaker 2: People are losing their jobs, people are losing their homes,

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Speaker 2: and yeah, we've been doing great in the Northern territory,

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Speaker 2: but we really need the whole country to be in

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Speaker 2: the one position. And the sad fact is right now

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Speaker 2: Australia is starting to get left behind. So we need

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Speaker 2: to tell our politicians that we're okay. It's them telling

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Speaker 2: us that there's a consequence not to getting vaccinated. And

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Speaker 2: everybody I've raised the issue with, not one single person

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Speaker 2: has said that's a stupid idea. It all gone. You

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Speaker 2: know what, that makes perfect thing.

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Speaker 1: I know, Robin that over the weekend there were still

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Speaker 1: people at a freedom rally on the weekend in Darwin.

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Speaker 1: There was plenty around the nation who were rallying. Some

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Speaker 1: people just don't seem to want to get the vaccine.

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Speaker 1: And you know their argument, I guess is my body,

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Speaker 1: my choice. I mean, what would you say to those

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Speaker 1: people who are out there rallying over the weekend, and

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Speaker 1: obviously you know you're what you're proposing, and what other

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Speaker 1: healthcare professionals, because it certainly you're not standing on your

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Speaker 1: own here. Other healthcare professionals are proposing, is that that

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Speaker 1: realistically everybody does go and get the vaccine. What would

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Speaker 1: you say to those who are still sort of fighting

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Speaker 1: against that.

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Speaker 2: I have to be honest, I do struggle to understand

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Speaker 2: when you look at what's happening, particularly in New South

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Speaker 2: Wales where people are literally dying every day. Young people

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Speaker 2: are in hospital on ventilators because they haven't been vaccinated.

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Speaker 2: So I do struggle, but you know, I respect their

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Speaker 2: right to their own choices about their body and if

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Speaker 2: we can get to the magic number, then what I'm

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Speaker 2: proposing we should do, which is no vaccine, no travel

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Speaker 2: anywhere outside of behind town. That would only be for

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Speaker 2: a short period of time. It wouldn't be forever. It

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Speaker 2: would just be until our community was at a point

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Speaker 2: where we could cope with those people who choose not

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Speaker 2: to get vaccinated, who then contract COVID, and we wouldn't

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Speaker 2: see our hospitals starting to drown, as is the case

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Speaker 2: in New South Wales under the load of caring for

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Speaker 2: people who are really unwell, really quickly.

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Speaker 1: So Robin, just to you know, a lot of our

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Speaker 1: listeners out there this morning will be thinking, so, what

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Speaker 1: exactly does the petition mean, so, really, what do you think,

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Speaker 1: you know, what are you calling on our pollies? I

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Speaker 1: guess to do.

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Speaker 2: I guess what I'm calling is on them to do

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Speaker 2: is one to see that the community supports them standing together,

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Speaker 2: because we have seen a fair bit of fracture between

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Speaker 2: the states and the territories, and what we want them

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Speaker 2: to do is all stand together, make a decision and

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Speaker 2: stick to it. Different rules in different places. It's so

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Speaker 2: confusing for people and so difficult to keep up with

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Speaker 2: if we're all on the same page, and if they

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Speaker 2: all went, you know, okay, let's get the majority of

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Speaker 2: the population vaccinated. Let's respect the right of those people

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Speaker 2: who don't want to get vaccinated. But there has to

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Speaker 2: be a consequence to that while we battle to get

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Speaker 2: on top of this very, very insidious disease that is

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Speaker 2: making life difficult for so many people, not just from

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Speaker 2: a health perspective, but most importantly from a mental health

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Speaker 2: perspective for some people, but also from a business perspective.

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Speaker 2: It's just the whole lack of connection with family and

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Speaker 2: friends that we're seeing and how difficult it is in

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Speaker 2: people plan weddings and they can't get married, People lose

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Speaker 2: family members. They can't say goodbye. You can't even I

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Speaker 2: can't go visit my mum and dad and I have

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Speaker 2: seen them for such a long time because they don't

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Speaker 2: live in the Northern Territory. So it's just to send

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Speaker 2: a message to the politicians that we're actually standing behind

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Speaker 2: them and with them, and we want them to stand together.

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Speaker 1: Robin. For those out there listening, you know, I know

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Speaker 1: that for our healthcare professionals, realistically, the added stress of

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Speaker 1: COVID would be quite massive, is my assumption. You know,

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Speaker 1: what has it been like in the last eighteen months

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Speaker 1: for those of you that work, you know, in health

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Speaker 1: dealing with what is always a pretty difficult job. Then

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Speaker 1: adding to that, you know, the stress of COVID and

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Speaker 1: the stress of trying to ensure that everybody stays as

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Speaker 1: healthy and safe as possible.

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Speaker 2: It's relentless and it's exhausting, and we all every time

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Speaker 2: we hear there's another outbreak or another lockdown, or there's

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Speaker 2: another hot spot or there's another public exposure site, we

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Speaker 2: all just go, oh my goodness, I don't think we

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Speaker 2: can do this again. But everybody picks themselves up and

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Speaker 2: they push on, and I guess for all of us. Now,

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Speaker 2: we're really tired. It's been eighteen months and we just

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Speaker 2: would like to see some light at the end of

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Speaker 2: the tunnel that's not an oncoming train. So I know

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Speaker 2: my colleagues rally every single time they have to, but

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Speaker 2: it's getting harder to do that. There's just so much

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Speaker 2: you can do before it really starts to have an

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Speaker 2: impact on your own health and your own mental health.

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Speaker 1: Now, Robin, where can people go if they are out

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Speaker 1: there listening this morning and think, do you know what

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Speaker 1: I do want to sign that petition? Where can they

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Speaker 1: go to?

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Speaker 2: Well, it's a change dot org petition, which is so

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Speaker 2: it's very easy to get to. So it's for www

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Speaker 2: dot change dot org forward slash, no Vaccine, no.

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Speaker 1: Travel, Robin Carl, we always appreciate your time. Thank you

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Speaker 1: very much for having a chat with us this morning.

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Speaker 2: Thanks Katie, and thanks for giving me the opportunity to

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Speaker 2: let people know that we can actually change things and

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Speaker 2: we can make a difference while we still respect everybody's

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Speaker 2: choice to do what they want with their own bodies.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, good on you, Robin, Thank you. I appreciate your

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Speaker 1: time this morning.

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Speaker 2: Thanks Katie,