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Speaker 1: As we know, the Federal Opposition leader Well has been

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Speaker 1: accused of using Aboriginal children as a political football, I

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Speaker 1: mean new calls for a royal commission. Peter Dutton has

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Speaker 1: called for a royal commission to examine child sexual abuse

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Speaker 1: in Indigenous communities. It comes a week after his visit

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Speaker 1: to Alice Springs and he was, as I understand, traveling

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Speaker 1: with Senator for the Northern Territory. Just enter Price now.

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Speaker 1: Senator Price joins me on the line right now. Good

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Speaker 1: morning to you, Senator.

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Speaker 2: Good morning Katie. How are you yeah, really good?

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Speaker 1: Thank you for your time this morning. Now, Senator, do

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Speaker 1: you know what prompted these calls from Peter Dutton?

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Speaker 2: So during Well, Peter Dutton was obviously in the territory

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Speaker 2: in Alice Springs and in Darwin with me the other week,

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Speaker 2: and we had conversations with town camp members, residents as

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Speaker 2: well as those who were the parents of Indigenous kids.

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Speaker 2: I took them to Eukarinia School and talked about the

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Speaker 2: need to support some of our most vulnerable kids in

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Speaker 2: the community, who you know, come from circumstances that are

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Speaker 2: very dysfunctional. So he got to hear firsthand a lot

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Speaker 2: of the issues that a lot of our kids are

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Speaker 2: currently faced with the fact that when it comes to

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Speaker 2: the care of Indigenous kids, the usually the priority used

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Speaker 2: to put them back into dysfunctional situations that is dangerous

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Speaker 2: for them. And we heard stories from foster care is

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Speaker 2: about how kids have been put back into kinship care

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Speaker 2: retraumatized because all they've known all their life is a

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Speaker 2: safetime environment because they've been put into care since there

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Speaker 2: were babies. And then at the age of seven or eight,

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Speaker 2: lehuned his family and then put back into communities that

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Speaker 2: aren't providing for them and then retraumatized and you know,

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Speaker 2: I had to endure au again. And then it's not

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Speaker 2: until that's happened again, even against you know, when agencies

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Speaker 2: take children away against the advice of child psychologists, pediatricians

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Speaker 2: and all the experts who they do not take these

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Speaker 2: children away and put them back in dysfunctional circumstances, and

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Speaker 2: then again they're they're you know that they experience abuse.

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Speaker 2: So then they're taken back out of those circumstances and

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Speaker 2: back to the foster care parents. We heard a number

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Speaker 2: of those sorts of stories where Abaginal kids are being

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Speaker 2: failed their human rights are not being upheld. And as

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Speaker 2: we know, we have the highest rates of sexual abuse

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Speaker 2: amongst our kids in the nation, in the Northern Territory

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Speaker 2: and we need to be able to address this in

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Speaker 2: a meaningful way.

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Speaker 1: Now, Senator, I know that the Minister of a Territory

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Speaker 1: family is Kate Warden. She was on the show on

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Speaker 1: Friday for the week that was and she had said

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Speaker 1: that a royal commission is not required. She pushed for

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Speaker 1: the opposition leader and yourself to show the evidence of

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Speaker 1: child's abuse. Do you have that evidence.

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Speaker 2: I've got plenty of evidence. I mean, if she wants

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Speaker 2: to ignore the statistics that the evidence is already been.

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Speaker 2: You know, the statistics tell us we have the highest

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Speaker 2: rates of STIs within our kids, child sexual abuse rates,

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Speaker 2: we have the highest rates of DV and dysfunctional homes.

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Speaker 2: And if she's trying to tell us that the situation

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Speaker 2: is perfectly fine and she's got it all in hand

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Speaker 2: while she's kidding herself. Now, she's not related to the

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Speaker 2: victims that I'm related to. You know, there was an

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Speaker 2: there was an article from my niece who was raped

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Speaker 2: by her own father in a household as a community

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Speaker 2: of Yundermusi's a series of articles in The Australians about

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Speaker 2: her speaking out about the abuse that she endured her auntie,

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Speaker 2: then being hit in the head at the primary school

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Speaker 2: with an acts my cousin. You know, Kate Warden cannot

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Speaker 2: stand there and tell us that this is about politicization

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Speaker 2: of an issue because she's more concerned about the fact

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Speaker 2: that she's not doing her job right. This is about

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Speaker 2: upholding the human rights of Australian children who are treated

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Speaker 2: differently on the basis of their heritage and their race,

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Speaker 2: and it's got to stop.

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Speaker 1: She was pretty luck. She was scathing on the show

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Speaker 1: on Friday. She had said that these calls by the

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Speaker 1: Opposition leader were disingenuous and you know I had really

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Speaker 1: called on him to show the evidence. Senator, do you,

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Speaker 1: I mean, do you personally think that there does need

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Speaker 1: to be a royal commission into this?

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Speaker 2: Absolutely there needs to be a royal commission. A royal

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Speaker 2: commission into this is over due. You know, we have

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Speaker 2: we have a situation where our police feel like their

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Speaker 2: hands are tired to do anything to support children in

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Speaker 2: these communities. There's an issue going on within our police

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Speaker 2: force and that's you know, you don't have to you

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Speaker 2: don't have day of half a brain to understand that

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Speaker 2: that's going on in the Northern Territory everyday. Territorians can

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Speaker 2: see that that's the case. And the only reason she

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Speaker 2: is feeling threatened because of this. I mean, she's clearly

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Speaker 2: not putting the children's priorities before her own. She's feeling

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Speaker 2: threatened because this speaks to her her insecurities around the

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Speaker 2: job that she's doing. No one's called her out, no

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Speaker 2: one's had to go at her. So why would she

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Speaker 2: react in this way other than she's feeling insecure about

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Speaker 2: letting these kids down in her position.

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Speaker 1: Clearly, Senator, what would you say to anybody out there

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Speaker 1: listening this morning who does feel as though this is

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Speaker 1: a situation where it's Aboriginal children being used as a

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Speaker 1: political football.

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Speaker 2: I'd say, pully your bloody heads in, because that is

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Speaker 2: the last thing that is going on right now. I've

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Speaker 2: lived my life connected to these communities. I have worked

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Speaker 2: hard so that people in positions power might actually listen

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Speaker 2: to those vulnerable voices. Now that's what Peter Dutton did.

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Speaker 2: He came to the territory. He spoke to residents of

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Speaker 2: town camps. He didn't speak to organizations that were labor aligned.

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Speaker 2: He spoke to people on the ground. He spoke to

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Speaker 2: members of the Stolen Generation who said to him, our

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Speaker 2: circumstances were completely different. The kids now are being neglected

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Speaker 2: and they need to be removed to be able to

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Speaker 2: be protected from the circumstances that they're in. I mean,

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Speaker 2: you know, he saw the kids running around in our

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Speaker 2: streets at night. Kids as young as five should not

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Speaker 2: be running around in our streets at night. If that's

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Speaker 2: not a situation of neglect, and I don't know what is,

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Speaker 2: Kate Warden must be walking around with her eyes closed.

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Speaker 1: Just you know, for so many of us that maybe

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Speaker 1: live up here in Darwin. Obviously we see, you know,

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Speaker 1: the the side effects I guess you'd say, of some

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Speaker 1: of these issues in that we see youth crime, we

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Speaker 1: see you know, disadvantage, we see some of the you know,

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Speaker 1: the side effects. But you know who our listeners this morning,

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Speaker 1: what it is like and why this is, in your opinion,

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Speaker 1: so important that there is a royal commission.

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Speaker 2: Absolutely, I mean it's horrific any child who is who

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Speaker 2: experiences neglect and abuse and doesn't have the opportunity to

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Speaker 2: fulfill their education, regardless of their heritage is more likely

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Speaker 2: to end up in castle rapers. We have our jails

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Speaker 2: are full of Indigenous Australians and there are those who

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Speaker 2: cry out about the faith that this is so well,

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Speaker 2: we have to actually, we have to look at the causes.

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Speaker 2: We have to be you know, work in in ways

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Speaker 2: to prevent that from occurring from the get go, which

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Speaker 2: means protecting vulnerable children. And everybody knows that in the territory,

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Speaker 2: I mean territorians know exactly what's going on. There are

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Speaker 2: people black, white, brindle who have been involved in the

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Speaker 2: territory as foster parents, as frontline workers, as people working

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Speaker 2: and living in communities who have felt silenced to speak

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Speaker 2: out and say anything for fear of being called racist,

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Speaker 2: for fear of being kicked out of communities, because they're

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Speaker 2: exposing what the truth is and I won't have it anymore.

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Speaker 2: And because it is the most vulnerable who are suffering

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Speaker 2: that are on our streets that are filling up the jails,

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Speaker 2: and we have to actually, we have to we have

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Speaker 2: to stop this from happening from the root cause.

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Speaker 1: And do you reckon that, you know, if this happens,

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Speaker 1: do you think that if there is a Royal Commission,

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Speaker 1: you know, into child sexual abuse in Indigenous communities. Do

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Speaker 1: you think that we will see some action? I guess

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Speaker 1: that's always you know, that's always a bit of a

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Speaker 1: concern when there is a Royal Commission that there is

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Speaker 1: more talk, you know, there's more uncovering of some really

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Speaker 1: serious issues, but then it kind of seems sometimes like,

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Speaker 1: you know, like a lot of money is spent and

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Speaker 1: there isn't a huge amount of outcome afterwards.

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Speaker 2: Well, there was a lot uncovered into the Royal Commission

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Speaker 2: into institutionalized child sexual abuse, and those that had suffered

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Speaker 2: had the opportunity to tell their stories and have their

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Speaker 2: voices heard and to be acknowledged. You know, it's four

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Speaker 2: years since that apology. There are those who have been

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Speaker 2: compensated as a result, and it's drawn a line in

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Speaker 2: the sand to say that this is unacceptable and won't

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Speaker 2: happen again going forward into the future. As long as

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Speaker 2: I'm in a position where I can be heard on

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Speaker 2: behalf of these vulnerable, I will fight tooth and nail

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Speaker 2: to ensure the right thing is done so that these

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Speaker 2: atrocities don't continue to occur on anybody's watch. And that's

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Speaker 2: what I'm there for I'm there to fight for this,

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Speaker 2: so as long as there's breath in my lungs, that's

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Speaker 2: what I'll be doing.

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Speaker 1: Well, Senator for the Northern Territory, Just Enterprise. I always

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Speaker 1: appreciate your time. Thank you very much for having a

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Speaker 1: chat with me this morning.

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Speaker 2: Thank you very much for having me Katie.

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Speaker 1: Thank you