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Speaker 1: And joining me in the studio right now is Ash Garner. Now.

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Speaker 2: Ash is the current president of the king ash Bay

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Speaker 2: Fishing Club, which has got eight hundred and fifty financial members.

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Speaker 2: Also owns king ash Bay Lodge, Northern Territory coastal fishing

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Speaker 2: charters and they lease commercial mud crab licenses ancillary business.

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Speaker 1: Now joining me is Ash. Good morning to you.

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Speaker 3: Good morning Katie.

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Speaker 1: Now Ash, for those out.

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Speaker 2: There listening this morning that aren't one hundred percent sure

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Speaker 2: where king ash Bay Fishing Club where you guys are located,

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Speaker 2: where is it exactly?

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Speaker 3: Yeah, we're about one thousand kilometers to the south east

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Speaker 3: of Darwin in the Gulf of Carpentier, not far from

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Speaker 3: the Queensland border really on the MacArthur River, so people

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Speaker 3: will be familiar with MacArthur Vermine. So we're just downstream

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Speaker 3: from MacArthur Vermine and just past Borol.

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Speaker 1: So eight hundred and fifty financial members.

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Speaker 2: That seems like a bloody big club, to put it bluntly.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, we are quite big, and that's you know, we're

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Speaker 3: just over one hundred and fifty financial members at the

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Speaker 3: moment and generally speaking, only one person out of a

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Speaker 3: couple will become at an actual financial member of the club,

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Speaker 3: so you can nearly double that number in terms of

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Speaker 3: our actual membership as well as you know, we have

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Speaker 3: several hundred thousand bed night visitors per year. You know,

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Speaker 3: in the peak of the season we'd have upwards of

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Speaker 3: about six hundred and fifty people on site goodness me.

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Speaker 2: So it's certainly a very popular location now as talk

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Speaker 2: us through where things are at. Firstly for the club,

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Speaker 2: when you talk about the legislation that passed Parliament last.

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Speaker 3: Week, well, our main concern, CAD is is that not

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Speaker 3: specifically the legislation has just been passed, but the way

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Speaker 3: in which it was passed. You know, we've heard from

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Speaker 3: other people like the Seafood Council and AFANT and you know,

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Speaker 3: as they've both alluded to, nobody's been spoken to about

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Speaker 3: this by government and it's just sort of happened. And

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Speaker 3: our concern is if there's another trench of amendments to

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Speaker 3: the Act is what will they be and what consultation

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Speaker 3: will happen before a pass through Parliament? And not only that,

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Speaker 3: but why isn't it the Fisheries Minister dealing with these

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Speaker 3: changes to the Fisheries Act rather than the Minister for

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Speaker 3: absinal Affairs, And why do.

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Speaker 2: You reckon it is so important that the Fisheries minister

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Speaker 2: is looking at this.

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Speaker 3: Well, you know, the Fisheries Minister for starters, he's in

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Speaker 3: dawn and he should be working hand in hand with

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Speaker 3: the Fisheries Department. Now, if people aren't working with the

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Speaker 3: Fisheries Department to change the act, then what's the point

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Speaker 3: in employing all these people and spending all these taxpayer

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Speaker 3: dollars on a fisheries department if they're not the ones

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Speaker 3: with a seat at the table to discuss the changes

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Speaker 3: so they can talk to the people that they deal

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Speaker 3: with on a daily basis, people like myself, so that

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Speaker 3: everyone has an understanding what the rules are going to

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Speaker 3: be in the future.

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Speaker 1: And is that the biggest concern right now?

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Speaker 2: Is it that uncertainty and the fact that you guys

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Speaker 2: are feeling like nobody's at the table there to hear

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Speaker 2: your concerns.

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Speaker 3: Absolutely, I mean, you know, we're concerned because we just

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Speaker 3: don't know the facts around what will happen in the future.

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Speaker 3: In particular, so you touched briefly on the Blue Ma

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Speaker 3: Bay decision, so we have portions of our river system

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Speaker 3: down there the MacArthur River directly in front of Ashboy

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Speaker 3: Fishing Club, which our understanding is going to be handed

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Speaker 3: back to traditional owners in the new year. And our

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Speaker 3: concern is that the government at the moment does not

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Speaker 3: have any land instagrams in place with the Land Council,

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Speaker 3: so we don't know come the first January next year

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Speaker 3: will we have access to that river. And if we

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Speaker 3: don't have access to that river, then we may as

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Speaker 3: well shut up shop. And that's a lot of businesses.

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Speaker 3: It's not just the fishing club and my businesses. There

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Speaker 3: are several businesses. There are service station, houseboat companies, charter companies,

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Speaker 3: accommodation businesses, all sorts of things that operate there. There's

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Speaker 3: probably forty or fifty people during the peak of the

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Speaker 3: season that are employed in there through various businesses, as

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Speaker 3: well as all the businesses along the road like daily

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Speaker 3: Waters Highway in businesses in borrel are that supply fuel

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Speaker 3: and food and those sorts of things to travelers that

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Speaker 3: will all be affected.

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Speaker 2: Ash Talk me through the impact that it would have

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Speaker 2: for you and those businesses. I mean, you've got the

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Speaker 2: king ash Bay Launche. What impact is it going to

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Speaker 2: have for you? Guys, If you don't have that certainty

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Speaker 2: come the beginning of next.

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Speaker 3: Year, well, the concern is it'll be like we were

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Speaker 3: a couple of years ago when COVID first started, where

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Speaker 3: no one could come to visit us at all, because

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Speaker 3: there is not really much point in coming to visit

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Speaker 3: us at King Ash Bay if you can't access the

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Speaker 3: river because ninety nine point nine percent of people that

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Speaker 3: visit there are there to go fishing and crabbing and

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Speaker 3: sightseeing along the river and around this Repella group of islands.

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Speaker 3: So if you can't access the boat ramp there and

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Speaker 3: can't access the river, there's no point in coming to

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Speaker 3: King Ash Bay. So we'll be back where we were

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Speaker 3: two years ago with almost zero trade and ash.

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Speaker 2: Are you guys like you're prepared to work with the

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Speaker 2: traditional owners, You're prepared to work with the NLC on this,

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Speaker 2: aren't you?

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Speaker 3: Absolutely? And the problem is that, you know, my understanding

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Speaker 3: is that the Labor Party have had several years to

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Speaker 3: make agreements with the NLC and they just haven't done it.

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Speaker 3: So you know, our question is is why hasn't it

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Speaker 3: been done? Why we were waiting till the eleventh hour and

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Speaker 3: putting all this concerns on everyone because you know, as

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Speaker 3: I alluded to earlier, we're looking at spending a significant

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Speaker 3: amount of money at the Fishing Club next year, you know,

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Speaker 3: somewhere north three courts of a million dollars on infrastructure

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Speaker 3: to expand our licensed premises and our facilities for tourists

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Speaker 3: to enjoy, which you know has a massive impact on

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Speaker 3: the local economy and the territory economy. And we don't

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Speaker 3: know if we should do that now because we don't

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Speaker 3: know if it's worthwhile.

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Speaker 2: So Ash, what is your message this morning for the government?

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Speaker 2: Is it that you like you guys want to be involved,

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Speaker 2: You want to be able to voice these concerns and

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Speaker 2: have genuine consultation.

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Speaker 3: Absolutely, I mean we just want to want to be heard, Kadie,

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Speaker 3: I mean, like anyone you know, And it's it's not

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Speaker 3: just us, it's it's probably going to be mostly territory

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Speaker 3: wide by the sounds of things in the future. We

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Speaker 3: just might be the first cab off the rank. But

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Speaker 3: if this is the way the Laby Government's going to

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Speaker 3: work and not consult with anybody on the ground, then

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Speaker 3: you know, I'm going to feel from the next election

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Speaker 3: I'm afraid because I want to.

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Speaker 1: I mean, I want to be really clear here.

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Speaker 2: The issue isn't that you don't think that the NLC

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Speaker 2: or you don't think that the traditional owners should actually

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Speaker 2: be able to, you know, to have a say over

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Speaker 2: what they do. The issue here is that you want

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Speaker 2: to be able to have your concerns listen to absolutely.

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Speaker 3: And you know, most of the traditional liners that I know,

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Speaker 3: I've on and Bred territory and I've been here for

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Speaker 3: thirty three years. You know most of the too's that

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Speaker 3: I know, they want people to be able to access

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Speaker 3: to the land, they want people to utilize the fishery.

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Speaker 3: But it seems to be it's the NLC and the

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Speaker 3: Labor government that can't come to an agreement. It's people

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Speaker 3: on the ground that want to make things happen. And

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Speaker 3: I know many people personally that are happy for people

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Speaker 3: to continue business as usual provided that the NLC and

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Speaker 3: Labor government come to some sort of agreement so that

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Speaker 3: everyone's happy.

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Speaker 2: Well, look where it sounds as though we certainly need

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Speaker 2: to be able to speak to the fisheries Minister.

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Speaker 1: I reckon on this one.

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Speaker 2: I know that you know, some may say we need

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Speaker 2: to speak to Minister Rubo to hear her thoughts, but

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Speaker 2: I actually reckon it needs to be the Fisheries minister

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Speaker 2: at this point because from what I'm hearing that's a

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Speaker 2: big concern right now is it's a lot of worries

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Speaker 2: from those that work in the industry and also those

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Speaker 2: that you know that want to be able to enjoy

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Speaker 2: the territory way of life and be able to get.

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Speaker 1: Out there on the water.

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Speaker 3: Absolutely, Ash, I really.

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Speaker 2: Appreciate you coming into the studio this morning and having

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Speaker 2: a chat with me, and please keep in contact and

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Speaker 2: let us know whether you do hear from the government

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Speaker 2: or whether there's any progression in this space.

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Speaker 3: Absolutely, Thanks very much, Katie, Thank you.