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Speaker 1: Now, we have spoken on numerous occasions in recent weeks

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Speaker 1: about some of the issues that were being experienced in

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Speaker 1: Catherine around crime and anti social behavior. Over the weekend,

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Speaker 1: as I touched on in the opener, police arrested four

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Speaker 1: youths after an aggravated robbery in the town where these

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Speaker 1: young people aged twelve, thirteen, thirteen and thirteen allegedly broke

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Speaker 1: into a woman's home, all armed with various edged and

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Speaker 1: blunt weapons, threatening a female resident before stealing her car

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Speaker 1: and ramming that through the properties gates and fleeing the scene. Now,

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Speaker 1: it is just one example of issues that the people

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Speaker 1: of Catherine have been facing, and I know that the

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Speaker 1: concerns did indeed lead the Mayor, Liz Clark a couple

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Speaker 1: of weeks ago to call for a reduction to bottle

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Speaker 1: shop opening hours. Now joining us on the line is

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Speaker 1: the local member for Catherine. She's also the Minister for

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Speaker 1: Education and indeed Public Employment. Joe Hersey, Good morning to.

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Speaker 2: You, Good morning Katie, and good morning listeners.

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Speaker 1: Joe, tell me how are things going at the moment?

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Speaker 1: I understand there was set to be a meeting I

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Speaker 1: think it was with the liquor accord. Did that happen

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Speaker 1: and how did it go.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, so there was a liquor Accord meeting Katie on

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Speaker 2: the third of June, and I did attend that meeting.

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Speaker 2: One thing that did you know, I was sort of

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Speaker 2: going there hoping that there would be some industry led

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Speaker 2: solutions coming out of that meeting, but there wasn't anything.

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Speaker 2: It was it was a bit disappointing. So, you know,

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Speaker 2: a further conversation could probably happen with them, but yeah,

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Speaker 2: it was. So we have had a few issues and

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Speaker 2: we've had you know, some funerals and people in town

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Speaker 2: for royalties and things, and there was a few weeks

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Speaker 2: ago where it was it was it was shocking. So yeah,

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Speaker 2: it was. It was disappointing at that meeting that there

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Speaker 2: was nothing really coming from them as solutions. I mean,

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Speaker 2: you know, government can come down and say this is

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Speaker 2: what you need to do, but I think it's better

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Speaker 2: when it comes from industry for some solutions with the

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Speaker 2: liquor so Joe, with you.

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Speaker 1: Know, some industry solutions. What were you sort of hoping

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Speaker 1: for from the industry.

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Speaker 2: Well, something that did come from the police as a

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Speaker 2: solution would be was that you know, there was just

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Speaker 2: that single point of sale, so only one you can

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Speaker 2: only purchase one purchase of alcohol per day, but that

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Speaker 2: wasn't something that they were interested in doing because of

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Speaker 2: the BDR.

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Speaker 1: Is that something then that realistically the government needs to go, Okay, well,

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Speaker 1: the police are telling us that this could work, let's

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Speaker 1: give it a go.

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Speaker 2: They're conversations that I'm continuing to have, Katie, and so

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Speaker 2: you know in time that they will continue on those

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Speaker 2: conversations and you just see what kind of solutions we

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Speaker 2: can come up with for Catherine. But you know, it's

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Speaker 2: we know that prohibition doesn't work, and there's a lot

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Speaker 2: of early intervention and prevention work that needs to happen

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Speaker 2: as well that is happening.

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Speaker 1: I agree with you, you know, I think prohibition doesn't work.

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Speaker 1: We've all seen that, you know, over the years. We

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Speaker 1: all understand that. But if you've got the Northern Territory

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Speaker 1: Police sort of suggesting that something might be helpful, you

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Speaker 1: would think that, you know, if industry isn't prepared to

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Speaker 1: put their hand up and go all right, well let's

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Speaker 1: give this a crack, then you know there may be

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Speaker 1: people in the community wondering, well, can't the government just

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Speaker 1: step in here?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, that's right, Katie. But you know, at the end

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Speaker 2: of the day, you do want to make it the

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Speaker 2: best solution for everyone, and I think that will happen

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Speaker 2: in conversations still to come.

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Speaker 1: So do you reckon we're going to see or does

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Speaker 1: there need to be a reduction in opening hours for

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Speaker 1: bottle shops? Is it still a situation where you know,

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Speaker 1: Woolies has opened for less hours than what the bottle

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Speaker 1: shops are, or open and you know until an earlier

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Speaker 1: hour of the evening than what the bottle shops are.

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Speaker 2: Yeah. Again, I think they're all conversations that we need

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Speaker 2: to keep on having. But what we don't want to

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Speaker 2: happen is by having you know, reduced alcohol hours here.

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Speaker 2: You know, I'm sure everyone in Darwin wouldn't be happy

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Speaker 2: if all those people then went up to Darwin. And

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Speaker 2: so it's also trying to come to some kind of

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Speaker 2: happy medium so that you don't have that secondary supply

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Speaker 2: issues coming in as well, because we know we already

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Speaker 2: have that.

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Speaker 1: So from your perspective, are things traveling in Catherine? You know,

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Speaker 1: has the situation become any better?

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Speaker 2: Look? I do note that when I was I think

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Speaker 2: maybe last week, there was someone that rang in and said,

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Speaker 2: you know, there was all this stuff happening in the

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Speaker 2: street and whenever, and people were drinking. It was only

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Speaker 2: ten o'clock in the morning, and I thought, oh, well,

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Speaker 2: I'm on the street and I did a couple of laps.

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Speaker 2: I didn't see any but you know that's not to

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Speaker 2: see that I'm seeing everything. Yes, there's definitely a lot

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Speaker 2: of broken glass around. I will acknowledge that I've cleaned

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Speaker 2: some up on my way to work this morning. But

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Speaker 2: the police here are doing a fantastic job. They've got

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Speaker 2: the nightly patrollers meeting that now happens instead in the

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Speaker 2: town square, it happens at the Wall Weast shopping Center

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Speaker 2: when that's where they meet with the circuit breaker team

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Speaker 2: housing and also Kolano and so those and you know,

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Speaker 2: if they come across in the youth in the night,

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Speaker 2: then the circuit breaker team is dealing with them.

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Speaker 1: Though.

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Speaker 2: That is ongoing work that they continue to do and

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Speaker 2: that seems to be having good results. Also, the police

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Speaker 2: this year, Katie alone, have given one and twenty eight

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Speaker 2: band drinking orders out this year and since March they've

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Speaker 2: done eight hundred and twenty three. So that's the work

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Speaker 2: the police are doing in that prevention space is huge.

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Speaker 1: So from your perspective, is there other measures? Are there

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Speaker 1: other things that could be happening at this point in

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Speaker 1: time or do you feel as though the way that

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Speaker 1: that things are going is you know, the community satisfied

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Speaker 1: and that's sort of good enough.

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Speaker 2: I think the single sale per day, I think that's

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Speaker 2: something that definitely we could look at, but only and

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Speaker 2: it was put forward as a trial, So but that's

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Speaker 2: you know, that needs to have a lot more consultation

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Speaker 2: around that, talking to the you know, the people that

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Speaker 2: are on the liquor accord, talking with police and just

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Speaker 2: finding out, you know, how that can actually happen because

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Speaker 2: that has to be you know, through the band drinking

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Speaker 2: register to happen as well. And that was something that

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Speaker 2: came up with the liquor accord.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, all right, well we'll certainly continue that discussion, Joe.

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Speaker 1: Over the weekend, we saw kids age twelve and thirty

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Speaker 1: involved in a home invasion where they were allegedly armed

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Speaker 1: with edged weapons. What is going on with kids at

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Speaker 1: young involved in such a frightening crime?

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Speaker 2: And that's right, Katie, So kids so young. Not only

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Speaker 2: was it a house, it was a disability house, and

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Speaker 2: there was two disability houses that are kind of near

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Speaker 2: each other that had been broken into and had damage

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Speaker 2: over the weekend. And I have reached out to you know,

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Speaker 2: obviously this is an ongoing investigation, so I don't want

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Speaker 2: to talk too much about it, but I have reached

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Speaker 2: out to the owners of that business and you know,

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Speaker 2: it's shocking, but there is a lot of you know

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Speaker 2: that that's why as the Minister of Education, you know,

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Speaker 2: not that it was a school night, but we need

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Speaker 2: to make sure that these kids are going to making

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Speaker 2: sure they're going to school, getting educated, making sure parents

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Speaker 2: are responsible first and foremost, because why those two children

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Speaker 2: so young being out on the street. And that's where

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Speaker 2: Minister Carli's working with the Territory families and with the

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Speaker 2: circuit Breaker team, you know, working out some of those

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Speaker 2: solutions for those children, because if they're in a place

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Speaker 2: that is not safe for them to be at home

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Speaker 2: and they choose to be out on the street at night,

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Speaker 2: then that's a bigger picture that needs to be looked at,

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Speaker 2: and that's probably a lot of the issues.

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Speaker 1: Can I just confirm so they that home was actually

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Speaker 1: a disability service provider? Yes, So presumably the people that

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Speaker 1: were inside that home have disabilities. I mean, that is

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Speaker 1: terrible for kids that young to be praying upon the vulnerable.

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Speaker 2: Absolutely, it is absolutely not acceptable at all.

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Speaker 1: Are they okay? Are the people that were inside that

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Speaker 1: home okay?

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Speaker 2: Yeah? I have spoken to the owner and yeah, obviously

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Speaker 2: they are extremely shaken up. You know, as I said,

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Speaker 2: it's totally unacceptable. So you know, I know that's ongoing,

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Speaker 2: and i'd like to think that you know, we've got

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Speaker 2: the bail laws that we just went back recalled Parliament

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Speaker 2: to strengthen those bail laws and there's a lot of

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Speaker 2: work that the police are doing and as I said,

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Speaker 2: with Territory Families and the Minister in that area. So

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Speaker 2: you know, one would hope that those children are either

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Speaker 2: going to be in a safe environment or you know,

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Speaker 2: they would be dealt with accordingly with the law.

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Speaker 1: Just on those bail laws. I do want to ask

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Speaker 1: you about a report that was in the Australian newspaper

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Speaker 1: over the weekend. A Northern Territory Supreme Court judge reportedly

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Speaker 1: keeping secret the details of how she bailed a man

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Speaker 1: who allegedly assaulted a child. Two days after the Northern

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Speaker 1: Territory government passed those bail laws despite a previous judge

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Speaker 1: finding it would be inevitable that the accused would run

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Speaker 1: into the complainant and her family. So it's reported the

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Speaker 1: thirty four year olds been charged with two serious sex

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Speaker 1: offenses against a child in Catherine, but last month was

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Speaker 1: granted bail to live in the same town. That is

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Speaker 1: what multiple sources have told the Australian newspaper. Now, obviously

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Speaker 1: wanting to be careful what we say here, this is

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Speaker 1: clearly an active matter before the courts. But do you

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Speaker 1: think that that is acceptable and do you feel as

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Speaker 1: though there are some within the judiciary. I asked the

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Speaker 1: Minister for Corrections the same question, thumbing their nose at

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Speaker 1: the legislative changes that the government's made.

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Speaker 2: I think that is absolutely not acceptable. And given that

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Speaker 2: I've been here for a very long time, you cannot

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Speaker 2: go too far around town without running into someone. And

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Speaker 2: the fact that that person has been bailed to the

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Speaker 2: same place where that young person is that he has

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Speaker 2: sexually assaulted is absolutely It does not pass the pub

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Speaker 2: test Katie at all. And I note that the Attorney General, well,

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Speaker 2: she obviously doesn't think it passes the pub test either,

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Speaker 2: and she has written to the DPP to urgently review that.

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Speaker 2: Obviously she you know, there's a separation for a reason,

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Speaker 2: but she has written to the DPP to urgently review

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Speaker 2: that because it does not pass the pub test to

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Speaker 2: be bailed to a location when you've done such a

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Speaker 2: heinous act to a young person.

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Speaker 1: Are the people of Catherine concerned about this? I mean,

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Speaker 1: is this something that's being raised at you as the

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Speaker 1: local member?

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Speaker 2: This, actually, Katie, has not been raised with me as

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Speaker 2: the local member. Which is interesting that there's you know

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Speaker 2: that the incident on the weekend with the disability house,

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Speaker 2: and I think maybe you know, because this article was

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Speaker 2: in the Australian, I don't know. I mean, you know,

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Speaker 2: it came to my attention and I was appalled. But

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Speaker 2: given that, you know, the incident on the weekend was

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Speaker 2: just so so recent and so raw that the fact

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Speaker 2: that was to a disability house is just you know,

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Speaker 2: I cannot believe that young people would do that. But

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Speaker 2: this in particularly to this judge, it's not acceptable. And

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Speaker 2: I do note that this judge is also the same

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Speaker 2: judge that released the use. I think it costs taxpayers

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Speaker 2: seven thousand dollars for that year to go to a funeral.

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Speaker 1: You sound pretty annoyed about it, Minister. I mean, obviously

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Speaker 1: it does not meet your level of expectation.

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Speaker 2: It absolutely does not meet my level of expectation. But

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Speaker 2: I think if you went out and spoke to people

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Speaker 2: in the community, it would not lea I mean, imagine

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Speaker 2: if that was your child, you know, because as a mother,

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Speaker 2: that's what I think of. I cannot even think that

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Speaker 2: that person that has done such a heinous act to

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Speaker 2: my child is released in the you know.

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Speaker 1: And obviously it is all alleged at this point in

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Speaker 1: time until that is finalized. But yeah, you know, look

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Speaker 1: I feel exactly the same. I think if that my child,

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Speaker 1: I actually don't know how I would react. Minister. I

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Speaker 1: do want to just move along quickly because there is

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Speaker 1: a bit to cover off and we've only got a

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Speaker 1: couple of minutes. I know you're a busy woman, as

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Speaker 1: am I a big one yesterday. We know the government

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Speaker 1: obviously planning to launch the trial of the OC spray

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Speaker 1: starting in September for eligible Territorians as a tool for

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Speaker 1: self defense. The Chief Minister making the announcement in Catherine

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Speaker 1: at Rod and Rifle. Some have indeed welcomed those plans.

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Speaker 1: There's been some criticism by the opposition and indeed am

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Speaker 1: Sand claiming that it won't improve community safety and will

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Speaker 1: fuel violence and put the lives of vulnerable people at risk.

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Speaker 1: What do you say to those concerns.

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Speaker 2: I would say to those concerns, Katie, that it cannot

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Speaker 2: be sold to people under eighteen years of age. You know,

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Speaker 2: I think it was another tool in the toolkit of

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Speaker 2: many other tools for community safety. But the announcement yesterday

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Speaker 2: was work received at Roden Rifle and as Trent said,

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Speaker 2: and you know, as a mother of a daughter that

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Speaker 2: runs around town with there is a lot of young

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Speaker 2: people that there's a big running group that happened, you

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Speaker 2: know during the week, especially on a Friday morning, and

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Speaker 2: that is something that I know with them that they

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Speaker 2: are very excited about and they are looking forward to that.

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Speaker 2: You know, it's something that the community has been asking

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Speaker 2: for for a long time, and it's about providing territorians

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Speaker 2: with more choice for their personal safety, you know, alongside

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Speaker 2: increased police presence. As I've said, you know, stronger laws

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Speaker 2: and preventative measures. So it's another time has actually been

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Speaker 2: in wa for quite some time, but we are not encouraging,

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Speaker 2: as I have heard some commentary to take for territorianes

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Speaker 2: to take the lore into our own hands. That's not

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Speaker 2: what this is about.

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Speaker 1: At all, Absolutely not. And look, by and large, we've

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Speaker 1: actually received a lot of positive th feedback to this

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Speaker 1: announcement yesterday. I know that there are certainly some people

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Speaker 1: still contacting us with concerns, but yet there has actually

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Speaker 1: been quite a bit of positive feedback to it. People saying,

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Speaker 1: do you know what I go running or I'm out

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Speaker 1: and about and when I go to my car sometimes

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Speaker 1: at different times in Woolworths or wherever that they're concerned

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Speaker 1: about their safety and it would just set their minds

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Speaker 1: at ease.

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Speaker 2: But look, I will just as they said yesterday. You know,

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Speaker 2: there is the police will be consulting. There's a reference group,

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Speaker 2: Community Oversight reference group will be established to for direct

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Speaker 2: community input into how it's structured and reviewed, and you

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Speaker 2: know the police will will lead that.

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Speaker 1: Minister, just a couple of ones in your role as

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Speaker 1: the Minister for Public Employment. Where are things at with

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Speaker 1: the police pay negotiations? Nathan Finn on the show yesterday,

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Speaker 1: The police union sounds like they're incredibly frustrated with this situation,

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Speaker 1: five percent, I believe is what there are looking for.

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Speaker 2: Yes, the Public Service Minister, even though I am I

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Speaker 2: am that these negotiations actually happen with the Commissioner for

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Speaker 2: Public Service. They don't happen directly with me. I'd sit

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Speaker 2: aside from that. But they have had two pay deals

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Speaker 2: payoffers put to them. There's been fifteen meetings to date,

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Speaker 2: and these do these negotiations take time. They're done in

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Speaker 2: good faith, and we know and appreciate the hard work

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Speaker 2: that our police do each and every day. But it's

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Speaker 2: been disappointing to hear the president of the Anti Police

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Speaker 2: Assation Association, Nathan Finn, come out swinging and resorting to

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Speaker 2: personal attacks on me. And you know, I put it

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Speaker 2: to him that he puts this offer to the members,

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Speaker 2: put it to a vote and see what the members think.

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Speaker 2: I mean it is. The offer is a four year

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Speaker 2: pay deal of four percent, three point five percent, three

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Speaker 2: percent and three percent. And you know CPI is only

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Speaker 2: two point five percent at the moment, Kadie.

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Speaker 1: So each year, by the sounds of it, it changes

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Speaker 1: each year. So four percent is what you said it

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Speaker 1: kicks off at and then three four year pay deal.

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Speaker 2: So it's four percent the first year, three point five percent,

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Speaker 2: then three percent, then three percent.

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Speaker 1: I mean, in terms of the value that we place

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Speaker 1: on Northern Territory Police, we speak about it every day.

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Speaker 1: You've just said that, you know, you highly value the

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Speaker 1: work that Northern Territory Police do. Do we need it

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Speaker 1: to actually go up that little bit more given the

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Speaker 1: fact that you know, you want it to be in

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Speaker 1: line or you want it to be more attractive I think,

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Speaker 1: to work here in the Northern Territory than what it

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Speaker 1: is in other states.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, and I think that's something that as I said

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Speaker 2: with the Commissioner in her negotiations, they're all of the

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Speaker 2: things that get put forward, and obviously we do want to,

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Speaker 2: you know, make sure that that offer is the best

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Speaker 2: offer for the NTY Police, and those negotiations will be ongoing.

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Speaker 2: But you know, I do put it to the President

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Speaker 2: to put that latest offer out to a vote to

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Speaker 2: their members and just see what their members say about that.

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Speaker 1: I mean, it sounds like it could be a bit

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Speaker 1: of a standoff between you and the Northern Territory Police Association.

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Speaker 1: That is not I don't feel like that's going to

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Speaker 1: end well.

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Speaker 2: It's definitely not a standoff, Katie. This is these negotiations

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Speaker 2: do take time and there's you know still I think

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Speaker 2: the Commissioner is meeting with them again, maybe next week,

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Speaker 2: and so these negotiations will continue to go on. At

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Speaker 2: the end of the day, we want the best offer

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Speaker 2: for the police, and we want to make sure that

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Speaker 2: they are supported, you know, to the best of our ability,

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Speaker 2: and that they you know, they're the ones on the

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Speaker 2: front line going out and doing all this work and

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Speaker 2: all these new laws and everything that have been put forward.

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Speaker 2: The police are the ones that are that are out

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Speaker 2: there on the frontline dealing each and every day. And

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Speaker 2: as I said, we absolutely appreciate the hard work that

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Speaker 2: they do and you know, I thank them for the

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Speaker 2: work that they do. Is actually thank our first respond

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Speaker 2: to day today yesterday, Yeah, sorry and yeah. So those

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Speaker 2: negotiations will be ongoing with the police, commit with the Commissioner.

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Speaker 1: For Public Service, well, Minister for Public Employment please do

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Speaker 1: and also Minister for Education, local member for Catherine. Really

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Speaker 1: good to speak with you. Thank you so much for

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Speaker 1: your time this morning.

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Speaker 2: Thanks Katie.

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Speaker 1: Thank you have a great thay. Thank you