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Speaker 1: Now now joining me live on the line, is the Speaker

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Speaker 1: of the Northern Territories Legislative Assembly. She is also the

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Speaker 1: Independent member for Ara Lewin. Robin Lamley, good.

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Speaker 2: Morning, good morning Katie.

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Speaker 1: Lovely to have you on the show for twenty twenty five.

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Speaker 2: Lovely to be on your show.

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Speaker 1: It's been a while, it has now, Robin. There's been

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Speaker 1: that there's a lot to discuss. I might keep I

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Speaker 1: might get you to have your hat on as a

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Speaker 1: speaker to begin with, and just ask you first off

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Speaker 1: about this situation from late last week. I mean there's

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Speaker 1: been a lot of discussion about the rainbow flags and

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Speaker 1: the Torres Strait Island of flags being removed from the

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Speaker 1: Royal Darwin and Palmerston Hospital. Four years then, we apparently

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Speaker 1: saw a staffer from Selena Rubo's office were banned from

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Speaker 1: entering Parliament House for a week after being captured on

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Speaker 1: CCTV cameras entering a lift near the Opposition Leader's office,

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Speaker 1: then exiting on the fifth floor where the Chief Minister's

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Speaker 1: officers are. That staff are seen heading towards the fifth

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Speaker 1: floor men's toilets, where they'd plastered a poster of the

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Speaker 1: anti Health Minister Steve Edgington superimposed over a rainbow robin.

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Speaker 1: How did you find out or how did you become

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Speaker 1: aware of this incident?

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Speaker 2: Well, Katie, I will begin by saying, with my speaker's

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Speaker 2: hat on, I don't want to, I cannot and I

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Speaker 2: don't want to breach the confidence of some members of Parliament.

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Speaker 2: But it came to me as a complaint. I had

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Speaker 2: no idea what the significance of that image was of

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Speaker 2: Minister Steve Edgington in front of a flag. I live

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Speaker 2: in Ala Springs. I wasn't up to date as to

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Speaker 2: what was going on. But what I will say, Katie,

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Speaker 2: rather than talk about the details, which are all pretty

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Speaker 2: much on the public record anyway. But you know, as

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Speaker 2: a new speaker, I think I have to set the

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Speaker 2: highest of standards for behavior with in Parliament House. With

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Speaker 2: so much crime and anti social behavior in our community. Now,

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Speaker 2: I'm just not going to tolerate bad behavior of any kind,

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Speaker 2: political behavior outside the chamber, offensive behavior, inappropriate behavior. I'm

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Speaker 2: just going to really have it. I've decided to take

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Speaker 2: almost like a zero tolerance approach because I think in

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Speaker 2: this day and age, if you can look to Parliament

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Speaker 2: House as setting the standard then that's a very positive

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Speaker 2: thing for everyone. So when I looked at the issue,

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Speaker 2: looked at the evidence, obviously, I contacted the Opposition leader.

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Speaker 2: She was great, she got onto it straight away, and

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Speaker 2: I made the decision to deny this member of staff

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Speaker 2: access for a week. But having said that, Katie, the

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Speaker 2: same consequence will be placed on anyone, any staff member,

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Speaker 2: any member, any visitor who behaves in this way. It

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Speaker 2: will be a consistent approach.

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Speaker 1: I think that's a really good approach to have as

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Speaker 1: the Speaker, because we do look to Parliament House and

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Speaker 1: we look to our parliamentarians, and we have an expectation

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Speaker 1: that people that work inside Parliament House well, that they

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Speaker 1: uphold a standard that should be expected of them. We

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Speaker 1: do expect people to behave well when they are inside

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Speaker 1: Parliament House, particularly elected members, but also staffers and staffers

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Speaker 1: are chosen by elected members. People do need to behave appropriately.

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Speaker 1: So I know there's some people maybe saying, oh, that's

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Speaker 1: a you know, that's a fairly large consequence for somebody

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Speaker 1: sticking a poster up, But I think if you don't

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Speaker 1: sort of set the standards early, you run the risk

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Speaker 1: of people running a mark.

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Speaker 2: Absolutely, Katie, this House and I'm standing here in Parliament

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Speaker 2: House at the moment. We have to set the standard.

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Speaker 2: Staff who work here know what is acceptable behavior. They

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Speaker 2: should know what misconduct is. They should know that doing

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Speaker 2: what that gentleman did is not on And it's been

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Speaker 2: dealt with the way I've decided to deal with it.

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Speaker 2: And it won't be about anything to do with where

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Speaker 2: people sit on the political spectrum. It's just about an

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Speaker 2: incident involving bad behavior and all bad behavior will be

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Speaker 2: treated the same. My leadership call.

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Speaker 1: Fair call, I say, I mean, maybe others won't agree

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Speaker 1: with me, but I think it's absolutely fair enough. Rob,

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Speaker 1: and I do want to ask the first week of

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Speaker 1: parliamentary sittings next week, is there quite a lot on

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Speaker 1: the agenda.

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Speaker 2: Well, at this stage there's two on the agenda, the

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Speaker 2: repeal of the minimum pricing for alcohol the Liquor Legislation

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Speaker 2: Amendment Bill that that should be coming up next week.

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Speaker 2: I haven't had confirmation of this, but I'm just looking

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Speaker 2: at the two bills that are on the agenda at

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Speaker 2: this stage. And the other one is the Payroll Tax

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Speaker 2: Amendment Bill, which aims to assist more businesses by increasing

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Speaker 2: the tax free threshold and Essentially that will mean a

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Speaker 2: cutting revenue for the Northern Territory. But the aim here

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Speaker 2: I understand of the governments is to is by cutting tax,

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Speaker 2: they hope that businesses will reinvest in the Northern Territory

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Speaker 2: the money that they're saved by not paying that tax.

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Speaker 2: So that those are the two bills on the table

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Speaker 2: at the moment. But as of yesterday, I think we

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Speaker 2: all heard that the government intends to scrap the debt

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Speaker 2: ceiling that we're reliably informed will happen next week too.

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Speaker 2: But there's a lot of pomp and ceremony happening next

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Speaker 2: week because the first day of sittings is next Tuesday,

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Speaker 2: and that always sees a celebration. You've got the Chinese gosh,

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Speaker 2: what do you call it? The Chinese dances coming along

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Speaker 2: chong Hwa Society line dances. Gosh, I've been watching them

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Speaker 2: for years. Why can't I remember that? That's always a feature,

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Speaker 2: the blessing of the Assembly by a member of the

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Speaker 2: local religious fraternity. This year we've got Bishop Charles Gauci.

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Speaker 2: And also what happens, Katie on Tuesday is we've got

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Speaker 2: something that only happens once every four years. It's called

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Speaker 2: the Address in reply ceremony. So I'll be suspending parliament

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Speaker 2: just before or eleven and all the members of Parliament

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Speaker 2: will be walking over to the Administrator's office house on

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Speaker 2: the seaside there and we go through a ceremony of

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Speaker 2: presenting the address and reply to the Administrator, and I

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Speaker 2: introduce all the members of Parliament to the Administrator, and

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Speaker 2: I think we have a cup of tea in a photograph.

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Speaker 2: So that's part of the pomp and ceremony of being

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Speaker 2: a part of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Westminster system.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, right, and so that's something that happens every four years,

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Speaker 1: did you.

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Speaker 2: Say yes, so people might remember or if they don't.

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Speaker 2: On the very first day of the opening of Parliament,

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Speaker 2: the Administrator outlines the policies and the agenda for the

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Speaker 2: new government. And we saw the Honorable Hugh Hegy do

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Speaker 2: that back in October, and normally this address and Reply

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Speaker 2: would have happened a bit sooner, but we're doing that

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Speaker 2: on Tuesday. So the Parliament has accepted the Administrator's address

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Speaker 2: speech outlining the agenda for the new government that happened

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Speaker 2: in October, and so now we will return to him

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Speaker 2: and provide the formal reply to the administrator's address.

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Speaker 1: Well, it sounds like it's going to be a busy,

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Speaker 1: busy first week of parliament, Robin.

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Speaker 2: It's probably meaningless to a lot of people, but you

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Speaker 2: know it's a part of the formal West, the system

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Speaker 2: that we are a part of, and all that sort

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Speaker 2: of thing is important absolutely for us to adhere to

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Speaker 2: and enjoy.

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Speaker 1: Well, it gives people a bit of an idea what's

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Speaker 1: going on as well, you know, it's sort of it

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Speaker 1: allows us to get a bit of a better understanding

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Speaker 1: of what is going to happen next week by you

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Speaker 1: making us aware of it. Robin, you had on now

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Speaker 1: as the independent member Forarara lun How are things going

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Speaker 1: in Alice Springs. I mean we had a bit of

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Speaker 1: good news earlier in the week with the announcement of

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Speaker 1: the direct flights of course from Alice Springs to Cans.

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Speaker 1: How do you feel as those things are going at

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Speaker 1: the moment.

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Speaker 2: Look, I had a chat yesterday afternoon with a fabulous

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Speaker 2: Centrailian who manages the Luatip Enterprises, three IgA supermarkets in

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Speaker 2: Alice Springs and I'm sure he won't be mentioning him.

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Speaker 2: He's just an absolute champion and does a splendid job

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Speaker 2: on behalf of Luratip enterprises that contribute so much to

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Speaker 2: our community. Timber his name is He was telling me

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Speaker 2: that from their perspective, and these are three of the

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Speaker 2: most popular and frequented bottle shops and supermarkets in Alice Springs,

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Speaker 2: that crime has definitely reduced and that came as as

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Speaker 2: a prize to me. He was very ardament, very clear

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Speaker 2: that they're seeing a reduction in crime and anti social

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Speaker 2: behavior in their three supermarkets. So I think that's really

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Speaker 2: good news. Sometimes you don't get a clear perspective, but

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Speaker 2: I think from Timber, I think he's absolutely on the

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Speaker 2: cold face seeing what happens. So if he thinks things

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Speaker 2: are getting better, then I'm very encouraged.

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Speaker 1: Well, we all hope, so, I mean, I think the

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Speaker 1: people of Alice Springs deserve it, and there does seem

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Speaker 1: to have been some, you know, some big changes in

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Speaker 1: terms of We learned from the Chief Minister a little

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Speaker 1: earlier in the week that the South Australian Police officers

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Speaker 1: that have been spending some time in Alice Springs assisting

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Speaker 1: the Northern Territory Police they've finished up a bit earlier

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Speaker 1: in the week. Do you think that's going to make

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Speaker 1: much of a difference, or at this point in time,

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Speaker 1: have the Northern Territory Police really been, you know, doing

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Speaker 1: quite a good job in terms of keeping things under control.

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Speaker 2: I think a reduction in police officers on the ground

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Speaker 2: is a bit concerning. But having said that, Katie, if

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Speaker 2: they've locked up as many, who's left, I mean, I'm.

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Speaker 1: Not more than three hundred arrests is what they'd said

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Speaker 1: on social media over the last twenty four hours, So

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Speaker 1: they said that they've you know, they feel as though

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Speaker 1: they've achieved incredible results. They've now made more than three

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Speaker 1: hundred arrests and achieved more before the operation wrapped up.

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Speaker 1: They took to Facebook to share the latest Operation Ludlow

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Speaker 1: update yesterday AVO and said that the operation had achieved

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Speaker 1: incredible results for the residents of Alice Springs.

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Speaker 2: Well, I hope that's true. I'm hearing good things. I'm

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Speaker 2: on ABC Radio this morning and Alice Springs. The police

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Speaker 2: they give a daily update of what happened over the

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Speaker 2: last twenty four hours. There were no break ins reported,

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Speaker 2: no major incidents, so things are starting to turn around,

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Speaker 2: and I think this tough on crime approach, even though

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Speaker 2: it goes down like a lead balloon in some sectors

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Speaker 2: of the community. I think as a medium term solution,

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Speaker 2: I think it's working.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, well that's the thing, you know, the numbers are

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Speaker 1: sort of showing that it's working. Robin, just a really

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Speaker 1: quick one before I let you go. There's apparently some

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Speaker 1: images the NT news reporting this morning, some images of people.

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Speaker 1: Well it's been said that they're declared that they're patrolling

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Speaker 1: a meth lab in Alice Springs. Have you seen this.

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Speaker 2: I've seen the images. I was trying to work out

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Speaker 2: where it was. It's then I read that it's the

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Speaker 2: images are from a rural block. Look, those images look

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Speaker 2: like some from somewhere else. It didn't look like Australia.

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Speaker 2: Even it looked like in the Middle East. That's very concerning,

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Speaker 2: and it looked like that carrying weapons to patrol and

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Speaker 2: secure the facility wherever it is. Look, I don't know

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Speaker 2: anything more than what you know, Katie, but that was

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Speaker 2: those images were very concerning.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I feel the same and look, by the look

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Speaker 1: of it. The Northern Territory Police say that they are

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Speaker 1: investigating that matter to identify the alleged defenders. So We'll

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Speaker 1: wait and hear what comes out of there. Robin Lamley,

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Speaker 1: the Speaker of the Northern Territories Legislative Assembly, also the

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Speaker 1: Independent Member fer our Land. We always appreciate your time.

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Speaker 1: Thank you for chatting with us today.

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Speaker 2: Katie, thank you, thank you so