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Speaker 1: Now, in what is quite an unprecedented move, Australia Post

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Speaker 1: has suspended mail and parcel deliveries indefinitely to hundreds of

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Speaker 1: homes in Alice Springs after a series of allegedly violent

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Speaker 1: attacks against one of their veteran postings. Now. According to

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Speaker 1: the local member, Josh Burgoyne, the incident's allegedly involved the

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Speaker 1: use of knives and rocks and happened over a period

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Speaker 1: of several months. Josh Burgoin joins me on the line

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Speaker 1: right now. Good morning to you, Josh.

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Speaker 2: Good morning Katie, Good morning to your listeners.

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Speaker 1: Josh. What's led Australia Posts to making this decision?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, certainly, Katie looked last week I was out in

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Speaker 2: the electorate and actually bumped into the post he who's

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Speaker 2: been mentioned obviously here. I then spoke later to the

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Speaker 2: post office manager and found out that there had been

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Speaker 2: a number of incidents one last year that involved a

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Speaker 2: knife that led to this posty going on Stressley. That

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Speaker 2: post you that then't come back to work this year

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Speaker 2: and within a number of weeks has then had rocks

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Speaker 2: pelted at them and that has led Australia Posts to

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Speaker 2: make this very difficult decision. Which they have to ensure

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Speaker 2: the safety of their star and they will no longer

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Speaker 2: be delivering male to residents in this certain area where

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Speaker 2: these incidents. Two incidents have occurred, both last year and

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Speaker 2: this year.

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Speaker 1: Josh, do you have any idea how the post who's

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Speaker 1: been subjected to that behavior is going.

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Speaker 2: Look, obviously this to put in perspective, this is someone

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Speaker 2: who's been doing her job for thirty eight years. This

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Speaker 2: is a veteran post a year who has been going

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Speaker 2: about her job for a long time. Last year, I

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Speaker 2: can't imagine what it would have taken for that person.

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Speaker 2: They basically have to take leave to say, look, I

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Speaker 2: just need a break, this is all too much. Then

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Speaker 2: to come back bravely to come back to work after

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Speaker 2: what she dealt with last year, and then to be

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Speaker 2: pelted with rocks. I can absolutely understand where managers that

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Speaker 2: Australia Post are coming from when they say, look, we

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Speaker 2: have to look after for our workers here. We don't

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Speaker 2: want them going out on stressley, we don't want them

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Speaker 2: feeling like they're not supported. So you do not have

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Speaker 2: to go into that area where these incidents are occurring.

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Speaker 2: And I think it really goes to show that the

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Speaker 2: government have just completely lost control. Have been talking about

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Speaker 2: crime and ola springs for a long time, but when

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Speaker 2: we are now seeing things like this that I've never

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Speaker 2: seen happen. Yeah, yeare Australia Post a suspending delivery to

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Speaker 2: some two hundred homes in my electorate. I just think

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Speaker 2: what has gone wrong? And clearly a lot has in

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Speaker 2: this incident.

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Speaker 1: It's actually really sad situation that that post of thirty

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Speaker 1: eight years is no longer able to go to work

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Speaker 1: due to what's gone on, and to think that there

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Speaker 1: are threats against that person, rocks being pelted at them.

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Speaker 1: You just should not have to put up with that

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Speaker 1: kind of thing when you go to work, but you

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Speaker 1: would actually not expect to have to put up with

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Speaker 1: that while you are delivering mail.

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Speaker 2: And you're absolutely right, Katie, you've hit the nail on

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Speaker 2: the head there. This is someone who's at work, who's

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Speaker 2: doing their job, and they are basically being treated in

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Speaker 2: a way that is absolutely unappropriate in any sort of setting,

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Speaker 2: let alone when you're just trying to do what you're

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Speaker 2: paid to do and go about your job. So look,

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Speaker 2: as a territory opposition, we've tried to put forward, you know,

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Speaker 2: stronger harsher penalties for people that assault workers whilst have worked.

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Speaker 2: These things have been knocked back. We've got a motion

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Speaker 2: of no confidence in this government that's coming up at

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Speaker 2: the next sittings. I really implore everyone that's listening, you know,

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Speaker 2: if you feel like you've had no get in touch

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Speaker 2: with your local member. Let them know exactly how you're feeling,

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Speaker 2: because people here in our springs are just fed up

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Speaker 2: with having to continually deal with these sorts of things.

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Speaker 2: And now we have residents that, through no fauld of

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Speaker 2: their own, aren't going to be able to get their

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Speaker 2: mails delivered. They're going to have to come into town

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Speaker 2: to collect all their mail because Australia Post esteem it

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Speaker 2: is too unsafe to send posts into that area of towns.

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Speaker 1: Do you have any idea how long this situation is

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Speaker 1: going to last in terms of in terms of those

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Speaker 1: deliveries not happening.

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Speaker 2: No Lootralia Post. The letter clearly states that pending further

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Speaker 2: discussions with local police, local MPs and relevant authorities, they

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Speaker 2: want to resolve this situation. I've sent a letter to

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Speaker 2: the Territory's Family Families Minister and also spoke to this

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Speaker 2: morning as I was getting on a plane just saying

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Speaker 2: this is something that needs to be dealt with. There

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Speaker 2: was one home that was mentioned to me in particular

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Speaker 2: where this happened out the front of and I've also

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Speaker 2: had reports from other other homes in the area that

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Speaker 2: are known to me. So I've spoken with police, I've

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Speaker 2: spoken with a Territory Families Minister. We need to get

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Speaker 2: a resolution here, and we need to ensure that when people,

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Speaker 2: especially our posties, are going about their day to day work,

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Speaker 2: but they're not being pelted with rocks, they don't feel

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Speaker 2: unsafe because knives they're being threatened with knives. And also

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Speaker 2: we need to ensure that there are young people on

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Speaker 2: the street during the day. Why aren't those young people

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Speaker 2: at school?

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Speaker 1: One hundred percent said to me one hundred percent, mate,

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Speaker 1: I think you'd be hard pressed to find anybody who

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Speaker 1: disagrees with the sentiment that you I've got this morning.

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Speaker 1: You know, like, it's not good enough. It is absolutely

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Speaker 1: not good enough that somebody is having to put up

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Speaker 1: with this kind of disgusting behavior while they're trying to

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Speaker 1: do their job. And then you really have to question

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Speaker 1: why those kids are not at school. We all understand

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Speaker 1: that there's some very deep social issues to deal with here,

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Speaker 1: but it's just not good enough that somebody can't actually

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Speaker 1: do their job safely and that people cannot live safely

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Speaker 1: right now. On that note, Josh, there's been a lot

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Speaker 1: of discussion this week about the situation at the hospital

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Speaker 1: with a lack of staff. How are things going from

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Speaker 1: your perspective?

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Speaker 2: So, I know, for myself or my wife and I

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Speaker 2: had our beautiful little baby a couple of years ago,

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Speaker 2: we had plenty of midwives on the ward. I think

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Speaker 2: it was something like four. My sister in law has

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Speaker 2: recently had a baby. I was at the other Springs hospital.

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Speaker 2: They only had two midwives that I could see on

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Speaker 2: during the day. So I think for a lot of

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Speaker 2: wards right across the hospital, it's the same as that

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Speaker 2: they are dealing with half the staff that they used

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Speaker 2: to have. When you have one hundred and thirteen I

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Speaker 2: think the number was given the other day, one hundred

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Speaker 2: and forty nurses right across Central Australia vacant. Those positions

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Speaker 2: are vacant. You simply cannot continue to operate the way

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Speaker 2: that you used to. And I know from speaking with

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Speaker 2: staff that there are people that are picking up additional shifts. Now,

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Speaker 2: that's great, you can do that for a short period

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Speaker 2: of time, but long long term, we need to deal

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Speaker 2: with these issues. And unfortunately, I've even heard that we

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Speaker 2: had some nurses that were due to be coming to

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Speaker 2: other springs and because of all the recent media attention

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Speaker 2: on other springs, they've pulled those applications and said, look, unfortunately,

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Speaker 2: I don't feel safe coming to other springs. So we're

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Speaker 2: dealing with a serious issue here. And crime continues to

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Speaker 2: be a big issue as it refers to recruiting people

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Speaker 2: here to dealing with our health issues as well as

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Speaker 2: obviously our overworked police officers that unfortunately continue to leave

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Speaker 2: the force in precedent.

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Speaker 1: And look, we are going to catch up with Patcher

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Speaker 1: from the nursing and MI we're free Federation just before

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Speaker 1: ten o'clock in about fifteen minutes time, Josh, we know

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Speaker 1: the Chief Minister was in Alice Springs again this week.

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Speaker 1: Was there any anything significant from that visit?

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Speaker 2: Look, I honestly I heard that there was a school

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Speaker 2: announcement that came out of it. But she had meetings

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Speaker 2: that obviously the hospital to find out exactly what government

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Speaker 2: needed to be doing. I think it's again it's pretty

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Speaker 2: clear from the locals that are hitting that are here

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Speaker 2: in Alice Springs. We need to get our crime crisis

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Speaker 2: under control so that people feel safe to come to

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Speaker 2: our community, whether it be tourists, whether it be people

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Speaker 2: that are coming here to take partner in a new role,

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Speaker 2: a new job. Safety is the number one thing that

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Speaker 2: people talk to me about every day. And if people

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Speaker 2: don't feel safe, we're going to struggle with all these

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Speaker 2: other issues that are unfortunately coming on. And I know

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Speaker 2: I've been listening to you this week. You've been talking

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Speaker 2: about the football, you've been talking about the hospital, and

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Speaker 2: now we're talking about Australia post suspending deliver reached the homes.

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Speaker 2: At the end of the day, it all boils down

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Speaker 2: to people feel safe to come here and is crime

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Speaker 2: under control in our town and unfortunately it's simply not. Yeah.

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Speaker 1: Look, I think personal safety, like safety right across the board,

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Speaker 1: is the number one issue right now. It is something

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Speaker 1: that we need to get under control. And then you know,

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Speaker 1: even when you hear of incidents like what we've just

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Speaker 1: spoken about up here in the top end from overnight,

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Speaker 1: where the police are investigating a death after receiving reports

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Speaker 1: of an unconscious adult man in a car park, witnesses

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Speaker 1: saying that there had been a fight that complex in Milner.

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Speaker 1: You know this kind of thing. We understand that there's

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Speaker 1: going to be crime from time to time, but seriously,

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Speaker 1: this is incredibly serious stuff that is happening much more

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Speaker 1: regularly than it should be.

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Speaker 2: Absolutely, Katie, if I can't agree with you more here

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Speaker 2: in our springs have been dealing with it for a

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Speaker 2: long time. I've been listening to some of the instances

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Speaker 2: have been happening up and down and seem to be

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Speaker 2: happening a bit more frequently of late, and we need

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Speaker 2: make sure that we're dealing with the root causes of

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Speaker 2: these issues. We need to make sure that people feel safe,

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Speaker 2: and we need to make sure that people can go

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Speaker 2: about their day to day lives and work without being attacked.

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Speaker 1: Josh Burgoyne, the member for Brakling, always appreciate your time.

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Speaker 1: Thanks so much for having a chat with us today.

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Speaker 2: Thank you for the opportunity.

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Speaker 1: Thank you