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Speaker 1: Joining me on the line right now is the Mayor

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Speaker 1: of Palmerston, Athena Pasco Bell.

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Speaker 2: Good morning to you, Athena.

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Speaker 3: Good morning, Katie.

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Speaker 2: Great to have you on the show now, Athena.

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Speaker 1: Before I get to the my Palmeston vouchers, we did

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Speaker 1: just catch up with the Lord Mayor of Darwin convat

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Speaker 1: Scalis a little bit earlier this morning. He said that

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Speaker 1: all of the mayors of the territory are going to

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Speaker 1: be catching up with the Chief Minister Natasha Files today

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Speaker 1: at about twelve thirty to talk about Well, I'm assuming

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Speaker 1: plenty of issues, but one of them as well, crime

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Speaker 1: and anti social behavior. Athena, is that something that's been

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Speaker 1: a concern for you out in Palmerston as well, Katie.

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Speaker 3: I can tell you the year on year the biggest

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Speaker 3: concern raised by Palmerston residents is crime and antisocial behavior

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Speaker 3: and the City of Palmeston works very closely with police

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Speaker 3: and other agencies, territory families housing to try and address

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Speaker 3: the issues that we experience in Palmerston. And yeah, COM's correct,

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Speaker 3: we are having that meeting today with the Chief Minister.

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Speaker 3: Hopefully all the mayors from across the Northern Territory will

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Speaker 3: turn up because these issues are things that we all

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Speaker 3: need to work together on. Yeah, it's not just the

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Speaker 3: responsibility of one agency or one level of government. We

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Speaker 3: all need to play a part and do what we

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Speaker 3: can within our own spheres of responsibility to address these issues.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, you spot on, And I feel like it's reached

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Speaker 1: the point at the moment where you know, people are.

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Speaker 2: Really quite fed up.

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Speaker 1: But you know that's exactly what we're expecting of our leaders,

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Speaker 1: of our community leaders at the moment, is that everybody

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Speaker 1: can try to work as productively as possible together so

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Speaker 1: that we can see some change in this space.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, and look, I have to thank the Chief Minister

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Speaker 3: for allowing this meeting because obviously, you know, it's been

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Speaker 3: called by a lot of the mayors across the NT

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Speaker 3: and for her to make her time available is you know,

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Speaker 3: we really appreciate having that opportunity to discuss these issues

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Speaker 3: with her and other members of the Northern Territory government.

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Speaker 1: From your perspective, you know, what is the main thing

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Speaker 1: that you're really hoping for or hoping to come out

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Speaker 1: of this meeting with the Chief Finister.

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Speaker 3: Look, I'm hoping that they're the way forward and in particular.

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Speaker 3: The way I view the issues is that we really

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Speaker 3: need to focus a lot more on the remote communities

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Speaker 3: and making sure that they are serviced appropriately so that

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Speaker 3: community members have got all the resources that they need

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Speaker 3: in place in their remote locations so that they are

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Speaker 3: comfortable living there without having to come into towns and

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Speaker 3: our metropolitan areas. We often see the impact of things

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Speaker 3: that have gone wrong in remote communities. So I'm really

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Speaker 3: willing to support the regional or remote councils with what

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Speaker 3: information and services and assistance they need, particularly from their

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Speaker 3: municipal councils. Putting our weight behind the regional councils to

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Speaker 3: make sure that they've got what they need.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, because look, it is something we've spoken about on

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Speaker 1: numerous occasions on the show.

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Speaker 2: We've spoken to the.

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Speaker 1: Police a lot earlier in the year about the high

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Speaker 1: volume of people that we're seeing come in from the

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Speaker 1: right communities, and at one point, I think we had

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Speaker 1: about three thousand.

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Speaker 2: The Northern Territory Police had told us.

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Speaker 1: I believe that that number has gone down back in

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Speaker 1: the hundreds, but it was like it was causing a

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Speaker 1: lot of strain in a lot of different areas, particularly

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Speaker 1: you know when you're talking about people sleeping rough but

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Speaker 1: sleeping around buildings, leaving rubbish around and very unfortunately public drinking.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, and the city's Parmisan does do a lot of

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Speaker 3: activity in that space. So we do have the Orange

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Speaker 3: Sky buff come and allow people to shower and wash

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Speaker 3: their clothes. We have the Recreation Center and the library

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Speaker 3: opened for visitors as well, so they can get some

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Speaker 3: assistance through those avenues as well. But it really comes

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Speaker 3: back to making sure that people who live in the

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Speaker 3: remote areas have got what they need in their own

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Speaker 3: communities because you know, a lot of the time they

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Speaker 3: don't want to be coming into Darwin and Palmerston to

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Speaker 3: seek services and support. I'm sure they'd much rather be

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Speaker 3: living in their community amongst their family and friends. But

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Speaker 3: you know, just dealing with you know, some of the

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Speaker 3: issues that happen when they get here, if they get

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Speaker 3: trapped here, and that was what happened as a result

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Speaker 3: of COVID with the biosecurity zones, people weren't able to

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Speaker 3: return back to their communities readily. And you know, once

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Speaker 3: they're here and Palmerston has no visit or accommodation, it's

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Speaker 3: very difficult for people who are stuck in Palmerston to

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Speaker 3: find services and support.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I didn't even think of that.

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Speaker 1: I mean, is that something that we need to look at,

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Speaker 1: like that visitor accommodation as well.

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Speaker 3: Look, it probably is one of those ongoing discussions that

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Speaker 3: we need to have with the Northern Territory government, possibly

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Speaker 3: the Commonwealth government. But Parmeston has absolutely no visitor accommodation.

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Speaker 3: So you know, when we see people coming to Parmeston,

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Speaker 3: they might stay with family and friends, it might cause

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Speaker 3: overcrowding issues sometimes and they will sleep rough, but there

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Speaker 3: is no real suitable visitor accommodation for people visiting from

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Speaker 3: remote communities. So you know, this is something that it's

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Speaker 3: on my radar with government, and I have raised it

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Speaker 3: a few times. I guess it's more a matter of

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Speaker 3: picking when's the right time for that sort of infrastructure

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Speaker 3: to be put in place as well.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, well, I'll be really interested to hear how the

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Speaker 1: meeting today does go. With the Chief ministeron attached to files.

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Speaker 1: It sounds as though it'll hopefully be a constructive one.

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Speaker 1: One of the other things so that I'm very keen

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Speaker 1: to talk to you about this morning is my Palmeston vouchers.

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Speaker 2: How have they gone?

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Speaker 3: Well, after five months, we've expended the whole six hundred

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Speaker 3: thousand dollars program that finished up on the fourteenth of August,

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Speaker 3: and that put an impressive three and a half million

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Speaker 3: dollars back into our local economy. As a result, we

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Speaker 3: had ninety five businesses participating and over five thousand customers

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Speaker 3: were registered, so it was a really big effort. I

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Speaker 3: know a lot of people enjoyed the opportunity to use

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Speaker 3: those vouchers. Their top three businesses were Golden Nails. I

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Speaker 3: think we spoke about that last time, so lots of

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Speaker 3: parmeerstan ladies running around with fabulous looking nails. Covid Cafe

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Speaker 3: was second place, and the Driver's Supermarket came in third. So,

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Speaker 3: you know, really good and very happy to be able

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Speaker 3: to support the businesses. A big thank you to the

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Speaker 3: Northern Territory government for their generous support in the program

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Speaker 3: and supporting local businesses as well. So yeah, very pleased

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Speaker 3: with the effort.

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Speaker 1: Now, what's been the response from from those local businesses

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Speaker 1: as well? Have they found that it's been a positive

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Speaker 1: thing for them?

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Speaker 3: Yeah, Look, they love it, clutely love it. It gives

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Speaker 3: incentive for people to go and spend at those businesses

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Speaker 3: that are participating. And you know, everyone loves a discount,

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Speaker 3: so whether you're buying a cake, getting a quick bite

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Speaker 3: to eat, buying something else, it gives you that little

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Speaker 3: bit of extra incentive and the businesses really do appreciate it.

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Speaker 1: Now, is there are there any plans I guess to

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Speaker 1: offer another round? And if so could have happened quite soon.

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Speaker 1: When would it happen.

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Speaker 3: We haven't actually thought about whether we're going to offer

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Speaker 3: another round or how that will be done, remembering that

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Speaker 3: this initiative was brought about by the City of Darwin

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Speaker 3: to support businesses through COVID. So you know, I think

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Speaker 3: the emergency is just about over or it's been declared

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Speaker 3: finished now, so I don't know whether we'll run it again.

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Speaker 2: Well, I mean it'll be an interesting one. I guess.

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Speaker 1: It has been such a positive thing, but yeah, it

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Speaker 1: does that money needs to come from somewhere as well

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Speaker 1: to be able to make it happen. So if business

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Speaker 1: is quite busy at the moment, then it may not

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Speaker 1: be required.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, that's right, And hopefully things are getting back to

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Speaker 3: normal now, and you know, we do see a lot

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Speaker 3: of activity business activity in Palmerston, so we're not hearing

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Speaker 3: negative business stories, so I think everything's on the up

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Speaker 3: and up now.

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Speaker 1: Well, Asena Pasco Bell, the Mayor of Palmerston, we always

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Speaker 1: appreciate your time.

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Speaker 2: Thanks so much for having a chat with me today.

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Speaker 3: Thank you very much, thank you,