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Speaker 1: Well as we know. A day after launching new flights

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Speaker 1: in the Northern Territory, Bonza was forced to cancel services

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Speaker 1: from Darwin to the Gold Coast for a month. There

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Speaker 1: were crocs and celebrations at the airport when the first

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Speaker 1: flight arrived on Wednesday night, bar that did quickly change

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Speaker 1: when passengers were advised that the route had been suspended

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Speaker 1: until January two. Now, I've had friends who were booked

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Speaker 1: on those flights get in contact pretty annoyed about the cancelations.

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Speaker 1: Joining us on the line is the BONSA CEO Tim Jordan.

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Speaker 1: Good morning to you, Tim.

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Speaker 2: Katie, Good morning Tim.

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Speaker 1: What happened?

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Speaker 2: Oh, first and foremost to you, your friends and obviously

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Speaker 2: quite a number of your listeners. I'm sorry. What we're

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Speaker 2: doing is hard. We're trying to really disrupt the market here,

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Speaker 2: give more choice, open things up, make it more accessible.

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Speaker 2: And what we're doing here with our gold cost base

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Speaker 2: is utilizing aircraft from a partner airline that requires a

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Speaker 2: separate regulatory approval process. We haven't got through that yet.

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Speaker 2: It's ongoing, we're working through that and it is progressing positively,

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Speaker 2: but it just wasn't ready in time, and it's not

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Speaker 2: something we feel good about and you know, for your

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Speaker 2: as I say, for your friends, for many of your listeners,

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Speaker 2: it's a misstep and we'd like to apologize. We can't

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Speaker 2: do it. We're we're that's the DNA. Our DNA is

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Speaker 2: to offer something better to Australian travelers no matter where

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Speaker 2: you live.

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Speaker 1: Well, I will say.

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Speaker 2: We've let ourselves down in that regard.

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Speaker 1: I will say something that I think you've done a

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Speaker 1: bit better than what what probably happens with other airlines

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Speaker 1: is that those flights that have been canceled, you've at

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Speaker 1: least sort of offered you know, accommodation or potentially you know,

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Speaker 1: money for accommodation and and a few different things to

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Speaker 1: try and help them out, which is a step I

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Speaker 1: think in the right direction. But tim what like, So

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Speaker 1: what exactly are you waiting on at this point?

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Speaker 2: We are, as I say, there is a separate regulatory

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Speaker 2: approvals process because we temporarily we're in the process of

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Speaker 2: recruiting crewise for our goal co space, so in the

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Speaker 2: short term, so we could ironically bring an option for

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Speaker 2: Christmas travel to more travelers across the country. We were

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Speaker 2: looking to start this before Christmas, and unfortunately that process

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Speaker 2: is just ongoing at this moment and clearly clearly working

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Speaker 2: through the regulator. You know they do. They do a

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Speaker 2: fantastic job of making sure that everything is that it

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Speaker 2: should be. However, that process is just ongoing at this moment,

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Speaker 2: and once the regulator is happy with everything that we're doing,

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Speaker 2: they will, you know, once they say we're good to go,

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Speaker 2: we will be good to go. And we are getting

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Speaker 2: very close, but we're just not there yet, and as

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Speaker 2: soon as we can be, we will be.

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Speaker 1: There will be people listening this morning thinking why was

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Speaker 1: this not sorted before allowing people to book these routes?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, and it is a very good question, but it's

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Speaker 2: absolutely sort of normal for clearly airlines the world over

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Speaker 2: have to open up bookings ahead of time. What we

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Speaker 2: believe is, you know, we we will always look on

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Speaker 2: the conservative side in terms of how long we believe

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Speaker 2: something will take for us to get the necessary approvals. Unfortunately,

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Speaker 2: on this one, we've got it wrong. So we will

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Speaker 2: learn some lessons. We will we will look at ourselves

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Speaker 2: and say, how could we have done it better and

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Speaker 2: make sure we'd step in the same holes again. I

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Speaker 2: guess what we do know also, before I know before

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Speaker 2: I I guess the big picture is we have traveled.

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Speaker 2: We have transported more than half a million customers so

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Speaker 2: far this year. That's half a million travelers around Australia

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Speaker 2: that otherwise most likely wouldn't have traveled because it's just

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Speaker 2: too expensive. So we got it wrong in terms of

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Speaker 2: this particular market at this time. And as I say,

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Speaker 2: we're not feeling great about ourselves, as we shouldn't at

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Speaker 2: this moment in time. But the big picture is we

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Speaker 2: are bringing change to the market. There's ten new destinations

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Speaker 2: across Australia that have low cost affairs in that nine

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Speaker 2: months ago didn't And as I said, there's half a

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Speaker 2: million travelers who have saved upwards of one hundred million

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Speaker 2: dollars that we have. We have reduced people's travel bills.

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Speaker 2: Albeit that that is going to be sounding very hollow

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Speaker 2: to some of your listeners right now. And as I say,

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Speaker 2: we're tim.

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Speaker 1: How many people were booked on those on those routes

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Speaker 1: from Darwin to the Gold Coast. Do you have any

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Speaker 1: idea how many have been impacted?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, clearly you know. And the route the Sunshine Coast

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Speaker 2: is operating as planned, that is utilizing our bombs or

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Speaker 2: aircraft and crew, so it has a different operating mode

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Speaker 2: if you like, so that is operating and as you said,

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Speaker 2: there's a good number of customers who were booked to

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Speaker 2: be traveling to the Gold Coast who will not be

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Speaker 2: traveling to the Sunshine Coast if that is an option

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Speaker 2: which helps them in some way. Albeit it's far from perfect,

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Speaker 2: but in total, book to the Gold Coast was approximately

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Speaker 2: between fifteen and sixteen hundred customers.

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Speaker 1: It's pretty that's a pretty large number over that period

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Speaker 1: of time. And as you said, this is not an

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Speaker 1: ideal situation at all, but I guess it also shows

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Speaker 1: you that you know that it was like that it's

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Speaker 1: potentially going to be a very popular.

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Speaker 2: Route, and we are incredibly encouraged and by the bookings,

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Speaker 2: but unfortunately, at this moment in time, that's that's like

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Speaker 2: a very hollow I'm going to use the wrong word

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Speaker 2: victory because this is far from a victory, but we

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Speaker 2: are really encouraged by those early bookings and we can

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Speaker 2: see some strength in that. That doesn't help many of

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Speaker 2: your listeners and in fact your friend who who we've

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Speaker 2: let down. As I say, what we do take solace

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Speaker 2: from is the fact that We have half a million

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Speaker 2: travelers this year who have got onto and bonds or

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Speaker 2: aircraft and have seen friends and family or visited new

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Speaker 2: places because of what we're doing, and I think that

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Speaker 2: big picture is really very important. What we're trying to

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Speaker 2: do here is if you like the classic David and Goliath,

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Speaker 2: and that's that's what we're doing in the market, and

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Speaker 2: it's we will we will get it wrong occasionally like

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Speaker 2: we have here, but we will try and learn very

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Speaker 2: quickly and then get it right. And we are really

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Speaker 2: really hoping that the territory allows us to make up

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Speaker 2: for this and trust us in the future because our

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Speaker 2: intention is the same as what it was a week ago,

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Speaker 2: which is to bring low affairs and more choice to

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Speaker 2: the people of the territory.

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Speaker 1: Tim Are people going to get refunds if they have

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Speaker 1: booked on that route and they're not able to travel

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Speaker 1: to the Sunshine Coast instead for whatever reason.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely, they will absolutely get a full refund and

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Speaker 2: that will be processed as a matter of priority. And

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Speaker 2: so yes, full refund if that Sunshine Coast option is

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Speaker 2: not made available or is not suitable for the.

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Speaker 1: Customer, and if people are being flown to the Sunshine

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Speaker 1: Coast or if that is a viable option for them.

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Speaker 1: Instead is bonds are helping to cover some of the

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Speaker 1: alternative costs.

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Speaker 2: Not beyond transporting to the Sunshine Coast. No, as you

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Speaker 2: can imagine, we are still a relatively small business in

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Speaker 2: the overall scheme of things, and as I say, i'll

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Speaker 2: come back to the David and Goliath comparison, what we're

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Speaker 2: trying to do is wherever possible, we absolutely must be

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Speaker 2: fair and reasonable. We have previously looked at putting on

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Speaker 2: buses and those sorts of things. Unfortunately, our experience of

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Speaker 2: doing that sort of it doesn't necessarily help because once

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Speaker 2: we get to the other end, all of us have

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Speaker 2: got individual plans to individual locations, so quite often that

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Speaker 2: would unravel. So the extent of the if you like,

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Speaker 2: the assistance is to transfer to the Sunshine Coast where

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Speaker 2: that is available and useful. Alternatively a full refund for

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Speaker 2: the flights involved.

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Speaker 1: Was there also an option though, with accommodation or some

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Speaker 1: kind of assistance with accommodation on the Sunshine Coast or

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Speaker 1: have I read that.

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Speaker 2: Role I'm not sure. I think it depends on specific Yeah,

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Speaker 2: I wouldn't want to sort of add too much more

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Speaker 2: on that because I will, to be quite honest, I'll

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Speaker 2: probably get it wrong.

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Speaker 1: Well, Tim, I tell you, I know that there are

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Speaker 1: people that are disappointed. I've no doubt that there will

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Speaker 1: be people that are disappointed, particularly if they were planning

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Speaker 1: on traveling over Christmas. As you've said, I know that

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Speaker 1: that is something that bonds. It was certainly hoping to

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Speaker 1: be able to do. Mate. How soon are you expecting

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Speaker 1: that these flights are going to, you know, to get

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Speaker 1: that approval and be able to do exactly what you

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Speaker 1: intend for them to do.

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Speaker 2: The second of January is the date that we are confident,

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Speaker 2: subject to the ongoing process. But as I say, what

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Speaker 2: we have done is built a conservative margin in that

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Speaker 2: particular date, so subject to the approvals being forthcoming, the

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Speaker 2: second of January is when we expect that first first

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Speaker 2: flight to the Gold Coast. Now, and as I say,

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Speaker 2: in the meantime, the Sunshine Coast offer rations are progressing

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Speaker 2: as planned, and I think it's just appropriate that I

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Speaker 2: apologize once again to you, your friends, and your listeners,

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Speaker 2: because this isn't who we are. We are here to disrupt,

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Speaker 2: we are here to help, and we've missed a step

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Speaker 2: here and for that, we're sorry, and we're going to

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Speaker 2: get better and we're going to learn from this, and

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Speaker 2: hopefully the territory can can support us as we as

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Speaker 2: we go on that quest to try and make it

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Speaker 2: more accessible in and out of the territory. Well, we

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Speaker 2: want people on the journey with us.

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Speaker 1: Well, Bonsa, CEO, Tim Jordan, We appreciate your time this morning,

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Speaker 1: and please do keep us up to date and let

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Speaker 1: us know how things are progressing. We appreciate you fronting

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Speaker 1: up and having a chat with us today.

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Speaker 2: Thank you, Katie, thank you