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Speaker 1: We know that AFLNT has revealed plans to build a

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Speaker 1: three hundred million dollars stadium right in the heart of

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Speaker 1: Down City. To talk more about it is the board

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Speaker 1: chairman for afl and T Sean Bowden. Sean, good morning,

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Speaker 1: Good morning, Matt Shawn. To tell you what I nearly

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Speaker 1: spat out mcffee on Saturday morning when I saw this

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Speaker 1: on the front page of the paper. It's ambitious. Tell

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Speaker 1: us more about the plan.

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Speaker 2: Well, the plan's actually got two arms to it, so

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Speaker 2: it's more ambitious than you would have even read in

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Speaker 2: that headline, Matte. We're also planning and proposing a dollar

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Speaker 2: for dollar spend on regional and remote infrastructure. We think

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Speaker 2: the two things go perfectly together that are given these proposals.

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Speaker 2: You know something, for all territorians, we have to make

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Speaker 2: sure that whatever's done, it has to be done right

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Speaker 2: through the length and breadth of the territory. So yeah,

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Speaker 2: we've got this proposal and we think it's timely and

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Speaker 2: we think that it's something that should be grabbed at

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Speaker 2: both hands with both hands by the territory. But we're

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Speaker 2: also spreading it out into the regions, the remote areas.

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Speaker 1: Sean, what would this stadium look like as I understand it,

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Speaker 1: it would be modeled on something similar to the NRL

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Speaker 1: Stadium in Townsville.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, it wouldn't matter. But we're also proposed that it

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Speaker 2: has a roof or closable roof. I mean, we need

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Speaker 2: to be able to use this stadium all year round.

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Speaker 2: And I mean if you think about the what we're

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Speaker 2: really we're trying to do in the full picture here,

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Speaker 2: it's to bring real activity and annual activity to the

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Speaker 2: Northern Territory. You just have to excuse me, I'm at

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Speaker 2: the airport matters. You might be aware and there's a

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Speaker 2: bit of noise in the background, but no person. We

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Speaker 2: are proposing that it has has a lead on it

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Speaker 2: and that it's available year round for concerts, for other

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Speaker 2: entertainment and also you know of course for the NRL Games,

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Speaker 2: Soccer Test, treky All International creg in the range of

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Speaker 2: activities that might come with the stadium like that.

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Speaker 1: Sean, for those who haven't seen the plans, where would

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Speaker 1: it be built.

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Speaker 2: There's a block of land that we think is perfect

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Speaker 2: for it that is bounded by Garrimela Boulevard and mcmin

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Speaker 2: Street with the Tiger brewn and drive down the bottom.

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Speaker 2: So it's a sort of trade deal a block of

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Speaker 2: land just to the north of the city, and you know,

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Speaker 2: we think it's perfect. It's a walk down in the

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Speaker 2: evening for an event for people from the city. It's

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Speaker 2: also a comfortable drive up for people at Palmerston and

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Speaker 2: down in the rural areas, in the regional areas. And

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Speaker 2: we think it'll sort of also lock in the waterfront

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Speaker 2: and the proposed plans for Francis Bay into the future.

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Speaker 2: So that I meant this is going to be an

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Speaker 2: iconic thing. If we can drive it and deliver it,

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Speaker 2: this will be something that really the Northern Territory needs

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Speaker 2: and deserves. Every other capital city has infrastructure like this,

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Speaker 2: and you know, we really needed to sort of set

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Speaker 2: ourselves and test ourselves. If we want to be capital city,

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Speaker 2: we have to aim at projects like this.

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Speaker 1: Have you approached the landholder of that site and sought

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Speaker 1: feedback from them and other stakeholders?

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Speaker 2: No, This stakeholder processes will start early next year. And

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Speaker 2: at the moment, it's a concept and it's a proposal

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Speaker 2: and this work needs to be done. But there has

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Speaker 2: been discussion in the past with infrastructure of the Northern

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Speaker 2: Territory and with the former Chief Architect of the Northern Territory,

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Speaker 2: and this site was identified as one. Another one was

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Speaker 2: Gardens was identified as a possible site with Gardens, it's

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Speaker 2: just a little bit further out of town and there's

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Speaker 2: some real challenges with the scope of that site and

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Speaker 2: the cemeteries and the botanical gardens and of course the

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Speaker 2: course of residential area there. And some of your listeners

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Speaker 2: will be aware of the difficulty you had putting up

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Speaker 2: start of the art lights at Gardens. You know, we

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Speaker 2: don't want to run into that problem again.

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Speaker 1: I'm sure that the price tag on these as reports

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Speaker 1: it in the NT News on Saturday, three hundred million dollars.

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Speaker 1: It's a lot of money. Who's going to pay for it?

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Speaker 2: Well, thinking about the stimulus it will bring. Think about

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Speaker 2: what it'll bring to the Northern Territory, particularly if we

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Speaker 2: can back to back it with this remote and regional

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Speaker 2: infrastructure plan, I mean, which is just as critical as

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Speaker 2: as the plan for the stadium. So that's six hundred

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Speaker 2: million dollars Matt and I mean that's what Stuart Totham

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Speaker 2: and I have been saying. It's really his time to

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Speaker 2: believe that this can be done and to stimulate the economy.

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Speaker 2: I mean, the amount of jobs that would be created

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Speaker 2: in just in construction of this studium that would be extraordinary.

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Speaker 2: And then you've got the annual activity that had come

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Speaker 2: with it. You'd have this stadium running year round. It'll

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Speaker 2: be bringing people from a state, bringing people from overseas.

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Speaker 2: I mean, you'd hope in future we bring in I

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Speaker 2: mean's international soccer teams from Southeast Asia, they might run

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Speaker 2: some of their games over all that sort of stuff.

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Speaker 2: So I mean, you can get fixed on the price,

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Speaker 2: or you can look at the concept and what the

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Speaker 2: derivatives might be, and that's what we're really trying to do.

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Speaker 1: It was also reported that this could help boost the

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Speaker 1: Northern Territories chance of an AFL team, that a stadium

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Speaker 1: of these lights would be required for us to have

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Speaker 1: an AFL team. Is this a bit of a case

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Speaker 1: of the chicken and the egg, the stadium and the

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Speaker 1: team and which one could come first.

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Speaker 2: Of course it is. You've got to have these things

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Speaker 2: that roll together. And there's a lot of ardent supporters

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Speaker 2: of too stadium, but the fact is that it's an

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Speaker 2: older piece of infrastructure built in the late eighties and

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Speaker 2: early nineties, and if you want to attract those international

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Speaker 2: teams and those national high level professional teams, you need

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Speaker 2: something it is state of the art. And if we

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Speaker 2: want to have an AFL team, which I think we deserve,

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Speaker 2: and I think the talent in the Northern Territory warrants

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Speaker 2: and will prove up, then when you do need to

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Speaker 2: have a stadium like this. We need to have a

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Speaker 2: facility that inspires people inspired there young people, inspire the

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Speaker 2: community and gets the community to flood into this ground,

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Speaker 2: you know, for a territory thunder game or whatever it

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Speaker 2: might be, Northern Sun some people call it. Whatever the

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Speaker 2: concept is, whatever the team is, we need a stadium

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Speaker 2: like this that can really ground and found that team.

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Speaker 1: Sean, I know we both use the word before ambitious.

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Speaker 1: This plan. Is it overly ambitious given where the anti

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Speaker 1: economy is at the moment, though.

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Speaker 2: Well, I think it's the right time to bring it forward. Matter.

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Speaker 2: I mean, we can either sit on our hands and

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Speaker 2: say that we're struggling with the economy, which we are,

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Speaker 2: we encounup with some proposals that are not going to

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Speaker 2: that are going to create additional activity, create additional economy

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Speaker 2: for the future now if you look at what's happening

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Speaker 2: down South Victoria has just come out with a massive

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Speaker 2: infrastructure plan, New South Wales, Queensland, they're all investing in

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Speaker 2: big infrastructure projects. And this is off the back of

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Speaker 2: in Sydney an already massive upgrade of their stadiums, and

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Speaker 2: similarly in Victoria they continue to upgrade and improve their infrastructure.

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Speaker 2: So I think it's timely and I think we really

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Speaker 2: need to lift our eyes and see how this can

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Speaker 2: be done rather than just twiddling our thumbs and sitting

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Speaker 2: around and waiting for things to get worse, rather than

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Speaker 2: to working towards getting them better.

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Speaker 1: Sean, what happens next.

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Speaker 2: Next will be preparing some basic fusibility plans that will

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Speaker 2: happen in the next two to three months after Christmas.

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Speaker 2: We'll continue talking with stakeholders. So there's being discussions at

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Speaker 2: an AFL level, AFL and T level with Dale Major

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Speaker 2: Business Group and the Chamber of Commerce and others. And

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Speaker 2: I was pleased to see that Alex Bruce from Tourism

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Speaker 2: came out back in the concept on the weekend, So

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Speaker 2: those discussions will have particularly with the Northern Territory government.

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Speaker 2: We've discussed this with the Chief Minister, who's got a

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Speaker 2: lot on his plate at the moment, and we don't

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Speaker 2: want to overload him. We want to support him and

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Speaker 2: get in behind him, and then we want to support

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Speaker 2: him to go to the federal government and I know

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Speaker 2: that the AFL will support him too if we can

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Speaker 2: get this plan together. I mean, we have to do

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Speaker 2: the heavy lifting here in the Northern Territory, but I'm

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Speaker 2: certain that Gil mcgloughlin will support this proposal when the

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Speaker 2: time comes. So we need to take this plan, build

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Speaker 2: it with the Northern Territory government, build it with stakeholders

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Speaker 2: in dah and build it with the business community and

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Speaker 2: the public, and then we take it to the federal

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Speaker 2: government and ask them to support the project.

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Speaker 1: I know it's still very early days, but if you

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Speaker 1: got a timeline on this when Territorians could be sitting

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Speaker 1: down watching a game of AFL if it all goes ahead.

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Speaker 2: I'd like to think five years is not unrealistic. Ten years.

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Speaker 2: We've put ten years on it, but given the situation

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Speaker 2: we're in, if we are going to believe in this

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Speaker 2: concept and the Remote and Regional Infrastructure Plan which had

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Speaker 2: just transformed some of these regional areas. I mean, for

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Speaker 2: a start, you've got some Aboriginal communities where there's such

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Speaker 2: fantastic talent and such fantastic love of Australia football down there,

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Speaker 2: and those communities and people who live there deserve to

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Speaker 2: have that upgrade so they can have proper ovals to

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Speaker 2: play on, proper change rooms, male and female change rooms,

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Speaker 2: a community hall that backs up what they're doing. So

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Speaker 2: I mean that needs to happen as soon as possible.

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Speaker 2: And then Alice Springs needs that assistance as well, along

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Speaker 2: with Catherine. There's been talk about converting those showgrounds and

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Speaker 2: really making them into bit more of a showpiece for

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Speaker 2: the town of Katherine. So I mean, we just need

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Speaker 2: to keep talking to people and keep building these ideas. Mate.

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Speaker 1: Well, Sean, I said, I think it's ambitious, but I

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Speaker 1: love AFL, I love footy and I would love to

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Speaker 1: see it happen. Keep us posted with it, particularly once

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Speaker 1: you get to that stakeholder engagement part of the proposal,

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Speaker 1: and yeah, we'll look forward to seeing where it goes.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, thanks the chair, Thanks for the chair for talk

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Speaker 2: to you, Matt number Christmas.

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Speaker 1: Thank you, Sean. You two. That is Sean Bowden. There

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Speaker 1: the af L n T chairman. There, this big, ambitious

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Speaker 1: is I guess the best way to describe at three

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Speaker 1: hundred million dollars stadium that they were wanting to build

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Speaker 1: in Darwin City