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Speaker 1: We know that calls are growing for strong measures, including

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Speaker 1: age limits, to protect children using social media. The federal

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Speaker 1: government announced six point five million dollars in their budget

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Speaker 1: to trial this age verification technology in an effort to

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Speaker 1: improve child safety online. That trial would limit exposure to

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Speaker 1: age inappropriate material, but some parents are going further and

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Speaker 1: pushing for kids under the age of sixteen to be

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Speaker 1: banned from social media. The Prime Minister supports the push,

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Speaker 1: saying that excessive online activity is detrimental to children's mental health.

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Speaker 1: Now joining me on the line is Tick Everett, the

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Speaker 1: father of Dolly Everett, who we know took her life

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Speaker 1: at the age of fourteen after a terrible situation with

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Speaker 1: online bullying. Tick, good morning to you.

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Speaker 2: Good morning Katie. How are you? Yeah?

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Speaker 1: Really well mate, Thank you so much for your time.

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Speaker 1: Now I want to ask you first, I mean, what's

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Speaker 1: your reaction to the government's plan to trial this age

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Speaker 1: verification technology.

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Speaker 2: I mean, anything you know that we can do as

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Speaker 2: a community to you know, to help our kids, I

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Speaker 2: think is definitely a positive a positive move for sure.

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Speaker 2: I Mean the biggest issue we've got is that we

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Speaker 2: all know that kids and young people will find a

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Speaker 2: way around little load blocks in social media and online,

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Speaker 2: so we've just got to be proactive. And you know,

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Speaker 2: while we support it one hundred percent, we think we've

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Speaker 2: still got to give them the right tools and processes

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Speaker 2: to know how to handle it when it does happen.

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Speaker 1: I one hundred percent agree with you, because on the outset,

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Speaker 1: you go, oh, yes, this seems like a good idea.

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Speaker 1: You know, don't let don't let the kids on till

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Speaker 1: they're sort of sixteen and they're mature enough to be

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Speaker 1: able to deal with it. But then on the other hand,

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Speaker 1: I think to myself, kids are always going to find

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Speaker 1: a way, and if you're not speaking pretty openly to

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Speaker 1: them about it, it can be frightening some of the

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Speaker 1: stuff that they can find and what they'll have to

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Speaker 1: deal with.

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Speaker 2: One hundred percent. You know, we all know you to

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Speaker 2: have something in quite instantly online and you can end

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Speaker 2: up in a completely wrong space. And I mean it's

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Speaker 2: concerning when Queensland Health, you know, chief Health Officer, he's

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Speaker 2: come out and declared a public health alert over the

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Speaker 2: mental health status of our young people.

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Speaker 1: It is.

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Speaker 2: You know, it's a lot bigger than we give it

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Speaker 2: credit for.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, look, I agree with you The other concern I've

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Speaker 1: sort of got though, is you know, how do we

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Speaker 1: force like, how do we make this happen when we're

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Speaker 1: in a situation now like where people are sharing videos

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Speaker 1: of you know, of kids of themselves doing illegal things,

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Speaker 1: getting in fights, bullying people, all sorts of stuff, and

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Speaker 1: we can't even get the social media giants to take

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Speaker 1: that stuff down.

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Speaker 2: You know. That is that's the battle, Katie, and we

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Speaker 2: all know it too well unfortunately. But I think that's

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Speaker 2: where little things that you know, we've got our beacon

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Speaker 2: up now, which is a free app. There so many

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Speaker 2: different ways in there. For parents, it's totally confidentially to

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Speaker 2: get around have a look what's actually going on, what

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Speaker 2: is actually happening in the online world, so that they

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Speaker 2: can be ready for that conversation with their kids and

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Speaker 2: be on the front foot rather than letting it get

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Speaker 2: to the point of no return. I think it's all

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Speaker 2: been well to blame the social media companies and online

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Speaker 2: you know, websites and stuff, But at the end of

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Speaker 2: the day, I think we as parents, we have to

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Speaker 2: be armed with the tools before it happens.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I couldn't agree with you more. And having that

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Speaker 1: real open dialogue as well. I know that that's something

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Speaker 1: that both you and Kate have said, you know, for years,

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Speaker 1: and it's something that I've certainly taken on board with

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Speaker 1: my parenting. Is making sure that your kids know they

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Speaker 1: can speak to and if they see something that they're

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Speaker 1: sort of you know, that they're feeling uncomfortable about, or

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Speaker 1: if somebody messages them something inappropriate or you know, bullying,

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Speaker 1: that they know that there is that open discussion that

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Speaker 1: can happen.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, definitely. And you know, even if it's not children

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Speaker 2: with their own parents. You know, there's helplines out and

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Speaker 2: now we've got one. Now it's twenty four hours, it's

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Speaker 2: totally free. There's the phone call side of it. There

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Speaker 2: is a text line. You know, we all know younger

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Speaker 2: generation they'd prefer to text until they get that limit

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Speaker 2: of trust before they actually want to talk to someone.

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Speaker 2: So we've got that set up now. There's so many ways.

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Speaker 2: We just need to get it out there in front

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Speaker 2: of our kids that there is ways around it and

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Speaker 2: there is places to go for help. Yeah.

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Speaker 1: I mean, have you been given in any kind of

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Speaker 1: insight at this point in time as to how it

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Speaker 1: might even be implemented? If they were, you know, to

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Speaker 1: ban kids under the age of sixteen from using social media.

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Speaker 2: Not really, Katie. I mean, obviously there's some people that

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Speaker 2: are a lot smarter and all the dream than I

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Speaker 2: am that are working on it and trying to advise

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Speaker 2: you best way around it. But at the end of

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Speaker 2: the it's just going to be a click this button

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Speaker 2: if you're older than sixteen, I think, and unfortunately it's

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Speaker 2: just not good enough. There has to be a way,

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Speaker 2: you know, for a parent to verify it. And that's

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Speaker 2: what we're pushing for. How how are these social media

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Speaker 2: companies and how are these websites going to actually verify

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Speaker 2: that kids are at a certain age.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, this is the thing because even now, you know,

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Speaker 1: for a lot of those different apps, you do need

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Speaker 1: to be a certain age anyway, and you spot on

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Speaker 1: like kids can just ticket and go yeah, I'm thirteen

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Speaker 1: or I'm fourteen, no worries even if they're not.

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Speaker 2: That's right, Yeah, that's it. So there's got to be

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Speaker 2: the owner's put back on on these businesses to actually

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Speaker 2: verify it. You know, a is it a how do

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Speaker 2: you do that? But you know, do you put a

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Speaker 2: phone number in there to your parents? Is that your

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Speaker 2: parent's phone number, Is that your own phone number? Like,

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Speaker 2: it is a big scary world out there, and unfortunately

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Speaker 2: I don't have all the answers.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, hey, before I let you go this morning obviously,

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Speaker 1: so you and I spoke a bit earlier this month

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Speaker 1: for do It for Dolly Day. How did it all go?

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Speaker 2: Oh my god, it just keeps getting bigger. But it

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Speaker 2: was so amazing, Katie. We had such a good day.

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Speaker 2: Obviously we were in rocky but I mean we're still

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Speaker 2: we're still counting at the moment, to be honest, but

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Speaker 2: we are up over eight hundred thousands for the day,

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Speaker 2: which you know, that's just going to do so much

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Speaker 2: that that's going to keep that beacon out going again,

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Speaker 2: you know into the future, the online counselors and stuff

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Speaker 2: like that, and obviously a lot of work going into

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Speaker 2: this age verification as well. So grateful is probably an understatement.

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Speaker 1: Eight hundred thousand dollars did you say? Yeah? Oh, mate,

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Speaker 1: that is unbelievable.

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Speaker 2: That's so good, it is, mate. It's the generosity of

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Speaker 2: the community that we live in. And you know, especially

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Speaker 2: up in the north and the rural areas, they're the

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Speaker 2: you know, it's a amazing how Australia has come together

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Speaker 2: and got behind this cause, and it just shows that

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Speaker 2: the need is bigger than anyone thought it was. And

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Speaker 2: you know, we're just we're just grateful one to be

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Speaker 2: a part of it, but two you know that we're

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Speaker 2: actually getting some good and getting a bit of forward motion.

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Speaker 1: Well you got you are making a difference. You know

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Speaker 1: you are making a difference. Dolly is making a difference

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Speaker 1: still to this day, a huge difference I think to

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Speaker 1: the lives of all of Australians, of Australian kids. I

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Speaker 1: know that. You know, like every year my kids ask

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Speaker 1: me about your daughter, and they asked me about doing

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Speaker 1: it for Dolly Day. I think it's such an incredible

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Speaker 1: thing that you and Kate have done. I know you've

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Speaker 1: got a team of people around you, but you should

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Speaker 1: both be so proud of yourselves.

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Speaker 2: Thanks Katie. And it is it is you know, the

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Speaker 2: awareness that we're creating out of the do It for

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Speaker 2: Dolly Day is that's the big highlight for Kate and I. Yes,

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Speaker 2: we need the money to keep functioning and keep getting

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Speaker 2: their programs out there, but the awareness and the conversation

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Speaker 2: that it creates is just so important. So you know,

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Speaker 2: we've got a long way to go yet, but we're

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Speaker 2: here for the long run.

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Speaker 1: Hey, before I let you go as well, just tell

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Speaker 1: us where if people are listening this morning, if parents

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Speaker 1: are listening, aunties, uncles, grandma's whoever thinking to themselves, I

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Speaker 1: want to find out a bit more info about the

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Speaker 1: app that you were speaking about, and other methods and

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Speaker 1: other tools that might be helpful for them with their

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Speaker 1: kids on social media. Where can they go?

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Speaker 2: The easiest place to go is this Dolly's Dream dot

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Speaker 2: org dot au. There's all the links and you know

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Speaker 2: ways around in there. You can google the Beacon app,

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Speaker 2: which you know you can download that for free out

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Speaker 2: of the app store. That is, I have to say,

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Speaker 2: pretty pretty bloody good app. Yes, every ant you'll be

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Speaker 2: looking for. And then the other really important one that

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Speaker 2: we encourage a lot of people to go to, especially

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Speaker 2: if they're having trouble in schools or sporting communities, the

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Speaker 2: easmart dot org dot au. But basically one stop shop

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Speaker 2: should be Dolly's Dream. Yeah, and all the lengths you

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Speaker 2: need should be in there.

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Speaker 1: Tick Everett, always good to speak with you. Thank you

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Speaker 1: so much for your time this morning.

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Speaker 2: Good on you Katie really appreciate it. Thank you, Thanks mate,

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Speaker 2: so Y