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Speaker 1: Let's head on down to Central Australia right now, where

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Speaker 1: we know that the alcohol restrictions have indeed been extended

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Speaker 1: from what we're being told by the Northern Territory government

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Speaker 1: for twelve to eighteen months, but that data is going

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Speaker 1: to be continuously looked at. Now joining me on the

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Speaker 1: line to tell us a little bit more about this

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Speaker 1: situation and also talk more about tourism. It is the

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Speaker 1: CEO of Tourism Central Australia, Daniel Rochford.

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Speaker 2: Good morning Daniel, Good morning Katie, and good morning to

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Speaker 2: your listeners from beautiful Tenant Creek.

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Speaker 1: Oh, from Tenant Creek this morning. How are things looking

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Speaker 1: in Tenant?

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Speaker 2: Absolutely gorgeous heaps serve people about so yeah, great to

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Speaker 2: be here.

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Speaker 1: Good staff, will Daniel. We know that these alcohol restrictions

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Speaker 1: obviously the Northern Territory Government out this morning to say

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Speaker 1: that they are being extended and that they're extending them

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Speaker 1: as a result of the evidence. They say that the

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Speaker 1: evidence has shown that alcohol related emergency department presentations at

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Speaker 1: the hospital have reduced by a third and domestic violence

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Speaker 1: has halved. Think those restrictions were introduced the mayor Matt

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Speaker 1: Patterson was he was a little bit more cautious, you know,

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Speaker 1: in his thinking this morning when we spoke to him

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Speaker 1: and said that there are still some concerns and that

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Speaker 1: it isn't just all alcohol related crime that's being experienced

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Speaker 1: in Central Australia. What's your take on these extensions?

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Speaker 2: Look, I think the government's failed in many respects in

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Speaker 2: terms of consultation here as the peak industry body. I

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Speaker 2: got a text message from a governmental official two days

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Speaker 2: ago asking for my opinion of our organization's opinion on

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Speaker 2: these which is not good enough. And that's a fail

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Speaker 2: in my eyes. And you know, what we would expect

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Speaker 2: from a responsible government is to sit down and engage

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Speaker 2: with the industry to talk through the issues. And you know,

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Speaker 2: we're very pragmatic as you know. Okay, we've had to

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Speaker 2: endure a lot of issues, but you know, again we

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Speaker 2: seem to find ourselves as collateral damage to public policy.

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Speaker 1: So mate, they only messaged you two days ago.

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Speaker 2: To ask yes, yes?

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Speaker 1: Is that a surprise to you?

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Speaker 2: Yeah? Disappointing, It would be what I would say. I

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Speaker 2: I kind of expected more from our government on that respect.

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Speaker 2: But given the fact that you know, certainly the feedback

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Speaker 2: and it's been pretty widely known that these changes to

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Speaker 2: have an impact to the two of them industry and

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Speaker 2: the fact that our industry is struggling, this just gives

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Speaker 2: another reason why people potentially will so away from our springs.

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Speaker 2: And you know that's not what we need. We need

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Speaker 2: constructive dialogue, just not no dialogue.

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Speaker 1: Daniel. What's been the feedback from operators over the last

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Speaker 1: couple of hours as this information has started to trickle

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Speaker 1: through And I know not everybody might be aware of

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Speaker 1: exactly what the government said, but what's the info that

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Speaker 1: you're getting from the operators?

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Speaker 2: Not positive? Katie. You know, look, we do need you know,

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Speaker 2: there needs to be a pragmatic approach to this, and

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Speaker 2: you know that there needs there needs to be changes,

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Speaker 2: but you know we we were certainly open to the

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Speaker 2: options and you know, have a collegiate discussion around these things.

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Speaker 2: But to effectively have a blanket band for what you

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Speaker 2: know I've heard from two years to indefinite is just

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Speaker 2: something that we would have expected a bit more consultation

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Speaker 2: on and that will certainly have an impact on our industry.

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Speaker 2: And the other thing too that this will do is

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Speaker 2: when bottle shops are closed and when on on Wednesday,

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Speaker 2: when there's a queue of cars right down the street.

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Speaker 2: What that perception gives to our travelers who come to

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Speaker 2: our springs is is this town safe? And that's the

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Speaker 2: unintended consequences of decisions like this. And I would have

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Speaker 2: said that if I was asked the.

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Speaker 1: Question, what do you think that could have done differently?

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Speaker 2: Oh, Look, consultation obviously, you know, to be able to

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Speaker 2: sit down and have a chat about how we can

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Speaker 2: look at pragmatic approaches around this to work through you know,

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Speaker 2: how do we educate our visitors, how do we take

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Speaker 2: a negative into a positive and get on the front

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Speaker 2: foot with it. Look, you know, we don't you know,

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Speaker 2: we live in the town. We understand the challenges and

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Speaker 2: issues that we face, and we do need to have

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Speaker 2: some you know, work towards how we can depict the problem.

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Speaker 2: You know, over summer we would be more than accommodating

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Speaker 2: and supportive of bottle shops being closed, But during our

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Speaker 2: peak tourism season, when people are coming into our town

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Speaker 2: looking at provisioning up, this is certainly going to have

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Speaker 2: an impact.

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Speaker 1: Daniel to play devil's advocate here, and I did the

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Speaker 1: same with Matt Patterson earlier today. I mean, you guys

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Speaker 1: have been pushing earlier in the year for some serious change,

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Speaker 1: you know, based on the crime that is being experienced,

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Speaker 1: based on the alcohol issues that is being experienced, I mean,

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Speaker 1: or that are being experienced. Can you sort of have

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Speaker 1: your cake and eat it as well here? I mean,

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Speaker 1: we want the government to act then when we do it.

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Speaker 1: When they do, we're not happy.

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Speaker 2: Oh look, I would challenge the government in terms of

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Speaker 2: can they and I know the Chief Minister in particular,

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Speaker 2: it's very keen to point to evidence based information. Where

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Speaker 2: is the evidence about the bottle shop closures? I can

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Speaker 2: certainly see in the field that I have on the ground.

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Speaker 2: Is the changes to the Stronger the result of the

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Speaker 2: Stronger Futures legislation implementation on town camps and in community

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Speaker 2: that has had a real effective change and you can

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Speaker 2: feel that in our community. But I can't say the

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Speaker 2: same about the bottle shops.

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Speaker 1: I want to move along because we just caught up

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Speaker 1: with the bondser CEO and spoke a little bit more

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Speaker 1: about their potential to operate in the Northern Territory Jordan.

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Speaker 1: The CEO was on the line with us Will We

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Speaker 1: interviewed him a bit earlier this morning and played that

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Speaker 1: interview about ten minutes ago. Daniel he said that he's

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Speaker 1: going to be meeting with the Northern Territory government and

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Speaker 1: also the airports over the coming days. What are your

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Speaker 1: reckons the potential here. Would you like to see Bonds

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Speaker 1: are operating in the territory.

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Speaker 2: How awesome would that be, Katie? I cannot understand how

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Speaker 2: elson that would be. And you know, I certainly call

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Speaker 2: upon the government and the Airport Development Group. We've got

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Speaker 2: a real airline wanting to engage with us. In my opinion,

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Speaker 2: we should be rolling out the purple carpets for these guys,

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Speaker 2: Katie and seeing what opportunities we can bring a new

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Speaker 2: airline to the Northern Territory. Because what I see from

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Speaker 2: my colleagues around the country where Bonds is flying is

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Speaker 2: these are game He's been a game change in terms

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Speaker 2: of bringing tourists to their destinations, and I reckon they

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Speaker 2: will do the same for our springs. But I don't

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Speaker 2: also discount places like airlines like Rex or Vergon or

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Speaker 2: even Quantics. You know, we need to be actively talking

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Speaker 2: to these airlines and with this incentive front and kidos

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Speaker 2: to the government, you know, we were calling furtherm to

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Speaker 2: roll their sleeves up three months ago, and they've done

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Speaker 2: that with this fund, which has certainly got to be accorded.

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Speaker 1: Yeah. I'll tell you what, after that discussion that I'd

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Speaker 1: had with Tim Jordan, I thought, oh, please please let

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Speaker 1: us be in a situation here where we might get

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Speaker 1: some more competition into the Northern Territory, because goodness knows,

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Speaker 1: we all need it. We want to be able to

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Speaker 1: travel within the Northern Territory. I'd love to be able

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Speaker 1: to catch flights to Alice Springs with the family and

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Speaker 1: you know, come and visit the place. Equally, we'd all

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Speaker 1: love to be able to visit family interstate at a

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Speaker 1: reasonable cost.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly right. And I think the government appreciates that

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Speaker 2: certainly my discussions. They understand the you know, the how

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Speaker 2: in porn in that strikes the liveability of our towns

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Speaker 2: and centers around the Northern Territory. And I think whether

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Speaker 2: it's Bondser or whether it's another carrier, but getting that competition,

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Speaker 2: getting that extra capacity in and out of the territory

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Speaker 2: will absolutely be a game changer for our local communities

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Speaker 2: and our tourism industry.

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Speaker 1: Do you reckon we've got the demand for it. Do

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Speaker 1: you reckon Daniel that you know that they would actually

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Speaker 1: whether it's bonds or whether it's somebody else. Do you

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Speaker 1: think we've got the demand to actually be able to

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Speaker 1: make it successful.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I think so, And not just from a tourism perspective,

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Speaker 2: but more importantly from our local people who live in

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Speaker 2: the Northern Territory. I know, I've lived now in our

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Speaker 2: springs for three years. I don't have to say I've

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Speaker 2: lived in some very remote places around the world, but

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Speaker 2: I have never felt more socially isolated than I do

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Speaker 2: living in our springs. And the inability to get in

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Speaker 2: and out to see the loved one and to go

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Speaker 2: just for that weekend of way, I know, and the

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Speaker 2: feedback I get constantly is if there was a carrier

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Speaker 2: coming in and out of our springs who was sort

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Speaker 2: of charging in that two hundred to two hundred and

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Speaker 2: fifty range, they would lack that up and rather than

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Speaker 2: going maybe once or twice a year, they'll be going

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Speaker 2: three or four time a year. And that's where we'll

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Speaker 2: see that demand. It's that livability piece that is really

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Speaker 2: important on this issue.

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Speaker 1: Well, we'll hopefully no more in the coming days. I

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Speaker 1: really hope we do, based on that discussion that we'd

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Speaker 1: had with Tim Jordan a little while earlier. Hey, before

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Speaker 1: I let you go, we heard the news last week

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Speaker 1: that glenn Helen Resort is going to be temporarily closing

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Speaker 1: after water transportation costs made the tourist facility economically unviable.

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Speaker 1: How are things looking with Glenn Helen at this point?

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Speaker 2: Look Gooday, I've done a responsible thing here by letting

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Speaker 2: everyone know their challenges and working with government and ord

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Speaker 2: all the stakeholders to try and resolve this issue. So

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Speaker 2: hats off to them. It is not a perfect situation

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Speaker 2: to see such an iconic property effectively suspend operations, but

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Speaker 2: they've been very responsible. They're slowly suspending services. I hope

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Speaker 2: that we can all get our heads together. This is

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Speaker 2: a great property and a great part of the Northern Territory.

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Speaker 2: We need it open, Katie, We need it open, so

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Speaker 2: hopefully we can get it results.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, we most certainly do. Well. Daniel Rochford, always good

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Speaker 1: to catch up with you. We'll talk to you again

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Speaker 1: very soon.

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Speaker 2: Sounds good, Thanks Katie, Thank you