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Speaker 1: We know that quite a few announcements, quite a few

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Speaker 1: political announcements are indeed being made just thirty nine days

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Speaker 1: out from the election.

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Speaker 2: But we also know school is back.

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Speaker 1: Across the Northern Territory today, thousands of kids heading back

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Speaker 1: into the classrooms for the second half of the school year,

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Speaker 1: and it does seem like those battle lines are being

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Speaker 1: drawn when it comes to education and sport ahead of

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Speaker 1: the Northern Territory election now. Yesterday, the Northern Territory Government

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Speaker 1: announced that all students are going to have access to

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Speaker 1: a support network in every school with the creation of

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Speaker 1: new roles. They're called Student Wellbeing Officers. The officers are

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Speaker 1: set to be professionals of different backgrounds, with qualifications in

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Speaker 1: fields like youth work with a high level of experience

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Speaker 1: in working with children. Fourteen Wellbeing officers are being funded

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Speaker 1: as part of this two point eight million dollar program,

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Speaker 1: with nine starting at schools in term three and recruitment

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Speaker 1: almost complete for others who are going to commence next year.

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Speaker 2: The announcement comes.

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Speaker 1: After a lot of pressure on this show from students

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Speaker 1: and indeed parents, calling for greater support. Now joining us

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Speaker 1: in the studio as she does most Tuesday mornings, it

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Speaker 1: easily if okiao the opposition leader, good morning.

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Speaker 3: To you leave morning Katie, and safe to say I

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Speaker 3: won mother of the year this morning, both kids drop late.

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Speaker 3: Fantastic winning. I'm winning the day. Shall pleave other parents

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Speaker 3: out there in my position? I hope there are I

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Speaker 3: hope I'm not alone.

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Speaker 1: Look was it's a strike start getting them back after

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Speaker 1: over three weeks of being on school holidays. But a

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Speaker 1: reminder of course as well to all of the parents

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Speaker 1: out there to make sure that well and to everybody.

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Speaker 3: Driving is to slow down right absolutely absolutely, yeah, good

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Speaker 3: luck to all the teachers as well as Oh it's

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Speaker 3: great to have them back with you.

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Speaker 1: It truly is, and I do a phenomenal gene do Hey,

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Speaker 1: what do you make of the announcement by the Chief

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Speaker 1: Minister and Education Minister yesterday? Does this go far enough

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Speaker 1: in terms of student welfare and support?

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Speaker 3: It really doesn't. Currently the government has a number of

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Speaker 3: positions for school counselors and it's only filled half of them.

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Speaker 3: We want to see a real focus of having that

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Speaker 3: qualified support in schools and filling those counselor positions. Now

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Speaker 3: additional positions of well being which are not those experienced

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Speaker 3: counselor positions are obviously very welcome, but we need to

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Speaker 3: be making sure we have the professional support for our

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Speaker 3: kids when they need it. And of course, who could

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Speaker 3: forget last year when Labor centralized counselors into Darwin City.

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Speaker 3: People were furious about it, totally furious. They need to

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Speaker 3: be in schools. We need to fill those positions. So well,

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Speaker 3: being's great, but let's really focus on getting the professionals

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Speaker 3: we need for our kids in schools.

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Speaker 1: I mean a further sixty thousand dollars though it has

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Speaker 1: also been emarked for new scholarship, a new scholarship program

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Speaker 1: to increase the school councilor workforce by growing our own

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Speaker 1: Surely that's a good thing.

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Speaker 3: Great, fantastic and you know, it's great to see the

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Speaker 3: government starting to do good things five weeks out from

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Speaker 3: an election, Katie, I think they've had eight years. Where

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Speaker 3: was the action? Then?

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Speaker 1: Is there anything that you guys plan to do that

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Speaker 1: the COLP does plan to do? We free elected in

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Speaker 1: this space or if elected in this space.

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Speaker 3: Our focus really is around filling those counselor positions to

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Speaker 3: attract people to the territory, retain people here. We need

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Speaker 3: a safe community. We need our housing program up and

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Speaker 3: running so the you know, these are key focuses for us.

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Speaker 3: We need to be having the competency of the school

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Speaker 3: counselors and they need to be in our schools. And

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Speaker 3: to do that, we need to have a safe community.

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Speaker 3: We need to have houses available for people to move here,

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Speaker 3: and we need to have a strong economy.

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Speaker 1: Is it easier said than done trying to fill these

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Speaker 1: roles because I guess you know, from the outside looking in,

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Speaker 1: you sort of think to yourself, if it was as

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Speaker 1: easy as as it, you know, you've made it sound,

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Speaker 1: surely they'd be doing it.

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Speaker 3: Well, it's not easy when crime's out of control and

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Speaker 3: there's nowhere for people to live. People just the reality

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Speaker 3: is people do not want to move here. And your

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Speaker 3: listeners will be employers or they'll be employees and they'll

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Speaker 3: know people exactly in that position. So we've got to

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Speaker 3: change the dynamic of the territory. We've got to fight

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Speaker 3: for this place to be better, and the territory can

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Speaker 3: be better, and it will be better under a CLP

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Speaker 3: government if we get the chance. So it's really about

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Speaker 3: changing the dynamics of the territory, encouraging people to come

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Speaker 3: having a great place to live, a safe place to live,

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Speaker 3: and making sure we lock in those professionals that we

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Speaker 3: desperately need so our kids can have the best chance

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Speaker 3: in life.

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Speaker 1: All Right. The COLP yesterday announced that it's going to

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Speaker 1: provide swimming lessons for free to all primary school age

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Speaker 1: children if elected in August, which is expected to cost

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Speaker 1: three million.

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Speaker 3: Dollars a year.

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Speaker 2: How exactly is this going to work?

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Speaker 3: So this is a very exciting announcement. It's something we've

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Speaker 3: been looking forward to announcing. It's been called for by

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Speaker 3: Royal Life Saving, Surf Life Saving Triathlon and Tea Swimming

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Speaker 3: and Tea Kids Safe and Tea and AFANT and it's

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Speaker 3: something we wholeheartedly support for long term territorians like us Katie.

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Speaker 3: When we went to school, we had to do swimming

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Speaker 3: and life saving. This was about water safety, not just

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Speaker 3: how to swim, and that hasn't been the case for

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Speaker 3: twenty five years. So by bringing that back, embedding it

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Speaker 3: in the school curriculum, we can increase the competency of

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Speaker 3: our kids in the water. This will be fully funded,

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Speaker 3: so it comes at no cost to parents, no cost

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Speaker 3: to schools. That's three million dollars of money well spent

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Speaker 3: for every single child from you one to six. Whether

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Speaker 3: you live in u Endo Moo or Malac, your kids

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Speaker 3: will get access to this swimming. It's fully constant and

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Speaker 3: funded additional money into the education department so that they're

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Speaker 3: not having to find it from within and it's an

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Speaker 3: exciting move forward. We've got five percent of year six's

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Speaker 3: meet the national level of swimming, Katie, So.

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Speaker 2: Support it is a bad thing. Yeah, and look it's

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Speaker 2: something that I as.

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Speaker 1: Look I did my schooling in Queensland and it is

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Speaker 1: something that every kid does, or they certainly did when.

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Speaker 2: I was at school.

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Speaker 1: And I know that's a long time ago, but doing

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Speaker 1: your bronze medallion and also doing swimming lessons is something

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Speaker 1: that every kid does. I also taught learned to swim

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Speaker 1: for a huge portion of my life, so I think

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Speaker 1: it's incredibly important that kids do learn to swim. I

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Speaker 1: guess you know, it seems like a great announcement, but

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Speaker 1: many schools seem to have stepped away from this, and

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Speaker 1: I believe the reason is actually transport costs.

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Speaker 2: Yes, that's right, So it's three million going to be enough.

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Speaker 3: Yes, this has been fully costed by that coalition of

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Speaker 3: swimming organizations, and you're right, and so schools also parents

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Speaker 3: can't afford it, so you have a situation where some

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Speaker 3: kids are going, some kids aren't. It becomes a nightmare

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Speaker 3: for the school. This really has got to be part

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Speaker 3: of the curriculum. It's actually part of the national curriculum,

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Speaker 3: and it's just not being rolled out properly in the territory.

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Speaker 2: So we are.

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Speaker 3: Supposed to be doing it and we're not. And so

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Speaker 3: this is going to take a lot of pressure of families.

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Speaker 3: And we know in some schools and particularly remote they're

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Speaker 3: using their back to school voucher and their sports voucher

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Speaker 3: to pay for swimming in schools. We need people using

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Speaker 3: that money to help the get their kids in extra

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Speaker 3: curricular activities and let us support proper school school swimming

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Speaker 3: during school.

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Speaker 2: Leah, we know it went still talking sport, right.

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Speaker 1: We know the SALPS committed to upgrading sporting facilities and

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Speaker 1: all built over if elected. But another ground desperately needing

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Speaker 1: investment is mold and Oval, which was badly burnt on

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Speaker 1: Territory Day with the irrigation system broken and it was

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Speaker 1: also apparently struck by lightning, rendering it unsafe and unusable

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Speaker 1: for hundreds of players and school kids. Are there going

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Speaker 1: to be any commitments from the COLP to overhaul that oval?

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Speaker 3: We certainly know that Moulden Oval has a long history

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Speaker 3: of being vandalized and damaged and it's just had a

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Speaker 3: horrible run. I think we need to be looking at,

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Speaker 3: you know, whether the school actually has the capacity to

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Speaker 3: look after that oval, how we can better support the

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Speaker 3: club to be able to run their juniors and seniors

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Speaker 3: on the oval. So it's certainly something that we're looking at, Katie,

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Speaker 3: and indeed all of our sporting infrastructure across the territory.

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Speaker 3: If we want to have a healthy community, we've got

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Speaker 3: to get kids playing well.

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Speaker 2: This is the thing.

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Speaker 1: So we literally we spoke to the rugby League club

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Speaker 1: and also to the rugby union club that utilize that

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Speaker 1: facility a couple of weeks ago and the essentially said

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Speaker 1: to us, you know, they've got volunteers that are doing

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Speaker 1: their best to run those clubs right. But then you're

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Speaker 1: in a situation where the ground, for whatever reason, based

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Speaker 1: on the year ago system has been let go brown.

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Speaker 1: Then on Territory Day it lights up like a tinder box,

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Speaker 1: which is just unbelievable. To me. So it's wonderful to

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Speaker 1: have these million dollar sporting announcements being made, but if

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Speaker 1: we can't even water.

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Speaker 3: A bloody do the basics exactly, how.

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Speaker 1: Are we going to like, how are we going to

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Speaker 1: do all the other stuff? So, I mean, is it

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Speaker 1: something that the colp is is committed to looking into?

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Speaker 3: Absolutely, And you've hit the nail on the head. You

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Speaker 3: can do big, shiny announcements, but when you can't even

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Speaker 3: do the basics, the community give you a sideways glance.

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Speaker 3: And that's why it's about really looking at what we

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Speaker 3: need here in the territory. The time for shiny toys

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Speaker 3: really isn't now. What we need is to be rebuilding

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Speaker 3: the territory and that starts with getting back to basics

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Speaker 3: on fundamental things. Making sure schools are working, probably our

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Speaker 3: hospital is working, Probably sports have basic adequate facilities, that

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Speaker 3: we have the safe community. I mean, these aren't they're

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Speaker 3: not going to get the front page of a glossy magazine, Katie,

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Speaker 3: but they make everyone's life better and that's what needs

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Speaker 3: to be done well.

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Speaker 1: And it also means that kids are out there doing

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Speaker 1: productive activities and the likelihood of them getting involved in

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Speaker 1: the wrong thing when they're part of a sporting club

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Speaker 1: and when you've got people around you supporting you, I

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Speaker 1: think makes a huge difference. Leah.

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Speaker 2: A quick question from Hugh.

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Speaker 1: He says, well, the school funding promised by the SEALP

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Speaker 1: for swimming apply to private schools as well.

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Speaker 3: It will all schools. Every single kid in the territory

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Speaker 3: deserves to have water safety and swimming lessons. It's very

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Speaker 3: important and we don't have you know, I know, labor

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Speaker 3: have a beef with private schools.

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Speaker 2: We don't.

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Speaker 3: Education is about choice for families and parents. It's up

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Speaker 3: to every parent to make that call. But what we

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Speaker 3: want is every child to have the most competent level

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Speaker 3: of swimming and water safety they can. We love our fishing,

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Speaker 3: we love our water sports, we love getting out around

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Speaker 3: the territory and many people have pools in their backyard

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Speaker 3: and so we need to be making sure our kids

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Speaker 3: are as safe as possible in the water, Leah.

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Speaker 1: Over the weekend I was sent some pretty shocking vision

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Speaker 1: from our CBD have somebody allegedly getting out of a

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Speaker 1: vehicle armed the machete and chasing other people. Like I said,

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Speaker 1: we've been sent that vision here on Mix one. Oh

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Speaker 1: four nine. We are chasing that up with the Northern

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Speaker 1: Territory Police. Has that issue? Have you been told anything

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Speaker 1: about that from the weekend.

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Speaker 3: Yes, I had heard about that, Katie, and you know

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Speaker 3: a range of other horrific incidences and even just yesterday

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Speaker 3: actually I had the opportunity to catch up with Chris Hopper,

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Speaker 3: the husband and father of the police who were assaulted

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Speaker 3: in Alice Springs. So when you talk to Joe Hersey,

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Speaker 3: crime and Catherine is totally out of control. Again, this

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Speaker 3: issue is not going away until we strengthen the law

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Speaker 3: and back our police. Crime is just going to continue

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Speaker 3: to get worse and worse, and people are going to

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Speaker 3: have to continue to barricade themselves into their homes and

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Speaker 3: their businesses and hope for the best under this labor government.

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Speaker 1: I mean, in a situation like the one from this

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Speaker 1: vision where somebody's like he appears to be chasing other

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Speaker 1: people with a machete in our CBD, I'm not sure

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Speaker 1: what time of the day it is. That's why we're

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Speaker 1: trying to chase this up with the police, crystals onto it.

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Speaker 1: But in a situation like that, how will it changing

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Speaker 1: of the laws affect that situation?

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Speaker 3: Because you then have police more capable and able to respond,

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Speaker 3: so for example, when you have less offenders continuously out

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Speaker 3: on the street. So bail is a big issue we

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Speaker 3: talk about and why it's important is because if police

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Speaker 3: catch someone on Monday and then they're bowed immediately, and

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Speaker 3: then police have to catch that same person on Tuesday

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Speaker 3: and they're bowed again, and police have to catch that

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Speaker 3: same person on Wednesday, they're spending all of their time

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Speaker 3: catching the one person who probably should have just been

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Speaker 3: behind bars on Monday and save them all of that

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Speaker 3: time and energy, which means they can then go and

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Speaker 3: respond to other crimes that are being committed such as these.

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Speaker 3: It also strengthens then the deterrence. You know, if people

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Speaker 3: know they're going to be caught and held accountable and

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Speaker 3: they're going to face a consequence, people are less likely

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Speaker 3: to commit crimes. And what we will also see is

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Speaker 3: a de escalation and the severity of those crimes. So

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Speaker 3: you know, it might start with stealing a chocolate barkatie,

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Speaker 3: but if that child hasn't been provided with the boundaries

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Speaker 3: and support they need to stop that behavior, you know,

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Speaker 3: they're are a one fast track to adult prison with

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Speaker 3: much more severe offending. So we've got to catch things early.

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Speaker 3: We've got to make sure we're turning people's lives around.

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Speaker 3: And by supporting our police with stronger laws, it gives

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Speaker 3: them more time to be able to protect territorians and

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Speaker 3: it sends a strong message to the community that it's

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Speaker 3: not going to be tolerated in the territory.

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Speaker 1: All right, before I let you go this morning, I

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Speaker 1: want to ask you about some comments made on the

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Speaker 1: week that was on Friday that seemed to raise concerns

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Speaker 1: with quite a number of our listeners. So there have been,

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Speaker 1: as we know, plenty of calls from various voices for

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Speaker 1: a serious look into the organization's receiving funding to deliver

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Speaker 1: youth services and other services to minimize the issues being

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Speaker 1: experienced in Ala Springs now. Earlier this year, The ABC

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Speaker 1: Online reported that Tongue and Gia Council Aboriginal Corporation, who

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Speaker 1: are paid tens of millions of dollars in government grants

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Speaker 1: each year to help improve social issues in Ala Springs,

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Speaker 1: they'd come under fire for declining meetings, allegedly failing to

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Speaker 1: deliver services at a and allowing a convicted domestic violence

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Speaker 1: offender to sit on their board. Now, according to that

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Speaker 1: report by the ABC back in May, in the past

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Speaker 1: financial year, it collected more than thirty million dollars in

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Speaker 1: government grants and contracts, including for servicing sixteen town camps

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Speaker 1: dotted across Alice Springs fringes, as well as a women's

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Speaker 1: safety group and family violence prevention programs. And we know

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Speaker 1: that the organization, which employs about three hundred people reportedly

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Speaker 1: according to the ABC, hadn't released an annual report since

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Speaker 1: twenty eighteen.

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Speaker 2: Now last week.

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Speaker 1: We discussed this on the week that was and the

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Speaker 1: Minister for the Prevention of Domestic and Family Violence, Kate Warden,

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Speaker 1: confirmed on the show on Friday that Tongueenjia had their

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Speaker 1: funding doubled for the men's behavior Change program despite the

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Speaker 1: fact you know that those concerns had been raised back

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Speaker 1: in May.

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Speaker 2: Do you think that that's appropriate.

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Speaker 3: Well, there's clearly governance issues that this government is failing

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Speaker 3: to address. Now, we wrote to the Prime Minister well

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Speaker 3: over a year ago, probably it's probably closer to two

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Speaker 3: years ago saying there needed to be an audit of

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Speaker 3: how money is being spent and to those organizations that

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Speaker 3: are supposed to be spending it for the betterment of

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Speaker 3: our community. Now, until we look at how money is

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Speaker 3: being spent and whether or not we're actually achieving anything

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Speaker 3: with that money, we're going to continue to pour money

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Speaker 3: into a broken system without getting the outcomes that the

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Speaker 3: community expects. And so this again raises a huge red

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Speaker 3: flag about this government ignoring a key issue. It's a

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Speaker 3: little bit like Narge almost. You know, they've clearly got

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Speaker 3: some serious issues and the Attorney General has failed in

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Speaker 3: his obligation to make sure that we have a strong

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Speaker 3: provider of legal services so.

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Speaker 1: Well the COLP, I mean, if elected, is the COLP

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Speaker 1: prepared to put in place some measures to ensure that

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Speaker 1: service providers are held to account and are being transparent.

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Speaker 3: Absolutely, and we need to have that order and it's

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Speaker 3: what we've called for, it's what we've said we'll do.

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Speaker 3: We need to be auditing all the money going into

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Speaker 3: these youth services and working out whether the programs are working,

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Speaker 3: whether we need to be spending more in certain areas

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Speaker 3: less in certain areas. There's no point just continuing to

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Speaker 3: pour more and more money. Anyone across the territory could

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Speaker 3: tell you the outcomes aren't better. So we're clearly spending

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Speaker 3: more money than ever before, but getting worse outcomes than

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Speaker 3: ever before. So something is not working there, Gayety, and

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Speaker 3: you have to get to the bottom of it. We

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Speaker 3: are about spending taxpayers money responsibly and prudently and in

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Speaker 3: delivering outcomes, and so we have to get to the

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Speaker 3: bottom of where all this money's going.

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Speaker 1: Leah Finocchiaro, we are going to have to leave it there,

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Speaker 1: Opposition leader. Always good to speak with you. Thanks for

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Speaker 1: your time this morning.

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Speaker 3: Take care everyone,