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Speaker 1: We've reported on this show on a number of occasions

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Speaker 1: about women being assaulted, indecently touched, and worse still, other

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Speaker 1: things while out exercising. Now, there was a situation where

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Speaker 1: a number of women were targeted by a teenager allegedly

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Speaker 1: who was apprehended by police in Nightcliff a few weeks ago.

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Speaker 1: As I'm sure you'll recall now Sadly and Alice Springs.

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Speaker 1: In the past fortnight, two women have been assaulted along

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Speaker 1: the Todd River while out for a run. Women in

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Speaker 1: central Australia are taking a stand now. They say the

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Speaker 1: behavior is unacceptable. They're furious that women have been harmed,

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Speaker 1: and a group called take Back the Track will they

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Speaker 1: are holding an event in the Red Center to remind

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Speaker 1: everyone that they're entitled to exercise in public without fear

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Speaker 1: of harm. I feel for these women. I think any

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Speaker 1: woman who goes out exercising will know how it feels

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Speaker 1: to be utterly frightened in your environment. But to them

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Speaker 1: no that your fellow women are being assaulted while they're

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Speaker 1: out for a jog is nothing short of horrendous. Now.

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Speaker 1: Joining us on the line right now is take Back

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Speaker 1: the Track and Marntua organizer MORGANA Garland Fernandez. Good morning

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Speaker 1: to you, MORGANA.

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Speaker 2: Good morning, Katie.

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Speaker 1: How are you yeah, really good? Thank you so much

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Speaker 1: for your time this morning. Now, can you tell me

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Speaker 1: why today's event has been organized?

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Speaker 2: Yeah? Sure. Unfortunately, in the past fortnight, we've heard two

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Speaker 2: incidents of women being assaulted within our springs. Both of

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Speaker 2: these women had taken the precautions which we are told

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Speaker 2: as women to take when we are exercising, so that

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Speaker 2: includes using heavy traffic areas in a public space during

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Speaker 2: daylight hours, telling somebody when you are going where you

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Speaker 2: are going. One of the women even had live tracking

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Speaker 2: being sent to her husband at the time, you know,

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Speaker 2: taking all those precautions for women's safety, which as women

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Speaker 2: we are sadly well practiced at. And yet two assaults

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Speaker 2: in the last fortnight during daylight hours in a public space.

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Speaker 1: Well, Ghana, I mean, as a runer myself, I know

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Speaker 1: you are as well. It M like, it makes me

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Speaker 1: really upset and it makes me furious that you've got

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Speaker 1: to do all of those things to be able to

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Speaker 1: go out for a run, you know, to have the

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Speaker 1: freedom to go for a run, and then they've still

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Speaker 1: experienced a terrible situation.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, we are really distressed that this has happened

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Speaker 2: and really really angry as well, and so we've decided

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Speaker 2: to take back the Track. Take Back the Tracks actually

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Speaker 2: a national movement which was founded in response to the

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Speaker 2: disappearance and murder of Samantha Murphy in South Wales, and

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Speaker 2: we actually hosted a similar event in February fifth year,

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Speaker 2: which corresponded with events being held all around the country.

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Speaker 2: But yeah, unfortunately, only a few months later, two women

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Speaker 2: have been assaulted, so we are doing it again.

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Speaker 1: MORGANA do you I mean, I don't know whether you

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Speaker 1: know those women or you know if they're if they're okay.

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Speaker 2: So one of the women saw the event that we've

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Speaker 2: organizing and she reached out to me and she said,

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Speaker 2: you know, thank you so much for making noise about this.

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Speaker 2: One of her comments was, you know, she said, I

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Speaker 2: am I consider myself to be a strong and independent woman,

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Speaker 2: but I have never felt so small and vulnerable. But

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Speaker 2: you know, to see us stepping up and making noise

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Speaker 2: about this, she said, that makes her feel really seen

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Speaker 2: and really heard and really help. So yeah, one of

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Speaker 2: the women I have heard from, and the other woman, yes,

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Speaker 2: I'm not going to invade her. Absolutely processing what's happening.

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Speaker 1: Absolutely No, Like it's heartbreaking for them and you know,

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Speaker 1: not being able to do something that you love doing

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Speaker 1: and that you should be able to do because something

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Speaker 1: like that happens, it is really upsetting. We're gonna have

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Speaker 1: women told you that they're changing the ways that they run,

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Speaker 1: where they run and the times that they run in

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Speaker 1: Central Australia at the moment.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, you know, we've all been the accustomed

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Speaker 2: to taking the precautions which I mentioned earlier, but there's

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Speaker 2: definitely been more conversations about not wanting to run alone

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Speaker 2: and reaching out looking for companions on a run. Additionally,

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Speaker 2: there's talk about purchasing some personal alarms so that in

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Speaker 2: the unfortunate events that you're approached by a male you

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Speaker 2: have an alarm which can sound really loudly and hopefully

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Speaker 2: frighten them away or the bare least bring other people

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Speaker 2: to coming into them.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, now I understand. Are you guys raising money to

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Speaker 1: be able to purchase those alarms as well?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, we are. There was a conversation about the group

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Speaker 2: that I organized, which is SAWED that I was seeing

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Speaker 2: Suffy Divers. We had a conversation in the group about

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Speaker 2: putting in a bulk order, and then I thought, oh,

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Speaker 2: you know what, like, as women, we are already doing

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Speaker 2: so much to pet ourselves. I thought, wouldn't it be

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Speaker 2: great if men would step up and purchase alarms for us?

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Speaker 2: You know, that might be one thing that we don't

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Speaker 2: have to do for ourselves. That was the original idea,

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Speaker 2: And then I thought, well, let's just have a fundraiser.

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Speaker 2: You know, it could come from anywhere. I would like

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Speaker 2: that if there are women out there who are not

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Speaker 2: able to afford this sort of measure for themselves, that

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Speaker 2: they can just ask them, We'll be able to supply

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Speaker 2: one for them.

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Speaker 1: I reckon, that's a great idea. What's been the reaction

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Speaker 1: as well to the announcement a week or so ago

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Speaker 1: about the OC spry and the possibility of being able

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Speaker 1: to run with that later in the year if people choose.

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Speaker 2: To Yeah, look, I mean that's a bit of a

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Speaker 2: tricky issue, isn't it, because the possibility of the perposating

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Speaker 2: is sort of being weaponized. But certainly there are going

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Speaker 2: to be women out there thinking that that is a

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Speaker 2: method that they will need to take. It's really unfortunate

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Speaker 2: that they're feeling that need. But that's going to be

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Speaker 2: a personal decision for many women. I myself, I'm really

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Speaker 2: concerned about the possible implications of it. So that's not

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Speaker 2: something that I want to see happen, but I absolutely

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Speaker 2: understand a lot of people are feeling like it will

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Speaker 2: be a necessary precaution.

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Speaker 1: Now, now tell me in terms of the event this afternoon,

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Speaker 1: when's it kicking off? I know we've got people that

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Speaker 1: listen to the show in Alice Springs. When's it kicking off?

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Speaker 1: And how many are you expecting to attend?

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Speaker 2: So we're meeting at five pm along the banks of

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Speaker 2: the Todd River. There's an area called the River Activation Space,

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Speaker 2: which is across the road from the YAH so that's

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Speaker 2: where we're meeting. We're asking that people wear purple, and sorry,

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Speaker 2: I forgot the second part.

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Speaker 1: Of the question, how many are you expecting?

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Speaker 2: So we've got a Facebook event which currently has I

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Speaker 2: think forty people saying that they are attending, but there's

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Speaker 2: more than one hundred others who've expressed interests. I would

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Speaker 2: hope to see maybe at least seventy or eighty people

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Speaker 2: come along, and I would hope that a large proportion of.

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Speaker 1: Those would be men, I reckon they will be. And look,

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Speaker 1: I got to know about you, Molgana, but I certainly

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Speaker 1: know in my experience when I've felt unsafe, there have

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Speaker 1: been men around to try and you know, to say, hey,

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Speaker 1: do you want me to go for a run with

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Speaker 1: you or would you like me to ride next to you,

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Speaker 1: to try and help bit of feel a little bit safer.

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Speaker 1: I hope that some of that's happening in Central Australia

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Speaker 1: as well.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I would hope. So we do have some absolutely

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Speaker 2: wonderful members of the running community, male members of the

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Speaker 2: running community who are showing support. I guess they're not

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Speaker 2: the men who we need to be changed from, but yeah,

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Speaker 2: I think we need all the men in our lives

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Speaker 2: to be having conversations with other men about women's equality,

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Speaker 2: women's right to be less alone, not harassed, not spoken

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Speaker 2: to derogatorily, not spoken about in a derogatory manner. You know,

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Speaker 2: men need to be having those conversations and they need

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Speaker 2: to be leading the behavior change well more.

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Speaker 1: Gana Garland Fernandez really appreciate your time this morning. Thank

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Speaker 1: you very much for having a chat with us.

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Speaker 2: Thanks so much for having me.

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Speaker 1: Thank you