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Speaker 1: Well, as you'd imagine, people are quite outraged on the

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Speaker 1: text line this morning after I had just given you

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Speaker 1: an update on the situation with the seventy one year

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Speaker 1: old man from yesterday morning. So that terrible incident happening

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Speaker 1: in Palmerston yesterday morning, the man aged in his seventies

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Speaker 1: assaulted in his home during an alleged time invasion. As

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Speaker 1: I said, we are of the understanding that the injuries

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Speaker 1: he sustained will required surgery for a number of hours.

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Speaker 1: I do hope that that gentleman is going to be okay.

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Speaker 1: He's seventy one years old. He was taken there in

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Speaker 1: a serious condition. He is still in hospital and by

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Speaker 1: all accounts the people I've spoken to this morning off

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Speaker 1: air providing some background information a really good decent man.

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Speaker 1: It's horrendous and we've all had an absolute gutful of it.

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Speaker 1: Now joining me on the line is indeed the Minister. Well,

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Speaker 1: she's the Attorney General, she's the Minister for Hospitality and Tourism,

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Speaker 1: and she's also the Member for Brennan Mariray. Claire booth By.

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Speaker 1: Good morning to you, minister.

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Speaker 2: Good morning Katie, and to your listener.

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Speaker 1: Now, Minister, before I get into tourism, which is what

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Speaker 1: we'd asked you on about this morning. I do want

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Speaker 1: to just get your take on this situation, this terrible

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Speaker 1: incident that had happened in Palmerston yesterday. A man in

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Speaker 1: his seventies assaulted in his home during an alleged home invasion.

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Speaker 1: These two teenage boys are in custody over the brutal

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Speaker 1: attack on the senior Territorian. It's alleged the pair broke

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Speaker 1: into the home in Woodroffe. They attacked the seventy one

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Speaker 1: year old man with a machete. Now, Minister, it is horrendous.

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Speaker 1: We hear about this kind of thing all too often,

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Speaker 1: but I know that you are a proud and passionate

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Speaker 1: Palmiston resident. You must be furious.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, Katie, it's quite it's quite surreal, to be honest,

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Speaker 2: because we all know and love this man very much.

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Speaker 2: He is an integral part of our community, especially within

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Speaker 2: our seniors. You know, for decades and decades he has

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Speaker 2: contributed so much towards Palmerston and I believe he's even

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Speaker 2: been recognized as a Senior of the Year and many

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Speaker 2: other accolades. Like a very very lovely, genuine man who

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Speaker 2: honestly helps everyone and anyone so to hear this disgusting,

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Speaker 2: awful attempt of you know, really trying to hurt him,

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Speaker 2: and actually they did hurt him. They've come into his

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Speaker 2: home where he is, you know, should be safe in

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Speaker 2: his own home. Not only have they stolen his keys

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Speaker 2: and he's taken his car, but they've assaulted him and

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Speaker 2: he's had to basically wait for the neighbors to sort

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Speaker 2: of hear him and hear that apparently they heard the

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Speaker 2: smash glass and of course they've gone to have a

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Speaker 2: look and call the ambulance. And from the latest that

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Speaker 2: I've heard this morning is that he is out of surgery,

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Speaker 2: he is in recovery now, he is talking. He's expected

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Speaker 2: to have some visitors today and I know that Matthew

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Speaker 2: url and Clinton Howe, who my colleagues out of Parmesan

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Speaker 2: know him really well also, and they're going to go

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Speaker 2: and visit him today to see how he's going. And

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Speaker 2: many of our committee members, you know, they're really angered

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Speaker 2: by this. I mean, we just see this all too often,

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Speaker 2: and you know, this is the reason why we're doing

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Speaker 2: what we're doing in terms of changing the laws. As

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Speaker 2: you know, in every single part of the law needs

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Speaker 2: to be looked at and changed to strengthen because these

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Speaker 2: kids cannot be out and about this time of night

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Speaker 2: walking around with these types of weapons and breaking into people's.

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Speaker 1: Homes well and using them. You know, like the fact

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Speaker 1: is here. I like, I want to be really respectful

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Speaker 1: to this gentleman because because he is the victim here,

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Speaker 1: So I'm being a bit careful about what I say

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Speaker 1: in terms of his injuries. But they've used that machete

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Speaker 1: on his limb to the point where he's needed our

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Speaker 1: of surgery. Now. You know, people are texting through. People

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Speaker 1: have contacted me this morning and said, will fee to me,

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Speaker 1: that sounds like attempted murder?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, look at that. I mean there's a few things. Firstly,

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Speaker 2: I just want to thank the police who were able

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Speaker 2: to apprehend those us quite quickly. Apparently that was part

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Speaker 2: of the Fugitive Task Force that they were able to

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Speaker 2: step up and get out looking for these alleged offenders.

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Speaker 2: And they have apprehensive now and so that process will

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Speaker 2: go through, that investigation will take place, and of course

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Speaker 2: all of those parts of what happened, you know, talking

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Speaker 2: to those views about why and you know, what on

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Speaker 2: earth went on in that house because you know, one,

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Speaker 2: those youths shouldn't even be out at night too. They

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Speaker 2: should not be carrying around weapons and they should certainly

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Speaker 2: not be hurting other people and to the point where

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Speaker 2: you were hospitalized, and you know, potentially much much worse.

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Speaker 2: I mean, Katie was only just this week. I was

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Speaker 2: another senior's function in Gray, not far from where this

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Speaker 2: journ and lives, and witnessed two very very young people

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Speaker 2: waving around long machetes of looking things they were, and

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Speaker 2: they were slashing trees just outside the community hall there.

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Speaker 2: But the fact that it was ten o'clock in the

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Speaker 2: morning and they were walking around without a care in

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Speaker 2: the world. And I'd called the police and the police

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Speaker 2: were amazing. They actually got there before I even got

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Speaker 2: off the phone to the call center. They were amazing.

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Speaker 2: But you know, these kids just think it's okay to

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Speaker 2: walk around like that, and this is just not okay.

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Speaker 2: This absolutely needs to be dealt with. These kids that

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Speaker 2: are doing this, that think it's okay, They need to

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Speaker 2: have consequences, you know, like this is unfortunately.

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Speaker 1: Absolutely they I mean, in Queensland, we've seen a situation

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Speaker 1: where the government there has gone a step further, they've

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Speaker 1: said adult crime, adult time. Is that what you need

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Speaker 1: to be looking at as the Attorney general.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, So we're actually doing the work now through the

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Speaker 2: Youth Justice Rewrite, and there's a number of parts of

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Speaker 2: that legislation which just don't make any sense to us

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Speaker 2: as a new government and certainly do not meet community expectations.

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Speaker 2: And so we're going through it line by line literally

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Speaker 2: and pulling out all of those things that had been

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Speaker 2: watered down over the last eight years so that there

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Speaker 2: were no consequences and it was a really you know,

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Speaker 2: light light type touch compared to what really needs to happen.

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Speaker 2: I mean, so on the agenda is yeah, definitely, sorry

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Speaker 2: the time on the agenda. What's on the agenda is

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Speaker 2: the changes that need to be such strengthen that so

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Speaker 2: that there are consequences that the youths who are you know,

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Speaker 2: committing really serious offenses like this are dealt with, or

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Speaker 2: even when they're not serious like that this one that

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Speaker 2: we hear of today, but even just you know, a

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Speaker 2: consequence that fits the crime. So you know, things like

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Speaker 2: those we used to hear the previous government talk about

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Speaker 2: work orders and that they just have never been done

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Speaker 2: like there's there's places that they could go to and

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Speaker 2: you know, clean up graffiti and pick up rubbish, and

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Speaker 2: none of that just has never happened for long And.

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Speaker 1: In this instance, like we are talking about, and I'm

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Speaker 1: gonna say it because I think that our listeners need

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Speaker 1: to hear, I am told they tried to cut off

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Speaker 1: his arm. Oh my goodness, Like you know, we honestly

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Speaker 1: that is what I've been told now by several sources.

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Speaker 2: If that has happened or deny, but I don't actually know, like,

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Speaker 2: but that you know, it's horrific, Katie, horrific if that

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Speaker 2: ends up being the case, that's just yeah. I mean,

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Speaker 2: this is the thing that when when things are out

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Speaker 2: of control for so long, for so many years, and

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Speaker 2: there are no consequences, and people just think they can

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Speaker 2: get away with it because they have for a long

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Speaker 2: long time, then it just becomes unbearable and these sorts

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Speaker 2: of situations occur and none of it's acceptable. And that's

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Speaker 2: why these these changes in these laws. We have to

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Speaker 2: strengthen those laws, Katie. If they're not strengthened, then we'll

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Speaker 2: continue down this same path and more and more people

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Speaker 2: won't feel safe in their own homes and you know,

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Speaker 2: we're going to see even more, even more serious cases

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Speaker 2: like this one that we've heard about today, and I mean,

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Speaker 2: that's just not something that I'm going to stand for,

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Speaker 2: and it's just gone in general. That's why we are

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Speaker 2: going through together that legislation line by line, will bring

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Speaker 2: those changes to the Parliament at the end of July

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Speaker 2: to have them then go through in the next Parliament

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Speaker 2: sittings after that, because we need to turn around what's

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Speaker 2: been going on in our community as Ouranturians, as seniors,

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Speaker 2: you should be able to go to sleep at night

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Speaker 2: knowing that when you wake up everything is going to

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Speaker 2: be okay, You're going to be okay, your family is

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Speaker 2: going to be okay. And it's just not good enough, Katie.

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Speaker 1: It's truly not good enough. And look that we will

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Speaker 1: continue to speak about this throughout the morning. We yeah,

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Speaker 1: we'll see what further we can. Well, I'd love to

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Speaker 1: actually speak to the police to find out where things

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Speaker 1: are at as well with those investigations and with the charges.

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Speaker 1: But look, I want to.

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Speaker 2: Know we can get an update from him from the

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Speaker 2: hospital when Matt and Clinton do go and visit him. Yeah,

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Speaker 2: depending on the circumstances. We'll definitely try and keep you updated.

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Speaker 2: Listeners are very interested in how he's going.

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Speaker 1: Look, we are going to be catching up with Matt

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Speaker 1: Curl actually a little bit later this morning. We'll make

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Speaker 1: sure that we do catch up with him, I believe

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Speaker 1: after eleven o'clock or certainly later this morning. But look,

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Speaker 1: my heart goes out to this man, to his family,

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Speaker 1: to you know, those that live by. I hope that

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Speaker 1: he is okay. He sounds like a tough man, but

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Speaker 1: he also sounds like he is a really good bloke,

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Speaker 1: you know. Yeah, and you've said an integral part of

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Speaker 1: the community. But look, Minister, I do want to ask you.

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Speaker 1: Obviously we got you on to talk about tourism this morning,

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Speaker 1: but this incident has indeed taken over. But I want

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Speaker 1: to ask you. We know that a deal was struck

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Speaker 1: earlier in the week between the federal government in Kakadou,

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Speaker 1: the NLC negotiating an increased rent of ten point seven

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Speaker 1: million dollars per year with the Albanezy government for a

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Speaker 1: new lease agreement for Kakadou National Park. We also know

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Speaker 1: that as part of that, there's obviously also going to

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Speaker 1: be a new economic development fund, established funding for outstations

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Speaker 1: and changes in the rules, so it's going to be

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Speaker 1: easier for traditional owners to live on country. In addition

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Speaker 1: to that, a new partnership agreement between traditional owners and

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Speaker 1: the federal government. What kind of impact do you think

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Speaker 1: this is going to have when you look at tourism

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Speaker 1: for the Northern Territory.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, Katie, so, I guess Kakadu has been on the

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Speaker 2: minds of territories for a very long time, and I

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Speaker 2: just want to make really clear to everyone that Kakadu

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Speaker 2: is looked after by the Commonwealth through Parks Australia, unlike

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Speaker 2: our other national parks like Lichfield or it Ma look

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Speaker 2: down in Catherine, which is you know, parks that are

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Speaker 2: operated by the Northern Territory government. But also Kakadu is

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Speaker 2: supposed to be and needs to be our duel in

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Speaker 2: the Crown. You know a lot of overseas visitors who come,

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Speaker 2: they know of the Northern Territory because they know of Kakadu,

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Speaker 2: and it's just not been like that for so so long.

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Speaker 2: And it's not the fault of the tourism operators who

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Speaker 2: you know, they want to make these books, these bookings

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Speaker 2: for their visitors that come and they want to go

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Speaker 2: out there and show them a wonderful time and explore

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Speaker 2: the Aboriginal culture that we have and the landscapes and

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Speaker 2: the just the pure experience which is, you know, there's

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Speaker 2: nothing else on earth like it. But over years, you know,

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Speaker 2: we've seen road closures and poor conditions, inadequate signage, so

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Speaker 2: when people do go out there, they don't know where

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Speaker 2: they're going. There's been restricted access to sites, including Gunlom,

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Speaker 2: which I understanding was had been closed since twenty nineteen.

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Speaker 2: I mean, that is an iconic destination, not just for

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Speaker 2: visitors but our territories who love to go out there

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Speaker 2: as well, and so it's got to get sorted.

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Speaker 1: Minister. I do want to just play for you a

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Speaker 1: little bit of audio from Greg Taylor. He was speaking

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Speaker 1: to us last week on the show. Now he is

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Speaker 1: from Northern Charter, Northern Kakadoo Full will Drive Safaris. This

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Speaker 1: is what he had to say to me on the

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Speaker 1: show last Friday.

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Speaker 3: When you look at the cost of getting here and

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Speaker 3: the challenges of getting into Darwin, and if there's no

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Speaker 3: guarantee that you're going to be able to visit Kakadoo

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Speaker 3: as you wish we are losing tens of thousands of

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Speaker 3: visitors into the top end every year. I'd like to

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Speaker 3: know the views of our current Tourism minister on this.

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Speaker 3: Is there something that the Northern Territory can do at

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Speaker 3: our level to perhaps communicate this back to Canberra and

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Speaker 3: even communicate this to Kakadu directly. I know that there's

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Speaker 3: been people trying, but we're not getting any results.

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Speaker 1: So that was Greg on the show a little earlier

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Speaker 1: in the week. I mean, what do you say to that?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, well, I mean Greg, I understand his frustrations and

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Speaker 2: I certainly hear that from many tour operators that are

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Speaker 2: out there. And I want to assure though, Greg and

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Speaker 2: the other tour operators that you know, I am working

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Speaker 2: with the FEDS to try and resolve this, and I

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Speaker 2: have written to a number of the ministers that are

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Speaker 2: in Canberra, are both their current government and the shadow

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Speaker 2: ministers that are involved in Kakadu. We do have an

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Speaker 2: election coming up, and sadly we know after the whole

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Speaker 2: term of government and probably but before that as well,

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Speaker 2: we've seen promise after promise of money to be invested

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Speaker 2: and yet there's still like the same outcomes that we

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Speaker 2: have experiencing for years and years. I mean, I just

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Speaker 2: saw that it was yesterday that the Kakadu National Park

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Speaker 2: website was just updated about what was going to be

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Speaker 2: opened and not through the dry season. But what it

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Speaker 2: seems like nobody understands that are running the park and

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Speaker 2: the site is that, you know, visitors will plans for

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Speaker 2: twelve months ahead of time whether they're going to come

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Speaker 2: out to Australia or not, and if they don't have

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Speaker 2: that certainty that they won't going to look elsewhere, and

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Speaker 2: so our tourism operators they're feeling that pain. I mean,

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Speaker 2: Greg was right. Our numbers for Kakadu have been they've

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Speaker 2: fluctuated over many years, that overall a downward trend, and

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Speaker 2: it really is because there's no certainty of whether those

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Speaker 2: sites are going to be open. And I mean I

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Speaker 2: welcome the fact that Gunlom's open, that the fact that

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Speaker 2: the federal government is talking to tuditional owners about having

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Speaker 2: making sure there's plans in place to you know, have

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Speaker 2: Kakadu be the best it can be. But it's got

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Speaker 2: to be from a tourism perspective as well. You know,

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Speaker 2: our tourism operators who have been operating out there for

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Speaker 2: a long long time. They have so much respect for

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Speaker 2: the place. They have really great relationships with the traditional

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Speaker 2: owners and they want to show off how beautiful and

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Speaker 2: amazing the place is. And without certainty with that's right,

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Speaker 2: without them being able to say, you know what's going

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Speaker 2: to be open and when well in advance, and and

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Speaker 2: I you know, I get repairs and maintenance. Everything has that,

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Speaker 2: and you can plan around that, you absolutely can. But

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Speaker 2: if things are continually closing for reasons beyond you know,

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Speaker 2: short repairs and maintenance, or it's not been planned for

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Speaker 2: and it's something else, that is a huge problem that

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Speaker 2: I mean, I just don't know how that's going to

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Speaker 2: go into the future. And I remain optimistic about it.

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Speaker 2: I really want it to be successful, but it absolutely

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Speaker 2: has to be the Federal Government, the Parks Australia, you know,

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Speaker 2: working hand in hand with the traditional owners, with the

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Speaker 2: operators that are out there, and you know, just making

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Speaker 2: it the best it can possibly be.

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Speaker 1: Minister, just a quick one before I let you go.

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Speaker 1: We've run out of time. Any update when it comes

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Speaker 1: to we know that the paramatter eels are obviously going

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Speaker 1: to be playing here a little bit later in the year.

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Speaker 1: Any update when it comes to the Territories NRL team

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Speaker 1: for next year.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, so you're right, Katie, and it's going to be

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Speaker 2: an exciting game on the tours of April. That'll be

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Speaker 2: Paramatter's last game in the territory under that current arrangement.

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Speaker 2: And of course as that chapter closes, we're already exploring

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Speaker 2: new partnerships and new possibilities. And you know, I've had

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Speaker 2: a lot of messages from a lot of people saying,

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Speaker 2: please make sure it's our team.

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Speaker 1: So no update yet, no or any idea when a

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Speaker 1: decision is going to be made.

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Speaker 2: Look, I don't have the exact timing of when a

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Speaker 2: decision will be made, but those negotiations are definitely ongoing.

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Speaker 2: We we want to you know, we want to get

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Speaker 2: a really good deal. We we love the teams that

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Speaker 2: come up here and get out to our community and

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Speaker 2: you know, work with the kids out at those different

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Speaker 2: rugby training grounds right across Starwin and Palmeerston. You know,

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Speaker 2: we saw that with the with the Dolphins last year

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Speaker 2: and the Broncos previously, and of course you know we're

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Speaker 2: paramount area here and so and Canberra Raiders, no doubt,

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Speaker 2: we'll do the same thing when they're here. So there's

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Speaker 2: a number of options I guess on the table. There's

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Speaker 2: negotiations that are ongoing, and you know, let's just see

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Speaker 2: where it goes. I hear your a Dolphins.

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Speaker 1: Fans, but there's not very well at the moment, so

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Speaker 1: we'll wait and see what happens.

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Speaker 2: Well, you know, the territory is on a bit of

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Speaker 2: a recess rebuild time two never even though Dolphins shiell

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Speaker 2: fairly new. But anyway, there's there's plenty of teams out there.

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Speaker 2: They're all they're all amazing in their own way. But

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Speaker 2: well let's see how that goes.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, well, Mary Clare Boothby, we are going to have

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Speaker 1: to leave it there. Good to speak with you this morning.

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Speaker 1: Thank you very much for your time.

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Speaker 2: Thank you Katie, and thank thanks