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Speaker 1: You're listening to Mix one. Oh four point nine's three sixty. Well,

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Speaker 1: what a morning it has been. And as we heard,

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Speaker 1: the Member for Blaine, Mark Turner, last night spoke in

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Speaker 1: parliament and well he revealed he's the man at the

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Speaker 1: center of this scandal. He spoke in parliament late last

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Speaker 1: night saying he had a friendship with the woman we

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Speaker 1: spoke to on air yesterday, but said that any suggestion

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Speaker 1: that he'd been involved in a legal activity was categorically untrue.

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Speaker 1: Joining me on the line is the Opposition leader Leah

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Speaker 1: fanocchiiro Good morning Leah.

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Speaker 2: Good morning Katie and to your listeners, Lea.

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Speaker 1: Does this mean that we all just need to let

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Speaker 1: this saga go?

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Speaker 2: I think the Member for Blaine's speech last night just

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Speaker 2: opens up more questions and reinforces to me that the

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Speaker 2: Chief Minister, his handling of this has been so appalling

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Speaker 2: he has got to go. I mean, this has been

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Speaker 2: a cover up of epic proportions. And the Member for

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Speaker 2: Blaine himself has outed the Chief Minister by saying that

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Speaker 2: he'd spoken to the Chief Minister this week, which means

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Speaker 2: Michael Gunner has known about it and done nothing about it.

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Speaker 2: Refused to address the issue, refuse to investigate the issue,

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Speaker 2: refused to deny the issue, just completely doubled down on

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Speaker 2: the cover up, and his leadership is no longer tenable.

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Speaker 1: Lea. I guess what he also did though, last night,

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Speaker 1: is he tried to shift the conversation from this scandal

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Speaker 1: being about the use of illicit drugs. And I will

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Speaker 1: get to that aspect of it in just a moment.

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Speaker 1: But he tried to shift the scandal from that and

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Speaker 1: I guess make it more of a moral debate. He

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Speaker 1: was actually, you know, very critical of you for bringing

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Speaker 1: this issue into the limelight. But the thing that I

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Speaker 1: think really has been forgotten here is the responsibility. He

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Speaker 1: should be taking responsibility for himself and his own actions.

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Speaker 1: But Leah, if we look at it just from that

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Speaker 1: moral perspective for a moment, do you think that we

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Speaker 1: need to you know, do you think that realistically the

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Speaker 1: Member for Blaine needs to stand out?

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Speaker 2: Well, what we know is that when you are a

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Speaker 2: member of Parliament, you have to live by a code

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Speaker 2: of conduct of honesty, integrity and accountability. And if the

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Speaker 2: Member for Blaine doesn't want the level of public scrutiny

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Speaker 2: that has been applied then he shouldn't hold public office.

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Speaker 2: Let's not forget the Chief Minister has set the standard

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Speaker 2: on this in twenty sixteen when he said about another

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Speaker 2: member of Parliament that they had fundamentally breached community standards.

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Speaker 2: I quote from the Chief Minister at that time he

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Speaker 2: said his behavior is also an unforgivable breach of parliamentary standards.

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Speaker 2: He should resign immediately and not take his seat in parliament.

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Speaker 2: You know, the people of Blaine have effectively been misled

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Speaker 2: by the Member for Blaine, and you know, if he'd

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Speaker 2: been more open with them, perhaps the result would be different.

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Speaker 2: But ultimately that part of the scandal, aside the Chief

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Speaker 2: Minister's coverer, remains an enormous issue in a huge cloud

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Speaker 2: hanging over the Gunner government. And of course we still

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Speaker 2: have the Chief Minister still has serious questions to answer

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Speaker 2: about any implications involving his parliamentary staff.

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Speaker 1: Well, and I think that that is the point which

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Speaker 1: is entirely being glossed over by some media this morning.

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Speaker 1: We've got a situation here where well, if the Northern

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Speaker 1: Territory News and indeed Matt Cunningham, a very well respected journalist,

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Speaker 1: is indeed correct and that's what we've heard this morning.

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Speaker 1: The Special References Unit within the Northern Territory Police is

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Speaker 1: actually investigating that entirely. And you know, this could end

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Speaker 1: up being a much bigger issue for the Chief Minister.

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Speaker 1: I've got to say I'm pretty surprised that he's not

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Speaker 1: launched some kind of internal investigation.

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Speaker 2: I have been asking him all week, Katie. When this

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Speaker 2: first broke in the newspaper, I put out a statement

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Speaker 2: saying the allegations had nothing to do with the Country

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Speaker 2: Liberal Party and I called on the Chief Minister to

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Speaker 2: address the allegations. Then all week in Parliament I've been

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Speaker 2: asking whether he's done an investigation, whether he would deny it,

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Speaker 2: and trying to get to the bottom of what is

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Speaker 2: going on. And ultimately, now as we know, the Chief

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Speaker 2: Minister has known about it at least all week, and

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Speaker 2: the Chief Minister has been dismissing this. I mean he

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Speaker 2: has been saying to me, Opposition leader, you bring me

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Speaker 2: evidence and then I'll look at it, when really he's

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Speaker 2: had the evidence all along. And if the Special Reference

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Speaker 2: Unit of Police have been investigating for two months, well

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Speaker 2: clearly there is more to come from this. You know,

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Speaker 2: the Chief Minister has a lot of questions to answer,

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Speaker 2: and I'm not surprised quite frankly, Now, why ministers yesterday

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Speaker 2: we're telling speaking to media and saying that the Member

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Speaker 2: for Blade's position in parliament is untenable, Leah, I.

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Speaker 1: Do want to ask. Obviously, we now know that this

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Speaker 1: investigation is obviously underway. There hasn't been a formal comment

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Speaker 1: from the Northern Territory Police as far as I know

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Speaker 1: at this point, but this investigation is indeed underway from

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Speaker 1: what I can gather. But if we end up in

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Speaker 1: a situation here where that investigation is completed and there's

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Speaker 1: nothing to see in terms of, you know, alleged use

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Speaker 1: of cocaine by staffers, and we just in a situation

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Speaker 1: where we've got an MLA who has a friendship with

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Speaker 1: the woman who we spoke to on air yesterday, I mean, really,

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Speaker 1: is that grounds for the Chief Minister to stand down?

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Speaker 2: Without question? Katie? His handling of this has been atrocious.

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Speaker 2: He has said to every territory and every boss, every

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Speaker 2: employer that you can turn a blind eye to serious allegations.

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Speaker 2: Is unfathomable that that can be his position, That he

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Speaker 2: could not have taken a strongest stance. All I did

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Speaker 2: on Sunday was call on him to address the allegations.

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Speaker 2: The Chief Minister could have commenced an investigation, he could

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Speaker 2: have done a number of things differently. Instead, he put

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Speaker 2: out a puff piece about being too busy and having

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Speaker 2: to deal with COVID. Then he decided that he should

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Speaker 2: start blaming me and asking me to bring evidence forward.

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Speaker 2: That is not leadership. You know, the fish rots from

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Speaker 2: the head, Katie, and he has to have taken the

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Speaker 2: responsibility as an employer, as a leader, as a Chief Minister,

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Speaker 2: and and get to the bottom of this. Ultimately, he's

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Speaker 2: had the opportunity to clear the air and take control

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Speaker 2: of the situation and he has fundamentally failed. It's completely

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Speaker 2: unacceptable and he has to step down. The message he

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Speaker 2: has said to our entire community is appalling.

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Speaker 1: Leah, the Member for Blaine said last night in that speech,

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Speaker 1: I am deeply embarrassed by all of this. And if

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Speaker 1: that was the leader of the Opposition's goal, she has succeeded.

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Speaker 1: What's your response to that.

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Speaker 2: My response is that I think someone on the fifth

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Speaker 2: floor wrote the speech for him, Katie. I mean, it's

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Speaker 2: just ridiculous. My job as opposition leader is to hold

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Speaker 2: the government to account. I ruled out that this scandal

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Speaker 2: involved anyone in my party and in my team. I

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Speaker 2: asked the Chief Minister to address the allegations all week.

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Speaker 2: I've been asking the Chief Minister address the allegations. He

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Speaker 2: has failed and so you know, it's easy to point

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Speaker 2: fingers at other people, but ultimately there needs to be

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Speaker 2: some serious self reflection in the Labor government because they

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Speaker 2: have let down Territori and lea fundamental way this way.

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Speaker 1: We are running out of time. What needs to happen today.

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Speaker 2: Well, we need to hear from the Chief Minister today

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Speaker 2: and he better have some very good explanations for the

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Speaker 2: people of the territory. Ultimately, he needs to fall on

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Speaker 2: his sword, step down, move aside and clear the air

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Speaker 2: on this government that will be known for crime, cocaine

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Speaker 2: and cover up.

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Speaker 1: Lea Finocchiiro the opposition leader. We are going to have

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Speaker 1: to leave it there. I appreciate your time, thanks for

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Speaker 1: speaking with us again.

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Speaker 2: Take care everyone and look.

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Speaker 1: For the definitely, for the sake of fairness. We were

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Speaker 1: actually due to speak to the Minister for Welfare, Corrections

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Speaker 1: and various other portfolios Selena Rubo. This morning. Late last

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Speaker 1: night we were informed that that interview would not be

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Speaker 1: able to go ahead. We were also expecting the Minister

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Speaker 1: for Sport, Tourism or sorry for Tourism and Health Natashaphiles,

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Speaker 1: to be out this morning at a press conference that

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Speaker 1: was canceled. The Chief Minute was due to do an

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Speaker 1: interview on a radio station here in our building this

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Speaker 1: morning that was canceled. We have put in a request

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Speaker 1: to speak to the Chief Minister. We have not heard

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Speaker 1: anything back, so you can make from that what you like.

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Speaker 1: Eight nine four one one oh four nine if you'd

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Speaker 1: like to call through