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Speaker 1: Well, as I mentioned a little while ago, a Darwin

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Speaker 1: City business has made the decision to shut shop to

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Speaker 1: keep crime and customers safe, well, to keep it's as

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Speaker 1: a result, I guess, of that crime and to keep

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Speaker 1: customers safe due to well, crime and anti social behavior.

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Speaker 1: So John John's in the city, it's a beautiful ice

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Speaker 1: cream shop. I know plenty of you would frequent there

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Speaker 1: quite regularly. They're putting in further safeguards in place in

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Speaker 1: an effort to try to really ensure that staff, customers,

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Speaker 1: everybody is safe to be able to go there, which

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Speaker 1: to me, I just think it is unbelievable that a

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Speaker 1: business is in a situation where they're actually not able

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Speaker 1: to open shop because of safety concerns an ice cream

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Speaker 1: a beautiful ice cream business.

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Speaker 2: Now joining me.

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Speaker 1: In the studio is John Koenig, who is indeed the

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Speaker 1: owner of John John's.

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Speaker 2: Good morning, How are you? Yeah?

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Speaker 1: Good? Well, Look, I'm actually feeling pretty sad for you.

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Speaker 1: I think you and I have spoken on a few

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Speaker 1: over the last few years, and unfortunately it seems the

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Speaker 1: only time that we do get the opportunity to speak

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Speaker 1: is when something pretty ordinary happens to you and your

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Speaker 1: business in the city. It's a wonderful business that you have.

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Speaker 1: I know that a lot of territories listening this morning

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Speaker 1: would absolutely love it. My daughter literally every time we

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Speaker 1: go to the city, Mum, can we go to John John's? Mum,

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Speaker 1: can we go get an ice cream? And it's really

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Speaker 1: sad that you're in a situation where you've had to close.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, very much.

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Speaker 2: So what happened?

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Speaker 1: What are the incidents that have happened over the last

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Speaker 1: few days.

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Speaker 4: Firstly, if you don't mind, Kay, I do appreciate it

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Speaker 4: coming on. Like I said, it feels like we're always

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Speaker 4: talking about negative stuff, which is quite sad coming into

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Speaker 4: like a beautiful place that we live in and.

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Speaker 3: I've grown up here.

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Speaker 4: I just wanted to give some background to the listeners

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Speaker 4: of Black Who I Am.

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Speaker 3: I would have been born in Darwin.

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Speaker 4: However my grandma was sick in the Philippines, so my

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Speaker 4: mum had to go back and so I was born

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Speaker 4: in the Philippines. Otherwise I would have been born here.

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Speaker 4: I've lived pretty much.

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Speaker 3: My whole life here. I'm thirty two years young yep.

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Speaker 4: Went to Millner Primary School, did my primary school years there,

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Speaker 4: went to Saint John's for three years went to Darwin High.

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Speaker 4: I played for Hellenic Football Club in soccer, Likeliff Tigers

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Speaker 4: go to the Tigers for footy. So I've lived my

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Speaker 4: whole life here and.

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Speaker 3: This is home.

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Speaker 4: This is all I've known, and I've started the business.

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Speaker 4: We're six and a half years on. We're going strong. Yep,

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Speaker 4: it depends on what months you ask me.

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Speaker 3: But it's been good overall.

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Speaker 4: Darwin's lifestyle is great and we live in Darwin because

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Speaker 4: of how family friendly it is, the laid back lifestyle,

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Speaker 4: and it's you know, you know someone, you walk down

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Speaker 4: the street, it's probably a good and a bad thing,

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Speaker 4: and you always say good, you can have a beer,

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Speaker 4: and it's just relaxed. Lately, crime is just every year

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Speaker 4: or year, and you've had everyone on here and every

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Speaker 4: year it's gotten worse. And now we're at the boiling point.

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Speaker 4: Alice is in chaos, Tenant is in chaos, Catherine is

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Speaker 4: in chaos, and Darwin has fallen into chaos as well.

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Speaker 2: And it's just like we've all just had enough.

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Speaker 1: I mean, I think the point that you make about

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Speaker 1: the fact that you grew up here it does give

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Speaker 1: listeners some con text because sometimes you think to yourself

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Speaker 1: of we got some blowing that's turned up, that's running

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Speaker 1: a business that can't sort of handle some of the

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Speaker 1: issues that we've got in the NT. You know, like

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Speaker 1: we understand that we've got various issues and that they're

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Speaker 1: complex to use a political term, but you should not

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Speaker 1: have to deal with some of the absolute dangerous situations

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Speaker 1: that you're dealing with, because I was going to say

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Speaker 1: garbage situations, but it's actually dangerous, very dangerous.

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Speaker 3: Yeah.

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Speaker 4: Children shouldn't be pulling out machetes and lives in our

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Speaker 4: garden box or in the park next to our shop.

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Speaker 4: And the thing that is very frustrating is that we're

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Speaker 4: on the corner of Mitchell Street.

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Speaker 3: And Lucky Street.

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Speaker 4: We are in the heartbeat of the Darwin city and

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Speaker 4: what goes on in that park, it's just it's beyond me.

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Speaker 1: Note on the weekend, you actually had someone threatened to

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Speaker 1: kill you with a machete.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, it was a nie for a machete. Yeah. So

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Speaker 3: the background story was.

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Speaker 4: Me, I had my two staff in there, Margarita and

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Speaker 4: then Ollie who's thirteen, young lad, and all of a

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Speaker 4: sudden we could hear yelling and we were watching him

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Speaker 4: from inside the shop. A fight breakout. It was an

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Speaker 4: all in brawl. One man in particular was assaulting about

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Speaker 4: five or six people. He choked one person, he pushed

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Speaker 4: over another woman, and it was just it went on

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Speaker 4: for fifteen minutes. So I've gone out. Tips were thankfully

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Speaker 4: on the we're there. I've gone out just to make

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Speaker 4: sure that because my tips are my friends, yep, and

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Speaker 4: just to see that they were okay and whether or

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Speaker 4: not I needed to call police. I've kept my distance

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Speaker 4: twenty thirty meters. I'm standing at my shop, so I

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Speaker 4: haven't engaged at all. What's happened is he's been pushed

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Speaker 4: out finally, but he's walking towards our shop and he's

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Speaker 4: walking past me and my back is against the fence.

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Speaker 4: I've got nowhere else to move. He's come over to

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Speaker 4: go shake my hand. I said, man, I don't want

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Speaker 4: to shake your hand. You've just been fighting. He goes

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Speaker 4: to shake my hand again. I said, please don't. I

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Speaker 4: was like, just keep going, mate. He's walked away and

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Speaker 4: then he's turned back around to face me, and within

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Speaker 4: four or five meters he's come at me and he's.

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Speaker 3: Like, I've got a knife. I'm going to effing kill you.

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Speaker 4: And if someone's four or five meters away rushing you,

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Speaker 4: I had no idea, nothing to do but push him back.

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Speaker 4: He stumbled on the floor, He's got back up and

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Speaker 4: he's rushed me again. And thankfully that's when TPS came

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Speaker 4: in and they apprehended him. And then I was on

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Speaker 4: the phone of the police straight away.

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Speaker 1: What did you think in that moment, John, Were you

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Speaker 1: thinking if this guy has got a knife on gone?

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Speaker 3: Yeah, and that's why I pushed.

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Speaker 4: Him, And then like I had to push him again.

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Speaker 4: And then as soon as I pushed him the first

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Speaker 4: time and he fell on the floor, the first thing

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Speaker 4: I thought about was like, I've got so much to lose.

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Speaker 4: I've got a business, I've got friends and family, I've

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Speaker 4: got loved ones, I've got nephews. My staff are inside.

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Speaker 4: There's a potentially if he did stab me. The staff

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Speaker 4: are watching their boss, whether they like me or not,

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Speaker 4: they watching their boss bleed out for what Oh my luck.

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Speaker 1: To be honest, my reaction to that is I actually

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Speaker 1: want to cry. I feel really bad for you that

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Speaker 1: you've been put like that. You're in that situation while

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Speaker 1: you're they're trying to work. It's unbelievable. It's actually it's

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Speaker 1: really unfair, it's really dangerous. As you've said, your staff

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Speaker 1: shouldn't actually have to see you going through that either.

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Speaker 2: You shouldn't have to deal with that.

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Speaker 3: We shouldn't not at all, No one should.

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Speaker 4: We should just be able to walk the city streets

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Speaker 4: safely and just go to work safely, and leave work

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Speaker 4: and go home safely.

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Speaker 1: I know you've been very complementary of the police and

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Speaker 1: their response very much. So they've come and helped obviously

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Speaker 1: or turned up I'm assuming, and tried to help out

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Speaker 1: very much.

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Speaker 2: So what did they do? What was the reaction from

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Speaker 2: the from the police.

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Speaker 4: So when I initially called though, I think they were

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Speaker 4: sending a crew out. But I can understand as well,

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Speaker 4: like there's so many like everything gets true art, so

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Speaker 4: I completely understand. And then yeah, altercations kept breaking out,

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Speaker 4: and then yeah, we just everyone just tries to do

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Speaker 4: what they can, and I guess the situation was sort

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Speaker 4: of handled and didn't It was sort of being de escalated.

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Speaker 3: So yeah, and.

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Speaker 4: Then but on Saturday they did come the serious crime

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Speaker 4: and it did come in.

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Speaker 3: They took my statement. Yeah, they were very helpful, very understanding, but.

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Speaker 1: So now this blog that threatened you, then that said

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Speaker 1: he was going to kill you.

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Speaker 2: He's been back at that.

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Speaker 3: Park, hasn't he correct?

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Speaker 4: So yesterday I made the decision to keep the shop

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Speaker 4: shut because Saturday there was another all in brawl and

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Speaker 4: which they then sort of stood at the front of

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Speaker 4: my shop while customers were trying to come in, so

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Speaker 4: I had to go out. My heart was racing whether

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Speaker 4: or not, you know, I'm going to have another altercation.

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Speaker 4: I've had to ask them to move on nicely. And

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Speaker 4: then that was about two twenty five pm on Saturday.

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Speaker 4: And then at four forty five pm on Saturday, there's

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Speaker 4: another all in brawl and they're running up and down

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Speaker 4: Knuckey Street Mitchell Street, fighting each other, and tourists are

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Speaker 4: just dumbfounded. They're like, what is going on? And then

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Speaker 4: all of Saturday and all of Sunday, my head was

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Speaker 4: on a swiggle. I was watching I was looking outside

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Speaker 4: the window, I was recording everything.

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Speaker 3: My heart was I was stressed.

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Speaker 4: And then come Monday, it finally hit me the actually

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Speaker 4: what the seriousness of it all.

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Speaker 1: But you know, the thing that I just can't wrap

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Speaker 1: my head around with this situation, right is you are

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Speaker 1: there try and run a business. You've literally just said,

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Speaker 1: your businesses have been going really well for six and

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Speaker 1: a half years. It's making money, You've got a great business.

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Speaker 1: You're doing something that you love. So why should you

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Speaker 1: have to stop doing that? Because the people that are

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Speaker 1: doing the wrong thing?

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Speaker 4: I agree, I don't think most people don't know the

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Speaker 4: reason for that. And so going back to the question,

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Speaker 4: to answer the question that you asked, yes, I decided

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Speaker 4: to close the shop to put some safety measures in place.

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Speaker 4: And then what had happened was I went I literally

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Speaker 4: went in to go collect more information for the police

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Speaker 4: and get all the video footage. I couldn't enter my

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Speaker 4: shop because the person who did threaten to kill me

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Speaker 4: was sitting in the park, and so I've had to

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Speaker 4: go to the police station. I said, this is the situation,

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Speaker 4: this is my promised number. A wagon came down, spoke

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Speaker 4: to him, and then the police had had to escort

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Speaker 4: me into my own shop. Now that I've been inside

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Speaker 4: my shop, he's walking around my shop and then he's

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Speaker 4: sitting back down on the benches. This guy on Friday

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Speaker 4: night told me that he's going to come back. He's

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Speaker 4: coming back with his friends and he's going to come

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Speaker 4: back to murder me. And now when you go to work,

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Speaker 4: you just am my paranoid.

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Speaker 3: I don't know. I'm not going to ask him, Hey, mate,

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Speaker 3: you're going to you come back to kill me. It's

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Speaker 3: beyond belief.

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Speaker 1: It's absolutely beyond belief. I mean, do you have any

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Speaker 1: luck do you have Obviously you've seen this block get

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Speaker 1: into a punch up.

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Speaker 2: You've seen that he's dangerous.

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Speaker 1: Do you have any other like have you have you

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Speaker 1: got any sort of background as to whether.

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Speaker 2: He is quite dangerous. I mean, it seems like common

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Speaker 2: sense would tell you he is.

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Speaker 4: After he's sort of gone at me on the Friday

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Speaker 4: night and I've pushed him down. When TPS apprehended him,

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Speaker 4: they told me then that he just got out of prison.

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Speaker 4: Within the week he had got out of prison. I've

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Speaker 4: just witnessed him assault five or six people. And then

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Speaker 4: the TPS guard said that he had already pulled knives

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Speaker 4: out on the on the guards.

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Speaker 2: Already you are joking.

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Speaker 4: And this is the and the thing is, it's not

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Speaker 4: not even me. It's just what if it was a tourist,

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Speaker 4: a passer by, a young kid, an elderly person, and

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Speaker 4: then You're in the wrong place at the wrong time,

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Speaker 4: and I'm literally standing at my shop.

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Speaker 3: Where else am I supposed.

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Speaker 2: To be trying to run your business?

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Speaker 1: Like again, you're just trying to do your job, trying

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Speaker 1: to run your business, which should be entitled to do. John,

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Speaker 1: how many days do you think you're going to have

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Speaker 1: to close? What do you think you're going to have

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Speaker 1: to do? Here?

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Speaker 4: I guess I get a bit of a luxury in

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Speaker 4: terms of On Saturday, I followed up with the police

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Speaker 4: and getting a promise numbered.

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Speaker 3: But I also was able to call Paul KIRBYEP, the.

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Speaker 4: Local member, and immediately he had just gotten out of hospital,

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Speaker 4: and so I was very appreciative that he took my call.

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Speaker 4: He said that he would pass it on to Brent.

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Speaker 4: Brent did call me, and then I was aware that

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Speaker 4: it was Brent's child's birthday. So I said, you know,

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Speaker 4: like family comes first. Yeah, I'm not an you know,

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Speaker 4: like families first. There's more important things to life than

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Speaker 4: like trivial stuff. So I said, like, if he gets

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Speaker 4: the time, call back, and he did, and so I

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Speaker 4: appreciated him listening. I spoke to Lea for Andochiaria as well.

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Speaker 4: On the phone just to let everyone know what the

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Speaker 4: situation was. And then as things have progressed, yesterday I

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Speaker 4: made a phone call to Jimmy Bejoris, a counselor, and

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Speaker 4: I said, mate, this is what's going on.

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Speaker 3: I need help.

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Speaker 4: And Jimmy's he's told me that he's going to speak

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Speaker 4: to the councilors and he's going to speak to City

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Speaker 4: of Dawn as well to look at investigating Tamarin Park

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Speaker 4: to keep it a safer place.

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Speaker 3: So I do appreciate that.

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Speaker 2: Like it can't.

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Speaker 1: We can't continue on down this path. It cannot continue

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Speaker 1: on down this path. We can't remain in a situation

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Speaker 1: where people like yourself put in day trying to run

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Speaker 1: a business, people are put in danger trying to go

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Speaker 1: and buy ice cream or gelato. It's it beggars belief,

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Speaker 1: big time. It beggars belief that you have had to

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Speaker 1: close because someone's threatened to kill you, and then they're

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Speaker 1: still walking around your shop two days later, a day later,

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Speaker 1: and they're still out on the street. To me, something's

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Speaker 1: very wrong with the system.

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Speaker 3: I mean, look what happened.

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Speaker 4: No one should receive death threats at all, death threats

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Speaker 4: at work or whatever job look what happened with Michael Gunner.

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Speaker 4: He received death threats, he had to move his family

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Speaker 4: away to keep them safe. Natasha Files received a crep

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Speaker 4: to the face. Put that person on assault charges. Like,

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Speaker 4: no one should be having death threats. And I'm just

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Speaker 4: the ice cream man, ice cream to kids and families.

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Speaker 4: People who come in sad or come in happy. They

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Speaker 4: never leave sad, they always leave happy, yep.

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Speaker 3: And it's just.

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Speaker 4: We're there to scoop jelati and bring a bit of happiness.

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Speaker 4: And I do not need death threats. No, But then

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Speaker 4: if I was to make a death threat to someone,

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Speaker 4: what would happen? What would happen? And if I started

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Speaker 4: to hang around their work after I've made that death threat,

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Speaker 4: what would happen. I wouldn't just get a small talking to.

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Speaker 4: I'd probably be you know, quite heavily investigate. And so

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Speaker 4: I should be.

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Speaker 1: The other point of this though as well, John is

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Speaker 1: you know, like, yes, the death threat is part of it,

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Speaker 1: and the safety to your staff and the safety to you,

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Speaker 1: But let's not forget this person's also gotten in a.

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Speaker 2: Brawl in a public place.

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Speaker 1: And again, you know, that kind of thing should not

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Speaker 1: be happening, and that in the first place, is something

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Speaker 1: that many would deem to be breaking the law or illegal,

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Speaker 1: depending on how bad things were. I know people get

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Speaker 1: in scuffles from time to time, but it doesn't sound.

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Speaker 2: Like it's just a scuffle.

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Speaker 1: So I think at the moment we're going, oh, there's

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Speaker 1: anti social behavior around our CBD. This is far from

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Speaker 1: anti social behavior. This is very, very bad behavior and

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Speaker 1: it has to stop.

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Speaker 3: I agree.

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Speaker 1: Now from I mean from your perspective today. Really, what

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Speaker 1: is your message to our decision makers when it comes

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Speaker 1: to what you are experiencing as a business owner in

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Speaker 1: our CBD To.

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Speaker 4: The decision makers out there, and I know that you

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Speaker 4: guys are listening. You it's so out of touch. Speak

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Speaker 4: to the business owners and speak to the people who

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Speaker 4: are affected, because one in two people are affected here.

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Speaker 4: I'm being serious. It's just I'm in a group chat

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Speaker 4: with ten other males. We all own businesses, and we

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Speaker 4: own several businesses. We're all deciding to shut up shop.

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Speaker 3: What's the point?

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Speaker 4: Cost of living is through the roof, Electricity is through

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Speaker 4: the roof, Rental is through the roof, and all our numbers, Katie,

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Speaker 4: our numbers. Ask the businesses in Darwin City they have

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Speaker 4: done their worst three months in the last twelve to

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Speaker 4: fifteen years. Businesses have made losses after losses after losses,

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Speaker 4: and everyone is banking on this dry season to be

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Speaker 4: the savior.

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Speaker 3: It's not going to come save us.

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Speaker 4: Look what happened to Alice Springs snap lockdown to heroism

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Speaker 4: gone people down south. If you're spending five, ten, fifteen

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Speaker 4: thousand dollars to come up to Darwin, I'll tell you

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Speaker 4: to reconsider. Why would you You're going to walk on

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Speaker 4: Mitchell Street and not feel safe.

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Speaker 3: Last year, I'll give you an example. A woman came

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Speaker 3: up with her child.

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Speaker 4: She had to catch an uber from Cole's car pup

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Speaker 4: Cole's City to the Hilton every day because she didn't

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Speaker 4: feel safe.

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Speaker 3: What do you reckon? She's going to tell her friends and.

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Speaker 1: Family, Well, that's exactly right. Like this, I'm sorry, I'm

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Speaker 1: going to put it really bluntly. This shit has to

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Speaker 1: get under control. The future of the Northern Territory depends

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Speaker 1: on it. The future of business in the Northern Territory.

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Speaker 1: You're a young man, you're in your early thirties. You

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Speaker 1: are the future of the Northern Territory. You know I

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Speaker 1: want this place to be a place where my kids

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Speaker 1: want to live, where they want to stay, where they're

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Speaker 1: not scared to walk up the street. And I know

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Speaker 1: that every parent that lives in the Northern Territory feels

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Speaker 1: exactly the same way, very much. So something's got to change,

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Speaker 1: and it's got to change fast. I agree, John, I

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Speaker 1: really appreciate your time this morning. And look, I know

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Speaker 1: that you are somebody who's such a positive person. You're

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Speaker 1: not actually wanting to have to talk about this stuff

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Speaker 1: all the time, but you shouldn't have to be dealing

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Speaker 1: with what you're dealing with. I really appreciate you speaking

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Speaker 1: up though, because if we don't, then it is just

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Speaker 1: going to continue to get worse.

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Speaker 4: That's exactly right. Who will listen? How many more people

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Speaker 4: have to suffer? Do we have to lose any more

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Speaker 4: lives before something has changed and that people can make changes.

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Speaker 4: You can still feel safe in a city while trying

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Speaker 4: to get crime under control.

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Speaker 1: Absolutely you can. And it's reached that point where it

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Speaker 1: has to happen.

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Speaker 3: It has to happen.

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Speaker 1: I really appreciate your time, mate, Thank you, thanks so

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Speaker 1: much for joining us in the studio.