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Speaker 1: But joining us in the studio right now is the

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Speaker 1: opposition leader Leah Fanocchiaro.

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Speaker 2: Good morning to you.

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Speaker 3: And Katie and your listeners.

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Speaker 2: Leah.

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Speaker 1: Obviously Parliament is sitting at the moment. We will get

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Speaker 1: to that in just a second, but I do want

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Speaker 1: to take your cross to this story which is on

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Speaker 1: the front page of the Northern Territory News today and

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Speaker 1: the acting Chief Health Officer, Anthony Carpenter, has written to

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Speaker 1: the Greek Orthodox district of adelaide A mid concern around

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Speaker 1: anti vaccine conspiracy theories from the.

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Speaker 2: Father here in Darwin.

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Speaker 1: Now, the NT News is reporting that they've heard recordings

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Speaker 1: of a sermon from Father Joel from his pulpit at

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Speaker 1: the Saint Nicholas Church in Darwin, CBD, in which he

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Speaker 1: preaches in Greek against the vaccine. Leah, are you concerned

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Speaker 1: about this?

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Speaker 2: Look?

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Speaker 4: Of course, I haven't heard the sermons, so I can't

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Speaker 4: verify whether that's actually what Father Joel has or hasn't

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Speaker 4: mean saying. But I guess as a broader message, it's

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Speaker 4: really important that we have the correct information and that people,

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Speaker 4: particularly those impositions of power and community leadership. You know,

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Speaker 4: you might be the president of your soccer club, you

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Speaker 4: might be a person of faith, you might be you know,

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Speaker 4: the head of your school board, whatever it might be.

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Speaker 4: We've all got a responsibility to ensure the information we're

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Speaker 4: pushing out about COVID itself, and of course the vaccine

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Speaker 4: is accurate. And you know, it's been a divisive issue.

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Speaker 4: I think that's fair to say, but it's really important

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Speaker 4: people do get the job. The job is safe, and

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Speaker 4: if you are in doubt, then go and see your GP.

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Speaker 4: They're the best person to talk to you one on

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Speaker 4: one about it.

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Speaker 2: What do you.

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Speaker 1: Think needs to happen in this space. So, because we

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Speaker 1: are talking about a really large contingent of Darwin's population,

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Speaker 1: we know that there is a massive Greek population here

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Speaker 1: in the Northern Territory and it is a worry if

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Speaker 1: the wrong information is out there.

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Speaker 4: Yes, and our Greek community is a wonderful part of

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Speaker 4: the territory. Of course, Greeks have contributed to the fabric

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Speaker 4: of the Northern Territory of an extremely long time and

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Speaker 4: that will always be the case. But you know, I

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Speaker 4: don't think it's isolated to any particular community or any

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Speaker 4: particular group. You know, we've seen right across the country

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Speaker 4: that there is this ability to spread misinformation and create fear.

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Speaker 3: But it really comes back.

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Speaker 4: To government, in my view, about making sure that that

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Speaker 4: work on the ground is happening. So, you know, you

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Speaker 4: might be talking about this incident on the front page today,

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Speaker 4: but you know, for months we've been talking about vaccine

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Speaker 4: hesitancy in remote communities, for example, and it's just about

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Speaker 4: government making sure they've got the resources on the ground

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Speaker 4: to be working with people who are concerned, or who

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Speaker 4: have misinformation, or who need that extra support and detail

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Speaker 4: before they, you know, make this decision to get vaccinated.

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Speaker 4: So there's critical work that has to be done, and

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Speaker 4: we can't just take for granted that people will go

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Speaker 4: and get the job. You know, we've got to be

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Speaker 4: doing everything we can.

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Speaker 3: Some people are easy. I just lined straight up got it.

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Speaker 3: I didn't think to us about it.

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Speaker 4: But everyone's not like so we need to make sure

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Speaker 4: we're getting people on board.

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Speaker 2: Now, Leah.

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Speaker 1: I know that since the last time we spoke, obviously

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Speaker 1: the Chief Minister has come out with his plan forwards

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Speaker 1: when it comes to COVID. One of the concerns that's

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Speaker 1: been raised with me over the last couple of days

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Speaker 1: is once the rest of the nation gets to that

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Speaker 1: eighty percent vaccination rate, and goodness knows when exactly we're

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Speaker 1: going to get there, or when anybody in the country

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Speaker 1: realistically is going to get there. But one of those

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Speaker 1: concerns is that that many are still worried that once

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Speaker 1: the rest of the country gets to eighty percent vaccination rate,

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Speaker 1: they're going to be able to open up to each

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Speaker 1: other and we're still going to be locked down because

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Speaker 1: some of those areas are going to have COVID in them.

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Speaker 1: I mean, how long can we realistically keep the Northern

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Speaker 1: territory locked down and expect tourism to still be able

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Speaker 1: to function and expect our businesses to still be able

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Speaker 1: to operate that do still rely on being able to

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Speaker 1: have those tourists come in.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, well, look, Katie, we certainly obviously the government made

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Speaker 4: that announcement last week. It came without very much detail

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Speaker 4: at all. It just foreshadowed a number of things going forward.

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Speaker 4: We sort of briefing straight away as an opposition and

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Speaker 4: we still haven't had that briefing. The earliest briefing date

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Speaker 4: we've been offered is Friday, and the Minister won't even

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Speaker 4: confirm if doctor Hugh hegy will be there now. We

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Speaker 4: think we're entitled to the best health advice so that

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Speaker 4: we can better understand what it is the government's planning

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Speaker 4: going forward. We don't think it's acceptable that it takes

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Speaker 4: government ten days to brief the opposition and perhaps the

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Speaker 4: Chow won't even be there, and certainly any discrepancy and

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Speaker 4: information just causes concern. You know, we want the advice

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Speaker 4: coming from government to be really clear. We want people

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Speaker 4: to be able to consume it and understand it and

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Speaker 4: know where they stand on issues. And I think what

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Speaker 4: we've seen since that announcement last week is that people

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Speaker 4: feel perhaps even more uncertain now than they did before

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Speaker 4: about what that future looks like. And that's why that

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Speaker 4: messaging coming from government is so important. And that's also

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Speaker 4: why I think we need to be hearing from doctor

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Speaker 4: Hugh hege Moore and politicians less.

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Speaker 1: Now moving along, because one of the issues which you

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Speaker 1: focused on in Parliament yesterday was crime. Now it's pretty timely,

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Speaker 1: you'd have to say, after vision was released by the

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Speaker 1: Wonguri supermarket yesterday of kids entering the shops stealing what

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Speaker 1: they wanted and then really not at all concerned when

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Speaker 1: they were confronted by a shop worker.

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Speaker 2: It's not the first that we've heard of this.

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Speaker 1: Obviously on Friday as well, we know it was a

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Speaker 1: similar situation at Kazale's out in Palmerston. We'd spoken to

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Speaker 1: the manager yesterday, Leah. You and I have spoken so

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Speaker 1: much about this issue, but what was the response from

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Speaker 1: government yesterday in Parliament to some of these questions?

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Speaker 3: He was appalling.

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Speaker 4: We dedicated the entire question time to asking questions of

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Speaker 4: the Police Minister around different instances of crime. You know,

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Speaker 4: we put together a number of offenses that had happened

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Speaker 4: by youths under the age of fourteen, offenders that had

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Speaker 4: been on bail at the time of their offending, violent offending,

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Speaker 4: you know, we really packaged it up for government and said,

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Speaker 4: here is the truth. This is the reality that terror

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Speaker 4: toory ends are living out in the real world, and

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Speaker 4: what are you doing about it. We also put forward

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Speaker 4: what we think are some of the answers. You know,

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Speaker 4: we called on government to bring back breach about condition

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Speaker 4: as an offense, to ensure there's mandatory electronic monitoring, to

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Speaker 4: make sure we don't raise the minimum criminal age of responsibility.

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Speaker 4: But it all just fell on deafs. They just had

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Speaker 4: no answers, no new policies, no new hope for territories

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Speaker 4: abound doing something differently. And of course the crime stats

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Speaker 4: that came out on Friday just reinforce what everyone's already

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Speaker 4: feeling about this.

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Speaker 1: I mean, what is going to change here though, because

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Speaker 1: it does seem as though the government is very much

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Speaker 1: divided to you when it comes to the situation that

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Speaker 1: we've got with youth crime, and in the meantime, the

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Speaker 1: public is suffering, you know right now, Like we just

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Speaker 1: should not have a situation where a group of teenage

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Speaker 1: just think that they can walk into a shop still

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Speaker 1: they're confronted obviously by the shop attendant and they you know.

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Speaker 3: At the end of it, they go home.

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Speaker 1: I mean, what needs to happen here because at the moment,

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Speaker 1: I think the community like there is sort of you know,

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Speaker 1: the government's on one side, you're on the other. Everyone's

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Speaker 1: singing much at each other and nothing's actually getting fixed. Yeah.

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Speaker 4: Look, and people are frustrated. We're frustrated too. I mean,

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Speaker 4: people talk about there needs to be a bipartisan approach

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Speaker 4: to tackling crime. We're fully on board with that. We

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Speaker 4: put up our suggestions and ideas all the time. You know,

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Speaker 4: we raise this issue so that government don't just conveniently

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Speaker 4: forget about it because we know it's not something they

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Speaker 4: want to take on. So we really see our role

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Speaker 4: as making sure we're the voice for people who care

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Speaker 4: about this, and that we keep it on government's agenda,

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Speaker 4: and also that we put forward suggestions and ideas. Now

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Speaker 4: we have offered to work with government at every step

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Speaker 4: of their term for the last five years. They never

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Speaker 4: come to us with ideas. You know, we've brought our

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Speaker 4: own legislation in. They haven't even tried to work with

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Speaker 4: that or nothing. You know, it's just falling on deaf fears.

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Speaker 4: So it is incredibly frustrating, and I just say to people,

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Speaker 4: keep banging that drum, you know, go and see your

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Speaker 4: local labor MLA and make sure they understand what's going on.

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Speaker 4: Come and see us. We are all ears and we

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Speaker 4: will continue to fight for you. But unless the government

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Speaker 4: want to take a fresh look at this, nothing's going

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Speaker 4: to change. And that is so heartbreaking for the hundreds

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Speaker 4: and thousands of Territorians who really depend on the government

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Speaker 4: to keep them safe. Lea.

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Speaker 1: I did watch some of Question Time yesterday, and I

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Speaker 1: did see the final question that the Deputy asked the

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Speaker 1: Chief Minister about upgrades apparently of security to his home.

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Speaker 1: Now he'd confirmed that the reason those upgrades were happening

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Speaker 1: was because he'd had a stalker.

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

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Speaker 4: Yeah, So Jared mainly asked yesterday why the taxpayer and

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Speaker 4: the department were building or enhancing security at the Chief

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Speaker 4: Minister's home. Obviously Territorians have been doing that for a

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Speaker 4: very long time, and we sort of thought it was

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Speaker 4: an admission basically that yeah, things have gotten really bad

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Speaker 4: and that the Chief Minister is now doing what people

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Speaker 4: have had to do for a long time, and that's

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Speaker 4: barricade themselves into their home and barricade themselves into their businesses. Now,

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Speaker 4: everyone including the Chief Minister, deserves to be safe.

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Speaker 3: Let me make that very clear.

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Speaker 4: But what it does show is that there is an

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Speaker 4: issue around crime even you.

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Speaker 3: Know, no one's immune from it. No one's immune.

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Speaker 1: Well, I guess it's very different though, the issue of

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Speaker 1: youth crime to then having somebody who, in his words,

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Speaker 1: you know, was sort of taking an extreme interest in

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Speaker 1: him or stalking him. I mean, if you were the

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Speaker 1: Chief Minister would you accept that realistically, if the TRG

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Speaker 1: or somebody gave you advice that you needed to have

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Speaker 1: an upgrade of security to your home, that you needed

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Speaker 1: to do it, Oh, look, there's no question. But I

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Speaker 1: guess the issue is why aren't we dealing with the offenders, Like,

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Speaker 1: shouldn't we be out stopping these people from doing these

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Speaker 1: crimes rather than having that solution.

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Speaker 4: I guess it's sort of in some ways. I think

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Speaker 4: Jared's point is more that, well, you know, when crime

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Speaker 4: got out of control with businesses, the government, instead of

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Speaker 4: dealing with the offenders, they came up with a bi

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Speaker 4: secure grant, you know, and they said, oh, we can't

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Speaker 4: make the criminals go away, so we're going to give

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Speaker 4: you ten thousand bucks to barricade yourself. And I guess

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Speaker 4: that there's that linkage there with the Chief Minister's own

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Speaker 4: personal situation instead of dealing with the offender or offenders.

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Speaker 4: And I don't know all of the details. We're spending

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Speaker 4: upwards of twenty five thousand dollars of taxpayers money.

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Speaker 2: Is that how much it is?

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Speaker 3: Well, that's what's being reported.

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Speaker 4: Again, I don't I don't have that actual information, Katie,

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Speaker 4: but yeah, I just think it's it's something people would

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Speaker 4: be interested in. And of course I was talking to

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Speaker 4: someone just yesterday actually who said they had to spend

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Speaker 4: three thousand dollars of their own money upgrading their fence

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Speaker 4: judice threats that had happened to their family.

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Speaker 3: You know, we hear these stories every single day.

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Speaker 4: People investing in CCTV, people building high offenses, people putting

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Speaker 4: bars on their houses. Even out at zachola IgA, you know,

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Speaker 4: after the three break ins, they've had these bollards. Now

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Speaker 4: there's giant planner boxes. I mean, it's extraordinary the infrastructure

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Speaker 4: that's had to go in.

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Speaker 2: So do you reckon he should be paying for those himself?

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Speaker 3: Well, I think Territorians deserve to know.

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Speaker 4: I don't think it should have been kept a secret,

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Speaker 4: and I think they should know why the Chief Minute

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Speaker 4: gets to have such significant upgrades at the taxpayers expensive.

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Speaker 4: Like I said, everyone deserves to be safe, including Michael

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Speaker 4: Gunner and his family. You know, got no issues with that,

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Speaker 4: but you know it's a public interest that the taxpay

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Speaker 4: is paying for it.

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Speaker 1: Leah, before I let you go, I am keen to

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Speaker 1: talk about health. Is that something that you're going to

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Speaker 1: be focusing on? Today in Parliament because it's something that's

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Speaker 1: a real issue for a lot of our listeners right now.

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Speaker 1: You know, we spoke yesterday about those age care beds.

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Speaker 1: From what the Health Minister Natasha Files said on the show,

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Speaker 1: it doesn't seem as though these health these these these

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Speaker 1: beds for elderly patients and dementia patients, that they're going

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Speaker 1: to be ready for quite some time.

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Speaker 4: No, it's pretty terrifying to know that the sixty beds

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Speaker 4: that the federal government will fund won't be online for

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Speaker 4: a couple of years. And of course we know that

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Speaker 4: we've had three cod yellows in this just this year.

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Speaker 4: And thank goodness we don't have COVID in our community,

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Speaker 4: because how on earth would our hospital be able to cope.

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Speaker 4: We just simply wouldn't. We've had mass cancelations of elective surgeries.

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Speaker 4: Of course, we've got people who require different support, whether

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Speaker 4: it's mental health or age care or dementia care, and

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Speaker 4: they're stuck in our hospital system, which is not right

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Speaker 4: for them. And also then that's stopping people who need

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Speaker 4: hospital care from getting the care they need.

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Speaker 3: So I mean more needs to be done the government.

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Speaker 4: I've heard them yesterday saying, you know, oh, this is

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Speaker 4: a long term issue. Well that's not an excuse. You've

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Speaker 4: been the government for five years. You know, you can't

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Speaker 4: just palm something off as a long term issue and

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Speaker 4: not deal with it directly. And you know, if you

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Speaker 4: want to be really brutal about it, Katie, I mean,

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Speaker 4: I have to wonder the federal government currently funds those

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Speaker 4: age care beds in the hospital. Now is this convenient

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Speaker 4: for government that actually the federal government's picking up the.

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Speaker 3: Bill on those beds in the hospital.

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Speaker 4: And in fact, if we took the agecare people out

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Speaker 4: of our hospital, it'd be the territory government having to

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Speaker 4: foot the bill for those beds. So, you know, I

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Speaker 4: just start to wonder whether there's actually any appetite to

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Speaker 4: deal with this issue, or whether that funding actually supports,

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Speaker 4: you know, from a government perspective, who's broke, whether they

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Speaker 4: actually need that federal funding of the hospital, of the

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Speaker 4: beds they've got there, and that's part of the reason

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Speaker 4: why they don't want to make the commitment to get

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Speaker 4: on with building proper age care facilities.

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Speaker 1: Well, Lea, hopefully we'll get some further answers today inside Parliament.

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Speaker 2: Thank you very much for your time.

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Speaker 1: I know you've got to get up there, so thanks

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Speaker 1: so much for having your chat with us.

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Speaker 3: Thanks everyone, stay safe,